Read “Your Social Life: Fox Or Hedgehog” And Answer 3 Questions And A Journal Entry

“Your Social Life: Fox Or Hedgehog”
"Your Social Life: Fox Or Hedgehog"

Read the attached article and answer the 3 questions on the Purpose and Audience as well as the journal entry.

Save Time On Research and Writing
Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper.
Get My Paper

Purpose & Audience:

1-Do you think Haad expects readers to be receptive or hostile to her ideas? How can you tell?

2-Where does Haag state her thesis? In your own words, summarize this thesis.

3-Why do you think Haag wrote her essay? To Persuade? To inform? To enlighten? For some other reasons? Explain

Save Time On Research and Writing
Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper.
Get My Paper

Journal Entry

Haag uses the parable of the fox and the hedgehog to contrast two different kinds of social lives. Use this parable to contrast two other things-for example, types of teachers, students, or parents.

Your Social Life: Are You a Fox or a Hedgehog? 

"Your Social Life: Fox Or Hedgehog"

A writer with a wide range of interests, Pamela Haag graduated from Swarth more College and earned a Ph.D. in history from Yale University and an M.F.A. from Goucher College. She has written about feminism, American culture, rela tionships, and transportation issues, as well as autobiographical subjects. She has also been the Director of Research at the American Association of Univer sity Women and has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and other institutions.

In addition to the books Consent: Sexual Rights and the Transformation of American Liberalism (1999) and Marriage Confi dential: Love in the Post-Romantic Age (2011), Haag has written articles for many publications, including the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Washington Post, and the American Scholar. 

Background on the fox and the hedgehog parable As Pamela Haag writes, the Greek poet Archilochus is credited with creating the parable of the fox and the hedgehog. In the twentieth century, however, it became associated with the philosopher Isaiah Berlin, who began his 1953 analysis of the Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy with the following line from Archilochus: “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”

Berlin then went on to explain this distinction: “For there exists a great chasm between those, on one side, who relate everything to a single central vision, one system less or more coherent or articulate … a single, universal, organizing principle … and, on the other side, those who pursue many ends, often unrelated and even con tradictory, connected, if at all, only in some de facto way….”In other words, some writers and thinkers understand the world—and pursue the truth-by means of a single central insight or coherent idea.

"Your Social Life: Fox Or Hedgehog"

In contrast, others see the world in complex terms and do not seek a universal organizing principle. Berlin viewed his classification in the context of intellectual playfulness: “I never meant it very seriously,” he later said in an interview. “I meant it as a kind of enjoyable intellectual game….”Nevertheless, the distinction endures, probably because the parable of the fox and the hedgehog can be applied to so many different kinds of people and practices-for example, entrepreneurial technology moguls (Steve Jobs as the fox vs. Bill Gates as the hedgehog) and baseball players (versatile, light-hitting foxes vs. home-run-hitting hedgehogs). 

The ancient Greek poet Archilochus said that the fox knows many 1 things about a little, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. Philosopher Isaiah Berlin used the fox and hedgehog distinction in his brilliant essay about Leo Tolstoy’s view of history and his longing for a unifying insight and understanding 

398 

Haag / Your Social Life: Are You a Fox or a Hedgehog? 

"Your Social Life: Fox Or Hedgehog"

399 

The hedgehog and the fox is also a good parable for social life today. 2 The hedgehog social life, which is what I think I grew up with, is one where you know a lot, and deeply, and intimately, about a few friends. You might count four people as close friends, if that many, but you know the nooks and crannies of each other’s lives, and you’d be comfortable sharing any thing with them. If they call you at 3:30 A.M. and need help, you feel obli gated to help them. 

The fox social life, which is what I think social media is selecting for, is 3 one where you know a million little things about a lot of people. The fox might have an active social life and many acquaintances, but doesn’t know much about them. 

The hedgehog probes deeply and nar rowly; the fox skims lightly and broadly. 

The hedgehog Obviously, both the hedgehog and the 

probes deeply and fox social lives have their virtues, and they’re not mutually exclusive. Most of us probably 

narrowly; the fox have both, and are fox-ish or hedgehog-ish, 

skims lightly and but not exclusively one or the other. 

broadly. Just as Nicholas Carr questions how Google is affecting our brains and cogni tion, in one of two new book projects I have underway, I’m questioning (among many other things) how Facebook and social media are affecting our hearts. 

On the surface, although I’m not wedded to this hypothesis, it seems 7 to be inclining us toward the fox social life. 

Our attention is dispersed quickly and pithily across hundreds if not 8 thousands of people; we know a little about an awful lot of people. Emo tions are more shallow than deeply plumbed. Sadness and grief are cer tainly expressed, but in delimited ways that are intuitively suitable to the medium. 

Facebook can satiate my social appetite in ways that somewhat trouble 9 me. It can feel like the equivalent of filling up on bread before dinner. 

