I'm kinda liking this Lerner dude's take on the evolution of subjectivity through modernization. Seems to me like a way of describing factors that go into the construction of a post-structural self - one that is adaptable to both deep structure (say, culture) and structure more palpable to perception (such as microsocial interaction).
Daniel Lerner (1958): The passing of traditional society: Modernizing the Middle East. New York: MacMillan: 43-75. Contextualized here.
What does Lerner mean by ìempathyî and mobility?
Empathy is a psychoanalytic term referring to two processes by which an individual identifies with or ìincorporatesî others: projection and introjection. Projection perceives self in other and introjection imagines other in self. Lerner suggests these processes are the operational mechanisms by which individuals adapt themselves to the demands of a changing environment. The more efficiently (and selectively?) a person utilizes these processes the more mobile is their subjectivity (49). Mobility is the internalized (socialized) comfort with the experience of and adaptability to change as the ìnormalî way to be (48). This ìhigh capacity for rearranging the self-system on short noticeî based on the ability to see oneself in anotherís situation, to see oneself as the other (or an other), is a style cultivated by modern society and complemented by emphases on notions of participation - taking up new roles, and having opinions -identifying personal values with the public sphere (50-51).
What role does the media play in Lernerís formula for modernization?
Mass media are the ìgreat teachers of interior manipulationî because of their multiplying presentations of a simplified and organized perception of life in another land, sans the complicated overload of sensory stimuli one has to manage by actually being there (54). This has had the effect of increasing non-traveling peopleís imagination about other places through exposure to an ìinfinite vicarious universeî (53). The packaging of the mass media conveys a mediated sense of other places, the are ìcomposed and orchestrated version[s]î of life outside oneís familiar milieu (53).
I was tickled to read the comment about people in the early days of the movies trying to intervene in them, as Hannah did that once, quite dramatically, when she was about six. She had not been exposed to much prior to that time (videos of the Teletubbies, Sesame Street, Arthur). I don't remember what we were watching, but there was a scene, well into it, when the protagonist was in danger but didn't yet know it, and Hannah started yelling at her to pay attention! It was amusing, on the one hand, but also a bit freaky to see how deeply she was engaged with the story.
would "have" a method or would "be" a method? learning is always methodological, whether intentional or not, yes?