Smith Sumblog 11

Dorothy Smith was a very prominent female social thinker. She developed a theory that is widely known and used today. The Standpoint Theory’s whole premise is to immerse oneself into a culture to be able to learn it from the inside out. There are however, a few issues with this approach. It can be hard to become involved in a society without going fully native. This means that in the process of learning about a new society you become that society and have no means of detachment. This approach focuses on not being cold or objective as a means of gathering information. It uses Geertz’s idea of “thick description” and is used for ethnographic research. The standpoint theory compares experience vs. perspective. Experience is the immersion into the culture and perspective is how one views such culture. This theory helps sociologist’s go into more depth and truly find out what lies beneath the surface.

The clip that I chose is from the movie Hitch. The first man that approaches Sara doesn’t listen to her, buys her the wrong drink, and basically just does what he’s known from experience. Hitch asks the bartender what she is drinking and for a few details about her before approaching her. He listens to what she has to say and responds in a meaningful way. Although this video is only a first meeting, Hitch did almost everything in his power to find out more about her, before actually interacting with her, compared to Chip, who just assumed she would be interested in him.

This theory is an important one for us to remember when we are studying people of diverse cultural backgrounds. It can also be used as a life skill, when traveling to areas with a different culture than ourselves, the standpoint theory can help to better understand and get to know the people one may encounter for a more positive interaction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU59kXuJHhI

Parson Sumblog 10

Talcott Parsons was a contemporary sociologist who had a universal vision of society. He helped bidge the gap from classic to modern sociology. He felt that society was making sense of the individual (actor) in society (full of systems and institutions). Along with Herbert Spencer he felt that society could be seen as an organism. Parson’s felt there were two key components to this system: Pattern variables and System Tasks. Pattern variables are different properties of interaction such as 10 between the actor and 2) between the actor and a system. System tasks are the criteria needed for social order, such as, education health care and religion to name a few. Parsons also described adaptation, where a society needs to change according to the new times. For example, making buildings wheel chair accessible, or adding no smoking signs to buildings because we realize that smoking is bad for you and those who don’t smoke shouldn’t be exposed to it second hand.

One example of an adaptation our society has accepted as a whole is the concept of recycling. We have realized that our impact on this Earth leaves a lot of extra trash around and that there are better ways of handling all of this leftover stuff rather than just dumping it in a pit, or body of water. The video I posted below involves interviews with numerous people and as to why they recycle. I feel Parson’s would agree that this is an adaptation of modern society. We have had garbage taken away for a while now, but it hasn’t been until the late 1970’s that recycling has even been talked about. This has to do with the mass amounts of trash that can and should be re-used. It wasn’t really thought of to save certain items rather than others to use them for the same purpose over and over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QxNwvq1PfA

Goffman Sumblog 9

Erving Goffman had a very interesting sociological theory. He used theatre as his representation for society, which can be viewed as an over simplification for this unique and complex process. Goffman said that the stage and theatre were our platforms for performance- how we interact. With that, there are scripts on what to say and how to behave in different settings. Goffman used three different categories to describe how these interactions are formed, status, roles, and self-label. A status is a particular social position, an example would of one of my status’s is that I am a student. Roles are the expected behavior of a particular status, for example as a student I am expected to study, attend class, and complete my assignments on time. Self-label is the identity that one presents to others in an attempt to manage their impression. Goffman felt that power and authority lied in the individual to create their identity. So as a student, who is fulfilling my roles at an adequate level, the self-label I would like to achieve is that I am an active participant in my own individual learning process. By properly acting out my roles as a student, I am achieving the self-label I have chosen to perform.

An interesting idea to Goffman’s theory is the idea of stigma’s, which happen when something gets in the way of one’s roles and self- label. This could be various issues such as a physical or character defect and an “unacceptable” group. I feel that stigmas are prominent social issues in our country; one in particular is the idea of same-sex marriage. I feel that people are still being stigmatized for their sexuality and this creates a disconnect between the self-label the wish to portray and their roles in society. There is a neat video that has gone viral on Facebook this past week. It interviews 13 children from the ages of 5-13 and asks them their opinions on same sex marriage. I thought this was a really cool idea as a way to help fight the stigma and create ideas of equality starting at a young age. Out of 13 children there was only one child against this idea, and he provides no grounds for his opinion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TJxnYgP6D8

Simmel Sumblog 8

Georg Simmel had a very interesting approach of organizing society. He developed three levels to help structure our society, they include, psychological aspects of social life, interpersonal relationships, and "spirit of the times". The first is more on the individualistic level it focuses on our own thoughts and perceptions. The second level is how culture is transmitted through socialization. This is where our opinions from the first level come to light and are interpreted and examined by others through conversation. The third level "spirit of the times" is where the first two levels culminate to create norms and values, through which all social and interpersonal relations follow. I think this is a very interesting approach to organizing society, because it goes from one solo perspective to an entire society.

            Due to this categorical structuring of society, typologies are created in order for organization to maintain. Simmel stated that this happens through forms and types. Essentially the existence of human beings is chaotic, so we must categorize this chaos. He calls this type of organization social geometry, the rules and ways we interact in different situations. There are two components of this numbers and distance. Numbers has to do with the amount of people we are socializing with. Simmel noticed distinct differences between two people socializing vs. three or more. With two he said there would be even and shared power, whereas with three or more a hierarchy would start to form and the level of inequality would increase. Also with two people the distance would be more intimate, vs. three or more there would be greater distance.

            I am really into finding songs that personally for me help associate themes we learn in class to real life. There is a song by Nickel Creek that I have listened to for years that I feel describes Simmel’s concept of the stranger…it even has stranger in the title. I believe it describes how people on the outside (strangers) make sense and try to coexist with others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW2r8JRdnDI

DuBois Sumblog 7

“Forget about the reasons and

The treasons we are seeking

Forget about the notion that your emotions can be

Wept away, kept at bay

Forget about being guilty, I am innocent instead

For soon we will all find our lives swept away” – Dave Matthews Band: Seek Up

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhvJrNfgTfE

W.E.B. DuBois was a sociologist during a very trivial period of American history. He was born shortly after the 13^th amendment came into effect. His sociological perspective was one of the first forms of symbolic interactionism. This is a micro-perspective, which has overlapping factors with psychology. His two key concepts are the ideas of the “veil” and “double-consciousness.” DuBois described the veil as something that hides potential. We take for granted the status quo- for example racial inequality. African Americans are able to exist in society, but don’t view this society from the same perspective due to this veil that is placed upon them. The consequence of this idea of the “veil” is called double-consciousness or twoness. This means that there is one person with two different identities. This concept is largely due to the differences between majority and minority cultures, there is a schism between the two. African Americans are being fed the same beliefs and traditions that are inherent in the majority culture, but are unable to incorporate their own within their society. This in turn sets them apart from the rest of society and produces the idea of a double-consciousness. To help explain DuBois’s ideas of the veil and double-consciousness I chose a song called “Seek Up.” I think the lyrics above clearly depict how people who are feeling these two differing identities within themselves need to find a sense of peace amongst all of the inner turmoil. We are all here for a limited amount of time, and to live in a constant struggle can be very harmful and taxing on one’s self. This song basically says, those even though one may be going through hell, keep fighting, and make the most of what you have.