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Violence As An Organizing Theme In Children’s Games - A Case Study
Prepared by
Michael Schneider
May 1970
For:
Mr. Matthews
University of California
Berkeley,
Graduate School of Business Administration
Bus. Admin. 150G
-Preface-
In trying to extract material from one’s own past one must face up to a number of problems. The first and most obvious problem is that one cannot remember all the details of his past. True, new stimuli to the “memory bank” may illuminate old facts hidden deep away and never before elicited but that process is complicated by the fact that we really don’t know when the brain starts its memory processing. Some researchers report that memory is like thinking learned, in fact, it is considered an integral part of the learning process. Therefore, the receptive power of the memory bank would have to be a function of the level of physiological development of the sensory apparatus and the psychological development of the individual through experience. In other words, one does not remember everything that he experiences. We know that the conscious mind cannot at will, under normal circumstances, draw up just anything from the well of memory. It has been shown that individuals learn to remember primarily only what particularly strikes them as worth remembering. Psychiatrists are particularly aware of this and strive to find out what the conscious mind is trying to repress or not remember. They use psychological reduction techniques, hypnotism, and now psychedelic drugs to open up the unconscious bank of impressions which lack the order of the conscious memory unit. Instead of using the conscious or working memory unit cues which the brain can order, and categorically respond to, “foreign” cues are introduced and the conscious unit is unable to respond to them effectively. It first searches its conscious resources and then only under proper conditions goes to the unconscious. (This explanation is highly speculative so due caution must be used in approaching it).
So what does this have to do with remembering about one’s past? The point is that I am drawing on information that is reaped from my own childhood of four through thirteen years old. I had absolutely no awareness of anthropological, sociological, psychological methods of investigations. The cues were not there, my memory unit was not recording in a psychological jargon or frame of reference, it was recording in my terms as a four through thirteen year old American child. It is much like going to a Tahitian islander and asking him to tell you how it was before the white man came. He is not going to tell you whether he lived in a matrilineal kinship social structure, he is going to tell you what was important to him, what he remembers on his own terms. You can give him cues but you must translate his responses into an account that bears some unified meaning psychologically or sociologically. To do this you must be aware of the limitations of your study method and try to operate within these constraints in some meaningful way.
The only way I can respond to the limitations of my study method is to caution the reader from attacking any undue macro-significance to my report. One thing can be said for the method and that was what was important to me as an eight-year-old (that which I graphically remember) is important to my study now, although in a different frame of reference. The reason being that it was a part of my development and therefore a part of my total being today. However, the validity of my observations are additionally limited by the report being a single-case study--my case with all its uniqueness and internal prejudices.
-Introduction-
One of the most popular forms of play for young boys starting from pre-school days and largely ending with the coming of puberty is gang play of dramatically violent games. “Cowboys and Indians”, “Cops and Robbers”, “Army”, and others are all on the agenda in most American communities. All these games employ a number of children with a various assortment of different props imaginatively applicable to the situation being dramatized. These games are not inherent and must be learned as the child comes of age to physically participate in them. Each game has its own rules and particular roles that must be filled. We all are, of course, interested in the implications of their violent theme, but I would like to investigate how the violence is used as an organizing theme for group definition and action. Sherif’s study of the Red Devils and the Bulldogs at camp provides an intriguing model, although, a good more sophistication was involved in his studies than mine. Even though it is not the intention to really hurt someone in a dramatization of war, the victim must dramatize his injury for satisfaction of the players. Later as children get older they group into sides opposed to each other in which the actual intent is to physically hit the “enemy side”, although, to really hurt someone usually jeopardizes the continuation of the game. All these games are ordered toward a violent and aggressive theme.
The question I would like to ask after describing the mechanics and origins of the games is why do these games exist, and, since they are learned and played during the most crucial time of human development and socialization, what effect do they have on the collective personalities and propensities in a specific society? In simple terms, does our society demand the inculcation of its progeny in violence or aggression?
