WEEK 1: INTRODUCING HUMAN GEOGRAPHIES
Social construction
The relationship between social construction and identity was brought up to discussion in week one. Questions were constantly being asked though out the tutorial and lecture, these questions were asking about my identity. Who are you? How do you define yourself? Where are you from? What are your interests? These questions when answered described who I am and what I am about. It defined my personal identity in a nutshell. Social construction refers to the way we create meaning through social interactions with others (Cloke et al 2010, p. 939). In the tutorial discussion we spoke about how social construction creates our identity to some extent, relating social construction as some sort
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Acknowledging the relationship between area and people. The concept explains how space is socially constructed and experienced, rather than being an innate backdrop to social life (Cloke et al 2010, p. 940). A reflection of spatiality also includes the effects spaces have on these places and the power associated with this. Cloke et al (2010) explores how space can become infused with certain social and cultural values and assumptions. These values and assumptions drive ideas about which identities and behaviors we might deem to be appropriate and comfortable in those spaces. The discussion in class this week included a university as an example of spatiality. The identity of a university student is acknowledged ‘smart’, intellectual’, ‘rich’ and ‘successful’. A university is assumed socially as a difficult process because of the values of discipline that are in play, but a university without students is meaningless and a student without a university is not a student. The power balance between two are quite symbiotic, they rely so much on each other to the point that even their names mean nothing without the …show more content…
We acknowledged the concept of self as body, person, and identity in relation to constraints of society. The concept of other is the way we make a perception of others based on our own beliefs. Then these concepts were separated into two concepts which explain the way we base our assumptions or perceive others. Reflexivity is a process which creates opportunity for us to be able to reflex on what we know, how we came to know it and how we interact with others. The motive of this concept is too able to reflect and change aspects of ourselves and the structures that make up society in the light of these reflections. (Cloke et al 2010, p. 937). Reflexivity is the idea of acknowledging that I am a white, young, middleclass male and grew up with a very family orientated background. It is harder for me to reflect on particular situations because others have a very different experience than I do. Cloke et al (2010) explains that reflexivity has become one of the most significant tools in human geography. To reflect on the self in relation to space and society has been seen as key, to open up new kinds of human geographies that relate to individuals closely. In particular, reflexivity has been used by feminist in their respective political projects to persuade human geography to reflect something other than a
The strict guidelines for women’s behavior in twentieth century Puerto Rico determined how they both acted outwardly as well as how they perceived themselves intrinsically. Within Julia de Burgos’ poem “A Julia de Burgos” and Rosario Ferré’s When Women Love Men, there is a somewhat psychological study of the dichotomy between a woman’s true identity and expected behavior. By creatively challenging the expectations placed before women, allowing for identities influenced by what was perceived to be the “other” side, and employing mirror like voices, both authors stress the importance in the ability to mold a true concept of self.
The question ‘who am I?’ raises speculations about who we are as human beings and why we behave the way we do. This is of great interest to social psychologists. One particular theory about this social identity is that it is not fixed or innate but that it is something that changes over time and is constructed through our social interactions with other people. This essay will explicate the idea of socially constructed identities and consider the evidence for and against this view with examples of research studies from both social constructionism (Phoenix, 2007) and Social Identity Theory (SIT) (Turner and Brown, 1978).
Reflexivity is a qualitative method of research that takes an ethnography one step further, displaying the personal thoughts and reflections of the anthropologist on his informants. Ethnographies generally take an outside or foreign perspective of a culture, like reading a text, and reflexivity introduces a new component of inside description. Here, the anthropologist may describe personal interactions and experiences with natives and use this inside information to make additional conclusions about the people being studied. The ethnographer may also reflect on his ethnic connections with his informants, or his acceptance into the society, explaining that it provides valuable, inside knowledge of the culture and ultimately leads to a greater understanding of the native people as a whole.
One’s sense of place is determined by where they feel comfortable, at home, or simply welcomed. Millions of people consider their sense of place as being in an urban setting, but millions more are cast out of the urban space. What causes this “urban unevenness”? There are many factors to consider when thinking about the urban divide including race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and physical and mental health to name a few. Massey’s essay, “Global Sense of Place”, discusses what she calls “time-space compression” which can explain why some people feel included in an urban space and others are excluded. Massey’s idea of “sense of place” is furthered by looking at examples from Williamson’s accounts of the destruction
In the Social Identity Theory(SIT), TT, looked at inter groups relations from an identity perspective. They claimed, layered on top, beside and underneath inter group conflict is identity issues. Therefore, group identity becomes a psychological engine that allows us to understand how group conflict emerges. In this essay I will focus on 3 concepts SIT suggests. The first social comparison and distinctiveness are concepts which give insights about person’s psychology in his group’s affect on it. For gay people, it is obvious that they are not in a helathy place with these 2 concepts. After I talk about instability which is a cognitive alternative that shows gays that their relative position in the society can be changed. Later, I talk about 5 stage model which incorporates macro and micro to explain intergroup relations. I
Tony Hiss Author of The Experience of Place brings to our attention that as humans “We react, consciously or unconsciously, to the places where we live and work, in ways we scarcely notice or that are only now becoming known to us…In short, the places where we spend our time affect the people we are and can become.” Place defines characteristics in both human and extended moral communities. Place is not necessarily specific to gender, race, generation or specie. This understanding and recognition of place is fundamental when thinking about institutionalizing ecological and social responsibility.
