单项选择题
| Rewards and punishments are used in
different ways by different communities to maintain social order and preserve
cultural values. In all cultures, parents must teach their children to avoid
danger and to observe the community’s moral precepts. Adults also condition each
other’s observance of social norms, using methods ranging from mild forms of
censure, such as looking away when someone makes an inappropriate remark, to
imprisoning or executing individuals for behavior considered deviant or
dangerous. The caning of American teenager Michael Fay in Singapore for
vandalism in 1994 brought wide media attention to cultural differences in the
application of punishment. Faced with increasing violence at home, many
Americans endorsed Singapore’s use of corporal punishment to maintain social
order. Was Fay’s punishment effective Whether he subsequently avoids vandalism
is unknown, but the punishment did apparently lead to his avoidance of
Singapore—which he left promptly. The operant techniques societies use to maintain social control vary in part with the dangers and threats that confront them. The Gusii of Kenya, with a history of tribal warfare, face threats not only from outsiders but also from natural forces, including wild animals. Gusii parents tend to rely more on punishment and fear than on rewards in conditioning appropriate social behavior in their children. Caning, food deprivation, and withdrawing shelter and protection are common forms of punishment. In contrast, the Mixtecans of Juxtlahuaca, Mexico, are a highly cohesive community, with little internal conflict, and social norms that encourage cooperation. Their social patterns appear adaptive, for the Mixtecans are dominated by the nearby Spanish Mexicans, who control the official government and many economic resources in their region. The Mixtecans do not generally impose fines or jarl sentences or use physical punishment to deter aggression in either adults or children. Rather, they tend to rely on soothing persuasion. Social ostracism is the must feared punishment, and social ties within the community are very strong, so responses that reinforce these ties are effective in maintaining social order. In the United States, fear of social ostracism or stigma was once a more powerful force in maintaining control over antisocial behavior, especially in small communities. Today, even imprisonment does not appear to be an adequate deterrent to many forms of crime, especially violent crime. Although one reason is the inconsistent application of punishment, another may he the fact that imprisonment no longer carries the intense stigma it once had, so that prison is no longer as an effective punishment. |