COMMUNICATION AND IDENTITY 36G: 637 -- DUCK
Schedule
for FALL 2003
Instructor: Steve Duck, 151B-BCSB,
335-0579 steve-duck@uiowa.edu
Class Meets: TuTh 9.30-10.45 in N100LC [Lindquist North]
A second section of the course runs TuTh10.55-12.10 in 106-BCSB
Office Hours: TuTh 8.30-9.300 in 151-BCSB and by arrangement.
This course deals with different approaches to identity as it may be understood in terms of communication. We will start with an approach based on cognition and psychology, move on through sociology and interaction, and then to views based on a constitutive approach to communication, before looking finally at some interpretations from rhetorical theory. Basic questions that we encounter are these: Is identity a feature of persons, an attribution made by other people, or a consequence of language needs? Do we use notions of identity as a result of perception by others, interaction with others, or as a function of human tendencies to label and to order? To what extent are concepts of “identity” and “communication” inextricably bound together? Can one think of identity without communication (for example, as an internally coherent system of thought)? Are other people necessary for identity?
Part of the course introduces and explores George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory (PCT), an approach to “personality” that although a non-traditional psychological approach is nonetheless a psychological approach. Some of the main concepts in PCT are then compared with those of other theorists, especially George Herbert Mead, Erving Goffman, and Kenneth Burke, along with consideration of the practical work on the matter by Mokros (2003) and his colleagues. The centre of this course is on the ways in which the nature of identity assumes meaning in relation to other people. For example, we shall consider the nature of identities and the inherently transformative nature of their continuation, as persons encounter others and restructure their relational experiences: on this view, people do not have single stamped-in identities that are carried with them through life. Instead those identities are constantly performed and transacted in the conversations and interactions that are enacted with other people, but, following Kelly, we will explore the extent to which this is determined and the extent to which it is based on choices. On the other hand, what is the “it” that changes in these understandings of identity?
We shall also tend to take a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of people and in attempts to explore the many different levels of influence that affect the actions of people in their dealings with one another. Starting with a discussion of the nature of individuals, therefore, we shall move on to explore the ways in which communication constructs and continues identities. We shall think about the issue of identity as it involves some philosophical matters (What is “an individual”?) as well as how one addresses the question of “Who am I?”, the matter of how a person can have “an identity” stolen, the sorts of identity that can be face-managed, the roles that go into an identity, and the importance of identification and group membership in the concept of identity.
The course thus explores some interesting tensions in communication, psychology, and sociology: 1) the issue of how an individual person partakes of society (and its counterpoint: how society "gets into" the individual personality); 2) the matter of the individual as a self-contained unit and as a member of interacting groups; 3) the extent to which a person has any say in the nature of personhood. In another sense the course explores the idea that individuality is all about ordering: as individuals we order our worlds in the characteristic ways that represent that individuality. Thus theories of individuality are about ordering and have to start from the premise that the world "needs" to be ordered, or that individuals prefer order to chaos. Societies also operate orders to serve a number of purposes (to order the individuals in them; to render communication and sociality possible; even to recognize the nature and motivation of "individuals"). Thus many theories of communication, of social behavior, or of society are also about order at some level. The notion of identity however also faces us with issues about the way in which an individual is afflicted by or benefits from common human processes, interaction, and association with other human beings, development, and change. An identity must be presented to others in terms in which they can understand it, so the presentation of self is essentially a task based on the recognition of audiences and community.
Course assessments
The assessment for the course will be based on:
1. Regular production of a critique of the reading. Each of these should be a short (2 pages MAX) report, one for each class. These are just regular brief reading notes and they should help you look back over this course in the years to come as well as providing summaries of your reading.
2. A topic survey that reconceptualizes an existing issue in any area by exploring it in terms of an identity question. The results of this work will be presented to the class. The work here is to prepare a bibliography, write up a report on it and evaluate and then present your work to the class.
