Comparison of Farm Housing Indexes for Oklahoma

Abstract

of a feeling of security or jitteryness, takes its cue from the military. Civilians look to the military for signs of tension. Further, among the civilians, the non-haoles look to the haoles, and the children to adults. This sort of morale, involving tension or relaxation, is a matter in the first instance of interpreting the meaning of certain signs as threats or props to our security. The people know they are not competent to interpret the signs and so they look for the interpretation of those who are competent. After the cue has been given by those who are competent, a process of communicating the tension or the relief of tension throughout the community takes place. Occasionally, and especially when no interpretation from above is forthcoming, the people themselves attempt to find the meanings, which, of course, usually turn out to be in error. For instance, during some of our thunderstorms, a few people have felt convinced a nearby sea battle was taking place. If this sort of morale is largely a matter of the communication of the feelings called forth when the implications of cer ain occurrences have been noted, then it becomes important to find the foci from which the contagion normally spreads. Wherever people gather and converse, such feelings may be disseminated. For haoles, the business-men's luncheon club and the bridge table are such foci. For the Japanese, the peddler of vegetables and groceries on his rounds attracts a series of clusters of housewives. He passes along from one cluster to the next the fears, the rumors which he gathers on the way. Frequently the paths of communication among the Japanese hardly touch those of the haole population, as is indicated by the fact that certain rumors and interpretations among the Japanese never reach the haoles. The Sociology Department of the University of Hawaii welcomes the interest of and suggestions from others doing research in the fields indicated. In Hawaii there is always the danger of isolation from the stimulating discussion with colleagues and of a lag in becoming acquainted with new research leads. The only solution is to induce written communication through the presentation of a descriptive account of the sort attempted here.