smiles as a social fact

8/2/2019 Smiles as a Social Fact

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"Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa: Men Have Named You": Smiles as a Social FactAuthor(s): Jonathan MarxReviewed work(s):Source: Teaching Sociology, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Jul., 1995), pp. 274-279Published by: American Sociological AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1319221 .

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"MONALISA,MONALISA-MEN HAVENAMEDYOU": MILES SASOCIAL ACT*JONATHANMARXWinthropUniversity

LORD DAVID ECILNCEWROTE,ALBUMSFoldphotographs avea curiouspower ostirthe historicalimagination"1975:1). I be-lieve thattheystirthesociological magina-tionaswell. A longitudinal ontentanalysisofsmilingbyseniorwomenin collegeyear-books provides beginning sociology stu-dents with an excellentway to discovermany sociological concepts, social facts,theoreticalperspectives,nd researchmeth-ods.In thisnote,I outlineand demonstratehow smilescanbe usedto spark nterest nsociology.THE ASSIGNMENT

The followingguidelinesaresuggested orimplementinghis exercise.Youmaywish omodifythem to suityourteaching tyleandtheconditionsuniqueto yourcollege.Aftera discussionof theoryand meth-ods,circulate handfulofcollegeyearbooksdatingbetween1900 and 1990 (if feasible).Ask the studentsto note anydifferencesnfacial expressionsdisplayedin the seniorportraitsover time. Manyinstructorsmaywantto tailoraparticularesearchquestionto the students'perceptionsor to use agroundedapproach.An approachessstruc-tured than the one discussedhere is the"discoverytyle"recentlymodifiedandex-tendedbyScheff(1992).Because of time and logistical con-straints, recommend sking he students ofocus on smiling. Assign them to write ahypothesisabout the changes n women'ssmilingpatternsover time and to offer areasonor reasons or theirhypothesis.Thepopulation finterestmayvaryaccordingothecompositionofyourstudentpopulationandthe school'shistory.Finally,nformthe

*Iwish to thankmyspring1994 freshman onorsclassatWinthropUniversityorbeingmy 15collabo-rators n thisproject.

studentsthatthe nextsessionwill meet inthe universityibraryn the archives oom(orwherever earbooks rehousedat yourinstitution).At the library, eginthe classbyaskinghow the students would define smiling.Withyourguidance, heycanmovejointlytowarda workableoperationaldefinition.Forexample,all of theirsuggestions an belisted on the board.Next, the class canexclude those operational definitionswhich arelimitedbyproblemssuch as re-liability. (I suggest encouragingthe stu-dents to define a smile as "a display ofteeth.")Next, pair off the students andassigneachpairto find different earbooksbetween1900 and 1990. I asked the stu-dentsto tally henumberof seniorportraitsin which the women show their teeth. Inmy experience,about 15 minutes are re-quiredto code about 300 seniorwomen.At verylarge nstitutions, t maybe neces-sary to implement systemic sampling,whereby he studentscalculatehepercent-ageof"smiles"andsubmit theyearly otalsto the instructor orcompilation.With oneof the many readily available softwarepackages (e.g., SAS, SPSSx,or HarvardGraphics),an instructorcan analyzedataandpresent heresults n lessthan an hour.

RESULTSTheresultsdisplayedn Figure1 werecalcu-latedon all available enior emaleportraitsat my institutionbetween1900 and 1990(N=86).This southernpublicuniversitywasawomen's ollegeuntil1974.This exerciseitswell intothediscussionof theoryandmethodswhich s oftenfoundin the firstpartof most introductoryexts.To illustratehe usefulness f theexercise,touch on a fewconcepts uchassocial acts,theoreticalperspectives,ndexperience sa

274 Teachingociology,995,Vol.23 (July:274-279)


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SMILES SA SOCIAL ACT 275Figure1. SmilingPortraits f SeniorWomenat a SouthernCollegebyYear N=86)

