{"id":2202,"date":"2023-10-06T10:18:56","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T10:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/?p=2202"},"modified":"2023-12-06T14:15:21","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T14:15:21","slug":"class-exercise-self-hardware-shopping-symbolism-prof-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/class-exercise-self-hardware-shopping-symbolism-prof-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Class exercise: Self, hardware, &#038; shopping symbolism. PROF GUIDE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Part 1: The store entrance puzzle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The puzzle is that a UK hardware store got rid of its separate entrance and area for tradespeople (builders) in an attempt to be more efficient, but this failed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some brief small-group discussions can hopefully get the whole class to a good answer for question 1 about why this failed (see below), and that sets up the real depth, which is use of the organizing principle tools to analyse it more deeply. You can perhaps let groups choose their own principle, or even assign different principles to different groups. Encourage them to see the big picture issue with their principle, but ideally to go into details if possible too<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Question 1: Why did it fail?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Answer: <\/strong>It failed because many builders HATED it, and refused to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Why? Because they had an identity as a builder which made them better and more serious than &#8216;normal&#8217; people who just tinkered with their house on the weekend. They had the skills, they had the knowhow and the capability, and they didn&#8217;t want to be confused with the grandmas and enthusiastic amateurs whose incompetence they would then be called in to fix (or so they would see it). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They wanted to be treated in ways that respected their elevated and separated status, and the store had to restore this for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Question 2: Use at least two of our organizing principles from this chapter to help structure your explanation of why it failed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Answer:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Self-symbolic theory\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The entrance, the special desk inside it with employees who would talk to them directly, the industrial-scale merchandise they could buy, these were all symbols of their pro-builder identity that they could use to make this self-image feel more real<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can look at this with self-congruency theory (the pro-entrance was congruent with their actual self as a builder, and so appealed to their self-verification motives<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can look at this through a more CCT identity construction framework: They were able o use it to build their identity as a builder, and negotiate the perceived reality that they were different from and set apart from normal weekend tinkerers, which helps maintain their special and coherent status<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Self-expansion theory\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They had used their builder&#8217;s apprenticeship and work to expand their self, and the trade entrance \/ area was a part of how they recognized this. They were probably really excited the first few times they went into this area, as they felt they were adding abilities, perspectives, and maybe even a different relationship with the shop into their self. Taking it away removed this from their self, which would make their self shrink, which is highly painful (akin to the pain of breaking up with a relationship partner). So this theory would do a good job of explaining why they might have been viscerally upset<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>self-threat and compensation\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Being a builder is probably one of their contingencies of self-esteem. If they felt they were doing badly as a builder this contingency would trigger a drop in their self-esteem, so they would feel bad. Why would using a different entrance hurt their image as a builder? See the two theories above (i.e., self-symbolic &amp; self-expansion)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>If you are comfortable with amoebic-self theory, then this is arguably a violation of their spatial-symbolic boundary. They were being pushed out of their special physical space, and they took a hit to the symbolic property that granted them a living (i.e., people see them as a special person who can be entrusted with a big budget to rip their house apart and rebuild it better<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Withdrawing their custom from this shop, and going somewhere else that did grant them this status is arguably direct compensation (i.e., tackle the problem directly)&#8230; or maybe symbolic self-completion at most (i.e., finding a different source of identity completion)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Part 2: Product symbolism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asks them to work out what symbolic self various products might be communicating, and if the products are aimed at particular audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can bring your own products for this too, or get your class to bring their own &#8211; that might be even more compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Product 1:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first one is a 1949 ad for Palmolive soap, and is a weird one &#8211; the symbolism is laid on so thick that it&#8217;s practically thrown into your face, but there&#8217;s also a veneer of science pasted into it too, with an exact number of doctors (36) recommending it to an exact number of patients (1285 women &#8220;many with complexion problems&#8221;. It&#8217;s very blunt at trying to throw out self-threats (e.g., our skin might be oily or dull or drab or have complexion problems! &#8211; implication: Nobody will like you, your social selves will suffer &#8211; its picture implies romantic partners, but presumably others too) and offering itself as a solution<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Original size picture for this one is here: https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/80682954@N00\/5450710818<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Product 2:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blocks of handmade soap, stacked roughly, and stamped &#8220;Savon De Marseille&#8221;. Symbolism here is a sort of old-world charm, slightly classical. Very anti-industrial. It feels almost tactile to look at. What kind of a self is this? Presumably a sophisticated one that is elevated from the ordinary. See what the students make of it<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Product 3:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pictures of various &#8220;Lumin&#8221; cosmetics products in sleek black jars with sleek fonts, but sitting on big rough stones against a bank background. The rocks suggest some level of ruggedness, but the products are things like anti-wrinkle serums, black circle defense, and charcoal cleanser&#8230; So perhaps it is more meant to suggest nature and minerals and natural healthiness? The imagery is very stripped-back and androgynous, so perhaps they are hoping to look generally atmospheric, and leave people room to project their own identities in? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>NOTE: <\/strong>If and when students struggle, get them to compare the three different images. Are they sending the same messages? Different ones? Who are the people that would choose one vs. another? See if you can help them get into it this way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Part 1: The store entrance puzzle The puzzle is that a UK hardware store got rid of its separate entrance and area for tradespeople (builders) in an attempt to be more efficient, but this failed. Some brief small-group discussions can hopefully get the whole class to a good answer for question 1 about why this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"chapter":[14],"exclude_from_index":[15],"class_list":["post-2202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","chapter-4-self","exclude_from_index-exclude-from-index"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2202"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2431,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2202\/revisions\/2431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2202"},{"taxonomy":"chapter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter?post=2202"},{"taxonomy":"exclude_from_index","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/illuminated-text.com\/cb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/exclude_from_index?post=2202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}