JENIFFER MOHAMMED SOCIOLOGY FOR CAPE® EXAMINATIONS Sociology for CAPE® Examinations Jeniffer Mohammed CAPE® is a registered trade mark of the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC). SOCIOLOGY for CAPE® EXAMINATIONS 2nd Edition is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by CXC. ii Macmillan Education 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW A division of Macmillan Publishers Limited Companies and representatives throughout the world www.macmillan-caribbean.com ISBN 978-0-230-03786-1 AER Text © copyright Jeniffer Mohammed 2014 Design and illustration © copyright Macmillan Publishers Limited 2014 First published 2014 All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers. 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If contacted we will be pleased to rectify any errors or omissions at the earliest opportunity. iv This book is dedicated to Sylvia, Curt, Mikhail, Nikolai and Isabel. v CONTENTS Unit / Chapter Preface Page CAPE syllabus section vii Part I Introduction to Sociology 1 Chapter 1 Understanding the Sociological Perspective 2 Introduction 1.1 The Social World 1.2 The Sociological Perspective 1.3 The Sociological Imagination 1.4 The Dimensions of Sociological Thinking Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 3 3 8 11 11 15 16 Chapter 2 The Discipline of Sociology 20 Introduction 2.1 The Origins of Sociology 2.2 Is Sociology a Science? 2.3 Sociology in the Caribbean 2.4 The Founders of Caribbean Sociology Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 21 21 26 27 33 38 39 Chapter 3 Sociological Perspectives, Principles and Concepts 44 Introduction 3.1 The Sociological Perspectives and Social Theory 3.2 The Basic Principles of Sociology Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 45 45 53 74 75 Chapter 4 Culture and the Social Order 80 Introduction 4.1 The Study of Culture 4.2 Sociological Perspectives on Culture 4.3. Theories of Culture and Society in the Caribbean 4.4 Caribbean Popular Culture Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 81 81 93 95 99 111 113 Chapter 5 Sociological Research 118 Introduction 5.1 Principles of Scientific Research 5.2 Research Methods 5.3 Conducting Your Own Research Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 119 119 121 134 144 145 Unit 1 The Sociological Perspective The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 1, Module 1 Sociological Concepts, Perspectives and Methods Specific Objective: 2 discuss the fundamental concepts of sociology The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 1, Module 1 Sociological Concepts, Perspectives and Methods Specific Objectives: 1 trace the development of sociology from the classical to the contemporary period in mainstream and Caribbean sociology 2 discuss the fundamental concepts of sociology The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 1, Module 1 Sociological Concepts, Perspectives and Methods Specific Objectives: 2 discuss the fundamental concepts of sociology 3 evaluate the theoretical perspectives of sociology The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 1, Module 1 Sociological Concepts, Perspectives and Methods Specific Objectives: 2 discuss the fundamental concepts of sociology 3 evaluate the theoretical perspectives of sociology 4 discuss the fundamental concepts of sociology The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 1, Module 1 Sociological Concepts, Perspectives and Methods Specific Objectives: 5 explain the principles and practices of scientific research 6 distinguish among the various research methods 7 apply the research methods to a sociological issue 8 apply the ethical principles in research vi Part II Introduction to Social Institutions 149 Chapter 6 Social Institutions: The Family 150 Introduction 6.1 Ideas about the Family 6.2 Theoretical Perspectives on the Family 6.3 Ethnic Diversity and Caribbean Kinship 6.4 Gender and the Family 6.5 Social Problems and the Family Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 151 151 160 167 170 173 184 186 Chapter 7 Social Institutions: Religion 192 Introduction 7.1 Religion, Spirituality and Belief Systems 7.2 Sociological Perspectives on Religion 7.3 Caribbean Faiths 7.4 Secularisation Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 193 193 199 205 220 223 224 Chapter 8 Social Institutions: Education 230 Introduction 8.1 Education as a Social Institution 8.2 Sociological Perspectives on Education 8.3 Caribbean Education Systems 8.4 Sociological Theorising: Issues in Education Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 231 231 233 240 249 261 263 Chapter 9 Social Stratification 268 Introduction 9.1 Concepts of Social Stratification 9.2 Types of Stratification Systems 9.3 Sociological Perspectives on Social Stratification 9.4 Evolution of Caribbean Stratification 9.5 Impact of Stratification on Caribbean Societies Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 269 269 277 279 284 288 293 294 Unit 1 The Sociological Perspective The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 1, Module 2 Social Institutions: Family, Religion and Education Specific Objectives: 1 explain the characteristics, functions and transformations of the family in the Caribbean 2 evaluate the main theoretical perspectives commonly used for the analysis of the family 3 discuss the issues associated with the Caribbean family The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 1, Module 2 Social Institutions: Family, Religion and Education Specific Objectives: 4 explain the characteristics, functions and transformation of selected religions in the Caribbean 5 evaluate the main theoretical perspectives commonly used for the analysis of religion 6 discuss the issues associated with religion in the Caribbean The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 1, Module 2 Social Institutions: Family, Religion and Education Specific Objectives: 7 explain the characteristics, functions and transformations of educational systems in the Caribbean 8 evaluate the main theoretical perspectives commonly used for the analysis of education 9 discuss the issues associated with education in the Caribbean The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 1, Module 3 Social Stratification Specific Objectives: 1 explain the concepts associated with stratification 2 identify types of stratification systems 3 assess theoretical perspectives on stratification in the Caribbean 4 discuss the evolution of Caribbean social stratification from slavery to present day 5 analyse the impact of stratification systems on Caribbean societies vii Part III Introduction to Development Issues 299 Chapter 10 Population Issues and Development 300 Introduction 10.1 Conceptions of Development 10.2 Sociological Perspectives on Development 10.3 Demography: The Study of Population 10.4 Sociological Perspectives on Population 10.5 Population Policies 10.6 Population and Development: Relationships Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 301 301 305 310 322 331 340 343 345 Chapter 11 The Sociology of Crime and Deviance 350 Introduction 11.1 Concepts related to Crime and Deviance 11.2 Sociological Perspectives on Crime and Deviance 11.3 Issues Related to Crime and Deviance 11.4 Effects of Crime and Deviance 11.5 The Effectiveness of Institutions of Social Control Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 351 351 357 368 375 378 386 387 Chapter 12 Caribbean Social Issues: Poverty, Health and the Environment 392 Introduction 12.1 Terms and Concepts Related to Poverty, Health and the Environment 12.2 Sociological Perspectives on Poverty, Health and the Environment 12.3 Causes and Effects of Major Caribbean Social Issues 12.4 Measures to Address Major Social Issues Chapter Summary Exercises and Test Questions 393 411 415 419 425 427 Glossary Answer pages Index 431 435 437 393 Unit 2 Development and Social Change The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 2, Module 1 Population and Development Specific Objectives: 1 explain the concepts used in population studies 2 explain population trends using quantitative and qualitative measures 3 assess the sociological perspectives of population 4 evaluate population policies in developed and developing countries 5 explain the concepts of development 6 explain the indicators of development 7 assess the sociological perspectives of development 8 explain the relationship between population and development The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 2, Module 2 Crime and Deviance Specific Objectives: 1 discuss the concepts related to crime and deviance 2 evaluate different perspectives on crime and deviance 3 analyse available crime statistics and issues related to crime and deviance in the Caribbean 4 discuss the effects of crime and deviance on Caribbean society 5 assess the effectiveness of the institutions of social control The skills you learn in this chapter pertain to Unit 2, Module 3 Caribbean Social Issues: Poverty, Health and Environment Specific Objectives: 1 discuss the key concepts related to major social issues 2 apply the main sociological perspectives to understand the major Caribbean social issues 3 analyse the major Caribbean social issues 5 evaluate the measures employed to address these major Caribbean social issues viii Preface This text is written with the understanding that anyone who comes to the discipline of Sociology for the first time, whether as a 6th form or university student, needs curriculum materials that recognize this ‘newness’. You will find therefore that the needs of the learner are foremost in the language used as well as in its structural features. ■ While the jargon of sociology must be employed, the meanings of terms are either given directly or embedded in the related text. This is important because most introductory sociology texts are written with university students in mind and the student is expected to move with ease through rather ‘dense’ passages. The transition from 5th to 6th form is formidable enough without having to negotiate texts targeting university students. Using a variety of examples not only from the Caribbean but also from other societies, the text errs on the side of ‘thick description’ rather than summary presentations. ■ The structural features serve to enhance the readability of the text. Boxes are used to give greater detail to ideas and practices related to what is being discussed. Activities punctuate the text from time to time and are themed to represent some aspect of sociology, for example applying social theory, critical reflection, inquiry skills, the comparative element in sociology, and others. There are also quotes and brief statements teasing out sociological thinking on a number of issues. Photographs, diagrams and tables also convey sociological information. A glossary is given at the end of the book for key terms. ■ At the end of each chapter, an answer critique is given for one of the essay questions set with annotations. In the Answers Pages at the end of the book, there are answers to multiple choice questions and structured questions. The Content The intent of this sociology text is to lead learners into a way of thinking that allows them to stand back and observe themselves as social beings and at the same time observe other social beings going about their lives within a framework known as society. The challenge with sociology is that you are expected to examine your own lives, your own reactions, prejudices, even your own socialization. This could be daunting but also exciting. Sociology opens up the possibility for students to penetrate social issues with more clarity and to garner insights about controversies and happenings in their societies, guided by the sociological perspectives. It is these kinds of competencies that the Caribbean Region needs as it confronts the social changes and continuities of the 21st century. Sociology gives the student the unique opportunity to ‘make the familiar strange’, which is something to treasure because for many society is merely the taken-for-granted backdrop of their lives. 1 I PA R T Introduction to Sociology Welcome to the beginning of your journey into the discipline of sociology. Part I highlights what you will need to know so that you can more fully engage with sociological knowledge in Parts II and III. It traces the beginnings of the discipline and its founders as well as the sociological concepts, perspectives, and methods that you must become familiar with because it is these ‘tools’ which you will eventually use to ‘unlock’ the sociological meanings, hidden and otherwise, in social life. Examples are drawn from the Caribbean and the wider world. Chapters 1 to 5 focus on the fundamental concepts of the discipline, the main sociological perspectives and research methods. The intent is to gradually build your knowledge and awareness of how sociology undertakes the study of society. By the end of this section you would realise that all these concepts, perspectives and research methods come together to construct what is known as the sociological perspective – the unique ways sociologists set about to examine and explain the social world. 2 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY The major expectations of this chapter are that you will recognise that: ■ sociology is not just about groups, or even individuals, but about unearthing how we relate and interrelate; ■ we relate to others through social contexts – groups, institutions, history, the future, norms, values, organisations and structures; ■ the sociological perspective, while having commonalities with the economic or the historic, represents the unique point of view of sociology; ■ to study sociology meaningfully you have to develop your sociological imagination; ■ actively engaging in sociological thinking helps you to be more critical and analytical about the social world. 3 1 Human sociality refers to the nature of the bonds or ties in different contexts that encourage or discourage community or living together 1.1 Understanding the Sociological Perspective Compared to the long-established disciplines such as mathematics, physics and philosophy, sociology is a relative newcomer. Although philosophers and other thinkers pondered the nature of the social world for ages, it took the upheaval brought about by the Industrial Revolution and violence in the form of the French Revolution of 1789 to make it clear that society was a worthy object of systematic inquiry. Concerns focused on the problem of order and human progress – how could society be made more harmonious for all and at the same time continue to evolve and improve? And like their colleagues in the world of physical science, social scientists felt that they could uncover the laws by which society operated and so be in a position to intervene and restore order. Whilst those ‘laws’ cannot be treated as scientific laws, sociology has made great strides in unlocking how individuals relate to the social world and how that world is structured. Individuals relate through membership in groups and it is this membership that sociology has taken as its major focus. In other words, the object of inquiry, society, is studied through the interactions of groups (individuals interacting, their interactions within groups and interactions among groups). An important aspect of sociology is the study of the interaction of social institutions – cherished ideas we have (for example, family forms or religion) that influence the behaviour of groups. Even so, grasping the scope of sociology sometimes proves elusive. It is possible to complete a course in sociology without fully coming to grips with human sociality. Some students come away versed in the structures that pervade social life or the sociological perspectives (major theories about society such as Functionalism and Marxism) – yet the crucial piece of the puzzle, relationships, is somehow not fully grasped. This chapter outlines important aspects of the sociological point of view – the sociological perspective. The Social World As you begin the study of sociology, there are two important ideas to note. One is that what sociologists focus on in their study of the social world may vary according to their approach. Different approaches focus on different aspects of the social. For example, in a study of street children in a Caribbean city, one approach may impose conditions about who should be included, limiting the children by age, how long they have been on the streets, and whether they have been there continually or have been in and out of homes and institutions. Another approach may just focus on the experience of life on the streets for children the researcher encounters. Yet another approach may emphasise ways of overcoming and resistance among street children. The different approaches (or perspectives) are fully described in Chapter 3. The second idea is that much of what you will be studying is actually familiar to you – the social world. But, your familiar, common-sense understandings may be at odds with the ways in which sociologists use a term. For example, a popular definition of sociology is the study of society but there are a variety of meanings that the term ‘society’ enjoys and the meanings most familiar to us are not the ones important in sociology. More on this 4 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY later, but note that our pre-knowledge about the most fundamental concept in sociology (society) is something we have to be careful about. Society When we speak about society we normally conjure up images of people (though animals have social life too – think of bees and their highly organised existence). We often limit this image to the nation state so that a society is located within national borders (though we acknowledge that it could be applied internationally as in the term ‘Caribbean society’). At the same time we can adjust this image to accept specialised uses of the term such as ‘high society’, meaning the world of the upper classes or the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, a specific organisation. Sometimes we see it as an ideal, something to which we are aspiring as in ‘the good society’. However, the idea of ‘society’ in sociology is not primarily one about people. Neither is it about individuals. All the uses of the term described above are found in sociology because they are part of the social world but the discipline itself has a specialised meaning for the term. In sociology society refers to the interaction of social groups based on their systems of beliefs, values and behaviours. These systems of beliefs are carried or borne by members of these groups and in their lives and in their relationships these beliefs and values are enacted to a greater or lesser 1.1.1 BOX 1.1 extent resulting in a wide range of behaviours. If there were a focus on the individual we would not see clearly how beliefs, values and behaviours are shared and made meaningful through interaction. That is why there is an emphasis on the collective and the individual fades into the background. However, the individual is not ignored – as a bearer of beliefs and values and as an actor of behaviours in relation to others he or she continues to be of interest to the sociologist. Box 1.1 explores belief systems in two different societies. Relationships So far we have said that in sociology the term society refers to intangibles such as group interactions based on their belief system or systems. To become a system of beliefs these beliefs (comprising values and resulting in behaviours) must be shared or there must be some form of participation on the part of groups for the system to evolve. Thus, society is not just the sum of people but how their living together, making rules and sharing meaning (developing a culture) influence members. At this point then the meaning of ‘society’ deepens. It is not just the beliefs and values that are of interest to the sociologist but how groups participate in building or opposing this system of beliefs and how it influences their behaviours. To examine this, the sociologist must focus on the relationships existing between individuals in groups and between one group and another. To share a 1.1.2 American vs. Caribbean Societies Some societies have different beliefs and value systems and because of that their societies differ remarkably. For example, societies such as the United States, Canada, Britain and Australia have been described as ‘individualist’ meaning that there are dominant beliefs which value the individual (‘I’) over others, and personal independence and initiative in making one’s way in the world. Other societies emphasise more explicitly collective values – group solidarity, communal or shared organisation of resources and living arrangements, and a dependence on others for happiness and well being. And because each society is made up of different groups some groups (within Caribbean society for example) act from more individualist orientations than others. Those who embrace the modernising influences of higher education, professional career paths, and urban lifestyles are more likely to have beliefs valuing an individualist consciousness. Those living in rural areas, in large extended families, employed in family businesses, or who are deeply religious tend to value the collective identity. The statement ‘society would not permit that’ alerts us to how we may be influenced by group beliefs and values. The assumption is that we all share in an understanding of society as some sort of moral police controlling our behaviours, that there are ‘laws’ (and it is the largely unwritten ones we are concerned with here) which govern our interactions and our behaviours. When we say that ‘society is greater than the sum of its parts’ we also acknowledge this. Box 1.2 opposite touches on the power of society over us – in this case, gender relations. We may think we understand growing up and relating to the opposite sex – but do we …? CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE BOX 1.2 Gender and Society Below, a male author describes the complex relationships between males and females as they grow up in society. He outlines a contradictory set of behaviours and expectations. While this cannot be said to be the experience of all men, it gives a flavour of some of the values that young men have to negotiate in society as they interact with the opposite sex. But all men, including myself, do not just love women. We do not only see them as colleagues, friends, lovers; as sexually desirable, physically attractive, mentally stimulating. We fear them, hate them, marginalise them, denigrate them and categorise them. And we continually strive to control and dominate them. (Clare 2000, p. 194) The quote above shows how our grasp of social situations (in this case gender relations) may be coloured by our familiarity with them. It is difficult to suspend familiar ways of understanding society (or gender relations). However, it is important to persist as you will continue to meet concepts later on where there appears to be a disconnect between the familiar and the sociological use of the term. This is because we already know many of the terms – institution, organisation, culture, society – but in the study of sociology they have precise meanings. Persisting in using even the term ‘society’ in the familiar way, may lead you into sometimes believing that the subject eludes you, that you don’t quite get it. belief or value persons must interact and develop some sort of relationship. To remain aloof and not share in some practice, for example to be vegetarian in a family of meat lovers, means that that person is operating according to an alternative belief system about food, nutrition and even spirituality. And this is how that individual relates to the rest of the group – it is not a case of not relating, it is a case of relating in a different and oppositional, even resistant, way. Thus, relationships comprise the core of sociology. How groups form relationships, the relatedness between, say, the family and religion (two social institutions) and how the downturn in the economy relates to the elderly as a group are all sociologically sound questions. They all refer to relationships though that may be an unfamiliar way for you to think of relating to others. In each case the object of inquiry is the relationship between the beliefs, values and behaviour of one group and another or the ways in which groups interrelate based on their beliefs and values. We have grown up in society and been encouraged to think of ourselves as individuals, which sometimes develops into a competitive and individualistic world view. But, from the standpoint of sociology there is really nothing but relationships. Even being competitive means you are fashioning a relationship with others – you can’t be individualistic by yourself, it must be in relation to others. There is no individual as such – there is an individual in society. This is difficult to come to grips with as we tend to think of our internal, private selves as apart from the world. (Yet, this too is social – what do we think about in our private thoughts and reflections if not about ourselves in the world?) Detecting relationships in a sociological way is not always easy. We know of obvious connections such as our family and circle of relatives. Having parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles also means that there is a common pool of property that provides a focus for memories as in an old family home. Yet in these relationships there are differences – think of how the younger generation interacts with older members. And for those who have moved to towns or metropolitan countries contact may be sporadic or in this age of telecommunications it may be intense. There may also be members of your family with whom you have never or seldom interacted. Sociology views these relationships as networks in which we are embedded and which did not just arise or become so for no apparent reason. Looking at the different ways in which we interrelate we may find for example that the younger generation does not believe in the value of family land which the older heads have tried to preserve. Members who have migrated may keep close ties even if they cannot visit often and may send foreign goods on a regular basis. That constitutes a relationship where the migrant is operating out of a belief system which values home, family and the ‘Caribbean connection’. There may be minimal contact if the migrant has taken strongly to the metropolitan ways of life and feels that back home is a place fraught with problems and inefficiencies. So, from a sociological standpoint everything is related to something. We are always in relationship to something. For those new to sociology this is an important idea 5 6 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY to grasp. It discourages a focus on the individual or on uniqueness. Ways of relating are based on some beliefs, values and assumptions we have about each other and this operates at the ‘micro level’ of individuals and their families as well as at the ‘macro-level’ of social institutions. The latter constitute systemic patterns created through well established rules we follow and which thereby influence our beliefs, values and behaviours. For example: ■ The social institution of the economy may have policies discriminating in favour of ‘productive’ citizens, thus sidelining the elderly. This ‘relationship’ is based on prevailing beliefs about the aged and their value to society. ■ The social institution of religion in Caribbean societies shows a relationship with socio-economic class. Most members of Afro-centric religions (such as Kumina) belong to lower socio-economic classes. Suggest why that may be. ■ When we look at academic achievement for all socio-economic classes we see a distinct relationship between the social institution of education and the economy – the children of the well to do persistently achieve at higher levels. What do you think are the important relationships that sustain this picture? We are all embedded in relationships. Persons new to sociology are sometimes disturbed by the assumption that we are less individual than we think we are. This is because the popular notion of society in everyday life ACTIVITY 1.1 Look at the photos below and for each describe the possible social relationships that you think are depicted. is that it is a synonym for ‘people’ and we get lost in the crowd. If we didn’t do sociology we would never really come to grips with the idea that society is a ’force’ (of beliefs and values), something in process, that greatly influences us, sometimes seeming beyond our control. It is likened to living in a fish bowl. Now try Activity 1.1 below. Sociological Thinking Let us put into practice some of what we have been learning by employing sociological thinking (Box 1.3). Sociological thinking as outlined above tries to uncover how this group of men is ‘located’ – their social positioning and relationships. It may show that they live in environments and are involved in relationships that lead, with very few restraints, to a life of crime. Their family members may be involved; they may have left school without credentials so that only manual or lowly paid work is available to them; their schooling experience may have put them off trying again to secure qualifications; and they may live in communities where the local ‘don’ ( Jamaican term for local drug lord) or gangsters are the role models.In short, they may get more messages that their way of life is ‘normal’ and accepted by their group than otherwise. Box 1.3 also shows that sociologists, in order to be faithful to how we are as human beings in the world, also see as relevant that we must go beyond the criminal behaviour of a person to look at if, and 1.1.3 CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE BOX 1.3 Sociological Thinking In analysing the situation described below, the sociologist must keep the following in mind: 1. Social groups develop relationships that influence how they see the world. 2. Overarching beliefs, values and behaviours may not be shared to the same extent by some groups. 3. Understanding these relationships gives us a clearer sense of the nature of social problems and possible solutions. Today in Caribbean societies, particularly in Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, young men more than any other group are involved in violent crimes. Concerned citizens tend to focus on the age of offenders, their ethnicity, the kinds of crimes they commit and the areas where they live. Based on a mixture of such facts and a consensus that these persons should be conforming to society’s beliefs, values and behaviours, they then proceed to label certain categories of youth, their parents, and their communities as troubled and dangerous. From here, they go on to suggest remedies for the problem. While this may be the basic stuff of news reports and call-in talk programmes, it certainly is not sociological. how, that person is involved in family, school, the church and community. This gives sociologists more explanatory power – they do not only develop a onesided view of a person (the criminal side) but try to see the person as not necessarily ‘abnormal’ but as someone who may be quite ‘normal’ in some of their interactions. This helps us, when thinking of interventions, because it does not ‘demonise’ the person – demonizing leads to interventions such as ‘hunting down’, ‘elimination’, ‘torture’ and ‘weeding out’. In sociology, whether we study crime, the world of work or students, the focus is always on trying to see ourselves or others as social beings. Beginning with a view of only the ‘criminal’ or a ‘poor worker’, or ‘a student from a single parent home’ begins to skew our understanding of social life and we may end up with mono-causal theories of our own making that cannot go far in helping us to solve social problems. ‘Being sociological’ would mean that investigators have to look at the young men engaged in criminal activity according to their membership in groups and the relationships between and among themselves and the wider society. This includes specific attention to how their system(s) of beliefs, values and behaviours develop and how they differ from other groups. Certain questions would be useful: • What groups do they belong to? (The list might include ethnic, community, socio-economic status (SES), age or generational groups, highest level of education, family, employment.) • How is membership in these groups affecting them? What are the relationships they have in those groups? (Are they being empowered by membership in these groups? How did school or the family impact on what they are doing now? Do the groups they belong to, for example gangs, communities or families, engage in violence among members? How are they recruited into these gangs?) • What is the relationship like between those groups and the state, the police, families and communities? To sum up: This section of the chapter attempted to describe the nature of society as it is studied in sociology. The term ‘society’ has a more systemic meaning in sociology than just ‘a collection of people’. It refers to how groups interact and behave based on their belief and value systems. These interactions constitute relationships, some of which have become established enough to form the social structure (organised patterns) of the society. However, the sociologist is always alert to see groups as comprising social beings, meaning that no one’s life (interactions and behaviours) can be easily explained – people have to be seen in all their variety so that we can better grasp how they live their lives. 7 8 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY 1.2 The Sociological Perspective Once you are clear about how sociology studies and characterises society you should next work on acquiring the sociological perspective. This is the major goal of anyone enrolled in a sociological course. Sociologists such as Peter Berger, C. Wright Mills, Émile Durkheim, and John Macionis, among others, outlined ways to help us grasp the sociological dimensions of everyday situations. Again, our common-sense understandings of daily life may not stress those aspects that are sociologically important. So we may need to bring about some degree of shift in our thinking. Collectively their contributions are referred to as the sociological perspective. The Personal, the Social and the Anti-Social One way in which popular thinking assigns great significance to the personal without considering the wider social networks of relationships is often seen in politics. In response to the rising levels of crime in the society someone might say: ‘Fire the Minister of National Security’. The notion that one person (and his or her colleagues) is standing in the way of solving a deepseated problem such as the escalation of serious criminal activities would not be thinking about the issue in a sociological way. It may well be a political solution to fire the minister but it is not sociological in that all the relationships between and among the criminals and the police and the wider society remain intact. 1.2.1 SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING! If you know a left-handed person who is unemployed you may think that that was unfortunate. However, if a survey showed that most left-handed persons were unemployed then that would constitute a sociological relationship worthy of examination. On the other hand you may be surprised that it is entirely possible to study one person in a sociological way. A hermit living in the desert, say, or a Rastafarian living on a mountain top are representative of a group of people who have made firm decisions about not participating in the mainstream life of a society. Their way of life and their beliefs stand in opposition to the values of the majority. This is how they relate to the rest of society – by keeping apart, by offering an alternative lifestyle – in fact their lives are understandable only because mainstream society exists. So, it is possible to study one person in a ‘social’ way (as representative of a group’s beliefs, values and behaviours). On a similar note, what is ‘anti-social’ cannot qualify as sociological. For example, men cannot be studied without reference to women. The existence of a group known as ‘men’ only makes sense if there is acknowledgement that another group exists, ‘women’, with whom they are closely associated and often compared, and vice versa. To study men as if women didn’t exist would be to ignore significant things about the social group, men, for example, that their ‘masculine’ traits can only be seen as ‘masculine’ in relation to another group designated as ‘feminine’. Over time in the society we are seeing a gradual acknowledgement that some of the ways we have of regarding others are anti-social. Now in history texts for instance we see a sensitivity to calling our ancestors ‘slaves’ – we now say ‘the enslaved’. In the future we will probably change ‘prisoners’ to ‘the imprisoned’. ACTIVITY 1.2 A subject that many of you have done is ‘social studies’. Reflect on ways in which the teaching of this subject is sometimes ‘anti-social’. Seeing the Strange in the Familiar Peter Berger suggested that the social would become much clearer to us if we vigilantly looked for the ‘strange’ in the ‘familiar’. The familiar would be the everyday world of personal experience - our daily lives and routines. The strange would be the impact and influence of social patterns (the arrangements of groups such as social institutions) on our familiar world. In other words, in our personal or familiar world we should be able when we have developed the sociological perspective to detect how ‘social’ forces (the strange) are impacting on us. One implication of this is that when we think we are making our own decisions about how our life should unfold chances are we are being constrained by how the social world is organised. As you may be becoming aware, it is not at all easy to see (uncover) the strange in the familiar. We don’t normally think of our lives and our affairs as permeated by society (group behaviours and interactions based on beliefs and values). But for us to be able to think critically and reflectively about social issues or problems (or even 1.2.2 CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE ACTIVITY 1.3 Let us consider the options of a sixth form student. In choosing what to do after school. To what extent is this student influenced by beliefs, values and behaviours already in place? For example: • Is it really a ‘personal’ desire to want to attend a university? • If there was the possibility that you could do anything you wished on leaving school, what would you choose? • If you still say, ‘attend university’, or for whatever you do say, consider whether what is ‘personal’ is still being influenced by what is ‘social’. our own lives) we have to be able to analyse ours or another group’s or individual’s social location – how we are or they are positioned in a network of relationships (their contexts). The difficulty arises because we are trying to study phenomena from inside those phenomena – meaning that familiarity often clouds our judgement. Box 1.4 provides some examples of relationships that are easy to misjudge – meaning we may look at these ‘social actors’ as making their decisions with clear ideas about their intentions – because it is happening in their familiar world. In addition, we may by judging them not realizing BOX 1.4 that they may be acting out beliefs and values relevant to their social location (the strange). These examples serve to alert us that what we think of as ‘familiar’ – meaning we are accustomed to seeing it and judging it and think we understand it – may not be so at all when we recognise how ‘the strange’ is interweaved in it. As is developed in Box 1.4, the strange refers to how the wider social system impacts on everyday life. Poverty and disadvantage perhaps are two issues that one never would have brought to bear before in discussing why some people throw rubbish into the river. Similarly, the introduction of computers in schools or any other innovation is not normally viewed as relating to the hierarchical relationships that exist between principal and teachers or between teachers and students or whether teachers find the school to be enabling or coercive. In proceeding to make the familiar strange or to see the strange in the familiar, what Berger is urging us to do is to see how society is shaping our beliefs, values and behaviours in our everyday familiar world. We can only do this through a process of unmasking reality by looking beyond what is obvious and deliberately questioning what we have usually taken for granted. To do so we must try to introduce into our observations and analyses of everyday life (the familiar) the admission that society (the strange) does impact on us and our task is to assess to what extent that is happening. What’s Strange and What’s Familiar 1. Sometimes people throw large items like tyres, stoves and mattresses into a river even though they know that it could lead to flooding. Their defense is more or less that they are poor people with no organised garbage disposal facilities as occurs in affluent areas. A snap judgement here based on it being a ‘familiar’ issue would be to castigate such a person as uncaring of sustainable environmental practices. The judgement could be true but a closer understanding of the relationships operating here would show that such a judgement is unmindful of people’s lives. Poor people who feel oppressed by their location in the social system often do not have the ‘futuristic’ (and optimistic) perspective that others have who are not so bogged down in a daily struggle to survive. Throwing things into the river might also be their way of getting back at society for the marginalisation they experience. 2. There tend to be positive feelings associated with putting computers in schools as there is much conviction that computers would boost achievement. It is seldom acknowledged that computers alone cannot do the trick. It requires teachers who are computer literate and technology savvy as well as the provision of infrastructure and internet connections on the part of the school. For many teachers the move from traditional ways of operating to embracing an approach calling for consistently integrating technology with instruction is not just a matter of personal choice and capability. If the school battles with discipline problems, if teachers are at loggerheads with the principal, if teacher absenteeism and poor achievement are common, then the motivation may not be there to change accustomed ways. School culture plays a major role in whether innovation would be successful – it is seldom just about the hardware or the personal strengths of teachers. 9 10 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY It is more difficult for some persons to acquire the sociological perspective. If you are socially located in the mainstream of society – that is, you are not very different in terms of what beliefs and values you hold from the majority of people – then it would take some effort to ‘see’ the strange in the familiar. However, if you belong to groups on the margins of society – the very poor, people living with HIV/AIDS, the homeless, the disabled, and those practicing minority religions, even being a low achiever at school, you would have long been involved in critiquing and examining the taken-for-granted nature of social life. The section below continues with developing this theme of the sociological perspective. Seeing the General in the Particular This is another way that Berger (1963) has chosen to speak about the influence of the social system in an individual’s life. It refers to a search for general social patterns in the lives of particular individuals and so emphasises the role of social groups and social institutions in a person’s life. For example, we may believe that in choosing someone to marry we are responding to what we ardently desire in a mate – for example, someone with the following qualities: good-looking, having a pleasant disposition and a winning personality, being gainfully employed and possessing similar values to ourselves. If a sociologist said that you chose a mate according to the prevailing social norms for someone of your socio-economic status and ethnicity you might respond that this was absurd. That it was too impersonal. That choosing a mate had to do with making a connection with someone and surely that was a very personal matter. Chances are however (though there will be exceptions) that you chose just as the majority of people choose according to certain patterns of race, religion and social class (i.e. your social location). It may be disturbing to find out that you didn’t really ‘choose’ from a level playing field. If you are of a middle income family then there is the very real likelihood that much higher income persons do not move in your circle. The same could be said for the very poor. Choice of a mate is constrained by whom you meet on a regular basis and that is dictated by the social patterns or structures operating in mainstream society. If society brings you together on a regular basis (attend the same school, live in the same neighbourhood, work in the same area) then it is likely that your choice of a mate will come from these networks. If you got past all these social patterns and structures that obstruct one social class from interacting fully with another and really did meet someone you liked from a high income bracket the probability is that you would not be welcomed with open arms by the family. 1.2.3 Wealthy families tend to practice exclusion and act as gatekeepers to secure their fortune. The ‘general’ in this case points to how the wealthy obstruct and prevent those whom they do not approve of from accessing social mobility. It refers to social stratification (Chapter 9). Whilst marriage is of enormous significance to everyone, to those of high status and income it is viewed as a potential loophole that may allow ‘unsuitable’ persons into their family. How does ‘the particular’ come into play? If you know persons belonging to high income groups you may notice aspects of the general in their ‘particular’ lives – for example, that they go to schools with students of similar background, that they party with the same clique and that they tend to live in similar neighbourhoods. On a daily basis then persons of different social strata seldom interact closely with each other. ACTIVITY 1.4 We also see the ‘general’ operating in the ‘particular’ in other ways related to marriage and the choice of a mate. Put yourself to the test. Which of the following do you believe? • • • • • that people fall in love? in love at first sight? that love is blind? that true love is forever? that everyone has one true love? These ideas about love and marriage are fairly well solidified in the array of beliefs about courtship, love and marriage in our society. They all point to a deep belief in romantic love (something that is ‘general’). However, personally you may be skeptical about what true romance involves (mystery, wonder, and fulfillment with another). It is not easy in today’s world to totally accept a vision of one’s future life with a significant other as steeped in romance. (This is an example of ‘the particular’ operating within a generalised, idealised picture.) As a result romantic love in the society is taking a beating from the mounting incidence of divorce, domestic abuse, and the fluidity of relationships. But, we continue to see it as a prevailing belief even though there are counter-beliefs. When we see persons ‘in love’ we understand that that is an example of the general in the particular. And when we see persons deciding to remain single or unmarried whilst still being involved in relationships we are aware that counter-beliefs can exist and be growing even whilst the ‘grand narrative’ of CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE romantic love and conjugal bliss remains vibrant. If you are able to ‘see’ the general but also particular instances of contradiction then you are employing the sociological perspective. To sum up: Consider marriage. Inside a marriage a man and a woman may experience personal troubles, but when the divorce rate during the first four years of marriage is 250 out of 1,000 attempts, this is an indication of a structural issue having to do with the institutions of marriage and the family and other institutions that bear upon them. (Mills, 1959, p.9) In this section the sociological perspective was explored – ways of viewing what is sociological. It is key to the development of the sociological imagination which is our next topic. Looking for the general in the particular and looking for the strange in the familiar are just different ways of capturing our relationship with our society. Interestingly, we also saw that having the sociological perspective meant that we are able to detect the contradictions and counter-beliefs in what appear to be general society-wide beliefs. 1.3 The Sociological Imagination The sociological perspective as outlined in the section above comprises an orientation or a way of looking at things sociologically. They represent important building blocks in helping us to develop our sociological imagination. C. Wright Mills, an American sociologist (1916–62), described the sociological imagination as the ability to see how our lives and our problems are related to historical events and social forces in the world. In 1959 Mills wrote a book called The Sociological Imagination where he described how an individual’s life (biography) is linked or related to the history of his or her society. Mills began his book by saying: Nowadays men often feel that their private lives are a series of traps. They sense that within their everyday worlds, they cannot overcome their troubles, and in this feeling they are often quite correct: What ordinary men are directly aware of and what they try to do are bounded by the private orbits in which they live… (Mills, 1959, p.3) Not being able to see your troubles as linked to the structure of society may drive someone to try to personally resolve them. However, if the problem is indeed social in nature and impact, then it is hardly likely that one individual could free himself or herself from the ‘trap’. Mills goes on: Mills is saying that developing the sociological imagination would show us more realistically the nature of the problems we face. For instance, individuals must grasp the connections between their lives now and the history of their society which has structured the society as it is today. If we do not, then we may continue to feel that our personal trouble is somehow limited to ourselves and we may be helpless in ever solving it. If we can see clearly, for example, that the values which undergird traditional marriage are being swept away by secular lifestyles, feminism, educational opportunities and the media then it is likely that in a marriage partners would be more receptive to taking on non-traditional roles and responsibilities thereby heading off potential conflict. For problems like unemployment and crime the sociological imagination may enable a person to move beyond personal experiences and take part in societal movements for improving social life generally. A well-developed sociological imagination enables us to view the world more intelligently and thus be in a better position to improve our circumstances. Box 1.5 focuses on ourselves and how we can better understand the world of work through our sociological imaginations. Developing the sociological imagination then is an important task set for a sociology student. In the above section, the contribution of Mills is emphasised who suggested that in observing what is going on in social life we should also seek connections and relationships with history, biography, and culture. 1.4 The Dimensions of Sociological Thinking The sections above give some ideas about how to grasp what the study of society and sociology are all about. This way of beginning a course on sociology was deliberately chosen because often sociology is portrayed in textbooks as ‘the study of society’ and little concious effort is made to show the reader that he or she is personally involved or that the object of inquiry is quite elusive or that we already have notions of society which may interfere 11 12 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY BOX 1.5 The Individual, the Society and Work We are connected in our daily lives to the history of our society - biography and history connect. For example, we are often asked by our national leaders to buy into a particular concept of ‘development’. Tangible signs of prosperity or progress as in the construction of big buildings, huge road works such as bridges and flyovers and industrial complexes emphasise that concept of development. Less often do we hear about ‘development’ as constituting enabling relationships between altogether different sectors of society – the affluent and the poor, ethnic groups, the abled and the disabled, and government and its citizens. This dominant understanding of development links us to the world economy and values that emphasise profit making, science, technology, bureaucracy, corporations, and impersonal work relations. According to Mills, we can guage the impact of history on our lives if we reflect on how we hold such mainstream values. While we may be stressed by the pressures of modern living, do we feel that we have no choice but to go to work, take orders, and strive to achieve more and more success by seeking better jobs or with our developing sociological understandings. We go on now to summarise what a sociological study should involve – in other words how do you know that you are doing good sociology or that you are thinking sociologically? The dimensions of sociological thinking are outlined below and vary from one writer to the next but this list of characteristics receives widespread support about what gives the discipline its distinctive character. Historical Dimension The discipline of sociology has an explicit historical dimension. We already saw that in relation to Mills who showed the importance of history and biography in explaining how a person’s life is influenced by societal (historical) forces. So, when we say that sociology has an explicit historical dimension we mean that if we set out to study any aspect of social life in a sociological way we must acknowledge the impact that history has had on it. A study done without reference to history would be anti-social and therefore not good sociology. Anti-social, because context is an important factor in describing social 1.4.1 more responsibilities with higher pay? If we do then we have bought into a particular view of development. Mills would advocate that if we seek to develop our sociological imaginations we will be clearer about our personal lives and see that it is not necessarily our own ambitions that are driving us. We are embedded in a social world where certain values and paths are recognised and applauded and others are not. To reduce our working hours so that we spend more time with our families is not likely to make us popular at work because it will be introducing beliefs and values that compete with the dominant idea of development. It would also mean reduced pay and therefore less ability to purchase the consumer goods that tend to characterise a lifestyle where people say ‘he’s doing well’. How many of us are likely to opt for such choices amidst work pressures urging us towards more overtime? In fact, which companies or businesses are likely to take the view that the impersonal relationships that characterise work are a serious ‘development problem’ contributing to resentment, alienation, backbiting and in-fighting … and take measures to humanise the workplace? relations, and history situates and locates a phenomenon in time. For instance, to understand religion today in the Caribbean we have to be aware of how religions and social affairs have been connected and (re)structured over time. This may be somewhat confusing because the question that next arises is – how does sociology differ from the discipline of history and vice versa? Undoubtedly, the greatest area of difference is that history focuses on time, chronology and the unfolding of events. That is the specific focus of history although it is studying social phenomena. Sociology on the other hand turns its attention to the society at the time – group interactions based on systems of beliefs, values and behaviours which influence interrelationships between social units such as government, education, the economy, and religion. And those would have been shaped by historical forces. The discipline of history also recognises the significance of sociology in a historical account, as ‘social history’ has developed which analyses events in time from the perspectives of the people involved. Sociological thought then is historical. CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE with that of the United Kingdom but in collecting demographic data on persons who are incarcerated – the majority being young, black males – commonalities, differences and unique aspects are revealed. It is good sociology to include comparisons especially if the study targets the social system as a whole in one country. For example, if one is studying the education system in Barbados the study would not be meaningful if Barbados was not compared in some way with another country. That could be one with a similar history of colonialism and a small island developing state but it could also be quite different. The point is that it is only in the comparison (for example, of the achievement scores of students at certain key levels of the system) that we will get a good sense of how the system in Barbados is functioning (see Table 1.1 for an example from 2004). Sociology then as a discipline is comparative because all societies have organised ways of accomplishing certain purposes and sociology has evolved common terms and jargon for examining and describing these ways. Studying an aspect of the social system in one country becomes more meaningful if it is compared to how another country or society has done so. ACTIVITY 1.5 Conduct library/internet research to determine the differences between sociology and the following social science disciplines – anthropology, political science, geography and economics. Comparative Dimension Societies generate social processes and create social institutions that become part of the social structure. The social structure refers to the components of the social system – the patterns and arrangements of groups in a society which influence the interactions, beliefs, values and behaviours of members. This way of describing and analysing a society is relevant to the simplest society and the most complex. Whilst details may vary considerably from one society to the next, all societies, now and in the past, have developed basic patterns of social life that we refer to as family, the economy, justice, religion, education, governance and so on. All societies then can be studied in a systematic way through the terms and concepts used in sociology that examine social life. For example, in the study of religion sociologists have developed terms and concepts such as ‘denominational religions’, ‘cults’ and ‘sects’ as well as ‘symbols’ and ‘rituals’ which they can then apply to any society as appropriate. In this way the discipline has an inherent comparative dimension. It might not be the intention of a sociologist to deliberately compare the justice system in Jamaica, say, 1.4.2 Dynamism The object of inquiry in sociology (i.e. society) shows dynamism. 1 Social change is a natural part of all social systems. Social institutions such as the economy were once organised for hunting and gathering which then became agrarian and today we have different kinds of industrial systems. At the 1.4.3 Table 1.1 Percentage of students achieving Grade I in selected Caribbean territories for May – June 2004 Territory Percentage of students achieving Grade I at General Proficiency in CSec® examinations Biology Chemistry Mathematics English A Caribbean History Social Studies Barbados 9.54 6.08 6.73 19.30 6.30 10.59 Belize 4.00 2.51 6.87 18.07 6.77 10.66 Guyana 2.44 2.56 3.66 5.61 1.91 7.84 Jamaica 3.05 1.78 2.05 5.73 3.60 5.37 St Lucia 5.66 8.47 4.81 16.19 5.94 17.87 St Vincent & the Grenadines 3.87 2.91 2.83 11.43 1.95 8.70 16.29 13.32 11.84 18.07 7.84 8.18 Trinidad & Tobago Source: CXC, Statistical Bulletin. January and May–June CSEC sittings and May-June CAPE sitting (2004), pp. 46–78. St Michael’s, Barbados: Caribbean Examinations Council. 13 14 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY same time, all these early economic forms are still found in various parts of the world. As the economic arrangements changed so too did family life and family types. Hunting and gathering economies tended to be characterised by communal ways of living whilst agrarian ones were characterised by extended families. The Industrial Age brought with it great urban centres where the nuclear family became dominant. In sociology then the actual aspect of social life that you are studying is undergoing change as you study it. 2 The discipline itself – not only what it studies – is undergoing change. In Chapter 2 we will study the development of the discipline more fully but let us just note here that its emergence in the 18th and 19th centuries was steeped in a scientific understanding of social study. That has changed somewhat today. Additionally, the object of inquiry for early sociologists tended to be solely trained on the social system (macrosociology) and while that emphasis has continued, study of the world of individual interaction (microsociology) has expanded. Consequently, methodologies are quite diverse – narratives, life Methodology describes the methods we use for sociological research histories, and portfolios investigate social processes at the micro-level of society. At the macro-level the study of general trends in society, for example the spending patterns of the various socio-economic classes is enhanced by the use of advanced statistics and computer applications. 3 Since all of human interaction and human behaviour is social then the situations and scenarios that a sociologist could study are legion. Today sociologists are engaged in the study of an ever-expanding array of subject matter: ■ Sociology of the Environment – how social factors, processes or contexts impact on the environment. For example, the study of capitalist growth as in modern corporations, which are premised on continued profits and increased consumption, but invariably exploit the environment (see Chapter 12). ■ Sociology of the Body – how the body is portrayed in society, the beliefs and social processes associated with how the body is regarded across time and for different races and age groups and for men and women. ■ Demography – the statistical study of the structure of populations and how they change over time with respect to social processes e.g. economic, historical, cultural and biological processes (see Chapter 10). ■ Postcolonial Studies – the history of and the contemporary relations between European nations ■ ■ and the countries they colonised and how the colonial encounter has shaped social and cultural life. Queer Theory – the critique of conventional perspectives that define the ‘norm’ as heterosexual. Queer theory focuses on a range of sexualities – e.g. gay, lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, hermaphrodites, transsexuals, cross dressers, and groups such the Fa’afafine found in Hawaii, Samoa and parts of the Pacific. Mathematical Sociology – the use of models and other applications to simulate social issues which are tested using empirical data drawn from social groups. For example, the likely diffusion of a disease based on populations with different characteristics: homogeneity, socio-economic status, location, size, and composition. The Unit of Analysis When you begin to read sociological studies or you have to carry out research yourself it is essential for you to pinpoint exactly what about the social world is being studied. Although we live our lives in the midst of society we do not really think of it as a possible object of study. So, the first thing you have to clarify for yourself when reading or engaging in sociological study is what is the unit of analysis being studied – where is the focus and emphasis? ■ The macro- or systemic level would involve the study of a social issue from a broad national, regional or international viewpoint. If we take education as an example, a study which seeks to raise literacy levels in primary schools would be at the systemic level. A study seeking to find out if mothers’ level of education impacts on the nutritional status of their families would also be a systemic or macro-level study. ■ The meso-level of sociological inquiry is an intermediate location best described as the study of organisations. The boundaries between the macro and meso or the micro and meso are not as well differentiated as that between the macro and the micro. An example of a meso-level study would be to examine businesses in a particular field such as insurance or advertising to determine how they can enhance their interface with the public. ■ The micro-level of sociological study is familiarly known as the world of individual interaction involving mainly face-to-face, informal communication. In schools a micro-level study may involve a teacher and his or her class, interactions on corridors and playing fields, or interactions between teachers or between teachers and the principal. Depending on who the actors are there may be formal relationships involved. 1.4.4 CHAPTER 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE The emphasis on clarifying the unit of analysis signals something that is of major and on-going concern in the discipline of sociology. The questions that interest sociologists differ markedly at the macro- and microlevels and so the methods of research differ. The unit of analysis changes then as you move from one level to the next so that findings cannot be easily generalised. Systematic Dimension The discipline is described as ‘systematic’ – its research procedures are orderly, careful, methodical, logical and unbiased. This tends to be typical of research carried out according to the scientific method and so ‘systematic’ is often meant to be the same thing as ‘scientific’. The early founding fathers of sociology saw it as a social science not very different from the natural or physical sciences (see Chapter 2). That understanding of the nature of sociology has persisted to this day although there are some approaches to the subject which now try to emphasise more of its social side. However, the scientific method is still thought of today as the major research approach through which new knowledge is added to the discipline. The same steps are followed by scientists conducting research in the natural sciences (physics, biology) and the applied sciences (medicine, engineering). The sequence of steps and the procedures of the scientific method ensure that empirical data are collected and the findings can be generalised – applied to others who were not actually involved in the research – and this is its great strength. 1.4.5 Improvement in Social Life The central reason for engaging in sociological inquiry at all is a concern with improving social life – a desire for more enabling and empowering group relationships and interactions based on more enlightened beliefs, values and behaviours. In order to do this the discipline focuses on social problems and issues and unearths ways of relating that do not violate principles of equity and equality, or intensify contradictions and tensions, striving to achieve some vision of the ideal society. Here are some examples of possible investigations: ■ The eating and sleeping habits of the aged raise issues about the health risks involved in living alone on low incomes. Such an investigation will indicate to government and other agencies that the quality of life for this group needs to be improved. ■ All-inclusive hotels and resorts indicate that they do not rely enough on local small businesses for supply or support services (e.g. taxis, restaurants, local crafts, and guides). Rural poverty can be reduced if governments intervene and set up mutually rewarding contractual agreements with hotel chains. ■ How banks facilitate access to loans or promote saving by low-income persons may reveal a lack of understanding of the various categories of lowincome persons and the degree to which they can withstand financial emergencies. 1.4.6 Chapter Summary The discipline of sociology takes as its object of inquiry all the relationships of groups making up the social system. It therefore runs through all aspects of social life and overlaps with other social sciences. ‘Society’ in sociology refers to how groups ‘carry’ belief and value systems (and not to actual people) and these systems of interaction shape the structure of society. The sociological perspective helps the student to clarify how members relate in social groups and contributes to the development of the sociological imagination – understanding how our lives are influenced by history (or society) and world events. All sociological inquiry involves the systematic investigation of an aspect of social life where the unit of analysis is clearly defined, as well as its historical and comparative dimensions and the dynamism involved in social change. Although sometimes sociologists are criticised for studying the obvious and focusing on controversial issues, the ultimate project of sociology is to improve the world and that calls for an attitude that persists in critically appraising how we relate in social life. References Berger, P. (1963). Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective. Broadway, New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell. Clare, A. (2000). On Men: Masculinity in crisis. London: Chatto & Windus. Mills, C. W. (1959). The Sociological Imagination. London: Oxford University Press. 15 CHAPTER 1: 16 Exercises and Test Questions (A) Multiple Choice Questions Please select the BEST POSSIBLE answer. 1. In sociology, the term ‘society’ refers to (a) a collection of people who have lived in the same place for a long time (b) systems of beliefs and values borne by groups which influence interaction (c) a collective or organisation such as associations and social institutions (d) individuals and groups who live within national borders 2. Identify the object of inquiry in sociology. (a) (b) (c) (d) relationships of groups behaviours of individuals the unit of analysis the ‘good society’ 3. All of the following are examples of the statement: ‘Society is greater than the sum of its parts’ EXCEPT (a) society acts as a moral police (b) groups create rules for social living (c) society accepts and does not accept certain behaviours (d) groups comprise individuals who are social actors 4. The family, religion, and education are examples of (a) social organisations (b) social structure (c) social institutions (d) social life 5. Which of the following best illustrates the sociological perspective? The I longevity of individuals who subsist on fish as a staple in the diet II causes of student indiscipline at the primary and secondary levels III relations between the unemployed and the downturn in the economy (a) (b) (c) (d) I and II II and III I and III I, II and III 6. Which one of the following refers to a person’s social location? Their (a) socio-economic status (b) habits and dispositions (c) family type (d) emotions, feelings, and fears 7. All of the following are ways of collecting empirical data EXCEPT (a) questionnaires administered to juvenile delinquents about their treatment by the police (b) house to house collection of census data every 5 years (c) documenting one’s own experiences and insights in an autobiography (d) interviews of newly qualified teachers about their first-year teaching experiences 8. The sociological imagination can best be described as (a) the ways in which our individual lives are shaped by the social context (b) the ways in which the social context is shaped by our individual lives (c) relationships between individuals at the micro-level of interaction (d) relationships between groups at the macro or systemic level 9. The unit of analysis in sociology refers to (a) (b) (c) (d) the aspect of social life under investigation groups, associations and individuals social institutions and social organisations the social system of beliefs and values 10. Which of the following refers to the comparative element in sociology? (a) choosing the unit of analysis for a study (b) applying the scientific method in the study of migration in the Caribbean (c) using sociological data from one country and assessing it against that of another (d) being mindful that sociological study includes the historical dimension. 17 (B) Structured Response Questions (C) Essay Questions Each response should be about two or three lines. Each item carries 4 marks. (2) Describe what is meant in sociology by the term ‘society’. In this section some essay questions are given and guidelines on how to answer them. The questions may involve further research building on what the chapter offers. A specimen answer to the first of these essays is provided for critique on pages 21–22, with critical annotations. (3) Describe TWO examples of ‘relationships’ in sociology. The essay should be at least three pages long (three sides of paper), and show: (1) Create your own definition of sociology. (4) Explain what ‘seeing the general in the particular’ means. (5) What sociological commonalities are there between diverse subject areas such as the sociology of the environment and demography? ■ not only descriptive skill but analytical skills as well – i.e. critical and reflective thinking boosted by examples and counter-examples; ■ evidence of reading sociological literature and using that as a base to pull quotes and summarise the views and theories of the field; ■ a strong grasp of the discipline so that the jargon and object of inquiry is clearly sociological and not based on everyday or common sense notions; ■ basic skills in essay writing, including developing an argument and organising it efficiently, and crafting it so that the logic is clear; and ■ treating the ‘Introduction’ and ‘Conclusion’ as valid parts of the essay each with a function to perform (6) How is biography important in a sociological study? (7) Describe an example from your own experience that relates to the sociological imagination. (8) Using examples show the differences between ‘the social’, ‘the personal’ and ‘the anti-social’. (9) Distinguish between the ‘object of inquiry’ and the ‘unit of analysis’ in sociological study. (10) Explain what is ‘systematic’ in the study of sociology as a discipline. (1) Explain what is meant by this statement: ‘In sociology society can be viewed as a process.’ (2) Examine the differences (and the commonalities) between the disciplines of sociology and history. (3) ‘Sociology is the systematic study of the social behaviour of human beings focusing on how social relationships shape behaviour and attitudes.’ Examine this statement showing whether it is an adequate summation of the discipline of sociology. (4) Explain why it is important that someone new to the discipline of sociology should thoroughly understand what is meant by ‘the unit of analysis’. (5) Discuss FOUR (4) benefits of learning or doing sociology. CHAPTER 1: 18 Sample Answer and Critique Explain what is meant by this statement: ‘In sociology society is a process.’ Introduction The discipline of sociology continually suffers from the common sense notions we learn about society from living in society. The typical ideas about society that we have developed by growing up in society tend to regard it as a thing whereas in how sociology approaches the study of any aspect of social life there are more indications that processes are involved than otherwise. This essay will show that sociology is a discipline with a particular view of society that is very different from the common beliefs we have learned and that if we examine this view we can see clearly that society is indeed a process. An argument is being developed carved out of a simple strategy of putting commonsense ideas of society against those of the discipline. Middle The simplest belief we all share is that society is a collection of people living in one place over time. This view sees society as a specific entity that is limited geographically or confined to national borders. Undoubtedly, it is a thing contained in a space and not only is this the way it is spoken of in everyday affairs but other disciplines tend to employ this notion of society. For example, when we study history we learn about how, let’s say Arawak or Taino society, was organized. That usually involved how the economic, religious, and political affairs were conducted. It was conceived as something static and contained in time. Only if something drastic happened, like the coming of the Europeans, was change acknowledged. However, there are notions of society which are also found in everyday life that attribute to society more than it being just a static entity. The popular sayings that ‘society would not allow that behaviour’ or that ‘society acts as a moral police’ address the idea of society as a force that controls and organizes our beliefs, values and behaviours. These ideas co-exist with those that regard it as a thing, and even while it is being acknowledged as a force – there is still the tendency to think of it as a thing that is a force rather than a process that is a force. Thus, the readiness with which persons accept the sociological view that society is a process tends to be obstructed by their everyday experience. Sociology conceptualizes society as groups or associations who relate in different ways based on their beliefs and values which shape behaviours and in so doing develop or create the social structure of the society. The social structure can be described in different ways but essentially it relates to society as a system with an organized and characteristic pattern of relationships. One of these patterns is our membership in different socio-economic classes (our family background) and how we interrelate with other classes as well as within our own social class. An example of interaction or inter-relationships could be seen in how the different social groups are located in schools and eventually what jobs they access on the labour market. Here we see inter relationships involving the social To make the argument clear, examples and expansion are given of everyday use. Introducing here a critical component – complexity and confusion about understanding society as a process. After setting the stage or the context, sociology as a discipline is now fully fleshed out using one extended example about social structure. 19 institutions of the family, education and the economy. The groups each have to undergo socialization processes at home and at school, as well as experience the curriculum over a period of years to obtain credentials for further education or the world of work. As they go through these varied processes they take up their place (or social location) relative to each other and so continue to develop the social system (or, society). By simply discussing the inter relationships between any groups we are able to expose the processes at work in shaping their beliefs, values and behaviours and so we see society as being in process, always developing. This stance of sociology – that society is a process – is at the heart of how it views the social world namely that social life is dynamic and that its historical element must be stressed. The dynamism of social life means that attention must be devoted to social change in the study of any issue in a sociological way. (One perspective, Marxism actually emphasizes the role of change in how social classes are created throughout history.) If sociology places this emphasis on social change and history then it must view society as more fluid or diffuse than just a thing and always in the grip of immanent change. If this is so then society has more attributes of being a process than a thing. Finally, according to Sztompka (1994) the idea of society as a process makes the best sense because of the endless and continuing ways that society constructs and re-constructs itself over time. Groups and individuals construct society which (acting as a moral police) in turn constructs groups and individuals. Reflecting and critically thinking about an idea or issue can lead to insights – e.g. of analytical thinking. Re-stating the argument for the reader to maintain the logic of the paper. Evidence from the literature. Conclusion That the term ‘society’ poses so much uncertainty for sociology students could also be due to the actual terms that are used – ‘structure’, ‘system’, ‘organization’. (This could be because of the influence of the oldest and most dominant perspective in sociology, functionalism, which tends to stress order and stability.) Thus, the confusion does not just emanate from the everyday grasp of society as an entity but within sociology itself there is a view of society which retains elements of it being looked upon as an object. As is the case with many aspects of social life clear definitions are elusive. As a result, in sociology society is conceptualized mainly as a process but there are perspectives which continue to view it as also being a thing in itself. A conclusion does not always have to be a summary. It could also put a different spin and at the same time draw the main ideas together. Bibliography Sztompka, P. (1994). The Sociology of Social Change. Oxford: Blackwell. A little short on the literature. 20 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY The major expectations of this chapter are that you will recognise that: ■ accounts of the origins and development of sociology tend to have an Eurocentric bias; ■ sociology as a discipline is continuing to develop and so today many branches or subdivisions occur within each of the major sociological perspectives; ■ the idea of sociology as a science began with the origins of the discipline and continues today especially in the dominant sociological perspectives; ■ the sociological study of Caribbean societies owes much to our own indigenous theorists and those debates have enriched sociological theorising in the wider world; ■ colour, class, race, ethnicity, and education among other factors are deeply embedded in the study of sociological issues in the Caribbean; ■ students of Caribbean sociology must also appreciate Caribbean history which provides links to the present context(s); and ■ sociology as it evolved in the Caribbean was very much an inter-disciplinary area of inquiry, integrating insights especially from anthropology, political economy, economics and history. CHAPTER 2: THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY 2 The Discipline of Sociology The story of sociology begins for the most part in Europe, from where it crossed the Atlantic and flourished in North America, and from where in turn it was imported into the Caribbean. This chapter outlines the origins of sociology and the major theorists in the field, known popularly as the Founding Fathers of the discipline. Each one is linked to a sociological perspective – a well-defined approach to understanding the social world – that each theorist helped to develop. The chapter then moves on to consider whether sociology is a science, because in the early origins of the discipline it was clearly thought of in this way and this question continues to preoccupy us. Finally, we examine the development of sociology in the Caribbean looking particularly at how it has been influenced by the nature of its origins overseas and how the local context has added to the discipline. 2.1 The Origins of Sociology The Founding Fathers of the Discipline Sociology is an academic discipline like chemistry or history. Academic knowledge on the whole tends to be 2.1.1 A discipline is an organised body of knowledge with its own concepts (e.g. social change and socialisation) and typical research methods which add new knowledge. classified into the humanities, the social sciences and the natural sciences with some disciplines overlapping, such as psychology (social science and natural science) and geography (which straddles all three). Sociology is classified as a social science and compared to other disciplines it is of relatively recent origin. The Fathers of Sociology (or at least mainstream sociology) were Auguste Comte and Émile Durkheim. Auguste Comte (1798–1857) is hailed as the founder of sociology. He and Durkheim developed different versions of a philosophy known as positivism. Comte’s theory, a science of society, focused on the role and function of science in the development of society. For him sociology was ‘the queen of the sciences‘. Sociology therefore had to have a scientific basis, and this was judged as reliance on empirical data (see Box 2.1) to discover the laws of Empirical data is based on experience, observations and measurement. Auguste Comte Émile Durkeim human social action. To discover these laws was the ultimate project of sociology and underlies the quest of Comte and others for the bases of social order. Like Comte, Émile Durkheim (1858–1917) lived in France at a time of rapid social change marked by the growth of business and industry, wars and the expanding colonial empires of European countries. Social change encourages those who study the society to try to explain what is happening. Durkheim, building on the work of Comte, developed the Functionalist Perspective ( Chapter 3) in sociology which likened society to an organism with 21 22 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY parts (social institutions and customs) that contributed to the maintenance of social solidarity. Durkheim believed that achieving social solidarity (known in sociology as consensus) was the goal or purpose of a society and thus what a sociologist should study. For example, he did not see religion as only something personal but rather with strong implications for social solidarity and cohesion. Durkheim developed the discipline of sociology so that it was studied for the first time at university. In the spirit of Comte, it was taught as the science of society. One of Durkheim’s main contributions was to demonstrate the existence of social facts independent of human beings. In his empirical study of suicide he argued that whether people changed religions, emigrated or became prosperous, suicide would still occur. It was therefore an objective social fact. He was equally renowned for the rigour with which he conducted research. In 1895 he published the Rules of the Sociological Method outlining the application of what was called ‘the scientific method’ to sociology. His empirical studies of religion, crime, education, and the law demonstrated how sociology could be studied – analyzing social facts through experimental, quantitative methods that relied on statistics. Both Comte and Durkheim were concerned with the problem of social order. Social order is one of the principles of sociology (like socialisation) and refers to the processes in a society which tend to keep relationships steady and stable so that certain behaviours, attitudes and values become ‘normalised’. Durkheim, largely because of his empirical work (Box 2.1), which emphasised the usefulness of quantitative data in generalizing findings BOX 2.1 and conclusions to large social groups, continues to be a major figure in sociology. ACTIVITY 2.1 Critical thinking ‘Comte is hailed as the founder of sociology.’ Is this a realistic claim? Can any one person be regarded as the founder of a discipline? (The study of social life goes back to at least the Greeks and Egyptians. And in Europe there were earlier thinkers on whose work Comte built.) Conduct your own research to determine which thinkers influenced the development of Comte’s sociology. Mainstream sociology today is squarely based on the contributions of Durkheim in configuring the discipline as a science, adhering to empirical data and ‘the scientific method’, emphasizing order in society and focusing research on the social system. His work is rooted in positivism, understood as the philosophy undergirding the natural sciences and views reality as lying in the outside world, an objective reality (Box 2.2). BOX 2.2 Positivism Positivism is closely aligned with empiricism. It is a philosophical position that says that the only true reality is that which lies outside of us which we can observe, measure, experience and test. It is the view of reality or philosophy underlying the natural sciences. The methods used by scientists are therefore empirical in nature. Empiricism Empiricism refers to a way of knowing that it is claimed gives rise to true and valid knowledge. This way of knowing comes from our senses and is known as sensory knowledge or data. If we can hear, touch, taste, see or smell something we agree that it exists and is real. We can experience it and we have evidence against which we can test those experiences. This position rejects dreams, visions, intuition, imagination, and the emotion as sources of valid knowledge – all cannot experience them in the same way, nor are they available to double-check as evidence. Empirical data represents knowledge at the heart of what has come to be known as the ‘scientific method’. Karl Marx Karl Marx (1818–83), another giant in the development of the discipline, was a German philosopher who devoted his life to studying political economy – the study of politics, economics and sociology. Marx examined the range of social institutions to discover how power and influence developed and how that impacted different groups of people over time in different countries. He CHAPTER 2: THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY too lived at a time of great social stress (the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain) and witnessed first hand the exploitation of the poorer classes by the new industrialists and capitalists. Marx’s contribution to sociology differed from that of Comte and Durkheim – he felt that conflict and contradiction more readily explained social conditions than order and consensus – and so set in motion the development of another kind of sociology that was not based on positivism but on dialectics (see Chapter 3). Marx differed too in how he thought of ‘society’. He spoke of it as the ‘social formation’, underscoring that it was not complete and fully developed but always in the process of change. In his critique of social development over time he showed that the search for order was misguided, that what needed to be studied was the dynamic of conflict. In studying both of these sociological perspectives – Functionalism and Marxism – we will discover that they conceive of key terms differently, for example, ‘society’, ‘conflict’, ‘contradiction’, and ‘labour’, and so these terms have to be used carefully. Marx (together with Engels) developed a theory of how societies change over time and thus became the cofounder of the Conflict/Marxist Perspective in sociology. He focused the study of society on social change rather than social order. The main idea in Marx’s work is that the history of all societies is the history of class struggle. That is a Marxist principle and he looked for and wrote about how class is structured in any era, for example early, feudal and capitalist societies. According to Marx, class struggle develops out of conflict and contradiction within the economy and relations between the social classes and will reach a point where one class will become dominant (and the process continues until the state withers away). The philosophy undergirding Marx’s thought is known as dialectical materialism (Chapter 3). This has its origins in the philosophy of the German philosopher Georg Hegel who elaborated a comprehensive system showing that all philosophies over time were overtaken by other ideas in continuous struggle or conflict (the dialectic). But the process of engaging with the other ideas, mediating them, resolving them or otherwise, did not necessarily diminish the original ideas or reduce one to another. They were all part of the evolution or progress of human existence. Max Weber (1864–1920), a German sociologist and historian, pursued studies in law, politics, history, economics and sociology. He was a contemporary of Durkheim’s and put sociology on yet another path by rejecting positivism and its exclusive reliance on objective knowledge and instead made a case for embracing subjectivity. He felt that a ‘social’ science which investigated social processes should be more concerned with the values and behaviours of individuals rather than only ‘objective’ data. Sociology was now recognizing the possibilities of the micro-level of human interaction and the contexts in which people lived in an attempt to explain society. Functionalism and Marxism Max Weber tended to focus only on the system or the macro-level. Studying something as complex as society in this way, was more far-reaching than the methods of Comte and Durkheim, who did not admit the significance of the subjective aspects of individual behaviour, and of Marx, who focused mainly on the institution of the economy. ACTIVITY 2.2 Using an Index Weber, like Marx and Durkheim, has made a monumental contribution to the discipline of sociology. Use the index at the back of the book to find details on all of the sociologists discussed here – each chapter will describe how their thought has influenced sociological theorising on many different topics. Today we study Comte, Durkheim, Marx and Weber as founders of different sociologies. Their work developed into at least three different and competing theories of society, called sociological perspectives: Functionalism (Comte and Durkheim), Conflict Theory or Marxism (Engels and Marx) and Interactionism (Weber), all of which are discussed in Chapter 3. Developments within the Discipline Sociology as a discipline was mainly concerned with improvements in social conditions, including the necessity for order in society. This concern was reflected from time to time in the writings of European philosophers predating Comte. In periods of extreme violence and misery those who studied social life – philosophers, political scientists, historians, lawyers, and theologians – sought theoretical understandings of how conditions could be changed so that people could live in freedom and safety. 2.1.2 23 24 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Sociology eventually moved across the Atlantic and was taught at universities in the United States where the dominant perspective was Functionalism. Caribbean sociology began with a strong Functionalist orientation largely because university lecturers had been schooled in the United States and influenced by such persons as Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton. Later scholars continued to develop the ideas of the original theorists, sometimes into approaches having different emphases so that there is variety within any one perspective. A discipline becomes established normally through the work of universities – through the research conducted by faculty, the courses they teach, the textbooks they write and the journals they establish. In this way a mainstream approach to the discipline develops which defines its main concepts and methods. When there are enough faculty members interested in other approaches to the subject, and only then, are additional concepts and diverse methods recognised. Sociology was first taught at universities in the United States around the 1920s and in the Caribbean around the 1960s and it was the Functionalist approach which was dominant (based on the philosophy of positivism). Today it continues to be dominant but other perspectives namely Marxist/ Conflict perspectives and Interpretive theory also receive a great deal of attention (see Figure 2.1). 1785 Functionalism / Structural Functionalism 1800 1850 Auguste Comte (1798-1857) France In Chapter 1 we learned a specialised meaning for the term ‘society’ in sociology – the interaction of social groups based on their systems of beliefs, values and behaviours. However, there is another understanding of society that has become prominent over time not only in the discipline but in layman’s use as well. That is, equating the society with the state. In the late 19th and 20th centuries sociology began to take on a narrower focus researching events and processes important to the nation state. National sociologies developed such as British sociology or French sociology which continued the process of differentiation within the discipline. ■ British sociology emphasised empiricism, quantitative and statistical studies and facts rather than on explanatory theory. ■ French sociology – possibly because of the enormous upheaval caused by the French Revolution – emphasised rationalism and social order. ■ German sociology was informed by idealism which maintained that there was no objective world without the knowing subject. This is a tenet today of interactive sociology – namely that the nature and organisation of society is not a thing in itself but a product of the mind. And the human mind in turn is informed by society. 1900 1950 Émile Durkheim (1858-1917) France Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) Britain Robert Merton (1910-2003) USA Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) USA Marxism / Conflict Theory Karl Marx (1818-1883) Germany, Britain Antonio Gramsci (1891-1927) Italy Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) Germany Nicos Poulantzas (1936-1979) Greece Louis Althusser (1918-1990) France Ralf Dahrendorf (1929-2009) Germany, Britain C.Wright Mills (1916-1962) USA Interactionism / Interpretive Theory Max Weber (1864-1920) Germany George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) USA Charles Horton Cooley (1864-1929) USA Alfred Schutz (1899-1959) Austria Harold Garfinkel, (born 1917 USA Figure 2.1 The sociological perspectives 2000 2015 CHAPTER 2: THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY ACTIVITY 2.3 Researching Sociology as a Discipline Research the ideas of the following thinkers and answer the question embedded in each short biography. 1. Ibn Khaldùn,an Arab thinker living in the 14th century, developed a theory of society that is quite highly regarded though typical accounts of the growth and development of sociology usually leave out his contribution. His ideas only became available in the West in the 19th century. Q. Research his ideas and discuss why you think he is excluded from standard accounts of the origin of the discipline. 2. Harriet Martineau (1802–76) published a sociological study of the United States and translated Comte’s work into English before Durkheim, Marx or Weber had begun to establish their presence. Q. Suggest why in this age of more enlightened views about women, she remains marginalised in courses and textbooks of sociology. 3. Jane Addams (1860–1935), born in Illinois, USA, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931. She pioneered social work services for poor children and women in the 1890s and her efforts spawned a huge social reform movement. There were prejudices afoot then in the academy that routed women towards social work and men to sociology. Harriet Martineau Q. Suggest why even today she is not widely known for such achievements. 4. W.E.B. DuBois (1868–1963) was a black American academic who wrote extensively on the plight of black people in the USA. His most famous work is The Souls of Black Folks, published in 1903. He was active in the civil rights movement and became a communist, looking for equality in society. Q. While he is better known than the above three thinkers, he is rarely mentioned in sociology texts. Suggest why. W.E.B. DuBois SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING! When ‘society’ became equated with the state in certain countries this promoted the rise of the state as a major player in social thought. It then became necessary to distinguish ‘civil society’ as separate from national society. Civil society refers to all those organisations such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and social movements which are found in a country but which are not directly related to the state or the market. In the 21st century when globalisation is blurring the distinctions across countries, there is a call for sociology to re-tool its major concept, society, and to recognise …processes that somehow operate ‘beyond’ and ‘across’ national borders, undercutting the power of the governments of particular nation-states fully to control activities within their designated territories. (Inglis & Robertson, 2004, p. 169) When recounting the history of sociology, the charge is sometimes made that the story has a bias that is largely Eurocentric. It supposes that what happened in Western Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries – industrialisation, modernisation, urbanisation – is the blueprint for progress that other nations had yet to experience. For example, it was felt that colonialism would encourage the growth of modern economies and a better quality of life incountries on the periphery. Today, however the The periphery is the ‘outskirts’ or the colonies surrounding the metropole or mother/imperial country. 25 26 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY counter-charge is made that we are so grounded in a Western style of life that whilst we may have been powerless to control Eurocentric values in the past, now they pervade the world and so cannot only be described as ‘Eurocentric’ (McLennan, 2000). A related charge is that in To overcome these biases, ex-colonies (including in the Caribbean) are seeking to develop sociologies that resist and deconstruct the values inherent in mainstream sociology. Examples include postcolonial theorising and critical theory. Moreover, methodologies are increasingly diverse moving away from the dominance of the ‘scientific method’. Many are sceptical of the sociologist’s claim that the methodologies of the chemist or physicist could just as easily be employed in studying the social world. We should note here that scientists (and thus sociologists) tended to regard the ‘scientific method’, based on induction, as the methodology of science and the criterion whereby something was judged worthy of being called ‘science’. Induction assumes that in the study of natural or social phenomena observations are essential. If there is evidence of many identical observations recurring over and over then a conclusion is made and publicised as a law or a generalisation. The researcher then moves from many ‘particular’ instances or observations to a ‘general’ statement or conclusion. In sociology, Durkheim discovered through the use of induction that suicide was an objective social fact. Today, however, scientists themselves use different methods and there is no longer only one scientific method. We have to dig deeper to find adequate reasons to describe sociology as a science. One way is to look at what science aims to do and what characteristics we can describe to see if sociology closely resembles it. Postcolonial theorising is literature or thinking which opposes relationships developed under colonialism or imperialism. Generally such writings address the problems and conflicts brought on by whites in the societies they colonized and reflect on-going attempts by Third World peoples to develop an authentic identity uncontaminated by their colonial heritage. 1 Science attempts to explain the world so that any hypotheses or laws are not just abstract statements describing nature but genuine attempts to develop more knowledge about the world. Not too long ago scientists were portrayed as disinterested observers producing knowledge for knowledge’s sake. Critical theory, begun in Germany at the University of Frankfurt, is a movement in social theory which seeks to critique traditional understandings and go beyond the development of social theory to implementing policies to enact social change. 2 The scientist follows systematic procedures or rules based on logic (for example, inductive or deductive reasoning) and evidence in coming to conclusions. The knowledge produced is ‘objective’ and ‘impartial’, distinguishing it from knowledge based only on opinions or beliefs. It is not difficult using these two criteria to agree that sociology is a science. From its earliest origins, sociology was always about solving social problems, although the slant was then on maintaining social order. If science is focused on explaining and predicting phenomena in our environment so as to discover new knowledge and address problems then by this criterion sociology is a science. The second criterion proposes methodologies that are systematic and rigorous and follow rules of logic. Sociological methods, whether quantitative or qualitative approaches, follow systematic procedures in research. Research can follow the inductive, deductive or some other logic and still be regarded as scientific. … sociological theory textbooks or works on the history of social theory, the subject–object dichotomy is a pervasive theme. Europeans are the knowing subjects, i.e. the social theorists and social thinkers. To the extent that non-Europeans figure in these accounts, they are objects of the observations and analyses of the European theorists. (Alatas, 2006, p. 790) 2.2 Is Sociology a Science? The Founding Fathers of the discipline (Comte, Durkheim, Marx and Weber) laid the foundations for three different sociological theories. To a greater or lesser extent, they all thought of sociology as the science of society. The problem for many people is that while sociology is a social science, Comte and Durkheim and their followers claimed that it could be studied just like a natural science. CHAPTER 2: THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY ACTIVITY 2.4 Is Sociology a Science? Fill in the blanks in the following passage using words listed below. research congruence observations deduction instruments scientist doubt experiments generalisation sociologies methods chemistry Interactionist scientific logical While it is true that sociology is very different in terms of content to a natural science subject like , the debate about whether it is a science does not turn on content but on . In other words, is there some close between what the scientist does and what the sociologist does in finding out new knowledge ( )? The brings an objective stance to observations, relies on such as thermometers, and records measurements and observations derived from these instruments. Many will have to be done so that a confident can be made that ‘all gases, at standard temperature and pressure, …etc, etc’. It is not just what a scientist does that makes this scientific but how s/he goes about the work – using rigorous and systematic procedures, and using to repeatedly determine if the findings are falsifiable. There are enough differences between what the scientist does and what the sociologist does to introduce as to whether they are both doing the same thing. However, there are similarities. For example, the scientist uses induction, and other methods of inquiry. The different (Functionalist, Marxist and ) also use different methods. The methods of the first two perspectives actually resemble quite closely that of the scientist. But, whether the actual methods resemble or differ, the deciding factor is whether they both operate according to the standards of research – is the study or the research conducted in a systematic manner, is the conceptual framework and the procedures , are the methods and strategies used rigorous (meaning are they applied in ways that emphasise being thorough, precise, and meticulous? The correctly filled in passage can be found in the answer pages (p. 436). 2.3 Sociology in the Caribbean The discipline of sociology came to our shores in the 20th century and was first taught by foreign lecturers and then by Caribbean scholars educated in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. As an academic discipline, sociology was first offered at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Campus, in the latter half of the 20th century and whilst its beginnings are deeply influenced by the perspective of Structural Functionalism (Chapter 3), Caribbean sociologists went on to develop a vibrant and strongly contextual Caribbean sociology. This brought our indigenous history, culture and society to extend the concepts and theories of the ‘First World’. For example, contesting models of Caribbean society developed by Caribbean sociologists continue to engage the international community in critique and discussion. Early Developments Long before any university came to offer the academic discipline of sociology, there were people describing and recording their observations of the society, in an official and sometimes a personal capacity. The literate tended to be European and so we have much in the way of official dispatches, census and tax data, together with some books and articles, but very little from the enslaved population. This body of largely historical documents provides an 2.3.1 27 28 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY important sociological data base showing how people interpreted the times based on their social location. During the colonial era, data about social life and issues in the Caribbean were compiled by the authorities and mainly concerned the administration of the colony. A vast array of statistics, official communication, and letters are stored at the Archive of the Indies, Seville, Spain, and British colonial documents at the National Archives, Kew, in Surrey, United Kingdom. Locally, similar documents are found in museums and government archives. This body of information provides archival and documentary data for historical and sociological analysis. From time to time these records were supplemented by microsociological or interpretive data (see Chapter 3) from persons attempting to describe and document their lives and the nature of the times. They wrote journals, memoirs, family letters, autobiographies, newspaper articles and critiques of existing circumstances. Personal and literary narratives from the past, written by Caribbean people or about the Caribbean, are sociological in that they portray social life. They detail the interaction of groups (e.g. between the planter class and the enslaved) and how the society was structured at different points in time (e.g. before and after slavery and during and BOX 2.3 after colonialism). However, we must keep in mind that they are hardly likely to follow the sociologist’s rules for evidence and depend a great deal on subjective experience and opinion. As a result, they highlight bias and the factors constraining relations between the different ethnic groups – and this is instructive and important for us to know (Table.2.1). Note that biographies and autobiographies can contain sociological insights such as commentary on social class as well as gender relationships in courting and mating practices (see Box 2.3). This kind of data is important in qualitative research where the focus is on trying to understand a group by attention to the detailed contexts of their lives. The information cannot be taken only at face value by the qualitative researcher but also as an indicator of how the storyteller is located, what his or her biases and world views are as s/he comments on others. Note that this is not empirical data – it was captured by observation but it cannot be captured again (there is no external referent) so that it is the stuff of memory, reflection and analysis. This therefore is very different from Functionalist or Marxist research because it relies wholly on subjective data. Excerpts from the Autobiography of a Runaway Slave Below are three quotations from The Autobiography of a Runaway Slave (Montejo, 1993). One of the funny things about those days was courting. When a young man had his eye on a girl he would use thousands of tricks. They didn’t set about these things the way they do now, quite openly. There was more mystery; and tricks, all sorts of tricks. If I wanted to make a respectable woman fall for me, I dressed myself in white and walked right by her without looking at her. I did this several days running until the time came when I decided to ask her something. The women liked seeing men dressed in white. A black man like me in white was something which caught the eye. A hat was an essential piece of equipment, because you could do a thousand and one things with it: put it on, take it off, raise it to a woman and ask, “Well, how are you then? (p. 121) The priest might call round too, although they were more concerned about visiting the rich people. All those saintly types were after cash. When people were married they had to pay six or seven pesos, rich and poor alike. Poor people, plantation workers, were married in the chapel, which was at the back of the church. Rich people were married right in the middle, in front of the main altar, and they had benches with cushions on them, whereas the poor sat on wooden stools in the chapel or sacristy, as it was sometimes called. (p. 122) If I count up all the women I had at Ariosa it seems that I must have had any number of children, but the strange thing is I never knew of a single one. At least, none of the women who lived with me in the barracoon ever had any. The others, the women I took into the woods, used to come and say, “This boy is yours”, but how could you ever be certain with them? Besides, children were a big problem in those days. You couldn’t educate them because there weren’t any schools like there are now. (p. 125) CHAPTER 2: THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY Table 2.1 Sources of early Caribbean history/sociology Early writers, historians and sociologists Details Source Thomas Thistlewood (1721–86) A slave owner in Jamaica, who wrote 37 volumes detailing his life and relationships. Burnard, 2004 Mary Prince (b.1788) Born in Bermuda, Prince wrote her autobiography as an enslaved person. Prince, 1831 Lady Maria Nugent (1771–1834) The wife of the governor of Jamaica, who kept a diary (1801–5) giving insights on slavery and colonial relationships from the perspective of a traditional white woman Wright, 2002 John Jacob Thomas (1841–89) A village school master in Trinidad, who wrote Froudacity: West Indian Fables Explained, in which he contested the views of James Froude, Professor of History at Oxford University who had published The English in the West Indies (1888). Froude’s account insulted Africans saying that their bid for decolonisation would inevitably result in a chaos similar to that of Haiti. Thomas vigorously challenged Froude’s views, the title of his book being a masterpiece of Caribbean humour. Here we see two polarised views: one the English ‘monarch’ of all he surveyed, the other daring to resist and ‘talk back’ to the empire Thomas, 1888 Edward Underhill (1813–1901) His book The West Indies: Their Social and Religious Condition (1863) came out of Underhill’s journeys across Jamaica gathering data about the living conditions of the peasantry. He was able to give a reasonably substantiated account of the development of two classes: the estate labourers and the independent peasantry. His description is detailed, for example showing that the labourers had a supplementary means of income through small, scattered plots in the mountains. Although empirical, it did not use any kind of theory to explain the findings. Robotham, 2002 Miguel Barnet (b.1940) A Cuban researcher who in 1963 recorded the story of Esteban Montejo, then 103 years old, giving his experiences as a runaway in Cuba where slavery ended in 1886 (see extract in Box 2.3). It is a book of memories, commentaries and analyses and shows a high level of detail in recounting the social life of the enslaved population in Cuba. Montejo, 1993 29 30 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY However, Caribbean sociologists and other social scientists disagreed and felt that much could be learnt from this ‘variation’. ACTIVITY 2.5 Sociological Research 1. Research one or more of the writers in the table and read some of their work. Explain how the document can help the sociologist to develop theories about the society of that time. 2. Research a historical Caribbean document from an archive in your territory or a neighbouring territory. Describe how the document can be used for sociological research and analyse the information contained in it. What instances of bias or of the writer’s own situation must be watched for? Sociology Comes of Age The story of the establishment of sociology as a discipline in the English-speaking Caribbean began in 1948, when with a grant from the British Government the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) was founded at the University College of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. The Institute was established because local research was needed to support teaching and learning in the social science disciplines of political science, economics, government and sociology. These disciplines gradually came on board as separate departments within the Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Department of Sociology opened in 1961. Faculty members were mainly British at first but by the mid1960s Caribbean scholars were taking their place as lecturers and researchers and whilst they mainly reflected the orientation to the discipline they had been taught abroad (Functionalism), they brought about a Caribbean contextualisation to the different social sciences. 2.3.2 They ran headlong, however, into resistance and hostility from the British researchers who formed the core of the teaching departments who felt that there were no social and economic problems specific to the Caribbean and that the creation of a Caribbeanoriented economics, sociology or political science would lead to a dangerous parochialism. (Paul, 2008, para 5) The charge of parochialism indicated that Caribbean researchers were engaging in work that others felt was too narrow in scope and that important dimensions in the study of social issues were being neglected. Foreign social scientists thought that an autonomous or selfdirected tradition in sociology in the Caribbean did not make sense because the concepts of the discipline would be the same as in Britain – there would just be variation in how they were ‘lived’ in this context. An autonomous social science tradition [is] generated and developed by local scholars, guided by the selection of problems from within the society. (Alatas, 2006, p. 7) The Plantation Model Beginning in the 1960s and continuing, Caribbean theorists have produced a body of research and sociological thought that was substantial enough to refine and question traditional social theory. Within the Faculty of Social Sciences at Mona a group of scholars known as the New World Group sought to revolutionise Old World theorising by seeking to make it relevant to Caribbean realities. Both Lloyd Best (1934–2007) and George Beckford (1934–1990) were foundation members of this group and offered the Plantation Model as a theory of Caribbean society and development. In the Caribbean we are all introduced and transplanted populations. … There were no households; there was no production for domestic consumption. There were no families. There were slaves and there were indentured workers. We brought them as individuals. So we had to construct a society out of that. (Best, 2003, p. 427) The model was proposed in works written by Best (1968), Beckford (1972) and Levitt (Best & Levitt, 1975) who all shared a perspective based in political economy. They analysed the social and economic institutions of Caribbean society to demonstrate that the ‘plantation society’ was a society in a historic, dependent relationship with metropolitan countries. Their views are based on the Conflict perspective (Chapter 3) and are broadly similar to the Dependency Theories coming out of Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s. Some of the work on the Plantation Model is Marxist in orientation whilst some is Structural Functionalist. This Plantation Model had several variants. The term ‘plantation’ is used to describe Caribbean society then, and now. It is used as a metaphor in referring to the society today. In the past it was very much a reality. The metaphor is useful because although in many countries the estates and plantations of yesteryear have given way to tourism, mining, and light manufacturing, while the system of social stratification has been modified by upward social mobility for many, Caribbean society remains fundamentally tied to a plantation model. This means that (a) in Caribbean countries the social relations of production are very similar to life on the CHAPTER 2: THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY plantations in the past and (b) our economies continue to be based on dependent relationships with metropolitan countries. George Beckford’s (1972) analysis begins historically to show how the interaction of the social, economic and political institutions of the colonial era produced (and re-produced) plantation sociGeorge Beckford ety. He characterised plantation societies as places where: ■ During slavery, on the plantations a large group or groups of people were held in an organisation closely supervised by a small number of persons, of a different race. All aspects of the lives of persons held in total institutions (boarding schools, prisons, asylums) are controlled by those in authority. The plantation was a total institution. ■ Different racial and cultural groups were brought as labour and intermixing was discouraged. Social integration was therefore weak so that today there continues to be polarisation of the different groups. In this respect, Beckford seemed to have accepted Smith’s view of a plural society. ■ Authority and power lay with the white groups and their allies and so, on the plantation itself, and in the society at large, a hierarchy developed where race was institutionalised in the social and occupational structure. Authority and power today lie in white, coloured, or black groups which have more or less continued the practices of the white groups of the past who once were the colonial powers. Too often we view our problems through the ideas of metropolitan man; and our analyses of these problems depend too inordinately on analytical constructs developed for, and appropriate to, North Atlantic society but which may be inappropriate for the Third World. (Beckford, 1972, p. vi) But Beckford goes beyond the social and political aspects to provide an analysis of plantation society that emphasises its economic relationships. ■ The economy of plantation society is deeply rooted in the markets of metropolitan centres (this is a historical link to the mercantilist system of the colonial era when Caribbean countries were forced to produce only raw materials for Europe, fuelling their Industrial Revolution). Today, these economies still produce largely primary goods for export and suffer from an imbalance in the terms of trade because manufacturing, industrial development and services are at a minimal level of development (Europeans discouraged industrial production in the colonies through the Mercantilist Laws). ■ There is continued dependency on metropolitan countries because Caribbean societies maintain the emphasis on monoculture (cash crops or one main export, be it tourism or oil and bauxite), largely ignore food production and import much in the way of food, consumer durables and technology. ■ There is psychological dependence (or a colonial mentality) where ‘things foreign’ are revered in an uncritical way. ■ All the above factors result in continued underdevelopment (or dependency) and chronic or persistent poverty. Beckford argued that plantation economies today are severely hampered in their quest for sustained growth and development because of this ingrained legacy of foreign domination. A simple example will show how inherited ways of thinking have stymied development: The colonial authorities sought to create and develop ports and access roads in the Caribbean so that the raw materials produced in the hinterlands could be easily transported to Britain. Processed, and manufactured goods from Britain could just as easily be imported. There was no question of independent ‘development’ for Caribbean colonies – these arrangements were for the good of the mother country. Unfortunately, the black élite that came to power in the 1960s and 1970s seemed to uphold the values and interests of the descendants of the planter class. There has been little attempt to develop and empower local communities in the hinterland which remain weak and fragmented. Most development initiatives occur on the coast where the old ports are now big capital cities. These cities are the sites of capitalist enterprise with strong ties to cities in the metropole. Today in all Caribbean countries there is an ‘over-developed’ coastal strip and the rural areas are underdeveloped. This works to the advantage of the political groups in power in that local government is highly dependent on the central government. Plantation characteristics are then perpetuated in uneven development and an urban bias in development planning. For Beckford, what is important in all this is that plantation societies (and economies) perpetuate the persistent poverty of the masses of the people in the Caribbean. ■ 31 32 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Although Beckford did focus on plural groups and the problems of social integration in the plantation society, he and colleagues Best and Levitt placed their main emphasis on the economies of plantation societies which they saw as existing under foreign domination. Moreover, the legacy of the past is maintained through dependent relationships with metropolitan countries. Thus plantation economies lack internal dynamism needed to make a successful transition to more sustainable economies. Best and Levitt describe how, in the plantation model, the structural patterns under slavery and the plantation society of the past are perpetuated by the influence of foreign tastes, and foreign ideas (including racial stereotypes); the demands of multinational corporations (MNCs); and international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank or International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in pursuing growth and development. Best and Beckford both also alluded to the place of our thinking. Best sought to show that in the world of ideas we have been always trying to understand ourselves through the theorising of others (namely, metropolitan countries). For example, economic theory in vogue in the 1960s tended to treat with economic development as if our economies were similar in structure to that of developed countries – that the engine of growth lay in supply and demand, that we had indigenous industries and that our governments could operate independently to stimulate growth through fiscal and monetary policies. Rather the reality was that our economies were export-oriented meaning that someone overseas called the tune about demand, we had not developed a strong indigenous industrial base with what we produced for our own market and, the means of production lay for the most part in the hands of foreign corporations. We thus were in a vulnerable position very much dependent on foreign ownership and the vagaries of international markets and because of this our governments had little power to control and direct a course of development. Therefore it was nonsensical to rely wholly on development theory that had originated in the West to chart a way forward for Caribbean societies. To Best the problem lay in epistemology. The knowledge we accept as true, the ideas we value, the scholars we learn from – all originated in the West. We have internalised the values and our understanding of what is valued knowledge from our colonisers without question. The black élite who now ruled in Caribbean societies were thoroughly saturated with First World ideologies of development. Lloyd Best has pointed out, in several of his now familiar utterances, that significant development of the natural gas sector in Trinidad and Tobago is likely to reinforce dependence (on external demand and price changes) and to contribute to hardly any significant change in the structure of the economy. Best has suggested that what is really needed is not just diversification but a plan for transformation of the economy that will ensure sustainable economic development. (Nicholls & Boodoo, 2003, p. 267) Criticisms A number of criticisms have been made of the Plantation Model. 