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Reflection #1: Us, It, and Social Interaction

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Reflection #1: Us, It, and Social Interaction

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One of the ideas presented in The Forest and the Trees by Allan Johnson is the concept of social systems shaping individual behavior. Johnson argues that "we are always participating in something larger than ourselves". This means that the social systems we are born into guide everything we do, including our thoughts and behavior. He connects this idea to a tree in a forest, describing how the tree is not just one individual tree but a part of its entire ecosystem. This mirrors how we are not just one person but part of an entire social system made up of all the people in the world.

This reminds me of my personal experience as a female drummer. Traditionally, musicians, especially in the genres surrounding rock and roll, are male, even though today there are definitely more female musicians than before. When I first joined School of Rock I noticed that people were in awe of seeing a female drummer. There were reactions of surprise when I played on the kit. Even my teacher is constantly telling me to this day that it’s awesome that I am a female drummer. People’s reaction and surprise to female musicians being awesome are shaped by social systems that tell us that girls aren’t usually into such “strong” and “aggressive” instruments like the drums. These traits I’ve mentioned are linked to masculinity. These individual ideas aren’t unique to just a couple people, they stem from a broader source. It makes me realize that I am actively breaking a norm, and also inspires me to support my fellow female musicians even more.

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Reflection #2: Culture: Symbols, Ideas, and the Stuff of Life

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Reflection #2: Culture: Symbols, Ideas, and the Stuff of Life

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In the chapter "Culture: Symbols, Ideas, and the Stuff of Life", Johnson describes culture as a "system of symbols, ideas, and material practices" that helps people perceive the world. He says that culture isn't just ... culture, but it is a deep way that people understand what is normal, special, or even possible. Johnson says: "Culture provides the symbols and meanings that we use to interpret our lives," which highlights how culture shapes behavior and also perceptions and emotions. He emphasizes that culture is powerful because it is almost invisible in a way - people don't realize they interpret the world through cultural ideas, they just think that this is "how things are". Johnson's examples include gender roles, consumerism, and race is show how it organizes our daily lives, setting expectations for how people should think, act, and even feel.

This idea mirrors my natural inclination to push for academic success, no matter what it takes. Turns out it is not only ambition or expectations from others, but it is also cultural. As a Taiwanese person who grew up in a very, very Taiwanese Buddhist household, of course academic success isn't just a bonus but something moral to do. Good grades isn't just about learning or getting into college, but also showing my discipline and worthiness of respect. When I got a B in Pre-calc second semester last year, and all of my other grades were A's, I wasn't just disappointed but I was also ashamed. It's because my culture connects academic performance to your value in society. Johnson talks about how culture lives inside of us, which is exactly how I feel.

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Reflection #3: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

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Reflection #3: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

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In The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Goffman says that social interaction is a performance, and people work to manage the impressions that they give to others. He says this: "When an individual plays a part, he implicitly requests his observers to take seriously the impression that is fostered before them ... the performer can be fully taken in by his own act ... may not be taken in at all by his own routine." Goffman is explaining how people believe in the roles that they play. Someone might think that the person they are being is their genuine self, they are a sincere performer. Another person might be a cynical performer, who knows that their performance is just an act. Also, settings, clothing, speech, and expressions form part of the front we present and this becomes institutionalized, expected, repeated, and in the end, stereotyped.

This theory mirrors the way I perform as the captain of the lacrosse team. I have to be the tough and confident one, even when I don't really feel like it. The front that I believed people expected from the captain is strong, collected, and unbothered. I make sure to be emotionless and with a hard outer shell. But sometimes I do feel emotional, but still I keep performing because it's what my teammates need. According to Goffman, I am a cynical performer. I know that the act that I put on isn't always my true self. But like the saying "fake it 'till you make it", that persona becomes a part of me because I learned how to "equip" it at all times.

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Reflection #4: Not All Asians End Up on Third Base

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Reflection #4: Not All Asians End Up on Third Base

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In Not All Asians end Up on Third Base, Gavigan challenges the harmful idea that all Asians are just naturally smart and successful, especially in school. She says that "scholars generally treat Asians as a homogenous and high-performing population. However, for Filipino Americans, this is not always the case." She explains that the model minority myth gets rid of differences between Asian groups and also puts pressure on people to be successful in areas like math and science. Many Asians can feel like failures or "not Asian enough" if they don't meet these expectations.

