During this first unit, we explored a variety of several sociological concepts and themes.

Social construction of reality: This concept portrays the idea that a group of people, whether it be a group of friends at school or your family, are the ones in charge of shaping how an individual is viewed. Such a group "constructs" the image of the person and because of this, it becomes said person's reality. It prevents us fro being seen as individuals and instead we are seen through the eyes of others based upon our most defining characteristics. For example, when we did a role-play of "Abandon Ship!". we chose to see the woman without working arms as fragile, worthless, and unnecessary for our group--rather than viewing her as a whole, as a group we had decided to magnify her disability based upon our own preconceptions. Because of this judgment, it became the reality, regardless of her individuality.

Macro/Micro Sociology: For the most part, this concept is not a difficult one to follow--macro sociology focuses on a broader viewpoint of several situations and sociological observations, whereas, micro sociology pinpoints smaller details and nuances of the situation. For example, in our high school, there could be a broad categorization of the sorts of people at SHS: teachers, students, athletes, etc. However, if one were to look more closely, one may see that some teachers are more polite or caring, there are X number of male students and Y number of female students. Looking closely at the big picture (macro) means that we've delved into micro sociology.

Groups/Identity & Ingroups/Outgroups: For this section, I'll discuss A Bronx Tale in order to accurately explain the concepts involved. In and out groups are used in order to depict an idea of either belonging to a group (in) or not (out). In the movie, C's in-group was the group of gangsters in the bar by his house-he felt accepted by them and found that he belonged. On the other hand, C was also a part of an out group--he was not a part of the group of black children in the neighborhood were Jane lived. He could not relate to them, they did not accept him, and he judged them as a result. C identified with the mob guys because they were like him, Italian, and he found that he could be accepted into their group. 

In my personal experience, I've faced this concepts on numerous occasions. At work, I am stereotyped as the snobby, overly rich, obnoxious SHS student. At school, I belong to the group of art-involved students and not to the groups of football players or dance girls, or even video-game enthusiasts. We're all affected by stereotypes and groups, whether for better or worse, and because of this, we see how our lives are shaped and manipulated by those around us.