Essay on Book Review Masters of Small Worlds by Stephanie...

Masters of Small Worlds by Stephanie McCurry The book Masters of Small Worlds by Stephanie McCurry concentrates on one very specific time and place in history. The time is pre-Civil War and the place is the Low Country in southern South Carolina. This area is particularly interesting because of the interaction between the planters and the yeomen in the area. The author explores the similarities and differences between these two distinct social classes. The author also brings gender relations into the equation. Her overall idea, as the title implies, is that the men of this era and this part of the country demanded control of each and every aspect of life. For every institution, there is a set hierarchy. This book is very well†¦show more content†¦The gender and class relations would suffer just as they did in the planters households. The yeoman settlements closely bordered those of the planters. These close proximities allowed for the interaction of these two very different social classes. The yeomen, in gene ral, yearned to be a part of the planters class. It was this undying hope that helped to pit this otherwise completely different class of people, with the wealthy plantation owners of the area. One of the many aspects of society that set these two classes apart was the ownership of slaves. This also set the scene for the influx of racial inequalities. The blacks in the area were overwhelmingly landless slaves. Even the yeomen, who greatly outnumbered the elite planters, suffered from inequalities. The ideas McCurry presents also have a great deal to do with gender relations in this time. The overall theme is always that of the master. White males in this place and time seem to possess an incredible superiority complex. This is one of the traits that links the yeomen farmer with the plantation owners. The planters handle their wives and children as if they were their property. This is in much the same fashion that they treat their slaves. Slavery, by the way, was perfectly acceptable and very common. These people would insist that slavery is alright because the Bible backs

An Evaluation Of The Client - 1861 Words

Overview The client is a 42 year old white male who has been court ordered to receive bereavement counseling. The client is currently living in Trumann with a friend while he is closing on a house. He was born and raised in the north east Arkansas area. The client completed the 12th grade and attended college for two years at Arkansas State University. While attending college the client was an active member of the college Rugby team. The client stopped attending college in order to join the Navy. He served for eight years total in the Navy in the account dispersal field. He has never been deployed to a combat area and was honorably discharged from service sometime in the early 2000’s. The client currently works full time for an Art†¦show more content†¦He was initially court ordered for DWI courses but due to the nature of his offense and the underlying circumstances, the courts determined his issue to not be alcohol, but the coping mechanism my client was using in th e loss of his son. My client lost his oldest son about two years ago. His son moved to Georgia to be near his mother. Only a few weeks after arriving to Georgia his son come up missing. There were search parties being conducted and my client drove to Georgia to look for his son. A couple of weeks after the initial missing report, my client’s son was found in the woods of Georgia, he was deceased. An autopsy concluded that there was foul play and that this incident would be investigated as a homicide. Following the investigation, three local Georgia men were determined to be involved in the murder of my client’s son. The investigation concluded the belief that these three gentleman lived in a nearby apartment complex. They premeditated to murder my client’s son based on a robbery. They believed that the young man had sold a truck earlier in the day. The three men charged requested that the young man help move some furniture at their apartment. During this event i s when they strangled him to death and began searching for the money that the son had made from selling a vehicle earlier that day. The report read that there was not any money taken because the money was spent the same day the vehicle was sold.

