Tag: lifestyle

A social model of Trick-or-Treat

Everyone laments the commercialization of the holidays. How tacky! How capitalistic! So why do these distasteful traditions continue to weave their way through our culture? Let’s investigate the social upsides to see if there are compensating factors.

First, it is necessary to identify the parties involved. There are the vendors of fun-size treats. These folks are unabashedly money-oriented organizations. There are parents who dutifully open their front doors and dig handfuls of treats out of their stash to parlay them into the bulging pillowcases or plastic pumpkins presented by the costumed youngsters yelping: Trick-or-Treat! These folks are subsidizers. They purchase the candy with no designs on a pecuniary return for their money. And then there are the kids. One might think they have no investment, but that’s not true. Their delight at the mystery of the evening, at the intrigue of mask-wearing, and at the innocent charm they exude is a draw to those around them.

For a proper evaluation, one must anchor the focus of discretion. This tracks which group is being considered in the balancing of accounts. Let’s start with the stores. They are commercial ventures, supplying items their customers demand in return for enough to pay their expenses and a little more. If Halloween went to the wayside, they would simply move on to something else. There seems to be very little to model here in terms of the social sphere.

Now, let’s anchor the view from the adult participants. They lay out the cash– so what do they get? They bring joy to their kids and perhaps a little to themselves. The event might rope in grandma and grandpa, a couple of worthy backstops in the activities of family life. Lastly, the business of activity on the streets brings out a Jane Jacobsian benefit. So, parents and adults can gain in private pleasure, family bonding, and community spirit.

Lastly, consider the kids. It might seem like a windfall for them. However, probably more than one parent keeps the incentives of a successful Halloween as a behavior modifier. So they too pitch in with a bit of work when it comes to supporting the holiday.

For the foreseeable future, the balance in favor of the social gains indicates a continued future for this spooky festivity.

Alice’s author has more to offer

Did you know that Lewis Carroll penned more than a story about a young girl stumbling through a fantastical world of characters? I did not. I had an Alice in Wonderland doll like many of my peers. When I was a teenager, I read somewhere that Carroll was a math teacher and found that interesting. But this source of information provided no additional accolades around his professional achievements.

Perhaps it is because Lewis Carrol is a pen name for Chales Lutwidge Dodgson. Perhaps it is because we now live with never ending access to information, at least to those who wish to jump down the rabbit hole. His Wikipedia page is quite long. Here’s a bit (the youth clearly suffered from distraction).

His early academic career veered between high promise and irresistible distraction. He did not always work hard, but was exceptionally gifted, and achievement came easily to him. In 1852, he obtained first-class honours in Mathematics Moderations and was soon afterwards nominated to a Studentship by his father’s old friend Canon Edward Pusey.[19][20] In 1854, he obtained first-class honours in the Final Honours School of Mathematics, standing first on the list, and thus graduated as Bachelor of Arts.[21][22] He remained at Christ Church studying and teaching, but the next year he failed an important scholarship exam through his self-confessed inability to apply himself to study.[23][24] Even so, his talent as a mathematician won him the Christ Church Mathematical Lectureship in 1855,[25] which he continued to hold for the next 26 years.[26] Despite early unhappiness, Dodgson remained at Christ Church, in various capacities, until his death, including that of Sub-Librarian of the Christ Church library, where his office was close to the Deanery, where Alice Liddell lived.[27

The book that catches my attention is a volume on symbolic logic, Symbolic Logic and the Game of Logic. What else could the mind that offered up so many tremendous visuals in an adventure do with little drawings and abstract concepts? A visual of a fleeting concept can be quite powerful. Apparently the book is full of quirky humor.