1 Best and Levitt did not treat with much significance many of the changes that had occurred in Caribbean societies from Emancipation to the present: the development of the peasantry, the growth of towns, industrialisation, the rise in the standard of living and diversification in the economy. The concept of the Plantation Society emphasised continuity and played down the importance of change. 2 The theory was overly deterministic and saw all Caribbean societies in one light. For example, Best and Levitt relied too much on historical circumstance to explain the present situation and did not include the varieties of ways that each society had changed since independence. 3 The theory sought to describe and explain Caribbean societies as they had evolved but there was no empirical data or attempt made to test the theory. 4 There is a limit to how ‘independent’ Caribbean countries can be in devising solutions to their economic predicament especially in this age of globalisation. The 1960s and 1970s saw vigorous debate and counterdebate in Caribbean sociology. Sir Arthur Lewis, a St Lucian, had won the Nobel Prize in 1979 for his Theory of Economic Growth, relevant to the economic problems of developing countries. Best and Beckford critiqued his assumption that foreign capital was the solution to the problem of development. They regarded this strategy as increasing foreign control and dependency in the Caribbean. Furthermore, the theory of economic growth was based on classical economic theory whereas Best and Beckford felt that the nature of Caribbean society, its colonial history and continued psychological, economic and cultural dependence on the West, had to be included. CHAPTER 2: THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY When we study ‘society’ according to Durkheim, Marx or Weber we get the sense that European society had been established so long that laws, norms, social classes and the like had a mature and full-blown existence. Compare the Caribbean with a written record of only some 500 years of history. If we apply Marxist concepts such as social class, for example, to Caribbean society we are assuming that on the whole European and Caribbean social structure are similar. Sociologists are divided about how closely we resemble metropolitan societies. Lloyd Best for one was adamant that in the Caribbean we did not have social classes as envisaged by Marx. Those who see more of a resemblance use classical social theory to explain Caribbean society. Those who feel that these theories and concepts should be modified in some way to BOX 2.4 Gender and Society Paying attention to the genesis of the society, firstly, as an economic outpost of a colonial empire, made an interdisciplinary focus possible for Caribbean sociology. The Caribbean economy developed first and around it a society and culture was formed. Initially society reflected the rigid social stratification of slavery (Chapter 9). Then this began to blur in the post-Emancipation era when peasantries became established and the former enslaved population had access to education. At the same time the society was becoming more finely differentiated according to race, colour, class, ethnicity, occupation and education. Even today education, politics, the economy and other social institutions reflect these kinds of fragmentations. The development of sociological theory, then – the concepts and relationships sociologists use to study society – had to be of a more interdisciplinary nature than the classical theorising of European sociologists. Caribbean social theory combines historical, economic, political and cultural dimensions because as societies under European influence (politics) they were organised according to the demands of production and labour (economic) and the various ethnic groups brought as labour forged unique relationships (culture) in this context. allow for the salience of race, colour, ethnicity, culture and class in the development of the society call for a sociology that is more interdisciplinary in nature than European sociology (Box 2.4). SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING! ‘Caribbean sociology’ and ‘the sociology of the Caribbean’ are not the same thing. The former refers to the origins of the discipline in the region, how it evolved, its main theorists and how it relates to mainstream sociological theorising. The latter refers to the study of Caribbean societies using the concepts and tools that sociology has to offer. To sum up: The above section described how sociology in the Caribbean pulled away from its origins and began to develop ways of analyzing the society that were more faithful to the growth and development of Caribbean society as one forged in colonial oppression and ethnic divisions. To do so it had to rely on the contributions of other social science disciplines. 2.4 The Founders of Caribbean Sociology An ‘Autonomous Tradition’ The Sociology Department at UWI, Mona, began to produce empirical works to establish an autonomous tradition in the discipline. Early research by Lloyd Braithwaite and Raymond Thomas (R.T.) Smith were in the Structural-Functionalist tradition and this proved to be the dominant approach in how sociology was studied for a long time. They were influenced by Talcott Parsons and Robert Merton in the United States. These researchers agreed that Caribbean societies were plural societies but understood that concept differently from Michael Garfield Smith (see §2.4.2). 2.4.1 33 34 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Lloyd Braithwaite (1919–95) was a sociologist whose major work, Social Stratification in Trinidad (1953) was a comprehensive study of the nature of stratification in Trinidad’s society. We will examine social stratification in more depth later (Chapter 9.) The fieldwork was done between 1950 and 1952, beginning at the community level of villages, towns and cities comparing the Lloyd Braithwaite dynamics of social class in different locales, including families, courtship and marriage, occupation, sports, club memberships, and religion. He showed that the society was stratified according to a number of factors: race, skin colour, ethnicity, religion and occupation. R.T. Smith (b.1925) is a British anthropologist who took up a research post at the ISER, UWI, Jamaica in the 1950s. He carried out extensive fieldwork in Jamaica, British Guiana and Ghana and taught briefly at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Ghana, before returning to the Department of Sociology, Mona, UWI. He went to the University of Chicago in 1966 and retired in 1995. He corresponded with Talcott Parsons in the United States, whose Functionalism was similar to his own. His first major work was The Negro Family in British Guiana: Family structure and social status in the village (1956). This and his other works are held in high esteem because of the rigour with which the fieldwork was carried out. Most of his studies are ethnographies. The An ethnography is an in-depth investigation of a cultural context ethnographic model is often used in anthropology (early anthropologists used to live in small isolated societies, for example, in Samoa, in order to study the whole society). Smith’s theories are based directly on this extended fieldwork. He examined the family life of the villagers not through the conventional lens of ‘family types’ but through the family life cycle showing the dynamism within families and the nature of relationships. Smith’s work followed the ideas of Functionalism, where ethnographies made cross-cultural links and links to the social system and sought to explain social action, emphasizing the structural aspects of society. He felt that it was wrong for researchers to study a small segment of the system such as a village and then generalise their findings to the wider society. (Later on other sociologists in the Caribbean carried out ethnographies in the interpretive tradition where the micro-level is the focus and where the meanings people have for their actions are deemed more important than links to other societies or to the social system). Like Lloyd Braithwaite, Smith saw social stratification as resulting from pluralism (M.G. Smith disagreed, as we shall see below) and that the society was moving towards value consensus. These values were those of the British colonial masters, what he called, ‘things English’. M.G. Smith’s Plural Societies Sociology as an academic discipline was further established in the region when the St Augustine (in 1962) and Cave Hill (in 1963) campuses of the UWI began to offer it for undergraduate degrees. The University of Guyana (Turkeyen campus) also began to offer sociology in 1963. Quickly following Lloyd Braithwaite’s (1953) pioneering work was a number of Structural-Functionalist studies of Caribbean societies. This approach was modified by later Caribbean sociologists who opted for more interpretive studies. M.G. Smith (1921–93) – the Honourable Michael Garfield Smith, OM ( Jamaica) – taught at Yale University, the University of California (Los Angeles), and University College (London) as well as at the ISER, UWI, Mona campus. He was an anthropologist who strongly upheld the idea of Caribbean societies as plural societies but disagreed with Lloyd Braithwaite and R.T. Smith about the nature of plural societies as they exist Michael Garfield Smith in the Caribbean. It is interesting to note that many of the researchers who contributed to the founding of sociology as a discipline in the Caribbean were trained in anthropology (Box 2.5). M.G. Smith felt that a plural society was more extreme in its differences, that it was different enough to comprise different societies, each with its own internal structures and institutions. He therefore disagreed with both Lloyd Braithwaite and R.T. Smith who felt that there were spaces and possibilities for the disparate groups to come together and begin to share common values. M.G. Smith discounted this and saw the necessity 2.4.2 CHAPTER 2: THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY BOX 2.5 Sociology and Anthropology Sociology as it evolved in the Caribbean benefited from the contribution of many social science disciplines and history. It is therefore very much an inter-disciplinary area of study and this may differentiate it from sociology in other parts of the world. Particularly, it has had a very close relationship with anthropology. Traditionally, anthropology was characterised as the study of the origins and development of human culture. It took a very wide view of human development looking at • human evolution and culture (physical anthropology); • the social and cultural constructions of human groups, for example, language and culture (cultural anthropology). Long before sociology began to be studied in the Caribbean, Sidney Mintz foreign anthropologists found the cultures of the region fascinating to study (e.g. Melville Herskovits, Sidney Mintz).Later, Caribbean anthropologists studied small villages, religious groups, families, and kinship networks, and went on to draw conclusions about the nature of the society. They proposed models of Caribbean society, namely, the Plural Society. The main methodological tool of the anthropologist is ethnography (Chapter 5). Note that many of these ethnographies were influenced by Structural-Functionalism within anthropology. Lloyd Braithwaite was a sociologist but conducted ethnographies according to the tenets of Structural Functionalism in sociology. Today, sociologists routinely use ethnographies in microsociology, and culture is regarded as an important theme by which to analyse group interaction. Anthropology therefore is more likely to overlap with microsociology than macrosociology. for a strong ruling power, such as the colonial power, to manage the tensions between the groups. Pluralism is a condition in which members of a common society are internally distinguished by fundamental differences in their institutional practice …(as) … distinct aggregates or groups … (M.G. Smith, 2001, p. 125) He carried out extensive fieldwork and published a number of important works, including Plural Society in the British West Indies and Stratification in Grenada (both 1965). The Theory of a Creole Society Later, Lawson Edward Kamau Brathwaite (b.1930), whose major discipline is not sociology, and others, challenged these ideas with that of a Creole Society. 2.4.3 The Creole Society model focuses on the constant mixing of cultures, ideas and people as the basis for Caribbean society. Kamau Brathwaite, a Barbadian, is well-established in the literary field as a poet and playwright but is equally known for his work in the study of Caribbean history and culture, such as The Folk Culture of Jamaican Slaves (1969, revised 1981) and The Development of Creole Society in Jamaica, 1770–1820 (1971). His Creole Society thesis (§4.3.2) is the third model of Caribbean society to emerge from Caribbean theorists. Brathwaite’s scholarship is L.E. Kamau Brathwaite mainly historical and cultural. The creolisation model rejects Western views of acculturation and introduces us to the complexity of cultural mixing in the Caribbean. Christine Barrow was Deputy Principal at the Cave Hill Campus, UWI, Barbados, from 2002 to 2005, then Professor of Social Development at the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Research (SALISES). Her research spans both sociology and anthropology and focuses on family systems, child rights, gender issues, and sexuality in the Caribbean, and she has championed a shift 35 36 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY in methodology towards more qualitative type of studies. She believes that the early sociological theorising about Caribbean families which regarded them as ‘corrupt’ or ‘disorganised’ represents a misreading of the situation. We will be studying her work in greater detail when we look at the family in Chapter 6. Her many publications Christine Barrow include: ■ The Plantation Heritage in Barbados: Implications for Food Security, Nutrition and Employment (1995); ■ Family in the Caribbean: Themes and Perspectives (1996). Susan Craig-James is a sociologist and historian from Tobago who lectured in the Sociology Department, UWI, St Augustine, from 1971 to 1993. Since then she has been conducting research on the Caribbean with grants from various foundations in Canada and the United Kingdom. Two of her published works include the highly acclaimed Contemporary Caribbean: A Sociological Reader (1981–2) and The Changing Society of Tobago 1838–1938: A Fractured Whole (2008). She does not place as much emphasis as earlier sociologists did on constructing models to explain Caribbean society. She looks at the factors and forces involved over the long term in Caribbean development. Her work is therefore macrosociological but includes input from microsociological studies that help to flesh out internal contexts. The interdisciplinary focus addresses the close relationship between sociology, history, politics, economics and culture in analysing Caribbean societies. Rhoda Reddock is presently Vice-Principal of the St Augustine Campus, UWI. Previously she was Head of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies in St Augustine. Her research is inter-disciplinary and examines gender, ethnic minorities, women in the labour market and the trade union movement, and the history of Caribbean women’s political struggles. Mainly through her continued advocacy, Gender and Rhoda Reddock Development Studies have come to be seen as an important area of scholarship. She has a distinguished record of publications focusing on social justice, conceived of as an important component of Caribbean development. Her methods of analysis often involve deconstruction of taken-for-granted meanings. Deconstruction is an approach to analysis that is used in some form across qualitative research but most often in postmodern and critical theory. It focuses on a text (or a term, for example, patriarchy) and seeks to uncover and discover the different meanings and assumptions that are held about it. Several questions suggest themselves in relation to the study of masculinity in the Caribbean. What is Caribbean masculinity, if such a thing exists? … How do we move away from the stereotypes which have been associated with manhood in the Caribbean and which themselves create the psychological barriers, in my view to change in gender relations? Are women in the Caribbean really antagonistic to men, or is it towards the ideas of masculinity which inform group male behaviour? Do Caribbean men fully understand the additional burdens which women bear by being labeled independent and strong? These are the questions to which the on-going deconstruction of masculinity must respond. The unmasking of masculinity also requires a parallel deconstructing of patriarchy. In my view the ideologies and practice of male dominance, while privileging some men, also keep masculinity imprisoned behind invisible bars. (Reddock, 2004, p. 57) Questions like these recognize that the experiences of women and men in everyday life are complex and that social actors construct their own meanings, which may be multiple and even contradictory. If this notion of reality is valid then people can change the meanings they have for things and this represents the possibility of emancipation, self-actualisation and improvement in social life. This speaks to the concern for social justice as a development issue. Theory Building or Theorising Sociology, as an academic discipline, has now been firmly established in the Caribbean for more than 60 years. During that time Caribbean researchers and others have sought to make sociological concepts produced in Western countries more relevant to the Caribbean context and have created new concepts that help to deepen a sociological understanding of the Caribbean. In doing so they have built new theories or extended 2.4.4 CHAPTER 2: THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY BOX 2.6 Sociological Theorising and Research Different kinds of research used in the Caribbean can lead to the development of theory. • M.G. Smith’s ethnographic research entailed participant observation and in-depth study of a context (including conversational interviews), which is an example of qualitative research (Chapter 5). The detailed field reports provided the data for the elaboration of a theory. • Scientific research based on the posing of hypotheses and the collection of empirical (survey) data to test the hypotheses are largely quantitative studies and their findings are expressed as a generalisation (or ‘law’) (Chapter 5). • Historical analysis of documents, artefacts, and oral histories give rise to theories such as the existing theories. Box 2.6 gives some examples of the relationship between sociological research studies and the theories that arose from them. In examining sociological theorising in the Caribbean we should first be clear about a few terms, such as research and theory. Research is the process through which theory is usually developed because research can provide the evidence and justification to support the theory. Research, however, can be of different kinds, meaning that there are different routes to theory. Plantation Model. The group of researchers who developed the model based it on historical analysis of the structures of dependence in Caribbean societies as well as on economic concepts that could be illustrated quantitatively (Chapter 9). • Kamau Brathwaite’s theorising was based almost solely on the socio-historical analysis of Jamaican society during the period 1770–1820 (Chapter 9). In each case – plural, plantation and creole models of society – the theory advanced was an explanatory framework that attempted to describe and explain the main features of Caribbean society. Theory refers to statements which show relationships between two or more variables or concepts in an attempt to explain and predict those relationships. An example is M.G. Smith’s statements about the plural society. There are also different types of theory. In the 1950s and 1960s Lloyd Braithwaite and R.T. Smith emphasised the in-depth ethnographic study of communities in one territory. Their purpose was to build up an understanding of a particular Caribbean society. They did not generalise their findings to societies other than the one where they had conducted ACTIVITY 2.6 The Development of Sociology in the Caribbean Investigate further the work of non-Caribbean researchers from the 1950s and 1960s and match the statements below with the correct name from this list: David Lowenthal, George Cumper, David Edwards, Sidney Mintz and Melville Herskovits. 1. A British economist who worked at the ISER, Mona, Jamaica in close collaboration with William Demas and George Cumper. He wrote The Economic Study of Small Farming in Jamaica (1961) outlining the basic differences between plantation and small farming. 2. American anthropologist who used a historical approach in studying society in Puerto Rico, Haiti and Jamaica, showing the unique origins of the Caribbean peasantry, and in The Caribbean as a Socio-Cultural Area (1966) analysed the cultural similarities and commonalities across the Caribbean. 3. American geographer and historian who worked at the UWI in the 1950s and wrote: West Indian Societies (1972), Consequences of Class and Colour: West Indian Perspectives (1973) and The Past is a Foreign Country (1985). 4. Born in England an economist, lived and worked in Jamaica in the 1950s and 1960s, considered to be conservative in outlook in that he did not belong to the Plantation School. However, he saw history as important in studying economy in the Caribbean. 5. An American anthropologist studying the Caribbean as early as 1928, famous for his thesis of African cultural retentions and survivals in maintaining African identity throughout slavery and afterwards. 37 38 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY their research. In some ways, these ethnographies were similar to those of Western anthropologists who lived among small tribal societies in order to describe their lives. In the 1960s and 1970s, the scholars who formulated the Plural, Plantation and Creole models of Caribbean society were more interested in generating grand theory. Their theories involved complex concepts and numerous inter-relationships and claimed to explain features of Caribbean social life across the length and breadth of the region. Each theory was broad in scope, analysing major trends in an interdisciplinary way: for example, all are anchored in a historical understanding of the Caribbean, and seek to create an indigenous theoretical framework. In the 1950s and 1960s non-Caribbean theorists and researchers also produced works that contributed to understanding Caribbean societies. As sociologists, anthropologists, historians and economists they all demonstrated how Caribbean sociology has benefited from an interdisciplinary input. To sum up: LLloyd lo oyd B Braithwaite, rait ra ith it hwai hwai hw a te te, R.T. R.T. T Smith Sm miith and and M.G. M.G. .G G. Smith, Smit Smit Sm i h, h so oci c olo olog ol ogissts ogis t a nd da nthr nt h op hr opol olog ol olog ogis ists is ts, worked ts work wo rke rk ed largely ed lar arge gely ge ly in in the the sociologists and anthropologists, Func Fu nctti nc tion ion onal a isst tr al trad adit ad itio it ion io n st triiviing tto o in inte teg te grat grat gr ate e Ca Cari ribb ri bbea bb ean ea n Functionalist tradition striving integrate Caribbean h hi ist ist s or oric ric ical cal al a nd ssocial o ia oc al re real allit itie i s in ie into to m ain ai nstr nstr ns trea e m th ea theo eori eo risi ri sing si ng,, ng historical and realities mainstream theorising, b basi ba asi sing n ttheir ng heirr work heir he wor o k largely la larg arg rgel e y on el on ethnographies. eth thno no nogr ogr g ap aphi aphi hies es. Sociology es Soci So c ol ci olog ogyy og basing w wa invi nvi v go gora r te ra ted d by iintense ntten ense se ed ebat eb ate at e th that at threw thr hrew ew up p at wass in invigorated debate least le eas ast th ast thr three ree contesting re cont co ntes ntes nt esti t ng m ti models odel odel od e s of C Caribbean arib ar ibbe ib bean be an society soc ocie iety ety – th the Plantation, the Plan Pl anta an ta tati ati tion on,, Plural on P ur Pl ural al Society Soc ocie iety ie ty and and Creole Cre reol ole ol e Society Soci So ciet ci etyy et m mode mo ode dels ls. ls s Th Thes ese th es heo eori ries ri es were wer ere e the the main main ma n contributions con ontr on trib tr ibut ib utio ut ions ons models. These theories of the of the autonomous aut uton onom on omou om ouss tradition ou trad tr adit ad itio it io on in C arib arib ar ibbe bean be an sociology soc ocio io olo logy gy Caribbean to tthe to he sstudy tudy tu dy o soci c et ci etyy an and d ha have ve ssince ince in ce b een ee n ap appl plie pl ie ed by off so society been applied iinternational in te ter ern rnat rnat atio iona io nall scholars na scho sc hola ho la arss to to so ssocieties ciet ci etie et iess they ie they deem dee eem m similar. simi si mila mi lar. la r. The Th e mo more rre e ccontemporary on onte nte t mp m or orarr y so orar soci c al ci a ttheorists heor he oris ists is ts ssuch uch uc h as a social Chri Ch rist ri stin st tin ne Ba Barr rrow rr ow a nd R h da ho aR eddo eddo ed dock ck w ork or k largely la larg arg gel elyy in Christine Barrow and Rhoda Reddock work the th e tradition trrad trad adit itio it itio ion n of Critical Cri ritti tica ica call Th Theo eory eo ry w ith it h the the goal goal of of social soci so cial ci al Theory with justice. They focus on on gender, gen nder, sexuality, ethnic, and family issues showi ing how w attempts to study these showing phenomena throu ugh ma acrosociology mask important through macrosociology dimensions which h are crucial crrucial in bringing about a more equitable society y. Susan n Craig-James differs since she society. attempts to und derstan nd the social system but departs understand from Functionalist-type Functiona alist-typ pe studies in that she incorporates microsociologic cal insights. insiights. microsociological The concerns of soci ial scientists have shifted today to social the investigation investigat ation off social justice issues though smallscale qualitat qualitative-type tive-typ pe studies. Consequently, one criticism of contemporary contempo orary Ca Caribbean sociology is that it has not produced m much uch theoretical th heoretical work to challenge or extend the three fundamental fundam mental conceptions of Caribbean society, originating originatin ng in the th he 1960s. Chapter Summary In this chapter we have traced the origins of the discipline and the contribution of Comte, Durkheim, Marx and Weber as the founders of three different sociologies. We noted their preoccupation with recognising sociology as a science and the fact that today the question of whether or not sociology is a science still lingers. We considered the main arguments in that debate. The chapter ended with an in-depth examination of the growth of sociology as an academic discipline in the Caribbean and the major theorists who have emerged. Sociology in the Caribbean was deeply influenced by the regional context and its history of oppression and so began to diverge from the emphases of how the discipline matured in the West. Caribbean sociologists and social scientists devised three competing models of society which received worldwide attention, especially from developing countries with a similar historical experience. References Nicholls, S. & Boodoo, E. (2003). The Best-Levitt Plantation Hypothesis in Contemporary Trinidad & Tobago. In S. Ryan (ed.), Independent Thought and Caribbean Freedom, pp. 265–308. St. Augustine: SALISES. Smith, M.G. (2001). Pluralism and Social Stratification. In C. Barrow & R. Reddock (eds). Caribbean Sociology: Introductory Readings, pp. 118–138. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle. CHAPTER 2: Exercises and Test Questions (A) Multiple Choice Questions Please select the BEST POSSIBLE answer. 1. The theorist who considered sociology to be the ‘queen of the sciences’ was (a) Émile Durkheim (b) Harold Garfinkel (c) Auguste Comte (d) Jane Addams 2. The view of society as something that is not fixed or stable but always being formed was held by (a) Karl Marx (b) Émile Durkheim (c) Auguste Comte (d) Alfred Schütz 3. Early sociology in the Caribbean was strongly influenced by the sociological perspective of (a) Structural Functionalism (b) Conflict theory (c) Marxism (d) Interpretive Theory 4. Those who regard sociology as a science describe it in all of the following ways EXCEPT (a) rigorous (b) empirical (c) subjective (d) logical 5. The sociology of the Caribbean refers to the study of (a) Caribbean societies using the concepts and tools that sociology has to offer (b) the origins of the discipline in the Caribbean (c) the main theorists who contributed to the development of the discipline in the region (d) how sociology as a academic discipline relates to mainstream theorising 39 6. Caribbean societies developed differently to societies in Europe because of all of the following EXCEPT: (a) Caribbean societies did not have social classes as envisaged by Marx (b) the motive in developing the society was to form settler communities (c) Caribbean societies developed first as economic outposts of an empire (d) the motive in developing the society was exploitation of resources 7. Which sociologist pioneered the idea that sociology should focus on the meanings people had for their actions? (a) Max Weber (b) Karl Marx (c) Auguste Comte (d) Émile Durkheim 8. The study of the origins and development of human culture is known as (a) ethnography (b) anthropology (c) sociology (d) political economy 9. Issues of social justice are most likely to be found in the work of (a) Christine Barrow (b) George Cumper (c) Melville Herskovits (d) David Edwards 10. The Plantation Model of Caribbean society is closely associated with the work of (a) Kamau Brathwaite (b) Best and Levitt (c) R.T. Smith (d) M.G. Smith 40 (B) Structured Response Questions (C) Essay Questions Each response should be about three or four lines. Each item carries 4 marks. In this section some essay questions are given below. The questions may involve further research building on what the chapter offers. A specimen answer to critique is provided, with annotations. Refer back to Chapter 1 for guidelines of how to critique a sociological essay. (1) Briefly outline the Plural Model of Caribbean society. (2) What is Comte’s idea of positivism and how does it differ from Durkheim’s? (3) Explain the relationship between positivism and the use of empirical data. (4) What are the relationships between the disciplines of sociology and history? (5) Outline TWO arguments for describing sociology as a science and TWO arguments against. (6) How would you rebut the arguments maintaining that sociology is not a science? (7) How do ethnographies of today differ from ethnographies conducted by early sociologists in the Caribbean? (8) What does Durkheim mean by ‘social facts’? (9) Explain what is meant by ‘accounts of the origins and development of sociology tend to have an Eurocentric bias’. (10) Briefly describe why Caribbean sociology developed in a more interdisciplinary manner than sociology in the developed world. (1) Examine the differences and the similarities between Caribbean sociology and European sociology. (2) Discuss the main contributions of EITHER Lloyd Braithwaite OR M.G. Smith to Caribbean sociology. (3) Analyse the research of TWO of the main Caribbean social theorists engaged in microsociological study of the Caribbean. (4) Discuss the main features of the Creole Model of Caribbean society and suggest two criticisms. (5) Describe the discipline of knowledge known as sociology. Assess TWO criticisms of this body of knowledge. CHAPTER 2: 41 Sample Answer and Critique Examine the differences and the similarities between Caribbean sociology and European sociology. Introduction The discipline of sociology had its origins in France in the 18th century and gradually spread to other countries in Europe, then to the US and world wide. The study of society according to the principles of structural-functionalism was the major sociological perspective that influenced sociology in all these many varied places. Some countries however, placed more emphasis on Marxism where it became a political ideology. The Interpretive Perspective seemed to be on the fringes of what came to be called, mainstream sociology. However, sociology as a discipline as it traveled across the globe and was ‘owned’ by non-Europeans came to reflect the society or contexts it studied. While identical in terms of the principles and perspectives of the discipline it inherited from Europeans, a more autonomous tradition developed in these countries. The story of sociology in the Caribbean is one of establishing the discipline then trying to find ways to deploy the concepts and tools of the discipline so that Caribbean realities could be studied more meaningfully. The main point is that the principles and perspectives are preserved but it is in contextualising the discipline that differences arise. Middle In examining the similarities and differences between European and Caribbean sociology, it must first be noted that the ‘Founding Fathers’ of the discipline – Comte, Durkheim, Marx and Weber – were each in their own way trying to describe and explain ‘society’. That society had to be their own. An important point to consider is whether their theories and ideas could explain society in all times and in all places or to what extent they could do so. Caribbean social scientists have since pointed out that there are many differences between the notion of ‘society’ in Europe and in the Caribbean. ‘Society’ as studied in Europe did not see its members as living in a diaspora but for Caribbean people, except for the Amerindians, the African, Indian, White, Chinese and so on had a homeland elsewhere. The bringing together of all these different ethnicities in one place ensured that the ethnic factor would loom large in Caribbean society. This was not the case in Europe where to a large extent there were fewer ethnic minorities and many could assimilate over time, because of physical similarities, into the dominant groups. The Caribbean scholar, M.G. Smith, began to develop a theory of our society as ‘plural’. Europe also did not begin their societies under a system of slavery where an overseas power held people of one racial group under bondage for centuries. Slavery did exist in Europe over time but race was seldom a factor. In the Caribbean however, the fact that the enslaved came from one distinct racial group (African), meant that immediately the society became socially stratified according to race, with the Africans at the bottom. The fact that the enslaved far outnumbered their white masters meant that a rigid system of social stratification had to be enforced because of fear of reprisals. It was never the case in Europe that the majority of the population was ‘locked down’ and denied social Emphasises the idea that ‘society’ is what is being studied – and that can differ from place to place. Role of history viz. slavery and the issue of race Role of ethnicity in the Caribbean 42 mobility because of their race. In Europe especially in the Industrial Age it was social class differences that led to social stratification, not race. To study social stratification in the Caribbean according to the main principles of European sociology would mean that the most important elements would be downplayed – race, ethnicity and colour. A study of Caribbean sociology shows that those three elements have evolved into much deeper discussions and reflections than a European context would have elicited. Sociology then, as a whole, stands to benefit from the work being done by Caribbean sociologists in examining race, ethnicity and colour as important elements in the study of society. Thus, the experience of slavery cannot be factored out in a study of Caribbean society and this does not figure in European traditions. The history of the Caribbean shows us being embroiled in colonial relationships with a European country. Such a relationship was violent and exploitative, seeking to enshrine Europeans and Euro-Creoles at the pinnacle of the society and to promote the culture of the ‘mother country’. Once slavery ended, social stratification remained firmly in place during the colonial era and the main determiners of social class status were race, colour, ethnicity and more recently, education. Growing up in a colonial society meant that there was always a tension between the culture and values of the dominant elites and the culture and values of various groups of Caribbean people. It is no surprise then that students of Caribbean societies are preoccupied with issues of identity which is not the case with the study of European societies. History: the colonial encounter e.g. social, economic and identity issues. The Plantation Society model, developed by Beckford, Best and Levitt, focuses on the social and economic structures that continue to keep the society in bondage and this model has been widely debated worldwide. The concept, creolisation, first put forward by Kamau Brathwaite attempted to take on board the meeting and mingling of different cultures to realistically describe the variety of processes and outcomes that could arise from such a union, particularly under a system where one was regarded as subordinate to another. This was a more in-depth approach to the study of social and cultural change, one that was more nuanced than the Western concept of acculturation where the culture of the dominant groups absorbs that of other groups. Other postcolonial societies have taken up this construct, developed in the Caribbean, and applied it to their own contexts. History then (like in Europe) plays a major role in the development of the society. Our history is very different from the history of European societies. Therefore, our sociology would call for more attention and emphasis on certain issues that are underdeveloped in European sociology. For example, Caribbean sociology is strongly interdisciplinary because of the heavy elements of economy, political economy, culture and history needed to interrogate and explain Caribbean realities. The methodologies that we prefer seem to have swung to microsociological, interpretive work, and the main purpose our researchers appear to have is that of social justice, not just describing and explaining the society. Hence, the European emphasis on building generalisations and theory from large-scale studies is not at present being replicated in the Caribbean. inter-disciplinary, micro-sociology, social justice 43 Conclusion European and Caribbean sociology are similar in that the foundation principles of the discipline are the same. The ‘founding fathers’ continue in both traditions as the main theorists of the various perspectives and sub-perspectives. The concepts are the same because in all societies education, culture, norms, stratification, family and economy are found. However, differences in history and culture alert us to the fact that a society may be constructed differently to others. The task of Caribbean sociologists then was to extend the concepts of First World sociology in applying them to Caribbean life and in so doing devise new concepts that describe that reality more adequately. The struggle for Caribbean sociology is to forge a path where independent thought is mirrored in developing more contextualised research methods and concepts and that cannot be something inherited from Europe but something that is borne out of resistance to Europe. The essay emphasized differences. Here some wrapping up is done including similarities. But perhaps, more could have been said about similarities in the body of the essay? Ends on an interesting note – nationalism forcing a critique of European ideas and knowledge. 44 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY The major expectations of this chapter are that you will recognise that: ■ each sociological perspective represents a different lens or way of understanding social phenomena, and so sociology is characterised by competing views of society or different sociologies; ■ the different sociological perspectives or theoretical positions add to the critical element of sociology because they emphasise that there is no one way of understanding the social world; ■ the basic principles of sociology are also known as principles of constraint which operate in all societies; ■ the six principles of constraint are institutions, socialisation, stratification, organisation, social control and social change; ■ typical introductions to the study of society do not make clear that sociology is the study of the extent to which we are constrained by living in the social world; ■ the study of sociology is fundamentally about how others influence (or constrain) us; ■ these principles represent the conceptual knowledge base of the discipline; ■ the principles give rise to the specific theories, perspectives and concepts of the discipline of sociology; ■ another way of understanding these principles is to think of them as the rules of relationships in the social world. 45 3 Sociological Perspectives, Principles and Concepts The discipline of sociology has its own set of concepts, largely derived from the work of the social theorists we studied in the last chapter. Each theorist tends to work within a particular sociological perspective, thereby giving rise to different sociologies. We learnt that the Founding Fathers of the discipline bequeathed three distinct sociological perspectives to us – Functionalism or Structural Functionalism, the Conflict or Marxist Perspective and Interactionism or Interpretive Theory. We will study these in the present chapter as well as the more recent Feminist Theory. In addition we will study six sociological principles. The basic principles in sociology are the fundamental building blocks of the discipline and are important for you to master. 3.1 The Sociological Perspectives and Social Theory Sociological perspectives represent the different ways that social theorists understand society. Each perspective puts forward a view that the theorist believes can best explain society or social phenomena. In the 1950s Harley (2008) tells us that sociology textbooks only presented a Functionalist version of social theory which was called ‘the’ sociological perspective. However, today most sociologists recognise that there are multiple social perspectives and in this book we study what has come to be the classic three-way grouping of theories into SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING! ‘Theory’, ‘model’ and ‘perspective’ all tend to be used in the same way. However, a theory is a statement which describes a proposed relationship between two or more concepts. This means an explanation is offered about why something happens in society. Perspectives such as Marxism and Functionalism are examples of grand theory. They propose to explain society wherever it occurs. The Caribbean models can be thought of in a similar way as they each propose to explain society in the Caribbean (and wherever similar conditions exist). Functionalism, Conflict Theory/Marxism and Interactionism. A newer perspective, Feminist Theory, is also outlined here, and throughout the text more recent theoretical positions or approaches, such as Critical Theory and Postmodernism, are introduced. They have each developed from one or more of the basic three-way classification of perspectives. You will find though that information on all the perspectives will tend to crop up in subsequent chapters – because you cannot study any social issue or social institution without having a good sense of how each is treated by the sociological perspectives. Functionalism This is the oldest and most dominant perspective in sociology and is sometimes referred to as Structural Functionalism or the role of consensus. In this view society is seen as a whole entity (the social system) that is made up of different parts (social organisations, social institutions) which integrate smoothly with each other to create and re-create an orderly society. This is termed a structural understanding of society (Box 3.1, page 47), because it is based on the idea of inter-relationships between different parts of a system. It resembles a biological model where all organs contribute to a healthy person or entity. In this view it is believed that when all components in society are functioning in an efficient manner, order, harmony and equilibrium result. The purpose of the Functionalist perspective is to understand how to maintain social order. The most important characteristics of the sociological perspective of Functionalism are summarised below. 3.1.1 46 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY ■ Functionalism is based on the idea of consensus. Consensus develops out of the traditions of a society which are passed on through the processes of socialisation via norms and values. Consensus means that amongst most of the people in a society there is substantial agreement on how the society should be organised. For example, we largely agree that a democratic government is best for the kind of society that we wish and material wealth continues to be a major goal for many. Norms are the established rules (written and unwritten) in a society which govern expected behaviours. Values are at the root of norms. What is valued tends to become expected and established, e.g. we place value on personal hygiene and so norms develop about having daily baths. ■ ■ The macro-level of society (the social system and its social institutions) is the focus of the functionalist perspective. Understanding how these structures articulate with each other, functionalists believe, is important in maintaining a stable society. For example, smooth collaboration between the social institution of education and the social institution of the family contributes to social cohesion and harmony – not only in schooling but throughout the social system because there will be a reduction in the number of dropouts and failures leading to more potentially productive workers for the economy. Individuals play their part in the functioning of social institutions. They are assigned a status, for example, ‘father’ which carries with it a role (fatherhood) that has to be performed if the social institution of the family is to function properly. ‘Status’ and ‘role’ are Status refers to what you are, your position, in a particular setting, e.g. student. Your role refers to what you do - i.e. the norms, values and behaviours associated with such a status – going to classes, taking notes, being respectful of teachers. examples of how relationships are structured in a society. (Note that how the parts of the system relate to each other is important in this structural approach to understanding how society works). All institutions are interdependent so that change in one institution affects the others. For example, if the economy needs technicians and persons with construction skills, education (the curriculum) changes to accommodate this need – less emphasis on abstract disciplines and more on technical-vocational subjects. We have seen evidence of this in Caribbean schools over the past two or three decades. Comte and Durkheim contributed to developing the Functionalist Perspective of society. Since they viewed sociology as ‘the science of society’ the ways they investigated society were based on what they called, ‘the scientific method’. To a large extent Functionalist studies can also be described as positivist (positivism being the philosophy underlying the sciences; see Box 2.4) ■ though that is not always the case. There is persistent criticism of Functionalism from the Interpretive Perspective - that a positivist outlook only recognises a tangible reality and social life is influenced by many intangibles. In this respect, functionalism sees individuals as passive actors influenced by social structures. In addition, the deep belief that order and consensus are the hall marks of a peaceful society means that this perspective tends to be less interested in social change and may even see change and conflict as dysfunctional. As a result, it is said to have a ‘static’ conception of society and is concerned to maintain the status quo, which gives it a conservative outlook. Activity 3.1 encourages you to work out more criticisms of this perspective. ■ ACTIVITY 3.1 Social Theory The following are two criticisms of the Functionalist perspective – one is a teleological explanation and the other is a tautological explanation. Define the terms teleological and tautological and identify which one is which. 1. Functionalism explains social structures in terms of their end-purposes. So, social stratification exists in a society because it is beneficial for the society. There is no adequate justification for this claim of being beneficial, it is something that functionalists assert. 2. Functionalism employs circular arguments – that is, saying the same thing over in different words. For example, Functionalists say that if crime exists then it must be functional for the society. And we know that crime is beneficial to the society, because … it exists! Social stratification refers to a system operating in a particular society which ranks the population into social classes or groups arranged in a hierarchy. CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS BOX 3.1 Structures Structure or social structure is a term used in sociology to refer to enduring patterns or relationships that guide our behaviour. We inherit them and they become embedded in our lives, e.g.norms, roles, values, marriage, socio-economic status, and the labour market, among many others. The social institutions are the largest structures and indeed are the framework for the overall structure of society. Both Functionalism and Conflict Theory/Marxism have a structural foundation although they differ in how they conceive of many other aspects of society. Interactionism on the other hand downplays the deterministic influence of structures in our lives. 3.1.2 Conflict Theory/Marxism Conflict Theory is based on the idea that inter-group differences, disputes, struggles and tensions are endemic BOX 3.2 in society because of disparities in power, interests and attitudes (the role of conflict). For example, we self-identify with many categories such as age, race, sex, religion, occupation, socio-economic status and nationality which become the basis for the formation of groups. Often the conflict that results between groups encourages stereotyping and prejudice. In the Caribbean we see this clearly in how we brand those from the different islands and territories. Marxism is a specific example of Conflict Theory though they are often regarded as the same thing. Conflict Theory has influenced studies in Critical Theory, Feminist Theory and Postmodern Theory. Compared to other conflict theories, Marxism has a more limited range of interests. It is focused on the institution of the economy (known as the substructure or base). Karl Marx (Chapter 2) saw the fundamental conflict in society as social class conflict. This was on-going and inevitable because capitalists and workers comprised a unity within which there were contradictions (see Box 3.2) leading to the potential for immanent conflict and change. The dialectic between or interplay of the forces and counterforces develops and continues through mediation and resolution of conflicts and the development of new forms and relationships within the unit. It is not a case of two “opposing” forces locked in conflict, it is more Some Marxist Terms • In Marxist thought contradictions occur within a unit and this produces strains and conflicts which eventually lead to change and the creation of a new formation. Marx described the mutual struggle of opposing forces within a unit as the dialectic. He viewed capitalism as having inherent contradictions as the social relations of production become progressively alienated and affect the forces of production. • Dialectical materialism is the philosophy on which Marx based his theory of society. Marx felt that the material world dictated the nature of reality for society. If it changed then the entire structure of society would have to change. Social change arises in the constant interplay of ideas about the material base of the society which contain inherent conflicts and contradictions that propel change. • Forces of production describes the resources necessary for production – tools, processes, materials, labour, skills and knowledge. • The term social relations of production describes the interconnections between people involved in production. • In Marxist thought the adjective bourgeois is applied to the capitalists or middle class and their values that were anchored in material wealth and social class stratification. The term proletariat refers to the mass of ordinary workers. • The term false consciousness was used by Marx to describe the predicament of the proletariat who do not know they are being duped by the bourgeois class to accept values which are not in their best interests but serve the capitalists quite well 47 48 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY subtle than that. There are two opposing forces but the contradiction is that they are fundamentally tied to each other in that one cannot exist without the other. Marx saw such dialectical relationships in the world of work (known as production). He introduced various terms (see Box 3.2), including forces of production and social relations of production. In the case of capitalism one group or class of people, few in number, controls the ownership and assets of the production enterprise. These persons own a great deal of capital be it in land, property or money and are known as the bourgeois class. The other social class, the workers (also known as the proletariat), only have their labour power to sell. The philosophy underlying this perspective is called dialectical materialism, and depicts the on-going struggles between these two groups. The social relations of production describe how the different groups or classes created by capitalism interact and relate to each other and provides us today with a useful analysis of society. For example, which group or groups wield more power in our society? Do they live side by side or are there exclusive neighbourhoods and gated communities to maintain the barriers between the affluent and the working class? Do they inter-marry or attend the same schools? These are some ways in which we can see the social relationships that accompany how the economy is organised. It also shows that the other institutions of society (the superstructure) reinforce the power differentials for example, political parties rely on the wealthier classes to fund their campaigns and when in power they in turn facilitate the concerns of big business. The state in Marxist thought is oppressive because it controls and reinforces the system of social stratification and class relations. According to Marx, social change occurs when the dialectical relationships operating in society become extremely oppressive for one group. Capitalism operates within a contradictory context: for example, capitalists want to make as much profits as they can and so wages are kept as low as possible. Workers on the other hand want to maximise reward for their labour. These are two opposed intentions but for much of the time their different interests are held in check. However, if the proletariat decides to withhold their labour another contradiction is exposed – the workers are a collective who could unite for their common good, while the capitalists are few in number. They of course can use their power in government and the armed forces to bring back ‘order’ but the proletariat can also be awakened from their sleep of false consciousness to understand how they have been exploited. Periodic ‘crises’ like this develop in capitalism according to Marx and will eventually lead to revolution and a new world order where all would own the means of production – a communist society. This could only happen when the state withers away – meaning that the oppressive rule of the state as in capitalist societies will gradually become more humane under socialist principles so that by the time a communist society is established there would be no need for ‘a state’. Marxists then differ from the Functionalists who understand society in terms of consensus, shared values, norms, order, cohesion and integration. However, both groups have a macrosociological focus – they attempt to explain society at the level of the system, whole societies and how they develop over time. As a result, both groups understand society in terms of social structure. Functionalism sees the social system as comprising social institutions and organisations, and norms, values and other established practices as influencing and guiding human behaviour. Marxists do not dispute this structural framework except to say that the institution of the economy plays the fundamental role in structuring the society and all other institutions mirror the relations of production evident in the economy – relations characterised by conflict, contradiction, alienation, social control, coercion, power, and oppression. Often, when scholars use a Marxist analysis of crime or schooling they are not necessarily followers of the political ideas of communism but find the tools of Marxism useful in exposing injustice and inequity. SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING! This account simplifies Marxism because it brings together different ideas that Marx had and puts them in a coherent way. Marx is quoted as saying that he was definitely not a Marxist because of the ways in which his works were interpreted. In early works Marx tends to be more philosophical and ideas are discussed. Middle Marx focuses on the economic base. Late Marx is much more dialectical – showing how the base and superstructure are not just two different entities but how the superstructure expresses the base. Marxism acts as a critique of the main arguments of Functionalism. It argues that the Functionalist idea of society is an optimistic one that takes no account of the CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS inequalities that occur through social and economic marginalisation. It assumes that all persons in the society want the same goals and believes that social order comes about because of this consensus. Marxists, however, point out that if social order exists it is because of the social control exerted on less powerful groups by the more powerful. Whilst functionalists see social institutions interacting to support a thriving society, Marxists see the elites in the society dominating each social institution and interacting in ways to ensure that they continue to thrive. microsociological perspective, sees the individual as a knowing person who exercises agency in choosing his or her actions whilst macrosociology (Functionalism and Conflict Theory/Marxism) analyses society from a structural point of view and the individual is largely seen as passive. Hermeneutics is the philosophy undergirding the Interactionist Perspective. It sees reality as what people construct for themselves based on the meanings and interpretations they share about the world. Social Action ACTIVITY 3.2 Social Theory Identify from the list below those statements that you consider to be criticisms of the Marxist Perspective. (The other statements may be TRUE but are not criticisms or they may be FALSE.) 1. Over-determinism of the economy in social life does not take account of conflicts having other causes. 2. The Marxist Perspective is macrosociological and does not give a good structural explanation of the society. 3. The criticism of the Functionalist Perspective that it has a passive notion of people is also directed at Marxism. 4. Marxism is an ideology (and therefore cannot be tested), e.g. its belief that communism will eventually replace capitalism. 5. Marxism did not value the importance of the social consensus in its explanation of society. 6. Thinking about conflict as the basis of social relationships may not be a true representation of social life. 7. A focus on agency (where the agent chooses his or her own actions) minimises the contribution of structural elements to an understanding of social life. 8. Critics of Marx’s theory of history say that industrialised countries have not moved closer to revolution as he predicted. Interactionism Max Weber’s thought led to the development of the Interactive or Interactionist perspective (the role of agency) in sociology which sought to bring more of the individual into theorising about social life. Social Action theory is the Interactionist perspective largely associated with his name; other Interactionist perspectives are Symbolic Interaction (see §7.2.3), Phenomenology and Ethnomethodology. Interactionism, which is a 3.1.3 Weber devised a comprehensive theory to explain the social actions of individuals. He wanted to understand the connectedness between how individuals made meaning and acted on those meanings (subjective knowledge) and the eventual macro-level processes that resulted. In other words, he was interested in learning about the motivation that people had for their actions not only the end result of those actions. One of his main influences was Ferdinand Tönnies (1855–1936) who in studying human relationships showed that they were of two basic kinds: a those in which people engaged for the relationship itself, such as friendship, marriage and other personal interactions, and b those where people saw that they could gain something such as from a teacher or in employment. Weber in his study of societies realised that people in modern society with its large-scale industrial and urban complexes were destined to develop more of the second type, rational and instrumental relationships, because of the nature of modern social life. To Weber ‘rational’ meant that there was a calculated, premeditated goal behind the behaviour of a person as opposed to ‘nonrational’ where one participated for the enjoyment or feelings of belonging. An instrumental relationship describes one where the person is only interested in a particular goal or interest. This is rational and may be self-serving. This kind of thinking led Weber to develop his theory of bureaucracy and his formulation of ideal types – an analysis based on refining some aspect of social life to focus only on its essential characteristics. The increasing dominance of rational relationships he saw as being an inevitable part of modern society leading to the dominance of bureaucracy. His ideal type of a bureaucracy sought to clarify its main characteristics: ■ a clearly defined and specialised division of labour employing only those who were technically qualified; 49 50 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY a top–down authority structure, an impersonal and impartial way of interacting through rules and regulations that maintained a rigid distance between the public sphere of a person’s life and the private sphere of home and family. The growth and development of bureaucracies in each country in the civil service, the military and in economic, political and religious institutions demonstrates Weber’s concern that bureaucracies would rule individuals, taking away their decision-making power, depersonalising their lives and leading to alienation. In the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Weber regards both ‘protestantism’ and ‘capitalism’ as ideal types. The former (in this instance, Calvinism) imbues persons with a spiritual and moral purpose and the latter is embodied as the desire to amass money – an instrumental goal. He showed that the motivation to amass wealth for Protestants lay in their religious doctrines (see further discussion in Chapter 7). Mead stated that society was made up of symbols or things and as we grew up we also grew to share in the meanings others had for those symbols. Mead felt that without the symbols we would not have the opportunity to develop a self. Symbols made thought, communication and interpretation possible. Language itself is made up of symbols which can be used for communication only because we agree on what the words mean. For example, in the Caribbean we speak of ‘electricity’ whereas in the United States the word ‘power’ is more widely used. Symbolic Interactionists therefore describe and explain our actions/identities based on this theory of the self that is only constructed because of the symbols about which we share meanings. The Puritan’s almost fanatical devotion to a principled, unrelenting work ethic and the disciplined accumulation of wealth in the service of a calling helped launch capitalism on its path of global domination. Consider the idea that you can only develop a ‘self’ because you and others in society share understandings about ‘symbols’. For example, if you lived somehow out of society, how would you even ‘know’ what to think of anything in your environment? ■ (Maley, 2004, p.70) In formulating the theory of Social Action, Weber was mostly interested in understanding the actions of individuals. The approach was to study how macroor systemic social phenomena (religion, bureaucracy, capitalism) developed from the motivation and behaviours of individuals and small groups (agency). The other Interactionist perspectives are primarily devoted to the study of individuals and subjective knowledge and do not attempt to explain any processes at the macro-level. Symbolic Interaction This is a branch of Interpretive theory that is based in the work of Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead. George Herbert Mead (1863–1931) and his followers built on the ideas of Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929) to develop this perspective, known popularly as the Theory of Mind, Self and Society. The main point is that much of our ‘self ’ and our mind (our thoughts) is influenced by the social processes and interactions in which we are enmeshed. In other words, we are not the ‘individuals’ we sometimes think we are - the individual is closely linked to society and symbolic interactionists study that relationship. They see individuals as constantly engaged in constructing their ‘selves’ taking their cues from others about how to act. ACTIVITY 3.3 Social Theory Put the assumptions of Symbolic Interaction to the test for yourself. Phenomenology Alfred Schütz (1899–1959) based his work on the philosophy of Edmund Husserl and offered an understanding of the social world that clearly differentiates it from the natural sciences and the positivist method. His ideas are based on the notion that human beings have consciousness (awareness, being able to perceive) and so they have experiences in which they actively construct their own meanings and interpretations. The world as individuals see it is what they have constructed. These constructions depend to a large extent on the socially derived meanings that people have from their stock of experiences. Phenomenological study in sociology therefore focuses on human experience – what is called the lifeworld – for example, ‘motherhood’ or ‘being a student’. The sociologist has to bracket or suspend his or her own everyday ways of thinking or beliefs in order to focus on the phenomenon in itself, unadorned by any of its symbolic meanings. Attention is paid to the subjective meanings (beliefs, intentions, interests, and interpretations) that individuals and others have for something. CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS Ethnomethodology Harold Garfinkel is the main thinker associated with this perspective, which tends to focus on the minutiae of everyday life – that is, our interactions from moment to moment – to show that there are ‘rules’ that we tend to follow. It asserts there is an ‘order’ in the way we conduct our social relationships that is largely invisible to us and so must be examined. For example, we observe turn-taking in our conversations but we may not be aware of how we do it. We may have no scruples in breaking into what our close friends are saying to give our own views but that seldom happens with our teachers and almost never when speaking with the principal. However, we seldom hold these processes up for scrutiny, we just live them. Ethnomethodologists would say that power and status seem to determine who we allow to interrupt us while we are speaking but we are largely unaware that we follow this ‘order’. This perspective assumes that everyday life has a characteristic order because we all conform and agree about producing that order. We therefore have methods we use in daily interaction to reinforce that order. The work of the ethnomethodologist is to uncover and bring to awareness these shared methods and procedures that we employ as the basis of our interactions. ACTIVITY 3.4 Identify some of the general criticisms of the Interpretive or the Interactionist Perspective. Feminist Theory This theory is rooted in the Conflict and Marxist Perspective and its central construct is that society has historically been influenced by patriarchy (see further discussion in Chapter 6). Feminists also work in the Interpretive perspective and so carry out both macrosociological and microsociological research. Both Marxist and Feminist thought is deterministic in that the former understands oppression in terms of class conflict and the latter in terms of the oppression of women by men. Feminists criticise the discipline of sociology for being dominated by men – note the prominence given to the Founding Fathers, whilst Harriet Martineau and Jane Addams were sidelined (Chapter 2). In addition, to a large extent research has been focused on the experiences of males – Kohlberg’s theory of moral development was built up based on only males as subjects, for example. Evident in such work is the idea that what males experience can 3.1.4 be generalised to females. Thus, sociology has ignored women and the main area of women’s work – the home and family and issues related to domestic relationships. Feminists are attempting to correct this malestream view of the social world. Feminist thought developed in a series of waves from the 20th century onwards and is still being refined and re-worked. The suffragette movement of the early 20th century, when women made a bid for equality in the area of political rights, brought feminist thought to the forefront of the public domain. In time, the women’s movement recognised that voting rights did not confer on them other forms of equality. So they began to study and research the nature of the inequality they experienced relative to men. Over time feminist thought developed into a wide-ranging theoretical framework that accommodates different positions on the nature of equality in society. In fact, some of the theoretical positions are sometimes at odds with each other, and feminist theorists often do not belong exclusively to one school of thought but work in overlapping traditions (see Figure 3.1). While the field is dominated by women and the substance of women’s lives there are feminists who are males and feminists (both male and female) now extend their scholarship to include men who are oppressed by other men. Whatever the particular feminist framework though, feminist thought is directed to one end, the emancipation of women and men from unequal and oppressive relationships. The different approaches to Feminist Theory include cultural feminism, liberal feminism, radical feminism, Marxist/Socialist feminism, black feminism, gender feminism, postmodern feminism, and other, more minority approaches such as existentialist feminism, eco-feminism, anarcha-feminism, postcolonial feminism, post-feminism and cyber-feminism in Figure 3.1 and on page 51. Criticisms of Feminist Theory ■ ■ ■ It is a biased approach to understanding social relations because it begins with patriarchy as a given. Feminist studies tend to be conducted within the Interpretive Perspective and relies on oral testimony and personal experiences which make it a subjective body or research. Those who value empirical data and objectivity find that this is a biased approach to research. Feminists claim that gender is the basic and most significant construct in social relationships but according to critics this is just one variable in human interaction. 51 52 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY North America European/Australian Caribbean Betty Frieden. (1921-2006) The Feminine Mystique (1963). US Liberal Feminist. Simone de Beauvoir. (1908-1986). The Second Sex (1949). French Existentialist Feminist. Amy Bailey. Black Feminist. Garveyite Pan-Africanist bell hooks. Ain’t l a woman Black Woman and Feminism (1981). US Black Feminist. Germaine Greer. The Female Eunuch. (1970). Australian Marxist Feminist. Eudine Barriteau. Theorising the Shift from Women to Gender, Confronting Power, Theorising Gender (2003). Postmodern Feminist. Dorothy E. Smith. The Everyday World as Problematic.(1987). Canadian Marxist Feminist. Ann Oakley Women Confined: Towards a Sociology of Childbirth (1980). British Liberal Feminist. Rawidda Baksh-Soodeen. Issues of Difference in Contemporary Caribbean Feminism (1998). Indian-Caribbean Feminist. Sandra Harding. Whose Science, Whose Knowledge: Thinking from Women’s Lives. (1991). US Radical Feminist. Claire Wallace. An introduction to Sociology: Feminist Perspectives (1990). British Marxist Feminist Red Thread. Women’s Development Organisation. www.redthreadwomen.org Guyanese Anti-racist Feminist. Patricia Hill Collins. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness,and the Politics of Empowerment (1990). US Black Black Feminist David Morgan. Men, Masculinities and Social Theory (1990) (with Jeff Hearn, eds.). British Men’s Feminism. Patricia Mohammed. Towards Indigenous Feminist Theorising in the Caribbean (1998). Postmodern Feminist. Carol Gilligan. In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women’s Development (1982). US Gender Feminist. Bob Connell. (Also known as R.W. Connell.) Masculinities (1995). A transsexual woman. Australian Men’s Feminism. Rhoda Reddock. Women, Labour and Politics in Trinidad and Tobago: A History (1994). Postcolonial Feminist. Judith Butler. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990). US Postmodern Feminist. Heidi Safia Mirza. Black British Feminism: A Reader (1997). British Black Feminist. CAFRA. The Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action. Activist group. Figure 3.1 Some major feminist theorists/activists and organisations ■ ■ Feminists tend to ignore the social changes taking place today where more men are involved in the caring and emotional work in families. The arguments put forward by feminists tend to portray women as a passive group (victims) which is at odds with the research framework they usually adopt, the Interpretive Perspective, and its emphasis on agency. ACTIVITY 3.5 Research some of the different types of feminism listed in Figure 3.1 and on page 51. 1. Write brief notes on each of the types you have researched. 2. Use Figure 3.1 to identify feminist theorists, activists and/or organisations associated with each type. 3. Describe the influence these individuals and organisations have had on the area of feminism with which they are concerned. CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS 3.2 To sum up: Sociological perspectives represent different views of society. Functionalism and Conflict Theory/ Marxism are macrosociological perspectives which are based on a structural view of society. Positivism is the philosophy underlying Functionalism and Dialectical Materialism is the philosophy which underlies Marxist thought. Functionalism has a consensus approach and Conflict Theory/Marxism a conflict approach to how societies develop – the dynamic to be considered in each case is whatever brings about consensus or conflict, respectively. The Interactionist Perspective is an umbrella term under which there are several related microsociological perspectives – Social Action, Symbolic Interaction, Phenomenology and Ethnomethodology. The philosophy underlying Interactionism is hermeneutics which sees the individual as a meaning-maker who has agency. Feminist thought is a conflict perspective which emphasises the impact of patriarchy on society and seeks the empowerment of both genders to build a better society. No one perspective therefore can explain society in its entirety. A student of sociology should keep in mind that each perspective may be more useful for answering certain questions about social life than others. That being said, the Functionalist perspective has come to dominate the other perspectives, and we should understand this domination as a social process and not in terms of it being the best or the most relevant (see Box 3.3 below). BOX 3.3 Empiricism Why is Functionalism the Dominant Perspective? Equating the watchwords of peace, stability and harmony with social progress makes Functionalism a more attractive view of society than the Marxists’ view where inherent conflict and constant change are seen as the hall marks of the social formation. The strong bias towards science and technology from the Enlightenment through to modern times also predisposes people to revere the methods of the sciences based on the philosophy of positivism. This means that interpretive sociology with its emphasis on subjective data is still regarded by many in a dubious light. The Basic Principles of Sociology The basic principles in sociology are the fundamental building blocks of the discipline. They are termed principles of constraint because each in some way describes how our lives and interactions are controlled simply by virtue of living in society. Studying sociology means that we are learning about how others influence our behaviour and how much say we have about it. The principles of constraint guide this investigation. The Principles of Constraint Perhaps the best way of thinking about these principles is to imagine a group of castaways, say about 100 persons, on an island with no hope of discovery for some time. They have few options but to start to build a society because it is only as an entity (even if there is disagreement) they are likely to survive. Before they can decide on specifics such as where to build shelter and what kinds may be needed, they have to establish rules for interaction, rules for social living. It is these rules we refer to as the basic principles of constraint in society. ■ Institutions: One constraint we all live with is that we are born into a society where there are already rules, norms and values laid out. The fact that they exist indicates that our ancestors saw the need for collaboration to achieve some basic goals. The castaways would have brought with them this knowledge of institutions as a principle of constraint and would use it to set about making shared rules and agreements to provide for human needs. ■ Socialisation: On the island, a division of labour has to be established. Survival depends on persons acknowledging that behaviours such as co-operation, sharing, collaboration and partnerships are likely to stand them in better stead than competition, rivalry and individualism, for example. While the institutions of the family and education were the main socialising influences at home, here a system of sanctions and punishments has to be enforced to encourage or discourage certain behaviours. ■ Organisation: The principle of organisation includes the methods, procedures and arrangements the castaways put in place for accomplishing some task, e.g.. some persons are selected to establish a viable food supply. The group has to develop ways of decision making and communication. 3.2.1 53 54 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY ■ Erle, if you tell me once more how you did this in the Boy Scouts, I’m going to lay you out. ■ ■ Stratification: Leaders have to emerge, whether by democratic means or the grasping of power by a dictator or a cabal (group or faction). If there are people with knowledge and expertise in agriculture and fishing they will be more valued than, say, computer technicians or entertainers. Similarly, those skilled in construction (houses, boats) or, cooking will be more important than those who are knowledgeable in languages or banking. This will only change if the society comes to value other qualities, knowledge and expertise and that could happen if circumstances change. An’ don’t you give me no more excuses for being late for work. Traffic indeed! Social control: Coming together in groups to create and develop processes and structures that will help the group to survive depends on a certain amount of consensus about the absolutely essential things. A system of rules and punishments is set up to ensure social control or social order. This is based on the idea of being fair to others. Social change: This principle of constraint relates to the fact that in all societies there are ways of organising to change the rules. Some people join together to bring about change, others resist, and still others acquiesce. Change may be peaceful, violent or characterised by continuous tensions. In the new society some groups may actually grow to prefer their new life while others may press for more resources to be diverted to build a boat large enough to escape from the island. Box 3.4 explains how the basic sociological principles of constraint relate to sociological perspectives, theories, and concepts. Traditional approaches to the study of sociology place emphasis on definitions and the sociological perspectives followed by the specific study of social institutions. Here the basic principles of constraint are given equal attention because they underlie the perspectives and all other sociological knowledge. In the following sections each of these principles will be described in detail, particularly how they influence us. Institutions Institutions can be thought of as the social force that compels us to plan and make arrangements to achieve human needs based on our ideas and values. If we are the dominant group in society, perhaps because we outnumber the others or we control them, it will be our ideas and values which will form the general expectations of how things should be organised to accomplish tasks. It does not mean that other ideas and values would not be there, they would be, but for the most part they would be marginal, practised by only some persons. 3.2.2 When we see values and norms result in the arrangement of individuals into groups to accomplish goals and basic life needs, we are observing the principle of institutions. (Mulkey, 1993, p. 68) In Box 3.4 we saw that principles of constraint are interpreted in different ways by the social theorists of CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS BOX 3.4 The Conceptual Structure of Sociology The Conceptual Structure of Sociology refers to how the discipline is organised: for example, there are foundational principles and the major theories, perspectives and concepts spring from those principles (Figure 3.3, page 56). • The purpose of sociology is to understand society, ‘the social’ or social life – these terms describe the same thing but with different emphasis. Society refers to the social world of living in groups and how the interactions between groups influence us. The social refers to how living in groups influence our behaviours and is regarded as a force configuring our lives. Social life refers to the interactions of the social by accepting and deepening the hold of these constraints on him or her. • Sociology outlines six basic principles of living together which are found in all societies • They are called the sociological principles of constraint because they all indicate in some way how society influences individuals and groups. • The sociological perspectives are three (at least) different views about how these principles affect social life. • Each sociological perspective describes social life through the social institutions and each perspective does that differently. Consequently, there are many ‘sociologies’. The knowledge gained from the study of social life is put to practical use by attempting to develop social policies to solve social problems (top of the diagram). institutions, for example, it describes the relationships between education, the family and religion. Theories and Concepts Theories are ways of explaining concepts / principles. Concepts and theories relevant to the study of the family, for example, are narrower in scope than, say, the perspectives or the principles. • The most fundamental idea about society which sociology teaches is that society is a force which influences and constrains the individual. • That the individual also influences society does not mean that the constraints disappear – for the most part, the individual influences society Functionalism, Marxist/Conflict Theory and Interpretive Theory. Here we look briefly at how the concept of ‘institutions’ is interpreted by the sociological perspectives. ■ Functionalism sees the principle of institutions as organising to accomplish tasks that the whole society needs, which arises out of general agreement or consensus on the part of members. In this perspective, constraints are minimised and an optimistic view is taken that the arrangements put in place to solve society’s problems are helpful for all. ■ Marxism/Conflict Theory sees institutions as ways of organising to promote the interests of the wealthy and the powerful, so that inequalities result. Each socio-economic or interest group has different ideas on how the society should be organised. Conflict they see as a ‘normal’ feature of society. ■ ■ Interpretive/ Interactionist Theory views the arrangements which regulate social life as coming out of the need for people to make meaning and exert their agency in the social world. People interpret the arrangements and relate to them in complex and sometimes contradictory ways. Feminism examines social institutions in terms of sexism and unequal gender relations. It seeks to address the prevailing arrangements in society which facilitate the progress of men but not women. Socialisation Socialisation is a principle of constraint because it influences us to adopt the norms, values and beliefs of the group or groups to which we belong. Their rules become ours. Socialisation is the specific process whereby we 3.2.3 55 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY More specific Theories / Concepts Study/ Research of Social Problems Social Policy Concepts and theories relevant to the study of e.g. the family are narrower in scope than, say, the perspectives or the principles. Family Religion Economy Education Politics Media Health Specific Social Institutions Feminist Theory Conflict / Marxist Theory Interactionist Theory Functionalism Sociological Perspectives (Social Theory) 3. Stratification General Principles & Theories 56 4. Organisation 2. Socialisation 5. Social Control The Principles of Constraint 1. Institutions 6 Social Change SOCIETY – the social realm Figure 3.2 The conceptual structure of sociology learn the rules of the society about how to collaborate, who to associate with and generally, how to get along in society. The purpose of socialisation is to ensure a stable society and so new members are always being initiated and coached about ‘how we do things around here’. As we are socialised into a particular culture, we begin forming our personalities in relation to the group. In society, young members learn through reasoning and discussion or through scolding, reprimanding, sarcasm, ridicule, ostracism, withdrawal of privileges, and physical punishments. They learn that it may be better to conform to society’s expectations because there may be good reasons for those rules, or to conform because they want to avoid punishment. Socialisation is an imperfect process because we cannot be sure that conforming behaviours come out of a conviction that the rules have a sound basis. Someone may just be complying for the moment because it is expedient to do so. That is why it is on-going and never stops until we leave the planet. Let us now look at the different types of socialisation processes. Primary Socialisation The family is an agent of socialisation. Primary socialisation takes place in families from birth to about five years when the individual starts formal schooling. The baby or new member of society learns the culture of the society through his or her initiation at home – for example, what is the expected behaviour of a boy, how to speak the language of the group, and how to behave in every possible social situation. The individual learns everything, including negative attitudes towards others, if those are entrenched in the family. CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS Secondary Socialisation Education is also an agent of socialisation. As we leave home and begin to spend most of our days in formal groups, secondary socialisation processes work on us. Learning rules is not an automatic thing. Often rules prevent us from getting at our heart’s desire, such as hitting the other person or taking away his lunch. One of the main aims of education is to socialise the young into the norms, values and beliefs of the society and that is accomplished through acquiring the knowledge and skills that the society values. At school there are many rules and if we think about the reasoning behind the rules we will see the need to ensure order, loyalty towards the school and respect for traditions and teachers. But some rules are questionable. ACTIVITY 3.6 Critical Thinking Look at a copy of your school rules. a Identify what may be the underlying purpose(s) for some of them. b Identify any rule which you think encourages values with which you may disagree. c Specify how you might re-phrase or replace such a rule. d How easy would it be to change this school rule? Anticipatory Socialisation At times we may feel the need to consciously prepare for a role that we are about to take on. In such a case we deliberately seek a teacher or information to socialise us into those behaviours expected of us. Primary and secondary socialisation ‘happen’ to us; in anticipatory socialisation we make a conscious decision to learn and rehearse our future role so that our transition will be easier. Examples include: ■ becoming a parent (parenting programmes to help new parents); ■ preparing for a new profession or job; ■ learning the language, geography and customs of a country where you are going to stay for a period of time; ■ preparing for growing old, by deciding to co-operate with or reject norms that sideline older people. Re-socialisation This is a process of socialisation where an individual consciously rejects former behaviours, norms and values and actively takes up an alternative mode of life. This happens all through our life course but in some instances may be quite dramatic. We are familiar with the idea that getting married and starting life with another person demands a certain amount of adjustment and re-socialising oneself to compromise on various aspects of day to day life. More radical change will come about if you adopt a different religion with a very strict code of conduct or enter a convent or the military. ‘Reforms’ are really about resocialising people. In education, health, and the justice system, reforms focus on re-socialising individuals into more enabling behaviours. Agents of Socialisation We learn our culture and acquire our personality through agents of socialisation. (Important agents of socialisation are in bold type in the section below.) An agent of socialisation is a group or a social institution that influences our attitudes, beliefs, and values and consequently our actions or behaviours. In our early life the family is very important in shaping our ideas, beliefs and behaviour. Once we begin to attend secondary school and stay away from home for longer periods we meet many different groups of people and continue to expand our ideas about the world. For those who are deeply involved in their church or religion, youth meetings and activities largely limit the individual to friends who share in his or her beliefs. Our peers and friendship groups may serve to expose us to a variety of young people from widely diverse backgrounds or they may be more narrowly chosen from our neighbourhoods, or share our own ethnic background or the same sex. Throughout our lives the mass media play an increasingly important role as an agent of socialisation, shaping our attitudes and behaviours. When we go to work, the values and attitudes that are needed to get ahead also influence us – in one way or the other. The different expectations of the family or religion as opposed to the media or peer group result in tensions about which values are most important. These are the major agents/influences of socialisation in which every member of society participates. For example, even if you are unemployed you are still bound by the ideals of hard work and independence with which you are judged and which may therefore impact on your self esteem. 57 58 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY ACTIVITY 3.7 Critical Thinking 1. Describe the socialising impact that the widespread use of computers may be having, not only among young people, but also among others in the society. 2. The different expectations of the family or religion as opposed to the media or peer group results in tensions about which values are most important. Discuss this statement in an essay, or orally in your class or a small group. Sociological Perspectives on Socialisation Functionalism – passive theories of socialisation This view of socialisation is dominant and says that primary and secondary processes of socialisation influence individuals to act in conformist ways to take up the roles assigned to them – student, friend, parent, teacher, brother. These theories are ‘deterministic’ and focus on whole groups of people being influenced in uniform ways. For example, the school is believed to inculcate respect for punctuality and regular attendance among students which are valued dispositions needed in any aspect of public life, namely the world of work. This happens, it is believed, through passive absorption of the norms underlying school rules. Similarly, children are seen as absorbing the values and beliefs of their parents. Functionalism emphasises the function of social institutions (education, family) in helping to establish a stable set of values, roles, norms and statuses through the agents of socialisation. This perspective conceives of socialisation as essentially a top-down process functioning to preserve the status quo. While it is undoubted that socialisation happens in a passive way, this perspective does not fully explain those who resist the roles, norms and behaviours that are expected of them, those who do not conform despite the constraints of negative sanctions and punishments. Marxist/Conflict Perspective – radical theories of socialisation Like Functionalism, these views also have a macro-level focus and therefore tend to emphasise social structure - the patterned relationships that exist in and between social institutions. They differ from Functionalism however in that they do not believe socialisation to be a uniform process influencing members in the same ways. The Marxist view is that groups are socialised according to the norms and values of the socio-economic group to which they belong. Thus, a child living in a lower socio- economic neighbourhood will be socialised into a culture where poverty, marginalisation and oppression are part of everyday life. While this perspective is concerned about social equity, it tends to be deterministic, seeing economic circumstances as the major factor in the socialising experience. Interpretive perspective – active theories of socialisation This microsociological view of society examines encounters between specific individuals and groups for example, the children in a family interacting with their parents. Socialisation is studied as a process that may impact individuals in multiple ways because individuals are seen as meaning makers who interpret their role. Hence, in the family one child may conform and the other resist family norms and values. This theory then is not deterministic because its view of the individual is someone who has agency, who can actively negotiate and redefine a situation. Feminism Gender socialisation is a key area of interest for feminist scholars. While there is evidence from biology to show that the brains of males and females are wired differently, there is also much evidence to show that we take on gender identities and gender roles in accordance with how we have been socialised since birth. Gender theorists also want to point out that popular images of masculinity tend to be coercive to those males who are different and who would prefer other forms of masculinity but they are constrained by peer pressure to conform. To sum up: SSocialisation ocia ocia oc iali aliisa sati t on iiss de desc described sccri r be b d as ‘‘the the th e ru rule rules le es fo forr le lear learning arni ar ning ng tthe th he rules’ rule ru les’ le ss’’ and and influences infl nflue uen ue nces everyone. nces nc eve very ryon ry one. on e. It It affects affe af fect fe ctss us at ct a internal an int nter erna er nall le na llevel leve eve vell wh w wher where her ere e th the e rules rule ru less an le and d ex exp expectations pectations pect of the the e society soc ocie ie ety become bec ecom ome om e our our own own individual indi in divi di vid vi dual rules and dual expectations. expe ex pect pe ctat ct attions io ons ns. Our Our personalities pers pe rson rs onal on a it al itie iess ar ie are e co con constructed nstructed on a ssolid olid ol id b ase as e of tthe he n eeds ee ds o the e society so base needs off th perceived p pe rccei e ve ved d as a our our own own needs nee eeds ds as as human hu beings, survival being surv su rvviv val b eing ei ng the the most mos ostt basic. basi ba sic. si c. Socialisation Socialisation is never finished finis fin ishe is hed he d or o ccomplete. ompl om p et pl ete.. Rules Rul ules es are are constraining and ttherefore ther th heref e or ef ore e socialisation soci so cial ci alis al isat is atio at ion io n mu must be on-going during an individual’s indi in divi di vidu d al du al’ss lifetime. lif ifet etim et ime im e. e. Stratification As well as being a principle of constraint, stratification is a major sociological concept (see Chapter 9 for more detail, especially on Caribbean contexts). 3.2.4 CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS The sociological principle of constraint stratification is widespread in almost all societies and social groups. It reflects the urge to sort people according to how much they have of what the society values – scarce resources such as wealth, power and prestige become very valuable. The stratified layers in society are referred to as social classes. In the very earliest societies of small clans or nomadic groups each person was valued more or less the same as another, although elders had more prestige, and women had distinct roles to play – indicating some forms of inequality, but not necessarily social stratification. Social stratification refers to the organisation of society into social classes or castes or some other system where each one possesses more or less of the desirable things in life. It therefore indicates the unequal distribution of resources. Over time though society became more differentiated and a hierarchy developed with hardly any social mixing between the levels. Today people spend their lives either striving to attain what is desirable or to hold on to it whilst others are trying to prevent them from doing so. When the society is organised as a hierarchy it means that some have more and some less and it is thus based on inequality. That the society does not crumble or self-destruct when people on the bottom rungs of the ladder find wealth, power or prestige elusive means that they have been socialised to accept the basic organising principles of their society. The principles of institutions and socialisation come together to support the principle of stratification, that it is necessary for the society to survive. The principle is described as one of constraint because everyone seems to agree about what is desired and so even those who do not have it are bound by these values. Organisation The sociological principle of constraint known as organisation refers to how members of society arrange themselves into small and large groups to accomplish tasks. Members of society in coming together to develop rules and agreements find it necessary to organise themselves into groups. It is this group-aspect of social life that is described as the principle of organisation. 3.2.5 Social Groups Within social groups members meet each other regularly and have a sense of identity or belonging to the group. They cannot behave in ways that are totally free and unmindful of others. They abide by the rules, procedures and arrangements (i.e. the principle of organisation at work) which are put in place to accomplish tasks and are based on the norms and beliefs valued by members of a group. Usually there are dominant and marginal beliefs which mean that there will be some variety within each group and even conflict. For example, some students conform to the behaviours prescribed by norms while others flout the rules. This is possible because students form a very large and therefore diffuse group where there is a range of dissenting views. The more unified the members of a group are the more likely it is seen as distinct and tightly knit by outsiders, for example compare ‘students’ and ‘church youth group’. This section examines the varieties of groups and how they are classified in sociology. One issue in classifying groups is that a social group is not just any collective. A distinction needs to be made between a group and an aggregate. Whereas the former refers to people who have some relationship over time and goals to accomplish, the latter refers to those persons who come together by happenstance (accident or coincidence). Examples include people at a party, or on the bus. These do not constitute a social group. Another difficulty in classifying groups is that there is such a wide array of groups that any classification cannot accommodate them all; keep this in mind as you read the following section. Formal and informal groups Formal groups have the following characteristics: ■ They are established for a specific purpose, such as a Ministry of Finance or the Girl Guides. ■ Members each have a role to play with clear functions and responsibilities within a hierarchy of authority. ■ Relationships between members are based on the task to be accomplished and are prescribed by the rules of the organisation. ■ There is a constitution to guide meetings and operations. ■ Members are elected or appointed. ■ The group has a public identity so that they may wear a uniform or some form of insignia such as a ring, a tie, or a blazer. ■ They are voluntary or involuntary. Involuntary formal groups include prisoners, inmates in an asylum, and students who are compelled by law, until a certain age, to attend school. ■ They may be large or small. Large groups include the Girl Guides, a university, a multinational corporation, and a sports body such as FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Associations). Examples of small groups include a school Parent-Teacher Association, 59 60 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY an environmental group established to clean up a river valley, or the workers in a grocery. Informal groups have the following characteristics: ■ They tend to be small rather than large. ■ They are either voluntary or involuntary. A family constitutes a small, informal group that is largely involuntary; friendship groups amongst children, adolescents or adults usually represent a small circle of individuals and are voluntary. ■ Members have common interests and meet each other frequently. ■ They are not directed towards the achievement of narrow, specific goals. For example, a family has a wide range of tasks to complete such as organising for the education of children, meeting their health and emotional needs as well as providing a stable and secure home environment. The tasks that friends undertake to maintain their friendship vary widely from one day to the next. There is some difficulty posed by this classification scheme. It is not easy to pinpoint a large informal group that has similar characteristics to a small, informal group. It is also difficult to identify informal groups that are involuntary, other than the family. Primary and secondary groups Primary and secondary groups differ in the nature of the relationships between members. Primary groups tend to be mainly informal groups. Members often meet face to face and have close connections because they have mutual goals, or they are friends. Feelings of love, compassion, and concern for each other normally characterise members of a primary group. These groups are small, such as friendship groups, families, a hobby group and colleagues who work together and develop close bonds. However, because members feel so ‘close’ to each other it is not uncommon that feelings of anger, hostility, and distrust can flare into quarrels, squabbles and conflicts. In a secondary group the relationships are more formal and distant. Interactions are based on performance to achieve some goal and so relationships between members reflect obedience, co-operation, and efficiency. Each member at the same time is concerned with his or her own ends and so competition permeates the attempt at teamwork. Conflict is dealt with via rules and regulations and official committees. Members only come together to accomplish a task, so that if a business fails, members drift away. Generally, formal organisations tend to have secondary group relationships and informal groups have primary relationships. Research into group dynamics suggest that secondary groups could become more productive if some measure of primary relationships are established. These include increased opportunities for social interaction such as birthday clubs, celebration of milestones such as retirement functions, worker of the month awards, and family days. These together with a more caring ethic from management could serve to transform the impersonal nature of formal groups. The principle of organisation is at work when a company changes traditional group norms and practices so that workers and management can bond more easily. In-groups and out-groups In-groups are those to which we belong (our families, religious groups, ethnic groups, our neighbourhoods). We feel a strong sense of belonging and identify with them. Out-groups, on the other hand, are people who differ considerably from us, whom we may regard as ‘the Other’, and to whom we bear no loyalty. It is very easy to make jokes about and disparage people who are different to us and this is how labeling comes about. Creating stereotypes, holding prejudices and committing acts of discrimination against those who are different are some of the ways in-groups treat out-groups (see Figure 3.2 for a striking example). Out-groups include those who differ in terms of social class, gender, race, colour, ethnicity, creed, political affiliation, language group, ability, and so on. Sociological Perspectives on the Principle of Organisation Functionalism Functionalism views the principle of organisation as an ordinary and habitual aspect of daily life. Society is understood to be a system of interrelated parts or A primary group of friends CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS Figure 3.2 A couple sits in the segregated section of a ferry on the Mississippi River in 1964 groups which come together to make arrangements to accomplish tasks and this has always been so. These parts, from social institutions to a class in a school, make up an integrated network of social organisations comprised of social groups. Groups, in their commitment to achieving the aims and purposes they see as important, make arrangements to ensure that the society survives. For example, the economic system in a country consists of hundreds of groups, including large formal organisations such as the Ministries of Agriculture, Finance and Labour, equally large and complex banking operations, medium-sized business firms and corporations, and small co-operatives, family farms, cottage industries and the self-employed. These incorporate both formal and 61 62 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY informal groups. However, they have to be committed to a particular economic system, such as capitalism (which can also be seen as a set of beliefs or an ideology), in order that the entire structure continues. The laws governing the operations of the economy cement these norms and values and contribute to ensuring a stable system. Variations and change tend to precipitate alterations and transformations within the system throwing it out of kilter and destroying the harmony between all the groups and their arrangements to accomplish a task. Thus, Functionalism sees groups making arrangements to carry out the tasks of social institutions as mechanisms that are necessary to ensure the survival of the society. This emphasis on stability is a prime concern of Functionalism. Conflict Theory This perspective largely agrees with Functionalism that society is a system of related parts, but theorists do not see it working to maintain equilibrium and harmony. Rather, they see society as a site of competition between groups with opposing interests. Social institutions and organisations reflect the inequality brought about by competition for scarce resources (money, power, influence). Consequently, Conflict theorists say the principle of organisation is about groups coming together to accomplish tasks but competition rather than consensus is their motivation. Groups which benefit from the arrangements strive to maintain their advantage and therefore the arrangements themselves are open to question – they may be based on beliefs, values and ideologies which encourage social stratification rather than equality among members of society. Interactionism The Interpretive Perspective sees human beings as having will and making choices rather than being acted upon by various forces as in the macro-perspectives described above. For example, Symbolic Interactionists say that social life is a series of negotiated transactions between persons. Because individuals negotiate their reality rather than accept an imposed definition of the situation, they may try to bend the rules and arrangements that bind them. The Interpretive or Interactionist Perspective then shows how the arrangements put in place by groups are subject to individual interpretation, alteration and even sabotage. ACTIVITY 3.8 Critics of Weber’s ideal type of bureaucracies (Box 3.5) point to how the very characteristics that are supposed to encourage efficiency and productivity serve to destabilise the organisation. Write down three characteristics that you think would fit these criteria. Feminist theory Feminism looks on the principle of organisation in terms of uncovering the practices that tend to shunt women towards low-end jobs or, the glass ceiling, so that even though they may have credentials they do not attain the heights of the economy, or other institutions. To sum up: The The he p principle rinc ri ncip iple ip le e of of constraint cons co nstr ns trai tr aint ai nt k known nown no w a wn ass organisation orga or gani ga nisa ni sati sa tion ti on refers re efer fe ers rs to to how h w members ho memb me mber mb ers of society er ers soc ocie ie iet ety ty arrange arr rran ange an ge to to carry carr ca rryy rr out o ou ut ta tasks ask skss in llarge arge ar ge and and small sma mall ll g groups roup ro upss bo up boun bound und un d by rules, ru ule les, relationships les, rel elat atio at tio ons nshi h pss and hi and procedures. pro oce c du dure res. re s. Members Mem embe bers be rs a are re constrained and norms off th con co nstr ns trai aine ai ned ne d by ttheir heirr rroles heir he ole ol es a es nd tthe he n orms or ms o the e organisation. o orga or rga g ni nisa sati sa tion ti on.. Whilst on Whil Wh illst tthe h org he organisation rgan rg anis an isat is atio at ion ma io mayy at atte attempt temp te mptt mp unity purpose and to iimpose m os mp ose e a un unit itty of of p urpo ur pose po se a nd cclear lear le ar cchannels hann ha nnel nn elss el bureaucracies, of ccommunication, omm om muni muni mu nica cati ca tiion on, as iin on, n bu bure reau re aucr au crac cr acie ac ies, ie s, the the groups group roupss themselves diverse them th emse em selv se lves lv es may es mayy be be internally inte in tern te rn nal ally ly yd iver iv erse er se e and and ccompete omp om pete with w wi th each th eacch other. othe othe her. r From Fro rom m the the beginning begi be ginn gi nn nin ing g of human hum uman existence exis ex isste tenc ncce mankind mank ma nkin nk in nd has has gravitated grav gr avit av itat it ated at ed ttowards owar ow ards ds groups means off su survival. as a m eans ea n o ns surv rviv rv ivval al. Th That at ttrend rend re nd has has continued continued reached maximum and an d re reac ache ac hed ed perhaps pe erh hap ps its its ma maxi ximu xi mum mu m de development in tthe he form for orm m of the the large lar arge ge bureaucracy. bur urea eauc ea ucra racy. Weber felt that th at the the bureaucracy bur urea eauc ea ucra uc racy ra cy had had the the he potential potential to bring about maximum efficiency abou ab outt ma ou maxi ximu xi mum mu m ef effic ficie fic ien ie ncy for ncy fo social and economic development deve de v lo lopm pmen pm nt but but it also also lso could co result in the loss of human creativity. huma hu man ma n freedom free fr eedo ee dom do m and and cr cre eativity. The sociological principle prin pr in nci c pl ple e of constraint con onsstra strain int known as organisation refers nott only no only to to how how members members organise to accomplish tasks task ta skss bu sk butt also also tto o the nature of the society that evolves evol ev olve ol vess fr ve ffrom rom om such arrangements. Social Control The sociological principle of constraint known as social control involves two related ideas: social order and social deviance (see Chapter 10 for an in-depth treatment of social control as it relates to crime and deviance). 3.2.6 Social Order Think about what you witness in society every morning on your way to school or work. Reflect on the inherent order that we follow so that there is a predictable sameness to everyday interaction. One day is very much like another. People obey traffic lights, pedestrians wait till the road is clear before they cross, and buses refuse to take passengers when they are full. At school or work there is a definite starting time and certain procedures to indicate how the day will unfold. There is a certainty as to who does what and who is in charge. Social order describes this predictable and stable pattern of behaviours and interactions that we as members of CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS BOX 3.5 Max Weber and Bureaucracy One of the many contributions of Weber to sociology is the theoretical construct known as the ideal type. It refers to the purest form of some entity or its most essential characteristics which outlines a model of it. This idea of the ideal type of something does not include all its possible features but only those that define it as what it is. The ideal type is therefore useful in clarifying the characteristics of something (for example, ‘authority’ or ‘capitalism’) and facilitating comparisons in different societies over time. Note that the term ‘ideal’ does not refer to what something should look like but to its absolutely necessary characteristics. Here we will examine Weber’s ideal types of bureaucracy and authority. Popular perceptions tend to paint the term bureaucracy in a negative light, indicating large organisations where there is a lot of red tape and officialdom so that business gets bogged down in an unnecessary volume of paperwork. We need to remember though that it is also a sociological concept first studied by Max Weber who felt that bureaucracies as social organisations would increasingly come to dominate society. Unlike earlier societies, industrial and urban societies needed a wide variety of specialised tasks to be performed on a daily basis and the social organisation known as bureaucracy was an efficient means of getting things done. Weber studied bureaucracies past and present to come up with his ideal type. He was especially interested in the forms of authority developed by such organisations, seeing them as having repercussions on society. Whilst large bureaucratic organisations did exist in the past, such as the imperial civil service in China, ancient Rome and India under the British Raj, he felt that modern-day bureaucracies were fundamentally different. For example, the authority structure in bureaucracies of the past rested on tradition (such as the Emperor and mandarins in China) or was based on charisma, religion or superstition. Weber observed that modern-day bureaucracies which paralleled the growth of industrialisation, urbanisation and a capitalist monetary economy had an authority structure that could best be termed rational-legal (i.e. goal-directed, operating logically to promote efficiency and regulated through rules with a legal basis). Weber’s ideal types of authority or leadership are: • traditional authority – the structure of command and respect in early societies where power resided in established elite groups and was based on customary practices; • charismatic authority – the power and respect accorded a leader who because of force of personality or outstanding personal appeal commands a following; • rational-legal authority – the power and influence wielded by an office (rather than a person) having the right and obligation to perform certain tasks. Persons in these offices function on the basis of legally drawn up rules for interaction and the exercise of authority. From this typology, Weber showed that traditional and charismatic authority changed into rational-legal authority as the organisation grew into a more complex entity. In fact, one of Weber’s major points was that modern life over time has come to be based more and more on rational, formal structures. Weber’s ideal type of bureaucracy (its essential characteristics) includes the following: • a hierarchical structure or top-down chain of command; • division of labour where each job or task is specialised and well-defined; • credentials and merit determine who will be selected for office; • written rules govern procedures and interactions; • secondary group relationships characterise interaction and official communication. These characteristics together give us an overall description of formal organisations as places governed by impersonal, secondary-group relationships. While he was able to appreciate the efficiency and order that could result from such an organisation, Weber was wary of the negative effects that could develop with so much emphasis on rational tasks, formal rules, regulations and routines. In fact, he predicted we would come to be dominated by bureaucracies and likened it to living in an ‘iron cage’. 