The Development of the Walnut Lane Gang In Violently-oriented Play Patterns
The peer group which I have chosen to study is not particularly atypical. It represents a group of about ten original male members all differentially associated who lived on the same street in a newly settled outlying suburb in the San Francisco Bay Area. Each member of the group was either the first or second male child of a young couple recently moved to the block. The houses were all built at the same time (around 1950) and occupied by approximately the same socio-economic class members (generally middle, ex- G.I.’s). The street was a dead-end affair running about 200 yards long in the bottom of a small closed valley with a small creek running down the middle to the open end of the valley. The hills on the south and west sides were relatively steep with oak forests, brush, and open pasture in the hills and willow trees and heavy brush in the creeks. The hill on the north side ran up about 250 yards from the creek to houses on top of the hill. The ten-room tract houses were situated all within 15 yards of the street and on ½ to 3/4 acre lots with the creek being on the north side of the street in back of the houses. The weather was generally temperate all year long with a short rainy season which limited outdoor play for only very short intervals during the year. The range of play was over the entire neighborhood and, although the street was relatively clear of autos, violent game play was not centered here nor immediately around the houses. The north side of the street with its creek and steep hill with a ridge was preferred. The south hills despite all of their space were not a favorite. This was because of the danger to the dogs, who followed the boys wherever they went, harassing the cattle who inhabited this side. There was a popular belief (not unfounded) that the caretaker of the cattle would shoot your dog was found bothering the cattle. This changed later as the fences were moved back up the hill and more hill area became open for play. Clearly, the play area was outdoors and the natural environment offered a wide spectrum of opportunities for the boys to take.
Beginning at age three of four when the boys were allowed to “go off their property” and collectively play by themselves, the peer group or gang became organized. Violent games at this time were arranged along the lines of “cowboys and Indians”. This was induced primarily by indirect exposure to this theme by parents. Television was not significant at this time so the lead was given by the parents’ presentation of cowboy picture story books, toy guns, and some movie influence (rare). This was quickly picked up by the gang. However, their first games were very haphazard and poorly organized. They soon found that there had to be some rules to the games if there was to be any kind of collective fun. The so-called natural leaders, usually the older or the most outward characters (who usually introduced the idea of playing the game at any particular time), announced the rules of the game. For pre-schoolers the rules were very liberal simply because full expectations of what the roles entailed were not known. The standard rule was that one had to fall when one was shot. This had to be diligently explained to the very young, or else they were allowed to play but “did not count”. Arguments usually developed over how much time one had to “stay dead”. The duration of the game usually only lasted as long as each participant obeyed the rules. This was also a function of differential attention spans and the limits of parental restrictions.
The biggest change occurred as group members entered kindergarten. Different members entered at different interval according to their age. However, those who did not go to kindergarten immediately learned from those who did. They learned how to count, and organizational skills in the games they played at school. The idea of equal sides and particularly the idea of rules to the game came into play. Individuals who wanted to reap the rewards of the game had to obey the rules. More elaborate rules were defined as individuals found new ways to win “unfairly”. Boundaries had to be defined, “no going into the cow pasture except by the buckeye trees”; rules, “you have to stay dead for 15 counts”; and alliances, “you have to stay on your side until the end”. Awareness of equality and “fair chance” became known at this time and were usually strictly enforced. This could be noticed by just listening to the children playing; “you have to give me a chance to get away”, “at least give our side a chance by giving us Russell instead of Ricky”.
Overt physical violence between one another was a rarity, especially during the game. Anger was rarely aroused at this early age except as the result of rebuff, exclusion, or bullying of a younger member (usually by the older brother of the victim). An acute awareness of each other’s personal idiosyncrasies was evident amongst the members of the play group. The organizers of the game knew that they needed so many to play the game so they would compromise to personal demands of an obstinate or obnoxious member who refused to play because of not getting a “fair deal”.
