Language is a complex thing. There are many languages in the world. One country for example might speak more than one language and have many different dialects and slang. Griffin says in chapter 5 that “meaning is negotiated through the use of language”, meaning people use language as a tool to put meaning to objects to help us communicate better. Herbert Blumer of the University of California, Berkeley, came up with the term symbolic interactionism, “communication through symbols, like people talking to each other”. We make up names for things and it helps define our culture. On page 61 in our textbook, Griffin asks the reader to read a puzzle. I read the puzzle and did not get it. I read the story over and over convinced that I missed some detail about whether the father survives. I even thought that the surgeon could have been a step father or adopted father. I am ashamed to say that even as a woman, I associated being a surgeon as being a male job. Our society has associated and defined meanings of words that are not always true.
integrating theory--dialogue
15 years ago
4 comments:
I can relate to your post. Sometimes I wonder how and why we got the language we did, and how other cultures got their language. How one thing in one culture can mean one thing and can mean something else in another. Especially with nonverbal communication. How a thumbs up here in America can mean "good", but the same thing (I don't remember, but I think it is Iran) is equivalent to flipping someone off in a different country.
If someone did not know that and did that, there would be so much confusion and they would probably get in a brawl just because of a misunderstanding. I also can relate to the story about the father, boy and surgeon (I actually did one of my posts on it). That story made me realize how much we unknowingly stereotype gender roles and roles of people in general.
-Sascha
So many people have written a blog about the surgeon story on page 61. I think it is a very powerful because it helps us to realize that society and media have directed us in a way to think a certain way.
When I was reading the text, I had already heard the riddle, but it did make me think of the time I first heard it. I felt so ashamed that I didn’t think about the boy's mother. It is a great way to make us think about the way we communicate and perceive others in our society.
Just at work the other days, one of my co-workers, a male, was giving everyone in our team a hug because we had given him a gift. One of the guys next to me got more uncomfortable the closer the co-worker got to him. Finally when the co-worker went to give the other guy a hug, he said in discomfort, "maybe a manly hug." The hugging co-worker found this offensive.
It just made me think back to the text about the female surgeon and how this hugging male worker was offended by being told to hug like a "man." It made me think twice when I communicate with the other sex be sensitive and understand that we are all equal.
Now that there is a vice president candidate that is a woman, it just shows that our society is making progress toward equality everyday.
I agree with your post and the comments made. Language is complex. There are so many elements to it. Not only speaking the words, but the way they are said play a significant role in understanding what we are saying. If that isn’t hard enough then there is the nonverbal communication we constantly give. Its no wonder why people start learning how to speak at such a young age. Even as adults we are learning new concepts regarding language. I too find it odd how there are so many different languages in the world, and how different non verbal communication tools mean certain things (like how middle eastern culture doesn’t use their left hand because its associated as the “dirty hand”). In relation to the surgeon comment, today I was watching a re-run of friends and it reminded me of it. Rachel and Ross were hiring a nanny, and decided to hire a male nanny. He was soon know as the “manny” and looked upon as strange because it was considered to be a “woman’s job”. Its funny how culture has changed. Women can now vote, be the breadwinners and raise a family yet male nannys are made fun of.
I can relate to your posting. Language is very complicated and different cultures and subsets of people use varied terms to symbolize objects, emotions, etc. Language is the vehicle which we use to express ourselves. The story about the surgeon really got me too I have to admit. It is interesting how easily interpreted the story would have been if the mother was driving the car, our society equates many words and careers as being masculine or feminine and we automatically assume that the surgeon is male even though the sentence says nothing about the gender of the surgeon.It just shows how much we interpret language. Language doesn’t have an inherent meaning, its meaning is determined by the sender of the message and the receiver.
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