3. A research proposal or critical essay, based on your work for item (2) but presented in essay format at the end of the course. The course has the extra pedagogic intention of contributing to your experience and training as Ph.D. students preparing for thesis work and scholarly investigation -- whatever sorts of methods you prefer to adopt. If anyone wishes to pursue his or her work in the future on the basis of the project designed here, then we can talk about doing it as an Independent Study in a later semester.
All this will require a fair amount of advance preparation, so plan ahead. If you do this properly then you should be able to avoid a big crunch at the end of semester.
Policy on deadlines and due dates: Deadlines are meaningful and I have planned my own timetable for the semester around expectations of receiving things from you when they are due. Plan ahead. Things will go wrong this semester from time to time and the unexpected always occurs. Plan ahead and allow time for delays, burst pipes, broken printers, lost pets, crashed computers, and other possible events that might become unavailing excuses – including the regular psychological melt-down that occurs on October 16th. If you miss deadlines then you will get a failing grade. I do not give Incompletes.
The University Classroom Manual now requires that all courses include the following guidance on student preparatoin time, complaints and cheating and they are included here partly to inform you of your rights and duties on this course and also to provide discussion points for the class and guidance for your own classes in the future, both those you may run and those you may take. Students should expect to spend six hours per week preparing for class sessions in this three-credit-hour course.
The
University Operations Manual states that “at the beginning of each courses
students should be informed of departmental and collegiate complaint procedures”.
A student who has a complaint against any member of the College’s teaching
staff is responsible for following the procedures described below. Complaints
may concern inappropriate faculty conduct (including inappropriate course
materials), incompetence in oral communication, inequities in assignments,
scheduling of examinations at other than authorized and published times, failure
to provide disability accommodations, or grading grievances. In complaints involving assignment of grades,
it is college policy that grades cannot be changed without the permission
of the department concerned.
·
The
student should ordinarily try to resolve the matter with the instructor first;
·
If the
complaint is not resolved to the student’s satisfaction, the student should
discuss the matter further with the ..... DEO [Departmental Executive Officer],
or in some departments the person designated to hear complaints.
·
If the
matter remains unresolved, the student may submit a written complaint to the
Graduate College. The Associate Dean
(335-2137) will attempt to resolve the complaint and if necessary may convene
a special committee to recommend appropriate action. S/He will respond to
the student in writing concerning the disposition of the complaint.
·
If the
complaint cannot be resolved through the mechanisms described above, the student
may file a formal complaint, which will be handled under the procedures established
for dealing with alleged violations of the statement on professional ethics
and academic responsibility in the University Operations Manual. A description
of these procedures may be obtained in the Office of Academic Programs, 120
Schaeffer Hall (335-2633). If complaints at the departmental or college level
involving reasonable academic accommodations for students with disabilities
cannot be resolved through the mechanisms described above, the student may
consult the Ombuds Office or the Office of Affirmative Action.
Plagiarism is, among other things, the unacknowledged
use of the ideas of another person. Cheating is, among other things, copying
from someone else’s work, or downloading work from an electronic database
without citation. I also interpret
this to mean the borrowing of substantial parts of essays that you or others
have written for other courses or for which you have received or will receive
credit, copying work from other students on the course, or representing as
“your own work” work actually done by others. An instructor who suspects a student of plagiarism
or cheating must inform the student (preferably in writing) as soon as possible
after the incident has been observed or discovered. Instructors who detect
cheating or plagiarism may decide, in consultation with the Departmental Executive
Officer, to reduce the student’s grade for the assignment or in the course,
even to assign an F. Fuller details
of this policy are available from the Office of Academic Programs, in the
Schedule of Courses, and in the Liberal Arts and Sciences Bulletin.
Accommodations For Students Who Have Physical, Mental, Or
Learning Disabilities
Under the Americans
with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, instructors
must make reasonable accommodations for students who have physical, mental,
or learning disabilities. The student is responsible for requesting accommodations
and I will help students preserve their privacy and maintain the confidentiality
of student records, including records of disability accommodation. I would
like to hear from anyone who has a disability which may require some modification
of seating, testing, or other class requirements so that appropriate arrangements
may be made. Please contact me during my office hours.
