prescription fcrr IDENTITY

by Allan O Kirkpatrick

ANNUAL FACULTY LECTURE RIVERSIDE CITY COLLEGE - 1967 Prescription For Identity

by

ALLAN 0. KIRKPATRICK

First off, I'd like to say that I regard my selection RIVERSIDE CITY COLLEGE as Faculty Lecturer for 1967 as a professional high­ ANNUAL FACULTY LECTURES water mark. When notified of the results of the elec­ tion, I was completely and wildly elated for what must have been nearly thirty-seven seconds. Then The Faculty Lecturer is chosen each year by I recalled the obligation that attends this signal honor vote of his colleagues to deliver an address on a for the faculty member so chosen by his colleagues: scholarly subject of general interest. The series was " .. .. to speak on a scholarly subject of general inaugurated in 1961 by Associate Professor Cecil interest." In the next twenty-six days I had selected Stalder. Other Faculty Lecturers have been Professors -and rejected-as suitable topics a list of subjects Lee Gladden, Thomas Meidell Johnson, Howard that ranged all the way from alienation to Zen, taking Burton, David MacCuish, and John R. Horton. pains, of course, to keep them in alphabetical order so that I would remember to be scholarly. During the following twenty-six days I reversed the order, starting with zymurgy and working back to aardvarks. At the time, the thought occurred to me that I was in a better position to give a testimqnial on incipient anxiety neurosis t h a n a scholarly lecture. These preregrinations finally were brought to a screeching halt (as they say in the Pit) when certain adminis­ trative requirements necessitated a formal statement of my topic. (Incidentally, I hope you find these autobiographical vignettes as fascinating as I.) While taking my inventory of possible topics for the faculty lecture, I was struck by the ambiguity of my intellectual attraction for the r o 1e of Faculty Lecturer that I would be playing today, and the

- 1 - emotional revulsion I felt at the idea of being so no less than it did to the ancient Hellenes, I submit presumptuous as to accept the role. That the person­ that its poularity has its roots at least as much in its ality qualities comprising the "natural" speaker are focus on the problem of identity as in the latent uniquely lacking in me is clearly demonstrated by carnal lusts for the parent of the opposite sex that the six-odd inches of daylight you may readily Freud has described. observe between my vibrating lower appendages and this floor. But the tyranny of this honor led me not Sophocles was, quite likely, sensitive to the pre­ only to its acceptance, but also to the selection of the dictability of much of man's behavior and the topic that I wish to speak on today. H we have any relationship of this predictability to social experience. time left this morning I will tell you about it. What that great tragedian knew from intuition, observation or keen inductive abilities has been The dilemma that I found myself in as part of empirically verified today in the social and behav­ preparing for this role-that of meeting a social obli­ ioral sciences: that the individual is a mirror of his gation that was, in part, contrary to my personal society. Man, being devoid of instincts and the ability inclinations-suggested what seems to me to be one to grow up apart from the society of his .fellow beings, of the most persistent and fascinating of the grand is ineluctably a projection of his culture, of the society metaphysical themes that pervades the entire re­ that has socialized and humanized him. This is the corded history of man, the quest for identity. From point implicit in the remarks with which the late Oedipus to the Organization Man, from Socrates to Russell Gordon Smith greeted his undergraduate Soren Kierkegaard, from Marx to Mad Comics, we are students at Columbia: haunted by the omnipresent theme of alienation-the Each of you arrived in this world as a poly­ loss by the individual of personal identity through morphous - perverse little ape with a billion the operation of social processes. years of biological evolution precipitated, so to speak, in your dimpled organism. You I would like to touch on a .few of the historical came with no higher desires than to have aspects of the search for personal reality and then your capacious belly filled with milk and move to a description of some of the present-day to have your somatic and visceral itches major threats to our individuality. I will conclude scratched by loving hands . . . . . Think of with some suggestions for an a n t i d o t e to the yourself as a bawling and puking brat with your nose and bladder in perennial flux, depersonalizing forces in the mass society a pre­ and then look at yourself now. scription for identity. Look at yourself now! The lovable little ten-toed I mentioned that most of the great figures of the biped that you regard with such warmth and under­ Western tradition have expressed a profound fasci­ standable affection is as much a creation of society nation for man's tireless quest for a sense of his own as society is, in turn, a creation of him and his fellows. uniqueness. Sophocles, for example, some 2,500 years This accounts for the collective character of this and ago, sent Oedipus in a search for identity that would all other societies, a character so palpable that little lose him a throne and find him guilty of patricide and imagination is required to pinpoint its distinctive incest. And if the play appeals to the modern reader qualities in any society. This may have given rise to

