Showing papers on "Social dynamics published in 1983"

The influence of individuals on situations: Implications for understanding the links between personality and social behavior

Abstract: In an analysis of the nature and origins of predictability in social behavior, two propositions are considered: (1) There exist categories of individuals whose social behavior is readily predictable from measures of personal attributes such as attitudes, traits, and dispositions as well as categories of individuals whose social behavior is readily predictable from situational and interpersonal specifications of behavioral appropriateness; (2) underlying these differences in predictability are systematic choices to enter and to spend time in social settings and interpersonal contexts that promote and facilitate one or other of these characteristic behavioral orientations. The implications of these propositions for the study of personality and social behavior are considered in the specific case of the psychological construct of self-monitoring and in the general case of understanding the reciprocal influences of individuals and their social worlds.

Beyond the statistics of adolescent smoking.

Abstract: Statistical studies can identify the demographic characteristics of the adolescent smoking population but cannot reveal how clusters of demographic categories combine in the culture of the community to form salient social categories, or how social processes link these categories to smoking and smoking-related behavior. Because smoking and smoking-related behavior function as a key social symbol, anti-smoking campaigns that are based on an inaccurate understanding of the social context in which smoking occurs can reinforce this behavior. Participant observation in a suburban high school suggests that adolescents begin smoking as part of a complex symbolic process growing out of the process of social differentiation between future members of the working class on the one hand and the middle class on the other. It points out inadequacies in two existing anti-smoking programs in the schools that result from ignoring the social dynamics of smoking.

On the evolution of "tribal" social networks

Abstract: Braun and Plog's approach to understanding change in "tribal" social networks is critiqued with respect to (1) certain bridging arguments about the social meaning of particular evidential trends, and (2) certain conceptual biases regarding the nature of "tribal" social relations. Aspects of an alternative strategy for making sense of "tribal" social dynamics are discussed. Braun and Plog (1982) have recently outlined a general model for explaining the evolution of intensifying regional integration within nonhierarchical or "tribal" social networks. The model explains this evolution-broadly characterized by the development of "cross-cutting pan-residential institutions"-as an organizational response to changes in the degree of local environmental "unpredictability." The authors elaborate bridging arguments connecting their theoretical model to archaeological data and evaluate the model's utility by referencing particular sets of material evidence from prehistoric North America. The purpose of this paper is to challenge several aspects of Braun and Plog's approach to change in "tribal" social networks. Specifically, my comments address two areas: (1) methodological considerations, particularly the arguments concerning "style" in material culture; and (2) larger theoretical notions of social relations in "tribal" society. On the whole, I am sympathetic to what Braun and Plog are working to achieve-a coherent and testable theory of "tribal" evolution that overcomes the biases inherent in models derived from traditional ethnography. Nonetheless, their alternative approach manifests some logical ambiguities and conceptual biases of its own that beg further clarification and discussion. I hope that a probing of these problems will help move us further toward the general theory of "tribal" social process that Braun and Plog envision. METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS In evaluating their model of "tribal" evolution, Braun and Plog assume a relationship between the stylistic elaboration of material culture and the organization of regional social networks. The view of "style" taken by these authors draws from the work of Wilmsen (1973), Wobst (1977), and Conkey (1978). Stylistic behavior is recognized as an activity that communicates social information, particularly information about social group affiliation. The stylistic signaling of such information by members of a social group would serve to inform other parties of the amount of "social distance" existing between them. This would in turn make social interaction more predictable and reduce the likelihood of stressful encounters. Under this "information exchange" theory of style, then, style is assumed to play an active role in processes of social boundary maintenance. Braun and Plog see this theory as relevant to studies of organizational change, since it implies that changes in stylistic behavior over time will reflect changes in the structure of social boundary conditions. Accordingly, Braun and Plog expect a process of increasing regional integration, involving the breakdown of subregional social boundaries, to be manifested materially in the following way. A condition of relative stylistic

a peasant‐worker model in a northern Italian context

Abstract: This paper examines the peasant-worker phenomenon as an enduring adaptation that has persisted for centuries in the Friuli region of northeastern Italy- A preliminary model of peasant-worker behavior is presented that addresses two basic issues: [1] how peasant-worker strategies have developed historically; and (2) how peasant-worker strategies are tied to the social dynamics of rural households. The aim is to create a unified framework for the comparative and historical study of the proletarianization process, [peasant workers, rural labor, family dynamics, economic anthropology, Europe]

Le Carnaval d’hiver de Montréal, 1803-1889

Abstract: At the end of the nineteenth century, a new form of public entertainment appeared in Montreal: the winter carnival. Organized by athletic clubs, encouraged by the municipal government and financed by private enterprise, it involved an extensive advertising and tourist campaign aimed both at boosting economic activity during the off-season by attracting visitors and at promoting the interests of the city by making others more aware of the latter's commercial and industrial potential. Underneath its merry exterior, the carnival was deeply marked by the needs, aspirations and antagonisms which dominated the history of Montreal in the nineteenth century. The monuments and decorations reflected the cultural values of those who designed them; the middle-class character of the event was revealed in the choice of recreational and social activities, and the tensions that existed bore witness to the complex relationships among the different groups of participants. In order to identify the social, cultural and economic characteristics of the carnival better, we shall examine in succession four aspects of the event, namely, its history, the people for whom it was intended, its organizers, and its conflicts. In so doing, we wish to show that this event reflected the social dynamics of the day and had little in common with a grass-roots festival. It is, therefore, from an analytical, rather than simply an evocative angle, that we approach this subject which has a significance too long underestimated.