A PERCEPTUAL SOCIAL ATOM SOCIOGRAM
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SOCIOGRAMAbstract
The social atom, according to the wntmgs of J. L. Moreno, is the individual's smallest social unit wherein significant emotional relationships occur. "The atom in sociometry is not a theoretical construct of an infinitely distant event of smallness but the scientific demonstration of the nearest, warmest, most proximate social reality,"" The inner nucleus of the social atom contains the actual in-life relationships, whereas the outer portion of the nucleus refers to desired or wished-for relationships.
References
1. J. L. Moreno, Sociometry, Experimental Method, and The Science of Society, Beacon House, 1951, p. 57.
2. Ibid., p. 61.
3. Ibid., p. 66.
4. The disintegration of the social atom and death are highly related. More information can be found in The Sociometry Reader by Moreno (ed.), The Free Press of Glencoe, Ill., 1960. pp. 62-66.
5. Moreno used the term "collectives" to indicate groupings within the cultural atom. The groupings relate to family, work, recreation, etc. where the individual is involved in specific role enactment which relates to the specific groups. (J. L. Moreno, Who Shall Survive?, Beacon House, 1953, p. 294). Another concise explanation of the collective social atom may be found in an article by Carl E. Hollander and Sharon L. Hollander, in Sensorsheet, a publication of the Earth Seience Educational Program, Box 1559, Boulder, Colorado, 80302. The article is found in the Winter, 1973, publication, pp. 4-6.
6. J. L. Moreno, Who Shall Survive?, p. 336. Further references to spontaneity are found in Moreno's The Theatre of Spontaneity, Beacon House, 1973, and Psychodrama Vol. I, 1946.
7. Psychodrama VoL I , p . 327. Moreno draws from a previous article which he wrote in Sociometry, Vol. 5, 1942, pp. 301, 305. He lists six instructions for conducting perceptual sociometric investigations.
8. Loe. cit.
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