PART ONE:
- Socialization occurs throughout the life cycle. For this question I want you to use your creativity (there are no right or wrong answers, just effort!). I want you to reflect on the following questions and create a mini-art project of your choice. This could be a poem, digital collage, a short film, a drawing/painting, a song, etc.
- Who were the primary agents in this socialization process? Which one influenced you the most? Which one influenced you the least? How have your socialization agents changed over time? Have you been an agent of socialization for someone? What is one (or more) of the most important lessons you have learned from an agent of socialization?
- Create your art project reflection and answer the questions above in a short description of your art project. Remember, it could be anything you want! I have had students perform a rap, create beautiful drawings/paintings, create digital collages; all I want is for you to let your creativity shine through and tap into your artistic side.
PART TWO:
- Ori Schwartz’s (2010) finds that particular types of selfies, like those with a “sexualized or ad-like” pose serve as a form of positive reinforcement to the poster. Think about your own experience with selfies. What experience have you had with reactions to your selfies? Go back and look through your feed on at least one social media platform and record the reactions to one of your selfie postings. How do you think your social self was shaped by the one particular selfie or on your history of selfies in general? (If you don’t have a social media account, please use the camera roll on your phone for selfies you have taken in the past; if you don’t take selfies, ask someone you know if you could analyze their social media accounts for selfies)
- Charles Horton Cooley’s concept of the “looking glass self” involves three steps that are beneficial to understand the self and society today: (1) how we imagine we appear to others; (2) how we imagine others thoughts or judgments on how we appear; and (3) whether or not we change our appearance or behavior based on how we think others view us. Apply these three steps to your own experience. Using your body as evidence, highlight some aspect of appearance or behavior and how you have (or have not) changed it based on the imagined interactions/thoughts of others. How might Erving Goffman assess your experience? What observations would Goffman likely make about the techniques of impression management you utilized and your presentation of self?
