Social Observations

I sat next to six females and two males who were all sitting by themselves in the library. I encountered a variety of reactions but saw similarities in most of them. Just as I expected some subjects were on their phones others did not pay much if any attention to my presence but that is not to say that no reactions surprised me. The frequency of different reactions was low all eight subjects checked their phones or used it in some way and all expressed some form of awkwardness by glancing at me instead of making direct eye contact. Six of the eight kept to themselves and never fully acknowledge my presence except when they moved their belongings over closer to themselves after I sat down. There were three reactions that surprised me the most for they went against my initial expectations. After sitting next to a male subject he did what most subjects did, he moved his things and shifted around a bit in his seat but instead of continuing his work or going on his phone he instead got up and left. The two other reactions both came from female subjects at different times. First I went ahead and sat next to the girl and she looked at me and smiled, after a few glances and looking at her phone she began to talk to me and stopped doing her work. A couple of subjects after her also glanced over at me from time to time but they either went back to doing their work or remained on their

In this paper, I discuss my experience with observing a group counseling session with the purpose of evaluating it in terms of how it is set up, how it is run, interventions used, culturally sensitivity, and the contribution toward my professional development as a social worker. The group setting plays a critical role in social work outside of the individual session and can be largely beneficial for clients in the forms of therapy, counseling, self-help, and support. By attempting to better understand group interventions, I will learn how to apply this strategy in aiding clients for whom this method is appropriate by increasing their social supports.

On September 12, 2008, I observed two people; Person A and Person B. The observation took place at Applebee’s, a local restaurant, beginning at 7:21 p.m. and ending observation at 8:06 p.m. I was serving their table for the evening, enabling myself to observe them closely. The restaurant had died down from the dinner rush, leaving them one of three tables in the smoking section, normally filled with eight. Along with the outside light fading, the lighting indoors was dim, making the dining experience feel more quiet and intimate. The background noise was filled with a light roar of other group’s conversations, and a jazz station played quietly from the speakers overhead.

John does not socialize with his classmates but he will communicate academically with one student. The seating arrangement was modified to allow these two students to sit adjacent to each other. These changes could foster social communication for John.

On a daily basis one has the ability of witnessing individuals of different social classes interact, mix, and sunder into groups amongst themselves. As one observes people interacting with each

I decided to go to Panda Express at 5:30 pm for my observations, while there I was able to observe just how much people rely on nonverbal communications to get their point across. Although I witnessed several encounters of unique body language, there were also a few actions that reoccurred several times in several different people. For example, when a customer would approach the counter where employee served the food, the employee would raise her eyebrows and smile at the customer. The employee’s smile, however, did not reach her eyes suggesting that while it is her job to smile and be welcoming to the customer, she most likely did not want to be at work. Additionally, I noticed that when customers approached the counter about 90 percent of them had their arms crossed. The act of crossing ones arms usually means that a person is trying to put a barrier between them and a situation that they either don’t like, or are uncomfortable with. This may mean that the customers were displeased with having to wait in line to get their food, on the other hand it may be that they were simply comfortable folding their arms. Once they reached the front of the line, every customer pointed to the food they wanted along with verbally telling the employee. This made their communication more effective as it helped to overcome the barrier of sound because the restaurant was noisy.

I decided for my social observation the mall would be a good place to start. I came there on a Friday evening when there should be plenty of people to watch. I also sat in the Barnes and Noble café after that to observe. I expected to see a lot of people shopping and conversing. A few things did stand out to me within the few hours I was there. Some things I didn’t expect to see. We are expected to behave a certain way in public determined by our culture as to what is acceptable. Some people stay well within the lines while some might stray outside the norms but never too far typically. Usually the ones to travel to the extremes are adolescents and teenagers. This is what I observed.

as well as other sociological sources (e.g., textbooks, journal articles) in this section. You will need to

Breaking social norms is something I shy away from. I refrain from breaking social norms because I know what it can do to a person’s reputation, but also because I was taught not to. Those are the reasons this assignment was particularly challenging for me, so I kept it small and just chose to sit next to people. To get various reactions I sat next to my family, friends, and finally strangers. Each group reacted differently to me sitting next to them and only the strangers reacted the way I thought they would. I started by first sitting next to family members as they were the easiest to reach.

Soldiers are trained to be altruist even when they don’t agree with it they are taught a sense of self service and duty and no matter how they feel about someone or what the person looks like they are going to help. Males and females soldiers the same.

People like their own desk space at college. Looking around my seven thirty math class the class there’s few people sitting next to anyone (including myself), and with it being this far into the semester just sitting next to someone can mess up there routine. I witnessed this Monday morning when a student walked in late and had to sit next to a girl that hasn’t been sat next to before. She had shown her annoyance by dropping her shoulders as if she had sighed but had a facial expression showing aggravation. This illustrates two things in the book “building interpersonal communication skills” by Joseph DeVito. The first is

Groups talk about goals in different ways, using different words. Some groups have major and minor goals or meta- and micro-goals; others divide goals into mission, purpose or goal, and objectives, while other groups talk about aims and expectations. A group is strengthened to the extent it has clear goals and all members know what their roles are in helping to achieve them (Dimock and Kass, 2008, p.62-63). My placement is currently in the Mental Health field and as mental health workers we have groups that are organized to promote to mental health of all and to support the resilience and recovery of people experiencing mental illness.

Social interaction occurs between all individuals in society and can be studied through the use of the sociological imagination. A sociological imagination allows one to link their everyday activities and situations to society as a whole. I can study my own personal social interactions and the situations I encounter by applying concepts, theories, and perspectives that sociologists have developed for analyzing society and social situations. Although I encounter situations on a day-to-day basis, one notable example would be when I volunteered at the soup kitchen, where I had to control my emotions and play a specific role as part of my volunteer position.

The “Sociological Imagination” was introduced by C. Wright Mills in 1959. C. Wright Mills explains in the article “The Promise” the concept of the sociological imagination. The Sociological Imagination is the way of thinking focused on seeing the impact of social forces or social contact in our individual lives. The intent of the sociological imagination is to see the bigger picture within which individuals live their lives; to recognize personal troubles and public issues as two aspects of a single process. It also challenges the individualistic reasoning, for example, the talent, skill, hard work, and motivation. “The Sociological Imagination enables its possessors to understand the larger historical scene in terms of its meaning for the inner life and the external career of a variety of individuals” (The Promise, Page 3). It’s a way for a person to look at their life as a result of their interaction with society. It can explain why a life is lived, the way it is lived, and all events, decisions, successes, and failures that have occurred. I believe as part of the sociological imagination social locators are a major part of it. Social locators are categories that you belong to that you have no control over. Some of these social locators can be for example, gender, race, social class, age, ability, religion, sexual orientation, and geographic location. Social locators in a certain sense creates our reality. Our social location determines our access to power, privilege, or our lack of power and privilege. Each group membership confers a certain set of social roles, rules, and power, which heavily influence our identity and how we see the world.

Symbolic interaction offers a dramaturgical perspective of how people identify and create their social self through social interaction. Many social theorist studies social interaction/ self as a function to our society. In addition, microsociology develop the idea of applying social interaction on a smaller sample size within the society. Therefore, there were an increase in the study of human interaction and the self. Mead develop his idea through symbolic interaction and social psychology of the human mind. Simmel develop his idea through the perspective of symbolic interaction of urban sociology. Both sociologist focus on the inter social aspect of the human life.