Art and the Social Order

This concerns the films, “The Measure of All Things: Greek Art and the Human Figure,” along with “More Human than Human.”

I chose the film the Measure of All Things” because it pertained to social order, which became the theme in More Human than Human.

Social order is more than the original macro Durkheimian theory, but also a micro theory in Social Psychology, know as Balance Theory. Balance Theory is an overarching principle that encompasses a myriad of social phenomena. Balance theory essentially says that human beings like to have order to their milieu. When order is not achieved, then cognitive dissonance occurs. When cognitive dissonance occurs, people will attempt to adjust to reach balance again.

We see both the higher social order (macro) and Balance Theory played out in ancient Greek art. There was an evolution from extreme accuracy to the human body, to over exaggeration. The over exaggeration was the attempt at balance; where the mind needed the exaggeration in order to make sense of what it was seeing. At the same time, the art itself was depicting a very complex social order that encouraged conformity through Durkheimian ideas of deviance.

Greek art was not always so complicated, as was Greek society. The earliest Greek art depicted a more mechanical society through the abstract statues of women, possibly representing fertility. This shows that Greek culture was possibly matriarchal. As Greek culture evolved, the art evolved with it, especially through cultural diffusion with neighboring trading islands and countries. Once Greek art had reached its apex of over exaggeration, the society was organically complex.

The question of whether art represented society, or social control was implemented through art is an open debate.

Trade and cultural diffusion with Egypt, the evolution of ideal body types to exagerations, and the ideas of art resembling societies are some of the parallels made in the textbook.