Gossip and Homelessness

By Stephen Wilson, one of our reporters abroad

Contrary to mainstream opinion, gossip is not always harmful and destructive but can improve decision-making in a community and company and foster resilience which allows it to survive perils such as either preventing homelessness or better surviving it. In this sense, the history of the Scottish Ceilidh partly vindicates the theories of psychologists such as Robin Dunbar and Daniel Kahneman as well as the late Philosopher Alastair MacIntyre.

When some people arrive in a huge city searching for a job they have not a single person to turn to for help. They are without family, friends or reliable contacts to help them. They are like the lonely civil servant in Dostoyevsky's novel “Crime and Punishment” who asks Raskolnikov “Have you ever been in a situation where you have not a single person to confide your feelings with?” Such a person is so isolated and vulnerable that he or she can fall through the cracks and holes of a society that has no safety net or family to offer protection, a safe sanctuary or aid. Such people easily become vulnerable to unwanted predators such as the free-riders who seek to abuse the desperation and gullibility of such people. There is no doubt that we now experience far more profound degrees of isolation than previous generations. In former small scale communities and clans, people were more protected from homelessness.

In fact, the psychologist Robin Dunbar stated that

“The psychological mechanism that evolved to facilitate the bonding of communities has lost its way because those communities of common interest no longer exist. We are exposed to the risk of exploitation by strangers. In the small community, we have long established bonds of trust, obligation and kinship to guarantee that one person's fiercely argued view will not harm others' interests. In the fragmented communities of the modern world, we no longer have that guarantee. Yet the mechanisms that engender trust in those who claim to be at one with us remain firmly in place. Free-riders have never had it so good” { Page 202 of Robin Dunbar's “Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language, First Edition, 1998, London, Harvard University Press}.

Those free-riders could be drug pushers, pimps, landlords who evict tenants, or even an employer who refuses to honour his obligations to employees by firing or cutting their pay. In 19th century Scotland, the free-riders were the Highland chiefs who no longer honoured their obligations to support and protect their clan from homelessness.

Robin Dunbar argues that gossip played an essential role in the origins of human language as well as social bonding, providing an information network which allowed improved decision making as well as protecting groups from the threat of free-riders {i.e,. people who take everything without giving anything in return}. Dunbar saw gossip as a form of 'vocal grooming' to fulfil those functions. Since social grooming in pairs was more limited and time-consuming {i.e. cleansing the skin of a partner} required a one-to-one ratio, the development of language has the advantage of reaching more people. It allows a person to address four people. Dunbar claims that storytelling is a form of 'vocal grooming' in the sense telling stories can cut stress and release pleasant endorphins and opiates which stimulate joy. Indeed, Dunbar argues gossip had a role in the origins of human language as well as what makes us human. Dunbar states. “I want to argue that gossiping is the core of social relationships, in deed, of society itself. Without gossip there would be no society, in short, gossip is what makes human society as we know possible.” As much as two thirds of conversation is devoted to gossiping {Dunbar, 2004}. Deprive people of outlets for gossip and you degrade them.

On the surface, this might sound strange. Our modern understanding of gossip is largely negative. People view speaking behind someone's back outside their presence as dishonest, dubious and threatening. To be called an idle gossip is to be viewed as a waster. A gossip threatens to undermine the unity of a company by ruining a person's reputation. To engage in gossip is to be seen as speaking ill of someone.

The term intelligent gossip' suggested by Daniel Kahneman might strike us as an 'oxymoron.' But if we look at the etymology of the word gossip we find that the original meaning has radically changed over the years. The word gossip did not always carry such negative connotations. Gossip in English was from Gosib, or God—parents who came together to help a woman who was giving birth. Their talk during this time was how to best care for one of their siblings giving birth.

And gossip could allow people to exchange ideas, work better and avoid making terrible mistakes. Daniel Kahneman claims intelligent gossip should rely on more precise and accurate language thus allowing people to avoid making poor decisions. People would be better enabled to control the worse errors of bias we make when making decisions. For example, a person will be less likely to accept a foolish proposal from a handsome and confident person by avoiding the impact of 'the halo effect.' The halo effect is when listeners are persuaded by a person's looks, confidence and charm rather than a rational assessment of the proposal. Gossip would play a role in identifying some of the 150 biases which lead to errors which Kahneman has found in his research { See pages 3-4 of “Thinking Fast and Slow,” by Daniel Kahneman, 2011, London: Penguin Books.}

Dunbar provides a good example of how offering employees a place to gossip can improve the performance of a company. For example, a B.B.C. television station was doing very well in their work. But then they moved to a newly designed location where there was no place to drink coffee! The architects thought such a room was a luxury. Dunbar reflects that “The logic seemed to be that if people were encouraged to eat their sandwiches at their desks, then they were more likely to get on with their work and less likely to idle their time away.” The result was that the performance of the company declined. And what was the reason? The coffee room allowed employees to get together to exchange information, share skills and who to ask when they had a problem. Without a chance to gossip in the coffee room less informed decision making happened!