- 2 - - 3 - the myth of supernatural determinism against which figuration today, however, are indicative of the culture Oedipus struggles. And, like Oedipus, we sense our of change that is ours: flexible, adaptable, tolerant. bondage and the duality of its significance. For as we These terms describe 20th century man. To this image uneasily acquiesce to the pressures to take our place Freud gives impetus to unconscious motivations in the collective social character, we also recognize growing out of childhood experiences; Elton Mayo our indebtedness to our society. How priceless are the quantifies the extent to which peer group associations benefits derived from our relationships with others: guide our thinking and behavior; and David Riesman comradeship, sharing, esprit de corps, and the incom­ completes the portrait with the "other-directed man." parable delight of loving and being loved. Victimized by unremembered and repressed childhood Simultaneously we fight for our uniqueness, our experiences, manipulated by "hidden persuaders" and individuality-our identity, if you please. subliminal stimuli, and depersonalized by the forces of bureaucracy, our polymorphous-perverse little ape I mentioned earlier that each society in every has something to bawl about. time manifests a collective character, an image of man. The ancient world, for instance, conceived man Let me develop the image of 20th century man. in a philosophical role, centered on virtue and reason: Biologically he has changed little in the past 25,000 man apprehending virtue through the use of reason years. Characterologically he is demonstrably plastic, and following its demands. The Christian image added taking whatever form is dictated by the caprices of sin and agape, spiritual love: man controlling his his social matrix. Unlike most of his forebears, he is sinful impulses and finding his evil human nature intensely aware of the state of flux in which he lives redeemed by transfiguring love. The Renaissance -and of some of those more ominous caprices. The projects a political image of man motivated by power Greek who saw the Oedipus, by way of contrast, took and will: fighting to control the social enviornment, for granted the continuity in life styles that had energy liberated to affect political ends, the common existed and would continue to exist between gener­ man sharing glory with his leaders, and both re­ ations through time. He was confirmed in his faith, sponding to state and national ideals. The eighteenth his child-rearing practices, his behavior with his and nineteenth centuries in the Western world neighbors-all by the sancity of Tradition. He was generate an economic image and rationalize man's aware of social change, and even wrote of it, but it growing interest in property, things, and money, with was as peripheral to his real world as the dietary an invisible hand automatically transforming the indi­ habits of aardvarks are to yours and mine. vidual good into the common good. If we take the accumulation of scientific knowl­ The economic image persists into the early part edge as a correlate of social change--and it is axio­ of this century, summarized brilliantly by Max matic that the supply of devices and tools that Weber, Robin Williams, Karen Horney and others transform our environment stems from it-we have intrigued by the influence of social values on the an empirical indicator of the relative rates of change. individual. Words like industry, frugality, self-control Consider: from the time of Christ to the American apply. The appellations for our characterological con- Revolution, all pre-existing scientific knowledge dou-

