Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!seismo!mcnc!rti!sas!jcz From: jcz@sas.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.edu Subject: Re: Cheating on Programming Assignments (Honor System) Message-ID: <240@sas.UUCP> Date: Fri, 29-May-87 17:03:58 EDT Article-I.D.: sas.240 Posted: Fri May 29 17:03:58 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 30-May-87 11:28:51 EDT References: <263@rruxa.UUCP> <1532@celtics.UUCP> <1501@uwmacc.UUCP> <20@aimmi.UUCP> Organization: SAS Institute Inc.,Cary NC,25712 Lines: 57 Summary: Don't toe the line here, toe it there. . . In article <20@aimmi.UUCP>, gilbert@aimmi.UUCP (Gilbert Cockton) writes: > USENET readers in the States may be interested in a common European > analysis of the apparent lack of solidarity and communal consciousness > in the U.S. Roughly, the idea is that America has always been big > enough to allow people to move out rather than conform to group > pressures. If this is true, then years of pushing back the frontier > will have eroded the ability to toe the line for the sake of group > values. As America seems to be running out of space, this could cause > social problems in the decades to come, with only outside threats > developing any sort of cohesion (e.g. reds in Mexico, Arab missiles in > the Gulf etc.) Many Americans hold this same analisys, however, the fact that noncomformants could move to another place has allowed the creation of several varying cultural climates in the US. People can always move around until they find a place that suit them. All in all, the tolerance level is pretty high, not withstanding cetain well-publicized incidents. Couple that with very strong attitudes towards local Government as opposed to federal Government, you get a situation where many diverse 'social climates' exist. The unifying problems mentioned above are remote in that most people see them 'exploited' in national publications that vie for shares of the 'united' market. I would venture that most americans feel themselves to be 'North Carolinians', 'New Yorkers', 'Mountain Folk', and etc. more than they feel American. This is primarily due to the fact that the 'international' experience is so rare among the population. However, when an foreigner is deals with them, he does so as a to an American. I have noticed that many Europeans do not really grasp how big the US is. When I met someone from London, and I tell them that I am from Cary, they are likely to sat to me, "Oh, Well, I have some friends in Houston. . ." Standing together to solve NATIONAL problems is not impossible. However, MOST social problems are indeed local problems that warant local solutions. In this sense, the Federal system should be able to supply resources. > > Note also though that Durkheim's analysis of mechanical and organic > solidarity proposes that any society with a highly developed division > of labour will tend to fragment into groups with differing and even opposing > values. Thus all (post-)industrial societies are bound to be less > conformist than pre-industrial ones. > Gilbert Cockton, Scottish HCI Centre, Ben Line Building, Edinburgh, EH1 1TN I agree; however, this affect is mitigated by the uniformity of consumer goods and other products. It is hard to be *really* individualistic when your problems are the same as every one elses because your diet/clothes/car/etc. are the same. The fragmentation mentioned above then becomes more of a 'stylistic' or 'fashion' division. That is, many of the factors in dividing society are not substantive except in a few cases, and even those can become stylised: religion, politics, etc. -- --jcz John Carl Zeigler SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC 27511 (919) 467-8000 ...!mcnc!rti-sel!sas!jcz