5 A Brief History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

5A Brief History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Why focus on the DRC?

This chapter discusses how the colonization of the Congo has affected its development, as well as how it has impacted interactions within the Congo and between the Congo and the rest of the world. We also learn about 1) social interaction, 2) the division of labor, 3) Statuses and roles, 4) Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical model of social interaction

HIV/AIDS had been a social issue since early 1980s. When people think of AIDS and its origin, even those born after 1981, three associations come to mind—HIV/AIDS has something to do with monkeys, Africa, and gay people.

•In 1980, AIDS researchers identified the first known sample of HIV-infected blood in a Congolese blood bank. The frozen stored blood•sample was taken in 1959 from a volunteer participating in a medical study.•According to United Nations’ estimates, 33.4 million people are HIV-infected or living with AIDS worldwide.•The global story of HIV/AIDS involves the study of interaction at the intimate, interpersonal level. •Millions of “intimate” (direct and indirect) interactions—specifically an exchange of blood or other body fluids—between HIV-infected and non-infected people explain, in part, how HIV/AIDS became a global epidemic.

HIV’s origin (the related social interactions) cannot be understood apart from European colonial rule of Africa. HIV’s spread was connected to colonial practices that shaped interactions between African peoples and colonial rulers. What larger social force drew people from all over the world (Europe in particular) to Africa, especially to the DRC? … …Colonization.

The larger force is colonization.

Colonization pulled peoples of Africa into a global division of labor•Division of labor: Work that is broken down into specialized tasks, each task performed by a different set of workers specifically trained to do that task•Workers do not have to live near each other; they often live in different parts of a country or different parts of the world•Not only are the tasks geographically dispersed, but the parts and materials needed to manufacture products also come from many locations around the world

rubberivory (to be used in making piano keys, billiard balls, snuff boxes)palm oil (a machine-oil lubricant and an ingredient in soaps such as Palmolive)coffeecocoalumber diamondsCopper

silvergoldcobalt (needed to manufacture jet engines)zincmanganese (needed to make steel and aluminum dry-cell batteries)coltan (a heat-resistant mineral used in cell phones, laptops, and Playstations)uranium (needed to generate atomic energy and fuel the atomic bomb)

What role did Africa, in particular the DRC, play in the worldwide division of labor?....natural resources and forced labor

In 1885, Leopold II, king of Belgium, calculated that his “yearly income from the Congo is millions.” The Congo Free State, from which Leopold acquired wealth, is now named the Democratic Republic of Congo. Leopold’s wealth was derived from forcing African people to extract rubber, diamonds, and ivory. The methods Leopold employed to exploit labor and acquire resources offer important clues to the origin of HIV and AIDS.

The Belgian colonists viewed and treated the Congolese “like animals, as beasts of burden” forcing them to carry or push loads long distances.

What is the social glue that binds these men to one another and to society? One answer is similarity - shared values, shared way of life

Solidarity – a concept coined by Emile Durkheim - the social glue or the ties that bind people to one another and to society

Mechanical solidaritySocial ties based on uniform thinking and behavior

A person’s “first duty is to resemble everybody else”—that is, “not to have anything personal about one’s beliefs and actions”

(Durkheim 1933; p396).

Mechanical solidarity• Simple division of labor where, for the most part,

everyone in a society performs the same tasks needed to maintain their livelihood

• Sameness gives rise to common experiences, skills, and beliefs

• Do not have the technologies that permit the mass production of products (which creates differences)

• Intimacy to relationships• Rituals support connections among people.

Organic Solidarity

Complex division of labor 1. Specialized tasks 2. The workers involved in production of a product do not have to know one another.3. Materials and labor comes from different locations.

• Social ties founded on interdependence and cooperation.

• People relate to others in terms of their specialized roles in the division of labor and as customers.

• Most day-to-day interactions are short-lived, impersonal, and instrumental (that is, we interact with strangers for a specific reason).

• Few individuals possess the knowledge, skills, and materials to be self-sufficient.

• People find that must depend on strangers. • Social ties are strong, not because people know one

another, but because “strangers” need one another to survive.

Organic Solidarity

(1) industrial and commercial crises caused by plant closings, massive layoffs, epidemics, technological revolutions, war

(2) workers’ strikes(3) job specialization, insofar as workers are so isolated that few

people grasp the workings and consequences of the overall enterprise

(4) forced labor, such that people have no choice in the work they do(5) inefficient management and development of workers’ talents and

abilities, so that work for them is nonexistent, irregular, intermittent, or subject to high turnover

Disruptions to Division of Labor

An iconic image of Leopold’s rule was the severed hands of the Congolese.

Social Structure• Sociologists study social interaction in the context of the social

structure within which it occurs• Social structures encompass four interrelated components:– statuses, roles, groups, and institutions

• A status is a rank in society – Vice president of the United States

• Statuses occur within institutions – “High school teacher” is a status within the education

institution. • Typically, an individual occupies many statuses simultaneously…

Statuses• Social status - a human created position in society• Ascribed statuses - a status we have by chance – age,

biological sex, birth order position• Achieved statuses - a status we attain through effort,

choice and ability (as well as the influence of social forces), marital status, employment, educational attainment

• A status set - all statuses we possess• Master status – the overriding status an individual

possesses, that dominates the rest, such as ‘President of the USA’

• A role…

Roles• A role is the expected behavior associated with a

particular status• Statuses are occupied; roles are acted or “played.” • Role set - a person’s role set includes all the roles

occupied by the person at a given time – student, girlfriend, employee, daughter, friend

• Role conflict - where a person’s varied roles conflict with one another – daughter can’t go home for mother’s birthday as she has a text in college

• Role strain – the conflict that occurs within one role – a waitress is too tired to focus on being pleasant to customers

Roles in a College Student’s Role Set

Dramaturgical Model of Social Interaction• Erving Goffman - Impression Management– We are actors on a stage– We control how others perceive us• Present different faces on different stages• Present a front stage appearance – proper behavior,

as we wish others to see us• Behave differently with people we do not wish to

impress, in our backstage persona• “All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players:

they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.” William Shakepeare

•

Social Institutions

• Family• Education• Work• Economy• Political Institutions

• Religion• Health care• Mass Media• Sports• Military

Purpose of Social Institutions

• Socialization of new members• Production and distribution of goods and

services• Maintain stability and existence• Provide members with a sense of purpose