Thursday, September 8, 2011
Social Construction of Reality
Yesterday in class, our lesson focused on our social construction of reality. To demonstrate, Mr.Salituro had a student spit into a spoon and then asked all of us why it would be so disgusting for him to drink it back up. He did have a point-- we're swallowing salivia all the time, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal to swallow it back up. But, all of us were really disgusted because throughout our lives, we've been conditioned to believe that salivia is okay because it's inside the body. No one can control the fact that they're constantly swallowing their salivia, so doing so is socially acceptable. But, we've been taught that swallowing spit is gross. There isn't really a definite answer for why it's gross (possibly because the whole putting body fluids back into you thing is seen as disturbing) besides that fact that that is what we've been taught to believe all our lives. After this lesson, we were all really able to understand what our teacher meant when he described this social construction of reality-- it is how society has conditioned and shaped our beliefs on what is acceptable and what isn't. After the lesson, I started thinking of other ways society has changed the way I look at things. For example, maybe if I wasn't born in the United States-- I wouldn't understand our extreme obsession with sports or something along those lines.
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I like how you tied in the spitting of the saliva to out beliefs on what is acceptable/not. Good use of examples as well! :)
ReplyDeleteI thought what Sal said about spit was really interesting. I never thought about how it's the same as saliva and only gross due to the views of our society.
ReplyDeleteI love your last example that if you weren't born in the US you may no understand the obsession we have with sports. I agree completely that society has shaped who everyone is and what is "acceptable" and "not acceptable" in our lives.
ReplyDeleteI too, started to think about how different my life would have been if I lived in a different place.
ReplyDeleteI too thought the lesson was very helpful in understanding the social construction of reality. It showed how we were all commonly brought up in an American society that discourages drinking your own spit. This along with many other habits we now have have been shaped by our own social construction of reality.
ReplyDeleteI think sports is a great example. Think about how big of a deal the Superbowl is. Imagine what it is like in Japan - nothing! No big deal.
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