This week topic was what my
group presentation in class was based on, therefore having read the extremely repetitive
and lengthy 40 page article by Weider, ‘Telling the code” twice and having looked at
a number of different readings on social order, codes of conduct and everyday
spoken accounts, I feel I have somewhat of a better understand on this topic
than all the other weeks we’ve looked at in this course.
Basically through the
lecture content and the reading, the notion of ‘codes’ was emphasised. Before
this week, I had never really stopped to think about codes in everyday
situations, as discussed in lecture/class- the bus/train code, the school code,
the working code etc. I find it
interesting that we as humans have this innate ability to recognise how the
codes work. I mean we are never really taught most of these codes, but
rather we just acquire the knowledge and perhaps observe from those around us
working the code.
Gerald Schueler in his
paper, “ Social Influences of Behavior” discuss’ the influences society has on
people’s behaviors. Schueler suggests that society controls behavior of most
citizens for our inherent psychological need for psychic growth and maturity,
whether we call it self-actualization or individuation, there seems to be a
natural disposition within the human psyche to behave in a moral or ethical
manner. In accordance with Schuelers argument, I believe society influences the
behavior of its members in many ways. It can pass laws through governmental
institutions, creating severe punishments for antisocial behaviours, it can
develop a strong desire for ethics and morals, usually through religious
outlets and it can educate and inform through its school systems and media
outlets. I believe these codes and social order constructions are crucial to maintaining stability and structure within our society and I would be really interested to find out what it would be like to live in a world where such codes cease to exist.
References:
Schueler, G 1997, 'Social Influences of Behaviour", accessed 14/9/2012.
Wieder, D. Lawrence (1974) 'Telling the code'. In: Roy Turner, ed. Ethnomethodology: selected readings. Harmondsworth: Penguin: 144-72
References:
Schueler, G 1997, 'Social Influences of Behaviour", accessed 14/9/2012.
Wieder, D. Lawrence (1974) 'Telling the code'. In: Roy Turner, ed. Ethnomethodology: selected readings. Harmondsworth: Penguin: 144-72
Thanks Karishma for an awesome presentation and blog post!
ReplyDeleteI hadn’t really considered what type of ‘codes’ I have lived through and also presently engage in until your presentation. Codes are implicit in the things we partake in, and I think they become ingrained in our own behaviours to the point where they are only truly observable from an external reference point, or at least a point of view that can objectively compare it to how things operate in a wider sense.
Following on from the discussion of prison code I found myself reflecting on a particular incident at an all-boys boarding school I had just started at in year 11. I guess there are obvious parallels I hadn’t considered before.
Whenever we were misbehaving or doing something questionable and an approaching staff-member was observed, the first person to see them would yell out ‘cheeso!’. Although this often landed the person who yelled it in some trouble it usually provided a greater service to wider members of that group. The staff had come to expect that from the students and generally alerted to misgivings when they heard it called out. There was an unofficial loyalty between students that I think as well as resenting, administrators had come to respect.
In much the same way that I think the prisoners have their own code, I now appreciate some of the things done by students as the assertion of their own individualities in an environment which in many senses was governed to restrict them. Again for instance, people would sneak a stray bottle of beer into their rooms. There is little physical impact of drinking a sole beer, especially when shared, but the action of defiance was the main satisfaction gained. Although this appears to stray a little from the theme of the group codes, I see it as a direct response to an official code enforced by school administrators.