All the World’s a Stage, the Dramaturgy Free Essays

All The World’s a stage â€Å"All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts† Shakespeare. Although Shakespeare wasn’t a sociologist, I think this quote profoundly sounds like Ervine Goffman’s ideas of dramaturgy and impression management. We will write a custom essay sample on All the World’s a Stage, the Dramaturgy or any similar topic only for you Order Now I agree with both Shakespeare and Ervine. We all have a part to play in this world and we do play it. To me Ervine Goffman’s ideas about self and dramaturgy are the most applicable social ideas in my own life. He believed we do something called impression management. I have actually noticed myself using impression management every day. I have also noticed that in sociology we really need to understand face to face interactions of individuals to understand a society as a whole. He also believed in a concept called symbolic interactionism. He believed that social interactions are what make someone who they are. I believe that to understand his ideas better it is imperative that you know a little about him. Goffman was born June 11, 1922(Blackwood, 2011) to a Jewish Ukrainian couple in Canada. Initially, he received his bachelors in sociology at the University of Toronto. Then he went to the University of Chicago to achieve his masters and doctorate. Chicago was the center for many micro-sociologists and symbolic interationists like Goffman. His ideas must have made him fit right in with all the other sociologists studying at University of Chicago. He also studied a year in Shetland and wrote a book called The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. This is where he refers to the theory of us always being onstage. He then went to Berkley to teach about Sociology and Anthropology (which he also studied). Goffman also went onto to write about his ideas of total institution (the sociology term for somewhere completely blocked off from normal society). He wrote many books over his life time and he remained a very important man in the sociology world. He ended his writing career going back to address more evidence that we are all performers, he ended on the same note he started on. He passed on November 19th, 1982. ((Blackwood, 2011) Micro-Sociology is the study of a small group of people to understand how society works as a whole. Ervine Goffman advocated this idea and used face-to-face interactions as a basis to understand sociology. I believe that this is a very true idea because without individuals there is no society. I also believe that how we act as individuals is what makes a society how it is. For example as individuals we actually enjoy conflict when the conflicts involves others. In high school I remember that everyone always wanted to stop in the hallway to watch people fight. On a larger scale society watches reality Television shows like â€Å"Bad girls Club† just to see these conflicts. Everything we do individually affects us as a society. Another thing that Goffman believed in was how society is what makes us who we are, this is called social interactionism. Yes we make up society but in turn society molds us to who we are as well. For example a child is born completely without morals and values. These things are taught to the child by family and ultimately society. The child is taught killing is deviant and unacceptable. It is also taught that being overweight is a concrete stigma for females of society. Therefore if the child is a girl they will constantly want to be skinny, even at a young age. My Humanities professor was talking about how his 8 year old daughter was called fat the other day in school. Now the young girl will not eat very much. This not something we are born with, these are learned values that society teaches. I have my own personal experience with social interactionism. My whole life society has shaped me to be who I am. It’s almost like a very subtle, yet powerful, form of peer pressure. For example I think that if it weren’t for the fact that society teaches that you should treat strangers with absolute respect I think I would have had a lot more conflicts with them. Society teaches us to not get as angry with strangers as we do with our own friends and family members. Another thing Goffman believed was an idea called dramaturgy. Dramaturgy is the idea that we all act around people as if we were actors on a stage. He believed that the only time we acted as our true selves was when we are backstage and no one else is around to see us. I believe this is true of everyone in society. Of course there are those who have to act because it’s their job. Politicians, lawyers, servers, parents these people have to put up a facade so that others reactions server their purpose. Not all of this acting is used for selfish purposes though. For example a parent doesn’t want their child to be scared so in a crisis they might smile and tell them everything is going to be all right, even if they know it’s not going to be alright. The final point I agreed with Goffman on was an idea called impression management. Impression management is similar to dramaturgy however it is how we are all the time. I use impression management every day. For example I am a server and I have to come off a certain way for my guests to like me or I won’t make any money. I have to smile even when I’m stressed and I have to use a completely different voice when addressing my guest than I would use with anyone else. I also have to pretend I like things on the menu I have not even tried. In conclusion, I agree with Goffman’s theories on dramaturgy, impression management, micro-sociology, and symbolic interactionism. I concur with the fact that society shapes you to be who you are, it has definitely made me who I am. I also think that looking at how individuals interact with each other is imperative in finding out how society works. You cannot understand the big picture without first looking at the small details. Impression management is a very important part of my life because it’s how I make a living. Finally dramaturgy is something we all do every day. We are actors on the stage of Society Citations 1. Blackwood, B. D. (2011, July 06). Blackwood. org. Retrieved from http://www. blackwood. org/Erving. htm 2. Travers, A. (1997). Reviewing sociology. Retrieved from http://www. reading. ac. uk/RevSoc/archive/volume10/number1/10-1e. htm How to cite All the World’s a Stage, the Dramaturgy, Essay examples