Blog 11

"The only way of knowing a socially constructed world is knowing it from within. We can never stand outside it. A relation in which sociological phenomena are objectified and presented as external to and independent of the observer is itself a special social practice also known from within. the relation of the observer and object of observation, of sociologist to subject, is a specialized social relationship. even to be a stranger is to enter a world constituted from within as strange. The strangeness itself is the mode in which it is experienced." This quote by Dorothy Smith reminded me to the concepts discussed by George Simmel and his views on society. His theory suggests that we are strangers to an environment but depends on his distance or involvement in that area. We are far but close to our surroundings. Similar to what  Dorothy states our social relationships depends on our social situation. These situations are determined by our objective knowledge. We are either separated or close to the world by our knowledge. 

To put this in my own perspective, my internship requires me to be close to all surroundings and be familiar with the issues. My task for my internship is to be a sports intern for grades ranging 3-5. I am to host students to participate in volleyball and basketball games where they can compete and learn about the spot. In a theoretical approach I am far from knowing my surroundings yet  I am familiar with the aspect of the sports. I an new to the environment and the children so adapting to this new concept of people and places is difficult however the sports come natural to me and I will be able to educate the students on this fact. This is not the only case of my strangeness to society, I am sure I will encounter more experiences feeling as if I am foreign to others around me but that is the beauty of habitualization and how our society functions.

I think this is a powerful quote that we can all relate to at some point in our lifetime.

Blog 10

A symbol I experience daily would be a watch or time and the idea of how I manage my time. I tried to think of something out of the ordinary and time was the best idea I could relate to myself. I believe time would still be considered  a symbol. Personally I value my time and I am very time constricted. I have to know what I am doing at a certain time and if my time is disorganized I get very frustrated. Like many other United states citizens we value our time or are a time oriented country. We must have deadlines and expectations around time or numbers. In a sense we as citizens keep our time sacred because we are very keen on making sure we are abiding by a timeline. Time is a symbol because we use it everyday, it has meaning and many people value their work on it. This is a shared idea because as you see in other cultures they do not have strict time procedures. For example, my teacher who is Native American warned us in the beginning of the year that in his culture being on time is not the life or death of me. He said, "relax and just live life on your time" I thought this was an interesting concept coming from an outside perspective. His words were strong and it opened my eyes a little more on how strict we are on time. Especially in institutions are we fixed on time. An example would be in class when it is time to leave students will pack up their belongings and will not give respect to the professor even if he is still teaching. This in other cultures is seen as very rude. I agree and I am one of these victims that are packing their bags but it is just how our culture is. Peter Berger states, "It is important to keep in mind that the objectivity of the institutional world, however massive it may appear to the individual, is a humanly produced constructed objectivity." This is true when it comes to time and relation to United States culture. We put a great emphasis on time and was constructed by us to be time constraint. So it is important to consider other cultures when dealing with time because other cultures may not have the same views as we do.

Blog 9

The United States has the most difficult language/culture to interpret or understand. Many researches would argue the same, especially Clifford Geetz. He was known for his studies on ethnography, which is the scientific study of the customs or individual peoples and cultures.

Within our reading Geetz gave an example of how we as U.S citizens express non verbal communication. For example, winking. Winking can be considered a form of nonverbal communication. Geetz explains, "contracting your eyelids on purpose where there exists a public code in which doing so counts as a conspiratorial signal." Winking is also considered a communicative gesture or as Geetz believes a "voila." We have numerous gestures in the United States. It is important to note that to the foreign eye a wink could be seen as a simple blink of the eye. This is Geetz's main focus, is the different cultural communication styles.

On page 289 Geetz gives a great example of the usage of ethnography concerning facial expressions. He explains, "Ethnography: a stratified hierarchy of meaningful structures in terms of which twitches, winks, fake winks, parodies, rehearsals of parodies are produced, perceived, and interpreted, and without which they would not (not even the zero-form twitches, which, as a cultural category, are as much non-winks as winks are non-twitches) in fact exist, no matter what anyone did or didn't do with his eyelids." This explains how cultural gestures could be interpreted in many different ways and how confusing they could be. A wink is seen in a different cultural perspective to be an eye twitch, even though there was a purposeful meaning behind it. On the other hand, even U.S individuals could interpret non verbal communication incorrectly. This is the structure of sociology in Clifford's eye. To understand cultures and different norms we must understand and study the broad communication styles.

This clip is a funny yet applicable example of how different communication styles are in play. Even individuals in the same culture interpret non verbal cues differently. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWedkk3K2Q4

Blog 8

I believe every individual experiences distance at some point in their lifetime. Whether this distance is from your work, home, or self. Georg Simmel focuses on the distance from self and individualism. He mainly emphases how immigrants feel as if they are remote but near in their environments. This concept seemed strange to me at first because it sounds contradicting. however, after discussing the concepts in class i grew a better understanding of what Simmel is trying to portray. I then thought of a personal experience that could relate to the concepts described.

This past summer I applied at a new job back in my home town because I wanted to be closer with my family and I knew I would make great money. As an experienced waitress I knew I could handle applying at a new serving job. The problem was the anxiety I grew from meeting new people and working at a place that was foreign to me. Being a shy person that I am I was afraid to open up and show my true self. I also was comfortable with my serving style and thought I would have no problem serving. After training and meeting other people in the beginning I new that I would have to have an objective attitude. I was stubborn to change however, I knew that if I didn't apply their rules and procedures I would have been scolded. The idea of objectivity comes from Simmel where he states, "Because he is not bound by roots to the particular constituents and partisan dispositions of the group, he confronts all of these with a distinctly "objective" attitude, and attitude that does not signify mere detachments and non participation, but is a distinct structure composed of remoteness and nearness, indifference and involvement." I had to have an objective attitude to knew ideas and concepts or else consequences would arise and affect me as an individual. There are different degrees to which individuals need to be objective. My situation was a minor case of Simmel's argument but I think that everyone in their lifetime experiences objectivity and conformity.

I Google searched objectivity and this is one of the images I found that was funny and relative to objectivity. displaying what are we created for and what is our purpose.