Making People Disappear
by:
Charles Lamson
For many reasons the social world seems to be "just there," as if no one were responsible for making it. So what? What difference does it make if we forget that the social world is a human invention? The difference it makes is like that between using one's tools with an awareness of what they are good for, and letting those tools - as if they had minds and will of their own - take charge.
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The failure to see the social world as humanity-made is called reification, which can also be defined as the tendency to see the humanity-made world as having a will and force of its own, apart from human beings. For example, someone might say, "Computer technology is the only major force behind changes in our economy today." In this statement, computer technology is reified because it is spoken of as having a will of its own, independent as human beings. It is technology that appears to make things happen
"Computer technology," however, is only metal and plastic. People forge these materials, turn them into computers and other devices and then decide how to put such tools to work. All along the way, there are people who choose what to build, and how to use the results. But if we talk about technology as if it were a force in its own right. the people who do the building and choosing disappear. It thus seems as if technology is like gravity or the wind - a natural force about which we can do nothing.
Reification keeps us from seeing that the force attributed to technology comes from people choosing to do things together in certain ways. if we do not see this we may forget to ask important questions such as, Who is choosing to build what kinds of devices? Why? How will our society be changed? Who stands to benefit and who stands to lose because of the changes? Should we avoid these changes? Who will be held accountable if these changes hurt people? Should we decide to use technology in some other ways?
Here is another example of reification: "The market responded with enthusiasm to today's rise in interest rates. Although, economists predict that this could have unfavorable consequences for employment." You have probably heard this kind of statement before. It sounds like a report about a flood or some other natural disaster. Yet a market is just a lot of people doing things together in a certain way; interest rates are established by people; and employment results from choices by employers. Reification makes these people and their choices disappear.
In a large and complex society, the tendency to reify is strong because it can be hard to see where, how, and by whom decisions are made. And so it is easier to say that technology, the market, or a mysterious They is making things happen. Even people who ought to know better, get caught up in this. When sociologists say things like, "Trends in inner-city industrial development are causing changes in family structure," they too are guilty of reification. Such language again makes it seem as if no one is responsible for choosing to act in a way that hurts or helps others.
Reification thus keep us from seeing who is doing what to whom, and how certain consequences arise. This makes it hard to hold anyone accountable for the good or bad results arising from their actions. Usually it is powerful people whose actions are hidden and get off the hook.
Reification can also make us feel powerless, because the social world comes to seem like a place that is beyond human control. If we attribute independent force to abstractions, such as technology, the government trends, social structure, or society, then it can seem pointless even to try to intervene, and make things happen differently. People who think this way are likely to remain positive, even when they see others being put out of work, living in poverty, or caught up in war, because they will feel that nothing can be done.
When we reify the social world, we are confusing its reality with that of stars and trees and bacteria. These things indeed exist as material entities, independent of human ideas and action. But no part of the social world does. To reify is to forget this; it is to forget to be mindful of the social world as a humanity-made place. As a result, we forget that it is within our collective power to re-create the world in a better way. If we are sociologically mindful, we recognize that the social world, as it now exists, is just one of many possibilities.
*SOURCE: THE SOCIOLOGICALLY EXAMINED LIFE, 2ND EDITION, 2001, MICHAEL SCHWALBE, PGS. 17-18*
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