The social change wrought by the rapid communications technologies will be isolated in various cultural enterprises, so as to determine its impact upon social structures already in place. The defining elements of social change are to be described in situ as pertaining to the communications revolution, involving particularly computer usage. The concept of social change I'm proposing constitutes 5 criterion common in the Social-X series, but as applied to the phenomenon of social change in the realm of the increased rapidity of communications.
1. The promise. By means of installing communications networks for ever-increasing rapid conveyance of data, and by means of creating vehicles for transferring persons and machinery at break-neck speed, industry anticipates a marked change in how the way things have been done up to now.
2. An acceptance. Some agency of industry or government is designated to coordinate and facilitate the use of the new with its advanced methodologies with the in-place systems. Coordinating efforts begin.
3. The areas of development. As a result of the encorporation of the new technologies in communications, brand new cultural institutions appear and are wedded to aspects of the culture.
4. Provisions for its breakdown. What safeguards should the greater society put in place to protect itself should the new methodologies fail to take hold or prove detrimental in implementation? These are to be spelled out, if society is to function whether or not the promises of the new technology come to fruition.
5. A vision of things to come as a result of reliance upon the new methods (brought about by upgrades in technology). Everytime society ventures forth with new methods, a vision is provided of even greater change in the future!
There's the 5, let's run with them in societal areas, where social change through communications is in progress!
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Friday, December 24, 2010
Social Change Format
Doing philosophy, i.e., analyzing concepts, in the way proffered by the Social-X series, I believe to be new and for me very exciting. I hope that because of the three samples of Social Contract, Social Love, and here, Social Change that I'm bringing to you, you also may be bitten by the bug of trying to do philosophy in the way of Social-X. I believe that the methodology has significant value, as well as wide application, in providing a rational way for society to improve itself by means of doing philosophy, that is, through the efforts of philosophers!
Now, on to Social Change in a cultural milieu. What we do is look at one particular change that has occurred recently, say, since the turn of the 20th Century. And what we'll do is attempt to analyze its impact upon any number of cultural variables or cultural activities already identifiable. The aim of this analysis, the result of the analysis, is to ascertain the future by defining it ourselves. That is to say, the result, if the analysis is successful, will be a series of recommendations based on reason that constitute the path society should take. I expect that in most areas of the culture to which this analysis is applied, the recommendations will be dramatic, simply because it's a given that society isn't all that rational, i.e., its actions are not guided by reason (my fundamental assumption, whidh justifies using this methodology in the study of any particular phenomenon as a way of making a significant contribution toward the social good).
Now, the phenomenon I'm taking up under this topic is rapid communications via the airplane and the computer , the new technologies which are a major hallmark of the 20th Century. And the question I ask is, what has, and is, the impact upon our culture? To answer the question, I break the culture up into its components, paying particular attention to those cultural areas where social commentators have claimed some effect, keeping in mind that as we proceed in our analysis of the impact of the new phenomenon upon the particular cultural area, we want to claim the future, viz., to recommend how the society should proceed if rationally controlled.
Now, on to Social Change in a cultural milieu. What we do is look at one particular change that has occurred recently, say, since the turn of the 20th Century. And what we'll do is attempt to analyze its impact upon any number of cultural variables or cultural activities already identifiable. The aim of this analysis, the result of the analysis, is to ascertain the future by defining it ourselves. That is to say, the result, if the analysis is successful, will be a series of recommendations based on reason that constitute the path society should take. I expect that in most areas of the culture to which this analysis is applied, the recommendations will be dramatic, simply because it's a given that society isn't all that rational, i.e., its actions are not guided by reason (my fundamental assumption, whidh justifies using this methodology in the study of any particular phenomenon as a way of making a significant contribution toward the social good).
Now, the phenomenon I'm taking up under this topic is rapid communications via the airplane and the computer , the new technologies which are a major hallmark of the 20th Century. And the question I ask is, what has, and is, the impact upon our culture? To answer the question, I break the culture up into its components, paying particular attention to those cultural areas where social commentators have claimed some effect, keeping in mind that as we proceed in our analysis of the impact of the new phenomenon upon the particular cultural area, we want to claim the future, viz., to recommend how the society should proceed if rationally controlled.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Theory Behind Social-X Studies
The theory behind social-X studies is that there's a social impact when individuals interact within a cultural setting.
It takes its departure from the Linguistic Analysts of the 1960's and '70's who looking to analyze social phenomena by studying the language used to depict the phenomena. And, be it a reminder that linguistic analysis was a reaction to the French and in general European study of social phenomena through taking a particular stance of "objectivity" called Phenomenology. The idea there was to isolate a social phenomenon as a Kantian thing-in-itself.
I contend that it is not possible to view a social phenomenon in isolation but in terms of a cultural dynamic in which the phenomenon occurs. Then, see its impact upon cultural structures; i.e., see its dynamic interplay within the cultural mainstream. I think what I've demonstrated so far is that this approach brings into play the phenomenon's interrelation within the cultural mainstream.
It takes its departure from the Linguistic Analysts of the 1960's and '70's who looking to analyze social phenomena by studying the language used to depict the phenomena. And, be it a reminder that linguistic analysis was a reaction to the French and in general European study of social phenomena through taking a particular stance of "objectivity" called Phenomenology. The idea there was to isolate a social phenomenon as a Kantian thing-in-itself.
