Role of Social Interactions in Identity Formation

Role of Social Interactions in Identity Formation Critically examine how sociology discusses social interactions (or social relations) and the role these interactions play in shaping the notion of self and/or identity. Social interaction involves people communicating face-to-face, acting and reacting in relation to each other using verbal as well as non-verbal cues. Every social interaction is characterised and dependent on peoples distinct positions in terms of their statuses, their standards of conduct or norms and their sets of expected behaviour or roles (Furze et al., 2008: 115). Furze et al. identify three major modes of social interaction, each of which is not without its limitations. This essay will suggest that perhaps there is a need for a refinement or refashioning of existing approaches to the study of social interaction due to such limitations. In addition, the inexplicable link between notions of the self, individual identity and the social realm will be established, namely through the work of Richard Jenkins. Exchange theory involves social interactions which trade in attention and other valued resources. As an important social force that cements social interactions, it is a competitive exchange of resources. People communicate to varying degrees to extract some sort of benefit from interactions, one that is often of an economic nature. For example, a brief everyday interaction between a supermarket shopper and the cashier could be subject to this theory. Rational choice theory describes how interacting people will always try to maximise benefits and minimise costs to themselves. That is, everyone wants to gain the most from their interactions socially, emotionally, and economically while paying the least. Dramaturgical analysis describes the way in which social interaction involves a constant role-playing, an approach that was first developed by sociologist Erving Goffman (1959). He likens the presentation of the self in everyday life to that of actors in a theatre. We are constantly engaged in role-playing which is most evident when we are front stage in public settings (Furze et al., 2008: 127). We learn, socialise and adopt roles so that we know what is considered acceptable behaviour in the public domain. We take these on through the various institutions of socialisation, such as the family, the school and the media, for example. Furthermore, Goffmans analysis problematises Pierre Bourdieus theory of power, practice and conflict theories of social interaction. Conflict theory emphasises that when people interact, their statuses are arranged in a hierarchy and the degree of inequality strongly affects the character of social interaction between the interacting parties (Bourdieu, 1977). On the other hand Goffman implies that such cues can be manipulated and misinterpreted. For example, a luxury car may signify wealth but if it were in fact stolen property then its public impression contradicts the actual status held by its owner. These theoretical frameworks for social interaction, then, are important to sociology because they have been developed in an attempt to explain how we live with each other in various forms of social relations. The idea of face-to-face relations is a much broader idea now than, say, around 20 years ago where avenues for social interaction such as the Internet and mobile phones were. It is mostly structured around norms and status we carry, for example. The ever-increasing popularity over the past five years of Internet Social Networking Sites such as Facebook and Twitter, for example, complicate Goffmans notion of the front stage-backstage binary. The notion of the self in an early historical sociological view was that there was a separation between society and the self. C. Wright Mills (1959) as well as Emile Durkheim in the example of suicide maintain that, certainly, the public world (socio-cultural world) and the private self are always interconnected (Geary, 2009). We are shaped by a specific set of forces which locate the self in and of particular sets of circumstances and this is what is what is referred to as the process of socialisation. We develop a sense of self by how we perceive the other. Identifying ourselves or others is a matter of meaning, and meaning always involves interaction: agreement and disagreement, convention and innovation, communication and negotiation (Jenkins, 2004: 4). Identity formation, then, is almost always already part of social and cultural relations or interactions. To identify the self and the so-called other person, according to Jenkins, relates to the way meaning-making impacts on us, as well as the way we alter such meanings. The individual and the collective are routinely entangled with each other and the three approaches exchange theory, rational choice theory and dramaturgical analysis outlined by Furze et al. are some examples. These must accommodate the fluidity of identity and notions of the self.

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnaus The Last Laugh :: Film Movies

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's The Last Laugh About The Director: Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau is one of the most important filmmakers of the cinema during Weimar Republic period. He is often grouped with Fritz Lang and G.W. Pabst as the "big three" directors of Weimar Germany. He finished his career in Hollywood and was killed at a young age in a car crash. Three of his films appear on the greatest films lists of critics and film groups. Even though there seems to be little written about him. Early in his career he created one of horror film, Nosferatu (1922); his last film was Tabu (1931), a documentary film in the South Seas. He was one of the pioneers in the technical side of the film industry, experimenting special effects in Nosferatu and Faust and the use of the moving camera in The Last Laugh. But at the same time he was a master storyteller, a director who could describe simple stories with a vast range of emotion and meaning. Plot Summary: The old doorman at the Hotel Atlantis is proud of his job and he does it well (sort of). One day he carries a large suitcase into the lobby. He needs to sit down for a moment what is seen and written down by a young hotel manager. The old man looses his job and is made the toilet man of the hotel. He tries not to show it, but he is broken. Now only some kind of wonder can help! The film begins a trip down an open elevator and through the busy lobby of the Hotel Atlantic. The movement continues straight through the hotel's revolving doors to rainy outside. The main character is the hotel doorman, a striking but he is old. He is an important person, a respected person. But he is getting older and has trouble lifting a large luggage from a car to the hotel and needs a few minutes to rest. The young hotel manager witnesses this situation and the next day the doorman finds out that he has been replaced by a younger man and demoted to toilet attendant. This demotion leads him to isola tion. It comes to the situation where his neighbors and even his own family reject him. Just when things seem as bad as they could get for the doorman, the film presents us with the only upside.

