Dorm Life

A setting that I have recently become familiar with is dorm life. Social control is defined as those mechanisms that create normative compliance in individuals. I’m an object of social control because I have been molded into a dorm occupant who is forced to shower and brush their teeth in a communal bathroom. I also have to always make sure I am courteous of the communal spaces and keep them clean. I’ve learned to be a considerate roommate by not turning the light on when I enter the room while she is sleeping, by not eating her food and by respecting her belongings.  I have also had to find a balance between social life, sleep, and studying which is extremely difficult because of the non-stop social interactions dorm life brings. An informal way I act as an agent of social control is by telling people to throw away their trash when they attempt to leave the lounge with out doing so. I have performed social deviance by hosting overnight guests with out registering them with the front desk. I have also played music and spoken loudly passed quiet hours. I feel that I am deviant to those rules because I feel as if I am causing no harm to others or myself by breaking them and abide to the other rules because I understand their necessity. 

Social Agent V

A social agent is a group who influences self-concept, emotions, attitudes and behaviors of a person. In high school a major social agent for me was my volleyball team. From volleyball I learned a new set of vocabulary, which included words like side-out and pepper. The sport also came with it’s own set of rules enforced by a referee. Volleyball also had a demanding practice schedule, which included lunch practices and weekend tournaments. This caused my social life to alter by forcing my teammates to become my primary group of friends. Volleyball influenced my self-concept because I no longer identified as a regular student I identified as a student athlete. My attitudes shifted because playing a team sport you have to always make sure you do what’s best for the team not what’s best for yourself. Wins and losses brought out positive and negative emotions. I also had to learn to control my negative behaviors after making a mistake on the court and my positive reactions after making a good play. Ultimately I feel that I would be an entirely different person if I never joined my volleyball team. 

Sociological Imagination

Hello, my name is Faith. I am from the San Fernando Valley, which for those of you who don’t know is located in Los Angeles. Something interesting about me is that I have traveled to over twenty different counties. My ultimate goal is to travel to each and every continent; so far I have set foot on 5 out of the 7. I hope that my first hand experiences with life around the globe will benefit me in this class. 

            Sociological imagination is essentially about questioning all social occurrences in your life and then developing answers to these questions based on history and biographies. When you use sociological imagination you ask questions like how would my life have differed if I grew up in a foreign country or why do I feel the need to wear make up as a girl? Through asking ourselves these questions we attempt to gain a deeper understanding about why we do the things we do and how our actions are connected to society.

Something I find strange and wish to learn more about is the reason that boys maintain short hair and girls long hair. This strange occurrence takes place almost everywhere in the world. My essential question is when did boys first begin wearing their hair short because when ever we see images of cavemen they sport long ratted hair. Also why does our culture automatically view a boy as a rebel if he choices to have long hair and a girl as a dike if she wishes to shave her hair off?