- 4 - - 5 - bled. It doubled again by 1900. By 1950 the doubling authorities who clamor for our loyalties. We are process repeated itself, again in 1960, and again this confronted with such a variety of possibilities for very year. self-expression that our higher cerebal centers be­ I would like to consider now just a few of the come stunned, frozen with all the infinite possi­ results of this geometric progression of scientific bilities. Two hundred million Americans, to para­ knowledge, with particular reference to its implications phrase an old saw, can't be wrong-when they all for man's sense of identity. agree; but when 200 million disagree, each must find his own way. First, we can see that unlike the ancient Greeks --or even our grandparents-we cannot use our par­ Mass communication is discussed (and cussed) ents as success models for dynamic family and work so often that I'll touch on it only briefly. With all its roles. Neither father-centered families nor the skills manifest assets, it has certainly brought its share for running small farms or corner groceries have any of liabilities. We are constantly reminded, for particular demand today. From what we know of example, that we may bear an affliction so loathsome identity, however, we are likely to internalize paren­ that even our best friends won't tell us. A cultural tal images, and this means that to the extent that we hypochondriasis regarding dental caries, body odor can approximate that parental image, our sense of and regularity is perpetuated and intensified by identity enjoys a proportionate security. So the advertising. And although we may properly relish likelihood of a kind of pandemic low-level anxiety on-the-spot reporting, we are all too frequently becomes a concomitant of rapid change. Worse yet, aware of the great gulf between our individual lives we are even handicapped when we seek spiritual and the events brought into our living rooms by the consolation for our troubled souls, for the anthropo­ so-called marvel of television. Instead of meeting morphic faith of the agrarian world of our parents is our psychological needs, our deepest .fears and increasingly amiss in the modern urban world. If this inadequacies are exploited, our impulse behavior is leaves us pretty much on our own, we may take some stimulated (charge today, go bankrupt tomorrow!), wretched satisfaction in noting that it does the same and our consciousness is assailed with a pathogenic for our neighbors-so, lacking a reliable guide from and distorted image of the world in which we live. the past, we watch them, surreptitiously, waiting .for Violence, materialism, and a kind of infantile, them to supply us with cues for our behavior. The voyeuristic sexuality are glamorized, while family life past is rejected: when baby comes down with croup, is reduced to the fatuity of the Beverly Hillbillies or we turn not to Granny's asaphitidy bag, but the the pseudo-sophistication of Peyton Place, where family home medical encyclopaedia or the pedia­ everybody loves everybody else. And frequently. tricians. Likewise, when that low-level anxiety blossoms into a full-fledged case of inflamed topangas If we do not succumb to the mentecidal assault or collywobbles, we bypass the traditional remedies by masscomm, we can contemplate the compartment­ and seek, instead, the advice of the experts: Norman alized life offered by the bureaucracy, the alienation Vincent Peale or the Boobsy Twins, Ann and Abby. of the assembly line, or that one big, scientifically We are, in fact, surrounded in the urban world with superior boom that can reduce our planet to a radi-

