How do people respond to this disjunction of goals and means? Merton creates a typology of adaptations. The first symbol designates people's relationship to norms about goals; the second symbol designates their relationship to norms about the means of achieving those goals.
| Attitude to Goals | Attitude to Means | Modes of adaptation |
|---|---|---|
| accept | accept | Conformity |
| accept | reject | Innovation |
| reject | accept | Ritualism |
| reject | reject | Retreatism |
| reject/accept | reject/accept | Rebellion |
Conformity is the attaining of societal goals by socially accepted means, while innovation is the attaining of those goals in unaccepted ways. Innovators find and create their own way to go about obtaining what they want, and a majority of the time, these new ways are considered to be socially unaccepted and deviant. Ritualism is the acceptance of the means but the forfeit of the goals. Ritualists continue to subscribe to the means, but they have rejected the overall goal; they are not viewed as deviant. Retreatism is the rejection of both the means and the goals. Retreaters want to find a way to escape from everything and therefore reject the goals and the means and are seen as deviant. Rebellion is a combination of rejection of societal goals and means and a substitution of other goals and means. Innovation and ritualism are the pure cases of anomie as Merton defined it because in both cases there is a discontinuity between goals and means.
From my limited observations here, I can observe this typology as explaining some patterns of social behaviour here in Saudi Arabia.
A country as socially restrictive and isolated as Saudi Arabia attracts expats for various reasons. Some, like myself, are here as financial refugees. The work situation is such that I need to address my debts and accumulate a nest egg in a relatively short period of time. Many I have talked to cite the same reason. Some come here because the isolation is exactly what they want: to clear their mind of the stresses and distractions at home, perhaps because of relationship pressures, or the desire to go into an ivory tower and get some research completed. Others come here as a last resort: other options have been exhausted, and KSA is where they end up. Finally others may come here as an escape: the problems back home have reached a fever pitch, and the hope is that the retreat here acts as a buffer.
Once here, some expats become conformists: they adopt the religion and culture, they integrate with members of the culture through language and even marriage, etc etc. The idea here is that the choice being made here is not a conscious one - obviously many DO come here because of the attraction to Islamic society that began already back home. Those are not the ones I am referring to here.
Innovation is common also among the young Saudi males, in a phenomenon called "drifting":
Because there are limited opportunities and activities for young Saudi males to entertain and amuse themselves, they have made their own version of fun which includes Saudi drifting. Saudi drifting is a new and very dangerous spin on joy riding. Basically the young men will drive their car at a high rate of speed and then start turning the wheel sharply to the left or right forcing the car into a spin. In many cases the car simply goes out of control and the young men consider this fun as well as a challenge or “show of manhood.”
In this typology, I wonder where the phenomenon of the "compound" fits in?
A cursory internet search of information on this shows no academic treatments of the term, just anecdotal discussions. In this walled enclosure, Westerners are free to practice their lifestyle with greater freedom in clothing, intermingling (parties), food (perhaps obtained through the diplomatic pouch), etc, that the mutawa will rarely enter (unless called in for egregious circumstances). In a highly restrictive society, the notion of a buffered area to practice a completely different culture is a very interesting sociological spectacle. This could represent another innovation, and I wonder how and when it evolved? Was it commodity-driven political detente?
Ritualism is something I have found quite commonly here. There is a kind of lip service to the rules, but a disavowal of the intent. For example, at the call to prayer, stores are required to shut their doors and close up. I have found, however, that residents are allowed in and continue to patronise the stores at this time. Cigarettes are commonly available, and as I had mentioned in an earlier blog, literature music media in general are available too.
I have seen retreaters here too. These are expats who tend to shun social interactions, go home and shut the door, not to be seen until the next morning. They seem to drift as ghosts in the hall. As newbies, we sometimes see these folks walk right past without acknowledgement. An attempt to establish eye contact, followed by a cheerful greeting, is met with a blank look or continue walking by in a zombie trance. The social skills seem to degrade over time. Sometimes this is a sign of impending departure, but it is also the characteristic of "lifers" too.
Finally, open rebellion is not likely here. Although, there are behaviours that amount to a kind of self-destruction. One teacher who had been warned about his inflammatory comments, was sacked for political incitement, as well as making derogatory comments about Islam. Such comments, unprofessional in any context, amount to a kind of vocational suicide here. To a lesser extent, the airing of gripes, the wearing of "borderline" clothing - enhances a victimologist's narractive; that is, if there are repercussions, they can say along with Monty's peasants:
Dennis: Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
King Arthur: Bloody peasant!
Dennis: Oh, what a giveaway! Did you hear that? Did you hear that, eh? That's what I'm on about! Did you see him repressing me? You saw him, Didn't you?
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