Sunday, June 19, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
The Influence of Structural and Cultural Forces on the Behaviors of the Poor and Non-Poor (A 4 Part Series) - Part 1: Structural and Cultural Forces
Parsing out the influences of cultural and structural factors leading to differential behaviors among the poor and non-poor is a difficult challenge for sociologists concerned with stratification and inequality. This is largely due to the fact that they appear to be so heavily intertwined. Structural and cultural factors reinforce each other in complex ways. Pervasive cultural elements such as ideologies and values are used to frame and interpret existing socio-economic structures and their effects on individuals. Structural forces such as access to resources such as information, education and employment shape cultural views and attitudes as well.
STRUCTURAL AND CULTURAL FORCES
Structural factors include the organizational and institutional forces in society that determine relative social position such as the prestige level of associations, roles and jobs, economic and labor market forces, technology and laws (Wilson 2009). Structural factors also affect access to resources such as housing and education. Cultural factors include pervasive narratives and interpretations as well as common understandings and applied meanings, within groups of people (Wilson 2009). Culture can be shared amongst varying sized groups ranging from families to nations. Cultural sharing is generally limited to those who share a common physical space (Wilson 1996:66). Social interaction on the individual level leads to the sharing of cultural values, understandings and interpretations (Wilson 2009). Both structural and cultural factors have profound and complex effects on society, the individual and each other.
The Relationship Between Structure and Culture
The relationship between structure and culture is essentially reciprocal. Cultural changes can occur as a reaction to structural changes. This is evidenced by the labor market restructuring due to deindustrializaton and automation leading to massive and long-term unemployment among many African Americans and thus joblessness became a cultural norm (Wilson 1996). Cultural forces can have two possible effects on structure. They can be used to justify existing structures and reify them. Examples of this include the culture of racism being used to justify unequal treatment towards African Americans and the cultural value of individualism being used to justify the lack of social safety nets in the U.S. Cultural changes such as access to new information or the emergence of new interpretations or conceptual frameworks can also lead to the demand for structural change. For instance, the de-exoticization of the “underclass” experience and rejection of ethnocentric theories such as oppositional values amongst the poor allowed for policies such as affirmative action to become more politically viable in the 1990's.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
indiscipline
Last week, I went to see indiscipline, a music-science collaboration concert performed by Charlottesville’s very own musicians and scientists. The first thing that struck me was how well the concert’s title reflected the artists’ overall theme: that of branching outside their own disciplines and into others’ as a way to deepen the audience understanding of their lives’ works. Held at The Haven, the humble, wooden performance space was oddly fitting given the artists’ desire to share their knowledge with one and all—a desire made clear via free tickets to the event. I briefly share my experiences with a few of the pieces below.
The first piece, “shs,” explores how facial expressions of people with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects communication between individuals. The composer, Sarah O’Halloran, uses video footage of artist Johanna Valentine drawing the facial expressions that were the focus of research conducted by psychologist Matthew Lerner as the backdrop for her musical score. The music includes the use of non-instruments as percussion (such as a plastic to-go box for food and a wine bottle) as well as staccato vocal sounds that perhaps were meant to imitate the facial expressions aforementioned while exploiting the natural sounds available via the resonant cavities in the face. Interestingly, the performers seem to tackle the same communication issues faced by people with ASD (specifically, how social knowledge contributes to social performance) as the use of non-routine instruments and sounds added to the difficulty of the rehearsal and performance processes.
“Lullaby for Newborn Stars” is an algorithmic composition as it takes Bill Dirienzo’s research on areas of star formation in the Milky Way and maps it using electronic sounds—the location of each area determines sequence and pitch of the sound, the size of each area determines the sound’s duration, and the intensity of each region determines sound dynamics. The result was a cacophony of buzzing noise punctuated by music played on the clarinet (meant to metaphorically be an astronomer exploring and commenting on the stellar information).
Likewise, “North Fork Dry Run in Shaver Hollow. Shenandoah National Park. Winter 2011.” is inspired by natural elements. It is an ecological soundscape that draws from recordings around Lambert Cabin in Shenandoah National Park and uses instruments to mimic sounds of forest life. Specifically, percussion instruments were used to create water droplet sounds over the recording of a forest stream. Sustained tones were held by other instruments to add continuity. Lastly, the lyrics of the ballad calls attention to the pleasures of forest life that the soundscape attempts to draw the audience into.
All in all, the concert did its title justice. From the three pieces discussed above, one can gather the large array of information presented in a variety of forms. A word by the author of “Coral Attraction,” the concert’s finale, sums up the experience nicely: the concert was ultimately a celebration of the “fact that acoustic vibrations draw living things together.” And celebrate I did.
Posted is one of the funnier pieces performed, an ironic (or unironic) commentary on Triscuits' marketing.
The first piece, “shs,” explores how facial expressions of people with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) affects communication between individuals. The composer, Sarah O’Halloran, uses video footage of artist Johanna Valentine drawing the facial expressions that were the focus of research conducted by psychologist Matthew Lerner as the backdrop for her musical score. The music includes the use of non-instruments as percussion (such as a plastic to-go box for food and a wine bottle) as well as staccato vocal sounds that perhaps were meant to imitate the facial expressions aforementioned while exploiting the natural sounds available via the resonant cavities in the face. Interestingly, the performers seem to tackle the same communication issues faced by people with ASD (specifically, how social knowledge contributes to social performance) as the use of non-routine instruments and sounds added to the difficulty of the rehearsal and performance processes.
“Lullaby for Newborn Stars” is an algorithmic composition as it takes Bill Dirienzo’s research on areas of star formation in the Milky Way and maps it using electronic sounds—the location of each area determines sequence and pitch of the sound, the size of each area determines the sound’s duration, and the intensity of each region determines sound dynamics. The result was a cacophony of buzzing noise punctuated by music played on the clarinet (meant to metaphorically be an astronomer exploring and commenting on the stellar information).
Likewise, “North Fork Dry Run in Shaver Hollow. Shenandoah National Park. Winter 2011.” is inspired by natural elements. It is an ecological soundscape that draws from recordings around Lambert Cabin in Shenandoah National Park and uses instruments to mimic sounds of forest life. Specifically, percussion instruments were used to create water droplet sounds over the recording of a forest stream. Sustained tones were held by other instruments to add continuity. Lastly, the lyrics of the ballad calls attention to the pleasures of forest life that the soundscape attempts to draw the audience into.
All in all, the concert did its title justice. From the three pieces discussed above, one can gather the large array of information presented in a variety of forms. A word by the author of “Coral Attraction,” the concert’s finale, sums up the experience nicely: the concert was ultimately a celebration of the “fact that acoustic vibrations draw living things together.” And celebrate I did.
Posted is one of the funnier pieces performed, an ironic (or unironic) commentary on Triscuits' marketing.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
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