self reflection

Self-Reflection/

The capacity for “reflexivity” is the capability to experience the self as a thinking, perceiving, acting subject (one who does things) and as a perceived object (one who is seen, evaluated, and experienced by others). For example, when you give a speech in front of an audience, you are probably very aware that you are an acting subject who is speaking to an audience and at the same time also an object who is being perceived, experienced, and evaluated by your audience.

For this assignment, I want you to think critically about the impact your race, gender, class, and/or sexual orientation has had on your life, including how it has impacted you as an acting subject and how it has impacted you as a perceived object. Your work should have two parts:

Section 1: How have your characteristics impacted you as an acting subject, such as your life choices, your actions, your attitudes, your habits, and/or your personality? How do your race, class, gender and sexual orientation affect the way you feel about yourself?

Section 2: How have your characteristics impacted you as a perceived object, such as how others interact with you and treat you? What opportunities have you been exposed to or denied due to your characteristics? What kind of treatment do you receive from others in society? What are some stereotypes people might think of regarding your characteristics and how do you feel about these stereotypes? How will your social characteristics affect your future in terms of employment, having your own family, purchasing a house or car, or any other major life milestone?

Use the questions above as a guide. For each section, you do not have to answer all of the questions posed in the description above, but do consider at least two or three of them as you write your essay. This is a critical examination of your social characteristics. I want you to step outside of what may be comfortable and assess your life from the perspective of someone who does not share your same characteristics.

For example, you might talk about social class, socioeconomic status, intersectionality, doing gender, norms, conformity, subculture, the looking glass self, social control, sanctions, socialization, agents of socialization, status, role, stereotyping, impression management, social influence, social inequality, ethnicity, privilege, implicit bias, embodied identity, and so on. Be sure to cite the concepts you use.