Читать книгу Essentials of Sociology - George Ritzer - Страница 134

Mead distinguished between humans and nonhumans. However, both are capable of making gestures (e.g., by raising a limb). By gestures, Mead meant the movements of one individual that elicit automatic and appropriate responses from another individual.

Both animals and humans are capable of not only gestures but also conversations of gestures, whereby they use a series of gestures to relate to one another. Thus, the snarl of one dog may lead a second dog to snarl in return. That second snarl might lead the first dog to become physically ready to attack or be attacked. In terms of humans, Mead gave the example of a boxing match, where the cocking of one boxer’s arm may cause the other boxer to raise an arm to block the anticipated blow. That raised arm might cause the first boxer to throw a different punch or even to hold back on the punch. A less aggressive example can be found in the realm of flirting (Delaney 2012; Henningsen 2004), where one person’s prolonged eye contact (a subtle gesture) may cause another person to return the eye contact. The returned gaze might cause the first flirter to look away and, perhaps, quickly glance again at the other person. As in the case of animals, the gestures of boxers and those who flirt (among many others) are instantaneous and involve few, if any, conscious thought processes.

In addition to physical gestures, animals and humans are both capable of vocal gestures. The bark of a dog and the grunt of a human (boxer) are both vocal gestures. In both cases, a conversation of vocal gestures is possible, as the bark of one dog (or the grunt of a boxer) elicits the bark (or grunt) of another. However, when humans (and animals) make facial gestures (such as originating eye contact in an effort to flirt), they cannot see their own facial gestures. In contrast, both animals and humans can hear their own vocal gestures. As a result, misunderstanding is more likely when people rely on facial rather than vocal gestures. For example, men may be more likely than women to interpret making eye contact as sexual in nature.

Ask Yourself

In what ways do you interact with your pets in the same way you interact with humans? In what ways is the interaction different? Do you find it more satisfying to interact with people or with pets?

It is the vocal gesture that truly begins to separate humans from animals. In humans, but not other animals, the vocal gesture can affect the speaker as much and in the same way it does as the hearer. Thus, humans react to and interpret their own vocal gestures and, more important, their words. Furthermore, humans have a far greater ability to control their vocal gestures. We can stop ourselves from uttering sounds or saying various things, and we can alter what we say as we are saying it. Animals do not possess this capacity. In short, only humans are able to develop a language out of vocal gestures; animals remain restricted to isolated vocal gestures. Many sociologists have come to reject the clear distinction between the abilities of animals and those of humans (Greenebaum and Sanders 2015). Some sociological work has examined symbolic interaction between humans and animals (Alger and Alger 1997; Irvine 2004).