The Thief, His Mother, and Us: Sociological Issues with Implications in Ten Pedagogisable Aesop Fables
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23918/ijsses.v10i2p244Keywords:
Academic Long Form Content, Aesop Fables, Sociology, Pedagogisation, Pop CultureAbstract
He was an “ugly” slave. Born around 620 BCE, Aesop has magnificently depicted timeless sociological issues in numerous universally known fables. Unknown in schools, for being probably too “popular” to be taken seriously, Aesop fables could represent a significant source of wisdom and even knowledge about sociology. Men, women, boys, daughters, sons, wives, maids, thieves, fathers, almost every member of a modern society has been immortalized in a strikingly simple complexity. The present paper will be an investigation through a conceptual content analysis of Aesop’s embedded theories -texts and sub-texts- found in ten selected fables around the notions of security, parentlessness, ageism in the work place, power, status, and even surprisingly beyond that. The hidden facet of the Greek slave as a sociologist might be (re)discovered through a comparative study between sociology theories (academic content) and ancient Greek fables (popular culture). The connection between the two words/worlds -academic vs. the non-academic fictional pop culture- is often known to be exclusive since apparently conflictual. The outcome of this study has shown a potentially pedagogisable content to be taught in sociology schools and elsewhere like psychology schools and probably more. Aesop Fables: a modern handbook of sociology?
References
Adams, D. S. (1980). Teaching stories for sociology: The fables of James Thurber. Teaching Sociology, 7(4), 397. https://doi.org/10.2307/1316972
Aesop’s Fables Unit Resources Teaching moral and theme common core. Teachers Pay Teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Aesops-Fables-Unit-Resources-Teaching-Moral-and-Theme-Common-Core-1035534
Bannister, R. C. (1979). Social darwinism: Science and myth in Anglo-American social thought. Temple University Press.
Blau, P. M. (1980). A fable about social structure. Social Forces, 58(3), 777. https://doi.org/10.2307/2577184
Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. (2020, March 26). Aesop. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://britannica.com/biography/Aesop
Bull, M. (2021). The concept of the social: Scepticism, idleness and utopia. Verso Books.
Capelos, T., &Demertzis, N. (2022). Sour grapes: ressentiment as the affective response of grievance politics. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, 35(1), 107–129. https://doi.org/10.1080/13511610.2021.2023005
Chacko, J. (2021). Gandhi? Who’s That?Notion Press
Charlz, M. (2022, October 13). The young crab and his mother story moral lesson and summary. EnglishTutorHub. Retrieved February 11, 2023, from https://englishtutorhub.com/fables/the-young-crab-and-his-mother-story-with-moral-lesson-and-summary/
Cowan, N., Adams, E. J., Bhangal, S., Corcoran, M., Decker, R., Dockter, C. E., Eubank, A. T., Gann, C. L., Greene, N. R., Helle, A. C., Lee, N., Nguyen, A. T., Ripley, K. R., Scofield, J. E., Tapia, M. A., Threlkeld, K. L., & Watts, A. L. (2019). Foundations of Arrogance: A broad survey and framework for Research. Review of General Psychology, 23(4), 425–443. https://doi.org/10.1177/1089268019877138
Daniel, S. H. (1982). POLITICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL USES OF FABLES IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLAND. Jstor, 23(2), 151–171.