63 64 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY society demonstrate every day usually without giving it a second thought. (If more of these things occur in one society and not another then one is not as ‘ordered’ or regulated as the other). The ‘little’ informal rules we follow in daily interaction as well as the laws of the land are designed to influence and constrain our every action because there hardly is a thought or an act that is not social. ACTIVITY 3.9 Identify a number of everyday situations where our responses are constrained by these informal rules. What happens if we choose to deviate from the conventional response? In almost all the cases you have listed above there will be deviants – people who break the rules. In fact, many of us are tempted to break rules but something holds us back. That ‘something’ has to do with social control – the influence exerted on us by society that constrains us suffiently to make us conform to norms. Before we examine the various methods of social control we will look in some depth at social deviance. It is impossible to study and discuss social order without bringing in deviance as you can see in the section above where order can only be truly grasped by contrasting it with disorder. Social Deviance Interestingly enough, social deviance is not always associated with negative behaviour. If someone is extraordinarily brilliant, or fantastically wealthy, or displays any quality that the average person does not have – for example, a couple with three sets of twins – these conditions are thought to stray far enough from the norm to be considered ‘deviant’. This sense of deviance though is merely a statistical one and of little sociological importance. When a few discerning individuals are able to see through the conventions of society and its many rules, their behaviours and values are considered deviant and are of sociological importance. They may not be explicitly involved in ‘negative’ behaviours but they represent a potential threat to the existing order. These persons may realise that ‘order’ could just be a disguise for carrying out tasks in the same old ways because of custom and not necessarily because they are the most effective. Those who challenged the conventional order because it was oppressive such as revolutionaries and freedom fighters were thought of as deviants and some today are regarded as heroes – Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Toussaint L’Ouverture, and others. In fact, society needs those farseeing and clear-thinking individuals who are able to ‘think out of the box’ and bring new solutions to old problems. There are however competing definitions about what social deviance is. Those who define it as persons whose behaviour violates social norms regard deviance in a traditional and normative way. Those who are more mindful of the relative nature of acts of deviance prefer to define it as persons and behaviour defined as deviant by the society. This latter definition takes into account the subjective nature of labelling something or someone as deviant. It also raises the issue that it is a specific group who defines something or someone as deviant and that group usually has the power to do so. Nothing as we have seen above is universally deviant. Nonetheless, there is much consensus (on the part of quite different groups in society) that murderers, child molesters, terrorists, rapists, arsonists, and those engaged in human and drug-trafficking pose major threats to society and are ‘truly’ deviant. Social Control Throughout history societies have found it necessary to exert influence and control over its members so that social order is maintained and social deviance contained. In most Western societies, members seem willing to comply with certain restrictions and constraints so that the majority of the people could enjoy a peaceful and harmonious existence. At its very core then society seems to operate with a great deal of consensus as to what is acceptable and what is not in preserving social order. 1 Socialisation instils in us at the level of our personalities a preference for the rules, norms, values and expectations of our society and this ‘training’ continues throughout our lives. Primary and secondary socialisation processes are carried out via the agents of socialisation, namely the family, peers, school, community, religion, the world of work, media, and the government. CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS 2 Sanctions are socially approved measures and expectations that society use to enforce social control. They can be either positive (to reinforce acceptable behaviours) or, negative (to punish and discourage unacceptable behaviours). They are also formal and informal. Socialisation plays a major role in influencing us to ‘prefer’ positive sanctions and to fear or reject negative sanctions. Formal social controls which become laws are the legal representation of norms. They are written down and constitute the rules for behaviour in society. These laws are enforced through the social institution of the criminal justice system involving agencies such as the courts, the police and the armed forces. Laws are universal in a society and so apply to everyone. Informal social controls differ from group to group. In some families a threatening look on the part of a parent may be enough to quell disorderly conduct whereas in another family a spanking is more likely. Amongst informal groups – friends, families, relatives, neighbourhoods – whether it is a severe tongue lashing or ostracism from the group, the aim of social control is to change behaviour: reward acceptable behaviour and punish unacceptable behaviour. ACTIVITY 3.10 Make a list of negative sanctions (punishments) given for social deviance and positive sanctions (rewards) given for social compliance in the following situations: a. at school; b. in the family; c. in your peer group; d. in the community; e. in the workplace; f. nationally via the justice system; g. in a voluntary group such as church, choir or Girl Guides; h. in international trade blocs, military alliances or regional organisations. Sociological Perspectives on Social Control The sociological principle of constraint known as social control represents one of the most widely researched and theorised areas of study in sociology. Sociologists and others have been preoccupied with the issue of how to preserve social order or how to prevent society from ripping itself apart. The very discipline of sociology came into existence as its founders, namely Comte, Durkheim, Marx and Weber, sought to examine society in times of rapid social change. Functionalism Since Functionalism emphasises society as a system, it is also a structural theory (and is sometimes called structural functionalism). As a system, society is portrayed as an entity with a number of interlocking parts (institutions, organisations or groups) which must work in harmony with each other. This is described as being ‘functional’ for the society. Having all children in school is functional for the society because schooling is regarded as an efficient means of training young members in the beliefs, values and behaviours of the society and so serves to maintain social order and social cohesion. Truancy is therefore dysfunctional for the education system and ultimately for society and represents a breakdown in the partnership between the family and education. Truants and their families are regarded as deviants and sanctions are applied to return them to ‘normalcy’. Underlying the interventions by the police, social workers and guidance counselors, which a charge of truancy would merit, is the purpose of bringing back all dysfunctional elements to the shared values of the society (value consensus). Émile Durkheim believed that it was the organisation of society that influenced a person to commit a crime or deviant acts rather than solely personal factors (Chapter 2). He observed that the dysfunctional elements of society increased with the growth of the modern, urban, industrial complex. In smaller, more rural societies, the internal bonds (norms and values) people shared were stronger because sanctions tended to be very effective in constraining behaviours. You often hear how everybody in a small village knows everybody else and their personal relationships. Larger societies are less cohesive and incorporate diverse groups who perform an array of specialised tasks requiring people to travel or migrate to work and interact with many strangers in an impersonal and formal way. The strong moral ties that influenced individual behaviour in a smaller society break down in the big city where a person may feel disconnected from others, even alienated. This condition is known as anomie. Formal codes and laws therefore become necessary to ensure social order. Durkheim invented the term collective conscience to refer to the overall will or purpose of the society rooted in values consensus. He likened society to an organism with a conscience (where its values and beliefs lie) and society sees its role as operationalising these values. When informal sanctions cannot regulate behaviour effectively, the laws of a country become necessary as a 65 66 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY source of constraint. These laws are public expressions of the collective conscience transforming it into a tangible force. Conflict theory To a large extent Functionalism interprets social deviance as the violation of norms. Conflict theorists do not define social deviance in this way. They emphasise the relative aspect of deviance, acknowledging the fact that behaviour does not become deviant unless an audience says that it is. For example, in wartime killing is expected behaviour. Whilst flunking out of school violates a norm, if this is characteristic of one’s family and friends, then in their eyes this is not deviant behaviour. Conflict theorists bring attention to groups who wield power in the society who seem to have legitimate authority to deem something or someone as deviant. Functionalists study deviants and their behaviour, conflict theorists study the audience and their reactions to the alleged ‘deviant’ behaviour. Conflict theorists therefore focus on the distribution of power among different interest groups in the society. Marxists, particularly, train their attention on the economic structure of society and the polarisation of social classes resulting in class conflict. In this view, the elites through the law, the police, the media and the various agencies and arms of government, secure and legitimise their power at the expense of the lower socioeconomic groups. In society the norms and values of the elites are the most desired and therefore widely adopted. BOX 3.6 For the most part, those committing ‘deviant’ behaviour belong to lower socio-economic groups. Round up the usual suspects. Must be one of them. Interpretive perspective At the micro-level of social analysis, Symbolic Interactionists also hold both normative and relative theories of social deviance. These include the theory of differential association (normative); and labelling theory (Box 3.6 and Chapter 10). Feminist theory Feminists examine the principle of social control in various ways. One way is to look at the social control of gender itself. For example, in the justice system women Goffman and Social Stigma Erving Goffman (1963) is a symbolic interaction theorist who took the idea of labelling and applied it to instances of social stigma. Stigma describes mainstream society’s reaction to a non-normative condition, characteristic, attribute or behaviour that someone exhibits which is regarded in a negative light by society. The person may not take part in criminal or negative behaviours but because of the condition he or she has is stereotyped (labelled) as ‘deviant’. Usually the stigma is very apparent so that the person cannot hide it from society’s glare. Having a harelip, Down’s Syndrome or being physically handicapped in some way brings a reaction from society that denies such persons full social acceptance. Ethnic minorities as well as those who are obese, alcoholics or drug addicts are also stigmatised. Goffman examined social life from the perspective of those stigmatised, studying their encounters with persons regarding themselves as ‘normal’ members of society. He concluded that the efforts to celebrate ‘normalcy’ points to life in a society characterized by modern organisations which is based on treating everyone equally. Consequently, members find themselves at a loss in how to treat those who are patently different. They elaborate all sorts of interaction manoeuvres to deal with those displaying stigma including ignoring and demonising them. Goffman’s point was that society places us in this predicament about how to treat those who are different because its institutions and organisations, norms and values are all premised on a pattern of sameness. CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS have to comply with a legal system that is based on patriarchy, largely staffed by men, and discriminates against the ‘Other’. As a result, feminists see the need to focus on intersectionality bringing different forms of oppression together for study. Intersectionality refers to the study of overlapping characteristics that may reinforce a certain condition, such as disadvantage or marginalisation. The War On Terror: An Example of Social Control The term War on Terror refers to the armed conflict between the United States and its allies and Muslim terrorist organisations based in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran and other countries. Terrorist organisations carry out indiscriminate acts of extreme violence against civilians in an attempt to increase the sense of insecurity in a society by disrupting the functional integration of its social institutions. The War on Terror began when the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were attacked on the morning of September 11, 2001 (9/11) by terrorists owing allegiance to a fundamentalist Muslim group known as al Qaeda, which sought to highlight the plight of Palestinians who had suffered as a result of the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. The attack caused the deaths of thousands of civilians. In retaliation, the United States invaded Afghanistan where intelligence sources said that Osama bin Laden, the head of al Qaeda, had his headquarters. The Taliban, a fundamentalist Sunni Muslim group that took control of Afghanistan when the Russians left in 1989, had imposed a very strict form of Islam banning music and dancing and enacting heavy restrictions on women. These forms of social control were backed by harsh and immediate punishments. The War on Terror also goes on within the USA itself. Surveillance and intelligence operations include rigorous checks on the domestic population and visitors through the Department of Homeland Security and the enactment of the USA Patriot Act. This gives the authorities wide-ranging powers to monitor peoples’ e-mails and internet usage, access their financial and medical records, maintain profiles on ethnic minorities and, detain anyone whom they deem suspicious. These are all forms of social control which in times of security alerts become invasive and penalising to law abiding citizens who find their freedoms greatly restricted. Functionalism The Twin Towers, New York, were destroyed by al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001, setting in motion the ‘War on Terror’ Functionalism adopts a conservative stance in analysing the War on Terror. From the US perspective, it claims that the intense media coverage which keeps the struggle uppermost in people’s minds, and which tends to paint Islam and most Muslims as ‘deviants’, is functional for the society because it draws them closer in the face of a common ‘enemy’. The Us vs. Them syndrome is necessary especially in times of war when there are sympathisers, relatives, and people with strong ties to the Middle East, actually living in the United States. The label terrorist makes more sense in Functionalism than in other perspectives because it paints a consensus view, promoted through 67 68 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY the media and government officials, that any group threatening harm to innocent people must be crazed zealots. Structural strain theory This theory examines the issue differently. Living in camps on the Gaza Strip (Figure 3.4), denied access to a reasonable standard of living, suffering under the persistent oppression of the Israelis, the Palestinian people could not develop the institutions, infrastructure and ways of life they wanted being forced to live as refugees in their own land, as they saw it. The means they sought to bring about better conditions – killing Israeli guards, attacking Israeli settlements and then taking the conflict worldwide bombing embassies and airports – were regarded as ‘deviant’ by others (and some of their own people). In the context of Gaza though, social control is more about nurturing an ideological stance against the enemy rather than maintaining law and order. Conflict and Critical theory Conflict and Critical theorists are less inclined to see only the Palestinians as ‘deviant’ because countries such as the United States and Israel have also employed ‘terrorist tactics’ to maintain the inequality and PALESTINE Haifa (West Bank & Gaza) Tiberias Lake Tiberius Nazareth ‘Afula Palestinian authority Israeli control Wall/fence 0 Nablus 50 kilometers Tel Aviv Mediterranean Sea Interpretive perspectives, for example Symbolic Interaction, take a closer look at these labels. The person Tulkarm 50 miles 0 Interactionism Jenin 1949 Armistice Symbolic Interactionism is a branch of Interpretive theory that is based in the work of Charles Horton Cooley and George Herbert Mead. WEST BANK Ramallah ISRAEL Jericho Jerusalem Qiryat Gat Bethlehem Hebron Gaza GAZA EGYPT Figure 3.4 Location of Palestine and Israel labelled a ‘terrorist’ in the West looks on himself or herself in the Muslim world as a freedom fighter and a revolutionary. Supported by their religious leaders, some of whom incorporate a philosophy of Islam that celebrates jihad and martyrdom, they see it as their religious duty Jihad signifies a Muslim ‘holy war’ against those they Dead Sea Beersheba oppression suffered by the Palestinians. US support has continued for Israel’s expansion of housing in the West Bank and the building of a 436-mile wall as a separation barrier, even though the latter has been condemned by the United Nations because it takes away water resources and traditional lands from the Palestinians. Also, the reprisals exacted by Israeli forces in ‘counter-terrorism’ activities have incurred many civilian deaths among Palestinians (Ganor, 2005). Functionalists respond to these arguments by saying that terrorism because of its threat of extreme violence to ordinary citizens calls forth from the state extraordinary measures such as the Patriot Act which goes beyond the normal provisions for social control and has to employ tactics similar to, and even more extreme, than that of the terrorist. The media representation of this conflict is skewed towards the US perspective because the major media networks are American-owned. Power is the category that both Conflict and Critical theorists isolate as having explanatory value in deeming something ‘deviant’ or not. The American press, which is dominant worldwide, does not portray US tactics as deviant and there is little press coverage from the Muslim world available to the typical Westerner for comparisons to be made, so that it is relatively easy for US media to cast the adversary as capable of heinous acts, especially if they belong to a different faith, speak a foreign language and are ethnically distinct from Americans. Thus the powerful have the means to intensify the Us vs. Them syndrome and label others as deviant. JORDAN identify as ‘infidel’ or non-believers. enabling them to make the ultimate sacrifice. Their mullahs have plausible explanations to justify the killing of innocent bystanders – that if they die in the cause of exposing the enemies of Islam they will have died a hero’s death and be so rewarded in heaven. Interpretive CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS theorists also point out that at the root of this wave of Muslim violence is the grievance at the norms of Western culture itself. That this particular issue cannot be won makes it likely that terrorism will be a perpetual feature of life in the 21st century. Goffman’s ideas about social stigma (Box 3.6) can be used to examine Muslims in the West who have felt a distinct backlash from society since 9/11. A stigmatised group is likely to grow even closer to its own members as the wider society marginalises them and this may grow into hardline resistance with the formation of activist cells and the birth of homegrown terrorists. To Interactionists the media is a form of social control in the War on Terror. Whilst its most important function is to disseminate information that may be subtly or blatantly infused with bias, half-truths and lies, in a ‘war’ it is well-nigh impossible to be ‘objective’. The average viewer tends not to be versed in media literacy so the media functions as an all-powerful socialisation tool shaping their understanding of the conflict. But the media is also a business controlled by corporations having vested interests in maintaining the status quo. While some networks in the United States may criticise the President or his administration, they do not go so far as to be overtly sympathetic to the Palestinian point of view. The media is employed to drum up support against the enemy – often loosely portrayed as the Muslim World – and to underscore the vast difference in values between the East and West. In Muslim countries the same is true. Hatred for the West and all it represents is nurtured by the media and other institutions. To the various groups in the Middle East who engage in worldwide terrorism as a crusade or holy war ( jihad), any alternative views supporting a truce or peace treaty with the Jews and the Americans is seen as betrayal. They refer to the enemy as infidels and their leader as the Great Satan. Both religion and the media then are powerful forms of social control and Muslims who want to toe a more moderate line or who disagree with the current ideology are considered ‘deviant’ and negative sanctions applied (similar to a Patriot Act, in reverse). Many Muslims denounce suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism whilst they generally support the Palestinian cause. By the same token, efforts at establishing peace are derailed by those holding more radical views. Social order and thus, social control, are always being negotiated and re-worked. We see here that social order does not necessarily mean peace and stability but is defined by the values of the groups in control of a social space. But, whilst the media, the government, or, religion may encourage a uniform concept of what that order should be, there are always groups who hold different views. While small in number or not very powerful, their very existence means that in a war a country also has to police its own people. The War on Terror has overtaken the Palestinian issue and now the conflict is virtually worldwide. The many diplomatic initiatives have met with limited success. Terrorist action is followed by counter-terrorist reprisals. It is highly likely that the future will continue to be dominated by this unfolding drama. Sociology has its part to play in moving away from the dominant image of society as a stable entity whose order has to be maintained to a deeper examination of societies where there are multiple groups who do not subscribe to Western norms. To sum up: The T he p principle rinc ri ncip iple ip le e of of constraint cons co nstr ns t ai tr aint nt known kno nown wn as wn as social soci so cial ci al ccontrol ontr on trol tr ol is, an is, is and ha and h has ass always a wa al ways y been, ys bee een, n a major n, maj ajor or concern con once cern ce rn of of all all societies. soci so cie ci eties. etie et ie es. s. This Thi his is because his bec ecau ause au se the the he question que uest stio st ion io n of how how to to maintain m ma ain nta tain tain n social soc ocia iall or ia o orde order rde derr an and d mi mini minimise nimi ni mise mi se social soc ocia iall de ia devi deviance vian vi ance an ce i very is ver eryy obviously obvi ob viou vi oussl ou sly re sly related ela late ted te d to tthe he ccontinuance onti on tinu ti nuan nu ance an ce o off th the e society soci so ciet ci ett y as a tthe he d he dominant o in om inan inan antt groups grrou grou oups ps have hav ave created crea cr eate ea ted te d it. it Whil Wh ile il e so soc ciol ciol ci o og ogyy sh show owss us tthat ow hatt there ha ther th ere er e are are different diff di ffer ff eren ent While sociology shows pe ers r pe pect ctiv ct ives iv e with es wit ith h which whic wh icch to vview ie ew issues isssu sues es of of social soci so cia al perspectives cont co nttro ntro r l, ccritics ritti ri tics c point poi oint nt to to sociology so oci ciol o og ol ogyy itself itse it self se lf ass having ha control, too to oo gr grea great eatt a We ea West Western ster st ern er n bi bias bias, as, me as mean meaning anin an ing in g th that at its its basic model mode mo dell of de of society soc o ie iety ty derives der eriv i es from iv fro rom m its its Functionalist Functtionalist roots Func that th at emphasise emp mpha hasi ha sise si se consensus, con onse sens se nsus ns us, peace us peac pe ace ac e and an harmony. The difficulty d diffi di iffi fficu cult cu ltyy in n applying app pply lyin ly ing in g theories theo th eori eo rie ri es of es of social order and devi de vian vi ance an ce e to to th the e on on-g -goi -g oing oi ng crisis cri risi siss in the Middle East deviance on-going and an d it itss sp spre spread read re ad to to other othe ot herr co he coun countries, untries, alerts us to the fact fa ctt tthat hatt contemporary ha cont co ntem nt empo em pora po rary ra ry ssociology ociology has tended to pay llittle li t tle tt l att le tten tt enti en t on tto ti o ev ever eryday social realities such as attention everyday cont co ntin inue ued ue d instability inst in stab st abil ab ilit ityy and uncertainty. Postmodern continued pers pe rspe rs pect pe ctiv ct ives iv es attempt att tte empt to address this shortcoming perspectives but su such ch theorising theor heoris i ing remains out of the mainstream. but Social Change The principle of constraint known as social change refers to the rules and ways of operating that society uses to alter the existing rules and usher in change. It is therefore about how we organise changes to the rules of society and not only what the changes are. To qualify as ‘social change’, a phenomenon must involve a change in the relationships in a society and ultimately its social structure. It is called a principle of constraint because we are not free to make changes to social structures willy-nilly. If 3.2.7 69 70 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY we want to change something in society, we must take into account that that thing is already embedded in a system of vested interests, laws, regulations, expectations, norms, agreements and/or established practices. In the following sections some of the factors leading to social change are outlined as well as the sociological perspectives which attempt to explain social change. The last section treats with social change specifically as a principle of constraint, meaning that change is described as the human arrangements which change the rules for living together (Mulkey, 1993). Factors Driving Social Change In most societies over time some degree of change occurs. It may be gradual so that members are not aware that they are living in ‘changing times’ or it may be sudden. Computers and ICTs have swept us up into an ever-intensifying technological revolution which is relatively ‘sudden’ because there are at least two generations alive today who grew up without any knowledge of such things. In addition, social change could be small scale or global in impact. An example of small-scale social change is the decision of traffic authorities to reduce traffic congestion by instituting penalties for using the fast lanes on the highway when there is only one person in the car. In response to new traffic laws families may co-operate by using car pools on a rotating basis and this may bring people in a neighbourhood closer together and build community. Social change seems to be inevitable – whether slow, sudden, micro or macro – and there are many factors which are likely to precipitate change. We need to keep in mind though that change is context dependent. The rules of relationships vary from society to society so that changes may vary depending on how the society is organised. For example, older persons in ‘developing’ countries lag far behind their counterparts in the ‘developed world’ in their abilities to harness the computer to complete tasks in their own interests. And there is rarely smooth adoption of change in a society so that conflict is very much a part of any scenario involving social change. Factors that stimulate social change include the physical environment, cultural innovation, population change, technology, and social movements. The physical environment The landscape that we often take for granted influences our social and cultural life. If a change occurs in the natural world it will reverberate in our interactions and established social relationships. The sustained volcanic eruptions in Montserrat from 1995 to 1998, for example, resulted in evacuations and relocation of almost all the population. Many have gone abroad and not returned. The evacuees in the north have had to rebuild an economy and society with British aid (Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory), which may create an unhealthy dependence. Cultural innovation New products and ideas often result in innovations. Adoption of an innovation depends on many factors including whether people can see how it will be useful or enhance their lives, and whether it is taken up by opinion leaders and high-status individuals. Diffusion of the innovation throughout society and from one society to another takes place if many people are persuaded to adopt. For example, the consensus now in many societies is that cigarette smoking impacts negatively on health and it is no longer allowed in numerous public spaces, including bars and restaurants. While not a new idea, the emphasis is new – primary health care, wellness, the Green Movement with its concern for the environment, and, the implacable clamping down on smokers in Europe. These trends have motivated Caribbean societies to follow suit and take steps to minimise the numbers of persons who smoke. This process of adoption and diffusion of an innovation has influenced social interactions in countless ways resulting in social change: some smokers reduce their consumption or quit altogether, many now congregate regularly outside buildings to take a ‘nicotine break’, or take advantage of a ‘smoking room’ found in some airports for those distressed by long-haul flights, and increasingly now non-smokers are breaking politeness norms to inform smokers that they do in fact mind if they smoke. However, social change is uneven, for example within groups such as military personnel, artistes, and adolescents there are strong cultural norms which still encourage smoking. Population How can the characteristics of a population bring about social change? If natural increase is high then it is likely, if resources are not growing at an equal or higher rate, that poverty, unemployment and emigration will increase. If population growth is minimal, it could also mean the same thing, especially if the resource base is stagnant. Population movement, especially emigration, results in many social changes in both the donor and host countries. Rural–urban migration is another movement of people that has been going on for decades bringing CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS about rapid urbanisation in Caribbean countries. Emigration and rural–urban migration have, among other things, altered the relationships between social groups and social institutions. Emigration has helped to increase the socio-economic standing of many migrants who if they had remained in the Caribbean would not have been so well off. The opportunities and motivation provided by the ‘developed’ country for study and work (often holding down two or even three jobs), enabled the migrant to send remittances back home and even sponsor relatives and assist them in settling down. Rural–urban migration has served a similar purpose bringing persons from a relatively underdeveloped periphery to a core area of growth and development. These social changes have however been accompanied by a significant loss of the values instilled by small, closely knit communities and the adoption of more secondary relationships and an approach to life based on materialistic values. On the whole, the desire for ‘modernisation’ has influenced the whole society but the emphasis on economic progress and impersonal relationships also results in crime and high levels of anomie. Technology Innovations and processes that serve to make human life more efficient, comfortable and effective are referred to as ‘technologies’. The social changes that defined one historical era from another were largely due to technological change. We may not think of them as such but the bow and arrow, the gun, the wheel, the plough, the zip, the bra, the eraser and the ballpoint pen are examples of technologies that ‘changed the world’ meaning that they changed social relationships (Usborne, 2007). Today, in both glaring and subtle ways computer technologies and digital communication gadgets are significantly changing how we relate to others. For instance, the cell phone enables us to stay out longer and go unchaperoned to places our parents would not have agreed to before. The reality of having an immediate source of help should anything go wrong has also meant that women feel safer when driving at night or over long distances. However, the pagers, cell phones, blackberries, tablets and palm pilots now in use also cut down on the face-to-face time that families spend together and even at home we may use our cell phones to call or text the person in the next room. Whilst the computer has increased efficiency at the office, it also seems to mean that parents, who are now accessible all the time through e-mail and voice mail, continue to work when they are at home. The boundaries between work-related and home-related matters are permanently blurred. Today, the media and micro-computer technologies play major roles as agents of primary and secondary socialisation. Social movements These are challenges to the existing social order posed by groups of people with a common purpose. More often than not their purpose is to bring about social change by organising dissent over social or political issues. Activists promote the cause of the movement through peaceful means or through violence and other socially unacceptable ways. Examples of social movements that have resulted in changes in social relationships are: ■ the Suffragette movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the forerunner of today’s women’s movement; ■ the American Civil Rights movement of the 1960s which no doubt paved the way for Obama, who is partly of African parentage, to occupy the White House in 2009; ■ the environmental movement which helped to cut down on the hunting of endangered animals, raised awareness about oil exploitation in wetland ecosystems, and sponsored a green movement that promotes organic products produced under humane conditions; ■ the labour movement, inspired by Marx’s theory of social change , which seeks better conditions of work and pay for workers through trade unions and lobbying for laws that protect workers’ rights; and ■ fundamentalist religious movements which reject the secular nature of modern society and want to re-instate a strict interpretation of religious texts, represented by Orthodox Judaism, in Christianity by the conservative wing of the evangelical movement, and in Islam by Wahhabism and many different groups most of whom are peaceable. Sociological Perspectives on Social Change Generally speaking, when theorists discuss social change there are certain assumptions they make, namely that (a) change means change for the better, that is, human progress; (b) societies ‘develop’ in an evolutionary manner of progressive social change, from simple to complex; (c) change is imperceptible, it happens slowly and does not destabilise the society; and (d) change involves the whole society – it occurs at the macro-level. Biological analogies are almost always used to depict the ‘growth’ of society and the interdependence of its ‘organs’ (social institutions). These are dominant ideas about social change and stem largely from a Functionalist perspective. 71 72 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Functionalism Conflict theory Auguste Comte (Chapter 2) sought to explain society and social change through the concepts of social statics In this perspective change is also seen as systemic, existing at the macro-level of society. But society is not believed to be in harmony or in equilibrium in the midst of social change. Therefore, Conflict theorists do not rely on biological analogies to depict their view of social change. They say that competition for scarce resources between groups suffering from inequalities is at the core of social relationships and therefore conflict is the main trigger for social change. Conflict is a normal aspect of social life especially as groups which control power and resources try to keep others out, increasing the levels of discontent and the tendency towards disorganisation in the society. Conflict theorists do not regard the ‘social formation’ as ever being ‘stable’ but always in the grip of struggle between those of opposing interests. Society is changeful, change is always immanent, and more often than not, change is abrupt and may be violent. Karl Marx put forward a well-elaborated theory of historical materialism, which is a conflict theory of social change. It is also an evolutionary theory because it describes the path of human progress through a linear progression from early clans and bands to feudal, capitalist, socialist and then communist societies – each having a different type of economic and therefore, social organisation. Violence and revolution are deemed to be necessary in changing from one social order to the next because of vested economic interests. Marx saw society as a dynamic entity unlike the Functionalists who preferred to emphasise its static and stable elements. Social statics refers to the social order, that is, the mutual harmonious existing relations based on consensus between the institutions of society. While they are undergoing change (through social dynamics) there is always a balance of social processes resulting in social equilibrium. and social dynamics. His general theory of evolutionary social change saw society progressing through three stages: the theological, the metaphysical and the positive. It depicted a move from simple to more complex ways of thinking and social organisation. Durkheim theorised that societies evolved from primitive systems having mechanical solidarity to more complex social systems having organic solidarity. Mechanical solidarity describes a situation where the bonds that made the society stable were based on common occupations and routines, because in early societies there were fewer tasks to perform and many people performed the same tasks Organic solidarity describes the situation in a more modern society where there is a great deal of differentiation based on specialist functions, but at the same time members are highly dependent on each other. This division of labour creates social stability Durkheim, like other functionalists, depicts society as a body where all the organs perform different functions but must all depend on each other for the ‘health’ of the entire unit. Durkheim, like Comte, held a consensus view of society emphasising social stability even in the midst of social change. These views were extended by Talcott Parsons who in describing social change focused on social institutions such as the family. In a simple society the family worked together, pooled their resources, took care of domestic matters such as cooking and child-rearing, and was responsible for the socialisation of their children. In complex societies the functions of the family are performed by child minders, domestic helpers and early childhood centres and each adult member may work in quite different occupations. In addition, television and other forms of media now play a large socialisation function. Parsons felt that in the face of these social changes new norms had to be established to stabilise and harmonise the relationships between the home, school and the workplace. One of these is the high value placed on academic success which is something families and schools advocate and which is rewarded on the job market. Interpretive perspective This perspective is critical of evolutionary theories which attempt to explain society by showing how human progress takes place in a linear manner ultimately resulting in the nation state as we know it. (Individuals, or, as they are called in sociology, actors, are not deemed important.) The Interpretive Perspective emphasises the agency of actors and the meanings that make sense to them in explaining their involvement in social movements. Giddens (1984) put forward a theory of structuration to explain human action and social change. It avoids the emphasis on structures in macrosociology and on agency in microsociology by attempting to bring the two together. He says that the structures which constrain our lives (social institutions, social organisations, norms, laws, rites, rituals and so on) are all the time being produced and reproduced by ordinary human actors in their daily activities (the effects of agency). The outcome CHAPTER 3: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES, PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS of social change cannot be predicted because society is a process undergoing constant change, a negotiated process involving multiple actors. Feminism Different approaches to feminism see social change differently. For example, liberal feminism wants to see more women become involved in public life. Radical feminists on the other hand look forward to destroying patriarchy and the links that bind women to men, such as marriage and child-rearing. Cultural feminists want more celebration of women’s activities and interests. To a large extent they agree that these changes cannot take place without relentless activism and advocacy. Children and Social Change In this section we take one example of social change, that of children being seen as different from adults, and with different needs, and analyse the human arrangements which changed the rules about how children were regarded. In early times there was no view of children as different from adults. They were expected to take up work or become apprentices as soon as they were able. Gradually a humanitarian movement emerged which sought to emphasise the vulnerability of children and their dependence on their parents. They were still regarded though as ‘small adults’ who had to be carefully socialised to take up their roles in adult society. New and different ideas about childhood began to become evident during the 19th and 20th centuries ushered in by mass education. A social movement developed around pedagogy that was intent on finding out how children learn and to organise instruction along those lines. These and other concerns about children as a distinct social group culminated in a landmark agreement by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children in 1989 which said that children were a distinct group with rights who were entitled to special protection and were not just the property of their parents. This has resulted in worldwide social change. What are the human arrangements that made it possible to change the existing rules (views) of childhood? 1 Organising. The rules (practices, expectations, laws, norms) regarding children as a social group could only be changed by people coming together to form a social movement that had the specific purpose to change the existing norms. The more coherent and focused a social movement is the more likely it is that its concerns would be given priority by a government or a world body. A social movement has to organise itself to reach a wide cross-section of the society through demonstrations, meetings and public education using a variety of media and prominent people supporting the cause. Its goal is to publicly indicate its dissatisfaction with existing arrangements and show how society could be improved by the changes it is suggesting. 2 Formalising. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) came into being after years of consultation with many different organisations from all over the world. These organisations represented different aspects of civil society – governments, religious bodies, humanitarian groups, lawyers, health personnel, parents, social workers, child development experts, economists and more. This formalising process occurs when recognition of the cause is accorded widespread approval and the various groups come together under an umbrella organisation to work out the actual reform. 3 Signing. The CRC is a consensus document signed by the member countries of the United Nations (UN) which indicates that they agree generally with the ideas expressed. (There are 192 countries in the UN which represents almost all the countries in the world.) 4 Ratifying. Countries indicate that they fully endorse the document and intend to adopt the standards indicated to change their existing laws to incorporate the changes needed. 5 Monitoring. Governments are required to report to the UN on progress in implementing all the standards set out in the CRC document. The USA has not ratified the CRC mainly because it is concerned that ratification would give the UN a say in its sovereign affairs. So, one of the human arrangements for changing the rules has inherent tensions, indicating that the path of social change is not smooth even when there is widespread consensus. Other than the social movements mentioned above which focus specifically on bringing about improvements in society through a formal, legal framework, social change is also brought about through other, namely economic and technological, movements which are usually described as ‘factors’ inducing social change. Here we look more closely at them as ‘human arrangements’. The view of children as constituting a distinct social group with specially protected rights has been gradually interpreted by market forces, the media and the leisure and entertainment industries to mean that children are now fair game to be targeted as consumers. Today we see a full flowering of a kinderculture – the mass production of toys, books, television programmes, DVDs, films, computer games, and fashions centred on characters such as animals, action heroes, science fiction entities or elegant dolls, all intended for children. This culture of 73 74 PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY children as consumers is driven by capitalism which has been quick to see that many children have their own money (given as gifts or rewards) and more importantly that the resources of parents can be tapped through appeals to their children. This becomes especially evident at Christmas. Social change is a principle of constraint because society only allows change to take place through certain habitual channels (consultations, demonstrations, protest, wars, treaties, public awareness campaigns) or through the human arrangements that accommodate the factors of social change (technology, capitalism, family life). In other words, you must employ some of these methods if you want to initiate change of some kind. When social change results it usually succeeds in stabilising and integrating the society especially if it was a large-scale movement involved in bringing about the change, but that does not mean that all are happy and content or even that the change will proceed as planned. So, social change can also create tension and dissatisfaction leading eventually to more social change. To sum up: Social change is a principle of constraint in sociology. It attempts to change the normal rules and arrangements of society and foster new rules. It is therefore about human arrangements which make these new rules possible. Social change can be brought about through the efforts of social movements or popular movements or through social forces or factors that create unpredictable conditions such as changes in the physical environment, cultural innovation, migration and developments in technology. Social change can be at the macro or micro levels of society, large or small, but all result in human arrangements which change the rules for living together. Chapter Summary In this chapter we learned about the sociological perspectives – Functionalism, Marxism, Interactionism and Feminist Theory. We also studied in detail the six principles of constraint – institution, socialisation, stratification, organisation, social control and social change – which show us the extent to which our membership in groups allows others to influence our behaviour. These principles of constraint represent the conceptual knowledge base of the discipline giving sociology a coherence or a structure from which everything else stems. They summarise the nature of the discipline and its ways of looking at the world. Both the perspectives and the principles have developed concepts which are noted throughout the chapter as the tools we use to discuss social issues. References Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Cambridge: Polity. Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity. New York: Simon Schuster. Harley, K. (2008). Theory Use in Introductory Sociology Textbooks. Current Sociology, 56(2), pp. 289–306. Maley, T. (2004). Max Weber and the Iron Cage of Technology. Bulletin of Science Technology Society, 24 (1), p.69–86. Mulkey, L. (1993). Sociology of Education: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Usborne, S. (2007). 101 Gadgets that Changed the World. Belfast Telegraph online. At http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/ technology-gadgets/101-gadgets-that-changed-the-world-13490868.html, accessed 25 November 2013. CHAPTER 3: 75 Exercises and Test Questions (A) Multiple Choice Questions Please select the BEST POSSIBLE answer. 1. Empirical data refers to (a) (b) (c) (d) subjective data as in microsociology data that is used in qualitative studies how data is collected in quantitative studies data for which there is an external referent 2. Which of the following studied issues at the level of macrosociology? I Comte II Weber III Marx IV Durkheim (a) (b) (c) (d) I, III and IV All of the above I and II III only 3. The structural perspectives in sociology include I II III IV Marxism Symbolic Interaction Ethnomethodology Functionalism (a) (b) (c) (d) I and IV II and III IV only I, II and III 4. Functionalists regard change as I II III IV (a) (b) (c) (d) dysfunctional if it is rapid and deep-seated retaining the best of what there is the most important dynamic in society immanent in how complementary entities are related I and III I and II I only IV only 5. Which of the following is NOT a sociological principle of constraint? (a) social control (b) socialisation (c) organisation (d) culture 6. Which of the following statements is correct? (a) Socialisation is a concept not a principle of sociological constraint. (b) There are Functionalist, Conflict and Interactionist perspectives on each of the principles of constraint. (c) Social Control is a Feminist argument emphasising the need for society to come to consensus to ensure stability. (d) Social Order refers to the arrangement of groups in society in a ranked hierarchy based on wealth, power and prestige. 7. Principles of constraint (a) demonstrate how conflicts affect society (b) explain the cycles of social change that society experiences (c) illustrate how socialisation affects members of society (d) show how members are influenced by others in daily life 8. Agency is an important concept in the work of (a) (b) (c) (d) Durkheim Comte Marx Weber 9. The rules for learning the rules of society is otherwise known as (a) socialisation (b) social control (c) social stratification (d) organisation 76 10. Which of the following statements best describes the sociological view of ‘personality’? (a) The typical patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors that a person has (b) The unique ways that a person responds and interacts in the social environment (c) The ways in which the needs of the society are reflected in individual behaviour (d) The traits of character a person possesses that are consistent (C) Essay Questions In this section some essay questions are given. The questions may involve further research building on what the chapter offers. A specimen answer for critique is provided, with annotations. Refer back to Chapter 1 for guidelines of how to critique a sociological essay. (1) Examine the sociological principle of institutions and explain how it works as a form of constraint in society. (2) All sociological perspectives ultimately have the same purposes. Evaluate this statement. (B) Structured Response Questions Each response should be about two or three lines. Each item carries 4 marks. (1) Describe the differences between the Functionalist and the Marxist view of social change. (2) Explain TWO of the key tenets of Feminist Theory. (3) Using ONE example drawn from the Caribbean, show how the physical environment can bring about social change. (4) Explain what Weber meant when he likened life in Western society to living in an ‘iron cage’. (5) Why do you think there are ‘mainstream’ and ‘alternative’ perspectives in sociology? (6) Outline how the view of reality in positivism differs from that of dialectics. (7) What is the difference between sociological perspectives and the principles of social constraint? (8) What does it mean when a sociological perspective is described as ‘structural’? (9) Describe the main tenets of ‘hermeneutics’? (10) Outline the differences between Liberal and Radical Feminist thought. (3) Identify TWO social theorists with contrasting views on the principle of social control and compare their ideas. (4) Assess the major criticisms directed at the Marxist Perspective. (5) Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the Interpretive perspective. CHAPTER 3: 77 Sample Answer and Critique Examine the sociological principle of institutions and explain how it works as a form of constraint in society. Introduction Sociologists in studying societies have come to agree that there are certain forces acting on us as members of society which influence or even compel us to behave in socially acceptable ways. They say that in all societies there are some common forces which are classified as institutions, socialisation, social stratification, social control, organisation, and social change. These forces are otherwise known as sociological principles of constraint to underscore their fundamental roles in influencing, shaping and guiding social life. Each of the sociological perspectives has a different way of explaining the influence of these principles on us. In this essay the focus is on one of these forces or principles, that of institutions showing how it works as a form of constraint. The principle of institutions can be thought of as the social force that compels us to plan and make arrangements to achieve human needs based on our ideas and values. This is clarified below and illustrated through the view of each of the sociological perspectives. Institutions are a fundamental and yet invisible part of our world so that it is easy to take them for granted. To describe them as a force which compels us to plan in certain ways to achieve human needs, perhaps is best understood if we try to think of a scenario where this force is absent. We quickly realise that wherever people are gathered the issue of attending to their needs arises – whether it is to nurture a belief in the hereafter or to diversify an economy. There seems to be a compulsion, once groups form, for the groups to organise themselves according to prevailing patterns and norms for the purpose of carrying out tasks so that the society can grow and develop. Therein lies the force or compulsion. It is not just about identifying needs and getting things done but that things can only be done according to prevailing dominant beliefs, values and ideas. Institutions therefore are a principle of constraint because within them they hold all the ideas about how things should be done – dominant and marginal ideas – and provide rationales and rewards for doing things in the expected way and, negative sanctions for going against the norm. We should keep in mind that institutions are intangible and when sociologists speak of them they are regarded almost as if they are a large, overarching cloud above us which also envelops us. In other words, we live in an institutional environment which means that we live in a world of dominant ideas, beliefs and practices and marginalised ideas, beliefs and practices. Our history determined which ideas became dominant and our present institutional practices largely serve to continue that dominance. Religion is the institution selected to illustrate how the institutional environment influences or constrains us. The institutional environment of religion is discussed as it is understood within the three major sociological perspectives. In Functionalism, religion is seen as a force with undeniable power to stabilise society. Durkheim was of the opinion that we were really worshipping society when at church because the rituals, observances, rites and symbols were fundamentally about drawing people together into a unit obeying common norms and having the same values and beliefs. Clarifying ‘constraint’. Explaining the principle of institutions; relating it to the sociological perspectives and outlining how the essay unfolds. Explaining institutions in greater detail to show the aspects of influence and control by dominant groups and beliefs. Institutions are not neutral entities is the message here. 78 In effect, religion acted as a force for the stable (re)creation of society in a conservative mould. While the faithful do not see their beliefs and religious convictions quite in this light, they to a large extent feel that worship has to have a public and community face and therefore keep to the ritual of attending church services. The religious beliefs and practices of those who disagree with ‘organised religion’ and distance themselves from the politics and corruption within churches are vilified and demonised. Witness the alternative religions movement such as New Age groups who accommodate a wide variety of perspectives into their system of beliefs and base much of their spirituality on Hindu and Buddhist thought. They find themselves marginalised and regarded as ‘decidedly strange’ because the conventional institutional ideas about religion support a denominational organisation. Increasingly too there are many individuals who are moving away from the established churches and opting for a spiritual way of life, emphasising that religion and spirituality may be poles apart. That these two belief systems (New Age and Spirituality) are growing and intertwining shows that the institutional environment of religion encompasses all beliefs and practices but only those which cohere best with the higher socio-economic groups in society and which have leaders with large followings tend to be dominant. Thus, whilst religion is an institution which caters to a need for a spiritual life and the development of a moral person, all beliefs are not regarded equally. What distinguishes them is the extent to which they conform to already established beliefs and practices. Marxist thinking about religion can be regarded as ‘alternative’ by mainstream religions. Marx likens religion to a drug deadening the pain and alienation that workers felt in their daily lives. Religion gave them solace and hope that in the afterlife they would be rewarded. There was therefore no necessity to ‘rock the boat’ or attempt to agitate for better working conditions and standards of living because what was important was a place in heaven. In effect what Marx was saying was that the institutional environment of religion saw the need to provide for a spiritual life of members but what was provided was shaped and influenced by the elites of the society. Their beliefs and ways of worshipping became the norm so that other ways of seeing or worshipping were denigrated and even sometimes threatened by the law. In the Caribbean this was the case with the Shouter Baptists and today followers of Afro-centric religions (Shango, Kumina), who are mostly from lower socioeconomic groups, are still regarded with a great deal of suspicion. The institution of religion then encompasses all the views and beliefs of a society but in the Marxist view is strongly influenced and shaped by groups who dominate the economy. The Interpretive Perspective looks at the institution of religion from the standpoint of the believer. In one study on religious groups in the USA, the researcher found that members of congregations in a variety of religions were ignorant of the basic beliefs of their faith (Yamane, 2007). In addition, they had views on abortion, same-sex marriages and contraception that were at odds with that of their church. What is even more interesting is that those who did not go to church continued to profess a belief in God and described themselves as belonging to a particular religion. This study emphasises agency rather than in the other perspectives where people are seen to be influenced by structural conditions. In trying to explain the attitudes of these persons we should note that it is not that the institutional beliefs and structures do not exist for them. Rather, they have actively sought to One institution chosen as a strategy for comparison and to lend coherence to the essay. Describes Functionalist view (dominant one) and marginal views which challenge traditional representations of religion. Making the point that the institutional environment of religion encompasses all views: dominant and alternative alike and constrains both. How religion constrains groups from a Marxist perspective. Interactions of two institutions; economy and religion. Use of actual study and findings. 79 negotiate a stance that is not radical or rejecting of religion and at the same time incorporates a more secular and personal perspective. The research also pointed to the feeling amongst the American public that being religious has less to do with knowing doctrine and creeds and more to do with behaving appropriately. Thus, these people are being influenced by the institutional environment of religion but they are at the same time exerting their own pressures to change what has traditionally been described as ‘a religious person’. The sociological principle of institutions is an intangible construct that sociologists use to attempt to explain some aspects of social life. It acknowledges that there is a force amongst us urging us to come together and attend to the needs of the group. In this essay we examined religion as a social institution and saw that ‘needs’ tend to be understood within the existing dominant paradigms of established religious beliefs. The Functionalist view was that religion is a normal, stabilising process in society while Marxists saw it as domination by elites. Interpretive sociologists attempt to portray the shaping and constraining institutional influences of religion as neither fixed nor uniform and could be variably interpreted by different persons. All beliefs and practices are a part of the institutional environment of religion but the experiences of history, culture and politics lead to traditions, structures and habits in a society which act as constraints influencing which of these beliefs and practices would become dominant and which would be marginalised. Bibliography Yamane, D. (2007), Beyond Beliefs: Religion and the Sociology of Religion in America. Social Compass, 54(1), pp. 33–48. Having ‘agency’ does not mean that there are not institutional influences, but that the individual is striving to accommodate to those influences in various ways. A summary of the main ideas. Ends with a general statement attempting to wrap up much of the discussion above. 80 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY The major expectations of this chapter are that you will recognise that: ■ whilst we may try to separate out the meanings of society and culture for purposes of study, in reality they are tightly inter-woven; ■ social order is maintained through social structures which are actively constructed by culture; ■ culture as a lived reality is almost impossible to describe or explain in its entirety; ■ to study the phenomenon of culture theorists created basic concepts about it and divided it into ‘characteristics’ and ‘elements’; ■ the sociological perspectives each give a different understanding of culture and we may be socialised into the view of just one perspective; ■ through a study of culture we can become aware of continuity and change in the society; ■ through the forms of popular culture – music, dance, art, theatre (and folk culture) – culture becomes accessible to study; ■ the Caribbean is characterised by socio-cultural diversity. 81 4 Culture and the Social Order While the emphasis in this book up to now has been on society, in many ways the discussion has also been about culture. This chapter will heighten your awareness of the circular relationship that exists between culture and social order. It will show that culture is a by-product of a society and in turn works to create and re-create that society. This relationship is so close that in ordinary life these linkages are camouflaged. 4.1 The Study of Culture ‘Culture’ does not exist ready-made and clearly evident for those of us who wish to study it. We need to create definitions and basic concepts about it so as to make it more accessible to study. This is worthwhile as culture exists in every society and so common terms help to clarify commonalities and differences across the cultures of the world. Culture is underground, meaning that its core (beliefs, values and attitudes) can only be studied as and when they are made manifest. During a religious ceremony or through dance or the making of artefacts the core beliefs of a cultural group become ‘visible’ because there is something tangible being used as a vehicle to represent cultural beliefs. It is through these tangible manifestations that we interpret another’s and our own culture. Because it is ‘underground’, culture has to be represented in some form or fashion. One issue that arises is that in the multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multiracial societies of the Caribbean, there is a continual struggle to decide whose culture gets represented fully and whose is marginalised. Culture then is not some all-embracing medium in which we live that is smooth and benign. Whilst it enables us to maintain social order, this may also imply that it influences us to build barriers and silence the culture of others. Definitions of Culture On the intangible side, you live your culture every day. It is not the dry and mechanical thing that definitions may suggest. It is what you rely on to decide how to dress on a given day, what aspirations are worthy, for example of a housewife, a farmer or an office clerk, who you will and will not marry, what you will and will not eat, whether you want to have children and how you feel 4.1.1 about a supernatural being. You call on it in an automatic way to help you make decisions minute by minute. For example, if a group of people are having a discussion and the topic turns to religion, some may say that they are regular churchgoers, others that they do not go to church for various reasons but that they do believe in God. However, if someone states that he or she does not believe in God then a kind of void or silence opens up as each person furiously starts an internal debate as to how to make a decision about this ‘situation’. It is only a ‘situation’ because of the dominant cultural value that belief in a creator in our society is important, almost mandatory. An ethnographer (Chapter 2) will be deeply interested in how social order is maintained at this micro-level when someone drops such a statement into a social gathering. Box 4.1 (page 82) outlines some of the many ways theorists have tried to capture the term ‘culture’. While it is very familiar to us and we use it all the time to guide us, it is very difficult to pin down and say what it is. Box 4.1 only provides a select list of definitions – there are many others. You should not be satisfied with just one definition of culture because that can hardly do it justice. The anthropologists Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1952) published a list of 160 different definitions of culture. Table 4.1 is based on their work, showing how each definition could be categorised to reveal how diverse culture really is. When we speak of socio-cultural diversity in the Caribbean we usually mean different ethnicities and their different customs and traditions. We seldom realise that this diversity pertains as well to how a group decides to solve a problem (such as flooding ordeveloping a business), or what they regard as wealth and therefore what they regard as meaningful in life. These aspects of diversity come out clearly in Table 4.1. 82 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY BOX 4.1 Definitions of Culture Culture may be variously defined as: • the accumulated knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, spatial relations, cosmology, material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people over many generations; This metaphor goes a long way in helping us to understand not only our own culture but also the culture of others. music, dance, art, what is explicit c sea level ‘C’ - norms, values, beliefs, what is tacit • the systems of knowledge and its communication to the next generation shared by a relatively large group of people; C • cultivated behaviour which is socially transmitted through socialisation; • a way of life of a group of people that is accepted uncritically and passed along from one generation to the next, mainly unconsciously through imitation; • symbolic communication in which the meanings are learned and deliberately lodged by a society in its institutions; • patterns, explicit and implicit, of behaviour of human groups, including their embodiments in artefacts; • an essential core of traditional ideas and the values attached to them; • systems that may result from human action, but may also place conditions on future actions. One way of making culture less complex for purposes of study is to break it down into components – for example, real culture and ideal culture and material culture or non-material culture, or scale it down as in subculture and counterculture (see Box 4.2 for definitions). Since culture is dynamic as well as diverse, all these terms imply something about beliefs and values. The metaphor of an iceberg may help you to better grasp culture in all its variety and manifestations (Figure 4.1). Only one-eighth of an iceberg is said to be normally visible above sea level. ‘Big C’ and ‘little c’ refer to the intangible and tangible aspects respectively of culture. Figure 4.1 The iceberg metaphor Table 4.1 The diversity of culture Topical Culture consists of everything on a list of topics, or categories, such as social organisation, religion, or economy Historical Culture is social heritage, or tradition, that is passed on to future generations Behavioural Culture is shared, learned human behaviour, a way of life Normative Culture is ideals, values, or rules for living Functional Culture is the way humans solve problems of adapting to the environment or living together Mental Culture is a complex of ideas, or learned habits, that inhibit impulses and distinguish people from animals Structural Culture consists of patterned and interrelated ideas, symbols, or behaviours Symbolic Culture is based on arbitrarily assigned meanings that are shared by a society Source: Adapted from J. Bodley. An Anthropogical Perspective. (1994). In Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States and the Global System. https://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~janzb/courses/phi4804/bodley1.htm ACTIVITY 4.1 Sociological Concepts 1. Identify which of the following can be categorized as C and c: a. customs b. language c. world view d. government e. history f. assumptions g. perceptions h. attitudes i. foods 2. Which aspect of culture, C or c, is likely to undergo constant change? 3. Apply the term cultural lag to question 2. CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER BOX 4.2 Concepts Describing Culture and Cultural Change Ideal culture – the cherished norms, beliefs and values that a culture publicly declares and expects its institutions and organisations to uphold. The national motto or watchwords are examples of ideals that the people are supposed to uphold. For Barbados that would be ‘pride and industry’, for Antigua & Barbuda ‘each endeavouring, all achieving’, and for St Kitts-Nevis it is ‘country above self’. They all stress model citizens working productively for the common or national good. Real culture – the actual behaviours and patterns that people display which tend to fall short of the ideals to which the society aspires. For example, the extremes that some adults go to enjoy themselves at Carnival result sometimes in lewd behaviour (not in keeping with dignity, pride, and having a general concern for the images that youth might choose to emulate). Productivity is also severely diminished at such a time. Material culture – the products or artefacts that a society creates which expresses its beliefs and values (its non-material aspects). Music, dance, art, technology, books, and buildings are examples of material culture. Pirogues and traditional crafts such as basketry would also be included. Non-material culture – the beliefs and values of a people which provide inspiration for the products and objects they create. It includes politics, religion, customs, family, economy, language and so on. In the Caribbean Anansi is a familiar figure in the stories passed on from grandparents and parents to children. The cunning spider outsmarts adversaries in humorous ways. These stories present values important to the society: the need for drama as entertainment, maintaining links with Africa where Anansi originated, having folk heroes and legends marking out a space of belonging where Western culture cannot intrude and teaching stories about human nature, resourcefulness and survival. Subculture – a group whose culture differs from that of larger and more dominant groups among whom they live. For example, the student subculture in a large secondary school refers to the generational differences between the students and adults (teachers, administration, pastoral and security staff) shown in a struggle for whose values will prevail from one situation to another and generally it is an accepted aspect of school life. Counterculture – a subculture which is very distinct and hostile to the dominant culture. They uphold norms and values quite different from mainstream society – e.g. members of gangs, homosexuals, and certain religious sects such as the Nation of Islam. Enculturation – socialisation within a culture (usually one’s own). A sociologist uses the term ‘socialisation’ and an anthropologist uses ‘enculturation’. Acculturation* – socialisation into another culture, most likely a migrant into the host culture. A new member becomes enculturated into the ways of life of the host culture by learning to adapt. He or she constructs an amalgam of his or her culture and the host culture so that such a person can exist effectively in the host culture. We can say then that this individual is acculturated into the host culture (is able to function optimally in the host culture but has not relinquished many of the core beliefs and values of the original culture). Assimilation* – a more extreme version of acculturation perhaps because the person lives for a much longer time in the host country. Interculturation – a subtle mixing of cultural forms, ideas and beliefs when two or more cultural groups inhabit the same space and mix with each other in a routine and regular way. Transculturation – refers to an amalgamation of two cultures: [It] is a creative, on-going process of appropriation, revision and survival leading to the mutual transformation of two or more pre-existing cultures into a new one” (Ortiz, quoted in Fernández Olmos & Paravisini-Gebert, 2003, p. 4). Creolisation – the adaptation and syncretisation of people, beliefs, and creative expressions producing new, hybrid cultural forms and ethnicities. Cultural diffusion – the spread of ideas, beliefs, traits, practices, arts and technology from one culture to the next. For example, coffee drinking spread from Arabia to gradually encompass the world and today is associated with American culture. Tobacco first came from the New World and has diffused throughout the world. * The terms acculturation and assimilation originated in Western social sciences and generally were used to examine how colonial societies became acculturated into the culture of the coloniser. Today, Caribbean-based sociologists and anthropologists prefer creolisation or transculturation as a more authentic rendering of the Caribbean situation. 83 84 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Characteristics of Culture Anthropologists study the cultures of humankind past and present in order to compare them and understand how they each developed. The comparison serves to deepen cultural knowledge, for example, searching out what may be different and what may be common across cultures. The two disciplines, anthropology and sociology, overlap because in studying the development and structure of a society the sociologist must investigate social behaviour and, to a large extent, the actions people take or the decisions they make are based on their cultural understandings. The anthropologist may be interested in culture for its own sake but what is important to the sociologist is how culture influences the development of social order – how the society is organized in terms of relationships. There are several characteristics of culture that anthropologists and sociologists agree are found in all cultures. 1 Culture is an adaptive mechanism. Adaptation is the process of using cultural knowledge and innovation to improve on how the group overcomes problems in their human or physical environment. The course of human history from hunting and gathering through to village life based on agrarian technologies (sowing, reaping, harvesting) to the industrial-urban complexes we have today are all based on people using their cultural skills to survive, devising improvements and technologies to increase efficiency and improve the quality of life. Caribbean peoples, the majority of whom were brought here from other homelands, each have had to call upon their adaptive resources in order, first to survive, and then to forge a society with other groups. All kinds of people were thrown together on the plantation and later, after the colonial power departed, in regard to developing a society. One way of adapting was to mix and mingle and so we have hybrid peoples, creative expressions, syncretic religions, customs and the like developing as more than one group jostled for the same space. The theory of creolisation (Chapter 2) saw it essentially as a process of adapting that involved all groups, regardless of ethnicity or social status. This adaptive element of culture shows how malleable it is and (despite one’s fears) that it is not easily ‘lost’ – that it can still continue whilst a person is being acculturated into another culture. Further examination of creole society shows that culture supported a social order that was hierarchical and stratified while at the same time it was being transformed by processes of mixing. Creole society is discussed further later in this chapter (§4.3.2). 4.1.2 ACTIVITY 4.2 Critical Thinking 1. Suggest ways in which tourists to your country adapt or do not adapt to the cultural differences they encounter. 2. What strategies are used by the host country (your country) in adapting to the tourist clientele? 2 Culture is learned. We are not born with a culture. We are born into a society and a cultural group and learn all aspects of that culture through the processes of socialisation as we grow up. If we were born into French culture, like people in Martinique and Guadeloupe, we would shake hands every time we met someone – even little children are expected to do so. And both males and females kiss their close friends on each cheek, starting with the right cheek, as a form of greeting. In parts of Europe kissing (sometimes air kissing) the cheeks three times is customary, the right, left and right again, amongst and between males and females.These customary greeting rituals are not traditional in the anglophone Caribbean, though there are situations where a handshake is expected or a cheek kiss; but men seldom kiss each other in greeting, they are more likely to hug. As we grow up we learn the cultural knowledge we need to survive in our society. And if we are journeying abroad it would be certainly be worth our while to learn about some of the customs we are likely to encounter because there could easily be consequences stemming from not having learned what the culture involved. Learning our culture means that we do not have to reinvent the wheel. We have access to the cumulative knowledge that our ancestors have produced to facilitate life in our part of the world. Culture then helps us to maintain the social order. Language facilitates the communication that makes this possible. While culture is something learned we are often unaware that we are learning it and that we continue to do so all our lives. The processes of primary and secondary socialisation induct us into the values and norms of our culture and keep on reinforcing this grounding in our culture. In fact, we don’t think of our existence as one where we are participating in a culture because everyday matters are so ordinary and we act effortlessly.The fact is though that we become so enculturated that it is difficult, when travelling abroad for instance, to easily embrace what is considered typical cuisine in other cultures. The notion that we have ‘learned’ our culture CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER only becomes evident to us when we encounter a culture with a different set of responses and often that shocks us into the realisation of culture at work (Boxes 4.3 and 4.4). Socialisation then, into a culture, is another way of saying we are learning the rules to maintain social order. At the same time, perhaps you might think of any practices in your own culture that may cause others to cringe? Box 4.4 below discusses the concept of cultural relativism and anthropologists say that it is necessary in order to study and understand a culture. It does not mean that the researcher necessarily takes on that viewpoint. Generally speaking though, it is difficult to escape one’s own values and beliefs (culture) as a reference in judging some of the horrific practices listed in Box 4.4. While that is ethnocentric, it is perhaps well-nigh impossible to totally escape one’s culture and bring in a culture-neutral verdict. BOX 4.3 ACTIVITY 4.3 Critical Thinking After reading Boxes 4.3 and 4.4: 1. Investigate the different stages of ‘culture shock’ that a person encounters whilst immersed in a foreign culture. 2. Suggest how someone can prepare to reduce the impact of culture shock. 3. In your opinion, can a person avoid an ethnocentric outlook? 4. Give examples of culture shock that you can come to terms with and others which will be more difficult. In the case of the latter, is it your culture or you as an individual that is presenting the difficulty – or is there no distinction between the two? Culture Shock! This term describes the kind of feelings that upwell in you when you witness something (usually in another country) that is so patently different to how things are done in your country or culture that it bothers you and causes you some discomfort. After the ‘shock’ you may try to evaluate the practice to determine whether it is ‘better’ than your own or ‘inferior’. You may even go beyond this to ask yourself whether your opinions and feelings are important at all because if this is someone’s culture then that is their way of life and you need to respect it. A simple interaction such as maintaining eye contact during a conversation, which is normal and expected in Western society, may be considered rude in parts of Asia, particularly Japan. This could certainly jeopardize a successful business relationship. The wearing of headdresses is seen as essential in some cultures, but as unnecessarily restricting, particularly to women, in others. In some French schools, for example, such headdresses are banned for pupils. Other examples include: • when city-bred children visit rural areas and feel that villagers are somewhat inferior because they do not have cable television, running water, and internet access; • when Caribbean island visitors to Guyana see a river; • when you are a victim of racism from people of your own race; • when visitors to Caribbean countries realise that friends may only know each other by their nicknames; • when non-Caribbean people hear us calling each other using ethnic or racial terms: ‘Reds’, ‘Chiney’, ‘Syrian’, ‘Black Joe’, ‘White Man’, ‘Kid Curry’ and so on; • when non-Caribbean people line up patiently and locals swarm all around and in front of them demanding service; • when Caribbean people from one country go to another Caribbean country or a nonCaribbean country and order chow mein only to realize when it comes that it bears little resemblance to what they ‘know’ as chow mein; • female teachers from the United States sometimes remark on their amazement that in the Caribbean female teachers still wear dresses whilst they mostly wear jeans or trousers and blouses or even track suits. The main idea running through all the above is that your culture gives you a set of tools, insights and knowledge to operate smoothly and this also means as you interact you maintain the order of social relationships. Contact with other cultures sometimes ‘jars’ you because the familiar order is being disrupted. 85 86 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY BOX 4.4 Cultural Relativism This term usually comes up when trying to explain an incident or events related to ‘culture shock’. We often engage in arguments and discussions trying to establish whether another group who has a different practice to us is engaging in ‘right’ and ‘moral’ actions. For example, how do we feel about Muslim men who may have four or more wives? There is a strong tendency to judge or appraise these practices from an ethnocentric viewpoint – ours, which is of a different culture – and often we condemn such actions or believe that they are not in some way ‘proper’. Cultural relativism on the other hand is a point of view that states that you cannot judge another culture from your own cultural viewpoint because cultural practices arise from the history and adaptations that a people have made which reflect their values and beliefs. In other words, their values are socially constructed, just like ours are, and different cultures can have fundamental differences in their worldviews. What we can do is to try to understand the practice and what members gain from it in terms of perhaps, belonging, celebrating their identity, carrying on their history and so on. In anthropology cultural relativism is a method used to be able to fully describe a culture on its own terms, the goal being to understand the culture. An argument that is often brought up to challenge this idea is that some practices are downright harmful and bring much suffering whether in terms of ostracism, pain or death and that cultural relativists are condoning wrong/harmful behaviour by maintaining their stance that a people’s culture is really their own business. How would you react to the following: • honour killings in some Muslim societies, when (usually females) offend the family by going against strict moral codes, and the family puts the woman to death; • female genital mutilation; • arranged marriages; • the practice of some religious groups to forbid blood transfusions even if it means saving the life of someone; • the ancient practice of foot binding amongst the Chinese (so-called ‘lotus feet’). Traditional Chinese ‘lotus feet’ CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER 3 Culture is shared. Not only do people of a certain culture accept similar beliefs and ways of doing things but they pass that knowledge on to the next generation, so that culture is shared in this generation and with the next. Life in groups (society) would make no sense if basic ideas, practices or beliefs about living and working were not shared. For example, most cultures recognize some variation in how the different sexes are perceived and for us that is so taken for granted it is not noticeable. But, in 1978, Dr Maria Lepowsky lived with the people on a small island in the South Pacific, Sudest Island, where she observed close to equal relationships in how women and men were treated (Wilford, 1984). ‘Equality’ proved to be a problematic concept for these people because we share in the idea of it as an ideal whilst to them it was a norm. Cultures therefore vary from one society to the next, and there may be multicultural societies, but for members who share a culture the basic norms and values are mutually intelligible and accepted. This raises the thorny issue of whether an anthropologist, sociologist or any ‘outsider’ can really share in everything about another’s culture. Whilst many aspects of culture that are clearly visible can be studied such as religion, marriage, child-rearing, family-life practices and creative expressions such as music (small ‘c’), cultural life goes much deeper than this. A person may live in a culture for a long time and still not grasp certain things which a native ‘knows’ instinctively. It is not easy for foreigners who have lived here in the Caribbean for a while to understand that rain may be a legitimate excuse for being late or missing work for the day; that people prefer to turn up later rather than earlier to a function; that food is necessary at any kind of gathering; and getting routine information from public officials is like pulling teeth. Caribbean people themselves may be at a loss to explain the meanings behind these everyday occurrences yet they are deeply embedded in our culture. This aspect of culture, that it must be shared, is closely allied to the idea that culture is learned. Learning and sharing the beliefs and traditions of a group represents a way of organising social relationships so that social order survives and is perpetuated. Note though that this order might be based on prejudice as when one group tries to maintain its racial ‘purity’ by socialising members to be distrustful of out-groups. 4 Culture is symbolic. A symbol is something that represents something else, so that the Olympic torch, for example, stands for the values of fair play, sporting excellence and peaceful co-operation between nations that are celebrated at each Olympic event. The symbol communicates this wider vision to members. Communication therefore is an important dimension of how culture (in the sense of a set of symbols) comes to be shared. People learn the significance of a symbol and communicate that to others who learn it and pass it on. In doing so, they reinforce the meaning and importance of that symbol. Language is a cultural product which is symbolic, that is, we have ‘words’ to represent objects, thoughts, emotions and so on (see §4.1.3). Some of the most obvious symbols having cultural significance are those which state the values that a country holds dear, as in a national flag or the emblem of an organisation.These reinforce national (or cultural) solidarity and thus help a person to deepen identification with his or her country or social group. Music, songs, art, dance are all symbolic of a culture and so too are local proverbs, stories, oral histories, festivals, heroes, foods, clothing and fashion, as well as the Sunday markets, the rituals of wakes and other religious observances, family and kinship networks and child-rearing practices. The list above is not exhaustive – every day in almost every moment you are engaging with something that is symbolic of your culture. Clifford Geertz (1973), a cultural anthropologist, emphasised that culture could be thought of in terms of webs of significance in which we are all intertwined and furthermore we helped to spin this web. Being part of the ‘web’ means that we have access to the deep meanings that the culture has for something and which outsiders do not have. We can decode the symbols without difficulty whilst outsiders have to discover the meanings over time or may never do so. This becomes a problem when the same gesture may occur in different societies but with utterly different meanings. Culture then, can be thought of as a series of symbols, and as we expertly decode them we make sense of the world. Our expertise however relates to our own culture. If we use our own cultural knowledge to decode another’s symbols (and sometimes that is all we have) we do so at our own risk as Activity 4.4 shows! As we and we alone have access to the deep-seated cultural meanings of our own culture, then culture exists deep in our psyche. This suggests that we do not deliberately set out to re-create our culture and thereby maintain social order, but that we act automatically, for the most part. 2 Culture is dynamic. It varies over time and place. No culture is static. All cultures undergo change of some kind over time. Change usually comes about in response to contact with other groups, known as cultural diffusion. European culture came into direct conflict with the cultures of the people of the Americas when they arrived here. Over time various degrees of assimilation occurred – new crops, languages, government, and the process of miscegenation which brought new, hybrid peoples into existence. 87 88 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY ACTIVITY 4.4 Comparative Element in Sociology 1. What do these hand gestures mean to you? If you do this activity in class you may find some variation from one person to another in the same culture, but not very different meanings. 2. Conduct your own research to investigate the hand gestures shown, as well as others you might find, to produce examples of the same gestures having very different meanings in different cultures. The term cultural erasure describes elements of a culture that have completely died out but it is rather difficult to pinpoint such examples. In the case of the Aztecs, ritual human sacrifice could be one example. However, culture is dynamic, with aspects being modified and changing form continually. So, while religion may not be performed today as the Aztecs practised it, elements of Aztec culture are preserved and assimilated in Caribbean Roman Catholicism. This is known as cultural retention, or cultural continuity. An example is the popular feast in honour of the dead in Mexico which is scheduled for All Souls’ Day to maintain the appearance of a Roman Catholic observance. The dynamic aspect of culture makes sense when you realise that change is inevitable and that cultural diffusion is always taking place. A major issue today is the direction of the influences that are spurring on cultural change. Most of the influences are emanating from the West and the cultures that are undergoing change belong to traditional societies. This implies that the social order is undergoing change. This means that the usual social relationships are altering and transforming as the cultural influences from abroad become stronger. Children from a very young age now may prefer i-pads, laptops, tablets and the like to running about and playing games. Their relationship with school may go downhill if school cannot be as stimulating as the graphic images to which they have grown accustomed. Within a family, siblings may interact less and less with each other. On the other hand they will excel in knowledge of the latest technologies, know how to hook up various gadgets and be adept at figuring out new software – skills necessary for survival in the 21st century (see Box 4.5). One example of how the social order could change is that it is becoming very clear that schooling must radically transform itself to be relevant in this new youth culture. Sociologically, cultural exchange is a two-way process.As well as assimilating US culture into our own, we mediate/ impact US culture, for example in practices which show some level of resistance to US cultural influence in the Caribbean. An example is the strong family relationships that continue to be a part of Caribbean life – and not only blood kin but fictive kinship ties such as with godparents. ACTIVITY 4.5 Cultural Practices For each cultural practice in column A of the table, choose the correct country from the list provided in column B. There could be some degree of overlap but generally speaking, one country is particularly noted for the specific cultural form. A. Cultural practice B. Country where it occurs Papiamento (language) St Vincent & the Grenadines Zouk (music) St Lucia Junkanoo (festival) Antigua & Barbuda Dame Lorraine (folk character) Belize Saltfish and Antrobers (food) Trinidad & Tobago The Cake Dance (dance) Bahamas Las Posadas (Christmas tradition) Curaçao CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER BOX 4.5 Children as Consumers What has turned children into major consumers in the 21st century? 1. Technology. Children now have personal computers and can access the internet, interactive games and other entertainment on tablets, CDs, DVDs and other devices. Today more than ever a definable youth culture exists experienced by youth all over the world and influenced by their immersion in similar images, music and attitudes made possible through the media. It seems true that this era of social change has indeed been ushered in by changes in technology. The ‘human arrangements’ of note here are (a) the marketing of increasingly sophisticated micro-computer technologies which are relatively cheap because of (b) mass production and (c) the reduction in tariffs and other forms of regulation in this era of globalization. 2. Capitalism. The increase in the standard of living in many ‘developed’ countries is based on the spread of business, industry and modern organisations. This resulted in parents having disposable incomes and consequently the growth of a consumer culture which in turn fuelled capitalist enterprise. However, in this case capitalists deliberately created a demand by changing their ways of relating to children. Now, they saw them as a lucrative new market of potential consumers. 3. Advertising. Subtle and seductive strategies are employed by the advertising industry to specially entice children into a syndrome of dissatisfaction and want that can only be satisfied by owning the advertised item. Capitalist interests harness technology and mass advertising to intensify the images children have of themselves – as happy people who have a right to own all that is advertised that other children have. 4. Parenting. It is well-high impossible for parents to resist the combined efforts of capitalism, technology and advertising. In the face of the strong lure of cable television and the computer, parents often opt for peace and quiet and give up their socialisation responsibilities to these media. However, such media work to strengthen children’s desire for consumables and so parents, in the hope of being appreciated and seen as modern, try to accommodate their youngsters. Elements of Culture A conventional way of studying the elements of culture is to understand culture as being built up through language, norms, beliefs and values. This is the case for all cultures throughout the world. 4.1.3 Language Perhaps the most basic element of any culture is its language, a cultural universal (Box 4.6). Language makes culture possible because it makes communication possible. It develops because of the needs of people who live in a certain place at a certain time. In the Caribbean the historical meeting of a range of peoples of many languages produced pidgins which became the lingua franca of many and today these speech communities evolved into the Creole languages of each country. Because the development of language was based on the need for these people to communicate and create a life together, it is both a cultural product and a facilitator of culture. Being fluent in the Creole, through which most transactions take place on a daily basis in the Caribbean, grounds a person in his or her culture. 89 90 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY BOX 4.6 Cultural Universals The existence of cultural universals points to the commonalities between human cultures whilst, at the same time, culture itself is so diverse and ever-changing. George Murdock (1945) defined cultural universals as any traits, patterns, norms or behaviours common to all cultural groups. Examples include religion, language, family life, an economy, a system of governance, distinguishing colours, body parts, weather conditions, taboos, kin groups, gender roles, statuses and roles, and so on. Emphasising cultural universals – for example, studying different cultures through the themes of food, religion, education, transport, festivals, and the like –focuses on what is human in all cultures. Language is symbolic in its basic make up. The words of a language have no meanings in and of themselves. They stand for something and therefore each is a symbol. For example, the word ‘run’ could just as easily be ‘have’ or ‘gisj’, once that meaning was shared and mutually intelligible. Language is therefore a set of arbitrary words and a system of rules and idioms we learn to put together to make sense of something which also makes sense to others who share this language. A language may be written or unwritten. Those who do not know our language cannot understand us. Hence, a culture cannot develop amongst persons who do not share the same or a related language. All cultures have developed languages of different levels of complexity. No matter how complex or rudimentary the language, though, there is a view that says that a person’s language influences him or her to think in a certain way. It is called the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. A much quoted example of this hypothesis is the fact that the Inuit (Eskimos) and Nordic peoples have hundreds of words to indicate snow and ice. This suggests that persons sharing a language will have a particular world view that their language can easily express and this would be very difficult if not impossible The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis says that we do not just use language as a tool but the language itself constrains us to voice only what is culturally available to us and so we cannot speak meaningfully of what is not a normal part of our culture. to translate into another language. Other examples may help to make this clearer: ■ In Japan, the culture promotes values such as politeness, an appreciation of the group and interdependence which is quite different from Western ideals of individualistic values. Not surprisingly, the word for ‘self ’ (jibun) in Japanese means ‘part of a group’ (Davis, 1999). ■ Some languages and cultures have a very strong idea of ‘the future’ as a certainty and a normal part of life. Other cultures, for example the Hopi (Native Americans) have a more tentative outlook which could be related to the lack of a future tense in the language (Bennett, 1993). ■ For native speakers of Arabic, language skills convey prestige. According to Jandt (2010, p.34) there are 3,000 words for camel, 800 for sword, 500 for lion and 200 for snake. Arabic uses more graphic expressions than English – to us they sound exaggerated. The phrase for ‘We missed you’, for example, is literally translated as ‘You made us desolate with your absence’. Language then is a strong bearer of culture. It serves to bind people together and creates a sense of identity and ties to a larger group to which one belongs. This common language is necessary for a people to build social order – the idea of a tower of Babel in the Bible makes this point. ACTIVITY 4.6 Critical Ref lection 1. Conduct your own research to determine the purpose for creating the composite universal language, Esperanto. 2. Reflect on language in the Caribbean context and find examples to uphold the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis that a people’s language influences how they perceive the world. Norms Norms vary across cultures and reflect their dominant beliefs and values. In France, for example, if you happen upon an accident you are expected to help in some way. If you leave the scene without rendering help to someone who was in danger and didn’t play your part, you may incur a maximum penalty of five years in prison. In many societies, adultery is forbidden, usually based on moral and religious grounds (i.e. culture), but it is not illegal. However, in some Muslim countries such as Iran CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER and the northern part of Nigeria, where Sharia law is in operation, it is a crime and one of the punishments is death by stoning. SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING! Bullying at Caribbean primary and secondary schools is a social norm. Unfortunately, the culture of schooling includes a fair amount of namecalling, teasing, and physical aggression, as well as excluding others and spreading rumours about them. Spreading rumours is so very much a part of adolescent socialisation, that it is not seen as harmful or contributing to students’ perception of school as an unsafe environment. Some norms then are potentially harmful. Whilst norms are based on beliefs and values that a people hold dear, they may undergo change over time. Today, for example, compared to ten years ago there is a more relaxed attitude in many countries towards premarital sex, unwed teenage mothers, abortions and homosexuality. However, there is so much variety in the cultural groups comprising a society that norms are not held by each in the same way. A fundamentalist religious group may continue to maintain a policy of ostracising and demonising homosexuals; and straight men, on the whole, may continue in homophobic behaviours that arise out of fear or disgust. From this discussion you can see a picture emerging that the social order may not be as cohesive as we think and all social institutions have structures that are at odds with each other. For example, the recent trend in some parts of the Anglican Church to ordain women and the practice in other Christian churches to allow homosexuals to marry represent tensions in the social institution of religion and hence in social order. Values Our values, that is, what we find desirable, are based on our beliefs. Values are more action-oriented than beliefs and can be thought of as a ranking we hold about how desirable or advantageous certain qualities, dispositions or actions may be. Examples include patriotism, commitment, peace, equality and conservation of the environment. For some, competition is an important value and that comes out of beliefs that this is a dogeat-dog world and that money does not grow on trees. For many persons involved in the lobby against abortion (pro-life position) their stance is based on the belief that all life comes from God. The value arising from that is that human life is sacred, at any stage of its development. They will therefore promote foetal rights – the right of the unborn to protection. On the other hand those who argue for legalising abortion (pro-choice) believe in individual liberty. Their value position is that it is a woman’s right to choose whether to have an abortion or not, and that reproductive rights and freedoms should be respected. Hence, in one society there may be groups who differ on fundamental beliefs and values, contributing to cultural diversity. Sometimes the differences in beliefs and values from one society to the next are clearer to us than the differences within our society. Beliefs A belief forms the foundation of what we value, as individuals, and as a social group. Beliefs and values are strongly interrelated. Beliefs refer to what people regard to be true (whether or not there is proof ), so they are assumptions we make about the world. In most instances our beliefs arise out of the cultural conditioning we experience through the processes of socialisation we experienced at home, in church, in school, at work, from the media and from our friends. These cultural beliefs guide and influence a wide range of human behaviours: belief in a supernatural being, trust in the innate human kindness or cruelty of people, conviction that all persons are equal before the law, doubt whether other persons of a different race or religion should be trusted, and so on. On the individual level our beliefs also undergo change over time. Sometimes an incident challenges our previously accepted beliefs – we may become a victim of a crime and that may cause us to look at the world as a scary place so that our usual optimism is dimmed. Alternatively, we may witness the remarkable recovery from illness of someone we are close to, encouraging belief in divine intervention. But daily we encounter events and situations that continue to reinforce what we believe without much conscious thought on our part. Individual and society-wide beliefs coalesce. Thus, there are norms, values and beliefs at large in the society that can be considered negative and those that can be considered positive, in terms of social order. A society as a whole may uphold beliefs about equality for all, enshrined in law (ideal culture), but because of ethnic polarities, suspicion and skepticism tend to characterise the beliefs each group holds about the other (real culture). Beliefs and values (big ‘C’) are subject to slow processes of change as the society begins to embrace new trends, fashions and technologies (small ‘c’), a phenomenon known as cultural lag. 91 92 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY ACTIVITY 4.7 Critical Ref lection ‘Wearing appropriate clothing’ is a norm that is related to the values we uphold about decency and modesty. Reflect on the values inherent in the norms mentioned above and fill in (or copy and complete) the table below: Norms 1. family responsibilities and obligations 2. Sunday as a day of rest and relaxation 3. everyone should be gainfully employed 4. At the scene of an accident you are expected to help 5. a more relaxed attitude to homosexuality 6. children should go to school until age 16 7. against incest 8. against murder 9. against pedophilia 10. Values the above are positive norms, but what about leaving work early or only doing the minimum? The elements of culture described above – language, norms, values and beliefs – are found in all cultures. They are cultural universals (see Box 4.6). In the first instance, language makes culture possible through the process of communication. The cherished beliefs of the group become the basis of values that mandate what is considered to be desirable action. Such actions become the norms or standards of behaviour that the society requires or encourages. Through the processes of socialisation persons growing up in the society learn and share in all these cultural symbols which provide the basis for adaptation and dynamism in the culture. Thus change is an ever-present factor and, as the debate on abortion shows, may split a society. The cultural beliefs and values of the society may uphold positions that are mutually incompatible – this increases the diversity in the society. To sum up: The focus has shifted in this chapter from society to culture. Culture is so comprehensive in how we experience it that one definition can hardly do it justice. We have to break it down into ‘components’ such as concepts, characteristics and elements in order to understand it. The characteristics and elements point to the existence of cultural universals which provide a means for studying cultures across the globe – even though there is great variety in how each society expresses its culture. It is worth remembering that these ‘components’ are merely devices that theorists use to make ‘culture’ more accessible for study – neither ‘culture’ nor ‘society’ are tangible realities – they are labels for people living their lives in various ways. The discussion has shown that a people’s culture support and sustain the social order but culture is quite diverse and so this order is not as all-encompassing as we once thought. CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER 4.2 Sociological Perspectives on Culture How we view the term culture and how we study it is very much influenced by the lens of the sociological perspective we are using. The questions we ask and the topics we consider worthy of research come directly from the perspective on culture that we adopt. In the previous sections we treated with culture generally, giving largely mainstream (Functionalist) views. If we examine and compare what all the perspectives say about culture we will be looking at it in a more critical light. Functionalism The earliest sociologists and anthropologists who studied culture believed it came into being to serve human needs. It was therefore functional for the society. We see here the idea that society has needs. For example, Durkheim felt that the customs, traditions and rituals of religion created norms amongst people that served to unite them, build social solidarity and preserve social order. These ideas about culture are the ones we are used to and it is not easy for us to grasp that culture wherever it occurs is diverse. So, even amongst one cultural group such as Afro-Jamaicans there are cultural differences: ■ heritage (e.g. those who live in Port Royal); ■ social class (e.g. high, middle and low); ■ ethnicity (e.g. religion); ■ skin colour (significant because of historical privileging of lighter-coloured groups); ■ residence (e.g. rural and urban groups); ■ gender and generational differences. 4.2.1 SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING! A typical definition of culture – the ways of life of a people – paints a picture that culture is uniform and relatively non-problematic. It seems to say that people ‘bear’ their culture as if it was a coherent thing, uniform and stable. This is a Functionalist understanding of reality. Functionalism emphasises consensus and harmony and downplays differences but the existence of groups different enough to form subcultures (e.g. the Maroons) and even countercultures (e.g. the Rastafarians – see §7.3.3), means that norms, beliefs and values are likely to be contested. The fact that functionalism has been the dominant sociological perspective in our experience has socialised us into accepting a traditional portrayal of culture as benign and uniform (e.g. ‘ways of life’). So, we are told that cultural diversity is typical of societies such as Belize and Guyana where there are many different racial and ethnic groups but the fact is that in human societies cultural differences do occur even among those of the same racial grouping. Functionalist perspectives on culture then emphasise group norms and values encouraging a view of society as an entity tending towards integration and solidarity. There is the feeling that variety, diversity, and multiple allegiances in the cultural networks of a society work to the disadvantage of social solidarity and social order. Culture is often spoken of in ways that equate it with the nation state, for example, Jamaican culture. These notions are so familiar to us that we do not think to interrogate them and ask ‘What is Jamaican culture? Can it be represented in a way to please all Jamaicans?’ Even when researchers focus on subcategories such as gender or social class, they invariably conclude that a particular group expresses its culture in a particular way. This continues to entrench the position that culture is a solid ‘thing’ that can be captured and described and that whole groups of people enact it in similar ways. However, recent theorising in sociology such as postmodernism opposes this view and claims that how culture is portrayed in real life, from one situation to another, is more likely to be unpredictable and inconsistent. ACTIVITY 4.8 Comparative Element in Sociology Carry out some research on the culture of Barbados and identify examples of cultural diversity in Bajan culture. Marxism The Marxist/Conflict position is that culture constrains us by supporting inequalities. It is the adaptive mechanisms of the rich and powerful, they say, which determine what religions, arts, healing practices, education and so on that are considered legitimate by the society. The culture of the elites (or the capitalists) dominates the society because their ideas, values and beliefs are enshrined in the institutions of the superstructure. Their culture is so embedded as the legitimate culture that it becomes an ideology – it is their norms, beliefs and values which become a comprehensive world view. Marx (1978, p.172) said: ‘the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.’ 4.2.2 93 94 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY The culture of the wealthier groups justifies their habits and practices, for example who they associate with and who they ignore, who they hire and who they fire, which political groups they support and which they see as threatening to their interests. This dominant culture oppresses the poor and the powerless because the ideologies in the society are those which privilege the priorities of the wealthy. The poor are manipulated to accept and recognise and even embrace these values, a condition referred to as false consciousness. This can clearly be seen in social and cultural life under colonialism. Marxists say that within the capitalist mode of production, the function of the working class is to produce surplus value. Marxism then sees groups as possessing cultural beliefs and values which fit with the dominant ideology (or norms) of material wealth as success, for example the worker feeling that working hard and conforming will get him or her such success. Thus, in the Marxist critique of capitalism, culture (beliefs and values) fulfils the needs of the society, a typically Functionalist position. This may seem a contradiction to you but remember that there are some commonalities between Functionalism and Marxism because both are based on a structural interpretation of society. In Caribbean societies, Western culture (largely capitalist culture) is the dominant culture and the culture of the Amerindian or the Shouter Baptist is relegated to that of a ‘subculture’, of minimal national importance. In the Marxist view, our Caribbean elites perpetrate a false set of ideas about culture and make it legitimate through their support of popular culture, Western fashion, music, art, established and mainstream religions, the foreign media, local media houses, technology, books, the publishing industry, and so on. Western culture then is hegemonic in Caribbean countries, that is, it is privileged and regarded by most as having no other equal. The mass media are seen as playing a major role in promoting the hegemony of Western culture. This point of view is called the Cultural Imperialism thesis and suggests that the cultures of small countries are gradually being erased or changed to reflect Western values. However, the Marxist version of this is much more complex. It sees cultural change within a dialectical process where there are contradictions: both Western culture and the cultures of the world are diverse and complex entities in which indigenisation and counter-flows of products and ideas are at work. However, critics of the Cultural Imperialism thesis point to China, Japan, India, Singapore and Taiwan as the big producers of everyday consumables and centres of economic power today. Hollywood is now rivalled by Bollywood. American soap operas have spawned local soap opera productions in developing countries. Previously marginalised communities such as the Amerindian peoples of the Caribbean can now use the mass media to disseminate their culture. Although the basic ‘model’ for all these innovations seem to be that of Western culture, how they are produced and reproduced in a range of settings in developing countries points to the creative development of hybrid cultures and products, not cultural erasure. ACTIVITY 4.9 Critical Ref lection Think of the television programmes with which you are familiar. 1. To what extent do they portray ‘beautiful’ people – whether black, white or other? What is being ‘normalised’ in these programmes as regards to beauty and beautifying amongst viewers? 