Socialization and Identity project
This project was based on the idea of socialization and how each of us were socialized. We connected this topic of socialization to the real world and real world experiences. We learned how we contribute to the cycle go socialization. We each wrote an essay and made a mask as a reflection of our essay.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Be Who You Are
Socialization is a lifelong process of learning one's culture, how to live within in it and becoming who you are. We are taught the norms and the values of our culture. Along with being categorized and grouped as agents or targets. Agents groups include: men, white people, middle and upper class people, middle aged people, abled people, heterosexuals, and gentiles. Target groups include: women, racially oppressed groups, gay, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people, disabled people, Jews, elders, youth, and people living in poverty. We perceive “messages” through family, religion, peers, sports, and media, also known as the agents of socialization. Norms are what society has made “normal” therefore we find ourselves trying to shape around that idea of being “normal.” I have been socialized to be “perfect,” fit into my gender, be the typical teenager, and be oblivious to racism, as well as be oblivious to the great advantage I have because I’m white.
Throughout my life, I have been socialized as a woman to think I have to be the perfect women so that I fit into my gender group and what's expected of me. I have perceived these messages society has delivered, through tv shows, movies, commercials, magazines, celebrities, sports, and our peers. Society says the most important thing about a woman is her looks. This drives me to feel I have to be “perfect” and the only way I can be perfect is if I look just like the girls in the magazines. I have to look like a model. As Jean Kilbourne states in the movie trailer of Miss Representation, “Girls get the message from very early on that what's most important is how they look, that their value, their worth depends on that and that boys get the message that thats whats important about girls”. This quote is saying that from what girls are seeing around them they comprehend that their looks are the most important thing about them. If they aren’t “perfect,” they aren’t as important in society. This standard set for girls has made me think I need to reflect this idea of perfection. Not only did I think and see this, I also saw how perfection and being perfect wasn’t possible. It was just an idea. For example, Barbie (we all grew up with her as the doll everyone wanted), let alone us girls wanted to look and live just like Barbie. She has a skinny waist, she has big blue eyes, perfect white teeth, pink lips and she is white. Barbie has a full wardrobe, a pink car, a big house, and many accessories. I grew up getting the message that this is set as the idea of the perfect life and Barbie is a perfect girl. Soon, this became more than just an idea. I wanted to be “perfect” and live a perfect life. This is now societies’ idea of perfection. I have come to realize girls shouldn't have to worry about their weight and looks based on whether people will like them or not.
I have been socialized as a teenager to not listen, be untrustworthy, messy, rude, pressure my friends into making bad decisions, to drink and do drugs, just because I’m a teenager. Becoming the age 13-19, everyone sees you in one way, a teenager. Being a teenager has categorized me as a target. I’ve recognized these messages being sent to us teenagers, that if you drink and smoke weed or go to the biggest parties you’re “cool.” We have been socialized to pressure our peers to do something if we are even if they aren’t comfortable with it. This is another way we teenagers get the label of a teenager. I have been a witness to this set standard that drinking and smoking are “cool.” I see my friends and peers drinking smoking, going to parties because they have been socialized to think that is what is “socially accepted.” From the article “Peer Pressure,” published on Teen Health.com, it claims, “It's natural for people to identify with and compare themselves to their peers as they consider how they wish to be (or think they should be), or what they want to achieve. People are influenced by peers because they want to fit in, be like peers they admire, do what others are doing, or have what others have.” We as teenagers want to fit in. We have this idea of what’s “cool” and everyone wants to be “cool” so we can meet these expectations made by society and our peers. We give in to peer pressure because we don’t want people to think were lame, boring, or the most important to us is to not be “cool.” This title given to us teenagers is not 100% accurate or equitable to all teenagers because many of us don’t fall under this stereotype.