Davis, A. G. (1979). An unequivocal change of policy: Prevention Health and Medical Sociology. Social Science & Medicine. Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, 13(2), 129–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/0160-7979(79)90019-5
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2020, March 26). Aesop. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://britannica.com/biography/Aesop
Erol Işık, N. (2015). The role of narrative methods in sociology: Stories as a powerful tool to understand individual and Society. SosyolojiAraştırmalarıDergisi, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.18490/sad.47604
Erol Işık, N. (2015). The role of narrative methods in sociology: Stories as a powerful tool to understand individual and Society. SosyolojiAraştırmalarıDergisi, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.18490/sad.47604 (Mentioned TWICE)
Fables as panacea to unethical behaviours in societies. (n.d.). Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://researchgate.net/publication/342296427_Fables_as_Panacea_to_Unethical_Behaviours_in_Societies
Form, W., & Faris, Robert, E. L. (2021, March 4). Sociology. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://britannica.com/topic/sociology
Fraile, M. del R. P. (1970, January 1). Harris’s short animal stories: A socio-linguistic point of View. Dialnet. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2541618
Franzosi, R. (1998). Narrative analysis—or why (and how) sociologists should be interested in narrative. Annual Review of Sociology, 24(1), 517–554. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.24.1.517
Fuchs, J., & Patterson, A. (1992). Fables of power: Aesopian writing and political history. Eighteenth-Century Studies, 25(3), 369. https://doi.org/10.2307/2739343
Gail, F., &Geoff, T. (2009). Text type and texture. Equinox Publishing. Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://equinoxpub.com/home/text-type-texture/
Hoey, B. (2014.). Aesop’s fables and slave narratives: Reactionaries and revolutionaries. Our Blog. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://blog.bookstellyouwhy.com/aesops-fables-and-slave-narratives-reactionaries-and-revolutionaries
Hoyt, M.F. (1998). Constructive Therapies V2. Guilford Press, 1998
Hubble, N., & Tew, P. (1970, January 1). The role of narrative representation and exchange in how older people understand ageing. SpringerLink. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230390942_9
Hubble, N., & Tew, P. (2013). Ageing, narrative and Identity: New Qualitative Social Research. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hyvärinen, M. (n.d.). View of narrative and sociology (invited): Narrative works. View of Narrative and Sociology (Invited) | Narrative Works. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/nw/article/view/25445/29490
Iyanda, R. O. (2020). Fables as panacea to unethical behaviours in societies. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3607957
Katsadoros, G. C., &Feggerou, P. (2021). The social context in aesopic fables: Utopias and dystopias. Utopian Studies, 32(2), 329–341. https://doi.org/10.5325/utopianstudies.32.2.0329
Kubiak, V. (2021, June 10). Les Secrets de la Fontaine (5/8): OÙ A-t-il puisé son inspiration pour sesfables? Geo.fr. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://geo.fr/histoire/les-secrets-de-la-fontaine-58-ou-a-t-il-puise-son-inspiration-pour-ses-fables-205090#:~:text=La%20Fontaine%20s’inspira%20des,imagin%C3%A9s%20par%20l’auteur%20hell%C3%A8ne
Magee, H. (2022, July 11). Do you people-please in your relationship? The Gottman Institute. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://gottman.com/blog/do-you-people-please-in-your-relationship/
McLendon, M. L. (2013). The politics of sour grapes: Sartre, Elster, and Tocqueville on frustration, failure, and self-deception. The Review of Politics, 75(2), 247–270. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0034670513000053
Noel, T. (1975). Theories of the fable in the Eighteenth Century. Columbia University Press.
PapadēmētriuIōannēs-Theophanēs A. (1997). Aesop as an archetypal hero. Maurommatēs.
The stereotype of ‘working-class fatalism’ and the challenge for … (n.d.). Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://jstor.org/stable/45110960
Teaching Theme with Aesop’s fables: Finding theme worksheets graphic organizers. Teachers Pay Teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved August 31, 2022, from https://teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Teaching-Theme-with-Aesops-Fables-Finding-Theme-Worksheets-Graphic-Organizers-1203658
World Health Organization. (n.d.). Ageing: Ageism. World Health Organization. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/ageing-ageism
Wortley J. Aging and the aged in Aesopic fables. Int J Aging Hum Dev. 1997;44(3):183-203. doi: 10.2190/EXH7-H1R4-6RQR-TFK3. PMID: 9248878.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies
International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies applies the
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic Licence (CC BY-NC 2.0)
