Affordances

My understanding of affordances is how one activity can lead onto other activities such as talking to others or physically going to do something else.

Communication:  

This refers to how my activity (cleaning) offers opportunities of communicating with others.

In our flat we have a rule that we wash the dishes we make. However the three boys aren’t too good at following that rule so our kitchen gets loaded up with dirty dishes. So one night I got annoyed that there were no clean plates or cups so I decided to do the dishes. This took me about an hour and during that time my flatmates were walking in and out of the kitchen making themselves something to eat. As they were making food we talked about what we’ve been up to and having a catch up as some of the flatties don’t spend much time around the flat so it was a good chance to catch up as we were all in the kitchen doing something.  I felt a little annoyed as they were just making more dishes for me to do. Green (1986) states “Once done it is always undone..... In that sense labor is in principle never finished; it never reaches a point of completion, never comes to an end” which sums up exactly what was happening to me then. My flat mates were coming in and undoing my cleaning. 

Moral Properties:   

This refers to the good and the bad aspects of my activity.

Good Aspects:

•  It feels rewarding  and satisfying once completed
•   It is a gift to my flat mates when I clean dishes that are theirs etc.

Bad Aspects:

•  Exploitation from flat mates as they leave their dishes because they know I will do them when there is a huge pile
•  I procrastinate by cleaning. When studying in my room I will not start until I have tidied it up

Action Properties:  

This refers to other activities that come from doing my cleaning.

Here is a story of when I did some cleaning and other activities arose because of it.

We had been in contact with our landlord and had organised a time for him to come and do a flat inspection so I had to organise a time in the weekend for everyone to have a big clean up of the flat. When it came to the weekend we all did our part, the boys did their bathroom, rooms and mainly the outside while us girls did our bathroom, rooms and the kitchen and lounge. Once we had finished the cleaning we all sat in the lounge to have a rest and watch tv together.

References:

Green, T. (1986). Work, Leisure, and The American Schools. New York; Random House.