I have recently begun reading the book Participant Observation by James Spradley. I suppose I should have read it years ago... but better late than never. In Chapter One he references Herbert Blumer (1969) and his work Symbolic Interactionism. Three premises of this theory are (in my own wording) People act towards objects (nouns of …
Continue reading Learning a New Term: “Symbolic Interactionism”
A fascinating study done by David Rosenhan of Stanford University illustrates the impact of psychiatric labeling. Rosenhan and several colleagues had themselves committed to mental hospitals with a diagnosis of "schizophrenia." After being admitted, each of these pseudo-patients dropped all pretense of mental illness. Yet, even though they acted completely normal, none of the researchers …
A few days ago, the "Islamic State" or "ISS" or "ISIL" made a statement (or its leadership made a statement) that it was okay to enslave and have (non-mutual) sex with non-Muslim women and girls. It is hard, as an outsider, to fathom why a group that claims to be acting for a righteous …
Continue reading Personhood and the Escalation of Conflict. Part 1