Percent Smiling100

80

60

40

20

0

r= +0.94

1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990Yearsocial researcher.The exercise is a heuristicdevice; the yearbook exercise is illustrativerather than an actual complete study.SOCIAL ACTSBecause smiling appears to be a very indi-vidualistic and personal act, much like sui-cide asdiscussed by Durkheim, it is ideal fordemonstrating to students an importantwayinwhich sociology differsfrompsychol-ogy. Sociologists are not interested in whyany one senior woman smiled at aparticularhistoricalmoment, but rather n why we seea marked increase in the collective patternof smiling over time (r = .94, p


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276 TEACHING OCIOLOGYworkforce.Obviously, heir labor contrib-uted to thewareffort,but labor forcepar-ticipationalsobroughtnewfreedoms.Theyhadpersonalncomes hattheycouldspendon items that attracted hem. Women be-came the major players n an increasinglymass-marketsociety (Koppes and Black1987;May1980;Rosten1941).Thewar iberatedwomento takepart nmanagingfamily finances.This idea wasdiscussedn LyndandLynd's lassicMiddle-town study of the 1920s. Their follow-upstudy foreshadowed ven broadergenderrolechangesorwomen on theeve ofWorldWarII:

Careersorwomen haveopenedan alternativepathdiverging harply-in its demands or male raits fdrive,single-mindedness,he qualitiesassociatedwithpower-from the traditionalwomen'spath nthehomewith itsemphasis ponthefeminine raitsof gentleness,willingness o be led, and affection.Not onlyhas the alternativepathof independence,career, ndpowerbeckonedharder,but the tradi-tionalworld of the affectionshas become moredemandingas the franker,modernworldempha-sizes more openly extremefemininity,includinglesspassivity,morepositiveallurement,ndarichlytoned sexualresponse LyndandLynd1937:178).

"Positiveallurements"uch as smilingdemonstratehe subtle shift in "thetradi-tionalworldof theaffections"hatLyndandLynd observedamong careerwomen inMiddletown.The erraticsmiling patterndisplayedn the late 1940s mayreflect hetemporaryenegotiation f genderrolesas-sociatedwith men'sreturn o theworkforceandmanywomen'sreturn o the homedur-ing thepostwarperiod.From the conflict approach,females'consumerism and preoccupation withglamourwere rootedin the largerchangesand needs of corporatecapitalism.May(1980) discusses he growth,during1914-1918, of a new "middleclass"with moreleisure time and greateraffluence,whichembraced high-level consumerism as a"meansfor restoringfamily order."Maysuggests hatHollywood's irststars,MaryPickfordand Douglas Fairbanks r., pro-vided role models for the evolving newrelationshipbetween the sexes: the confi-dent, athletic, outgoing man and theyoung, innocent,yet playfulwoman.

Certainsteps akenbythefashionndus-tryduringWorldWarII promptedAmeri-canwomenfrom allwalksof lifeto becomeincreasinglyashionableand stylish.Withtheoccupationof Paris,Devlin(1979) sug-gests,fashionwas Americanizedn thewaryears.NewYorkandHollywoodbecamehenew fashion centers. She continues, "In1942, the Americangarment-makers'n-ion, theILGWU,raisedamilliondollars opromoteAmerican ashionthroughan ad-vertising ampaignwith Voguet its center"(1979:124).Rosten(1941:362)found that"moviepreviews reattendedby stylecopy-istswho rush heirdrawingback o the Eastso that a Crawfordgown, mass-producedand cheaply priced, can stream to thewomen of Americawith a minimum ofdelay." he movieswerebothhomogenizingandpopularizing esires ndbehaviors.The new market nvolved he mouth.Itis noexaggerationo state hatourcountry asmade the smile a commodity Hochschild1983). A "winning" mile is a means ofdisplayingstatus and achieving occupa-tional and socialsuccess.The marketing fthe mouth beganafterWorldWar I (Fox1984). After the militaryhad introducedtoothbrushes nd toothbrushingo youngAmericanmen,MadisonAvenuecapitalizedon thedeveloping abit: headvertisersre-ated a halitosis care.Listerineads such as"Evenyour best friend won't tell you,""What hereallywantedwaschildren," nd"Always bridesmaid nd nevera bride"weretypicalattempts o shamepeopleintopurchases.All minormouth dysfunctions,includingdry mouth, bad breath,tendergums, yellow teeth, or pink toothbrush,werepresented sobstacleso socialorpro-fessional uccess GoodrumandDalrymple1990). By 1926, the percentage f Ameri-canspracticing entalhygienehad ncreasedmore han50percent incethebeginning fWorldWarI (Fox1984).A dazzling milehad become a national symbol of goodgroomingand status.The "smile"xercise lsoprovides wayto introduceWeber ([1904-1905] 1958)and theinterpretativechool.First,one canreview the originsof the Protestantworkethic: he lackofsmiling n theearlypartofthis centurycan be viewed as due to the


