I apologize for taking so long to respond to your E-mail about
culture and coercion which was in response to a message I sent
quite some time ago. End of semester...
You start out by saying "culture is not coercion in its most
extreme form". I think you are misunderstanding what I mean by
coercion. Shall we use another term? Constraint perhaps? It's
all the same, and I believe these words all have negative
connotations _in our culture_, which I think is what makes this
so very difficult to discuss without misunderstanding.
You seem to keep saying that you believe some sort of
"coercion"/constraint is necessary for cultural meanings to be
transmitted, and for people to be able to live together, etc.
This, of course, I agree with. Then you go on to say that there
is some level beyond this "necessary coercion" that is
unacceptable/immoral, and you give examples like torture. Well,
if I understand what you're saying (and I may not), it sounds
like you want to have your cake and eat it too. First you
acknowledge the cultural construction of all meaning that we give
to any act, and then you want to call some acts universally
immoral. The unacceptably coercive things you mention are just
that because they go OUTSIDE the accepted norms/constraints of
our culture (and of many cultures, I would imagine). So, perhaps
the reason we react so strongly to certain acts of violence is
because the individuals who commited them have NOT been
coerced/constrained/controlled by the same cultural meaning
system that we have. Do you see the distinction I'm trying to
make? It all comes back to culturally constructed ways of seeing
things which are SO ingrained in our thinking that we are no
longer aware of them much of the time. In this way, culture is
absolutely coercive/constraining/controlling. Now, whether or
not this is good or bad, I guess, just depends on the cultural
lens through which it is viewed. Therefore, if we see culture as
being somehow "bad" because it's coercive, then I suppose it's
because we are being successfully coerced by our individualistic
culture (ironic, ain't it?). I never thought of it this way
before, Jay, but since you brought it up, maybe culture is kind
of "insidious"!
I think where we stop connecting is the point where you believe
I'm trying to say that culture = people trying to control others.
Culture is a complicated thing to define, and I'm not going to
fall into the trap of coming up with a definition that will no
doubt be lacking. But I will say what I DON'T think culture is--culture is NOTt
, in my view, an overt attempt by people to
control others. I like to think of culture as the way our
interactions with others has "shaped" our thinking into more or
less similar styles so that we are able to communicate and live
together. And, yes, this is by its very nature constraining
(even if it doesn't involve shackles and torture--necessarily).
BUT, I must try to state this very explicitly, this doesn't mean
that culture serves some "other" and not individual members of a
culture. Culture both "serves" and "constrains" all of us, as
Judy said in a somewhat recent posting.
So, to sum up, and to be as clear as I possibly can this time, I
DO NOT see culture simply as acting as a conscience to morally
dissuade us from acting outside a socially prescribed norm. It's
not simply guilt or social anxiety. Nor is it simply an attempt
by society to control individuals' behavior. It is the way that
interactions with others has shaped and directed our thinking.
It is the way we view the world, how we define things such as
what is "moral" and "immoral", how we define things such as
"torture" and "coercion." It _is_ control in its most complete
form--so complete, that we are almost always unaware of it.
I think Robin's example about how language development is shaped
by our culture/native language (e.g. infants are initially able
to distinguish between all possible phonemes, but eventually can only
discern those phonemes that are meaningful in their native lang.) illustrates
this very nicely.
I hope I have been clearer this time. I think, in my previous
messages, I was so anxious to evoke some response that I got too
carried away to make myself absolutely clear. And I also want to
thank you for considering my thoughts and responding to them. I
look forward to your reply!
-Pam Schulze
PAS94003 who-is-at UCONN.EDU