tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1157399324614446746.post1994377643312080928..comments2023-11-24T00:38:52.974-08:00Comments on From Mass to Networked: My own journey of being standardizedDamienhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13843748213754577727noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1157399324614446746.post-46227324566096840402012-02-07T15:12:36.218-08:002012-02-07T15:12:36.218-08:00Amber and Rebekah,
Both of your stories are very ...Amber and Rebekah,<br /><br />Both of your stories are very interesting and reminds me of the importance of having what is considered the "right" amount of cultural capital depending on the society you are living in. In the U.S., I think maintaining a certain level of cultural capital (i.e. knowledge about social events, consumerist culture, and other things that could be considered part of a "normal American upbringing") hold so much weight within our daily lives and interactions that people who do not have this capital feel pressured to acclimate themselves to it in order to obtain it (through, as you pointed out Amber, taking part in certain American cultural rituals like the superbowl, whether or not the individual wants to participate). I see this especially in the business world where having a shared understanding of a certain level of cultural capital may mean the difference between getting a job offer or not.Stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11644387693143437852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1157399324614446746.post-53832598157950838692012-02-06T20:02:41.190-08:002012-02-06T20:02:41.190-08:00Amber,
Although I was born and raised in the Uni...Amber, <br /><br />Although I was born and raised in the United States, I feel like I too (to a certain extent) had a similar experience of finding it difficult to "fit in" and/or "understand" the mass culture of the United States because I was raised in one of its subcultures. <br /><br />I was raised in a very strict homeschooling family. As a homeschooled student, I was almost completely removed from the media because of my family's religious beliefs and our homeschooling curriculum. Newspapers, radio, and television promoted a secular behavior which was/is perceived as unacceptable according to the homeschooling curriculum that my family and thousands of other families ascribe(d) to. I was completely unaware of the fact that while I, my siblings, and my peers were being awarded for the standardized behaviors like memorizing Bible verses, going to homeschooling conventions, and participating in homeschooling extracurriculars, I was missing out on the standardized culture of the United States back then (like NSYNC, the Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Titanic, Pocahontas, video games. politics, etc. etc.) <br /><br />When I enrolled in public school as a high school freshman, I was separated from the support system of the homeschooling culture and received a very negative reception from the "public school kids" until I standardized my behavior to be more like theirs.<br /><br />In college, I've written several papers about homeschoolers and this class has led me to realize that maybe a big reason why homeschoolers were so negatively perceived in "normal" society (other than my complete naiveté) was because there was a lot of negative media back then about homeschooled families being unpatriotic or unsupportive of state/community governments because families like mine weren't contributing to the public school system. <br /><br />I never felt influenced by the media, until I became part of a culture that seems highly influenced by the media, and I think what Horkheimer said about morality could be applied in a more general sense to how one standardized culture overcame another in both our personal experiences, "What is moral is determined by the positive content of existing customs and habits, and morality consists in formulating and approving what is accepted by the prevailing social order" (p. 162). <br /><br />I may be totally wrong but I felt like I could relate with you in my own way, which to me is interesting that someone whose been surrounded by American culture all her life could have a somewhat similar experience as someone from a different country...<br /><br />Maybe it's because we both sorta missed out on the direct influence of American mass media communication when we were growing up..Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08586477142449381117noreply@blogger.com