Self-Concept of a Group of People in Sociological Aspects - Essay Example

How Does Sociology Explain the Self-Concept of a Group of People?

Introduction

Self-schemas permit people to portray themselves by building individual self-concept, which is often a cognitive aspect in nature. In sociology, self-concept is the view and perspective of who am I? It's the way in which individuals define and see themselves. For instance, one can define himself or herself depending on the following physiognomies such as I'm pretty, I'm smart, and I'm a doctor, I'm a father and so on. This depicts how essential understanding who you are is. In general, self-concept is the entirety of an organized, sophisticated, and dynamic system of learned beliefs, sentiments and attitudes that every individual holds as factual concerning their existence, which makes them unique to others. The perception of oneself varies from every person. Even in the presence of a group, every individual cognitive self-perception differs when there is no shared interest such as same career or gender. All these aspects of self-concept emanate from sociology. This essay seeks to discuss self-concept of a group of people in sociological aspects.

People are social beings, and we often live as a social group. A social group can consist of two or three individuals who interact, have similarity in characteristics and possess a sense of unity. Social group members identify themselves with the group. The group has a common perception of who they are, for instance, in a school people can say “we are students,” “we are teachers” or “we are cooks.” Each group shares common characteristics concerning themselves. They interact among themselves as a social group. Identifying yourself with a certain social group builds one's self-esteem. Despite identifying with a certain group, there are outstanding self-concept differences among the members. These perceptions might be as a result of the social group influence.

Self-Consciousness

There are two forms of self-consciousness; public self-consciousness and private self-consciousness. Private self-consciousness is the act of introspecting on your inner thoughts and feelings. Public self-awareness is the tendency of focusing on our outer image and the extent to which we are meeting other people laid down standards towards us. Individuals with high self-consciousness have the notion of how other people think about them. They might engage in acts such as looking themselves in a mirror before they leave the house. Individuals who spend a lot of time in front of the mirror are prospective in letting other people's opinions rather than their own regulate their actions and focus on making themselves look good to others.

Studies have shown that there exist cultural variances in public self-consciousness among people of Western and East Asian cultures. The East Asian collectivist cultures do possess higher public self-consciousness compared to the western individualistic cultures. For instance, research conducted by giving Canadian students questionnaires showed that those sitting in front of the mirror were less likely to cheat compared to those without it. The same research had no effects on Japanese college students. This research shows that people of East Asian cultures are aware of public self-consciousness and any environmental manipulation designed to increase public self-consciousness doesn't affect them. From this study, it shows that there are cultural and individual differences in a manner and degree to which we tend to be aware of ourselves.

Self-Concept Theories

Self-awareness theory asserts that whenever people emphasize themselves, they often compare their contemporary behavior against their internal standards. Often, when we conduct these comparisons, we find that we aren't measuring up. As a result, this theory further states that when we find that there's a discrepancy between our ideal and actual selves, we are distressing ourselves. On the other hand, when we find congruence in our self-awareness comparisons, it elucidates positive effects. Self-consciousness is affected significantly by either self-affirmation or non-affirming. Individuals who affirm their self-consciousness are likely to engage themselves in heuristic processing due to elevated moods.

Overestimating How Others View Us

Despite self-concept being essential in all human schemas, and despite people knowing how they view themselves and how others view them, this doesn't entirely depict people as concentrating only on themselves. As a matter of fact, we don't generally think about ourselves more than we think about other things and the people within our surroundings. Self-concept needs a chunk of self-awareness. People tend to overestimate how others are focusing on them. Although one might be self-conscious about something he or she has done in the past, it doesn't mean that people are focusing on you. Studies have shown that people who interact a lot with others tend to think that people are paying all the attention towards them, which is entirely different to those doing so. Well, this is interestingly good news because we tend to focus mostly our embarrassing moments. For instance, one might have made an embarrassing mistake while in a group, and this doesn't mean that these people are focusing on you or rather the mistake one did.

Self-concept varies in relation to age. For instance, teenagers normally are highly self-conscious and do believe and think that others are watching them. This emanates from the fact that teenagers think much about themselves and as a result falls under the guise that other people are paying attention to them. Basing on this perspective, it's not a surprise to see them feeling embarrassed by the presence of their parents in public let alone their behavior.

