The Symbolic Process and its Integration in Children
Chapter 1: An Introductory Statement of the Problem
John Fordyce Markey
Table of Contents | Next | Previous
THE sage who said, " Scratch a savant and find a Tartar," would make us all out as wild men. No one has ever sifted the grains of truth from the saying-it would perhaps not be worth while. But it does express the fact that all are subject to irritant influences which exert a profound effect. And when people are seen to be not such mythical beings, each encased within his varnish-coat of social veneer, but social groupings and social beings-interpenetrating systems of interaction which does not stop at the surface, the predicament is a real one.
The scratching is that of social interaction itself, which goes to the core, frequently moulding persons or groups into comic, or more often, tortuous shapes. To eliminate this may require a major operation. The extraction of undesired social interrelations is not similar to throwing off a cloak, but resembles taking steam from water, or moisture from the human body-a consuming process. In any case, it is a precarious undertaking. Although often unsure of what they really want, groups of persons are sure that they get and have a great deal of warped and undesired social life. So that, from one angle or another, everyone wishes to control the persons, groups, or processes involved, either to get more of what is wanted or less of what is not wanted. This is just a way of saying that social control, involving more accurate knowledge, is a pressing problem. The problem is to a
( 2) large degree responsible for the development of the social sciences, and is destined to be a much more potent stimulus as social relations become more complex.
In its largest sense, social control may be thought of as all the influences which act and react in social groups, as well as the influences exerted by the group upon its surroundings. Such a usage makes it practically synonymous with social influences of all sorts. It comes to mean simply the social interdependence, in a mechanistic and mathematical sense, of social interaction. As such it loses its distinctive characteristics, being diluted and attenuated to include all of social phenomena.
There is another and more limited idea of social control, i.e., those social influences and social changes which are a function of the formulated plans, objectives, or sanctions of the group. Whatever may be the means used, it is the manipulation of the social processes themselves which is the significant part of social control. It is the behaviour process of utilizing social influences whereby the group (or individual) attempts to realize some objective.
Unless social groups are able to set up such objectives which they find desirable and then bring the proper mechanisms into operation to obtain these ends, they can hardly be said to have " controlled " the social processes in any real sense.[1] That is, some sort of reflective behaviour or " thought " activity must be involved. There is no " uncaused " factor called for in this connection. It is not done by magic-at least this study is not proceeding upon such an assumption. It merely means that groups and individuals plan, more or less clearly, and then work to realize these plans. In a similar manner we control physical laws in order to run automobiles, build skyscrapers, and fly aeroplanes.
In such a conception of social control this " looking ahead," " planning," and " selecting " takes on major importance. Here it is that accumulated knowledge and
( 3) particularly the social sciences may be utilized. What is the nature of socially reflective " thought " which is thus a prerequisite and a part of social control ? The reflective or ideational, process, which for purposes of approach we have designated the symbolic process, has furnished the basis for this study ; a sociological research in the symbolic process and its integration in children. It is assumed that a study of the origin and nature of words, signs, symbols, including significant objects and symbols in art, ideas--the symbolic process--will throw light on the mechanisms used for social control.
The first task is a brief survey of the conception among representative American sociologists of the origin and nature of the symbolic process.
The second is a critical analysis of the process in the light of psychological and sociological experiment and investigation and material gathered from child study. The main avenue of approach will be through a study of the integration of language symbols.
The third task will be to draw some implications of the process, for social control.
Those who prefer more structuralistic terminology would use environment for a great deal of what is included above under the term process.