Course Sources
Duck,
S. W. (1994) Meaningful Relationships
Thousand Oaks: SAGE, MAIN Library : HM132 .D775 1994 or PSYCHOLOGY Library
: HM132 .D775 1994.
Websites with relevant stuff: http://www.brint.com/pct.htm; http://www.dmu.ac.uk/~jamesa/learning/personal.htm;
http://www.pcp-net.de/info/books.html;
http://www.jshubbs.com/PDFs/wsca%2099%20paper.pdf
(Someone who took this course last time!
The paper compares Kelly and postmodern thought); http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/Pilou.html
Yep, it exists: A Website on Buddhism and PCT, which actually have remarkable
confluences.
I will also provide a Reading Packet for the class to use as it thinks fit.
"A good deal
is said these days about being oneself. It is supposed to be healthy to be
oneself. While it is a little hard for me to understand how one could be anything
else, I suppose what is meant is that one should not strive to become anything
other than what one is. This strikes me as a very dull way of living; in fact,
I would be inclined to argue that all of us would be better off if we set
out to be something other than what we are. Well, I’m not so sure we would
all be better off - perhaps it would be more accurate to say life would be
a lot more interesting. There is another
meaning that might be attached to this admonition to be oneself; that one
should not try to disguise oneself. I suspect this comes nearer to what psychologists
mean when they urge people to be themselves. It is presumed that the person
who faces the world barefaced is more spontaneous …But this doctrine
of psychological nakedness in human affairs, so much talked about today and
which allows the self neither make-up nor costume, leaves very little to the
imagination. Nor does it invite one to be venturesome. What I am saying is that it
is not so much what a person is that counts as it is what one ventures
to make of oneself. To make the leap one must do more than disclose oneself;
one must risk a certain amount of confusion. Then, as soon as one does catch
a glimpse of a different kind of life, one needs to find some way of overcoming
the paralyzing moment of threat, for this is the instant when one wonders
who one really is - whether one is what one just was or is what one is about
to be. " George Kelly, 1964.
This of course emphasizes the person as process… which
is an interesting starting thought for an identity course.
Tuesday August 26th:
Course introduction
First meeting and general discussion of objectives, reading, and such. You are very strongly advised to read the first three weeks’ worth of material in the strict order in which it is listed here.
Reading: Kelly's little essay "Don Juan" from Maher and the Reading Packet. But do not be fooled that this is just an amusing trifle: it contains some critical insights about the nature of individuality that we will keep coming back to. Try to read it before or very soon after class. Note how Kelly points out the relationship of identity to the perspective of the viewer, the knowledge of the observer, the symbolic interaction of person and others, and the manner of language chosen for the description.
Thursday August 28th: Background to Personal Construct Theory
Kelly's goals and intentions in producing the theory were not typical and need some explanation. As it happens, his theory is reflexive and attempts to explain its own origins in its own terms, so these readings illuminate some of the processes and principles that shaped his overall thinking. In particular this material sets the stage for some of the details that come later by introducing you to some of the fundamental conceptualizations of human life that Kelly built into his theory: 1) Constructive alternativism (the notion that anything that can be understood, or "construed", can also be understood in more than one way) as contrasted with 2) Accumulative Fragmentalism (the notion that truth can be gradually acquired piece by piece), and the idea of 3) the Invitational Mood of language, that is to say that even hard and fast descriptions of things are really invitations to view things in that way rather than ... hard and fast descriptions! These three notions are often submerged in reports of Personal Construct Theory that relate it only to Kelly's metaphor of the person as scientist, going around testing out hypotheses about the world.
These three notions themselves contain much that postmodernists take for granted, but the implications for communication and for the conceptualization of identity are very profound, as are the implications for the conduct of scientific inquiry. Make sure that you fully understand the terms and are ready to discuss their implications. If you don't get these ideas the rest of the course will make no sense. Think about these issues and we'll debate them in class.
