Social Functions of Dreaming

How dream interpretations are culturally embedded

       Culture is a cluster of symbols or understandings that constantly change its references in order to adapt to new conclusions. It is based on the human capacity to use symbols, which provide "conceptual and motivational models for human thought and action" and constitute systems that enable people to make sense of their world, and motivate and direct their behavior. (Parman 1991) Similarly, Irving Hallowell writes that our cultural adaptation "embodies a cognitive orientation that makes life meaningful and establishes a blueprint for action." Culture provides a psychological framework for the individual, and in turn, is the organization of ideas we use to answer questions about our environment and ourselves. (Hallowell 1976)

       Every set of symbols for decoding dreams will reflect the culture they are produced in, even though dreams themselves may allegedly stem from deeply personal knowledge that cannot be affected by society. The symbol itself is not as important as what it can reveal about cultural attitudes and behavior. (Natterson 1980) Michele Stephen wrote in her ethnography on the Mekeo people, "dreams are a medium whereby the individual perceives a "truth" beyond any cultural tenet or imposed belief or "collective representation." Dreams do not lie outside the culture in the sense that culture fails to shape or use them. Even so, they express the desires of an inner core of the self…dreams are a primary locus of awareness of a self composed of desires and passions which necessarily oppose the self to all "others."" Other people agree that dreams are distinctly personal phenomenon. An individual's present and past experiences get expressed in dreams, and the emotions and memories conjured by the dream have unique meaning to the dreamer. So, perhaps we can have no socially shared dream vocabulary. From a psychoanalytic view, "what we portray in our dreams is a reflection of our unique concerns and interests based on what is important to us now, and was important to us in the past." (Natterson 1980)