False Dichotomies

Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them -- and then, the opportunity to choose.
--C. Wright Mills

false (adj): not in accordance with the fact or reality or actuality

dichotomy (n): being twofold; a classification into two opposed parts or subclasses

Probably the most basic concept that keeps my students from understanding their own connectivity is this strong tradition of believing that things are "either/or." Specifically, they fear that understanding themselves as part of a group means they will lose their individuality.

I begin every semester of any sociology course with the ultimate sociological trick question: "Who's in control of your life?"

It is the ultimate sociological question because studying societies is studying power. Power is about control. In fact, the only way we really know if someone's power is by observing what that someone has control over. Power is not really something we "are" or something we "possess," though our language would suggest this. We say "she's a powerful person" or "he has a powerful personality" or more simply "they have power." But the truth is power is always a social relationship because the only way we know power is by the extent to which the wishes of one person or set of people get carried out while the wishes of another person or set of people gets ignored or resisted. In other words, power is perceived through control and control requires cooperation coupled with consequences. Understand that if the consequences are severed enough the cooperation is not freely given but rather extorted, but nonetheless if the subordinate person decides to face the consequences instead of obey the wishes of the other, the other's power is diminished.

And that leads us to the trickiness of the question. Because the answer is inevitably given with a dichotomy in mind: I control my life versus someone or thing outside of me controls my life. But both are correct. To the extent to which I can express my wishes and they are done, I determine the agenda and to the extent to which I cooperate with the wishes of others they determine the agenda.

Not only is the dichotomy wrong because it sets up an "either/or" that is really a "both/and" but it is wrong because in truth their are myriads of possibilities and complexities to the answer that are hidden in dichotomous thinking.

For example, take a simple and mundane situation like driving a car. In one sense, I am in control of the machine when I'm driving it. I have a desired agenda (a destination) and I act upon the vehicle, it follows that agenda. So I'm in control. Except that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and I usually can't get in my car and drive the shortest possible distance because I have to take roads and I have stay on the correct side of the road. I can't even get the fastest possible time because I have to obey speed limits and stop at lights and stop signs and signal and yield the right of way before turning. If I disobey these rules their are consequences. There are legal consequences because I can get a ticket and the guy in the blue suit who wants to give me that ticket, wears a gun and other weaponry, so I pull over when he flashes a light at me. There are physical consequences as well because two objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time, which means that if I drive into another person, vehicle or building, something has to move over. If it's me that has to move on impact, it could mean injury or death. But I could speed. I could crash. I could plow through a straight line at optimum speed and try to get to my destination as quickly as possible. There are also economic consequences because I want my car to be available for the next trip and someone designed the car with economics in mind so that it would experience wear and tear and only be able to achieve a specific speed or last a specific number of miles. There are biological consequences because I may have physical limitations in my ability to see and use muscles to interact with the car.

So who is in control of my driving? The answer is all of these factors and more are driving the car.

False dichotomies hide this complexity and give us the illusion of control and that makes them hard to give up.

False dichotomies hide the truth of our existence from us and this can cost us dearly in the long run because if we do not understand the available choices we have and the consequences of these choices, we will never be free.