today in class, we were talking about social class and what it is that decides which class one is put into. it reminded me of the one and only thing i learned in sociology (i'm not a huge sociology fan) which was the "looking-glass hypothesis." it says this:
"i am not who you think i am.
i am not who i think i am.
i am who i think you think i am."
if you think about it, what that really says is that we take other peoples' evaluation of who we are, and we are so worried about what other people think, that we take that as a valid assessment of who we really are. i think this relates to lots of things in life, but it fits in especially well here in the discussion of class. what do you guys think?

Hi Emily:

Thanks for posting that. I get it now! It's even familiar to me, but in some other forms. What I would say is that identity isn't something that comes from inside us, but that is something that happens between us and other people in the world around us.

I was reading the looking glass hypothesis and am familiar with it. However, in disagreement with Gayle , I don't believe that identity is between people, I do believe that it is inside us. As I said in class you are still who you are even if someone doesn't like you or says you are something different. I am Kari, I am not a Spatula.......

Kari:

I actually agree with you, but I'd say that identity is something that "happens" between people. That doesn't have to mean that I don't get to "push back" regarding who I am, or radically disagree with someone who tells me I'm a spatula. But I can't make the person who thinks I'm a spatula go away, nor completely eradicate their influence from the world.

Any further thoughts?