Reflection Paper Sociology PDF

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Reflection Paper Sociology...

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Introduction to Sociology Professor Applewhite

Reflection Paper

My Social Self

Humans are conscious of their own selves. Self, is the individual reflection on one’s own identity and social position, made and reformulated through interaction. For sociologists, the social self is the only kind of self there can be. For the philosopher George Herbert Mead, interactionism is the idea that an individual’s personality, preferences, and ideas are constructed and shaped by and through communication with both others and his or her self. Every human has own ideas, and every human decides what to do, without considering external people or situations. Or so, we believe we do. Since from a very young age, I started making decisions in my life. I would decide if I wanted my hair short or long, if I wanted do use pants instead of skirts, if I wanted to go to a certain school rather than another one. All this decision, were decisions made by me, and me only. Three years ago, after my sister came to the United States, I decided to go and learn the language. I became obsessed with it, and decided to start college in here, because what else better than studying for your own future while learning a language in an exciting experience? Then, last year, after a

semester spent studying business, I decided to change my major to Childhood Education, because since I love kids, it would be a more enjoyable job in the future. When I started going to school, and spending long days studying and traveling, I just gave up with my makeup and clothes. I would just jump in the shower and put on the most comfortable clothes, and go to class, or the library, or to work. It’s only lately that I have noticed how kind of bad was for me to show myself as the person I am not. So again, I started wearing nicer stuff and put a light makeup on. This changed my days, and I started appreciating my image more than usual. Also, whenever I am at school, or in Church, or at work, I have always behaved differently from visits with friends. Sometimes I ask myself If I am pretending to be someone I am really not. I am so much nicer with people at school or at work, while with my friends I sometimes snap and just behave as if I have nothing to hide. When I signed up for my Sociology class, I had no idea what I was going to find. I never thought it would be such an interesting topic. Plus, the book is so interesting to read, that sometimes I just look through it and find something that applies to me. When we read chapter 2, “Social Interaction” by Harvey Molotch, I was amazed at all the things I thought I knew, but clearly I didn’t. Sometimes I would find myself exclaiming “Hey, that is so right and straightforward, and yet, I never thought about it that way!”. The idea that we only know ourselves through the eyes of other people, and that our actions, expressions and gestures, gives the other people the ability to tell us what we are, by interpreting what we are showing. It all starts with our parents, that if angry, are showing us that we are doing something wrong, while being happy they are showing us that we are doing something right, and so

we keep going. This means knowing ourselves through the looking glass of others. We constantly are looking for approval, which becomes motivating. From here, I could already notice some of my choices. When I was younger, I cut my hair shorter, because my sister just kept telling me that my hair long wasn’t as pretty as it would have been if I cut it. So I cut it. When I was insecure of what school to go to, my cousin told me that Business High Schools were very interesting, and that I should apply to it. So I did. When my boss told me I was great with kids, and it was natural for me to take care and teach them something new, I decided that I wanted that for my future. So I changed my major. When I wanted to look nicer while going to school or to work, I just decided to improve my image, and so I started to put some make up on and dressing in a nicer way. All these examples that I previously shared, are all examples of how much I was sure that all the decisions and gestures, and actions I did throughout my life, were my own and only, while everything got shattered, as I read the social interaction chapter. When we are interacting with people we don’t know in public spaces, our interaction strategies are altered. For example, at the beginning of the chapter, a preview talked about the public restroom being the most perfect way to see how people interact in public. In fact, in the public restroom, we are keen to show others how civilized we are. In fact, when we enter the public restroom, we are careful to do everything right, because we want to give others an idea of who we are. When we are dealing with strangers, we only glance at faces very briefly, because it would be rude or inappropriate to stare at them if we don’t know them. We usually engage in civil inattention, which is ignoring each other, although we know the other is present. This happens to me every day. I walk to the subway station knowing that there are other

people walking beside me, toward me, and still I don’t acknowledge them because I don’t know them. Even though I don’t know them I will know that they are there next to me, an example of civil inattention. An example of interaction in public, is the seats in a subway train. If the subway train is full, passengers that are just entering, will look for seats without glancing at other people faces, and sit down. But if the subway train is almost empty, you may go and sit in a seat of your preference, and not right next to the only stranger that is on the train. That would be odd and uncomfortable for the person who is already sitting, who would see that action as something he or she should worry about. This can happen anywhere, from subway trains to an empty classroom, or even in Church. This example was so engaging, that now every time I sit a subway train that is almost empty, and people come in, I glance quickly around to see where they are going to sit down. It is also true, that we mostly accept references from people that really matter to us. For example, once I started drinking green tea, because a model I follow and admire was drinking it and proclaimed it was healthy. Also, when I cut my hair and changed school and major, I did so because those advices were from my significant others, which are the individuals that are close enough to us to have a strong capacity to motivate our behavior. Another thing I found very interesting is how people have a sense of what is appropriate behavior. The book gave examples as how we know without nobody putting it as a law, that is not appropriate to go around the city naked, or that we don’t eat dogs or cats. Nobody never told us we couldn’t do it, but we just do it, because we realize that is an appropriate behavior. As I gave examples above, the topic of the course, enriched my knowledge dramatically. While before I went about thinking everything was me, now I believe it is not me at all. It is like I am driving,

and while driving I pick up all sorts of supplies that I need in order to continue driving. I keep going on and gathering all the information from significant others, generalized others, while having interactions with friends and in public. The social interaction truly is essential for a human being to develop his or her own identity and fit in a society where everybody’s opinion is needed for someone else to keep going....