2. Marxists say that when there is a programme that obviously seems to go against mainstream values (like Queer as Folk or Roseanne) it is not because the mass media is giving us cultural alternatives but because they are subtly seeking our disapproval for homosexuality or being poor. To what extent do you agree with this? Marxism says directly that the culture of the ruling class dictates the nature of social order in the society. In this perspective, it is the economy that influences culture and social relationships. As Marx saw it, when the economy changes to socialism or communism then inevitably a new social order will occur with different cultural beliefs, norms and values. The Interpretive Perspective Microsociology attempts to understand culture from the standpoint of the people who are sharing in a culture. Weber pointed out that within cultures there were subcultures motivated by their separate interests but they were not necessarily in conflict with each other. In this perspective, people are seen as having agency and thus being able on a daily basis to create, conform or resist cultural beliefs. In this way, everyone in the society is constantly reinterpreting their values and norms. Culture therefore is dynamic. People can display a range of cultural attitudes and beliefs based on what is meaningful to them at the time. Interpretive theorists disagree with the Marxist view of cultural imperialism and put forward the idea that 4.2.3 CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER people actively interpret their culture and do not just passively absorb the beliefs and values of their social class or social location. We may deliberately choose to listen to Western hip hop or other types of music but that does not mean we regard reggae, soca, zouk or punta as somehow inferior. As a matter of fact, according to the Creolisation thesis we may be witnessing the Caribbeanisation of many imported musical forms. Not only that, the United States today has become a big market for reggae and dancehall music, indicating movement of ideas and cultural products in the opposite direction to that indicated in the cultural imperialism thesis. SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING! Interpretive Theory opposes the theory of cultural imperialism. This is because it acknowledges the existence of multiple realities and even conflicting realities. Theorists focus rather on how the audience is receiving and processing the messages. ACTIVITY 4.10 To sum up: Sociological perspectives on culture serve to make us critically aware that typical conceptions about culture such as ‘the ways of life of a people’ are mainly the view of one perspective, Functionalism, with its emphasis on integration. Marxist thought on culture is based on the notion that the culture of the elites oppresses the other groups. Both perspectives regard culture in similar ways – as a definable entity that is robust and predictable – though the Marxists predict change as the oppressed becomes aware of their predicament. Interpretive Theory sees culture being interpreted by social actors who are variously positioned in terms of ethnicities and statuses and thus how they live their culture can be highly variable and creative. Postmodern views go even further to say that culture does not exist as a ‘grand narrative’ but is fragmented, contradictory, and incoherent. In this section we saw that the relationship between culture and the social order was thought to be strong in the macro-sociological perspectives. In micro-sociology and postmodernism thought change, ruptures and fragmentation were thought to be possible and therefore that social order could be disrupted with cultural change. Comparative Element in Sociology Identify a subculture with which you are familiar and consider the following questions with respect to it: 1. To what extent is the subculture subversive and/or opposed to the mainstream culture? 2. Can this subculture be described as indigenous Caribbean or Eurocentric? Trying to discuss culture which is complex and multidimensional within the macrosociological perspectives of Functionalism and Marxism yields general characteristics and elements which make it seem as if culture is fixed or unchanging. People (the agents and bearers of culture themselves) are not given voice and culture is therefore portrayed through generalisation. The Interpretive perspective however allows us to see the ruptures, the creative connections and the mutating of culture into new forms. It may be though that ‘culture’ itself is too broad a concept to fully flesh out especially as we who are explaining and making meaning are culture bound ourselves. Social scientists find that they are better able to work in clearly defined areas of culture – material and non-material culture, ideology, belief systems, or consumer culture – than to attempt to explain culture in its entirety. 4.3 Theories of Culture and Society in the Caribbean In the 1960s and 1970s decolonisation and independence were major goals or purposes sweeping the region, becoming enshrined in government policies as well as in the research interests of social scientists. Our early sociologists were energised by this spirit and looked for different methodologies from those of Functionalist Western sociology to confront the realities of Caribbean social life. This goal became translated into ‘development’ and was taken up by the New World Group, who established the Plantation Model of Caribbean society (§2.3.2) opposing the ideas in the Plural Model (§2.4.2). Both theories were vigorously contested by the Creole Society Model (§2.4.3). In this section we will examine the Plural Society and the Creole Society Model further and discuss how each sees culture contributing to the social order. 95 96 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Plural Society M.G. Smith felt that the dominant idea of society as a harmonious entity based on common values could not easily be applied to the Caribbean. He carried out ethnographic research in Northern Nigeria, Jamaica, Grenada, and Carriacou and posited a plural model of Caribbean society, using the term as J.S. Furnivall (1956) had done. 4.3.1 [A plural society] … is in the strictest sense a medley, for they [ethnic groups] mix but do not combine. Each group holds by its own religion, its own culture and language, its own ideas and ways. (Furnivall, 1956, p.304) This understanding of a ‘plural’ society sees it as being characterised by strong divergences/differences at the social, cultural and institutional levels between groups of people who may live side by side but do not mix. A plural society has different institutional sub-systems and conflicting ideas and beliefs about religion, family, culture, and so on. Smith showed evidence of these characteristics in relation to the white, brown and black groups in Jamaican society. In his study of Carriacou he showed how the Grenadian élite differed from other groups in terms of marriage and family life. Most of these groups are Afro-Creoles (not many white descendants have remained in the Caribbean) yet they display marked differences in their social institutions. Skin colour is the most emphasised marker in differentiating the groups. For M.G. Smith the plural society is an ‘artificial’ one in that groups were brought specifically to provide a labour supply and they only became a political unit because there was one government. In effect, a plural society is comprised of different societies, each with its own internal structures and institutions. Since there are few common values between the groups, a strong ruling power, such as the colonial metropole, is needed to maintain order as tensions and struggles between the different ethnic groups could have dysfunctional results for the society as a whole (for example, discrimination and conflicts escalating to terrorism and civil war). Societies that M.G. Smith claimed were plural included Cyprus, South Africa and India among others. Following this train of thought, after independence, Caribbean countries needed to entrench a dominant cultural group in order to minimise conflicts and tensions. In most Caribbean countries that group was the urban Afro-Creoles. Their culture, norms and values became established as the dominant culture. However, to Lloyd Braithwaite and R.T. Smith (Chapter 2) the different Caribbean groups did have shared values (those of the British colonial power – ‘things English’) and that meant they were working their way from being ‘plural’ to being heterogeneous – having groups of different origins but not necessarily with their own separate institutions. US society could be described as heterogeneous: it contains many different groups which may have a strong ethnic culture (such as the Poles, the Irish) but at the same time hold common allegiance to ‘American’ values and beliefs (such as commitment to law and order, democracy and capitalism). M.G. Smith revised his position on plural societies over the years in response to much criticism, particularly from Lloyd Braithwaite. He developed a detailed typology of plural societies to show that: 1 All stratified societies are not necessarily plural. For example, US society today is highly stratified but not plural. Smith noted that in US society there were groups who were deeply involved in their own cultural institutions but he went on to show that this was mainly in the private domain of marriage, kinship, family and religion. In the public domain of the law, the economy, and the justice system, they seemed to share common values. In this way US society could qualify as being heterogeneous rather than plural. However, he classified Jamaica and Grenada as plural-stratified societies. 2 Pluralism cannot be reduced to social stratification. Social stratification (Chapter 9) refers to the hierarchical arrangement of groups of people into social classes based on occupation, income, descent, and prestige, with the upper echelons ranked as superior to those lower down the hierarchy. It is an economic framework by which one can analyse social structure. Cultural pluralism refers to how people holding similar values about ethnicity, family, religion, culture, marriage, occupations, language, justice, education and so on form distinct collectivities which are unequally incorporated into the society, meaning that some groups suffer inequities and are marginalised. 3 It is the relationships produced by pluralism that influence and generate social stratification. Plural groups tend to distrust each other so that those who are employers or have political power seek the good of their own members. Entrenched inequities result in a pattern of stratification based on cultural groups who either have or do not have economic and political power. 4 Many plural societies like those in the Caribbean evolved under conditions of conquest and colonialism. Similar societies, described as ‘fragile’, could be found in Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Fiji, Malaysia and Indonesia. All have experienced conflict and violent CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER episodes between the different ethnic and cultural groups brought as labour on the plantations. However, in these societies ethnic differences have been sharpened because they are based on racial differences. In Jamaica, the plural society is made up of largely Afro-Creole groups. In Guyana or Belize where there are many different racial groupings these societies are referred to as segmented or plural-segmented societies (Doumerc, 2003). Skin colour is not as important as race and culture in the formation of social groups, and social stratification is therefore influenced by this segmentation. The term cultural pluralism when it is used today in the form multiculturalism means something quite different from Smith’s understanding of pluralism. In this mode it refers to the liberal values of tolerance of cultural differences, free discussion of competing views and a celebration of cultural diversity. Smith’s conception of plural societies cannot grow into this kind of vision because in the plural society groups are differentially incorporated into the institutions of the society and so inequalities maintain the conflicts in the society. Typically, in plural societies there is some recognition that accommodations must be made but often the groups are distrustful of each other. For example, in the Caribbean: ■ The dominant ethnic or cultural group tends to see its dominance as a sensible alternative to the disintegration of the society which may result if all groups were given more power. ■ The dominant group sometimes puts forward the view that because of inter-group tensions they are (and all others should be) working towards a goal of national unity. ■ While many hail this as progress, others say that ‘national unity’ results in the weakening or dilution of the cultural values of sub-ordinate groups. There is no doubt that the plural nature of Caribbean societies as described by Smith poses vexing problems to the development effort in the region. It also seems to be a problem worldwide wherever there are culturally distinct groups, who compete for power and the rewards of the society. While we may be hesitant about treating cultural homogeneity as a solution (even if it were possible), there is certainly much that can be said about Caribbean societies finding ways of reducing the subordination experienced by certain groups. Smith proposed the dismantling of the plural society through fair enforcement of laws. He felt that the cleavages that existed were more a product of cultural and ethnic divisions than of class consciousness. Critics believe that Smith may have misjudged the extent to which segregated communities could endure without the backdrop of class struggle. In other words, social class has to be significant in any discussion on inequality but this was largely ignored by Smith. 2 Smith seemed to feel that conflict was inherent between segregated social and cultural groups. Other mechanisms however, such as co-operation and competition, are available in a society to equalise opportunities. Barbados, for example, has shown stability in the face of conflict between social groups perhaps due to attempts at fair enforcement of laws. 3 Smith’s model is fairly static in that it does not recognise acts of interculturation or alliances between groups in the society. ACTIVITY 4.11 Comparative Element in Sociology Select ONE Caribbean country which you believe exhibits plural characteristics. 1. Conduct independent research to find out the characteristics of the different groups comprising the society and in what ways they may hold different values. 2. To what extent is there evidence that such a society is ‘fragile’? 3. Compare your findings with that of another student who has chosen a different country: what is (a) similar and (b) different in the plural characteristics of both countries? M.G. Smith saw a direct relationship between the cultures of different social groups in one space and the fragile social order that developed. With each group clinging to its own culture and traditions, it was unlikely that such a society would develop cross-cutting social structures to enhance social order. He felt that the high level of confrontation and dissension in Caribbean society stemmed from the marked cultural variations between groups who try to preserve their own institutions. The Plural Society Thesis has been widely debated and applied to many countries in the developing world. Criticisms The plural society theory attracted some criticisms. 1 Smith did not value the Marxist perspective (see Chapter 3) in understanding Caribbean society. Creole Society Kamau Brathwaite (Chapter 2) is the main theorist developing this idea of Caribbean society and culture. 4.3.2 97 98 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY His ideas seem to fall within the assumptions of the Interpretive Perspective as he places emphasis on people having agency in working out their responses in their various social locations. He did not adopt a static model of Caribbean society as a ‘plantation model’ or as a ‘plural society’ but nevertheless acknowledged the conflicts between different groups. His emphasis was on the unique inter-bred cultural forms emerging from the meeting of all groups. He called that contact a process of cultural action known as creolisation which continues today. According to Brathwaite, Caribbean society ‘began’ on the slave ships and the plantations through the processes of seasoning (or acculturation) into life in the New World. However, Brathwaite preferred the term ‘creolisation’ (closely resembling ‘interculturation’) to ‘accculturation’ because the processes encompassed everyone in the society; all institutions and peoples were involved in creating and maintaining a place in this mix. Hybridisation and syncretism are other terms which are similar in meaning to creolisation, so that the mixed peoples of the Caribbean are described as ‘hybrid’ and religions such as Vodun or Shouter Baptist can be considered to be ‘syncretic’ as they retain (or include) aspects of Christianity. Brathwaite saw the zone of contact between master, slave, black, white or coloured as ripe with possibilities for the cross-fertilisation of ideas, cultures and people. Such mixing could bring about varied responses – imitation, adoption, adaptation, miscegenation, rejection or opposition – many of which could lead to creolisation. However, the realities of dominance and subordination must be factored in as they influence how strong the acculturation forces and their responses will be. Brathwaite studied Jamaican society in creating his thesis about creolisation so that the theory first emerged in reference to Caribbean societies where the cultural contact was between whites, coloureds and blacks. We must be clear about this because many scholars have seen the versatility of the theory in applying it to other groups in Caribbean (and other) societies and sometimes there are problems in interpretation (see ‘Criticisms’ opposite). The reference to dominance and subordination can be seen clearly in the language situation in Caribbean countries. The languages that were introduced and those which evolved each enjoyed a different social status. Today, we have both Creole and Standard English and Caribbean people use whichever they believe will be most useful at a particular time or context. At the same time prevailing beliefs judge the Creole to be an ‘inferior’ version of ‘proper’ English. The meeting and mixing then of different groups, some with more status and power than others, produced a new language (the Creole) and we are still working out our stance to this homegrown, folk language in relation to the standard forms. Brathwaite though has consistently asked that our ‘nation language’ (the Creole) be the official language of the curriculum and sees Caribbean societies working out, through art, literature, drama and poetry more than through other media, a larger place for creole folk culture within the black, élite creole culture that is still upholding the historic domination of Western-style culture and institutions. Brathwaite rejects the models of Caribbean society described as either ‘plural’ or ‘plantation’, stating that they are static portrayals, emphasising ethnic polarities or economic characteristics. The Creolisation thesis, on the other hand recognises the multiple and unending variations between and among Caribbean peoples and their cultures and subcultures. The emphasis in this ‘model’ of Caribbean society is the creativity that comes out of the clash between cultures, with some groups being in a dominant or hegemonic position. Sometimes this ‘creativity’ arose from the sheer necessity for survival as when the enslaved chose imitation and mimicry of the white man’s values and culture rather than authentic African cultural portrayals. Despite many criticisms Brathwaite’s Creolisation thesis is a significant contribution to Caribbean sociological theorising because it follows a middle road between two previously dominant perspectives about Africans in the New World. These are: 1 The enslaved population was stripped of all their cultural knowledge in the journey to the New World and in life on the plantations. They had little choice but to be acculturated into the culture of the whites. 2 African heritage in the Caribbean represents as only ‘retentions’, minor examples of material and non-material culture, which have survived through memory and secret practices during slavery. Brathwaite distances himself from these positions by making the point that the enslaved made deliberate choices (agency) as to how, in what ways and what times, they would deploy their cultural knowledge. Those decisions often took the route of meeting and mixing. This is an important point because in analysing cultural change Western societies have persistently given prominence to acculturation which states that cultural change is unidirectional - the dominant culture impacts subjugated peoples who then become assimilated, accepting the dominant culture’s beliefs, norms and CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER values. The Creolisation Model by rejecting these ideas about cultural change introduces us to the complexity of cultural mixing in the Caribbean. Brathwaite goes one step further, to logically extend and problematise what would happen if this mixing was seen for what it was (is) and allowed to continue producing a creole society, creatively blended. Unfortunately, he says, the hegemony of the élites in today’s Caribbean society has denigrated and marginalised the folk creole culture so that this cross-cultural challenge is obstructed resulting in friction, conflict and continuing inequality. Criticisms 1 The Creolisation thesis can be misleading because it does not recognise the differences of scale that operated in historical and current contexts. The thesis assumes that creolisation is a uniform process and downplays the particularities of local contexts and settings. Hence, attention should be paid to the local contexts of individual estates, particular islands or regions when studying creolisation influences. 2 The processes of acculturation and interculturation occur in all societies where two or more social groups meet and mingle. Critics say that to name the effects of these processes ‘creolisation’ does not add anything more than what the two concepts implied in the first place. The terms ‘creole culture’, ‘creole society’ and so on bring a confused element to a study of Caribbean society because they are too often used to mean the same thing as black or African culture in the Caribbean. Thus, it is difficult to extricate and pinpoint exactly what may be meant by ‘creole’ when examining any aspect of Caribbean social life today. 3 Following from the above, the Creolisation Thesis is criticised because it seems to proclaim that ‘creole culture’ is what we are all aspiring to, that those of other cultures have to make an accommodation towards taking on creole culture but creole culture does not reciprocate. Those who argue this point see creolisation as assimilation. 4 Brathwaite tends to overstate the case for interculturation as opposed to acculturation. Orlando Patterson (1982) says that during slavery acculturation was more likely to be prominent than creolising processes. The enslaved population while on the plantations had less of a chance, or window of opportunity, to assert their cultural forms into the society than in enclaves (such as Maroon society). It is clear that in many of these criticisms ‘creolisation’ is interpreted with a wider reference than Brathwaite intended in discussing Jamaican society or those where there were only white, coloured and black groups. At the same time it is equally clear that to many people the concept of creolisation has distinct possibilities for extension to other societies and cultural activities such as music, religion, festivals, food preparation and the like. In making this ‘leap’ however, using ‘creole’ terminology could give rise to misunderstandings because the word ‘creole’ has such varied meanings over the Caribbean and in many cases refers specifically to blacks. To sum up: Early E arlly ar ly ssociological ocio oc iolo logi logi gica call theorising ca theo th eori eo risi ri siing in in the th Caribbean Cari Ca ribb bbea bb ean ea n centred ce ent ntre ntre red largely red la arg rgel gel elyy on a analysing naly naly na lysi sing si ng tthe he n nature atur at ure ur e of tthe he explain Plural ssociety soci so oci c et etyy in n a bid bid d to to ex expl p ai pl ain n it. itt. The The Pl Plur ural ur al Society Soc ocie iety ie ty Model forward M Mod Mo ode del put del put fo forw rwar rw ard ar d by M.G. M.G G. Smith Smit Sm ith it h fo forr th the e Caribbean Cari Ca ribb ri bbe bb ea n ean directly dire di re ect ctly ly y tied tie ied ed culture cult cu ltur lt ure ur e and and social soci so c al order ci ord rder er together tog oget ethe et herr – he largely, larg la rgel rg ely, el y tthat y, hat Caribbean ha hat Cari Ca r bb ri bbea bbea ean n societies s ci so ciet etie et ies es would woul wo uld ul d not not enjoy enjo en joy high hi gh levels lev evel elss of social el soc ocia iall order ia orde or derr and de and cohesion cohe co hesi he sion si on because bec ecau ause entrenched of tthe he e ntre nt re enc n he hed d differences d ff di ffer eren er ence en cess between ce betw be twee tw een ee n cultural cult cu ltural groups. Brathwaite, who forward grou gr oups ou ps. Br ps B Brat rat athw hwai aite te,, wh te ho pu putt fo forw rwar rw ard ar d th the Creole Society order Soci So ciet ci e y Model, et Mode Mo del, de l saw l, saw ssocial ocia oc iall or ia orde derr as de as ssomething omething that om could dominated coul co uld ul d be d omin om inat nat ated ed by by one one group gro gr oup but oup but also could anomalies, ruptures and show sh ow a noma no mali ma lies li es,, ru es rupt ptur pt ures ur es a nd a meeting and mixing nd of cultures cul u tu ture ress in places, re pla lace ces, ce s, so so that that it it would be difficult to predict. other words, pred pr edic ed ict. ic t IIn t. n ot othe herr wo he word rdss, rd s, Caribbean Car aribbean culture is always growing grow gr owin ow in ng and and being bein be ing in g reinvented reinvvented and so social order is rein constantly being cons co nsta ns tant ta ntly nt lyy b eing ei ng rre-worked e-w eworked – relationships between groups producing grou gr o ps p ro odu duci cing ci ng a number of different possibilities in co-existing. coo-ex exis ex isti ting ti ng. ng 4.4 Caribbean Popular Culture Popular culture is often contrasted with ‘high culture’ (Box 4.7, page 100). It includes the music many people listen to on the radio or CDs or in video performances, and in television programmes; in fact the mass media today is regarded as the main means of disseminating popular culture. Mainstream preferences and tastes in music, dance, art, painting, film, sculpture, literature and plays lead to the creation of cultural products appealing to Popular culture is usually defined as culture that has mass appeal. the majority. Popular culture is therefore closely related to the term mass culture, which refers to the mass-produced 99 100 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY items that consumers demand in entertainment, fashion, and the mass media. We see it in how the media highlights programmes related to lifestyles and interests of ordinary people – reality television, games, sports, gardening and cooking shows, and soap operas. BOX 4.7 High Culture This refers to works of art that can be compared with similar works internationally and are generally thought to have great artistic and aesthetic value – namely, opera, ballet, musicals, gallery type art and theatre productions. High culture does not have mass appeal because many people are unable to bring the necessary understanding and judgement to bear in critically appraising the work. To a large extent, it has been the upper classes who have participated in its production in the past. These early conceptions of culture and cultural products continue to influence how culture is spoken of today in terms of binaries: high culture contrasted with low culture – popular, folk and mass culture. Folk culture can be contrasted with popular culture though many times the two overlap. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between popular culture and folk Folk culture refers to the beliefs and practices of a distinct ethnic group and tends to be tradition-bound and, more often than not, rural in occurrence. culture. They can freely overlap but on the whole the folk culture can be distinguished by ethnicity – for example, the East Indians in the Caribbean would have quite a different folk culture to African Caribbean people but they all share in popular culture. In contrast, popular culture has wide appeal to all ethnicities, is usually urban in occurrence and is constantly changing. Carnival in the 19th century was a folk tradition but today it is an example of popular culture. Herbal remedies however are still very much a part of the folk knowledge of distinct groups of people in the society. Popular culture tends to be more widespread in urban areas and heavily influenced by Western fashion, music, dance, art forms, theatre and cinema. The forms of popular culture undergo rapid change compared to folklore. In this section we will explore some of the different strands of popular and folk culture in the Caribbean. Table 4.2 Popular (and folk) music in selected Caribbean countries Country Popular and folk music Trinidad & Tobago calypso (kaiso), soca, the steelband chutney, parang, chutney soca, parang soca, ragga soca, rapso, pichakaree, and tambrin (Tobago) Jamaica junkanoo, mento, ska, rock steady, rockers, reggae, roots reggae, lovers rock, dub, nyabinghi, reggaetón, dance hall, reggae fusion, raggamuffin St Lucia cadance, zouk, soca Barbados spouge, ringbang, soca Belize marimba, brukdown , punta, punta rock Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic son, rumba, habanera, salsa, timba, plena, meringue, bachata and bomba, reggaetón (Puerto Rico) Martinique & Guadeloupe zouk, cadence, méringe, and beguine Haiti compass (or konpa), mizik rasin, rara, twoubadou Curaçao tumba, ritmo kombina Suriname kaseko, kawina CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER Music For such a small area on the globe, the Caribbean is renowned for the varieties of its music. Undoubtedly this has to do with the historical fact that many diverse groups of people either came here or were brought here from elsewhere. They carried with them their traditions which underwent syncretic changes, borrowing and mixing elements, yet still emerging as distinctly different musical forms and genres. It is important to realise that the enslaved Africans came from different ancestral groups with varying traditions so that the African influence on music in the Caribbean is pervasive but also extremely varied. Table 4.2 opposite gives a quick picture of this immense variety of music in selected Caribbean countries. Musical forms across the Caribbean have been subject to a steady and on-going process of creolisation from the very first meeting and mixing of different 4.4.1 BOX 4.8 peoples in the region. The European jig, reel, waltz, polka and mazurka provided a backdrop for the enslaved, and later the free African population, to adapt and creatively incorporate into their traditional African rhythms, particularly drumming. The salsa, beguine and mento are a few examples of the creolisation of European musical forms. These creative expressions of music played a role in mounting resistance to European culture. Drums were repeatedly outlawed but that was steadfastly ignored and today, drumming in the different genres is a typical characteristic of Caribbean music (Box 4.8). The theme of resistance continued into the era of independence, decolonisation and beyond. Reggae music, and particularly roots reggae with its iconic leader, Bob Marley (Figure 4.2), enshrined in haunting and powerful lyrics the continuing urge to be free and ‘chant down Babylon’. The Rastafari being closely linked to reggae music has continued the tradition of African people in Drums of the Caribbean Whilst musical instruments are widely varied, drums seem to be a main feature in all Caribbean music. This speaks directly to the significance of drumming in African cultures, which was an integral part of worship, celebration and of daily life. Europeans did not celebrate the drum as Africans did - they grumbled that the drums were ‘noisy’ but it was more likely that they were distrustful of them – seeing them as the medium for sending messages and as something which seemed to give the enslaved joy and power. In Afro-centric and syncretic religions in the Caribbean, drums are central. Drumming closely mirrors practices in Central and West Africa, such as the competitions between rival drum orchestras, how the drums are held by the knees or beaten whilst sitting, and the varieties of materials used to make drums (hollowed-out tree trunks, with the skin of goats, deer and other animals stretched out on top), and using varying lengths and widths to create different sounds. Koongo terms still in use in Trinidad are bula (to keep rhythm/to hammer) and ful (fula, meaning to beat or hammer). The Koongo ethnic groups came largely from present-day Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire), the Republic of the Congo and Angola (Warner-Lewis, 2003). In Trinidad & Tobago the invention of the steel drum, called ‘pan’, emerged from this rich African heritage of drumming which was thwarted by British restrictions on the playing of skin drums between 1838 and 1883. After that there was an all-out ban imposed which led to tamboo bamboo bands. Continued and intense experimentation by grassroots people, among them Ellie Mannette and Winston ‘Spree’ Simon, created the practice of ‘tuning’ (by pounding with hammers) all kinds of tins and cans to render musical notes. Mannette found that the discarded oil drum had a larger surface area that could contain more notes and that the sounds were sustained longer than on ordinary tin cans. From then till now continued technological developments have made pan into an instrument of worldwide acclaim with many countries having their own steel orchestras and even manufacturing pans. It is described as a metallophone – meaning a metal percussion instrument. The latest development in the continuing evolution of pan music is the invention of the Percussive Harmonic Instrument (PHI, pronounced ‘Fye’) which can be amplified just like any other electronic instrument. Interestingly, East Indians have had a long involvement with the pan movement in Trinidad & Tobago not only as players but as managers and arrangers (Joseph, 1998) and the pan music itself has been influenced by the traditional East Indian drums the tassa, tabla and dholak. Tassa drumming is widely appreciated, perhaps calling to the common roots of East Indian and African people in a culture of the drum. 101 102 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Figure 4.2 Bob Marley on stage the Caribbean to find solace and inspiration in religion and spirituality of their own fashioning – Rastafari is a syncretic religious mix of Christianity and African spirituality. Afro-centric and other syncretic religions in the Caribbean namely, Vodun, Kumina, Santéria and Orisha are accompanied by distinctive drumming and chanting. It is more accurate to describe Afro-centric and syncretic practices as folk rather than as popular culture as they are limited to certain ethnic groups but, increasingly their music has been incorporated into popular culture. Resistance, institutionalised as social commentary, is also evident in the calypso of Trinidad & Tobago. Begun under colonialism when the enslaved would parody the whites in song, it continues today this tradition of subversion of the established order through sarcasm, mockery and humour leveled at the leaders of the society, using a playful mix of double entendre, picong and ex-tempo. Double entendre refers to a double meaning, so that the calypsonian could sing about something that is relatively innocent but with creative word play so that the audience knows the exact circumstances being satirised. (Tourists are often at a loss to understand this because it usually arises from topical issues in the society.) Picong (sometimes described as ‘giving fatigue’) is a cultural practice in Trinidad & Tobago using biting wit, couched as humour, to insult and devastate the pretensions of another. Its roots lie in West African traditions where insults were traded in song using a call-and-response guise. Ex-tempo refers to the on-the-spot compositions of calypso verses (which rhyme and use long-winded and elaborate language) by two opponents who try to ridicule each other through picong while they each sing alternative verses on a given topic. Amerindian musical forms (Box 4.10) are also related to resistance. Creolisation, interculturation and hybridisation continue to spawn innovation and diffusion in different musical forms. Examples abound such as ■ Soca music has bifurcated into ‘power soca’ and ‘groovy soca’ using adaptations of East Indian rhythms, Latin music and American rhythm and blues. ■ Reggaetón originated in Panama drawing inspiration from reggae and dancehall but found a considerable following in Puerto Rico where it was intermixed with the local bomba and salsa and American hip-hop. ■ Barbados musicians have created a synthesis of the music of other Caribbean countries to come up with their own renditions having widespread appeal. In everyday speech, we describe music as ‘culture’. It however embodies culture. Whilst songs, instruments, technologies, dances are an example of material culture, music also demonstrates non-material culture. If a group chooses to revere the teachings of the ancestors and revives traditional musical forms, then they are operating out of an understanding of non-material culture. Panmen, by continuing to invest energy in hundreds of ‘pan sides’ all over Trinidad & Tobago, are endorsing the cultural values placed on music being the lifeblood of the community, that it should be open to anyone and that musical excellence can come from any sector of the society. Earlier in this chapter we learned that culture was an adaptive mechanism and music displays this characteristic very well being a force for resisting the colonial oppressors and simultaneously through adaptation and change helping each group to accommodate to others all occupying one Caribbean space. Ethnic groups today in the Caribbean on the whole do not deliberately seek out closer relationships with their ancestral homelands (except perhaps through Bollywood musicals) so that the laboratory of musical experimentation that goes on tends to involve cross-fertilisation of ideas and rhythms between and within the Caribbean region and the Caribbean diaspora. As this music fusion continues the Caribbean is constantly inventing and reinventing new musical genres. CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER BOX 4.9 Amerindian Music Amerindian music lives on in certain parts of the Caribbean. The Garifuna of Belize who are the descendants of a mixed group of Africans and Caribs (originally from St Vincent) is associated with traditional folk music that features drumming styles reflecting similar patterns in West Africa. This music has jumped into the popular music arena with the development of ‘punta rock’. In the north of Dominica the small Carib community is attempting to maintain its folk music and dance traditions through the Karifuna Cultural Group. Their efforts can be described as cultural renewal, staging performances for tourists and others alike that serve to educate them on the cultural heritage of the Kalinago (Caribs). Cultural renewal deliberately targets aspects of culture that may be fading Guyana, with a much larger group of Amerindian peoples, has a vibrant tradition of folk and contemporary Amerindian music. Those on the coastlands, namely, the Caribs, Arawaks and Warau have recorded their music on CDs, available through internet sales, showing that native groups Dance The types of Caribbean music listed in Table 4.2 are almost always associated with a dance of the same name. Sometimes there is no specific name for the dance, for example the movements accompanying steelband music or the gyrations and ‘chipping’ we see on the streets on Carnival days. Dance can be a spontaneous response to the music and the setting or it can be presented by skilful professionals as a choreographed performance. Dancing as witnessed in the Caribbean to a large extent falls into the first category. Whether the event is a wake, a maroon festival, a Kumina ceremony (folk culture) or a social dance such as at a party (popular culture), dancing is largely borne out of a natural and powerful impulse to participate and express oneself. Performances staged for tourists, for national celebrations, to commemorate significant historical events and by those interested in the formal art of dance, are only now growing in importance. Like music, Caribbean dance also has a history of mixing by crossing dance styles to develop different versions. A number of European court and folkloric The Original Turtle Shell Band, group of Garifuna musicians, Stann Creek, Dangriga, Belize are taking advantage of globalising influences to promote their own folk culture. All these groups are involved in acts of resistance through music. They continue the centuries-long traditions of enslaved and indentured peoples in reconstructing their culture because it is culture which gives a person a sense of belonging, solace and an understanding of his or her own identity. 4.4.2 dances such as the quadrille, mazurka, polka, contradanse and waltz were creolised to produce unique forms of Caribbean dance. For example, the quadrille was copied by the enslaved population and then parodied and ridiculed adding African elements so that it is now a fullfledged Caribbean folk dance that itself varies widely from Jamaica to Grenada to Martinique. The creole forms of dance became subject to many different types of influences producing hybridised dances, for example, salsa, emerged from the mambo and the bachata utilises dance moves from both the meringue and the bolero. Throughout the Caribbean dance styles are heavily influenced by African dances and rituals. In Africa though, dance is associated with almost every aspect of daily life, whilst in the Caribbean that is not as evident. The ritual dances celebrating or commemorating deaths, births, weddings, and honouring the ancestors and deities have passed into folkloric traditions and are performed at certain times of the year, at specific events or for festivals and national celebrations. In other words, they 103 104 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY do not occur on a daily basis accompanying routine activities such as work songs, except possibly, ‘dancing the cocoa’. The enslaved were not allowed to worship or celebrate in the ways they remembered and so they had to devise ingenious circumventions (such as incorporating their traditions within a European dance) to satisfy their need for self-expression, communication and social interaction. This is probably why anthropologists studying African cultural retentions in the Caribbean find that certain practices and movements are far different from the traditional African dance though there are clearly common roots. The classification of dances in the Caribbean in Table 4.3 is not exhaustive and some of the dances are so widespread that all countries could not be named. Dance as high culture (for example, classical or ballet) while evident in most Caribbean countries in terms of a national dance troupe or a dance company is to a large extent not regarded as popular culture, though this is changing. Dance as popular and folk culture occurs in a variety of forms – in worship, for festivals, for pleasure as in social gatherings, in national celebrations, and lifecycle milestones such as marriage or death. Dance as a form of worship is long established across the Caribbean. Vodou is described first and foremost as a dance in which the people and the lwa (spirits, African and Creole gods) come together in a sort of mutual knowing that reaches a pinnacle in possession when they become one. Drums, which are sacred in vodou, bring this fusion through a heightened sense of awareness and the hypnotic rhythms induce in the devotee movement (dance) that becomes increasingly feverish and frenzied until union has been achieved. This may take place over several days. Much of the dance is improvised and led by drumming and singing which increase in intensity to guide the dancers into a trance-like state that heralds the coming of the lwa (Fernández Olmos & ParavisiniGebert, 2003). Whilst these details are true of vodou as practiced in Haiti, there are many common themes that link dancing here with the rites of Kumina, Rada, Orisha, and the Shouter Baptists. Table 4.3 Caribbean dance: Popular and folk culture Category Countries Dances/influences National dance companies Cuba Cuban National Ballet Jamaica National Dance Theatre Company Popular dances Jamaica Mento, tambu, ska, rock steady, reggae, dance hall Trinidad & Tobago Calypso, soca, Indian dance (kathak, odissi), chutney soca Belize Chumba, hunguhungu, punta, punta rock, Anguilla Calypso, soca, Scottish country dances, the cakewalk Kumina, Revival, Myal, Pukkumina Jamaica Kumina dances based on the Koongo, a Bantu-speaking group of the Congo. Orisha (Shango), Rada Trinidad &Tobago Dancing in the Orisha faith honours the Yoruba God, Shango (from the Oyo kingdom in West Africa). The Rada is similar to Orisha and Voodou and derived from the Fon peoples of Dahomey (now, Nigeria, Benin and Togo). Kélé St Lucia Performed in the Piaye area, honouring Eshu, a Yoruba orisha Kumfa Guyana A ritual involving spirit possession dance similar to the Shango worshipping of the ancestors and asking for intervention of deities to bring about healing and to give thanks. Honouring the ancestors; ethnic songs and dances of different African ‘nations’ Grenada (Carriacou) Big Drum & Nation Dance Spiritual dances Folkloric dances and festivals Category CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER In Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana local Indian classical music and dance traditionally characterised the festivals and events in the East Indian community. However, an entirely new form of music and dance has been created, chutney (unheard of in India), that marries influences from the classical Indian tradition, with the music and dancing of Bollywood movies, and that of calypso and soca. A few years ago it was regarded with scorn by many religious leaders (because some of the compositions were based on religious songs and sung in Hindi) but today it is widely acclaimed as popular music and dance with its own competitions and artistes. Today even further hybridisation has produced chutney soca where the lyrics are mainly English and the music is highly up-tempo. The dance is heavily influenced by the kind of dancing that accompanies soca music. Dance and music are strongly intertwined even if there is no specific name of a dance that accompanies a piece of music. So, dance too (their material culture), has been performed by Caribbean people in ways that interpret and re-interpret their experiences, memories, and histories Category Category Folkloric dances and festivals Combat Dances European-derived dances to celebrate various events Celebrations (i) weddings (ii) Christmas Ceremonial dance (their non-material culture). The latter shapes beliefs, values and attitudes and these translate into a fierce desire of resistance to being colonised mentally. We see this in the ways in which African, Indian and Amerindian cultural traditions continue to be celebrated. At the same time there is value placed on accommodating, meeting, mixing and fusing so that dance, of whatever variety in the Caribbean, is continually being changed into something more expressive of how Caribbean people see their past, present and future. ACTIVITY 4.11 Critical Ref lection Box 4.10 (page 106) discusses Caribbean culture and identity portrayed through dance and is a tribute to the work of the late Rex Nettleford of Jamaica. 1. Identify the different ways in which Nettleford conceives of dance as resistance. 2. What do you understand by his term, ‘cultural maroonage’? Countries Dances/influences Trinidad & Tobago the limbo traditional dance once performed at wakes now for stage performance and the bongo danced at wakes Jamaica dinki mini performed at wakes in defiance of death Trinidad & Tobago Stickfighting (Kalenda); Martinique (danymé) Grenada the cocoa lute, a one-stringed instrument, for accompaniment Dominica, Jamaica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Kitts & Nevis, Trinidad & Tobago Quadrille and Belé Tobago, St Kitts & Nevis Jig and reel Jamaica Brukins (from the pavanne) Grenada (Union Island) Cake Dance Hanover, Jamaica Ettu Guyana kwe-kwe (queh-queh) Jamaica and the Bahamas Jonkunnu Bermuda and the Bahamas Goombay Guyana Mari mari (Warrau, Carib and Arawak), Amerindian dance which imitates animals and their antics 105 106 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY BOX 4.10 Rex Nettleford For Nettleford , the body and its actions were a key site of post-colonial struggle and a source of emancipatory knowledge. The origins of this idea were generated in the period of plantation slavery, which he theorised as the moment when the dance became a primary instrument of survival that furthered cultural resistance. As he argued in 1985: First, it [dance] is a skill that depends on the physical and mental capacities of the survivor. One’s body belongs only to oneself, despite the laws governing chattel slavery in the English-speaking Caribbean, which until 1834 allowed a person to be the ‘property’ of another. Second, the language by which the body expresses itself does not have to be anyone else’s language, least of all the master’s; even when there are borrowings, which are inescapable in a multicultural environment, they can be given shape and form on the borrower’s own terms. These strategies are crucial in a situation of pervasive dependency, where all influences are dictated by the overlord. A hold on any activity beyond the control of a cynical power is a valuable weapon of cultural self-defence. The art of dance, comprising the dancer’s own body movements informed by his own spiritual and emotional states is such a weapon. This ‘valuable weapon of self-defence’ is the knowing body, an idea which, as he lays it out, is complex. It comes into being as a result of the coercive institutions, and violence of the ‘overlord’ but it is also sustained by what he called ‘the worship of forbidden but persistent gods and the configuration of the world beyond the master’s grip’. This maverick existence at the threshold or crossroads of sacred and secular power, at the boundary of imperial knowledge, is critical to his ideas about what Caribbean culture and identity can be. His name for this shifting and mercurial creative spirit was ‘cultural marronage’, and this was the conceptual framework for his artistic work. Drawing on the work of anthropologist Richard Price, Nettleford theorised the dance as a moving cultural reserve, a space that operated in covert political ways through secrecy, cunning and fugitive sensibilities. The term ‘cultural marronage’ is a metaphor that draws on the movement of the Maroons who, through displacement and/or flight away from slavery, managed to both resist the colonial order and partially construct another. From their place in the hills, the Maroons raided the plantation and fought the colonisers. In Nettleford’s rendering, this was not an act of authentic warriors or a romance of rebellion, it was strategy, and when translated into dance it would bring a safe community into being from which other challenges to the hierarchical order could be mounted. The dance was an existential space called home as much as it was the process of finding a way home. We see this over and over again in his choreography in which the dancers move diagonally across the stage in alternating waves entering and exiting, overlapping and becoming visible and then disappearing offstage, only to return over and over till finally the entire company is present on stage in the finale. (Ford-Smith, 2010) CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER Art Art refers to works produced by drawing, painting, sculpting and related activities. The history of art in the region, with styles largely adopted from the colonial masters, tended to depict Caribbean life in colourful, static portrayals, for example, of market scenes or landscapes. That form of art continues but contemporary art is more varied in that art forms may overlap and even integrate other types of artistic expression such as live performances of dance and music. Caribbean artists have also moved away from traditional watercolours and oil paintings to adopt other materials such as wood, metal, glass, paper and may even develop ‘art’ around an object such as an urn. The content, form and techniques vary widely and so the products are highly individualistic, there being no ‘school of Caribbean art’. Having said that, there are some common purposes that art attempts to accomplish. Artists relate their work to the society in which they live. They may celebrate and promote it by painting picturesque scenes of Caribbean life. Or they may attempt a deeper project 4.4.3 – that of bringing to awareness in the viewer the idea that cultural life has meanings going unexplored and it is in everyone’s interest to look deeper into their present. One of the purposes of art is to communicate something to the viewer but the artist is not only concerned with how the viewer receives the work. The artist in the act of communicating ideas, feelings and so on searches for novel ways of transforming the message by using objects differently, or applying a range of textures and materials, or might deliberately move away from popular models or understandings of what is considered ‘art’. Through these processes of innovation artists seek to bring about cultural change by impacting our ideas of art and beauty, as well as by presenting us with other ways of looking at ourselves. In this section Caribbean art will be studied in the work of two artists, equally renowned. Christopher Cozier of Trinidad & Tobago works in multimedia – drawing, painting, video, performance, sound and installation (three-dimensional works that transform a space, as in Figure 4.3 below). A variety of everyday materials are organised to evoke feelings Figure 4.3 The Attack of the Sandwich Men by Christopher Cozier (courtesy of the artist) 107 108 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY and memories and the essence of the portrayal may be the full gamut of the artist’s imagination and to which enhanced via sound and video. This is a more dynamic he or she did not attempt to control with reason or logic. way of presenting work rather than as a picture on a wall as Greaves also created works in what is known as the Intuitive it engages with more of the viewer’s sensory perceptions. Style where vibrant colours and objects are positioned Cozier’s The Attack of the Sandwich Men (Figure 4.3) depicts and composed in ways that spring automatically from hundreds of greaseproof-wrapped sandwiches made from the artist’s imagination. It is the hand that does the seeing white bread topped by small flags of Trinidad & Tobago. and the artist records these impressions automatically. It They are spread out in military-like rows as if sallying may result in abstract art. The intent of experimenting forth to do battle. with these and other styles is to liberate the viewer from Interviews with the artist reveal that the sandwiches normal stereotypes and open up new experiences and are a memory from school days in the 1960s when it relationships. was considered progressive and modern to bring to There Is a Meeting Here Tonight is a set of 14 paintings school lunches consisting of sandwiches (potted meat), and Figure 4.4 (below) belongs to this series. The dark as opposed to local foods like roti or bake. This portrays colours, the man holding the microphone standing in a a national agenda for education at the time of schooling in the values of the North (i.e. Western culture) even as independence was being celebrated. The artist sees this as crucial in how identities are built and today that generation who once carried the sandwiches to school now hold power and continue to conceive of development as aping Western traditions which we still cannot perform adequately. Stanley Greaves is a Guyanese artist and poet who lived and worked in Barbados and now in Canada. He works in the media of sculpture, drawings, painting and pottery and is also a musician. Not surprisingly his paintings are characterised by many different styles such as the Metaphysical and Surrealism Schools. The Metaphysical School of art began in Italy and was characterised by ordinary objects posed in ways that seemed to make them beyond ordinary, to make them mysterious and thus raised unending questions of what we take for granted. Surrealism carried that movement further attempting to remove itself from the fundamental values inherent in art of form, symmetry and meaning where the picture depicts reality in a mirror image. It proposed to show objects placed Figure 4.4 The Annunciation, 1993 (from the series There Is a Meeting Here in strange juxtapositions that run Tonight) by Stanley Greaves CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER rubbish bin wearing a baseball cap sideways depicting the US flag, are examples of the surreal. The theme of ‘meeting’ evokes Caribbean syncretic religious group meetings, whether of Kumina, Orisha or Shouter Baptists which can occur at street corners and small community settings. However, it really is a play on the political meetings also typical of the street corners in the Caribbean. The most dominant motif in the suite is the dog, which [Greaves] utilizes to be critical of politics in the region. He is especially harsh in his treatment of the politicians as posers, conjurists, showy, performing balancing acts or three-card tricks … as if, in a very cynical statement, Greaves is suggesting that politics has gone to the dogs. (Creighton, 2003) Both artists, Cozier and Greaves, attempt through the medium of material culture to disrupt our taken-forgranted ways of thinking and operating which comprise our ideas and philosophies, our non-material culture. They are saying that conventional and traditional art collaborates with us in ‘hiding’ the unspeakable, the things that we have let run amok such as nationalist agendas that allow the dominance of one ethnic group and the treatment of the environment as if it were in some way alien to us. In addition, there is so much scope for looking at ourselves in our everyday ordinary lives, even in the objects that hedge round our existence that we should be more mindful and critical beings. Artists therefore concern themselves with issues such as culture and identity but are ambiguous in stating their claims so that they engage in a continuing interpretive exercise with the viewer. Art, like dance, provides a medium for free self-expression unencumbered by the styles and forms of others, that is difficult to repress and censor and which one can produce and perform even whilst experiencing oppressive and limiting circumstances. Art, therefore, has always been an outlet for creativity, critique and empowerment. Theatre and Folklore Theatre usually refers to the live staging of plays and dramatic performances before an audience. It can combine visual arts, music, singing, and speech into a production that embodies a story in some form. Theatre productions range from musicals to comedy and dramatic performances involving the portrayal of life situations as well as re-enactment of texts from holy scriptures, be they Hindu, Muslim or Christian. From the times of the ancient Greeks, theatre was presented at a specific 4.4.4 venue and in the Caribbean during the colonial era theatre for the upper social classes was indeed performed in buildings custom-designed to accommodate seating around a stage with basic facilities for lighting, backdrops and other props. At the same time street theatre or the informal staging of dramatic performances had very early beginnings and was associated with the common folk. In Europe passion plays (scenes from the last days of Christ) were performed as well as puppet theatre (which is also found in many countries including China and Japan) and there also were Carnival events which normally preceded the season of Lent. Carnivals took place all over Europe and involved the portrayal of characters in masquerade using masks and costumes, clowns, mimes and parades, as well as the acting out of scenes from local folklore. This tradition of street theatre including informal staged performances from Europe merged in the Caribbean with the rituals, music and folklore of the Africans to create vibrant celebrations put on in the streets, back yards, river banks, parks or any open space. People told stories, celebrated events, participated in games, routines, dances and various acts. Well-known characters in Caribbean folklore are moko jumbies, Anansi, duppies, and jab jab (or the devil), who are represented in these stories and enactments. The merging of European and African influences is also seen in the folk tales about Anansi told throughout the Caribbean. The pattern of the little trickster besting the larger figure is one shared by European and African lore, but most of the specific stories told of Anansi are more closely allied in form and structure to European stories than African. (Abrahams, 1967, p.461). Today, both professional theatre producing worldrenowned plays and musical productions in a dedicated space, and street theatre based on folklore, continue. The former tends to be elitist and seen as ‘art’ performed by highly acclaimed artistes expressing a notion of ‘high culture’. Folklore, on the other hand from which springs street theatre, is based on local stories, myths, fables, ballads, proverbs, games, and songs. Many people grow up experiencing and participating in story-telling, community-based events such as fairs, celebration of harvests, church feast days, village festivities and wakes, where the oral folk culture comes alive. Folklore expresses both material and non-material culture; it evokes a people’s sense of belonging and strengthens their communal bonds. 109 110 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Distinctions between professional theatre and street theatre are beginning to be blurred through the advent of popular theatre. These are productions which are put on in a theatre and present high culture such as internationally acclaimed plays and musicals or folklore, in a way that appeals to a mass audience (popular culture). It brings folklore into an urban place and it Caribbeanises what was normally presented as formal, Western drama. Such presentations are infused with Caribbean folk knowledge and customs – stories, myths, proverbs, calland-response refrains – and aspects of cultural life such as specific contexts, sexual innuendo, jokes, and satire, and the distinct possibility of audience participation. Derek Walcott’s work particularly is in this genre, Caribbeanising the epic masterpieces with expert control of the English language. There is a peculiar emphasis on language in Caribbean folklore as can be seen in the recurrence throughout the region of folk characters, known by different names, ‘men of words’. Abrahams (1967) observed any number of informal interactions on the streets, in the marketplaces, in the rum shops, where an argument develops between two (for the most part, men) egged on by friends and listeners, where the goal is to best the other person and dazzle the audience by a virtuoso performance on words. Being witty and innovative also helps. Festivals give more opportunity for this emphasis on word play. Carnival in Carriacou (in the Grenadines) includes the ‘Shakespeare Mas’ which involves verbal clashes between players in an ongoing contest. A group of mas’ men will challenge players from another village to recite passages from Julius Caesar. A player who recites poorly or inaccurately is hit with a whip by his opponent. People from each village gather to cheer the players on, and after several verbal and nonverbal challenges, the mas’ players go to the next village for ‘combat’ with the players there. The audience increases at each village and follows the players to the next crossroads. (Fayer & McMurray, 1999, p.58) Figure 4.5 The Midnight Robber Again we see the pervasive influence of syncretic cultural forms in the Caribbean: a Shakespeare play in the tradition of English and Irish mummers typical of the 16th century (plays where the troupes went from house to house) entwined with African costuming, fighting stances, dance rituals and verbal contests. The Midnight Robber (Figure 4.5) is a traditional character in the mas of Trinidad & Tobago. He is feared by children, resplendent in black robes and something resembling a Panama hat. He carries simulated weapons and threatens onlookers with certain death if they do not give up some money. He is serious and menacing. His sentences are long, elaborate and well-rehearsed. CHAPTER 4: CULTURE AND THE SOCIAL ORDER Ah does bade in acid and scrub meh teeth in the ashes of Caroni and grease meh foot beyond petroleum jelly. One midnight in eternity a mighty ancient wind blow from the Kalahari to the Gobi and sweep through the Sahara and there I form and rise out of the belly of the pit of hell. I is the Scorpion King! (Excerpt from ‘The Midnight Robber speaks’, Bolai, 2010). Theatre (of whatever kind) represents an urge to bring comment and awareness to our experiences. European and classical plays are revered for their timeless quality but they are less immediate and relevant to the predicament of Caribbean peoples than folkloric expression. During slavery, and afterwards during the colonial era, Africans lived at the bottom of the social strata and so celebrations where they could actually mock their oppressors in stories, song and dance were a very welcome change of pace. The verve, enjoyment and abandon with which Caribbean people participated in Carnival events, Afro- centric religious rituals, and folk dancing and singing, contrasted sharply with the way their everyday lives were structured. Today, Caribbean societies are still highly stratified and so folklore and popular theatre continue to provide an outlet for cries against injustice. In this respect, there is always a political dimension. Theatre and folklore are expressions of material culture. In the Caribbean they express the cultural contributions of the major ethnic groups, the Europeans and Africans, though persons of all ethnicities participate in some way. All productions today, be they in the formal style and staged in a theatre or on village grounds display some element of syncretism between these two main influences. The fears that much of our oral history and the art of story telling would die out over time have proved unfounded because contemporary popular theatre taps into this common cultural background to which the audience instinctively responds. To sum up: This section focused on Caribbean music, dance, art, theatre and folklore. In each case there is evidence of syncretism between the cultural groups which inhabit this Caribbean space. In addition, expressions, such as dance, are replicated in endless variety throughout the region so that there are national differences in the same cultural forms. The non-material cultural impetus to create, fuse and transform comes out of a history of repression – these art forms represented a medium which were not easily controlled and monitored by the coloniser. They became a source of comfort and of self-expression, where the common people could resist, show their contempt for the coloniser, and strengthen the bonds between them as a strategy of overcoming. Chapter Summary The idea of culture was taken apart in this chapter to discuss what it is or seems to be and how it works with social institutions to promote social order. Two conceptions of Caribbean society and culture were examined, the Plural Society and the Creole Society. Caribbean cultural diversity was seen to be deeply implicated in the presence of multiple ethnic groupings and the constant mixing and meeting between them. Cultural processes led to continuity and change and involved conflict and assimilation. The second part of the chapter described and analysed forms of material culture such as music, dance, art, theatre and folklore, as forms of resistance and cultural identity. They too serve to influence the social order because they provide insights about the society that could spur reflection and critical thinking about society. 111 112 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY References Abrahams, R.D. (1967). The Shaping of Folklore Traditions in the British West Indies. Journal of Inter-American Studies, 9(3), pp. 456–480. Bennett, M.J. (1993). How Not to Be a Fluent Fool: Understanding the Cultural Dimension of Language. The Language Teacher, XVII(9), pp. 3–5. Japan Association of Language Teachers. Bodley. J (1994). Cultural Anthropology: Tribes, States and the Global System. Mountain View, CA: Bodley. Bolai, R. (2010). The Midnight Robber Speaks. At http://thebookmann.blogspot.com/2007/06/midnight-robber-speaks.html, accessed 27 November 2013. Brathwaite, K. (2001). Creolisation. In C. Barrow & R. Reddock (eds). Caribbean Sociology: Introductory Readings, pp. 108–117. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle. Creighton A. (2003). Stanley Greaves – Artist, Poet, Honorary Fellow. Arts on Sunday, Starbroek News, 29 June. At www.landofsixpeoples.com /news3ol/ns3062911.htm, accessed 26 February 2014. Davis, A. J. (1999). Global Influence of American Nursing: Some Ethical Issues. Nursing Ethics, 6(2), pp. 118–125. Doumerc, E. (2003). Caribbean Civilisation: The English-speaking Caribbean Since Independence. Toulouse, France: Presses Universitaires du Mirail. Fayer, J.M., & McMurray, J.F. (1999). The Carriacou Mas’ as ‘Syncretic Artefact’. Journal of American Folklore, 112(443), pp. 58–73. Fernández Olmos, M., & Paravisini-Gebert, L. (2003). Creole Rreligions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Vodou and Santería to Obeah and Espiritismo. New York: New York University Press. Ford-Smith, H. (2010). Rex Nettleford - Guardian of Our Crossroads. The Gleaner, Wednesday February 10, 2010. At http://www.jamaicagleaner.com/gleaner/20100210/news/news1.html, accessed 27 November 2013. Furnivall, J.S. (1956). Colonial Policy and Practice: A Comparative Study of Burma and Netherlands India. First published 1948. New York: New York University Press. Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books. Jandt, F.E. (2010). An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global Community. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Joseph, T. (1998). Indian Arrival in the Panyard. Sunday Express, 24 May, p. 16. Kroeber, A.L., & Kluckhohn, C. (1952). Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions. Cambridge, MA: The Museum. Marx, K. (1978). The German Ideology. In R.C. Tucker (ed.), The Marx–Engels Reader. First published 1932. New York: W.W. Norton. Murdock, G. (1945). The Common Denominator of Culture. In Ralph Linton (ed.).,The Science of Man in the World Crisis. New York: Columbia University Press. Patterson, O. (1982). Slavery and Social Death. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Warner-Lewis, K. (2003). Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press. Wilford, J. N. (1984). Sexes Equal on South Sea Isle. New York Times, 29 March, p. C1. At http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/29/science/ sexes-equal-on-south-sea-isle.html, accessed 27 November 2013. CHAPTER 4: Exercises and Test Questions (A) Multiple Choice Questions Please select the BEST POSSIBLE answer. 1. Playing soca or reggae music at the end of each over in a cricket match is an example of (a) a norm (b) values (c) a belief (d) rules 2. Which of the following refers specifically to non-material culture? (a) dance in a Kumina religious ceremony (b) the spirit of resistance that produced the steelband (c) the techniques and resources used by artists to portray their understandings of the Caribbean (d) festivities associated with folk culture in the Caribbean 3. An example of symbolic culture is (a) (b) (c) (d) socialisation ideal culture language real culture 4. Which of the following can be defined as a counterculture? (a) Rastafarians in Jamaica (b) the white élite in Barbados (c) the Garifuna in Belize (d) the middle class in Grenada 5. The study of a cultural group detailing its contexts, customs and characteristics is known as (a) archaeology (b) cultural diffusion (c) ethnography (d) transculturation 113 6. Which of the following characteristics of culture includes the processes of creolisation in Caribbean societies? I Culture is an adaptive mechanism II Culture is learned III Culture is shared (a) (b) (c) (d) I and II I and III II and III I, II and III 7. What term is used to describe the application of one’s own standards to judge other cultures? (a) anthropology (b) ethnocentrism (c) cultural lag (d) cultural relativism 8. Which of the following is not normally considered to be an example of popular culture? (a) television sit coms (b) folk singing (c) soccer (d) ballet 9. Which of the following statements is most likely to represent a Marxist perspective on popular culture? (a) Media bombardment that supports a false sense of reality (b) Cultural practices that serve to integrate the masses (c) Cultural products such as music marketed for high profits (d) The artefacts of popular culture reflect the ways of life of groups of people 10. Which of the following statements is a specific example of how ‘cultural diffusion’ occurs? (a) Internet technologies pervade the Caribbean region (b) The First Peoples have numerous websites (c) The Shakespeare mas is performed only in Carriacou today (d) Many variants of calypso and soca music are promoted today 114 (B) Structured Response Questions (C) Essay Questions Each response should be about three or four lines and carries 4 marks. In this section some essay questions are given. The questions may involve further research building on what the chapter offers. A specimen answer to the first of these essays is provided, with annotations. Refer back to Chapter 1 for guidelines of how to critique a sociological essay. (1) Explain the relationship between norms, values and beliefs. (2) Differentiate between enculturation and interculturation. (3) Distinguish between ‘popular culture’ and ‘folk culture’. (1) Compare and contrast how ‘culture’ is viewed by the major sociological perspectives. (4) Suggest what may be wrong about accepting the definition of culture as the ways of life of a people. (2) Discuss how Caribbean music has been influenced by the ideas of culture put forward in the Plural Society Model. (5) Explain, using an example, the relationship between ‘society’ and ‘culture’. (3) Examine the sources of cultural diversity in Caribbean societies. (6) Explain why the terms Near East and Far East are examples of ethnocentrism. (4) Discuss the importance and significance of language in the development of culture. (7) Clifford Geertz defined culture as representing webs of significance for people. Explain why this idea of culture is supported by the Interpretive perspective. (5) Explain how the processes, cultural diffusion, cultural assimilation and cultural innovation, have resulted in culture change in the Caribbean. (8) Describe the main ideas in the cultural imperialism thesis. (9) Summarise the main ideas in the two theories of Caribbean society and culture known as the Plural Society Model and the Creole Society Model. (10) Outline TWO purposes artists have in depicting Caribbean culture. CHAPTER 4: 115 Sample Answer and Critique Compare and contrast how ‘culture’ is viewed by the major sociological perspectives. The three main sociological perspectives usually present three different views on society, but in reality the two macrosociological perspectives share some similar ideas that are often not made explicit. Furthermore, more recent theoretical positions, building on the ideas of the main perspectives, go on to produce quite different analyses and conclusions. In this essay, ‘culture’ will be described through the lens of the macrosociological perspectives of Functionalism and Marxist/ Conflict Theory as well as through the microsociological lens of Interpretive Theory. More recent theorising will be introduced to extend these perspectives. What distinguishes one sociological perspective from another is the view of reality that each espouses. Each has a distinctly different explanation of what is important in understanding a society (and in this respect, culture), and therefore each values something different in terms of ‘what is real?’ There will be some similarity between the macrosociological perspectives because they give emphasis to the ‘structures’ that order and configure our lives. These include the interaction of social institutions and organisations and the patterns and arrangements that result. Interpretive theory, on the other hand emphasises ‘agency’, that people are meaning-makers and make decisions and take action based on the exercise of their will and choices. How culture is understood by the perspectives then will differ based on the interpretation of what is real. The idea of reality in Functionalism is that it is external, it lies outside of persons, so it is very much an objective understanding of reality. This is based on the philosophy of positivism. Culture is viewed as ‘the ways of life of a people’ and Functionalism focuses on how culture is manifest as material culture (their ways of life). It is conceived as stable practices based on traditions for which there is a high degree of consensus. Early anthropological and sociological studies of cultural groups sought to define and describe a ‘culture’ as if it had robust qualities that could be reduced to description, analysis and generalisation. Thus, external reality was more pronounced in how culture was conceived of and discussed than any internal dimensions. In fact, material culture was said to be supported by non-material culture but the latter, while acknowledged, is not made problematic in the functionalist study of culture. They developed terms such as ‘statuses’, ‘roles’ and ‘norms’ to describe patterns of behaviour or thought (structures) that they felt were influenced by ‘non-material culture’. But they could not access the latter more concretely. They were able to show though that deviating from norms, for example, can result in negative sanctions thereby reinforcing cultural practices. They concluded that having common norms, values and beliefs serves to develop strong bonds among people and a sense of belonging is nurtured which contributes to identity formation (on a personal level) and deep integration of the society (on a macro-level). Functionalism has strong themes of order, consensus and integration in how it conceives of societies so that this way of conceiving culture, with different ‘parts’ or components, and structures such as norms and statuses, closely fit those ideas about reality. This is straightforward. You may deliberately pose ideas that are problematic to deepen analysis. When a question is direct you may fall into the trap of merely being descriptive. A ‘general’ paragraph on what is the fundamental difference between them as the basis for what is to follow Discusses reality in a functionalist sense to show how ‘culture’ emerges from such a lens. A superior strategy to enhance the discussionwould be to bring in Giddens and his way of combining structure and agency. 116 Durkheim deepened this notion of bonding by showing that in modern societies – meaning industrial societies – an interdependent culture had to develop in order to fulfil the goals of the society. He theorised about ‘organic solidarity’ in which members developed specialist skills to cater for the growth of the differentiated modern economy. As the economy became more specialised each sector had to depend on other sectors to produce a harmonious whole. This is referred to as the division of labour and it could be difficult to sustain as with specialisation comes the urge for individualism. Durkheim therefore felt that there is the ever-present threat to the society if members subscribed to different norms and values. Religion, he stated, was one of the social institutions that could reinforce a sense of social solidarity. Culture then in Durkheim’s view was a stabilising and integrative force that functioned to cement the society. The other structural perspective, Marxism/Conflict Theory, shares a similar belief in the bonding effect of norms, roles, statuses and values in producing culture. Marxists, however, depart from Functionalism in their understanding of reality. To them reality is linked to the forces and relations of production. The economy (a social institution known as the substructure) configures and organises the culture of the various social groups. The culture of the elites is accorded legitimacy – their norms, values and so on are dominant. In this perspective how economic power is distributed among the groups is the fundamental reality and this creates culture – elite culture and mass culture - seen in terms of inequalities. Cultural change will come about when contradictions in the economy become so untenable that the relations of production shift to accommodate another set of relations and so, norms and values will also change. The society is the site of the ever-shifting struggle or dialectics between changes in the economy and the impact on the superstructure – the relationships and activities found in all the other social institutions such as education, religion, the family and so on. In the final analysis, all aspects of culture are shaped by the forces and relations of production. Despite these differences, the view of culture is similar to Functionalism in that it is thought to be something uniform and totalising developed through processes of socialisation. The Interpretive view of culture is based on the idea of reality as a social construction which is subjective and therefore can be interpreted according to the meanings persons attach to the symbols of their culture. From the outset it targets a deep sense of culture and according to Geertz, members are embedded in webs of significance which they use to interpret their culture. It is the non-material culture, the significance of symbols that interpretive theorists seek to bring to light in understanding culture. This view has a sense of the impossibility of holding culture down so that it can be described and explained in a uniform way. People, in having agency, are meaning makers so that there will be some variation in how each interprets culture. While the culture of a group must have some coherence and systems of practices, it is not expected that a culture will be tightly formed around similar norms, values and beliefs. The outsider never really ‘gets it’ because beliefs and values are represented in various guises and symbols which in themselves may be multiple and contradictory. Postmodernism extends the ideas about culture from Interpretive theorists. The postmodern attitude to ‘culture’ is that this is not an ordered world with precise meanings and so culture does not Views of a theorist to extend info’ from above but also to deepen the complexity. Durkheim: how cultures in modern society need forces of integration. Marxism – a contrasting view of reality. 117 exist as a ‘grand narrative’ as conceptualised by Functionalists and Marxists and even Interpretive theorists. They employ ‘deconstruction’ methodology to break down familiar and taken for granted meanings such as, culture being a ‘way of life’, to show that culture may only be partially like that. In today’s world the mass media bombard us with images which create our reality. Cultural reality then is fragmentary, superficial, disorienting, and playful, there being nothing like ‘high culture’ or ‘low culture’. Culture is a process, it is fluid, incoherent, continually streaming by us and we dip in to it according to our wishes and needs at the time. This is something ‘extra’ but it is useful in throwing light on the traditional concepts about culture. Conclusion Whilst we may have thought of culture as something that we know quite a lot about, sociology uncovers for us the idea that taken-for-granted, everyday meanings may be only one way of thinking about something. This attests to how we have been socialised, mainly into a traditional idea of culture and wholly from a Functionalist perspective. There is a wealth of perspectives and views to answer the question, ‘what is culture?’ Each depends on and conforms to a particular view of reality. To bring to awareness a more balanced conception of culture, all these views and perspectives must be taken on board. This makes our understanding of the social world more complicated but it may well be a truer picture than the one painted by the dominant perspective. This has a different ‘tone’. Some summarising is done, there is an attempt at synthesis, and applying the problem to life. 118 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY The major expectations of this chapter are that you will recognise that: ■ scientific research is methodical, systematic and rigorous; ■ what is considered ‘scientific’ is underlain by certain assumptions about knowledge; ■ at all stages of the research process the researcher must adhere to the highest ethical standards; ■ there are different approaches to research and some may be more dominant than others; ■ data collection procedures and instruments will vary according to the research approach you adopt; ■ you need to master many terms and concepts as the field of research is precise and requires that you know and can use the language appropriately; ■ the research process describes a systematic way of planning and carrying out your research; ■ data analysis is conducted differently in different research approaches or traditions. 119 5 Sociological Research To re-search is to look again at some issue with the intention of further examination. Research is undertaken to add knowledge (or disprove existing theories). The knowledge could be ‘new’ or the purpose may be to deepen understanding of some existing problem or issue – in which case, it adds explanatory value. Research is also used, especially in the natural sciences, to attempt to predict and control phenomena. Research is undertaken in all disciplines. The ultimate purpose of research, in the social sciences and in sociology, is to improve society and human lives. Research adds new knowledge and deepens our understanding of social issues. It therefore broadens the sociological knowledge base and expands the discipline. Governments and other bodies use the findings of research to plan development programmes and interventions, and so research must be sound and conducted according to the highest ethical principles. Researchers are careful to follow best practices so that they do not end up with findings that are misleading or just plain wrong. This chapter introduces you to the exciting world of research. However, before you go out there in the field, clipboard in hand, to interview members of the public, there is some preliminary work that needs to be done. The chapter explains the basic procedures of research and at the same time focuses on you, the novice researcher, by walking you through the various stages of the research process. It assumes that you will have a research project to conduct and so assists by helping you to ask yourself the right questions about what you are setting out to research. You will realise that a major task in research is the first one – to decide on a topic that is researchable and design a plan to get as much relevant data on this topic as possible. 5.1 Principles of Scientific Research We have heard of the scientific method and we also learn that sociological research is ‘scientific’. Where the disciplines are concerned we have seen (Chapter 2) that there are the natural sciences (chemistry, physics, biology) and the social sciences (economics, sociology, psychology). The content studied in the natural sciences is usually either inanimate matter or biological systems and processes, or diseases, including bacteria, viruses and so on. In the social sciences the content relates to people and their behaviour. This suggests that there may be some issues as to whether the social sciences can make an equal claim to the scientific method in research. 5.1.1 Sociology and the Scientific Method A question that is always posed, and we need to know how to respond, is whether a particular approach can be considered ‘scientific’. As we saw in an earlier chapter (§2.2) the Founding Fathers of the discipline all thought of sociology as the science of society. Following the steps of the scientific method (Box 5.1) would make sociology’s claim to being scientific stronger, and much research that is positivist and quantitative does adhere to these steps. Sociologists try to conduct research that is modeled on what scientists do in the laboratory – collect empirical data, reduce bias, and maintain an objective stance to the subjects of the research. As a result, positivist sociological research tends to retain many of the terms used in standard scientific research – instruments, variables, validity, reliability, probability sampling, 120 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY BOX 5.1 The Scientific Method Historically, the ‘scientific method’ was associated with the natural sciences and how new information is discovered. Comte regarded the age when scientists developed this method as positive in that it led to discoveries and inventions that could better our lives in society. Science and the ‘scientific method’ is based on a positivist understanding of reality – what is real is believed to lie in the outside world and can be discovered through observation and measurement. Natural scientists then largely believed that knowledge can only be discovered through the collection of empirical data (Box 2.1) followed by the formation of a hypothesis. The strong approval held by the early sociologists for science and its method of finding new knowledge meant that they adapted the research process of the ‘scientific method’ to the study of the social world. Positivist research, which tends to be quantitative in nature, and uses statistical analysis, closely follows the scientific method. However, research in the qualitative paradigm is only loosely based on these steps – for example, qualitative researchers usually do not pose hypotheses but posit research questions. They differ also in the choice of sampling procedures, data collection instruments and data analysis techniques. Nevertheless, because they make the claim that they follow methodical, rigorous and systematic procedures (and this can be verified), they argue that qualitative research is also scientific. mean, median, mode, standard variation, and so on. Where there is some variation between what the scientist and the sociologist do, the latter claims that research does not necessarily have to follow the scientific method to be deemed ‘scientific’. As long as it is methodical, systematic and rigorous, it is scientific. Moreover, there is no longer something called the scientific method – scientists use any methods which they think will be fruitful. We may conclude by saying that there are a variety of qualitative approaches and some could be considered scientific but there are others which do not regard ‘being scientific’ as necessarily something of value. Ethical Issues In Research The purpose of research is to elicit knowledge of the issue or problem from someone who has that knowledge. This 5.1.2 Steps of the Scientific Method 1. Define the problem to be studied (conceptualised as the interaction of two or more variables). 2. Pose a null hypothesis. 3. This assumes that any kind of variation is due to chance. 4. Collect data – gathering empirical data from a sample, because usually the whole population to which this relationship might apply is either too large or in some way inaccessible. 5. Analyse the data – usually using statistical analysis as the samples are often quite large. 6. Report on your findings: If the null hypothesis is upheld then there is no relationship between the two variables. If it is rejected by the statistical analysis, then this means that any relationship between the two is not due to chance. A hypothesis is a general statement or proposition which assumes some kind of relationship between a set of variables. Variables refer to the phenomena that are being studied. The null hypothesis states predicts no relationship between the variables under study. involves a transaction between individuals and is very much a social interaction. Hence, it can be conducted in all manner of ways. There are several rules governing researcher ethics that all researchers should keep in mind, especially qualitative researchers who are more closely involved with their subjects than are quantitative researchers. Treatment of Participants The subjects or respondents are to be treated with respect and fairness. Their natural rights should be preserved. If they are reluctant to speak on an issue they should not be coerced through threats or bribes. The research would be compromised if the knowledge on which it depends was not freely given. In addition, their rights to privacy should be acknowledged by the use of pseudonyms CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH and their statements should be kept confidential. From reading the report, it should not be evident who gave the information. The researcher must keep in mind that s/he should minimise any kind of risk to the participants that relates to their input in the research. For example, in the conduct of interviews the researcher should be mindful of topics that may threaten interviewees’ self-esteem and should sensitively ‘manage’ the interaction. If children, or students, are involved in the study permission should be sought from their parents or guardians. If conducting research within the school it is also advisable to get the permission of the school principal. It is also recommended that researchers ‘give back’ to those informants and their communities who helped with the research. The most obvious item would be a copy of the research report, but if humanitarian acts can be performed, especially for disadvantaged groups, then that should be explored. However, you should not make it seem as if you are paying the subjects to participate – often only a stipend is offered to reduce the element of coercion. The humanitarian acts are difficult to decide on beforehand – as the research unfolds perhaps the researchers may see an area of need where they can assist. The Research Process Ethics relating to the conduct of the research process deals with issues of bias. In qualitative research, a sample should be chosen from among persons who know something about the topic under study, otherwise the research would be purporting to report on something without relevant data. Data collection should be as exhaustive as possible so that the study is based on comprehensive data. This means that researchers should remain in the field as long as they can to be more certain that what they eventually report is an accurate portrayal of the context. Multi-methods should be used to triangulate the data. Where data analysis is concerned, Triangulation involves the use of two or three different forms of data collection in order to increase the trustworthiness of the study. the interview transcripts should be read and re-read many times so that the researchers becomes immersed in the data and may be more likely to come to insightful findings. All procedures and interactions should be continuously documented so that an audit trail is left of the researcher’s activities. This increases the trustworthiness of the study (see §5.2.2). For quantitative studies, the issues are the same but are approached differently. To reduce bias, a large sample is used and this also helps the researcher to be fairly confident that a generalisation could be made based on this representative sample. In order for the findings to be valid and reliable, great care is taken in designing the instruments of data collection – questionnaires, interview protocols, observation schedules, and so on (see §5.2.3). Statistical procedures are used to analyse the data and such procedures are reported so that others can, if they wish, replicate the study, in which case they should come up with the same quantitative results. The major ethical issue in the conduct of both qualitative and quantitative research is the effort to avoid falsification of data. 5.2 Research methods In this section we will focus on the two main approaches to sociological research – quantitative and qualitative methods. Attention is paid to their philosophical assumptions and how they each understand the social world. This is important because it guides what questions they ask, what methods of data collection they use, how they relate to the subjects of the research, what techniques they use in data analysis and how they report their findings. Attempt Activity 5.1 (page 122) to see how one method of data collection works. Quantitative Approaches to Research The philosophy of positivism underlies the scientific method, the sociological perspective of Functionalism and hence, quantitative approaches to research. Positivism views reality as located outside of human beings so that when research is conducted what is valued is information collected about the natural world or in the case of sociology, about things that can be seen and enumerated about people (empirical data). Following the steps of ‘the scientific method’, there is a tradition of collecting data on many items or persons (a large sample) so that a generalisation can be posed about major trends in the data. Because many observations are involved, statistical software is used to analyse the data – hence the term, quantitative research. Many of the research methods discussed below, such as surveys and sampling, document studies and so on, may be used for both quantitative and qualitative research, but in slightly different ways. The kinds of research questions that a researcher who holds a positivist assumption of reality will ask are those which call for the collection of empirical data, such as How does violent crime vary with socio-economic class in Country X? (Note that research questions are not 5.2.1 121 122 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY ACTIVITY 5.1 Inquiry Skills The exercise below is an adaptation of a questionnaire used by real researchers (Halpérin et al., 1996). The entire questionnaire contains 20 items, but only the first four are included here. Read through the questionnaire and then answer the questions q which follow. (This ( activityy could be done in a group g p with other members of your y class.)) Questionnaire on Child Sexual Abuse Q 1: How old are you ? Q 2: Are you a girl or a boy? (tick relevant box) Q 3: Who do you live with? (list all members of your household, e.g. mother, father, brother etc.) Q 4: Here are some general statements on child sexual abuse. years girl months boy Do you rather agree or rather disagree with these statements? STATEMENTS (a) Some children are sexually abused by older children (b) Most people who sexually abuse children do not belong to the child’s family (c) Most of the time children are sexually abused when they are alone, at night, and outside their home (d) Only girls are victims of sexual abuse (e) Sexually abused boys are usually not homosexual (f) Children from reputable families are not victims of child sexual abuse (g) Children who report being victims of sexual abuse are not necessarily placed in foster care following these revelations (h) Few children are victims of sexual abuse (i) Only young children are victims of sexual abuse (j) Boys are not sexually abused (k) A majority of sexual abuse perpetrators are retarded or mentally ill (l) Even if one lets a year go by before talking about a sexual abuse situation, it is still possible to do something about it (m) In sexual abuse cases, the child him/herself is never responsible AGREE DISAGREE DON’T KNOW Questions: Q i 1. Which aspects of the questionnaire do you think can be improved? 2. What do you think is the purpose of questions 4(d) and 4(j)? 3. What do you think is the purpose of Question 4 of the questionnaire as whole? Using five questions, construct what you believe the next section of the questionnaire should look like. CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH the same as a question you would ask someone in an interview. A research question refers to the whole study and the issues important to the research.) Here, records on violent crimes can be obtained from police or other official data bases and some idea of socio-economic class can be obtained by locating the address of individuals involved in committing acts of violent crime. Usually the researcher will include hundreds or thousands in his/her sample so that the trends emerging would seem representative for that population. Such studies usually centre on two or more variables and how they relate. The language of the natural sciences is retained in the social sciences and a variable refers to an entity that may or may not vary under certain conditions. Note that the researcher is not called upon to do much in terms of manipulating the data – s/he will only have to interpret the statistical results. This again is closely following the scientific method where to reduce bias the scientist uses instruments from which s/he directly reads off data. In this case the sociologist will devise a form on which s/he records pertinent information from databases. Quantitative studies in sociology may conform to a non-experimental or survey format, a quasi-experiment, or a correlation study. ■ Non-experimental research includes surveys, data obtained by questionnaires and interviews administered to a relatively large group of persons. The survey is used to answer research questions which depend on descriptive statistics (percentages, averages), e.g. How many families in Area X are single-parent families? Is there a difference in subject choice in form 5 between male and female students? ■ This is an example of cross-sectional research because the sample comes from a group of persons and they are only studied at one point in time. (In other words, we would not know if there was variation in the findings, after the data were collected). ■ Experiments are usually carried out in the pure sciences in laboratories. In the social sciences, we use the quasi-experiment. In such studies control and experimental or treatment groups are used as well as random sampling. These conditions conform somewhat closely to how the natural scientist conducts experiments. ■ Correlational research refers to studies where the researcher is interested in the nature of the relationship or association between two variables. It does not imply that one causes the other, just that they have an association. For example, low socio-economic status varies positively with low academic achievement. The nature of the association is left up to further study. Statistical software is used to determine the numerical value of the correlation coefficients which indicates how strong or weak is the association between the variables. Quantitative approaches to research seek to describe a situation in terms of how variables relate to each other so that major trends or generalisations could be identified. A generalisation is only possible because of the use of probability sampling which generates a representative sample. There is a concern at all stages to eliminate bias and that can be seen in how researchers keep their distance from the subjects of the research and use instruments that capture the data by forced-choice questionnaire items or structured interview protocols or observation schedules and checklists. The interview protocol is a guide to the kinds of questions the researcher will ask the respondent during the interview. In other words, there is minimum interaction with the subjects. The data itself is statistically analysed and presented as tables, graphs and other numeric information with some discussion. The survey is the most popular method used in quantitative research, though it only gives a snapshot or static picture of the subjects at one moment in time. This approach to research is heavily influenced by the philosophy of positivism and the need for empirical data. Qualitative Approaches to Research Qualitative research is underlain by a set of assumptions or philosophies rooted in hermeneutics and constructivism. Qualitative research is primarily 5.2.2 Hermeneutics, taking its name from the Greek god, Hermes, the messenger of the gods, refers to the part played by communication, meaning and interpretation in how people understand reality. Constructivism is closely related because it describes reality as being built up by persons as they negotiate their world. engaged in how people understand their world as an explanation for their behaviour and actions. It goes into people’s reasons for actions, motivations and perceptions and attempts to build a picture of their world from their eyes. It is therefore mainly concerned with subjective knowledge. In order to elicit a person’s worldview or deeply held beliefs and values, the researcher and the researched must enter into a close and mutually trusting 123 124 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY relationship. Hence, the researcher can only get at the knowledge s/he seeks by deliberately nurturing a relationship with the participant. The latter would not necessarily give up that kind of information easily and usually it would not be something that s/he would be willing to write on a questionnaire. The kinds of data or knowledge that the qualitative researcher seeks mean that her/his methods of data collection and instruments would vary from that of the quantitative researcher. It also means that maintaining an ethical stance in research becomes more problematic the closer the researched and the researcher get. The research questions that a qualitative researcher would ask are quite different to those a quantitative researcher would ask. Possible qualitative research questions are: ■ What are the perceptions of overweight persons about diet and exercise? ■ How do overweight persons negotiate the messages from the health system about health and well being? ■ How do overweight persons describe their social life? These questions are designed to give as much information on an issue as possible. The intent is to describe a phenomenon in detail. Note that all the questions are posed from the subjects’ point of view. There are no ‘why’ questions because in the social world there are so many influences acting on a person that giving a certain explanation for their behaviour is virtually impossible. Qualitative research can give insights about how overweight persons deal with health messages, how they seek healthy behaviours, if they do, and generally what they think about themselves. Triangulation Qualitative studies attempt to reduce bias by increasing the trustworthiness (credibility and dependability) of the research. As you learned earlier, by engaging in multiple methods of data collection (interviewing, observations, journal writing) it is more likely that the range of perceptions that subjects have will emerge. This is called triangulation of methods. One might use interview, observation and documentary analysis all in the same study, for example, to get a deeper understanding of the phenomenon. Different researchers and experts can be called in to discuss and evaluate the findings in a qualitative study (called investigator triangulation) to ensure that as many arguments as possible have been applied. The researcher is especially asked to employ different strategies to make his or her own biases clear and to reflect on how it impacts the research. Finally, the researcher must document all decisions taken at all stages and this comprises an audit trail of the entire inquiry. Data Collection The first step in collecting data is to determine who is the target group and how many of them are accessible to you. For example, your target group may be adolescents in the 14–18 age group as this is the group of people you are studying. You may decide that those who are accessible to you are those in your school, about 150 students in all. This is called the accessible population. 5.2.3 The accessible population refers to persons belonging to the target population who are accessible to the researcher. The quantitative researcher determines how large to make the sample because size confers more credibility on the research findings in this paradigm. With this in mind the researcher may decide on a sample size of 70 and these will be the subjects of the study. The researcher then makes decisions about what kind of data-gathering tools to use – a questionnaire, an interview or observations, and this may be complemented by document analysis. In quantitative research these data collection tools or instruments are conceived of differently from the way they are constructed and used in qualitative research. ■ Sources of data collection: Primary data refers to data that is collected directly by the researcher through interviews, observations and questionnaires. Secondary sources refer to data already collected by other people and organisations for their own purposes. Sources of secondary data include publications by the government and other organisations, books, journals, census data, the databases found in libraries, case studies and archived data. ■ Instruments of data collection: These are the tangible measures used to gather information from the chosen sample. A questionnaire is an instrument of data collection. So is the interview guide or protocol (the list of questions to be asked) during an interview. An observation schedule records the behaviours or incidents observed by the researcher and may be in the form of a checklist. Surveys are typical of quantitive research (see Box 5.2). Well-constructed instruments serve to increase the reliability and validity of a study. CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH Reliability focuses on whether the instrument measures the things you intend for it to measure every time you use it with the same subjects. In other words, if it is likely that the same people will give different answers tomorrow then something is wrong with the instrument. BOX 5.2 Validity focuses on whether the instrument measures or represents the things you set out to measure or study. In other words, does the instrument measure what you are claiming that it would measure? If it does, then the chances of generalising the findings are good. Survey Research Terms • Surveys - an approach to data collection where a researcher asks questions and a respondent answers e.g. all types of questionnaires and interviews. This is a very popular form of sociological research. • Experimental design – two groups are studied: one is administered a ‘treatment’ and the other acts as a ‘control’ group. The study indicates whether the variables in the treatment option made a difference or not. • Measurement - the collection of data using an ‘instrument’, for example a questionnaire or an interview protocol. Note how terms are identical to the natural sciences where ‘measurement’ involves numbers; in sociology ‘measurement’ in many cases refers to the act of administering a questionnaire and recording the responses. • Sampling – this is a design issue as the choice of probability or non-probability sampling rests on the view of reality adopted in the study. In Functionalist (or quantitative-type) studies usually the purpose is to arrive at a generalisation explaining the behaviour of a population. Generalisability is enhanced by the use of probability sampling measures (see page 126). • Questionnaire - an instrument that uses a range of different question formats. It may be used in a face-to-face situation or left with the respondent to be completed later (it could also be mailed or e-mailed). There are various kinds of questionnaire. In structured questionnaires (as in Activity 5.1 above) items are of the forced choice format. • Interviews – here the researcher and the respondent face each other in a question-andanswer session. If the sample is large and the data needs to be quantified and statistically analysed, the interview will most likely be a structured interview where the researcher follows an interview protocol (see below). Semistructured and conversational interviews are more open-ended and wider ranging and do not adhere strictly to a protocol (and are more likely to be found in qualitative research). Telephone interviews and audio conferencing are also possible. • Probability samples – random, stratified random, and systematic sampling are used to select a sample that is representative of the target population. These techniques reduce bias in selecting the sample (Box 5.3, page 126). Non-probability samples are discussed in Box 5.4 (page 127). • Archived and census data – this is considered secondary data because the information was not collected by the researcher; for example, government statistics, census data and other records. The advantage of using official sources for secondary data is that the data is reliable in that it was obtained through systematic procedures reducing bias as much as possible and gives information on the total population or very large samples, much more than an individual researcher could access. • Longitudinal design – the study of one group over time, noting change and continuity. These studies are complex to organise and so there are relatively few of them. However, they give more information on cause and effect since groups are studied intensively over time. Forced choice items are questions with a • Cross-sectional design – the study of one or more groups at one point in time. These are easy to organise. However, they are not as conclusive about cause and effect as they only study the population at one point in time. Open-ended items are questions that ask predetermined set of answers. Each response is assigned a number and can be statistically analyzed (quantitative data analysis) either manually or by computer software. respondents to put responses into their own words. Verbal data cannot be easily converted to numerical data so that qualitative data analysis procedures are used in analysis. 125 126 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Ensuring reliability and validity are procedures which seek to reduce bias in the research instruments and are typical of quantitative studies. In many cases a researcher might seek to pilot test the instruments on a very small sample of the target population to determine how reliable and valid the items on the instrument are. Target population refers to the entire group to which the findings of the study will apply. Surveys In quantitative research the survey is used to answer research questions which depend on descriptive statistics (percentages, averages, etc.). In qualitative research interviews are the most common forms of survey data collection. Box 5.2 (page 125) lists some of the common terms used in survey research. BOX 5.3 Sampling A sample is a small group extracted from a larger group with similar characteristics. Sampling refers to procedures that ensure that a sample is representative of the entire target population so that generalisations can be made. Probability sampling is used in quantitative research because the goal is to make a generalisation. This is a method of selecting a sample, such as a representative sample, which tries to ensure that the persons comprising the sample are present in a similar proportion to how they occur in the actual population. Boxes 5.3 and 5.4 discuss sampling as it is used in quantitaive research and qualitative research respectively. Questionnaires If your sample includes, say, 30 persons or over, then a quantitative approach may be suitable for your study. A Sampling in Quantitative Studies Representative sample – the smaller, representative group selected from the accessible population to participate in a study. It is more economical to use a sample than to attempt to study an entire population, some of whom may be impossible to reach for different reasons. Random sampling – procedures ensuring that there is an equal probability that any name on a list can be chosen for the sample e.g. selecting names based on numbers generated by a computer or, use of log tables or, even names pulled from out of a hat. Random stratified, systematic, and convenience sampling are used when random sampling cannot be done. Random sampling is the ideal form of sampling for the ‘scientific method’ and therefore if the other types are used the claim of the research to be ‘objective, systematic and methodical’ can be compromised. Nevertheless in social research in many cases it may be impossible to secure a random sample and convenience sampling is often used. • Random stratified sample. A sample can be finely segregated according to different criteria or characteristics that the researcher wishes to impose on the data because the study is slanted that way. For example, a random sample will pull out people of all different kinds of characteristics and be without bias in creating the sample. But, the researcher may only want persons in the age category 10–15 years who live in a certain area. To stratify the sample by age and residence, the researcher will compile data on that target group using those characteristics. Then a random sample is pulled from that larger group. • Systematic sample. The researcher may not be able to carry out a random sample but can still create a sample where bias is minimised by choosing every nth person to study (administer a questionnaire, interview, or conduct an observation). • Convenience sample – This is the simplest and most popular form of sampling used by researchers. It however has inherent bias. A convenience sample is one that the researcher has no difficulty in accessing – near where s/he lives, works or all found in one place (an organisation or, a group of farmers in an area). In quantitative research, lack of bias in selecting the sample is the ideal. Random sampling gives an unbiased sample. However, in many cases random sampling cannot be used and researchers create other kinds of samples. The strength of the generalisation made at the end of the study would be greater the more unbiased the sample. Generalisations that come out of convenience sampling are considered weak for this reason. Such studies are useful, though, in identifying trends that could be further researched. CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH BOX 5.4 Sampling in Qualitative Research The qualitative researcher is not interested in generalisations. Therefore, the sample does not have to abide by the laws governing probability sampling. Such a researcher is interested in the meanings that a group has about a certain topic or issue and the researcher can only get at that information after prolonged contact with the subjects. Hence, a survey approach would not be useful. Having to maintain prolonged contact with just one person, the researcher would not be able to include many persons in the sample. Qualitative research then usually has quite small samples. They are described as purposive samples – selected by the researcher based on whether s/he thinks that they have information relevant to the topic under study. Usually all members of the sample are not chosen beforehand, as the researcher begins to better understand how people feel or survey questionnaire is an economical way of collecting data. It is easy to construct but the questions must be well thought out in relation to the research problem. Important guidelines about constructing and administering questionnaires are listed below. ■ Begin with a short biographical section but only include items that are absolutely necessary to the research. For example, names are usually not included to encourage individuals to participate and a person’s address, age, or income may not be relevant. If you need any of this data you can try a forced-choice item where you group responses e.g. the participant can circle which age group is appropriate: 16–19, 20–25, and so on. Instead of an address you may state some areas or locations and ask participants to indicate which is closest to her/his home, but only if location is an important aspect of your study. ■ Most of the questions should be designed either as (a) forced choice items or (b) needing only one-word answers or, a short response. Longer responses cannot be efficiently reduced to numbers for quantitative data analysis. ■ You may end the questionnaire with one or two open-ended items where the participant writes in the answer in her/his own words. Again, you should leave only a few lines in order to cut down on the amount of information that the participant can give. the meanings they have for something s/he then decides who may be the next person. Purposive sampling is an example of non-probability sampling. The small samples enable the researcher to study a phenomenon in an in-depth manner. This is because the focus is on eliciting the subject’s ways of making meaning in the social world. The kinds of linearity evident in the scientific method and quantitative research cannot be adopted if one is looking for in-depth data rather than broad trends and patterns. So, the sample develops as the researcher goes along - and so too are all aspects of the research process. This kind of research design is described as emergent because it develops as the researcher gets a better and better grasp of the issue, the context and the participants. