Personal and Social Identities

I do not think William James or Herbert Blummer would argue with the notion that in order to develop a strong willed personal identity then one must continue to expand upon their social identity. However, this may be a complicated process because an individual does not have complete control over their social identity. One must be fully aware that their social identity runs the risk of changing our evolving into a new identity every time they participate in social interaction with their peers or anyone in the public for that matter.

When thinking about the development of an individual’s social identity I can’t help but think about how our very own Columbia, Missouri factors in. In a few days I will be turning 22 which has caused me to reflect upon my last year as a 21 year old or in other words the first year I was able to socially interact with Columbia’s drinking and bar scene. Don’t worry I don’t play on telling some Friday night story dealing with intoxicated decision making. Instead, I ask my readers to use their imagination and think about how an individual self-censors their own social identity when they decide to go out one night in Columbia to one of these public drinking scenes. If most peoples’ objectives are to have fun and enjoy themselves then how do they manage to use this self-censorship? If they are self-censoring their social identity then does this mean they are too worried about the label others assign to them therefore, are not allowing themselves to release any stress and enjoy themselves? The answers to these depend on the individual I believe. Whichever way someone decides to manage their social identity it will directly affect their own label for themselves, their personal identity. By participating in social interaction within a public scene, just as many college students do in Columbia on various nights down town, an individual is able to produce a complete sense of identity through the social and personal self. Allowing others to assign a label to you correlates with how you will perceive yourself at the end of the interaction. Below are just a few pictures of how some people unfortunately choose to self-censor their social identity around others:

             

Religious Practices

From the time I entered pre-kindergarten at the age of 5 till high school graduation I had always been enrolled at a catholic institution. Every week we had a class mass to attend as well as attending mass with my family every Sunday morning. I even attended a Bible camp for 3 summers outside of Jefferson City. It was a week-long overnight camp. Not only did I enjoy it because it allowed me to escape my parents for one week or the fact that the boy to girl ratio was always 1:2 but it wasn’t a Catholic teaching camp. For once I was learning a different denomination. It was still Christian but emphasized a few different believes compared to Catholicism. After attending this camp for 3 summers I couldn’t help but question by own beliefs in Catholicism. It’s safe to say I considered myself close to God at this point in my life, prayed every night before I went to bed and even began censoring the language that came out of my mouth for once. Unfortunately this phase of my life ended around the time I started high school. It was probably sometime halfway through freshmen year when I stopped praying every night and lost any sense of self-censorship on my mouth. As the following years slowly passed I now find myself in limbo regarding God and any religious affiliation. I do not even attend mass anymore when I’m visiting my family back at home unless it’s Easter of Christmas. I wouldn’t call it confusion, just that I’m trying to figure out which denomination fits me and my beliefs suitably. However, at the same time before I can choose any denomination for myself I need to figure out just what exactly I believe. Though I don’t agree with the practices of The Church of Jesus with Signs Following and their use of a venomous snake I do have to respect that they are comfortable practicing such an odd denomination without any regard for ridicule. If it is what they believe in then they shouldn’t feel ashamed whatsoever; good for them. The Following are some photos from the bible camp I visited for 4 straight summers out in Vienna, MO. Its name is Turkey Hill Ranch Bible Camp. After browsing through some of my old photos it’s certainly no mystery as to why I considered that one week each year the highlight of my summer.