This resonates with me deeply because I am a mixed Taiwanese kid. Growing up, I wasn't always the best at math, and I'm still not. I had to fight to get an A and B last year in Pre-calculus. I was never the smart Asian kid. I was never a real Asian kid. I was always insecure about my mixed race-ism because I felt like I was never Asian enough to be even considered Taiwanese. This "smart Asian" stereotype makes it worse because I'm not the best at math and science. Gavigan's article helps me cope because it points out that a lot of people, including mixed kids, can feel this way.

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In How Sex Became Fun, professor Lisa Wade explores the way we think about sex in modern times. She says that the idea around it is shaped by culture and society, not just biology. "Hookup culture", especially among young people, introduces the concept of how sex is supposed to be casual and not romantic. Wade explains that this script creates confusion because people have different expectations of sex. "When sex became something people did for fun instead of something tied to love, marriage, and reproduction, it also became more ambiguous. People often don't know exactly what it means." The key point is that although hookup culture gives people freedom, it also means that people have more misunderstandings because sex can mean different things to different people depending on how they view it.

This concept reminded me of me and my boyfriend's experience before we started officially dating. We hooked up a couple of times, and I thought it was just innocent teenage fun - exploring our bodies and feeling good.. and naughty. I wasn't emotionally invested quite yet. But later he told me that he thought us having sex for the first time meant that we were exclusive. We were both doing the same thing but with different ideas of it. My idea: casual sex is casual. His: emotional commitment and intimacy. Wade's article tells me about how we didn't just have a miscommunication but it was because of the broader hookup culture influencing us. The culture promotes simplicity, but sex is still deeply intimate and romantic at times.

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In Promoting Bad Statistics, Joel Best explains how statistics are misused, exaggerated, or taken out of context in ways that spread misinformation to the public. While numbers can be scientific, they can be manipulated to promote specific ideas. "All statistics are socially constructed. Someone has to decide what to count, how to count it, and how to present the results." He warned that bad statistics can support ideas very convincingly, even if they could be wrong. Best says that we should ask questions about statistics we see: Where does it come from, who benefits it, and what is missing?

This reminded me of one of the frustrations in my life - how statistics about the "male loneliness epidemic" and male mental health are used. They are real issues but the numbers are often used in manipulative ways. People will point out that "most suicides are by men" and that "they have nobody to talk to" or that "they are emotionally oppressed" to have an excuse to mistreat women. The stats are used as a weapon, not to support men, but to harm women instead. The data is played with without context, and people don't consider things like where the data came from, what was being measured, and factors like access to healthcare or social class. Complex issues are extremely oversimplified. It is very often that people claim that women are the blame for men's emotional struggles, an idea that ignores the actual source of the struggles and the harm it causes to women.

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Reflection #7: The Structures of Social Life

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Reflection #7: The Structures of Social Life

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In the chapter The Structures of Social Life from The Forest and the Trees, Allan Johnson explains how social life is organized through structures, such as relationships, roles, rules, and expectations. They exist independently of people, but also deeply influence their choices and experiences. "We are always participating in something larger than ourselves, and this means our behavior is always shaped by social structures we may not even see." The main idea in this chapter is the concept of roles. It has expected behavior of a social position such as a parent, spouse, or child. People conform because even when they may be harmful, the structure supports those expectations. They don't determine behavior, but they make choices easier while others are harder.

This reminded me of the frustrating dynamics of my Taiwanese family. My grandfather is always the head of the household, and is always angry, stressed, and emotionally abusive and unstable. Despite this, he is still treated like the top authority because that is his role. He will always be the most powerful person. My grandma, who is the kindest person you will ever meet, stays quiet and just takes it. Her role is to be both supportive and enduring for my grandpa, and this was established long ago and still remains. My mom and her sisters were raised like this too - expected to obey, get good grades, and put family first, even when they were mistreated. I also grew up that way. Johnson's idea mirrors this - we are always participating in the structure, which is why nobody really stood up to him when it was actively happening. The roles us girls played were already set, and even though we were hurt by them, stepping out of the role was too rebellious against the social structure.