Another way I have been socialized is to be oblivious to the racism in America and the great advantage I have received because I’m white. The white race, the main agent in race socialization, is the dominant race in the United States. Racism puts others at a disadvantage, and because I'm white it puts me at an advantage. For example, as Peggy the author of the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” observes “I can turn my television on or open a magazine and see people of my race widely represented. Also I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I'm the only member of my race.” Being white has categorized me as an agent. Again as Peggy addressed, “whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow ‘them’ to be more like ‘us’.” Because we’re white, we think that’s how everyone should be. Many of the reasons I am who I am today is because of my race. It has made me think and see myself in a “good” way. I don’t need to be afraid of being stopped by the police at 10:00 pm and seen as a threat. I have never been aware of this racism, even though its not obvious racism. Racism depends on perspective and the person perceiving the racism. I have never been aware of societal racism but now that I have become more educated, I think it’s very important a larger amount of people become aware so that we can stop these racist messages being sent to us as a society.
As individuals, we can break the harmful cycle of socialization. Personally, I can break this cycle by helping girls see that this idea of perfection and how society says you have to be “perfect” is just an idea. Girls shouldn't be focusing on becoming this idea of perfect. Also, when these stereotypes about women come up I can share my knowledge about how tv shows, magazines, commercials, and other forms of media frame women to appear and act certain ways that won't always be true. Another way I can break the harmful cycle of socialization, is by acknowledging the unfair racism and all of the advantages white people receive. As Bobbie Harro states in the article “The Cycle of Socialization”, “When groups begin to empower themselves- by learning more about each other, by unlearning old myths and stereotypes, by challenging the status quo- we make the difficult decision to interrupt the cycle of socialization. We begin to question the givens, the assumptions of society, the norms, the values, the rules, the roles, and even the structures. As we attempt this, it becomes obvious that we cannot do it alone.” Bobbie Harro also states, “... we will gain the necessary vision and power to reconstruct new rules that truly are equal, roles that complement each other instead of competing, assumptions that value all groups instead of ascribing value to and devaluing others, and structures that promote cooperation and shared power instead of power over each other.” Overall if everyone comes to realize the idea of socialization it could change the negative aspects of the cycle of society.
The three topics I focused on my mask are: race, gender, and age. The majority color of my mask is a white because that shows that main race in todays society is white. The blindfold over the eyes shows we are blind to the general idea of socialization and we don’t see how it forms us through the agents of socialization,. The Duct Tape over the mouth represents age. It shows that we can only say certain things so that we fit this idea of a normal teenager. I can only say certain things and act certain ways to fit into the idea of the normal teenager not an adult or a little kid because I wont be accepted as a teenager. The forehead of my mask represents gender. The 10 shows perfection, and how I’ve been socialized with the ideas that I have to be perfect. The pink bow on the forehead shows the color pink and femininity because pink is a girl color. Both of these things show the gender stereotypes for girls. The Colorado flag represents as a part of who I am. I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life, born and raised. I’ve been socialized by Colorado’s norms. I believe that of I was raised in a different city or state I wouldn't be who I am because I would have to fit in there not in Colorado. The pattern represents the overall idea of socialization. Death line is different not one of these lines are the same shape and color, that shows that everyone in the world is different but in one way were all the same, we are all being socialized. I show this by making the pattern because together all of these lines create something. I’m trying to emphasize that we created the cycle of socialization no one told us we had to have socialization, no one told us females we had to be perfect, no one told us that we have to be superior because I’m white. We created this whole idea of socialization and made it reality.
Reflection
Mask: What are you most proud of about your mask? Why?
The one part of my mask that I’m most proud if is the zig-zag pattern in the right bottom corner. I was most proud of this because what it represents. Each line is different and unique in its own way, not one line is the same shape or color. Together these lines create the pattern which is beautiful in its own way. This shows everyone in the world is different everyones different looking and everyone may have their own personalities but we all have one big thing in common. We are all being socialized, everyone one of us. We created the cycle of socialization so it’s our own fault were oppressed. The other part of my mask that I am most proud of is the Colorado flag. Im proud of this because I am not an artistic person and i have never been able to draw or paint something well and have it look like an actual object. I personally thought my Colorado flag did indeed look like a Colorado flag. The lines were precise and the colors were mixed correctly. I also thought the representation behind this painting of the colorado flag was true to me and any other girl or guy living in Colorado.
Quote: Quote the section of your essay that you are most proud of and describe, in detail, why you are proud of it.