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SMILES SA SOCIAL ACT 277asceticismof that ethic. Cautionis neces-sary,however,n assessingrends n the Prot-estantworkethicandin thephotosbecausethe datado not extendfarenough nto thepast.ApplyingWeber's otionson theinter-playbetweenculture,behavior, ndpsycho-logical tates, heinstructor anspeculate nhowAmericanmaterialismvolved rom hework ethic.Some historiansof film have hinted atthis dynamic.Koppesand Blackstate,"Asharbingers f the massleisureindustryofthetwentiethcentury, hemoviesfit in LosAngeles,both creatingand legitimatingablend of conspicuousconsumption, newmorals, and personal gratification thathelpedundermine he Eastern-dominated,WASPVictorianculture" 1987:6;see De-merath1981 for a discussionof sociologyand movies). In Movie-MadeAmerica,Sklar (1975) describeshow the culturalpowerof movieswas shapednot only bythe possession of economic, social, andpoliticalpowerbut also:

bysuchfactors s nationaloriginorreligious ffili-ation, not to speakof farmore elusiveelements,such as celebrityor personalmagnetism....Themovieswere he firstmediumof entertainmentndculturalnformation o be controlledby men whodid not share he ethnic or religiousbackgroundsof the traditionalelites;that fact has dominatedtheir entirehistory,engaging hem in struggles nmanyfronts,andsometimesnegating heapparentadvantage njoyedby menwho otherwise dheredfaithfullyo thepropercapitalistic aluesand con-servative oliticalbeliefs(1975:6).The widespreadacceptanceof "alien"valuespromotedby the mass media ulti-matelyproducedthe observedchanges nsmilingbehavior ver he lasthundred ears.Finally,one can introduce Goffman's(1969)strategicnteraction,Mead's [1934]1962) symbolic interactionism, andCooley's([1902] 1964) looking-glass elf.The studentscan be asked"Forwhom arethe graduatessmiling?"These theoristswould agreethat each graduates puttingherself in the place of another person andproducing expressions that she thinks willimprovehersituation with the observer.Thewomen were smiling not because they werenecessarily "happy" but because they be-lieved that society generally expected agraduatingAmerican female to expressthat

emotion.Goffman 1979:10)contends hatceremonialportraitsunction oreaffirm a-sic socialarrangementsnd notionsof mas-culinityandfemininity:a picture s not animageof aperson,but areflection fgenderinsociety.Accordinglyhechangensmilingcaptures major hift in the femaleroleinthe UnitedStates.For advancedstudents, Hochschild's(1983) TheManagedHeartprovidesa con-temporary, roundedtheoreticalwork onemotionalityhatexpandson the symbolicinteraction tradition. Her notions aboutfeelingrules,obligations hatgovernemo-tionalexchanges,ndhowsocialgroupspro-vide reminders(e.g.,"say heese") revalu-ablein showinghow institutionsaffect anindividual'smotional ife.Hochschild on-tendsthat thegrowthof largeorganizationshas called or skills n personal elations,oremotionallabor,for women. She definesemotional aboras follows:

I use the term emotional aborto mean the man-agementof feelings o createa publiclyobservablefacialandbodilydisplay;motionalabor s sold fora wageand therefore asexchange alue.I usethesynonymousterms emotion work or emotionalmanagemento refer o thesesameacts done in aprivate ontextwhere heyhaveuse value 1983:7).

