tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/social-status-30892/articles
Social status – The Conversation
2023-12-14T13:37:55Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/218174
2023-12-14T13:37:55Z
2023-12-14T13:37:55Z
Nigeria’s flamboyant aso ebi dressing style is popular - but it’s become a financial burden
<p>Aso ebi – “family uniform” – is the Yoruba custom of people dressing alike for social events. The custom is rooted in kinship (ebi), an important aspect of Yoruba social life since precolonial times in what’s now south-west Nigeria. </p>
<p>Words like <em>molebi</em> (kinsmen) and <em>olori ebi</em> (head of the family) point to the importance of kinship in this culture. The saying <em>eni to so ebi e nu, apo iya lo so ko</em> literally translates as “whoever deserts his kinsmen straps on his/her shoulder a satchel of misfortune”. Aso ebi expresses these values visibly: uniform dressing is intended to reinforce unity and fraternity. </p>
<p>Historically, Yoruba kinsmen wore the aso ebi – usually specially chosen fabrics – during celebrations for group identification.</p>
<p>At first, inclusion and participation in uniform clothing for social events was restricted to blood relationship and mutual ancestry. As time went on, belonging to a group through uniform dressing extended beyond family circles.</p>
<p>From the early 20th century, aso ebi became more about the need to communicate <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Aso-Ebi-%3A-The-Dynamics-of-Fashion-and-Cultural-in-Ajani/29cda686a2d9600811366015789dea8f0a24c282?utm_source=direct_link">social worth</a>. My interviews with some elderly people in Ibadan revealed that, during this period, it was referred to as <em>ankoo</em> (uniformity) or <em>egbejoda</em> (group uniform). Blood ties became a less important consideration for participation.</p>
<p>Nowadays, aso ebi is a regular <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/234690994.pdf#page=1">feature</a> at social events like weddings, funerals, birthdays, conferments and political rallies across Nigeria. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=ybH50nYAAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">scholar</a> of costume in theatre, I’ve always been fascinated by the aso ebi custom. In theatre, costume helps tell a story, among other functions, and aso ebi is also a costume in the performance of a social event. </p>
<p>I wanted to know more about the modern aso ebi trends. Anecdotal evidence suggested that the practice was becoming something of a burden for some people. My <a href="https://journaljesbs.com/index.php/JESBS/article/view/1041">research</a> bore this out: I found that the financial burden of purchasing aso ebi was prominent among its perceived drawbacks and strengths alike. </p>
<h2>Aso ebi as costume</h2>
<p>In theatre and film, costume transforms actors into characters and depicts setting, culture, age and occupation. It tells the audience something about the character’s social class, economic worth and status in a hierarchy. Costume can project personal characteristics, deliberately or unwittingly. It can help depict relationships in a group.</p>
<p>In daily life, too, clothes give us nonverbal clues about their wearers. They reveal age, mood, sex, culture, social status, religion, occupation, political affiliation and so on. </p>
<p>At social events, participants can be regarded as performers as well as audience members. Wearing aso ebi, participants are able to play premeditated or spontaneous roles.</p>
<h2>Modern trends</h2>
<p>In the last few decades, aso ebi has been <a href="https://www.google.com.ng/books/edition/Aso_Ebi/E84qEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Aso+Ebi:+Dress,+Fashion,+Visual+Culture,+and+Urban+Cosmopolitanism+in+West+Africa&printsec=frontcover">embraced</a> by other ethnic groups in Nigeria and the diaspora. The trend has extended beyond the geographical and social landscape of the Yoruba people. </p>
<p>Part of the reason may be its propensity to add glamour and spectacle to events. But even more importantly, it may be due to its inclusion tendency, since it gives wearers a sense of involvement, seemingly excluding some non-wearers, thereby drawing social Lines at social events. </p>
<p>It is common for guests to wear identical fabrics like wax prints (Ankara), lace, brocade and other materials to events. </p>
<p>Planning and coordinating this wearing of uniforms at events has become quite a business. Usually, a celebrant chooses the fabric, determines the price and monopolises the sale to guests. Often the intention is to make a profit. Guests can’t haggle over the price and are expected to turn out in the fabric for the event, thereby creating the impression of solidarity and support for the celebrant. </p>
<p>Affordability and social integration have become more significant considerations, pushing kinship to the back seat.</p>
<h2>Beyond the glamour, the distress</h2>
<p>Despite the popularity of aso ebi, my <a href="https://journaljesbs.com/index.php/JESBS/article/view/1041">study</a> found that it is causing some distress. </p>
<p>I administered questionnaires to 270 Yoruba adults (135 men and 135 women) in Osun and Oyo states in south-western Nigeria, asking them about the challenges and merits of wearing aso ebi. Participants indicated whether they experienced any of a list of challenges such as cost, competition and issues of personal taste. The list of potential merits included boosting camaraderie and collective sense of purpose, and benefits to the producers of the uniforms.</p>
<p>The results showed that the main problem with aso ebi was the financial burden of having to buy the fabrics continuously. This stems from being obliged to attend social events and the tendency for reciprocity: “I bought your aso ebi, buy mine.” People end up with a large stock of fabrics and are limited in their ability to buy, store and wear their own clothes.</p>
<p>Another challenge is that buyers of aso ebi fabrics don’t have a choice or the option of bargaining, since it is non-negotiable. And the fabrics and uniforms are not always to the individual’s taste.</p>
<p>Participants also felt that aso ebi encouraged unhealthy flamboyant competition.</p>
<p>When they responded to the list of potential merits, they gave equal weight to aso ebi as a booster of social incorporation and cohesion, and as a source of economic value for individuals who make the fabrics.</p>
<p>The practice has been <em>commodified</em> to the extent that cohesion, equality and social egalitarianism may be taking a back seat. Aso ebi is fast becoming a point of dissension, segregating wearers. It has a propensity to create social gulfs, distancing wearers and placing them on different tiers of the same ladder.</p>
<p>However, according to my study findings, the benefits of aso ebi – like comradeship – still outweigh the challenges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218174/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Olubukola Badeji is affiliated with a non-profit organisation.
Women Forward Innovative Development Initiative WFID. We are based in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Our aim is Women empowerment in order to alleviate poverty.</span></em></p>
Aso ebi - colourful fabrics worn at social events in NIgeria - makes parties glamorous but the cost can also be burdensome.
Susan Olubukola Badeji, Lecturer, Redeemer's University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213490
2023-10-11T15:15:40Z
2023-10-11T15:15:40Z
Why ‘toxic masculinity’ isn’t a useful term for understanding all of the ways to be a man
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551355/original/file-20231002-17-jilxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C8%2C5812%2C3874&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Masculinity is complex, diverse and can be expressed in multiple ways.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/view-back-lonely-standing-man-high-1469768498">yanik88/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There seem to be as many interpretations of what “<a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-masculinity-what-does-it-mean-where-did-it-come-from-and-is-the-term-useful-or-harmful-189298#:%7E:text=The%20phrase%20emphasises%20the%20worst,%22toxic%22%20for%20two%20reasons.">toxic masculinity</a>” means as there are uses of the term.</p>
<p>Some believe it’s a way to criticise what they see as specific negative behaviour and attitudes often associated with men. Others, such as broadcaster Piers Morgan, claim that media interest in toxic masculinity is part of a “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/wake-up-why-the-world-has-gone-nuts-piers-morgan?variant=33046214377506">woke culture</a>” that aims to emasculate men. Others believe toxic masculinity is a fundamental part of <a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/work/boys-will-be-boys/">manhood</a>. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380385231172121#bibr26-00380385231172121">research</a> into working-class young men in south Wales shows how masculinity is changing. Some men remain hostile to the notion of toxic masculinity and see the term as a vehicle for shaming men. And some are caught in a conflict between changing ideas of masculinity and traditional, unhealthy expressions of manhood. This is further complicated by the term itself.</p>
<p>In its simplest sense, toxic masculinity refers to an overemphasis or exaggerated expression of characteristics <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Toxic_Masculinity.html?id=9FzBDwAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">commonly associated</a> with masculinity. These include traits such as competition, self-reliance and being stoic, which produce behaviours such as risk-taking, fear of showing weakness, and an inability to discuss emotions. These have negative implications for both men and women. </p>
<p>For example, a rejection of weakness and vulnerability may prevent some men from <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Dying-to-be-Men-Psychosocial-Environmental-and-Biobehavioral-Directions/Courtenay/p/book/9780415878760#:%7E:text=Description,In%20this%20book%2C%20Dr.">discussing issues</a> such as mental health. Similarly, an inability to express emotion may expose itself through frustration, anger and acts of physical violence. </p>
<p>But masculine traits such as being stoic can equally be valuable in some circumstances, such as emergencies and making lifesaving decisions. In essence, masculinity is complex, diverse and can be expressed in multiple ways.</p>
<h2>More than one type of masculinity</h2>
<p>However, masculinity that involves courage, toughness and physical strength has <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3149/jms.0703.295">historically</a> been held in high regard by society. </p>
<p>Masculinity is socially, historically, culturally and individually determined, and subject to change. It can be influenced by a person’s status, power, place, social class and ethnicity. So, a person’s differing circumstances establish or enable different expressions of masculinity. </p>
<p>For example, traditionally high rates of manual employment in heavy industries and family relationships helped establish the gender roles of the male breadwinner and female homemaker. This reinforced masculine traits such as toughness and stoicism in men.</p>
<p>In recent decades though, the way people in western countries work has changed a lot. Manual jobs have <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-10792-4_6">decreased</a> while service sector work has increased. These alterations have contributed to the increase in <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/introducing-gender-and-womens-studies-9781352009903/#:%7E:text=With%20fully%20revised%20chapters%20written,examples%20and%20questions%20to%20consider.">the number of women</a> working, and their wages have became an <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-gb/Redundant+Masculinities%3F%3A+Employment+Change+and+White+Working+Class+Youth-p-9781405105866">important part</a> of household incomes.</p>
<p>Movements like <a href="https://metoomvmt.org">#MeToo</a> and brands like Gillette and its We Believe: The Best Men Can Be advert have led to further <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/15/gillette-metoo-ad-on-toxic-masculinity-cuts-deep-with-mens-rights-activists">examination</a> of masculinity. They have challenged negative expressions of masculinity, encouraging men to change their behaviour and instead adopt a <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442232921/Masculinities-in-the-Making-From-the-Local-to-the-Global">more positive</a> version of masculinity. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EkRxdtmJ4L4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Gilette’s We Believe The Best Men Can Be advert from 2019.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Against this backdrop, we urgently need to reassess what the current research tells us about men and masculinity.</p>
<h2>Men are changing</h2>