Both Robin Dunbar's and Daniel Kahneman's see a constructive role for a gossip which is well informed and intelligent. This presumes an open-minded and pleasant rather than toxic gossip. But their view on the progressive role of gossip is supported by the Scottish cultural event called a Ceilidh. At present the word conjures up a place where people meet to dance to old Celtic Folk music where people sing or dance to musicians. But the roots of this word suggest the event served many functions. The word Ceilidh is Scottish Gaelic for not only a cultural gathering where people take turns in telling stories, reciting poems and singing songs. It is also Gaelic for visit and gossip. Now this event was performed by a clan where a seanachie { a professional bard} would tell the old ancient stories which recalled the history of the clan, of their great deeds and of the heroes who had to be emulated. The stories were not just told for entertainment but to educate people into practising the virtues of rendering hospitality to visitors, keeping your promises and defending the honour of the clan. But that was not all. Ceilidhs were places of warmth, comfort and joy which kept together the clan. It was a place of companionship. Dineen's Irish dictionary (1927) cited in Carson 1996 suggests that the Irish word for Ceilidh, 'Ceili' derives from 'Ceile', a companion. In Scottish Gaelic the word for friend and relative are the same - Caraid. A community with strong ties of companionship and friendship is less likely to have members falling into homelessness.

The Ceilidh was an event where one heard useful news as illustrated by some well-known stories. One story tells how a group of sailors at a Ceildh on Coll who are stranded on an island by a witch are advised by an old woman on how to return to their homeland by sailing with a useful bag of wind. Going to this event allows them to get to grips with a problem by finding useful information. {See Fitzroy Maclean’s “West Highland Tales,” 2000, Edinburgh:Birlinn.}

That the Ceilidh was a place where people could obtain useful news was paramount. People might learn from a storyteller of the death of someone, new marriages or women giving birth. For example, in Jess Smith's story “The Chapman's Last Pharaoh” you can read that “The Visitor they longed to see was the chapman, who would know who had died, who had given birth to a baby boy or girl, or who had moved away.” {See pages 48-49 of Jess Smith's “Sookin Berries: Tales of Scottish Travellers,” 2008, Edinburgh: Birlinn.}

Of course, due to the Reformation, the ban on the Gaelic language and the Highland clearances, those small-scale communities where the Ceildh thrived went into decline. In the worst cases, musical instruments were destroyed. The bard and the seanachie {storyteller} lost their status and could be subject to persecution. In the lowlands he was regarded as 'a vagabond' who indulged in idle gossip.

But Celtic storytelling was not the only thing disparged. So were the telling of nursery rhymes, fairy tales and even reading novels. A new Industrial society developed where people were not encouraged to tell stories or indulge in 'idle gossip' but work long hours in factories making more and more money without breaks. Unfortunately, this attitude has not faded. The rich inheritance of the oral poetic tradition of the Gaels was sidelined.

The study of folklore never mind English literature was not welcomed in some universities. In many universities in Britain it still is not. Edward Cowan wrote, “Oral tradition has been largely ignored in favour of the supposedly more 'scientific ' and less subjective historical evidence of record and charter, statue and account.” {See page 31 of Edward Cowan's “The People's Past: Scottish Folk,” 1980, Edinburgh: Polygon.}

The profound legacy of the Ceildh in protecting those made homeless during the Highland Clearances has been confimed by historians such as Devine. Without Ceilidh culture the robust and resilient spirit of Scottish clans attempting to resettle in Canada would not have survived. He cites the case of how under the leadership of Father Alexander MacDonnell, families who had left their Scottish villages not only preserved their language, culture and beliefs but carried out a successful emigration to Glengarry between 1763 and 1815. Devine writes that “The emigrants had achieved what they sought: land, freedom from Landlord oppression and the reconstitution of networks of families and friends and the traditional culture in the New World.” {See page 213 of T.M. Devine's “Scotland's Empire: 1600-1815}. This conclusion chimes with Robin Dunbar's view of how strong kinship networks in societies increases the survival of people. Emigrants who arrived without the support of family links are less likely to survive than those who have them. Dunbar offers the cases of Captain Smith's Virginia colony along with the Donner wagon train which set out to the American West in 1846.

It is important to point out that the legacy of the Scottish Ceilidh in offering useful advice as well as training for musicians is not a thing of the past. A study of the Ceilidh in Scotland by Mark Sheridan and Charles Bryne found that the more experienced musicians would offer training to the less experienced by offering a four-fold skill training known as modelling, {i.e. You observe an expert playing , coaching,{You receive feedback from an expert,} scaffolding {the novices learn by performing} and fading. {the student moves from overregulation to the art of self-regulation.}

Sheridan and Bryne state that “Ceilidh culture is a very practical and potent means for both novices and experts to meet together to share music in a relaxed and convivial setting such as clubs and pubs. {See Mark Sheridan and Charles Bryne, “Ceilidh Culture and Higher Education,” in the International Journal of Music Education, via the Internet.}

There is no doubt that Ceilidh culture represents intelligent gossip. It is synonymous with life, warmth, happiness, and friendship. Such a culture emphasizes the importance of society as one extended family who ought to look out for and protect each other. This also implies a profound role in protecting people from injustice and homelessness. For improved decision making through intelligent gossip means a company or community can prevent potential homelessness by offering a vibrant social support system. In a sense we have to largely relearn the lost art of preserving small scale communities. And gossip, whether undertaken in the form of a ceilidh or other community can help protect the most vulnerable people.

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{We have to assume a more open-minded view of gossip. The negative role of gossip can be over-emphasized. Even the German Philosopher Martin Heidegger in his work “Being and Time” devotes a chapter to dismissing 'idle gossip' on the grounds that the people largely talk to each other without any reflection because they are so presumptuous and feel everything is so obvious. See pages 211 to 214 of Martin Heidegger's “Being and Time,” 1962, New York: Harper.}