...Alyssa Boyer SOC 144S 5/1/2012 When pondering about way that I would describe myself, I would usually come up with physical attributes and personality traits to portray who I am. While thinking deeper into my true identity, I see more broad aspects as well as social constructions that have made me who I am today. Due to social construction and the culture that I have been brought up in, I would describe myself physically and share the things that I do in my life. I was raised in a place where everyone around me was similar and if they were of a different color, gender or sexual preference I shouldn’t and wouldn’t look at the differences in them. When taking a step back and looking at the differences between other’s identities and my own, I see that I am a Caucasian female. I am an upper-middle class American but I come from French and German decent. I come from different decent, however myself and my family will always identify with American because ourselves and our grandparents were all born here in the United States. I am heterosexual and I have identified as a female athlete most of my child and adolescent life. I was raised going to Catholic Church so I identify as somewhat religious and attend a highly respected university so I am identifiable as student as well. These words that I use to describe myself show the differences between my upbringing and other cultures. I grew up in a pretty well-off family and in a nice area of a small town. As I grew up, the only...
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...The topic of beauty standards and body image is a pressing matter regularly discussed in today’s society. However, the concept of black beauty, both the internal and external components, has yet to be explored thoroughly. This study is done with the purpose to bring to light the opinions of black women, whose feelings are frequently ignored in our society. In this paper, I draw on the information taken from my interviews with two young black women attending a predominately white institution to discover the motives of black women and their hairstyles. Literature on Racial Identity and Beauty Hegemonic quality for women is held to the societal standards of beauty. Setting and Methods Syracuse is a medium-sized city located in the central region of New York state. The demographics of the city is predominantly white with them comprising 56% of the population. This analysis is based on interviews with two young black women. For this study, I’ve kept my sample and research question within the confines of the Syracuse metropolitan area with a particular concentration on the Syracuse University campus, which was geographically...
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...In today's society, many of us are label gay or straight, black or white . Do these labels define who we are? Does a specific genre of music or style of cooking belong to a specific group of people? Kwame Anthony Appiah discusses the issues of identity, race and culture in his essay "Racial Identities". Appiah uses references from poets and scholars who see different or similar views on race and culture. Matthew Arnold, Thomas Sowell, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Charles Taylor are few of the scholars and poets that are used in "Racial Identities" and how their literary texts, views and issues contributed to Appiah's essay. Matthew Arnold poem was used as a reference in the "Racial Identities", where he discusses culture. Arnold was born on December...
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...parents have been the biggest influences in regards to my racial identity. They are the ones that raised me under the norms that they were taught when they were growing up. Being part of a working class Mexican American family in the United States, I was raised in a neighborhood that consisted primarily of Mexican Americans. They taught me the culture and history of my relatives back in Mexico in order to make me feel connected to my roots. Teachers in my schools that have had the same racial background as me, have allowed me to learn more about myself. They assisted in allowing me to learn more about...
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...appreciate how my physical traits influence my life and identity. Being a woman, certain expectations are thrust on me and I certainly internalize them to an extent. Blackness functions in the same way. From an early age, my race has influenced and impacted my life. I have also interacted with and within my race to form my racial identity. My racial identity is the result of an intersection between my personal history, inter-racial experiences, and societal interaction. My first interaction with the concept of race came abruptly at the age of four. I was in preschool signing the lyrics to the Britney Spears albums that my sister played on repeat when I was...
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...Social Identity Development: Jones, S. R. & McEwen, M. K. (2000). A conceptual model of multiple dimensions of identity. Journal of College Student Development, 41(4), 405-414. A diverse group of female students at a university was interviewed in examining multiple dimensions of identity to fill a gap in studying development which has only considered a single dimension of identity. The conceptual model proposed for complex identity differentiates the core representing the inner self, how an individual perceives themselves, with the outside identity that is defined by others. Each factual dimension surrounds the core as intersecting rings, asserting the importance of considering multiple dimensions mutually and holistically. The contextual influences are significant to continually relocate the dots on the rings, which...
