Sociology Case

My Sociology

Ralph Waldo Emmerson once said, "To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment." I still distinctly remember reading this quote in my freshman English class in high school. It immediately resonated with me and stayed with me since, becoming something of a guiding light and mantra of mine as I figured out and continue to figure out who I am and my place in society. My sociology and the way that I view the social world, as well as my place in it, comes as a result of several past experiences. A very big part of my life, and one of the major reasons I view the social world as I do, is the fact that I am Lebanese. Both of my parents were born in Lebanon and immigrated to the United States, and even though I was born here, the culture is very much integrated into my life. I speak the language fluently, visit Lebanon every year and am constantly surrounded by the culture in one way or the other. The culture itself along with the traditions, values and norms among other things, differ and conflict greatly from those in this country. As a result of this, it seems as though my whole life I have been putting on different personas or attitudes depending on the situation I am in and feel like essentially I have been two people; one person when I am around the Lebanese community, conforming to their norms and values, and another person when I am not involved in the Lebanese community, but around my "American" friends and community. That is why Emmerson's quote has stuck with me throughout all these years in guiding me through life, because I always try to be myself even though I feel split between these two cultures and experiences and having to almost be a different person to please each one. As a result, I view the social world as one that is constantly trying to change you and I see my place in society as an individual who is trying to be myself and not change who I am despite the countless influences. There are many prominent sociologists whose theories support this argument and the way that I view the social world. The studies and theory of George Hebert Mead almost perfectly fit into my view of the social world and my place in it in the fact that I feel I put on different selves or different attitudes depending on who I am with or the situation I am in. Mead explains a notion of self based on different versions self and how the selves interact with others. Mead places particular emphasize on the self in relation to others as opposed to the self in relation to other versions of self. Mead was also a very significant sociologist in his studies of symbolic interactionism. He explains the significance of interactions with others and how one's selves respond to those interactions, which is an extremely important part of Mead's theory in terms of how one views oneself in the society. Mead states that different social experiences and different situations will illicit different versions of ones self, and dissociation of self is caused by different component selves that correspond to differing social processes. In other words, in whatever area, situation or experience one is focused, only the corresponding self will exist at that particular time. The participation of individuals in society brings everyone to the same arena, creating a "universal discourse" in which people develop and exhibit particular attitudes. Through rationality, individuals develop a generalized attitude which allows them to recognize someone else as being an other in society and allows one to perceive one's self as "me." Mead describes this awareness as self-consciousness. The development of self-consciousness allows one to understand one's own experiences of the attitudes of a community through "I," and "me." The "me" is the passive part of self; it tells you the norms of society and the way people are seeing you, whereas the "I" is the spontaneous part of oneself. This perfectly describes the way that I have felt my whole life, contributing to my view of the social world. Mead specifically writes that different situations and social setting will illicit different versions of oneself. I specifically remember having to constantly be a different person in terms of my behavior or the things that I would say and do when I was around Lebanese people or that community, because certain things are expected of you, which differ from those in the American culture. Even speaking another language made me feel like a different person. When I was around that, I would put on "Lebanese self" if you will, my "self" that spoke Arabic and responded to the same things differently than I would had I just been talking to one of my American friends. Even outside of the culture situation, my family is very religious and we would attend church every Sunday. Like most people, I would put on an appropriate self to attend church, a self, which I would not particularly put on if I were hanging out with my friends or going to a party. I was constantly putting on different selves appropriate to the situations I was in. This contributed greatly to my view of the social world in the fact that I see it as always trying to transform and change people. Erving Goffman's theory is also similar to Mead's studies and more so justifies the way I feel about the social world and my place in it in terms of acting differently depending on the situation. Goffman describes the development of "lines" and how they become the basis for individuals in social situations. The line is developed through evaluating one's self and other individuals in a particular group setting, and engaging in verbal and nonverbal actions that are indicative of one's particular point of view. The line taken is "the positive social value" acclaimed by one, and is defined as the face. Goffman goes on to describe his theory of face work, which is focused on the concept of face, which is the positive self-image that individuals have when interacting with others. Once an individual gives out a positive self- image of themselves to others they feel a need to keep or live up to that set image. Feelings of security and contentedness result from feeling as though one is in face; therefore, feelings of confidence arise when one can maintain face successfully. The discontinuity or inconsistency of the face evokes negative feelings and tensions, risking embarrassment, which is why an individual makes sure that they do not present themselves in an unfavorable way to others and keep up their face. A person can be out of face when they fail to have a "line"