Learning Journal - Four Reflections On Concepts

Learning journal

Your Name (First M. Last)

School or Institution Name (University at Place or Town, State)

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Biography:

A couple of years back, I have been to a party where I was invited by one of the university fellow. Though he was not a close friend but still few of the mutual friends insisted me to come to his party. I used to have a busy schedule so mostly I used to have no time for parties. I found this invitation, a good way to get myself refresh by changing the daily routine so I went to the party along with my friends. I was assuming this to be a normal party like the ones I have been before. As soon as I get into the party place, I was shocked to see such a lavishing and mesmerizing atmosphere. I was astonished to see along queue of branded cars there in the parking section.

Both men and women were wearing expensive brands even their shoes were more expensive than my pocket money (Manstead,et,al,2018). Not only they were apparently different than me but also they were having a different ideology as well. In the beginning, I tried to settle myself among such people who were not looking like me at all. With the advancement of time, class difference becoming visible between other guests and me. Appearance was speaking aloud about our social status. That was the point where I became aware of social diversity and realized that how different I was from those who belonged to the high born status and families. It was the moment when realized that I was quite different from others in regards to the social class we belonged to.

Reflection:

The above-mentioned experience has been a guiding light for me. It taught me how to behave in society. This experienced shaped up my perspective that I belong to a different class that is known as middle class where people struggle to level them up in society (Bolin,et,al2018). This experience has shaped my social practices as I became more aware of the social diversity. There exist three classes, one class is of high born people who are the heads of society and are known as bourgeoisie (higher class). On the other hand, there comes a class that is at another extreme. This class hardly meets its basic needs and is known as the proletariats.

I belonged to the middle class family that is far less than the elite or high born people but is a little better than the hands of the society (lower class). I think it has been the best lesson I have learnt from any gathering. It is the thing that I could not learn from any text. Personal experience was necessary for learning this lesson. I cannot even deny this thing that I felt very bad in that party, where I was degraded because of my social class though most the people were very nice and did not make me feel that I was odd one among them. At the same time, gazed of few people was just asking me why I was there among such high-class people. That experience made me realized that there exists a great diversity in this world where one feels comfortable only in the company of one who is equal to his own class.

This thing cannot be denied that the difference that I became aware of in that party made me realized, people feel degrade when they have to meet with people who are of much higher standard than them (Petras,et,al,2018). I experienced same thing at that party and now I have learnt, what sort of people I have to meet and how I have to meet with people who are of higher status than me. From that incident, I learned many things but one of the most important things that shaped up perception about categorization for meeting people is that along with social difference, there exists a cultural difference as well. From this incident, I personally experienced that people who belong to some other class, used to have a cultural difference as well. The difference does not remain confine to their appearance but also difference could be seen in their ways of living (Neumark,et,al,2018). Mentality of people is also shaped up by their economic status. Another major thing that I learned from this experience is that I became aware of the fact that there exists no equality among people. It is hard to witness equality among members who belonged to two different social classes.

So as a whole, it could be concluded that life is all about learning through experiences whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. Experiences make us aware of where we belong to and how we have to limit our behaviour. It is the experience that makes us realize that how we differ from others. It has been seen that there are many things that promote diversity such as religion, social class, ethnicity, culture, gender and disability. All these thing separates one individual from the other (Fotovatian,et,al,2018). I have also categorized people and mostly I used to maintain a difference with people who are of higher class but I never stop learning from them if I notice any good thing in them. Diversity that exists in the world is also a cause of discrimination that is getting increase with the ever increasing gap of class, people belong to. It depends on people; they could take diversity in positive as well as negative sense.

References:

Bolin, B., & Kurtz, L. C. (2018). Race, class, ethnicity, and disaster vulnerability. In Handbook of disaster research (pp. 181-203). Springer, Cham.

Fotovatian, S. (2018). Language, institutional identity and integration: Lived experiences of ESL teachers in Australia. In Work, Learning and Transnational Migration (pp. 97-112). Routledge.

Manstead, A. S. (2018). The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic status impacts thought, feelings, and behaviour. British Journal of Social Psychology, 57(2), 267-291.

Neumark, D. (2018). Experimental research on labor market discrimination. Journal of Economic Literature, 56(3), 799-866.

Petras, J. (2018). The Left Strikes Back: Class Conflict in Latin America in the Age of Neoliberalism. Routledge.