I contend that it is not possible to view a social phenomenon in isolation but in terms of a cultural dynamic in which the phenomenon occurs. Then, see its impact upon cultural structures; i.e., see its dynamic interplay within the cultural mainstream. I think what I've demonstrated so far is that this approach brings into play the phenomenon's interrelation within the cultural mainstream.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
SL during Midlife Crisis
Believe or not, there's social love during a midlife crisis. Its the fantasy of your new being, which guides you!
What I mean by a midlife crisis is the point in time in an individual's life, usually occurring from ages 40 to 50, when he asks the question of his own existence, such as in the form, "Is that all there is?" He expresses a feeling of boredom with his life's pattern amid the cognizance of his own humanity (i.e., half his life is over). "Is there more to me than what I've done so far?" he ponders. "I know where I've been, but where am I going (before I die)?"
My own Midlife Crisis
I underwent the crisis at age 42. At the time, I was teaching philosophy full-time at a community college outside of Chicago. I had done some publishing in the field but discovered that further publishing and promotion in the field of philosophy would be difficult as an Instructor at a community college. So, I was motivated to re-think my career options. Further, there was the moment of angst: I was seated at a conference table of the faculty senate among other members. The chairman of this august group called the role, thereupon commented "Well, I can see we're all here; and are likely to be in these same seats for many years to come!" Ha, Ha; the group responded. At that instant, I realized I didn't want to be teaching at a community college for the next up-teen years! I was driven to facing my future!
I launched a quest to find my true self. I read up on the lives of philosophers over the centuries and was taken by the humanist movement of the Renaissance, where there were several philosophers whose biographies included interests far and beyond the realm of philosophy--into science and even commerce. A humanist in the Middle Ages considered himself an individual of far-ranging interests into all fields of knowledge.
In my years beyond high school, I worked in the business world as a desk clerk, a cashier in a bakery, a warehouse clerk; and even considered working as a businessman, e.g., for the Walt Disney company, with whom I interviewed while in graduate school. So, I didn't think re-entering the world of business was impossible for me. Also, I knew that the famed philosopher Bertrand Russell was also a logician, a mathematician. Piecing elements of my past together with the experiences of others with a philosophical background, I thought it was not beyond the realm of possibility for me to become a computer programmer and put my logic skills to use. That's it: I would become a computer programmer in industry!
At the time, I was married, raising two boys. It was a frightening thought to entertain my fantasy of a new self. It was really crisis time. My wife was teaching English at a local high school, but because she wanted to re-locate to California, she was willing to help me make the transition by teaching at a community college part-time at night. I would have to take a severe pay cut from my teaching salary and put in for a leave-of-absence for a year. Upon leaving the college, my colleagues in unison voiced the opinion, "You'll be back and glad to re-take your teaching philosophy!" Reminds me of what a prison guard predicts of a prisoner about to be released, "See you soon!"
Anyway, I made it out into the business world alone and survived. Not only that but I proved to be really good as a programmer early on (largely due to a woman programmer who took pity on me); and an insurance company moved my entire family to Silicon Valley, California from the Chicago area within less than a year of my being in industry. However, I learned that that the piper must pay.
Within approximately four years, I and my family parted company. I had become a new creature through the career change. It's true I had planned for the change by taking courses at night in Chicago, but I had not known about the shock of leaving my family permanently.
What the books say about the midlife crisis proved true in my case--I should have consulted them! There's the longing to change--in my case, a career change. There's the development of a new creature along the lines of your fantasy of what you want to become. How much of the past will continue with your new life will remain uncertain as you change. But there's the promise of new opportunities for self-development far beyond what you can conceive of.
What is the guide during your social love of midlife crisis is your fantasy, what you dream of becoming. To this day, I regard myself as a humanist first and foremost. It's the vision I've carried with me since fantasizing of a career change, of the new creature I wished to become.
The Meta-Elements of SL During Midlife Crisis
1. You reach out to develop your fantasy, of who you really are, i.e., who you want to be.
2. You plan for the change particularly talking with others who show you what the fantasy is, the path you must take to make the change successfully.
3. You take the courses, mingle with those who will help you change. These others are your mentors--who are to lead you to the fulfillment of the new you!
4. You come to understand your new capaciies and become aware of new opportunities; and how to develop them through networking with others.
5. Your fantasy guides you through the very difficult period of transition. It's vital to hold on to the fantasy of who you are becoming as you adjust to the new realm of your being.
Walla, you are now your fantasy of being. It will lead you to new wonders and exciting adventures. You are prepared to experience the joy of change! For instance, I travelled the world over!
I do indeed approve of undergoing the strains of midlife crisis. Try it; invent a new life for yourself!
What I mean by a midlife crisis is the point in time in an individual's life, usually occurring from ages 40 to 50, when he asks the question of his own existence, such as in the form, "Is that all there is?" He expresses a feeling of boredom with his life's pattern amid the cognizance of his own humanity (i.e., half his life is over). "Is there more to me than what I've done so far?" he ponders. "I know where I've been, but where am I going (before I die)?"