A section of my essay that I am most proud of is, “Society says the most important thing about a woman is her looks. This drives me to feel I have to be “perfect” and the only way I can be perfect is if I look just like the girls in the magazines. I have to look like a model. As Jean Kilbourne states in the movie trailer of Miss Representation, “Girls get the message from very early on that what's most important is how they look, that their value, their worth depends on that and that boys get the message that thats whats important about girls”. This quote is saying that from what girls are seeing around them they comprehend that their looks are the most important thing about them. If they aren’t “perfect,” they aren’t as important in society. This standard set for girls has made me think I need to reflect this idea of perfection. Not only did I think and see this, I also saw how perfection and being perfect wasn’t possible. It was just an idea.” Im proud of this section of my essay because the quote I chose really emphasized my topic well. Along with how I used both genders to emphasize my point so that anyone could relate to my essay in this particular section.
Biggest Take-away: What will you remember from this project? Why?
The biggest takeaway from this project for me was the general idea of socialization because I did not know what it was or how it tied into my life and what I can do or will do to keep the cycle going. Another takeaway from this project is the connections I made to the real world through this project. We connected what we were learning to real world scenarios to the classroom. We watched the news multiple times, commercials, videos, TED talks, and movie trailers. Aswell as reading many articles that connected to the topic of socialization. This is the biggest takeaway because if I had not learned about this idea of socialization I wouldn't have been able to connect it to my life and what goes on around me and how i contribute to the cycle of socialization.
Habit of Heart and Mind: Which habit of heart and mind do you need to work on in your next project to get better at Project Based Learning? Why do you need to improve and how that Habit of Heart and Mind will help you?
The Habit of Heart that I need to work on to improve my work next year and in the further years at Animas is evidence. I need to work on this because I don’t keep my previous drafts. I either edit that copy or delete the copy of before and after. Project based learning is big on refinement. Animas likes to see the improvement in your work from where you start to the final product. This will help me here at Animas because I can go back through my history and see where I made a mistake or did not complete an assignment. I have been working on saving each draft I make to show my steps of improvement. For example: from my first draft to my final draft I only have two to show for the improvements. My second draft was commented on and edited to show where I needed to make improvements. What I should have done is created a whole new document so I had the evidence that I did make the changes to my essay.
This project was based on the idea of socialization and how each of us were socialized. We connected this topic of socialization to the real world and real world experiences. We learned how we contribute to the cycle go socialization. We each wrote an essay and made a mask as a reflection of our essay.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Be Who You Are
Socialization is a lifelong process of learning one's culture, how to live within in it and becoming who you are. We are taught the norms and the values of our culture. Along with being categorized and grouped as agents or targets. Agents groups include: men, white people, middle and upper class people, middle aged people, abled people, heterosexuals, and gentiles. Target groups include: women, racially oppressed groups, gay, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people, disabled people, Jews, elders, youth, and people living in poverty. We perceive “messages” through family, religion, peers, sports, and media, also known as the agents of socialization. Norms are what society has made “normal” therefore we find ourselves trying to shape around that idea of being “normal.” I have been socialized to be “perfect,” fit into my gender, be the typical teenager, and be oblivious to racism, as well as be oblivious to the great advantage I have because I’m white.
Throughout my life, I have been socialized as a woman to think I have to be the perfect women so that I fit into my gender group and what's expected of me. I have perceived these messages society has delivered, through tv shows, movies, commercials, magazines, celebrities, sports, and our peers. Society says the most important thing about a woman is her looks. This drives me to feel I have to be “perfect” and the only way I can be perfect is if I look just like the girls in the magazines. I have to look like a model. As Jean Kilbourne states in the movie trailer of Miss Representation, “Girls get the message from very early on that what's most important is how they look, that their value, their worth depends on that and that boys get the message that thats whats important about girls”. This quote is saying that from what girls are seeing around them they comprehend that their looks are the most important thing about them. If they aren’t “perfect,” they aren’t as important in society. This standard set for girls has made me think I need to reflect this idea of perfection. Not only did I think and see this, I also saw how perfection and being perfect wasn’t possible. It was just an idea. For example, Barbie (we all grew up with her as the doll everyone wanted), let alone us girls wanted to look and live just like Barbie. She has a skinny waist, she has big blue eyes, perfect white teeth, pink lips and she is white. Barbie has a full wardrobe, a pink car, a big house, and many accessories. I grew up getting the message that this is set as the idea of the perfect life and Barbie is a perfect girl. Soon, this became more than just an idea. I wanted to be “perfect” and live a perfect life. This is now societies’ idea of perfection. I have come to realize girls shouldn't have to worry about their weight and looks based on whether people will like them or not.
