Family Socialization

For my sociology homework I needed to do an interview with my parents and how they raised me. When doing these interviews I did not receive any amazing insight about myself. My parents did not have any extreme expectations before I was born, they only wished that I was healthy. After I was born they tried the hardest to teach me the values of the Buryat culture. Some of those values include having high respect for the adults in the family which includes grandparents, uncles and aunts. For them the most important tradition that I carry on is knowing the Buryat language. Unfortunately I never learned to speak in Buryatski so its pretty disappointing. I was an easy going child and they did not have a hard time disciplining me. From my mom I get a hardworking personality and the annoying habit of always trying to make finish tasks with the best effort I can. The habit of being overprecise is the most annoying one cause it will never stop nagging if I do not give the best effort I can, but if I am tired or sleepy that can be easily forgotten. From my dad and I get my driving habits at getting easily annoyed by bad drivers. Its not that I honk or make weird gestures at them but I do get very annoyed by them.

Reflecting upon my interview I did not learn anything more about myself that I did not  know before. My mom had a really hard time on expanding her answers from just a simple statement because I knew or I could predict what she was going to say. 

Being sociologically mindful

When watching the videos about how the Lost Boys of Sudan traveled to America it was interesting to see their point of view on our life. I moved from Russia, so I could relate to my first experiences with them. Ever since I was little I had many friends from all over the world because I lived in Madison, Wisconsin including Honduras, South Korea, and Nepal to name a few. By always being surrounded by different cultures from a young age I considered my self to be sociological mindful. Before I even took the sociology class at my school I knew that the differences in the material and symbolic culture of America compared to Russia. But what I learned in sociology class was more in-depth including learning about folkways, mores and taboos. I realized how much folkways control our lives in our different societies. In America for example when seeing a family member or a friend the most people will do is give them a hug. While in Russia when you meet a family member or a friend there will always be hugging and kisses on the cheek no matter the gender. If the same thing happened in America that would be considered a mores. Another interesting sociological observation is the different values American and Russian cultures have. In Russia there is a lot more emphasize given on the value of respect to elders. In schools children will always stand up when a teacher or another school officials walks into class. While in the United States some teachers are barely noticed by the students and are barely given the necessary respect. And even in Russian movies the teenagers give a lot more respect to their parents unlike some American children who yell at their parents. The way I've been raised most times I am too scared to yell at my parents not because of any punishment but because it is extremely disrespectful. From what I learned in sociology class it helps me see the finer differences between cultures and be able to identify them as a certain type. In addition to having a proper reaction to it without showing any signs of disgust or "weirdness", because that is impolite and rude.