Social Interactionist Thoughts

Sociological theory to me is ideas that are all interrelated to one another. It's just a collection of peoples ideas on what makes people tick and what causes who to do what. A more popular question that everybody asks, not just sociologists, about anything that perplexed them is the question "why?".

On the subject of 'why?', the word authority pops into my mind and how exactly they relate. People always question authority whether it be because they are inebriated, want to show off, or generally want to know why they are forced to do something. My feelings on authority are quite mixed. I'm generally okay with authority because humans need some sort of boundaries and rules or else there would be no order in the world. As long as the person in command does not abuse the power or use it to gain personal satisfaction of having someone obey their sick humor, then a normal and complying action is alright. If the authoritative figures orders something that goes against what I think is right or wrong then of course I'm going to stand up. It's good to stand up and refuse sometimes because a little bit of anarchy keeps the people with power in check.

I believe that if I were to be a sociologist I would be a Social Interactionist. I'm very interested in what people do and why according to the rules they set for themselves, if any. What makes a human attracted to a certain individual human? What is right or wrong within the mind of any given person? The fact that everybody is an individual and acts accordingly to their thoughts but are influenced by society as a whole has always fascinated me. How people react to the things they hear or see is completely different for each individual due to what they know is wrong or right and what certain symbols mean. Seeing people react to themselves and society has always been interesting for myself.

The Milgram Experiment is a perfect example of human beings reactions to morals and themselves. Throughout the experiment, the teacher would have to administer volts of electricity to the student if the student answered one of the questions wrong. Some teachers laughed because they were nervous and that was their way of dealing with the emotional stress while others flat out refused to go on after they were going to be pushed past their comfort zone.

Their reaction to authority was mixed. I believe that every human does want to stand up to authority when their morals and sanity are challenged but not all of them have the willpower in them. If they didn't hear or see the damage they were inflicting, I believe they would have had no problem administering the shocks. The reason I think a majority of them stood up to authority was the fact that they were uncomfortable. It could have been that they were uncomfortable at the fact that they were hurting the other person or that they were being forced to do so. Every human does know what's right and wrong but whether or not they stand up to a figure in power is based on their individual thoughts and comfort. I'd like to believe that people stand up even  when they aren't sure the outcome is going to be okay.

September 11th, 2001

 9/11 is an example of  a life-changing event. There were many reactions but these two different ones really made me wonder.

1. During and after the attacks, people actually united to help one another. Firemen risked and gave up their lives to save complete strangers in peril. Many people donated items to the Red Cross and money to help clean up the rubble. All of these people wanted to help whomever was affected in this event whether it be directly or indirectly.
2. Many people felt hatred towards foreign people - especially Muslims. The constant racial slurs, fighting, and complete ignorance was at its all time high. All of the hatred for what the Al Qaeda did was now being targeted towards completely innocent people.

But as a country, everyone united and for once our barriers completely dissolved and weren't recognized by anyone. On that day, terrorists may have taken lives and symbols but one thing they weren't able to take was our democracy, our love for this country, and especially our freedom.

Introduction!

When it comes to my thought process one key word is always present in my mind - "why". Of course, this was followed by how and so on and makes me wonder what makes us function and behave as a society.

The main reason why I wanted to take a sociology course was because I was always interested on how our society reacts and develops off of each other. It's odd to me how one event, one person, one sentence could impact a person or a large group of individuals. What things bombard our lives with sudden impact? Why can we choose things that affect us and then brush off a delicate subject? The main reason I'm taking sociology is to understand why society functions as one but has many different subsections filled with flaws.