Socioautobiography
Throughout my life, I have been admiring the difference in culture among individuals, communities, and society as a whole. Only recently, after taking classes on cultural diversity, did I come to the understanding of the role of culture in shaping individuals’ worldview of phenomena around them. Exposure to specific cultural contexts leads to the complexity in social imagination manifested by different individuals. From my experiential point of view, I can concede that I am a victim of what Celarent (2017) described as varieties of social imagination . I have had a flawed normative understanding of social life courtesy as a result of social settings. However, recent exposure to a variety of places and circumstances have changed a lot of things and opened the inescapable route I must take in deciphering the true meaning of normative social life in the modern cultural complex society.
Racial socialization played a critical role in my endeavor to grasp the meanings of normative social life. I understand that individuals from all backgrounds and race or ethnic groups are exposed to contradictory messages from the broader society propagated through avenues such as education, the media, the judicial system, and healthcare among others. I have relied on racial socialization to understand messages on racial inequalities , a dominant phenomenon in all racially diverse contexts. The outcome is my attempts to de-emphasize the perceived importance of race by advocating for color-blind approaches that encourage the adoption of the culture of meritocracy (Gaskin, 2015). Over time, I have become a believer in hard work as a basic strategy an individual can employ to overcome racism. Gender socialization works based on similar concepts.
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Sociobiography
I interviewed a friend from the Middle East, whose perspective of social life in America revealed useful insights and helped in understanding the implications of cultural diversity as regards to various individuals. The social imagination harbored by the interviewee in regards to his new home country proved to be a monumental obstacle in his efforts to achieve status in the American context. He observed, “I have never experienced difficulties that almost made give up my goal for further studies here like those I face upon arrival.” He suffered from an unprecedented culture shock that impaired his integration process. The primary barrier to integration was language because his mastery of English was poor at the time. However, the interviewee noted that he used racial socialization to survive the ordeal. His observation is consistent with the assertions advanced by Presbitero (2016) about cultural intelligence having an integral role in overcoming culture shock by lessening its detrimental effects on psychological and sociocultural integration of international students.
The interviewee recounted his experiences with the monster of inequality , forcing him to relook his social imagination of the society that stemmed from his country of origin culture. He categorically isolated the rampant individualism among Native Americans as the main reason that international students find it challenging to adapt. Besides, his attempts to use non-verbal communication in the early days of arrival proved ineffective; and it was only after he learnt English that he found it bearable to interact socially. His view of the experiences is that social imagination is indeed diverse in forms, and tends to mislead when applied to a social or cultural setting that an individual is a foreigner.
Comparison/Contrast
The socio autobiography and the sociobiography above indicate the similarities in the effects of social and cultural aspects perceived as normative on the social imagination of individuals. Exposure to specific social settings influenced my worldview and that of the interviewee, though in different ways. Under the circumstances, both of us experienced culture shock upon exposure to different social settings that call for a relook into our social imagination of social phenomena. The observation that can be made in reference to the experiences above is that racial socialization appears to be the standard approach in adapting to the new social environment (Presbitero, 2016).
There are notable differences in my experience of social life and those of the interviewee. For instance, language is not the primary concern in my case, but it is to them because of the level of cultural diversity. Therefore, the differences in our communication strategies are likely to generate alternate views about our shared social setting. The use of non-verbal communication by the interviewee allowed him to experience, firsthand, some of the perceived barriers and inequalities to normative social life.
References
Celarent, B. (2017). Varieties of Social Imagination . University of Chicago Press.
Gaskin, A. (August, 2015). Racial socialization: Ways parents can teach their children about race. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/pi/families/resources/newsletter/2015/08/racial-socialization
Presbitero, A. (2016). Culture shock and reverse culture shock: The moderating role of cultural intelligence in international students’ adaptation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations , 53 , 28-38.
