Reflection Paper on Different Sociological Theories
Socializing is the nature of human beings. Nearly every activity that people do in daily life takes place in the company of others. The sociological theories tend to explain how we can interact with one another, the impacts of interactions, and how it can bring personal and social change. Precisely, human behavior Is the product of socialization which is defined by the inherited characters in individuals. This paper tends to explain how sociological theories and concepts affect my work, home, and community life, how I will apply them to influence my future learning opportunities and sociological terms and ideas.
The three sociological theories that I have identified include methods of self, gender roles, and social imagination. These concepts affect home, work, and community life and can get applied in the same areas for future opportunities.
American Sociologist, George Mead developed self theories of socialization. Self-concept refers to how an individual evaluates, thinks about, and perceive themselves in social life. This concept has a feature of “I” as a subject and ” me” as an object (Cranmer, Goldman, & Houghton, 2019). For George, living in a community comes before individual consciousness. In-home, every child learns the attitudes, appropriate behaviors such as respect to the elder, and values that enhance adequate socialization in homes. Also, a child develops a positive self-concept at an early age that empowers him to feel competent, try new things, and strive for success. In every work position, an individual has self-behaviors, such as self-esteem, that assist him in socializing with colleagues and employers. An individual acquires knowledge and skills which are necessary to assume every role guided by self principles. In community life, an individual gets guided by self-image of how they see themselves and value themselves, which enhances confidence to socialize with others in the community. Additionally, self-image and self-esteem can better my future learning opportunities, which make me develop positive attitudes, which make me feel more competent, explore new areas, and strive to succeed. Therefore, the theory of self can get applied in these social positions for adequate socialization.
Gender role is another sociological concept that can get applied in the home, work position, and community life. Gender socialization is a process in which individuals learn about behaviors and norms associated with their sex during childhood development. At home, girls and boys have different roles in different cultures. For example, in a particular lifestyle, boys look after animals while girls stay at home with their mother for house chores. The roles promote socialization, where family members can share knowledge and values to others. Gender also has various effects on the working place. Once males and females join the workplace, their behaviors change by the working environment and interactions with the workmates. In the entire community, gender roles enable males and females to interact since every gender has a role to play in society. The feminity and masculinity of individuals portray their characters and functions in the community. Gender socialization can enhance learning opportunities since gender transformational ideas are taught in schools, which bring an essence of equality in education (Bettis et al., 2020). Therefore, gender roles enhance adequate socialization.
Finally, social imagination is a sociological concept that entails the ability to think ourselves away and able to think about an alternative point of view. This concept enables an individual to understand their positions in society for the inner life and the external career (Ashley, 2019). The social imagination concept at home helps individuals understand better about family and socialization concepts. In the workplace, an individual can use the idea to understand the relationships with their colleagues that enhance better socialization. In community life, individuals can relate their personal lives, the events in the society, every challenge experienced within the individuals, and immediate actions to solve the problems. Also, in learning, social imagination can be applied to address the issues and challenges available in learning processes and replacing them with alternative solutions.
References
Ashley, C. (2019). Definition of the Sociological Imagination and Overview of the Book. Retrieved from: https://www.thoughtco.com/sociological-imagination-3026756#:~:text=The%20sociological%20imagination%20is%20the%20ability%20to%20see%20things%20socially,an%20alternative%20point%20of%20view.
Bettis, P., Price, P. G., Benjamin, C. P., & Han, E. J. (2020). Gender Ideology, Socialization, and Culture. Companion to Women’s and Gender Studies, 213-234.
Cranmer, G. A., Goldman, Z. W. & Houghton, J. D. (2019). I’ll do it myself: self-leadership, proactivity, and socialization. Leadership & Organization Development Journal.