People Like Us David Brooks Analysis

David Brook’s essay, “People Like Us, describes about the tolerance and diversity in the United States. Since the great immigration of the late 19th century, America has been cited as one of the most diverse countries in the world. The United States is home to individuals from many different races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, political views, interests, personalities, and income levels. However, according to Brook’s, instead of the population of the country uniting in its diversity and using it as a strength, individuals are trying to distance themselves from others who are not like themselves, rather, band themselves together with those who are like them. Brook’s notes that, even though most of Americans are doing the right thing by finding locations where they are most comfortable and where they believe they can succeed. Their decisions make them achieve their goals often lead towards their own ethnic or racial extractions. For instance, Brook’s himself confesses that he has in the past gravitated towards places where he believed he could be most comfortable in and where he also felt he could pursue his identity. He further states, that the majority of his friends are middle-income level Caucasians and conservative Christians. Brooks’ main argument in the essay is that many individuals in the United States often do not even bother to show that they would like to

Whether we are from different cultures or religions or if we look at the behaviour of animals we all like to be connected socially and feel accepted in society. (Yalom)

David Brooks, who is a successful journalist, columnist, and self - described “comic sociologist” at The New York Times, communicates the dilemma of diversification in his expository essay “People Like Us”. Brooks thinks that people should encourage the diverse community to perceive and esteem each other 's different reflection in America. David Brooks demonstrates why all different kinds of humans are attracted to identical and similar races, ethnicities, religions, beliefs, political values, and classes in his essay based on typical examples surrounding us. In other words, Brooks argues all kinds of humans are most comfortable and pleasant living and working with people who share the same values and ideas. Brooks’ convincible thoughts

In addition, Brooks judges people based on their purposefully segregating from others based on their differences. In other words, he believes that people aren’t able to accept each other if they have unalike preferences. Brooks says, “Instead, what I have seen all around the country is people making strenuous efforts to group themselves with people who are basically like themselves.”(331) The reality is that people unconsciously click with others that are similar to them, but they don’t intend to separate themselves from others, since they are accustomed to going out to public places and having to see people of different nationalities and life-styles. He tried to prove his point by affirming that, “In Manhattan, the owner of a $3 million SoHo loft would feel out of place moving into a $3 million Fifth avenue apartment.” (331) Brooks missed the point that maybe this owner just enjoys the location of SoHo and is accustomed to living there, but could also get used to an apartment on Fifth avenue. There are many examples that he provides in his essay similar to this one where they don’t fully support his points because he lacks to further explain them.

You can still make good friends within the workplace or classroom, but the friendship cannot solely rely on the fact that the friends have the same surroundings.

Friendship is one of the most valuable components in life. Friendship has the ability to change lives in a positive way. Friendship changes people’s views on life to a more positive outlook. “True friendship is when someone knows you better than yourself and takes a position in your best interests in a crisis. Friendship goes beyond sharing time together, and it is long lasting.” (Friends.com). As we spend a lot of time with our friends, friendship opens our minds to different ways of viewing the world. Unfortunately, sometimes strong barriers may be placed by those who see two people’s friendship as a threat; since people are influenced by their friends, friendship could make people question what

Throughout our lives, everyone that we share bonds with and interact with on a regular basis, either forms or has some sort of influence on our identity. Consequently, the majority of us naturally find ourselves striving to fit in with these people, especially during the tough transition from childhood to adulthood. It is this part of the human condition that makes us feel as though we must forge ties with something outside of ourselves in order to establish a strong sense of existence and a clear understanding of who we are. Although most individuals are able to make these connections with others naturally, others who stray from the social norm might not be so fortunate, but rather than

Since our nation has such diverse qualities and characteristics, you would think that everyone who lives in such a country, we would all come and stick together. With people who are so different, in so many different types of ways, being a united and unified nation would be knowledgeable. But instead our country consists of "people making strenuous efforts to group themselves with people who are basically like themselves" (Brooks 62). When taking a deeper look, and basically breaking down the nation piece by piece, we see segregation that happens to go unnoticed. There are neighborhoods that have a reputation for being where "African Americans live," “Asians Live," "Caucasians live," "Mexicans live" etc. which is not a good thing. People tend to not go out of their comfort zone and expand on what they are used to, to try new things, which is usually only

In David Brooks’ “People Like Us” passage on the issue of diversity, Brooks takes a personally emotional perspective of the way in which Americans don’t appreciate how diverse our nation is while “relatively homogeneous” (Brooks 136). His argument is weakened, however, through a bias and hypocrisy that his diction conveys. He claims that grouping ourselves with those who we are most alike is in our nature to, and in doing so, we separate ourselves from those who are different. Using certain statistics as evidence, Brooks points out that the social segmentation created by society will always exist.

