Fascinating discussion everyone. Not to be a qualitative chauvinist, but I think we're missing the point if we rely solely on ratios of behavior defined as deviant or anti-social. When you look at "hours of work" certainly agrarian economies rivaled today's most demanding white-collar jobs. What is significantly different, however, is how people interpret work versus non-work life. I would argue that the advancement of life outside the domestic sphere has radically altered how work/non-work is experienced. In an agrarian community, I would argue that non-work involved many of the same people as work. In other words, social isolation did not necessarily result from long hours of work. Likewise, let us not forget that the most radical social change of the 20th century was the mass influx of "non-working" women into the paid work force. This change cannot be ignored; domestic life will never be the same. Where once social isolation was a rare thing (kinship ties could be stifling yes, but they were also successful in bringing many people into the social world). Today's modern anomie is coupled with an intense struggle between work and non-work in the domestic realm. How might this struggle be affecting children? How might this struggle be affecting socialization? Social reproduction? And ultimately, social isolation of teens? I am very interested in what Canadian psychiatrist Gabor Maté refers to as the "peer-orientation" of today's youth. Sam Ladner PhD Candidate York U Director, Research and Planning Critical Mass Inc.
-----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Barry Wellman Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 8:34 PM To: aoir list Subject: Re: [Air-l] where did you go, out; what did you do, nothing (fwd)
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2007 16:59:52 -0500 From: Barry Wellman <wellman@chass.utoronto.ca> To: danah boyd <aoir.z3z@danah.org> Cc: Paul DiPerna <pdiperna@blauexchange.org>, air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] where did you go, out; what did you do, nothing
1. I still maintain the cup half-full and half-empty position as a working hypothesis. While not being a quant chauvanist, I would like to know the %age of American teens and of their parent/s who are seriously stressed -- more than the typical teen stress of the past.
2. If this %age is large or small, danah's point makes sense: the Internet creates a visible venue for teens to exhibit such stress and find others to engage in dysfuncitonal activity. My generation just joined gangs: see The Wanderers (or read the book).
3. There are some stats that back danah's position that there structural conditions for teen dysfunctionality are greater than before. Rutgers sociologist was on CBC this AM maintaining that single parenting is up in a generation from 17% to 35% (it was pre-coffee: all summaries a bit vague). And certainly dual jobs are up compared to the 20th century, but not compared to the 3rd world or the agrarian 19th century.
Everything old is new again! Barry Wellman
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Barry Wellman S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology NetLab Director Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman for fun: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php
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