Reading: Make sure you have read the Don Juan paper first. Read also Kelly's (1970) "A brief introduction to Personal Construct Theory", but read only the introductory pages 1-8 and save the rest for a later assignment. I want you to get the principles first before you get hung up on the details. Also read Kelly's "The language of hypothesis" and also “Man’s construction of his alternatives” in the reading packet or in Maher.
Come to class with: one or two pages of comment on the reading, especially your thoughts about the basic idea that Kelly is proposing. List a couple of standard topics that you know (from whatever discipline you come) that could be reinterpreted using these basic ideas, as well as a couple of ideas from that background which are consistent with his approach. Also list any difficulties that you see with the approach.
Tuesday
September 2nd: Ontological acceleration
By now you will be seeing the principles of Kelly's approach as ones that lead to an approach to identity as epistemic - that is, identity as a way of knowing the world rather than as a byproduct of previous experiences. Our continued exploration of this idea takes us into the discussion of where identity develops and continues - ontology or the consideration of the nature and development of being a person. If you know Burke, you will recognize some emphases in Permanence and Change that echo Kelly’s thinking here and are things to bear in mind for November.
Reading: 1) "Ontological acceleration" 2) "The strategy of psychological research" both of which are in Maher and in the reading packet.
Come to class with: one side of notes about the ways in which this topic relates to any psychological, rhetorical or interpersonal topic. For example, how does it relate to studies of social memory? or to the nature of definition or concepts of persons? or to the nature of everyday human discourse? or to social action? Or to any issues dear to your heart?
Thursday
September 4th: Autobiography
of a theory
Now that you have got some idea of the fundamental principles of the theory, let us explore the major assumptions in more detail, again taking it slowly and absorbing the approach, but also moving on to consideration of the basic idea as formally stated in the theory itself.
Reading: "The autobiography of a theory". Also read the Mancuso and Adams-Webber discussion of the Fundamental Postulate ("Anticipation as a constructive process: The fundamental postulate") in Mancuso, J. C. & Adams-Webber, J. R. The construing person. Praeger: New York. --- BF 698.C615 (PSYCH LIBRARY
Come to class with: a list of things that puzzle you about this basic idea or the notions that would need to be added before you could apply it to your favorite topic(s).
Now that you have grasped the fundamentals and the philosophical/humanistic underpinnings of the theory that Kelly espouses it is time to go more deeply into the theory itself, starting with an overview and then working through each of its elements one or two at a time. I’m going to leave you to organize this reading at your own pace over the next ten days. In the background don't forget that you will need to be thinking and doing some research on your chosen topic as noted in the first part of the syllabus.
Class will not meet
as such on these days. Spend
time reading all these materials so that you are ready for the Tu Sep 16th
class, because there is a lot of it and you need to have it grasped.
Reading: First revisit the Kelly piece in Bannister 1970 ("A brief introduction to PCT") but this time reading pages 9-29 where he lays out the theory in skeleton. Once you have, then read about some more corollaries, some of which are important and others only tangential to our purposes.
Next, follow this up in more detail from the following
list. Read Adams-Webber's ["Actual structure and potential chaos:
Relational aspects of progressive variations within a personal construct system"
(in Bannister, D. [Ed] (1970) Perspectives
in personal construct theory. London: Academic Press --- BF698.B3146
(PSYCH LIBRARY) pp 31-45)], the discussion of the Construction Corollary
(Nystedt & Magnusson "Construction of experience: The construction
corollary”, in Mancuso, J. & Adams-Webber, J. (1982) The construing person New
York: Praeger --- BF 698.C615 (PSYCH LIBRARY), pp. 33-44). You can skim Individuality
(Gara "Back to basics in personality study - the individual person's
own organization of experience" in Mancuso & Adams Webber, pp 45-61);
and Organization (Crockett " The
organization of construct systems: The
organization corollary" in Mancuso & Adams-Webber, pp 62-95); and
Dichotomy (Adams-Webber
"Assimilation and contrast in personal judgment: The dichotomy corollary"
in Mancuso & Adams-Webber, pp 96-112), but do note that Kelly himself
focused not on dichotomy in any simple sense but on a more complex notion
of triangulation.
