It reminds me, in just the very faintest way, of how some of us introverts feel about all the advice we get on how to be more successful in a world (and publishing industry) weighted to reward extroverts--and how I feel about the agent thing. I'm not popular.
I mean, obviously the South was rife with inequalities at the time, of which this was one of the least. But I think it fundamentally comes down to power relationships - those in power can take away resources from those who lack it, and so systems form which require the less powerful to be sweet, unthreatening, and flattering. The systems will grow, and become enforceable, to the extent that the power differences allow
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Well, I was relating to it on a very personal level...in the sense of having to adapt to and engage in behavior that's alien and uncomfortable, but expected by my society, in order to be invited to the party.
But I am fascinated by the intro/extro power differences - essentially, whoever is expected to adjust one's behavior in a situation is in the lower power position. And it's never fun to do.
Somebody linked to an interesting study yesterday (that of course now I cannot find) that showed when people were playing music, one person tended to "set the pace" - to pull the other person in to match them. But if both players's environments were altered so that they couldn't hear themselves play, only the other person, no one became dominant, and instead they ended up matching each other.
I wonder if, ironically, extros tend to pay more attention to themselves and what they're saying, and so pull conversations/social interaction more in their direction.
I think it's the detail of it that stuck out for me (which emphasizes how much more powerful details, rather than generalizations, in one's fiction can be, now that I think of it). The idea of your name, sitting on a list somewhere, coming into the drugstore each day to see if you'd been "checked" so you could go out and socialize with your friends...
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It reminds me, in just the very faintest way, of how some of us introverts feel about all the advice we get on how to be more successful in a world (and publishing industry) weighted to reward extroverts--and how I feel about the agent thing. I'm not popular.
But only in the faintest way.
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Getting killed kind of trumps it all.
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But I am fascinated by the intro/extro power differences - essentially, whoever is expected to adjust one's behavior in a situation is in the lower power position. And it's never fun to do.
Somebody linked to an interesting study yesterday (that of course now I cannot find) that showed when people were playing music, one person tended to "set the pace" - to pull the other person in to match them. But if both players's environments were altered so that they couldn't hear themselves play, only the other person, no one became dominant, and instead they ended up matching each other.
I wonder if, ironically, extros tend to pay more attention to themselves and what they're saying, and so pull conversations/social interaction more in their direction.
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Unequal power dynamics poison everything.
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