Thinking like a Sociologist

The past couple of days in class we've talked about Sociological Imagination.  The concept took me a second to understand, but then I realized it was just the fancy name (or the proper one) for nature vs. nurture.  What makes things popular? Do we like music and clothing because we actually like it, or because we're told we like it?  And which comes first? The chicken or the egg?*

In a more extreme case, there's the gay argument. Is it nature? Is a a choice? There's no science yet to prove either way, but thinking about it sociologically, it has to be a combination of both. Someone born into a liberal family is as equally likely to be gay than someone born into a conservative one.  But the first person is probably more likely to be more accepting of themselves and others before the person born into the conservative family. The second person may never accept themselves.

If everyone thought sociologically, would there be more acceptance in the world?  Probably.  This is called Sociological Mindfulness, and it means to see and appreciate what makes things unique. We need to "tune into" the social world and see the different ways you are influenced by others, and others influence you.

The two people from above are both influenced by their surroundings, and that helps make them who they are.  Is the first person gay because of their liberal family? In some ways, yes.  As opposed to the second person, they are comfortable enough to explore different ways to live their life.  They might not even care about labels. But for the second, labels are everything. Even if they wanted to explore different options, they would fear their family's reaction. Both families' influence shaped these people- one is allowed to live their life, the other may conform to a life they don't want.

Is being gay a choice? Probably not. Does your surrounding influence how you live your life? Absolutely.  This is sociology.

*It was the egg.

Intro Post

Hi everyone, I'm Ariel! I'm a high school senior in suburbia Chicago.

I was born in the city, but since then I've lived in the same general area my entire life.  For lower and middle school, I went to a private Jewish school, but for high school I'm in public school. Now college is the next step. But not going to spend time stressing out over that here. Too much time spent on that in the real world.

Besides for hanging with my friends and freaking out about schools, I spend a lot of time writing, or thinking about writing, because I want to be a screenwriter (tv and movies) when I'm older.  I also try and be  active for human and social rights, especially in LGBT areas.

The biggest influences in my life are probably my friends and family.  I like to plan big things that usually end up not working, so my friends are there to bring me back to earth.

Hmmm... I'll be 18 in less than a month, thank god. I love animals, and I'm a vegetarian.

Um. That's about it for now. Yay sociology class!