Lens 3- Affiliation & Social Constructionism

 Affiliation

Crisp and tuner(2007) talk about affiliation and the reasons why humans form close relationships. The need to affiliate is inherited from a young age and phycologists have said that It helps us to survive and reproduce. 

O’connor and Rosenblood's (1996) social affiliation model suggests that the amount we affiliate each day depends on a homeostatic principle.

“ we propose that the process underlying everyday affiliation operates according to a homeostatic principle. This process, in many respects, is analogous to caloric intake. In general, we suggest that individuals seek to maintain an optimal range of social contact.” (O'connor and Rosenblood 1996)

This means that we try to keep our levels of social interaction balanced according to our own preference. If we have reached our preferred level of affiliation we will look to seek out solitude, and on the other hand if we have too much solitude this motivates us to seek out affiliation. These levels will differ depending on the person and their desired levels of interaction.

This corresponds with the way I affiliate. Right now I don’t think i am alone in saying that I am massively exceeding the levels of solitude that I would prefer due to the current lockdown, and therefore my desired need to affiliate is very high.  However I definitely have had occasions in the past where I have reached my optimum level of affiliation and have wanted to be alone. 

For example when performing in panto, I spent every single day with the same cast and crew for around 2 months. I made some great friendships, and genuinely had a great time when I was with the rest of the cast, however I definitely had moments where I desired to be alone. This was clearly not down to the fact that disliked spending time with my fellow cast members; it was just that I have reached my level of optimum affiliation and wanted to seek solitude.

Forced Affiliation 

I love connecting with friends and likeminded people; however within the theatre industry there is a huge importance around networking and connecting with other creatives e.g. casting directors and agents. Many people would use the phrase “it’s not about what you know, it’s about who you know” and I do think that in some cases this is very true. Sometimes I find that I have to go beyond my comfortable levels of affiliation in order to network with others. Does this mean that all affiliation is innate or can it be forced if it doesn't come naturally?

Affiliation in order to feel a sense of belonging

I think another reason that we are motivated to affiliate Is because we are all looking for a sense of belonging. By affiliating with a certain network, whether that be over web 2.0 applications or a group of people you go to class with, it gives us a feeling of being part of something, belonging to something which I think motivates us to do a lot of things through life. We follow the same fashion trends to feel like we’re all part of something together. We believe in a political party because we have a sense of belonging to that party and what it stands for. Affiliating within our own industry is exactly the same.

Social Constructionism

Social constructionism was first introduced as a theory by Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckermann in their book Social constructionism and reality. It is a theory about how meanings are created; Its key principle is that through social interaction we construct our own meanings and principles within our networks. It is basically the idea that many of the ideas and opinions we have aren’t based on research but on knowledge we have gained from networking with those around us. I think social constructionism is difficult because the line between opinion and fact is almost blurred.  

There on lots of unwritten rules within the theatre industry about the ‘correct’ way to go about things and these have been developed through social construction. 

One example of this: During my training a boy in my year went to an audition and afterwards he emailed the casting directors for feedback. At the time most of the people in my year couldn’t believe he had done this, it just wasn't the 'done' thing, and we thought it would be detrimental to his career somehow. To our great surprise, the casting director emailed him back with a couple of lines of feedback for him to work on; he didn’t blacklisted, what he actually got was exactly what he asked for and this went on to help him in his practice. Through social constructionism we had made up this 'rule' that putting yourself out there in this way will give you a bad name in the industry etc, so the majority of us never did this and potentially hindered ourselves from getting feedback and progressing. 

I don't really know where i'm heading in terms of my research into social constructionism but i find it a really interesting concept so hopefully i will stumble across a way to include it more in my learning.

Shauna x

Crisp, R. and Turner, R., 2020. Essential Social Psychology. 4th ed. SAGE publications.

Berger, P. and Luckmann, T., 1966. The social construction of reality. Penguin Books.

2017. The Social Construction of Facts: Surviving a Post-Truth World | Massimo Maoret. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tHbSasnvno>

O'Connor, S. and Rosenblood, L., 1996. Affiliation motivation in everyday experience: A theoretical comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, [online] 70(3), pp.513-522. Available at: <http://file:///C:/Users/User1/Downloads/AffiliationMotivationinEverydayExperienceJPSP1996%20(1).pdf>.

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