<p>Some <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Inclusive-Masculinity-The-Changing-Nature-of-Masculinities/Anderson/p/book/9780415893909">studies</a> suggest that men are changing their behaviour as society and the economy change. For example, studies of white, middle-class men who attend university have found that they are more likely to express their emotions verbally and physically.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-78819-7">critics</a> of that idea say that such young men can transgress typical notions of masculinity because of their higher social status.</p>
<p>A new wave of qualitative research has shown that some <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Young-Working-Class-Men-in-Transition/Roberts/p/book/9780367473723">working-class</a> young men are changing their behaviour. They are more open about their emotions, admit to feeling vulnerable and have more egalitarian views on housework. However, they still sometimes use sexist and homophobic language. </p>
<p>My recent <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380385231172121#bibr26-00380385231172121">study</a> is part of a growing criticism of how masculinity is defined and talked about. I carried out my research at a youth centre and focused on a group of working-class young men aged between 12 and 21. I talked to the young men about their school experiences, work ambitions and looked at their behaviour. </p>
<p>The study was based in the Gwent valleys, a former coal mining community. It is a place known for its traditional ideas of masculinity, such as being strong and tough. But also I found that these young men showed softer sides of masculinity, such as empathy, compassion and sensitivity.</p>
<p>These changes and softer sides of masculinity coexisted with behaviours often linked with negative expressions of masculinity, such as violence and crime. I describe this as “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00380385231172121#bibr26-00380385231172121">amalgamated masculinities</a>”.</p>
<p>My findings strengthen the idea that positive changes in masculinity are happening socially. </p>
<h2>Changing the narrative</h2>
<p>We must be aware of the harm caused by exaggerated masculine traits but language like “toxic masculinity” can be unhelpful. We should focus on promoting the benefits of positive expressions of manhood, such as emotional openness and empathy. </p>
<p>We should also do more work to try to understand why positive changes in masculinity are happening. Once we understand this, we can think about how to encourage these positive changes to make them more common in society. This could help to make masculinity better for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213490/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Gater works for Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data. He receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>
A new wave of research shows how working-class young men are changing their behaviour. But some remain hostile to the term “toxic masculinity” and see it as a vehicle for shaming men.
Richard Gater, Postdoctoral research fellow at the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data, Cardiff University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/197517
2023-03-14T12:24:14Z
2023-03-14T12:24:14Z
‘Pantry porn’ on TikTok and Instagram makes obsessively organized kitchens a new status symbol
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514064/original/file-20230307-16-ldfmb1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C1023%2C3970%2C2667&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Influencers have started filming themselves shopping for supplies, prepping food, refilling containers and organizing their pantries.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/housewife-recording-video-reviewing-products-on-royalty-free-image/1347323041?phrase=filming pantry&adppopup=true">Valeriy_G/iStock via Getty Images Plus</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Neatly aligned <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn7Nx7Wux9S/?hl=en">glass spice jars</a> tagged with printed white labels. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CYq_ioGqQzU/?hl=en">Wicker baskets</a> filled with packages of pasta, crackers and snacks. Rows of flavored seltzer water stacked in double-decker <a href="https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/best-drink-organizers-fridge/">plastic bins</a>.</p>
<p>In today’s consumer culture, “a place for everything and everything in its place” isn’t just a mantra; it’s big business. Nowhere is this more evident than the kitchen pantry.</p>
<p>Most people can relate to finding half-empty cereal boxes squirreled away in the cupboard or letting produce sit just a bit too long in a refrigerator drawer. </p>
<p>But for a subset of social media denizens, such sacrileges would never grace their feeds.</p>
<p>As someone who studies <a href="https://jennadrenten.com/">digital consumer culture</a>, I’ve noticed an uptick in glamorized, stylized and fully stocked pantries on TikTok and Instagram, giving rise to a content genre I dub “pantry porn.” </p>
<p>How did the perfectly organized pantry become so ubiquitous in the digital age? And what does it say about the expectations of being a good homemaker?</p>
<h2>When pantries became pretty</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Pantry/wSW30jYW7qEC?hl=en">The pantry</a> – derived from the Latin word for bread, “panis” – was originally a hidden space for storing food. It was purely functional, not a place to show off to others. In the late 1800s, the butler’s pantry emerged as an architectural trend among high society. This small space, tucked between the kitchen and dining room, was a marker of status – an area to hide both the food and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/4486064">the people who prepared it</a>. </p>
<p>Throughout the next century, pantries started being built in middle-class homes. As open floor plans became popular in the 1950s, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/05/the-curse-of-an-open-floor-plan/560561/">kitchens emerged into plain view</a>. This design shift paved the way for many modern American pantries to feature sweeping floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall cabinetry and walk-in storage spaces.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Drawing of a woman entering a pantry with exposed shelves." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513778/original/file-20230306-16-b0vjid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513778/original/file-20230306-16-b0vjid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513778/original/file-20230306-16-b0vjid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513778/original/file-20230306-16-b0vjid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513778/original/file-20230306-16-b0vjid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513778/original/file-20230306-16-b0vjid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513778/original/file-20230306-16-b0vjid.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bigger homes meant more space to store food.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-american-housewife-walks-into-her-large-kitchen-walk-in-news-photo/508414955">GraphicaArtis/Hulton Archive via Getty Images.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Today, over 85% of new homes built in America that are over 3,500 square feet feature a walk-in pantry, reportedly the most desirable kitchen feature for new homebuyers, according to <a href="https://www.realtor.com/advice/home-improvement/the-walk-in-kitchen-pantry-is-the-new-designer-shoe-closet/">a 2019 report</a>.</p>
<p>Celebrities can be credited – at least, in part – for making the pantry <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7e3yy/celebrity-kitchens-are-beautiful-barely-used-and-basically-one-big-flex">a modern-day status symbol</a>. The Kardashian-Jenner family has long been an exemplar for #pantrygoals, and former “Real Housewives” star Yolanda Hadid has social media fan pages <a href="https://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/yolanda-foster-fridge-real-housewives-beverly-hills">dedicated to her fridge</a>. </p>
<p>In the digital age, social media influencers have stepped in as trickle-down tastemakers who translate symbols of celebrity culture into accessible markers of status for the rest of us. </p>
<p>Meticulously arranged pantries appeal to middle-class sensibilities: Maybe you can’t have a designer kitchen, but you can beautify your bulk food storage.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CmZRpRWp5vq","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<h2>Move over food porn – make way for pantry porn</h2>
<p>Throughout the 2010s, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103347">food porn</a> dominated social media. The so-called “<a href="https://www.kcrw.com/culture/shows/good-food/uyghur-cuisine-food-instagram-sake-tomatoes/social-media-influence-identity-what-we-eat">camera eats first</a>” phenomenon introduced user-generated images of cooking, eating and staging food. </p>
<p>Consumers’ <a href="https://www.cntraveler.com/story/why-restaurants-should-ban-food-instagramming">controversial obsession with food photography</a> resulted in some restaurants <a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/j5jjkx/why-this-top-restaurant-just-banned-instagram">banning smartphone photography</a> while other businesses created veritable wonderlands for food-inspired selfies such as the <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/selfie-factories-instagram-museum/">Museum of Ice Cream</a> and <a href="https://www.bonappetit.com/story/the-egg-house-experience-review">The Egg House</a>. </p>
<p>New technology <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/22041451.2018.1482190">did not invent food porn</a>, but it did catalyze it in new ways. Consumers armed with camera phones could suddenly <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9781137463234_14">fetishize meals</a> for the voyeuristic pleasure of their friends and followers. This dynamic of <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003042587-29/big-brother-monitoring-lauren-gurrieri-jenna-drenten">watching and being watched</a> is a hallmark of modern digital consumer culture where nonsexual things are <a href="https://www.publicbooks.org/marcus-tribute-2020-pornography-porn/">linguistically tethered to porn</a>: food porn, travel porn, book porn, real estate porn. Coupling social media content with the “porn” descriptor acts as shorthand for desirability, gratification and gawking. </p>
<p>Pantry porn is a mashup of infotainment, <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@lifewithdaniielle/video/7171185932987616555?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7036403986962433542">how-to</a>, lifestyle content and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kami.larae/video/7151014174787751214?q=pantry%20asmr&t=1675977877710">ASMR</a>, a form of <a href="https://www.vox.com/2015/7/15/8965393/asmr-video-youtube-autonomous-sensory-meridian-response">sound-driven content</a> intended to relax viewers.</p>
<p>Influencers film themselves shopping for supplies, prepping food, refilling containers, and organizing their pantries – often coupled with hashtags like #pantryrestock, #pantryASMR, and #pantrygoals. They <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ennyfay/video/7175946790255086853">transfer dry goods</a> from the store-bought bags into matching glassware; they stock the home coffee bar with <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@makeitwithmicah/video/7185687916226678059?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7036403986962433542">coffee pods</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@bigmommakimbo7/video/7181952203928784174?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7036403986962433542">flavored syrups</a>; they refill stackable bins with <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@ssevcech/video/7076208728118250794?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7036403986962433542">single-serving snacks</a>; they create multiple <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@kaelimaee/video/7177846917873847594?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7036403986962433542">types of ice cubes</a> – each with its own dedicated freezer section. Much of this pantry porn is performed against a backdrop of rhythmic ASMR-inspired clinks, glugs, snaps, rips and thunks that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2023.103477">appeal to viewers’ pleasure centers</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509282/original/file-20230209-24-vl0053.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509282/original/file-20230209-24-vl0053.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509282/original/file-20230209-24-vl0053.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509282/original/file-20230209-24-vl0053.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=331&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509282/original/file-20230209-24-vl0053.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509282/original/file-20230209-24-vl0053.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509282/original/file-20230209-24-vl0053.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Screenshots of snack drawer restock videos on TikTok.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">TikTok</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like its food porn predecessor, pantry porn thrives on stylizing everyday life in exaggerated ways. But where food porn <a href="https://theconversation.com/foodporn-people-are-more-attracted-to-social-media-content-showcasing-fatty-foods-160221">elicits a desire for gluttonous indulgence</a>, pantry porn taps into a different cultural desire: the orderly arrangement of abundance.</p>