I have been socialized as a teenager to not listen, be untrustworthy, messy, rude, pressure my friends into making bad decisions, to drink and do drugs, just because I’m a teenager. Becoming the age 13-19, everyone sees you in one way, a teenager. Being a teenager has categorized me as a target. I’ve recognized these messages being sent to us teenagers, that if you drink and smoke weed or go to the biggest parties you’re “cool.” We have been socialized to pressure our peers to do something if we are even if they aren’t comfortable with it. This is another way we teenagers get the label of a teenager. I have been a witness to this set standard that drinking and smoking are “cool.” I see my friends and peers drinking smoking, going to parties because they have been socialized to think that is what is “socially accepted.” From the article “Peer Pressure,” published on Teen Health.com, it claims, “It's natural for people to identify with and compare themselves to their peers as they consider how they wish to be (or think they should be), or what they want to achieve. People are influenced by peers because they want to fit in, be like peers they admire, do what others are doing, or have what others have.” We as teenagers want to fit in. We have this idea of what’s “cool” and everyone wants to be “cool” so we can meet these expectations made by society and our peers. We give in to peer pressure because we don’t want people to think were lame, boring, or the most important to us is to not be “cool.” This title given to us teenagers is not 100% accurate or equitable to all teenagers because many of us don’t fall under this stereotype.
Another way I have been socialized is to be oblivious to the racism in America and the great advantage I have received because I’m white. The white race, the main agent in race socialization, is the dominant race in the United States. Racism puts others at a disadvantage, and because I'm white it puts me at an advantage. For example, as Peggy the author of the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” observes “I can turn my television on or open a magazine and see people of my race widely represented. Also I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I'm the only member of my race.” Being white has categorized me as an agent. Again as Peggy addressed, “whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow ‘them’ to be more like ‘us’.” Because we’re white, we think that’s how everyone should be. Many of the reasons I am who I am today is because of my race. It has made me think and see myself in a “good” way. I don’t need to be afraid of being stopped by the police at 10:00 pm and seen as a threat. I have never been aware of this racism, even though its not obvious racism. Racism depends on perspective and the person perceiving the racism. I have never been aware of societal racism but now that I have become more educated, I think it’s very important a larger amount of people become aware so that we can stop these racist messages being sent to us as a society.
As individuals, we can break the harmful cycle of socialization. Personally, I can break this cycle by helping girls see that this idea of perfection and how society says you have to be “perfect” is just an idea. Girls shouldn't be focusing on becoming this idea of perfect. Also, when these stereotypes about women come up I can share my knowledge about how tv shows, magazines, commercials, and other forms of media frame women to appear and act certain ways that won't always be true. Another way I can break the harmful cycle of socialization, is by acknowledging the unfair racism and all of the advantages white people receive. As Bobbie Harro states in the article “The Cycle of Socialization”, “When groups begin to empower themselves- by learning more about each other, by unlearning old myths and stereotypes, by challenging the status quo- we make the difficult decision to interrupt the cycle of socialization. We begin to question the givens, the assumptions of society, the norms, the values, the rules, the roles, and even the structures. As we attempt this, it becomes obvious that we cannot do it alone.” Bobbie Harro also states, “... we will gain the necessary vision and power to reconstruct new rules that truly are equal, roles that complement each other instead of competing, assumptions that value all groups instead of ascribing value to and devaluing others, and structures that promote cooperation and shared power instead of power over each other.” Overall if everyone comes to realize the idea of socialization it could change the negative aspects of the cycle of society.