My own Midlife Crisis
I underwent the crisis at age 42. At the time, I was teaching philosophy full-time at a community college outside of Chicago. I had done some publishing in the field but discovered that further publishing and promotion in the field of philosophy would be difficult as an Instructor at a community college. So, I was motivated to re-think my career options. Further, there was the moment of angst: I was seated at a conference table of the faculty senate among other members. The chairman of this august group called the role, thereupon commented "Well, I can see we're all here; and are likely to be in these same seats for many years to come!" Ha, Ha; the group responded. At that instant, I realized I didn't want to be teaching at a community college for the next up-teen years! I was driven to facing my future!
I launched a quest to find my true self. I read up on the lives of philosophers over the centuries and was taken by the humanist movement of the Renaissance, where there were several philosophers whose biographies included interests far and beyond the realm of philosophy--into science and even commerce. A humanist in the Middle Ages considered himself an individual of far-ranging interests into all fields of knowledge.
In my years beyond high school, I worked in the business world as a desk clerk, a cashier in a bakery, a warehouse clerk; and even considered working as a businessman, e.g., for the Walt Disney company, with whom I interviewed while in graduate school. So, I didn't think re-entering the world of business was impossible for me. Also, I knew that the famed philosopher Bertrand Russell was also a logician, a mathematician. Piecing elements of my past together with the experiences of others with a philosophical background, I thought it was not beyond the realm of possibility for me to become a computer programmer and put my logic skills to use. That's it: I would become a computer programmer in industry!
At the time, I was married, raising two boys. It was a frightening thought to entertain my fantasy of a new self. It was really crisis time. My wife was teaching English at a local high school, but because she wanted to re-locate to California, she was willing to help me make the transition by teaching at a community college part-time at night. I would have to take a severe pay cut from my teaching salary and put in for a leave-of-absence for a year. Upon leaving the college, my colleagues in unison voiced the opinion, "You'll be back and glad to re-take your teaching philosophy!" Reminds me of what a prison guard predicts of a prisoner about to be released, "See you soon!"
Anyway, I made it out into the business world alone and survived. Not only that but I proved to be really good as a programmer early on (largely due to a woman programmer who took pity on me); and an insurance company moved my entire family to Silicon Valley, California from the Chicago area within less than a year of my being in industry. However, I learned that that the piper must pay.
Within approximately four years, I and my family parted company. I had become a new creature through the career change. It's true I had planned for the change by taking courses at night in Chicago, but I had not known about the shock of leaving my family permanently.
What the books say about the midlife crisis proved true in my case--I should have consulted them! There's the longing to change--in my case, a career change. There's the development of a new creature along the lines of your fantasy of what you want to become. How much of the past will continue with your new life will remain uncertain as you change. But there's the promise of new opportunities for self-development far beyond what you can conceive of.
What is the guide during your social love of midlife crisis is your fantasy, what you dream of becoming. To this day, I regard myself as a humanist first and foremost. It's the vision I've carried with me since fantasizing of a career change, of the new creature I wished to become.
The Meta-Elements of SL During Midlife Crisis
1. You reach out to develop your fantasy, of who you really are, i.e., who you want to be.
2. You plan for the change particularly talking with others who show you what the fantasy is, the path you must take to make the change successfully.
3. You take the courses, mingle with those who will help you change. These others are your mentors--who are to lead you to the fulfillment of the new you!
4. You come to understand your new capaciies and become aware of new opportunities; and how to develop them through networking with others.
5. Your fantasy guides you through the very difficult period of transition. It's vital to hold on to the fantasy of who you are becoming as you adjust to the new realm of your being.
Walla, you are now your fantasy of being. It will lead you to new wonders and exciting adventures. You are prepared to experience the joy of change! For instance, I travelled the world over!
I do indeed approve of undergoing the strains of midlife crisis. Try it; invent a new life for yourself!
Friday, April 30, 2010
SL in Old Age: Disassociating Oneself
There's a relatively new field in the social sciences called gerontology. It studies old age life styles and the impact old age people have upon the social system. I'm nearly 73, so I know about old age problems and lifestyles from my own experience. Additionally, I took several courses on lifelong learning opportunities for the elderly at the University of Chicago under Professor Griffith, who later went to Canada to a university up there. We used gerontology studies as a backdrop to designing adult learning situations.
The point I wish to make here is that social love in old age is encountered in the process of one's dissociating himself from the mainstream milieu. It is that aspect of dissociation involving making substitutions for the partnerships and relationships that were how the individual met his basic needs in his active life with those typically reserved for the elderly.
Reference books in this area, i.e., the topic of old age, usually are written by MDs; and I would say as a rule, MDs know little about the social aspects of persons in mental and physical decline. Most of the books I've read, in fact, attempt to glorify old age as a period or phase of tremendous opportunity and further growth of one's potential, admitting as well it has moments of human agony. In any case, everybody who is interested in the topic admits it's a period a human being should expect to undergo in his final years of life.
The Disassociating Process
So, let's see what really goes on during one's old age:
--retirement from work, gainful employment. Dissociating self from a sustaining livelihood.
