Today during class we discussed Interactionists and a few forms that fit into that category (symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, ethnography, ethnomethodology and hermeneutics). I was quite intrigued to see all the varying systems of points of view.
During my first degree (anthropology) I had quite a few professors who had gone to live in a completely different culture and just immersed themselves in it. I found this quite strange and scary; therefore I knew that I would never really be able to completely call myself an anthropologist as the thought of doing this scared me! I did know that I could always just do studies on subcultures but it wouldn't be the same.
A few blogs ago, I considered myself a functionalist. I said that if I had to classify myself it would be as a functionalist. I don't always have a conspiracy theory about everything that is going on (conflict theorists) and I don't always have to know why(interactionist). Today during class, Professor Runte was discussing how Harold Garfinkel would be extremely annoying to be around because he always wanted to get to the basic assumption and keep asking why until he got there. During this portion of the lecture all I could think about what the little 2 or 3 year old continuously asking why? Why should I not sit so close to the t.v.? Why is it bad for me? Why should I be quiet? and so on and on!
I think that I would be one of the people that punched Harold Garfinkel in the face. I don't understand why people can't just accept things for the way they are. Perhaps this is why I might consider myself a functionalist, I don't need things explained in great depth. I choose to accept that people around me are making decisions that may affect me but choose to believe that that person is making the decision with me in mind. Now this may be my naive nature but I think that people should consider others when making decisions. I think this is the reason why I get so irritated with some conflict theorists.
Lastly, David today asked the question about H1N1 issue that we are currently having/enduring/being annoyed by. I was so happy that he posed this question because just yesterday I was debating with my sister about how big of an issue this actually is. I started the conversation with letting her know about our "Flu Registration" that we have here at the university and how I felt it was going to be extremely abused. I don't think this flu is going to be anything crazy, obviously I am not a doctor or really have any medical training. Whereas her opinion was they are sending masks to our work place it must be a big deal, they sent hand sanitizer last month, it must be bad! But I truly think it is just the media working so hard to get people all rallied up about stuff like this. **In one of my anthropology classes I remember learning that the best way to control people is with fear. Is that not exactly what is currently being done?
I am very excited to learn more about the 3 different sociological views on education in the upcoming classes.
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Please do not punch me the next time we see each other, but a functionalist, Brandie? I think that questioning the potential effects of H1N1 puts you in the realm of the conflict theorists.
ReplyDeleteI am little scared because you wrote:
I don't understand why people can't just accept things for the way they are. Perhaps this is why I might consider myself a functionalist, I don't need things explained in great depth. I choose to accept that people around me are making decisions that may affect me but choose to believe that that person is making the decision with me in mind. Now this may be my naive nature but I think that people should consider others when making decisions.
When you question the potential effects of H1N1, you are not accepting things for the way they are.
Personally, I cannot accept things for the way they are. I cannot accept that when I walk down a street in a major urban centre, I see people living on the streets, especially when someone in luxury sedan drives by and does not bat an eyelash. Major league athletes earning more than teachers also makes me question the way things are. I still believe that teachers are more valuable than major leagues athletes. “I want to be like Mike.” I do not want to be like Mike and no matter what I drink, I will never play basketball like Michael Jordon. Maybe I would like to have his assets, but it disturbs me to think that he made more than all of the workers who made his line of shoes.
There are people who are making decisions with you in mind Brandie. They are called advertisers, advertisers who are hired by corporations to sell you products that you do not need and that were made by someone earning pennies a day in a country thousands of miles away. Whether you like it or not, you are connected to everyone who played a role in bringing you that product. This is why it might be important to not accept things for the way they are.
I could go on about what I do not accept, sexism, racism, ageism, poverty, but I would be here forever. All I know is that, personally, I think that things are not the way they should be. I am inspired to be a Social Studies because I believe that if I can engage my students the inequalities of the world they will begin to see the world in a different light. They will see that the inequalities are not inevitable and that they are directly related they are to those inequalities. Hopefully, this will empower them to affect change. I truly believe that as a teacher, I can make a difference.
Again please do not punch me the next time you see me. Violence only begets violence. I am up for a heated debate though.
Haha Of course I will not punch you David :)
ReplyDeleteI think you pose some really great points! I know that we have discussed how I/we(?) think H1N1 is a huge ridiculous mess. So therefore you are right, I am not a complete functionalist... and in all honesty I do question a lot of the issues in society. I laugh at particular trends in our society and question how people could support them; I wonder what people are thinking when they have extremely lavish lifestyles while people can't even afford a home. So you are right.
I think that I was trying to simplify myself to an extreme. I do accept some things at face value, but you are right that I don't do that with everything. I would be living the extremely sheltered life if I did. But there is a huge part of me that gets irritated when people question EVERYTHING!!! That is maybe more so why I was trying to go against being a conflict theorist.
I definitely try to be aware of things around me and do question certain issues (even to an annoyance point, my father can back that up) but to question every point of society is annoying and tiring. I don't have the desire for that to be my only focus, which is too depressing.
Maybe my issue is that I don't think I can categorize myself? I am all over the map. Perhaps these classifications of different sociologists need to be on different spectrums and we (people in society) can be made up of a couple different spectrums. I guess it could be 1 spectrum but they are almost so different that I don't know if that would work? What do you think?