C&S: Zerubavel 23-29, Waskul & Vannini 41-50; C&S: Karp 70-77
We are constantly taking in information, perceiving it, interpreting it, and storing it. In a previous sociology class, I learned about how we categorize information and store it in order to better access it and interpret and evaluate new information. This is similar to the mental processes that Zerubavel discusses. As I walk around campus, I see different things: people, friends, plants, buildings, places, school supplies, etc. If it weren’t for classification and typification and creating islands of meaning, how I would interpret what I see as very different: red book, blue flower with 5 petals, large tree, small tree, different tree, tall person, Nicole, Julie, pile of organized bricks put together in a shape to create areas for learning sociology. It would make taking in senses and recounting my day and figuring out what is important very difficult.
Having categories is good for determining what is important in a situation. In the grocery store, if you are looking for Fritos, you would look for similar things, (such as other chips) to help locate them. In this case, finding dairy products is unimportant and requires no attention. Without the categorizing, someone might end up searching though the dairy products and every other aisle until they find Fritos wherever they happen to be. If I’m headed to class, categorizing what I see is helpful when I recognize someone I know; if they are in my sorority I know what to say to them, what to talk to them about. It is also helpful when I see different types of people, so I can easily figure out how to respond to them. For example, if I see someone who looks like a professor, then I know to be more respectful and professional. This is one reason for stereotypes: people are mentally categorized so that we can generally figure out how to act towards them, as with the teacher instead of a fellow student. That is, stereotypes aren’t always correct, just as not all types of cheese are located in the dairy section. Categorizing is just helpful, not always right. When we start to associate negative meanings and feelings with stereotypes is when we begin to have problems.
We learn to associate meanings with the different senses and categories. We first learn what is categorized as trash: old food, uneaten scraps, used napkins, food wrappers, torn paper, banana peels, and broken items. This is important when we are looking to clean up our rooms or after lunch because we have lumped and split items to know what should be thrown away. We have learned what trash looks like, and what it smells like! It takes time and habit forming to know that when we smell a certain smell, we must take the trash out. Some (like Groucho on Sesame Street or dogs) might like the smell of trash, but most people have been socialized and taught that trash has a bad smell and have attributed meaning to it. As kids, we don’t automatically react to the smell of trash by going over to the trash can holding our breath and carrying it elsewhere. It is through social experience that we learn that that is what we should do, that trash has a bad smell (we give the smell value) and to associate that smell with something. Garbage seems bad to a lot of people, but to some (like animals) it seems good. Or for some people, it may be the source of their next meal if they don’t have the means to get it elsewhere. The example given in class is that roses have a certain smell and we have been taught to associate that smell with romance, love, Valentine’s Day, and nice gestures, and that it is good. Not everyone likes roses, but because we associate it with something and categorize it with other things (such as love, hearts, and Valentine’s Day) it is thought of as good. One of my favorite smells is Old Spice because it reminds me of my brother. If it weren’t for that association, I wouldn’t care about it. The same thing goes for a lot of colognes and perfumes. There are many that I don’t like, but that, because certain people use them, they smell good to me. I don’t like the perfume my aunt uses, but when my aunt sends a birthday card or something and I can smell her perfume on it, it is nice. Same thing goes for my grandma—she once gave me a Bible, and though it is big and heavy, it is my favorite because it smells like her.
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