Social Context

Within the physical context we communicate based on established social contexts made up of relationships and expectations, or role and rules. The social context in a classroom establishes the relationship between the teacher and student and implies and warrants rules of communicative behavior within these roles. At a school these roles and rules are challenged daily by the resistance of authority, nonconformity, acting out.

I teach at a very conservative college in Southern Utah where I once had a student who decided to challenge the social and cultural contexts of his peers. On Halloween he showed up to class with red contact lenses in his eyes and a black t-shirt with two large white words, "Jesus Sucks." The social rift was palpable. He'd broken the rules socially to the point where I was concerned for his physical safety.

While I'm one to encourage individualism, such a dramatic social departure warrants scrutiny. It's sending some loud messages that require attention. It's important to emphasize the departure aspect of this; social behavior inconsistent with an established baseline behavior of the individual makes the social context critical to understand in threat assessment.