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ Organise the questions so that anything of a personal or private nature is located near the end. Order categories in a progression, e.g.: Disagree/ Neutral/Agree/Strongly agree. Most people will willingly fill out a two-page form, so you should keep your questions to the minimum that allows you to obtain the information you want. All questionnaire items should be written in language that is as clear as possible so that your sample can readily understand them. Items should not ask about extremely private or personal matters unless express permission is given beforehand and, for school children, parental permission as well. It is important that you keep all information confidential as much as possible whether or not the questionnaire information is anonymous. You should share with the participants a little about the project you are undertaking and if possible share the findings of your study with them afterwards. In other words, do not just ‘use’ them for your purposes. (This is one of those ethical issues in research.) Note that a questionnaire is not useful if the goal is subjective data. 127 128 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Interviews The interview protocol is the list of questions that you will be asking the participant. The interview is the actual event. The structured interview is the more useful tool for quantitative studies. Semi-structured and unstructured, conversational interviews are more appropriate for qualitative research where in-depth understanding is sought and fewer persons comprise the sample. Interviewing in quantitative research For a structured interview, the protocol is usually a list of questions that are directly relevant to the problem or issue being studied and do not need extensive answers. A semi-structured interview asks questions requiring more elaboration. If necessary some questions like this may be introduced into the structured interview but generally this is discouraged because survey research only needs a brief, snapshot of the social situation. Important guidelines about constructing and administering structured interviews are: ■ Plan for all eventualities ahead of time: for example, find a comfortable, quiet space for the interview; seek permission about taping the interview before it begins; be ready to write responses if need be; and ensure that there are no technical problems with equipment (e.g. have extra batteries on hand). ■ Plan the questions: experiment beforehand, test the items on your friends (this is called pilot testing) to ensure that the questions are relevant and likely to be clearly understood by your sample. ■ Plan follow-up questions (probes) if a question does not elicit a clear response. In other words, you might need to stray from the set list of questions occasionally. ■ Create an atmosphere which gives the participants confidence – for example, be polite and courteous and do not persist with questions they do not seem willing to answer. ■ Allow the participant to respond without too much prompting and probing at first. This becomes necessary only if the response is unclear. ■ Observe the highest ethical standards with regards to maintaining confidentiality of information, disclosing the identity of participants, and refraining from private and personal issues. If participants are much younger than you are or belong to a social group that is very different from yours, be especially careful to be as facilitating as possible. Interviewing in qualitative research The interview is the main data-gathering tool of the qualitative researcher who may employ semi-structured, open-ended and/or conversational or unstructured interviews as well as focus groups. This type of interview allows the subject as much leeway as possible to speak and reflect. The researcher may have a list of guiding questions but it is often as the discussion begins that the concerns of the subject become more and more prominent and some questions on the researcher’s list may not be touched on at all. This differs from quantitative research where in a structured interview all the questions are asked of all the subjects in the same order and not much leeway is given for the subject to expand. In qualitative research the interview may last a long time and there may be repeat interviews until the researcher gets a sense of saturation, that the subject has exhausted her/his knowledge and understanding of the issue. The data that a qualitative researcher is looking for is anything that could assist in grasping a deeper understanding of a situation, context or phenomenon and includes the variety of perspectives of people in that context. As a result, the textual data or knowledge that the qualitative researcher is seeking comes in many forms – opinions, fears, biases, experience, insights, perspectives, insider knowledge, expert knowledge and hearsay. This alerts us to the fact that when people are interviewed about their subjective knowledge of a situation the researcher cannot use what they say as definite and certain knowledge, but such statements are useful in that they indicate how an individual or a group may be thinking about a phenomenon. Subjective knowledge is what the qualitative researcher is looking for because in this paradigm (as opposed to the quantitative paradigm) it is accepted that people can have multiple realities, even conflicting realities, and that they largely act out of how they define a situation. For example, members of the society are taught not to steal and they are socialised into this way of thinking through the family, religion and education. However, people do in fact steal and if interviewed they may indicate that though they believe it is not right to steal they did it because high society people steal everyday and get away with it, or they felt that no one would know. Here we have persons who own to a particular worldview – honesty – in rhetoric, but practise something else. Qualitative data then deals with the complex world of subjective knowledge and behaviour, people’s lived realities (see Figure 5.1). Focus group interviews This is an interview conducted with a small group of subjects (four or five) in an informal setting. There are certain ground rules which must be established such as discouraging persons from speaking at the same time. CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH I: Why do you deny that you stole the money when there were witnesses? R: Ah not saying I ain’t take de money but dat money was mine because I work for de school party and none of de other fellas come to help, so … I like take a reward…I doh find dat dat is stealing. I: How would you define or explain what is stealing? R: Well like when a burglar come to your house in de night and tief your stuff. Or, when dem big pappies in de bank or in the government tief people money, …big money, and ting. I: If one of your school friends take your money for lunch, say, would you call dat stealing? R: Yes,oui! Because it didn’t belong to him. I: If you needed to buy something and saw your mother’s handbag nearby and you opened it and took money out, would that be stealing? R: No sireee! Dat is my mother and my house and she supposed to see about my welfare so if I take a likkle money off she, dat cyah be stealing, dat is family business. Figure 5.1 Excerpt of an interview transcript Not only does it hinder effective communication but if the session is being tape-recorded, it makes it difficult in playback sessions to transcribe the data. Another ground rule is how to deal with disagreement, that all must respect each others’ opinion and the right to speak. A focus group interview is economical in that the researcher can get a cross-section of views from the sample at the same time and it may obviate the need to have individual interviews. It may also suggest who are the best persons to enlist for follow-up interviews. The strength of the focus group lies in the nature of the interaction – persons may disagree or agree with each other and a discussion may ensue which is valuable for the researcher. Without the points brought up by others and the rejoinder arguments, the researcher might never have had such information if the research design had been restricted to only the usual interview. Shy persons in a focus group can easily be drawn into the discussion whereas in a one-on-one interview they may have little to say. The researcher who acts as moderator of the discussion has to be able to control dominant speakers and those who tend to ramble. Observations In qualitative research, observations are seldom ‘measured’ via a checklist which observes the subjects’ behaviour at fixed intervals. Rather, the researcher may have a list of behaviours s/he is interested in or a mental grasp of the issues pertinent to the study and use that as a guide on which behaviours s/he chooses to record. Usually the researcher will record, using field notes, as much of the context, the participants and their behaviours as possible. The researcher would want to do this at several different times to see if there is variation and the nature of this variation. Observations can be overt or covert. There are thorny ethical issues associated with observing persons without their permission. It is possible to argue that certain ‘public’ behaviours can be observed without permission because they do not threaten the subject in any way – for example, whether students say ‘good morning’ to their teachers as they enter the room and generally how they address teachers and their interactions with them; how families who are out for the day at a picnic or amusement site interact with each other; how females eating alone at restaurants behave compared to men eating alone; and, how children at a playground assume roles of leadership and how squabbles are settled. Observations that can be considered to be an invasion of privacy are - following someone around without their permission, making observations of persons as they engage in illicit acts, or observing those who might be disabled or challenged in some way. Overt observations imply that the researcher abides by ethical practices and gets the permission of the subjects or their guardians to carry out this form of data 129 130 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY collection. The issue is that there is a danger that the subjects will be self-conscious and subtly or otherwise change their behaviours. In this case the data would be flawed. However, in qualitative research this is seldom a problem because the researcher must get close to the subjects, befriend them and become a fixture in their lives for some period. The ‘taking of notes’ just becomes part of the mannerisms of the researcher and fades into the background. There will be initial curiosity but once members realise that the presence of the researcher poses no threat to themselves s/he is tolerated. Of course, this limits the type of interactions and behaviours that the researcher can study. Many ethnographic studies (see page 131) are based on a combination of interviews and prolonged observations, both participant and non-participant. Document Studies Document studies are another form of data collection in both qualitative and quantitative studies. This type of research relates to the selection (sampling) of documentary data for analysis. In a school it could be the disciplinary logs kept and the sample could be built around acts of bullying or physical violence or alcohol abuse. One type of document would be the eyewitness accounts of those who witnessed certain events and were asked by the school’s authorities to write an account of what they saw. This is an example of primary data. One of the advantages of document studies is that the researcher can have in hand several accounts of one incident whereas it may be difficult to trace all those eye-witnesses individually. One disadvantage, though, is that each report will have inherent biases according to what that person thought they were seeing and what they chose to record. Documentary studies can also be based on secondary data such as public records and newspaper reports which have a high level of accuracy. When students perform a Literature Review (§5.3.4) they are engaging in a preliminary form of document study. However, further analysis of the text is necessary and this is discussed below. Today, secondary data can include e-mails, blogs, texts and wikis. Document studies in quantitative research are referred to as content analysis. This is similar to a survey. A question is framed that will be investigated using an array of documents. A random sample could be used to select the actual documents to be analysed in the study. For example, the study may focus on how newspapers sensationalise criminal activities, and be looking specifically for words that may tend to be used repeatedly to scare the public – for example terms such as epidemic of crime, hooligans, thugs, crime wave, under attack, lockdown, crime hot spots, and the like. It is a quantitative study because the researcher literally counts the number of times such terms crop up in different newspapers. The results can be displayed in the form of tables and graphs. The researcher will analyse what these findings indicate about different newspapers, but cannot delve into the complex meanings that are more typical of qualitative studies. A documentary study may be all that the researcher wishes to do, for example analysing how students’ school reports are written and following the same students over time, or analysing education policy documents. However, document studies are usually incorporated into a qualitative study for purposes of triangulation. Research Design Quantitative research utilises specific research designs such as surveys or co-relation research, and qualitative research has certain traditions or types of study such as case study, biography, and ethnography. 5.2.4 Case Study This is an approach which seeks in-depth data on an issue and chooses to study a few persons who can throw light on the issue. For example, a case may be the study of members of one church youth group to find out how they deal with and negotiate the church’s ruling on celibacy until marriage. Multiple sources of data collection can be used. The intent is to get a rich descriptive account of how subjects in this case feel about the issue. Biography One popular understanding of biography is the study of one person’s life using multiple forms of data collection – interviews with persons who knew the subject (if deceased) and/or interviews with the subject; archival data such as speeches, books, audio and video footage and photographs. The researcher brings all this data together, weaving history and culture into the account. A case study can also be biographical. Consider the case of a chronic truant in school and the decision by a school social worker to investigate his school, health and juvenile records as well as his family background and friends. Although the subject may be a teenager, a biographical case study can still be done to ascertain the influences which may be pushing him towards further delinquency. Biographical data can be collected from multiple persons in a qualitative research study as well. For example, persons who are handicapped in some way usually experience society differently to ‘normals’. The study can focus on persons with one type of handicap or persons with different kinds of handicaps, and will CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH need to collect data on family life, support systems, whether an accident was responsible for the handicap, life experiences and so on. Ethnography Ethnography is a specific approach or method of inquiry among the many approaches used by qualitative researchers (examples are given in Chapter 6). The focus is on the culture of a group or sub-group. It was the chosen approach of anthropologists seeking to study small societies. Such anthropologists would live with the people under study sometimes for years at a time and then write nothing short of a book that described many aspects of the lives of these people in detail. This method is called participant observation. They attempted to build theory grounded in the evidence gathered at the site. The emphasis is not on formulation of a generalisation (theory) that could be extended to similar groups, but to seek ‘deep understanding’ of the culture of a group of people. The researcher relies on immersion in the context to help him or her interpret the culture accurately, but in any case the meanings are also discussed with members so as to minimise misconceptions. The subjects have to feel strongly about participating because this kind of research tends to be intrusive, exploring not only their hopes and fears but also private situations and it takes up a lot of their time. Activity 5.3 (page 136) looks at a focus group qualitative study. Presenting Research – Data Analysis In quantitative approaches to data collection (using surveys), the researcher is faced with a mass of observations, usually in the form of numeric data. The first task is to organise, summarise and describe this data by using descriptive statistics. The next step, in more advanced study, is to generalise the findings from the sample to the larger population from which the sample was drawn. 5.2.5 Descriptive statistics refers to the simple organisation of data in ways that make the observations more meaningful to the researcher i.e. relevant to the research questions. Distributions The simplest form of organising a mass of numbers/ observations is to arrange them in a distribution. This will show how a variable occurs within the sample or the population under study in the form of trends or patterns. For example, if you are studying the incidence of HIV/AIDS in different age groups in a population, you are interested in this as a single variable across the population. To be more meaningful the researcher can turn the list of values obtained from data collection into a frequency distribution – either as a table or as a bar chart (sometimes called a histogram; see Figure 5.2). Trends and patterns are revealed by organising the data in this way. The researcher treats these as ‘findings’ to be discussed and interpreted. Here the researcher is showing the distribution of a single variable in a population. This is a first step in analysis – organising, summarising and presenting the data. % of the population with the disease 0 – 20 15 21– 40 30 41– 60 28 61– 80 17 81–100 10 Population Numbers % 40 Age range in years 30 20 10 0 0 – 20 41– 60 21– 40 Age range in years Figure 5.2 A frequency distribution represented as a table and a histogram 61– 80 81–100 131 132 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY 1 Raw data must first be converted into percentages: Numbers of persons in an age category with the disease × 1000 Total numbers in the population The researcher can also organise and summarise the data by calculating measures of central tendency. This is an attempt to get at the values representing ‘the centre’ of the distribution, which turns out to be where most of the people or the phenomenon under study is located. There are three methods of finding central tendency in a distribution of values: a The Mean is well-known as ‘the average’ of a list of values or numbers. It is the most used measure of central tendency in a population because it is easily understood and it can be used in further calculations. Add up all the percentages in each age range and divide by the number of age-range catergories in Figure 5.2. The average percentage suffering from the disease in each age category is 20. b The Median is the score found in the exact middle of a list of values organised into an array, from highest to lowest or vice versa. The median percentage is 17. 2 This graph represents a normal distribution. It shows the mean value of the data. The spread or width of the bell curve around the mean gives the standard distribution (SD) of the data. 68% of the distribution is found within 1 of the mean. 95% is found within 2 of the mean. c The Mode is the most frequently occurring value in the list. None of the values occurs more than once in Figure 5.2, so it isn’t possible to give an example from this study. Dispersion This is another method of organising, summarising and presenting values and can show other characteristics of central tendency in the data such as the spread of data or its variability. It is based on the concept of the bell curve which is a graph depicting what the distribution of a variable would look like if in the ’normal’ way there were many occurrences of the variable concentrated in one group and then there was a tapering off at either end towards the lesser and higher values (Figure 5.3). In many distributions this is a symmetrical pattern. If the pattern does not conform to the bell-shaped curve, a skewed distribution results, which is often intriguing, so the researcher looks for explanations. The case study (Box 5.5 and Figure 5.1) includes excerpts from an actual study on Caribbean social life, to demonstrate how quantitative research techniques can be incorporated in a study. The SD is a descriptive statistic measuring the variation of a distribution around the mean. It shows the difference between a raw score and the mean of a distribution. A low SD indicates that the distribution lies close to the mean and the curve is steep (Fig. 9.18). Frequency A large SD indicates that the data is spread out over a large range of values – a flattened and gentle gradient. The SD is represented by the Greek letter, (sigma). For a sample population it is calculated by the formula:SD = ( X – X )2 – sum of... n – number of scores in sample n-1 X – raw scores The SD is used as a basis for inferential statistics where the researcher attempts to apply the findings for a sample to the wider population. The SD is used in the calculation of the t-test, z-scores, analysis of variance, and z scores which are used in calculating correlation coefficients. Mean score 1 1 Ages of those having HIV/AIDS Figure 5.3 The bell curve and standard deviation CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH BOX 5.5 Apwe plezi c’est la pain or ‘After the pleasure comes the pain’ An entertainment-education radio soap opera, Apwe Plezi, was broadcast from February 1996 to September 1998 in St Lucia. The programme promoted family planning, HIV prevention and other social development themes. The programme’s effects were assessed through analysis of data from nationally representative pre-test and post-test surveys, focus group Pre-test and post-test surveys are used to determine whether a change in the variable being studied was brought about by some treatment administered after the pre-test and before the post-test. discussions and other qualitative and quantitative sources. In the example, the variables related to knowledge of contraceptives, HIV-AIDS and being faithful to one’s partner. The treatment was exposure to the radio programme. The post test posed the same questions as the pre-test and the scores and the responses were compared to detect any changes. The data were presented using tables, bar graphs and line graphs. In addition, an advanced statistical treatment known as multivariate analysis was Multivariate analysis is a term used for a statistical technique that analyzes data from more than one variable. used which includes differences in the means and standard deviations of each group in the sample. In this study some of the independent variables were place or residence, ownership of a radio, whether the respondents were Catholic and so on (see Table 5.1). Dependent variables included knowledge about family planning and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, attitudes related to gender equity and, behaviours pertaining to family planning. An independent variable is unchanged by the treatment or intervention whereas a dependent variable may change. Statistical tests attempt to show whether certain of the independent variables have a significant impact on certain of the dependent variables, indicating possible influences on behaviour change. Results Among 1,238 respondents to the post-test survey, 35% had listened to Apwe Plezi, including 12% who listened at least once per week. Multivariate analysis showed significant effects of both time and listenership category on several knowledge, attitude and behaviour variables. For example, 16% of post-test respondents knew a slang term for condoms that was coined for the radio programme, and the proportions of respondents who considered it acceptable for husbands to have sex partners outside their marriage declined from 27% in the pre-test to 14% in the post-test survey. Compared with non-listeners, regular listeners were more likely to trust family planning workers (83% versus 72%) and considered a significantly lower number of children the ideal (2.5 versus 2.9). 14% of listeners reported having adopted a family planning method as a result of listening to the programme. ACTIVITY 5.2 Analysing a Case Study 1. What were the principal sources of information for the study shown in Box 5.5 and Table 5.1? 2. Who do you think would have been excluded from this study? 3. (a) Identify the dependent and independent variables; (b) How were these tested for changes over time? Why was this done? 4. Why do you suppose ‘speaking Creole at home’ was a relevant variable in this study? 5. Why do you think ‘having less than or equal to a primary education’ was a relevant variable in this study? 6. Compare the table with the analysis of the results given above. Would you have discussed any other data? 133 134 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY Table 5.1 Percentage of survey respondents with selected characteristics, or mean value of selected measures, by timing of survey and Apwe Plezi listenership category, St Lucia Characteristic timing Listenership Pre-Test (N=753) Post-Test (N=1,238) Non-listener (N= 799) Casual listener (N=288) Regular listener (N=151) urban home 18% 25% 23% 29% 31% ≤ primary education 45 42 46 29 45 own a radio 96 92 90 95 95 live in towns with condoms available 91 80 78 86 83 live in town with family planning available 83 70 68 74 73 Catholic 71 63 63 59 65 speak Creole at home 54 67 69 63 66 in union 36 44 45 44 42 male 48 49 54 44 33 mean parity (and std. error) 1.6(0.1) 1.6(0.1) 1.7().1) 1.3(01) 1.9(0.2) listen to Radio Helen 100 often 38 39 34 44 57 mean age (and std. error) 29.3 (0.4) 28.7(0.3) 28.9(0.3) 27.8(0.5) 29.4(0.8) Regular or casual listener to Apwe Plezi na 35 100 100 Regular listener to Apwe Plezi na 12 0 100 Source: Vaughn, P., Regis, A., & St. Catherine, E. (2000). Effects of an entertainment-education radio soap opera on family planning and HIV prevention in St. Lucia. International Family Planning Perspectives, 26(4), pp. 148-157 (excerpt p. 148, table p.150). Analysing Qualitative Data Next in this section we will look at how qualitative data is analysed. When you collect qualitative data your information will largely be in the form of text; it can also be in pictorial forms such as photographs and digital forms such as a video. In this section we will focus only on textual forms of data. Box 5.6 gives the steps involved in data analysis. Box 5.7 (page 136) gives a short example of the interview from Figure 5.1 (page 129) after analysis, together with the resulting presentation of the data as a narrative. The narrative employs some of the literary devices listed discussed above. 5.3 Conducting your own Research In this section, the focus shifts to you as novice researcher and how you may proceed to conduct an inquiry. It assists with guidelines and tips as well as actual studies to illustrate the main points. It may work better for you if you have an actual research project in mind. How does one begin to ‘study’ or ‘examine’ some issue, particularly in the social world? Being a novice researcher, one of the first things you need to learn is that research is not so much ‘doing’ as ‘thinking’. Become familiar with two basic modes of reasoning because they lend rigour to how you will conduct your study (in other words you will not just rely on common sense or what seems natural). CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH BOX 5.6 Steps in Qualitative Data Analysis The following steps are involved in qualitative data analysis. 1. Create a verbatim transcript of the interview, i.e. the exact words of interviewer and respondent. This means that it is important to audio-tape your interviews, if you get permission from the subjects. 2. Leave a wide right-hand margin for purposes of your analysis. 3. Use the feature on your word processing programme to number each line so that certain statements can be quickly found. 7. You may also find that certain codes are related to a bigger idea and so you may collapse all of them to generate a theme. A theme will be at a higher level than the original line-by-line codes, which tend to be more descriptive. Themes help to identify relationships within the data and allow the researcher to see trends and patterns. The themes (or categories) give you a good sense of how the interview can be analysed. 4. Read over the transcript several times – this is called immersion. It helps to get a good sense about what perspectives people have and helps you to begin thinking of possible lines of analysis. 8. NVIVO software and other qualitative data analysis software can assist in bringing all instances of one code together (say, from 10 different interviews). This is an example of computer-aided qualitative data analysis. 5. Go through each line to discover anything that may be useful in what people feel, observe, think, suspect, etc. about a given situation. When you have found something that you think may be useful you can colour/highlight the piece of text and in the right-hand margin assign it a code. This is called line-by-line coding. In vivo codes use the exact language of the participant because their words are so graphic. In most cases the code will be something you make up, e.g. if someone says that he steals because others do, you might code that as ‘others steal’. 9. The qualitative research report is presented as a narrative (i.e. text) using different literary devices to attempt to portray in an authentic manner how people feel about a situation. These devices may include use of excerpts of the verbatim language of the participants, vignettes, metaphors, stories, ‘thick’ descriptions, and variations in the ‘voice’ used – that of the respondents as well as the researcher in the storytelling/narrative voice, the analytical/ interpretive voice and the reflective voice. There is an example in Box 5.7. Documentary studies are analysed in a similar manner. The two types of logic are: inductive – The researcher decides to study many instances of some occurrence, described as ‘observations’. (So, when you distribute questionnaires to many persons and get responses, these are observations.) Then you make some conclusions based on the findings. This conclusion is a generalisation which usually means that the findings can be applied to other instances of the phenomenon which were not included in the study (but only if you used a representative sample). This process is sometimes described as ‘moving from the particular to the general’ – a generalisation is the end-result of the research process. ■ deductive – The researcher has an initial premise or hypothesis about some phenomenon. S/he sets out to make observations about the phenomenon guided ■ 6. If you find that the same or similar codes recur, you can use a colour coding system to show all those which are similar. by statements or assumptions in the existing premise or hypothesis. This process is narrower in that the observations made are directly targeted at a particular law, theory or hypothesis. This is sometimes referred to as ‘moving from the general to the particular’. Research in the natural sciences was once thought to occur mainly according to inductive principles but today scientists use both kinds of logic. Sociological research too can employ both types of reasoning. When you engage in research then, you are employing inductive and/or deductive logic in coming to your conclusions. To successfully conduct a research study, you should have an idea generally about how the process will unfold. Certain things must be done initially that, if neglected, will derail your research and lead to false conclusions. The stages of the research process are outlined in Box 5.9 and §§5.3.1–5.3.5 below. 135 136 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY BOX 5.7 An Example of Narrative Narrative Harry (a pseudonym) has developed a system which he uses to rationalise why he steals. He feels that he can justifiably take money based on the assumption that a person/organisation somehow owes him and he is entitled. He regards it as a form of reward. For example, he says ‘..dat money was mine because I work for de school..’ and where his mother is concerned, ‘…she supposed to see about my welfare’. He feels that others steal what does not belong to them, like burglars, bank officials and government employees, even other boys, but he only takes what he feels is his right. The trouble with this kind of thinking is that Harry alone figures out how much he is owed or entitled to, not the school, not his mother. Further, the sense of entitlement suggests that Harry is not one to labour for the school or even the home without a form of tangible reward. He is thus on the lookout for ways to wrest money from the school, his family (perhaps even friends) which he can conveniently explain as monies owed to him. His rationalizations are designed to distance himself from being called ‘a thief’. A thief, according to Harry, is someone who takes what does not belong to him, so Harry has found a way to make a claim that what he steals actually ‘belongs’ to him by the logic he employs. Also, he can only cite people far away from his setting who one might call a thief – a nighttime burglar, and people who work in banks and the government – again further underscoring that what he does is not at all similar to those who steal. We might deduce from Harry’s behaviour that he is well aware that what he does is stealing and he does not wish to be called a thief so he has devised what he perhaps believes is an ingenious way of getting away with the crime. His metaphor is ‘like a reward’ which suggests that he is cleaning up the act and putting a positive skew to the whole situation – again distancing himself from a deviant act. However, other people’s opinions of him are important and so he has to construct an argument to justify why he should not be lumped with that group known as ‘thieves’. In this way he can hold on to his self esteem and standing in other people’s estimation. He thinks! The beginning of a story – the narrative voice. Use of verbatim language of the participants to enhance the story Descriptive language taken directly from the transcript Use by the researcher of reflection and going beyond what is said in the transcript, making inferences, using metaphors. Use of the authorial, analytic voice of the researcher ACTIVITY 5.3 Inquiry Skills Box 5.8 on page 137 is a qualitative case study employing focus group interviews to tease out the meanings students have for the phenomenon of indiscipline. Read the case study and answer these questions. 1. Select one example of a. the verbatim language of participants; b. the researcher using the narrative voice; c. researcher using the analytical/interpretive voice. 2. Suggest two reasons why the researcher probably chose the focus group for this study. 3. Summarise the ways, according to the extract, in which primary school students in these schools perceive indiscipline? 4. Explain why the findings of a qualitative study like this one cannot be generalised. 5. a. From the excerpt, isolate about four codes that the researcher probably deduced from the transcript to write this report. b. What was the theme that eventually pulled the codes together? CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH BOX 5.8 Case study: Indiscipline in Primary Schools Three co-educational primary schools were chosen - a Presbyterian School (School P), a Hindu School (School H) and a Government school (School G) in Trinidad & Tobago. There were 36 participants, a mix of students whom teachers considered to be well-behaved and not so well-behaved. The following is an excerpt from the narrative constructed from the data analysis, which in the qualitative paradigm includes both presentation of the data and interpretation of findings. The overarching research question was How do students in the Primary schools under study perceive indiscipline? When asked what they think causes students to engage in negative behaviour, students from all three schools in the study identified the influence of their peers. One student from the Standard Three group at School P stated: Well who they hang out with in school ... sometimes they does see their friends doing it and they follow them and do it too. A student from the same class level at School G added that they does act that way from being in bad company … when they badjohn friends want to fight and curse and thing...and then they does end up doing the same thing. In school H two students of the Standard Five group indicated agreement by stating that they does want to do what them other children doin … they does see them doin it and follow them. … A student of the Standard Five class of School H explained: Watch, when I doing my work it have some children in the class, them does cuff me and get me real vex … they does want me to tell them the answer and when I don’t tell them they does want to hit me and thing. Another student from the same group added that they want to see what I doin in my book so they does pull my book and thing and then I does have to push them away and hit them for they to stop. This tendency to cast the blame on other students was also seen in the response of a student from the Standard Three class of School P who added: and when they call you name and thing you must get vex. A student from the Standard Three group of School G went further by rationalising that if someone quarrel with you then you does have to quarrel back …and then you does get in trouble because the teacher does say that you misbehaving. This view that when they react in a negative manner to a particular situation they are not to blame was shared by a student of the Standard Three group of School P who related that once a boy steal another boy money and I went to take it away from him and the teacher make me stay inside for a week but I was only trying to get back my friend money. This response was substantiated by a Standard five student of School H who said that a girl did hit me and I hit she back and I did not get to go outside for lunchtime. The students of all six groups emphasised that other students got them angry and caused them to display unacceptable behaviour. Of all the participants, only one student who was with the Standard Three group of School H, indicated he was aware of his own responsibility for the manner in which he acted: sometimes when somebody do something to get me vex I does try to move away and go by myself so I don’t do nothing to get myself in trouble. One Standard Five student of School P expressed a different aspect of peer pressure by stating: some of them does fight and curse and thing to get attention and show off … they maybe don’t get attention from they parent so they does like it when other children ‘ fraid them and thing. Another student of the same group added: Yeah... dey does want other people to watch they and say they bad and then they does feel good. Four students of the Standard Five group of School G agreed that some students misbehave to get attention while a student at School H added that sometimes the boys does take the girls’ thing and throw it in the bin and thing … they does do that because they like them and they want to talk to them. The students of all groups in all three schools found ways to explain how their negative behaviours were to be blamed on their peers. They felt that the attitudes and encouragement of their peers played a crucial part in student behaviour. As such even though they may not want to engage in negative behaviour, the expectations and encouragement of their friends and other students placed them in a position where they feel that they have no choice. Apart from one student the participants did not seem to think that they had any control over their own reactions and emotions. Lochan, D. (2010). Students’ perceptions of indiscipline at three primary schools in one educational district in Central Trinidad. M.Ed. thesis, School of Education: University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, pp. 55–58. Retrieved at http:// uwispace.sta.uwi.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2139/12610/ Deaukee%20Lochan.pdf?sequence=1. 137 138 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY BOX 5.9 Eight Steps Involved in Carrying Out Research 1. Identify a topic which interests or intrigues you. 2. Develop, out of your interest in this topic, a ‘problem’ or ‘issue’ that is researchable. You may spend a long time carving out a smaller area of inquiry from the large topic you first identified. Reading the existing literature on the subject often helps with focusing the problem. 3. At this point you will need to conduct a literature review of your topic and one that mirrors how you have narrowed it down. You stand to gain deeper insights into the research issue from reading about it and identifying ways other researchers have studied it and what their findings are. You may realise that there is a ‘gap’ in this body of knowledge (e.g. has it been studied in your country or your part of the country)? It will become clear to you what your study can contribute to existing knowledge on this topic. 4. Also at this point, because you have read widely, you have a strong sense about what research approach you will be using, for example, quantitative or qualitative, and can give a justification of why you have selected one approach over the other. 5. Formulate your statement of the problem and your research questions or hypotheses. These are tightly related and your literature review would have helped you to frame them. The following aspects of the research process are closely related to the statement of the problem and the research questions or hypotheses. 6. Create a research plan which includes: (a) a time line; (b) how and when you are going to acquire official permission if needed; and (c) what research design you will select, guided by the purpose of the study – is it to verify theory, or to seek the relationships between variables or to plumb the deeper meanings of some phenomenon? Each will dictate specific methods and techniques of research. For example, • sampling strategies; • what methods of data collection you will use for each of your research questions; Identify a topic Develop a research problem Conduct literature review Select research approach Formulate statement and research question/ hypothesis Create a research plan Carry out research plan • how and when you will be creating or modifying data collection instruments such as questionnaires; and • how you intend to analyze and present the data. Report findings 7. Carry out the research plan. 8. Report on the findings using appropriate formats and engage in a discussion of the findings, referring to the literature reviewed, and generate some conclusions and recommendations. Figure 5.4 Eight research steps ACTIVITY 5.4 Inquiry Skills Identify whether inductive or deductive logic was used in the studies by Durkheim described in Box 5.9. a. Durkheim collected statistics of death by suicide from many European countries and analysed this data. He then concluded that the rate of suicide was higher in Protestant than Catholic countries. b. Using the generalisation he found about how suicide rates varied with religion, Durkheim created new hypotheses for different groups and countries, which he then tested, to fine-tune his theories. CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH The Issue In beginning to conceptualise a study (Figure 5.5), the first step is to select an issue which interests and intrigues you. You may think of a general topic and from that narrow it down to an issue or a question that you believe will develop into a valuable study, the findings of which can help in alleviating the social issue or problem. There are several questions you need to ask yourself. 1 Does it qualify as a sociological issue? How can I best phrase it to bring out its sociological dimensions? For example, in studying music as an example of material culture, the historical factors that gave birth and continuity to it are important as well as the ethnic groups which contributed to it, and that will include something about how they were/are located in the system of social stratification. The actual instruments, how they are played and the chords, beat and melodies, while of sociological interest may also crossover into the realms of music and ethnology and you can lose focus on sociological issues. 5.3.1 2 Is it researchable? In other words, can I get the information I need in a reasonable amount of time keeping in mind my deadlines? This will include whether ■ geographic access is possible; ■ times are convenient for myself, as researcher, and for those providing me with information; ■ the information exists in a form that I can use; ■ people are willing to talk or help me; ■ documents or literature sources exist if first-hand accounts (oral history) or interviews are not available. Where does this knowledge exist? You need to think hard about the kind of data you will need to capture. This should set you thinking about who has this information and whether it is likely to be readily given 3 up. For example, a study on pollution in a river valley and health issues is likely to be straightforward in eliciting information from affected persons, and in accessing pollution data. However, if you wish to find out from failing students why they are failing, you must know beforehand that any number of factors/reasons will be offered which sound plausible but may not necessarily be true. Why is this? Interacting with human beings about a seeming ‘failure’ brings out issues of self esteem and saving face that you should be aware of before you even engage with subjects. In other words, you have to deliberately plan for such eventualities. As researcher your job is also to recognise the variety of information that you may get and sift through the data to let it speak to you about each person’s location in relation to the problem. These guidelines pertain more to qualitative than quantitative research. The Problem Any research you undertake must be in relation to a ‘problem’ or issue that you feel is important enough to warrant an investigation. The problem may be a genuine problem or it may just be ‘problematic’, that is an intriguing issue that needs to be clarified (see Activity 5.5). For example: ■ Problem: Students in the sixth form are apathetic about learning. (This is a general statement outlining something observed). ■ Problematic: Many adolescents feel a genuine sense of connection with the United States rather than with another Caribbean country. (This is an exploratory study looking for how people feel about ‘belonging’ – perhaps I may learn that people can feel ‘belongingness’ comfortably on different levels). 5.3.2 What does the literature say about the Issue / Problem? Formulating a hypothesis or research questions. How to focus the inquiry to something manageable and researchable Conceptualising the Inquiry What research design would make most sense? Longitudinal or Cross-sectional? Figure 5.5 Conceptualising the inquiry How to reduce bias? How to conduct the study according to the highest ethical standards? 139 140 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY It is important to keep the problem as focused as possible so that you can conduct something that is researchable. If you had said, for example, that in this school there is a high level of student failure, that would be a valid problem but only if I had a great deal of time and resources to investigate the many factors that contribute to the problem. Anyone about to embark on a research study should take some time to carefully consider the above points. This is called conceptualising the study and if enough attention is paid at the preliminary stage then chances are the results/findings of the research would be relevant and helpful. The Research Process Whether you are conducting a large study involving quantitative data or a small scale, in-depth study of a context through a qualitative approach, the research process is largely the same: 5.3.3 ACTIVITY 5.5 Inquiry Skills A brief excerpt is given of a study which focuses on the ‘problem’. Within the text below there are notes directed at you, the reader, in brackets. Please read and then respond to these questions: 1. Identify at least TWO sociological elements in this research study. 2. How is culture represented in this study? 3. Write out TWO separate statements describing this study in terms of (a) the problem, and (b) the objective(s). 4. How did the researcher ensure that the ‘problem’ was researchable? 5. What may be the limitations of this study? 6. Which sociological perspective is dominant in how this study has been conceptualised? The effective use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is pivotal to Jamaica’s thrust to develop a knowledge-based economy and achieve developed country status by 2030. Over recent years, the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) has invested in and expanded the ICT infrastructure in a bid to boost efficiency and production; improve telecommunications and increase access to global knowledge through the internet. Internet penetration within the country has been on the increase reaching 39.4 per cent in 2006. While data on internet penetration are available, information on how young people use the internet in Jamaica is sparse. In 2006 13.7 per cent of households in Jamaica reported having a computer. Of those households having computers, 44.6 per cent reported having an internet connection. Households in the KMA have both a higher percentage computer ownership and internet connection. (The issue being investigated here is likely to fall in the ‘problematic’ category rather than the ‘problem’ category. It is a crucial issue but it does not pose a direct threat to well-being as does, say, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, domestic violence and other types of social problems.) This study is the pilot for a more comprehensive research on internet use among young people in Jamaica. It examines internet use among young people (age 10-29) in the KMA, in terms of location of access, purpose of use and canvasses the views of the youth on impacts of the internet on their lives now and in the future. The study will contribute to the scant body of literature on internet use among young people in Jamaica. Methodology – The study targeted young people in the KMA within the age group 10-29 years old. The sample consisted of 130 persons drawn randomly from high schools, tertiary institutions and the general public. Five high schools and two tertiary institutions within the KMA were selected randomly. A total of 130 questionnaires were administered. (Let us look at how this study is focused. It begins with a ‘manageable’ research effort – the KMA rather than all of Jamaica. Secondly, it targets only youth (those in the 10–29 age group). Thirdly, the study concentrated only on internet use and not on knowledge literacy, information management or how expert persons are in searching the internet.) (Source: Kelly, R. (2007). Internet Use Among Young People in the Kingston Metropolitan Area (KMA). Kingston: Planning Institute of Jamaica. At http://pioj.gov.jm/Portals/0/Sustainable_Development/Internet%20use%20in%20the%20KMA.pdf, accessed 29 November 2013, p. 2.) CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH 1 2 3 4 Conceptualising the study Data collection Data and analysis Reporting. Quantitative approaches view these processes as linear stages and qualitative approaches see them as iterative (repeating again and again), but both recognise them as basic components of the research process (Figure 5.5). The decisions you make at this stage will influence what kind of data collection methods you will eventually choose. Hypotheses and Research Questions These are precise statements which summarise the aspects of the problem you intend to research. Hypotheses are typically used in quantitative studies. ■ A hypothesis is a general statement or proposition which assumes some kind of relationship between a set of variables. An experiment or another kind of study is then undertaken to find out whether the hypothesis can be upheld. For example, a hypothesis could be Lower-income students do not perform as well as higher-income students in examinations. ■ The null hypothesis is used specifically in statistical studies. Statistical procedures are employed to either uphold or refute the null hypothesis. For example: There is no difference in the performance of lower- and higher-income students in examinations. ■ Research questions are used in both quantitative and qualitative studies. Qualitative researchers tend to prefer research questions to hypotheses and never use the null hypothesis because that presupposes statistical tests to detect a significant relationship. Whilst qualitative research will incorporate simple statistics such as percentages, it is highly unlikely that statistical tests will be used. An example of how a research question for this issue would be phrased in qualitative research is: How do low-income and high-income students perform on examinations? The Literature Review A literature review is a synthesis of the research literature on your topic of study. It consists of a comprehensive discussion of the issue you are researching derived from the most up-to-date information at hand. The latter is usually found in books, periodicals or journals and newspapers as well as internet sources (online databases, e-journals, e-books and articles). It attempts to map out how this issue has been studied before, what the main findings were, and to identify ‘gaps’ that the 5.3.4 present research may address. It discusses the strengths and shortcomings of previous studies, particularly the methods used for collecting and analysing data. In quantitative approaches to research, which are modeled on the scientific method, the literature review has a well-defined place in the research report – for example: it is usually a separate chapter or section. In qualitative approaches, while there is a literature review, literature is discussed throughout the study. A literature review is also useful in other ways. It helps to narrow down and focus the inquiry. In other words, all the literature cited should be directly relevant to your study. Working within this small universe of studies on your particular topic helps you to refine, define and clarify exactly what your study is about and what it is not about. What your hypotheses or research questions are should emerge in the context of other studies. In doing this you are able to locate your research against the background of other research on this general topic. It is the place in the study where you can explain your rationale for conducting this study on this topic using this methodology and gives you the opportunity to define key concepts and ideas. Good research is supposed to be as systematic and unbiased as possible. A literature review helps the researcher to achieve this because it does not hide what has been done before. Furthermore, by citing the sources of the literature you help readers and others interested in conducting similar research to find the actual studies and compare them with what your review said about these studies. In this way what you have written could be reliably checked by others which increases confidence in your study and its conclusions. All your sources must be cited using an approved format such as the APA or the Harvard system, for quotes within the text of the study as well as the full citations in the reference list at the end of the study. (This book uses the Harvard system.) Activity 5.6 on pages 143–4 explores how to develop a literature review. Secondary Data This section examines ways of finding background information or secondary data for your research 5.3.5 Secondary data is information that has already been published on the issue you are researching. project. Whether you are conducting a field-based research project or developing a research paper, the information you need to help you a conceptualise the issue better; b support your rationale for the study; 141 142 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY c review the related literature will to a large extent be found in the library and on the internet. Table 5.2 helps you to develop a search strategy for your project. It is a systematic procedure that saves time and ensures that you cover all the possible aspects of the issue that may be important. Table 5.2 Guidelines in implementing a search strategy What are you searching for? Where to look? Examples The views of prominent authors and researchers about a particular sociological theory e.g. male marginalisation A sociological dictionary, a sociological encyclopaedia or a handbook Marshall, G, (2005). A Dictionary of Sociology. Oxford: Oxford Uuniversity Press. International Encyclopaedia of the Social Science. (2007). New York: Macmillan. Up-to-date statistics on the issue Statistical yearbooks, UNESCO and World Bank sites, national statistical organisations, CXC CEPAL Review, 2011 [Comision Economica Para America Latina y el Caribe] retrieved at http://www.eclac.org/revista/default. asp?idioma=IN CARICOM - Selected Indicators at http://www. caricomstats.org/Files/Databases/Census Data: PopNet.Population Reference Bureau at http://www.prb.org/ Research using methodologies that will be used in the present study – rationales and justification for a specific methodology Textbooks, online discussions of sociological theory and social issues, qualitative research sites, journal articles Subject Handbooks: Skelton, C., Francis, B., & Smulyan, L. (2006). The SAGE Handbook of Gender and Education. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. A historical overview of the issue and other information about the context and intellectual ancestry of the problem Textbooks, national documents, e.g. Education Plans in different eras, books on the history of education in a particular country, journal articles, bibliographies Campbell, C. (1997). Endless Education: Main currents in the education system of modern Trinidad & Tobago. Kingston: JA:The Press, UWI. Sociology: American Journal of Sociology and Gender and Society. Education: Caribbean Curriculum and Caribbean Journal of Education. Sources for reviews of research which are relevant to this issue? Handbooks of research in education, journal articles, educational digests, sociological websites AERA. Review of Research in Education. Wash. D.C. ERIC Digests - http://www.ericdigests. org/Sociology Central; A Level Sociology; School Sociology; Sociological Tour Through Cyberspace; Topical sources of information such as the opinions and experiences of others where this issue is concerned Newspapers, blogs, online news and feature articles, conferences, panel discussions, radio and tv talk shows New York Times – Sociology Navigator. W.W. Norton & Co. – Everyday Sociology BlogSociology Online UK – The Sociology Resource for Students. Background information, theories, original articles, specific issues and subjects Textbooks, journals, conference presentations, national organisations, and online databases Primis Online; SocINDEX; The Annual Review of Sociology; The Future of Children; IDEA – A Journal of Social Issues; CHAPTER 5: SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH ACTIVITY 5.6 Inquiry Skills In the following excerpt, the topic, issue, research questions and literature review of a research study is given. Notice the tight integration between them. Please read the excerpt and answer the following questions. 1. Identify TWO characteristics of the Literature Review that are examples of best practice. 2. What could have been included in this account? 3. Would you say that the Literature Review is written more along the lines of (a) a narrative or (b) an argument? 4. The references at the end of this study are written according to the APA system: a. What do you notice about capitalisation of titles? b. What do you notice about how authors’ names are written and the punctuation used? Topic: Decline in religiosity among youth. Issue: Religiosity of Caribbean youth: Case Study of one school. Research Questions: 1. What is the nature of religiosity like among students in a selected secondary school in Trinidad? 2. What are the factors that influence the nature of youth religiosity? Literature Review: The decline in religiosity of youth is fairly well-documented world wide (Newton, 2011, Grossman & Steinberg, 2010). Broadly, religiosity may be defined as a set of institutionalised beliefs, doctrines and rituals, and ethical standards for how to live a good life (Holder et al. 2000). This finding has been replicated time and again for metropolitan countries but the evidence from developing countries is less conclusive (Norris & Inglehart, 2004). Caribbean countries are developing countries under the strong influence of the youth culture of the US so this research should provide an understanding of whether the region is closely following trends in the metropole or is more similar to other developing countries. The focus of this research is on the religiosity of youth at one non-denominational secondary school in Northern Trinidad. The issue is important because church attendance, religious values and a religious orientation have been shown by international studies to correlate positively with school achievement, punctuality, regularity, self esteem, and, decreased risky sexual behaviours and at the same time correlates negatively with juvenile delinquency (Regnerus, 2003, Fagan, 1996). Within a context of a persistent high crime rate in Trinidad where youth is involved in many violent crimes (Baal, 2011), it is important for teachers, educators, planners and parents to understand the factors that may help to decrease the incidence of crime among youth. This study uses survey methods (questionnaires and interviews) to find out from 30 fifth formers (15 and 16 year olds) whether they go to church and how regularly; if they do, what religion or religious organisations do they belong to; whether their parents, guardians or other adults in the home go to church; whether they believe in God; and, how versed they are in the religious tenets of their religion. In other words, the study is examining religiosity among youth in this specific context in an attempt to identify the factors that influence religiosity. International studies tend to see the family as the most important agent of religious socialisation for children and show a strong link between family religious orientation and youth religiosity (Ozorak, 1989 and, O’Connor, Hoge, & Alexander, 2002) and if both parents belong to the same church and attend with equal frequency then youth religiosity increases (Bader and Desmond, 2006). The drop in youth religiosity in metropolitan countries is linked to parents losing religiosity, inconsistent attendance and parents going to church less (Johnson et al, 2002). The reasons offered are a dissatisfaction with what the churches offer and a preference for more individualised worship. These findings pertain to mainstream denominations. In the context of Trinidad the issue of religiosity is likely to differ from the situation in developed countries. There are few studies on religiosity among youth in the Caribbean and none for a specific school which can be used for comparison. In addition to parental influence, which is a key finding in the literature, there are likely to be differences between the factors that motivate or demotivate different groups towards religiosity - for example, groups defined by ethnicity, gender and, socio-economic class, as well as, those who belong to Creole religions. In addition, type of school is important in the local context. For example, whether the school is denominational or not could also be a factor in religiosity in terms of the influence of school culture on students. A related point is that schools are stratified into higher and lower status schools and the former tends to correlate with denominational schools. It is likely then that the research would identify factors that overlap in signifying the nature of religiosity at the school under study. 143 144 PART I: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY ACTIVITY 5.6 continued References Baal, R. (2011). “UN report: T&T has 2nd highest crime rate in region.” Newsday, Saturday June 18, 2011. Retrieved at http://www. newsday.co.tt/news/0,142457.html Bader, C., & Desmond, S. (2006). “Do as I say and as I do: The effects of consistent parental beliefs and behaviors upon religious transmission.” Sociology of Religion, 67, 313–329. Fagan, P. (1994). “Rising illegitimacy: America’s social catastrophe.” Heritage Foundation F.Y.I. No. 19. Grossman, C., & Steinberg, S. (2010). “Forget pizza parties,’ teens tell churches.” USA Today, updated 8/11/2010. Retrieved at http:// www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-08-11-teenchurch11_ST_N.htm Holder, D., Durant, R., Harris, T., Daniel, J., Obeidallah, D., & Goodman, E. (2000). The association between adolescent spirituality and voluntary sexual activity. Journal of Adolescent Health, 26, 295–302. Johnson, C., Stanley, S., Glenn, N., Amato, P., Nock, S., Markman, H., & Dion, M. (2002). Marriage in Oklahoma: 2001 baseline statewide survey on marriage and divorce (S02096 OKDHS). Oklahoma City, OK: Oklahoma Department of Human Services. Newton, S. (2011). Atheism on the rise in Barcelona. Retrieved at http://pswe.net/2011/05/04/atheism-on-the-rise-in-barcelona/ Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2004). Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. New York: Cambridge University Press. O’Connor, T., Hoge, D., & Alexander, E. (2002). “The relative influence of youth and adult experiences on personal spirituality and church involvement.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 41(4), pp. 723-732. Ozorak, E. (1989). “Social and cognitive influences on the development of religious beliefs and commitment in adolescence.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 28(4):448–463. Regnerus, M. (2003). “Religion and positive adolescent outcomes: A review of research and theory.” Review of Religious Research, 44(4):394–413. Chapter Summary This chapter focused on research methods and especially on the quantitative and qualitative approaches to research. The issue of what is ‘scientific’ research was discussed, particularly with reference to qualitative research. It was emphasised that there are different approaches and philosophies governing research, reflecting what people believe is valuable knowledge, and so some forms of research are more dominant that others – quantitative research is more widely known and accepted than qualitative research. However, qualitative research, focusing on the micro level, investigates social problems and issues which cannot be captured by quantitative methods. The chapter ends with a section devoted to the novice researcher and advice about best practice. References Halpérin, D.S., Bouvier, P., Jaffe, P.D. et al. (1996). Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse among Adolescents in Geneva: Results of a Cross Sectional Survey. British Medical Journal, 312, pp. 1326–9. CHAPTER 5: Exercises and Test Questions (A) Multiple Choice Questions Please select the BEST POSSIBLE answer. 1. Hermeneutic philosophy is likely to underlie which of the following data collection methods? (a) correlational studies (b) structured interviews (c) participant-observation (d) questionnaires 2. A sociologist who wants to study the subcultures in a school is likely to use an approach such as (a) Functionalism (b) Ethnography (c) Conflict theory (d) Biography 3. A sample that reflects a spectrum of views across the society must be (a) representative (b) purposive (c) correlational (d) experimental 4. Which of the following is creating a random sample? (a) telemarketing staff who selects every 10th name in the telephone book to interview (b) marketing researchers who select adult women in a grocery to interview about baby formula (c) ethnographer choosing persons in a school to participate in a research project by pulling names from out of a hat (d) a teacher who studies her own class as the sample 5. Survey data includes all of the following EXCEPT (a) journals (b) questionnaires (c) structured interviews (d) observation checklists 145 6. Which of the following is a form of quantitative research? (a) biography (b) ethnography (c) case study (d) content analysis 7. If a researcher is interested in conducting a macro-level study s/he would most likely choose which of the following topics? (a) social stratification in a country (b) the views of young people in a parish about religiosity (c) victims of crime in a particular district (d) how students in a school choose subjects to pursue for examinations 8. Interviews conducted in quantitative research are likely to be (a) unstructured (b) conversational (c) focus group (d) structured 9. Which of the following best describes survey research (a) interpretivist (b) ‘snapshot’ (c) subjective (d) ethnographic 10. Research ethics demands that the researcher observes ALL of the following except (a) acknowledging the contribution of collaborating researchers (b) that the subjects are not harmed by the research (c) an audit trail must be left of decisions made (d) full disclosure regarding the participants 146 (B) Structured Response Questions (C) Essay Questions Each response should be about three or four lines and carries 4 marks. In this section some essay questions are given (25 marks). The questions may involve further research building on what the chapter offers. A specimen answer to the first of these essays is provided, with annotations. Refer back to Chapter 1 for guidelines of how to critique a sociological essay. (1) State FOUR reasons why research in sociology is necessary. (2) What are TWO advantages of using structured interviews and TWO disadvantages? (3) Explain what is meant by participantobservation and give a specific example of how it is used in research. (4) Describe the steps of the scientific method. (5) Briefly outline TWO arguments you would use to respond to the question, ‘Is sociological research scientific?’. (6) Explain what is meant by a hypothesis. (7) State FOUR reasons why researchers conduct a literature review. (8) Formulate TWO research questions for a quantitative study about the health status of elderly persons in a country. (9) Describe how codes are formed in qualitative data analysis. (10) State FOUR ways through which quantitative data can be displayed. (1) For a research topic of your own choice, explain why it is a significant research issue and worthy of being studied. Give a rationale for the methodology you would employ and formulate TWO research questions or hypotheses. (2) Describe TWO ethical dilemmas that a researcher may face and how s/he justifies the decisions about how to proceed. (3) Assess the strengths and weaknesses of using questionnaires as a data collection method. (4) Discuss the statement: Qualitative research is not scientific and quantitative research is. (5) Examine the procedures involved in analysing qualitative data and their strengths and weaknesses. CHAPTER 5: 147 Sample Answer and Critique For a research topic of your own choice, explain why it is a significant research issue and worthy of being studied. Give a rationale for the methodology you would employ and formulate TWO research questions or hypotheses. A research topic that interests me is the issue of crime and how citizens think about it and devise strategies to keep themselves safe. Crime has escalated in many Caribbean countries over the last decade and in some countries where it has not been a problem in the past, for example St Lucia and Barbados, violent crimes such as robbery and murder are now a common occurrence. I will give a justification about why this is a potentially important and valuable area of study and research. Then I will discuss the methodology I would employ and formulate two research questions to examine the issue. The perspectives of citizens on the escalation of crime in the small islands and countries of the Caribbean is an important area of sociological research because of the right people have to feel secure in their own environment. According to the human development paradigm, a country cannot effectively attain ‘developed’ status if its people are traumatised daily by horrific crimes and if they feel that they are potential victims (ul Haq, 1995). Nevertheless the development model that seems to inform present governments is one that places emphasis on the trappings of development in the form of huge infrastructure works and buildings rather than a relentless policy on crime fighting. It is possible that given the heavy involvement of South American and Mexican drug cartels in the region that national governments feel that their resources are miniscule and all they can do is to try to contain the problem, especially to crime ‘hot spots’ (Figueira, 2013). Finally, if ordinary citizens feel constantly threatened they may resort to vigilante-type behaviour and take the law into their own hands, they may migrate to escape, they may agitate and demonstrate or they may become apathetic and lose interest in being patriotic and law abiding. All these options will negatively impact development. Since this is an issue where the in-depth feelings and beliefs of participants are required, the qualitative paradigm best fits the purposes of this study. Qualitative research is informed by a constructivist epistemology – reality is understood to be always being negotiated and built up by the experiences people have and what observations they make of social life (Creswell,1998). It is also informed by hermeneutics so that to better understand a person’s motives for action, the researcher must share in how s/he constructs meaning and interprets events. Thus if a neighbour is mugged or murdered, people in the neighbourhood may become fearful and begin a series of neighbourhood watches and patrols, if they can afford it. Qualitative research can also unearth beliefs and values that are difficult to explain. For example, the researcher may come across those persons who feel that they are indestructible or who don’t care about the state of crime in the country or who believe that everything is gang- and drug- related so that they should be safe. Not everyone feels the same level of threat. Thus, the researcher must also investigate persons living in upscale neighbourhoods who have guard dogs, burglar alarms, and automatic gates. They may feel unsafe but perhaps not as unsafe as the poor person who leaves work late in the night and has to find public transport to Introductiongeneral trends, some differentiation and gives examples of crimes. Using the literature on the human development paradigm as a rationale – citizen security Links made between the subjective data needed and the tenets of qualitative research More thoughtful and insightful ideas to inform the research design and data collection 148 go home. Conversational, unstructured interviews would be the most useful form of data collection (Silverman, 2010). Since this takes up a lot of time both in collecting and analysing data, the sample must be small – say, about 10 persons depending on timelines and resources. The researcher may decide to include 5 well-to-do persons and 5 persons in a lower income bracket. Because of the small-scale nature of the project, the researcher would not be able to include persons from all over the country. S/he might decide to deliberately select the 5 low-income persons from crime hot spots, acting on the assumption that the well to do would hardly live in such areas. In so doing, the researcher would be spreading his/her sample in at least two quite separate and distinct areas of the country. Gender may be a consideration and the researcher might opt for 5 males and 5 females. Age is also a consideration. However, this is not a quantitative study where there would be many more persons in the sample so it could be stratified by any number of variables – age, race, gender, place of residence, and so on. In a qualitative study with a small sample, looking for in-depth understanding of a phenomenon, and not for a generalisation, it is not as important to cover all the variables. Whomever the researcher finally gets to comprise the sample will have valuable information to give because crime is a major concern. Two possible research questions are: 1. To what extent do citizens, in different areas, feel threatened by the level of crime in the country? 2. What strategies, if any, do citizens employ to increase their sense of security? In keeping with the tenets of qualitative research, these questions are open-ended and exploratory. They seek to unearth ways of thinking about crime that may have never been articulated by the subject and discussed with others. Such an interview must necessarily touch on that person’s economic and home circumstances and so information that is highly sensitive and confidential may emerge. One key aspect of the methodology is adherence to a high standard of ethical behaviour when treating with the participants and the information they have given. Bibliography Cresswell, J. (1998). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Figueira, D. (2013). The Caribbean and the Cartels. Trinidad Express Newspapers online, 5 March 2013. At http://www.trinidadexpress.com/featured-news/The_Caribbean_and_the_cartels-195482361.html, accessed 29 November 2013. Silverman, D. (2010). Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical Handbook. 3rd ed. Thousand Oakes, CA: Sage. ul Haq, M. (1995). Reflections on Human Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press. How the researcher works out details – by reference to the purposes of the study Comparison with quantitative approaches to research 149 II PA R T Introduction to Social Institutions In this Part you will apply almost all the terms, concepts, principles and research methods explained in Part I to the study of specific social institutions. Three of the major social institutions are singled out in Part II for detailed and systematic study – the family, religion and education. A social institution in sociology is one of its most fundamental concepts because it is through social institutions that sociology seeks to organise society for us to study. Social institutions are not tangible entities, but ideas we all buy into to make sense of society. For example, ‘the family’ does not refer just to people who live in different families but to the ideas, values and beliefs in the society that influence the family. The same applies to religion and education. The Caribbean social institutions of the family, religion and education are studied in this Part and compared to these social institutions in other countries. Sociology is particularly strong in its comparative focus, operating on the principle that you cannot fully understand what you have unless you study what others have as well. 150 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS The major expectations of this chapter are that you will recognise that the family is: ■ a core social institution in all societies forming the ‘base’ of the social system; ■ understood in different ways by the sociological perspectives; ■ according to Functionalism (the dominant source of ideas about the family), responsible for carrying out certain ‘functions’ to ensure a stable society, for example, primary socialisation; ■ the subject of research and theorising that suffers from myths and ethnocentrism; ■ very diverse in the Caribbean so much so that theorists are still locked in disagreement over the variety of ethnic family types and family practices; ■ subject to continuity and change such as the changing roles of men and women; ■ the site where gender socialisation first develops resulting in gender roles, identities, and ideologies that influence family life and wider social interaction; ■ experiencing threats to its ‘stability’ through domestic violence, child abuse, divorce and teenage pregnancy. 151 6 Social Institutions: The Family The family as we know it is not quite the same thing as the social institution of the family. When sociologists refer to ‘the family’ they include our experiences of family life but they also focus on the intangible world of values, ideas, and beliefs that groups in a society hold about caring for, rearing and educating its new members and at the same time providing for the basic needs of adults. Some of these ideas are dominant and some are marginal. Dominant ideas about family are easily seen in the society, represented tangibly in the social organisations we know as ‘families’. Marginal ideas about family are held by a minority and are reflected in families which are organised differently to the norms of a society. Although ideas about family vary widely, sociologists recognise that in all societies now and in the past, certain relationships were put in place to take care of the basic needs of the unborn, of children and adults, thereby assuring the continuity of the society. In this chapter we focus initially on the beliefs, myths and assumptions about the family and our common-sense understandings of families. We will find that the Caribbean has proved to be a place that turned many of the conventional theories about family upside down, and so we critically examine research on the different types of Caribbean family. Finally, we look at the changes in and challenges faced by the contemporary family in the Caribbean. 6.1 Ideas about the Family The term ‘social institution’ is a device that sociology uses to study the influence of ideas, values and beliefs on what people choose to do. The social institution of family is the ‘repository’ of all the ideas, beliefs and values about family that people in a society hold (dominant and marginal) and the organisations and practices to which they give rise. Over time dominant ideas struggle with other ideas about family, such as changing ideas and practices in the economy that caused a shift from agrarian organisation to capitalism and industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. This impacted the family in part through the changing role of women. These realities – women going out to work, family bonds becoming more fragile, children left unsupervised for long periods – stemmed from changes in the economy and led to the questioning and challenging of the dominant idea that a woman’s place was in the home. What were then ‘alternative ideas’ are now increasingly dominant, namely that women, like men, should find fulfillment wherever they choose to do so. Today, we continue to see this struggle of ideas about family being played out in the social institution of the family and having tangible effects in actual families, one of which is the social problem of domestic violence. Sociology employs a cross-cultural or comparative perspective that enables us to examine families in different cultures or places so that we are better placed to understand our own practices. This means that we don’t fall into the trap of thinking that because our families are organised in a certain way other families are also like that. Or that our ideas about family are ‘normal’ whilst other ideas are strange, or dysfunctional. In this section we pay attention to the ideas about family that influence how we think about families. Thinking about family, studying the family, and implementing reforms affecting families in the society are complicated by problems with definitions, conflicting ideas, and myths. The task of the sociologist is to clarify these issues and show how they are embedded in social experience – in perceptions, dominant ideas, and even ethnocentric theorising. 152 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Definitions, Diversity and Dynamism Here we look closely at the problems posed in trying to define the family and later some of the myths that persist about families. This is an interesting sociological exercise as it will help in ‘making the familiar strange’ and gives us a better grasp of our own thinking on the matter. Sociology texts and social studies classes tend to define ‘the family’ as uniform with only minor variants. The following is a long-established definition of the family that still influences how we view family today. 6.1.1 The family is a social group characterised by common residence, economic co-operation, and reproduction. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, and one or more children, own or adopted, of the sexually cohabitating adults. (Murdock, 1949, p.1) Murdoch intended this definition to apply specifically to the American family. However, it was widely applied and though later definitions vary somewhat, they tend to maintain these general ideas about what a family is. It was inevitable then that American sociologists and anthropologists studying family in different parts of the world, including the Caribbean, used such narrow definitions as a standard by which to examine family in other cultures. Defining ‘family’ is not just an interesting abstract exercise, it has practical significance. Census data is based on the idea of the family as the smallest unit of society and hence requires a reliable definition of the family to make the data meaningful to the country. A census is a national undertaking, conducted about every 10 years, in which a vast amount of data is collected from families and households that helps planners and policymakers to “And how many are living in this dwelling – enlightened or otherwise?” get a picture of the trends that are occurring related to marriage, divorce, and other cohabiting arrangements, size of families, ages of children, family income, number of adults employed/unemployed, change in residence and migration patterns, and other information. Census data are then fed into developmental plans and eventually become the basis for social policy on how to deal with family-related issues in the country. The problem arises when definitions of the family used in census tabulations are applied generally in the study of the family. Sociologists today see an obvious difference between ‘family’ and ‘household’. They view ‘family’ as a relationship between persons whilst ‘household’ is a more definable entity that can be counted and classified. For example: ■ It is not uncommon in the Caribbean (and elsewhere) for closely related family members to live apart. Children may be sent to the towns to be closer to schools, parents may migrate, or children may grow up with a grandparent. ■ There may be non-family members in the household such as when distant relatives or children of friends come to stay for a while, sometimes a long while, to go to school or work; they become a part of the family. ■ It is fairly common for adults having a sexual relationship, even those who have children, to live apart (known as the visiting relationship). ■ We have some connections that are very much ‘like family’ yet there is no blood relationship and persons do not necessarily live in the same household. Fictive kinship relationships, for example godparents, are based on friendship and obligation between godparents, the biological parents and the children concerned. Not so common in the Caribbean is the appearance of same-sex families. In addition, the increase in divorce worldwide leads to many varieties of singleparent and blended or reconstituted families, who may or may not occupy the same household. Any definition must acknowledge this complexity and by the same token state the purposes for which it has been created. Recently, more sociologically oriented definitions of the family bring in the idea of kin, that is, all those who consider themselves to be family members or who feel a sense of relatedness to others they regard as family. This may or may not coincide with the traditional idea of a household, yet this has always been part of Caribbean reality. The trend today is to recognise family diversity (see Box 6.1) because it gives a truer picture of how families actually form and exist. However, many of the older ideas continue to be dominant. These portray families CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY BOX 6.1 Family Diversity: Types and Composition ‘Who makes up the family?’ is an enduring question in the sociology of the family, so much so that once that was answered scholars felt that they had defined the family. The many family types described below shows us that it is impossible to include them all under one definition. It also attests to the varieties of ideas, values and beliefs about family in the social institution of the family. Nuclear – A family consisting of parents and children alone in one household. The parents are joined by a conjugal (married or common law) relationship. This is considered to be a ‘norm’ in Western countries and even in the Caribbean there are ideologies which set it up as the ‘ideal’ family. The Functionalist perspective regards this family form as superior for the purposes of child socialisation, love and belonging. Extended – A family consisting of grandparents, parents and children as well as aunts and uncles in one household. Many variants of this occur in the Caribbean amongst African, East Indian and Amerindian families. At some point in the family life course, most families in the Caribbean have had an extended arrangement. One example is the joint family (see Box 6.2) Visiting relationship – Perhaps first identified in the Caribbean, perhaps even unique to the Caribbean, this family is described as one where a man and woman have a stable union, but are not legally married or cohabiting. Single-parent families – A parent (usually the mother) and child or children who live in one household. This may result from the death of a spouse, divorce, separation, or choice (e.g. a decision to adopt or the parent may have never married). There are single parents who have a co-parenting relationship with the other parent although they are not co-residential. This kind of diversity is not recognised by census-takers. Female-headed families of this kind are usually matrifocal, and involve a close relationship between the mother and her children. Common-law unions – In this family a man and woman have a stable relationship which is co-residential but they are not married. This could also be considered to be a nuclear family. In some Caribbean countries this family is recognised in law whereas the visiting relationship is not. Sibling families – Those persons comprising the household are brothers and sisters and possibly children of these siblings. Parents and grandparents may have died or moved away. Usually an older brother or sister takes over the parents’ role in caring for younger members. Step families/Reconstituted/Blended families – In these families one or both parents have children from former marriages and unions. Those not related by blood are variously called stepmother, stepsister, stepbrother and stepfather. They may or may not all reside in the same household. Any children born to the parents in the present arrangement become the half-brothers and half-sisters of the children from previous relationships. In-vitro Families – These are families which have had children through assisted reproduction such as in-vitro fertilisation or IVF. For example, where the female partner in a couple is unable to produce a fertile ova (pl. ovae – the word means ‘egg’), the male partner’s sperm is injected into another woman (or surrogate), who will carry the foetus to term for the couple. This is called ‘artificial insemination’. Alternatively, where the male partner’s sperm count is low, the female partner may be inseminated with another man’s sperm. If the female partner is infertile (i.e. not producing many ovae), her ovaries are stimulated by a hormone injection into producing large numbers of ovae, some of which are then selected for fertilisation in a test tube (in vitro). 153 154 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS BOX 6.1 Family Diversity: Types and Composition These arrangements are highly controversial, explicitly outlawed by some religions and not well served by society’s laws which are modelled on traditional ideas of reproduction. Polygamous Families – Polygamy is an umbrella term. Polygny specifically refers to one man having several wives. Polyandry – where one woman has more than one husband – is extremely rare. In some parts of Africa and Asia and among tribal peoples the world over, polygny is common. in a uniform way based on the household and they are actually misleading when applied to contexts such as the Caribbean. They are also misleading for other cultural contexts which may have one dominant form of the family but that form is very different from what obtains in Western countries (Box 6.2, page 155). But what exists in the West is also becoming increasingly diverse. The arrangements discussed in Box 6.2 are all extended family arrangements, two being households and one being a combination of households. Thus, even the definition of what is an ‘extended’ family is quite problematic. They all show the prevalence of patriarchy as a dominant gender ideology in agricultural communities. Even when members move to the cities and form nuclear families, strong ties still bind them into at least some of the values of their original households – gender ideology, reverence for the elderly, communal good – which make it easier to go and come and participate in religious and family gatherings in their ancestral home. This discussion highlights the important point often ignored in the study of family types that they are not just arrangements of people and roles but that they are underpinned by certain values. Families in Palestine, Japan and India as we have seen in Box 6.2 have a strong commitment to the wider family collective, strengthened by religion requiring participation in rituals and celebrations as family events. In Palestine it is also a matter of sheer survival because they live as a subject people or in refugee camps. Even when persons decide to set up nuclear households those families may resemble nuclear families in the US or Europe but they are less likely to want to be completely autonomous from their original families. (continued) Islam and other religions and sects allow polygny or plural marriages. However, in most Western countries polygamy of any kind is illegal and the law specifically states that a person can only be legally married to one person at one point in time. To avoid a charge of bigamy polygamists tend to marry only one wife legally and marry other wives through religious rites. In polygamy the families live together or have close relationships. Polygny tends to reflect a patrifocal emphasis in society. Devising an adequate definition of the family is difficult because of the obvious connections between a ‘family’ and a ‘household’. Census-takers hold the view that, for their purposes, the household is equated with a family. They admit that not all members in a household may be family members but they separate out those members who are related and treat them as the family household. This may lead to absurd conclusions. For example, a childless couple is considered to be a nonfamily household. Many times the definition used by census-takers is too narrow to accommodate the realities of family life. Traditional definitions of the family tend to portray it as a static entity over time but that is belied by the family cycle. Figure 6.1 (page 156) depicts the processes of development that a family may experience over time. It begins with a new union and then charts all the changes the family undergoes until the original parents are elderly (Smith et al. 2009, p. 70). While the family cycle brings to light some of the inner dynamics of family life, the stages as portrayed in Figure 6.1 apply again largely to American and European contexts and the ‘norm’ of the nuclear family. You may find it helpful to adapt the family cycle to your own cultural contexts because all families undergo change over time. Charting the life course of our own families helps us to grasp how the needs of our family changed over time and how that may have influenced their form and function. Thinking of family in this way makes it clear that trying to establish a homogenising idea of family is not helpful in today’s world. We have to adjust our thinking to embrace diversity and dynamism and while that may be cumbersome and untidy it better represents reality. CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY BOX 6.2 Family Diversity across Cultures These are some examples of family diversity in other cultures. Hamula This is the extended family form of Palestine. It includes several families who are related to each other through the male line. Hamulas are rural family organisations which share agricultural work and function as a political organisation for Arabs living under the dominance of Israel. A code of honour binds all clan members, especially males, in loyalty towards the hamula. It can be described as a clan or kinship system rather than the ‘family’ or ‘household’ typical of Western sociology. Females, if they marry ‘out’, will belong to the hamula of their husbands. Some hamulas are powerful in domestic politics. Decision-making about the lives and fortunes of all members, including marriages, are made by the oldest male relative, usually the head of the village. Family boundaries are wider than in the Western notions of family and members work closely in everyday activities. In urban areas, the nuclear family has been on the increase yet people there still maintain strong ties to their village hamula and bear allegiance to their kin making decisions that uphold clan values. Stem Family This is a type of multi-generation household that has existed in Japan for centuries and is an example of an extended family. The household consists of a succession of first sons (for example, both the grandfather and father in the house are first sons), with their wives and small children. Younger sons leave and set up their own households. It is a patriarchal system where the head is always a male. With increasing industrialisation and urbanisation, the stem household has been giving way to nuclear arrangements, especially in the cities. However, it seems to be resilient and some nuclear households Myths about the Family The sociology of the family as an area of research interest has been greatly influenced by European and North American scholarship. Without a doubt ethnocentric myths and theories crept into the study of Caribbean families. One of the most significant of these is the instalment of the nuclear family as the universal standard or model for family. This ‘ideal’ holds sway even though for the majority of Caribbean people our families are of the 6.1.2 over time are reverting to the stem family as elderly parents are taken in to help with child care and reduce the expense of maintaining multiple households. In choosing to strengthen the stem family in contemporary times, some Japanese are also choosing … to put the collective interests of the group before their own personal interests’ (Cheal, 2002, p. 25) But overall the nuclear family is the most typical type of family in urban areas and that emphasises autonomy and personal interests. Joint Family This is an extended family arrangement found largely among Hindus in India and parts of the diaspora, and refers to a multi-generational household. Usually as male members marry they bring their wives into the household so all males are blood relatives. They may have different rooms or apartments in a large house or occupy annexes in a compound. The household consists of grandparents, their sons with their wives and children, and unmarried daughters. The head is usually the oldest male who directs all the family affairs (a patriarchal system). Household chores and activities are shared and monies are communally organised and spent. In the Caribbean the joint family is found in Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname among Indian families, whether Hindu or Muslim. Both in India and the Caribbean though, this family type has been gradually breaking down into nuclear families for those of a higher socioeconomic status and the professional class. For the rest of the people the joint family provides much needed support and stability especially in uncertain economic conditions. extended type and the male is not the sole breadwinner. All the different family types in North America and the Caribbean should undermine the significance and importance placed on the nuclear family, but to a large extent it continues to be a durable image as something close to what an ideal family should be like (e.g. Figure 6.1 where progression and dynamism is based on the nuclear model). This amounts to an ideology that excludes the possibility of alternatives. It leads us into talking 155 156 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 1 Establishing the Family Courtship and marriage or co-habitation sometimes on their own or sometimes at one of their parents’ homes. 2 Childbearing Family Infants and new roles of ‘father and ’mother’. Financial pressures mount in taking care of babies and perhaps paying for a home. 3 Family with Pre-schoolers Sometimes, babies come along while their siblings are not yet of school age. The family needs additional space and more support in looking after the needs of babies and toddlers. Financial pressures continue to grow. 4 Family with School Aged Children Parents now have to cope with outside authorities (teachers, social workers, other parents) on matters of child rearing. Children learn that much variation seems to exist in other families. Secondary socialisation. 5 Family with Teenagers Adolescents bring their needs to establish their own identities to family interactions. Peer pressure. Family conflict may escalate if members do not find ways to balance teenagers’ needs for more autonomy with recognising their obligations. 6 Family with Young Adults Launching them into the world of work or further study; helping them learn to be autonomous. This may happen as the oldest leaves first and so on. New people come into the family from time to time as friends, co-workers and love interests of the adult children. Parents continue to be a source of support. 7 Family with Middle Aged Parents Empty nest syndrome. Children move away and have their own families. Retired parents now have to adjust to daily life. Grandchildren come into the picture. 8 Family of Aged parents Adapting to aging or death. The original home may be closed as an elderly parent moves in with a child or is institutionalised. Figure 6.1 Dynamism in the family: The family cycle CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY easily about ‘the breakdown of the family’, ‘broken homes’, ‘dysfunctional families’ and casting the ‘single parent family’ in a negative light. If the nuclear family is the norm then it is possible to hold the argument that divorce, separation and single parent families are evidence that there is ‘breakdown in the society’ and ‘its moral fabric’. However, there is such a variety of families, in the past and today – including many without a husband and wife as an important element in their make-up – that to label a home as ‘broken’ or ‘dysfunctional’ just because it does not conform to the ‘nuclear model’ fails to recognise that the nuclear family was not ‘the model’ in the first place. Perceptions that the nuclear family is an ‘ideal family type’ assume that what goes on in families is governed by its form or composition (which is in fact merely a pattern or structure). Theorising the Caribbean Family Research is a process that investigates issues that we have formulated based on our ideas and emerging theories but which also highlights relationships and connections we may not have considered. This is the great advantage of research – if conducted properly it can bring new understanding that may challenge our original ideas. The story of research into the Caribbean family in the early 20th century uncovers the role ethnocentric beliefs played in shaping what researchers saw as important. The family types and living arrangements encountered by early researchers included some that were difficult to classify because of their fluidity, but others were variously described as single-parent families, extended families, visiting unions, common law unions, nuclear 6.1.3 families, grandmother-headed households, one family with children of different fathers, fathers with different families and fathers being marginal to their families. In addition, marriage was not a widespread practice in lower-income groups and so most of the children were described as ‘illegitimate’. Researchers largely confined their attention to family in lower-income groups and to Afro-Caribbean people. Their main concern was to find explanations for these family forms and so early theories about family in the Caribbean focused on the origins of the family. The story begins with opposing theories put forward by two Americans, Franklin Frazier and Melville Herskovits (see Chapter 2). Frazier thought that slavery was responsible for the typical characteristics he noted, such as the high incidence of families headed by mothers and the low incidence of marriage. He felt that slavery in its effects was so totalising that much of the culture of the enslaved – their courting and marriage rituals, their family and child rearing practices – were eroded away. On arrival in the New World Africans were separated from those who had been their companions on the slave ships. Every effort was made to mix up the enslaved population on the plantation to disrupt any common allegiances such as tribe, kin and linguistic ties. They were forced to communicate through pidgin languages. Losing their ancestral languages, together with not being able to practise many of their religious rites and ceremonies, went a long way towards removing the enslaved groups’ ties to their traditional African tribal cultures. However, some historical studies have cast doubts on this view (see Sociological Thinking below). SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING! Some researchers today dispute whether planters were ever able to keep the enslaved nicely distributed across many different tribal and linguistic groups or prevent shipmates from being sent to the same plantation (Warner-Lewis, 2003). Detailed studies of specific plantations show remarkable variations in family organisation among enslaved Africans and that two-headed households were common (Craton, 2001). Furthermore, the idea that lower-income African groups post-slavery are still dominated by matrifocal families is a stereotype that doesn’t accurately deal with fathers and the men of the family. Matrifocality itself has a variety of meanings needing to be explored (Mohammed, 1999). 157 158 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Frazier theorised that in such an environment African men could not maintain stable unions; they or members of their families could be sold off at any time and the white planter could lay claim to any female member whenever he desired. African men having children with different women, who resided with their mothers, was a natural response to the conditions which prevailed. It led to a situation where men were marginal to the family; both women and men were thought of as promiscuous, having numerous sexual liaisons, and marriage in such circumstances could not be a ‘normal’ milestone event. Frazier witnessed these aspects of family life among Africans in lower socioeconomic classes in North America and the Caribbean and saw them as the indelible marks of slavery in family organisation. He compared these family forms to what was considered the ‘ideal’, the nuclear family, and inevitably labeled them as disorganised and dysfunctional. Enter Melville Herskovits. He felt that African cultural forms had survived slavery and that family life among African Caribbean people was based, to a large extent, on the social institution of the family in West Africa. These cultural retentions did not survive completely intact but it was possible to trace, say, West African family practices and values in the family arrangements evident in the Caribbean amongst those in the lower social classes. For example: ■ Unlike North America and Europe, the customary system relating to the inheritance of land in the Caribbean is very much like that of West Africa. For example, there is no discrimination between legitimate and illegitimate status; in fact in West Africa illegitimacy as a concept is almost unknown (perhaps because polygamy is widespread and accepted). Moreover, daughters are equal to sons in inheritance rights (Antoine, 2008). ■ R.T. Smith (1956) noted the close resemblance of family patterns and customs between rural Guyanese of African descent and the Akan peoples of West Africa – such as names, obeah, taboos, birth rituals and a kinship structure with a strong mother-and-child bond. The Akan have a matrilineal family structure. In a matrilineal structure descent and inheritance is traced through the mother’s line Smith theorised that because of the dislocation caused by slavery West African cultural patterns could not have been retained intact but would have undergone some change (i.e. Herskovits’ argument). In Guyana lower-income Afro-Guyanese tend to have strong matrifocal relationships, whether a father is present or not – suggesting the survival of a core aspect of matrilineal families (Ifill, 2003). The esusu of West Africa (known as the sou-sou in Trinidad today) is also found in other Caribbean contexts. An informal group, sometimes families and friends, pool money every few weeks, and at the end of a set period, on a rotating basis, one individual is awarded the total sum (called a ‘hand’). Although both theories of the origins of the Caribbean family remained as separate and distinct arguments influencing the work of many historians, anthropologists and sociologists, some scholars felt that both could be brought together. Sidney Mintz and Robert Price (1976) felt that both Frazier and Herskovits looked for discrete practices in Caribbean cultural life, such as ‘mother-headed households’, and tried to relate them either to an African origin or to a New World origin. Such a stance was naïve and ahistorical, according to Mintz and Price (meaning that it ignored historical development and traditions). Inevitably, Africans brought to bear creativity and synthesis in responding to the circumstances in which they found themselves by melding African cultural forms with the conditions of the New World. Mintz and Price therefore argued against the either/or controversy of the African versus New World origins of Afro-Caribbean families and suggested a creolisation argument of fusion into new forms. This view of the ‘origins debate’ is an interpretive view that underscores human agency in re-creating and reinventing culture especially in new circumstances. Activity 6.1 opposite allows you to explore historical marriage patterns across the Caribbean. Another idea that challenged the ‘origins’ of the Caribbean family was that put forward by Oscar Lewis (1959) who emphasised economic factors, namely poverty, in shaping family forms and relationships. The culture of poverty, the popular label given to this theory, says that the poor have a culture of their own based on the risky, unstable and unpredictable nature of their lives. They adapt to these conditions by developing certain traits and attitudes and these are passed on to children who continue the lifestyle or culture (see Box 6.3). From a sociological point of view this was a structural-functionalist study which sought to show that the Caribbean or black American family was not ‘dysfunctional’ but had devised certain ways (functional adaptation) of coping with economic marginalisation. We must keep in mind that these theories only have partial explanatory power. For example, if the theorist says that the black family form is a positive ‘adaptation’ to poverty, why are similar forms seldom found among other impoverished groups such as Indians in the Caribbean? ■ CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY ACTIVITY 6.1 Inquiry Skills Look at Table 6.1 below and answer these questions: 1. a. Which three countries have the most females who ‘never married’? b. Which three countries have the most females who ‘married’? c. What can possibly account for the differences noted? 2. State the types of unions that the category ‘never married’ could include. 3. What factors do you think can explain the differences in the percentage of males and females who are widowed? 4. Most countries show a higher percentage of married men than married women. How can you explain this statistic? 5. To what extent has this picture changed since 1991? Table 6.1 Percentage distribution of population aged 15 yrs and over by marital status and sex, 1990–1 Country Females 15 yrs+ % distribution by marital status NM M W D S NS Antigua & Barbuda 21,707 61 28 6 3 1 1 Bahamas1 82,849 53 32 7 3 5 Barbados 99,240 58 28 8 3 Belize 51,659 52 41 5 Dominica 23,345 62 28 Grenada 27,209 63 Guyana 233,242 Jamaica Males 15yrs+ % distribution by marital status NM M W D S NS 19,572 61 32 2 3 1 2 <1 75,851 56 36 2 2 4 1 1 2 88,402 60 31 3 2 1 3 1 1 0 52,667 56 40 2 1 1 0 8 1 1 1 22,980 67 28 3 1 1 1 26 8 1 1 1 25,515 66 28 2 1 1 2 49 40 8 2 1 <1 223,404 54 40 3 2 1 <1 772.226 68 24 6 1 1 <1 716,593 71 25 2 1 1 <1 Montserrat 3,997 57 30 9 3 1 1 3,852 58 33 4 3 1 1 St KittsNevis 13,802 64 24 8 2 1 1 12,896 67 27 3 2 1 1 St Lucia 44,100 66 25 6 1 1 1 40,235 68 27 2 1 1 1 St Vincent & Grenadines 33,769 68 25 5 1 1 1 33,104 71 25 2 1 1 >1 Trinidad & Tobago2 355,128 40 46 9 2 1 1 350,506 47 46 3 2 1 2 Key: NM = Never married, M =Married, W = Widowed, D = Divorced, S = Separated, = Not stated. 1 For The Bahamas, never married includes common-law status. 2 For Trinidad & Tobago, excluding 22,705 females and 20,542 males who were attending either primary or secondary school full-time (aged 15+). Source: Compiled by the CARICOM Secretariat from (i) 1990-1991 Population and Housing Census of the Commonwealth Caribbean-Volume of Basic Tables for Sixteen CARICOM Countries, Regional Census Office, Trinidad and Tobago, and (ii) data provided by Member States. Adapted from Caricom (2003), p. 20. 159 160 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS BOX 6.3 The Culture of Poverty Thesis Oscar Lewis was mainly concerned with showing how adaptations to poverty resulted in cultural values that became self perpetuating. He (and others) identified a number of traits, norms and dispositions that he said were adaptations to the conditions of poverty which eventually became a lifestyle, a culture. For example: • instant gratification – living for the present, being fatalistic; • low aspirations – high incidence of school drop outs, underachievement and illiteracy; • women as centre of house and home – also, more likely to be more fully employed than men; • men as marginal and occasional contributors – norms of masculinity do not include economic support; • men as sharp dressers, fathers of many children, having ‘bling’ ornaments; • families with a high incidence of unwed mothers, teen pregnancies and cohabitation rather than marriage; • little reliance on banks – no savings, few or no investment strategies. Lewis’s research in Mexico, India and the United States led him to believe that women deliberately chose to head households because it gave them greater freedom and flexibility in organising their lives under impoverished conditions. By not getting married they strengthened the bond between themselves and their children. They could thus To sum up: This section explored the variety of issues that impinge on the idea that the family can be defined as a uniform entity. Census activities have confused our understanding of a family and a household, promoting the nuclear family as the ‘ideal form’ and equating it with the household. These definitions that were widely accepted elsewhere could not accommodate the variety of family types found in the Caribbean. Research focused on attempting to find a historical explanation for the Afro-Caribbean family by treating slavery or culture or poverty as major factors. be free to discontinue their relationships with the father of the children when circumstances warranted – for example, when they could no longer support the family. Men, on the other hand adapted to this situation by exhibiting attitudes admitting to ‘manly flaws’ such as unbridled virility, machismo and irresponsibility in sexual and family affairs. Theories about the origins of the Caribbean and New World black families focus largely on culture – either culture that was an adaptation to life on the plantations (Frazier) or to poverty (Lewis), or retentions from Africa (Herskovits) or as creolised African retentions (Mintz and Price). Much of this could be viewed as Functionalist-related theorising, casting culture as a set of discrete characteristics that most members of an ethnic group share (the creolisation thesis to a lesser extent, since it has ‘agency’ at its heart). But, there is also the view that within an ethnic group even amongst those of lower socio-economic standing there are large variations in cultural values and behaviours. Moreover, having a certain cultural orientation does not mean that one would act it out so that behaviours cannot necessarily be assumed based on the culture of one’s group. In the work now being done by interpretive and postmodern scholars values are separated from perceptions and attitudes from behaviours – they are no longer lumped together as a straightforward package. This increases the levels of diversity in everyday social life. 6.2 Theoretical Perspectives on the Family Functionalism is the dominant sociological perspective on the social institution of the family, but Marxist/ Conflict and Interpretive perspectives are becoming more important as a critique of functionalist explanations. In addition, Feminist perspectives (largely an off shoot of Marxist and Interpretive theories) are discussed below. Functionalism Functionalism, the earliest perspective in sociology, likened society to an organism in which all parts had to 6.2.1 CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY be ‘healthy’ for the whole entity to function optimally. It did not focus so much on the parts but emphasised a holistic view of society and the role of norms, culture and social institutions. By the middle of the 20th century however this portrayal had shifted to a specific focus on the different ‘parts’ (namely, social institutions) and how they met social needs, mainly that of social stability and the continuity of society. Emphasis was now placed on the structural or system aspects of social interactions and the perspective became known as structural functionalism. For the most part Functionalism and Structuralfunctionalism can be thought of as representing the same point of view or perspective. Functionalists view any social institution as having ‘functions’, that is, a role to play in stabilising the society. Murdock outlined the most important ‘functions’ of a family: ■ socialisation of children into the culture of the society (ensuring the continuance of society); ■ reproducing the next generation (ensuring the continuance of society); ■ economic function in providing food and shelter (ensuring the continuance of the family); ■ sexual function in providing for and satisfying the sex drive (ensuring the continuance of the family and confining sexual relations to the family). His work was extended by Talcott Parsons one of the major theorists in functionalist sociology. Whilst he agreed with Murdock generally he saw the most important functions of the family as: a the socialisation of children into the norms, values and beliefs (culture) of society; and b the stabilisation of adult personalities that is, the family provides a private place (a safe haven) where adults can relax and be their ‘natural’ selves. Like Murdock, he thought that the nuclear family was the most suitable family form to help facilitate all these important functions. For example, the sexual differentiation of labour within the nuclear family was an efficient arrangement, with the male cast as breadwinner and the female as homemaker. It is important that you see that this was a ‘functional’ arrangement – the nuclear family provided for the instrumental and emotional needs of the family as well as that of socialisation and reproduction. Functionalists therefore view this gendered division of labour as the most functional family form and see the stability of society resting solidly on this model of family. The functionalist study of families took two very different paths. 