Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine a young man in his mid twenties and he told me that he is not comfortable and he cannot stand some gatherings that are part of their family tradition especially during holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. At first I anticipated that his problem (anxiety) was because of his being sick and tired of the routines associated with the repeated gatherings. In fact I thought to a high degree he must be an introvert who is not comfortable with crowds.
Now as we continued to talk I started to get the feeling that my friend's case was more than just what is discernible, via the Myers Briggs personality test or something. He explained that usually he becomes more nervous and anxious when surrounded by many people especially when he is aay from their family's house which is his comfort zone. So inlight of our discussion I though about an article that I had just read about agoraphobia. In her artice, 'A Phenomenology of Fear: Merleau-Ponty and Agoraphobic Life Worlds', Joyce Davidson wrote that, though agoraphobia is generally described as an experience of dread in, and of open spaces, its greatest hell, is in fact other people not just open spaces. Meanwhile, Yi -Fu Tuan in his text, Landscapes of Fear (1979), "agoraphobic's greatest fear is the loss of control in public spaces, whether open and empty or closed and packed with people..." (p. 204).
Now my question is: If agoraphobics mostly fear crowds or gatherings, how big is the distinction between the real agoraphobics and the introverts? How about the gap between fear and discomfort?
Very apt, seasonal posting Ishmael. Such thoughts could be balanced against "fear of losing contact with the family". These phenomena may be characteristic of different cultures as much as of individual psychologies.
ReplyDeleteWhatever the case, increased description and observation of various cases, narratives and perceptions will (I think) reveal blurred categories from the ones we are accustomed. It may be useful at some point to check out the American Psychological Association's defining diagnostic categories. In some cases these have influenced even popular culture use. That is: the use of certain terms have gotten their flavor from these. Also, there may be a useful distinction there between "anxiety" and "fear".
Also, a review of the usages of the word "fear" (historically) might be interesting. I helped a student find the online version of the Oxford English Dictionary in the FPU Library a few days ago.
Then also, you are in a position to examine the normative uses of the word-concept of fear in different languages associated with different cultures. That can be very revealing about how fear is perceived differently.
I think, all that and more investigated, that in the end since "leadership" is part of the goal in the independent study, fear has to be approached as a social-culturally transacted phenomena. As we wrote at the outset, described solely as a individual, psychological state or condition is not really the point.
As I was writing something else came to mind:
In Weber's ideal type characteristics of "bureaucracies" (which are perhaps the predominant organizational characteristic of modern, institutional life around the globe)... you get a list of characteristics that make the bureaucracy functional (in the ideal). On the ground however, most such organizations are dysfunctional in various ways (at least when compared to the ideals). I wonder how often "fear" is part of the dysfunction? And likewise how it might be related to "transparency" within the organization. If a basic kind of fear is fear of the unknown....then a certain kind of leadership could lead by the degree of disclosure of many things.
I will think more about this....
Hope your holidays are good ones,
Allan