The Basis for Everyday Life - Essay Example

EVERYDAY LIFE + Task 2 Humans, unlike other creatures, are beings who are involved in various tasks each day since they hold a higher degree of intelligence. While humans have their basic needs, for humans it is more than the food and clothes needed daily. In addition to these, humans have ambitions, goals, and plans to fulfill each day. On the other hand, since none of the humans being is self-sufficient, seeking services from others become an inevitable exercise. Consequently, visiting various places in a bid to have these needs met becomes an everyday affair to some. Interestingly, while some of these needs are uniform, there are certain processes that are followed in serving each person who needs them. Often, this calls for structures and exercise of power in order to effectively deliver on this task. In this paper, the purpose is to answer the question appearing at the top of this page. Everyday situation Several activities are undertaken by self, but the major ones include visiting the bank and queuing at the mall. Mainly, these two form the basis for everyday life, though there are other minor activities, which are not as demanding as the ones listed above. Each of these activities presents social structures, processes and categories and relations as well as exercise of power. While it is often thought that all people are equal, these activities tend to contest this common notion since not everybody is treated with the same standards, though the services might be similar. The following section seeks to describe how of these activities are presented in the case of visiting a mall, as it is the most common practice undertaken on a daily basis. Social processes Social processes talk of the methods that people apply in their interaction, and this is never limited to the individuals familiar with each other. As indicated earlier, humans differ with animals in a number of ways, thus express themselves in different way. Besides possessing varied traits, humans tend to be social, and will most of the time spend time creating relationships. Often, these relationships can emanate even from a place where individuals are strangers to each other. According to Anderson and Carter (2011), this perfectly fits the traits humans tend to have which at times seem inevitable. At the shopping mall, this happens all the time especially when one is making a purchase. So often, the attendants tend to show compassion and politeness to the customers, just to ensure the customer-business owner relationship remains intact. Apart from the attendants who can seldom take a minute without greeting or making a polite impression, other shoppers have been noted to be social as well. Greeting by other people in the mall is not a practice no longer seen as a strange thing; it is a normal occurrence. Similarly, the cashier’s polite conversation is more motivated by the human nature of socialization than the profession they possess. These assertions correspond to the ones expressed by Zastrow and Kirst-Ashman (2007) who stated that the human nature finds satisfaction more in relationships than in any material thing. That is to say, while there is a need for humans to have other desires, the essentials ones are based on relationships. Again, social processes are confirmed by some of the people visiting the mall whereby it is uncommon to find a shopper walking alone to the mall. Mostly, there is an individual accompanying the other, and this underlines the assertion that humans interact, as they are social beings. Even though this does not imply that the shoppers are always accompanied, it has been noted that a majority of people who pay a visit to this mall have this tendency. Therefore, it is clear that humans want to associate with others, as there is a need that can only be satisfied by interaction with a fellow human. Social structures Even though humans have a tendency of association and interaction, this practice is often shaped by certain principles. Social class, values and beliefs all form the basis on which social structures are founded (Martin, 2003; Bell and Hartmann, 2007). When individuals in a particular social class meet, the interaction process tends to be exciting and can last longer. Conversely, when there is a significant disparity in values, beliefs and social class, the relationship can hardly last (Portes, 2010). Even though the society has already set these structures in the social stratification trend, the individuals themselves also tend to embrace either unknowingly or otherwise. These structures are evident at the many malls visited often as people tend to flock in with a majority of them seeming to be of the same class. In fact, their relatives accompany the individuals via a judgment reached through hearing them. In the case of friends, their mode of dressing suggests that their social class is relatively the same. Many times, people of the same class find it easy to associate, as there is no burden on the other as is often the case where this is not balanced. In addition, financial status that seems to balance people in the society; beliefs play an integral role as well. Beliefs, whether religious, ideological, or simply political, tend to influence the interaction people have. People whose religious beliefs match often talk of the same, though minor differences are likely (Mohan and Ahlemann, 2011). The value of a relationship is often determined by the kinds of beliefs the parties have, and to some extent, could influence ultimate outcome (Xu and Xiangyang, 2008). For that reason, people tend either to influence the other party to conform to their beliefs or simply overlook the need in order to preserve the relationship. Just as it is in the case of social class, beliefs especially political and religious are rampant in the shopping mall, as observed often. It is common to find the shoppers talking about their religion as they go about their shopping. Similarly, others contend or argue along the same line concerning their political affiliations. Even though it has been noted that many do disagree, this difference of opinion does not seem to separate a majority of the people. It is not once that individuals who discuss politics have been seen frequenting the same mall together. This habit confirms that beliefs and interests