- 6 - - 7 - oactive cinder orbiting through lifeless space. The Identity, writer-psychriatist Allan Wheelis empha­ thought has been expressed that it is just about a sizes this point, namely, that commitment to goals toss-up as to whether we will be bored to death or in life is a rich source of meaning for man, because blasted. Is it any wonder that we frequently hear the man defines himself in terms of those valued ends comment that any normal, well-adjusted person who and thus acquires direction and purpose for his exist­ isn't a maladjusted neurotic must have something ence. When he stands for something in addition to wrong with him? himself, then he knows who he is and where he is To pursue my point, namely, that our present­ going. day culture contains more that is dys.functional I do not propose to tell you where you are going. for man's identity than those past, I submit the I would, however, like to describe a way of knowing following: there is an attenuation of faith in the old who you are: a prescription for identity. It is one that faith, a growing sense of ineffectiveness with regard grows out of my experiences as a teacher, a counselor, to one's destiny, a feeling of depersonalization in a and a lifelong student of the science of that most world where the machines are becoming more like enigmatic of beings, man. men-and men are more like machines. Likewise, the immutable goals and eternal verities are more vaguely Inasmuch as the concentration of my studies defined in a world where even morality has a dynamic has been in psychology, I shall refer chiefly to that penumbra. Of course, many feel that reports o.f God's discipline in d e s c r i b i n g the evolution of my death are greatly exaggerated, but few would argue prescription. about the moribund character of Idealism. This is Psychology is frequently defined as "the scien­ especially true for our modal citizen, that flexible, tific study of human behavior." In the course of my adjusted and tolerant urbanite. "Values are relative," involvement with it, however, it has often been my he asserts, and his are topical rather than eternal. As impression that its primary concern is the scientific W. H. Auden notes in a work appropriately entitled study of abnormal behavior. This impression has been The Age of Anxiety: reinforced in the past by my discovery of the remark­ ... This stupid world where gadgets are able paucity of professional literature on healthy per­ gods and sonality. All too often many psychologists, like We go on talking, many about much, doctors, have seemed to be content with the notion but remain that health and well-being could be defined in terms Alone, alive but alone, belonging-where?­ of the absence of disease. Expressed as a hypothetical Unattached as tumbleweed. syllogism the theory becomes, "If man is not sick, he must be well." Unfortunately this is difficult to recon­ His tolerance serves modem man well; it is, cile with the quotation I somewhat facetiously stated in fact, the sine qua non of life in the democratic, earlier, the one asserting that anyone with normal pluralistic society. It is also the pernicious anemia of sensitivity in these troubled times is maladjusted if commitment, w i th a consequent prognosis for he isn't maladjusted. And what of the man with the identity that is at best negative. In The Quest for gift of creative genius who contents himself with the -8- - 9 - composition of such doggeral as "Oh, I'd love to be So far so good for all concerned. The rub, however, an Oscar Meyer Wiener?" And what of the other­ comes from the fact that social systems must con­ directed man who swaps his identity for a mess of stantly develop new roles to cope with external and pottage?-Or, more precisely, the man who exchanges internal threats to their well-being. Consequently, his potentially healthy personality for the superficial role requirements often change more quickly than the acceptance o,f the majority? No one would, I am sure, people who occupy them. To creatures for whom habit describe these persons as "healthy personalities." has replaced instinct, this can be traumatic. Historically, there have been but two major Another source of conflict is also present. Social psychologies, the Freudian and the behaviorist. systems function most smoothly when there is Fortunately for an expanded scientific knowledge of consensus, harmony, predictable behavior and con­ man, another is emerging, one which Dr. Abraham formity to the role requirements. Individuals, on the Maslow describes as "The Third Force." Including other hand, move toward the highest level of potential many psychologists and psycharists known variously growth when their own uniqueness can be freely as gestaltists, existentialists, reality therapists, neo­ expressed. When the vital balance swings toward the Freudians, neo-analysts, and so on, the Third Force goals of the system, people become more like the focuses on the study of healthy personality. These mindless automata of the Brave New World. When it psychologists, as well as many sociologists, existen­ teeters in the direction of the individual, to mix a tialist philosophers, and literary artists in general, metaphor, chaos and disorder obtain. The point is, have done much in recent y e a rs to develop the society is the originator of roles, which are modified vocabularies necessary to describe and understand by the unique qualities of the individual, such as the problem of identity in the mass society. I would intelligence, temperament, vitality, age and experi­ like to mention a few of the Third Force developments ences. Furthermore, man plays a wide variety of roles, that have particular application here. including many that change very nearly as quickly Around the turn of the century, Ernst Mach as they become defined. As if this doesn't complicate scientifically shattered Freud's early theory of the the problem of identity sufficiently, he plays many ego as a single and static identity. Since that time, roles almost simultaneously. At this very moment, a wide variety of theories has demonstrated an for instance, we are not the same persons we will be increasing coalesence with regard to anxiety and when we alight before our television sets-that identity. They run something as follows: Social sys­ chewing gum for the eyes-remove our shoes, and tems can be thought of metaphorically as intelligent, relax to such intoxicating refrains as, "I'd Love to living organisms possessing distinct personalities and Be an Oscar Meyer Wiener." (Freudian overtones notwithstanding, th a t commercial evokes most instincts for self-preservation and maintenance. provocative questions concerning the sense of identity They are comprised of roles which perpetuate the of its composer!) Within the space of the next hour, viability o,f the system to the extent that men will any one of us here will play any number of roles, learn and display the behavior appropriate to these depending on those with whom we come in contact. roles. Just as the roles fulfill vital functions for soci­ The point is, we change roles as often and as quickly ety, so too, do they provide meaning for the individual. as roles change us.