I’ve gotten some social calories in me-some kind of social interac- 10 tion- and it has the benefit of being unencumbered, the ultimate in no strings attached, and usually affirmative, even effusive, and light. But it is pure fox. 

This happened to me just the other day. I had a social “things to do” 11 list on my desk-people whom I wanted to contact for dinner dates. But I spent two hours Facebook-mesmerized, scrolling up and down my wall, liking random comments, reading others, writing some, and then seeing who might have liked mine and all the rest. I actually participated in an intellectually substantive conversation, too. I only knew the original poster, none of the others, but it felt like a first day in a good college seminar. 

The “things to do” social list didn’t get done. I didn’t feel the need. I’d 12 filled up on bread. 

My point is that the fox social life might corrode the imperative of hav- 13 ing the hedgehog social life, assuming a zero sum game of social energy. 

400 

Comparison and Contrast 

What constitutes a “friend” relationship in social media spaces also 14 may (or may not) influence fashion standards for friendships that aren’t predominately online. Emphasis is on the curation and presentation of the self. It’s not just that we’re updating or communicating with friends about random goings-on in our lives; we’re managing a presence in a media space. The two processes are inextricable. I wonder if in that old warning from mom, the online friends might be a “bad influence on the non-online 

ones. It’s hard to say right now, but hedgehogs, beware. 

The allegation, or observation, that mainstream culture is now a celeb- 15 rity culture rings true for me in some important ways. We collect fans, both literally and informally; our social life unfolds through a medium of dis play-like graffiti on a wall or, to be highbrow, a piece of art hanging on a wall; our self and self-image are ever more conflated, much as they are with Hollywood celebrities. 

My intention isn’t to sound like a Luddite crank, although I’m always 16 susceptible to technology nostalgia. In many respects Facebook is a life saver for me. I work alone, and it’s a way to make a fast but positive connec tion to people during the day, and to find out about stories that are trend ing. I can connect with readers on Facebook, which I always enjoy, and get compliments that they wouldn’t bother to send in a letter. 

But current research on loneliness finds that a not insignificant per- 17 centage of Americans (although not a majority) do not have a single friend – not one-in whom they would confide honestly and fully about meaningful things going on in their lives. They might have a work col league with whom they share mutual office frustrations. Or they might have acquaintances with whom they share undemanding news of work, or their lives. Some might see their spouses as friends, but others lie, deceive, and/or withhold from their spouses, too, so they can’t count them as true or full confidants, either. 

Some might be hedgehogs, and have a life with lots of acquaintances. 18 They might hang out with the other parents in their children’s school, or on teams. But others in the group don’t even have that. 

I wonder how Facebook will affect this sort of social isolation gener- 19 ally. Ironically, could it make it even worse, while appearing to expand the lonely, disconnected person’s friends by the scores, or even hundreds? 

Meanwhile here’s my quiz to see if you’re more fox-ish or hedgehog-ish: 20 YOU’RE A HEDGEHOG IF… 

YOU’RE A FOX IF… you gave your friend a hug 

you gave your friend a like you have actually visited the home you don’t actually know who all of your friend 

your friends are it would be impossible for one of some of your friends might really your friends to be impersonating be inmates or precocious ten-year a man, or a much younger person olds, and you wouldn’t know you talk to a friend and feel filled you talk to a friend and feel up for days afterward 

hungry for updates a minute later 

Haag / Your Social Life: Are You a Fox or a Hedgehog? 

401 

Comprehension 

1. Generally speaking, how are hedgehogs different from foxes? 2. Why does Haag think that the hedgehog and the fox is “a good parable 

for social life today” (2)? 3. According to Haag, does Facebook incline people toward a fox or a 

hedgehog social life? Explain. 4. What does current research into loneliness suggest about Americans? 

Does Haag think that Facebook makes this situation better or worse? Do 

you agree with her? 5. What does Haag mean in paragraph 9 when she says, “Facebook can 

Satiate my social appetite in ways that somewhat trouble me. It can feel like the equivalent of filling up on bread before dinner”? 

Purpose and Audience 

1. Do you think Haag expects readers to be receptive or hostile to her ideas? 

How can you tell? 2. Where does Haag state her thesis? In your own words, summarize this 

thesis. 3. Why do you think Haag wrote her essay? To persuade? To inform? To 

enlighten? For some other reason? Explain. 

Style and Structure 

1. This essay’s title is a question. Why do you think Haag chose this title? 

What other titles can you suggest? 2. Haag’s introduction consists of two paragraphs. What do each of these 

paragraphs accomplish? 3. In comparing her two subjects, Haag relies mainly on a point-by-point 

domparison. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of 

organization? 4. Underline the transitional words and phrases in this essay. Should Haag 

have used more transitions to emphasize the contrast between her two 

subjects, or does she have enough? Explain. 5. Haag ends her essay with a quiz. Is this an effective conclusion? Should 

she have ended differently? Explain. 6. Vocabulary Project. Haag uses several words that might be unfamiliar 

to many readers-for example, parable (2), cognition (6), and Luddite (16). Go through the essay, and underline any unfamiliar words. Look them up in a dictionary, and then think of some synonyms for each word. Would any of your substitutions improve the essay? Why or why not? 

