Identity Molecule: The Complexity of You

A major part of sociology is to look at the complexity of humans to help us understand both MACRO and MICRO relationships.  The complexity often comes from the groups in which we participate. A group can consist of millions, hundreds, a few or even just two people.   Within these groups we also all have some role or a status: whether it's a really active role or a more passive role.  Groups help form individual identity and also creates structures within society. For example I am a member of a family, condo association, Stevenson Baseball, Scorpions Baseball, Bass Fishing Team, Social Studies Department,  Poker Buddies, Friends from my High School years, College years and adult life, girl/boyfriend, AP US History classes, Sociology Classes, Cubs Season Ticket Holders, and a member of the Logan Square neighborhood.  (The list could go on).  In each of these groups I also have a certain status or role (teacher, dad, uncle, brother, son, boyfriend, organizer, president, etc) and in each group I have a job to perform (lesson plan, help with chores, call for meetings, play second base, etc).  

Sometimes these roles and jobs will conflict with each other and I must make choices.   For example, it's my girlfriends birthday but I have a big baseball game to play. I must decide what to do and categorize importance. There lays the conflict and complexity of these groups.  This is known as role conflict.  When I first started teaching, I used to be super strict on homework and assignments.  I did not take excuses.  You didn't do it then you get a 0.  As I got older and I started to reflect, albeit subconsciously, on role conflict, I realized that family roles and situations can sometimes conflict with academic roles.  I therefore became a little more lenient. Groups can also create role strain.  Role strain is when you do not know how to handle the role in a certain group.  For example, I have just been elected president of our condo association.  It is a new role to me and I am not sure how to handle all the members complaints and concerns.  Do I address all of them at once?  Individually?   

Some statuses we choose and are called achieved statuses such as the ones I listed above.  But there are also ascribed statuses which are groups/roles we did not necessarily plan to be part of such as male, white, born into a middle-upper class family were all ascribed statuses.  

Your assignment for today is to create a list of at least 10 groups that you belong to and draw a circle around the them on a piece of computer paper (The substitute should have a stack for you to use). In the circle also quickly describe your role in one or two words.  Also in the circle rank which one you feel is your #1 most important group, #2 important group and continue through #8.  Draw a connecting line between the group circles that create a lot of role conflict for you. Along the connecting line, briefly describe why it causes conflict.  There are a bunch of colored pencils and markers in the room to help create a colorful "Identity Molecule".  Add hand drawn emoticons and pictures to help spice up and explain your roles.  The substitute will collect them at the end of the period.

I hope this exercise helps students see that our class might seem homogeneous but really it is quite diverse. The unique diversity comes from each person's membership in different groups. I hope this is another way we can become sociologically mindful of each other in the class; that is, we can appreciate each person's unique membership in different groups.  This way we can be more understanding of each other and more compassionate for each other. 
Some ideas for posting on your own blog when we get to blog post #3: Explain more thoroughly about the groups that make up who you are. What is your status in that group? Which statuses are ascribed and which are achieved for you?  Have you experienced role conflict or strain? Which groups memberships were you surprised to learn about in our class?  Can you see how this lesson increases your sociological mindfulness of both yourself and our class?