After entering kindergarten, however, another awareness began to emerge, that of the realism of props used. This became an increasing concern with the introduction of television and also attendance at local matinee movie performances. As the members were exposed to this media their concern for realism heightened as did their dramatic identification. One became aware that to “really” do it right, one had to have a gun that looked and sounded real, and also be able to realistically portray the damage a gun was supposed to inflict. Surprisingly, enough at the same time this awareness for guns came about, so did it for other weapons of mayhem. Swords, whips, spears, and bows and arrows were introduced with marked success--they really could do damage. The introduction of these weapons was quickly curbed by parents who compromised by buying the most realistic looking pistols and rifles rather than any kind of more primitive weapon that actually could do physical damage. The first real hero identification came after the members of the group were allowed to attend movies. There they experienced vicarious thrills in realistic adventure. They had begun to read by this time and the comic book market was opened to them. Television also was introduced in a limited quantity. All these elements of mass media had a hand in opening new avenues of imagination in dramatic games. Also, by this age the children of the group were allowed a great amount of spatial freedom by their parents, they could roam the hills with almost complete freedom. Hero identification for members of the group varied according to the personality of each member. The group could only assign so many roles and they were usually exhausted so that additional ones had to be created. In order to avoid frustration, hero identification was limited in the game situation. Following a Saturday afternoon movie the action was usually acted out. Usually, though, play degenerated into a poor facsimile as the game progressed because of the limited number of characters presented in the movie. There were more members of the play group than stars in the movie. More often the movie provided a stimulus for action in a particular mode or setting which then opened the imagination to seek further adventures keyed to the physical limits of the play area. Hero identification was not so centered on what the hero actually did in the film but what the actors used. With increasing awareness the gang members adhered to realism; “I’m out of ammo”, “you couldn’t hit me from way out there”, “you only got me in the leg”, “no machine-guns allowed” all were heard now.
Leadership became evident in the group. Effective organizers were usually recognized and acknowledged as leaders, however, their status was tenuous. The best arrangement was to have a personality dichotomy between two members of the play group so that sides would be formed. If no such dichotomy existed at that particular moment, an imaginary enemy was chosen to avoid conflict which could destroy the game. Many times more effort was directed at maintaining the game than in playing, especially by the leader.
As mentioned before, with the influence of mass media there arrived a greater spectrum of modes to play. Army was a particular favorite. This was additionally fostered by a flood of war surplus material following the Korean War. Also, toy manufacturers found a national marketing device in television. The desire for weapons was created on a mass level with the wide dissemination of violent themes in television, movies, and comic books. War or army was particularly adaptable to the Walnut Lane gang because of the unusual diversity and freedom of its natural surroundings.
War was suited because the popularly presented Hollywood setting was very similar to the forested and creek area the gang found itself playing in. At this age also, the technicalities of weaponry were increasingly intriguing to all the boys. (For instance, a certain well-documented book on weapons, aptly called Weapons, was by far the most popular book at the local grammar school library.) The two most desirable weapons to own were a wooden and steel rifle expertly replicating an actual M-1 called a “Kadet Trainer” and “Mattel Toy Company’s enormously successful plastic “Tommy-Burp”. These firearms opened new vistas for the seven to nine-year-olds of the gang.
War plots were particularly adaptable because there were usually no crises over hero identifications simply because war movies provided for an army of heroes. The only “privates” in the “platoon” were the “little kids” whom the gang was forced to drag along. Each member could have some rank and associated role requirements which gave him a feeling of importance and an outlet for his particular personal imagination--be it radioman, supply sergeant or captain. If no dichotomy existed, the gang could always fight a common enemy--the “Japs” or the “Germans”. All sorts of equipment was obtained to add realism to the dramatic presentation, and real importance was given to the member of the gang who possessed the greatest stock of surplus equipment. Additionally, thanks to the rich play area, temporary forts were constructed (usually foxholes dug with army-surplus folding shovels) as demarcated positions of one side.
The war games quickly grew into games where objects were thrown at the opposing sides. This occurred as additional splits were created by new and extended associations with other outside of the original gang and the integration of new members into the places vacated by members who had either outgrown the gang or had moved from the block. Rock fights were a rarity primarily because of the scarcity of rocks. However, the trends followed seasonal occurrences of suitable material for throwing. The rains in the winter brought mudball wars, spring brought “grass-bomb” (long grass attached to dirt clods) fights, the early summer marked the blooming of the buckeye trees (a particularly dangerous article when thrown because of its unique shape and composition which gave it the hardness of a rock and the accuracy of a baseball) and the buckeye wars. These games varied in ferocity with the possible harmful effects of the objects thrown. One had fun in the grass-bomb fights but buckeye wars were serious business, and after their vogue, were usually reserved only for fighting outsiders. The reason for this was that when hit by a buckeye, it hurt, and bad feelings were always evoked no matter what the intent of the aggressor was. These bad feelings caused unwanted splits in the play group which needed a quota of members to carry on the most enjoyable games. Therefore, one was careful who he got into a serious buckeye fight with.