- 10 - - 11- As a matter of fact, many of the roles having fit ourselves. But, oh! how anxious so many of us are major significance for individual identity are today to rush to Procrustes, to abrogate our individuality. changing faster than ever. Third Force thinkers are When asked, "Who are you?" a great many Americans to a major extent concerned with how the healthy -American men, at any rate-will respond by personality responds to these changes. This concern mentioning their occupational specialty. The work grows out of their sensitivity to the relationships I role is frequently introjected to the extent that have described to you between the individual, roles, retirement means disaster: a loss of identity that and the social system. "Can man steer a clear course \ soon results in senile psychosis or a coronary. In between the Scylla o,f withdrawal and the Charybdis short, our identity problems arise not so much from of the grey flannel soul? And," they ask, "can he J the fact that we have bad roles to play, but that we adjust to the endless demands of changing roles play them badly. without doing permanent damage to his capacity for The definition of identity that seems to agree maturing as a human being with a distinct identity?" with the ideas of those who have written most ex­ How does he learn to be, in the words of Soren tensively on the subject, persons such as Erik Kierkegaard, " ... that self which one truly is"? Erikson, Carl Rogers, and Erich Fromm, is expressed I would like to point out at this juncture something like this: Identity is the basic inner reality that the terms "identity" and "role" are not of the individual-the actual feelings, thoughts, interchangeable. The term role can be defined as a wishes, memories and fantasies as they arise spon­ set of duties and privileges. Students in their formal taneously. This inner reality is our actual identity, role for instance, are enthusiastic and eager to learn; that self which each of us truly is. Generally speaking, professors are wise and patient. Men are agressive it becomes more patterned, more crystallized, as we and restless; women, affectionate and domestic. -Or mature; but it never reaches complete stasis. What is is it the other way around? As you can see, it is more important, we approach our given potential for difficult to keep up with the role changes. Identity healthy, mature personalities to the extent that we on the other hand, causes each of us to play the roles accurately perceive this inner reality! The accuracy in ways that reflect our individuality. We get more of perception is never one hundred percent; it isn't involved with some roles than others, for obvious even pure enough to float in heavy water. But identity reasons, but it is equally obvious that we cannot is a question of the degree of accurate perception, a entirely substitute one for the other. Identity is to ) question on which depends the most vital concerns of role as, say, sexual attraction is to romantic young our very existence: our sanity, our freedom, our love: sometimes apparently the same, sometimes J well-being, our capacity for love, our utter and distinct, but never unrelated. absolute humanity. The identity crisis, in so many instances, is Identity provides us with a sense of self - accept­ apparently one that develops when we acquiesce to ance and the ability to resist the pressures for con­ social pressures to the extent that we try to substitute formity by the mass society-which, as de Tocqueville the role or roles for identity. Identity is ever unique; noted in the early nineteenth century, is the greatest roles are like ready-made suits to which we must threat to American democracy. Identity implies cer-

- 12 - - 13 - tain qualities o.f individualism, but this is the age of scribed as self-alienation," is far and away the team research, of bureaucratic endeavor, of "ticky­ most prevalent clinical problem today. As a result tacky houses" and assembly-line art. It is an age of of its prevalence, not only have considerable data hyper-specialization, resulting in an occupational been accumulated on its etiology, reasons and causes, interdependency that calls for precise synchronization but the problem has stimulated the development of of the work of everyone. It is a great source of per­ Maslow's "Third Force" that I mentioned earlier, with sonal satisfaction to feel that you have contributed its characteristic response: "How does the healthy something worthwhile to your society, but that feel­ personality avoid the identity crisis? How is he ing is somehow vitiated when your contribution came different from those who succumb to the cultural as a member of a committee. (Incidentally, there is impedimenta to emotional health?" Since we are all a popular saying to the effect that a camel is a horse equally exposed, presumably, to the cultural pathol­ that was designed by a committee!) These consid­ ogies I have described, why aren't we all equally erations of identity, however, can be part of the trap affected? Or, to put it in another context, what are into which so many of us fall, the one I mentioned the vital influences on our perception of the inner earlier. It is the trap of looking outward to the role reality that is ourself? The answer may be suggested for meaning in our lives. The true identity will be by what a poet of our time has seen: found within ourselves and beyond the roles. Identity is thus ever a part of us, "from the womb to the Go, go, go said the bird: Human kind tomb," as the Socialists say. It is not something we Cannot bear very much reality. acquire at first communion, marriage (first or last), the job, or in the never-never land of masscomm. T. S. Eliot is right, of course. And there is almost Yet it is influenced by these and all other experiences complete consensus in the behavioral sciences on we may have. To sum it up, identity simply is. this score, that all of reality is seen through a glass One can readily infer from this definition that darkly. Each o.f us, in short, perceives reality in the way to identity is through accurate perception slightly different ways, depending on our experiences, of the inner reality. The admonition of Socrates ego strength, intelligence, emotional health, and so to "know thyself" thus becomes the critical imperative on. Interestingly enough, the reasons for this problem for our salvation. of perception suggests the solution. From what we know of human physiology, man Apparently the way we see ourselves is less a is predisposed to grow to maturity, as an acorn fulfills matter of ability than one of willingness. We want its potential in the oak tree. Likewise, human psychol­ to see ourselves , but we want to see something lovable ogy demonstrates that man's natural diathesis, his and socially desireable. Consequently, when we take given predisposition, is movement toward mental time out of our busy lives for introspection and health. Obviously there are numerous hang-ups in the acorn stage, or you and I might be considerably meditation-during the commercials, for example­ more knowledgeable about aardvarks at this moment. we conscientiously repress and deny that in ourselves In point of fact, the identity crisis, sometimes de- which we have learned to regard as "bad." We try to

