In Unit 2, we learned about sociological concepts known as macrosociology and microsociology. Macrosociology is essentially, "Why do we choose what we choose?" A macrosociologist studies sociology in the grand scheme of things-- they analyze social systems and populations on a large scale. Or, why you make certain decisions in life in terms of where you live. Microsociology, on the other hand, is the study of sociology regarding individuals and how they interact with each other--small, everyday, face to face social interactions.
These concepts can be observed in the Abandon Ship activity. The reason why we kicked off certain individuals off our "boat" was largely in part due to macrosociology. As Americans, we value usefulness, health, and youth. As a result, one of the first few people we kicked off were the older ones who had already “lived out” their lives. We ended up keeping the more educated people because we believe that the “smart” people will contribute most to society and bring about innovation and progress for the human race. We also kept people with experience in sailing or medicine, since they’ll be most "useful" in helping us survive. Americans view usefulness in terms of a person's occupation--if they're a doctor they can heal the sick, if they're a sailor or navigator they can help navigate the boat to safety, etc.
With microsociology, our face to face interactions within the boat also played a role in who we threw overboard. One person decided that the best way to vote people off was by raising our hands. Everyone agreed, and so rather than just shouting over each other about who gets thrown off we just raised our hands.
An example of macro/micro sociology in my life is the fact that I’ve decided to take A.P. physics instead of college prep physics. As a student in an upper-middle class, suburban high school, I felt pressured into taking a “challenging” class like everyone else because generally, students in this high school want to appear intelligent and driven. In addition to wanting to challenge myself (both on the account that I was subconsciously pressured into doing so due to microsociology in our school and because I genuinely wanted something above college prep physics), I also immensely enjoy learning about science so that was even more of an incentive to taking an A.P science class. I mean if you like a certain subject, might as well taking the most challenging version of it right? That is the way most students think in our high school “bubble.”
When it comes to groups and identity, I can definitively say that they impart a heavy influence on me. A group is when two or more people identify with each other, or when they regularly and consciously interact with one another. The social structure of a group is the typical patterns one sees in groups.
Some of the groups in my life include my friends, school clubs (GSA, film club, physics club, etc.), teachers, family, and online communities. Depending on where I’m at during the day, I can be in multiple groups at a time. During the school day when I’m with teachers and friends I’m free to be myself, but when I’m with my parents I have to remember to not get upset (or nauseous) when someone calls me by my birth name or uses “she/her” pronouns.
All of the groups that I’m a part of have influenced me to have become a more open-minded and empathetic person, plus a crafty and ace liar--I could literally write a series of novels recounting tales of my double life. Ever since I started going by Danny at the beginning of junior year my life has just been a wild, hellish ride. This is also an example of role strain--at times it can be hard to balance my role in certain groups, and I have to be careful in letting too much information from my friend group or from any other group to leak into my family group. My role as an “offspring” is much different from my role as a “friend.” As a child of Russian Jewish parents, I can’t wear or do certain things because it’s not “right” whereas as a friend, I can talk about truly anything and deliver terrible puns (“Let’s be transparent guys.” Ba-dum, tss).
An example that we looked at in class was the show Freaks and Geeks--all of the characters were apart of multiple, distinct groups. One of the characters, Lindsay, quits the math team (the “geeks”) and starts hanging out with the “freaks” instead--those who hang behind the bleachers, smoke, cut class, etc. She wants to be perceived as “cool” by the freaks, by doing things like wearing a leather jacket. The negative influence the freaks impart on her (dysfunction) is part of functional theory--which is one of the three main sociological perspectives.
And with being in different groups, there comes categories, generalizations, and stereotypes. Generalizations allow us to “[...] intelligently act in a wide variety of situations [...]. If we are open-minded and reflective, we can even evaluate how good or how poor our generalizations are, and we can alter what we know as we move from situation to situation.” However, if our generalizations aren’t accurate, it can sometimes be difficult to recognize and change them--“Too often our generalizations actually stand in the way of our understanding, especially when we generalize about human beings” (Charon, “Should We Generalize about People?”). Meaning, If we do not generalize accurately then we run the risk of stereotyping.
For example, many people categorize feminists as “feminazis,” or radical feminists who hate men. They also stereotype them as aggressive, attention-seeking lesbians who don't shave, burn their bras, don’t want to get married, are all women, practice witchcraft, are “too sensitive” or “too politically correct,” etc. As a feminist myself (and as a person who frequents feminism club), I know that all of these stereotypes and misconceptions are, if not infuriating, completely ill-founded. Perhaps the biggest misconception about feminism as a whole is that it is unnecessary because women are “already equal.” Feminism is necessary (for a myriad of reasons, which would take too long for me to get into), and indisputably anyone can be a feminist. Here are some insanely useful and informative websites explaining some important things regarding feminism!
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9SUAcNlVQ4
- http://wgs.eku.edu/what-feminism-0
- http://www.upworthy.com/what-is-feminism-really-this-comic-sums-it-up-well
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/sexism-feminism-comic-rasenth_n_5976660.html
- http://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/news/a36748/chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-feminism-speech/
Finally, there are ingroups and outgroups. Ingroups and outgroups refer to groups that we are either a member of or not a member of. It’s much easier to feel connected to the groups that we are a part of, and feel less attached or more judgmental towards our outgroups. For example, there’s the LGBTQ+ community--or even more specific, the trans community. For those in the queer community that aren’t transgender, the trans community is their outgroup. They can’t really sympathize with the experiences and challenges trans people face (and even less so those that aren't in the LGBTQ+ community) Whereas if the trans community is your ingroup, you know pretty well what types of challenges other trans people experience: passing (via binding, change of clothing, hairstyle, voice training, etc.), misgendering, gender dysphoria/euphoria, internalized transphobia, surgery costs, depression, hormone therapy, discrimination, getting disowned, etc. And so you’re more connected with those in your ingroup since you share similar aspects of your life / experiences / interests / hobbies with them.