Our findings are consistent withHochschild'swork: the increase n smilingindicatesa majorshift in feelingrules forwomen which correspondso theirchang-ing institutionalrolesin the last hundredyears.Overall,Hochschild'sheorycanpro-vide a strong framework or integratingmacro-with microsociologicalerspectiveson thequestionof smiling."DOING"SOCIOLOGYThe exercisegives the noviceresearchersense of the researchprocessand createsexcitement in understandingthe socialworld.The instructor an easily ntroducethe conceptsof variables, ypotheses,reli-ability, validity, correlation,causality, studydesign, content analysis,historical records,charts, percentages, and linear regression.The "need" for these research conceptsemergesfrom the exercise.The taskprovidesstudents with an engaging means of discov-ering established sociological methods.


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278 TFACHING SOCIOLOGYIdeasare inkedimmediately o a commonclassexperience.My students'reactionsprovidedampleopportunities for concept development.First,as the classworkedtowardan opera-tionaldefinitionofsmiling,I introducedhenotion of reliabilitybetweencoders.In myexperience,hestudentsgaina truesenseofreliability when they try to determinewhether eeth areexposed.Manyaskedmyopinion;their questionsprovidedthe op-portunityor ndividualizednstruction nddiscussion.Likewise,some students (and readers)challenged he validityof using teethas ameasureof smiling.This issuegaveme thechanceto discuss the distinction betweenreliabilityand validity.The "MonaLisa"dilemma-whether anexpressions asmileeventhoughteeth arenot showing-right-fullydisturbsmanystudents.Yetparadoxand dilemmaare valuablelearningdevicesn the classroom. redericksandMiller,eaders n the useofparadox nddilemma n the classroom, ontend:The existenceof paradoxicalocialsituationseadsto the realization hat the constructionand the

interpretationf thesesituationsareconnected n-timatelywith thedevelopment nd thefunctioningof ourlinguistic ommunity...the ialectical atureof theparadoxshighlysuitableor the stimulationof creativethinkingin that it confrontsstudentswithaseeminglyntractableituation,but one thatcan be resolvedthroughanalysis1990:348).The problemin defininga smile is a

strength of the exercise.The instructorshoulddevelopsuch criticalthinkingon aresearchtopic.InexaminingFigure1,thestudents ixedtheirattentionon 1949.Thismomentpro-videda chance o discussoutliers. empha-sized thatsociologistsare nterestedn gen-eral patternsand not in individualdatapoints.Evenso, the analysis f "odd cases"often eads o anincreasedunderstandingfthe processunderinvestigation:ome stu-dents examined the university's history inattempts to understand the variation.Finally, the activity led to a discussionof sampling. If your university is large,students' time constraints will necessitatethe sampling of senior portraits. I contend,however, that within reason, students

shouldexperiencehe unglamorous,mun-daneaspectsof datacollection.I found thatcoding an averageof 300 portraitseachyearwasamanageableask.As aresult, heundergraduatesevelopeda sense thatsta-tistics are not magicallycreated.In addi-tion, I emphasizedhatwe wereexaminingonly one university, nd thereforehat thegeneralizability f our findingswas lim-ited.Sociologists uchas Durkheim ookedatcollectionsof data n order o avoidsucha limitation.Thus my students'reactionsand con-cernsproveduseful. We encountered hesame issuesand decisionsthat researchersconfrontdaily.Togetherwe examinedhowsocial researchersattemptto resolve suchissues.

DISCUSSIONThe exercise has two major limitations.First,codingthe seniorpictures equires tleast an hour of the students'time. Yetif myexperienceis illustrative,this activitycan bedefended or its contribution o producingcommunity seeScheff1992).Goingto thelibraryandcodingpicturesactedasanice-breaker; he activityhelped to increaseclasssolidarity.Most studentsenjoyedexploringthe yearbooksand noting how hair andclothingstyleshad changed.Manylookedup relatives, friends, and embarrassinglydatedphotosof professors. his experiencehelped inkthefreshmen o eachotherandto the history of the university. For thesereasons, t may best be done earlyin thecourse. Furthermore,the archivistswere ex-cited about sharingtheirhistoricaldocu-ments with the students (Glasberg et al.1990). As a latent function of the exercise,the classgainedagreater nderstandingndrespectfor the archives.Second, the students might believe thatthis is a complete study which truly testshypotheses. They should be made aware,however,thatit is only anillustrativeexercisewhich allows introductory students to gainan appliedunderstandingof theperspectivesand basic methods ofsociology. Many of mystudents were somewhat disappointed thatwe could not prove anything; yet even the


