Habits and Invisible Ideas
by
Charles Lamson
Most ideas exist only in people's heads, or are embodied in habit and have never been spoken about or written down. None of us is aware of all the ideas we hold and act upon. This is because many of our ideas are deep assumptions so taken for granted that, under ordinary circumstances, we do not think to question them.
For example, you probably assume that I am not sitting at a radio transmitter beaming messages into your brain. You probably do not suspect that the light coming from this screen is digitally drugging you, being absorbed by your brain via your optic nerves, causing ringing in the ears. You probably also assume that this blog will not make your computer explode when you reach part 14 of this series of articles. Yet you have not been conscious of making any such assumptions, because they were so deep, that you never became aware of them. A lot of our behavior is like this, rooted in places we never look.
The invisibility of the ideas that hold the social world together is part of what makes it seem so real. It is as if the social world were held together by invisible threads that wrap around us. Only when we try to pull away, to break from the pattern in some way, do we experience the realness, the tangible force of the threads. If we are sociologically mindful we can see these threads being spun by ordinary people in everyday life.
Many of the ideas that hold the social world together are invisible, because they are built into habit. For example, as a child you were probably taught to brush your teeth before bed. Perhaps you asked why, and your parents explained about cavities and dentists. You still know all this, but now you brush your teeth as a matter of habit. The idea "I should brush my teeth to avoid painful dental work" is built into your habit; you do not have to review the ideas that originally led to the formation of the habit. This is true of all habits. Once upon a time, we were told why we should do a certain thing, or maybe we figured it out for ourselves, and now we do it without thinking. The guiding ideas are still there, though visible only as habits.
Teeth-brushing is a dull example, but it makes a useful point: some seemingly personal habits are part of a culture. Before you were born, someone devised teeth-brushing as a way to avoid tooth decay. This was a solution (or partial one) to a problem that existed before you did. Today, almost all children are taught to brush their teeth. This is the sense in which teeth-brushing has become part of the culture. People now do it routinely.
Culture is created in this way. Someone finds a solution to a problem. Other people see that it works and adopt it, and eventually the solution becomes "what everyone does." For a time people remember the idea behind the practice. But then, after awhile, they forget. "This is just how we do things," they begin to say. When children come along, they are taught the practice as a matter of course, perhaps with little explanation of the ideas on which it was originally based. It is as if the practice - the behavior that solves the problem - becomes part of a sediment that constitutes culture.
One time a student talked in class about her career plans. She expected to work hard after graduation, get promoted fast, and make lots of money. Then she said she would slow down when it came time time to have babies. Her teacher asked her why, if she wanted to pursue a career with such zeal, she would impede her upward climb by having children. She looked at her teacher and did not say anything for a moment. Then she said, "I don't know. I guess I never considered not getting married and having babies."Now there is a powerful cultural habit. It is so ingrained, that many people do not even think about behaving differently. To be continued...
*SOURCE: THE SOCIOLOGICALLY EXAMINED LIFE, 2ND EDITION, 2001, BY MICHAEL SCHWALBE, PGS. 14-16
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