<h2>Excess is bad, but organized excess is good</h2>
<p>The past decade has ushered in a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12499">home organizing revolution</a>. </p>
<p>An entire cottage industry of <a href="https://organizingmoms.com/">blogs</a>, <a href="https://shop.konmari.com/products/the-life-changing-magic-of-tidying-up-1">books</a> and <a href="https://www.containerstore.com/blog/posts/get-organized-with-the-home-edit">television shows</a> have introduced people to terms like “decluttering,” “minimalism” and “simple living.” </p>
<p>Minimalism once represented a countercultural lifestyle rooted in <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780367821586-4/evolution-voluntary-simplicity-stephen-zavestoski-marilyn-delaure">anti-consumption</a>: Use less, buy less, have less. </p>
<p>But if pantry porn is any indication, the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/02/03/the-pitfalls-and-the-potential-of-the-new-minimalism">new minimalism</a> means more is more, as long as the more is not messy. Consumers don’t need less, they need more: more containers, more labels, more storage space. </p>
<p>Storing spices in <a href="https://www.hunker.com/13776442/hailey-bieber-built-in-spice-shelf">coordinated glass jars</a> and color coordinating dozens of <a href="https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/kylie-jenner-shows-off-pantry-sprinkles.html/">sprinkles containers</a> may seem trivial. But tidiness <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/676922">is tangled up with status</a>, and <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2023/02/embracing-mess-vs-cleanliness.html">messiness is loaded with assumptions</a> about personal responsibility and respectability.</p>
<p>Cleanliness has historically been used as a <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/1894408">cultural gatekeeping mechanism</a> to reinforce status distinctions based on a vague understanding of “niceness”: nice people, with nice yards, in nice houses, make for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-7466.2009.01047.x">nice neighborhoods</a>.</p>
<p>What lies beneath the surface of this anti-messiness, pro-niceness stance is a <a href="https://doi.org/10.13001/jwcs.v1i1.5809">history of classist</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jowh.2003.0025">racist</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1353/jowh.2006.0056">sexist</a> social structures. In my research, influencers who produce pantry porn are predominantly white women who demonstrate what it looks like to maintain a “nice” home by creating a new status symbol: the perfectly organized, fully stocked pantry. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/CoGkz58oWXp","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>Perhaps it’s not surprising that pantry porn found its foothold <a href="https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/home-organization-pandemic-trend-home-edit-36827645">during the COVID-19 pandemic</a>, when shortages in the supply chain surged. Keeping stuff on hand became <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.appet.2020.104981">a symbol of resilience</a> for those with the money and space to do so. This allure of strategic stockpiling is evident in other collector subcultures like doomsday preppers and extreme couponers.</p>
<h2>The pressure of the perfect kitchen</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/15274764221150163">The work</a> required to restock, refill, and reset the kitchen is a central element in producing everyday pantry porn. </p>
<p>In my research, I’ve found that this work often falls to women in the household. One TikTok mom goes on a “<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@lifewithdaniielle/video/7138922368965152046">snack strike</a>,” stating she will not <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@lifewithdaniielle/video/7145935660875156782">restock the pantry</a> until her children and husband eat what they already have.</p>
<p>Magazines like Good Housekeeping were once the brokers of <a href="https://doi.org/10.2752/174063106778053255">idealized domestic work</a>. Now online pantry porn sets the aspirational standard for becoming an ideal mom, ideal wife and ideal woman. This grew out of a shift toward an <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300076523/the-cultural-contradictions-of-motherhood/">intensive mothering ideology</a> that equates being a good mom with time-intensive, labor-intensive, financially expensive care work. </p>
<p>Sure, all of those baskets and bins serve a functional purpose in the home: seeing what you need, when you need it. But the social pressure to curate a perfect pantry might make <a href="https://cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/article/view/1021">some women work overtime</a>. They can’t just shove store-bought boxes of snacks into a cupboard; they must neatly place the grab-and-go snacks into a <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@shadiersandy/video/7167154682006179115?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7036403986962433542">fully stocked pantry</a> that rivals a boutique corner store. </p>
<p>Pantry porn, as a status symbol, relies on the promise of making daily domestic work easier. But if women are largely responsible for the work required to maintain the perfectly organized pantry, it’s critical to ask: easier for whom?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197517/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenna Drenten does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Maybe you can’t have a designer kitchen. But you can still beautify your bulk food storage.
Jenna Drenten, Associate Professor of Marketing, Loyola University Chicago
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/177696
2022-04-01T12:46:13Z
2022-04-01T12:46:13Z
Medieval illustrated manuscripts reveal how upper-class women managed healthy households – overseeing everything from purging, leeching and cupping to picking the right wet nurse
<p>What type of images come to mind when you think of medieval art? Knights and ladies? Biblical scenes? Cathedrals? It’s probably not some unfortunate man in the throes of vomiting. </p>
<p>It might surprise you to learn this scene is found in a luxurious book from the Middle Ages made with the highest-quality materials, including abundant gold leaf. Known as an illustrated manuscript, it was made entirely by hand, as virtually all books were before the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/printing-press">adoption of the printing press</a>. </p>
<p>Why would such an opulent art form depict such a mundane topic?</p>
<p>Scholars believe that around 1256, a French countess commissioned the creation of a health manual to share with her four daughters just as they were forming their own households. Known as the “Régime du corps,” or “regimen of the body,” the book was widely copied and became extremely popular across Europe in the late Middle Ages, specifically between the 13th and 15th centuries. Over 70 unique manuscripts survive today. They offer a window into many aspects of everyday medieval life – from sleeping, bathing and preparing food to <a href="https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/medm/hd_medm.htm">bloodletting, leeching and purging</a>. </p>
<p>I’m an <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=HypjDKAAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">art historian</a> who recently published a book called “Visualizing Household Health: Medieval Women, Art, and Knowledge in the Régime du corps” <a href="https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-09059-7.html">about these magnificent illustrated copies</a>. What’s fascinating to me about the “Régime du corps” is how it depicts the responsibilities of women in wealthy medieval households – and how domestic management advice was passed down among them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454256/original/file-20220324-9510-163m7nr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of two women in medieval dress – one hands a jar to the other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454256/original/file-20220324-9510-163m7nr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454256/original/file-20220324-9510-163m7nr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454256/original/file-20220324-9510-163m7nr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454256/original/file-20220324-9510-163m7nr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454256/original/file-20220324-9510-163m7nr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454256/original/file-20220324-9510-163m7nr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454256/original/file-20220324-9510-163m7nr.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a chapter on caring for one’s complexion, two women exchange a remedy. ‘Le Régime du corps,’ circa 1265-70.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Library, MS Sloane 2435. ©The British Library Board.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Glimpsing relationships</h2>
<p>The illustrations, which are usually located at the start of each chapter, convey information not often found in other historical records. Even if the images are idealized, they reveal an extraordinary amount about the clothes, objects and furnishings of the period. They also show interactions among people that reflect the culture and society in which these books were made. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454234/original/file-20220324-17-fvxoo3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of two medieval women standing next to eacb other. One woman is reaching out and feeling the other's exposed breast." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454234/original/file-20220324-17-fvxoo3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454234/original/file-20220324-17-fvxoo3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454234/original/file-20220324-17-fvxoo3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454234/original/file-20220324-17-fvxoo3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454234/original/file-20220324-17-fvxoo3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454234/original/file-20220324-17-fvxoo3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454234/original/file-20220324-17-fvxoo3.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A potential wet nurse is assessed by another woman. ‘Le Régime du corps,’ 14th century.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MS Fr. 12323. © Bibliothèque nationale de France.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a scene accompanying the chapter on caring for one’s newborn, two women are depicted opposite each other. Closer inspection shows the well-dressed woman on the right is reaching across and grabbing the exposed breast of the woman in more simple attire. This scene – seemingly one of aggression and violation – depicts the evaluation of a potential wet nurse. </p>
<p>Wet nurses were used throughout the Middle Ages by some elite families who could afford them, but choosing a good wet nurse was critical, loaded with life-and-death implications. Aldobrandino of Siena, the author of the “Régime du corps,” warns that an unhealthy nurse can “kill children straight away,” pointing to very real anxiety around this important decision. The different clothing and headwear communicate each woman’s social status. The elite woman’s gesture also makes clear who has the power in the scene.</p>
<p>Across “Régime du corps” manuscripts, upper-class women are presented with clothing, objects and gestures that convey authority, often in dialogue with those who are shown as laborers of various kinds. Servants within elite households are also illustrated, especially in the chapters about various foods and their health benefits. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454235/original/file-20220324-21-ssh8vc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of two women in medieval dress standing next to two large sacks of grain against a blue background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454235/original/file-20220324-21-ssh8vc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454235/original/file-20220324-21-ssh8vc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454235/original/file-20220324-21-ssh8vc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454235/original/file-20220324-21-ssh8vc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454235/original/file-20220324-21-ssh8vc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454235/original/file-20220324-21-ssh8vc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454235/original/file-20220324-21-ssh8vc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two servants with sacks of grain. The Bute Painter, ‘Le Régime du corps,’ circa 1285.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MS Arsenal 2510, © Bibliothèque nationale de France.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Both men and women are shown sifting rice, making wine and managing livestock. The manuscripts’ creators chose not only to make such mundane and repetitive work visible but to treat the high-status physician and milkmaid as equally valid subjects for depiction.</p>