1. Social Pathology Social pathology views the ‘problems’ of society as being able to be ‘fixed’ so that there can be a return to ‘normalcy’. Those holding this view look for what is causing the society to become dysfunctional. They look to the ‘parts’ making up the social system because all parts are interlocking and a problem with one will result in disequilibrium in the whole. In most cases, social problems are traced back to the family as the source or ‘cause’ of the problem. In a structural or systemic view of society the family is inevitably seen as the root cause because it is portrayed as the ‘smallest unit’ or the ‘basic building block’ of society. Their remedies call for re-socialisation of members into the norms and values of the society. Welfare officers coming from Britain in the 1930s and 40s took this perspective. In the early 20th century the British West Indies had undergone widespread economic hardship. The Great Depression of 1929 caused a worldwide fall in sugar prices and, in the following years, a contraction of the economy of all Caribbean countries. Poverty spread as unemployment, low wages and high prices reduced the standard of living. As social unrest grew, labour unions developed and began to agitate for basic economic and social reform. The response of the British Government was to appoint the Moyne Commission to investigate what was happening in the British West Indies and to suggest reforms. Funds were allocated for social welfare to alleviate poverty. Welfare officers, among them Thomas Simey, diagnosed that the root of the social problems being experienced in the Caribbean was the disorganised and dysfunctional nature of Caribbean families (following Frazier). He went on to make the link with social structure. In discussing the social structure of the West Indies the obvious starting-place is the family, for it is, even when quite ephemeral, the outstandingly important social institution of the West Indies. Slavery left its mark deeply imprinted on the family and it is thus in the strengths and weaknesses of family life that the characteristic features of West Indian social organisation are most clearly displayed. (Thomas Simey, cited in Barrow, 1996, p. 40) The ‘weaknesses’ they saw were ‘high rates’ of promiscuity, illegitimate children and men not acting out their ‘proper’ roles as household heads and breadwinners. They did not see how such families could effectively 161 162 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS socialise children into the norms of the society requiring obedience to and acceptance of the status quo. They felt that only stable, two-parent families could nurture such ‘normative’ behaviours. In their minds there was a direct impact on society in terms of juvenile delinquency and an increasing crime rate especially during a downturn in the economy. (Social stability is perhaps the major concern in Functionalism.) Among the various ‘interventions’ sanctioned by welfare officers and the British authorities in the Caribbean was the Mass Marriage Movement in Jamaica over the period 1944 to about 1950. It was a focused campaign to encourage as many cohabiting couples as possible, as well as others in different kinds of union, BOX 6.4 to become legally married. This was an experiment in re-socialisation. Its failure should have alerted those responsible for social welfare to the fact that ideas about marriage were not the same from one country to another and from one social class or ethnic group to another. Functionalist ideas tend to promote the nuclear family as ideal and therefore marriage, which is the basis of this unit, as a universal norm. 2. Ethnographic Studies Sociologists and anthropologists engaged in more systematic and rigorous studies than the welfare officers and immersed themselves in the contexts they studied (see Boxes 6.4, 6.5 and 6.6). They conducted extensive Edith Clarke’s Ethnographic Study in Jamaica (1957) Edith Clarke first published her report in 1957 as My mother Who Fathered Me: A Study of the Family in Three Selected Communities in Jamaica. It examined internal family relationships and family organisation in these communities and sought to link these characteristics to the wider social contexts. In doing so Clarke was emphasising ‘structure’ and ‘system’ in explaining society (or family). The three communities displayed different economic conditions as well as marked differences in the internal relationships and community norms governing family life: • Sugartown was dominated by a sugar company and was more prosperous than the other two but work was mostly seasonal and there was a high rate of migration and marital instability, few nuclear families, many individuals living on their own and a greater evidence of promiscuous behaviours. There was little evidence of community values and cohesiveness among the people. • Mocca was a poor community where the people were mainly small farmers or wage labourers. Most families lived in ‘faithful concubinage’ – not married, but living together in stable committed unions with children. Patriarchy was evident and fathers showed close relationships with children. Kinship, ancestral ties and family life were stronger values than the ‘respectability’ associated with marriage. • Orange Grove was a relatively prosperous citrus-growing community where income was steady, farmers tended to own their land and the family worked as a team. Marriage was strongly approved of because it was associated with ‘respectability’. Social sanctions encouraged couples to marry especially when the man could afford to support a wife in better style than as a common law partner. There were many nuclear families and fathers showed close relationships with their children. An interesting insight was that men, even poor men, were not marginal to their family in Mocca and Orange Grove. They were marginal however in Sugartown where work was seasonal, men moved to different parts of the island as migrant labour, and the ties between kin and neighbours were slight. This is interesting because of the persistence of the idea that the Caribbean is dominated by mother-headed households and men are marginal to families. The connections between the type of economic conditions prevailing and how they are likely to influence family form and stability show that it is not necessarily poverty but irregular work, members having to move about looking for work, and many persons living on their own contributing to communities that are poorly integrated, which lead to males being marginal to the family. (Source: Barrow, 1996; Clarke, 1999.) CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY BOX 6.5 R.T. Smith’s Ethnographic Study in British Guiana (1956) R. T. Smith (see Chapter 2) carried out his ethnographic study in 1956. His work shows some similarity to that of Edith Clarke’s (Box 6.4) in that they both brought a Functionalist perspective to their ethnographies studying family life in three villages – Smith in Guiana and Clarke in Jamaica. Both ethographers focused on the economic conditions affecting poor men. In his study Smith found that there was: • a close bond between mother (or grandmother) and children and also between the mother’s siblings who provided support for the family; • a fairly distant relationship between the conjugal couple (married or not) and between father and child; • a high incidence of mother (or grandmother)headed households; • a pattern showing that males/fathers seemed to lack authority in the home. Based on this evidence he concluded that a matrifocal structure was characteristic of the lowerclass negro family in Guiana. Seeking an explanation as to why these family characteristics were so typical of this group led him to focus on social stratification. Men in these villages were on the lowest economic rung, they had the least important jobs, those of the lowest social status – mainly seasonal employment on the estates or in mines – and often migrated in search of work. Like Clarke he learned that a man was only likely to get married if he could support his wife and children comfortably. Smith went on to say that the better jobs in the country were held by non-negro ethnic groups or those not native to the community. Therefore, because of this system of inequality the men could not earn enough to give them authority and importance in the family. There are some important differences between Clarke and Smith: 1. Unlike Clarke, Smith treats the villages as if they were similar and did not consider that the internal economic differences between them could influence their family organisation patterns. 2. Since he could not attribute his findings to the internal characteristics of the villages (like Clarke), he theorised that the determinants of family structure were to be found in the system of social stratification in the colony (the larger social system of Guianese society). 3. Moreover, he went on later to propose a uniform developmental cycle for households in circumstances of poverty that could be applied to other countries. In my studies of three Negro villages in British Guiana, … I paid particular attention to the developmental cycle of household groups and tried to see the extent to which the ideal form of nuclear family domestic group is realised in practice and what patterning there is in the deviations from this form. (Smith, 1963, p. 30) 4. Here he shows the functionalist belief (and bias) that the nuclear family was the necessary basis for family organisation and anything else was a ‘deviation’. Criticisms The major critic of R.T. Smith’s study is M.G. Smith who pointed out that the researcher came to the conclusion that the lower-class negro family (not only in Guiana but in the Caribbean) was a matrifocal one because he had not spent time finding out the villagers’ beliefs and perceptions of different kinds of unions and mating practices. For example, young people had extra-residentiary relationships (e.g. visiting unions) early in life and only later on settled into a common law or married union within an extended or nuclear family. On the whole marriage came with increasing age in the villages and was associated with more prestige than other types of unions. He was fixed on explaining the many female-headed households he saw and sought to place that explanation within a framework where this was a ‘deviation’ from the ‘norm’ of the nuclear family. (Source: Smith, 1956, 1963) 163 164 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS BOX 6.6 Morton Klass’ Study of East Indians in Trinidad (1961) Morton Klass was an American anthropologist who spent a year in a village, Amity, populated mainly by East Indians in central Trinidad. Among all aspects of culture, he studied family life and marriage practices. This was also a structural-functionalist ethnographic study. Like Frazier and Herskovits who were theorising the origins of the Afro-Caribbean family forms, Klass sought to determine whether the ways of life he observed (e.g. family form and organisation) were retentions of Indian culture. He concluded that there was much that was directly related to Indian village life, in fact, the community seemed more Indian than Caribbean (though that begs the question, ‘what is “Caribbean”?’). In family life, religion and community organisation the East Indians sought to retain their identities and avoid assimilation into the dominant African, Christian groups in the society. The similarity between Amity and what might perhaps be called a generalized North Indian community structure must certainly be apparent to students of the Indian socio-cultural system. Students of the West Indian scene cannot but be aware that Amity is not ‘West Indian’ in almost any sense but the geographic. (Klass, 1961, p. 239) Some of Klass’s main findings concerning kinship and family organisation were: • an early age for marriage (compare Clarke’s and Smith’s studies which show a trend towards marriage late in life for Afro-Caribbean people); • norms and religious traditions mandating marriage – weddings being a central feature of village life; • the virtual absence of the visiting relationship or extra-residential mating patterns (compare Clarke’s and Smith’s work, the latter in particular, showing the high incidence of these unions among Afro-Caribbean people); • patriarchal relationships, i.e. the dominance of the male either as husband or father or even brother (Clarke observed both male marginality and patriarchy in different circumstances among Afro-Caribbeans, whilst R.T. Smith mainly observed male marginality); • the respect accorded to men and the need for a man to represent the family in the community and in organising business affairs and arranging the marriages of his children – a woman would not be considered competent in the public sphere (compare the situation in AfroCaribbean communities where women went out to work to support the home because men only had irregular work or low incomes); • that the caste system of India persisted in a much diluted way and became a consideration in arranging a marriage and in joining political organisations but it could not persist in other aspects of daily life. Criticisms The main criticisms centre on the premise that if the researcher only focused on cultural forms that were retained, it is likely that he would miss those that had been erased, as well as new forms that did not exist in the original culture. It is also likely that selecting a rural village deep in the agricultural belt, peopled by members of only one ethnic group, the findings would show evidence of cultural retentions, i.e. continuity in the traditions of India, and thus suggest that in relation to the African community there was cultural pluralism. And these would be findings from only a small rural community. Klass entitled his work, East Indians in Trinidad: A Study of Cultural Persistence, showing that there was a strong urge to generalise findings. Critics also point out that not much study was made of education and how it impacted village life and family organisation, although it is well-known that education plays a major role in integrating a diverse society into some common norms and behaviours. In fact, however secluded, in a small island like Trinidad no group was immune from constant interaction with other groups and Klass did not investigate inter-ethnic interfaces. Later researchers opposed Klass’ findings and sought to treat with the Indian community as experiencing constant change and impacting the host society in a number of ways. (Source: Smith, 1963, pp. 42–3.) CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY fieldwork in the years they lived in Caribbean villages engaging in observations and informal interviews with villagers. This type of participant-observation research is referred to as ethnography (§5.2.4) and these early Caribbean ethnographies had Functionalist assumptions (for differences with ethnographies carried out later by interpretive researchers (see §6.2.3). ACTIVITY 6.2 The Comparative Element in Sociology Read Boxes 6.4, 6.5 and 6.6. Identify FOUR major differences between the Afro-Caribbean and IndoCaribbean families revealed by this research. Marxist Perspective/Conflict Theory Structural-functionalist studies analysed Afro-Caribbean and Afro-American families of lower socio-economic status and held that their distinctive family forms were more a result of adaptive strategies to deal with poverty than examples of social pathology. The Marxist perspective, which is a specific example of Conflict theory, critiques such conclusions saying that those researchers do not dwell enough on the structural causes of disadvantage namely, how the social institution of the economy (the substructure) is organised to entrench social stratification. Note that a Marxist analysis is also a structural analysis (referring to the social institutions and their interactions) but it puts emphasis on relations within socio-economic groups in the economy – for example, how does the capitalist system influence different categories or members of families and how does the family, as part of the superstructure, reproduce the class system? Capitalism, according to Marxists, ensures that the poor remain poor and so families in the lower economic groups will continue to be exploited because they only have their labour power to sell. Within the superstructure (the family, education, religion and so on) the dominant institutional ideas are those of the elites and these perpetuate the existing class relations. If persons from different social classes buy into the dominant ideas about what is important (‘getting ahead’, status symbols, consumer durables) then they are perpetuating false consciousness and the sources of their own misery. Marxist feminists say that women in a family are doubly disadvantaged by capitalism. Firstly, in a patriarchal system they are exploited by men. The gender differentiation of labour in families is idealised as ‘natural’ and women (and men) are forced into accepting roles such as breadwinner and homemaker. If women, particularly, 6.2.2 SOCIOLOGICAL THINKING! A general Marxist critique of the Functionalist view of the nuclear family is that it is too optimistic. It sees the structure of the family as akin to the world of work where parents are bosses (capitalists) and the children are workers who obey their parents. Most families are not like that. All families, including nuclear families at some point will experience levels of conflict and even violence. opt out of this pattern and reject their expected roles, they are liable to be seen as ‘unnatural’. Secondly, the nuclear family operates to the benefit of capitalism with no reward for the homemaker. In the family the woman provides a reserve of free labour for housework and child care which supports and cushions the wage-earning members and enables them to face the world of work each day. In other words, this is unpaid work that the man does not regard as an expense and so he does not have to make extra demands on his employers (the capitalists). In addition, women reproduce workers at no cost to the capitalist. Marxist feminists subscribe to the view that women’s work is seen largely as reproduction and men’s as production. Conflict theorists study sources of inequality such as gender and ethnicity and how they impact families. They look on all resources as scarce (including power) and unequally shared by different groups. However, most theorists tend to agree that discrimination, disadvantage and inequities are in the first instance class-based (economic) rather than only due to gender or ethnicity. In other words, while people of a certain ethnicity may experience incidents of discrimination it is more likely that poorer persons of that ethnic group suffer entrenched and persistent forms of discrimination (a double disadvantage). Like Marxism, Conflict theory can be used to explain phenomena at the macro-level of society, but unlike Marxism it can also be used at the micro-level. An example of a macrosociological application of Conflict theory is in the study of the system of health care in the society and the extent to which it discriminates against families and individuals with less power and economic resources than others. A microsociological application can be seen in reference to one of its major ideas - that conflict is endemic in society and human relationships. Conflict theorists state that it is difficult to pinpoint any area of human life that is without conflict and family life and marriage are often sites of conflict. They attribute this to the idea that we as human beings operate out of 165 166 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS self-interest. We put our own personal interests first and, if resources are scarce, then individuals see themselves in competition with each other. But, they go on to say as well that families do not operate in quite the same way as other groups. A wife and mother will seldom put her own interests over that of her children’s. The bonds in a family can be quite intense and whilst other (e.g. formal) groups may break up under conditions of conflict, a family break up visits untold suffering on its members. That is why in a family the one who has the least vested interest in the family wields the most power and why families tend to tolerate a higher level of conflict than other groups (Smith et al., 2009). This could be one explanation why domestic abuse typically occurs over a long period – something that those outside the family cannot quite understand. Interpretive Perspectives The macrosociological approaches discussed above, particularly Functionalism, gave us a uniform picture of families which led to sweeping generalisations and hence to the formation and persistence of stereotypes, such as how the nuclear family is privileged in myths and beliefs, and the persistent belief that the Afro-Caribbean family is matrifocal, despite parallel evidence of patriarchy. And there is the durable image of the black Caribbean man as being marginalised and irresponsible. These are stereotypes that emerge from perspectives that tend to paint a general picture with research findings. On the other hand Interpretive approaches are microsociological and emphasise diversity, particularly how families of the same socio-economic class or ethnicity may have a variety of forms. Researchers actually live with families (and therefore conduct ethnographies) to study family dynamics and interaction on a daily basis. Their ethnographies differ from those of Edith Clarke, R.T. Smith and Morton Klass in that they do not look on any family form as superior to another. They focus on the meanings that the actors have for their beliefs and actions and so they emphasise human agency. By studying a context in great depth (a few families) it is likely that researchers will find many variations to the ‘stereotypes’ that have emerged from macrosociological studies. ■ Radical feminists focus on male dominance, seeing patriarchy rather than capitalism as the major problem in families and society. Male dominance refers to male power and authority that is oppressive to women. Families, they say, are not only based on loving relationships but often are sites of oppression and coercion for females, whether employed or not. Domestic work and child care are examples of real work or labour but have been ignored in traditional scholarship on the family rendering women and their contribution, relationships and experience in the family ‘invisible’. In fact, the popular ideology of the ‘happy family’ (or ‘cereal packet family’) is misleading, according to the radical feminist, because to a large extent the family is a place of intense and constant subjugation of those who are vulnerable in society – women (both rich and poor), children and the elderly. 6.2.3 Feminist Approaches Under the umbrella of the Interpretive Perspective we include feminist studies because many take a microperspective in investigating social life. Sometimes feminist approaches also take a critical, a conflict or a Marxist perspective, so that it is a multi-faceted area of research. If I had a hammer … Liberal feminists focus on equalising opportunities for women in all spheres of social life by removing barriers to their full participation in education, business, industry, politics, the family and other spheres. They enlist men in their campaign to equalise the experiences of each gender stating that inequalities suffered by any group reduce the quality of life for all. They impact the family by arguing that women should have the right to choose on issues such as abortion and that laws should be enacted allowing outside authorities (such as the police, the legal system) to intervene in the family in situations of domestic abuse in order to protect women and children. Criticisms of feminist approaches to the family make the point that there is variation from one household to ■ CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY another and often women wield considerable power incorporating support networks of kin, siblings and offspring, showing that power is not only limited to a home base. In addition, their involvement in domestic affairs and child care make them ‘the boss’ in a job where they largely make all the decisions. However, their relative power is mediated by the level of income and ethnicity of the family. For example, in a highly patriarchal family such as a traditional Indian family in the Caribbean the wife’s power to make decisions is controlled by her husband and possibly her husband’s parents whilst in an urban, nuclear Indian family where both parents are of the professional class there tend to be more areas in family life where power is shared. The Caribbean critique of Feminist theorising is that it sidelines race or ethnicity in its discussion of women and men and families and is largely based on a white, nuclear family experience. To sum up: This section outlined some of the major theoretical perspectives on the family. Functionalism is the oldest and most dominant perspective and greatly influenced the study of the family in the Caribbean. Research tended to focus on the ethnographic study of families, i.e. a focus on culture. While today ethnography is most likely to be used by Interpretive sociologists, in the Caribbean early theorists employed ethnography rather as foreign anthropologists had done when seeking to study the culture of small, exotic societies. Such studies were influenced by structural-functionalism and emphasised norms, family practices, social class, ethnicity and the social system. An ethnographic study that is in the Interpretive perspective differs in that culture is studied through the participants and how they make meanings. Through Interpretive studies, a picture develops of great variation in and among families. Macro-perspectives tend to portray families in a more uniform manner. Feminist perspectives, derived from Marxist and Conflict theory, as well as Interpretivism, provided a gendered analysis of families. 6.3 Ethnic Diversity and Caribbean Kinship When you are asked ‘how many persons are in your family?’ you know that the speaker is referring to your ‘immediate family’ which might or might not coincide with the ‘household’ in which you live. When you hear people say that they are having a small wedding ‘with only family’ you understand that that means the immediate family and a select group of ‘relatives’. The term ‘relatives’ refers to an extremely wide-ranging set of relationships taking in aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws but it does not stop there because there are generational levels involved as well – your cousin’s children or your brother-in-law’s parents. The term ‘kin’ is even more expansive than ‘relatives’ because it refers to any person with whom you share a sense of identity such as a familial bond or heritage. Descendants of enslaved Africans comprise the bulk of the population in the Caribbean. Descendants of East Indian indentured labourers comprise large numbers in a few countries, namely Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname, and smaller numbers in other countries such as Jamaica and Guadeloupe. Many of the kinship patterns found in the Caribbean are survivals from our heritage before we arrived in the region. Amerindians and their descendants are found in relatively large numbers in Guyana, Suriname, Belize and Dominica. It is difficult to generalise about kinship networks and family life among Amerindians largely because of the great deal of variety between the so-called ‘tribes’ and linguistic and ancestral groups, which all overlap in the Caribbean. In addition, not all have been studied. 6.3.1 Family and Kinship patterns Patriarchy Patriarchy describes a set of relationships where men (grandfathers, fathers, brothers, and sons) have more power and authority than women (grandmothers, mothers, sisters, and daughters) in the home and in the society. In the family men are the decision-makers, disciplinarians and breadwinners. They are obligated to provide for their families who in turn respect and obey them. Women take care of children and domestic matters – there is a sexual division of labour that is supposed to be complementary and efficient. If they work outside the home, their job and its income is secondary to that of the male breadwinner. In the wider society, men hold the important and prestigious jobs and there are barriers, visible and invisible, which prevent women from taking up such positions. The East Indian family system is highly patriarchal with males and older persons wielding considerable influence on family decision-making in matters such as settling disputes, courtship, marriage, the buying of property, family business, and education. The father is indisputably the head of the household and the authority figure. Women tend to be occupied 167 168 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS with domestic matters and may work in family-held agricultural plots or in family-run businesses. Extended Families Extended families may be matrilocal or patrilocal. In West Africa where polygamy is well-established historically kin includes all the relatives of the extended family network as well as other tribal allegiances, and these are mainly patrilocal. In Afro-Caribbean communities Matrilocality refers to the custom whereby after the wedding, the bridegroom moves to his new wife’s family home. Women stay in the home of their birth. Thus, in the extended or joint family households that are set up all the women are blood relatives (mothers, sisters, daughters) which distinguishes them as having a level of kinship, an informal close-knit group together with children, quite apart from the men of the household. Matrilocality is most common among Amerindian groups. extended families may include female-headed (matrifocal) households and sibling families. Extended families are also characteristic of East Indian kinship systems. Here they tend to consist of a series of nuclear families in the joint (patrilocal) household, but increasingly, nuclear families now exist as separate households. The norms that uphold family ties extend to taking care of parents and elderly relatives, especially among East Indians. However, those norms are limiting and coercive to members who want to break out of the dominant family values and to women who abide by those norms but who nevertheless feel exploited and undervalued. Marriage Marriage patterns vary widely. For example, among East Indians in Trinidad it is highly regarded and both girls and boys are led by family norms to consider early marriage though today they do not do so at a very young age. East Indian families still retain some control over their children’s choices; for example, interracial marriages go against the norms of this ethnic group, although this is also changing gradually. Marriage alliances were made when arranged marriages were more common, with the intent to enhance the economic interests of the family. Parents and grandparents wield a lot of power and that is particularly so when the family’s financial affairs are closely intermeshed so that potential marriage partners are rigorously screened, though arranged marriages are not common nowadays. Cross-cousin marriage Within Ameridian groups, children of a brother and sister may marry. A cross cousin is the child of the mother’s brother or of the father’s sister (see Figure 6.2). Children, then, of a brother and sister marry (sometimes two brothers marry two sisters), and over three generations or so, a marital couple may have common grandparents. This system is not found outside Amerindian groups. Cross-cousin marriage is a good example of endogamy. Fosterage Some Afro-Caribbean kinship patterns represent continuation from their African heritage. Children may Male Female marriage or union This couple has two children – a boy and a girl They each marry and have children Here, two cousins marry. They are cross cousins because the girl’s father is the brother of the boy’s mother. (Parallel cousin marriage occurs when a girl marries a boy and her mother and his father are brother and sister). Figure 6.2 Cross-cousin marriage CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY grow up with a grandparent, a godparent, with friends or with other relatives, which is known as fosterage, and is also common in West Africa. It can occur perhaps because of a particular need in the beginning, but often these children became part and parcel of their foster family. Such children would have a kin network that defies traditional ideas about family – they may for instance have two mothers and feel closer to their foster mother, as well as sisters, brothers and cousins of both families. People who have experienced these relationships will tell you that even the extended family of the foster parents accept the child as one of them. The ideas about kin underlying these practices show that the Afro-Caribbean notion of ‘family’ accommodates a more varied range of relationships than the typical ideas of Western scholarship which focus on the household and blood relations, or consanguinity. These ideas also point to Afro-Caribbean kinship groups having a heightened sense of responsibility towards children and feelings of obligation to family members and friends who may need support. Child shifting is a similar practice to fosterage, but such children only live for a time in the other family. Fictive Kinship This involves godparents whose responsibility it is to oversee the well-being of the child. More common in the older generation was a high level of respect and deference given to godparents. However, fictive, co-parenting arrangements are not unique to Caribbean families as godparenthood occurs widely in the Christian world. Sibling Families Among Afro-Caribbean families too we find a relatively high incidence of sibling families – older brothers and sisters taking care of younger ones. In some Caribbean countries these children show signs of being neglected and display anti-social behaviours and delinquency. Sometimes referred to as ‘barrel children’, they are a phenomenon of modern times and represent a breakdown in the strong kinship network that used to prevail and that would have taken these children under its wing. 6.3.2 Kinship Changes Industralisation, Urbanisation and Social Mobility During the latter half of the 20th century and continuing into the 21st, the pace of social change the world over has increased considerably. Changes in the economy and the world of work have impacted on Caribbean families. Development in the Caribbean has tended to focus on business and industry, infrastructure and housing, much of this in and around the capital city. Agriculture and hinterland development were neglected so that rural– urban migration became a normal feature of island life, disrupting existing kinship networks and for the most part establishing nuclear or single-parent families in urban areas. Emigration too, which was continuous throughout the 20th century, played its role in separating kin. With industrialisation came urbanisation and what are considered to be ‘modern’ values – the desire for fewer children, education up to secondary and tertiary levels, work in the secondary (manufacturing), tertiary (service) and quaternary (information technology) sectors, both parents going out to work, and a lifestyle requiring a home with all the latest amenities. As sociology students you would know that these aspirations could only be partly filled by the lower-income groups. For example, the so-called ghettos and shanty towns largely peopled by rural–urban migrants have a range of family types. So, not all urban-dwellers are single parents or belong to nuclear families. There is still much diversity. Modernising influences have been affecting Amerindian families too. Economic activities in the interior of Guyana such as mining and forestry have destroyed their agricultural plots and killed off the wildlife they used to hunt. This has disrupted families because now men have to travel long distances in search of work. Those who travel to the coast or to mining towns suffer from discriminatory practices and if they do not have the support of kin often fall victim to loneliness, drug abuse and destitution. Marriage and Family With increasing avenues for social mobility through education the professional class has grown and as highand middle-income earners they have opted for the most part to set up nuclear households. East Indian women have used education as a springboard to prestigious jobs and so husbands and fathers have had to deal with the issues that much greater autonomy for their womenfolk have brought. Though marriages are becoming more egalitarian and more women are single parents, marriage continues to be an important rite of passage for both Afro-Caribbean and East Indian women, but at different stages of their lives. The nuclear family is emerging as the family type of choice for those of higher-income brackets, but although they have struck out on their own their relationships with kin continue to be strong. East Indian families meet regularly for religious observances and family 169 170 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS celebrations and kin continue to play a valuable role in keeping the scattered families together by the assistance and support they offer to members. As far as possible, individual nuclear families continue to maintain their identity as members of a ‘modified form’ of extended family. At the same time, the variety of family forms first documented in the Afro-Caribbean community persists, namely common-law, single-parent, extended, visiting and other arrangements. In fact, among Afro-Caribbean groups in particular single parenting is on the rise with an increase in divorce and the decision being made by women to maintain a ‘single’ lifestyle. Some practices such as fosterage and child shifting have decreased, perhaps because of better infrastructure and opportunities generally. However, as emigration continued and older family members died out or they too emigrated, children have been foisted on ageing grandmothers and relatively young siblings who cannot carry out the responsibilities of parenting effectively. Among Afro-Caribbeans for the most part family relationships with the extended kin tend to be not as strong for example, members do not meet as regularly as before and neither are they disposed to share problems and resources. On the whole, these trends reflect a preference for more autonomous households which are not ‘complicated’ by the burdens and obligations that close kin could demand particularly as family members are now widely scattered locally and internationally. When significant numbers of men are absent the traditions of cross-cousin marriage and joint, extended households cannot be maintained in Amerindian households. With the scattering of families, endogamy cannot continue – men and women now marry not only into other Amerindian tribal groupings but into altogether different ethnic groups such as that of Afroand Indo-Guyanese. The experiences of Amerindian groups will differ across the Caribbean but to a greater or lesser extent the pressures leading them to move out of their traditional homelands and re-establish themselves nearer to economic opportunities often mean that extended families are broken up and single-parent or nuclear families take their place. For those of limited economic means a nuclear or a single-parent family is vulnerable to financial stress and other kinds of issues such as adequate child care and supervision for young children. In the search for a better life, individuals have no choice but to distance themselves from kin who would have provided much needed support and assistance. Respect and Authority The struggle for power and independence within the East Indian family during a time of change in kinship and family patterns is on-going and sometimes erupts into bouts of domestic violence, as husbands and fathers struggle with their womenfolk’s desire for more independence and more say in family decisions. Potentially violent situations arise, for example, when low-income girls excel at school making them eligible for higher education and upward mobility whilst family norms maintain that they should interact largely in the private rather than the public sphere of social life. The ideas of respect and obligation that went with fictive kinship relationships have also changed over time. Although assigning godparents is a ritual that is still widely observed among the Afro-Caribbean population, the godparents and the godchildren tend not to be close. For many, it is a meaningless symbol. This could be because of a decline in the importance of religion in people’s lives and a decline in the attitude of respect towards elders. ACTIVITY 6.3 Dynamism in Social Life Outline FOUR ways in which kinship patterns in the Caribbean are undergoing change today. To sum up: This section focused on the issues of ethnic diversity and Caribbean kinship. It highlighted the kinship relationships found within Afro-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean and Indigenous (Amerindian) groups as well as the changes being experienced today through modernisation influences, namely increased education and economic opportunities. It underscores the idea that families are constantly undergoing change and transformation. 6.4 Gender and the Family Migration and the Family Migration has always been a ‘norm’ in Caribbean societies and there are large Caribbean populations in the metropolitan cities of Western Europe and North America. Migration was seen and continues to be seen as a way to better oneself, to grasp opportunities for work and study that are not so widely available in the home 6.4.1 CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY country. The United Nations (2002) cites the Caribbean as having one of the highest net migration rates in the world, with Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica and St Lucia experiencing the greatest losses. In studying ‘migration’ you will note that there are different types depending on the socio-economic status of the individual. In the Caribbean: 1 Seasonal migration is common where one or both parents go to the United States or Canada for up to six months at a time to work – picking fruit, working in the garment industry and other jobs that the local population will not do because of the low wages. 2 Serial migration occurs where one or both parents migrate with the intention of staying permanently and later sending for their children. 3 Parental migration refers to the migration of one or both parents who have no intention of returning, nor of having the family join them. 4 Family migration occurs where the whole family moves. It is more characteristic of middle-class than lower-income families. A gender analysis of migration shows that on the whole more women migrate than men, leading to a phenomenon known as the feminisation of migration. The work normally available to migrants tends to be mostly in those areas where women are easily employed – teaching, nursing, child-minding and domestic service. Mothers have to make hard decisions when leaving their children behind. As mentioned above fosterage was a valuable resource in Caribbean family life that helped children of migrant parents but today more and more children are left with younger family members and others who do not or cannot provide a stable and secure home for them. One of the reasons for migrating is to get a job so that the migrant can send home remittances to help the family pay its expenses such as rent, keeping children in school, paying for consumer durables such as stoves, fridges and washing machines as well as for accessing proper health care. With the feminisation of migration, more and more children and their families have to deal with the absence of their mother. Remittances do help families to survive and some children are eventually reunited with their parents. However, researchers report too many instances where families either do not receive funds from abroad or the funds are misspent by the adults in the home. Children in such situations tend to drop out of school and constitute an at-risk group suffering from depression, low self-esteem who are more vulnerable to health problems and various forms of exploitation (Olsen, 2009). The long-term development of such children is threatened and they are not likely to become productive citizens, yet migration is not something that Caribbean governments or even ordinary people see as a problem to family life and to the holistic development of children. Instead, migration continues to be regarded in a positive light largely because of the traditional yearning to live in a metropolis where it is felt one can lead a better life. Migrant parents too suffer the consequences of loss, particularly if they realise that their children are being ill-treated or are delinquent in one way or another. This poses dilemmas for them because, for many, leaving the metropole to intervene and provide help for their children is not an option they can readily take up. Guilt, anxiety and fear dilute the feelings of accomplishment they may have in leading a productive life abroad. Some try to compensate by sending ‘barrels’ with the latest fashions in clothes and footwear and electronic gadgets. Hence, the popular term, ‘barrel children’. Work and the Family A traditional family norm casts the male as breadwinner and the female as homemaker who takes care of the children and domestic chores. This is largely a myth. It perhaps was typical of middle-class families in the past where the husband’s job was substantial enough to take care of all the family’s needs. Men were more likely to be the breadwinner historically because they were the more educated and the job opportunities for educated persons were male-oriented (doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, civil servants, retailers, managers). A gendered division of labour developed based on the strong belief that a woman’s place was in the home (see Box 6.7 for an example). This gender ideology complicated the lives of working-class women who carried a ‘double burden’ of 6.4.2 BOX 6.7 Gender in the Amerindian Family Traditionally, Amerindian women socialise girls into domestic skills while men socialise their sons into the arts of hunting, fishing, building, becoming knowledgeable of the flora and fauna of the forests. In the wake of greater opportunities for education and large-scale economic migration, there is now however an on-going struggle between Westernising influences and traditional practices even in the Amerindian family. 171 172 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS outside work (out of financial necessity) and domestic work (only lately referred to as unpaid work). Today it poses the same complications for middle-class women who have careers because their partners are not well disposed to sharing the domestic burdens. Over the 20th century in Caribbean countries, educational opportunities for women have steadily increased. Jobs in the service sector (nurses, teachers, office workers, sales and store clerks, public servants, receptionists, cleaners, waitresses, cooks), where mainly women tend to be employed, have grown by leaps and bounds. Women are also employed in large numbers in manufacturing, in factories and assembly plants. Increasingly, to avoid charges of sexism, employers consider males and females for jobs that were stereotypically male-oriented in the past (air traffic controllers, security guards, pilots, engineers, bus drivers) so that women from all walks of life and all educational levels now have opportunities to work outside the home. Educational opportunity, the growth in the diversity of jobs on the labour market and the intense lobby for gender equality have all resulted in the ‘norm’ today that women are expected to work and for many families their income contribution is important. For example, the share of female income in households ranges from about 30% in Costa Rica to nearly 45% in El Salvador and over 60% in Jamaica (Pagés & Piras, 2010, p. 11). As the study by Pagés & Piras points out, therein lies one of the major dilemmas and tensions in family life today – females are cast as ‘superwomen’, labouring outside as well as inside the home – but ideologies that maintain that their ‘real job’ is to take care of the home, husband and children continue and for the most part, the husband is regarded as the head of the household. In Latin America and the Caribbean, women bear the major responsibility for the unpaid care of children, the elderly, and the sick. While such a division of labor generates considerable value in terms of household goods, services, and welfare, … women have less time for paid work, take lower-quality jobs, and chose flexibility over pay or advancement in their career so that they can undertake both caregiving and wageearning tasks. (Pagés & Piras, 2010, p. 25) The changing role of men and women in the family hides an on-going power struggle that brings potential conflict into the home. Logically, if both partners work outside the home, the domestic chores should be shared equally, but this does not happen in reality. Sometimes men are not as able as women to perform domestic duties (and women may not allow them to do so in the interests of time, efficiency and so on) but, to a large extent, the deciding factor is that men do not accept that housework and domestic chores should be equally divided. Even if women bring in more money men are still unlikely to perform the brunt of housework and child care. This may be seen as another aspect of patriarchy. How the family’s income is spent, who is the main decision-maker, and how decisions are made, are areas of family life which bring out clearly the gender relations in a family. Middle-class families tend to pool their incomes, though that is done in a variety of ways. Least common is for the man and woman to put all their money together as a ‘common pot’ into which both can dip. More likely is the pooling of some of their resources to take care of family expenses with each having an independent account for personal use. The interesting thing here is that ‘personal’ for a woman might include her husband and children’s needs. It is also the case that daily expenses mount up and may surpass the original budgeted amount so that the money to pay for a new pair of gym shoes, or music lessons comes, for the most part, out of the mother’s account. In many families the man takes responsibility for financial control of the family’s affairs, paying the rent or mortgage and insurance premiums, and having the major say in buying expensive items such as furniture, a car or an appliance. The woman is more concerned with money management – making the allotted sum for the month cover all the expenses of the family (utilities, food, clothing, daily travel, health and miscellaneous items). If a couple is closely involved in overseeing all the expenses of the family then the likelihood for conflict is minimal but if the gendered separation of responsibilities is the norm then there can be accusations from both sides about overspending or hoarding – which could be the case, but it is also possible that either the man or the woman does not fully understand what goes on in the other’s defined sphere of responsibility. Single-parent families tend to be mother-headed and are most likely to experience financial difficulties because one income has to cover all eventualities. That is particularly so among low-income single-parent families where the situation could deteriorate into a daily struggle to make ends meet. Here all the money of the family is tied up in meeting immediate expenses so that there is no question of having savings as a cushion for hard times. All members of the family seek a job at the earliest opportunity and so the aspirations of children to continue to higher education, if they do exist, cannot be honoured. In fact, children may drop out of school, to ‘hustle’ an income. If a husband or male partner is CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY present in a low-income household, whether all or some of the time, his contribution may be irregular or minimal, so that the mother is also likely to be working. Compared to middle-class families, what are likely to be the power dynamics here? Research seems to indicate that if he is present on a regular basis, whether he is bringing in income or not, the man still plays the role of disciplinarian and has a say in decision-making. If, however, the woman makes most of the money and allocates it as she sees fit, there are likely to be conflicts, especially if the man still regards himself as the head of the household. To avoid such difficulties, women tend to opt for a closer bond with their children and nonpermanent relationships with men. Despite the strides in education and the opening of all types of jobs for women and the fact that they are contributing more and more to family income, women continue to earn less than men. There is no other explanation for this other than that the system of patriarchy continues to structure and influence work opportunities for women. Table 6.2 shows gender inequality in income for the same job across types of employment in Trinidad & Tobago. Table 6.2 Average monthly income by type of worker by sex, 2001 Sector of employment Male pay (TT$) Female pay (TT$) % Difference Public sector / Statutory board 3,267 3,284 -0.5 State enterprise 3,743 3,382 9.6 Non-government (private sector) 2,361 1,865 21.0 Employer 3,457 2,868 17.0 Own account worker 1,750 1,190 32.0 Paid employee Self-employed Learner/apprentice 813 783 3.6 Sources: National Policy on Gender and Development. Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Situational Analysis. Draft document. Port of Spain: Ministry of Community Development, Culture and Gender Affairs (2003). Trinidad and Tobago, Central Statistical Office, Continuous Sample Survey of the Population, Labour Force Report 2001, pp.60–62 ACTIVITY 6.4 Critical Ref lection Look at Table 6.2 carefully and answer the following questions: 1. Why do you think female income is slightly higher than males’ in the public sector? 2. Why should there be such a wide gender gap in income disparity among the self-employed? 3. What examples can you think of to illustrate this statement? The system of patriarchy continues to structure and influence work opportunities for women. To sum up: This section discussed how gender ‘organises’ relationships in the family and society and concluded that patriarchy, a system of male domination, is entrenched in all social institutions but today it is being strained by forces that seek to empower the female. Families, migration and the world of work reflect in their relationships the on-going power plays of patriarchy and threats to reduce its dominance. 6.5 Social Problems and the Family The term social problems refers to conditions, habits and practices of individuals and groups that hinder the development of the society. One of the myths about the family is that it is a private space that secludes us from the harsh realities of the outer world (or the society). On the surface that may be so but the term society includes the family which is widely regarded as ‘the smallest unit of society’. The reality is that many of the ‘problems’ that occur in families are deeply connected to conditions in the wider society, and long-term changes that affect the institution of the family usually begin in the other institutions of society. When members of society decide that something is a social problem the next step is to find a solution. People who are located differently (of a different social strata, ethnic or gender group, for instance) propose different solutions. When a government responds through formal procedures to alleviate a social problem, that is known as social policy. Domestic violence, child abuse, conjugal 173 174 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS separation, divorce, and teenage pregnancy are regarded as social problems because they all have negative impacts on families and strain other social institutions such as the economy, the justice system, religion, education, and so on. We should keep in mind what C. Wright Mills said about the sociological imagination (Chapter 1) – that we should be able to see how our lives and our problems are related to historical events and social forces in the world. And so we will know when we are confusing a personal trouble with a social problem. In this section we examine some of the conditions in the wider society that impact the family and the ways in which the family may respond, sometimes leading to social problems. This approach shows that the family is not necessarily a safe haven but instead deeply integrated into society as a social system. Changes in the relationships between social institutions internationally and locally bring about transformations in the social system that inevitably impact how the family is organised. The most important institutions in generating change are the economy, education and the mass media. Together they have brought pressure to bear on traditional attitudes to gender relations, especially patriarchy. Some of these changes are shown in Box 6.8, together with their effects. ACTIVITY 6.5 Making Connections Look carefully at Box 6.8 and write a paragraph or two explaining the connections between the two columns. Which do you think are the most important changes? Thinking sociologically allows us to see that changes in virtually all the institutions of society must impact the family. That many families cannot cope is not the fault of the family but that the institutions in the land have not been able to organise an effective response. In such a situation domestic violence, child abuse, conjugal separation, divorce and teenage pregnancy become significant social problems for the society. (§10.5.1 discusses social change in the family in relation to crime and deviance.) Domestic Violence Sometimes referred to as intimate violence or family violence, domestic violence is unfortunately a widespread occurrence. Newspaper reports routinely bring violence between husband and wife to the attention of the public, but domestic violence also includes acts of physical aggression between siblings, and against children and the 6.5.1 elderly in the home. ‘Violence’ also includes emotional, psychological and financial maltreatment which are less easy to document. Owing to the many changes cited in Box 6.8 in all social institutions, societies in the Caribbean are becoming increasingly violent. Yet, most violent acts tend to be committed by people who know their victims. The image of the family as a place of violence perpetrated on more vulnerable members is not a popular one. We prefer to think of the family as a safe haven. However, of the two images, in some territories at least, family violence may be the more accurate, and this happens at all socio-economic levels and in all ethnic groups. Incidents however are unevenly reported. Poorer groups may be quicker to make a police report than the well-todo because of the shame associated with family violence. Approximately 30% of women surveyed in Trinidad & Tobago experienced domestic violence; 67% of women in Suriname have experienced violence in a cohabiting relationship and 30% of adult women in Antigua & Barbuda and Barbados have experienced some form of domestic abuse. (Starbroek News, 2010) For the greater number of cases reported of spousal violence, the man is the perpetrator and the woman is the victim. Physical violence between intimate partners includes all types of assault, rape and stalking. Such acts result in humiliation for the victims, physical injuries, emotional trauma, hospitalisation and murder. Women are more than likely to suffer psychologically especially in chronic cases of battering (low self-esteem, depression, anxiety and isolation are common effects). Children live in fear and frustration; they may drop out of school or become loners not wanting others to know about their home situation; they may want to inflict violence on others; and if family relations deteriorate they may not get the attention they need to maintain good health and nutrition. All this is expensive to the country – costs of medical attention, loss of hours of work, school drop-outs and the reduced potential of such women and children to contribute to the development of the country. Sociological explanations for domestic abuse look for a societal pattern – what is general rather than what might be specific to individual cases. Here are some examples. Stress Families which undergo a lot of stress are likely sites for violence to erupt. Losing a job, unpaid bills, loss of a home, a sick child, obligations to relatives, one person shouldering all the responsibilities, adultery, and death CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY of a family member are all factors which can transform a family environment to one of fear, frustration, rage, disappointment, loneliness, and helplessness. Those in the lower socio-economic brackets are always more at risk because they deal with major stress every day – in the form of their struggle to make a living – and if BOX 6.8 other stressors occur members may not be able to deal effectively with so many negative circumstances. A downturn in the economy, the failure of an industry or a sudden natural disaster will put poor families into a situation of maximum stress. Social Changes that Impact on the Family Changes Effects • availability of educational opportunity for girls to tertiary level; • girls and women are less easily controlled and influenced by males in the family and there are more egalitarian attitudes in the family; • more women entering professional fields; • increasing jobs in the service sector so that more women are now employed; • aspirations of women to have a job or a career and marry and have children; • by earning their own money some women now have more say in family affairs and if necessary, an exit strategy – they can leave because they have resources; • greater awareness of gender relations and patriarchy through the efforts of the feminist lobby; • those who are not earning enough to live independent lives nevertheless do contribute to family income and expect to be heeded and follow their aspirations; • more young people studying abroad through sports and other kinds of scholarships; • men find that their authority has diminished (either as husbands, sons or fathers); • greater influence of the foreign mass media on the society; • with both parents working or in mother-headed families with the mother working, children spend a lot of time unsupervised; lower socioeconomic families often cannot pay others to take care of their children in their absence; • both boys and girls being influenced by First World values into computer technologies and the international youth culture; • explicit sexuality and pornography now widely available to all members of society through computers, DVDs and cable television; • the increasing secular nature of society or the decreasing importance of religion; • children spend long hours being socialised into First World norms via cable television and communicating via text, e-mail, instant messaging and social media as well as mingling and ‘hanging out’ with friends in the malls; • rural–urban migration and international migration have weakened the close bonds and support network provided by the extended family, increasing mother-headed households; • young people are experimenting with initial sexual encounters at an early age; peer pressure has to a large extent taken the place of parental authority and control; • areas of residence are not ‘communities’ in that neighbours tend to be strangers or acquaintances and not the people you could look to help out or offer assistance when necessary. • young people have few adults they can turn to or few adults who see it as their responsibility to guide them: the role of priests and pastors is declining, the extended kin is widely scattered, their home communities are not tightly knit and teachers do not see their first priority being the psychological health of their charges; • young people live in families and societies that are more permissive in the latitude of behaviours that are tolerated – early sexual activity, smoking, alcohol and substance abuse, school drop-outs. 175 176 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Substance abuse is sometimes said to be the cause of domestic violence. However, while they may make a bad situation worse, producing an added level of stress, they are not the underlying causes, which are to be found in socioeconomic conditions and personal trauma. The level of consumption of alcohol is quite high in the Caribbean – 50% higher than other Latin American countries – and is associated with enjoyment in social events, situations and celebrations. However, high consumption leads to highrisk behaviours and a reduced ability to deal effectively with stressors when they occur in daily life. Patriarchy If women in a male-dominated household make a bid for power or walk a path that the dominant male disapproves of, family upheaval takes place and in some instances violence happens. That increasing numbers of women today are excelling in education and sometimes earn more than their partners is threatening to the dominant paradigm of masculinity. Violence becomes a means of retaliation but we should note that while patriarchy itself is entrenched in the society, many men do not beat their wives. This patriarchy is deeply reflected in our laws and permeates our social institutions as seen in our justice system which has not been always ready to pursue and prosecute men for what was thought of as ‘family business’. Women seeking help from the police and the law courts also found little support because they were in effect challenging the right of men to abuse them by bringing the matter to male-dominated institutions. The feminist lobby has been in the forefront of agitating for changes to laws and procedures that require complaints be taken seriously. While many countries now have legislation against domestic violence, the police report that females tend to change their minds and routinely drop the charges. Perhaps if they had an ‘exit strategy’, the charges would stick because many women and their children are financially dependent on their abuser. The legal system then has begun the slow dismantling of patriarchy but if social policies cannot adequately assist low-income families and offer child support, then the majority of abused women and children have no choice but to stay with their abuser. Attempt Activity 6.6 to consider further the effect of legal sanctions on domestic violence. ACTIVITY 6.6 Read the extract below and then answer the questions. Domestic Violence in Belize In … Belize men have historically exercised almost complete economic and political power over women. In families, they have always exerted their authority and control through physical battering. Husbands beat their wives with anything they can get hold of: guns, knives, crowbars, machetes, electric wire, bottles, mop handles, rocks, boards, rope and so forth. These violent acts go unacknowledged by the community and unreported to the police and are rarely discussed among family and friends. Despite the fact that local papers periodically run stories of women mutilated, burned, and murdered by their husbands or partners, wife battering doesn’t warrant any mention in the country’s official crime documents. Women’s dependence is so deep in Belize that they are usually willing to accept abuse and tolerate offensive behaviour in exchange for economic security. Over the past two decades, however, frustrated Belizean women formed several organisations aimed at increasing women’s status, decreasing their dependence, and ending domestic violence. Their efforts came to fruition in 1993 with passage of the Domestic Violence Bill, which gives women the ability to acquire legal restraining orders against their husbands and grants police the power to make arrests in domestic disputes. (Source: D. Newman, Families: A Sociological Perspective (New York: McGraw Hill, 2009, p.355). 1. If you live in Belize, is this a fair portrayal, historically speaking, of domestic abuse in your country? If you live in another territory, is there a similar history in your country? What does your legislation say about domestic violence? 2. To what extent do legal sanctions against domestic violence affect the incidence of domestic abuse in the society? CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY The Sociological Perspectives on Domestic Violence Functionalism takes a structural view of the society and looks at how the needs of the society are met by social institutions. Where the family is concerned, Functionalism upholds an optimistic view that it is beneficial to its members and society. Any deviance in the family is looked on as dysfunctional and stems from a situation where society does not address social needs. Domestic violence, for example, is seen as a direct consequence of high stress levels and rapid social, economic and technological changes. These indicate that a state of disequilibrium exists between social institutions such as the economy, education and the family, which is reflected in individuals experiencing poverty, unemployment, crowded conditions and alienation, leading them to substance abuse, truancy, and other high-risk behaviours. In such contexts, violence against women and children increase. Conflict theorists hold the view that competition and conflict are more characteristic of the family than consensus. They focus on the role of inequity in power between various family members to explain abuse. In households where there is a more equal distribution of tasks and power, there tends to be less violence. They say that if family conflict is not managed properly, violence could result; for example, verbal abuse is a form of emotional abuse that can escalate into physical violence. In the majority of families, children are powerless and they become a target for violence in abusive households. For many Conflict theorists, patriarchy holds explanatory power in describing violence against women. Interactionist theorists study how a behaviour comes to be labelled as ‘deviant’ and what constitutes ‘domestic’ and ‘child abuse’. One of the tenets of symbolic interaction is that persons act based on the meaning they make of something. In some families corporal punishment of children (whether slight or severe) is not considered to be abuse. A second tenet is based on the idea that something has meaning for someone only through social interaction. Therefore, attitudes to domestic violence may stem from one’s culture and one’s socialization. It also suggests that increasing knowledge and interaction with different ideas could change traditional values. Interactionists are not overly concerned with finding out the ‘causes’ of why something happens because it is virtually impossible to do so, people being so varied in the influences that have shaped them. Rather, they strive to describe phenomena in as much detail as possible; so they would study how women interpret and resist abuse, the strategies they use and how they make meaning of their situation. Child Abuse Child abuse refers to any type of maltreatment meted out to children namely, physical, verbal, emotional and sexual abuse, as well as neglect. For the children affected, all can result in fear, low self-esteem, loneliness, threats to nutrition and good health, school disengagement and/or failure, listlessness, distrust of adults and erratic or violent outbursts. Occasionally they result in serious bodily harm and death. 6.5.2 Corporal Punishment Corporal punishment such as hitting children, spanking them, beating with whips, belts, sticks and the like are common practices in the Caribbean. Few people feel that spanking, hitting or slapping children now and then as punishment for inappropriate behaviour should be treated as ‘violence’. Since parents are entrusted with the socialisation of children they feel that they should have a wide repertoire of rewards and punishments in order to instil appropriate behaviours, norms and values. Even children’s rights activists have not been able to overcome this dominant view that the parental right to discipline (beat) their children is fundamental to the integrity of the family and must be preserved. Nevertheless, in Scandinavian and some other European countries there are legal sanctions against hitting children. Proponents of a ban contend that physical discipline by parents may lead to a cycle of violence where children become juvenile delinquents and abusive spouses and parents themselves, and policymakers consider this outcome too expensive to the society. In the Caribbean where there is a great deal of tolerance of the idea of occasionally using the belt or the whip to discipline children, concern usually arises when corporal punishment becomes too extreme and/ or chronic resulting in injuries, broken bones, burns, and other physical damage. At some point the transition into abuse happens. Women are just as likely as men to abuse children, possibly because they spend more time with them and may be responsible for discipline and overseeing their schooling. Child abuse is very much under-reported. Children often do not fully understand what is happening and are too small physically to be able to defend themselves. Moreover, such incidents leave them confused and troubled because more often than not they love their parents or relatives who administer punishments. ‘Battered’ children who are older are also not inclined to expose violence in the family, believing it to be a private matter, so it becomes shrouded in family secrecy. 177 178 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Children also seem to feel (or are made to feel) that they are responsible in some way for unleashing these attacks. close family members, namely fathers, stepfathers and uncles who sexually abuse young girls in their care. Reports from Jamaica and Guyana show that child abuse and neglect occurs across all socioeconomic groups and family structures. However, children from homes of low socio-economic status, children from inner-city areas and children who have a parent with mental health problems or drug / alcohol problems are most vulnerable. In addition, certain groups of children are reported to be at heightened risk for child abuse and neglect. For example, children from minority groups (Carib children from St Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica, Amerindian children in Guyana and Maroon children in Suriname) have been reported to experience higher levels of physical and sexual abuse than children from the general population. Children with disabilities are reported to be at heightened risk for all types of abuse (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect) and orphaned children and children with absentee parents are more at risk for physical abuse. There are also some reports of younger children (aged birth to 4 years and 5–12 years) being most at risk of child abuse and neglect. Child sexual abuse is any interaction between a child and an older or more powerful person, in which the child is used for sexual stimulation. The offender is usually an adult, but could also be a more powerful child. It happens all around us, in rich homes and poor ones, affecting boys and girls alike. Most times we either don’t notice or choose not to see this ugly truth. (UNICEF, 2005, p. 14) The above excerpt indicates the social groups which seem to experience a greater incidence of child abuse in the Caribbean. While this is a complex issue and individual factors are important, sociologists believe that poverty is not a cause in itself but leads to certain conditions which may predispose an adult to abuse a child. Unemployment, especially in single-parent families, may lead to depression, anger and hopelessness and when combined with drug use can produce a potentially unstable situation which may erupt into extreme violence against a child even where that child does not misbehave. Children of migrant parents left with caregivers who are undergoing such stressors or children of minorities who suffer from a lack of economic and educational opportunity, are at risk for abuse and neglect. (IGDS, 2011) The age of maturity becomes an issue in these cases. Childhood is defined by laws which stipulate the age under which sex with a minor is considered an offence (called statutory rape), whether or not consent was involved (see Activity 6.7). Some people hold patriarchal values A minor in these cases is a child or young person under the legal age of consent which encourage men to feel that since they are the providers in the home they are entitled to have intercourse with the female children of their partners. Outside the home, child sexual abuse can occur anywhere that children are not adequately supervised or if there is a transaction involved between an older man and a young girl, trading sexual favours for money. Child sexual abuse is not limited to any social group or defined by poverty. It happens in all socio-economic and ethnic groups and is not limited to young girls but can occur with babies and toddlers too. As with spousal violence, the myth that the family is a private sphere has become so encoded in our laws and practices that the police and other authorities are very reluctant to intervene in a family’s affairs. The laws themselves are not very comprehensive and enforcement occurs in a minority of cases. Those who know about such abuse and do not report it often make this choice because the perpetrator is the economic provider or because of the shame and dislocation that will necessarily result if such things are made public. Conjugal Separation and Divorce Conjugal means ‘to do with being married’ and can also apply to the common law family so prevalent in the Caribbean. A separation could be just a mutual decision to live apart but there is also a ‘legal separation’ which is a more formal agreement binding on both parties – but whether legal or not, the pair remains married. Divorce is the legal dissolution of a marriage, a family is ‘broken up’ and reforms as a new entity. 6.5.3 Child Sexual Abuse This type of abuse has its own set of dynamics differentiating it from the general term, child abuse. It is a widespread problem as evidenced by the existence of child pornography, child prostitution and paedophilia – sexual desires and relations between an adult and a child, usually a man and a very young girl. Incest is a form of child sexual abuse involving sexual relationships between CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY ACTIVITY 6.7 Social Institutions (the Justice System) Below is a description of the laws of Jamaica taken from Section 10, The Sexual Offences Act. Read the extract and then answer these questions. 1. Suggest why consent is not an adequate defense for someone accused of having sex with a person under the age of 16 years? 2. Suggest why there is the stipulation about persons 23 years and under. 3. What do you notice about the treatment of gender in how the laws are worded? Suggest ONE explanation. 4. Suggest some possible solutions to the social problem of child sexual abuse? This section states that anyone who has sexual intercourse with a person under the age of sixteen is guilty of an offense; it is immaterial whether or not the persons involved consented (Section 25). The offender will be liable to imprisonment for life. The section also states that attempted sexual intercourse with a person under the age of sixteen, with or without consent, carries a sentence of imprisonment for fifteen years. It is a defense for a person of 23 years of age or under who is charged for the first time with such an offense to show that he/she had reasonable cause to believe that the victim was of or over the age of sixteen. The section also states that where the offender is an adult in authority, he/she is liable imprisonment for life or another term the Court considers appropriate, but for a minimum of fifteen years. Where the offender has authority or guardianship over the child victim, the Court may divest the offender of all authority or guardianship over the victim upon conviction. (Source: Extract from the Sexual Offences Act, 2009, Global Resource and Information Directory, at http://www.fosigrid.org/caribbean/jamaica, accessed 17 December 2013.) Why are conjugal separation and divorce considered to be social problems? Too often the break-up of a family results in trauma for members: children, for example, may feel abandoned and alienated, resulting in poor academic achievement, truancy and dropping out of school. The standard of living of divorced women tends to be lower than that of married women because one income has to now stretch further and in most cases they are given custody of the children. Alimony payments many times do not cover the costs of bringing up children. To the family, now a single-parent family, poverty becomes a very real possibility for mother and children depending on their social standing. If any practice results in the increase in poverty and school drop-outs or underachievement then it is a social problem requiring a solution. Why is conjugal separation and divorce of sociological interest? Divorce, especially, is of sociological interest because while it is a personal decision, like separation, there are social factors which seem to affect the rates of conjugal separation and divorce in different social groups. A Conjugal separation is an official separation obtained legally, and is treated here as divorce. mutual decision to separate without going to court is an informal occurrence which is under-reported and so much cannot be said in terms of general trends. Functionalism views the rise and fall in the rates of divorce as indicators that marriage and family life may be thriving or declining. They identify the factors likely to impact families (see below) and enact social policy to address those issues because they see the stability of society at stake. An Interpretive sociologist on the other hand is more interested in looking at divorce as an event that is experienced by adults and children, to investigate the conditions and contexts that explain its occurrence, and understand its effects on members. It is seen as a lifecourse transition, among others such as leaving home, marriage, and retirement. The fact that there are many social factors that are linked to rates of divorce indicates that it is not solely a private trouble. 1. Historical factors Divorce rates increased after World War II in the USA, perhaps because of the long absence of one partner in the armed forces. The divorce rate is the ratio of the number of marriages which are dissolved in a given year to the average population in that year. 179 180 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS 2. Economic factors Generations During the Great Depression of the 1930s in the USA divorce declined, indicating that couples are likely to stay together in hard economic times and could afford to divorce in times of prosperity. Generational differences mean that people who marry at a younger age, such as teenagers, tend to have a higher rate of divorce than others. 3. Demographic factors In Western countries, the poor are more likely to be divorced than others. In the Caribbean the poor may just choose to separate because of the expense associated with a divorce. More people are living longer these days because of improvements in health, nutrition, medicine, and housing and more have access to education. There is the likelihood that fewer married people will remain married throughout this longer life span. 4. Education The increasing educational and job opportunities afforded to women means that they now have the means for financial independence and are therefore not likely to stay in a marriage and play the traditional female role. 5. Feminism The women’s movement popularised a critique of marriage showing that housework was really unpaid work; that women were expected to be subservient in return for love and family stability; and that they had to tow the line because they were economically dependent. It seems likely that the influence of this social movement has helped to increase the divorce rate. 6. Laws Perhaps because of the work of the feminist lobby, it is much easier to get divorced today than before. No-fault divorces have relaxed the grounds for divorce from a few serious accusations such as infidelity, abuse and abandonment to include vaguer conditions such as incompatibility and irreconcilable differences. 7. Attitudes Today more people tend to marry for love with the expectation of finding happiness and fulfilment. When that does not happen they are willing to divorce and marry again, showing that whilst divorce rates are rising, marriage rates are not necessarily decreasing. 8. Secularisation of society Religions tend to frown on divorce because it signals the break-up of a family. In the Roman Catholic Church marriage is considered a sacrament in which two people become one – therefore, it cannot be dissolved. However, the increasingly secular nature of the society means that fewer persons now look to a religion to arbitrate matters between a husband and a wife. The above factors affect the various social groups differently. Socio-economic groups Ethnic groups Marriage is valued among all ethnic groups but among East Indians, for example, it is seen as a stage of life marking the threshold of adulthood and is therefore very important. For this group marriage rates are high and divorce rates low. Some Comparisons Tables 6.4 and 6.5 show some comparisons in divorce rates, first between Caribbean countries, then between countries in different regions of the world. Table 6.5 also suggests some reasons for the level of divorce in particular countries. Table 6.4 Marriage and divorce rates for selected Caribbean countries per 1,000 inhabitants Caribbean country Marriage rate Divorce rate Year Anguilla 5.5 1.6 2006 Aruba 5.3 5.1 2006 Bahamas 7.9 2.1 2006 Belize 6.2 0.2 2002 Bermuda 13.7 2.8 2006 Grenada 5.0 1.1 2001 Jamaica 8.7 0.7 2006 St Lucia 2.8 0.7 2004 St Vincent & the Grenadines 5.6 0.9 2005 Suriname 4.0 1.5 2005 Trinidad & Tobago 6.3 2.2 2005 Source: United Nations (2009). World Marriage and Divorce Statistics, 2008. (New York: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs: Population Division, 2009). At http://www.un.org/esa/population/ publications/WMD2008/WP_WMD_2008/Data.html, accessed 17 December 2013. NB Countries were selected based on whether data was available for marriage and divorce rates for the same year. CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY Table 6.5 High divorce rates by ranking with some possible explanations Rank (world) Country Divorce rate (per 1000 population) Possible explanations 1 Moldova 6.5 Westernisation has brought the disintegration of traditional marriage values. Some commentators also believe that high divorce rates are part of a general decline in social structure that includes rampant corruption. 2 Belarus 4.5 The poor financial situation in the country leads to the direct break up of families and many couples avoid having children, which is another reason why families break up easily (Mite, 2006). 3 Russia 4.5 There is much value placed on marriage, even if someone is divorced many times. There are many shot-gun marriages and so much family tension and conflict (Frejka, 2008, p. 110). 4 Cuba 4.0 Although housing is free, there are so many shortages that families, sometimes four generations live under one roof, causing tensions and conflict in cramped conditions (van Berkmoes, 2008). 5 Puerto Rico 4.0 6 Ukraine 3.8 7 Latvia 3.6 8 Lithuania 3.5 9 Cayman Islands 3.0 10 USA 3.4 Economic hardship is widespread. Divorce is often a solution where despite formal equality, women find that it is difficult to get jobs in the higher levels of industry, business, politics and government (http://ukraine.uazone.net/ article1.html). Source: United Nations (2006). Demographic Yearbook, 2006. New York: UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs., pp. 824–826. ACTIVITY 6.8 Comparative Element in Sociology 1. As well as looking closely at Table 6.4, you will need to conduct your own research to answer these questions. a. Suggest reasons why St Lucia has the lowest marriage rate among the selected countries? b. Suggest reasons why Belize has such a low rate of divorce and Aruba has a relatively high rate? c. Are marriage and divorce rates rising or falling in the Caribbean? d. What may be the reasons for the trends you detected in (c) above? 2. Table 6.5 indicates those countries with the highest divorce rates in the world together with some reasons suggested by various commentators. a. Six of the countries listed were once part of the USSR. Does that suggest that the high divorce rate could have social causes? b. Suggest why the divorce rate for the Cayman Islands is so high? Why might this statistic be considered to be misleading? c. Conduct your own research to determine the trends in divorce rates in these countries since 2006. d. Find out which countries are in the top 10 today. 181 182 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS One of the effects of divorce is that it leads to diversity in families and family life, especially an increase in single-parent families. The increase in divorce rates does not necessarily reflect a reluctance to get married again. People who have divorced many times seem willing to remarry. Another marriage creates a reconstituted or blended family with children of the two new spouses now coming together to form one family. Some feel that divorce is not a social problem, rather it is the solution to a problem. In this view the real social problems are abandonment, domestic violence, drug abuse, and the values associated with and male sexuality. However, divorce indicates a failed family and since most mothers are given custody of any children the offspring of divorced parents grow up with the father playing a diminished role in their lives. Teenage Pregnancy Why is ‘teenage pregnancy’ labelled a social problem? In fact, in many countries of the world teen sexuality and teen motherhood are traditional and accepted practices in the society within marriage. The ‘problem’ for Western countries lies in unwed, that is single teen motherhood and it is labelled a ‘social problem’ for a number of reasons. 1 Adolescence is a recognised stage of development after childhood in which the individual learns to accept personal responsibility and self-control and becomes an increasingly adept decision-maker. Early sexual experimentation however is likely to disrupt this process of growth and maturity. 2 Teenage pregnancy is evidence that young people are engaging in premarital sex, something that is strongly condemned by most religions as being highly immoral, and shows that with the increasing secularisation of society teens are not likely to make decisions based on religious morals and values. 3 Adolescent parents are saddled with weighty responsibilities such as child care and finding funds to support the child. Too often this means dropping out of school and so reduces opportunities for them. The situation is not gender neutral: the pregnant teen suffers more disadvantage than her partner. 4 For lower-income persons parenthood is a drain on scarce resources; if they do receive help from their families, it is an additional burden to those families. 5 Teenage pregnancy brings extra expense for a small developing country. 6.5.4 Adolescent motherhood cost the Bahamas 0.9% of the country’s GDP, and 3.9% of GDP over the lifetime of the mothers. The country would therefore have grown by 3.9% over the mothers’ lifetime, had they all postponed pregnancy until their twenties. (Caricom, 2010, p. 121) For example: a the state has to provide a safety net for those individuals without support such as maternity expenses, ante- and post-natal outpatient clinics, and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases; b it represents wastage in its investment in education because more often than not the teen mother has to drop out of school; c it is unikely that teenagers can provide good enough guidance and socialisation skills to their children to allow them to achieve their full potential in society – children of teen parents tend to do poorly in school and are likely to join their peers in unlawful activities. To a large extent unwanted teenage pregnancy is a consequence of other social problems. Poverty is usually cited as the problem but being poor cannot be the whole story because teens from higher socio-economic brackets do get pregnant, though their pregnancies usually end in abortion. Poverty, however, can provide the contexts which may influence some adolescents to engage in atrisk behaviours. For example, crowded accommodation reduces the privacy that is normally observed by adults having sexual relations. With such knowledge, teens experiment with sex at relatively young ages. This may be most marked in families where they spend a lot of time unsupervised – those with single mothers who are working; migrant and absentee parents who have left them in the care of others; and grandparents who cannot control their teenage charges. Failing at or dropping out of school are also risk factors. Where poverty is most dire, the sense of hopelessness and futility may lead individuals to find empowerment in crime, drug abuse and early sexual relationships. Teenage pregnancies may also result from child sexual abuse, which happens in all socio-economic groups. The idea of teenage pregnancy as a ‘social problem’ is challenged by those who say that today there are more state-funded resources and programmes to help unwed mothers. Girls who take advantage of the opportunities provided to finish school and learn skills are likely to be resilient and mature in the handling of their resources and in bringing up their child. Motherhood then confers a type of responsibility that encourages some girls to be motivated to catch up on the opportunities that had passed them by. That may be the situation in the developed world, but in the Caribbean we are less likely to have the resources to rehabilitate young unwed mothers so we have to focus on preventing the problem from occurring as much as possible. One study from Jamaica (Baumgartner et al., 2009) CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY indicates the major issues that are probably common to other Caribbean territories: ■ While contraceptive use increased among teenagers in the sample, there is still a high incidence of unplanned pregnancies. ■ Those who were pregnant (as opposed to those who were not) tended to believe that contraception was the female’s responsibility. ■ Many pregnant girls indicated that their first sexual encounter was at age 14 (for those who were not pregnant their first sexual encounters were at a later age). ■ Those who had early sexual encounters also tended to have multiple partners over time. ■ Sexual coercion and violence was reported by at least half the sample. Sexual coercion has been defined … as the ‘act of forcing (or attempting to force) another individual through violence, threats, verbal insistence, deception, cultural expectations or economic circumstance to engage in sexual behavior against his or her will’. (Ellsberg & Gottemoeller, 1999) Based on this study the strategy that might make the greatest impact in reducing teenage pregnancies is one that would rely on education (either in or out of school, e.g. Health and Family Life Education, Social Studies, Family Planning campaigns, seminars on reproductive health) to offer information as well as discussion about gender relations and how patriarchy influences decisionmaking. The availability of contraception is also important. In some countries abstinence programmes have been initiated, and these have received a great deal of exposure. Teenagers are encourage to abstain from sexual intercourse altogether, and to develop friendship groups across the sexes rather than boyfriend/girlfriend exclusive relationships. Such programmes are particularly popular in countries where there is strong religious pressure to abstain from sexual relationships before marriage. However, these programmes do not seem to have been very effective in reducing teenage pregnancies. ACTIVITY 6.9 Why do you think abstinence programmes have been ineffective in reducing teenage pregnancy? Discuss the question with your friends and suggest whether these programmes could be improved or whether they should be scrapped. Social Policy Governments attempt to reduce social problems such as domestic violence, child sexual abuse and teenage pregancies through various programmes which we call social policy. Social policies are based to a large extent on social research about how people are living their lives and aim to promote the welfare and well being of all citizens. Well-being refers to how well people are, if they are happy, satisfied with their lives and participate in their communities. Welfare is more narrow and related to prosperity, income, and access to education, health and safe living and working environments. However, as small countries we have very limited resources and therefore need to spend funds in the best possible way. In addressing needs, Caribbean governments have mainly relied on supportive policies which can be termed ‘handouts’. More developmental or preventative polices such as vocational training and employment-generating measures are relatively scarce. Yet they are the ones that could help to build more empowered, knowledgeable and resilient individuals. 6.5.5 ACTIVITY 6.10 Social Improvement For each of the following problems, suggest examples of supportive, developmental and preventative social policies that governments have enacted or could enact to alleviate the problem. a. domestic violence; b. child abuse; c. conjugal separation and divorce; d. teenage pregnancy. To sum up: This section sought to describe and analyse the issues associated with the family that are designated ‘social problems’. Grief, murder or robbery in the family are not considered social problems, only those issues which have widespread impact beyond the individual family. For example, child sexual abuse has an impact on the social institution of the family, education, the economy and the justice system. While these social problems occur at all levels of society, poverty exacerbates their influence. Social policies that seek to reduce the inequalities in society and the dominant patriarchal value system are major strategies in lessening the impact of these social problems on the family and wider society. 183 184 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Chapter Summary In describing the social institution of the family, this chapter outlined the many popular misconceptions in society about the family. The Afro-Caribbean family, in particular, was labelled as ‘dysfunctional’ by ethnocentric scholars who used First World models of families as the standard. Their interest however sparked a spate of research and theory building about Caribbean families – into their origins, the phenomenon of mother-headed households, the debate as to whether they were matrifocal, the role of patriarchy, men and fathers in such households, the high rates of single parents and common law unions, and the impact of increasing education, migration and work opportunities on gender relations and families. Studying Caribbean families also revealed the differences in kinship and familial practices amongst different ethnic groups. The sociological perspectives showed that the family could be studied at the macro- and micro-levels; much of the present feminist research into inequalities in the family is in the Interpretive perspective. The chapter ended with a discussion of social problems which may seem to be individual or personal issues in families but which are influenced by social factors and have social repercussions. References Antoine, R.B. (2008). Commonwealth Caribbean Law and Legal Systems. New York: Routledge-Cavendish. Ellsberg, H. & Gottemoeller, M. (1999). Ending Violence Against Women. Population Reports, series L., no.11. Barrow, C. (1996). Family in the Caribbean: Themes and Perspectives. Kingston: Ian Randle. Frazier, E. F. (1966). The Negro Family in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. First published 1939. Baumgartner, J., Geary, C., Tucker, H., & Wedderburn, M. (2009). The Influence of Early Sexual Debut and Sexual Violence on Adolescent Pregnancy: A Matched Case-control Study In Jamaica. International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 35(1). At http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/ journals/3502109.html, accessed 4 December 2013. Frejka, T. (2008). Childbearing Trends and Policies in Europe, Bk 1. Rostock, Germany: Max Planck Insititute for Demographic Research. Caricom (2003). Women and Men in the Caribbean Community: Facts and Figures 1980–2001. Georgetown, Guyana: Caricom Secretariat. At http://crmi-undp.org/documents/documentos/112. pdf, accessed 17 December 2013. Caricom (2010). Eye on the Future – Investing in Youth Now for Tomorrow’s Community. Report of the Caricom Commission on youth development, January. At http://www.caricom.org/jsp/ community_organs/cohsod_youth/CCYD_report_cohsod3.pdf, accessed 17 December 2013. Cheal, D. (2002). Sociology of Family Life. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Clarke, E. (1999). My Mother Who Fathered Me: A Study of the Family in Three Selected Communities in Jamaica. Kingston, Jamaica: University Press of the West Indies. First pub. 1957 (London: Allen & Unwin). Craton, M. (2001). Changing Patterns of Slave Families in the British West Indies. In R. Rothberg (ed.), Population History and the Family: A Journal of Interdisciplinary History Reader, pp. 137– 172. Boston, MA: MIT Press/Journal of Interdisciplinary History. Herskovits, M. (1958). The Myth of the Negro Past. Boston: Beacon Press. First published 1941. IGDS (2011). Break the Silence: End Child Sexual Abuse. A Research Project. St. Augustine: Institute of Gender and Development Studies, UWI, in collaboration with the Coalition Against Domestic Violence, UNICEF and the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. Ifill, M. (2003). African Family Structures in the Immediate PostEmancipation Era. Starbroek News, 17 September 2003. At http://www.landofsixpeoples.com/news303/ns3091810.htm, accessed 4 December 2013. Klass, M. (1961). East Indians in Trinidad: A Study in Cultural Persistence. New York: Waveley Press. Lewis, O. (1959) Five Families: Mexican Case Studies in the Culture of Poverty. New York: Basic Books. Mintz, S., & Price, R. (1976). An Anthropological Approach to the Afro-American Past: A Caribbean Perspective. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues. Mite, V. Belarus: Economic, Social Conditions Blamed For High Divorce Rate. Cited on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. At http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1068444.html, accessed 4 December 2013. CHAPTER 6: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: THE FAMILY Mohammed, P. (1999). Family Revisited. In P. Mohammed & S. Shepherd (eds), Gender in Caribbean Development: Papers Presented at the Inaugural Seminar of the University of the West Indies Women and Development Project, 2nd ed., pp. 164–175. Kingston, Jamaica: Canoe Press. Murdock, G. P. (1949). Social Structure. New York: Macmillan. Olsen, T. (2009). The Impact of Migration on Children in the Caribbean: UNICEF, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Office. Pagés, C., & Piras, C. (2010), with contributions by S. Duryea and N. Schady. The Gender Divide: Capitalizing on Women’s Work. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank. At http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument. aspx?docnum=35117341, accessed 4 December 2013. Parsons, T. & Bales, R. (1955). Family, Socialisation and Interaction Processes. Glencoe, IL: Free Press. Smith, R.T. (1963). Culture and Social Structure in the Caribbean: Some Recent Work on Family and Kinship Studies. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 6(1), pp. 24-46. Smith, S., Hamon, R., Ingoldsby, B., & Miller, J. (2009). Exploring Family Theories. New York: Oxford University Press. Starbroek News (2010). Domestic, Sexual Violence Rates Soaring in the Caribbean – Wiltshire. Online, Tuesday September 28th 2010.At http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/news/stories/09/28/ domestic-sexual-violence-rates-soaring-in-caribbean-wiltshire/, accessed 4 December 2013. UNICEF (2005). Regional Assessment: Violence against Children in the Caribbean Region – a Desk Review. Kingston, Jamaica: UNICEF. At http://www.unicef.org/lac/spbarbados/ Implementation/CP/Regional/Violence_deskreview_2005.pdf, accessed 4 December 2013. Smith, M.G. (1962). West Indian Family Structure. Seattle: University of Washington Press. United Nations (2002). International Migration, Wallchart. New York: Population Division of the United Nations Secretariat, ST/ ESA/SER.A/219, Sales No. EO3.XIII.3. Smith, M.G. (1965). The Plural Society in the British West Indies. Berkeley: University of California Press. Van Berkmoes, R. (2008). Caribbean Islands. London: Lonely Planet. Smith, R.T. (1956).The Negro Family in British Guiana: Family Structure and Social Status in the Villages. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Warner-Lewis, M. (2003). Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures. Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press. 185 CHAPTER 6: 186 Exercises and Test Questions (A) Multiple Choice Questions Please select the BEST POSSIBLE answer. 1. Which of the following is NOT a function of the family? (a) reproduction (b) socialisation (c) economic stability (d) authority 2. Polygamy refers to (a) plural marriages where there is more than one husband or wife (b) the crime of having more than one legally married spouse (c) one woman married to several men (d) one man married to several women 3. The practice of selecting a spouse or partner from within one’s social group is known as (a) exogamy (b) polygny (c) polyandry (d) endogamy 4. A society where men in the household exercise power and authority over women and children is called (a) patriarchal (b) matriarchal (c) patrilineal (d) matrilineal 5. Why do Functionalist sociologists feel that society would break down if the family has problems? I The family is the smallest building block of society. II Family problems can spread to other organisations III Sexuality would no longer be contained within the family. (a) I and II (b) II and III (c) I and III (d) I, II and III 6. Which of the following statements BEST describes the family as a social institution? (a) all the beliefs and values about family in a society (b) the dominant ideas and ideologies about family in a society (c) the family as part of the social system (d) the family types and structures that exist in a society 7. Which ONE of the following is an ethnocentric belief about Caribbean families? (a) the family is a safe haven (b) Caribbean families are widely diverse (c) dysfunction in the family is related to the social structure (d) the nuclear family is the ideal family type 8. Which of the family types or unions below can give rise to a nuclear family? I stem families II common law unions III visiting relationships (a) I only (b) I and II (c) I and III (d) II only 9. Which of the following family types is an ‘extended’ family form? (a) reconstituted families (b) nuclear families (c) sibling families (d) stem families 187 10. The anthropologist who theorised that slavery had erased any African cultural retentions in Afro-Caribbean families was (a) Frazier (b) Lewis (c) Herskovits (d) Mintz (B) Structured Response Questions Each response should be about three or four lines and carries 4 marks. (1) Why did Murdock regard the nuclear family as the ideal type of family? (2) Give TWO reasons for the persistence of the extended family in the Caribbean. (3) Outline FOUR ways in which the Caribbean family is undergoing transformation. (4) Describe TWO contributions of feminist Marxists to understanding the family. (5) Give ONE argument supporting the view that women are oppressed as a group in society and ONE argument refuting it. (6) Distinguish between the terms, matrifocal and matrilineal. (7) Briefly describe the consensus view of the family. (8) How has industrialisation impacted kinship patterns in the Caribbean? (9) How does ‘the family’ as a social institution differ from ‘families’ in society? (10) Provide an explanation of what is meant by ‘kinship’. (C) Essay Questions In this section some essay questions are given (25 marks). The questions may involve further research building on what the chapter offers. A specimen answer to the first of these essays is provided, with annotations. Refer back to Chapter 1 for guidelines of how to critique a sociological essay. (1) Discuss the arguments of selected sociological theories about men and fatherhood in the Caribbean. (2) Give arguments for and against the view that in the Caribbean the matrifocal family is the typical family form. (3) Distinguish between the Functionalist and the Interpretive perspectives on the family. (4) Examine, and critique, feminist arguments on the influence of patriarchy on families. (5) Critically analyse the possible ways in which poverty influences the Caribbean family. 188 CHAPTER 6: Sample Answer and Critique Discuss the arguments of selected sociological theories about men and fatherhood in the Caribbean. In this essay three of the major theories about men and fatherhood will be discussed – namely, gender socialisation, patriarchy, and male marginalisation. Research into Afro-Caribbean males and fathers has tended to portray men as a marginalised group of low income status contributing minimally to the family where the woman is often the breadwinner and homemaker. However, extending those views to the bulk of the Afro-Caribbean male population cannot be justified because they belong to many different socio-economic groups, occupations, religions and educational levels. Even among poorer groups, these portrayals are stereotypical and are not based on research taking the views of men into consideration. Sociological theorising in the traditional model, for example that of Functionalism, by generalising findings tends to encourage and maintain stereotypes. The complexity of representing men’s lives as fathers and partners is better elaborated through Conflict and Interpretive perspectives. Gender socialisation theories state that the rearing of children to conform to social constructions of gender begins in the family and continues throughout life. It is reinforced by schooling, the media, the world of work and one’s peers. Gender stereotypes are so well solidified in the society that they are almost invisible to its members. Nevertheless, boys and girls from birth are directly or indirectly trained to regard themselves as differing considerably from each other. Traditional sex role stereotypes result in an understanding of masculinity as opposite to that of femininity. Boys and men are encouraged to establish an identity that is comfortable outside the home in the public sphere and in active pastimes such as sports (Leo-Rhynie, 1998). Girls and women are socialised into seeing femininity as homemaking and caring for children. They are discouraged from being ‘tomboys’ or outspoken and aggressive whilst these are the characteristics that males are supposed to adopt. While these child-rearing practices will vary from home to home as well as by ethnic and socio-economic categories – even by individual prowess and abilities – these dispositions are widely inculcated and not only in the Caribbean. Gender theorists say that such learned behaviour has implications for men as fathers. Their lack of involvement in household chores, cooking and looking after children continues as they become fathers, looking for any means to escape family-related duties, preferring to spend more time at work, with their friends or playing sports. These theories identify mainstream conceptions of gender and socialisation helping to form norms, and are the major reasons why Caribbean males tend to be not as helpful in the home as they could be. Further, it suggests an explanation for the absences or periodic absences of males in the home which is a crucial factor because of the dearth of male role models, in the socialisation of both boys and girls in the family. Critics of gender socialisation theories underscore that it is difficult to show how someone takes up a behaviour that is modeled and that individuals are not passively socialised into norms (Watts & Borders, 2005, Wharton, 2005). They point to the many men who uphold their responsibilities in the Indicates how the essay is to be focused. Critiques different socologocal perspective briefly. Ends with a possible theme to return to in subsequent paragraphs. Gender socialisation theories Social change – opposing mainstream theorising 189 home and participate in the bringing up of children despite mainstream gender stereotypes. They cite changes in education and the world of work as well as the feminist lobby to show that gender stereotypes are changing and that the economic situation which has encouraged women to go out to work has also forced men, both employed and unemployed, to assist in taking care of the home. It is difficult to try to describe a social situation that is undergoing rapid change but, for the most part, we seem to be living in an era where the traditional gender stereotypes are under attack. At the same time we cannot say that men are now active in the home. Interpretive research shows that although some men are taking the responsibility for domestic affairs they do not feel that sense of fulfilment and affirmation they get, say, when they participate in sports or outside-the-home activities. These theories point out that arguments which continue to frame the issue as gender socialisation neglect important changes occurring such as the efforts of some men to carve out a new set of behaviours in ways that make them feel comfortable and empowered (the role of agency). Other theorists see patriarchy as having more explanatory power than gender socialisation. They see gender socialisation as a necessary sub-process within an overarching system of patriarchy where gender socialisation processes reinforce and deepen patriarchy in the society. This is a radical feminist view – patriarchy means domination by men in families, at the workplace, in politics, the law and so on. They describe it as a system of oppression of women by men where men and fathers exert the dominant power in families and act as the heads of households because they are male. Their relationship to their female partners and children is an authoritarian one. This is more pronounced in East Indian families where patriarchy has traditionally been the norm but it occurs in AfroCaribbean households, to a lesser extent, because patriarchy is deeply engrained in the traditions and practices of the society. Critics of this view, particularly Errol Miller (1994), find that there is much sweeping generalisation in how radical feminists put their case and it is perhaps because they are overly concerned with advocacy and the righting of perceived wrongs. He proposes that all men, in the Caribbean and elsewhere, are not oppressors, particularly those who are poor and marginalised by society, and that gender cannot be the only basis for analysis. Both men and women belong to significant social groupings – ethnicity and social class being two of the most important – and how men and fathers develop in each of these needs to be taken into consideration. For example, Western scholarship finds much evidence for the oppression of women in families but the lower-income Afro-Caribbean experience, especially in matrifocal settings, does not exactly echo this situation. Men and fathers may be absent or marginal for economic reasons thereby forcing women to take more control of the family’s affairs. Feminists counter by saying that patriarchy is such an embedded system that even men and fathers who opt for more egalitarian households find it an uphill battle to go against the social norms derived from male domination. The male marginalisation thesis advances the view that boys in the Caribbean have been underachieving in the education system at all levels, relative to girls, and do not seem to be as motivated to seek further education or work. With the opening up of educational opportunities and Interpretive theory Radical feminism Caribbean theorising 190 non-traditional jobs for girls, females are being employed at all levels much more than before. This has effects on men and fathers in that underachievement and unemployment affects their authority in the home, their self-confidence and sense of self-efficacy. Particularly, it impacts on their relationships with their wives and partners because the traditional roles are being eroded away, and more so when in a home a man cannot contribute to the upkeep of the family. Miller in the case of Jamaica specifically states that the closure of the teachers’ colleges for men in the 19th century forced poor black men to remain in menial occupations and helped poor black women to aspire to the middle class. He saw this as being deliberately orchestrated by the brown and white men (those of a different ethnicity and higher economic status) because of the inherent conflicts among men. Miller’s thesis has generated a storm of protest especially from feminists who object to the idea of the advancement of women through a plot by men of a higher social class and ethnic grouping (Barriteau, 2003). Others suggest that men are not marginalised (by others) but engage in behaviours that jeopardise their own advancement. They cite rejection of the norms of schooling, embracing the street culture, participation in gang and criminal activities (Chevannes, 1996). Still others bring the debate right around to the starting point by suggesting that it is their socialisation into a rigid male gender identity, which is machismo-based and maintained by patriarchal relations, that encourage such behaviours. These three theories have significant overlap although in each case the theorists see important differences. To bring them together one must acknowledge the system of patriarchy in social life and how it confines males and females into very fixed notions of masculinity and femininity. Thus, gender socialisation is a key ingredient in any theorising that focuses on men and fathers in the Caribbean. The Interpretive perspective has gone further than others in fleshing out how patriarchy actually disadvantages men. The acceptance that ‘being male’ involves a particular kind of conformity – to certain ideas of sexuality, a ‘cool pose posture’, being a sporting enthusiast, and rejecting school and family-oriented norms – is difficult for all males, but especially for those who want to be different. The machismo culture however keeps men in conformist roles, especially through their peers. This line of research acknowledges that there are different masculinities but patriarchy only has a dominant acceptable view. Male marginalisation then has gone beyond laying blame for the plight of men on women to an examination of the conflictual and hostile relationships among men. Bibliography Barriteau, E. (2003). Requiem for the Male Marginalisation Thesis in the Caribbean: Death of a Non-theory. In E. Barriteau (ed.), Confronting Power, Theorising Gender: Interdisciplinary Perspectives in the Caribbean. Mona, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press. Chevannes, B. (1996). The Role of the Street in the Socialisation of Caribbean Males. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Caribbean Studies Association, San Juan, May. Male Marginalisation 191 Leo-Rhynie, E. (1998). Socialisation and the Development of Gender Identity: Theoretical Formulations and Caribbean Research. In C. Barrow (ed.), Caribbean Portraits: Essays on Gender Ideologies and Identities. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle. Miller, E. (1994). The Marginalisation of the Black Male: Insights from the Development of the Teaching Profession. 2nd ed., Kingston, Jamaica: Canoe Press. Watts, R.H., & Borders, L.D. (2005). Boys’ Pperceptions of the Male Role: Understanding Gender Role Conflict in Adolescent Males. e Journal of Men’s Studies, 13, pp. 267–280. EBSCO online database. At http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=fmh&AN=15851714&site=ehost-live Wharton, A. S. (2005). The Sociology of Gender: An Introduction to Theory and Research. Malden, MA: Blackwell. 192 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS The major expectations of this chapter are that you will recognise that the social institution of religion is: ■ interpreted differently by each sociological perspective; ■ based on what each society values as ‘the sacred’ and ‘the profane’; ■ comprised of beliefs in a supernatural entity/entities or in a system of ethics; ■ observed through rites and rituals as prescribed by dogma; ■ characterised, in different societies, by the same concerns – how the faithful should behave, what is taboo, a concept of God, the hereafter; ■ subject to social change such as changes brought on by the contemporary forces of fundamentalism, secularisation and globalisation; ■ made up of both dominant and marginal belief systems so that in Caribbean societies there are major churches or World Religions, and many smaller ones, including Afro-Caribbean religions; ■ dominated in the Caribbean by syncretism; ■ influenced by history, as seen in the Caribbean, with European, Asian, and African religious influences; ■ full of conflict in multi-ethnic/religious Caribbean societies where each religious group sees their own religion as a basis of identity and is therefore alert to any ‘threats’ they see as marginalisation. 193 7 Social Institutions: Religion When sociologists study the social institution of religion they describe beliefs and dogma (or doctrines) but they do not make value judgements or attempt to justify or criticise the beliefs or creeds of others. Rather, they study the functions of religion as a social institution in holding the society together, or as a source of oppression or prejudice, or enabling people to reach states of comfort or salvation through religious observances. Sociology is a comparative discipline and so religions can be compared according to number of adherents, the dominant socio-economic class of members, the rituals they practise and the nature of social change. Comparisons can help us to deepen our own understandings of familiar practies – for example, how birth is interpreted and celebrated in different societies illustrates for us what we have chosen to emphasise in our own practices. 7.1 Religion, Spirituality and Belief Systems To say what it is, is not possible… the essence of religion is not even our concern, as we make it our task to study the conditions and effects of a particular type of social behaviour. (Weber, 1963, p. 1) Weber’s point is that defining ‘religion’ is not a sociological activity. Sociologists focus their attention on religion, as a social institution, and that entails the study of (a) how religion affects people – their behaviours, practices, observances, taboos, ideas, values, beliefs and their relationships with non-believers, as well as (b) how society affects religion – for example, the increasing secularisation of social life and perhaps the opposite movement, fundamentalism, as well. Weber felt that Secularisation refers to a movement away from regarding religion as important, and/or a decline in the place of religion in public life. Fundamentalism holds to literal and strict interpretations of holy books and principles. describing the effects and behaviours associated with religion was all that the sociology of religion demanded. Consequently, the more personal side to matters of faith – beliefs and trust in the unseen by the individual – does not concern the sociologist. 