The Impact of Enculturation on Social Change and Control Through Information
Effects Between Enculturation Practices and Social Change
Enculturation
Stories (fiction, current affairs, history, learning…): Representation – subjective and collective representation?
Cognitive: Personal representations of the actors // Congruence between the goals or vocations and social positions?
Social-Historical: Social practices within the group // Positions and functions of the actors?
History: Social change // Mark for social action.
Enculturation: It is a linear process and can guide social change. These changes require a long period, but can also occur abruptly. The enculturation process begins with stories. Communication plays a role in societal enculturation. The enculturation process can occur in reverse. Since the frameworks for social action, every society has these frameworks: cultural, legal. E.g., frameworks to marry so far had been only a man and woman, but have now changed and allows marriage between two persons of the same sex.
Cognitive: We do a cognitive representation of the stories, and by doing so, taking this representation will go toward social change.
Subjective Representation: The assumed basis of the social frameworks prefixed targets, and these are turning into collective representations.
Consistency: Personal goals are changing, is consistent with the frameworks that constrain our position in the world. The target was previously married and have children, now your goal may be to realize yourself professionally.
They give us frameworks so that we can behave and establish them according to our positions.
Ideological Representations
Ideological representations used for social control and satisfy two conditions:
1) Offer a vision of society that is supported:
- The changes at the level of infrastructure and superstructure.
- The maintenance of the structures.
2) Offers cognitive and emotional rewards, are given by:
- The curiosity to know something about the world (even if the world of others).
- The need to belong to a group (the followers of a club).
- The one feel safe.
Certain changes in the social order are affecting enculturation processes. Changes in society affect social order and with them social practices. E.g.: Before it was not so important cult of the body, now everyone seems to worry much about it.
The change in the representations may lead to a transformation in the social organization of individuals who will bring the collective level changes and changes in social practices.
Study of Control by the Use of Information
| Subjects | Stories | Communicative Production |
|---|---|---|
| Cognitive Representations | Social Representations | Material objects (in production and dissemination of social representations) |
| Influence | Subjects, data, evaluation | Cultural Production representation. Production material goods for dissemination of representations |
| Genetic Psychology, social psychology, pedagogy, information science | Mediating institutions of the community. Collective representations | Information serving others |
Social Exchange System and System Between Communicative
Social Control:
- Political institutions with control over the media: TVE, EFE…
- Social institutions that affect and control public communication: for businesses and institutions with non-communicative (Telefónica, BBV…).
Innovations:
- Changes in the reference objects.
- Changes in the subjects.
- Changes in the assessments.
- Changes in the communication products.
The communicative systems are instrumental in social change, there is no autonomy between the two parties (Sist. Social and communicative).
Capital input in various ways in the media may determine the content thereof.
Control of the Mass Media (MCM):
- The MCM legitimize or delegitimize the institutional functioning: The public trust in the institutions of communication and institutional guarantees.
- Socio-political transformations from the information that comes from the MCM: resignations from political scandals in the media.
Guidance for Social Action:
- The stories propose new interpretations of social events.
- Transformations in collective representations.
- Change in individual and collective behavior.
The media sometimes tend to indoctrinate, orienting and social action. The change in the representation of a change in behavior.
Study of Control by the Use of Information
| Social System | Communication System | Superstructure (cognitive nature) |
|---|---|---|
| Organisations for the production and social reproduction | Communication mediating institutions (institutions well capitalized and communication in few hands) | Rules, ideas and beliefs Cultural production through stories representations |
| Infrastructure (material nature) Resources, facilities and forces of production (materials, tools) | Means of production, dissemination and reception of information |