Third, focus on the Experience Corollary but be aware
of the issues in Range, Modulation and Fragmentation, by quickly skimming
those readings. You will see from
the subtitles in these readings that there is a close interconnection between
these corollaries, all of which are to do with the organization of experience
in some way or another. Experience
(Morrison & Cometa "Variations in developing construct systems"
in Mancuso & Adams-Webber, pp. 152-169); Range (Mancuso & Eimer "Fittings things into sorts"
in Mancuso & Adams-Webber, pp. 130-151) Modulation
(Hayden "Experience -- A case for possible change" in Mancuso & Adams-Webber, pp. 170-197)
Fragmentation (Landfield "A
constructions of fragmentation and unity" in Mancuso & Adams-Webber,
pp. 198-221)
Tuesday September 16th: Discussion of PCT
In this class we will come to grips with the detailed elements of the formal theory. We will go over the things that you have been reading about it, looking for the main threads that relate to identity issues.
Come to class with: AN EXAMPLE FROM FILM, LITERATURE OR REAL LIFE TO WHICH YOU HAVE APPLIED THE COROLLARIES. YOU NEED TO HAVE SOME WORKED OUT INSTANCES OF HOW EACH COROLLARY APPLIES TO YOUR EXAMPLE. YOUR WRITTEN NOTES FOR THIS WEEK SHOULD WORK THROUGH THE EXAMPLE.
Thursday September 18th: Fundamental issues in making Choices
We will now begin
working with a crucial element of the theory that connects it to Speech Act
Theory and other aspects of communication.
Since by now you should have
a broad understanding of the approach, the fact that this particular reading
is extremely complex should cause you no concern!
Reading: Choice (Boxer "The flow of choice" in Mancuso & Adams-Webber, pp. 113-129) in the reading packet.
Come to class with: some notes mostly on the Choice corollary but perhaps connecting it to the previous reading on the Dichotomy and Individuality. In particular consider the differences between dichotomy and a dialectic. Despite what you have read, is Kelly really talking about dialectics or dichotomies or triangulations? What parallels are you seeing between Kelly's discussion of choice and other considerations of the topic?
We have looked
closely at Kelly's theory and its view of the nature of the self (or rather
the sense of self). We can also build into that some consideration
of the role played by memory in identity, especially as we reflect on Kelly's
fundamental postulate. Some have wanted
to see identities and persons as story-telling or narrative systems.
How do memory and accounting play into the things that we have learned
so far?
Reading: Lots of short pieces, for the most part.
Bannister "The experience of self" in Epting & Landfield
pp. 39-45; also Mair "The community of self" in Bannister
(1977) pp. 125-149; Mair IJPCP 1988, 1, 125-137 "Psychology as story-telling";
Mair IJPCP 1989, 2, 1-14 "Kelly, Bannister, and story-telling psychology;
Barclay & Smith, 1993, IJPCP, 6, 231-251 "Autobiographical
remembering and self-composing".
Come to class with: some thoughts
about the role of memory and narrative in identity.
Thursday September 25th: Self in
relation to Others Part I: Understanding Others
We will now start to explore some of the relationship between an individual identity and Others. So far we have read material that has dealt with the individual largely as a self contained unit, but now we start to explore what the theory has to say about the self in relation to others. One preliminary requirement for connection to other people is some basis for understanding them. We can contrast ourselves with others, see ourselves in terms of others, describe ourselves using commonly accepted social language, build other people’s ways of doing things into our own ways of thinking, see ourselves by reflecting on what we are doing (the “attitude of reflection” noted by Mead), or see ourselves as a set of roles. We’ll go further with these distinctions in the next few classes.
Reading: Schmittdiel "Self and other construal processes: A theoretical integration" in Epting, F. & Landfield, A. (1985) Anticipating Personal Construct Theory Lincoln: UNebraska Press. --- BF698.P47A58 (PSYCH), pp 46-57; Guthrie IJPCP 1991 "Intuiting the processes of others..."
