Proxemics
by Miki
How Toyoko kids’ relations with each other are revealed using different objects
This page will explore how personal belongings or objects that are seen carried around quite often by Toyoko kids affect proxemics, which reveals their relationship to each other to some extent.
Introduction
Through weeks of observations in the Toyoko hiroba, many girls carrying some sort of objects are seen. Objects such as stuffed toys, toy guns and backpacks are seen. These objects can affect proxemics to some extents.
As stated by Atsunori (2016),
“an individual’s PS (personal space)expands into space surrounding his/her belongings”
This suggest that by having an object around one’s body, it naturally expands the space and individual’s intimate or personal physical distance (0-1m). Since proxemics among individuals are seen quite close with each other, for Toyoko kids who feel uncomfortable with close proxemics and frequent body touch, objects can be an effective strategy to secure one’s own personal space.
On the other hand, Toyoko kids seem to share their food and drinks quite often. How does objects such as food and drinks play a role in forming their relationships with each other ?
🍻 Objects used to build relationship:
Reciprocity is defined by Linda (2010) as…
“the giving of benefits to another in return for benefits received, is one of the defining features of social exchange and, more broadly, of social life”
“reciprocity is structured and variable across different forms of exchange, that these variations in the structure of reciprocity have profound effects on the emergence of integrative bonds of trust and solidarity”
In short, people provide help to those who are in need of help and as a return, receiving assistance when needing it from others. Toyoko kids share food, drinks and cigarettes with each other quite often the time. In many of the occasions, elder Toyoko kids would buy food or drinks and share them with younger Toyoko kids. How objects reveal their relationships with each other will be explored through three main objects: drinks, food and cigarettes.
Reciprocity: sharing drinks
Many Toyoko kids sit on the ground and drink in a group. Sometimes they share drinks from one shared bucket or they would buy several drinks and share with other Toyoko kids. This behaviour reflects intimacy to a great extent as we only share drinks with people whom we completely trust such as our family or close friends. It can be told that they might recognise each other as a part of the big Toyoko kids family or they could have built a very solid friendship with other Toyoko kids in the Toyoko hiroba.
Sharing cigarettes
Many Toyoko kids would sit in a group and smoke together. Sometimes, they pass the cigarettes they just smoked to others and the other one would keep smoking. There is a tendency found that rather than smoking alone, they prefer to in a group. This can be explained through modern crowd theories proposed by Francesco et al (2015): “collective behavior is the result of the underlying interactions among small groups of individuals”. Therefore, in order to stay in or fit in the Toyoko kids’ group, they would behave like how everyone else is behaving. Those who are sitting in the smoking group might recognize each other as their smoking buddies and they may get close with each other by behaving in a similar way.
Reciprocity: sharing food
Similar to the previous one “sharing drinks”, Toyoko kids also share food they bought from convenience stores with other Toyoko kids. This can also explain that Toyoko kids see each other as a family members or people they are very close to. One Toyoko kid told us that for food they just buy them from the closest convenience store (Family mart) as there is one within the hiroba. Food Toyoko kids eat are mostly from the convenience store or fast food chains such as McDonald’s.
🎒Objects used to secure personal space:
Holding backpacks at the front
Backpacks are seen worn commonly among both Toyoko guys and girls. However, more female Toyoko kids have their backpacks at the front.
Three explanations can be inferred here. Firstly, such way of carrying a backpack might be a strategy to ensure personal space between one and others or to avoid any intimate interaction such as hugging.
According to one study result conducted by Atsunori (2016), the distance between bags was modified depending on the interpersonal relationship of their owners. This explains how proxemics can be affected by personal belongings such as bags. Thus, some Toyoko kids who are not a fan of intimate proxemics or body touch might carry backpack at the front to purposefully avoid an unnecessary intimate physical interaction or assure their intimate or personal physical space, ranging from 0-1m.
Secondly, it might be a way to secure their personal belongings from stealing. As the population density there is high and many of the Toyoko kids can be strangers to each other. In a crowded place where many juveniles who are running away from home gather, it might be a clever idea to carry their backpacks at the front while not being rude to anyone.
Lastly, the reason why more female Toyoko kids would carry their backpacks at the front might be because of they want to protect themselves from intimate body touch or proxemics as Toyoko kids are seen to interact with each other in a very close proxemics. Moreover, male Toyoko kids are thought to establish a sense of dominance over female Toyoko kids on some occasions. Therefore, female Toyoko kids can use backpack as an object to modify the proxemics. View here for a more in-depth information.
Holding stuffed toys
Many Toyoko kids carry their stuffed toys around withthem wherever they go and most of them are girls who look like they are in their early 10s. It is rare to see people carrying around a stuffed toy in public. Therefore, it is assumed that there are some intentions behind this, such as a strategy to ensure one’s personal space just as the aforementioned section (holding backpacks at the front). Also, it might also be a way to claim their own identity as a member of Toyoko kids by carrying around a big stuffed toy as it is barely done in the rest of the society. Here, it can either be reffered as Toyoko kids use this object to claim their connection to the Toyoko kid group or the need to secure their own personal space.
Conclusion
Two major conclusions can be made through the use of various objects among Toyoko kids. Sharing food, drinks and cigarettes indicate a solid relationship among Toyoko kids as sharing something that we eat requires a great extent of trust on others since we share them with people such as our family members or very close friends. The fact that Toyoko kids who were completely strangers to each other at the beginning are now sharing those objects with each other explains that they can see each other as one of the “family members” in the big Toyoko kid group or they have developed a very intimate interpersonal relationship with each other. On the other hand, since the proxemics used among Toyoko kids is very close to each other, for those who do not like close proxemics or frequent body touch, it can be a strategy to protect themselves from intimate body touch or close proxemics. Toyoko kids using the aforementioned objects might have not found it comfortable to have intimate proxemics with other Toyoko kids yet or they simply want to protect themselves and secure their personal space.
- Three main sections -
Sections
proxemics