Culture Shock

         When an individual is exposed to a new culture, they can experience terms called culture shock, ethnocentrism, and culture reality. Culture shock is when an individual is shocked by how different cultures do things differently. Ethnocentrism is when an individual bases and judges things off of their own culture because they think that that is the best way since they have been raised that way. Culture relativity is when an individual tries to relate what they know about that culture and use that to figure out what it means. For example, a danish woman, who left her baby in a stroller outside of a restaurant in New York while eating, had her child taken away from her. In Denmark, it is culturally normal to leave children outside to get fresh air and rest. Is this a question of culture? That is what the main controversy followed. Personally, when I get older, I want to try an experience of teaching in Japan. We talked about Japanese culture very much in class, and for years I have always been interested in their culture. The main thing I love that would probably still give me culture shock when I first visit is the way they treat their elders. In American culture, elderly people are treated the same, if not lower than average aged citizens because they are considered slow. In Japan, the elders are treated with the utmost respect. People who are younger need to bow to their elders and talk to them in a respectful matter. There are also many other cultural differences that could have me experience culture shock, but I want to expose myself to such differences so I can grow and a mindful person.

A Bronx Tale

        In the movie, "Bronx Tale", a true story is examined through many years of life situations of an Italian boy as he grew up. This boy, Calogero, is surrounded by different groups but also belongs to many as well. Many of these groups include Calogero's Italian friends, an African American girl he meets and wants to be with, his family, and Sonny and his crew. But within those groups it breaks up even farther. I do not believe that C is really in the group of Sonny's crew, but of Sonny himself. Sonny treats C differently. He tells him to finish school and to never become like him. He acts like so much of a father figure that even C's own father intervenes. This is why I believe that C's masterstatus would be "son". Throughout the entire movie, it is just different events that both of his father figures are trying to teach him about real life situations as well as trying to protect him. As I wrote about before, masterstatuses impact our lives greatly. They are the people who impact you the greatest in life. Personally, my masterstatus would be "daughter" and "sister" because at this age I still spend a lot of time with my family. My parents are supportive of everything I do and I know my brothers would do anything for me. As life goes on, these status can change. I believe, for example, that when we go off to college, the less time you spend with your family and the more time you spend with friends or mentor figures, the status can shift. Personally, I feel like my masterstatus will not change, like Calogero's, because I have been so impacted through my parents and brother like C through his father and Sonny, that as things change, we can still never forget what originally made us the person we are today.

The Identity Molecule

        This week in class we learned about the Identity Molecule. We started off with an activity of writing down every group that you felt had an influence over your life in one way or another. We then had to pick two as our "masters", or what we felt had the greatest influence of us. Everybody seemed to have the traditional "family" or "friend", but something that I noticed when we were going over other people's groups was that there were a lot of group that have also had an influence on me, but I could not think of them on my own. I really found this interesting and found it intriguing to be able to relate to things that I at first did not realize even for myself, but that do really have a huge influence in my life. One of the groups that I personally wrote down was "my brothers friends". Most people would never think that a siblings friends could influence there life so much, but in my life I find it very noticeable. My brother Devin is five years older than me and while we were growing up, he always had the same group of four guy friends over. I became so close with these guys because they were always at my house that they literally became like brothers to me. I can tell them anything and I know that they will always be there for me even though I am not their "real" sister. After this activity I actually told one of my brothers friends this story. His first response to when I said they are like older brothers to me and I know that they would always be there for me was "and you better not forget it!" I think that this is so special and now to be able to acknowledge this meaning makes me value having them in my life so much more.

Social Construction of Reality

            This week in Sociology, we learned about the Social Construction of Reality, which I  found very interesting. Social Construction of Reality is what society has influenced us to believe is the "reality", the social norm. That means that our actions are based on what is socially acceptable at that given time. This is seen in many different ways around the world. Something so simple as stopping at a red like can even be seen as a Social Construction of Reality. Before cars were invented, there was no such thing as traffic lights. A red, yellow, or green light would mean nothing to these people. It is only because we are used to stopping at red lights now since that is what is seen in our society as "normal" for us. Personally, thinking about this now is a strange feeling. Basically anything we react to in situations and day to day life is because of the idea of the Social Construction of Reality. Even using the dollar to by something only works and is deemed right because it is "socially acceptable". This past month my brother traveled to Israel for two weeks. When he came home, he had left over sheqels, the currency used in Israel. Imagine if he tried to buy something at the counter in America, the cashier would just look at him like he is crazy because it is not the social norm. Everything in its own way relates back to the idea of Social Construction of Reality and how society in its own way influences what we find acceptable and crazy.