At about age nine or ten, the cohesion of the original play group was showing ostensive signs of breaking apart. Differential associates found in school based on mutual character attraction instead of regional necessity, increased freedom to move beyond the boundaries of the immediate neighborhood to foster new friendships, and differential individual interests were tearing at the original play group. Friction was likely to develop between members who now had other gangs to join and in some cases territorial wars were fought. In these wars, one side had encroached on the other’s play area and the result was real warfare.
These “range wars” did not involve hand-to-hand fighting but instead, buckeyes or mudballs. The original gang organization provided an extremely well-organized fighting unit and by this time most members were extremely well-skilled in military tactics of a surprising complexity, not to mention their physical skill in throwing the objects. From what they had gleaned from books, movies, and television they realized the need for organization which included chain-of-command (not too well enforced below the top man) and they became involved in martial tactics and the associated jargon.
The summertime brought the gang back together. Newfound school associations were not kept up with any regularity during the summer. Because of the interest in natural summertime activities, principally swimming, fighting and dramatization in the usual manner for the most part did not take place. An interesting development was the transfer of the games to an aquatic situation. In 1958, the community including Walnut Lane joined together to build an Olympic size community swimming pool. From this time on the pool became the focal point of interest for all gang activity of Walnut Lane. Of course, the Walnut Lane gang stayed together but greater contacts were made with other gangs in the general community. Definite cliques developed of the pool regulars, consisting almost entirely of males in the differentiated community housing tracts. The cliques for boys were very large partially because of the requirements of the divisions they engaged in. For example, “pool tag” required a good number of players to gain any enjoyment.
Dramatic fighting showed forth, but it was adapted to the water and a larger gang. Popular games were “fighting the shark”, playing enemy skindivers fighting with knives, and probably the most dramatic acting out of dying postures imaginable. Dramatic dying was particularly interesting as one’s performance was judged very critically by one’s peers on the basis of effectively replicating “actual” death. Models for drama were drawn from the popular media of television and movies. The more spectacular yet strikingly realistic one’s portrayal of death, the higher one was praised for his efforts. This in due course went to extremes and several boys were actually hurt in their dramatic and spectacular falls and jumps from the deck of the pool. Another popular form of recreation was “piggy-back wars”. In these, groups of boys actually engaged in direct hand-to-hand wrestling. Challenges between contestants were constantly being made and fought out. An additional kind of activity that came into vogue was one where the younger members of the Walnut Lane gang would “gang-up” on a particularly strong older member of the gang and fight him almost to the point of viciousness. Two extremely well-developed brothers, aged thirteen and fourteen, were chosen to be the victims of this onslaught and both they and the “attackers” took much physical abuse before they collectively grew tired of this activity. The pool’s general effect was to broaden the geographical base of the gang, its number of members, and to rigidly hold together the original gang in spite of increasingly diversified interests such as Little League baseball, Scouting, and school. It did not at all eliminate games employing violence as a general theme. It provided instead just another arena for imagination of the gang to play in. In fact, the water provided for a medium where direct physical contact could be undertaken within approved boundaries and safety limits.
From about age eleven to thirteen gang activity, especially during the school year, began to stray away from violence-oriented games. Increasing interest in “legitimate” team competitions such as football and baseball provided the focal point for Walnut Lane play after school. However, the summer in combination with other factors brought the gang together again into a cohesive play group.
As mentioned before, the community swimming pool provided a common meeting place for the enlarged gang. With added daylight, warm nights, and additional parental freedom the gang could and did engage in night-time games. These games were centered around the “sleeping-out in the hills”. One additional factor provided the final impetus for what was to become the most dangerous violently-oriented game the gang was to play before the coming of puberty, and that was the introduction of air rifles.