<h2>Medieval health maintenance</h2>
<p>In the Middle Ages, the health of family members, from infancy to old age, was maintained through a variety of strategies that aimed for balance in the body. The “Régime du corps” recommended a wide range of treatments, including the release of bodily fluids through purging or bloodletting to maintain such balance.</p>
<p>Cupping, or the placement of heated glass cups onto the skin, was among the procedures overseen by surgeons, because it involved scratching or perforating the skin before applying suction. Across “Régime du corps” manuscripts, it is not uncommon to see physicians and other male practitioners represented, implying that elite households made use of such professionals. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454237/original/file-20220324-21-1egwztf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A painting of one woman applying a large jarlike object against the bare back of another woman." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454237/original/file-20220324-21-1egwztf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454237/original/file-20220324-21-1egwztf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454237/original/file-20220324-21-1egwztf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454237/original/file-20220324-21-1egwztf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=624&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454237/original/file-20220324-21-1egwztf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454237/original/file-20220324-21-1egwztf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454237/original/file-20220324-21-1egwztf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A woman administers cupping treatment. ‘Le Régime du corps,’ circa 1265-70.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Library, MS Sloane 2435. © The British Library Board.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But women are also shown administering treatments, including in several cupping scenes. A practitioner’s humble clothing and headdress signal her class as a worker.</p>
<p>Such images show that medieval health care involved many tools – medicine, surgical treatments, food, prayer and charms – and a wide range of individuals offered their services both within and outside of the home. Women sometimes administered such care professionally, but they also did so through oversight of their own households. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454431/original/file-20220325-29-o7ltx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An ornate hand lettered book is open showing colorful illustrations painted amid the text, many depicting grain growing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454431/original/file-20220325-29-o7ltx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/454431/original/file-20220325-29-o7ltx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454431/original/file-20220325-29-o7ltx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454431/original/file-20220325-29-o7ltx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454431/original/file-20220325-29-o7ltx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454431/original/file-20220325-29-o7ltx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/454431/original/file-20220325-29-o7ltx8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 15th-century copy of the ‘Régime du corps’ open to a section on food.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Library, MS Sloane 2401. © The British Library Board</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The “Régime du corps” offered owners images that reflected their world – showing women asserting authority over the care of their families, providing treatment and contributing to a well-run household. The elite owners of these exquisite books were also provided with an added benefit: Possession of such manuscripts was undoubtedly a symbol of status and evidence of conspicuous consumption.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation’s politics, science or religion articles each week.</em><a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-best">Sign up today</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177696/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jennifer Borland does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
This illustrated health manual dating back to the 13th century provides a glimpse of daily life in aristocratic households during the Middle Ages.
Jennifer Borland, Professor of Art History, Oklahoma State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/165636
2021-08-05T12:39:00Z
2021-08-05T12:39:00Z
Narcissists: there’s more than one type – and our research reveals what makes each tick
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414545/original/file-20210804-15-syx8fm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=50%2C84%2C5615%2C3631&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Not all narcissists are loud.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fashionable-woman-admires-herself-reflection-shop-657462577"> By K Petro/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Chances are you’ve met a narcissist. Someone who thinks they’re better than everyone else, dominates the conversation and loves the limelight. But scientists are increasingly realising that not all narcissists are the same – some are, in fact, extremely insecure.</p>
<p>In our new paper, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01461672211021189">published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin</a>, we describe the distinct types – and what motivates them.</p>
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<p>In classical Greek mythology, the hunter Narcissus was the son of the river god Cephissus and the nymph Liriope. He was known for his exceptional beauty and physique. One day when Narcissus was walking in the forest, the beautiful nymph Echo saw him and fell in love with him. However, he rejected her affections, leaving her heartbroken. </p>
<p>As a punishment, Nemesis, the goddess of revenge, lured him to a pool of water where he encountered his own reflection for the first time. Narcissus fell in love with his reflection, and, eventually realising that his love could not be reciprocated, pined away to his death.</p>
<p>The myth of Narcissus warns us of the dangers of excessive self-love, self-absorption and lack of empathy for others. It has had a profound influence on western culture, art and literature. </p>
<p>Narcissism is also a popular topic in psychology. The English physician <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/facilities/cadbury/rarebooks/havelockellis.aspx">Havelock Ellis</a> first identified narcissism as a mental disorder in the late 19th century. Sigmund Freud considered narcissism to be a <a href="https://psychcentral.com/pro/freud-and-the-nature-of-narcissism#1">normal part of a child’s development</a>, but argued that it could become a disorder if it persisted after puberty into adulthood.</p>
<p>In modern psychology, narcissism is usually conceptualised as a <a href="https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/a0018229">personality trait</a>, which lies on a spectrum. Some people are more narcissistic, others less so. Narcissism <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/S15327965PLI1204_1">typically involves</a> an inflated view of oneself, a sense of superiority and entitlement and a lack of concern for others. The above portrait of a narcissist is a familiar one. But it isn’t the only one.</p>
<h2>Grandiose versus vulnerable</h2>
<p>In our research, we investigated two types of previously identified narcissism: <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00711.x">grandiose and vulnerable</a>. Grandiose narcissists are arrogant, dominant and extroverted. They tend to have high self-esteem, be bold and assertive and feel happy and confident about their lives. </p>
<p>Vulnerable narcissists, on the other hand, are withdrawn, neurotic and insecure. They tend to have low self-esteem, be hypersensitive and feel anxious and depressed. However, these two types of narcissists also have something in common. Both are selfish, feel entitled to special treatment and privileges and relate to others in antagonistic ways.</p>
<p>You might be able to recognise the two types of narcissists by how they behave in social situations. Grandiose narcissists are socially competent. They are likely to be dominant and charming. Vulnerable narcissists, on the other hand, are less socially skilled. They are likely to be shy and anxious in social situations. What’s more, while grandiose narcissists are forthright and assertive in pursuing in their goals, seeking to maximise success, vulnerable narcissists are timid and defensive, <a href="https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/pdf/10.1521/pedi_2017_31_318">seeking to minimise failure</a>. </p>
<p>In our research, we examined the social motives and perceptions of both grandiose and vulnerable narcissists. In particular, we investigated their desires to attain social status and social inclusion. We also looked at whether they felt they had been successful in attaining <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/a0038781">social status</a> and <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037/0022-3514.68.3.518">social inclusion</a>. </p>
<p>Social status refers to being respected and admired by others. It involves standing out and being seen as an important person in the social hierarchy. In contrast, social inclusion refers to being liked and accepted by others. It involves fitting in well with others as part of the social community. </p>
<p>Any given person may have or desire both status and inclusion, only one of the two, or neither. For example, in the TV show <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697/">The Simpsons</a>, the character of Mr Burns has high status but is not particularly liked and accepted, whereas the character of Homer Simpson is well liked and accepted but does not have high status.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Silhouette of a man pointing at himself at the mirror, his reflection wearing a crown." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414547/original/file-20210804-19-1869wv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/414547/original/file-20210804-19-1869wv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414547/original/file-20210804-19-1869wv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414547/original/file-20210804-19-1869wv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=406&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414547/original/file-20210804-19-1869wv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414547/original/file-20210804-19-1869wv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/414547/original/file-20210804-19-1869wv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=510&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Grandiose narcissists are arrogant, dominant and extroverted.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/concept-narcissistic-egoistic-man-silhouette-standing-703750441">Prazis Images/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We conducted two studies, recruiting 676 adults based in the United States. We assessed their levels of both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. We also assessed the extent to which they desired status and inclusion as well as the extent to which they felt they had attained their goals.</p>
<p>We found that both grandiose and vulnerable narcissists strongly desired social status. Interestingly, whereas grandiose narcissists felt they were successful in attaining this status, vulnerable narcissists felt they did not get the status they deserved. </p>
<p>What’s more, grandiose narcissists did not feel they had attained social inclusion but did not particularly desire it either. In contrast, vulnerable narcissists also did not feel they had attained social inclusion but strongly desired it. Grandiose narcissists therefore felt they had met their social goals, but vulnerable narcissists did not.</p>
<p>Both types of narcissists crave the respect and admiration of others. But while grandiose narcissists may be stars on the interpersonal stage, triumphantly capturing the spotlight, their vulnerable counterpart may be a bit player lurking on the sidelines, resentfully seeking, but failing to obtain, the applause they crave.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165636/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nikhila Mahadevan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Some narcissists want to feel included in by the group whereas others don’t really care.