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SMILES SA SOCIAL ACT 279inability o produceclosures animportantlesson(Browneand Litwin1987). Interest-ing questions typically ead to moreques-tions thananswers.Youmay discoverdifferencesbasedonyourcollege'sregion,gendercomposition,andsocioeconomicstatus. The veryfresh-ness of the topic should add to the excite-mentof the class.My honorsintroductorysociologyclassandI would liketo seeyourresults.

REFERENCESBrowne,N.B. andJamesL. Litwin. 1987. "Critical

ThinkingIn The SociologyClassroom:Facilitat-ing MovementfromVagueObjective o ExplicitAchievement."Teachingociology5:384-91.Cecil,David. 1975. "Introductory ssay." p. 1 in AVictorian lbum: uliaMargaretCameronndHerCircle,edited by G. Ovenden. New York:DaCapo.Cooley,CharlesH. [1902] 1964. HumanNatureandtheSocialOrder.New York: chocken.Demerath,N.J. 1981. "Througha Double-CrossedEye:Sociologyand theMovies."Teachingociology9:69-82.Devlin,Polly.1979. Vogue: ookofFashionPhotogra-phy,1919-1979. NewYork:Simonand Schuster.Durkheim,Emile. 1893] 1982. TheRules fSociologi-calMethodand SelectedTexts n Sociologynd Its

Method, ditedby StevenLukes.New York:FreePress.Fox, Steven.1984. TheMirrorMakers:A HistoryofAmericanAdvertisingnd Its Creators. ew York:Morrow.Fredericks,Marceland StevenI. Miller.1990. "Para-

doxes,DilemmasandTeachingSociology."Teach-ingSociology8:347-55.Glasberg,DavitaS.,JudyHarwood,RolandHawkes,and Catherine Martinsek.1990. "The Library

ScavengerHunt:TeachingLibrary kills n Intro-ductory Sociology Courses."Teaching ociology18:231-34.Goffman,Erving.1969. GenderAdvertisements.ewYork:Harper._ 1979. Strategic nteraction.Philadelphia:University f Pennsylvaniaress.Goodrum,Charles nd HelenDalrymple.1990. Ad-vertisinginAmerica:heFirst200Years.ewYork:Abrams.Hochschild,ArlieR. 1983. TheManagedHeart:TheCommercializationof Human Feeling.Berkeley:University f California ress.Koppes,ClaytonR. and GregoryD. Black. 1987.HollywoodGoes o War:How Politics,Profits ndPropaganda hapedWorldWarII Movies.NewYork:FreePress.Lynd,RobertS. and Helen MerrelLynd.1937.Mid-dletownn Transition:Studyn CulturalConflicts.NewYork:Harcourt nd Brace.May,Lary.1980. ScreeningOut thePast:TheBirthofMassCulturend theMotionPictureIndustry. ewYork:OxfordUniversityPress.Mead,GeorgeHerbert. 1934] 1962. Mind,SelfandSociety, dited by CharlesW Morris.Chicago:University f ChicagoPress.Rosten,Leo C. 1941. Hollywood: heMovieColony,TheMovieMakers.NewYork:Harcourt,Brace.Scheff,Thomas J. 1992. "DiscoveringSociology."Teachingociology0:248-53.Sklar,Robert.1975. Movie-MadeAmerica:A Social

HistoryofAmericanMovies.New York:RandomHouse.Weber,Max.[1904-1905] 1958. TheProtestant thicand theSpiritof Capitalism. ewYork: cribner's.

JonathanMarx s an assistantprofessorf sociologyatWinthropUniversity.He writesand teaches n theareasof organizationsnd medicalsociology.He alsoteachesn the freshman onorsprogram.Address llcorrespondenceoJonathanMarx,Departmentf So-ciology,WinthropUniversity, 27 KinardBuilding,RockHill, SouthCarolina,9733; e-mail:[email protected].

smiles as a social fact

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