7.1.1 The Sacred and the Profane In this section we explore the views of Émile Durkheim on religion. Like Weber, he felt that the sociological study of religion should confine itself to people’s actions and practices. However, in order to be able to describe their behaviours he found it necessary to delve into the very heart of religion itself to try to distil the most important elements that would explain people’s behaviour (note the emphasis on how people are affected). In so doing he attempted to create a definition of religion according to what is regarded as sacred and profane. A religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them. (Durkheim, 1954, p. 47) Durkheim came to the conclusion that there are some things in social life that people revere or believe are holy. This is the ‘sacred’. Such things may or may not pertain to beliefs in an other-worldly being or beings, a holy book or set of scriptures, places of worship, acts of worship, persons who lead or head congregations of believers and certain associated rites, ceremonies and practices. What is ‘holy’ is set apart from the normal activities of daily life which are considered ‘profane’. Whilst the meaning of profane in normal speech usually refers to wicked, blasphemous or disrespectful acts, Durkheim uses it to 194 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS The statue of Bahubali in Karnataka, India, dates from the 10th century and is one of the holiest shrines to Jains mean things that are of this world (material, routine, ordinary) as opposed to the realm of the sacred (beliefs that inspire awe and devotion for some entity or set of principles). Note that Durkheim’s definition shies away from specifically referring to gods or supernatural beings because what is held sacred by a group may be a set of ethical principles, such as those that guide Buddhists, which were not handed down by a divine being. He was trying for an all-embracing sociological understanding of religion that would accommodate all the world’s belief systems by focusing on a fundamental unifying feature. He felt that the simple division of things sacred and things profane captured the basic universal trait of all religions. Indeed, this was a powerful insight and continues to be widely studied today. To Durkheim, religion is bound up with the relationship of the faithful to these sacred things (their behaviours) and not necessarily what they believe. Examples of the sacred may include: ■ a holy book - for example, the Koran, the Bible, the Bhagvad Gita, the Talmud, and the Tao-te-Ching; ■ ceremonies handed down or prescribed in scriptures in which members must participate - for example, the communion or eucharist in Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican services; ■ places important as holy sites – for example, in Jainism, the huge rock-hewn statue of Bahubali in Karnataka, India (above); Jainism is an ancient religion of non-violence which involves a belief in rebirth to a higher or lower state; the enlightened become gods and are reborn no more; Jains believe that the universe is eternal and infinite. relics, artifacts and symbols which have sacred meanings - for example, in Durkheim’s study of aboriginal religion in Australia he found that the totem, which was a carving or painting of an animal or a plant, was revered by the whole clan more than the actual animal or plant. The abstract representation was regarded as the life force of the actual object and held sacred. Profane acts may be the personal decisions and actions one takes in daily life where convenience, material gain and utility are the main factors considered. (This is far removed from the attitudes of transcendence that the faithful as a group adopts in religious ceremonies.) Specific profane acts which believers may see as compromising the sacredness of objects or principles may include: ■ ordinary members of a congregation walking around the altar in Roman Catholic churches; ■ CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION non-Muslims entering some mosques and Islamic shrines such as the Kaaba in Mecca; ■ religious icons being handled by non-believers; ■ women making a bid to be priests and clerics in some religions. Durkheim focused on the symbols, rites and rituals of religion in defining a sacred sphere which dictated how the members acted among themselves and in relation to non-members. These behaviours and relationships may be prescribed by religious beliefs but also could have developed over time in different cultural contexts. This sacred space is also a social space in which priests, shamans, pundits and imams maintain and prescribe rules to preserve its sacred nature. It is therefore the existence of this sacred realm (and therefore the profane as well) which defines religion. In underscoring the sociological importance of religion, Durkheim makes it clear that while it may be a personal conviction of an individual, more importantly it involves a community or a society who commit to such beliefs. Ultimately he felt that such strong emotions and beliefs served to unify society and that that was the main function of religion in society. The space where believers met to worship and conduct ceremonies proved to be the ritualistic, communal force binding them together. Durkheim’s views on religion and society are discussed further under the Functionalist perspective (§7.2.1). ■ ACTIVITY 7.1 The Sociology of Religion Which of the following acts are (a) important to the religious believer, (b) important to the sociologist of religion, and (c) important to both? 1. attributing a prophecy or vision to God; 2. relating faith-based practices to social characteristics; 3. feeling a sense of peace through religious observance; 4. accepting beliefs based on faith; 5. understanding what religion is; 6. understanding what religion does; 7. witnessing and/or experiencing transcendental states during worship. Belief Systems A belief system refers to a set of faith-based beliefs either formalised in a religion or loosely or informally held, as in non-denominational groups such as the New Thought movement (see Box 7.1, page 196). The term ‘belief 7.1.2 system’ therefore covers religions, non-denominational faiths, spiritual practices, cults and sects. Box 7.1 describes some of the major terms associated with the study of religion with which you should become familiar. Weber used some of these terms as examples of ideal types (§3.1.3). By ideal types, he meant the ‘purest’ example of something, which had all the necessary and sufficient characteristics of that thing. At the same time, other forms may exist representing variation from the ‘ideal’. Thus, sects or denominations today may embody some of the characteristics as elaborated by Weber but also can have other quite distinct features. Box 7.2 (page 197), partly based on Weber’s classification, distinguishes between different groups and sub-groups which regard themselves as religious. Cults Cults form within existing religions or denominations because of a ‘new’ teaching or scripture revealed by a charismatic figure who usually ends up leading the cult. They do not necessarily break off from their parent denomination initially. Controversial and ill-fated cults include the People’s Temple in Guyana led by Jim Jones (1978), the Heaven’s Gate, Branch Dravidians, and Solar Temple in the United States as well as the Amun Shinrykyo in Japan. In popular use the term tends to be derogatory and used interchangeably with ‘sects’ perhaps because they both tend to attract those disenchanted with conventional worship. Many cults break up on the death of the founder but some grow into denominations. The Mormon religion (otherwise known as the Church of the Latter Day Saints) began as a cult in the 19th century in the USA around the teachings of Joseph Smith. It has grown in membership to become a ‘denomination’. However, there are fundamentalist splinter groups, which we could call ‘sects’ that have separated from the mainstream church over the issue of polygamy, which was officially discontinued in 1890. It is difficult to insert ‘cults’ into the continuum shown in the diagram, because they are new religious groups which would not have been known to Weber. Weber did not use the term ‘cult’. Sociologists added that to the other terms he used in classifying religions. It is also useful to keep in mind that no member of any faith-based system is likely to describe his or her group as a ‘cult’ or ‘sect’. If you believe in it, it is a religion or perhaps ‘the’ religion; and if you do not care one way or another about it, it is a sect; but if you fear and hate it, it is a cult.’ (Pfeffer, 1979–80) 195 196 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS BOX 7.1 Major Terms in the Study of Religion Agnostic – someone who thinks that it is unknowable whether God exists or does not exist. Animism – the belief that there is a force or spirit within natural objects in the universe so that there is no difference between the spiritual and the physical world. Rocks, mountains, bodies of water, volcanoes, thunder, animals and plants bear these spirits. To the Shinto of Japan there is an overarching spirit, Kami, manifest in all things and worshipped at a multitude of shrines and holy places. Animism is also common in Africa. Asceticism is the belief that someone can reach a high level of spiritual development by practising self-denial, self-mortification, abstinence and an austere lifestyle. In Hinduism a holy man or saddhu gives up personal possessions, including family, and wanders in search of liberation or enlightenment. Atheism is the belief that there is no god (or gods). Buddhism can be described as an atheistic religion. While the core religion does not focus on an eternal deity but on practical steps to alleviate suffering, Buddhism was adopted in many countries and incorporated into existing theistic belief systems, so that there is a lot of variation. Infidel is a term, historically, used mainly by Christians and Muslims to describe ‘non-believers’. It is an ethnocentric term that labels the ‘other’, similar to the term pagan which was used by Christians in the past to describe non-Christians (and which itself comes from an earlier Roman distinction for those who did not believe in the Roman/Greek pantheon). Today, paganism is a religion subscribed to by neo-pagans such as Wicca, Druids). Irreligious describes those lacking reverence or who are hostile to religion. However, someone may be against organised forms of religion and still maintain faith in a deity or engage in spiritual practice. Many today fall into this category. Magic includes rites, chants and practices which attempt to make seemingly impossible things happen. Durkheim felt that magic couldn’t just be described as ‘superstition’ and so be differentiated from religion because religion also contained superstitious elements. A better distinction was to associate religion with the public and social sphere and magic to the personal and individual sphere. Millenarian movements are religions based on a belief, usually within Christian doctrine, that the Second Coming of Christ will usher in a thousand years of divine rule on Earth. Any group which professes a similar dramatic change in the existing world order is described as millenarian, for example, al Qaeda and the Rastafari. Monotheism is a belief in one supreme, creator God, as in Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Zoroastrianism. (Compare with polytheism later in this box.) There can be ‘grey areas’ in this, for example Christian belief in the doctrine of the Trinity and Roman Catholic reverence for St Mary and the Saints; by contrast, the many gods of Hinduism are all manifestations of one supreme power. Mysticism – usually found among smaller groups within a religion. Mystics are persons who seek direct union with God through heightened consciousness and transcendental states that induce religious ecstasy. In the Jewish mysticism tradition, the Kabbalah, meditation and contemplation are ways in which the individual can find union with God. Naturism refers to the worship of the forces of nature. It is claimed that in an evolutionary way religion began with nature worship. But there were early societies which were based on monotheism. For example, one of the oldest monotheistic religions, Zoroastrianism, was founded in Persia (modern-day Iran) by Zarathushtra (Zoroaster in Greek) around 6000 BCE. New Thought movement – an umbrella term for a number of beliefs and practices focusing on mental wholeness through practical spirituality. Orthodox Christianity – a grouping of churches with similar beliefs including Russian Orthodox and the Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox and the Coptic (Egyptian Orthodox) Churches. (Orthodoxy means traditional teachings, conventional acceptance of revealed ‘truths’.) The Eastern Orthodox Church came into being as a separate grouping in 1054, when disagreements between Greek-speaking Roman Catholic churches in eastern Europe and Latin-speaking Roman Catholic churches in Western Europe over doctrine and ecclesiastical authority led to the two halves of the Christian Church severing ties with each other. Polytheism – belief in a pantheon of many gods and goddesses. In Hinduism there are many deities such as Vishnu, Shiva, and Krishna, so it tends to be classified as polytheistic but Hindu deities are all manifestations of one supreme being or power. Some authorities therefore class Hinduism as neither monotheistic nor polytheistic (§7.3.4). CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION BOX 7.2 Religious Groups and Sub-Groups Weber devised a classification system for religions in which he saw an evolutionary development into fully-established and stable groupings, called churches. At the other end of the continuum he placed sects. The criteria he used for placing a religious group into a certain category were: • how separate it was from the dominant beliefs of the local culture; • whether the group grew or decreased over time; and • the level of organisation within the group. Later sociologists refined his typology and added the terms ecclesia and cults (see Figure 7.1 and the discussion below). Note, in the diagram, that a religious group can move either way (an example of social change). • the extent to which it was a ‘protest’ movement or a stable entity; Denominations Sects Sects are based on protest and separation from parent denomination. They attempt to purge their worship of the heretical elements they identify in the parent body. They are suspicious of other religious groups and maintain an ‘Us versus Them’ attitude. Sects tend to attract those who are dissatisfied with their social status or who feel marginalised by society. One sect that grew into a full-fledged denomination is the Protestant group that formed around Martin Luther in the 16th century. This grew into the Lutheran Church of today. Ecclesia An Ecclesia is similar to a Church in that it is strongly integrated into the dominant social, political and cultural life of a group, and usually statesupported. Examples include the Church of Denmark (the National Church); the Anglican Church in England; Islam in Iran and Saudi Arabia. Churches A Church is a religious organisation that is deeply embedded in the religious, political, and economic life of a society. It is bureaucratic with a hierarchy of clerics and elaborate rules prescribing behaviour. A Church is the major religious force in a society. Services are highly liturgical, following prescribed rituals. There is less of an emphasis on personal salvation than is characteristic of smaller Christian denominations such as the Pentecosts. Examples include the Roman Catholic Church in early modern Europe, and the Orthodox Church in 19th century Russia. Figure 7.1 Weber’s continuum of religious groups There is a move afoot to abandon the term ‘cult’ altogether because of the negative connotations associated with it. Sociologists now use the term New Religious Movements (NRMs) but, ‘sect’ continues with precise meanings in sociology. New Religious Movements include Wicca, Church of Scientology, the Unification Church, the New Age Movement, the New Thought Movement, the Hare Krishna Movement, and Baha’ism among many others which were previously called ‘cults’. ACTIVITY 7.2 Social Life 1. Suggest TWO reasons why sects and cults are regarded in a disrespectful way by many in society. 2. Suggest ONE reason why the study of the sociology of religion sometimes brings discomfort to students? 197 198 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Religions worldwide Comparatively speaking, we can identify some major differences between the religions or belief systems of the West and those of Asia. Religions in the West tend to have a well-defined concept of a Supreme God ( Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and their offshoots) together with formal places of worship, and religious officials. Many oriental religions on the other hand, such as Confucianism (Box 7.3 below), Buddhism, Taoism, and Shinto, do not concern themseves with specific deities and blur the distinction between what is sacred and profane. This represents a challenge to Durkheim’s universal notion of a stark division into the sacred and the profane. BOX 7.3 Confucianism Confucianism is widespread in China and South-East Asia. It is based on a set of ethical and moral values, including respect for elders and social responsibility, attributed to a Chinese philosopher, Confucius. These are not ‘transcendental’ but very practical philosophical principles or religious values on which to base one’s life. Interestingly, Confucius did not dispute that ‘heaven’ existed but his teachings did not include the influence of other-worldly beings. Protestant Christianity Catholic Christianity Orthodox Christianity Sunni Islam Shi’ite Islam Islam (other groups) Judaism Hinduism Theravada Buddhism Mahayana Buddhism Vajrayana Buddhism Chinese Religion Nature Religions Other Groups Figure 7.2 Map showing distribution of world religions ACTIVITY 7.3 Social Inquiry Answer the questions below, which are based on the map, Figure 7.2, showing dominant religions worldwide. 1. a. Suggest how demographers and statisticians arrived at the approximate numbers for each religion. b. In what ways could their survey reflect inaccuracies? 2. One criticism of this map is that atheism has been ignored. Suggest why that may be so. If you were to add that category, which countries would you highlight? To sum up: This first section focused on the issues involved in defining religion and how the sociological study of religion could be distinguished from other ways of studying or regarding it. The section went on to give a global and comparative view of religions as well as some of the key terms used. We now turn to the theoretical and sociological perspectives of the social institution of religion. CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION 7.2 Sociological Perspectives on Religion In terms of sociology, religion is a social institution and its social aspects are of more interest to the sociologist than the religious experience of believers. For example, the symbols and rites of religious worship have significance for the individual because the group of worshippers to which he or she belongs share in a set of meanings about the sacred (so this is a social feature). The sociologist is also interested in how religion is practised in particular social and cultural contexts which may be meaningless or even a source of persecution in others. For example, throughout the Appalachian states of North America there are small churches where serpent handling has played a central role in worship, literally interpreting the Scripture that says ‘they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them’ (Mark 16:17–18). However, such practices are regarded as ‘backwoods’ religion in the large urban centres nearby such as Atlanta, Georgia. In this section you will be introduced to how sociologists, from different perspectives, seek to understand religion. Functionalism Functionalism emphasises the consensus role played by social institutions in maintaining social stability. Durkheim’s The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (first published 1912) portrayed religion as something devised by society to increase social cohesion. He viewed the relationship between God and believers as similar to that between society and its members. Believers come together to worship God and to carry out practices to promote God in their lives. Similarly, members of society collaborate and carry out practices to preserve rather than destroy society. He went so far as to say that in the act of worship people were actually worshipping society. He meant that in coming together regularly and living according to moral codes people were continually reinforcing and strengthening the bonds holding society together (§7.1.2). Functionalists are therefore concerned with preserving society as a unified whole and they look to social institutions as the means to develop this unity or consensus. By participating in religious worship and other practices, they believe that the needs of individuals are met. Such needs include providing believers (individuals) with 1 an explanation of the meaning of life; 2 a sense of belonging; 3 feelings of comfort and solace in the face of anxiety and crisis; 7.2.1 4 a set of beliefs about a supernatural being or ideas and principles by which to live one’s life; 5 a view of the hereafter; 6 practices and rituals that foster intense feelings and emotions that serve to bond members into a collective consciousness. By satisfying these needs, Functionalists say that religion is carrying out certain functions which at the macro-level become important for the stability and continuity of the society. For example, such functions provide opportunities for the society (the collective) to continue to be (a) integrated based on common beliefs and practices, and (b) regulated through adherence to the norms, bonds and moral codes of that society. These functions are carried out through the processes of socialisation. We are socialised through religion to integrate and regulate the society. Durkheim explained BOX 7.4 Civil Religion Robert Bellah is an American sociologist who applied Durkheim’s claim, that when we are worshipping God we are really worshipping society, to America. His argument is that although in the United States ‘Church’ (meaning any kind of religion) and ‘State’ are separate (as opposed to say, Iran or the UK), many public practices involve ‘God’. This ‘God’ however does not pertain to any particular religion but belongs to everyone, so that when Americans call on God in the public sphere they are actually acknowledging their faith in a god that facilitates their way of life. This Bellah calls civil religion and says that what they are actually worshipping is America and its value system. Specifically, Bellah refers to: • songs, for example God Bless America; • the Presidential oath of office which involves swearing before ‘God’; • the phrase ‘In God We Trust’ stamped on the American currency. Since this god does not belong to any particular creed, it is a creation of America specifically to reinforce consensus amongst its diverse groups of peoples. The reverence accorded the national flag and saying of the Pledge veers very much into the realm of ‘the sacred’, as defined by Durkheim in his study of religion. 199 200 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS that these processes helped to create a moral community or church that stabilised society. Parsons later emphasised the regulatory function of religion by arguing that religion reinforces society’s laws. For example, moral codes tend to reflect the laws of the land such as those prohibiting theft and murder. Religious teachings also serve to strengthen other social institutions, for example, the negative way in which adultery is cast serves to boost family-related values. Functionalists therefore see religion as having the potential to increase the levels of consensus in the society (Box 7.4). Thus the consensus view of religion is that it is functional for the society. It builds a moral community of believers which provides answers to some of life’s enduring questions such as the meaning of existence and therefore helps to stabilise the society and provides guidelines for living. A weakness of this perspective is that it downplays the dysfunctions of religion such as religious persecution, intolerance and discrimination escalating into acts of violence and even war. ACTIVITY 7.4 Social Theory Explain what Durkheim means by the following statements: a. that ‘Society is god writ large’; b. that religion builds a moral community of believers. Marxist/Conflict Theory Perspectives on the sociology of religion are based on how theorists understand social institutions. For Marx, how a social institution functions is not neutral. It reflects the society’s mode of production: in capitalist societies, social institutions are organised to maintain the power of the wealthy and therefore the status quo. A Conflict theorist has a similar position but focuses on how social institutions serve to reinforce the inequalities in society generally, not only those due to social class differences. Marxism is a sub-perspective of Conflict Theory. Marx’s analysis of capitalism divides society essentially into the bourgeoisie (the haves) and the proletariat (the have-nots). This economic system operates in such a way as to maintain these social class divisions. Ideas about a supernatural being and an afterlife, Marx argued, only served to maintain the status quo, in that religion encourages the belief that the social order is ordained by God who does not intervene to assist the needy and oppressed in a meaningful way. In many religions 7.2.2 suffering in this life is equated with rewards in the afterlife. Values such as hard work and frugality are important and being poor is considered an advantage in getting to heaven – note the biblical warning that ‘… It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God’ (Luke 18:24–27). To Marx, the proletariat could overcome their lowly and disadvantaged position if they were to become aware of the false consciousness inherent in their economic position and religious beliefs. Only then would they be motivated and energised to take action and go against the status quo in trying to wrest the means of production from being solely in the hands of the capitalists. This is the background behind Marx’s famous description of religion: Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the feeling of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless circumstances. It is the opium of the people .... The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. (Marx quoted in Tucker, 1978, pp. 53–4) Marxist sociology therefore is of the view that how religion is organised serves to justify social inequality and oppression and this is ‘hidden’ from believers. This view is critical of Functionalists who maintain that there is consensus in the society because of the strength of the primary and secondary socialisation processes and that religion fosters this consensus. Rather, Marxists say that Functionalism offers a distorted view of religion and society. Since the values considered important are those of the ruling class, the poorer folk in society are socialised into upholding these values, not through consensus but through the combined workings of the substructure and the superstructure (called the ideological state apparatus) which lead to a state of false consciousness. Socialisation into such ideological positions become a means of social control and have little to do with consensus. Marxists and Conflict theorists see religion as a social institution ‘located’ or lodged within the superstructure of society where the norms, values and beliefs of the elite class are dominant. Both the rich and the poor subscribe to these beliefs through the power of socialisation. However, these beliefs prevent or obstruct the natural feelings of anger, dissatisfaction and distrust amongst the poorer classes from overflowing into protest, conflict and seizure of the means of production in the society. Rather, misery and suffering are interpreted by their religious leaders as natural and normal conditions in an earthly existence. CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION Further, in Marxist terms religion alienates ‘Man’ (a term that includes both male and female) from himself. The separation of the sacred and the profane, the supernatural and the natural, including a heavenly as opposed to an earthly existence, encourages people to see themselves as only expressing their ‘real’ rather than their ‘ideal’ or ‘true’ nature. Beliefs in God prevent persons from freeing themselves from bondage to an alien or supernatural power. Whether God exists or not, to Marx was irrelevant. What mattered was that religion was a man-made creation that bound individuals into values and beliefs that denied their potential for becoming truly human – fully affirming beings having positive selfconsciousness and realising their true and ideal nature. If religion could be done away with then the illusion of happiness would be removed and replaced by true happiness. However, this could only come about when human beings learn that their material existence, their values and norms, and their religious beliefs are all based on the social relations within a system of production that thrives on alienation of Man from his true nature. While Functionalism and Marxism are two perspectives that give a different understanding of social reality, they are both macro-perspectives and share some commonalities. For example, both Durkheim and Marx described religion as ■ a powerful force in society; ■ a reflection of society rather than the domain of a supernatural entity; ■ a conservative force downplaying religion as a factor in social change; ■ a social institution interacting with other social institutions, such as the family and the economy, to influence the values and ideologies of people. The two perspectives differ in relation to how order is maintained in the society. Functionalists understand order to be built up through consensus, for example, via religious practices and rituals (religious socialisation). Marxists critique that position by saying that what is really happening is that order is maintained through the forms of social control that religion exerts on groups and individuals (which they describe as states of false consciousness). Marx has been criticised for not realising that religion could be a force for social change, as opposed to Weber (§7.2.3). In the 1960s in Latin America Roman Catholic priests reinterpreted the scriptures, with a Marxist twist, to regard as sinful the capitalist classes who systematically oppressed the peasant class. They publicly renounced the landowning class, basing their ideas on what came to be known as liberation theology. Whilst this led to much Liberation theology is a reading of the Bible (the New Testament in particular) to see Jesus as a freedom fighter who opposed the imperial Roman occupation of his time. opposition from Rome, clerics took it upon themselves to form base communities for the poor where they could congregate and be mobilised. In these grassroots communities Paulo Freire and others devised forms of literacy based on political liberation. The further involvement of priests and other religious persons in joining the ranks of the Sandinistas, the Marxist revolutionary forces in Nicaragua, was instrumental in bringing down the Somoza government in 1979. ACTIVITY 7.5 Social Theory Make notes suggesting how a Marxist or Conflict sociologist will answer the question How can the study of religion help us to better understand the nature of society? 7.2.3 Interpretive Perspectives Max Weber Interpretive theorists maintain that human agency is at the heart of explanations of social events and processes, and to a large extent that is missing from Functionalist or Marxist attempts at describing the links between religion and society. Max Weber made an outstanding contribution to the sociology of religion in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (first published in 1904) where he argued that the development of capitalism in Western Europe can be attributed partly to the work ethic of Protestants, particularly Calvinists. Whereas Marx posed an evolutionary theory that saw capitalism developing through the contradictions and failures of the previous economic system, feudalism, Weber posed an alternative theory emphasising religious ideas and beliefs as the motivation for social change. Weber’s social action theory recognises that people have the capacity to think and create ideas that subsequently can lead to social transformation. For example, Calvinists upheld the doctrine of predestination. To members, Predestination was a doctrine according to which God had chosen certain persons, the elect, to be saved. They were chosen before they were born and no one could change it, not even through belief or good works. Weber thought, life would seem extremely scary and meaningless unless one found a means to know for sure 201 202 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS that one had been chosen. He theorised that Calvinists came to believe that material success in this life must mean that they were favoured by God. Their intense efforts at being frugal, working diligently, investing in a rational manner and spending wisely stem from this chronic uncertainty in which their religion placed them. Amassing wealth served as a symbol to them that they would be saved. Their tactics of continual reinvestment of profits, shrewd decision-making and use of modern technologies led to rational capitalism. The growth of capitalism then was not due to the evolutionary historical process outlined by Marx but based on the thoughts and ideas of a group of people who moved out of traditional thinking (motivated by their religious beliefs) into a more goal-oriented or instrumental disposition that was similar to a vocation or a calling. This work ethic, according to Weber, became the spirit of the new forms of capitalism that arose in Western Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Weber went on to develop this thesis further in Religious Orientation/ Approaches to Salvation relation to other religions to show that religious beliefs in different parts of the world either fostered or hindered the growth and development of rational capitalism. As in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, he sought to show that the ideas of individuals and groups shape and influence their actions, even their practical and economic activities. He isolated salvation as a major quest of mankind and classified religions according to the approach they took in attaining it. He then suggested that there were four possible options, based on whether one’s religion had an inner-worldly or outer-worldly orientation and whether it emphasised ascetism or mysticism. Each impacted on ideal conditions for the development of capitalism (Figure 7.3). Weber has been criticised on the following grounds: 1 His strategy depended on using ideal types as a basis of comparison but this overlooks the idea that social institutions in one context cannot be easily compared with those in another. Other – worldly religions Inner – worldly are indifferent to this world and seek salvation in the next religions seek self mastery through adjustments to living in this world Ascetic Religions Buddhism – Calvinism – practice self mastery such as self denial and austere living The goal is not to shape life in the world but to teach liberation from the world The urge is to know for sure in this world that they have gained salvation for the next Mysticism Traditions Contemplative Religious Orders Taoism (Daoism) – seek salvation through a personal relationship with God and altered states of being Figure 7.3 Weber’s typology of religions seek isolation or retreat from this world in order to attain salvation; life is devoted to work, prayer and study accepts the world, but focuses on non-effort and contemplation to develop compassion, moderation and humility. CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION 2 Weber arbitrarily selected aspects of ideal types that emphasised capitalism in his study of Calvinism and downplayed others. 3 Calvinists charge Weber with having a distorted view of Calvinism. They say that while Calvinists vigorously pursued business interests, they did so in a god-fearing way and with a commitment towards moral responsibility. That being said, much of Weber’s writings has been simplified and misinterpreted. For example, the rise of China as a major industrial power in the 20th century is held by some to refute Weber’s general thesis as shown in Figure 7.3. Yet, Weber clearly pointed out that although followers of Confucianism and Taoism rely on the minimum of strenuous effort, they emphasise good fortune and engage in many ways of assuring positive outcomes. In addition, he went on to say that the Chinese in all probability could assimilate and emulate capitalist practices over time. Whether the details of Weber’s examples stand up to scrutiny today or not, the important point is that they were examples to illustrate a major hypothesis that continues to have significance for us – namely that ideas and beliefs can provide the motivation for social change. Weber was not saying that religion causes social change but that it can be a factor. This represents an alternative position to that of Marx who felt that all change was generated through contradictions and changes in the mode of production, and that of Durkheim who viewed change as emanating from a society which did not provide strong enough forms of moral constraint. Interestingly we see that Weber agreed with Marx that there were links between the material base of the society and religion. Marx saw the economy as shaping religious norms and social stratification whilst Weber saw religion as being a force that could enhance or hinder the development of a capitalist mode of production. Unlike Durkheim and Marx however, Weber sought to include the subjective meanings that individuals and groups held in relation to their beliefs about salvation and how best to get there. This interest in subjectivity is also a fundamental approach in Symbolic Interactionism, a branch of Interpretive theory. ACTIVITY 7.6 In the section above, the influence of religious thought on the growth of capitalism has been emphasised. Suggest ways in which capitalism in its turn influenced religion. Symbolic Interactionism This is a microsociological perspective. It sees individuals and groups as constantly creating and re-creating the rules for everyday interaction. People make meanings and interpret a shared set of symbols which are significant in their society. ‘Reality’ is not fixed in this way of thinking but changes according to the perceptions of the individual or group. For example, how a person understands the Roman Catholic faith is influenced by whether he is the Pope or a priest, whether she is a nun or a member of the congregation, or s/he is a ‘lapsed Catholic’. These multiple conceptions of reality are social constructions based on a person’s social location and experiences. In this perspective, sociologists are equally interested in how persons are influenced by society and how they in turn influence society. Peter Berger wrote The Sacred Canopy (1967) in which he argued that participation in religious rites and rituals and holding certain symbols as sacred provided certainty for persons that they were not living in a random universe. It shielded them from the possibility that existence may have no ultimate meaning or purpose. If these beliefs could also be convincingly supported in everyday life by the various structures in the society – schools, customs, laws, sanctions, media – then the religious and the secular worlds would merge to stabilise society. For example, if one religion is dominant in a country, similar to Weber’s concept of ‘Churches’ (Figure 7.1), then religious beliefs and practices would become legitimated in that society through all of its social institutions. There would be little room for dissent and the nation or the collective would have great confidence in their religion. Berger explains it this way – religion would throw a buffer or canopy of symbolic meanings over the world of everyday change and interaction that would serve to order social life in all its many aspects. This is an example of the social construction of religion where religious ideas and beliefs are unknowingly upheld by the faithful as playing an overarching role in guiding the society towards continuity and stability. Berger developed this theory in relation to early Christianity in Europe when Roman Catholicism was dominant. It can be equally applied to societies today such as that in Iran and Saudi Arabia where Islamic beliefs and practices are legitimated because they are upheld by all social institutions. He went on to argue that this state of affairs would function well only until questioning arose that could not be silenced, meaning that the plausibility structures that normally explained everyday phenomena in terms of religious mysteries, miracles and magic were no longer adequate. Plausibility 203 204 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS structures were necessary to maintain the religious view of the world and they remained credible because all or most people and institutions in the society created and re-created these beliefs and patterns of interaction daily. However, when the protest movement known as the Reformation in Europe arose in the 16th century it began to undermine this firm foundation or religious base of the society, eventually sidelining the Roman Catholic faith to a denomination and sponsoring the rise of sects which over time grew into different Protestant denominations. This showed that the sacred canopy could provide order and stability only because members did not realise that their religion was a social construction. When the plagues that devastated Europe in the Late Middle Ages could not be contained by prayers and incantations the canopy began to disintegrate. When later the Industrial Revolution and the Agrarian Revolution brought about massive social and economic changes, the society found that their religion (Roman Catholicism) was largely irrelevant to their circumstances. Many turned to religions promising a more personal and private communion with God, such as Lutheranism and Calvinism. The credibility of the plausibility structures in public life which supported a religious view of the world collapsed, and people realised that their religion had been dependent on a set of meanings that the society had constructed. A new definition of religion came into being. Those remaining within the fold of Roman Catholicism sought to purge their religion of superstition, of corruption and of elaborate rituals and put more focus on the Bible (the Counter-Reformation). Others went further in removing liturgy, ceremonies, and symbols from having a central place during worship in the new religious denominations and groups, and renounced beliefs considered ‘unbiblical’ such as the idea of purgatory and praying to Mary, angels and saints. The thesis of the sacred canopy provides an explanation, in the tradition of Symbolic Interactionism, for both the incidence of religious pluralism and the growth in the secularisation of society from the Middle Ages to now. When many religions co-exist in a society the plausibility structures that once ‘worked’ for a dominant religion become weak. Other religions compete with their claims to truth and erode the certainty that many once held about the dominant religion. Where this is the case, as in many countries in the world today, religion is relegated entirely to the private sphere. It becomes a personal choice and therefore extremely diverse, being influenced by the many social and biographical forces that impact individual lives. Some examples of secularisation are: ■ the official separation of Church and State in the majority of countries; competition between state and denominational schooling; ■ the faith and optimism placed in science and technology for the good of mankind; ■ in a context of religious pluralism, individuals can now sample different religions and customise their beliefs in an eclectic style. Religious pluralism and secularisation both reinforce each other. They represent instances of how groups and individuals can influence the social institution of religion. Symbolic Interaction recognises human agency and the ways in which members influence society and in turn are influenced by society. Secularisation is discussed further below (§7.4). ■ Feminist Thought Feminism seeks to uncover and find explanations for, and solutions to, the problem of male domination and female oppression in all aspects of social life. It has as its main agenda the dismantling of structures and processes which maintain patriarchy in the society. Power is at the heart of this project. Feminist thought is an interdisciplinary field influenced by Marxist and Conflict perspectives as well as by Interpretive sociology. Where religion is concerned, this gendered perspective investigates several questions or issues: ■ attribution of anthropomorphic (human) characteristics to God, specifically masculine characteristics; ■ how malestream religions exclude women from playing important roles in the church hierarchy, thereby preventing them from attaining power; ■ the reasons for this exclusion, one being that women are considered ‘unclean’ or ‘profane’; ■ justifications from the Bible, the Koran, and other religious texts, that gender differences are ordained by God – either that men are superior to women or that they are ‘equal but different’; ■ ways of (re)presenting ‘the body’, for example, abortion and birth control in Roman Catholicism where celibate male priests rule on the reproductive lives and bodies of women. Feminist studies of religion seek to ■ analyse alternatives to traditional religion such as feminist reconstructions of God, religion, and spirituality – for example, theologies that favour the Goddess, Earth Mother and the inter-dependence of life and motherhood; ■ question the historically gendered interpretation of God, e.g. in Judaism; ■ show that the Bible has a view of the equality of men and women; 7.2.4 CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION alleviate the conditions of women and families in poverty through liberation theology. Feminist scholars of religion describe their activist stance in sociological terms.Thealogy is a term coming into increasing use in feminist studies of religion that seeks to find a way out of the traditional masculine emphasis. It describes the study and practice of religion from a feminist perspective and privileges a Goddess, who may assume multiple forms. It is highly diverse but influenced by neo-Pagan religions such as Wicca, which celebrates feminine wisdom and experience. 7.3 ■ To sum up: This section examined the major sociological perspectives on religion emphasising the contribution of Durkheim, Marx and Weber. Durkheim saw religion as providing a stabilising function in the society (Functionalism), Marx underscored the oppressed position of the lower socio-economic classes in conventional religion (Marxism/Conflict theory) and Weber saw religion as a source of social change (Interpretive theory). More recent theorising included the work of Feminist theory which seeks to deconstruct the traditional ‘malestream’ view of religion. Caribbean Faiths The social institution of religion in the Caribbean is characterised by diversity brought about largely through the influences of Amerindian, European, African and Asian belief systems. This diversity includes the mainstream religions derived from Europe, Africa and Asia but also those created in the Caribbean through the processes of syncretism. Processes of syncretism involve the meeting and mixing of different religions to produce ‘new’ forms that we call Creole religions. The intermixing of all these faiths has produced a continuum of religions in the Caribbean, with more or less of elements drawn from Christian and African religious traditions (Figure 7.4). It is useful to note that the diagram below does not tell the whole story – syncretism in various ways modifies and influences all religions. Mainstream Christian faiths, as well as Eurocentric and Afro-centric Creole religions have all come under the pervasive influences of syncretism or creolisation in the Caribbean, some to a greater degree than others. Christianity Spanish settlers, priests and conquistadores brought Roman Catholicism to the Caribbean. Almost all of Europe was Roman Catholic when Columbus ventured 7.3.1 Christian Denominations Creole Religions: Eurocentric Creole Religions: Afro–Centric Roman Catholic Anglican Methodist Seventh Day Adventist Moravian Pentecost Presbyterian Myal Shouter Baptists Revivalism Zion Revivalism Orisha (Shango) Rada Obeah Vodun Baptist Church of God Jehovah’s Witnesses Evangelicals New Testament Open Bible Church of God of Prophecy Santeria Rastafari Kumina Pukumina Convince Winti Kumfa Figure 7.4 A typology of Caribbean religions 205 206 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS into the ‘New World’ in 1492. The Spanish monarchs were pursuing the Reconquista, driving out Jews and Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula. And with equal vigour they sought to Christianise the peoples of the Americas, whom they called ‘Indians’ (because they thought at that time that the islands they had found were off the coast of India). While the Tainos (Arawaks), Kalinagas (Caribs) and other New World groups had their own belief systems, the Spaniards labelled them all as pagan, simply because they were not Christians. As part of their religious conversion experience, these newly discovered peoples were rounded up and herded into encomiendas where they had to labour and in return they learned about Christianity. Those countries which remained under Spanish rule (as well as those who later experienced French rule), have today relatively large Roman Catholic populations (Table 7.1). Compared to Latin America, the Caribbean shows enormous variety in religious affiliation. For example, Roman Catholicism dominates in all Latin American states – Mexico (88.2%), Bolivia (78.0%), Colombia (80%), and Venezuela (87.0%). In the Caribbean though, Spain was not able to police all the islands in the Caribbean Sea effectively and thereby keep out interlopers. They were more successful on the mainland which remained overwhelmingly Roman Catholic. During the 16th and 17th centuries other European nations became established on the far-flung islands and territories at the extremities of the Spanish-American Empire. They brought with them their own Protestant faiths. The Reformation helped to diversify the religious scene in Europe and a multitude of Protestant religions came into being. Britain was one of the first countries to break formally with Rome and establish its own faith – the Anglican Church – which became the Established Church. The European Reformation followed under the influence of Martin Luther. Later, those dissatisfied because many of the issues which brought the Reformation into existence continued within Anglicanism began to develop their own denominations. They were known as Nonconformists: Methodists, Quakers, Presbyterians and Baptists in Britain. Similar movements in other European countries led to Lutherans and the Moravians in Germany, and Calvinism in France and Germany. Religious intolerance, genocide and harsh treatment as well as the diseases brought by the Spanish decimated the original inhabitants of the region. The Europeans then turned to Africa as a source of slave labour, bringing millions of West Africans to the Caribbean. Africans were treated differently by the various European powers where religion was concerned. Both the Spanish and the French had official slave codes whereby they were mandated to convert the enslaved population. The British and Dutch had no such policies; in the British colonies the planters tried to stop the work of the Nonconformist missionaries amongst the enslaved. But it was never the intention of any European power to allow Africans to practise their own religions freely. Whether Africans were ‘converted’ or not, the end result was that throughout the Caribbean they continued to practise their own religious beliefs wherever and whenever possible. Beliefs underwent a great deal of change and fusion in the process. Table 7.1 Percentage of Roman Catholics and Protestants in selected Caribbean countries Country Year Roman Catholic Protestant Anguilla 2001 5.7 83.1 Antigua & Barbuda 2001 10.4 81.8 Bahamas 2000 13.5 72.6 Barbados 2000 4.0 91.0 Belize 2000 49.6 27.0 Bermuda 2000 15.0 52.0 Dominica 2001 61.0 29.7 Dominican Rep. 2006 68.9 18.2 Grenada 2001 44.0 49.0 Guyana 2002 8.0 49.0 Haiti 2003 54.7 28.5 Jamaica 2001 2.0 65.0 Montserrat 1995 15.0 80.2 St. Kitts & Nevis 1992 6.7 84.6 St. Lucia 2001 67.0 21.0 St. Vincent & Grenadines 1992 10.7 57.0 Trinidad & Tobago 2006 26.0 24.6 Turks & Caicos 1997 8.3 90.0 Br. Virgin Is 1995 15.0 70.8 US Virgin Is 1995 36.1 55.4 Source: C. Holland, Table of Statistics on Religious Affiliation in the Americas and the Iberian Peninsula (2010). At http://www.prolades. com/amertb106.htm, accessed 6 December 2013. Note that the website is regularly updated. CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION During the 19th century, particularly after Emancipation in 1834, the work of the missionaries intensified in the British-held territories. The established Anglican Church chose to uphold the status quo and was slow to get involved in ministering to the newly freed population. That is why today in the former British territories there is such a variety of Protestant faiths (e.g. Jamaica, see Table 7.2). Table 7.2 Protestant religions in Jamaica (2001) Protestant denominations Seventh Day Adventist % 10.8 Pentecostal 9.5 Church of God 8.3 Baptist 7.2 New Testament Church of God 6.3 Church of God in Jamaica 4.8 Church of God of Prophecy 4.3 Anglican 3.6 United Church 2.0 Methodist 2.0 Jehovah’s Witnesses 2.0 Moravian 1.0 Brethren 1.0 Source: Compiled from US Department of State, International Religious Freedom Report. At http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/ irf/2007/90259.htm, accessed 12 March 2014. Under European colonial rule the religions of both the Amerindians and the Africans were considered pagan. Christianity was thought to be very different because it was monotheistic, involving worship of a welldefined Father God, with concepts such as the ‘soul’ and an ‘afterlife’. It was prescribed by a Holy Book, the Bible, which demanded literate adherents. For those unable to read or write or decipher the elaborate rituals of Roman Catholic and Anglican ceremonies, priests acted as intermediaries. Therefore, priests had power within a hierarchy of holy, white men who administered to their largely African congregations. The Nonconformist denominations had more democratic procedures, less emphasis on rituals, and more intense Bible study, and were more willing to initiate local blacks into positions of authority within the church. However, Nonconformist religions remained low in status compared to the dominance of Roman Catholicism or the Anglican Church. Even today, members of the highest socio-economic groups in the Caribbean, whether white, brown or black, tend to belong to either the Roman Catholic or Anglican faith in territories where these faiths are dominant. Poorer socio-economic groups are more likely to be over-represented in Nonconformist and Creole religions. Table 7.2 shows that in Jamaica Nonconformist faiths such as the Seventh Day Adventists and the Church of God (and its affiliations) are the majority religions (Roman Catholics and Anglicans represent only 2% and 3.6% of the total respectively). Hinduism and Islam After Emancipation, Britain and France embarked on an indentureship scheme to bring workers from India, China, Madeira and other countries to replace African slave labour in the West Indies. On 5 May 1838 the SS Hesperus and SS Whitby arrived in Guyana (then British Guiana) with the first group of Indian indentured labourers. On 30 May 1845 the Fatel Razak brought the first group to Trinidad and that day is celebrated as a national holiday, Arrival Day, in Trinidad & Tobago. Between 1838 and 1917, 400,000 Indian workers were brought to Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad; more than 100,000 came to Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana; and Suriname received 35,000 Indians as well as 22,000 Javanese brought by the Dutch from their colonies in the Dutch East Indies. Today East Indians comprise more than half the population in Guyana and Trinidad; about 37% of the Surinamese population is of Indian origin while 15% are from Java. The Indian indentured labourers were mainly Hindus, though some were Muslims; the Javanese were mainly Muslims. Many Indians belong to Christian faiths, for example the Presbyterian Church which has mainly an Indian congregation. Table 7.3 (page 208) gives a breakdown of today’s Hindu and Muslim population in these three countries. 7.3.2 Hinduism Hinduism is the world’s third largest religion after Christianity and Islam. However it is not spread as widely as Islam, the largest numbers being concentrated in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka. It is considered to be the oldest world religion, without a specific founder and comprising such a wide range of beliefs, practices and customs that the idea of diversity 207 208 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Table 7.3 Hinduism and Islam in the Caribbean, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago and Suriname, 2010 Religion Country Percentage of population Hinduism Guyana 28.0 Trinidad & Tobago 22.5 Suriname 20.0 Guyana 7.0 Trinidad & Tobago 5.8 Suriname 13.0 Islam Sources: Compiled from Guyana Bureau of Statistics, Guyana Census 2002, National Report (2011). At http://www. statisticsguyana.gov.gy/index.html, accessed 6 December 2013; D. Chickrie, Muslims in Suriname: Facing Triumphs and Challenges in a Plural Society. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 31(1), March (2011). At http://www.islamicpopulation.com/pdf/Surinam_ Triumphs&Challenge.pdf, accessed 6 December 2013. is central to understanding it. One of its holy texts, the Rig Veda, was created before 5000 years bce, originating with the ancient peoples of Northern India. Other scriptures are the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The fact that there are holy texts and scriptures shows some similarity to Christianity and Islam but that is deceptive and gives rise to many misconceptions about Hinduism. Firstly, there is no overarching religious hierarchy with authority in matters of faith as there is, for example, in the Papacy for Roman Catholics. Hinduism itself has many denominations, the largest being Vaishnavism, Saivism, Shaktism and Smartism. Secondly, each denomination has a vast number of schools of thought and sects, with a guru or other holy or learned person as teacher or pundit. Thirdly, each group or person usually chooses a deity to revere and a tradition to follow. There are then perhaps thousands of groups, with millions of devotees, who are independent of each other, yet they all regard themselves as followers of Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Way. As a result of this it is difficult to codify the beliefs and practices of Hinduism except for the most basic and unifying ones, for example: ■ Brahma, the all-pervasive Divinity inherent in all things, regarded as the Supreme Being which is pure consciousness. This idea is not of a ‘God’ who created the world but one who is the world; ■ karma, the principle of cause and effect, which says that our actions always have reactions and consequences so that intelligent action is what we should strive for; ■ ■ reincarnation, the cycle of re-birth, the on-going journey of the soul through multiple births and deaths as we learn from our karmic lessons. When all karma is resolved, reincarnation ceases and the soul becomes one with Divinity; dharma, the path of seeking spiritual advancement, through right conduct and taking responsibility for our duties and obligations. While Brahma is absolute and formless, it can manifest in many ways and so there are thousands of deities in Hinduism – Vishnu, Shiva, Lakshmi, Krishna, Ganesha, Kali and Hanuman are the most well-known. Consequently, there is a lot of argument among Western scholars of religion (but not among Hindus) as to whether Hinduism is monotheistic, polytheistic or pantheistic. Different commentators would choose any one of these labels to describe Hinduism. Most difficult for Westerners to comprehend is that there is freedom of belief within Hinduism – each person is free to carry out the spiritual practices that he or she understands and can relate to. In short, if one is seeking a mystical experience such as union with the Divine then the path of learning abstract principles or reciting sacred texts would not be the way to go. One might choose a yogic tradition with emphasis on meditation and chanting. In so doing one is choosing or inventing an aspect of Brahma to worship. However, in reality one may be influenced in exercising individual choice by strong family, village or regional traditions and loyalties. Caste With the exception of saivism most of the branches of Hinduism were caste-based. The caste system is described in Chapter 9 as an example of the principle of social stratification (§9.1.2). Ancient Hindu texts speak of a division of society but it is based on one’s spiritual development through karma, not through birth. The Dalits (Untouchables or outcasts) are not mentioned in religious texts. It seems that the original concept of social order prescribed in holy texts through karma became corrupted by priests and those holding power in the society into a rigid system of social stratification sanctioned by Hinduism. Hinduism in the Caribbean Hindu indentured immigrants from North-Central and Eastern India were allowed to conduct their religious traditions as best they could on the sugar estates in the Caribbean. As in other colonial societies, religion CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION provided a means for them to resist oppression by keeping alive their identity in an alien place. At the end of indentureship most elected to remain in the Caribbean so that holding on to their Hindu and Indian traditions was a conscious decision to (re)create their culture in a different environment. While in the beginning they kept to the estates it was inevitable that the Indians would begin a limited process of mixing with the African and Christian groups who were dominant, and begin to develop new ways of doing things. This process of creating different forms and practices that made sense in the new context can be termed adaptations, syncretism and creolisation. For example, because temples were not constructed until much later on, Hindus built tiny one-person temples in their front yards. This practice of home worship, an adaptation to historical circumstances, continues to this day. Another example of syncretism occurs around the worship of the black Madonna, La Divina Pastora (the Good Shepherdess) in Siparia in southern Trinidad. Descendants of immigrants from Tamilnadu in southern India have for many years now held this Roman Catholic statue in reverence as Siparie Mai and paid allegiance to her as they would to Kali Mai, the black mother goddess in the Hindu faith. Interestingly, in Guadeloupe there are Roman Catholics who worship Mother Kali, also known as Mariamman, who has drawn in African devotees because of her healing powers. Kali Mai is also worshipped by the Madrassis of Guyana. The descendants of the people of southern India, around Madras, differ in both physical features and the traditions of Hinduism that they follow from those of the majority group who came from the North. The latter are fairer in complexion, and are more orthodox and classical in their interpretation of Hinduism whilst the Madrassis are darker in complexion, have performed animal sacrifice in the past as well as spirit possession and engage in aggressive drumming. Perhaps because of these characteristics, the Madrassis have integrated more than other Hindu groups with the Afro-Guyanese population. The north–south divide in India evident in culture and forms of Hinduism is represented in the Caribbean in terms of a dominant Hindu culture and a minority one. This dominant Hindu culture has been increasingly standardised since the creation of the Sanatan Dharma Associations in the 1930s in Guyana and Trinidad. Their task was to meld together the great variety of Hindu traditions, languages and customs into a religion/culture with enough common elements so that their presence would be felt in a similar way to that of Christian groups in the society. Over time the Hinduism that is practised in the Caribbean has weeded out many of the gods and ceremonies followed by smaller groups and instituted a high Brahamic and Vaishnavite orientation, but at the same time other traditions persist as in the veneration of Siparie Mai. Islam Unlike Hinduism, both Christianity and Islam are proselytising religions, which means that they actively seek to convert others to their beliefs. Consequently, both have grown into the two most dominant religions in the world today. Islam spread from its home in Arabia in the 7th century to other countries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Table 7.4 shows the countries with the largest numbers of Muslims today but other statistics reveal that for many countries which do not make this shortlist Islam is the dominant religion. Table 7.4 Estimated Muslim population in selected countries, 2010 Country Muslims as % of the total population Afghanistan 99.8 Algeria 98.2 Bahrain 81.2 Bangladesh 90.4 Egypt 94.7 Gambia 95.3 Indonesia 88.1 Iran 99.7 Iraq 98.9 Jordan 98.8 Libya 96.6 Niger 98.3 Source: Pew Forum, The Future of the Global Muslim Population. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2010). Islam is a monotheistic religion. Muslims worship Allah as the only God and regard Muhammad as the last Prophet. They believe that the Koran (or Qur’an) is the only complete authority on the word of Allah and it was revealed to Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel – 114 chapters over 23 years. The Koran mentions Jewish and Christian prophets such as Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, 209 210 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS The Ka’aba during the Hajj John the Baptist and Jesus. Islam sees them as messengers sent by Allah but their message was corrupted or falsified by others. However, Muslims regard Jews and Christians as People of the Book who are to be respected because they follow an earlier message. Muhammad was born in Mecca and by the time of his death in 632 ce most of Arabia had been converted to Islam. His successors (the caliphs), through war, conquest and peaceful conversion, carried Islam to the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Today Mecca is the holiest city of Islam. Every year more than two million pilgrims visit the city. Within the Grand Mosque is a structure housing a black stone believed to be a meteorite and the foundation stone of the first mosque built by Adam and later restored by Abraham. This structure is the Ka’aba (above), the site of the annual pilgrimage (Hajj). It serves as a focal point for all the varied ethnicities who are Muslim to gather together as equals in a place that was the first house of worship. During the Hajj thousands of people a day walk around the Ka’aba seven times in a counter-clockwise direction chanting prayers and verses. Each time they begin a circuit the pilgrims raise their right hand acknowledging the stone, this is in lieu of kissing the stone because the crush of people is too great to allow most pilgrims to get closer. The Koran instructs Muslims to recite the verses (suras) of the Koran, and children from their earliest years learn to recite the Koran in Arabic. For a long time translations of the Koran were discouraged because of the fear that the unique message and its poetry could not be accurately and properly rendered in other languages. Further, translations are the work of humans and so the Koran would lose its divine nature. Later on translations did occur as Islam was carried to non-Arabic countries but it is still the mark of a devout Muslim, of whatever nationality, to be able to recite the suras in Arabic. All Muslims are required to obey the Five Pillars of Islam: 1 Shahadah: Recite and believe in the creed that there is only one God, Allah, and that Muhammad is his prophet. 2 Salat: Observe daily prayer five times a day. 3 Zakat: Carry out alms-giving to the needy. 4 Sawm: Fast during the month of Ramadan. 5 Hajj: Take the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in one’s lifetime if possible. In addition, Muslims are guided in their daily life and affairs by the Sunnah (the life of Muhammad) and the Hadith which is a collection of the Prophet’s sayings and advice. Today there are two major ‘branches’ of Islam – the Sunnis comprising 85% of Muslims and the Shi’a, the other 15%. This distinction arose on the death of the Prophet when some believed that the leadership should pass to the one most capable and others believed that it should remain within the Prophet’s family. The Sunnis won out CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION and Abu Bakr (the Prophet’s adviser) became the first Caliph of the Muslim world. However, the distinctions continue and the Shi’a today are found largely in Iran and Iraq with minority communities in other countries of the Middle East. Neither Shia nor Sunnis are a homogeneous group and the laws and practices they adopt vary. Where Islam is dominant in a country, the legal system is based on Sharia laws which are distilled from the Koran, the Sunnah and the Hadith to guide all aspects of a Muslim’s life – relationships, dress, foods, obligations, family life, work and religious observances. Sharia is the law of the land in Saudi Arabia and some states in northern Nigeria (as well as in Iran, a predominantly Shi’a state). In other countries, e.g. Malaysia and Pakistan, the legal system is strongly influenced by Sharia but they also have constitutional law. Turkey is a secular state that is only moderately guided by Sharia, while in India and other countries with significant minority Muslim populations, Muslim individuals and families follow Sharia laws as a code of personal conduct. Islam in the Caribbean Guyana, Trinidad and Suriname have the largest Muslim populations in the Caribbean (see Table 7.3). The percentage of the population that is Muslim in Suriname (13%) is said to be the largest for any country in the Western hemisphere. Islam was first brought to the Caribbean by African captives but a significant presence was not established until Indian indentureship. The Muslims who came as indentured servants were largely Sunnis and their beliefs and practices were derived from Indian Islamic traditions. This means that some of their practices may have included Hindu elements, as they were to a large extent converts from Hinduism. In addition, the Javanese who were brought to Suriname practised a form of syncretic Islam that included Hindu and Buddhist elements. Thus Islam was already a syncretic religion when it came to the Caribbean. Over time the Muslim population came under the influence of Arab Muslim clerics and scholars who sought to standardise their practices and align them away from a South Indian conception of Islam. They were motivated too by witnessing the mobilisation of their Hindu counterparts into powerful boards (Maha Sabha) that sought to unify Hindu worship, built schools and temples and lobbied to change the law to recognise Hindu marriage and promote the interests of Hindus. Muslim organisations grew up with a similar intent. For example, in Trinidad there is the Anjuman Sunnat- ul-Jamaat Association (ASJA), the Trinidad Muslim League (TML) and the Tackveeyatul Islamic Association (TIA), and in Guyana the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana, the Muslim Youth Organisation and the Guyana United Sad’r Islamic Anjuman. Organising Muslims in this way was seen as a way of deepening orthodox Arabic Sunni laws and practices and presenting Muslims with a more solid identity in the face of the larger numbers of Hindus and Christians in the society. In Guyana this trend towards orthodoxy is seen in the gradual disappearance of Muharram (known as Hosay in Trinidad). This is a Shi’a observance to commemorate the anniversary of the assassination of Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet. It was a street procession with drumming and the parade of elaborate taziyas (tadjahs) made of bamboo and paper, painted gaily and decorated with gilt and tinsel. The various Muslim organisations, wanting to promote an Arab Islamic culture, discouraged such activities brought from India and petitioned the government to ban this ceremony. In Trinidad Hosay continues to be observed; St James and Cedros are the main centres, drawing large crowds. It has evolved into a celebration with both Indo- and Afro-Trinidadians beating the tassa drums and creating a Carnival-like atmosphere or fête. From time to time Muslim voices are raised against the creolisation of what should be a solemn occasion. Others ask the question, who owns a festival? In Guyana and Suriname there have also been concerted efforts to replace Urdu, the language brought from India and associated with Muslims, with Arabic. So far, people have resisted this and to some extent the Muslim organisations are divided as to their stance on whether they want to propagate Islam according to how it is observed in the Arab world, mainly Saudi Arabia (the purifiers) or recognise and revitalise their Indian heritage of Islam (the traditionalists). Nevertheless, Islam is undergoing a revival worldwide and the Muslim communities in the Caribbean are visited regularly by Islamic clerics, while Muslim students are sent to study in Arab countries. In Trinidad & Tobago there are similar themes but here the radical arm of Islam is present. In the 1980s Black Muslim converts began to increase in number, followers of the Nation of Islam in the United States, a Sunni group. Black Muslims combine ideologies of panAfricanism, Black Power and an Islamist worldview. The Jamaat al Muslimeen is the largest such organisation in Trinidad and in 1990 it launched an unsuccessful coup against the government of Trinidad & Tobago. While Indo-Trinidadians also belong to the Jamaat, there are divisions between the Islam practised by Indo- and 211 212 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Afro-Trinidadians. The latter belong to lower socioeconomic classes and regard Islam as a morally superior way of life based on the equality of all persons, which differs from the mainstream ideology of capitalism prevalent in Trinidad & Tobago. They look on their fellow Indian Muslims as collaborating with the political and economic elite and playing their part in entrenching inequities. Further, they allege that racism keeps them divided because the Trinidad Indian Muslim is Indian first and Muslim second. Africangods as Christian saints. That seems to have been a practice adopted as a means of sheer survival which at the same time served to resist the white man through trickery. But, it also seems to be the case that African religions were expansive enough to incorporate the new religion into its own cosmology, without much strain. In so doing a fusion of African religious thought and Christianity evolved and this continues even today. Once Emancipation occurred and the ex-slaves could practice their beliefs and rites openly new syncretic religions came into being – some of them having more Christian elements, some having more African elements. This process has been called creolisation or hybridisation and described by Kamau Brathwaite as cultural action (§2.5.1 and §4.3.2). According to him the major factor guiding the interplay and combining of religious expression was that one group, the Europeans, was dominant and the other, the Africans, was not. Within this mix, resistance, creativity and resilience shaped the development of a range of syncretic or creole religions emerging under these circumstances. Whilst Figure 7.5 portrays Jamaican Creole religions in the Caribbean on a continuum from Eurocentric to Afro-centric faiths, in reality even Eurocentric Christian faiths have undergone some degree of syncretism. Today there are black, Caribbean-born priests, reverends, deacons and bishops who infuse their sermons with the Caribbean oral tradition and use Caribbean dialects and languages. In addition, hymns have been Caribbeanised infusing local rhythms, lyrics, drums and other instruments such as the steel pan. Syncretism then is an on-going process that affects all aspects of life in multicultural contexts. In this section we will study two creole religions that are Eurocentric – a blend of Christianity and African religious traditions: Revivalism and Rastafari. Eurocentric Creole Religions During the centuries in which Africans were enslaved in the Caribbean their religious beliefs and practices could not be carried out openly without dire consequences. That did not mean that their religions were abandoned but rather they went ‘underground’ and were practiced surreptitiously – at nights, in remote places, and disguised as Christian worship. Religion to the African embodied all of life and so some of their rituals could be observed by the white man without him thinking that they were necessarily religious. For example, their reverence for rivers, mountains, trees and rocks, their work songs and placing food and other artifacts in veneration of their ancestors could to a large extent proceed under the white man’s gaze. However, the fact that they were removed from their kinsmen, shamans, elders and holy places inevitably meant that many aspects of their religious practice would be forgotten or shaped and influenced by their new contexts. A major factor in this new context was Christianity, the religion of the Europeans. Converting to Christianity or adopting the outward form of the religion of their captors provided a ‘space’ for them to worship peaceably. It is said that Africans deliberately tried to outwit the white man by disguising their 7.3.3 Euro-centric Creole Religions Zion Revival Rastafari Pukumina Revival Figure 7.5 Continuum of folk or creole religions in Jamaica Afro-centric Convince Kumina CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION Revivalism (Jamaica) Revivalism evolved from Myalism, an earlier syncretic religion in Jamaica, with distinctly African roots. Myalmen were holy men who were supposed to have healing powers and developed a band of followers who held the Holy Spirit and other spirits of West African religions in great reverence. Myal and obeah were thought of as two opposing forces (Box 7.5). After a brief time as a Spanish colony, Jamaica was settled by the British in 1655, and so Myalism, and Revivalism later, show elements of Protestantism rather than Roman Catholicism. In 1860–1 a great religious ‘revival’ occurred in the United States which spread to England and the Caribbean. It advocated a more personal and emotional dimension of the religious experience and was embraced by Africans who clearly saw a major role for the Holy Spirit. This ‘revival’ was reflected in a movement within Myalism which developed three strands – Revivalism and Zion Revivalism (two creole or syncretic religions of mainly Christian elements) and Pukumina (a creole or syncretic religion with mainly African elements). Figure 7.5 shows how they might be located on the continuum in terms of dominant Christian and African religious traditions. While there are some differences between Revivalism and Zion Revivalism, they will be treated here as mostly similar. In all Revivalism pride of place is given to the Holy Spirit, perhaps because this entity is seen as very similar to the many spirits of African religions, or perhaps BOX 7.5 because it was not given emphasis by white men. The distinctive factor in Revivalism (and all creole religions in the Caribbean) is the belief that the spiritual and physical worlds are one, and that therefore the living can be possessed by spirits so that they can benefit from knowledge which is beyond their ken in the everyday life. Differences among the Revival religions relate to the type of spirits they recognise. Revivalism itself distinguishes three levels of spirits – heavenly spirits (archangels, angels, and saints), earth-bound spirits (Satan, fallen angels, biblical prophets) and ground spirits (the human dead, except those in the Bible). Zion Revivalists recognise only the heavenly and earth-bound, considering the others to be evil, and Pukumina devotees feel that the earth-bound and the ground spirits are more accessible and therefore can be quickly called on when in need. Bible study was not an important aspect of Myalism because many adherents were illiterate and to a large extent they did not trust white missionaries to tell them truthfully what was in the Good Book. However, Revivalism on the whole developed a tradition of Biblereading in its ceremonies and street meetings. One of the leaders of the Revival movement was Alexander Bedward, a charismatic preacher, prophet and healer, as well as a warner, who was at the height of his influence during the 1890s and early 20th century. Revival conflates Old Testament biblical characters such as Elijah, Moses, Daniel and Isaiah, and the major saints of Myal and Obeah Characteristic of folk religions in Jamaica is the idea associated with myal, that the spiritual power which comes during possession by the spirits is mighty and has the capacity to do good and heal. This is contrasted directly with obeah, which in both Revival and Zion Revival is regarded as harmful, but in Pukumina, Convince and Kumina obeah has a well-defined role. Obeah is a set of practices, or a craft, which can be described as magic or witchcraft. It is conducted on behalf of persons who are seeking to change their circumstances in some way, usually for the better and to get rid of distressing or negative elements in their lives. The rituals are performed by the expert, the obeahman, and usually the client has to carry out certain steps such as using charms, prayers, and chants at certain times or in prescribed places. The obeahman operates from the premise that there are powerful forces and entities which exist and which can be persuaded/ commanded to make magical things happen such as relief from pain, healing for broken relationships or harm to another. The obeahman is usually a person of great spiritual insight and this is recognised by others who want him to perform services on their behalf. Obeah is an African religious tradition that is retained in many Afro-centric religions in the Caribbean. The more Christian-based Creole religions, as well as mainstream Christian religions, regard it as a dark and mysterious practice. However, in the African context, where the spirits of the dead readily seem to want to communicate with the living through dreams, trances and myal episodes, obeah is an essential element of religious life. It is not regarded as either good or bad, but as a force that can be harnessed by the living. 213 214 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS the New Testament with the various divinities found in West African religions (Bisnauth 2006). These characters play an important part at services. Occasionally in Kingston one may still see the warner, usually female, enrobed, head wrapped in a turban, armed with a Bible and a palm frond, going out among the ‘highways and byways’ and warning the people to avert imminent danger by turning away from evil. In respect to this warning against evil the tradition shows affinity to Myal. The role of warner therefore had two aspects to it: that of prophesying the future and that of calling society to account for its corrupt violations of God’s moral laws. (Chevannes, 1995, p. 82) Bedward founded the Native Baptist Church and his followers, mainly from among the African poor, were known as Bedwardites. He preached against racism and exploitation and was believed to be the reincarnation of the prophet Aaron. He foretold disasters and that he and his followers would ascend into heaven leaving the rich and corrupt (i.e. white civilisation) to be destroyed. In so doing he foreshadowed the main ideas of the panAfrican Movement and Marcus Garvey which gained popularity in the 1930s. The Revival movement and the later Rastafari movement include not only religious beliefs but political positions and ideologies promoting black consciousness and resistance to oppression. Hallmarks of Revival worship lie in the central role of water for baptism and purification. Fasting, which they share with the Rastafari, is also necessary to prepare oneself for spiritual work. Where members meet is consecrated ground known as the ‘seal’ which has a flagpole and water through which spirits enter the meeting. The sole purpose of a Revival meeting is to call on the gods and spirits to become present in the Revival yard. While the other aspects of the Holy Trinity (God the Father and God the Son) are expected to be present, as well as other Biblical characters, emphasis is given to the Holy Spirit. Trumping occurs when the band of devotees dance counterclockwise in a circle to rhythmic breathing, chanting and drumming, calling on the gods and spirits to gather. Before that, another practice, drilling occurs – the leader, known as the shepherd or the captain, sings out a refrain and starts to pound his rod or staff into the ground and move to a rhythm. The members surround him in a circle and respond while shuffling and swaying, bending their bodies forward and back in unison. The service builds in intensity as the worshippers dance and whirl and moan against a background of steady drumming and loud chanting. The Holy Spirit announces his presence when several persons become possessed evidenced by talking in tongues, thrashing about and rolling on the floor. The possessed goes into a trance and has visions and dreams by which s/he communicates to the others things they need to know such as any misfortune that may befall them, including accidents, deaths or bad luck. The shepherd and other experienced members of the band help to interpret the signs given by the Holy Spirit, its intermediaries and spirit messengers. Rastafari (Jamaica) This religion developed in Jamaica in the 1930s, growing out of Zion Revival roots and the teachings of Marcus Garvey who preached a philosophy of black self-sufficiency and black pride. Long before that though among the Jamaican grassroots there was a reverence for Ethiopia as a symbol of the black man. When Haile Selassie (opposite) was crowned Emperor of Ethiopia in 1930 with the exuberant titles of ‘Lord of Lords, King of Kings, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God and Light of the World’, Garvey’s prophecy that a ‘prince shall arise in Africa’ seemed to have come to pass. This led to the growth of a cult in Jamaica, its founding members being Leonard Howell, Joseph Hibbert, Archibald Dunkley and Robert Hinds, who were all ardent followers of Garvey. The Rastafari were scattered throughout the island but with a concentration in the tenement yards and ghettos of Kingston. Some groups lived in communes in the countryside, attracting the poor and dispossessed. Each group followed a slightly different philosophy evidenced in their rituals, dietary habits and taboos. Ganja (marijuiana) smoking was not a widespread practice in the early days and the Dreadlocks hairstyle came into being only in the 1950s. The Rastafari gradually moved away from Revivalism and embraced sentiments such as Back to Africa, black consciousness, eschewing Babylon (the white man’s world) and the argument that God was black. They say that Africans in the New World are the lost tribes described in the Bible, dispersed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar. Haile Selassie was God made flesh so that he could lead his people to the ‘promised land’, Ethiopia. Whilst Bedward was critical of whites he did not argue that God, Jesus and all the prophets were black. Garvey, however, spoke of God as black and so did the Rastafari. Both the Revivalists and the Rastafari, though, held a similar millenarian position that in the last days the social order on Earth would be inverted and blacks would rule. CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION Ras (Duke) Tafari Makonnen was crowned Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia in 1930 The Rastafari differed from the Revivalists in that they regarded spirit possession as strictly taboo. They preferred to rely on their own intuitive interpretation of scripture which emerged through ceremonies such as grounation and practices such as reasonings. At the grounation members dress in colourful African robes in the red, green and gold of Ethiopia, they sing and dance to the distinctive Rastafari drumbeats and share food and smoke ganja. These rituals reinforce community and create an atmosphere conducive to relaxation, readiness, inspiration and the free flow of ideas. Reasonings or soundings are intense discussions and explorations of Biblical themes, principles and characters interspersed with everyday occurrences in Jamaica and other places which attempt to argue and uphold a Rastafari worldview. It is a loud and dramatic airing of views and those who contribute strive to vanquish other speakers with novel and non-traditional interpretations as well as with wordplay. These sessions could get extremely tense if outsiders are involved. Chevannes (1995) notes that the aggression and hostility directed at outsiders are only for the purposes of the ceremony where the members ritually assume the personae of Jah and outsiders are cast as representatives of Babylon and therefore are put on the defensive. The major tenets of the Rastafari religion are based on the following ideas (Fernandez Olmos & ParavisiniGebert, 2003, p. 162): ■ rejection of the white race and its practices; ■ ‘knowing’ that the black race is morally and religiously superior; ■ exacting revenge on whites for their mistreatment of blacks; ■ rejection of the Jamaican government and other authorities which uphold the white man’s principles and values; ■ repatriation (preparation for a return to Africa); and ■ accepting Haile Selassie as the supreme being and ruler of black people. The Rastafari substitute ‘knowing’ for ‘believing’. They engage in certain cultural and social practices which stem from their religious (and political) convictions – for example: ■ Their diet is vegetarian, salt and pork are taboo probably because such foods are associated with the food fed to the enslaved but also because the pig is regarded as unclean in the Bible. ■ Their dreadlocks are their ‘crown’, invoking a comparison to the real crown of the Emperor Selassie, but this is also meant to shock Babylon because the wild and unkempt look calls attention to their lives as social ‘outcasts’. ■ They deliberately manipulate language to support their religious views which includes resisting domination: ‘I’ (the personal pronoun) is regarded as the same as Selassie ‘I’ (the roman numeral). If ‘I’ meaning ‘me’ or ‘my’ is the same as God’s name then it follows that all Rastas are part of the divine. This is an example of ‘reasonings’ and a whole Rasta vocabulary has evolved in this way – ‘I man’ (for ‘me’), ‘I and I’ (for ‘us’ or ‘we’, or the oneness of us all, our oneness with the divine). ■ Their occupations include gardening, selling crafts, foods, clothing and services which do not require them to have allegiance to a ‘boss’. ■ They reject ‘isms’ and ‘schisms’ as trickery that is inherent in Babylon and therefore refuse to recognise the label, ‘Rastafarianism’. As the Rastafari movement evolved their members increasingly fell foul of the law and the official Jamaican authorities. Their leaders were harassed and imprisoned because they ignored and flouted the rules of ‘Babylon’. 215 216 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS The fact that most members were poor and unemployed, and that they deliberately affected the look of the outcast, set them apart from mainstream society who felt that they harboured criminal elements. All these ideas continue today even though the religion has spread worldwide through the music and lyrics of Bob Marley and others and Rastas are more widely accepted now. It is possible to make the distinction that the hairstyle, music and philosophy of the Rastafari have made greater impact globally, but that the religion of the Rastafari, while influencing people around the world, is practised by comparatively fewer persons. ACTIVITY 7.7 Sociological Terms Consider the following questions with respect to the Rastafari. (Note that there may be more than one correct answer for each question.) Is the Rastafari • a cult, a sect, a denomination, or an NRM ? • a subculture or an ethnic minority? • a world rejecting, world accommodating or worldaffirming movement? • a patriarchal, a resistance or a millenarian movement? • a creole, syncretic or Afro-centric religion? Afro-centric Creole Religions In this section we will explore some Caribbean religions which are syncretic and at the same time are more Afrocentric than the religions described in the previous section. Kumina is found in Jamaica, Orisha (Shango) in Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada and St Vincent, and Vodou (Vodun) in Haiti. 7.3.4 Kumina (Jamaica) Kumina has been greatly influenced by Africans who came to Jamaica in the period 1840–70, some of them under indentured schemes to assist with the labour shortage after Emancipation. It is unclear whether Kumina existed before their arrival. They were mainly from Central Africa and today some of the practices and the terms used reflect similarities to the languages, religions and cultural practices of the Koongo, Bantu peoples from the Congo and Angola. Kumina is both a religion and a dance and is popular in eastern Jamaica, mainly in the parishes of St Thomas and Portland. It is organised through small units or communities, called nations, headed by a king or queen. Dancing and drumming are characteristic of all Kumina ceremonies which are held to mark births and deaths, for thanksgiving, and to summon good (or evil). The rituals are referred to as ‘plays’ that may last for more than one day, depending on the purpose of the ceremony. There are two main ‘plays’. The Bailo is danced for enjoyment and accompanied by songs mainly in the Jamaican dialect. The more spiritual Country, which can approach a frenzied tempo, is danced to communicate with the spirits. Within the dance ancestral spirits as well as gods and other deities come to possess the faithful. The traditional nine-nights ritual of feasting, dancing and praying at wakes show the importance accorded to the spirits of the dead and the care taken to ensure that such spirits wend their way to the afterlife unimpeded. These rituals take place at the home of the deceased and the family and community participates. In other Kumina ceremonies, bringing down the spirits of the dead to occupy the bodies of the dancers is meant to provide the living with the wisdom of the ancestors who will know all things that are likely to befall the faithful. Not only dancing but drumming is central to Kumina rituals (Box 4.8). The drummers sit close together, facing each other, and the dancers move around them in an counter-clockwise manner. The kbandu is the main drum which has a low pitch and is made with stretched ram-goat skin over the head of the drum. Higher in pitch is the playin kyas, made from ewe skin. Scrapers and rattles complement the main drum rhythms. The drummers and the singers control the pace and intensity of the dancers’ motions. Both the drummer and the dancer are equally involved – the spirit may first make its presence felt from the ground upward through the drum and then go back down and enter one of the dancers. Once the spirit enters a dancer the movements become quite different, some believe in imitation of the spirit. The dancer may display violent contortions and have to be assisted by the queen and others to gradually ‘dance out’ the spirit. Whilst in Myal and Revivalism obeah (Box 7.4) is viewed negatively because it is seen as witchcraft – using the spirits to accomplish certain acts, usually to bring harm to someone – in Kumina obeah is interwoven with its belief system. It is regarded as a set of practices which are secondary to the forces of good (myal) but nevertheless necessary at times. In addition, the Kumina dance brings clarity to the spiritual realm, enabling the dancer to see the power of obeah at work – that shadowy world where earth-bound and ground spirits are manipulated in various ways and they are able to tell CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION how close or far away someone, or a group, has come to distress, disasters and misfortune and what they must do to ward off harm. Kumina treats various Old Testament prophets and characters as deities. David, Ezekiel and Moses, among others, are earth-bound deities. Adherents also believe in an all-powerful creator God, as the Christians do. The Creator God is named Zambi, who is sky-bound, as are Obei and Shango. Below this level of deities are the ancestral spirits and earth-bound spirits, and lower down there are other spirits who seek to do harm. Biblereading and hymn-singing are Christian practices within Kumina but they are not the focus of the meeting. It is interesting to note that syncretism also occurred between different African-centred belief systems – Kumina has mainly Koongo elements but the recognition of the god Shango means that in Jamaica Yoruba deities were also incorporated. Whilst creole and Afro-centric religions in Jamaica were traditionally followed by the lower socio-economic groups and regarded with scorn by the more affluent, today Kumina has grown in importance, its dances being performed by the National Dance Theatre Company and in cultural shows for tourists. It is also widely seen as a way in which the African cultural identity of Jamaicans is affirmed. In the Kumina worldview Jamaicans have resisted the efforts of missionaries over the centuries and still retain strong links to an African heritage where religion is heavily invested in emotion, links between the living and the dead, and a universe where humans, spirits, gods and others co-exist. Syncretism continues today in the fact that many Kumina practitioners attend Revival services on Sundays as part of their religious practices. Orisha (Trinidad & Tobago, Grenada and St Vincent) In Trinidad & Tobago Orisha is frequently confused with the Spiritual Baptist movement. The two groups share beliefs and practices from a number of traditions. One of the main differences is that Spiritual Baptists see themselves as Christians and focus on their version of the Christian Trinity, and believe Christ gives them power over the Orisha. By contrast Orisha rituals focus on African deities such as Shango (Desmangles, Glazier & Murphy, 2003, p. 293). There is also the widespread assumption that the Orisha and Shango are two separate religions, where in fact Shango is a god in the Orisha faith and the religion of Orisha in Trinidad was previously known as Shango. It is only very recently (the last 20 years or so) that the name Orisha has become widely recognised. Orisha venerates the spirit of the over-arching God, Oldumare, that dwells in the deities when they become manifest. The religion is therefore considered monotheistic. Orishas are the spirits of ancestors or other powers who directly intercede in the lives of people, acting as guardian spirits and as intermediaries for Oldumare. They have certain specific areas of functioning, for example – Ogun (clearer of paths), Eshu (messenger, fertility), Obatala (making the Earth livable for humans) and Shango (power of lightning and thunder). There are many others. The Orisha religion can be traced to the Yoruba peoples of West Africa, particularly Nigeria. In the Caribbean it developed even before Emancipation in the mixing and merging of African belief systems in the Spanish colony of Trinidad, to which there was a large influx of French planters and their slaves in the late 18th century. African religious beliefs – mainly Yoruba mixed with those brought by the enslaved from Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Vincent and Grenada (who would not have been all Yoruba) – merged with the influences of Roman Catholicism. The creole religions studied so far in this section (Revival, Rastafari and Kumina) do not have this Roman Catholic element. In Orisha, the many saints of Roman Catholicism merged easily with African ancestral spirits and deities. For example, Ogun is identified with St Michael and Shango with St John. Yet there are similarities between Orisha and the creole religions of Jamaica. For example, singing, dancing and drumming accompany each meeting where ‘spirit possession’ plays a central role. The formation of a circle and the call-and-response rhythms are very much like religious rituals practised in Africa today. The lead practitioners are also master healers and healing, particularly through herbal medicines, is widespread in the Caribbean across all the folk religions. Food and various offerings such as fruits, vegetables, water, flowers, wine and bread are laid out for the gods but in Orisha, Pukumina, Convince and Kumina there is a stronger tradition of animal sacrifice. Obeah, secret rituals of healing, magic and sorcery practised during slavery, is also a tradition in these religions but not in Revival or Zion Revival (Box 7.4). The Rastafari share in the singing, dancing and drumming celebrations; their emphasis on healing is to fast as well as to observe certain taboos; but, they have only one well-defined god and do not participate in spirit possession or obeah. Spirit possession is the major feature most creole religions share. In the case of the Orishas, it allows for direct communication between the Orisha and the person possessed. As in Kumina, the spirits of the dead, the ancestors, as well as other powers and deities, are called 217 218 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS upon to inhabit the bodies of the faithful. Through this medium the living learn wisdom and obtain assistance in developing their spiritual life. The role of the ancestors looms large because without ancestors one would not be here. Through what we have inherited from our ancestors and the culture they created we now live our lives. Since in the African worldview the physical and spiritual realms are not separate, humans have access to this spirit guidance and protection. Possession by a spirit means that the personality and identity of the devotee become suppressed to allow for the entry of the divine. The spirits have different personalities and preferences as to colours, songs and rituals. They also behave differently. When possessed, the behaviour of the devotee enables others to infer which divinity is amongst them. The modern-day devotees of Orisha are continually striving to include more African elements in their music, singing, dancing, ceremonial practices, and language. It is a conscious drive to diminish the Christian elements and include more rituals that are practised among the Yoruba today. So there is now much communication and interplay between African and West Indian Orisha groups, particularly in the diaspora. This continues the resistance trend where the white man’s religion was continually ‘made over’ into something more ‘authentic’ to the African. However, Orisha worship in Trinidad & Tobago is not the same religion practised by the Yoruba of Nigeria; it is a syncretic religious form. Vodou (Vodun) During the Haitian Revolution (1791–1803) the white, French planter class was either killed off or fled. What remained was a largely African nation with a syncretic religion, known as Vodou, comprised of Roman Catholic elements and the religious traditions of the Fon people of Dahomey, the Yoruba and the Ewe. While Vodou is the official religion today of Benin (the former Dahomey) in West Africa and the dominant religion in Togo and parts of Ghana, it does not have Roman Catholic elements in Africa. However, in Haiti, while many persons profess to be Roman Catholics, they also practice Vodou, a natural part of their upbringing and their life. Roman Catholicism and Vodou form a seamless, syncretic religious entity for most Haitians. Historically, Vodou practitioners were marginalised and persecuted, especially by the Roman Catholic Church and the Roman Catholic elites of the government. As late as 1941, the anti-Vodou campaigns included the confiscation and destruction of Vodou objects, especially drums; the razing of Vodou temples; the felling of supposedly sacred Mapou trees; and the interrogation and imprisonment of Vodou devotees (Murrell, 2010, p. 66). Internationally, the religion suffers from a ‘bad press’. Images of spirit possession and animal sacrifice have been sensationalised in books and movies, as if they do not exist in other Caribbean religions. Vodou is similar to Orisha and Kumina in that there are many saints, African deities and ancestral spirits who represent the over-arching god, known as Bondyé (Good God) by the Haitians. Therefore Vodou is monotheistic but, as in the other syncretic, Caribbean religions, the Supreme God is distant and welldisposed towards humanity so that there is no need to appease him. Rather, the saints, African deities and spirits, called loas (or lwa), are powerful because they provide the link between humans and the divine. The main idea in Vodou is that of service to the loa. During possession, the devotee may undergo terror, pain and convulsions but all that is to be borne because the loa brings knowledge and solace to the people and in the spirit of community the devotee does his/her duty. There are hundreds of loas. Of African origin are Legba, Ogun, Erzilie and Obatala. Catholic saints include St John, the Virgin Mary (Mater Dolorosa), and St Peter (Papa Pie). The syncretism is so intense that the distinctions between the Catholic saints and the African divinities are blurred, as in Orisha. The altar in a Vodou ceremony contains Roman Catholic elements, such as votive candles, holy water, crucifixes and pictures of saints, intermingled with flowers, foods, stones and flags. Formal prayers are modelled on pleas or supplications to Mary, Mother of God and other deities. While the main Vodou ceremony calls on the loas to become present there are other rituals which invoke the power of the dead (ancestral spirits) and attempt to appease or triumph over other spirits regarded as evil. Vodou practitioners tend also to be Roman Catholics and regard the priest as a conduit between them and Bondyé but the loas are a means whereby each believer can have direct experience of the world of the spirits. Like Kumina, Vodou is first and foremost a dance accompanied by drumming where the dancers move in a circle in an counter-clockwise direction. The drums are of different sizes and made according to African traditions using stretched goat skin over the head. The drums are sacred because drumming is the medium which summons the loa and s/he comes to inhabit both the drum and the drummer in the ceremony. The drumming and dancing are accompanied by singing, and repetitive calland-response refrains. There are two major branches in the development of Vodou – the Dahomean tradition known as Rada and that of the Petro Nation. Rada is aligned towards CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION Members of the La Kou Souvenance, a Vodou practising community that congregates in Gonaives, Haiti participate in communion and dance in closing ceremonies that culminate their celebrations of Easter. The celebration is a mixture of Catholic Easter tradition and post-colonial African rites. protection, benevolence and guidance but Petro Nation is more aggressive, even violent, and is thought to have propelled the slaves towards their bid for freedom in 1791. It developed in remote parts of the French colony where maroons formed small, fugitive communities and even incorporated Taino influences into their worship. Within Petro Nation the gods of Vodou (Rada) take on menacing characteristics as they fight oppression and are bitter about the brutal history of enslavement of the Haitian people. Because there are so many spirits to be appeased, superstitions abound about good and evil and the dangers of becoming possessed by evil spirits. On the margins of Vodou are practices similar to obeah where certain individuals are thought to possess knowledge of these spirits, or of poisons and other herbal concoctions, so that they can bring about good or evil. These practices have been immortalised in Hollywood films and have become the public’s idea of what Vodou is all about. Popular sentiment even blamed the earthquake that devastated Haiti in January 2010 on Vodou, misrepresented as a form of black magic or occult practice. Even today when much information can be gained about Vodou from the internet, the dominant image the world over is about strange and horrifying rituals. ACTIVITY 7.8 Social Theory 1. How can Durkheim’s concepts such as collective consciousness and anomie be applied to Vodou in Haiti? 2. To what extent can a Marxist analysis of religion be applied to Haitian Vodou? 3. What concepts will an Interpretive theorist use in describing Haitian Vodou? 219 220 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS To sum up: This section focused on a sociological discussion of religions in the Caribbean. While their major tenets were described, emphasis lay on their emergence, character and dynamics. The section described the historical elements, the groups and especially the ethnic groups, and showed how they interact with each other and impact the wider society. We witnessed how the social institutions of religion, the economy and politics interacted. Of special interest are the processes of creolisation and syncretism at work in shaping Caribbean religions in plural societies. Finally, Caribbean religion is often a means of reaffirming identity for people in the diaspora. 7.4 Secularisation All social institutions undergo change. In this section we will examine the phenomenon known as secularisation. At the same time we will also consider the opposite view which suggests that there is a resurgence of religion worldwide. The Process of Secularisation Weber put forward the idea of secularisation as a process that has been on-going for centuries in the West especially with the advent of capitalism and its emphasis on a particular kind of rationality. He saw secularisation as occurring through a decline in religious participation, religious values and religious beliefs. In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism he noted that the growing importance of science and technology in society would inevitably result in a decline in things held sacred. Institutions such as education, the market, and the justice system would be increasingly modelled on rational principles and religion would be sidelined to a specific sphere of only private significance. Rationality then was the underlying principle that would replace mysticism and the supernatural with a more secular outlook. True to Weber’s concern with the microsociological dimensions of an issue, he perceived that increasing secularisation would lead to disenchantment with the 7.4.1 Disenchantment refers to the confusion and disillusion people feel when the emphases and lifestyles of the modern world – profit-making, work-related values, technologically driven lives, and the preeminence of science in understanding the world – do not help them to answer life’s enduring questions such as ‘Who am I?’ ‘Is there life after death?’ ‘How do I become happy?’ ACTIVITY 7.9 Research Methodology Debate on the secularisation thesis continues largely because there is no empirical way of accurately measuring it. Consider the following points and evaluate them as problems of research methodology. Can you suggest ways these issues might be researched effectively? Which of the issues do NOT concern measurement? 1. Surveys of church attendance are few, especially in the past, and may pertain to only a few countries, mostly in Europe. 2. Questionnaire and survey data tend to yield a ‘snapshot’ of a cross-section of a population which does not tell what they did or believed before and after the survey. Any trends detected may be only valid for a particular country or region and only for a particular time. Weber’s thesis referred to a global process over time. 3. What people really believe is an inner subjective state that cannot be easily accessed by researchers. For example, people may still believe in God or worship and say prayers without feeling the need to go to church. In addition, the thorny question arises: To what extent do regular churchgoers practise and obey their doctrines, rules and religious laws? So, church attendance may be only indicative of one dimension of religiosity. 4. Complicating the issue further is that some may continue to regard themselves as Roman Catholics or Anglicans and cite that religion as the one to which they belong on official documents but no longer practise the religion, or only take part in some observances. 5. Correlation is not the same as causation. What this means is that because two events seem to be related we cannot infer that one caused the other. Thus, rising levels of modernisation in a society cannot be taken as the cause of the decline in religiosity in the society. There has to be more direct proof. CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION BOX 7.6 Support for and Opposition to Weber’s Secularisation Theory Support Opposition Berger (1967 – see §7.2.3 above), noted that in Europe and other places the authority of the dominant religion declined because its ‘plausibility structures’ could not accommodate and make sense of changes in social life. The ‘sacred canopy’ was therefore ripped making way for many denominations each with a version of the ‘truth’ that contested the other. The resulting religious pluralism and secularisation reinforced each other. However, Berger later changed his view (see opposite column). Berger (1999) now believes that there is a resurgence of religiosity worldwide as a result of secular elites being resisted by other groups. Thus, the fundamentalist movements in the USA and in Islam, for example, are reactions to an elite, secular culture. Walton (2000) argued that religion itself undergoes change from one historical era to another. Religion becomes more secular in the present era because the society values rationality. What goes on in society must necessarily impact religion (and vice versa) simply because religion is a social institution and social institutions interact. Becoming more rational means that they are also becoming more secular, because the elements of traditional religiosity are being diminished, such as superstition, magic, and mystery. This view is one which upholds religious secularism. Hadden (1987) argued that sociologists have accepted Weber’s idea of secularisation ‘on faith’. Efforts to put the ideas to scientific test are flawed as there is no adequate way to accurately measure all the perceived dimensions of secularisation. In fact NRMs have appeared even in the most secularised societies and religion is today a major factor in foreign policy and global politics. Wilson (1982) has argued that the growth in the number of sects over the last few decades is an indication of the increase in secularisation in society. Sects comprise people who want to isolate themselves from non-religious or secular society. Hence, if we witness a growth in the number of sects then the society is growing more secular. This is a logical deduction which may largely pertain to the Christian world. Stark (1999) felt that Weber had exaggerated the religiosity of past eras and underestimated religiosity today. He presented as evidence the work of historians who documented the irreligion and apathy of lay and clergy alike in medieval Britain. Others disagree saying that it is hard to believe that the most important institution in the land had little effect on people. Stark and Finke (2000) put forward a market model of religiosity. For example, a monopoly church in a country necessitates censorship and strong sanctions to remain in the fold so that to a large extent stagnation and complacency comes to mark religious life. Religious pluralism on the other hand actually stimulates religiosity. According to this argument, the separation of Church and State forces churches to become more competitive and re-vitalised thereby increasing the levels of religious ferment in the society. 221 222 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS world. Not only does he outline macro-level processes of social change but he also shows linkages with the subjectivities people experience. The process of secularisation has left many with a spiritual void, what Weber describes as the elimination of magic from the world (Weber, 1958, p. 105). Some sociologists have provided support for Weber’s ideas on secularisation, others oppose it (Box 7.6). Look at the methodology of the debate in Activity 7.9. Secularisation in the Caribbean The World Values Survey 1981–2001 was conducted by social scientists for over 80 countries and investigated socio-cultural and political change. It is being continually followed up to monitor changes and make cross-country analyses and comparisons. Below are some of their findings. ■ There has been a persistent decline in church attendance and in the numbers holding religious beliefs and values both in Scandinavian and other European countries. ■ Though the decline is not as great there is a similar trend in Australia, Canada and Japan. ■ The United States represents an exception where religiosity has increased in an industrialized country. ■ Jamaica and Trinidad &Tobago registered higher levels of religiosity than Europe but lower levels than Chad, Rwanda, Nigeria and Pakistan. 7.4.2 Norris & Inglehart (2004) have posited that persons in the more developed countries are less religious because the level of risk, hardship and insecurity in their lives is low. Comprehensive social welfare systems in Europe, for example, provide help and support to citizens. In countries with very few resources or not as inclusive a system of social security as obtains in Europe, citizens are expected to be resilient and for many this includes faith in God and a religious orientation to life. Some scholars suggest that religious life in the United States is vibrant, especially in the growth of cults, sects, the evangelical movement and NRMs, largely because their social welfare system does not give adequate coverage to many. US citizens, especially when facing a downturn in the economy, turn to a higher power for help. Thus, the poorer countries of the world are very religious because they live with uncertainty and instability all the time. In the more affluent countries, those of a lower socioeconomic group tend to be more religious. ACTIVITY 7.10 Social Life 1. Identify examples of secularisation in Caribbean societies. 2. 2. Identify groups or categories of people who may be more secular than others in Caribbean societies. 3. 3. Explain why you think secularisation is (or is not) increasing in the Caribbean. To sum up: This final section of the chapter dealt with secularisation, a concept offered by Weber. He felt that with the increasing modernisation of society religion would decline in importance and many would become disenchanted. Since then many sociologists have sought to critique or extend and clarify the case for or against the secularisation of society. The section outlined the different arguments which show that only Scandinavia and some other European countries now match Weber’s predictions. On a more global level, poverty, a sense of insecurity, and endemic conflicts between cultural elites and others are conditions which generate not only religious pluralism but heightened religiosity. CHAPTER 7: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: RELIGION Chapter Summary This chapter is a sociological account of the social institution of religion with a specific focus on the Caribbean. The study of a social institution looks at how that institution is influencing society and how society may be influencing the institution. It therefore calls for: • a discussion of dominant and marginalised ideas and beliefs on religion in the society; • an outline of social theory which attempts to explain via different sociological perspectives the interactions of religion and society; • a comparative approach to the study of specific religions; forces of social change; • methods of inquiry which can best capture such changes. The account revealed that immense diversity in religious life is found in the Caribbean, brought about by the arrival of transplanted peoples, and the actions of colonisers and missionaries. All these varieties of religion underwent intense adaptations, transformations and syncretism and moreover are continuing to develop, a process described as creolisation. References Berger, P. (1967). The Sacred Canopy: Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. Berger, P. (ed.) (1999). The Desecularisation of the World. Washington, DC: Ethics and Public Policy Center. Murrell, N. S. (2010). Afro-Caribbean Religions: An Introduction to their Historical, Cultural, and Sacred Traditions. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2004). Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. New York: Cambridge University Press. Bisnauth, D. (2006). History of Religions in the Caribbean, 2nd. ed. Kingston, Jamaica: LMH Publishing. Pfeffer, L. (1979–80). Equal Protection for Unpopular Sects. New York University Review of Law and Social Change, 9 (1), pp. 9–10. Chevannes, B. (1995). Rastafari: Roots and Ideology. New York: Syracuse University Press. Stark, R. (1999). Secularisation, RIP. Sociology of Religion, 60(3), pp. 249–273. Desmangles, L.G., Glazier, S.D., & Murphy, J.M. (2003). Religion in the Caribbean. In R. Hillman & T. D’Agostino (eds), Understanding the Contemporary Caribbean, pp. 263–304. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle. Stark, R., & Finke, R. (2000). Acts of Faith. Berkeley: University of California Press. Durkheim, E. (1954). The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, trans. J. Swain. First published 1912. New York: Free Press. Fernandez Olmos, M., & Paravisini-Gebert, L. (2003). Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Vodou and Santeria to Obeah and Espiritismo. New York: New York University Press. Hadden, J. (1987). Toward Desacralizing Secularisation Theory. Social Forces, 65 (3), pp. 587–611. Miller, A., & Hoffmann, J. (1995). Risk and Religion: An Explanation of Gender Differences in Religiosity. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 34, pp. 63–75. Tucker, R. (ed.) (1978). The Marx-Engels Reader. New York: Norton. Walton, C.L. (2000). Is Disenchantment the End of Religion? At http://www.philocrites.com/essays/weber.html, accessed 6 December 2013. Weber, M. (1958). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, trans. H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills. New: York: Galaxy. (Originally published in German in 1904.) Weber, M. (1963). The Sociology of Religion. Boston: Beacon, 1963. (Originally published in German in 1922.) Wilson, B.R. (1982). Religion in Sociological Perspective. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 223 224 CHAPTER 7: Exercises and Test Questions (A) Multiple Choice Questions Please select the BEST POSSIBLE answer. 1. Which sociological perspective highlights the integrative nature of religion in social life? (a) Functionalism (b) Marxism (c) Interpretive theory (d) Conflict theory 2. Which of the following is an example of a denomination? (a) Islam in Saudi Arabia (b) the Roman Catholic Church in Italy (c) the Baptists in the USA (d) the Hare Krishna movement 3. Berger’s Sacred Canopy refers to when Roman Catholicism in Europe was a: (a) Church (b) sect (c) cult (d) denomination 4. In which of the following Caribbean countries are there large numbers of Hindus? (a) Guyana, Jamaica and St Kitts & Nevis (b) Suriname, Jamaica and Belize (c) Trinidad, Guyana and Suriname (d) Guyana, Suriname and St Kitts & Nevis 5. Which sociological perspective regards religion as reinforcing the patterns of inequality in a society? (a) Functionalism (b) Marxism (c) Interpretive theory (d) Symbolic Interactionism 6. Secularisation occurs in a society in all of the following ways EXCEPT (a) Church and State are separated (b) church attendance declines (c) the Church censors literature it regards as unsuitable (d) religious values are not upheld by many in the society 7. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is an analysis of religion and society from which of the following perspectives? (a) Interpretive theory (b) Marxism (c) Conflict perspective (d) Functionalism 8. Weber’s idea about ‘disenchantment’ refers to (a) the increase in issues such as abortion and homosexuality in the society which the Church cannot seem to control (b) the process whereby people become gradually disillusioned with the world (c) the decline of religion in a society and the growth of many denominations (d) when the magical and mystical elements of life are displaced by rational explanations 9. Religious fundamentalism refers to (a) religion being undermined by science and technology (b) the increase in the spiritual rather than the religious in people’s lives (c) religious conflict and division in the society through the perpetuation of stereotypes (d) an emphasis on the literal meaning of religious texts 10. Which of the following is an example of a syncretic, creole religion? (a) Charismatic movement (b) Revival Zion (c) Sunni Islam, Guyana (d) Pentecostal faith 225 (B) Structured Response Questions (C) Essay Questions Each response should be about two or three lines. Each item carries 4 marks. In this section some essay questions are given (25 marks). The questions may involve further research building on what the chapter offers. A specimen answer to the first of these essays is provided, with annotations. Refer back to Chapter 1 for guidelines of how to critique a sociological essay. (1) Describe TWO ways in which religion can lead to social conflict. (2) Give ONE example each of a world affirming, world rejecting, and world accommodating religion, and name the theorist who devised this classification. (3) Explain what is meant by ecclesias as a type of church organisation. (4) Identify FOUR characteristics common to syncretic religions in the Caribbean. (5) Describe ONE way in which religion promotes prejudice. (6) Give ONE example that you know about in the Caribbean where religion is associated with discrimination. (7) Distinguish between animism and naturism. (8) Distinguish between a sect and a cult. (9) Briefly outline the kinds of transformation ONE religion underwent in the Caribbean. (10) What are the main criticisms of the Marxist perspective on religion? (1) Analyse the relationships between gender and religion in society. (2) Discuss the argument that religious pluralism and secularisation reinforce each other. (3) Examine the view that creole religions in the Caribbean are a response to a history of violence and oppression. (4) Justify the argument that ‘religion is essentially a social thing’. (5) Discuss the sociological arguments which address conflict in multi-religious Caribbean societies. 