Functions of Human Resources

Human Resources, or HR, can at times, be something of a mystery if you have not had any reason to interact with the human resource staff. What do they accomplish in the human resources department? What is their contribution to the company? Every day the human resources department is making decisions that affect the employees. Wages and salaries, hiring and firing, handling employee grievances, and employee training are functions of the human resources department. Wages and Salaries Human resources follows the patterns of other employers to help them determine what they pay the company employees. Competitive wages are important to employees when they are job searching or moving up within the company. According to the HR Council for the Nonprofit Sector, â€Å"Salary surveys are conducted with employers in the same labor market to determine pay levels for specific job categories† (â€Å"Wages,† â€Å"n. d. ,†, p. 2). Surveys are a function of HR to determine if they are offering competitive wages with other companies. Hiring and Firing Hiring new employees is directly affected by human resources. Creating job descriptions and determining the skills needed to qualify for a position is a function of the human resources department. Job descriptions describe what is expected from the person applying for the position. This written job description also gives the human resources guidelines if discipline is needed in the future. Established expectations are used to coach an employee and if necessary fire the employee. Firing Firing an employee is not as easy as it may seem. Documentation is necessary to build a history of coaching an employee into the correct behavior. If the correct behavior is not reached a historical case has been created to support firing the employee. If the action or behavior violates company policy, immediate firing of the employee can happen. Employee Grievances Listening to employee grievances is an important function of human resources. Linking management with workers who have an issue that needs addressing is handled within human resources. Management may not be aware of an employee’s grievance without the connection that human resources can make between the two levels of employees. Documentation of the grievance and steps toward a solution is a function of human resources. Employee Training Training employees and supplying current job information should be a continual process of the human resources department. Keeping employees trained is a vital step in running a good company. â€Å"In order to improve the efficiency level of the employees they have go undergo regular trainings and development programs† (â€Å"Training,† â€Å"n. d. ,†, p. 2). Employees who can complete their jobs to the highest level possible keep the company running efficiently. It is the responsibility and function of the human resources department to supply training to the company’s employees. Conclusion There are many functions of the human resources department. Hiring employees, training, and coaching are a few functions of human resources. Human resources support the company in ways not always seen, but the effects are implemented with the workers. Creating a productive work environment requires constant work from the human resources department that may not always be noticed.

The Cloud Security Allience ( Csa ) - 2052 Words

There are numerous ways one can gain unauthorized access to data maintained in the cloud’s data centers. The methods vary from physical theft to trickery and electronic attack. Common methods of attack include cracking weak passwords, privilege escalation, exploiting unused database functionality, targeting known unfixed software vulnerabilities, SQL injection, and stealing unencrypted back-up tapes (Higgins, 2008). The Cloud Security Allience (CSA), which promotes best practices for cloud computing security, cites seven main threats to the cloud: â€Å"1) Abuse and nefarious use of cloud computing; 2) Insecure application programming interfaces; 3) Malicious insiders; 4) Shared technology vulnerabilities; 5) Data loss or leakages;†¦show more content†¦Accountability refers to determining when a security breach occurs, who was responsible for the breach, and where to place liability for any losses. Audibility is keeping tracking of who accessed or changed data and ensuring that employees maintain the minimal access level required for job success (Yang and Borg, 2012). However, it should be noted that these measures do not physically prevent subversive actions and rely on the threat of future punishment as a deterrent. Number four on the CSA list is shared technologies vulnerability. Shared technology vulnerabilities are possible due to virtualization and multitenancy. Two independent virtual machines could be operating on the same physical machine, potentially allowing one virtual machine to peek at the other’s data through the physical link (Wiley, 2012). A Denial of Service (DoS) attack can also be instrumented through multitenancy by misappropriating resources from the shared platform (Fernandes, 2013). One step that organizations can take to prevent a multitenancy leak is to ensure the organization’s web server is not on the same platform as its database. If someone were able gain access to a web server that also had a database on it, they would have access to that database. While this requires more resources to separate the two servers, the additional layer of security is worth the expense to the organization (â€Å"Database Security,† n.d.). Number seven on the CSA