402 

Comparison and Contrast 

Journal Entry 

Haag uses the parable of the fox and the hedgehog to contrast two different kinds of social lives. Use this parable to contrast two other things – for example, types of teachers, students, or parents. 

Writing Workshop 

1. Expand your journal entry into a comparison-and-contrast essay. Make 

sure that you explain the difference between the fox and the hedgehog in your introduction and that your thesis statement identifies the two 

things you are going to contrast. 2. Working with Sources. Write a comparison-and-contrast essay in which 

you answer the question posed by Haag’s title. Be sure to refer specifically to some of the points that Haag makes and to document references to her essay. Don’t forget to include a works-cited page. (See Chapter 18 for 

information on MLA documentation.) 3. Decide which of your friends is like the fox in the parable and which is 

like the hedgehog. Then, write an essay in which you compare your two friends, making sure that you explain the parable in your introduction and identify the major differences you are going to discuss in your thesis statement. 

Combining the Patterns 

Paragraph 11 of this essay is a narrative that tells what happened to Haag “the other day.” What point does this paragraph make? What does this paragraph add to the essay? 

Thematic Connections 

• “No, I Do Not Want to Pet Your Dog” (page 224) . “I’m Your Teacher, Not Your Internet-Service Provider” (page 415) 

• “Sadie and Maud” (page 428) 

• “I Want a Wife” (page 502) 

Calculate the price
Make an order in advance and get the best price
Pages (550 words)
$0.00
*Price with a welcome 15% discount applied.
Pro tip: If you want to save more money and pay the lowest price, you need to set a more extended deadline.
We know how difficult it is to be a student these days. That's why our prices are one of the most affordable on the market, and there are no hidden fees.

Instead, we offer bonuses, discounts, and free services to make your experience outstanding.
How it works
Receive a 100% original paper that will pass Turnitin from a top essay writing service
step 1
Upload your instructions
Fill out the order form and provide paper details. You can even attach screenshots or add additional instructions later. If something is not clear or missing, the writer will contact you for clarification.
Pro service tips
How to get the most out of your experience with Scholary Essays
One writer throughout the entire course
If you like the writer, you can hire them again. Just copy & paste their ID on the order form ("Preferred Writer's ID" field). This way, your vocabulary will be uniform, and the writer will be aware of your needs.
The same paper from different writers
You can order essay or any other work from two different writers to choose the best one or give another version to a friend. This can be done through the add-on "Same paper from another writer."
Copy of sources used by the writer
Our college essay writers work with ScienceDirect and other databases. They can send you articles or materials used in PDF or through screenshots. Just tick the "Copy of sources" field on the order form.
Testimonials
See why 20k+ students have chosen us as their sole writing assistance provider
Check out the latest reviews and opinions submitted by real customers worldwide and make an informed decision.
Tourism
thank you
Customer 452933, November 20th, 2021
Psychology
Thank you so much!! Very much appreciated!
Customer 452717, April 20th, 2021
Management
Excellent work done. Thank you
Customer 452829, August 1st, 2021
Economics
Satisfactory
Customer 452963, November 11th, 2021
WRTG 393 6360 Advanced Technical Writing (2222)WRTG-393
Patience and truly superb service considering all the information was not uploaded.
Customer 452995, February 4th, 2022
Sociology
Thank you. You all have been timely, and amazing.
Customer 452919, May 3rd, 2022
Sociology
I want to thank the entire team. Please know that I am truly grateful for your service.
Customer 452919, November 11th, 2021
Professional Writing Engl-3311
Thank you
Customer 452919, March 2nd, 2023
Health Care
Thank you for getting this paper done in a timely manner
Customer 452641, February 20th, 2021
Education
Great Job !!
Customer 453117, September 17th, 2022
Ethics
I Thank the entire team.
Customer 452919, January 25th, 2022
Business Studies
The writer delivered as on time with quality work. But writteres communication could of been better and I would have been more content with choosing my own writer as per my assignment.
Customer 452679, March 24th, 2021
11,595
Customer reviews in total
96%
Current satisfaction rate
3 pages
Average paper length
37%
Customers referred by a friend
OUR GIFT TO YOU
15% OFF your first order
Use a coupon FIRST15 and enjoy expert help with any task at the most affordable price.
Claim my 15% OFF Order in Chat
Live Chat+1(978) 822-0999EmailWhatsApp

Order your essay today and save 30% with the discount code ESSAYHELP