Come to class with: some
thoughts about the issue of attribution and how Kelly's approach might be
used to extend it. We will return
to this discussion when we have had a look at some Burke later on also.
Tuesday
September 30th: Self in relation to Others Part II: Construing Others as objects
and as minds
Other people can
be understood or construed as moving objects in the visual scheme or as minds,
and it is in this distinction that Kelly's work begins to move us towards
Burke and Mead. But we start with
the notion of perception of other people, and self as a target of one's own
perceptions. This is an important starting point and we
need to think about it before looking at how identity might be related to
language and social interaction.
Reading: Commonality
(Duck "Two individuals in search of agreement" in Mancuso &
Adams-Webber, pp 222-234) Sociality
(Tschudi & Rommetveit "Sociality, intersubjectivity and social processes"
in Mancuso & Adams-Webber, pp. 235-261).
Come to class with: some consideration of the ways in which two
minds intersect with one another. The
theory offers a couple of different levels at which a person could understand
another and you should begin to contemplate them for yourself before reading
next week's reading.
Thursday October 2nd Motives in others and
self
We can now follow
up the preceding approach by developing some of the underpinnings of Burke
and exploring the ways in which language
as a common communal tool shapes the manner in which we think about motivation,
whether the motives of other individuals or of ourselves. Be aware through this of the centrality of
the concept of motivation (intention) in the way in which we circumscribe
identity (and of course also recall that Kelly argued against the notion).
Reading: Dixson & Duck (1993) "Understanding
relationship processes: Uncovering the human search for meaning," In S. W. Duck (ed) Understanding relationship processes 1: Individuals in relationships,
SAGE: Newbury Park. MAIN Library : HM132 .U56 1993 v.1
Come to class with: A few ideas
about motives or motive descriptions, and the linguistic (rather than psychological)
basis of motives. Does it make sense
to discuss the nature of motives, or to see individuals as driven by motives?
Consider the role of language in describing and defining the experience
of individuals and the (dis)advantages of seeing motives not drives but as
based in descriptive language
Tuesday October 7th: Community and a sense of shared meaning
We can now look
at how two persons from the same community, who start out a little bit the
same and a little bit different, can generate a sense of commonality from
processes of identity and communication, based on common notions within a
society concerning “motive” . While all this sinks in, here is a way of looking
at it. This approach is based on Kelly
and attempts to relate Mead and Burke to the principles that we have picked
up from Kelly.
Reading: Duck (1994) Meaningful Relationships Chapter 4; Duck & Condra "To be or not to be: Anticipation, persuasion, and retrospection in personal relationships" from G. J. Neimeyer & R. A. Neimeyer (Eds.) Advances in Personal Construct Theory, vol 1, 1990, pp. 187-202
Thursday
October 9th: Is the self alone?
The earlier materials
have looked at the self as a person making sense of the world in various ways
and have looked at the “individuality” that lies behind that. However the recent readings have indicated
ways in which the individual, however skilled at making meaning, must do that
in a way that makes sense within a context provided by others. We start to look some more at that here, not
so much as a socially constructed entity but as something that leaches over
into other connections with other people.
Any identity connects to other identities and we will begin to explore
the ways in which that happens. Following
on an earlier distinction, we can now look at the sense in which an individual
partakes of the broader social experience through membership of groups and
communities of knowledge. Since an
individual inevitably draws on knowledge that is shared in any community to
which he or she belongs, we run across the interesting issue of how individuals
coalesce and whether information and knowledge are personal or communal.
Reading: Duck Meaningful
Ch 1 & Ch 2; Solas, J. (1992) IJPCP "The ideological dimension implicit
in Kelly's theory of personal constructs";
Come to class with: some thoughts about the ways in which identity is located in the community of others. Does the notion of identity pre-require some notion of sociality?
Tuesday October 14th: Identity
as social discourse
There are some important issues that have arisen now that take us outside
of the head of the person away from solipsist mechanics and towards the influential
roles of expectations held by other people. We will now consider some of the important
demands on performance that affect the social life of individuals and affect
our senses of identity.
