Concept: emotional institutionalization

Further reading Arabesk book (it does have 850+ pages), I’ve stumbled upon another concept – emotional institutionalization. The idea is that, together with assimilation with local culture, you also have to change the way you perceive your own emotions in relation to what’s happening in your new world.

The reason for this concept in the book is that the main character comes from USA, while living in middle-east and he has to adjust his behavior. He’s especially troubled by the fact how rank works and the fact that being of royal heritage, he is expected to not do anything all day and just sit around bars and drink cappuccinos.

Where’s the social media aspect?

Feeling pretty social today, I’d say that social media aspect of this is that each community that you form and participate in has different norms and ideas about how people should behave. Together with these, you also get emotional expectations that you have to follow, otherwise you won’t be able to fully feel part of that community.

You can also take an extra step. Once you think you figured out how the community works, locate the borderline community members that are just trying to figure it out. Be their friend and help them understand how it works. They’ll be forever grateful to you, while you’ll be able to fully appreciate the little subtleties that makes it so special to be with that group of people.