Nikhila Mahadevan, Lecturer in Psychology, University of Essex
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/148874
2020-11-23T16:18:23Z
2020-11-23T16:18:23Z
‘I won the election’ – how powerful people use lousy lies to twist reality
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370827/original/file-20201123-15-yhy24s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wilkesbarre-pa-august-2-2018-president-1157861293">Evan El-Amin/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When was the last time you told a lie? If you can’t remember, I’ll give you a clue. Chances are it was sometime today – based on the fact research shows the average person lies at <a href="https://msu.edu/%7Elevinet/Serota_etal2010.pdf">least once a day</a>.</p>
<p>The point of most lies or false claims seems reasonably straightforward: to deceive others (or oneself) into believing what’s false is true. But there is one puzzling (and often misunderstood) type of lie that doesn’t seem to follow this logic. This is what I call the “lousy lie”. </p>
<p>These are the types of lies or false truths that seem so obviously implausible that they don’t seem designed to deceive, but rather, to signal something else. </p>
<p>Such examples would include the Italian nationalist leader, Matteo Salvini’s, recent claim that the Chinese <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/av/52299689">created COVID-19 in a lab</a> – when there is <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-scientists-know-the-coronavirus-came-from-bats-and-wasnt-made-in-a-lab-141850">scientific consensus</a> that it moved from animals to humans. </p>
<p>Or <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/525661-russian-foreign-minister-suggests-navalny-could-have-been-poisoned-in-germany">the claims</a> by Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, that Moscow has “reasons to assume” the recent <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-43377698">Novichok nerve agent</a> poisoning of <a href="https://theconversation.com/alexei-navalny-poisoning-what-theatrical-assassination-attempts-reveal-about-vladimir-putins-grip-on-power-in-russia-145664">Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny</a> was done by Germans. Novichok was developed by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s and is the same substance found in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sergei-skripal-and-the-long-history-of-assassination-attempts-abroad-93021">2018 poisoning</a> of Russian double-agent <a href="https://theconversation.com/sergei-skripal-attack-russian-embassy-is-fuelling-tensions-with-some-very-undiplomatic-tweets-93407">Sergei Skripal</a> and his daughter.</p>
<p>Then there is of course <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-trump-uses-twitter-to-distract-the-media-new-research-149847">Donald Trump</a> and his many number of false statements. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1328200072987893762"}"></div></p>
<p>When academics have, in recent years, written about <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250107817">false claims</a>, two opposing storylines emerge. On the one hand, there’s the suggestion that people are quite easily deceived - particularly those <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-57821-001">less educated</a> or with <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2019-19239-015">extreme ideologies and convictions</a>. On the other hand, certain academics – such as the French cognitive scientist, Hugo Mercier, in his book
,<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45358676-not-born-yesterday">Not Born Yesterday</a> – believe people are not as gullible as is usually assumed. </p>
<p>But even if we accept that most people aren’t very gullible, there’s still the issue of why there’s so much low-quality, easily detectable lying in the public sphere. And given that many cultures have social norms against lying, how then are these lies able to exist and flourish? </p>
<h2>Power and status</h2>
<p>For my <a href="https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526151742/">recent book</a>, Knowledge Resistance: How We Avoid Insight from Others, I interviewed numerous social, economic and evolutionary academics in the UK who work on knowledge-based conflicts. I found that some lying - by being so obviously false - is used primarily as a way of bonding and forming loyalty within groups. And in the same way, it can also be used to gain or signal distance from another group.
In this sense, then, these false claims act as a display of power – of not having to submit to truth and facts like the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7427600/">rest of us</a>. </p>
<p>Lousy lying can also be used to communicate social status and make the person appear highly knowledgeable. One <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1547">study</a> of climate change sceptics, for example, found that the most scientifically literate people in the group were most likely to strongly endorse climate scepticism. The study also found that, for these “scientific sceptics”, this strong loyalty with their community, through their seemingly sophisticated reasoning, led to them having a high reputation and liking among their peers. Being liked and respected is something humans have <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199586073.001.0001/acprof-9780199586073-chapter-0010">evolved genetically to prioritise</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Close up of female kid hand crossing fingers behind her back" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370572/original/file-20201120-19-1awbu6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C16%2C3583%2C2376&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/370572/original/file-20201120-19-1awbu6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370572/original/file-20201120-19-1awbu6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370572/original/file-20201120-19-1awbu6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370572/original/file-20201120-19-1awbu6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370572/original/file-20201120-19-1awbu6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/370572/original/file-20201120-19-1awbu6k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More than just telling a few fibs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/april-fools-day-female-kid-hand-500339272">BlurryMe/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There’s also the fact that even the lousy lie, if told many times, can become part of <a href="https://www.salon.com/2017/01/15/dont-think-of-a-rampaging-elephant-linguist-george-lakoff-explains-how-the-democrats-helped-elect-trump/">people’s view of reality</a>. The propaganda minister of Nazi Germany, Joseph Goebbels famously <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/joseph-goebbels-on-the-quot-big-lie-quot">pointed this out</a>. </p>
<p>This gradual transformation leads to “obvious lies” becoming an uncertainty - echoing the old adage “there’s no smoke without fire”. On the internet in particular, no lie is lousy enough that it won’t be picked up by someone and shared by any number of people.</p>
<h2>Managing misinformation</h2>
<p>Studies also show that false claims have a <a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/359/6380/1146">higher chance of being spread</a> compared to mainstream beliefs. And that for people sharing such untruths, it can lead to a <a href="https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526151742/">tighter social bond</a> with others who also believe the false claim. This is most likely because it requires blind commitment and loyalty to truly believe what others perceive as a lie. And with the speed with which things can spread online, such views can become normalised very quickly.</p>
<p>For all these reasons, it would be misguided to treat lousy lying as a “cognitive failure”, as it clearly serves several social functions. To deal with this type of lying, then, fact checking would ideally be combined with efforts to have prominently respected figures from the outsider groups that help perpetuate lousy lies to educate and myth bust false claims. Though, of course, this wouldn’t be easy.</p>
<p>This is important given that, as Twitter and Facebook have intensified their fact checking, millions of social media users have moved to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/11/technology/parler-rumble-newsmax.html">alternative platforms</a> – like Newsmax, Parler and Rumble. And in these online spaces the lies of public leaders can flow freely and disappear into acceptance.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/148874/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mikael Klintman is professor of sociology at Lund University, Sweden. He receives funding from the Swedish Research Foundation (VR) and MISTRA. </span></em></p>
Lying can be more than just telling a few fibs. It can also be used to communicate social status and make a person appear loyal to a particular group.
Mikael Klintman, Professor of Sociology, Lund University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/139550
2020-06-02T12:14:28Z
2020-06-02T12:14:28Z
India’s coronavirus pandemic shines a light on the curse of caste
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338891/original/file-20200601-95065-bh5mpd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=21%2C7%2C4824%2C3030&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Migrant workers leaving New Delhi to go back to their villages amid the coronavirus lockdown</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-India/641feef1e52e400ea28bebee4004fa49/55/0">AP Photo/Manish Swarup</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Long before the outbreak of COVID-19, a more pernicious form of <a href="https://feminisminindia.com/2020/04/30/covid-19-casteist-pandemic/">social distancing was widespread</a> across India: the Hindu caste system. In one form or another, this system – which has existed in the region for over a millennium – has long ensured social segregation <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/caste-society-and-politics-in-india-from-the-eighteenth-century-to-the-modern-age/097D56E007498073B691A17EC3441FEB">based on one’s place</a> in the hierarchy.</p>
<p>Outside of the four main groups that make up the caste system – Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and the Shudras – stand the Dalits, the so-called “untouchables” that number <a href="https://idsn.org/india-official-dalit-population-exceeds-200-million/">some 200 million</a>. Members of that group, shunned for centuries as the lowest in society, are now at the forefront of the coronavirus pandemic – seemingly more at risk of infection due to their social status, and increasingly discriminated against for the perceived threat of contagion they pose.</p>
<h2>Downtrodden and discriminated against</h2>
<p>India’s caste system can be <a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/globalcaste/caste0801-03.htm">traced back over 2,000 years</a>, but under British colonial rule, the system was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2928654?seq=1">reinforced and the categories became more rigid</a>.</p>
<p>After India gained its independence from Britain, in 1947, its <a href="https://www.india.gov.in/my-government/constitution-india/constitution-india-full-text">new constitution</a> formally banned the practice of untouchability based on caste. But 70 years on, the system still permeates everyday life. It is especially evident in the realm of marriage. Hardly a day passes in India without a news report highlighting <a href="https://womensenews.org/2011/10/inter-caste-marriage-tears-indian-family-apart/">troubles associated with an inter-caste marriage</a>.</p>
<p>Given the tenacity and pervasiveness of the caste system, it is hardly surprising that some of the worst sufferers of the COVID-19 pandemic are India’s “untouchables,” the Dalits. As a group they remain among the most downtrodden in India, with a disproportionate number of Dalits <a href="https://www.kalpazpublications.com/index.php?p=sr&Uc=9788178350332&l=0">confined to mostly menial and low-paying jobs</a> like construction work, or as janitors or tanners. </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://polisci.indiana.edu/about/faculty/ganguly-sumit.html">scholar of contemporary Indian politics</a> who has written extensively about ethnic and sectarian conflict in the country, I have taken a keen interest in how the pandemic has hit India along caste lines.</p>
<p>Dalits have proved to be <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/india/india-coronavirus-social-distancing-intl-hnk/index.html">especially vulnerable to the disease</a> for a range of reasons, chief among them poverty. The vast majority of Dalits are poor despite a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-46806089">vast affirmative action</a> program that India put in place <a href="https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/26336">shortly after independence</a>. </p>
<p>Consequently, even under the best of circumstances they have <a href="https://asiatimes.com/2018/06/indias-dalit-women-lack-access-to-healthcare-and-die-young/">limited access to health care</a> and any <a href="https://www.thedailystar.net/city/the-marginalised-deprived-adequate-benefits-1384165">other form of social protection</a>. During the pandemic their plight has only worsened.</p>