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...English we were always wogs and nigs and Pakis and the rest of it”. Write an essay exploring how Kureishi’s novel maps Englishness as a contested terrain of identities, politics and performance. Your discussion should refer to Stuart Hall’s work on ethnicities and on Judith Butler’s writing on performance as identity. Much of the Kureishi’s early work is grounded primarily in racial and cultural conflict between British mainstream culture and ethnic minority communities; the conflict between the cultural claims that the first-generation immigrants were prone to clinging onto and the sense of belonging, which they their children aspired to develop in mainstream British society. To the children of immigrants, particularly those who had migrated from British Commonwealth or ex-colonized countries, any reflection on Britain, or their parents’ homeland, in terms of “home” may differ significantly from that perceived by their parents. As a writer born and bred in Britain of a Pakistani father and an English mother, Kureishi reflects upon his own identity, affirming in an interview his own sense of identity be seeing himself as British: “Critics have written that I’m caught between two cultures. I’m not. I’m British; I’ve made it in England. It’s my father who’s caught. He can’t make it. Elsewhere he proclaims his British identity in a similar way: I’m British, as wrote in The Rainbow Sign. Just like Karim in the Buddha. But being British is a new thing now. It involves people with...
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...Associate Program Material Diversity Worksheet Answer each question in 50 to 150 words. Provide citations for all the sources you use. 1. What is diversity? Why is diversity valued? Diversity is the similarities and differences that people have in perspectives, identities, and points of view. Diversity includes race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, socio- economic, nationality, citizenship, religion, sexual orientation, ability and age. (Definition of Diversity, 1999). Valuing diversity is patterns influence the way people understand and interpret the world. Diversity enhances the intellectual, emotional, economic, moral, and spiritual life of the community, which is why diversity is valued. 2. What is ethnocentrism? In what ways can ethnocentrism be detrimental to a society? Ethnocentrism is the evolution of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one’s own culture/ the belief that your culture or way of doing something is better than another culture’s. (Dictionary.com, 2013). Ethnocentrism can be bad; it ultimately can lead to racism and prejudice. It is important for racial and cultural tolerance, also people should understand that their way is not the only way. 3. Define emigration and immigration. Emigration is the actual act of relocation from a country. Immigrate means to come to a country of which one is not a native for a permanent residence. (Dictionary...
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...When considering the issue of multiple discrimination, it is worth starting from the fact that each person has many aspects of identity. People do not see themselves as just women or men, only people of a certain age, only as heterosexual or homosexual people. People's identities consist of many components, they are functions of belonging and identification with many groups and circles. These are complex, multidimensional integrals, which depending on the situation, some identifications or roles become more important, but never contain the multidimensionality of identity (although we are often perceived by others only through the prism of belonging to one group, which ignores this complexity of identity). This class increased my knowledge of...
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...P1- Discuss factors which may affect the development of self- esteem. This essay will be discussing factors which may affect the development of self- esteem. The main topics that will be looked at are, the growth promoting climate, the looking glass self, self-actualisation, ego identity and constructing of self. . Carl Rogers’ person-centred approach to change and understanding personality and human relationships is focused on demonstrating the conditions required for enabling a growth-promoting climate and the tendency, creativity and empowerment of people to achieve their highest potential. The approach provides the conditions for a growth-promoting climate, a relationship that enables people to discover the capacity to use it for growth and change, it is a relationship that doesn’t position itself from a perspective of “how can I treat or cure, fix or change this person?”, instead from a place of “how can I provide a relationship which this person may use for their own individual growth?”. (PCA York’s 2006) The looking-glass self is a social psychological concept, created by Charles Horton Cooley in 1902, stating that a person's self grows out of society's interpersonal interactions and the perceptions of others. The term refers to people shaping their self-concepts based on their understanding of how others perceive them. Cooley clarified that society is an interweaving and inter-working of mental selves. There are three main components of the looking-glass self which...
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...The Self Paper Trace Riley PSYCH/555 November 26, 2012 Gary McCullough, Ph.D. The Self Paper The concept of self is a multi-dimensional construct that refers to an individual’s self-perspective of how one represents his or her self. Self-concept develops from an individual’s viewpoint in relation to characteristics, such as racial identity or gender roles. For example, if a young boy develops in a family who favors baseball, the likelihood of the son playing baseball is strong because he may acquire the same likeliness for baseball as his peers. There are multiple factors that contribute to self concept and how it develops. Emotions play a significant role in how self-esteem develops and how self and behavior affects individual self-presentation. The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of self, how self-concept develops, the relationship between self and emotion and how self and behavior affect self-presentation. Samuel Butler believed that a man’s work and his talent’s is simply a portrait of themselves. One may ask “Does self concept develop from individual behavior or the characteristics one may represent?” Self Concept A person develops self concept from a glossary in which he or she has lived. For instance, as mentioned above, the young son of a baseball player may distinguish a personality of a baseball fan or athlete because of his upbringing. Characteristics define an individual’s self-concept for example, his or her self-concept on cultures, races...
