As a graduate student, I could not figure out how to address my professors. Poised somewhere between the formal address used in college and the first-name basis of the working world, I resorted to simply not using their names. But it wasn’t until I became confident enough to use first names that I felt productive and began to take myself seriously.
The mere ability to address people on a first-name basis brings with it a sense of familiarity and confidence that liberates people to collaborate and exchange ideas. It opens a pathway to productive criticism that benefits everyone as it jettisons the unfamiliarity and deference that accompanies a system of formal address. To be sure, even where first names are used there is often still a respected chain of command. But there is more freedom to express views for superiors to consider. Consequently, one could argue that young people should learn to be on a first-name basis with their elders far earlier because it is more socially productive.
Mormons use a unique system of formal address: We are Brothers, Sisters, and Elders. While we certainly call our close Mormon friends by first names, we use formal address when conducting church meetings and sometimes when speaking to Mormons we know less well.
The terms “Brother” and “Sister” suggest familiarity that “Mister,” “Doctor,” and so on lack. Thus one could argue that they create instant social cohesion rather than inject differences. But would we be more cohesive if they were not employed? At times, formal address might also prevent us from seeing people uniquely, and the cohesion the naming system brings might signal our differences from outsiders. How do our decisions about when to use formal Mormon address—at church meetings, on missions, etc.—impact our interactions with others?