Besides, most people believe that their internal self does show more than they do. Research conducted in a classroom situation on "lie detection" shows how much people believe in lies. Group of five students was made to give statements in front of the class. The researcher had written that every student from the five groups was to give a false answer. Only four students were to present the correct answers. After each round, the presenting students were asked each who and how many they thought would believe that it was a lie. The results were that all the liars overestimated the lies detectability. Only 25% of the classroom identified them as liars compared to their estimated number of over 44%. Basing on this, self-concept within a group tends to be highly prevalent to an illusion of transparency. Despite how we view ourselves to be, it might not be the truth.

Self-Concept Influence by Others

A positive view by ones social group acts as a booster to one's self-esteem and ultimately self-concept. Adherence to a social group acts as a way of protecting one's self-concept. A continued interaction builds a certain perception by the group towards you. In order to be perceived in a positive light by others, we have to make ourselves productive and competent within the group. We endeavor to prove to others that we are worthy and good people by presenting ourselves positively such as being likable, strong, intelligent, and attractive. This habit of endeavoring to present ourselves positively in a bid to build our self-concept and self-esteem is referred to as self-presentation.

The use of self-presentation in a group to enhance self-concept manifests itself through our behaviors. People spend money in a quest to look good and to ensure that people are attracted to them. One can seek status in a group by having big houses and posh cars. Sometimes people might strive to engage in unwarranted behaviors when trying to seek a status in a social group. As a result, despite one trying to improve self-esteem, the self-concept gets affected. The people around you also build self-concept despite emanating from within. For instance, people engage in Facebook self-exhibitionism and self-promotion to get attention, comments, and likes. These self-enhancement strategies elevate and change their self-concept (Toma and Hancock 321).

How Does Sociology Explain The Relationship between Minority and The Dominant Group In This Country?

Dominant Group

In sociology, the dominant group is the group that holds power, social status and privileges. It’s also described as the social group that controls the rewards and value system in a given society (Winters). For instance, the dominant group in the western culture is white. Nevertheless, being the majority doesn’t depict that the group is dominant. Across the globe, the whites constitute of merely less than 25 percent, but I can assert that the dominant group is whites.

Minority Group

The minority group is described as a group, which is racially, ethnically or culturally distinct and coexists as a subordinate in the midst of a dominant group. Being minority doesn’t necessarily equate to the population number (Healey and O'Brien 10). The minority can have a large population, but another group dominates their power. For instance, in the apartheid South Africa (1950-91), the whites wield power over the majority Africans. The absence of distinguishing features keeps populations from being identified as minorities.

Relationship and How They Control People's Lives

In sociology and the real world, the relationship between the minority and the majority is always a sour one (Healey and O'Brien 12). The minority are the subordinate group in sociology, and they often face discrimination. Certain characteristics distinguish the minority group. For instance, they face unequal treatment and have unique cultural and physical traits they stay in solidarity. Besides, they have in-group marriages, have ascribes statuses and are aware of subordination. The minority tends to cut themselves from a majority of the activities of the society and do not receive equal rewards. Their movement is curtailed if the society they live is closed. The self-concept of minority individuals is dearly affected. They live with a negative perspective of themselves. Their self-esteem is always reduced in the presence of the dominant group (Winters).

For minority groups to disappear, there must be assimilation. But complete absorption is almost impossible as the group embraces acculturation. The dominant group then becomes more accepting of the differences and eclectic. For instance, in the Latin America, the whites, Indians, and blacks have acculturated and assimilated amongst themselves. This has led to a majority mixed society. The increase in the number of minority groups leads to pluralism in the context of a large group. The majority might opt to stay tolerant in the presence of the minority groups. This may be due to the fear of moral, and ideological and even political impediments. For instance, despite blacks facing slavery and discrimination, the whites have been reluctant to eliminate their existence.

Conclusion

In summation, self-consciousness is the inbuilt desire to know how other people perceive us. It depends on the personality of the individual. Individuals with narcissistic personality are most affected by this self-consciousness. Besides, it varies from society to society, for instance, people from the East Asian collectivist cultures are highly self-conscious compared to people from western individualistic cultures. Self-consciousness can be created and enhanced by the perceptions of the people around you. It significantly affects one's behavior. People might engage in activities that seek to boost their self-esteem and also their self-consciousness. The presence of dominant and minority groups in society has significant effects on every individual. For instance, the minorities face discrimination due to lack of power. The self-concept of minorities is suppressed due to the adversaries they face in their day-to-day lives.