Social Groups and I - Essay Example

Social groups and myself Social Groups and Myself Man is a social animal. It is impossible or difficult for him to lead a lonely life under normal circumstances. That is why God has created Adam first and then Eve, in order to give him a company. In fact the society provides him the necessary elements and resources required for his developments. Therefore, it will be difficult for him to stay away from the society and social activities and lead a lonely life. Even animals interact or socialize each other. Socialization or interactions with others are necessary for a person to shed his personal, professional and social stress. For example, an employee gets opportunity to shed his stress when he interacts with his friends and family members after a busy schedule in the workplace. Psychologists claim that social interactions are necessary for the mental developments of a person. In their opinion, social interactions are similar to food. Food gives energy to the body whereas social interactions provide energy to the mind. Children also get immense benefits through social interactions The opportunity for social interactions with others is very important for the development of all children. Through social interactions, children begin to establish a sense of “self” and to learn what others expect of them. Although social interactions for very young children primarily occur within the family, as children grow and develop, they become more and more interested in playing and interacting with other children (Stanislaus County Office of Education, n.d., p.1). In short, social interactions are necessary for a person to develop properly and lead a healthy life in this world. Each person in this world has his own identity and personality, irrespective of which social class he comes from. Educated people or uneducated people, rich or poor, men or women, and children or adults; all can influence the society in one way or another. Same way, the society can also affect a person in one way or another. Psychology says that heredity and environment/society are the two big things that shape the behaviour, character and personality of a person. Being a high school student, I have a definite role in my society. In other words, my activities and behaviours can affect my friends and society in many ways. Same way, the activities of my friends and other social groups may affect me as well. In this paper, I explain how social groups affect me and how I affect other members, what my role in groups is, how group memberships affect my identity, and my prejudices. How social groups affect me and how I affect other members? I belong to the social group of high school children.it should be noted that high school children are normally labelled as adolescents. The transition from childhood to adulthood is taking place during adolescence. Moreover, the growth of hormones will be extremely rapid during adolescence. As a result of that, the behaviour and thinking patterns of the adolescents could be entirely different from that of other age groups. Ability to take rational decisions is poor whereas risk taking attitude is more during this period. Hero worshipping and the tendency to imitate celebrities are more among teenagers like me. For example, many of my friends have the habit of smoking in a particular way as shown by some of the film stars in some films. Same way, many of my friends have the habit of tasting the same brand of liquor that has been shown in the films. In short, films and celebrities are influencing my peers in one way or another. Many times in the past, I faced immense pressure from my peers for taking alcohol, and also to use drugs. Moreover, some of my peers tempted me for smoking. It was difficult for me to resist these temptations from my peers. In fact, some of them have cut down their friendship with me because of my reluctance in giving company to them for drug use and alcoholism. Being brought up in a highly religious family, morals and ethics are important for me. My parents taught me how to behave positively in a society. Moreover, they empowered me regarding the dangers associated with alcoholism and drug use. Therefore, I was able to resist the temptation from my peers for antisocial activities like smoking, drug use and alcoholism. At the same time, I tried to empower my peers many times regarding the dangers associated with antisocial activities. Even though many of them do not bother too much to hear me, some of them have shown the readiness to hear me. As a result of that, I was able to convince some of my friends about the dangers associated with smoking, drug use and alcoholism so that they have stopped such activities. Dating is another popular activity among my friends. In fact, all my friends have dating relationships. Some of them are managing these relationships properly whereas some others are struggling. Even though there is nothing wrong in establishing dating relationships, problems may occur if such relationships are managed poorly. For example, sexual activities are common in many of the dating relationships, I have observed. I have witnessed many instances in which some of my female friends forced to stop their study because of unwanted or unexpected pregnancy. Unwanted pregnancies and abortions are taking place because of the inability of my peers in managing their dating relationship properly. Even though, I am not against dating relationships, I am against the crazy habits in a dating relationship. As per my views, student life is meant for studies first, other activities are of secondary importance only. However, many of my friends are unable to accept my arguments related to dating relationships. For them, they have enough freedom and rights to lead a life in a manner they like. “Social freedom is the concept philosophers, political scientists, and also economists are often concerned with - often without realizing it - when dealing with the subject of liberty” (Oppenheim, 2004, p.175). Social freedom is a controversial topic from the beginning of the human history. Holy Bible says, God has allowed Adam and Eve to eat everything available in the Aden except the fruit of a particular tree. It is necessary to refrain from certain things at a particular period of time. For example, sweetly food may not cause much harm to teenagers as it does to old people. Therefore, there is nothing wrong for teenagers to use sweetly food items; however, it is necessary for old people to stay away from such food items. Sexual relationship is also similar to the sweetly foods. Enough maturity is necessary for a person to manage his sexual relationship with others. Only the adults will be able to manage sexual relationships in a proper manner. Teenagers do not have the maturity to manage such relationship properly. Therefore, it is better for them to stay away from such relationships. What my role in groups is? It is evident from the above discussion that my role in my group is similar to that of a social reformist or Gospel preacher. My friends usually mock me when I try to advise them against smoking, drug use, alcoholism and improper dating relationships. They usually tell me that I should have taken birth a century before. For them, my views and ideas are extremely outdated and it is suitable only for the people living in the last century. Even then, when problem occurs, my friends usually approach me for advice. There are many instances in which my friends sought my advices and instructions when they faced tough situations or unfamiliar incidents. For example, one of friends once approached me once in a destructive mood. He had his dating relationship broken. He realized that his fiancée is keeping dating relationships with multiple partners at the same time. In fact, he was sincere and