--relocating to a retirement community as the primary residence; sometimes, entering an assisted living facility (on a referral basis); sometimes, going to a convalescent home or some other home designated for the elderly
--coming to rely upon a senior center for one's knowledge of resources and services available to him as a senior. The senior centers, usually run by the county, provide lunch, and offer a place to make friends with other seniors by participating in the social programs of playing games, dancing, attending seminars. They also serve as a nexus for food distribution of regional food banks. Finally, they give legal referrals and offer social services, e.g., case management. As I will point out below, these centers are developing a new position I call an Elderly Advocate, whose training is in social work, and by becoming a client, the senior increases his knowledge of options available in housing, medical, dental, Medicare insurance, etc. Many of these centers also provide opportunities for exercising, e.g., a class in yoga. Indeed, these centers should be frequently visited by all seniors!
--attend a senior day care center where social workers provide supervision and direction. Provide transportation via a van to this center. Usually a senior is recommended to join the group when otherwise he would be alone in his house the day long.
--for education, attending classes and seminars at lifelong learning centers attached to universities and community colleges
--come to rely upon public transportation. The county government usually offers a coupon program that enables seniors to ride a taxi at a reduced rate. In addition to bus transportation, the county may offer van service between various senior residences and the local senior center. It is sad, to my mind, that some seniors continue to drive a car into their late 70's and in their 80's!
--keeping in touch with one's old friends of his active days and making himself available to attend their funerals!
As one becomes old, he comes to utter frequent pleas for help. Within the familial bounds, some close relative is appointed to receive and respond to these. The family doctor may designate some nurse to listen in matters medical. If the family doctor receives too many complaints from a particular old person, the MD may refer him to a specialist, who charges much more for services of succor. Eventually, the elderly is entrusted to a home nurse or practitioner who may assume some of the house chores. Withal, the aging senior is becoming increasingly isolated, for no one wants to listen to a constant complainer! Indeed, those professionals he comes into contact with may finally throw up their hands and tell him to "get with it!" At this juncture, the elderly's disassociation is complete!
What is the senior's typical reaction to his own disassociation? In an important book on aging Aging Well (2002). author George Vaillant summarizes from the Harvard Studies on the topic what they observed: the aging adult becomes increasingly blaze, distant; displaying an "aloof" attitude toward what is happening in the world (even in the world of family, wherein kids are being raised). It may seem to others that this old man or woman has has reached the pinnacle of wisdom, taking all things in stride, but in reality, he is in the throes of withdrawal from involvement in everyday activities, where decisions about kids and money are being made by others.
Still more observations about old age maturing coming out the Harvard studies: the senior becomes warm, arousing in those he loves an endearing predisposition, e.g., as in a child's loving statement, "Oh, Grandpa, it's so nice of you to like my playing the piano!" He also displays greater self-confidence, if not being able to show greater self-reliance. That is to say, he increasingly stays within himself, finding greater satisfaction in himself than in what others say and think of him.
The Insinuation of a Social Worker as an Elderly Advocate
Everybody needs housing. But the options for senior housing are specifically delineated. Moreover, the availability of any particular kind of housing or of housing in a particular location is very tight. Some social worker designated an Elderly Advocate, e.g., in a Senior Center or Social Service Agency is to help seniors get into the housing situation suitable for them. Seniors have other needs specifically related to their age and capacities; and the Elderly Advocate is the one who should work with them to meet these.
The Advocate should meet with each elderly client at least once a month. Trained to observe changes in the elderly mental and physical condition, the Advocate also functions as a monitor to determine whether the elderly individual is functioning so as to meet his basic needs on his own. The Advocate makes recommendations when he discerns the individual is "losing it," so to speak.
It is essential that a senior find a Social Worker as Advocate with whom he can bind (i.e., enter the condition of Social Love). The Advocate is to work on behalf of his senior clients such that the basic needs of the several clients are being met; and each client should evaluate the Advocate's pereformance on his behalf.
The Impact of the Advocate's Insinuation
You can see that the Advocate's role is vital in terms of protecting the interests of the elderly. It should prevent elderly abuse wherever it occurs, not simply in the circumstance described in the play One Flew Over the Cockoo's Nest!
More important, the Advocate should have a say in designing services for the senior population. Indeed, if the position becomes widespread and competently filled, the elderly will be truly blest!
Using an Elderly Advocate
As I say, I'm an elderly adult, nearly 73. Over the past 10 years or more, I've used several Social Workers in the capacity of Elderly Advocate. Usually, I've found one in a Senior Center's Social Services Department, but also, the Lutheran Social Services Agency in Washington, DC and in Omaha has been a reliable source. I haven't found the Salvation Army providing adequate services in the capacity of Elderly Advocate, however. Well, that's been my experience.
The Advocates I've used do best at laying out options. They also do very well at giving me feedback on how I'm functioning mentally and physically. Outstanding was the Advocate I had in LA at Saint Bonaventure's Senior Center. He went through with me the pros and cons of leaving LA for Reno; and offered that should I need to live in an assisted living situation he'd get me in pronto!
Occasionally, I've had a Social Worker as Advocate who thinks she should "rat on me" for the good of society--as she envisions it! Like a young child, she watches my every move and gesture and carefully probes what I meant by what I said, looking to find some sign of mental or physical deterioration! Needless to say, I quickly drop her and seek the services of another. For, when all is said and done, I think their help on behalf of the old is invaluable!
