Sociological Imagination Essay: Am I supposed to be “lovin it”?
In this paper, I will use the sociological imagination to connect my personal experiences of being a Crew Member at McDonald 's to everyday social interaction, culture, and society. The topics I will be exploring involve understanding values and norms expected of me as an employee at McDonald 's as well as using Goffman 's theories of impression management and Dramaturgy. I will examine the roles that I am expected to play with other characters which could be my co-workers or my customers themselves. All of these concepts are part of the logic that is the basis of the current social construction that we agree with, and have maintained today.
Throughout my six month employment …show more content…
A society is a system of relationships with each other, within this system we have values. These values are ideas that are held together by either group of people or individuals, these values shape our ideas on what we prefer, what we do not like, what is acceptable, and what is not acceptable. Norms are a reflection of values which change from culture to culture, norms are the rules that we are expected to live by. An example of norms in my sociological imagination is me being expected to play the “perfect hostess”. Impression Management: The world as a stage, from the first moment that I had my job interview I had begun impression management. The day of my interview I had just been at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery burying my grandfather I then had to put aside my authentic self which was feeling grief in order to convince the employer that I was the best fit for the job by using impression management to portray a role that would show that I had the qualifications to fit the needs to be “cast”in the role of a crew member. After that, I received a call from my now employer informing me that they 'd like to offer the job. I now had a new role to play. This role has a lot to do with my Social Position within this system, my uniform was something that people used to define me, however, my gender and race also play a big factor. There have been …show more content…
Although I did not know it by name the idea of dramaturgy for me was associated with William Shakespeare who said “All the world 's a stage and all the men and women are merely players…”Brainy Quote. This idea stayed with me my whole life after that, however learning about Goffman 's theory allowed me to gave a name to what i was doing. Also to expand my knowledge impression management, and audience segregation. Noms and values are another great example on how giving something a name expands your knowledge, before learning this i hardly stopped to think about my values affecting my norms i just always thought this is the way things are and i have to fit these expectations like everyone else. My experience is simply a small part of a bigger problem in the world, not so much on being a different character but on why I have to be a certain character. My experience at Mcdonald 's may not seem like it 's a part of a larger however there are about 1.9 million workers working at mcdonalds and like me they also have to play this role designed for us, having to sacrifice our authentic selves in order to serve the customers and exceed expectations. Yes this is a minimum wage job but for a majority of people at my work this job is just to help pay the bills for school.When do we draw the line and say yes you have rights
In this paper, I will use the sociological imagination to connect my personal experiences of being a Crew Member at McDonald 's to everyday social interaction, culture, and society. The topics I will be exploring involve understanding values and norms expected of me as an employee at McDonald 's as well as using Goffman 's theories of impression management and Dramaturgy. I will examine the roles that I am expected to play with other characters which could be my co-workers or my customers themselves. All of these concepts are part of the logic that is the basis of the current social construction that we agree with, and have maintained today.
Throughout my six month employment …show more content…
A society is a system of relationships with each other, within this system we have values. These values are ideas that are held together by either group of people or individuals, these values shape our ideas on what we prefer, what we do not like, what is acceptable, and what is not acceptable. Norms are a reflection of values which change from culture to culture, norms are the rules that we are expected to live by. An example of norms in my sociological imagination is me being expected to play the “perfect hostess”. Impression Management: The world as a stage, from the first moment that I had my job interview I had begun impression management. The day of my interview I had just been at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery burying my grandfather I then had to put aside my authentic self which was feeling grief in order to convince the employer that I was the best fit for the job by using impression management to portray a role that would show that I had the qualifications to fit the needs to be “cast”in the role of a crew member. After that, I received a call from my now employer informing me that they 'd like to offer the job. I now had a new role to play. This role has a lot to do with my Social Position within this system, my uniform was something that people used to define me, however, my gender and race also play a big factor. There have been …show more content…
Although I did not know it by name the idea of dramaturgy for me was associated with William Shakespeare who said “All the world 's a stage and all the men and women are merely players…”Brainy Quote. This idea stayed with me my whole life after that, however learning about Goffman 's theory allowed me to gave a name to what i was doing. Also to expand my knowledge impression management, and audience segregation. Noms and values are another great example on how giving something a name expands your knowledge, before learning this i hardly stopped to think about my values affecting my norms i just always thought this is the way things are and i have to fit these expectations like everyone else. My experience is simply a small part of a bigger problem in the world, not so much on being a different character but on why I have to be a certain character. My experience at Mcdonald 's may not seem like it 's a part of a larger however there are about 1.9 million workers working at mcdonalds and like me they also have to play this role designed for us, having to sacrifice our authentic selves in order to serve the customers and exceed expectations. Yes this is a minimum wage job but for a majority of people at my work this job is just to help pay the bills for school.When do we draw the line and say yes you have rights