OCR Text |
Show 181 which includes a general description of the natural and cultural environment of the two communities examined; II. Alcoholism, witchcraft and homicide, with a description of the incidence and characteristics of each in the two places; III. Basis and method of the research, a brief discussion regarding the method followed and its theoretical bases; IV. The social characteristics of the two communities, an analysis of the socio-.cultural mechanisms in the formation of the type of personality required; V. Analysis of the socio-cultural dynamics, a discussion of the three problems in their total socio-cultural and psychological context; VI. Comments on method and therapeutics, a final analysis of the "application" of the social sciences in concrete cases. Some of the conclusions arrived at are the following: the study of social character or of basic personality should not be focussed solely or principally on childhood education and experiences, but on the total structure of society and on the global cultural context. Childhood education and experiences are not determining factors of socio-cultural phenomena, but dynamic elements that transmit the needs and problems from the structure of society to each of its members, thereby outlining the social character. This theoretical basis is important not only to establish methodology but is especially fundamental when it is planned to use scientific knowledge to produce favorable changes in a community. Social character, based on the socio-cultural structure, determines the essential aspects of drunkenness and the conduct of the drunkard. In one of the communities studied, alcoholism helps to maintain psycho-cultural stability, relieving anxiety and increasing security in the unrealistic control of environment. In the other community, alcohol unleashes aggressive impulses and acts as a factor which produces anxiety and conflicts. Likewise, the socio-cultural and psycho-cultural structure of each group predetermines the intensity and specific forms of aggressiveness, its focal points and the factors it unleashes, as well as the possibilities of its social and individual control, of its repression and channeling. Malevolent magic and a strong political organization in one place provide channels for aggressiveness and its control, while in another community the lack of these mechanisms leads to homicide. The authors point out that the method used functions well when the group studied is socially and culturally homogeneous. When the group is heterogeneous and well differentiated, it is necessary to recur to the concept of status personality. When the culture and social forms of a homogeneous or heterogeneous group are in a rapid process of change, it is necessary to recur |