We have a common culture in America, but close examination reveals much diversity within it. Our culture is made up of a number of subcultures which are based upon differences in religion, occupation, education, racial and ethnic characteristics, wealth, geographic location, national origins, and other factors. From these subcultures emerge people whose values and life patters are sufficiently different that it sometimes becomes difficult for members of one cultural group to understand, accept, or even communicate effectively with the members of other groups.
In today’s society there are many different types of people. Within these groups of people, there are just as many diverse types of gatherings that those people hang out in. Certain social gatherings call for a variety of group participants. If the varsity jocks were to have a “kegger,” you wouldn’t see the computer nerds hanging out with the jocks. If the punk kids were to have a rave, you wouldn’t see the varsity jocks hanging out at the rave. The unusual types of groups range from computer nerds, losers, burnouts, druggies, cool kids, jocks, smart kids, punk, gothic, and to ndless types.
In every society, there are people that are called chameleons. Chameleons are the people who blend in with more than one group. There could be a jock that achieves good grades and grew up with a punk rocker. He would be considered in the cool kids, the jocks, the smart kids, and the punk kids. The majority of kids ranging in each group would determine on the area of residence. If the high school was big on sports, than most likely, there jocks would be more dominant. This wide variety of groups often fall into two types of categories; introverted and extroverted.
Usually, the nerds, punk rockers, and the druggies are often introverted on the sole purpose of that society doesn’t approve of the druggies, frowns upon the punk rockers, and makes fun of the nerds. Even though society knows that without these kinds of people than there wouldn’t be someone to look down upon or disapprove of. The jocks, cool kids, and some smart kids often fall into the extrovert group. Mainly because there is a majority of jocks, everyone wants to be with the cool kids, and some smart kids are sometimes jocks or considered cool kids as well.
There are many different social events that produce a variety of group outcomes. Many times, in class or at work, it doesn’t matter what group the people are in, they attend their group, that class, or work section. Once class or work ends, than the people meet back up with other people in their group. For example, in class or work the jock, that sits next to the punk rocker and nerd, is friends with all of them and works with them. When class or work is over, neither speaks to one another outside of that environment.
There are many kinds of environments where an dverse amount of groups unite and forget about their differences. Professional games unite many kinds of people. In a World Series baseball game, people come from all over to watch one team which represents one state. Even though most of the people aren’t from that state, they still represent it and encourage that team to win. Another example is jail, where an adverse group of people are there. The thing that unites people in all of these situations is that they all have similarities at that exact point in time.
If people can relate to each other than they feel a certain onnection with other people. That connection initially makes the different types of groups- the connection is stronger or more consistent with some more than others. On the other hand, there can be the exact opposite scenarios. There have been many incidents where one group of people disagrees and encounters a conflict with another group of people. At Centenary College, for example, the Centenary baseball team has conflicts with the Centenary lacrosse team.
There have been many observations where a member of one group will ridicule or scrutinize a member of another group. One observation encountered a punk rocker making fun of a nerd because the nerd had glasses the size of “coke bottles. ” As in every case, there are always universal exceptions. The exceptions states above were work, class, and athletic events, those of which are just a few of the exceptions. There is, however, one exception that is universal to almost every group in society. That exception is drugs and alcohol.
For some odd reason drugs and alcohol seam to unite people from different backgrounds all over the country, or on a smaller scale, from all over the college. During observations at a local party that a jock held, there were about six or seven different types of groups all getting together getting drunk or high. For example, a Chinese student who didn’t speak much English at all was taking shots with one of the teams best players. The groups ranged from baseball boys, wrestlers, freshman, foreigners, druggies, and even a few nerds where at the gathering.
The reason why they all got along for the majority of the night was because they were all sharing a common interest. They were all there to either get runk or high. Obviously these gatherings don’t go as smoothly as what was observed. Most of the time, since there is such a variety of people attending the social event, there are conflicts and often fights break out; both verbal and physical. In most cases the incident is taken care of immediately by the people or by the law and those who caused the incident are removed from the social gathering, so the remainder of the people can continue being social and sharing their interests.
The adolescent’s resistance to parental authority and his intense dentification with his age group marks the crucial period if emotional emancipation. Their peer group supports him in their exploration of the wider social world and shares his experiences. But they are not yet emotionally independent. The adolescent’s very fear of being considered different and their compulsive adherence to group customs and fads attest to the emotional dependence upon their age group. Emotions, feelings, moods, attitudes, and related effective states have physiological and psychological influences on behavior.
They can timulate a person’s action by enhancing or restricting their social living. While no one achieves the ideal of complete emotional maturity, most people can attain sufficient understanding of themselves to use their emotions effectively and to establish satisfying relations with other people. Emotional development has been described as both an educational process and a growth process. A person will be able to react emotionally when it is appropriate to do so, and moderate their behavior in response to the realities of a situation.