Societal Expectations

For Maeve-- I have now posted an incredibly ranty diary-esque post so you can feel you are not the only one. Please be happy now :)

I feel that, throughout the course of this class, we've discussed how societal expectations shape the way we think about ourselves and the way we think about others. Societal expectations change the way we classify gender issues and racial issues-- that much we have agreed upon during class time. As I sit here and type my incredibly early morning blog, I feel like one subject we haven't really hit on (even briefly, as I know it is not the focus of the class) is societal expectations en totale.

I think that everything we do is monitored, to some extent, by the hand of Big Brother (and if you haven't read Orwell's 1984, I suggest that, in your mountains of free time, you check out the free, online version google has by clicking here.) Our Big Brother is not, however, the government. It is ourselves. It is our friends, our teachers, our media.

I came to Occidental College to become more aware of myself, to make steps towards the person I want to be. I don't like talking to people; class discussions are incredibly challenging for me. But I wanted to be social; I specifically chose a college that I hoped would force me to step out of my box. But what I've encountered instead is an enless cycle of partying that went on at my high school. I don't like parties, I am a generally upbeat person, but large crowds make me uncomfortable and I have trouble. But while I wanted to step out of my box, it was never my intention to attend a college that made me feel as if, to make friends, I had to get drunk every single Saturday night.

That's not me.

I know that there are other people here who feel this way, and the point I am trying to make is NOT that everybody is doing it and I should too-- but rather, to provide an example of societal expectation. We live in a world governed not by supreme laws, but by a belief system that forces us to continually measure our actions against others and hope we are not found wanting. We live in a world where modify our behaviors, hopes and dreams, based on other people's expectations. And somehow that strikes me as wrong.

Societal expectations play a huge role in allowing social constructionism to occur. We believe in our mantra so much that we often find ourselves "inadvertently lose ourselves in the unwritten laws of the ‘status quo’".

But when I look at the above diagram of self-discovery, I cannot help but feel that every single part of the picture falls within a larger, all-encompassing circle: societal expectations.