Power and Agency in Conceptualizing Life Stages as Master Narratives

Syed, Moin

doi:10.1159/000455016

Cited by 51 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 26 publications

(24 reference statements)

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“…socioeconomic status | economic inequality | social psychology | group processes | person perception T he American Dream is a popular narrative in the United States (1,2). Works of fiction romanticize the idea that people determine their future success through effort, and popular media sensationalizes stories of individuals beating the odds through hard work.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for the reproduction of social class in brief speech

Kraus

Torrez

Park

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Economic inequality is at its highest point on record and is linked to poorer health and well-being across countries. The forces that perpetuate inequality continue to be studied, and here we examine how a person’s position within the economic hierarchy, their social class, is accurately perceived and reproduced by mundane patterns embedded in brief speech. Studies 1 through 4 examined the extent that people accurately perceive social class based on brief speech patterns. We find that brief speech spoken out of context is sufficient to allow respondents to discern the social class of speakers at levels above chance accuracy, that adherence to both digital and subjective standards for English is associated with higher perceived and actual social class of speakers, and that pronunciation cues in speech communicate social class over and above speech content. In study 5, we find that people with prior hiring experience use speech patterns in preinterview conversations to judge the fit, competence, starting salary, and signing bonus of prospective job candidates in ways that bias the process in favor of applicants of higher social class. Overall, this research provides evidence for the stratification of common speech and its role in both shaping perceiver judgments and perpetuating inequality during the briefest interactions.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for the reproduction of social class in brief speech

Kraus

Torrez

Park

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…There are three critical aspects of master narratives, both in general and with respect to our application to questions of ethics and morality (McLean & Syed, 2015;Syed, 2016). First, the master narrative framework is a cultural model, in that it places meaning and context at the center of analyses rather than the periphery (Shweder, 2000).…”

Section: Master Narratives: Culture Power and Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Arnett 2016 Importantly, these biographical master narratives by and large define a "good life" according to the experiences of those who hold power and privilege (see also Cooper, Brown, Azmitia, & Chavira, 2005). In Arnett's historical and cultural analysis, it is clear that the life course of men was used as the basis for defining the normative life progression; to the extent that women were (are) included it is largely in terms of their roles in relation to men (Syed, 2016). In other words, what is prescribed for the many actually only describes the few.…”

Section: Application Of the Master Narrative Framework To Moral Develmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the wealth of findings on false consensus bias (Marks & Miller, 1987), the notion that what I find good is what others should find good may play a role in how master narratives function. Because master narratives typically reflect the good story and the good life for those in power -the majority, the privileged -master narratives can come to tacitly impose the good for some, on a larger and more diverse set of people for whom those goods may be problematic (Syed, 2016).…”

Section: Personal: What I Find Right Is What Is Right For All Peoplementioning

confidence: 99%

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Master Narratives, Ethics, and Morality

Syed

Pasupathi

McLean

2020

The Oxford Handbook of Moral Development

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In this chapter, the authors explore how master narratives have ethical and moral implications, and how master narratives can provide a way for researchers to look at the intersections of culture, ethics, morality, and individual development. The authors make this case by advancing three propositions about the relations among master narratives, ethics, and morality: (1) master narratives are fundamentally about ethics, in that they outline and convey culturally held ideas about the nature of a good life; (2) while all master narratives are grounded in ethics, not all master narratives are moral; and (3) despite proposition 2, master narratives can come to exert moral force. The authors first describe the master narrative framework and then follow with a detailed discussion of the three propositions. The intent of the authors is that this integration of master narratives with moral development will help researchers in both areas to think about their work in new ways.

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Section: Master Narratives: Culture Power and Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Master Narratives, Ethics, and Morality

Syed¹,

Pasupathi²,

McLean³

2018

Preprint

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In this chapter we explore how master narratives have ethical and moral implications, and how master narratives can provide a way for researchers to look at the intersections of culture, ethics, morality, and individual development. We make this case by advancing three propositions about the relation among master narratives, ethics, and morality: 1) Master narratives are fundamentally about ethics in that they outline and convey culturally held ideas about the nature of a good life; 2) While all master narratives are grounded in ethics, not all master narratives are moral; and 3) Despite proposition 2, master narratives can come to exert moral force. We first describe the master narrative framework, and then follow with a detailed discussion of the three propositions. Our intent is that this integration of master narratives with moral development will help researchers in both areas to think about their work in new ways.

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Power and Agency in Conceptualizing Life Stages as Master Narratives

Cited by 51 publications

References 26 publications

Evidence for the reproduction of social class in brief speech

Evidence for the reproduction of social class in brief speech

Master Narratives, Ethics, and Morality

Master Narratives, Ethics, and Morality

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