Social identities and factors and/or experiences that have shaped your worldview. My Ethnic and cultural traditions and values have molded my social identities, in which both my Ethnic and cultural traditions and values and social identities have formed my worldview. According to my social identity wheel: My race is Asian/Pacific Islander and Filipino American. My ethnicity is Filipino. My sexual orientation is heterosexual. My religion is Roman Catholic. My age is of a young adult. I am a female. My national origin is the United States of America. My sense of who I am is based on my ethnic group that I have identified myself to belong in.
When thinking about Identity, it might be easy to just say that is “who we are”, or it’s just me. An identity is much more than that though. I like to think of it as a living puzzle. There are hundreds or thousands of pieces that come together to form the complete identity, or the complete “you”. I say living because an identity grows throughout the years and even changes depending on the situation. There is a multitude of influences that goes into forming a person’s identity some of which a person chooses and others they don’t. Family members and guardians are a primary source of learning when a child is young. As a person grows, the sphere of influence broadens to include mentors, media, and school. This identity is then a lens through which
Given restricted access to public space as a manifestation of socially produced fear that is constituted by the way space is perceived and imagined. Tanusree
Social institutions, like educational and religious groups, enhance rule obedience and contribute to the formation of identity and sense of belonging to certain groups. People possess a set of beliefs that condition their everyday behavior, like one can think that education is the most important four our future, while other people might believe that staying at home and raising their children is their reality. However, our beliefs are influenced by the groups that we interact. For instance, if we join a feminist movement, we might start reflecting a positive attitude towards gender equality. This illustrates how our social interaction can influence or beliefs related to race, and gender. Similarly, religious institutions and
Sense of place is the “development of level of comfort and feelings of safety that are associated with a place” (Kopec, p. 62). These associations often translate into that desired sense of belonging, and allow individuals the ability to “develop feelings of attachment to particular settings based on combinations of use, attractiveness, and emotion” (Stokowski, 2002). Developing these psychological connections with certain places lends itself to the concept of place attachment, or, “a person’s bond with the social and physical environments of a place” (Kopec, p. 62). These places often hold deep meaning for people because their identities were established among their surroundings. This affiliation between a person and their place is often seen through personal connection, comfort, and security (Kopec, p. 131). Many people feel as though the place they are in should have its own “special character”, or an identity that defines it, and distinguishes it from other places (Kopec, p.1). Kopec states, “An environment’s distinct spatial features, how it compares with others, its connections to personal life paths, and its potential for change combine to affect the meanings places have for people”. An establishment of this sense of place identity ...
From the instant we are born, we are taught about gender. We are labeled male or female and from that point on, it becomes one of the basic aspects of our identity. For some, sex and gender may mean something similar, as in either female or male. Yet these two are very different since gender is not a purely anatomical distinction. Women behave one way and men another, an idea that we are enriched with by our environment at a young age. Society chooses what it means to be a man or to be a woman and who should be feminine and who should act masculine. Gender identity is how we choose to express our gender and act in our gender roles. Whether we are male or female does not solely rely on our sexual organs. The way we were brought up, our community, culture, beliefs and the media are some of the ways that structure our own understanding of our primary identity.
Burke, P.J. & Stets, J.E. (2000). Identity Theory and Social Identity Theory. Social Psychology Quarterly 63(3), 224-237
Social identity theory is based on four interrelated concepts: social categorization, social identification, social comparison and positive distinctiveness. Social categorization is tendency to divide and therefore categorise individuals into in-groups (individual belongs) and out-groups (individual does not belong); it groups different social circles based on the members’ stereotypical culture and behaviour. This often leads to category accentuation effect, which is exaggerating of intergroup differences and intragroup similarities; individual underestimate perceived variability within groups but overestimate variability between groups. Social identification is way of identifying individual with a particular social group based on their in-group norms and by doing so, may adopt some of the values and behaviours of that particular group. Social comparison and positive distinctiveness is when social identity contributes to our self-image so we seek positive social identities to maintain and enhance self-esteem. We compare in-group with out-group and also discriminate the out-group to establish the superiority of in-group, enhance their self-image...
McLeod, S. A. "Social Identity Theory." Simply Psychology. Saul McLeod, 2008. Web. 05 Jan. 2014.