Sunday, September 7, 2014

Week 1

Growing up, I never really thought that one person could change the world. The idea that one thing someone does in Japan can change a person in New York and what they do can change a person in Paris just seemed impossible to me; then I started taking sociology.

This week we learned about sociological imagination. This idea was created by C. Wright Mills. It basically means that your history shapes who you are and who you will be. When we say history, we mean where you're from and when you are living. For example, I was born in 1998 so I never knew a world without computers or cell phones. I barely remember 9/11 and I never witnessed any wars besides the War on Terrorism. I vaguely remember life without an African-American president, so the idea doesn't seem so different to me. I'll graduate high school in 2016, college in 2020, and law school by 2023 (hopefully!). Knowing how much the world has changed in 5 years, I can't imagine what it will be like when I walk out of my law school graduation. All of these things are when I live, but where one lives shapes them hugely. I live in a suburb of Chicago. The city is 30 minutes from me on a good day, an hour on a bad one. I'm not used to living far away from a big city, as I have had it in my backyard for 16 years. I've traveled much of the world and experienced many cultures. The way I am growing up is different from a teenager growing up in a small town in Kansas. He/she probably has not traveled out of the country and their big city is Kansas City. The outlook they have on life I far different from the one I have.

After learning about sociological imagination, we learned about sociological mindfulness. This is the idea that one's society shapes them and they shape their society. I was never aware that I make an impact on society, but I am learning differently in this class. Now, every little thing I do I wonder how it will effect someone. If I litter, how will that effect future generations? If I decide to sit with someone new today at lunch, how will that effect them and their day? These questions and the general thought that one influences their society is 1/2 of the backbone of sociological mindfulness. The other 1/2 is that society shapes anyone living in it. For example, it had been drilled into my head that I will go to college and I will be successful in life. Society brings on this pressure to me, and I let it run its course. I am being mindful that society shaped me into believing that I must do all of these things in my lifetime. But, I am a member of society and I influence it right back. I have the power to change its way of thinking and maybe helping the future generation decide what they want to be in life and not have society choose it for them.

Finally, this week in class we watched "Freaks and Geeks". This show touched on the different social cliques there are in high school. With this, we learned about Functionalism. This was created by Emile Durkheim. He studied suicide rates and how there is a pattern within them. He found that there are large scale patterns to society. Next, we learned about Karl Marx's Conflict Theory. He theorized that different groups had different levels of power in society. An example of this in real life is that a government official has more power than I do. Finally, we learned about Max Weber and Symbolic Interaction. He studied religion and it's affect on economics. He concluded that there is small group interaction in today's society and we use symbols as special meanings. These concepts connected to Freaks and Geeks in multiple scenes. It showed conflict when the Freshman were bullied by an upperclassman. The bullies showed more power than the Freshman, causing them to attack them. Symbolic Interaction was showed when the "cool kids" sat on the bleachers and the rebels sat underneath them. The rebels also had the smoking roof as their spot. These all showed that different places can symbolize power in a certain society.

Well, that's all we learned about this week. Overall, I am becoming more aware of myself and others and how we affect the people around us with our actions. I am learning that a simple smile can change someone's day, which can change another persons day, and so on. And to me, that's pretty freaking cool.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Hannah, I really like your analysis of sociological imagination! It's interesting thinking about people from different places and how our lives are so different from theirs. Yet a small thing we do can alter their life. What a concept!

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  2. I hope you'll come back and visit when you are a lawyer! I think you did a terrific job of showing how you are shaped by when and where you are growing up. C. Wright Mills would be proud!

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