Symbolic Interactionism Essay

Sociology stresses the relationship between society and individuals. Self-influences society through actions of the individual; the self emerges in and is a reflection of society. Society influences the self in a reciprocal fashion. Through shared language and meaning the individual is allowed to take the role of other through social interactions. The self and what individuals do is dependent to a large extent on the society where they live. There are two main factors that shape self and identity, social institutions and social location. Social institutions are family, religion, education, mass media and politics. Social location - meaning one’s places in society are factors that include: class, sexuality, gender and race. As an individual

My self-concept has shaped by the interactions within my family of origin to a large extent by the way we communicate the meaning of objects and how we evaluate these meanings. Through face to face interactions my thoughts, feelings and imagination have been formed. My self-perception has also been shaped by my social location as a middle class, heterosexual, Caucasian male (my master status). Sociological studies show that I have privilege due to these factors. However, the lens through which I view my privilege has been grounded by the internalized values of humility and gratitude. My personal perspective is more positive than negative due to the fact that I was simply born into a family with positive interactions. However, there is one negative aspect of this dynamic that I’d like to

My mother holds several degrees and my father is a blue-collar worker. My father is a Caucasian male; he earns substantially more income than my mother. Sociology theories examine the frustration caused by this inconsistency in social stratification. The conflict is from a macro-level perspective. My father’s master status as a Caucasian male supersedes her achieved status as an educated Caucasian female. Conflict theorists Frederick Engels said, “…women had less power than men in the household because they were dependent on them for wages.” This is evident to me in the way that she communicates spending allocations to my brother and me. It had made me more aware of society’s gender inequalities. Although, this is a source of conflict, it has not had the biggest impact or influence on my life. The single event that has had the biggest event influencing my personal life is my twin brother’s cancer diagnosis the week before our freshman year of high school. I would venture to say that being a cancer survivor is my twin’s master status. The diagnosis and battle altered my perspective of life. Death starred my family in the face, every day. It made me question and begin to reconcile my religious beliefs, and I gained spiritual