are common in any relationship, but not solely determinant of the direction the relationship takes. Categories and relations So far, this paper has highlighted how the people frequenting the malls tend to have varied classes and beliefs. The mall itself seems to have categories as well especially when it comes to operations and the prices of its products. First, it was observed that the individuals tasked with selling women clothes were men, contrary to what one would expect. Interestingly, the buyers did not seem to exhibit any sign of discomfort because of this setting. In fact, a majority of the ones being served making the purchases seemed to be satisfied. While this observation might seem erroneous or somewhat intriguing, it simply underlines yet another fact that humans prefer experimentation. According to Glenn (2004) it is the nature of humans keep trying new things now and then. That means, the women at the mall have nothing against their fellow women. Rather, the need in them tends to push them for a satisfaction. Secondly, there seemed to be a higher regard for people who made purchases of considerable amount unlike the others. The shoppers were served as per the value of their shopping whereby several individuals served the individuals with many products. At first, it seems the malls discriminated against the shoppers lacking many commodities; one could also understand the time it would take to serve the shoppers. Also, the many of the malls that have been visited seem to give priority to women who had their children with them. Evidently, this trend seemed to augur well with other shoppers. Exercise of power Wherever there is order, there is a strong likelihood that power is exercised, and in the cases of the malls visited, this was not exceptional. Power is often defined as the ability to influence a person or a group of people, thus causing an effect on events (Blois, 2007).In order to have a successful venture, program, or any other event, power is an imperative, and is often vested on an individuals or a small number of people who then influence the masses. While not everybody realizes it, whenever one is offering services, they have some power since the person seeking the services is acting as per the instructions issued by the giver. Exercise of power is evident in everyday activity, and is demonstrated in a couple of ways. For instance, the cashiers would occasionally direct the clients to the other counters, and the former never disputed. Whereas power is often perceived as having dominion over others, it became apparent in the observation that power is actually about influence, not control. Even though the shoppers would adhere to the instructions issued by the cashiers, the latter used polite, gentle and professional in addressing the former. There are additional attributes of power including ensure there is order in a particular place or event, and as observed, the malls are no different. Sometimes, power need not be exercise in the harshest way; systems are normally set to aid in various areas. In the case of shopping malls, theft and destruction of some commodities is likely especially with the children allowed. To ensure that it is well mitigated, the management has ensured there are cameras install all over. To avoid cases of damage to products, the management has employees whose duty includes helping the clients get the product with the last difficulty. Also, there was an exercise of power in the sense that the customer respected the opening and closing hours as clearly indicated. Some of the shopping malls visited had 07:00hrs as the opening time with 22:00hrs being the closing time. On one occasion, it was noted that customers started streaming in the mall shortly after 08:00hrs. In yet another occasion, customers avoided getting to the mall close to the closing hours. Even though in these scenarios no one needed to force the shoppers out, it is clear that customers avoided getting as they knew there would not permission to do so. Existence of inequality As reported earlier, the women who had children with them were given priorities perhaps because of the perceived burden. While the motive is understandable, it is an evident display of inequality because some people are bypassed. Further, some of the malls have executive members who can frequent the mall even at odd hours, mainly early morning. Upon further gathering of information, it was noted the customers who tend to make shopping of larger amounts of money than others, and ones who frequent the malls often. While one could argue that this is a good of honoring loyal customers, it has the markings of inequality. Finally, in the cases where couples visited the mall it seemed as though the men were tasked with carrying the shopping that was perceived to be heavy. Even though some of the couples bought light commodities, that which seemed heavy had men carrying it while women either walked without anything or simply had their bags. Surprisingly, even when there were two or more shopping bags to carry, it is the men who seemed to have the entire load. Even more interesting was the fact that the men carrying these bags seemed comfortable. Clearly, inequality could be said to be existing sometimes because of the cultural views and the traditions that humans have inherited. From this case, it is clear some forms of inequalities, but ones that seem to go well with the perceived affected party. Bibliography Anderson, R. E., and Carter, I. E. (2011). Human behavior in the social environment: a social systems approach. New Brunswick, AldineTransaction Bell, J. M., & Hartmann, D. (2007). Diversity in Everyday Discourse: The Cultural Ambiguities and Consequences of “Happy Talk”. American Sociological Review. Blois, K. (2007). Business Customers Behaviour – A Challenge for the Relationship Marketing Concept? Journal of Business Market Management. Glenn, S. (2004). Individual behavior, culture, and social change. Pubmed, 22(7), 233-234. Martin, F. (2003) ‘Introduction’, in F. Martin (ed.) Interpreting Everyday Culture, Edward Arnold Publishers,London. Mohan, K., & Ahlemann, F. (2011). What Methodology Attributes Are Critical for Potential Users? Understanding the Effect of Human Needs. Journal of Psychological studies pp.344-346 Portes, A. (2010). 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