Introduction To Sociological Mindfulness

Sociological mindfulness is the idea that an individual is “tuned-in to how the social world works” through the understanding and critical analysis of social development and social consequences (Schwalbe 5). This idea goes against social understanding of wester society, and specifically American individualism. I think this course really helped foster by ability to tune into the social world, specifically how the social world helps socialize each individual through institutional factors. For example, how society and institutions have constructed every individuals social reality and consciousness, making no one immune to social barriers. This course has helped me in my ability to think critically about the sociological impacts on society as …show more content…
Personally, I think that these three traits inhibit sociological mindfulness as a result of their selfish nature; people usually don 't want to think about their own sociological advantages and want to believe their hard work contributed to their success, rather than access to resources and institutional factors. The unfortunate reality of our current society, is that there is no way to go back and “un-socialize” and then “re-socialize” all humans to forget patriarchy, capitalist norms, gender roles, racial barriers, and all of these institutional factors that create social inequality. Rather, the only way to overcome this issue is to be sociologically mindful of the self within society. One way I have come to do this throughout this course is by recognizing some of my own sociologically impactful privileges throughout my life. Particularly, growing up in a family that both values education and feminist ideals that have guided me to not only seek out an undergraduate degree; but hopefully go on to law school and some masters programs. I have realized that a lot of my own drive to do this is not a result of my own personal desires, but rather my family’s expectations of graduate school, and high status careers. Rather than thinking I am completely different and having all these high …show more content…
This theory is the idea that the creation of ones’ “self” comes from interacting with other individuals and being a social mirror to their perceptions of you. I thought this idea was particularly interesting with thinking about my own social development. This “Looking Glass Self” makes me question my own perceived individuality, and realize that I am much more a product of my social context, rather than an independent person. This was something that really made me think introspectively on my own social identity and the identity of the people around me. I found Cooley’s quote “each to each a looking-glass, reflects the other that doth pass,” both poetic and highly impactful in thinking about the socialization of the