Family Political Discussion

My parents never really talked about politics around me when I was growing up. My dad would always watch the news but I was never fascinated by it so I would just go play instead. For the rest of my family, there are some that like to discuss politics nonstop. I don't necessarily think that they were discussing it with me as much as just talking about politics around me.

Sometimes my parents and I will discuss politics. We will talk about political issues going on and what differences we can make.

They like to talk about politics with me more now because I am getting older and before I move out and make my own decisions, I need to know what is going on in the political world. This helps me recognize who I am in the political world and what I want to stand for. Politics have never been very extreme in my house and I don't expect that to change.

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No one in my family feels super strongly about politics and forcing their beliefs on you. There are a few people but I wouldn't say they are forceful with their beliefs as much as they just want you to hear their side and understand what they are saying.

I would say that both of my parents are civically active. I think that they are civically active because they try to be involved in as much as they can and support local businesses. They both are active members in church and attend most of the church held community events.

I as well are a member in the church and attend everything I can. They have influenced my own view on the importance of civic engagement by showing me that you don't have to be involved in everything but find one good group to involved in and stick with it.

I think as a child my parents civic action affected my civic engagement tremendously due to the fact that I couldn't drive and sometimes had no choice. I think for me as a child I was mainly dependent on my parents and what they were doing in the community to affect my involvement. As for most kids, I just followed what my parents did. As I have gotten older it is more up to me on what I get involved in and do with my spare time. I think for myself now, I am more civically active than if my parents didn't raise me in it. I do believe that they have affected my civic engagement for the most part.

I personally feel like my civic engagement could be more but I am happy with where I am at right now. At this time in my life I am very busy and don't have a ton of free time. I think church has helped me be involved civically and be accountable when I don't show up for what I signed up for. I would like to eventually get more involved in my community and also in my school community.

I plan on influencing my kids in the same manner as my parents did with me. I want my own children to get engaged at a younger age. Have them continue in a steady church and school so they will feel more comfortable in their community. I believe that children are the start of good things. I want to be involved myself so my children will want to follow in my footsteps. Children are very influential so by being a good role model, I hope they will appreciate me when they grow older. I appreciate what my parents did for me and hope the same for my kids.

I act different around my friends, around authorities such as police officers, principals, and teachers and I act different by myself or with family. With my friends I act different by being outgoing, loud, fun, and trying to make everyone laugh. This is different because I'm always trying to be loud and funny. I am changing to a more outgoing personality because I want to be fun and have fun with my friends. The role I am playing here is the fun, outgoing friend. Another situation I might act different would be around authorities. I find myself doing this quite often and not necessarily on purpose.

I might act one way and then when a police officer or a teacher walks in the room, my actions change ever so subtly. I tend to be quieter and get extremely nervous. I do this, I believe, because in my opinion I'm being respectful. I have always been this way and tend to be the quieter one in the classroom. I, personally, find it more courteous. This is my way of being polite and honoring their position. The role I am playing in this situation would be a respectful student or citizen. The last way I might act different would be by myself or around my immediate family. I would say I'm more vocal about what I really want to do and how I'm feeling. I tend to be more myself and most of the time I have more fun. I think this would be the closest to my actual personality and my comfort. I am able to act this way is because I'm around my family the most and sometimes they judge me but it's all love. The role I am playing here would be myself.

I think what Cooley was saying about the looking glass self is that when we are around others, we act upon how they are acting. The example Cooley uses in the book is how professors have to determine if her students understand or if they are engaged in the subject she is teaching. Most of the time we take someone expressions differently then how they mean them. When you are out at Wal-Mart, you see a group of girls they are whispering and looking your way. Naturally you would start to feel self-conscious and try to remove yourself from that situation as quickly as you can. Cooley is saying that what if they weren't making fun of your lazy outfit or the tired bags under your eyes. We might be taking other people's expressions the wrong way and causing ourselves to be self-conscious.

According to Mead the generalized other is about how a person's behavior is affected by their social environment. We change our personalities due to social norms. No one wants to feel like the odd one out or judged by being different from the trends. Mead explains this to us and called it the generalized other. We base our actions and personalities around what we think others will like. What we are thinking may not even be true but because we sit and overthink, it becomes a real issue for humans. The role of the student/citizen I think the looking glass self has socialized me in many ways. One way would be that I always get nervous when a teacher calls on me or asks to talk to me and when a police officer pulls me over.

I am most likely not doing anything wrong but because I worry about getting in trouble, I change my behavior and personality to avoid the chance. With the generalized other I think it socialized me by making my behavior change due to the norm of society. When called on in front of the class, by the teacher, about my opinion on something I get nervous that what I say will be different than the norm and I will get judged. I overthink when put in situations like these that cause me to not be vocal about certain things.