An example that I thought of was women and their hair. In India many practice Hinduism, both men and women, will sacrifice their hair in the name of God. Where I come from... women will literally pay thousands of dollars for hair extensions. In California especially, long beautiful, healthy-looking hair is desired by almost all women. And yet in India it is more desirable to cut off all of your hair to show loyalty to the God you believe in. The American woman gets her new long hair extensions and the Indian woman feels happy pleasing her God; everyone is happy!
I believe we sometimes communicate in a social constructionist way but not to the full extent. We all play a part in life but that part changes when we change. And like us; change is constant. Everything always comes back to good, effective communication. No matter what setting you're in, adopting new culture or having the ability to relate to another culture is necessary. Even though we live in the real world, we can make it our own!
I completely agree! I think that we all live in one world that is made up of hundreds and thousands of little worlds. We may all live in the same world in the literal sense, but MY world is something completely different than someone else's. Like you said, what is important to you may not even be in someone else's radar. From the moment we are born, we are taught by our parents or guardians, what is right from wrong and traditions and customs that they have learned. In another family those values and traditions maybe completely different, which is why I say we each live in our own world. I really like your example about the hair. I think it is crazy some would sacrifice their hair for their god while others pay lots of money to have their hair up to society’s standards. I think it is even crazier that the people on the east coast and the people on the west coast are different in so many ways although we live in the same country. To me, this just puts more emphasis on the fact that although we may all be living on the planet, we all have our own worlds!
ReplyDeleteLike you, at first glance I also thought that the idea of the social constructionist model was a bit ignorant. To suggest that we perceive and view the world through communication rather than direct experiences can be argued as not actually viewing the world. Your thorough explanation of the social constructionist model further encourages me that this is fact is how we view our world. Your example of the social constructionist model was dead on. Having several sisters who do hair I see many American women who spend large amounts of money of hair that Indian women cut off as a sacrifice or token of love and respect to their god. Indeed, everyone ends up happy.
ReplyDeleteThe social constructionist model made me realize how big the real world is and how small our individual worlds are. I remember one time someone told be that if I dont do things im uncomfortable with my world will be really small. This theory helped me to understand what that person meant even further. We know what we are familiar with and what is important in our "world". Doing things like traveling or trying new food, might be a scary prospect but it helps one to see what else is out there. I think we are lucky here because there are so many different cultures in San Jose so we get to experience a little more than people who live in small towns in rual areas.
ReplyDelete