At about age ten or eleven, most of the parents were pressured by their sons to let them purchase B-B guns. A variety of factors entered into the parents’ decision to allow such potentially dangerous firearms to enter into the hands of their sons. The first was what will be covered in the next section of this paper--a seeming cultural fascination with weapons, particularly, firearms, somehow “inherent” in the frontier heritage of America. Secondly, integrally related with the first, is the factor of the particular rich natural environment that Walnut Lane was set in. Walnut Lane was in an ideal suburban setting. It was close enough to the major urban centers, Oakland and San Francisco, but had all the advantages of a really rural setting. Walnut Lane was the “frontier” not only to the children who lived there but to their parents. Guns were what Americans popularly thought they had won the frontier with and since most fathers now living in the “ideal suburb” had come from the city, deprived of the “frontier”, a natural extension was to let their children enjoy the wealth of the suburbs including symbolic control by firearms. Ironically, although a good many of the fathers living on Walnut Lane had fought in the Second World War, they had no qualms about exposing their children to the possible dangers of firearms. The Second World War had indeed been their “frontier”. With the pervasive pall of the Cold War and the massive housing growth, and the realization that their children would never again see “frontier life”, fathers thought that a little vicarious enjoyment would hardly be damaging. In fact, after their exposure to firearms in the War, many had taken a childish fascination in weapons themselves. The result was that many became hunting “sportmen” in the clichish American tradition. The point was that with very little caution parents were almost more than willing to give their young sons B-B guns. Unfortunately, the parents had little or no idea of what their sons were to do when they slept-out in the hills on the warm summer nights.
As stated before the gang had enlarged since the introduction of the swimming pool. The greater number of members provided for the separation of the gang into two large teams. Division was primarily based on equality of members and weapons. Any brothers in the gang were placed on opposite sides by mutual consent. The object of the game was to fight. It was as simple as that. Darkness and a huge diverse play area (on the size of about 2 square miles) with loosely defined battlefields where most of the actual conflict took place provided a challenging arena for combat. One interesting fact was the army-surplus equipment which the gang had discarded as “kid-stuff” now became extremely useful. Army helmet-liners, flyer-goggles, heavy army coats and other paraphernalia were used extensively as protective covering to ward off B-B’s.
At this point in the boy’s physical development, they had achieved a striking degree of coordination. This came about almost naturally in lieu of the requirements of group play activity. One knew how to climb a tree or else he didn’t play with the gang. For instance, physical testing was actually organized by the gang itself at about age eight or nine. It was run much like the obstacle courses in Army “boot camps” which the boys purposely modeled them after.
As the boys trudged off each night with the excuse that they were sleeping out and taking their guns to shoot bullfrogs with, they organized the activity for the night’s fighting. Sides were decided on, boundaries defined, and loosely drawn-up rules concerning “safety”. A full description of the fighting does not need to be presented here. Suffice it to say that each side plotted tactical moves to ambush the other and fight it out. The games went along well until the excitement and the frenzy was broken by someone getting hit in a vulnerable spot and on becoming angered retaliating with a club or his fists.
Remarkably, no actual serious injury occurred until the introduction of a leather sling. Previously, any “escalation” in the form of more powerful firearms such as a “pellet-gun” was greeted with a strong negative sanction in recognition of its potential danger. The leather sling seemed like an innocent enough weapon to most, primarily because they had no popular notion from movies or television (not too many of the gang were profound students of The Bible) of what a sling could do. As it turned out, the sling “found its mark” quickly and disastrously. One member of the opposite side almost had his head split open and the parents discovered what was going on. At this point, the games of childhood ended. The onset of puberty, the diverse interests of junior high school and parental sanction all combined in differential proportions to bring the gang’s “war-games” to an end.
Analysis of Violence As An Organizing Theme in Children’s Play Groups
It is my feeling that violence is not the primary goal of group activity. Violence is used as an organizing vehicle for group play. There has been a great deal of discussion as to what effect this type of social and psychological patterning might have on children. By the strength of the “dosage” children receive in American society, it seems that an almost conscious attempt is made to pattern them in aggression. It seems then that the “war-games” of Walnut Lane are a functional necessity for these children to survive with any amount of success in the jungles of not only Indochina but Wall Street. However, the real point here is not the fighting itself but the development of organizational and social skills necessary for success in an essentially competitive social environment.
It is my contention that the same competitive skills and propensities that the leaders and organizers of the war-games learn will be most helpful in not only real war-games in later life but in competitive social situations present in the organizations and institutions of the larger society. Unfortunately, I have done no follow-up studies on any individuals of the Walnut Lane gang (except myself).
It would probably be appropriate to make some mention of what relevance this study or others like it may have on industrial psychology or organizational behavior. I would hope that this study or others like it may have on industrial psychology or organizational behavior. I would hope that this study has given some insight into how groups are formed, how they react to militant themes to organize themselves into cohesive operating units in any social setting. Finally, we have another clue as to where to discover and recognize leadership for supervisory and managerial development.