- 14 - - 15 - see what we want to see. What we end up with is himself when he must survive these demonic para­ parts and pieces. Emerson said it best, nearly one doxes of growing up: and a quarter centuries ago: 1 - Why can't you be like all the other little children? Why can't you be your­ The state of society is one in which the self? and members have suffered amputation from 2 - Always be honest with your parents the trunk, and strut about so many -don't show your hostile and aggres­ walking monsters-a g o o d finger a sive feelings to your parents; and neck, a stomach, an elbow, but never 3 - Materialism is crass and vulgar­ a (whole) man. if you're so smart, why ain't you rich? and Our natural capacity for health-and hence our 4 - The meek shall inherit the earth­ ability to perceive the inner reality-is impaired God helps him who helps himself; and during the early years of the socialization process, 5 - Part of your most important adult between the time of birth and puberty, the level of relationship is sexual-don't ask embar­ development that is described by amateur sociologists rassing questions about sex. as the "switchblade and bobbysox stage." It is during The list could be expanded ad infinitum; the point these early formative years that we are most vulner­ is, we become incomplete in our identity because we able to outside influences, and it is at this time that have been taught to mistrust ourselves. When the damage is done. Since each of us has had a part in Socrates said "Know thyself," he scared the pants this socialization process, we will have no difficulty off everyone from the time of the ancient world to the in recognizing it. The identity crisis of the adult has present. For not only were the scales of philosophical its beginnings in a kind of malignant barter system tradition against such a notion, but man's own expe­ that occupies his childhood years. In this system he riences confirmed him in the idea that he wasn't learns to barter his natural, spontaneous, and unique worth knowing. "Know thyself" thus became not a behavior for "good behavior," that is, socially accepted clarion call to self realization, but a mocking reminder behavior. When he is successful he is rewarded with of man's inadequacy. tenderness, love and affection so vital to his life. When he resists, the responses may range all the way from The humanistic thrust of the Renaissance and indifference to a sound thumping about the head and the belief in man's ultimate perfectibility of the shoulders with his father's scotch holster. The result Enlightenment did little to mitigate the image of is that young Everyman learns not only to reject man as basically flawed-a pawn of the gods, contam­ socially unacceptable behavior, but also to distrust inated by Original Sin, infected by contact with the feelings, wishes, impulses, and the like, that rise social organism, driven by a personality component naturally and spontaneously in him. His first reac­ that was the repository of animal instinct, a hopeless tion to anything is to resist his first reaction to product of childhood and ongoing experiences--no anything. How can he trust the inner reality that is wonder some men would rather be wieners! The barter

