On Feb 14, 2007, at 8:21 PM, Steve Gabosch wrote:
> Lara, I like the way you used the term "solidarity" in describing some
> of the dynamics in the Annalee story. How would you explain human
> solidarity?
> - Steve
>
>
Steve,
Actually, I took the term (years ago now) from Hodge and Kress's Social
Semiotics, who wrote that there are always messages of power and
solidarity. And I have fought a bit with the word--uncertain if it
captured what I was seeing. But I have found no better word. Solidarity
is about politics and the most personal relationships, and my and
others' associations with it as a political term can get in the way.
The point is that people align themselves with each other and shift
that alignment on a regular basis. When I oberve classroom activities,
I look for indications of the participants being on the same
side--working together toward a common goal--and the ruptures in this
that can be explicit conflict or something they never completely
realize is happening. I've thought casually about the typically
gendered ways of relating (such as what Deborah Tannen has written
about) in terms of a different emphasis put on solidarity. There also
seem to be different ethnic tolerance for and encouragement of
fractures in solidarity. I'm very interested in incidents of teasing
because they are ruptures in solidarity yet can increase the overall
solidarity or they can increase the conflict. In looking at power and
solidarity together, the complicated web of identities, resistance,
passiveness, cliques, and "brown-nosing" can be coded along a
consistent system and I think can capture the subtext of all relations.
I have yet to carry out much coding, but I've used it to examine
moments, actions, and even a few activities. Does that make sense?
Best,
Lara
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