interpretive answer for The Social Me

Hey nice answer, Galen. I chose "Are your social selves created by you or imposed by society?" (my answer's also short :)

I think that the answer is both. Depending on what group you’re with (for instance, people your own age or adults, friends or strangers) you will change your general attitude, sometimes even your personality to suit the situation. Society is the primary cause when you take on different social selves. But then you create those social selves based on what you think is appropriate for different groups within the society. So, your social selves are first imposed by society, but then created by you.

The social me answer

hello, sorry my answers so short, but I couldn't really figure out how to elaborate.


Is there a real me apart from my social selves?


I believe that the real me IS my social selves. Each one of them represents a small part of me that I will reveal to different people, and that combined together, they form who I am.
Somewhat like painting, I start with the base parts of me that all-together, form that I am. I then will combine different parts of these to create my many selves. Piccaso's paintings did not start with that many colors. He mixed a few base colors, and together they work to create a masterpiece, the whole.
That is why for me at least, there is no “real me” apart from my social selves


-bob

Interpretive Questions for The Social Me

1. Can someone have a personal code of honor, according to James?

2. Who is more important in forming the social me: oneself or others?

3. Is there a "real me" apart from my social selves?

4. Does a hermit have a social self?

5. Is good behavior always an attempt to gain recognition from one group or another?

6. Does James believe that there can be a moral code that applies to all people despite their different social selves?

7. When James says we seek "recognition," does he mean acceptance by some group? (39)

8. Why do our different selves justify different standards of conduct? How do we resolve the conflicts imposed by our different social selves?

9. Is recognition by others within our control, according to James?

10. Are your soical selves created byyou or imposed by society?

11. Is James suggesting that the social self depends more on how groups of people see me rather than on how individuals see me?

12. Why does James call a person's social selves a "division of labor"? (40)

Utopia

Hey, my research about utopia basically discovered the same thing (wikipedia is beautiful).
however, I feel that a utopia might be possible someday in the future.
If we could build machines that could do all of our work for us, then we would be free to pursue whatever our greatest interest, whatever that may be.
because human beings are very scarcely inactive, as it is easy to see. I mean, when you have nothing to do, you don't just sit around and do nothing, you go out and try to accomplish what interests you at that moment.
of course, a PERFECT utopia isn't really possible, because no matter what you do, it is impossible to have everyone completely content at the same time, so there will never be utopias as envisioned in most of history.
but I do believe that we can achieve a level of harmony where the general population of the globe is happy, and free to achieve their goals.
-bob

Utopia

Hello!

Here's my thing about Utopia and Utopian societies...

The term Utopia comes from the Greek words “no” and “place”, meaning “place that does not exist”. It can also mean “happy place”. Utopia is an island Thomas More wrote about in his book, Utopia. This fictional island had a perfect social, legal, and political system, and the word Utopia has now come to mean an ideal society.
This ideal society has been attempted many times. The Utopian Socialist movement of the early 1900’s promoted ideas such as people distributing goods, often without any money involved for them, and people only doing work that they enjoyed and that was for the common good. This uprising of Utopian philosophies was mostly due to the harsh economic pressures of that time. But of course, this Utopian structure of society didn’t last long – the movement slowly moved away from Utopianism. Karl Marx in particular became a rather harsh critic of some of the earliest utopian socialist movements.
The Utopian Socialist movement was an example of Economic Utopia, but there are other forms of utopianism, as well. In Religious Utopia, most religions have a utopia in their religious stories. The Jewish, Christian, and Islamic ideas of Heaven and the story of the Garden of Eden all represent a Utopia. The Buddhist concept of Nirvana and the Hindu concept of Moksha also represent a Utopia. However, the usual idea of Utopia is mostly caused by people wishing to create a Heaven-on-Earth aspect to their lives. They want a society that represents the values and beliefs that they believe await them in the afterlife. Not surprisingly, there are many other forms of Utopian societies, but they all carry the same goal: to be an absolutely perfect society, with no flaws whatsoever.
I personally don’t believe that a purely Utopian society is feasible. If a society were perfect, with everything mapped out for us, our lives a piece of cake, then what would be the point of living? There would be no struggles for us to overcome; we would become completely and utterly lazy. I do not believe in any extremes, whether they are good or bad. Utopia is an extreme. A good extreme, but an extreme all the same. You have to retain some degree of moderation.
Of course, I’m not saying that I think this world is good the way it is right now. I’m not saying that it doesn’t need to change, because it does. Everyone should have their rights, their freedoms. Every person should have the same life chances as the next. And I think that it’s up to us, the people who have some rights, to fight for others’. When every human being on this planet can boast that they have freedom – that will be Utopia.