The point I wish to make here is that social love in old age is encountered in the process of one's dissociating himself from the mainstream milieu. It is that aspect of dissociation involving making substitutions for the partnerships and relationships that were how the individual met his basic needs in his active life with those typically reserved for the elderly.
Reference books in this area, i.e., the topic of old age, usually are written by MDs; and I would say as a rule, MDs know little about the social aspects of persons in mental and physical decline. Most of the books I've read, in fact, attempt to glorify old age as a period or phase of tremendous opportunity and further growth of one's potential, admitting as well it has moments of human agony. In any case, everybody who is interested in the topic admits it's a period a human being should expect to undergo in his final years of life.
The Disassociating Process
So, let's see what really goes on during one's old age:
--retirement from work, gainful employment. Dissociating self from a sustaining livelihood.
--relocating to a retirement community as the primary residence; sometimes, entering an assisted living facility (on a referral basis); sometimes, going to a convalescent home or some other home designated for the elderly
--coming to rely upon a senior center for one's knowledge of resources and services available to him as a senior. The senior centers, usually run by the county, provide lunch, and offer a place to make friends with other seniors by participating in the social programs of playing games, dancing, attending seminars. They also serve as a nexus for food distribution of regional food banks. Finally, they give legal referrals and offer social services, e.g., case management. As I will point out below, these centers are developing a new position I call an Elderly Advocate, whose training is in social work, and by becoming a client, the senior increases his knowledge of options available in housing, medical, dental, Medicare insurance, etc. Many of these centers also provide opportunities for exercising, e.g., a class in yoga. Indeed, these centers should be frequently visited by all seniors!
--attend a senior day care center where social workers provide supervision and direction. Provide transportation via a van to this center. Usually a senior is recommended to join the group when otherwise he would be alone in his house the day long.
--for education, attending classes and seminars at lifelong learning centers attached to universities and community colleges
--come to rely upon public transportation. The county government usually offers a coupon program that enables seniors to ride a taxi at a reduced rate. In addition to bus transportation, the county may offer van service between various senior residences and the local senior center. It is sad, to my mind, that some seniors continue to drive a car into their late 70's and in their 80's!
--keeping in touch with one's old friends of his active days and making himself available to attend their funerals!
As one becomes old, he comes to utter frequent pleas for help. Within the familial bounds, some close relative is appointed to receive and respond to these. The family doctor may designate some nurse to listen in matters medical. If the family doctor receives too many complaints from a particular old person, the MD may refer him to a specialist, who charges much more for services of succor. Eventually, the elderly is entrusted to a home nurse or practitioner who may assume some of the house chores. Withal, the aging senior is becoming increasingly isolated, for no one wants to listen to a constant complainer! Indeed, those professionals he comes into contact with may finally throw up their hands and tell him to "get with it!" At this juncture, the elderly's disassociation is complete!
What is the senior's typical reaction to his own disassociation? In an important book on aging Aging Well (2002). author George Vaillant summarizes from the Harvard Studies on the topic what they observed: the aging adult becomes increasingly blaze, distant; displaying an "aloof" attitude toward what is happening in the world (even in the world of family, wherein kids are being raised). It may seem to others that this old man or woman has has reached the pinnacle of wisdom, taking all things in stride, but in reality, he is in the throes of withdrawal from involvement in everyday activities, where decisions about kids and money are being made by others.
Still more observations about old age maturing coming out the Harvard studies: the senior becomes warm, arousing in those he loves an endearing predisposition, e.g., as in a child's loving statement, "Oh, Grandpa, it's so nice of you to like my playing the piano!" He also displays greater self-confidence, if not being able to show greater self-reliance. That is to say, he increasingly stays within himself, finding greater satisfaction in himself than in what others say and think of him.
The Insinuation of a Social Worker as an Elderly Advocate
Everybody needs housing. But the options for senior housing are specifically delineated. Moreover, the availability of any particular kind of housing or of housing in a particular location is very tight. Some social worker designated an Elderly Advocate, e.g., in a Senior Center or Social Service Agency is to help seniors get into the housing situation suitable for them. Seniors have other needs specifically related to their age and capacities; and the Elderly Advocate is the one who should work with them to meet these.
The Advocate should meet with each elderly client at least once a month. Trained to observe changes in the elderly mental and physical condition, the Advocate also functions as a monitor to determine whether the elderly individual is functioning so as to meet his basic needs on his own. The Advocate makes recommendations when he discerns the individual is "losing it," so to speak.
It is essential that a senior find a Social Worker as Advocate with whom he can bind (i.e., enter the condition of Social Love). The Advocate is to work on behalf of his senior clients such that the basic needs of the several clients are being met; and each client should evaluate the Advocate's pereformance on his behalf.
The Impact of the Advocate's Insinuation
You can see that the Advocate's role is vital in terms of protecting the interests of the elderly. It should prevent elderly abuse wherever it occurs, not simply in the circumstance described in the play One Flew Over the Cockoo's Nest!
More important, the Advocate should have a say in designing services for the senior population. Indeed, if the position becomes widespread and competently filled, the elderly will be truly blest!
Using an Elderly Advocate
As I say, I'm an elderly adult, nearly 73. Over the past 10 years or more, I've used several Social Workers in the capacity of Elderly Advocate. Usually, I've found one in a Senior Center's Social Services Department, but also, the Lutheran Social Services Agency in Washington, DC and in Omaha has been a reliable source. I haven't found the Salvation Army providing adequate services in the capacity of Elderly Advocate, however. Well, that's been my experience.