Reading Burkitt first three chapters. Skim Chapter One, noting the errors he makes in representing Kelly! Focus on the discussion of Mead (Chapter 2), the ethogenic approach to social being (Chap 3) and the distinction between “self as character” and “self as performer”. Consider also the importance of linguistic competence in social performance.
Come to
class with some ideas about the ways in which the embeddedness of
individuals in a broader society operates through symbolic discourse (i.e.,
discourse based on symbols) as well as through the management of accepted
norms.
We have looked at some ways in which our social existence pre-requires some notions of “personality” as well as a suggestion that society is made up of collectivities of individuals. We need to look at this another way now, and consider how the nature of human life depends on the ability to differentiate ourselves from others – or in other words, the ways in which individuality (at least as conceived in modern life) derives from a previous assumption of specific comprehension of the world derived from social membership.
Come to class
with some thoughts on the
ways in which we derive our sense of self from interaction with others that
does not arise only from attempts to understand other people but from a desire
to be a part of the social enterprise.
The way we look
at and understand others is not the whole picture of our interconnection to
them, obviously, and Kelly, as a clinical psychologist, was all too aware
of other aspects of the interaction of self and others.
First Kelly was interested in the issue of dependency but also in the
nature of some of the disturbed connections between people. Thus we will look at his writing on dependency
and also on three negative sort of interactive style: hostility (for which
he offered an entirely novel interpretation), threat, and aggression. Since these items are apparent in social interaction
and community they should be considered in attempts to understand individuality
and society, as well as in understanding one person's range of possible relationships
with another.
Reading: 1) Kelly "In whom confide, on whom depend for what?" in Maher, B. (Ed) (1969) Clinical Psychology and Personality: The selected papers of George Kelly Kreiger: New York. 2) Kelly "Hostility" in Maher, pp. 267-280. 3) “The threat of aggression” (Maher pp. 281-288)
Come to class with: some thoughts
about the ways in which we relate to others in ways other than understanding.
Can you connect this thinking to anything you have read about attachment?
Thursday October 23rd: The self in social relations of dependency
We have looked at the roles of language in organizing
and structuring social life and the assumption therefore that discourse is
synonymous with the social domain. However there are two locations for the roots of discourse: the
local and the general. We have looked
here (and will look again) at the local.
We need to look at the general also insofar as it affects identity.
Of course, it is important to tie together language,
power and social interdependence, and this reading does that for us.
Come to class with
some thoughts about the connections between language and power. Are we dependent on others because of language
in any sense at all? How do realities
of communal living create the identities that we use in speech?
Tuesday
October 28th: Community as membership: Self as a referent
If the main challenge of living is sense making, it is crucial to ask where people find both their motivations and the needed resources to construct a narrative of identity. These can be found in a number of places, from social directives to spiritual imperatives. In this class we will consider the role of story telling about self as a factor that ties together social forces and individual needs. We need also to consider how identity works as an accomplishment, as a process to which we refer in considering social interaction.
In a sense we begin
to look at identity as a moral action, that is to say, identity as a way of
living, based on the choices made between the alternative modes of action
that a person sees as being available, relevant, and acceptable to others. We shall therefore contact the notions of culture,
dialogue, and rhetoric (as a strategy for influencing events and other people's
views of them). If there are such
things as identities then they are founded in the accounts and judgements
that people offer for actions of individuals.
Some buzz words and phrases are: Multiple levels of meaning; Rhetoric as a universal motive (the affecting
of situations); talk as a strategy for situations; dialectic as a process
transforming situations and meanings for persons' identities).
Reading:
Shotter, J. (1992) What is a "personal
relationship? A rhetorical-responsive
account of "unfinished business". In J. H. Harvey, T. L. Orbuch & A. L. Weber
(Eds) Attributions, accounts and close relationships. (pp. 19-39).