- 16 - - 17 - system is an insidious part of this discontinuity, for arises unbidden from his psyche. That might, o.f it reinforces our darkest convictions regarding our course, cut down the problem of the population ex­ evil essence. The truth couldn't make us free; it could plosion-or create a new one-but in such a situation only condemn us! you would have only the advertiser's dream: the That part of the self most consistently rejected complete and free expression of impulses. The healthy is the emotional. Its spontaniety is a threat to us, for personality does not act out each feeling or impulse, it may reveal that the social face we wear is no more but he recognizes them for what they are. Nor does than a mask. We are frightened at what the world he evaluate them by the criterion of role require­ might discover if we were to give free rein to our ments, but only by their creative and destructive emotions, and frightened more at the prospect of potentialities for himself and others. Acknowl­ what we might discover in ourselves. We reason along edgement means control; denial means pathology. these lines: repress "bad" feelings and leave the Hostility always finds an outlet, even if it is in the socially approved ones. Unfortunately, our be­ form of the digestion o.f one's own stomach; but dimpled organisms operate otherwise-repression of hostility recognized can be expressed in ways that any emotion means some degree of repression for them take no dread toll of the self or others. all. Thus the repression of hostile feelings means the Like the demonic paradoxes of our youth, the repression of love feelings-and in some degree, the modern identity crisis has some self-contradictory effectiveness of man's entire life hinges on his ability qualities: if roles are less sharply defined, then there to love. is less pressure for us to mold our personalities to Consider the relationship of emotion to the sex them. The contradiction, therefore, is that as society roles ( always a pleasant task on a lovely spring allows us greater latitude for personal expression, the morning!). One of the basic differences in the aims identity conflict becomes the most common clinical of the socialization process for males and females entity. If this is true-and I can assure you that I concerns the expression of feelings. Women, o.f course, have been scrupulously honest so far-the fault, dear have the expressive role; men, the instrumental. friends, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we, Women cry-and live longer. Men remain tight­ like Othello's "malignant and turbaned Turk" spurn lipped and maintain a remarkable ascendance over this priceless treasure. One is reminded of the image women in terms of ulcers, heart trouble, hypertension, of H. L. Mencken's starving man who turned from the and mortality rates. And despite the female's greater banquet table groaning with the weight of all manner durability during infancy, there is little scientific of delectable viands and stayed his hunger by catching proof of her natural physical superiority beyond that and eating flies. Consequently, if we echo Hobbes' stage. She is simply less conditioned to deny as much words, that our lives are "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish of the inner reality of the spontaneous self as is the and short" in this most remarkable of all societies in male. So she lives a longer and fuller life. To top it man's history, then we must recognize that each of off, she is prettier. us shares responsibility with society for our misery. Sensitivity to and expression of the inner reality Acknowledgement of the inner reality that is does not mean that one acts out each impulse that our identity involves more than a stealthy awarness

- 18 - - 19 - o.f our spontaneous self. It means sharing with others. the world, the fullest dimensions of our individuality This idea of sharing of the self is no philosophical will thus unfold themselves to us. whim; it is an essential ingredient of the prescription The third dynamism involves what Charles for identity. The healthy personality, as I mentioned Horton Cooley described as the principle of the earlier, is an ideal, a hypothetical construct. It does "Looking-glass Self." Consistent with the mode of not exist as an absolute but as a matter of degree. mass abbreviation that has typified my presentation In other words, everyone has some degree of alienation this morning, I will summarize Cooley's theory by in his personality. It is, therefore, imperative that saying that each person we meet becomes a looking each of us gets a feedback to check the validity of glass in which we see ourselves. Our sense of identity his perceptions. . .. What might be termed a scientific is constantly modified by what we perceive to be the affirmation of the biblical paradox: "It is through other person's image of us. To the extent that we are giving that ye shall receive." And as we give honestly honest and forthright with others, our self image will of ourselves, so do we recieve the largess of se1f­ be reinforced by their reactions to us. By way of awarness, of identity. illustration, assume that upon leaving here this morning, you noticed that young children screamed The idea of sharing the inner reality as a means with fright when they looked at you, dogs barked, of attaining a healthy sense of identity may be easier and adults threw lighted matches in your direction. to swallow than it is to digest. Self-disclosure as a It wouldn't take much of this be.fore your sense of means to self-awarness is, however, a well-supported identity woud be considerably altered. This is, of concept. It is based on the empirical fact that no one course, a somewhat ludricous example of Martin can come to know himself except as an outcome of Buber's thesis: that the I in the I-thou relationship­ disclosing himself to another person. Three dynam­ the one in which we respond to the humanity of isms function here: first, it is in the nature of the others-is different from the I in the I-it relationship beast to understand better that which he can ver­ -the latter being a response characterized by balize. Man is a symbol user, and functions best formality, impersonality, and behavior that fits when these symbols provide order for his experiences. society's definition of how the respective roles The symbol may, for example, identify some form of should be played. anxiety, a diffuse fear that it is the more terrifying simply because it lacks a name. So as we acknowledge Just as accurate self-perception and honest our spontaneous feelings, we grow in our ability to self-disclosure promote the growth of healthy identity cope with them. in ourselves and others, so does this prescription for identity have application for the mass society. Until The second dynamism of self-disclosure is that ten or fifteen years ago, for example, Negro Americans it provides the most direct means by which we can were fitted into the Procrustean roles of Uncle Tom all learn wherein we are identical with our fellow man and Aunt Jemima. Today even the most adamant of and, consequently, wherein we are different. These bigots perceives the added dimensions of the Negro differences utter our uniqueness. Furthermore, since American's humanity, because the tradition of social we are somewhat different from every other person in distance between races extending from the Civil War