loyal in his relationship with his fiancée. But she had other ideas. She had never taken her relationship with my friend seriously. As per his request, I spoke to his fiancée and she revealed me that she is not serious about dating relationships. After realizing her views about dating relationship, I have advised my friend to stay away from serious relationship during teenage period. I asked him to take dating relationship lightly. I told him that there are enough females in this world to cater the needs of males. Therefore, there is no point in ruining the life in the name of a female. My friend took my advice seriously and thanked me for my services. Another role I usually assume in my groups is the role of a negotiator. According to Lewicki et al (2006, p.3), “Negotiation occurs for one of two reasons: 1) to create something new that neither party could do on his or her own or 2) to resolve a problem or dispute between the parties”. There are many instances in which the members of my groups engaged in some kind of clashes and fights. The reasons for such clashes will be silly and simple most of the times. At times, the problems in understanding each other are causing these fights and conflicts. In any case, it is my duty to settle the issues in my group with the help of negotiations. I know very well that each party in the conflict may have some kind of self-interests which he may try to protect. It is my duty to persuade the parties for a compromise. On many occasions, I was able to settle the issues even though I failed on certain occasions. Some of the other roles I assume usually in my group are; information giver, opinion giver, coordinator and energizer. As mentioned earlier, many of my friends do not bother too much about what was going on in the campus or classrooms. They usually collect information about the assignments, term papers and projects works from me. Even the examination dates are unknown to many. My friends know very well that all the information are readily available with me and they approach me every time when they need some kind of information about their studies. Apart from the role of an information giver, I usually assume the role of an opinion giver. Many of my friends usually tell that I am matured enough to take wise decisions even though I am teenager. Therefore, they will usually approach me when they face some kind of problems in their life. On such occasions, I usually take the role of an opinion giver and a counsellor. Coordination is another activity I usually undertake. It should be noted that a group may consists of different types of people. It is not necessary that the ideas and views of all group members are one and the same all the time. Therefore, the possibilities of conflict are more while working in a group. Better coordination is necessary to complete the activities of a group successfully. The role of an energizer also I assume on certain occasions. For example, there are many instances in which many of my group members exhausted by their studies or many other things. Many of them usually went into their shells because of the problems in their families. It should be noted that domestic violence, divorce and single parenthood are common in current social life. Children and teenagers are the major victims of such social problems. When I see any of my group members suffering from such problems, I have no problems in giving them the company and advices. I use motivational words and energizing words quite extensively to help them from come out of their shells. How group memberships affect my identity? The membership in a particular group would definitely affect the identity of a person. If a person decides to take membership in a bad group, his reputation will be spoiled. Same way, if a person takes membership in a good group, his reputation will be increased. Swan et al., (2012) have formulated a theory of identity fusion, in order to explain the influence of group membership on one’s identity. The major elements of this theory are given below Identity fusion occurs when people experience a visceral feeling of oneness with a group. The union with the group is so strong among highly fused persons that the boundaries that ordinarily demarcate the personal and social self become highly permeable. In fact, these boundaries become so permeable that aspects of both the personal and social self can readily flow into the other. The low of influence may move in both directions: Just as highly fused persons come to view themselves through their group membership (Swan et al., 2012, p.442). In always tried to keep a distance with my group members even when I actively participate in group activities. In other words, I am not ready to fuse my identity with that of my groups. I have memberships in different groups and the identity of these groups is contrasting most of the times. In other words, I have problems in mingle with good groups as well as bad groups. In my opinion, there is no point in isolating a particular group because of its bad reputation. At the same time, I make sure that none of the group identities affect my reputation. I have my own views and ideas even while working as part of different groups. I always try to take only the positive elements from the groups I belong. My prejudices Like many others in my age group, I had many prejudices in my life. For example, I had the habit of considering all the members of a bad group as antisocial elements. However, after mingling with many bad groups, I can definitely say that there are many good elements also in the minds of bad people. I have seen many of my peers behave indecently on some occasions and behave better than me on other occasions. I have realised that circumstances are forcing people to behave in a particular way. There is no point in labelling a person either as bad or good. All the people consist of some good elements and some bad elements. Only the circumstances force the people to behave in a particular manner. Another prejudice I had in my life was about the intellectual abilities of the people. Earlier, I thought that some people are more intelligent than others. However, I realized later that even an ordinary person may show better intelligence than a genius on certain occasions. I have realized that intelligence is not all about how well a person performs in his studies, but it is about how well he behaves and responds on a particular occasion. Conclusions Social groups would definitely affect the behaviour of a person in many ways. My behaviours affect my social group members and the behaviours of my social groups affect me as well. People usually assume many roles while working as part of social groups. The rules include the roles such as coordinator, negotiator, thinker, adviser, counsellor, opinion giver etc. It is necessary for a person to make sure that the group identity would never affect his personal identity. References Lewicki, R. J., Barry, Roy J. Lewicki (Author) › Visit Amazon’s Roy J. Lewicki Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central B & Saunders Bruce Barry (Author) › Visit Amazon’s Bruce Barry Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central D.M . (2006), Essentials of Negotiation, Publisher: McGraw Hill Higher Education; 4th edition (September 1, 2006) Oppenheim, F. E. (2004). Social freedom: Definition, measurability, valuation. Social Choice and Welfare February 2004, Volume 22, Issue 1, pp 175-185 Swann, W.B., Jetten, J., Gomez, A., and Whitehouse H. (2012). When Group Membership Gets Personal: A Theory of Identity Fusion. Psychological Review 2012, Vol. 119, No. 3, 441–456 Stanislaus County Office of Education, (n.d.), Importance of social interactions. Retrieved from http://www.stancoe.org/cfs/handouts/specialnds/pdf/importanceofsocialinteractions.pdf Read More