Deviance

William J. Chambliss defines selective perception and labeling within deviance as “finding, processing and punishing some kinds of criminality and not others – means that visible, poor, nonmobile, outspoken, undiplomatic ‘tough’ kids will be noticed, whether their actions are seriously delinquent or not.” I specifically remember an example in 8^th grade when I witnessed this type of labeling. It was the last full day of school, the Thursday before graduation from grade school. Every day at lunch a group of friends and I always sat together at the same table. We knew that this was our last time eating lunch together since we all were splitting up and going to different high schools. We decided to celebrate by feasting on the best “brought” lunch our cafeteria had ever seen. Something to keep in mind though, we were not the most well behaved students in our class. We had always felt that the teachers and administration favored the girls within our class (women represented 100% of the 8^th class faculty as well as the school administration). We were very outspoken regarding the bias we accused our authority figures of having against teenage boys. Because of this we accepted our role as the “accused delinquents” and strolled through our last semester at school with a carefree attitude knowing we were already accepted into our future high schools. With that being said we had each member at our lunch table bring in a different meal item. Each person brought in one of the following: sliced bagels from Panera, soda, chips, a cookie cake, a bottle of sparkling grape juice, and paper plates and cups. We even had someone’s mom drop off Imo’s pizza to the office right before the lunch break began. As we shared every item at lunch we certainly everyone’s attention focused on us, especially the faculty. They accused us of making a mockery of our last day at school, not sharing with everyone else in our class, and most importantly ordering pizza to school. First of all, no one ordered pizza to the school. Someone’s mom dropped it off. If it’s a student’s lunch then what is the different between a mother dropping of a sack lunch or a box of pizza, its serves the same purpose. And who said we have to share with others? Every day at lunch boys and girls exchanged food items with only students at their own table. Just because we weren’t enjoying the typical lunch items doesn’t mean we have to share them with the entire class. Anyways, our teachers gave us an ultimatum: write a letter to the principal that afternoon apologizing for making a mockery of our last day of school or we wouldn’t be able to walk at graduation. We all ended up writing the letter but we were convinced that if a group of girls pulled the same stunt the teachers monitoring lunch would have laughed it off, considered it cute and asked for a slice of cookie cake. Though our actions were not seriously delinquent they were visible in a questionable manner because of our tendencies for being the outspoken group at school. We were seen as a group of trouble makers trying to make a statement to the administration when it reality all we were trying to do was celebrate and enjoy our last school of day together as best friends. Looking back on it though, I’m sure it didn't look quite appropriate having a table of 14 year old kids passing around one of these at lunch. Let’s just say it could have been misleading…

Student Conformity

Recently in my sociology of gender class we discussed the concept of authority and the control authority figures have on social groups. A scenario we came up with was an everyday school setting with a classroom, a teacher and students. The students may outnumber the teacher by as many as 200 but day after day the students continue to conform to social norms by following the teacher’s orders in the inside classroom and outside when it comes to assignments. Even in a physical sense why does every student sit in the seats facing the teacher? There are almost always seats in the front next to the teacher’s desk for the TA so why doesn’t a student ever decide to sit there? Why don’t students ever relax by lying down in the aisles? As the Thomas Theorum states, “If we define a situation as real, they are real in their consequences.” Because we accept the notion that the teacher is the authority figure we remind ourselves of the consequences we could face if we define him or her. By doing this we continue to conform and reproduce the idea that teachers have the final say on what goes and what doesn’t. However, if we heard of a class here at Mizzou revolting and turning against a teacher and succeeding would that influence other classes to revolt against their disliked teacher? In the following link a group of students decided to challenge the consequences their school’s authority figures presented and in a way “revolted” for their idea of a common good, 2 new schools. Considering this was just a high school I have to ask myself what would happen if a large university such as Mizzou tried to “revolt” and protest a common goal?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZkpk-E_WqA

American Grief

I have yet to deal with the event of losing a loved one whether a parent, grandparent, sibling, or friend due to death. Because of this I can’t help but feel uncomfortable when trying to comfort a friend or roommate after they have experienced a similar tragedy. I have always sensed that my uneasy feelings leave me in limbo on knowing what exactly I should say and to how far of an extent I should comfort them. Recently though, after reading The Historical Transformation of American Grief by Peter N. Stearns I can’t help but wonder if it’s a lack of knowing how to act on my part or a lack of apathy toward the other persons emotions. Stearns states “awareness of new grief rules spread, making some people comfortable with relatively little show of outward sorrow and causing others to question or criticize their own reactions.” Do we as a 21^st century society purposely try to conceal our true emotions regarding grief because we don’t believe others actually care about our own well-being? Honestly, I feel as if members of our society have become so selfish regarding their own needs and personal lives that they have lost the ability to care for other’s welfare. Would I actually lose my uncomfortable feelings and for once know what to say to a friend after his grandpa passes away if I experienced the death of grandpa tomorrow? I would like to think that I would but I can’t help but second guess my possible sense of disinterest. I would only admit this if I didn’t think I was the only one who expressed these thoughts. I feel awful about even wondering this but I blame our culture and our expected everyday selfish tendencies. I am not the only one who wonders about this as well I’m sure. 