<p>Dalits are in large part casual laborers, often working in disparate parts of India far away from their homes. As a result, many found themselves <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/dalitality-the-caste-factor-in-social-distancing-coronavirus-6347623">stranded away from their families</a> when Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a nationwide lockdown on March 23 – giving <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-52081396">only four hours’ warning</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/338935/original/file-20200601-95028-10oyr12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Migrant workers arriving from Mumbai waiting to board a local passenger train to Danapur station.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/migrants-arrived-from-mumbai-walk-to-board-a-local-news-photo/1216637234?adppopup=true">Photo by Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Indian press has carried <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/dalitality-the-caste-factor-in-social-distancing-coronavirus-6347623/">heartbreaking accounts</a> of their struggles to return home. One photo, of a <a href="https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/india-news-just-wanted-to-see-his-dying-son-story-behind-photograph-of-crying-man-that-shook-india/352899">migrant worker crying by the roadside</a> in Delhi as he tries to visit his dying son during the lockdown, has become a lasting image of the crisis.</p>
<p>Being a migrant worker in India, regardless of caste background, is a tough existence. Working <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/the-pandemic-exposes-indias-two-worlds/609838/">conditions are harsh</a>, the work often hazardous and <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/6/indias-untouchables-face-violence-discrimination/">pay mostly a pittance</a>. Most migrants live in slum-like conditions, <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/02/12/hidden-apartheid/caste-discrimination-against-indias-untouchables">at the mercy of callous landlords</a>. Even so, many send a large proportion of their earnings home to their families.</p>
<p>As a result, migrant workers rarely, if ever, have any meaningful savings that could enable them to tide over unexpected financial woes like the total economic shutdown of the coronavirus pandemic. This has meant scarce resources to pay for <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/31/822642382/coronavirus-lockdown-sends-migrant-workers-on-a-long-and-risky-trip-home">transportation home</a>. Even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/04/coronavirus-destitute-migrant-workers-india-forced-pay-train-fares-home">money to recharge phones is hard to come by</a>, cutting off communication between migrant workers and loved ones during the crisis.</p>
<h2>Shunned by community</h2>
<p>Dalit migrant workers face an additional burden during the pandemic: social ostracism by higher caste members, even those in the same occupation as themselves. </p>
<p>The shunning of Dalits has not abated during this crisis. If anything, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/15/asia/india-coronavirus-lower-castes-hnk-intl/index.html">it has worsened</a>, with some high-ranking members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party openly blaming the Dalits for spreading the coronavirus. </p>
<p>On May 25, the chief minister of populous Uttar Pradesh state, Yogi Adityanath, who is also a Hindu priest, suggested that migrant workers returning to his state were carriers of COVID-19, adding that the bulk of them were Dalits.</p>
<p>Opposition leaders were swift to condemn Adityanath’s remarks, but Modi and his national government have maintained a <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/yogi-adityanaths-remark-on-covid-19-infected-migrants-anti-dalit-congress-2235393">deafening silence</a> on the subject.</p>
<p>As a result of such rhetoric, Dalit migrants trekking home – often on foot – can expect <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-coronavirus-lockdown-migrant-workers-and-their-long-march-to-uncertainty/article31251952.ece">little by way of comfort or assistance</a> from others because of their caste status and fears that they may be infected with the coronavirus.</p>
<p>I fear that in the immediate future, Dalits can expect little relief. To date they have received only <a href="https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1927520/narendra-modi-and-the-tragedy-of-indias-poor">minimal assistance from the government</a>.</p>
<p>Five years ago, when Modi first swept into power, many Dalits believed his promises to uplift the country’s poor and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-36921348">duly voted for him</a>. However, after the divisive leadership of his first term in office and their experience in the lockdown, many Dalits are now <a href="https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-india-elections-caste-dalits-20190517-story.html">disillusioned with him and his Bharatiya Janata Party</a>.</p>
<p>The coronavirus pandemic has underscored that India’s caste system is still very much in existence. In the eyes of many Indians, Dalits remain “untouchable” in a way that extends beyond current hygiene practices.</p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sumit Ganguly receives funding from the US Department of State and the Smith Richardson Foundation.
</span></em></p>
Dalits have long been ostracized as the ‘untouchables’ in Indian society. Discrimination and the impact of the coronavirus have only reinforced their status.
Sumit Ganguly, Distinguished Professor of Political Science and the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations, Indiana University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/106386
2018-11-12T22:06:27Z
2018-11-12T22:06:27Z
Education does not always equal social mobility
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244012/original/file-20181105-74783-1h7gtbu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C455%2C5070%2C2261&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Some countries seem to provide more equitable opportunities in schools and society in general. Others have work to do if they want to advance the adage that hard work and education afford success regardless of one's existing social status. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/income-inequality-distribution-276410669?src=ZuHwG833Ir3iGSxCfuZcTg-1-56">www.shutterstock.com </a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Educators around the world, particularly those in secondary schools, often default to a compelling story when they are trying to motivate their students: Work hard, achieve well and you will secure a successful future with attractive job prospects. </p>
<p>This is currently the conventional wisdom across much of the Western world, with strong links drawn between education, meritocracy and upward social mobility. </p>
<p>But what does the research suggest about intergenerational mobility? Do children from poorer backgrounds have the same potential to realize their dreams if they achieve high standards in their education systems? </p>
<p>In fact, education is important but not enough to change inequities around the world. Intergenerational mobility, referring to changes in social status for different generations in the same family, is far from normal. </p>
<h2>The American dream in Denmark</h2>
<p>Public health researchers <a href="https://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-spirit-level">Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett argued</a> outcomes in social mobility and education are significantly worse in rich countries with more inequality, that is, with populations that show larger gaps between the wealthy and the poor. For example, the United States and United Kingdom have close associations between fathers’ and sons’ incomes, compared to countries such as Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway. </p>
<p>Wilkson went so far as to jokingly comment in a TED talk “if Americans want to live the American dream, they should go to Denmark.” </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ndh58GGCTQo?wmode=transparent&start=42" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Richard Wilkinson says income means something very important within our societies.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Great mobility?</h2>
<p>The relationship between national levels of income inequality and lower levels of intergenerational mobility is known as the Great Gatsby Curve. The Great Gatsby is the hero of the same-titled F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, who first appears as the enigmatic host of roaring parties in his waterfront mansion. Later, he is revealed as the son of poor farmers. The curve thus seeks to measure how much a person can move up in social class in a given society. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/sov075">2015 study</a> used cross-national comparable data from <a href="http://www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/">the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)</a> to shed new light on the role of education in relation to this curve: the study examined the relationships between a person’s education, their parents’ education and labour-market outcomes such as income.</p>
<p>In countries such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, the results suggested that parental education had little additional impact on a child’s income; it was the child’s level of education that mattered.</p>
<p>But in France, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom, the impact of parents’ education on their offspring was substantial. In these countries, the children whose parents came from a low education group earned 20 per cent less than children whose parents had higher levels of education, even though these individuals held the same level of qualification in the same subject area.</p>
<p>Collectively, this research suggests that a range of social mobility exists across different countries in relation to how much education a person gets. Equal education does not always mean equal opportunity. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-do-grammar-schools-boost-social-mobility-28121">Hard Evidence: do grammar schools boost social mobility?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Benchmark measures</h2>
<p>In a globalized economy, reliance on patronage and nepotism has little use. Rather, the global economy requires countries to maximize their human resources, regardless of the social status of particular individuals or groups, to remain competitive.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, governments are increasingly concerned with addressing socioeconomic disadvantages within school systems so that they are able to maximize their nations’ human capital and promote intergenerational mobility. </p>
<p>Indeed, policymakers around the world have shown an affinity for the results of international benchmark measures such as PIAAC and <a href="http://www.oecd.org/pisa/">the Programme in International Student Assessment (PISA)</a>. They often rely on such measures to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-PISA-Effect-on-Global-Educational-Governance/Volante/p/book/9781138217416">assess the performance gaps</a> that exist among students of different socioeconomic backgrounds. </p>
<p>Ideally, countries strive for high performance and small achievement gaps, since the latter is a sign of an effective education system. Not surprisingly, some countries seem to be doing a better job at promoting better educational outcomes for students coming from lower socioeconomic groups. </p>
<p>For example, PISA 2015 results indicated that more than 30 per cent of economically disadvantaged students in Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore and Slovenia were considered “academically resilient.” This means <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/66e037e8-en.pdf?expires=1541085901&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=10424661411DE01E7C99F68CAFF21A63">they performed at high levels despite coming from the bottom quarter of the socioeconomic status classification system</a>.</p>
<p>While the apparently better-performing countries may take pride in their outcomes, it is worth noting that a high global ranking does not necessarily capture how inequities manifest nationally. For example, Canada has a <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-there-are-so-few-indigenous-graduates-at-convocation-96782">noticeable gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous education outcomes</a>.</p>
<h2>Policy for equality</h2>
<p>When one considers the capacity of education to influence social mobility around the world the results appear to be mixed. We need more research to understand exactly how some countries seem to provide more equitable opportunities in schools and society, and for whom. </p>
<p>Where there are disparities, governments need to consider more policy options across multiple sectors — to create a situation where equal abilities and qualifications translate to equal prospects and outcomes. Failure to do so casts doubt on our cherished notion of meritocracy. </p>
<p>In other words, in many countries education will only equal social mobility with further government intervention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louis Volante receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Jerrim does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Conventional wisdom across much of the Western world says there’s a strong link between education and upward social mobility. Really?
