Week 2: Nature and the Social and Socialization

C&S: Berger and Luckmann 7-14; C&S: Sandstrom 15-22, BB: Handel, Cahill and Elkin; C&S: Fields 126-136, BB: Becker #2

I have always wondered how what I see, think, do, and say is interpreted by others. I also wonder if others know what I mean when I say something. Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann give some insight to these questions as they discuss how reality is constructed by individuals and by society. It is by socialization that we all learn what different things mean and what our shared reality is. People are “inducted” into society though socialization. It is though language and conversation that people share experiences and define and construct reality.

If this theory is applied, then that would mean that, without language, no one else would be able to understand what I mean. In my life, I see this in action as I socialize with different types of people and different groups. Because I spend more time with my sorority sisters, there are different words, phrases, and symbols I have picked up and come to understand. However, when I use them around people who are not in my sorority, they don’t know what I mean. This is also an example of the symbolic insteractionist perspective as discussed by Sandstrom, in that the meanings associated with different words come from our social interaction with others. As I interact with my sisters, I learn the meanings of different things, but because other people do not interact with them they do not understand those things. I also see a real disconnect between the ‘realities’ of the two groups; what seems important to one group and what has meaning to another is quite different. The two groups have different values. Though both are groups of people in college, around their 20s, most are single, and are students, there are still differences because one group has gone through a specific type of secondary socialization. A sorority is an institution and a “sub-world” of college in which there are specific expectations, roles, and behaviors, most of which are taught by being in constant conversation with other members of the group. Because the two groups are not in constant conversation, they often don’t understand parts of the other group and they differ in their subjective realities and identities. The people in the different groups identify themselves by the group(s) that they are a part of, and their values, attitudes, language, and appearance exemplify this. Their social environments help shape the individuals. Because I belong to both groups, I often go through alternations, even on several occasions in the course of one day. It is quite interesting when the two combine and interact with each other, though on rare occasions, and I find myself explaining a lot of things about one group to the other. I once tried explaining what pomping was to a friend outside of my sorority, and had to go into lengthy detail about how it is a type of decorating with tissue paper that we use for house decorations for homecoming, but that led to lengthy explanations of house dec's and what we do for homecoming and homecoming traditions, which led to questions of whether or not it was fun, how much time it took, why we do it, and what it looks like. I eventually gave up and told him he would just have to wait until homecoming to try to get an idea, though he will never understand all of the feelings and nuances and jokes associated with pomping that my sorority sisters understand. Because the two don’t interact with each other, they perceive homecoming and pomping differently, and their perceived realities of pomping differ.

Week 1: Introducing Sociological Psychology and Research Methods

C&S: Shwalbe 3-6; BB: Becker #1

Shwalbe talks about how people should be sociologically mindful, meaning they should be ‘conscious of the patterns, conditions, processes, and relationships that constitute and characterize our social world’. He introduces the subject by touching on and explaining C. Wright Mills’ theory of the sociological imaginiation, which “enables its possessors to grasp the intersections of history, society, and personal biography.”

Shwalbe says that sociological mindfulness is rare. However, this is exactly why I want to study sociology. I want to know how the social world works. I want to know what causes people to interact in different ways, why people do what they do, and how I can improve a situation just by being aware. I love people’s stories and listening to their joys and their hardships, and using that to better understand why they might interpret things differently than how I would, and why their reactions to (and in) situations might differ from mine. I want to know what people’s tendencies are in general. I want to be aware of how what I say and do can elicit both negative and positive responses from others, and thus avoid offending people or hurting them. If I am mindful, as Shwalbe describes, I can better understand how I might accidentally offend someone with my words or actions when I don’t intend to.

I enjoy talking to people and spending time with lots of people. I have many friends, especially in a couple of large organizations I am involved in. Thus, I have a tendency to float around and talk to many people when I am doing activities with these organizations. However, I understand that we also have a lot of new people and visitors in both of these organizations and if I am not mindful of people’s feelings and situations, then it would be easy for me to seemingly act like I don’t care about the new people who don’t feel as intertwined in the group. They may see my mingling, floating, and talking to different people as leaving them because I don’t want to talk to them. I need to be mindful that because they don’t know everyone like I do, it would be more beneficial for me to stay and talk with them longer or take them with me when I go to talk to others so that they don’t feel like they have been ditched or left out.