Have you ever made a decision based on what other people think or made a decision that you wouldn't normally make when you're around certain people? Symbolic Interaction is a term that best describes this behavior, Max Weber called it stage play (Henslin 28). George Herbert Mead introduced this sociological term in the 1920's to help explain why people act the way they do (about.com).
Think about it if you were to move to a new school and you are a smart kid, you finish your homework, but you also like to hang out with people on the weekend, you're not going to choose to hang around the people who are a bad influence e.g. people who skip class, smoke cigarettes, and don't care about their outcome in life. Instead you are going to center yourself around people who act and perform similar to your liking.
This type of interaction is noticed everyday. Symbolic Interaction is a micro level analysis, or small-scale patterns of social interaction. A german word best describing symbolic interaction is "verstehen" which literally means the empathetic understanding of human behavior. "Industrialization and urbanization changed marital roles and led to a redefinition of love marriage, children and divorce (Henslin 28)"
Symbolic Interaction will always shape how we as people make decisions everyday. To better understand it ask yourself "how do I act differently when I'm in the presence of someone?"
Henslin, James M. "13 Symbolic Interactionism." Sociology: A Down-to-earth Approach. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2011. 28. Print.
The act or processofimpartingoracquiringgeneralknowledge,developingthepowersofreasoningandjudgment,andgenerallyofpreparingoneselforothersintellectuallyformaturelife is the definition for education (Dictionary.com). In the world today education is key to living a successful life. Education is important in every aspect; it ultimately gives a person control of their life, if effects how that person makes a decision, and it also makes one appreciate life. As you learn you become more knowledgeable and soon making decisions will be an everyday occurrence. Having a good education make this process much simpler. When you can relate to a topic, or you know the facts decision making can be simpler. If you have already "grown up" I'm sure you know a lot about having control of your life. With the proper way of obtaining knowledge you can have control of your life. For example this year I moved out of my parents house the summer after I graduated. I'm renting my own apartment, filing taxes, making payments on my own car, and paying for everything I want/need. I couldn't have done this without education, without it I wouldn't understand the economy and making poor decisions and honestly I'd would probably be living in my parents house still. Having and education has definitely made me appreciate life more too. Not everyone in the world gets this kind of opportunity. High school is free, take advantage of that because when you get to college it is not free. Now with education I can go on and make a life for myself. Social institution change aspects of life in individuals such as social stratification, deviance, cultural activities and socialization. The sociological theories (functionalism, conflict and interactionism) have influenced education as a sociological institution with each of them influencing both the individual and the society’s view hence creating a social change in the education (orderwriters.com). Without education the world would be in utter chaos. As a social institution it is an important element that governs the behavior of social life.
There's winner and there's losers Conflict Theory is defined as "A theory propounded by Karl Marx that claims society is in a state of perpetual conflict due to competition for limited resources. Conflict theory holds that social order is maintained by domination and power, rather than consensus and conformity. According to conflict theory, those with wealth and power try to hold on to it by any means possible, chiefly by suppressing the poor and powerless. Conflict theory also ascribes most of the fundamental developments in human history, such as democracy and civil rights, to capitalistic attempts to control the masses rather than to a desire for social order (Investopedia).
The song "Where is the Love" strongly shows Karl Marx's theory in clear content. The song starts off saying "what's wrong with the world mama, people living like they ain't got no mamma?" that's a very strong line for this time because in the early 2000 era the world faced many problems. They mention terrorism, gangs, discrimination, murder, war, and many other topics of hatred.
The idea of the Conflict Theory is the world is split into two types of people the capitalist and the bourgeoisie. Will.i.am states "overseas, yeah, we try to stop terrorism, but we still got terrorists here livin' in the USA the big CIA The Bloods and The Crips and the KKK," this line right here shows the conflict theory well comparing the gangsters and the racists to the CIA. The song goes on to talk about people who only care about their bank account compared to children who fight for their lives every day for a war that's unknown. The world is an uneven playing field, and this song expresses that in many ways. Society is still split up like this today, many of us only care about the material things in life, although we will all end up the same place-the ground. While so many people are worried about having the latest and greatest Ferrari they could helping people in ways they don't even know is possible, but we as a society are selfish and we "rig" the rules ourselves to keep the wealthy people even more wealthy and more powerful. "We've only got one world," why can't we change the means of production and help out more people?
Link for the lyrics: https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tvwgltfftxzgtndoxsdjjkpnlem?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics
"Conflict Theory Definition | Investopedia." Investopedia. N.p., 10 July 2013. Web. 08 Oct. 2015.
Fergie, Will.i.am, and Taboo. Where Is the Love. Black Eyed Peas. Ralph MacDonald, 2003. CD.
Racism is abeliefordoctrinethatinherentdifferencesamongthevarioushumanracialgroupsdetermineculturalorindividualachievement,usuallyinvolvingtheideathatone'sownraceissuperiorandhastherighttodominateothersorthataparticularracialgroupisinferiortotheothers (Dictionary.com). The movie "Mississippi Burning" depicts just that through the lives of black men and women. As three young teens fighting for equal rights are killed in Mississippi in the late 1960's investigators question the acts of white men in the community.
While the search for the three boys' killer's continues anyone who talks to the authority pays the price. From gunshots through their families windows, and even as extreme as burning a whole families house down and hanging the father. It took a lot of questioning but soon the detectives work together and get all the men who helped in the killing of the teens put away.
The term racism fits heavily into this movie for obvious reasons. The white's don't want to tolerate the black people so they put them on the low end of the triangle. They separate themselves by jobs, social outings, and even water fountains. Finally the dominator in this movie is clearly the white people because they feel blacks were inferior to them This movie brutally shows the treatment of black people not just performed in this decade, (1960s) but it even shows how the blacks have been treated over centuries. Many people in the south still feel the same way about the blacks; just because of the color of their skin we considered the "unclean and dirty." Many days we as Americans would like to think that racism doesn't exist, but even this year police officers have dealt with the title of a "racist." Racism isn't always black vs. white,it occurs everyday with many different kinds or races like: Jews, Arabs, and Mexicans. I don't know how anyone could ever be proud about killing someone just because of the color of their skin.
Mississippi Burning. Dir. Alan Parker. Perf. Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe. 1988. Videocassette. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 01 Oct. 2015.
