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Anxious Conformity: Anxiety and the Sociocentric‐Oriented Self in a Tlaxcalan Community
Author(s) -
Farley Brian P.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
ethos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.783
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1548-1352
pISSN - 0091-2131
DOI - 10.1525/eth.1998.26.3.271
Subject(s) - resentment , conformity , socialization , psychology , argument (complex analysis) , social psychology , realm , distress , anxiety , social anxiety , psychoanalytic theory , shyness , developmental psychology , sociology , psychotherapist , political science , law , medicine , psychiatry , politics
This article examines emotional conflicts and anxiety associated with the formation and functioning of the sociocentric‐oriented self in one highland Mesoamerican community.The principal argument is that cultural mechanisms subordinating individual interests to collective purposes also generate resentment and distress. I examine psychoanalytic concepts of anxiety and relate the deep sense of social responsibility community inhabitants experience to high levels of anxiety arising from inconsistent and often severe socialization practices and moral controls. In this case, individuals subordinate their own interests to collective purposes because their drives and desires cause discomfort and they fear retaliation from social contemporaries and the supernatural realm.