“People Like Us” by David Brooks examines diversity in America and argues that even though society tends to idealize diversity in a way, most of us don’t really care too much about it as long as we are happy. In the first paragraph Brooks states “ what I have seen all around the country is people making strenuous efforts to group themselves with people who are basically like themselves”. This is something that most of us notice on some scale, but what does it say about the need for diversity in America? Brooks explains “The United States might be a diverse nation when considered as a whole, but block by block and institution by institution it is a relatively homogenous nation” This is an irrefutable truth, we all know that cities like Laredo Texas and Lincoln Nebraska are predominantly white and in cities like Detroit Michigan and Jackson Mississippi the population is predominantly black. However, what we fail to realize is the extreme racial separation that is taking place naturally at a much smaller scale, not even city to city but neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house. Brooks backs up his claim with the following example, “In Manhattan the owner of a three million dollar SoHo loft would feel out of place moving into a three million dollar Fifth Avenue apartment”. Politics, religion, income, lifestyle and general outlook on life can change in a matter of blocks. This may all seem

I was able to make friends easily by applying my interpersonal skills amongst others. This included joining societies as well as, using my communication skills during my seminar group work discussions, where I demonstrated my teamwork skills by co-operating with others during a shared task. Working with others is a vital skill, as I did not only collaborate with them, but learn from them by listening to their thoughts, as we all had diverse ideas and perspectives. This point leads back to my anxiety of interacting within a new environment, which allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and, associate with people from different backgrounds.

The school year approached its end. Another summer to spend alone by myself. The cycle had been repeating since I was in grade school. Sadness choked me as I returned home and shut my door. Every year, the resolution was the same: I would try to make friends next year; however, every year, I felt myself falling back down into the same trap. By the time high school began, I no longer felt the numb sensation of sadness or the flow of tears as the final day of May became the last day I talked with my “friends.” I no longer expected to make any friends, or, more accurately, I no longer expected to be able to make any friends. The sheer possibility of befriending an individual appeared to me as foreign as speaking in latin. When I walked into school, what should have been a site of chatter, opportunity, and growth appeared to me as a form of imprisonment and torture; however, unbeknownst to me, I did have friends; something of which I did not recognize until years passed by. I grown attached to certain conversations; there were times where I felt the need to initiate a conversation rather than waiting for someone else to make one. It was not until one of my friends told me,”We’re your friends aren’t we?” when I realized I was not longer

After reading Simmel’s article I began to realize that in my private and public life I could see the stranger. In school we form groups, but prior to that no one knows each other so we all started off as strangers. When told to form a group we all had a common goal which is to do group assignments for good grade. Everybody in the group feels like their close to me, but they are indeed far still. We got together because of a common goal without it we would not be building a relationship or interacted. We are all still far away from each other due to not fully getting to know each other. At any point any group member can leave the group or after the class we all go separate ways, because we are not tied down into being in the group. It is a temporary

For as long as I can remember I’ve had the same group of friends, but coming into high school I met a lot of new people. I met some of my best friends here and my boyfriend.I’ve reached out to a lot of different people I didn’t really expect to be friends with. I learned that you really can’t judge a book by a cover and that probably sounds cliche, but some of the people I thought I’d never get along with became some of my really good friends.

Social standards are born from a cautious attitude towards change and can cling to the minds of the masses like the the stench of cigarette smoke does to those around it. Now, not all social standards are bad, but many are oppressive to some group of people. For instance, refusing marriage rights to a gay couple may be illegal as of this June, but it will be many years before many people’s stubbornly conservative social norms adapt to accept that. Like beauty, the morality of social norms is relative to the observer, however I’m of the opinion that one should take time to evaluate the effects they can have on people and if your personal views are really of more priority than the group you wish to limit. Sometimes one simply has to accept that their viewpoint isn’t always the most right or moral to the people it affects, and I do my best to follow those guidelines for my views. I’ve always remained within a smaller group of close friends, although that group has certainly grown over the years. As we’ve all developed our own views, we’ve also influenced each other and how we all look at the world. Knowing a smaller group of friends on a very personal level can really be a force to open your eyes to different hardships in life that people face. Being able to relate a group of people with someone that you care about deeply makes you a lot more empathetic towards the group, as well as other groups in similar