The popular teenage coming-of-age
film, The Breakfast Club, features
five high school students stuck in detention. They all have different social statuses
within their high school and feel they must uphold society’s perceptions of
them in order to survive the school year. Much like constructivism between
nations, high school social groups force students to be something they are not
in order to fit in and not cause disruption. Constructivism and high school are
similar in regard to the standards the two set for the groups involved and
differ in their actors.
In constructivist
theory, nations have states, not because they were there naturally when land
was formed, but because humans created them to have a form of order and
territory. These socially constructed states have identity, security, and
structure. Their identity is how they think about themselves in the world in
relation to other states. They have security to protect them against attacks or
their world status being ruined. Also, the two have a structure that doesn’t have
to be a government but allows them to set expectations.
High school has
social groups like nations have states. Each high school has similar groups but
with different players. In The Breakfast
Club, there is a jock, a brainiac, a rebellious criminal, a pretty, popular
girl, and a girl who keeps to herself. In order to maintain social order and peace
of mind, they must remain within their social group because that is the place society
tells them they fit in. Those social groups were not there when the high school
was built, they’re there because the students who walk the halls created them.
The social groups give the students an identity and a way to compare themselves
to other students around them. Their security lies in the fact that if they don’t
step outside their group and cause turmoil, no other groups will bother them.
Within the groups they have a structure that allows order to be maintained
within the social group, like a leader and their closest friends.
But, in both states
and high school, nothing is permanent. High school groups can change due to the
activities the students get involved in or the people they spend time with. States
can change due to their communities, how they’re governed, or the norms and
rules they create.
I think this is a great real-time example of constructivism. I find that constructivism is the hardest of the "isms" to conceptualize, and thinking about it in terms of high school social groups is actually interesting. High schoolers, especially, can change their views and opinions so quickly over just four years. It is the same as the ideal within constructivism that history is contingent and determinant on how people choose to make it. Differing high school groups are formed because students find themselves attracted to others with their own similar interests. These cliques are representative of nations and how in the past they themselves formed. And it can change any time throughout history. I do however believe it is a little harder to change nations than is is to change high school social groups- it just takes a much longer period of time when thinking about it at a worldly perspective.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I feel as though politics is a lot like high school. Not just in the sense of constructivism, anarchy and wars, as well. I think part of the reason high school and nations change and evolve are because of how people change based on their environment and what they experience. Change does happen faster in high school because you only have four years and you experience so many different things in that short time period. Whereas, it takes quite a bit longer for massive events to happen to nations in order for them to learn from them.
DeleteThe cliques in high school and the creation of states not only gave an identity for people, but they also give a sense of a "them versus us" scenario. For instance, in high school it could be between the football or rugby teams. In international relations is could be rivalry between the states of France and Britain, especially during the height of colonialism. Rivalries can develop, change or just die out after a while in both high school and in international relations all depending on how each country defines their identity and ideals.
ReplyDeletei feel that this shows how useful constructivism is as a tool outside of international politics. The nation state is one of the largest things that a person can conceptually understand but like the social groups in a high school they are completely made up. The idea of social construction is used a lot in film. For example in the film dancing with wolves actor Daniel Day Lewis plays a frontier man who spends so much time with native Americans that he realises that the two people (indians and americans) are essentially the same and the distinctions that are proclaimed to divide them are ultimately artificial. The movie is incredibly corny but it gets the point across.
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