226 CHAPTER 7: Sample Answer and Critique Analyse the relationships between gender and religion in society To sociologists, religion is important in understanding society, and they look mainly at the nature of religious participation and religious organisations for this understanding. What they see is that religious participation to a large extent varies by social groups – for example, whether someone is young or old, male or female, rich or poor, from the rural or urban areas, black or white, professional or blue collar, even the type of religious group, such as belonging to a sect or not. This essay will focus on the nature of gender relationships in religious participation and religious organisations by looking at empirical data showing broad patterns according to gender as well as the contribution of social theorists in explaining the data. Religiosity is the sociological concept that guides how someone’s relationship to a religion is assessed. It refers broadly to how groups participate in religious activities such as church attendance, what religious beliefs and values they profess, and what rites, rituals and observances they carry out. It is widely supported by empirical evidence that women participate more in religious activities than men (Miller & Hoffmann, 1995; Trimble, 1997; Kelley & De Graaf, 1997). This finding has led to the general belief that women are more religious than men. There is no proof of this; it is just a logical deduction. Religiosity is usually measured using survey data which can only tell how often women participate in religious acts, not whether they are more religious than men. Even if self-report scales are used, asking whether the respondent considered him or herself to be religious, each person has a different idea of what that involves or they may just not tell the truth. Positivist studies then can give us broad trends about gender and religion in society. Miller and Hoffmann (1995) stated that women are more likely than men to express interest in religion, attend church more often, and have a stronger personal religious commitment. Moreover, this degree of religiosity is likely to be maintained over the life course and holds true whether the religious organisation is a Church, a sect, or a denomination. Various explanations have been offered to clarify these relationships. Generally, women are less likely to be involved in full-time jobs and so have more time to devote to religious activities. Their work in the home calls them to look for other means of personal identity and commitment to the Church fulfils this need. Another explanation speaks to the differences in gender socialisation. Women are reared to be more submissive and obedient and these traits are important in religious devotion. Psycho-social explanations focus on vulnerability. They suggest that women are less likely to take risks and if they live in at-risk cultures and societies they will find relief in the certainty that faith and religiosity brings. By the same token men who are less inclined to take risks will also be more religious than other men. Walter & Davie (1998) take this further: they do not dispute that religiosity could stem from socially induced vulnerability, but also make a case for the physical vulnerability of women in relation to men, a situation exacerbated in patriarchal societies. Greeley (1992) offers motherhood Clarifying the topic and stating how the essay will proceed. Focus on ‘religiosity’ – a major concept in drawing out differences between males and female. Discussion of empirical data showing relationships. Theorising about the relationships between religiosity, gender and society. 227 as the reason why women seem to be more religious and devout than men. Before having a family women are less religious than when they assume the caring and nurturing role. One way they can shoulder their responsibilities to their offspring is to give them a firm foundation in religious values and morals, and mothers take on the role of the exemplar to model this behaviour for their children. Religion in particular upholds the ideology of family life and mothers will therefore be in favour of a strong link between Church and family. Feminist critiques of all these explanations focus on the nature of entrenched gender inequalities in society, especially patriarchal societies, and the disadvantages suffered by women. They see religious participation by women as directly related to the need for solace, comfort and certainty, if not in this world then in the next. It is ironic, they say, that within religious organisations women are sidelined and marginalized. Feminists feel that if women, because of the nature of their lives, have a greater need to turn to religion then they should not have patriarchal organisations to turn to. In fact, women’s religious involvement does little to challenge the status quo and may in fact be reinforcing it. More detailed treatment given to feminist perspectives since gender is the core of their analyses. Baskin (1985) shows how in Rabbinic Judaism women’s and men’s roles are separate and women are conceived of as something wholly different from ‘the unblemished man who can serve God fully’ (p.3). Women play little or no role within the organisation and even in prayer they are disparaged: Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast not made me a gentile./Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast not made me a slave./Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who hast not made me a woman. (Baskin, 1985, p. 6) The Roman Catholic and Mormon refusal to ordain women is also seen as gender discrimination, especially in societies where equality of the sexes is now an enshrined policy across all major social institutions. In Roman Catholicism laws which prohibit artificial means of contraception and abortion are laws made by men ruling over women’s bodies. Where most religions are concerned there is a ‘glass ceiling’ prohibiting women from reaching top positions in the organisation. In Islam women cannot lead prayers in the mosque and in Buddhism ordained women follow more rules than men. Amongst the Rastafari whilst women are held in high regard, evidenced by a man referring to a woman as ‘queen’, her position is a subordinate one limited to domestic roles and she is excluded from many rituals and the ‘reasoning’ ceremony. Feminist studies marry the concerns of Conflict theory with oppression and the search for meaning typical of Interpretive sociology. Consequently they examine on a microsociological level the significance of religiosity to men and women. One finding is the issue of guilt in Christianity where the body is associated with evil (Radford Ruether 1974). Women embody sexuality especially in their ability to procreate, and thus are considered to be more prone to our ‘lower nature’ than men and Being sociological calls for cross-cultural comparisons. Feminist critiques today go beyond attacking patriarchy and seek more nuanced explanations even those where women actively collude with the source of their oppression. 228 therefore more in need of salvation than men. If women internalize these ideas, then they are likely to feel more guilt than men, and are more likely to look for ‘forgiveness’ whereas men tend to equate religion with a search for ‘meaning’ (Walter, 1990). Another factor that may induce more women to be involved in Christianity is that Jesus does not seem to embody patriarchal qualities – he appears as a poor man under conditions of oppression and is publicly crucified amidst taunts and jeers (West, 1983). The issue of agency comes to the fore in explanations given for women at the helm of NRMs, for example New Thought, and more feminist-oriented religions such as Wicca, which worships the EarthMother or Goddess, as well as the Hindu group known as the Brahma Kumaris, where women take the lead. Agency is seen not only in the deliberate overthrow of men having power in a religious hierarchy but also in women taking control of their own fertility and sexuality. Not so in fundamentalist religious organisations, new or old, which rely on a literal interpretation of Scripture, which to a large extent has a view of women as inferior to men and required to play a supportive role. The relationships between gender and society analysed above show that in the major world religions, Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism, there is a historical ideology which portrays women as subservient to men and therefore unable to lead. Feminist and other researchers investigate why women continue to belong in far greater numbers than men to religious organisations that are patriarchal. Partly answering that call are theories which show that this ideology is reinforced by women’s psychological states ( they are more likely to feel guilt and anxiety) and their social status (they are more involved in care-giving and nurturing) so that their lives are more easily bound up with religion than men’s. Empirical studies support this emphasis and show that the religiosity of women is higher than that of men. NRMs hold out hope for women to exercise their agency and become empowered in more egalitarian cults and groups, whilst other NRMs of a more fundamentalist nature call for stricter seclusion for women and require obedience and passive acceptance from them. These trends are also true for the Caribbean region where some Creole religions give more power to women than others. Bibliography Baskin, J. (1985). The Separation of Women in Rabbinic Judaism. In Y. Haddad & E. Findly (eds), Women, Religion and Social Change, pp. 3–18. New York: State University of New York Press. Greeley, A. (1992). Religion in Britain, Ireland and the USA. In R. Jowell, L. Brook, G. Prior & B.Taylor (eds), British Social Attitudes: The 9th Report, pp. 51–70. Aldershot, UK: Dartmouth. Kelley, J., & De Graaf, N. (1997). National Context, Parental Socialisation, and Religious Belief: Results from Fifteen Nations. American Sociological Review 62: 639–659. Miller, A., & Hoffmann, J. (1995). Risk and Religion: An Explanation of Gender Differences in Religiosity. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 34, pp. 63–75. Comparison of gender relations in NRMs to show that there are variations. The conclusion summarises the main points by making some general statements that pull the various arguments together. 229 Radford Ruether, R. (2002). The Emergence of Christian Feminist Theology. In Susan Frank Parsons (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Feminist Theology, pp. 3–22. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Trimble, D. (1997). The Religious Orientation Scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 57, p. 970–986. Walter, T. (1990). Why Are Most Churchgoers Women? A Literature Review. Vox Evangelica, 20, pp. 73-90. Walter, T., & Davie G. (1998). The Religiosity of Women in the Modern West. British Journal of Sociology, 49 (4), pp. 640–660. West, A. (1983). A Faith for Feminists? In J. Garcia & S. Maitland (eds), Walking on Water, pp. 66-91. London: Virago. 230 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS The major expectations of this chapter are that you will recognise that the social institution of education is: ■ often thought to be synonymous with schooling, but education has a broader reach in that it encompasses all kinds of learning; ■ a ‘contested’ arena of conflicting, dominant and marginal ideas about how best to educate children; ■ a mix of historical and contemporary ideas about education which sometimes are not compatible; ■ intertwined with all social institutions but particularly with religion, the family, the economy and politics; ■ influenced by the colonial encounter, especially in the importance accorded to high-stakes examinations and the nature of the curriculum; ■ viewed differently by each of the main sociological perspectives, as well as by the subperspectives of Critical theory and Feminist theory; ■ experiencing rapid social change owing to waves of reform stimulated by global interventions about the nature and purpose of education; ■ challenged in the present era to deliver quality education and gender equity. 231 8 Social Institutions: Education The social institution of education embodies the ideas, beliefs and values adopted by a society about how to pass on its body of skills and knowledge to its new members. It includes how these have motivated social groups to shape the organisations, structures and patterns evident today in the system of education. In this chapter we will deepen our understanding of these ‘ideas, beliefs and values’ about education and how they are translated into concrete organisations (for example, schools), and structures (for example, examinations). At the same time we also examine the different views of the social groups (or stakeholders) on education matters, as well as the sociological perspectives, each of which understands the role and function of the social institution of education differently. Finally, we apply this knowledge to better understand the growth and development of Caribbean education systems and issues related to education today. 8.1 Education as a Social Institution In Chapter 3 we were introduced to the principle of institutions in social life. Sociologists say that in all societies people who live together as a group feel a need to plan and make arrangements to achieve human needs. Education is one such need that societies plan for and in so doing create the social institution of education. However, once created, an institution takes on a life of its own, and becomes difficult to change. At the same time there are diverse groups seeking to shape it in different ways. As a result, what education is and does become highly contested issues in society. Box 8.1 (page 232) explores some of the key terms used in the sociology of education that are commonly misunderstood or used incorrectly. When we speak of the social institution of education we mean the intangible world of ideas, beliefs, values and expectations that over time have become concretised into organisations such as ministries of education, parent–teacher associations, the system of primary and secondary schools, and tertiary learning organisations, among others. They are concretised not only in organisations but in the broad patterns or standard ways of doing things, known as structures, by sociologists – for example: the curriculum; high-stakes examinations; the organisation of schooling into three school terms a year; a timetable based on consensus about how much time should be allocated to each subject; the practice of specialisation into ‘the sciences’ or ‘business subjects’ towards the end of secondary school, and so on. All of these are structures or broad patterns which characterise schooling in Caribbean countries and which we usually take for granted as norms in education. However, we must remember they are all decisions taken by some persons in authority some time ago and today they are now deeply entrenched in what we believe education and schooling to be. Sociology is a comparative discipline and by studying how other countries attempt to solve the same problems we get some insight into how we are socialised to see our present arrangements as ‘normal’ and perhaps also the best way to do things. Take for example the practice of starting formal schooling at age 5. We are challenged to conceive of schooling organised in any other way. Yet this practice is not considered ideal. For example, formal schooling begins at 6 years in Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden among other countries and at 7 years in Finland, Estonia and Latvia. Before that children go to government-run or private kindergartens. While others dispute the significance of starting school later (and in the UK children begin school before they are 5), it is instructive to know that Sweden, Finland and Japan consistently top the world in terms of literacy and numeracy and Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland also hold the top rankings in terms of gender equality (World Economic Forum, 2013). 232 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS BOX 8.1 Clarifying Key Terms in Education Equity refers to how fair education is to each of these groups as they attend school. Education versus Schooling The term education refers to how and what people learn, such as the skills and knowledge of their society and culture. It can refer to what is taught to them as babies and toddlers in the home, in the formal education system, in the world of work, and in leisure and recreation where people learn games, attend courses and seek self-improvement. Schooling refers to formal education environments such as teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools. Curriculum versus Syllabus The curriculum is a plan for the education of students and involves all the learning experiences they should have – e.g. in classrooms and laboratories, with multi-media, on playgrounds and in sports, and in extra-curricular activities (after-school and weekend activities arranged by the school or teachers). It also includes activities to promote affective education such as guidance, counseling, school assembly, the house and prefect system and other forms of student responsibility and empowerment. The curriculum of a school should explain how the staff seeks to bring about desirable curricular outcomes for students. A syllabus is a part of the curriculum and is a written document detailing what experiences students should have in each subject area. Equality versus Equity Equality of opportunity in education refers to the ideal that all social groups should be able to access schools based on merit, i.e. everyone has a right to access a higher level of education if they qualify on merit. Assessment versus Evaluation Assessment is a process whereby the teacher gathers information on students as to how they are faring in terms of curriculum goals, through formative (on-going) assessments, such as the School-Based Assessment (SBA), exercises, journals, portfolios, tests, quizzes, observations and other measures. Based on these assessments, teachers give students feedback as to how they can improve; assessment also provides feedback for the teacher who can adjust instruction to suit. Evaluation on the other hand is the analysis of the results of tests or examinations (usually summative assessment) which rate students in relation to others and sum up what students know in terms of a mark, a grade, statements of proficiency and/or profiles. Constructivist versus Traditional Constructivist thinking focuses on what the learner brings to the teaching–learning scenario in terms of pre-knowledge, culture, attitudes, dispositions and so on. Best practice asks that teachers get to know their learners as thoroughly as possible through dialogue as well as assessment and observations of their strengths and weaknesses. Such knowledge enables teachers to plan more effectively. A ‘traditional’ approach to the curriculum emphasises the importance of learning content that can be memorised and repeated for examinations. It is therefore highly subject- or discipline-oriented. The discipline is the important thing whereas in the constructivist approach the learner is the important factor. Academic versus Multiple Intelligences Howard Gardner in Frames of Mind (1983) set out a theory of multiple intelligences which criticised traditional curricula and its emphasis only on certain intelligences. Schooling and examinations, he noted, are skewed towards testing only linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences. He listed other intelligences just as important but which were not traditionally taught and tested, such as kinesthetic, musical, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalist intelligence (see Figure 8.1). The more diverse students are, the more likely that all these intelligences will be evident but the curriculum tends to focus only on the traditional ideas about intelligence. CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION Linguistic Intelligence Naturalist Intelligence Ability to use language easily and effectively for creative writing, persuasive argument Ability to identify natural patterns and differentiate between different life-forms and species Intrapersonal Intelligence Ability to distinguish and/or analyse one’s own emotions, motives, and desires; gives self-awareness Ability to use logic and reason; tends to give proficiency/ excellence in mathematics and science Spatial (Visual) Intelligence Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Interpersonal Intelligence Ability to ‘read’ people’s behaviour and facial expressions to gauge mood and intention; gives empathy Logical-Mathematical Intelligence Ability to notice details and use visual imagination; important for visual arts and design Musical Intelligence Ability to create, comprehend, and appreciate music Kinesthetic Intelligence Ability to use one’s body with skill; learn best by hands-on experience Figure 8.1 A brief guide to Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences 8.2 Sociological Perspectives on Education Sociological perspectives on education are also known as social theories of education. They serve to clarify and explain the relationships within the social institution of education and between it and the wider society. Functionalism and Marxism focus on the macro- or systemic level and the Interactionist or the Interpretive perspective focuses on micro-contexts such as classrooms, and seek to understand describe and explain the processes that are observed. Feminist theory has its roots both in Marxist and Conflict theory and in the Interpretive perspective. Each sociological perspective is based on a different philosophy about what is real, important and valuable in education. ACTIVITY 8.1 Applying Social Theory For EACH of the following descriptions of education, suggest a sociological perspective (Functionalist, Conflict or Interpretive) that seems to have influenced it: 1. Teachers facilitate instruction; teachers learn about students; student experiences are the starting point for instruction; assessment varies from journals to stage productions and art. 2. Teachers and textbooks represent expert knowledge; students absorb information and regurgitate it for examinations; learning is organised to move from the simple to the complex. 233 234 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Functionalism This perspective uses an analogy such as the human body to understand the social world. The human body depends on the smooth interconnections between its various organs for overall optimal functioning. Functionalists regard the social institutions as the ‘organs’ of society and say that each will play its role to foster harmony and equilibrium between the various ‘parts’ of the system. This refers to the relationships within one social institution as well as the interrelationships between all the social institutions of the society. As a result, the most basic function of education as a social institution is to maintain the connectedness or cohesiveness of the society. This is the function of any social institution as well. Religion does this by – among other things – forming a community of believers. The family does this by providing love, food, shelter and taking care of the needs of its members, particularly of the young. Education does this in various ways. 8.2.1 1 The Processes of Socialisation. Primary socialisation takes place in the home. Secondary socialisation takes place at school and in the wider society, for example the media, where the young are steeped in the shared values of the society. Durkheim and Parsons saw education acting as a ‘bridge’ between the home and the wider society (the world of work) by helping to socialise children into the core values of the society. Schools also bring various social groups together where they begin to develop the value consensus necessary for integrating the society. These processes lay the groundwork for preparing children for their later adult roles and for building social solidarity. Functionalists hold passive theories of socialisation where children are expected to absorb the culture and practices of their society by imitating adults. Other sociological perspectives see socialisation occurring in very different ways. 2 Its role as an agent of social control. Schools help to regulate the society by teaching what are acceptable and unacceptable behaviours.The hidden curriculum serves to inculcate values of conformity, punctuality, respect for authority, and desire for success. It is maintained through a system of rewards and punishments at school. It nurtures support for and acceptance of the existing political and economic system – the status quo. 3 The economic training it provides. Schools produce a cadre of workers who have basic entry level skills and knowledge for the world of work. Durkheim theorised that as societies developed they became organic that is, more differentiated and specialised with each part dependent on the other for optimal functioning. Schools helped to strengthen the society by teaching the specialist knowledge and skills needed for the society to develop in this differentiated manner. Therefore, the curriculum should be relevant and appropriate to the needs of the labour market. 4 Its sorting and allocating function. Education, through structures and practices such as examinations, streaming and different curricula, sorts and allocates all students into different paths based on their ability and achievement levels. In this way both the talented and the not-so-talented are selected to perform jobs that are useful for the society. The education system is therefore a meritocracy where persons can access equality of opportunity and be rewarded according to their effort and ability. Education is a mechanism for social mobility within a system of social stratification based on occupations. These are dominant ideas about education in the society. Functionalism is built on the philosophy of positivism (§2.1.1) which sees reality as occurring outside CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION of a person in the physical world. Hence, learning is equated with testing and examinations because, in this perspective, the only way to know whether someone has learnt something is if s/he can re-state or re-tell it. Sometimes this is called the measured curriculum because of the emphasis on measuring learning through examinations. This way of approaching teaching and learning can easily lead to passive students with the teacher as ‘the sage on the stage’ because the important thing is the transmission of knowledge and skills to reproduce for examinations. Functionalism is therefore associated with a traditionally oriented curriculum, high-stakes examinations, teaching to the test, textbooks, and teachers as authorities on content or knowledge; and ‘learning’ is portrayed as having knowledge or skills which can be displayed for purposes of evaluation. Education, conceived of in this way, leads to a high degree of uniformity in the school system, and as Durkheim says, this is a necessary requirement for the survival of the society. Society can survive only if there exists amongst its members a sufficient degree of homogeneity; education perpetuates and reinforces this homogeneity by fixing in the child from the beginning the essential similarities which collective life demands. (Durkheim, 1956, p.79) Marxism/Conflict Theory Marxist and Conflict theories of education are directed at critiquing existing conditions in the social institution of education. In effect, they offer a criticism of the functionalist nature of education. Marxists believe that in capitalist societies education is organised for purposes of social control. To show how the Functionalist nature of education promotes social control they put forward a theory which differs from the understanding of society that Functionalism offers. Society, Marxists say, is not just a collection of social groups and social institutions on a more or less equal footing, but one where relationships in the social institution of the economy dominate the whole society, including education. The Marxist agenda is to expose inequality, generated by the workings of the system of production, capitalism, which shapes the relationships within all social institutions. Sometimes students believe that the ideas below represent ‘a Marxist conception of society’, but, more accurately, it is how Marxists view the organisation of society as produced by capitalism. Marxists recognise that within capitalist society: 8.2.2 1 Education is part of the superstructure. The superstructure represents all social institutions, with the exception of the economy which is the substructure. The ideas, beliefs and values of the elites, which are dominant in the substructure, shape and influence the ideas, beliefs and values dominant in all social institutions. Hence, education is organised by the elites so that their children excel and have better chances on the labour market. They have power to make laws and influence policy, so that although they are in the minority their ideas of what is best prevails for all. This is not, as is commonly said, the Marxist conception of education, but the Marxist critique of how education is organised under capitalism. 2 Radical theories of socialisation operate. Individuals are not just socialised into the norms and values of their society, as suggested by Functionalists, but into the norms and values of their social class. This has implications for education because schools are largely middle-class organisations. Affluent students fit easily into an environment which relies on norms such as deferred gratification, academic competition, an ethic of wanting to succeed, extra lessons, as well as experiences such as foreign travel, home computers, parental involvement in education and use of close to standard language varieties in the home. Deferred gratification refers to values that privilege long-term reward for hard work or investment done now. One example is a student applying him/herself to long years of study with the expectation that graduation would bring a prestigious job and a better life. (Instant gratification, by contrast, describes the values of those who may prefer making money now, even a little bit, rather than invest in many years of study.) Students from the lower social classes do not have this kind of cultural capital to enable them to be successful at school (Box 8.2, page 236). Again this is a Marxist critique of the links between socialisation and how education is organised (for example, schooling). 3 Education reinforces the system of inequality or social stratification. Education is not a meritocracy as claimed by Functionalists. Students from poorer home backgrounds who do not have academic support from parents or resources for extra tuition do not do as well as other social groups in school. They tend to be the ones assigned to the lower-ability streams or tracks (see Box 8.3).The majority either fail or leave school with minimal qualifications. They get jobs that are similar to those of others in their own social class. Marxists call this a system of social reproduction rather than social mobility. 235 236 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS BOX 8.2 Cultural Capital Cultural capital is a concept which describes one way in which the social institution of education contributes to maintaining social inequalities. Pierre Bourdieu focused on the different ways in which the processes of schooling discriminate against the poor. In the homes of the upper classes, children are socialised into using a wealth of literature – books, newspapers, magazines, as well as electronic media which promote literacy. They also are more likely to have attended plays and musical performances, and visited art galleries and museums. They are more likely to have travelled abroad and met people of different socioeconomic groups. They are more likely to be versed in using different forms of the language and to be able to switch codes if necessary depending on the individual, group or context. Students from poorer homes are less likely to be at ease in these situations and tend to use one form of the language that is easily understood at home and in their social group. Bernstein described how BOX 8.3 poorer students could not ‘switch’ automatically to standard varieties of the language (Standard English, for example) as required in school. Bourdieu suggested that when a teacher marked an essay and gave marks for ‘flair, style and fluency’ s/he was assessing aspects that could not be taught and probably were not taught but had to do with prior experiences. In this and other ways in school students are rewarded or penalised for the cultural capital of their own social class. Streaming / Tracking Jeannie Oakes (1985) investigated the practice of streaming or tracking students in US schools. Most schools, particularly secondary schools, employ some means of differentiating students by ability because teachers and parents tend to believe that mixed-ability classes actually keep back students of higher abilities, as they do not get the competition that challenges them to excel. The rationale is also given that if lower-ability students are grouped together in one class the teacher can better tailor instruction to meet their needs. Streaming refers to the process of organising classes based on homogeneous ability groupings. Streaming or tracking however, was not just a factor in how schools organised and sorted their clientele. Oakes found that the best teachers were assigned to the higher ability streams. Higher-status subjects, such as the sciences and the disciplines of knowledge (literature, history, languages) were offered to the higher streams. Teachers were reluctant to teach lower ability streams and students tended to feel stigmatised. When we add the finding that students of the higher social classes tend to be in the majority in higher ability streams, we get a situation where schools seem to be intensifying social inequality. Oakes views these arrangements as part of the ‘hidden curriculum’ in schools – that whilst there seems to be a creditable rationale for separating the classes by ability levels, these arrangements also serve to maintain the status quo. Marxists and Conflict theorists believe that schools, through the hidden curriculum, play their part in social reproduction, since students of the lower classes leave with either minimal qualifications or knowledge that does not give them access to professional careers or highly paid jobs. This work is in a long tradition of Marxist and Conflict scholarship in education investigating the role of the hidden curriculum in differentiating life chances for persons of different social class. CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION Higher ability students Students learn to work independently and to value work Bound for managerial, professional and administrative careers. A more demanding curriculum Students given more resposibilities High demand school Lower ability students Students are managed and controlled to maintain order HIGH HIG IGH SCHOOL SC Bound for ‘blue collar’ occupations in shops, factories, and in low status service-related jobs. The curriculum is ‘dumbed down’ and simplified Testing and working for extrinsic rewards Low demand school Figure 8.2 The Correspondence Theory of schools and workplaces – how schools re-inforce inequality 4 The ascribed status of the poor hinders their chances of getting ahead. Where Functionalists see education as a system where individuals attain social positions based on their achieved status, they therefore see society as a meritocracy and blame individuals for their lack of achievement. However, Marxists say that they neglect to factor in the situation of students from lower socio-economic groups. Their ascribed status has to do Achieved status refers to the status we acquire by our own efforts or personal merit. Ascribed status refers to the characteristics a person was born with which are used as a means of assigning status to him or her in a stratified system. with factors they cannot change such as the social class they were born into, which, because of the system of social stratification and the relations of production in capitalist societies, they are hardly likely to overcome and achieve as others do. This hinders their chances of getting ahead or attaining social mobility. Marxists and Conflict theorists believe that schools, through what is called ‘the hidden curriculum’ play their part in social reproduction – students of the lower classes leave with either minimal qualifications or knowledge that does not give them access to careers as professionals or highly paid jobs (see Figure 8.2; Box 8.3). This tends to be true even where schools use streaming. The Interpretive Perspective The Interpretive or Interactionist perspective did not gain importance in the sociology of education until the 1970s, with the publication of Michael Young’s Knowledge and Control (1971). Previous to that, the macro-sociological perspectives of Functionalism and Marxism, one a critique of the other, were the major ways in which sociologists sought to understand the social institution of education. The breakthrough made by the Interpretive perspective was that it focused on micro-contexts – the world of the school, classrooms, corridors and playground– rather than on producing grand theory to explain education at the systemic level. The upsurge of interest in Interpretive studies in education later on saw other researchers attempting to marry micro-scale Interpretive research with Marxist and Conflict theory analyses to produce Critical and Feminist research agendas in education. 1 The ‘Black Box’ of schooling. The Interpretive perspective sought to investigate education from the ground up and highlighted (or penetrated) the black box of schooling (Figure 8.3, page 239). Both Marxists and Functionalists tended to regard schooling as a ‘black box’, meaning that they did not investigate what went on in schools in a detailed, in-depth and contextualised way. Their focus was at the level of the system and so they investigated ‘inputs’ or ‘factors’ such as socio8.2.3 237 238 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS economic status (SES) and others that could be quantified. Researchers then sought to correlate certain inputs with the ‘outputs’ of schooling, e.g. that a high incidence of teacher absenteeism (input) correlated with schools where there was low academic achievement (output). Rarely did researchers seek to enter the micro-contexts of the school itself to better understand the relationships or the correlations they had found. In contrast, the Interpretive perspective focused on uncovering the interactions and processes of schooling, what students and teachers actually experienced daily, such as streaming, labelling, the selffulfilling prophecy (see Box 8.4), the hidden curriculum, league tables, assessment, and teaching and learning episodes in enacting the curriculum. 2 The use of a range of qualitative research methodologies. For example, participant-observation was the main data collection strategy requiring researchers to stay in schools for extended periods (sometimes as long as a year), observing and interviewing relevant persons. Qualitative researchers produced ethnographies and case studies using the Interpretive sub-perspectives of Symbolic Interaction and Phenomenology. Phenomenological BOX 8.4 Labelling and the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Researchers have shown how the label that a teacher has for a child – in terms of such things as dress, interaction with teacher and other students, and whether they tend to conform or not - influences his or her expectations of that child’s progress as well as important decisions the teacher has to make such as which stream to place the child in and which curriculum options would be most suitable. Many Interactionist studies have pointed to the close relationship between labelling and the self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, if a teacher sees a certain student as ‘deviant’ (i.e. nonconforming) that judgement reveals itself in their daily interactions and sometimes students internalise these labels. In the Interpretive perspective deviance to a large extent is something arising from the interactions of teachers and students and not just ‘bad behaviour’ on the part of students. studies include how students experience the transition from primary to secondary schools, how students deal with stigma and ostracism, and how low-achieving students face the competitive world of the classroom. 3 The subjective understandings that participants had for their experiences. Interpretive researchers looked at the processes of socialisation as neither passive nor radical but rather active, in that students/teachers used their sense of agency and deliberately chose their reactions to schooling. Active theories of socialisation sought to understand the meanings individuals had for their actions – unlike the Functionalist and Marxist perspectives which regarded individuals as bearers of group characteristics such as gender, SES, ethnicity, age, or status (student, teacher). This perspective recognised diversity and complexity within groups and even that individuals could hold multiple and conflicting meanings for the same thing. School research often found students constructing meaning that resulted in a range of behaviours that could be described as resistant, compliant or creative. The Interpretive perspective is built on the philosophy of hermeneutics which seeks to uncover the interpretations and meanings people have for their actions. 4 The significance of the curriculum in shaping the processes of teaching, learning and schooling. Functionalist- and Marxist-oriented research had taken the curriculum for granted but Interpretive scholars focused on the curriculum: ■ Blumer (1969), one of the founders of the Symbolic Interaction tradition, theorised that what constituted ‘learning’ was something negotiated and constructed by the social interactions of persons within the social setting. In other words, it could differ from class to class or school to school. ■ Keddie (1971) and Hargreaves, Hester & Mellor (1975) investigated the labels that teachers had for students, showing that they led to differing learning outcomes for students, thus confirming the strength of what they called ‘the self-fulfilling prophecy’ (Box 8.4). ■ Woods & Hammersley (1976) noted that the way in which students imputed characteristics to teachers and judged them tended to affect their own performance and classroom behaviour. ■ Wittrock (1986) summarised a body of research showing that the need to preserve self-esteem was a major factor in how students dealt with teacher questions and tests. ■ Sadker & Sadker (1994) researched how schools serve to reinforce gender bias and stereotypes in student– teacher interactions, textbooks and school policies. CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION inputs outputs academic achievement, drop outs, repeaters, labour market chances, different education paths socio-economic status, gender, ethnicity, ability, no. of teachers trained, libraries, labs, teacher punctuality, teacher absenteeism, availability of textbooks, trained principal and, other resources Figure 8.3 The ‘Black Box’ of schooling The Feminist Perspective Feminists began to turn their attention to education on the international scene in the 1960s. Their concern was about gender inequality in society. They saw society as a place of male power, and patriarchy as an enduring theme in all social institutions. In the social institution of education they sought to study and uncover how schools perpetuate gender inequalities and what could be done to break this pattern. Their research revealed the gendered subject-choices of adolescent students, directing females into less prestigious careers; the gendered and even sexist nature of textbooks which encouraged stereotypical views of males and females; the roles students were assigned in school as well as tasks they were sometimes asked to perform only because of their gender; and the nature of the interactions between teachers and students which seemed to be influenced by the gender of the student. Feminist theory is an umbrella term for a wide array of views and positions on the subject of gender inequality. Here we will outline three of the more widely held views in relation to education: liberal feminism, socialist feminism and radical feminism. 8.2.4 Liberal Feminists Equalising educational opportunity is a main concern of this group and their focus is on gender socialisation at home and in school, both of which support gendered curriculum choices and the formation of gender identities that centre on essentialist concepts of masculinity and femininity. They feel that gender stereotypes are at the heart of discriminatory practices in schools, whether boys or girls are being disadvantaged. They advocate: ■ stringent examination of texts and other curriculum materials to ensure that they are gender neutral; ■ that teachers use other criteria than gender to organise students; ■ that assistance in making subject choices and career decisions be based on developing an awareness of careers generally rather than on gender stereotypes; ■ the opening up of career conversations to deliberately include non-traditional careers for either gender. In short, they want to affect attitudes about gender. Socialist Feminists Their focus is on how schools perpetuate a gendered division of labour under capitalism. Although females are achieving at higher levels than before, this academic success is not reflected in women’s roles and positions in society. They also see schools as perpetuating the class differences between women – schools tend to be organised as either low-status or high-status schools based on their clientele. The system of education does little to dismantle these hierarchies which result in females from low-status schools being shunted towards low-paying jobs on the labour market. Radical Feminists This group is more concerned with the issue of power and the oppression of women under patriarchy. They are interested in how schools lay the basis for the continued monopolisation of knowledge and culture by males. Unlike Liberal Feminists, who want to 239 240 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS reduce the differences between males and females, Radical Feminists seek to celebrate the differences and to promote the knowledge involved in women’s work, activities and interests. They advocate a more authentic woman-centred curriculum that promotes knowledge and understanding of women as technological beings who have always needed to change and modify their environment to provide for their families. To sum up: Through each sociological perspective a different view of the social institution of education emerges. They differ in their conceptions of what society is and what role education plays in social life. They each have a theory as to why people behave the way they do and why the forms, structures and processes of schooling take the shape they do. However, Functionalism is the dominant perspective and so schools are organised in ways that correspond to a positivist nature of reality such as the measured curriculum, high-stakes examinations, and the importance of teachers and texts as authorities on knowledge and subject content. Attempts at educational reform bring to the school ideas generated by Marxist and Conflict theorists as well as those by Interpretive and Critical theorists. 8.3 Caribbean Education Systems Education in the Caribbean is as old as European settlement in the region. It gathered momentum in the years following Emancipation when it was concerned with social control and social reconstruction into a free society. Religion played a large part in the establishment of the education system. In the years after Independence, the social institution of education was mainly concerned with economic development, identity, and nation building. Today Caribbean education systems continue to be concerned with all these issues as well as ways of increasing quality and efficiency in the system. Development of Education: the Colonial Era Since the history of the English-speaking Caribbean is bound up with that of Britain, the development of education also mirrors this relationship. The prevailing 8.3.1 ideas in the social institution of education in Britain differentiated between the rich and the poor and this was reflected in the Caribbean colonies between British planters and the African enslaved. In other words, education in the Caribbean was influenced by socioeconomic considerations. In the Caribbean it also became associated with ethnicity because the poorer groups in the society were, for the most part, black. In Britain, formal education was the right of the upper classes so that they could better lead and govern. The wealthy received their early education at home through tutors and the boys were then sent to elite secondary schools and universities. In the Caribbean, formal education or education of any kind for the enslaved population was discouraged or forbidden. This policy reflected the needs of a colony in which the rulers were a minority. Their refusal to allow the oppressed majority a means of discovering ideas about freedom and empowerment through literacy was a means of social control in order to maintain the status quo. Therefore politics, the economy and education were closely aligned. The children of the Caribbean planters were sent to England to be educated, so for a long time there was little in the way of a formal education system in the colonies. As time passed philanthropists did establish schools for poor white children and in a few territories the planters established schools for their own children with teachers coming from England. These schools were for whites only and occasionally for near-whites or coloured, as the levels of miscegenation grew. The curriculum emphasised a classical education in the arts and humanities similar to that for any well-to-do child in England. The texts would have been the same ones used in England. Many of these elite schools of the whites became the elite schools of today. Many of the endowed schools established in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries are still operating today. … They are over 250 years old. Transformed in the nineteenth century into grammar schools, they are now the prestigious schools to which all sections of society seek to send their children. (Miller, 1999, p.15 ) It is instructive to note that there was variation across the Caribbean. Trinidad, for example, did not become a British colony until 1797. The oldest surviving ‘prestige’ secondary schools date from only the middle of the 19th century – after slavery had been abolished. Similarly in Guyana Queen’s College was established in 1844 and Bishop’s High School in 1870. CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION Emancipation occurred in the British Caribbean in the period 1834–8 and this marks a watershed during the colonial era because the values and ideals that once prevented blacks from accessing any type of education were now adjusted – notice, ‘adjusted’, and not completely removed. A new society had been formed of ‘free men’, bringing about a new set of relationships between the major groups. This had to be carefully planned for and this was where the British saw the value of education. Elementary education was expanded to include the children of the ex-slaves but there was restricted access to any further education. The society had been transformed almost overnight from a slave state to a free state, yet the whites retained control. It could have been a potentially unstable situation for the minority group if the masses had continued to be excluded from any type of education. (It could have also been potentially unstable if they had been offered access to all education levels.) It is interesting to note that even from such early days both blacks and whites seemed to have instinctively noted the capacity of education to empower people to improve their lot in life. Thus began in the British Caribbean a massive programme to provide elementary education for the poor and those previously left out of education. The work of the missionaries had been instrumental in abolishing slavery and as soon as that was accomplished they built churches and schools to administer to the ex-slaves across the Caribbean – Quakers, Moravians, Baptists, Methodists and, later, Anglicans were all involved. Mass education, then, began in the region with a system of primary, denominational schools. In the Act to abolish slavery the British Parliament made provisions for this roll-out of primary education in the colonies in the form of the Negro Education Grant. A provision was made of £30,000 per annum to fund education for the ex-slaves – largely to build schools and train teachers. These funds, and other grants, were channelled through a non-denominational body, the Mico Charity, and this arrangement prevailed until 1845. Schools were to offer non-denominational but Christian education. After 1845 the denominational bodies, for the most part missionary societies, continued the work of mass primary education in Caribbean countries, some charged a fee for schooling. Interestingly, similar developments were occurring in England in the wake of the industrial revolution. As in the Caribbean, only elementary education was made available for the masses and it was largely basic exposure to the three Rs (reading, writing and arithmetic). The Bible was used to instil Christian values, even in schools run by non-denominational bodies. The whole thrust and purpose of the curriculum was to combat child labour and the problem of street children, and to transmit British values, traditions and customs which would ‘civilise’ the children of the lower classes in Britain and the ex-slaves and their children in the Caribbean. These historical events show that mass education was established in the Caribbean at the same time as in Britain. This is astounding because Caribbean societies were mainly agricultural, underdeveloped, governed by a colonial regime and Britain was the most powerful country in the world. It shows that the colonial authorities placed great importance on education as a mechanism for social control through the processes of socialisation. ACTIVITY 8.2 Social Inquiry Informally interview older persons you know about what primary and/or secondary education was like in Caribbean schools, in the 1940s or 1950s if possible. Specifically ask about the curriculum, discipline measures, textbooks, examinations, gender and social class distinctions and any obstacles those persons had in accessing schooling. The experience of Caribbean countries diverged after the Mico Charity funds ended. In many countries the missionaries ran denominational schools and students paid fees. While not everybody could, many parents seemed to have been able to afford the school fees and continued to pay even when the state established free primary schools. This spoke to the enduring values associated with religion and education – that church schools were better than government or state schools. Secondary schools were called ‘high schools’ or ‘colleges’ at the time. There was no link or sense of progression between elementary and high schools or colleges. The ideas we have today that primary, secondary and tertiary form something of a seamless approach to education was not apparent in the 19th century. Only the more affluent went on to the higher levels of education. Even teachers at the elementary level had not been to colleges. They came from the ranks of the poor, the children of ex-slaves, and were employed as monitors when they left school. The monitor system was an economical teacher training measure where bright and promising students were retained, with no or little salary, and learned how to teach by observation of ‘master teachers’. They went through rigorous examinations at every 241 242 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS stage. Where teacher training institutions existed, master teachers came out from England and again a rigorous system of training ensued for the primary system. Curiously enough, nothing like this existed at the high schools or colleges. The teachers there were university graduates or had advanced qualifications obtained in England. Initially, they were white and British but that gradually changed as local whites and coloureds went on to universities abroad and returned as teachers. Teacher training for this level was unheard of. Their ‘qualification’ to teach lay in their specialist knowledge whether in Latin, Greek, Mathematics or English Literature. The social class distinctions were sharp – they were two different worlds: that of the mainly poor, black students and teachers of elementary schools and that of the rich, white students and teachers at the college level, where school fees were paid. Needless to say, elementary schools had low status and the colleges had high status. In most Caribbean countries denominational bodies offered primary education for a fee. There were some state schools which were free. So, as the 19th century wore on much of the population was in school at an early age and aspirations were high among poor boys who were ‘bright’, and their parents, that they should access the next tier of education. This would make them, at the very least, eligible for jobs in the civil service or in business. If they excelled they might even win scholarships to study at Oxford and Cambridge. Girls were not meant to compete on an equal footing, so aspirations were mainly for boys. But all this depended on whether the boys could successfully make the transition from the elementary level. In some countries very few scholarships were offered, sometimes only one a year, and those in elementary schools competed for the few places available at the colleges. There were not many colleges so the ‘free places’ were limited. In addition, the colonial authorities looked with disfavour on members of the lower social classes accessing social mobility through education. By limiting access to further education, they created an obstructed group, whose aspirations and desire for education grew. In this discussion of the development of the social institution of education during the colonial era, we witness a number of trends that continue to echo in the ideas and practices in education today. 1 Education provided socialisation into British values, traditions and customs. As the 19th century merged into the 20th there was some effort to create Caribbean-based materials but to a large extent they were written by British teachers in the Caribbean. 2 A university education in specialist knowledge was considered enough of a qualification to be able to teach at a secondary school. To a large extent the ideology persists that this knowledge is superior and transcends the common-sense requirement that a teacher also needs knowledge about how to teach. 3 The curriculum continues to mirror the disciplines of knowledge that were held in high regard in the 19th century. While Latin, Greek and Scripture have been removed and Mathematics and Literature are very different from their 19th century versions, the fact remains that there is little that is interdisciplinary on the curriculum in high-status schools, even though educators maintain that organizing delivery across disciplines helps students to solve problems in the real world. To a large extent, the disciplines are taught in a discrete way because of the reverence for specialist knowledge as it has been handed down historically. So, no attention if any is paid to how the student is experiencing the curriculum – teachers teach the syllabus without pointing out, for example, that the concept of ‘capital’ varies from geography to economics to sociology and to law. ACTIVITY 8.3 Differentiation Using dictionaries and encyclopedias or the Internet, find out the differences in the meaning of the term capital in (a) sociology; (b) economics; (c) politics; (d) law; (e) geography. How would you explain these differences? 4 Great value is placed on secondary education. With restricted access to secondary places – a situation that continues across the Caribbean – competition, extra lessons, and a stringent programme of study is imposed on 10 and 11 year olds. There is a heightened awareness and almost hysteria associated with, first, securing a place at a secondary school and, second, that that place should be at a ‘good’ school, one that is prestigious and in high demand. This is a 21st century continuation of the 19th century tradition where poor black, bright boys were selected and coached for the few scholarships available in the high schools. It is a continuing echo of the British system of education where high-stakes examinations punctuate the school experience and influenced the curriculum, so that little other than ‘what is coming for exams’ is taught. 5 The association of religion and education continues. Many of the ‘prestige’ secondary schools today CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION in Caribbean countries are also denominational, and there is still a preference amongst parents, teachers and students alike for these schools as opposed to state or government schools. There may be several reasons for this, such as: ■ the most able always choose the high-demand schools; ■ parents associate religious schools with a hidden curriculum that instills values, morals and character building whereas state schools, obeying their mandate to educate everyone, cannot impose religious norms and so opt for other means of influencing the values and morals of their charges – form room periods, sports, values education, participation in school activities and so on. Be that as it may, in the social institution of education in the Caribbean there is an on-going rivalry between denominational and state schooling. 6 Education and gender is an issue. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was mostly boys who were sent to school, particularly in the case of continuing to a high school. Secondary schools for girls were extremely rare. However, during the 20th century more girls began to access primary education and later, as more high schools were built, they accessed secondary education as well. Thus, in the Caribbean we have a long tradition of both sexes accessing education from an early age. This differs from the situation in many developing countries where even today boys receive more education than girls. Furthermore, in the Caribbean there is a marked trend of girls outperforming boys at all levels of the education system in most subjects. 8.3.2 Development of Education: The Independence Era Establishment and Expansion Through the rough economic times of the early 20th century, the drive to provide education for the population continued and was only curbed by lack of funds. However, it had now become firmly established that even if religious bodies were involved in building and equipping schools, it was the responsibility of the state to provide for schools from public funds. Gradually, religious schools came more and more under government regulations and the state in some Caribbean countries undertook to pay teachers’ salaries. Now, public schools could be either denominational or non-denominational, but private schools also continued. There were minor variations of this across the Caribbean. In all territories more primary schools were built but secondary education continued to be severely restricted. For example, the first state secondary school in Trinidad, Queen’s Royal College (QRC), was established in 1859 and it was not until approximately a hundred years later, in 1953, that another state secondary school, St George’s College, was built. However, there were longestablished denominational colleges. The curriculum remained a bone of contention throughout the early 20th century. Various commissions on education sent out by Britain sought to introduce agriculture and various forms of technical-vocational education to supplant the classicist curriculum favoured by secondary schools. The colonies needed to be more self-sufficient in food as well as to have a supply of architects, masons, plumbers, carpenters and builders to assist in infrastructure and development. While some of this ‘practical’ orientation was adopted by primary schools, parents persistently opposed this kind of education for their children. They were concerned about social mobility and they did not see a ‘practical’ education securing higher-paying, more prestigious jobs for their children. The whites and the few upper-class coloureds and blacks who held high ranks in the public service and the government saw the curriculum in terms of instilling British values and fulfilling the needs of the colony; parents, teachers and students saw the curriculum in terms of social mobility. In the lead-up to independence in the 1960s and 1970s nationalist and ethnic passions ran high. The new governments promised to increase equality in education by freeing up access to the secondary level. Educational expansion increased with loans secured from international agencies. Even with this expansion, the secondary schools could not accommodate all the adolescent school population. While most Caribbean countries achieved Universal Primary Education (UPE) in the middle decades of the 20th century, Universal Secondary Education (USE) continued to be elusive. Therefore, as in the past, high-stakes examinations, for example, the Common Entrance, were used to sort and allocate The Common Entrance was an examination taken by students at the end of primary school to evaluate their performance and allocate them to different categories of secondary school, the most prestigious schools receiving the most gifted students. The CE exam began in England where it was phased out but then adopted in several Caribbean countries. students to different types of secondary schools. Those who could not secure a place at a secondary school remained in primary school or were sent to trade and vocational schools. Some countries, in order to maximise use of their schools, instituted a shift system so that the 243 244 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS schools could now cater for twice the usual number. The shift system was criticised in that it provided fewer hours of instruction on a daily basis compared to the traditional grammar schools and put children at risk in the very early or late hours when they would be going to or from school. In the post-Independence era the new black officials in governments were not only occupied with school building and increasing access, but curriculum reform as well. The urge was to transform the curriculum so that it could better articulate with the economy. Human capital theories (Box 8.5) strongly advocated that education, especially secondary education, could kickstart economic growth. Newly independent states wishing to survive on the world market had to be competitive. They needed an education system that would increase the BOX 8.5 levels of skills and knowledge in construction, marketing, commerce, industry, research and development. While a primary education served an economy dependent on extractive (mining) and agricultural industries, a secondary education was needed for a service economy that catered to tourism, manufacturing and business. Entrenched opposition to this idea saw the higher ability groups still opting for the traditional, classicist curriculum. The lower-ability students were the ones allocated to technical and vocational curricula. The high failure rate of the latter groups showed that the heavy investment in secondary education, a form of manpower planning by Caribbean governments, was misplaced. Expansion of Caribbean education systems resulted in a centralised and bureaucratic organisation, headed Human Capital Theory: The Experience of Trinidad & Tobago Human capital theory was launched in the 1960s and early 1970s (Schultz, 1971) and popularised the idea that education was not just a ‘good’ offered by the government for private consumption but could be explicitly harnessed for the country’s economic development. In other words, it was not just a means for an individual to enhance her or his earnings but could be a resource for the country as a whole. The more a country invested in education – building schools, training teachers, ensuring that secondary education was expanded – the better its chances of enhancing its development potential. Many countries in the Third World followed this advice, whether they could afford to or not. Trinidad & Tobago invested vast sums in building a new system of secondary education. Junior secondary schools (for the first three years of secondary education) and senior comprehensive schools (for the last two years) were equipped with extensive laboratories and workshops in an industrial education model, while the traditional five- and seven-year grammar schools continued with their higher-achieving clientele and the inherited curriculum of the disciplines. These ‘new sector’ schools never realised their potential and became a by-word for underachievement and indiscipline. Continued curriculum reform since then has seen experimentation in transforming specialised industrial arts subjects into general technology-based courses. (The traditional sector maintains its elite status.) By the 1970s and 1980s from all over the Third World there were similar reports of massive failure, under-performance and bewilderment on the part of planners that the ‘model’ did not seem to work. The phenomenon of the educated unemployed surfaced and we were faced with – and still are – a syndrome known as the ‘diploma disease’ (Dore, 1976), brought about by an emphasis on schooling and credentials so that for even low-status jobs now one has to have examination certificates. Planners and policy-makers had jumped on to the bandwagon that showed a clear link between investment in education and economic development. They did not stop to consider how these graduates of the system – those with credentials and those without – were going to make economic development happen. There were few jobs available and only a small number went into business. In many cases their training was too specific – e.g. plumbing or masonry – whereas what was needed was individuals who could be technologically savvy and could work intelligently and flexibly in unfamiliar settings. The theorists had failed to fully examine the world of work and its demands and it was only later (in the 1990s) that the pendulum swung full circle and both educators and planners realised that attention must be paid to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) as well as primary education to ensure that the secondary graduate has the necessary skills and dispositions to engage with learning. The on-going reforms in education today focus on upgrading the quality of the system – better-trained teachers, a more relevant curriculum, use of media and technology in education and a more studentcentred orientation. CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION by a ministry of education. The state was now in full control of education even though denominational bodies did have some power, mainly because their schools continued to be in high demand. Decolonisation and Indigenisation It was not a physical cruelty. Indeed, the colonial experience of my generation was almost wholly without violence. No torture, no concentration camp, no mysterious disappearance of hostile natives, no army encamped with orders to kill. The Caribbean endured a different kind of subjugation. It was a terror of the mind; a daily exercise in self-mutilation. Black versus Black in a battle for self-improvement. (Lamming, 1994, p. xxxix) Lamming refers to both the hidden and the overt curriculum that he experienced at secondary school in the 1940s at Harrison College, Barbados. For example, the classical disciplines were almost identical to what was taught in most British ‘prestige’ secondary schools, known as ‘public schools’. This overt curriculum reinforced the hidden curriculum, which in this instance immersed students in a set of relations that undervalued their own history and culture. All persons, white, black or coloured, includng Lamming’s black teachers, had to uphold British culture in a colonial society. However, as the impetus for decolonisation grew in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s there were attempts to rework the curriculum. In the Caribbean the philosophy and rhetoric of the pan-African Movement, Garveyism, and Revivalism in Jamaica served to question and condemn the rule of white men over black people, as a precursor to independence itself. Duke and Duchess of Kent Trinidadians regard with pride The visit of the Prince and his bride. With banners flying happy and gay The whole island was on holiday. And it seems everyone was bent On welcoming the Duke and Duchess of Kent. (Attila the Hun, quoted in Funk 2005.) Attila the Hun’s 1935 verses on the Duke and Duchess of Kent written to commemorate the visit of the British royal family to Trinidad were typical of British citizens, whether black or white, who considered themselves honoured by a visit from royalty. (Figure 8.4 shows the welcome accorded the Duke and Duchess of Kent in Figure 8.4 The visit of the Duke and Duchess of Kent to Jamaica in 1935. 245 246 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Jamaica the same year.) Compare the Mighty Sparrow’s London Bridge is Falling Down of 1979, a recording of which you can hear on the Internet. In this calypso the writer uses an old nursery rhyme to comment on the state of affairs throughout the British Empire where there was resistance building in the form of decolonisation movements and no British monarch, governor or statesman seemed able to bring back a sense of normalcy. Since one of the main purposes of education under the colonial regime was to inculcate in Caribbean people love for British values and British civilisation, this meant it was instilling the idea that black people and their history were inferior. Those involved in the decolonisation movement put their energies into trade unions and sought better conditions for the poor from those who had replaced the British, the elites who dominated agriculture and business. They then made the transition to political power with the firm resolve of securing independence. However, others make the point that we are still in an era of decolonisation and, like Lamming, allude to an education system that does not include anything meaningful about Africa or India, and sees progress only in terms of white man’s knowledge thereby devaluing indigenous knowledge. In addition, education continues to value arrangements and conflicts that result in social stratification – highstakes examinations; prestige schools versus other types of schools; streaming; and an elite academic curriculum versus technical and vocational knowledge. If you are at a loss to envisage a non-competitive system, read about a Danish alternative in Box 8.6 opposite. ACTIVITY 8.4 The Comparative Element in Sociology Suggest reasons why examinations are so integral a part of education systems in the Caribbean but are of minimal importance in the alternative system in Denmark. Those seeking to indigenise curricula began with content, asking whether our curriculum was relevant. Latin, for example, was still taught in some secondary schools after Independence. Curriculum reforms included: ■ Textbooks were introduced written by Caribbean authors so that students would have indigenous materials to support a deeper understanding of their region. Caribbean history, social studies, geography and literature saw an immediate transition. Syllabuses were devised to conform to a Caribbeanbased examinations body, the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), supplanting the The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) is an examining body set up in the 1970s by the countries of the English-speaking Caribbean region. It has focused on developing more relevant Caribbean-based curricula and more innovative forms of assessment than those offered by the Cambridge Syndicate inherited from colonial education, so that the development potential of Caribbean youth could be enhanced. hegemony of GCE ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels set by Cambridge and London examination syndicates. This was a bold and necessary step in changing the emphasis from what the British thought we should know to what Caribbean people thought we should know for the purposes of development and change in the region. ■ The introduction of a deliberate strategy to foster a secondary school curriculum that is assessed by the CXC meant that Caribbean governments had made a positive move towards nurturing regionalism rather than separatism in the Caribbean. All students in Caribbean countries sitting CXC exams would have been exposed to the same curriculum. This was an important step in seeking to bring Caribbean countries closer together and to bring into focus a future where the region would become a significant player rather than each isolated Caribbean country striving to enact development. ■ New areas of study for the sixth-form student became important in terms of self-knowledge and identity, such as Caribbean Studies and Communication Studies; and others lessened status differences in knowledge, for example Geometrical and Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Technology, Food and Nutrition and Art and Design. ■ A monumental change arrived that is still not fully appreciated by teachers and students in the change of assessment from total reliance on summative examinations to include a School Based Assessment (SBA) component. This formative type of assessment is meant to be conducted over time and to foster closer collaboration between teacher and student. It encourages students to think divergently and critically and is focused on Caribbean issues. It gives some power to teachers in having a say in how their students are to be assessed. The indigenisation of education was an important step in the modernisation of curricula and part of the continuing process of decolonisation. CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION BOX 8.6 An Alternative Education System A few of the characteristics of the education system in Denmark are: • Schooling is not compulsory but education is; so parents have the right to home-school their children. Children must have nine years’ education as a basic minimum. • Parents have choice. They can send their children to the free public schools; or, for a reduced fee (subsidised by the government), to private, independent schools where parents, teachers and the community organise the school; or they can choose home-schooling. • Independent schools are growing and some public schools are converting to independent schools. They are a viable alternative to public schools and provide primary and lower secondary education (from 7 to 17 years). • At independent schools tests and examinations are rare. There are national tests in certain grades in certain subjects but there is no emphasis on them (students may or may not take them) and the results are not used to allocate students. • Independent schools are diverse – large or small, denominational, or run according to any educational ideology the parents and the Board prefers – and any methods may be used that are acceptable and lawful. One type of school is the Rudolf Steiner or Waldorf schools where enthusiasm, enjoyment and enquiry are areas of emphasis, rather than examinations. • A fundamental value of independent schools is that they provide ‘education for life’. • Teaching and learning innovations tried out at independent schools are sometimes adopted by the public schools. 8.3.3 The Educational Act and the education system itself comprise a framework of considerable scope, and that what determines the actual substance of its content is the common sense, and the good sense, of the individual parents, students, and other school personnel. The curriculum, too, has absolutely no prescriptive rules …. There is a sense that students should learn the Danish and English languages, arithmetic (mathematics) and other such basic subjects, but everything else is left up to the people involved. One could say that this kind of mechanism that is found in Denmark which avoids detailed regulations has fostered good sense and judgement among members of the public (Nagata, 2006, p.113). Independent schools comprise 12% of the schools in Denmark and are supported by government policies. Students sit the same School Leaving Examination held for public schools, if the parents see fit. As private students they do not enjoy any higher status than public school students nor do they have any advantages that will gain them easier access to upper secondary and tertiary education. However, they tend to have better achievement than the public schools. That these schools hold their own even with little or no intervention from the government in terms of educational content and assessment, is attributed to the strong presence of parents who have chosen a more innovative and different education for their children and take an active part in all areas of school life. Education in the Caribbean today Curricula in the 21st century have a vision of the school graduate as a happy learner, a self-learner and an autonomous and critical thinker. Caribbean countries have accepted international trends which now see human development as the over-arching goal in improving societies, including the United Nations’ vision of Education For All (EFA) which stresses inclusive education. Education For All (EFA) is a reform movement that began at the United Nations with the concern for development, which underlined the importance of including all persons in a country in some form of education – formal, informal, face-to-face or at a distance, academic or technical-vocational. Inclusion policies directly target those disabled in different ways: failing students, the poor, the old, the imprisoned, and those communities which may be disadvantaged. 247 248 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS These ideas form the basis of rhetoric, plans and policies today yet in schools nothing much has changed. Standard operating procedures for the most part still sort students by ability and academic achievement and allocate them to different classes, curricula and ultimately to different schools and labour-market chances. Tinkering with the system by adding layers of reforms has not sufficiently eroded the fundamental colonial inheritance of an education system that seeks to sort and organise students from a very early age. Even though more and more young people graduate from schools the contradictory situation persists that education continues to be a factor in maintaining inequality in society. Modern Technology Learning in the 21st century has the potential to be radically altered by the knowledge, equipment, tools and software being driven by the information and communication revolution globally. The Caribbean is no exception and we have taken advantage of distance learning, especially at the tertiary level. The noncampus territories of the Caribbean now form the Open Campus of the University of the West Indies, where classes are mostly online. Online modalities of instruction and assessment help to increase inclusion and reduce inequities. For example, the elderly, those who are ill, the working population or those who have to stay home for whatever reason, can all continue their education, and not be limited because they cannot attend a face-to-face class. Blended learning options include online learning opportunities with periods where students have to attend classes together at a site. Many students who are free to attend face-to-face classes actually prefer blended learning modalities. Through these options the Caribbean can make great strides in increasing the percentage of the population achieving a tertiary education qualification. Online learning involves the use of a learning platform where all users are registered. A lecturer or tutor can manage a small group as well as a class of as many as 500 persons by uploading lectures, powerpoint presentations, wikis, videos, and audio tapings which students can download and study when convenient. Learners can also tune into webinars and content streamed on the web. Skype connections help them to interact with their peers and lecturers. Small groups can be carved out of large classes and a tutor assigned to each group so that they can hold discussion forums where the thread of the discussion is preserved and all contributions are monitored. In such a case the tutor can directly contact someone who is not contributing and urge him/her to do so. There are many foreign tertiary education providers in the Caribbean today. This is a clear example of globalisation at work (see §8.3.4) – it is said that higher education is big business, in the Caribbean and elsewhere. These providers offer more options to the Caribbean person, flexible delivery and the lure of a foreign university credential. ACTIVITY 8.5 1. Conduct research in your own country to determine who the service providers are in tertiary education – local, regional or international? Which of them offer fully online credentials? What is a common complaint about foreign degree providers in the Caribbean? 2. Engage in a discussion with your classmates, friends and teachers about the use or lack of use of internet technologies in the secondary classroom. Choose one subject area and show how teaching and learning can be improved by the use of webbased resources and technologies. Globalisation and Education The phenomenon of globalisation has been intensifying for some decades now (Box 8.7). As the globalisation phenomenon intensifies, some Caribbean people have questioned the knowledge that seems to be most valued today – knowledge and information about media, technology, Western culture as well as that related to economic development. Some say that it is white, western, male knowledge that is being privileged in a globalised world. The knowledge of the healing arts such as alternative medicines, folk understandings of herbal treatments, indigenous crafts and technologies, traditional cultural art forms, or the history and biography of different groups and individuals, are not likely to be prized, neither are efforts spent to access and record such knowledge. Globalisation then is reinforcing the view that Western knowledge and technology are the paths to progress, and local, indigenous knowledge is only of minimal interest. Nativist groups however say that such knowledge helps us to better develop our identities as Caribbean persons with a strong history of resistance and resilience in the face of colonialism and oppression. Cunningly, nativist groups are harnessing modern technologies to forge stronger bonds with their groups and to mount a challenge to Western knowledge whilst using Western technologies. 8.3.4 CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION BOX 8.7 Globalisation Globalisation is described as the deepening of the ties and interconnections between different countries by removing barriers to the movement of trade, capital, business and commerce and to a lesser extent, labour. It is facilitated by: a. the removal of laws and tariffs that prevent another country’s products from being highly taxed when imported, with the result that there is the possibility that cheaper foreign products can undersell local products; b. the presence of information and communication technologies (ICTs) – integrated telecommunications networks combining computers, telephones, wireless capacity and broadcast media to enhance: • the flow of information and commodities; • new ways of communicating: e-mail, voice mail, cell phones, texting, and social media; • the creation, access, storage and manipulation of information; • the reach of cable television which floods the globe with knowledge and cultural To sum up: This section dealt with the growth and development of Caribbean education systems. The early purposes of education were those of interest to the coloniser – social control and later, after Emancipation, with social reconstruction to preserve order. The new, black independent governments in the latter half of the 20th century sought to reverse some of the effects of colonialism by expanding access and provision, especially in secondary education, and to indigenise curricula. Today the forces of globalisation, with its emphasis on Western technologies and the economy, are threatening to impose a yoke similar to that of colonialism by instilling in us through the foreign media a deep attachment to Western values and lifestyles. Education therefore exhibits controversies and contradictions – while reforms are on-going to improve literacy, academic achievement and student engagement with learning through constructivist reforms, the pressure from those trying to make education more oriented to the economy is to increase testing and control of teachers’ work. images of the most dominant countries, the US and Western Europe. The above factors help to remove barriers that traditionally marked one country’s borders off from another. Today one can use a home computer with internet access and buy books online using a credit card, with delivery to your door. Not too long ago buying books from a foreign country would have entailed all sorts of restrictions and red tape, especially to procure the foreign currency. In many ways the revolution in ICTs and the ever expanding range of mobile operating systems allow us to function as if national borders do not exist. This perception – that national borders do not exist – leaves us more open to the cultural influences of the media, and to a large extent we are being integrated into a cultural milieu that does not differ much from one country to another. At the same time there is a powerful resistance to this movement celebrating one’s own culture and opposing some of the ideas/ideals demonstrated by big corporations. 8.4 Sociological Theorising: Issues in Education Education is a highly contested social institution and so there are innumerable opinions, theories, ideas and beliefs about issues that occur on a daily basis and that are of concern to stakeholders. We will examine some of these issues through a sociological lens and discuss theories that serve to clarify and explain them from different perspectives. Social Control and Deviance: Underachievement Sociologists seek to understand underachievement based on the sociological principle of social control and deviance (§§3.2.6 and 11.1). Failing, dropping out or repeating a grade level are, from a sociological perspective, ‘deviant’ acts because the person assuming the role and status of ‘student’ is not expected by society to do them. Even more contrary to social norms is student indiscipline and violence. 8.4.1 249 250 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Caribbean governments have spent enormous sums on education in the interests of decolonisation and economic development (see Box 8.5 for the experience of Trinidad & Tobago). They have built and equipped schools with laboratories, workshops and infrastructure for multimedia, trained teachers, and reformed the curriculum. While many have benefited from these reforms, Caribbean governments have still not fully realised their investment. Persistent high levels of academic underachievement, particularly at the secondary level, as well as drop-outs, represent ‘inefficiencies’ in the system – money being expended but goals not being achieved. Similarly, those who repeat a grade add to the costs of education. From the perspectives of various stakeholders such as planners, policy-makers, religious bodies, parents, teachers, students and other groups, academic underachievement is attributed to many sources: teacher absenteeism, student indifference, lack of resources, parental indifference, irrelevant curricula, a lack of attention to ‘at risk’ students and those with special needs, gender differences and the removal of religion from schools. Guyana’s Minister of Education in 2010 referring to the gravity of the problem stated that: Universal access to education, …. high levels of nursery and primary enrolment and a completion rate believed to be as high as around 90 per cent has failed to produce anywhere near a satisfactory mastery of basic literacy and numeracy skills. (Starbroek News, 2010, p.2) Table 8.1 Pass rates in mathematics (2004–9) Reports from Jamaica indicate a similar situation. The overall performance across the region in Mathematics and English is shown below in Tables 8.1 and 8.2. Theories of Cultural Transmission and Deviance Socialisation is the process which explains how culture (and deviance) is transmitted. Basically, these theories say that if you are closely associated with a group who possess norms that are different to those of mainstream society, the chances are that you will absorb and act on these norms because your primary caregivers and nurturers, the people you care most about, hold these views. Such theories have been used to explain why the children of the poor consistently do not do as well in education as the children of the affluent. Cultural transmission theories tend to be held by Functionalists, providing cultural explanations for the under-achievement of (mainly) working-class youth. They focus on cultural deprivation, seeing the children of the working class as not having the necessary skills, values and norms to enable them to succeed in schools. They attribute this to parents having low expectations for their children where academic success is concerned. (For example, in Box 6.3 we looked at the idea of a ‘culture of poverty’.) Marxist and Conflict theorists also put forward cultural theories of transmission to explain the underachievement of poorer students but their emphasis was structural. This means that they focused on the social relations of production in a capitalist society as shaping the norms Table 8.2 Pass rates in English (2004–10) CXC *CSEC® Pass Rates: Mathematics (Average Score Jan. and June Exams) CXC *CSEC English A Exam pass rate: Total pass overall Grade I-III Year Year January June 2010 55% 66% 2009 59% 56% 2008 48% 46% 2007 N.A. 49% 2006 61% 51% 2005 44% 53% 2004 54% 50% Total % students passing Paper 1 Total % of students passing Paper 2 Total % of students achieving Grades I-III overall 2009 62% 26% 45% 2008 63% 28% 47% 2007 60% (Jun) 15% (Jun) 34% (Jun) 2006 47% (Jun) 20% (Jun) 35% (Jun) 2005 71% (Jun) 20% (Jun) 39% (Jun) 2004 78% 21% 46% *CSEC – Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate. Source for both tables: http://www.caribexams.org/m_pass_rates; accessed 19 February 2014 CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION and values (i.e. the culture) that students experienced. For example, Bourdieu described the home environments of children showing that their cultural capital (Box 8.2) either helped or hindered them at school. He noted that what he called the habitus – norms and habits into which a person or group is socialised that stem from where they are socially located – was not helpful to poorer students at school. Bourdieu was interested in how ‘culture’ contributed to social reproduction, making some groups ‘deviant’ in the education system. Marxists oppose functionalist cultural theories of transmission which emphasise a ‘deficit’ in the backgrounds of students from the lower social classes. They see such theories as taking poverty as a given and not focusing on how poverty results from the structural inequalities in the society. They regard deficit theories as placing the blame for underachievement on the students and their home backgrounds – for example, if society is said to be a meritocracy, then if one fails it is likely to be one’s own fault. Blame is being put on the culture of a group. Criticisms of these theories have come from a number of sociologists, mainly those working in the Interpretive perspective (Box 8.8). Structural Strain Theory Merton (1938), a Structural-functionalist, proposed structural strain theory to explain deviance. In doing so he extended the work of Durkheim. Deviance, he thought, was caused by the unhappiness and frustration people felt when they could not attain the goals desired in their society because they did not have the means to do so. Some people experienced this strain as tension and a feeling of anomie, a feeling of not belonging, of being outside the norms of society because they did not seem able to reach those socially approved goals that others could attain. Theorists focus, not on individual traits and dispositions that might cause a student to fail or be deviant in school nor on their culture as in theories of cultural transmission above, but on the way society is structured (§11.2.2). They see a person’s behaviour as being influenced by their structural context (i.e. their place in the social system). For some groups and individuals, usually those of a higher socio-economic status or a dominant learning style, it is easier to achieve the socially approved goals of the society – orderly and diligent behaviours in school lead to examination success and a lucrative career. When someone is described as ‘doing well’ it is usually these norms that are spoken of. For others, there are many obstructions to overcome to enable someone to achieve on par with their peers from a higher income group. BOX 8.8 Criticisms of Cultural Theories of Transmission and Deviance Interpretive theorists regard the cultural transmission theories of both Functionalists and Marxists as being too deterministic and failing to take account of agency and will or volition on the part of the actor. For example, schools, teachers and parents can make powerful interventions to assist students with disability and disadvantage to perform creditably. Other criticisms have been made, for example, by Nell Keddie and William Labov. • Keddie (1971), in response to the culture of poverty thesis, said that workingclass culture was ‘different’ rather than ‘deficient’, and that in schools these differences were strengthened when teachers judged students on the extent to which they conformed to a model that was close to a middle-class style or culture. • Labov (1969) studied the speech of black children in Harlem showing that it was indeed different from that of their teachers. Students internalised teacher responses to mean that they were hostile to them and school was not a safe place to be. Hence, they did not express themselves in such a way as to be understood. Labov stated that in contexts where students felt comfortable they were capable of discussing complex matters in ways that their group understood. The theory says that when the strain becomes too great, individuals commit various deviant acts to lessen the strain. Conformity may make no sense in a scenario where the student cannot see an outcome of success. S/he may give up and retreat from school goals and activities by dropping out or by just going through the motions (being ritualistic) or becoming resistant and rebellious, or cheating or stealing another’s work. When a student has given up on attaining the shared group norms of schooling, their deviant acts demonstrate that they are substituting personal goals of empowerment for the school’s goals of persistent studying leading to examination success. Merton is criticised for assuming that all groups hold academic and economic success as their main goal in life – a homogenizing tendency that is typical of Functionalist 251 252 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS thought. Different age groups and ethnic groups may differ in motivation. Academic and career aspirations and expectations are rather different today than they were when Merton was writing, and out-of-school training opportunities now exist that can lead to jobs in technical and other fields. In addition, the job market has changed, relying more on a flexible and entrepreneurial spirit than scholarly credentials. Labelling Theory Sociologists contributing to Labelling theory are Interpretive theorists as well as those who work within a Critical perspective – a combination of Conflict and Interpretive theories. Symbolic Interaction is the Interpretive perspective often used to examine the relationship between labelling someone as ‘deviant’ and how they achieve at school. The main ideas in Labelling theory are: ■ Labels are created by those with more power in a social situation. Schools represent social situations where different groups interact. While students do indeed label teachers those labels do not have as far reaching consequences as the labels teachers have for students. ■ Labels for students can become stereotypes that influence interactions in the classroom and the assignment of students to ability streams and curricular options. Labels include: an ‘A’ student, dunce, slow, special, trouble maker, retarded, from a broken home, from a single parent family, ignorant, illiterate … ■ Some labels appear neutral, e.g. ‘good at mathematics’ or ‘a science student’ but nevertheless pigeonhole a student into a particular category or type which may again prevent her/him from having different experiences. ■ Labels are created during the social processes of schooling and become strong and fixed, but it is important to remember that someone in authority did the labelling and put that student into the category of ‘deviant’. ■ Sometimes the teacher may not even be aware that s/ he has labeled students so that Interpretive theorists call for teachers to examine their own thinking and practices. ■ Labelling is a potentially dangerous practice since negative labels in particular impact on a student’s sense of self-esteem and efficacy, Students generally look to teachers to understand how they are doing in the academic setting. Interpretive theorists explain that how we see ourselves has a great deal to do with how we think others see us (the looking-glass self, as advanced by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902). ■ Negative labels seem to influence teachers to hold low expectations for certain students. The self-fulfilling prophecy (Box 8.4) is a much-studied phenomenon among Interpretive theorists who maintain that the expectations a teacher has for a student are communicated to her/him by a variety of cues, implicit as well as explicit, and to a large extent students internalise these messages and act to suit. Interpretive theorists therefore understand deviance, such as acts of defiance at school or underachievement, not as a direct result of cultural transmission or because of structural inequalities in the society, but created out of the interactions at a school. Interactions breed prejudices, labelling and stereotypes which influence both the one who is doing the labelling and those labelled into deviant actions. By labelling an act ‘deviant’ those who have power in the society can exert some form of social control. In schools deviance results in a variety of punishments including scolding and ridicule. These sanctions are organisational responses to bring the errant student back on course. In many cases the blame for deviance is put on the student, and often, Interpretivist theorists say, those in authority in schools are reluctant to see underachievement as a result of entrenched patterns and habits of labelling students. Schools prefer to see underachievement as a personal failing on the part of the student. Gender and Education The Feminist perspective has ensured that there has been a lot of interest in this topic over the last two decades. While some researchers try genuinely to distance themselves from ‘gender bashing’, much of the commentary and opinions advanced by scholars and members of the public alike are highly emotional, and in many cases defensive. We should be alert to discussions that speak about boys and girls as if they each were a single uniform category. In a sociological study, the idea of diversity is important. There are girls who are chronic underachievers and boys who are successful students. Just because, overall in the system, the highest achievers tend to be girls, does not mean that the majority of girls who underachieve should be ignored. Note that today it is more correct to speak of masculinities and femininities (Box 8.9). 8.4.2 CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION BOX 8.9 Masculinities and Femininities Stereotypical masculine behaviours include being aggressive, loud, fond of contact sports and the outdoors, as well as having a flair for technology and gadgets. Stereotypical feminine behaviours have been constructed by society, largely as opposites to masculine traits; for example, girls are expected to be quiet, submissive, to like board games or non-contact sports, and to enjoy reading and inactive classroom activities. Today each may be seen as a continuum of behaviours rather than rigid categories. Even more important to know is that boys and girls may adopt different gender identities based on contexts – for example, boys may become more aggressive if girls are around, or display less aggressive behaviours if boys who threaten them are present. Having a male or female teacher changes the dynamics for male and female students, who may act differently in different classes. To be meaningful, any study of gender and education should take into account ethnicity, socio-economic status, the experiences at highstatus and low-status schools and religious and non-religious schools, as well as in rural and urban environments. Attributing achievement simply to someone’s gender renders invisible all the other factors that contribute to a student’s motivation and readiness for study. You should keep this in mind as you read the following sections because any study on gender and education selects factors it deems to be important. 253 254 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Sex or Gender? Another practice you should note is that the terms used to study gender and education are often misunderstood, and the terms sex and gender tend to be used interchangeably. In many instances the meaning is still clear and not much is lost. However, there is an inherent danger in regarding the two terms as having the same meaning. When people think they are discussing gender, they are really speaking about sex. ‘Sex’ refers to the biological differences between boys and girls and differentiates them as a group. ‘Gender’, on the other hand emphasizes a relationship or relationships based on social constructions of what it means to be male or female. How boys and girls tend to choose subjects based on how they self identify, would qualify as a gender issue. rates at the secondary level, unlike the situation in many countries of the developing world where large numbers of children remain out of the primary system (Table 8.3). At the secondary level, gender equality is measured in terms of disparities between the sexes in their transition from primary to secondary schools. Access to secondary education has been a major hurdle for poorer groups in the past and the Common Entrance has been a high stakes examination restricting access to the secondary sector. Since the latter is a major route to employment and further study, it is interesting to note the nature of the gender disparities in those enrolling in secondary education in 2002–3 and 2008–11 (see Tables 8.4 and 8.5 opposite). Table 8.3 Number of out-of-primary-school children: A global picture (Mohammed, 2009, p. 86) ■ ■ ■ Gender equity refers to policies that ensure fairness to either sex who are perceived as being disadvantaged in some way, for example, a writing programme at school that targets boys, though it may also include girls. Gender equity in education usually refers to fairness and justice in how the two sexes are experiencing schooling. It does not mean ‘equality’ because to ensure ‘equity’ it may become necessary to treat the different genders unequally. Sex equity refers to policies that ensure fairness to both sexes in, for example, equal access to programmes and funding for sports. There is no intention of distinguishing whether needs vary or that there is diversity among and between the sexes. Gender stereotypes are traditional attitudes and orientations that classify certain subjects and pastimes as ‘masculine’ and others as ‘feminine’ (Box 8.9). For example, efforts to improve sports in a school may emphasise cricket and that may mean only boys will benefit, if the girls have exercised stereotypical choices about sports. When governments allocate funds and resources to schools, they are expected to be shared equally among males and females, without any kind of distinction. This represents a commitment to sex equity on the part of the government, not necessarily to gender equity. But it is spoken of as gender equity. This type of policy may actually reinforce gender stereotypes. Simply providing more resources then does not effectively address the many ways that gender equity breaks down at the level of the school. Educational participation Most Caribbean countries have achieved Universal Primary Education (UPE) and there are high participation Regions Sub-Saharan Africa 2002 (in thousands) Female Male Total 22,003 18,367 40,370 Arab states 4,025 2,882 6,906 Central Asia 341 294 635 7,372 7,410 14,782 South and West Asia 17,411 12,698 30,109 Latin America and the Caribbean 1,226 858 2,084 North America and Western Europe 1,101 1,320 2,421 Central and Eastern Europe 1,366 1,203 2,569 East Asia and the Pacific Source: Adapted from J.Jha & F.Kelleher, Boys Underachievement in Education: An Exploration in Selected Caribbean Countries. London: Commonwealth Secretariat (2006), p. 5 ACTIVITY 8.6 The Comparative Element in Sociology Examine the data in Table 8.3. 1. Which two regions in the world have the LEAST numbers of children out of primary schools? 2. Which two regions in the world have the MOST numbers of children out of primary schools? 3. Which regions have more girls out of primary school than boys? 4. For countries where more boys are out of primary schools than girls, how significant is the difference? CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION Table 8.4 Transition to secondary education by net enrolment ratios at the secondary level Caribbean countries 2002–3 *NER at secondary stage (%) Female Male Total Bahamas 77.3 74.4 75.8 Dominica 97.8 86.0 91.8 Guyana 77.9 75.0 76.4 Jamaica 77.0 73.9 75.4 St Lucia 84.7 67.6 76.1 St Vincent & the Grenadines 60.8 55.9 58.4 Trinidad & Tobago 74.7 69.4 72.0 * Net Enrolment Ratio (NER) refers to the number of pupils in the age group who are enrolled expressed as a percentage of the total population of that age group. Source: Adapted from Jha & Kelleher (2006), p.7. Table 8.5 Female to male enrolment at the secondary level Country Female-to-male enrolment (%) Date Barbados 112.1 2011 Guyana 109.6 2011 Dominica 107.2 2011 Trinidad & Tobago 106.9 2008 St Kitts & Nevis 103.9 2011 Jamaica 103.2 2010 Grenada 103.0 2010 St Vincent & the Grenadines 103.4 2010 98.1 2011 Antigua & Barbuda Source: Secondary gender parity at http://www.factfish.com/ statistic/female%20to%20male%20enrolment%2C%20secondary, accessed 17 December 2013. Tables 8.4 and 8.5 confirm a pattern that in the Caribbean, with similar or equal opportunities in primary education for both sexes, girls have higher transition rates to secondary education. Table 8.6 (page 256) also confirms that once in secondary schools girls tend to have a better record of achievement. For most subjects, more girls are registered for examinations, and have a higher percentage pass rate compared to boys. However, in the sciences we see some differences from this pattern: in mathematics, physics and chemistry boys have tended to have the edge. ACTIVITY 8.7 Look closely at Tables 8.4 and 8.5 and say whether they can be compared directly. Note that Antigua & Barbuda is the only country out of those selected in Table 8.5 where there are more boys enrolled in secondary school than girls. This situation has existed for some time now because governments have emphasised equality of educational opportunity – that is, providing access to schooling for all boys and girls. Once enrolled, however, their participation and achievement in the system varies markedly. This points to an issue of gender equity or fairness - in other words, there seem to be disadvantages in schooling in relation to boys. In a system which makes few distinctions between the sexes, this apparent disadvantage experienced by boys goes unaddressed. ACTIVITY 8.8 Look at Table 8.6. 1. Which subject has been traditionally dominated by boys but in 2011 girls took the lead in capturing Grade Is? 2. In Biology, both boys and girls achieved Grades II and III in similar proportions, but more boys received Grade IV, does this mean that overall boys are doing better than girls? 3. In which subjects, at the level of Grade I, do males achieve at a higher level than girls? Subject choices Traditional gender stereotypes influence the behaviours of male and female students and this is evident in the life of schools. Table 8.5 not only shows differences in registration and achievement patterns by subject 255 256 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Table 8.6 CSEC candidate performance in selected subjects by sex and grades awarded (I – IV) May/June 2011 Subject Sex Numbers writing the exam Grade I Grade II Grade III Grade IV English A M F 37,288 54,118 14.00% 21.12% 19.85% 23.46% 25.66% 27.59% 25.72% 20.63% Biology M F 5,656 9,625 15.77 16.57 24.3 24.27 32.18 32.71 18.3 17.4 Chemistry M F 5,348 8,241 12.72 11.29 17.54 17.39 34.65 34.52 24.12 25.83 Caribbean History M F 3,678 7,067 6.14 10.47 26.43 28.68 40.27 36.59 19.71 17.70 Mathematics M F 35,368 54,609 7.4 6.61 10.28 9.33 18.67 18.44 18.78 20.41 Physics M F 6,354 5,537 19.59 21.93 22.22 25.48 29.86 28.97 20.59 18.58 Social Studies M F 17,735 29,222 3.61 6.18 21.81 26.64 40.52 39.41 23.59 20.27 Principles of Business M F 11,988 21,605 10.24 12.52 31.58 31.24 34.77 34.08 16.24 15.23 Source: CXC. Caribbean Examinations Council Annual Report (2011). At http://www.cxc.org/SiteAssets/AnnualReports/AnnualReport2011Final. pdf, accessed 17 December, 2013. according to sex, but also reflects the ideas and beliefs that guide girls and boys to choose certain subjects and avoid others. This is a gender issue because it speaks to a relationship playing out between boys and girls. Box 8.10 explores some of the theorising about gender and education with respect to subject choices made by students. Textbooks Gender socialisation is an on-going process in society, and in schools textbooks continue to reinforce gender stereotypes in explicit as well as subtle ways. Activity 8.9 (page 258) gives you a chance to judge for yourself the extent to which textbooks today reinforce traditional gender stereotypes or whether, conscious of the implications of such stereotyping, authors and publishers now attempt to challenge gender norms. behaviours expected of girls does not help them to develop their full potential. For example, the issue of traditional gendered subject choice could be hindering girls from opting for careers in engineering, architecture, and other related fields. Careers in technology, engineering, medicine, law and architecture pay well and open doors to social mobility. While more women are entering these fields, they continue to be dominated by men. The glass ceiling and the old boys’ club obstruct women’s rise to the top of these male-dominated professions. As a result fewer women are employed in the highest-paying jobs. The glass ceiling is a metaphor for women’s unwillingness to go for the top positions in business, industry or administration. The old boys’ club describes the attitudes and bias of men entrenched at the top of a firm who find reasons to keep women from occupying similar positions. School and teacher Influence Gender socialisation at the level of the school seems to encourage boys to devalue school and classroom norms and this may be part of the reason why many, especially those with learning problems, think that school is mainly a place for girls. On the other hand the conformist The research literature contains a range of welldocumented findings that show teachers, even if they do not realise it, treat boys and girls differently. This treatment may be a mix of negative and positive responses, but together they reinforce gender stereotypes. CHAPTER 8: SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS: EDUCATION BOX 8.10 Theorising Gender and Education: Subject and Career Choices Theorists suggest that students tend to choose subjects based on prevailing gender stereotypes and ideologies to which they have been socialised. These subjects lead to gendered jobs and careers, for example, nursing, teaching, secretarial work and becoming librarians, are predominantly ‘female-type’ occupations. These choices are made because they are compatible with how a female sees herself – her gender identity – and in a similar way males make their quite different subject choices. Subject choice at secondary school ultimately has to do, even if the student does not realise it, with an occupation that s/he is comfortable with as an adult. Of course, students also choose subjects based on what they like and seem to have a flair for. Sociologists will tell us however that we allow ourselves to like only those subjects that do not violate the gender norms current in our society. The seeming dominance of males in mathematics and the sciences has been eroded lately with more females entering for and passing these examinations. However, males still seem to hold the edge in these subjects, particularly physics. DFID (1997) sociologists, using empirical data, suggest that girls see science as both difficult and demanding and secondly, according to the the image of the ‘scientist’ is unflattering and unfeminine. Other theorists put forward biological explanations for this disparity in both enrolment and achievement. There is some evidence, for example, that boys and girls combine their use of brain hemispheres in different ways, affecting their abilities in areas such as mathematical reasoning, spatial tasks such as map-reading or interpreting technical drawings, language proficiency and fine motor skills such as handwriting, embroidery and the timing of complex tasks as in art and craft. These brain-based theories of the different learning styles of males and females are reinforced by societal processes of gender socialisation into stereotypical subject choices. The expansion of subjects at both the CSEC and CAPE levels has empowered students to transcend some of these stereotypes and orientations and for many subjects a gender bias is not evident. Subject choices affect subsequent careers and are therefore of lifelong importance. One of the contradictory elements in the study of gender and education is the success of girls in the school system, on the one hand and the prevailing gender ideology of patriarchy in the society which limits their successes and participation in high status jobs and in politics, on the other. That more females today are occupying traditionally masculine-held jobs and careers masks the fact that most females are paid less than their male counterparts and experience inequality in homes and workplaces. If we think of some of the major areas of social interaction – the home, schools, workplaces and the Church – it is the school that emerges as the site where girls experience the least discrimination. However, with subject choice before them, both boys and girls tend to choose according to traditional gender stereotypes about what is considered masculine and feminine, even amidst changing labour market stereotypes. Thus, boys choose industrial arts and sciences whilst girls choose the humanities and social sciences. Here we see the beginning of the differentiation that exists in the world of work where men and women gravitate to different occupations and careers and hence, towards different life chances. A group of parents arranged a tour of a hospital for a group of twenty children: ten boys and ten girls. At the end of the tour, hospital officials presented each child with a cap: doctors’ caps for the boys, nurses’ caps for the girls. The parents, outraged at this sexism, went to see the hospital administration. They were promised that in the future, this would be corrected. The next year, a similar tour was arranged, and at the end, the parents came by to pick up their children. What did they find, but the exact same thing – all the boys had on doctors’ hats, all the girls had on nurses’ hats! Steaming, they stormed up to the director’s office and demanded an explanation. The director gently told them: `But it was totally different this year: We offered them all whichever hat they wanted’ (Hofstadter, 1986, p. 156). 257 258 PART II: INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS ACTIVITY 8.9 Social Inquiry Choose any textbook now in use in schools. Those with many illustrations may prove more useful in this exercise, for example textbooks in social studies, history, geography, sociology, language, literature, Caribbean Studies, and biology. Conduct a gender analysis of the textbook based on the following guidelines: 1. Do the illustrations depict males and females • in equal or close to equal numbers? • clearly, in images similar in size, position and aesthetics (e.g. colour)? • in a variety of roles, traditional and non-traditional? • in ways that they are likely to interest students? • displaying similar levels of power, authority, passiveness, and/or control? 2. Content: Does the text include • significant contributions made by males and females (to the family, country, professions)? • a wide variety of roles played by males and females, of different ages, ethnicities, and socioeconomic status? • equal use of gendered pronouns (he, she, his, her)? • non-stereotypical and non-prejudicial terms are used (e.g. ‘chair’rather than ‘chairman’ or‘flight attendant’ for ‘stewardess’)? • women’s lives are portrayed as interesting and/ or problematic (not just in terms of their roles as wives, mothers, and daughters)? • a balance of the public and private spheres (e.g. evidence of men and women combining traditional and non-traditional roles)? • a view of gender as socially constructed (rather than as essential, binary categories which are fixed and immutable)? • attempts to portray men’s lives as a gendered group (and not as invisible, neutral