Re: culture and coercion

Pam (PAS94003 who-is-at UConnVM.UConn.Edu)
Wed, 15 May 96 12:18:10 EDT

Jay wrote:
>But I was trying to advance a notion that cultures differ in the
>degree to which people within them take an interest in
>controlling fewer or more of the repertory of behaviors of other
>people recognized in those cultures, and that they differ in the
>degree to which pain is inflicted as a means of doing this. My

I keep hearing this from you, Jay, and from others. And every
time I read such statements, something about it doesn't really
feel right. Do cultures really differ in the DEGREE to which
they control people's behaviors? Somehow, I doubt that.
All cultures control. But what I think you may be trying to
say, and I'm sure you'll correct me if I'm wrong, is that different
cultures have different ways of controlling--perhaps what we're
talking about here is not a difference in *degree* so much as
it is a difference in *quality*. When I think of it that way,
it makes much more sense to me. All cultures are in the business
of controlling, after all, but the way that they do it certainly
varies from culture to culture. Does this make sense to you,
Jay, or am I reading you correctly?

-Pam

PAM SCHULZE
PAS94003 who-is-at UCONN.EDU
UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT