Dead Poets Society: Privacy Management Theory

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The concept of self-disclosure is best explained and illustrated through Privacy Management Theory. In a basic sense, Privacy Management Theory explains how people treat personal information, what conditions affect self-disclosure, and why people choose to self-disclose information in a relationship (Guerrero, Andersen, & Afifi, 2014). The two guiding principles of the theory are that people have “ownership” of and create “boundaries” for personal information (Guerrero, Andersen, & Afifi, 2014). In other words, the theory posits that people possess their secrets, experiences, memories, and other private information similar to the way in which they possess material items, and that they protect private information by creating metaphorical walls …show more content…
In Privacy Management Theory, culture is one important factor in the control of barriers (Guerrero et al, 2014). Dead Poets Society is set in America in the late 1950s and features characters from middle and upper class backgrounds (Weir & Schulman, 1989). Because of the reserved national culture of the 1950s and the strict, internal culture of the school itself, Neil and Todd are expected to rigidly conform to established rules and the orders of authority figures. As a result, the boundaries they create serve to restrict their personal opinions and attitudes that are against the values of their culture. To illustrate, as evidenced in the opening scene, Neil continually hides his personal ambitions from his father throughout the movie because his goals are against the goals his father has set for him. As a young adult in the 1950s, Neil is expected to respect his father by listening and obeying him, which pushes Neil to conceal many of his feelings and personal desires. Consequently, culture plays an important role in the cooperation of the boys because they have mutual sets of experiences and can readily relate to one another. In addition, the restrictive culture of their society discourages the boys from going to adults to self-disclose, and as a result, they look to each other for empathy and

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