Social Consturction OF reality Arvin Gitman

Social Construction of Reality

This week in my sociology class, we learned about the social construction of reality. Social construction of reality can mean a lot of things; social construction of reality means that society, everything around us, and the people that are part of your life, all of that influences your life. An example of how we, as individuals, are influenced by everything around us was our 'spit example in class'. Our teacher had told a girl to spit into a spoon. After she had done this he instructed her to put the spit back into her mouth, but she wouldn't do it. The question we ask is WHY? We have learned as a society that this wouldn't be normal to put spit back into your mouth. Even though it is the same saliva that is in our mouth, we still wouldn't want to put it back in. Throughout our lives, society has taught us social norms and things that are accepted in reality. Spitting has always had the connotation as something 'rude' or disrespectful'. This isn't the only social construction of reality that effects our lives. I've been 'taught' or known all my life what is considered normal or non normal. In the show Freaks and Geeks that we watched in class, you see how the social construction of reality for the 'smart girl' is to be smart and stay around with those kids, but she breaks this social construction of reality by hanging around with the 'bad kids'.  When she does this everybody freaks because she's breaking her 'social construction of reality'.        file://localhost/Users/agitman3/Desktop/3070100107001.png

Decisions shape your life.

This week in my sociology class we talked about sociological imagination and sociological mindfulness. Sociological imagination is to be aware that everything and anything around you shapes who people really are. I learned that individuals are influenced by WHERE and WHEN they live. For example, I grew up in the era of no slavery and a black president! This time period in which i'm living really shapes who I am. Living in Buffalo Grove and having an iPhone makes me different from many other kids in the world I believe. It's because I grew up with the friends and family I did; I am who I am today. My parents raised me to never give up. They came from a harsh background of living in Ukraine and coming to America with absolutely nothing and made it to the top. If my parents hadn't instilled on me what they have been doing my whole life, I would be a completely different person. I have been influenced on how they taught me to grow up and which decisions to make.

I guess my grandparents show me a true example of sociological mindfulness. What they do as individuals is very different than how I act primarily because of the huge age difference. I realize that my grandparents are influence by their past and present social setting and the way they act around me impacts my life and shows that while they are influencing my life I am influencing theirs by the way I act towards them.

Speaking of decisions, one of my favorite songs currently, Miley Cyrus sings about the 'Decisions she has to make weather to share the cake or not'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQd5OEl1W-Q

Who Am I

Who Am I?

My name is Arvin, and I'm a very interesting person. If you get to know me you'll see how outgoing and social I am and that's why I wanted to take the class SOCIOLOGY. Lots of things influence my life, especially daily things such as: school, friends, music, and food. I really do enjoy electronic music. I promote for many festivals and events in Chicago and I take a lot of pride in that. Everybody has goals, but many are unrealistic. I try to keep my goals very 'obtainable' because I hate letting myself down. I feel as if my purpose in life was different than many others. I hope that when people meet me, the effect I put on them changes their life for a better perspective of the world.