The Advocates I've used do best at laying out options. They also do very well at giving me feedback on how I'm functioning mentally and physically. Outstanding was the Advocate I had in LA at Saint Bonaventure's Senior Center. He went through with me the pros and cons of leaving LA for Reno; and offered that should I need to live in an assisted living situation he'd get me in pronto!
Occasionally, I've had a Social Worker as Advocate who thinks she should "rat on me" for the good of society--as she envisions it! Like a young child, she watches my every move and gesture and carefully probes what I meant by what I said, looking to find some sign of mental or physical deterioration! Needless to say, I quickly drop her and seek the services of another. For, when all is said and done, I think their help on behalf of the old is invaluable!
Sunday, April 11, 2010
SL among adults: "Hiya', will you be my Par'd'ner?"
If you have read my blog topic on marriage in the Social Contract series (see http://joastler.blogspot.com/), you may have discerned that the approach I took involved a benefit-obligation analysis that answered the question, Why be married? It did not specifically refer to the needs of the individual that could motivate his entering a 'lasting' relationship. Yet, in taking up the issue of how social love is omni-present in interrelationships, a discussion of how need fulfillment is a driving force to bind people together is essential.
Let's start with the obvious, so we're of one mind in this. A married woman is unable to engage in sexual activity--for one reason or another. Her husband has certain choices to make to enable him to attain sexual release and sexual gratification: masturbation, go to a prostitute, find a congenial partner at work, in his neighborhood, even at church! A "partner" is identified as someone who is willing to help the individual meet his personal need for the purpose of achieving the latter's psychological gratification. Usually, the partner shares the same value system as the requestor, i.e., the person in need (sometimes called the "protagonist"), such that the former is sympathetic and understanding of what the latter is experiencing in his state of need.
If the requestor for help from a partner has anti-social needs driving him, society may be inclined to incarcerate the requestor for the sake of a greater good. Accordingly, persons who have anti-social needs and plan to act upon them should be referred to a psychotherapist or medical doctor for treatment, e.g., as in cases of desiring to rape, to take drugs, even to kill; before they pursue the ends they have in mind.
The importance of the approach here is in my belief that social love occurs between an individual and his partner in each's participation in an event which is to achieve the end, ever in view of each, viz., the requestor's specific need satisfaction. My approach circumvents discussion of some moralists who question the experiential means the requestor asks his potential partner engage in. For example, some Catholics don't want their priests asking anyone to participate in a sexual act for the purpose of his own gratification. To me, the matter of how the requestor thinks he will reach need fulfillment is his okay choice, providing both the need and the way to achieve it are socially acceptable, quite independent of some moralist's dicta.
One may wonder, what the potential partner expects to get out of his participation in an experience aimed at meeting the requestor's needs. Who knows? Obviously, the requestor is concerned about his own need-fulfillment, even should the partner he chooses is to receive no benefit other than the acknowledgement as participant in a drama with ends-in-view, as if being included in the cast of characters of a play.
Importantly, the partner can "opt out" of the (intended) need-fulfillment experience simply by declaring lack of interest in the requestor's personal goals and objectives or even in the particular role that he assented to play. Contrast the ease of "opting out" with dissolving a contract. In divorcing her husband for instance, a woman cannot simply give as a reason that she no longer needs her husband and expect the divorce to be granted. She should refer to the benefits and obligations that govern the contract.
Some "means" the requestor poses may appear shocking to society. A married businessman who chooses an young, attractive escort to accompany him to business functions rather than his secretary or his wife will get his employees' tongues wagging, to be sure, but maybe not those of the businessmen he is desirous to impress!
The Psychological Theory of Basic Needs
A person's behavioral goals, i.e., the ends toward which he is directed are to be distinguished from the means he selects to reach them.
Psychologists talk of basic needs in behavioral terms as the motivators of action. I've raised the notion of needs--the basic needs (also termed "drives")--with respect to the sex drive. However, the general theory of basic needs, postulated as early as by Aristotle (who used the means-ends distinction), maintains that mankind is driven, i.e., motivated, to meet his very basic needs, using what means he thinks will work. Importantly for the current discussion, the means frequently involve the cooperation of others solicited as partners by a requestor-in-need.
In a recent book (Who Am I? 2000) Steven Reiss identifies, by means of empirical research, some 16 basic needs of mankind, he terms "basic desires"--one being, the desire for romance. According to him the ways an individual meets his needs successfully on a regular basis defines his personality and answers the question of self-identity, i.e., who he is. Reiss traces his typology of needs to Abraham Maslow, who had coined the term "self-actualization," the being who reaches the pinnacle of developing his potential. Maslow amplies his position: when an individual develops his being to the point that he has integrated all his needs and found appropriate means for their fulfillment he achieves the Buddhist state of 'Nirvana,' a continuing feeling of happiness grounded in a knowledge of self-worth. Truly, he knows what he wants and has established through the years his own particular ways of meeting them. He's come to "have it his way," so to speak--as in the song recorded by Frank Sinatra, "I had it my way."
