The Sociology Of Me

The Sociology of Me

Your Name (First M. Last)

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

The Sociology of Me

I am an African American who has two toddlers and works in Human Resource. I grew up in the middle-class area, and I was exposed to the multiple cultures. My paper will discuss social imagination to explain and understand my everyday experiences. I will look for the influences of the social forces on my life. My paper will discuss it by applying concepts, theories, and applicable sociological understandings.

I grew up in an area that was rich in the diversity of cultures, my neighbors, friends and all the people that I interacted with belonged to various religions, races and geographical regions. Growing up, I started observing and learning how a group of people feel proud and superior of themselves than the others. I observed that strong people always believe that it is their right to rule on the lives of the weak and it is because of this concept, I witnessed brutal bullying of several individuals around me in my life. Moreover, I kept seeing that people who belong to different religions were not accepted by a significant majority in our community; there was a strong cloud that was covering the heads of the people (Clark, Neitz, 2001). I saw how social evils like racism, sexism, and cultural discrimination keep spreading their venom in our society (May, 2011).

As a child, I was taught by my parents, media and school about morality, ethics, and paying respect to every individual, culture, race, beliefs, and viewpoints of others. At that time, I found myself in great confusion; I kept questioning myself that if we are told about such good things, why do we not practically implement in our society, what the barriers are and what is the purpose of if people do not actually practice such things in real life.

My darker skin color was and even it is today uncomfortable for many people who have fairer skin and because of that; listening to racist comments, dealing with bias in different matters and feeling hatred from some people is a part of my everyday routine. These were the negative aspects of the society that influenced me while growing up, but it was not all negative (May, 2011). I learned about the beautiful differences and similarities, connections and barriers, and communication bridges among different cultures, beliefs, races, group of people and individuals.

I belong to a broad-minded family, I have always been taught not to limit my perceptions, ideas and goals because of the limited imagination of people. My parents specifically taught me how life is going to be for me; there will be many hurdles in my way to success, I will come across many people who will try to let me down and break me their words and actions but I must never forget that morality, kindness and goodness are the best ways to fight them back, my focus should be to conquer my dreams and set no limit to my success. I am grateful that they taught me that because throughout my schooling, career, and in social life I was on a roller coaster of learning, stressing, and dealing with extreme situations but I never gave up because they gave me the strength that I needed and warn me about everything.

I made so many friends in my school life. I preferred to establish friendship with those who were physically w eak and an essay target for bullies. I liked communicating, sharing and emotionally interacting with them. Their stories disturbed me emotionally but made me realize how delicate the heart of a human is, and how negative words and actions shatter the personality of an individual. I had a friend named Alec; he was brutally bullied in our high school just because he was an Asian. It ruined his medical health, and he even tried to commit suicide. This incident strongly hit me, and I decided I will do something about rather staying silent and doing nothing.

When I started my career, I thought that organisations abide by ethics and morality and do not allow any kind of biases and discrimination but it was surprising for me to find out that even today, there are still many organisations that still practice racism, worship discrimination, and do not even take rights of individuals under considerations. I did not get into many companies because narrow mindedness exists in several companies as well. That does not mean that all the organizations are the same, today, most of the organizations in this world strictly follow principles of ethics and morality because those which tend to work out things without such principles lose their business and good reputation in market very soon.

Education is the cornerstone to imparting essential values to the members of society, to highlight the personal experience, I have always advanced to broaden my horizon of knowledge (Rothman, 2007). However, I also suffered from the menace of widespread racial discrimination in the paradigm of education. Racism remained a stigma that haunted my whole career in true letter and spirits. Besides, I nurtured the values of ethics, compassion and sharing the knowledge with other members of society. Earlier in my career, I never aspired to opt for the field of human resources. I wanted to be an astronaut because I was taught by my parents that dreams are limitless. I soon realized that people need me more in the society as there is a constant need for eradicating the venom of hate and several social evils that are shaking the roots of humanity. I thought I could play a great role in doing that because the life I lived made me good at developing communications with people who belong to multiple cultures, unique mindsets and who have the distinctive outlook of life (Walford, 2011). I knew my experiences, skills and ideas could help in the elimination of the negativity from the society that is when I decided to choose Human Resource as a profession.

Technology and media have improved the standard of our lives. Both have a key role in eliminating negativity and bad aspects which may destroy our lives. Since childhood, I have faced discrimination on the basis of my color and race. I acknowledged it completely that it is not just a term; it’s like cancer which can kill the society. Technology had played an important role in the eradication of racism from society to some extent. For instance, hate crime has been decreased after the advancement of technology. People are now more aware of their rights. In the past, my elders (my grandparents) had a point of view that we black people have no rights, it is okay to be bullied or face racism because we are weak and minority. Technology and media taught us that we all are equal and we can fight for our rights.

At the contemporary time, media is well responded towards racism. If something happens in any part of the country, the media covers the incident, and it becomes difficult for the culprit to commit hate crime again (Vaughan, 2005). Media is also playing a role in awareness about equality and human rights. Videos related to hate crime and racism get viral in no time and leave no choice for higher authorities to take notice of it (Vaughan, 2005). This is how technology and social media are changing the world. In my life globalization has played an important role. I have known so many cultures; it helped me to find out my own identity. I feel confident about my color and race. Globalization is helping in providing equal opportunities to all.

Society and the environment in which a person lives and grows up have significant impacts on one’s mentality, behavior, and attitude in life. It is unreal for a person to live in an environment that is free of troubles, social evils, and negativity but the real world can be made a better place if the majority of individuals hold on to the values of the ethics and morality. Primary factors like family have a significant role and a huge responsibility in molding the personality of a person. If a person is taught well to fight back with the realities of life, he/she can become a valuable and strong member of society. I am glad that I had my lessons before the realities of life are revealed to me. Today, I am a strong and independent person and want to teach my children about the truth of this society. I want them to be strong and positivity radiators in society. I want them to acknowledge the principles of ethics and morality and follow them all their lives to become a better person and influencer to others. I have understood that things around us do not change automatically, even if the majority is blindly following what is wrong and unethical, one should remember that a change starts from oneself. If we change ourselves, live confidently, be ourselves, so not feel ashamed of our gender, beliefs, and race, the world around us will start changing miraculously.

References

May, V. (Ed.). (2011). Sociology of personal life. Macmillan International Higher Education.

Rothman, B. K. (2007). Writing ourselves in sociology. Methodological Innovations Online, 2(1), 11-16.

Walford, G. (Ed.). (2011). Doing sociology of education (Vol. 203). Routledge.

Nason-Clark, N., & Neitz, M. J. (Eds.). (2001). Feminist narratives and the sociology of religion. Rowman Altamira.

Vaughan, D. (2005). On the relevance of ethnography for the production of public sociology and policy. The British journal of sociology, 56(3), 411-416.