The three topics I focused on my mask are: race, gender, and age. The majority color of my mask is a white because that shows that main race in todays society is white. The blindfold over the eyes shows we are blind to the general idea of socialization and we don’t see how it forms us through the agents of socialization,. The Duct Tape over the mouth represents age. It shows that we can only say certain things so that we fit this idea of a normal teenager. I can only say certain things and act certain ways to fit into the idea of the normal teenager not an adult or a little kid because I wont be accepted as a teenager. The forehead of my mask represents gender. The 10 shows perfection, and how I’ve been socialized with the ideas that I have to be perfect. The pink bow on the forehead shows the color pink and femininity because pink is a girl color. Both of these things show the gender stereotypes for girls. The Colorado flag represents as a part of who I am. I’ve lived in Colorado my whole life, born and raised. I’ve been socialized by Colorado’s norms. I believe that of I was raised in a different city or state I wouldn't be who I am because I would have to fit in there not in Colorado. The pattern represents the overall idea of socialization. Death line is different not one of these lines are the same shape and color, that shows that everyone in the world is different but in one way were all the same, we are all being socialized. I show this by making the pattern because together all of these lines create something. I’m trying to emphasize that we created the cycle of socialization no one told us we had to have socialization, no one told us females we had to be perfect, no one told us that we have to be superior because I’m white. We created this whole idea of socialization and made it reality.
Reflection
Mask: What are you most proud of about your mask? Why?
The one part of my mask that I’m most proud if is the zig-zag pattern in the right bottom corner. I was most proud of this because what it represents. Each line is different and unique in its own way, not one line is the same shape or color. Together these lines create the pattern which is beautiful in its own way. This shows everyone in the world is different everyones different looking and everyone may have their own personalities but we all have one big thing in common. We are all being socialized, everyone one of us. We created the cycle of socialization so it’s our own fault were oppressed. The other part of my mask that I am most proud of is the Colorado flag. Im proud of this because I am not an artistic person and i have never been able to draw or paint something well and have it look like an actual object. I personally thought my Colorado flag did indeed look like a Colorado flag. The lines were precise and the colors were mixed correctly. I also thought the representation behind this painting of the colorado flag was true to me and any other girl or guy living in Colorado.
Quote: Quote the section of your essay that you are most proud of and describe, in detail, why you are proud of it.
A section of my essay that I am most proud of is, “Society says the most important thing about a woman is her looks. This drives me to feel I have to be “perfect” and the only way I can be perfect is if I look just like the girls in the magazines. I have to look like a model. As Jean Kilbourne states in the movie trailer of Miss Representation, “Girls get the message from very early on that what's most important is how they look, that their value, their worth depends on that and that boys get the message that thats whats important about girls”. This quote is saying that from what girls are seeing around them they comprehend that their looks are the most important thing about them. If they aren’t “perfect,” they aren’t as important in society. This standard set for girls has made me think I need to reflect this idea of perfection. Not only did I think and see this, I also saw how perfection and being perfect wasn’t possible. It was just an idea.” Im proud of this section of my essay because the quote I chose really emphasized my topic well. Along with how I used both genders to emphasize my point so that anyone could relate to my essay in this particular section.
Biggest Take-away: What will you remember from this project? Why?
The biggest takeaway from this project for me was the general idea of socialization because I did not know what it was or how it tied into my life and what I can do or will do to keep the cycle going. Another takeaway from this project is the connections I made to the real world through this project. We connected what we were learning to real world scenarios to the classroom. We watched the news multiple times, commercials, videos, TED talks, and movie trailers. Aswell as reading many articles that connected to the topic of socialization. This is the biggest takeaway because if I had not learned about this idea of socialization I wouldn't have been able to connect it to my life and what goes on around me and how i contribute to the cycle of socialization.
Habit of Heart and Mind: Which habit of heart and mind do you need to work on in your next project to get better at Project Based Learning? Why do you need to improve and how that Habit of Heart and Mind will help you?
The Habit of Heart that I need to work on to improve my work next year and in the further years at Animas is evidence. I need to work on this because I don’t keep my previous drafts. I either edit that copy or delete the copy of before and after. Project based learning is big on refinement. Animas likes to see the improvement in your work from where you start to the final product. This will help me here at Animas because I can go back through my history and see where I made a mistake or did not complete an assignment. I have been working on saving each draft I make to show my steps of improvement. For example: from my first draft to my final draft I only have two to show for the improvements. My second draft was commented on and edited to show where I needed to make improvements. What I should have done is created a whole new document so I had the evidence that I did make the changes to my essay.