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...Erik Erikson Author’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Institutional Affiliation: Course Details: Date of Submission: Erik Erikson Introduction Erik Erikson was a rare psychologist who created an eight-step model outlining the different steps in development psychology in the growth of an ordinary human being from birth to old age. His specific insights concerning human mental processes would affect the way people reacted to children and foment a deep interest in studies in human psychology. Though other psychologists have improved on Erikson’s initial findings, original findings retain a lot of significance. There is need to research and study Erikson’s work with particular interest in his explanation of the ‘adolescent stage’ Erikson’s Contribution Freud’s views about the nature and construction of the human personality significantly influenced Erik Erikson’s understanding of humanity. There was a considerable difference between the two men: whereas Erikson was an ego psychologist, Freud was an ID psychologist. Erikson stressed on the functions of society and culture and the divergences that can occur within the ego itself while Freud highlighted the conflict between the superego and ID. At all psychosexual phases, Erikson observed that the person grows in three levels concurrently: social, biological, and psychological, which represent the person, his or her connection to society, and individualism. His work was a lifetime representation of human development...
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...Sociology Identity A picture is worth a thousand words. Tainted with time and worn down from years of being tossed around in boxes. Smudged with the identities of those who shall remain unnamed. A survivor of floods and even a fire. The picture with the burned edges and the smell of unfinished flames is the portrayal of my identity. A portrait of me as a young kid with three of my closest Caucasian friends. Something is different. I stand out like a needle in a hay stack. My identity is illustrated through my dark skin in comparison to others in the picture. The aspect of my identity that is far from inconspicuous. My racial identity. Three white boys with their pale faces and contented smiles as they stand in an uninspected formation. Their shirts red, white, and blue. And me with my mocha brown skin, bright yellow crew neck and my best hand-me- downs in the near background. My whole life I attended a predominantly white school. For majority of my time there I was one of few black faces. As a child I didn't focus on factors such as race or skin color. Everyone was the same to me except for the occasional girl who had cooties in which in that case I stood my ground. As years past I begin to notice the difference between my peers and myself. Which now looking back at this barely intact photograph is very evident. The idea of being different had a major impact on my identity. I began to withdraw from my surroundings, I became shy and distant from my peers. On a meso-level...
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...Sandra Cisneros exposes the life of the main character, Esperanza, for one year as she struggles with trying to find her place in America as a Chicana young girl while also coming of age. The novel starts the day Esperanza and her family of six move into a house on Mango Street, and immediately she expresses her antipathy for not only the house, but also for the area in which they move into and the people around who judge them because of their ethnicity. The story is not told in the traditional format of a continuous story divided into chapters, but rather Cisneros uses forty-four vignettes to allow for the reader to fully understand why Esperanza has the struggles that she has. Along with Cisneros’ illustrating Esperanza’s looking for her identity through images of Esperanza’s thoughts and female obedience, symbolism of violence, legs, the Statue for Liberty, and Nenny, and diction of Spanish words, not using quotation marks, and a maturing tone, she also uses these them to permeate Esperanza’s desperation to leave Mango Street throughout the whole novel. Cisneros’ use of vignettes highlights important moments in Esperanza’s life that emphasize how she develops over the course of a year. Cisneros uses the brevity of the vignettes to enhance the imagery to give the most vivid image through her limited amount of words for each of the forty-four vignettes. Not writing in these vignettes would have allowed her to portray more lengthy and not as focused images to her readers with more...
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...Granny, my family considers us as lower middle class. My family is simply made up of white-collar workers that have excelled in their positions despite their cultural identities. I typically struggle with my racial identity because there are no societal efforts to show African Americans in positive light, especially African American females. I have always felt that it is definitely harder to be an African American female versus a white female. Today, most African American females are seen acting like buffoons on reality television or as struggling single mothers, while white females are typically on shows as doctors or happily married females. These identifications affect the education of students because it affects the way they learn, but also in the environments in which they learn. Schools reflect these notions by their geographical location, their student population, and most important...
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