Blog 4

Question #1 - How does society get reproduced from one generation to the next?

Dogma. Faith and Doubt are the two elements which comprise the sum of human belief. That being said, societies get reproduced from one generation to the next in a variety of ways. First and foremost, the elements of Faith and Doubt. The entirety of an individual’s beliefs about the universe around them is formulated from either convictions of truth or the lack thereof. Societies tend to claim that their way of life is ‘best’ and that they possess some sort of unique insight that the rest of the world is not privy to. Moreover, many societies tend to claim that they have the ‘one and only’ truth about how to live and treat others in the world around us or that they have the ‘right’ answers in regards to the origins and/or purpose of the human experience.

All over the globe, societies from every spectrum of belief, moral, ethical or religious conviction are able to reproduce themselves - which then begs one to ask the question - “If my society is ‘right’, then how come societies in the ‘wrong’ are also able to thrive?”

“If my truth is the best or only truth, how are people able to live in opposition to it?” “What’s more - how are they able to live enriched, fulfilling lives; competitive to the satisfaction we are finding in our own society?” “Does my society know truth?” “Do I have the truth?” “IS there such thing as truth?”

It is easy to see how the elements of Faith and Doubt are at play here. Faith in a belief or a thought will cause the holder to fall under conviction, and live according to that structure. The internal conviction that one has the ‘one and only’ truth - and that another does not - causes an individual to desire to instill their beliefs and values in the lives of others, as they “should be living according to my truth, too. My one and only, irrefutable and incontestable truth.” This is a very rapid and straightforward form of societal reproduction.

Doubt. An individual’s doubt, or lack of faith in a given conviction causes them to leave the traditional accepted truth or structure and wander hopes of achieving enlightenment as to the truth elsewhere. Doubt causes one to question what is generally unquestioned, and perhaps even challenge the authority or validity of the previously accepted thought.

Dogma. Dogma are actions, beliefs traditions etcetera that are simply accepted without inquiry as to the actual truth or purity of a given concept. These are the ideas which spread from generation to the next most rapidly, as those who are new to these ideas are likewise susceptible to practicing them, as the generation prior to theirs had been. 

In the end whether Faith, Doubt, Dogma or some other method is the vehicle for societal reproduction, all of these elements are pervasive and constantly on the minds of individuals living within a given society.. and are therefore soaked into memory storage portions of the human brain - and to at least some minuscule extent - they scientifically become a part of us.

Question #2 - How does ‘culture’ reinforce social hierarchy?

How doesn’t ‘culture’ reinforce social hierarchy? An Anthropology professor I had told us that in Mayan culture, the king could not wear the same outfit twice in a year. Every day he had to have a new outfit tailored to be ready to wear after he went to bed that night and woke up in the morning (he did not need to be present for this, as they had his measurements pretty well mastered). The purpose of this was to show everyone else in society that he was the only one who could realistically wear a new outfit every day - the people demanded he keep this tradition because it helped to set himself apart as a god from the commoners, who were obviously mortal.

‘Culture’, which is supposed to unify people as groups - has an equal and opposite reaction of pulling these people into their own segregated worlds and setting themselves apart from others in some way. This causes people to tend to think of themselves as clearly different and usually special in some way or another. Compounded by all the messages delivered through advertising and other media, people then begin to think of their life chances, and therefore overall opportunity for experiences to be limited to their tier, speaking in terms of social hierarchy. For example, there is a certain pressure for lawyers and public officials to wear expensive or lavish attire, whereas those who are more like plumbers or construction workers hierarchically speaking, would actually be more expected to have comfortable, functional and durable clothing. This helps those who are expected to dress lavishly often come across as more luxe, or in possession of greater wealth or discretionary funds. In any given advertisement, the target audience is tailored to the perceived economic standing and demographic that would best fit the target consumer. An easier way to say this is: any given commercial for Zales or De Beers or KAY jewelers will not feature someone from a rural area or a farmland walking in with their boots on. They would likewise not have a commercial for Aldi grocers featuring consumers in dinner suits running in for a bottle of wine before hors d'oeuvres. This would present kind of a cultural shock to the target consumer for both retailers. 

Question #3 - How do people end up getting to represent themselves?

By and large, I don’t think they do end up representing themselves. To be able to accurately represent oneself, you would have to lose all definition of who you are, what you are made of, capable of and ultimately where you come from. Then, I assume you would have to start to rebuild the world around you and set your own standards of definition to first understand yourself and then discover how to share that with others in a way so that they understand you similar to how you understand yourself. With people so saturated by the culture which concurrently exists within society, they already have a pretty solid understanding of the social spheres in which they ‘belong’ and they already are pretty occupied with the expectations and pressures, duties and obligations they have to fulfill within their own lives that it is unrealistic to expect them to be able to live unaffected by these and redefine/exemplify themselves free of influence.