Friday, April 24, 2020

Banter 57: Fear and Nativism (the behavior of)

Date: Thursday, May 21st at 6pm via Zoom

Let us discuss the drives behind, purposes of, problems with, and seemingly universal human aptitude for fear & nativism.

With this topic we are ideally trying for getting at how fear & nativism comes up for humans now and historically across varying groups of people, and not just making it about Trumpsters, unless we want to also explore how us pointing at Trumpsters with a sneer is partly us making them into outsiders (outside our own norms and expectations, us being the insiders, in that case, and above such base behavior).  In other words, we are trying to think more broadly about this behavior itself in humans & have sought prep material (see below) via sources that aren’t beholdenly biased to praise for their own echo chamber.


As we said when we chose this as a possible topic, WF and other small mountain towns fearing outsiders bringing in the virus and the rising up behavior to keep em out is one example where liberals show their own cracks with inclusivity (public health issue or not). A small town in Maine took this to an extreme when they chainsawed down a big tree recently to block in a NJ family at the home/driveway they were at, preventing them from getting to town for groceries & making sure they clearly knew they were not welcome. (See novel The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen.) Whether it was right or wrong, can we trace what happens to the mind and group think when gathering up to get that chainsaw, cut that tree, block that family in makes sense?

In sociology, this is called the in-group and out-group. In religious studies, this is referred to as the insider/outsider problem. Every field likely has a trove of inquiries into facets of this, so much has it wreaked havoc on living peacefully for humans (and animals) across the ages.

From a political history perspective (Thanks, Jared!)

“Nativism Across Time and Space” by Hans-Georg Betz, Swiss Political Science Review, 2017. Full article here, beginning right after abstract paragraph: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/spsr.12260

From a religious studies perspective:

20 minute audio interview between two religious studies scholars, “The Insider/Outsider Problem.” https://www.religiousstudiesproject.com/podcast/podcast-george-chryssides-on-the-insideroutsider-problem/


From a sociological perspective:

John Turner (developed social identity theory & later self-categorization theory) - lecture about social psychology of ingroup / outgroup: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g3pX3msaA64

From Wikipedia about Turner’s research:
“In-group favoritism, sometimes known as in-group–out-group bias, in-group bias, intergroup bias, or in-group preference, is a pattern of favoring members of one's in-groupover out-group members. This can be expressed in evaluation of others, in allocation of resources, and in many other ways.[1][2]
This effect has been researched by many psychologists and linked to many theories related to group conflict and prejudice. The phenomenon is primarily viewed from a social psychology standpoint. Studies have shown that in-group favoritism arises as a result of the formation of cultural groups.[3][4] These cultural groups can be divided based on seemingly trivial observable traits, but with time, populations grow to associate certain traits with certain behaviour, increasing covariation. This then incentivises in-group bias.
Two prominent theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of in-group favoritism are realistic conflict theory and social identity theory. Realistic conflict theory proposes that intergroup competition, and sometimes intergroup conflict, arises when two groups have opposing claims to scarce resources. In contrast, social identity theory posits a psychological drive for positively distinct social identities as the general root cause of in-group favoring behavior.“
More details about Turner & his further development of self-categorization theory which shows the individual within the social group much more clearly than social identity theory had originally allowed: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.2044-8309.2011.02091.x

Personal example / case study of a text chain that demonstrates
(Thanks, Anna!)

https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/1-Sf4_RdbLVR3tj78Cqw6dvKiFmUWFanGBPWKDGTkj-4/mobilebasic

 From a Philosophical perspective we might look at Personal Identity (see below) or Group Rights:

Derek Parfit, philosopher, Oxford - two part YouTube video: 


From a literary perspective:

Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44266/mending-wall

“The Paper Menagerie,” short story by Ken Liu.  http://a1018.g.akamai.net/f/1018/19022/1d/randomhouse1.download.akamai.com/19022/pdf/Paper_Menagerie.pdf

 Popular fiction: The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen.

From a songwriter / musician perspective (Thanks, Annette!):

“This Charming Man” by The Smiths

Possibly Helpful insight about a lyric with the song-

“The line "a jumped up pantry boy, who never knew his place" comes from the movie Slueth(its on youtube). Where Michael Caines character is being confronted for having an affair with Laurence Oliviers characters wife. Oliviers character says to Caine "Youre nothing but a jumped up pantry boy , who never knew his place!" He is making a stab at Caines character for being working class - a pantry boy being a servant working in the kitchen of an English manor house.”

Lyrics-

Punctured bicycle
On a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet?

When in this charming car
This charming man

Why pamper life's complexity
When the leather runs smooth
On the passenger's seat?

I would go out tonight
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said "it's gruesome
That someone so handsome should care"

Ah ! A jumped-up pantry boy
Who never knew his place
He said "return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things

I would go out tonight
But I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said "it's gruesome
That someone so handsome should care"
La, la-la, la-la, la-la, this charming man
Oh, la-la, la-la, la-la, this charming man

Ah ! A jumped-up pantry boy
Who never knew his place
He said "return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things


Second song is “Left of Center” by Suzanne Vega featured one the movie Pretty in Pink.

If you want me
You can find me
Left of center
Off of the strip
In the outskirts
In the fringes
In the corner
Out of the grip
When they ask me
"What are you looking at?"
I always answer
"Nothing much" (not much)
I think they know that
I'm looking at them
I think they think
I must be out of touch
But I'm only
In the outskirts
And in the fringes
On the edge
And off the avenue
And if you want me
You can find me
Left of center
Wondering about you
I think that somehow
Somewhere inside of us
We must be similar
If not the same
So I continue
To be wanting you
Left of center
Against the grain
If you want me
You can find me
Left of center
Off of the strip
In the outskirts
In the fringes
In the corner
Out of the grip
When they ask me
"What are you looking at?"
I always answer
"Nothing much" (not much)
I think they know that
I'm looking at them
I think they think
I must be out of touch
But I'm only
In the outskirts
And in the fringes
On the edge
And off the avenue
And if you want me
You can find me
Left of center
Wondering about you
Wondering about you

From hormone-related / immunological/  psychological perspectives: (Thanks, Isaac!) 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2015.00183/full

 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6728892/?report=classic

From a film perspective

 Dogville, with Nicole Kidman


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