Meta-Elements of the Social Love Partnership
An individual, to be sure, need not select a partner by which he intends to meet his basic needs. If he's hungry, he can turn to his microwave to achieve his purpose. As such the microwave becomes a "love-object" even as a lonely child may carry around a bunny for comfort. Notoriously, dogs have served as love objects to be petted and stroked and taken out for walks!
Nevertheless, let's look at the meta-elements of social love among adults, when one person seeks out the help of another to satisfy some need of his.
1. Reaching out behavior of the requestor, i.e., the individual who has identified his personal needs. He singles out another in his environment who he believes can assist him, i.e., a potential partner and engages this other.
2. The potential partner favorably responds: Yes, I'm willing to help you.
3. The dance begins! Enjoined with common purpose, each assumes the role he is to have throughout the experience, focusing on each's part he is to play to bring about need satisfaction on behalf of the requestor.
4. As the recognized participant, each responds accordingly to what the other does in acting out his role.
Particularly important to the experience is the moment of denouement, in which the participants recognize they have indeed performed to reach the crescendo in which the requestor's need is fulfilled.
5, If the experience has indeed reached its peak, each participant should anticipate further instances in which he will perform even as he has in the present binding experience of social love.
The Social Impact of Social Love
I have argued that what adult social love does in a cultural setting is bring about personal need satisfaction, particularly of the basic desires. From a doctor, an individual seeks healing to satisfy his desire for physical well-being. From a chef of a restaurant, a person seeks need satiation for drink and food. Put generally, one's needs are frequently met by interacting with other societal members, who assume a particular stance toward him, enabling particular need fulfillment. By contacting potential partners through the 'yellow pages,' as it were, the individual determines a course of action to achieve his own need satisfaction involving others.
In his book entitled Vital Friends (2006) Tom Rath regards friendship as the fundamental social relationship for one's need fulfillment. He argues, an individual is part of his social milieu and must rely on that milieu to meet his own personal (basic) desires. He notes that given the opportunity, he will choose as his helpers those friends with whom he shares the same dispositions of likes and dislikes, i.e., a value system.
Thus, the impact of social love is that once the individual finds himself in need, he is prompted to search others to cope with it. An experience of social love can happen in which synergistic energy is released. This synergy the requestor undergoes at the moment of need gratification and permeates other aspects of his life, as Maslow seems to recognize. For instance, it is commonplace that in an office setting, two members of a team, working many after-hours, will engage in intimate relationship, the upshot of which is focused dedication upon the project above and beyond what any manager could demand of them!
Similarly, an individual whose health 'miraculously' returns with the aid of a diligent doctor, will vigorously attend to his affairs with renewed interest and enthusiasm.
In sum, there is psychical and physical energy as a well-spring boiling over when the individual achieves basic need fulfillment, such that he becomes energized to work longer and more diligently in what he undertakes and such that untold benefits accrue to his society.
Let's start with the obvious, so we're of one mind in this. A married woman is unable to engage in sexual activity--for one reason or another. Her husband has certain choices to make to enable him to attain sexual release and sexual gratification: masturbation, go to a prostitute, find a congenial partner at work, in his neighborhood, even at church! A "partner" is identified as someone who is willing to help the individual meet his personal need for the purpose of achieving the latter's psychological gratification. Usually, the partner shares the same value system as the requestor, i.e., the person in need (sometimes called the "protagonist"), such that the former is sympathetic and understanding of what the latter is experiencing in his state of need.
If the requestor for help from a partner has anti-social needs driving him, society may be inclined to incarcerate the requestor for the sake of a greater good. Accordingly, persons who have anti-social needs and plan to act upon them should be referred to a psychotherapist or medical doctor for treatment, e.g., as in cases of desiring to rape, to take drugs, even to kill; before they pursue the ends they have in mind.
The importance of the approach here is in my belief that social love occurs between an individual and his partner in each's participation in an event which is to achieve the end, ever in view of each, viz., the requestor's specific need satisfaction. My approach circumvents discussion of some moralists who question the experiential means the requestor asks his potential partner engage in. For example, some Catholics don't want their priests asking anyone to participate in a sexual act for the purpose of his own gratification. To me, the matter of how the requestor thinks he will reach need fulfillment is his okay choice, providing both the need and the way to achieve it are socially acceptable, quite independent of some moralist's dicta.
One may wonder, what the potential partner expects to get out of his participation in an experience aimed at meeting the requestor's needs. Who knows? Obviously, the requestor is concerned about his own need-fulfillment, even should the partner he chooses is to receive no benefit other than the acknowledgement as participant in a drama with ends-in-view, as if being included in the cast of characters of a play.
Importantly, the partner can "opt out" of the (intended) need-fulfillment experience simply by declaring lack of interest in the requestor's personal goals and objectives or even in the particular role that he assented to play. Contrast the ease of "opting out" with dissolving a contract. In divorcing her husband for instance, a woman cannot simply give as a reason that she no longer needs her husband and expect the divorce to be granted. She should refer to the benefits and obligations that govern the contract.
Some "means" the requestor poses may appear shocking to society. A married businessman who chooses an young, attractive escort to accompany him to business functions rather than his secretary or his wife will get his employees' tongues wagging, to be sure, but maybe not those of the businessmen he is desirous to impress!
