Abstract
Micropolitics examines how the signs of everyday conversation reinforce capitalist relations of production and the interests of the capitalist class. Review and assessment of published research indicate that Address, Self-Disclosure, Seating, Eye-Contact, and Touch are reliable and valid indexes of interpersonal hierarchy and solidarity. The claim is that high hierarchy/low solidarity messages establish an unconscious acceptance of the idea that social inequality and alienation are necessary, that is, the result of human nature. On the other hand, low hierarchy/high solidarity messages establish the foundation for a predisposition to respond to equality and compassion as socially acceptable ways to organize society. Cross-cultural research supports the claim that the signs of interpersonal hierarchy and solidarity in everyday conversation are learned behaviors, that is, the result of nurture.
About the author
Norman Markel (b. 1929) is Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida 〈normmarkel@gmail.com〉. His research interests include semiotic psychology, the politics of conversation, and nonverbal behavior. His publications include Psycholinguistics: An introduction to speech and personality (1969); Semiotic psychology: Speech as an index of attitudes and emotions (1998); and The five vital signs of conversation (2009).
©2014 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
