I travel in this world metaphorically speaking, with a copy of Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ much acclaimed volume, “Women Who Run With the Wolves” tucked under one arm (shall we say it is the left arm?). Those of you who are familiar with this brilliant text will understand why I say, “the left”. Under the right arm then, I clutch Virginia Hausseggers’, “Wonder Woman: the Myth of Having It All”. I came across the former many years ago when I was first at University, it was probably the best revelation that occurred to me. The latter of course, was added to my armoury in relatively recent times; once again, the timing was auspicious. More on these issues, as SOCIO-LOGIA emerges.
SOCIO-LOGIA is “a space” where eclectic ideas can emerge and be examined; it is about articulating the “lived experience” and it is intended as a platform for articulating perspectives in that context, with the writer variously as observer, participator and/or narrator, in the social sphere. Although some of the ideas may be confronting for the reader who may chance upon SOCIO-LOGIA, the invitation is to pause and reflect on other perspectives, remembering that different people have different “lived experiences”, in society.
Increasingly, we are subjected to a world that is “branded” and “re-branded” and where everyone is expected to have “a story” about the self, at the ready for the penultimate “pitch”. Once upon a time, we told “a story” to convey a deeper meaning or “the moral of the story”, either to our families, neighbours, the next generation and our communities. Such stories were used as a point of “connection” and a way of developing a shared tapestry of memories. However, increasingly it seems that there are expectations that to be and remain competitive, we must “package” ourselves and become masterful (self)-advertisers. After all, as we are often told, we live in an increasingly “competitive society”.
The positive consequences of the imperative to “brand ourselves”, may be that some of us discover our creativity, whether it be with words and/or, self-presentation (image). However, how many of us end up feeling suffocated after we have “packaged” and “re-packaged” ourselves, in order to render ourselves “presentable” to the outside world? How many of us end up feeling “un-real”, not to mention a little lost and perhaps in a crisis of identity, after we have smoothed over and “accounted for” every conceivable imperfection?
There are many issues currently in society that seem apparently ironic and present various paradoxes. Some of these issues may include: the global financial crisis, climate change and the environmental crisis, the often reported increase in “single households” and (corresponding) decrease in “fertility” in the population and what it means to establish and maintain a socially sustainable life. Also, there is the increase in the incidence of mental health “issues”…and many other issues that deserve greater attention, or more precisely, a different type of attention.
These issues beget the question, how as a society, did we manage to “come so far” and make “such progress” and yet, end up in such an “almighty mess”? One irony is that with “globalisation” we have become “so close” or, at least created the illusion of closeness and yet, we have never really been “further apart”. Of course, this is not necessarily everyone’s reality and there are many different experiences of life. However, there are individuals and groups in society who seem to present as harbingers -that all is not well or, to “re-frame”, that life could be much better for more of us, if only…..
Welcome then, to SOCIO-LOGIA!
SOCIO-LOGIA is “a space” where eclectic ideas can emerge and be examined; it is about articulating the “lived experience” and it is intended as a platform for articulating perspectives in that context, with the writer variously as observer, participator and/or narrator, in the social sphere. Although some of the ideas may be confronting for the reader who may chance upon SOCIO-LOGIA, the invitation is to pause and reflect on other perspectives, remembering that different people have different “lived experiences”, in society.
Increasingly, we are subjected to a world that is “branded” and “re-branded” and where everyone is expected to have “a story” about the self, at the ready for the penultimate “pitch”. Once upon a time, we told “a story” to convey a deeper meaning or “the moral of the story”, either to our families, neighbours, the next generation and our communities. Such stories were used as a point of “connection” and a way of developing a shared tapestry of memories. However, increasingly it seems that there are expectations that to be and remain competitive, we must “package” ourselves and become masterful (self)-advertisers. After all, as we are often told, we live in an increasingly “competitive society”.
The positive consequences of the imperative to “brand ourselves”, may be that some of us discover our creativity, whether it be with words and/or, self-presentation (image). However, how many of us end up feeling suffocated after we have “packaged” and “re-packaged” ourselves, in order to render ourselves “presentable” to the outside world? How many of us end up feeling “un-real”, not to mention a little lost and perhaps in a crisis of identity, after we have smoothed over and “accounted for” every conceivable imperfection?
There are many issues currently in society that seem apparently ironic and present various paradoxes. Some of these issues may include: the global financial crisis, climate change and the environmental crisis, the often reported increase in “single households” and (corresponding) decrease in “fertility” in the population and what it means to establish and maintain a socially sustainable life. Also, there is the increase in the incidence of mental health “issues”…and many other issues that deserve greater attention, or more precisely, a different type of attention.
These issues beget the question, how as a society, did we manage to “come so far” and make “such progress” and yet, end up in such an “almighty mess”? One irony is that with “globalisation” we have become “so close” or, at least created the illusion of closeness and yet, we have never really been “further apart”. Of course, this is not necessarily everyone’s reality and there are many different experiences of life. However, there are individuals and groups in society who seem to present as harbingers -that all is not well or, to “re-frame”, that life could be much better for more of us, if only…..
Welcome then, to SOCIO-LOGIA!