Louis Volante, Professor of Education, Brock University
John Jerrim, Lecturer in Economics and Social Statistics, UCL
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/80053
2017-06-28T16:01:27Z
2017-06-28T16:01:27Z
We change our voice when we talk to high-status people, shows new study
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176084/original/file-20170628-31267-15zucjj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">fizkes / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine going for a job interview and the employer sitting across from you is truly intimidating. He’s big, bold, loud and mean-looking. What might this do to your confidence? To your mannerisms? To your way of speaking? </p>
<p>Our <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0179407">latest study</a> has found that men and women generally speak with higher-pitched voices to interviewers they think are high in social status. However, we found that people who thought they themselves were quite dominant, were less likely to vary their pitch and generally spoke in a lower pitch when talking to someone of high social status. On the other hand, people who considered themselves to be prestigious talked in a measured way, not increasing or decreasing the volume of their voice very much. </p>
<p>Dominance and prestige are two ways to acquire high social status. Dominance means taking power by force and coercion (imagine a bully), while prestige is being freely given power due to one’s skills and merits (imagine your favourite teacher).</p>
<p>Men and women might speak with higher-pitched voices towards high status people because a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090513807000463">low-pitched voice sounds dominant</a>, particularly in men, while a high-pitched voice sounds relatively submissive. Using a high-pitched voice would signal to an employer that the interviewee is not a threat, and may serve to avoid confrontations. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176063/original/file-20170628-19372-h4h6un.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176063/original/file-20170628-19372-h4h6un.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176063/original/file-20170628-19372-h4h6un.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176063/original/file-20170628-19372-h4h6un.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176063/original/file-20170628-19372-h4h6un.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176063/original/file-20170628-19372-h4h6un.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176063/original/file-20170628-19372-h4h6un.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176063/original/file-20170628-19372-h4h6un.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">And what vocal pitch would you bring to this role?</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">LightField Studios / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The differences we found with participants’ self-perceived social status (that is, high dominance equals lower pitch, and high prestige equals constant volume) implies that there is a relationship between self-perception of social status and behaviour towards others. The more dominant you feel, the less you need to worry about other people’s dominance, so you talk how you want. At the same time, the more prestigious you feel the more calm and relaxed you may be, which may be why people started looking up to you in the first place. </p>
<h2>Our ‘fake interview’ experiment</h2>
<p>In our study we asked 48 participants to sit at a computer with a headset and web camera pointed towards them, in order to test a “new form of online interviewing procedure”. This was a ruse, but we wanted everyone to believe that the interviewers they saw on screen were real and would be listening and looking at the recordings later. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176061/original/file-20170628-7309-ntf5u1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176061/original/file-20170628-7309-ntf5u1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176061/original/file-20170628-7309-ntf5u1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176061/original/file-20170628-7309-ntf5u1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176061/original/file-20170628-7309-ntf5u1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1100&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176061/original/file-20170628-7309-ntf5u1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1382&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176061/original/file-20170628-7309-ntf5u1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1382&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/176061/original/file-20170628-7309-ntf5u1.PNG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1382&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Would you work for these men? a.) Neutral b.) Dominant c.) Prestigious.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Leongómez et al (2017)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Participants were presented with an image, name, and job title of an employer as well as an employee testimonial, which were all fictitious. They were then asked to answer several questions. There were three employers in total and their images were specially created using a program called <a href="http://www.evofit.co.uk/">EvoFit</a> to look dominant or prestigious. Later we got these images rated by a different set of participants and picked the ones that were rated very high in dominance or prestige. We also picked one that was rated quite low on both of these traits, and this became our “neutral” employer. </p>
<p>By pairing up the images with testimonials, names, and job titles, we were able to create employers who were high in dominance, prestige, or just quite average (neutral). When being interviewed by the dominant or high prestige employers, our participants’ voices became higher pitched. When talking to the neutral employer, they did not change their way of speaking.</p>
<p>We also looked at how different types of questions affect speech characteristics. That is, would people change the way they speak when told to “introduce yourself” compared to when asked “how would you approach your boss to discuss a problem with a colleague?”. As you might imagine, the second question, which is much more interpersonal and also requires someone to discuss a conflict, caused more speech changes than the simple introduction question. </p>
<p>Our findings show that we subtly manipulate our voices to suit particular social contexts we are faced with (such as talking to a scary employer). We most likely do this without even thinking about it. </p>
<p>These manipulations in turn affect the way we are perceived. Just like body posture, the language we use, or our facial shape and expressions, our voices are part of the arsenal of signals that affect perceptions of social status.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80053/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Our voices also affect how people perceive our own social status.
Viktoria Mileva, Postdoctoral Fellow in Psychology, University of Stirling
Juan David Leongómez, Associate professor, El Bosque University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/75318
2017-03-30T14:09:26Z
2017-03-30T14:09:26Z
The science of gossip: four ways to make it less toxic
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163284/original/image-20170330-15612-u1sg05.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">"She said what??"</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/little-boy-girl-whispers-304947320?src=dy4lFVxoAzKT4-LGebmYzw-1-45"> Yuliya Evstratenko/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Gossip gets a bad rap. There’s no doubt that the act of gossiping about someone can sometimes be damaging and negative. But there is such a thing as “good gossip” and the very act of gossiping can actually help the way we interact with each other. If we follow some simple steps we can take part in gossip without it ending in tears.</p>
<p>Gossip is defined as talking about and evaluating someone when they aren’t there. But we can use gossip to learn about the rules of behaviour in social groups and get closer to each other. It helps us do this by letting us learn important information without the need to actually talk to every group member. So <a href="http://www.rotarybalilovina.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Dunbar%20gossip.pdf">gossiping is efficient</a> and those who gossip can use this social currency to gain <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1994-98161-013">positions of power</a>. </p>
<p>But being a gossip also has a dark side. Gossips are generally viewed as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sally_Farley/publication/230486595_Is_gossip_power_The_inverse_relationships_between_gossip_power_and_likability/links/00b495310c2dc52ecf000000.pdf">unlikeable, untrustworthy and weak</a>. Even <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/23570/summary">children as young as nine</a> regard those who spread information about other people as less likeable and less deserving of rewards. There is also evidence that gossiping may <a href="https://e-space.mmu.ac.uk/559453/1/ACCEPTED%20VERSION_Short%20term%20effects%20of%20gossip%20behavior%20on%20self-esteem.pdf">make us feel bad about ourselves</a>, regardless of whether what we have said is nasty or nice. And, of course, there are the consequences for the person you have gossiped about, who may suffer psychologically if they find out they were the target of gossip. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163286/original/image-20170330-15619-qcbucg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/163286/original/image-20170330-15619-qcbucg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163286/original/image-20170330-15619-qcbucg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163286/original/image-20170330-15619-qcbucg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163286/original/image-20170330-15619-qcbucg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163286/original/image-20170330-15619-qcbucg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/163286/original/image-20170330-15619-qcbucg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Office gossip.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businesspeople-gossiping-behind-stressed-female-colleague-420085351?src=zjG0TGBJ0loUSSA1hVNlCw-1-2">Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although the research on the group benefits of gossip suggests we need to keep gossiping, we need to do so with the potential negative effects in mind. So how do we keep gossiping without creating a toxic social atmosphere? </p>
<h2>Keep it secret</h2>
<p>There are clear negative consequences if you learn that you have been the target of gossip. Those who know they have been gossiped about at work, for example, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13594329608414854">experience less physical and psychological well-being</a>. When we learn about social rules through gossip, we are learning about what rules we should follow, but also about what actions we should avoid if we want to be a valued member of our group. The advantage of learning about group transgressions in this way is that we do not have to have an awkward confrontation with the person who has transgressed. If we want gossip to oil the wheels of social interaction, but not cause conflict and upset, we need to be discrete.</p>
<h2>Make it useful</h2>
<p>Although there is plenty of evidence that we dislike those who gossip frequently, this depends on the perceived motive of the gossiper. If the listener feels that you are attempting to help the group when you share the gossip, they can be much more forgiving. For example, <a href="http://evolution.binghamton.edu/dswilson/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/DSW18.pdf">in a study where a gossiper shared information about a cheating student</a>, they were only disliked where they were sharing this information for selfish reasons. Where they expressed the gossip in a way which focused on fairness for the whole student group, it was the cheater who was disliked, not the gossiper. </p>
<p>Ensuring that gossip is useful can also help to alleviate the negative feelings gossipers have when they share gossip. In a study where <a href="https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f2bc/7a1779ea7bdaf3fc9b0544e79771b1dd7fc9.pdf">a participant saw another person cheating</a>, it made the participant uncomfortable knowing about the cheat. But they felt better when they were able to warn the other participants about the cheat’s bad behaviour. </p>
<h2>Do not tell lies</h2>
<p>Gossip which is not true does not offer the same social learning benefits as that which is true. False gossip risks conflict and upset to the target of gossip but this action is not justified by benefits to the group, so the gossiper may feel worse about spreading information they know to be false that they usually would when communicating gossip. The gossiper also risks being “found out” by their listeners. People <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.948.434&rep=rep1&type=pdf">can employ sophisticated strategies</a> – including comparing the information they gain to existing knowledge – to protect themselves from being influenced by malicious gossip. </p>
<h2>Connect with your listener</h2>
<p>Effective gossip is not just about what you say, or about whom. It is also about how you say it. Of course, you can make the benefits of the gossip clear to your listener by clearly explaining why you have shared the information. But sharing particularly emotional reactions to the information may help you to connect with your listener and avoid negative reactions. When we share emotional reactions to others with someone, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kim_Peters/publication/5863992_From_Social_Talk_to_Social_Action_Shaping_the_Social_Triad_With_Emotion_Sharing/links/58404f1208ae2d21755f3079.pdf">they feel closer to us</a>, especially when they agree with the reaction we share. Sharing how you feel may encourage the listener to react more favourably to your gossiping behaviour.</p>
<p>So the next time you need to share some gossip stop and ask yourself whether the information will stay secret from the person you’re talking about and whether it is useful. And do not be afraid to share your emotions with your listener. This way you can hopefully engage in “good gossip” and reap the social rewards which come with it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75318/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenny Cole does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Gossiping may well be toxic and harmful in certain situations but there are ways to engage in “good gossip” that can reap rewards in social groups.
