Fish out of the water

This week in class, we played a card game where each table learned a set of rules, and played their game accordingly, and then when it was time, the loser of each game had to move to a different table. When I sat down at the other table, I was really confused because that new group I was with played the game completely different than how I had learned it. I immediately started questioning everything they were doing, but just conformed to how they played the game because I didn't know what else to do. Our teacher told us that this was an example of culture shock.

We focused a lot on "fish out of the water" and culture shock this week, which I thought was a really interesting concept. I applied to a lot of colleges in the south, and am considering going to Alabama. Most people I know, however, stick more in the midwest, and tell me that the south is such a culture shock. It's so hard for me to picture Alabama having a different culture than we do, since it's only a two hour flight and short drive, but I'm so intrigued on seeing what it's like there. I've just heard that the customs in the south are much different than here, and am really experience what it'll be like. I think my family is pretty easy going...we're not religious or anything, but I know in the south religion might be really important to some people. It'll take a while for me to adjust (or maybe I won't be able to), just like it did with the card game example, but I'm really excited to see what it's like! I'll be a fish out of the water if I go to school in the south..

The ID Molecule of a "Bronx Tale"

Our surroundings affect us as an individual. That's a fact. But it's more than just our surroundings that shape who we are; it's our parents and how they raised us, it's our friends what we have in common, it's our social norms, it's our work, our role-models, our "groups" that we are involved in. It's our groups that shape who we are, and it's our groups that separate us from everyone else.

This week in class we watched a movie called "A Bronx Tale". I've seen the movie before, but after learning last week about all of my personal groups that create who I am, I started thinking about Calogero and all the groups that shaped who he was. I would say that Calogero had three main groups: his parents, Sonny & his group, and Calogero's friends.

 Calogero loves his parents very much, and he wants his parents to be proud of him. He respects them. But he also respects Sonny, and almost looks up to him as another father figure in his life. Calogero is almost stuck between Sonny and his real parents; almost like he had to hide one group in order to remain in the other. But Calogero also has his group of friends, which in a way, he starts to lead (like Sonny leads his group), and they mimic actions that Sonny does. I think Calogero tries to balance his master status between Sonny and his parents. His allegiance to one side would be bad for the other side. A good example of this is when Calogero went to a boxing match with his dad and had to decide where he wanted to sit--with his father or with Sonny. Personally, my master status will ALWAYS be with my family, because they mean everything to me; but Calogero considers both his parents and Sonny his family. So he's stuck.

I can relate this group to my life because having learned that idea of sociologically mindfulness and imagination, I now know that every little thing that surrounds my life daily shapes who I am as a person, just like how Calogero is shaped by the groups he is surrounded by.

Should we generalize?

This week in class, we were assigned to read Charon's "Should We Generalize about People?" I read this article once quickly, and then re-read the article to annotate and take notes. I really thought it was interesting, and so true when the author pointed out that everyone is guilty of categorizing and generalizing other people.

Why do we feel the tendency to generalize as human beings? "A much better question is: how can we develop accurate generalizations about people? I agree with Charon and his article; as people, we act as individuals, but that doesn't change the fact that we categorize others and generalize them.

I read this really interesting article of this family that had a baby named Storm. The family wanted their child to be free from generalizations or classifications, so they decided they'd hide the child's gender for as long as they could. You can read more about this article Gender-free Baby. The family wanted to prove to society that their child (whether it was a boy or a girl) would be treated differently based on their gender, so for as long as they could, they plan on keeping the sex a secret. They wanted their child to be treated the same if it were a boy or a girl. I think this is so interesting. If baby Storm wanted to play with trucks, don't assume the baby's a boy; if baby Storm wanted to play with dolls, that doesn't mean the baby's a girl.

Although I'd love to think of myself as unbiased and free from stereotyping and generalizing those around me, it's human nature to assume someone is the way they are based on how they look, or how they act. In my life, I categorize those around me by their groups of friends. I'm not really judgemental, and I always have been friends with people in different "cliques" or groups. We only see what one chooses to show. Being in sociology has really opened my mind to the human thought process and tendency to generalize, and as of now, I am trying my best to steer clear of label casting.

We're all just freaks and geeks

This week in class, we watched the pilot episode of the TV show Freaks and Geeks. I've seen some episodes at home before, but I never thought of the show in a sociological standpoint. The show is humorous, but if you really analyze each character and what they stand for, you can see past their exterior and look at them with a sociological perspective.

I looked at the different "groups" in the show through Emile Durkheim's functional theory, and began to think of the purposes each character and their group tends to serve. At first glance, tough girl Kim Kelly seems like the typical bully. She makes fun of all the kids that cross her path and she goes out of her way to humiliate Sam for no reason at all. But if you look further into her actions, you can see that she not only represents a "freak", but she also represents a girl who has problems, whether it's at home or with her identity or school life. She struggles with her "freak" identity just as much as the "geeks" struggle with their identity. Every member in this show serves a purpose with their group.

Connecting the show to Max Weber's idea of symbolic interactionism, I began thinking of important scenes or objects in the episode we watched. For me, I thought a really important moment was when the army coat that Lindsey insisted on wearing. The show doesn't go into detail about Lindsey's past, but you do know from the first episode that she used to be a mathlete, and her grandmother passed away. Lindsey is obviously going through depression, or an identity crisis, so she is rebelling all her typical norms by wearing her dad's old army jacket. In a way, that army jacket represents her trying to find herself and change the way she fits in with society.

I think it's interesting while analyzing the show because I start thinking of myself and the way I act, which brings me back to sociological mindfulness. At a school as big as ours, I think that when you're in a group of friends, you don't really have a label or a stereotype. I don't think my friends and I do, at least, but maybe to other groups of friends, they classify me and my friends differently just like they do to everyone else. I know that my friends and I all have a lot in common, just like the groups in the show Freaks and Geeks. We all affect each other.

Sociological Mindfulness

This week in class, one of the things we discussed that stuck with me the most is learning to be sociologically mindful. I thought it was really interesting that Michael Schwalbe discussed the keys to being sociologically mindful as to: have a good life, everybody has the equal right to a good life, and human lives are intertwined. "Mindfulness is more than paying attention. To be mindful of a thing is to see and appreciate its unique qualities." Everybody is different. We're not all the same and we all have different qualities and interests, which I think is awesome because we're all individuals. If we were all the exact same, I think the world would be really boring.  I would like to try being more sociologically mindful because after reading and talking about Michael Schwalbe's essay, because I think it would be beneficial for myself and others around me. I really liked the depth that Schwalbe discussed of how our lives are all intertwined. My parents always told me to be kind and not say anything that I'd be offended to hear. I never think it's funny when someone says a racist joke or makes a homophobic comment. I think if people were more sociologically mindful, or just tried to be at least, we'd all definitely have a good life.