Wojtek
On Sun, Mar 17, 2013 at 12:20 PM, Wojtek S <wsoko52 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Shag: "In becoming friends with folks at work, it is usually pointed
> out that the thing that has bothered them most about the u.s. is the
> isolation. Almost everyone has said that, upon arrival, they often
> felt that they could have died in their hotel room and no American
> with whom they worked would have known for days. The idea that every
> individual goes out to lunch on their own: *weird*. That we often get
> to work and leave with nary a word to cube mates about our comings and
> goings: weird. What? No "hi" and "Good bye"?:
>
> [WS:] This was my impression as FOB too. But then I realized it is
> more about a combination of geography and work schedule than anything
> else. Back in Europe, people would socialize after work, going to a
> pub or someone's flat to hang out. It was possible because they lived
> closer to each other and did not have to drive. They might have had a
> few beers and the go home by bus. Here, everything is sprawled so
> people have to drive to work, In fact, over 86% of people drive
> http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acs-15.pdf. So that kills
> socializing - you cannot go to a pub near you place of work because
> you have to drive, and once you get to your bedroom community it is
> already to late to go out.
>
> What is more, since people move from one bedroom community to another
> chasing after jobs, they do not develop the same neighborhood
> relations as those who do. They are more likely not to know their
> neighbors beyond the conventional "hi" on weekends.
>
> This also explains the popularity of religion in the US. Church going
> is one of the few socializing venues available in suburban America -
> and people who go to church often do so for social rather than
> religious reasons. I often observed that church goers almost never
> talk about religious subjects (e.g. faith, doctrine, theology, etc.)
> when talking about their church experiences - they almost always talk
> about their social experiences: who was there, who did what, who is in
> cahoots with whom etc.
>
> I would say that two things that poison socialization in the US are
> automobile and suburbia. Social life seems to thrive in urban
> environments where people actually live and work in the city and are
> not as dependent on cars. So while US suburbia are social graveyards
> comparing to Europe and Latin America, US cities are as lively, and
> sometimes even more so than European or Latin American cities. As and
> interesting point - the Amish rejected automobile precisely for that
> reason, they feared it would kill their community.
>
>
> As to your observation about ethnic prejudice - it is universal. In
> every part of the world I visited, and I have been to some 40 or so
> countries, I have seen people holding prejudices about other ethnic
> groups. It is a part of the human nature - or more specifically, a
> product of what Kahneman calls "fast thinking" (i.e. making judgments
> based on stereotypes
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow). So you are
> bound to see it when there is interaction among different groups. It
> becomes problematic only when it is not controlled by what Kahneman
> calls "slow" or rational thinking i.e. when it is flamed by demagogues
> or institutionalized. Again, US suburbia and car-based transportation
> tend to increase segregation and help keeping the ethnic prejudices
> alive.
>
>
> --
> Wojtek
>
> "An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."
-- Wojtek
"An anarchist is a neoliberal without money."