who am I?

I AM?

My sociology teacher wrote these 2 words on the blackboard and asked every student about this. When it's my turn, the only word that came out of my mouth is, "i'm Indonesian." There's a guy who came out with the "correct" answer based on the sociological meaning. "I am who you perceive me to be". We are the product of our interaction with other people. Our identity changes everytime we interact with different people. How my parents see me is different from how my friends see me.

I learnt two new sociological terms, looking glass self and generalized other. LOOKING GLASS SELF is basically the way you think others see you. If I am your looking glass, how do you think I perceive you?GENERALIZED OTHER is the way you think others expect you to act. Our society, our culture is the generalized other. For example, some societies think premarital sex is taboo and no one in that society is expected to have premarital sex. Erving Goffman coined the term IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT- a process by which people control how others will perceive them. He "regarded everyday interaction as a series of attempts to con people". To him social interaction is just "a big con game". It's true. Whenever we interact, we try to act 'not ourselves' as we want to impress others. We want to THINK that we have leave a good impression on them.

Hmph... may be that's why I hate to interact because I hate acting and I'm not a good actress. Haha...

I start to like the subject again. Although it takes sometime to fully understand the meaning of the sociological terms, the subject is very practical. Sociology is all about our everyday live, about human behavior. And that's about how I behave. I just have to look at myself and the people around me , and I could instantly apply what I have learnt. I also learn more about my behavior, my interaction, my mindset. Sociology is so enlightening! No?