Springer-Verlag: New York; Browse
in Billig, M. (1991). Ideology and opinions: Studies in rhetorical
psychology. Newbury Park: Sage;
or browse in Billig, M., Condor, S., Edwards, D., Gane, M., Middleton, D.
& Radley, A. (1988) Ideological dilemmas: A social psychology of everyday
thinking. SAGE: London.
Come to class with: some evaluation of the rhetorical dialectical, dialogical approach to identity.
Tuesday
November 3rd: The self as a construct:
Identity as role (management)
If identity is an accomplishment, a discourse, a narrative a root of moral action and the other things that we have looked at so far, then it will be subject to management (or those aspects of “it” will be subject to management) as discourse unfolds in interaction. In this class we will consider where face management fits in with other thinking about identity.
Reading: Metts, S. (2000). Face and facework: Implications
for the study of personal relationships. Communication and personal relationships.
K. Dindia and S. W. Duck. Chichester, Wiley: 72-94; Cockett, L. S. in Mokros. Cockett, L. S.: Authority
matters: An examination of a chair’s participation in a group decision making
meeting.
Come to class
with: some thoughts
about frameworks of Identity within which “an identity” can be managed in
localized interactions. Are we talking
about the same thing when identity is equated with “face” as we are when it
is equated with “being”?
Thursday
November 5th: Self as a rhetorical being
Our consideration of
identity issues has been long and winding.
Way back in September we considered a piece by Kelly that spoke of
the “invitational mood” of language and we have variously referred to Burke,
consubstantiality and identification. We
have also mentioned the sermonic force of language. Let’s look at identity as a rhetorical construct.
Tuesday
November 11th: Identity matters
We can now look at some specific work that applies
a communication approaches to identity and we will work through the Mokros
book for the next two classes.
Reading: Chelton on age differences between adolescents and staff in school library;
Coan on gender matters in becoming a dancer; Mokros on salesmen
Thursday 13th
Tuesday 18th November The answers!!
In this seminar we will solve all
the problems of the preceding semester HAHAHAHAHA, just to set you up right
for the presentations that you will be giving yourselves in the rest of the
course.
Thursday 20th No Class (NCA)
Tuesday 25th, Thursday 27th No Class (Thanksgiving)
Tuesday
2nd December - Thursday 11th December
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At this point the style of the course changes. Instead of general class discussion on the
topics that you have all read and written notes about, one person will come
to the class prepared to lead the discussion by presenting a survey of a topic
and an evaluation of the literature. That
person will provide ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE, a prep-sheet for the rest of the
class (and for me!) outlining key points and providing ONE reading to give
us the flavor of the chosen topic. The
rest of you will be expected to have read the prep-sheet and the reading provided
in advance by this person, but you are not required to have read as much on
the topic as usual .... partly because you will undoubtedly be working on
your own detailed presentation to the class.
The leader's assignment here is to write the short (2 page) prep-sheet
about a topic and to come to class ready to reconceptualize it in terms of
any approach to identity issues. You
should provide a representative discussion of the topic and offer some new
ways of thinking about it. Include
a reference section so that we can all benefit from your review. Be prepared to lead a discussion of the reviewed topic and ensure
that we all receive your prep-sheet (and the reading) the week before we all
are due to discuss it. The written
prep-sheet need not be the same as the report presented in class, and the
review presented to the class could be a condensed version of the one you
hand in for grading (but does not have to be).
For these classes each of you will present your review of your chosen area, as indicated above. The schedule for doing this will be worked out in an early class and you are responsible for doing the work and being prepared to present it at the due time. In each case, your review should be ready for giving out to the class ONE WEEK IN ADVANCE of your scheduled presentation.
The final assignment
(brief research proposal) is due in by 5.00 on December 12th.
PERSONAL CONSTRUCT THEORY
from G. A. Kelly "A Brief Introduction
to Personal Construct Theory" (p. 9-29) in Bannister, D. [Ed] (1970)
Perspectives in personal construct
theory. London: Academic Press
Basic
Postulate
A person's
processes are psychologically channelized by the ways in which s/he anticipates
events