The Psychological Theory of Basic Needs
A person's behavioral goals, i.e., the ends toward which he is directed are to be distinguished from the means he selects to reach them.
Psychologists talk of basic needs in behavioral terms as the motivators of action. I've raised the notion of needs--the basic needs (also termed "drives")--with respect to the sex drive. However, the general theory of basic needs, postulated as early as by Aristotle (who used the means-ends distinction), maintains that mankind is driven, i.e., motivated, to meet his very basic needs, using what means he thinks will work. Importantly for the current discussion, the means frequently involve the cooperation of others solicited as partners by a requestor-in-need.
In a recent book (Who Am I? 2000) Steven Reiss identifies, by means of empirical research, some 16 basic needs of mankind, he terms "basic desires"--one being, the desire for romance. According to him the ways an individual meets his needs successfully on a regular basis defines his personality and answers the question of self-identity, i.e., who he is. Reiss traces his typology of needs to Abraham Maslow, who had coined the term "self-actualization," the being who reaches the pinnacle of developing his potential. Maslow amplies his position: when an individual develops his being to the point that he has integrated all his needs and found appropriate means for their fulfillment he achieves the Buddhist state of 'Nirvana,' a continuing feeling of happiness grounded in a knowledge of self-worth. Truly, he knows what he wants and has established through the years his own particular ways of meeting them. He's come to "have it his way," so to speak--as in the song recorded by Frank Sinatra, "I had it my way."
Meta-Elements of the Social Love Partnership
An individual, to be sure, need not select a partner by which he intends to meet his basic needs. If he's hungry, he can turn to his microwave to achieve his purpose. As such the microwave becomes a "love-object" even as a lonely child may carry around a bunny for comfort. Notoriously, dogs have served as love objects to be petted and stroked and taken out for walks!
Nevertheless, let's look at the meta-elements of social love among adults, when one person seeks out the help of another to satisfy some need of his.
1. Reaching out behavior of the requestor, i.e., the individual who has identified his personal needs. He singles out another in his environment who he believes can assist him, i.e., a potential partner and engages this other.
2. The potential partner favorably responds: Yes, I'm willing to help you.
3. The dance begins! Enjoined with common purpose, each assumes the role he is to have throughout the experience, focusing on each's part he is to play to bring about need satisfaction on behalf of the requestor.
4. As the recognized participant, each responds accordingly to what the other does in acting out his role.
Particularly important to the experience is the moment of denouement, in which the participants recognize they have indeed performed to reach the crescendo in which the requestor's need is fulfilled.
5, If the experience has indeed reached its peak, each participant should anticipate further instances in which he will perform even as he has in the present binding experience of social love.
The Social Impact of Social Love
I have argued that what adult social love does in a cultural setting is bring about personal need satisfaction, particularly of the basic desires. From a doctor, an individual seeks healing to satisfy his desire for physical well-being. From a chef of a restaurant, a person seeks need satiation for drink and food. Put generally, one's needs are frequently met by interacting with other societal members, who assume a particular stance toward him, enabling particular need fulfillment. By contacting potential partners through the 'yellow pages,' as it were, the individual determines a course of action to achieve his own need satisfaction involving others.
In his book entitled Vital Friends (2006) Tom Rath regards friendship as the fundamental social relationship for one's need fulfillment. He argues, an individual is part of his social milieu and must rely on that milieu to meet his own personal (basic) desires. He notes that given the opportunity, he will choose as his helpers those friends with whom he shares the same dispositions of likes and dislikes, i.e., a value system.
Thus, the impact of social love is that once the individual finds himself in need, he is prompted to search others to cope with it. An experience of social love can happen in which synergistic energy is released. This synergy the requestor undergoes at the moment of need gratification and permeates other aspects of his life, as Maslow seems to recognize. For instance, it is commonplace that in an office setting, two members of a team, working many after-hours, will engage in intimate relationship, the upshot of which is focused dedication upon the project above and beyond what any manager could demand of them!
Similarly, an individual whose health 'miraculously' returns with the aid of a diligent doctor, will vigorously attend to his affairs with renewed interest and enthusiasm.
In sum, there is psychical and physical energy as a well-spring boiling over when the individual achieves basic need fulfillment, such that he becomes energized to work longer and more diligently in what he undertakes and such that untold benefits accrue to his society.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Transition from joastler
I have a blogspot "out there"--Joastler.blogspot.com. For technical reasons, I have resorted to this new blogspot, as a continuance of the topic: Social-X.
The theme of these two blogspots in the Social-X series is the analysis of the social impact of certain readily identifiable relationships among human beings in a social setting, i.e., a culture.
I started with analyzing the notion of the Social Contract; and am following up analyzing Social Love. This blogspot starts with the topic of Social Love among adults: Hiya Par"d"ner. One major topic in the series is: Social Love: The Meta-Elements, and there are two items that analyze the social impact of baby and puberty.
The theme of these two blogspots in the Social-X series is the analysis of the social impact of certain readily identifiable relationships among human beings in a social setting, i.e., a culture.
I started with analyzing the notion of the Social Contract; and am following up analyzing Social Love. This blogspot starts with the topic of Social Love among adults: Hiya Par"d"ner. One major topic in the series is: Social Love: The Meta-Elements, and there are two items that analyze the social impact of baby and puberty.
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