Remembering 9/11

On the morning of September 11^th, 2001 I specifically remember sitting in 6^th grade algebra class when our principal interrupted our class with urgent news. As I noticed the waterfall of tears streaming down her face as she explained that the World Trade Center had been hit by two large airplanes and that our government suspected it of being a terrorist attack. Initially I was somewhat confused because I didn’t know what the trade center was. We soon turned on the news in class and I recognized the two buildings that had been hit at became speechless. Seeing how devastating the attacks were the classroom went dead silent once we soon heard about reports of the other attacks that day. Some students at our school had family members in New York that day and were given the immediate opportunity to call and find out the status of that member’s whereabouts. Teachers ceased to teach that day as we all just watched the horrific aftermath on the news. At the end of the day we were called into an emergency prayer ceremony held in the gymnasium. I have never seen so many people crying all at the same time.

The Media and politicians both use the memory of 9/11 to unite our citizens. For the most part 9/11 is not a controversial event that took place in our nation’s history and the media uses this horrifying fascination to draw in viewers and inform us on note-worthy journalism whether it may be an uplifting story or a disheartening story. Politicians are well aware that the respected remembrance of those who perished is just as important as the public gratitude we owe to those who served that day and risked their lives to save complete strangers, yet fellow American citizens. The media, government and many other types of institutions in our country use the memory of 9/11 as way to unite our nations people, to promote a sense of Americanism never seen before, and clearly label our nations enemies whom we are promised will be brought to justice – American justice. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF0C6JmSEgk

Adolescence Success Based off of Nurturing

Growing up in a suburb of St. Louis I was consistently enrolled in private catholic school education from the time I was 6 until I was a senior in high school. I may have had to drive 25 minutes to get to school but some of my best friends still went to my district’s public high school 5 minutes down the road. At times I tried suggesting to my parents that I should leave my catholic high school and continue my education down the road where it didn’t cost a dime to attend classes. My parents never so much as gave me the time of day to listen to my arguing points but some of my friends always managed to make side comments about our friends who went to public schools in the St. Louis area. These comments ranged from, “Oh we’re receiving a better education that Joe Schmoe who attends public school. Can’t wait till he works for us…” or even as I began college I still heard, “Joe Schmoe went to a public high school, therefore we won’t achieve as good of grades as some of us and won’t know how to study for multiple tests at one.” Personally, for being a huge supporter of the concept of nurture over the idea of nature I think these statements made by my fellow classmates were naïve, ignorant, and overall complete “bull s#*t.” It doesn’t matter where one attends school but how they apply themselves at that school. It depends if their parents drilled in their head the concept of studying multiple nights before a test or making it a known fact a D on a report card meant 1 month of being grounded. It depends on who the student hangs out with and those friends’ dedication toward school. The more diligent and serious someone’s friends are about school the better student that person will try to become in order to live up to their friends expectations. Innate gifted intelligence is possible but how one applies themselves in school is what really matters, whether it is a private of catholic school. Overall it depends how your primary sources of socialization (parents, peers, and the media) helped you understand how important it is to establish good study habits at a young age and actually learn as you attended school, no matter the level of education. As Handel, Cahill and Elkin write in regards to neural plasticity, “These research findings suggest that the biological development, structure and functioning of the human brain is ‘largely environmentally regulated’ ” (Human Neural Plasticity and Socialilization, 12). Our future in life does not depend on what type of education we received but how well we took advantage of the educational environment we were brought up in. As stated above it is important to have a well established education environment sourced through our primary sources of socialization in life. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhD6nO1T1wg