Jenny Cole, Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/63855
2016-09-07T02:45:43Z
2016-09-07T02:45:43Z
Psychology behind the unfunny consequences of jokes that denigrate
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136477/original/image-20160902-20232-1irrld7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=222%2C175%2C2380%2C1328&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A joke isn't just a joke.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/elycefeliz/6354197379">elycefeliz</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Q: Why did the woman cross the road?</p>
<p>A: Who cares! What the hell is she doing out of the kitchen?</p>
<p>Q: Why hasn’t NASA sent a woman to the moon?</p>
<p>A: It doesn’t need cleaning yet!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These two jokes represent <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/HUMOR.2008.014">disparagement humor</a> – any attempt to amuse through the denigration of a social group or its representatives. You know it as sexist or racist jokes – basically anything that makes a punchline out of a marginalized group.</p>
<p>Disparagement humor is paradoxical: It <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0378-2166(93)90111-2">simultaneously communicates two conflicting messages</a>. One is an <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000052">explicit hostile or prejudiced message</a>. But delivered alongside is a second implicit message that “it doesn’t count as hostility or prejudice because I didn’t mean it — <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/humor-2013-0017">it’s just a joke</a>.” </p>
<p>By disguising expressions of prejudice in a cloak of fun and frivolity, disparagement humor, like the jokes above, appears harmless and trivial. However, a large and growing body of psychology research suggests just the opposite – that disparagement humor can foster discrimination against targeted groups.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136814/original/image-20160906-25272-1dm9zwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136814/original/image-20160906-25272-1dm9zwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136814/original/image-20160906-25272-1dm9zwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136814/original/image-20160906-25272-1dm9zwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136814/original/image-20160906-25272-1dm9zwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136814/original/image-20160906-25272-1dm9zwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136814/original/image-20160906-25272-1dm9zwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136814/original/image-20160906-25272-1dm9zwp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Laughing together at others’ expense?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=303185990">Laughing image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Jokes that release restraints</h2>
<p>Most of the time <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00244">prejudiced people conceal their true beliefs and attitudes</a> because they fear others’ criticism. They <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.3.414">express prejudice only when</a> the norms in a given context clearly communicate approval to do so. They need something in the immediate environment to signal that it is safe to freely express their prejudice.</p>
<p>Disparagement humor appears to do just that by affecting people’s understanding of the social norms – implicit rules of acceptable conduct – in the immediate context. And in a variety of experiments, my colleagues and I have found support for this idea, which we call <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/S15327957PSPR0801_4">prejudiced norm theory</a>.</p>
<p>For instance, in studies, men higher in <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.491">hostile sexism</a> – antagonism against women – reported greater tolerance of gender harassment in the workplace upon <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.56">exposure to sexist versus neutral (nonsexist) jokes</a>. Men higher in hostile sexism also recommended greater funding cuts to a women’s organization at their university <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167207310022">after watching sexist versus neutral comedy skits</a>. Even more disturbing, other researchers found that men higher in hostile sexism <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0099198">expressed greater willingness to rape a woman</a> upon exposure to sexist versus nonsexist humor.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136817/original/image-20160906-25272-3hvpnh.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sexist humor can expand the bounds of what’s an acceptable way to treat women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas E. Ford</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>How did sexist humor make the sexist men in these studies feel freer to express their sexist attitudes? Imagine that the social norms about acceptable and unacceptable ways of treating women are represented by a rubber band. Everything on the inside of the rubber band is socially acceptable; everything on the outside is unacceptable.</p>
<p>Sexist humor essentially stretched the rubber band; it expanded the bounds of acceptable behavior to include responses that would otherwise be considered wrong or inappropriate. So, in this context of expanded acceptability, sexist men felt free to express their antagonism without the risk of violating social norms and facing disapproval from others. Sexist humor signaled that it’s safe to express sexist attitudes.</p>
<h2>Who’s the target?</h2>
<p>In another study, my colleagues and I demonstrated that this prejudice-releasing effect of disparagement humor varies depending on the position in society occupied by the butt of the joke. Social groups are <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1368430213502558">vulnerable to different degrees</a> depending on their overall status. </p>
<p>Some groups occupy a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Stereotyping-and-Prejudice/Stangor-Crandall/p/book/9781848726444">unique social position of what social psychologists call “shifting acceptability.”</a> For these groups, the overall culture is changing from considering prejudice and discrimination against them completely justified to considering them completely unjustified. But even as society as a whole becomes increasingly accepting of them, many individuals still harbor mixed feelings. </p>
<p>For instance, over the past 60 years or so, the United States has seen a dramatic decline in overt and institutional racism. Public opinion polls over the same period have shown whites holding progressively <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/index.cfm?fa=search.displayRecord&uid=1986-98698-003">less prejudiced views of minorities</a>, particularly blacks. At the same time, however, <a href="http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00183.x">many whites still covertly</a> have negative associations with and feelings toward blacks – feelings they largely don’t acknowledge because they conflict with their ideas about themselves being egalitarian.</p>
<p>Disparagement humor fosters discrimination against social groups – like black Americans – that occupy this kind of shifting ground. In our study, we found that off-color jokes <a href="http://doi.org/10.1177/1368430213502558">promoted discrimination against Muslims and gay men</a> – which we measured in greater recommended budget cuts to a gay student organization, for instance. However, disparagement humor didn’t have the same effect against two “justified prejudice” groups: terrorists and racists. Social norms are such that people didn’t need to wait for jokes to justify expressions of prejudice against these groups.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136815/original/image-20160906-25266-ocnugf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136815/original/image-20160906-25266-ocnugf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136815/original/image-20160906-25266-ocnugf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136815/original/image-20160906-25266-ocnugf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136815/original/image-20160906-25266-ocnugf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136815/original/image-20160906-25266-ocnugf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136815/original/image-20160906-25266-ocnugf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136815/original/image-20160906-25266-ocnugf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">I’m not sure I see the humor….</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=385843477">Woman image via www.shutterstock.com.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>An important implication of these findings is that disparagement humor can be more or less detrimental based on the social position occupied by the targeted groups. Movies, television programs or comedy clips that humorously disparage groups such as gays, Muslims or women can potentially foster discrimination and social injustice, whereas those that target groups such as racists will have little social consequence.</p>
<p>On the basis of these findings, one might conclude that disparagement humor targeting oppressed or disadvantaged groups is inherently destructive and thus should be censured. However, the real problem might not be with the humor itself but rather with an audience’s dismissive viewpoint that “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000052">a joke is just a joke</a>,” even if disparaging. One study found that such a “<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0019627">cavalier humor belief</a>” might indeed be responsible for some of the negative effects of disparagement humor. For prejudiced people, the belief that “a disparaging joke is just a joke” trivializes the mistreatment of historically oppressed social groups – including women, gay people, racial minorities and religious minorities – which further contributes to their prejudiced attitude.</p>
<h2>Can you be ‘in on the joke’?</h2>
<p>In addition, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000057">if one initiates disparagement humor</a> with the positive intention of <a href="http://www.abc-clio.com/ABC-CLIOCorporate/product.aspx?pc=D6591C">exposing the absurdity of stereotypes and prejudice</a>, the humor ironically might have the potential to <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000059">subvert or undermine prejudice</a>.</p>
<p>Chris Rock is one comedian well-known for using subversive disparagement humor to challenge the status quo of racial inequality in the United States. For instance, in his <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/29/movies/chris-rock-monologue.html?_r=0">opening monologue for the 2016 Academy Awards</a>, he used humor to call attention to racism in the film industry and hierarchical race relations more generally: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People’s Choice Awards. You realize if they nominated hosts, I wouldn’t even get this job. So y’all would be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The problem is that in order for the humor to realize its goal of subverting prejudice, the audience must understand and appreciate that intention. And there’s <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tps0000059">no guarantee that they will</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/chappelles-story#ixzz4HFUHcnHg">Comedian Dave Chappelle described</a> this interpretation problem in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2006. He discussed a skit in which he played a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xprpXDnIU6A">pixie who appeared in black face</a>. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There was a good-spirited intention behind it. So then when I’m on the set, and we’re finally taping the sketch, somebody on the set [who] was white laughed in such a way – I know the difference of people laughing with me and people laughing at me – and it was the first time I had ever gotten a laugh that I was uncomfortable with. Not just uncomfortable, but like, should I fire this person?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Chapelle’s intentions with his racially charged comedy were misunderstood. By lampooning the stereotype, he meant to call attention to the ridiculousness of racism. However, it became apparent that not everyone was capable of or motivated to look past Chapelle’s comic stereotypical portrayal to get his subversive intent. </p>
<p>One study found that people higher in prejudice are particularly <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1974.tb00353.x">prone to misinterpret subversive humor</a>. Researchers in the 1970s studied amusement with the television show “All in the Family,” which focused on the bigoted character Archie Bunker. They found that low-prejudiced people perceived “All in the Family” as a satire on bigotry and that Archie Bunker was the target of the humor. They “got” the true subversive intent of the show.</p>
<p>In contrast, high-prejudiced people enjoyed the show for satirizing the targets of Archie’s prejudice. Thus, for high-prejudiced people, the subversive disparagement humor of the show backfired. Rather than calling attention to the absurdity of prejudice, for them the show communicated an implicit prejudiced norm, conveying a tolerance of discrimination.</p>
<p>Psychology research suggests that disparagement humor is far more than “just a joke.” Regardless of its intent, when prejudiced people interpret disparagement humor as “just a joke” intended to make fun of its target and not prejudice itself, it can have serious social consequences as a releaser of prejudice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63855/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas E. Ford has received funding for research described in this article from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p>
Disparagement humor makes a punchline out of a marginalized group. Racist or sexist jokes, for instance, aren’t just harmless fun – psychologists find they can foster discrimination.
Thomas E. Ford, Professor of Social Psychology, Western Carolina University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.