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In The Functions of Crime by Emile Durkheim, Durkheim challenges the idea that crime is only a sign of something going wrong with our society. Instead, his argument is that crime plays an essential and possibly even healthy role in social life. According to Durkheim, crime is normal, not in the sense that it's morally correct, but that it is inevitable and present in all societies. "Crime is normal because a society exempt from it is utterly impossible." He explains here that crime serves actually key functions for society. It helps define moral boundaries by showing people what is unacceptable. When society reacts to crime through punishment or debate, it reinforces shared values and creates unity. In come cases, crime can even lead to social change, where someone breaks a rule that many people later realize was unjust. In short, crime reveals what a society cares about, and it can push it to adapt or evolve.

This idea also relates to what I talked about in the previous reflection with my grandfather. Nobody was allowed to push back against his cruelty. But in recent years, my mom finally spoke up, arguing and confronting him about how he treated everyone. She even suggested antidepressants to him. This is not the usual "crime" but in our family it was very dramatic and disruptive. My mother broke a rule. The act of deviance forced everyone to reflect and it also brought a lot of hidden pain to the surface. I was shocked and nervous because nobody had ever really talked about each other's trauma like this before. My mother's defiance revealed moral boundaries we were living in, and even though she faced resistance, it planted the seed for the idea that things don't necessarily have to stay like that. The "crime" pushed our family toward change and understanding.

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Reflection #9: What It Means to Be Gendered Me

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Reflection #9: What It Means to Be Gendered Me

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In What It Means to Be Gendered Me, sociologist Betsy Lucal explores how gender is socially constructed and enforced through everyday interactions. She identifies as a women but presents in ways that are often associated with masculinity - short hair, male clothing, and a generally androgynous appearance. Because of this she is frequently misgendered, and this makes her reflect on how rigid the gender system is. Lucal argued that while gender seems like a natural idea to us, it's actually maintained by a strict set of rules that categorize people into being either male or female. "People do gender, and they do it all the time—in how they dress, speak, move, and interact. And when someone doesn't 'do' gender the way people expect, it causes confusion or even hostility." The essay challenges the idea that gender is biologically fixed or obvious. Instead, gender is something we perform and that people are punished when they don't do it "correctly". Lucal refuses to change even through all the discomfort, and instead wants a more inclusive understanding of gender.

This almost exactly reflects my own complicated relationship with my gender when I was growing up. As a tween and even in my early teens, I was a full tomboy. Especially in my freshman and sophomore years, I wore baggy clothes, hated dresses, played sports and video games, avoided anything "girly", and even wore suits to school dances. People often mistook me for a man, and it was sometimes even freeing, because I didn't have to deal with the expectations that come with being a woman. But often, I felt like I didn't belong anywhere. I even once questioned my own gender. But as I matured more, I realized that being feminine doesn't necessarily mean being weak or boring. I realized that I could be a woman and still define what that means by myself. I can wear tank tops and short shorts, and be sensitive, and be strong all at once. What I went through wasn't just a phase or confusion, I was struggling with the rigid gender system. I wasn't trying to actually resist womanhood, but instead resisted the version I thought was real, the version that was limiting.

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Reflection #10: Does College Alienate Low-Income Students?

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Reflection #10: Does College Alienate Low-Income Students?

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In Does College Alienate Low-Income Students?, Karen Sternheimer discusses how colleges fail to support low-income students financially, socially, and culturally. While many schools have scholarships and financial aid, Sternheimer says that the structure of college still centers around higher class people. They can live on campus, afford textbooks and food, and have extracurriculars, which are often inaccessible to lower income students. "Even when low-income students have the academic ability to succeed in college, they may feel out of place if they cannot participate in the social life of campus or if they feel like they are always worried about money." Sternheimer emphasizes here that alienation isn't due to stupidity but structural inequality. Colleges assume that all students can meet expectations for money, which leaves those who can't feeling excluded and frustrated.

I got accepted to Concordia University Irvine, a private school, and was awarded several scholarships. I thought the stars were aligned but even after all the money I got, the tuition was still $30,000 a year. The cost of attending was too much. My parents are divorcing right now and money is a source of stress. There is no way I can go to Concordia. Now, I'm going to Saddleback College, a community college. It's financially stable and I'm trying to be happy about it, but it makes me feel like everything went to waste. The article helped me relate in that it's not only about money but it's also that the system is not built for people like me. I know community college is still a path where I want to go, but it's hard not to feel left out of what could have been a great academic success.