The Mask Project
Mask Essay
Breakaway
Being ‘perfect’ is what everyone strives for, following the same schedule that society has planned for everyone. Since when was history made based upon what society wanted us to do? History is made because of people uncovering society’s flaws. Rosa Parks made history by refusing the norms of society and taking the sanctions from that event to persuade others to see society’s imperfections. What she did on that one bus ride when she didn’t sit in the back triggered a very important chain of events that changed the norms of society forever. Rosa broke away. Why can’t we? Imagine you are at the edge of a cliff, and society is the 100 pound hiking boots holding you down to the ground, but what you really want to do is fly away, soar to new heights, and maybe give society a little knock to the head while you are at it. Do you think that Steve Jobs got so rich by following society’s life path? I think not. He chose his own life path because he didn’t want to squeeze into the same box of societal norms with the rest of us. Steve Jobs got so rich because he voiced his opinion and said what ideas he had. History is created by people breaking norms, not following them. Then why do we always strive for what society wants? Now is our time to breakaway.
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Mask Reflection
The mask project was all about relating sociology to my own life. First we learned about how sociology impacts our identity, and how it is like an endless cycle of laundry, it’s almost impossible to get out of it. Next we read articles about how other people had been socialized into their identities, how they had broken the cycle, and what would happen if we didn't have society. After that we made each other’s mask, refined our masks, and then proceeded to color and/or cut our masks to represent how we had been socialized into our identities. During our mask refinement days we also worked on our mask essays. The sociology content that we learned included things like norms, sanctions, taboos, targets, agents, and the idea of looking-glass self. A norm is an expectation or rule that develops out of a group’s values. If you break or follow the norms, a sanction is the reaction the society gives to you. If you break a SUPER STRICT norm that even the thought about violating it would be met with revulsion. This is called a taboo. We also learned about targets and agent groups. An agent group is the majority of society, and carries the advantages. In our culture an agent group would be a middle-class, Christian, straight, working male. A target group is the minority of society and is met with many disadvantages. In our culture an agent group would be a lower-class, gay atheist woman. Finally we learned about looking-glass self. Looking-glass self is the combination of how we think we appear to others and what others actually think of ourselves to create our identity.
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Click here for entire reflection!