- 20- - 21- is dying. Tangentially it is noteworthy that man's imately one hour to communicate to you something proclivity for habit led many Negroes in the past to of value from my entire life. I am not recommending accept negative roles rather than express their own. a change of procedure, but there have been moments As another example, American women of all races when I felt that I could have squeezed two hours out have begun to move beyond a culturally imposed of my twenty-odd years as a teacher, counselor, identity that defined them as emotionally unstable, soldier, spectator and participant in the games of intellectually inferior and vocationally suited only life. Let me, before I summarize my thoughts for you for washing diapers and providing loving hands to today, indulge in just one more mass abbreviation of scratch those unending itches of mankind. In both a philosophy of life expressed nearly two hundred cases, we are all the beneficiaries, for the way a nation years ago by a man whose sense of identity might respects the humanity of its minorities is an index well inform each of us. These were the words of Tom of its regard for the dignity and .freedom of each of Paine: its citizens. The world is my home, mankind is my Perhaps the prescription for identity might even family and to do good is my religion. help to diminish some of the madness in the world that is escalating us toward a third world war of In conclusion, the threats to individual identity inconceivable destructiveness. Do we have the courage by the mass society are real, but they are not to abandon the artificial roles that both personify insurmountable. Man is limited by his roles, his and depersonalize national identities? Will we Amer­ nature, and his social experience; he is not determined icans insist on our infallibility in foreign policy, on by these factors. He is, therefore, capable o£ exercising our omniscience, on our spiritual superiority to that "splinter of free will" that Erasmus insisted on Russians, Chinese, Viet Namese? Is it already too in his dialogues with Luther. This free will, however, late for us to admit that those people are human he frequently uses to move away from his true self beings who weep, laugh, hate and love? That the because his socialization experiences have inculcated peoples and nations of the world cannot be reduced him with a distrust of his spontaneous feelings. to the Hollywood absurdities of good guys and bad guys? That only madmen want war, and we cannot The prescription for identity calls for resistance be driven mad without our consent? to the tyranny of roles and habit, for movement toward the inner reality-a confrontation of the I fear, however, that I am still working in the self-and for honest communication with our fellow mode of mass abbreviation that I mentioned earlier. man. It was said best of all by Shakespeare: Oversimplification always causes the fillings in a scholar's teeth to ache and sets his eyes in a fine This above all-to thine own self be true frenzy rolling, but perhaps some of the ache can be And it must follow, as night the day, relieved by the excuse of the role requirements. As Thou canst not then be false to any man. I indicated earlier, being chosen faculty lecturer is indeed one of the highest honors I can imagine, but it is also a little overwhelming. I have had approx-

- 22 - - 23 - ALLAN 0. KIRKPATRICK

Associate Professor Allan 0. Kirkpatrick is a former U.S. Army sergeant who served as a drill instructor and then spent six months deep behind enemy lines in Korea. He also has been employed by a number of governmental agencies and large cor­ porations. These experiences alone have given him somewhat more than ordinary contact with mass society.

After qualifying for a high school diploma on the basis of tests taken while he was in the service, Mr. Kirkpatrick attended Missouri State Teachers Col­ lege in Kirksville and then transferred to Indiana University, where he was granted a baccalaureate degree in 1954, with majors in the language arts and social science. He received his master's degree from Indiana, and he has done graduate study at Butler University, California State College at Los Angeles, and at VCR.

Currently he is teaching sociology and psychol­ ogy at Riverside City College and serving on the staff of the humanities colloquium. He maintains a private practice in marriage and family counseling.

Active on many faculty committees, Professor Kirkpatrick served on the Senate in 1966-67, and in ALLAN 0. KIRKPATRICK the spring of that year became vice-president-elect of the Faculty Association.

Mr. Kirkpatrick and his wife Patricia have three children: John, Michael and Wilda.

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