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Identities And How They Are Formed

Term Paper Title	Identities And How They Are Formed
# of Words	634
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	2.54

Identities and How they are Formed

        Garrett Bennicas
        Soc. 1
        Portfolio
        Synthesis

     From this section of the course, Sociology 1, I have learned about
different philosophies and ideas about how identities are formed. The
philosophies that make the most sense to me are the ideas of John Locke, Jean-
Jacues Rousseau, Charles Harton Cooley and George Herburt Mead. Also the ideas
focused on in my exercise have as well helped me to form an idea where
identities come from and what they mean socially.
     John Locke had the idea that people in a society truly want to live
together in harmony and that people are not aggressive by nature. That people
are born with a "blank slate" and that anything can be learned. I completely
agree with this statement. How people are brought up and what they are exposed
to defines their identity and intentions in society. I was brought up by loving
parents that among others things taught me to be true to my feelings and to
express them truthfully. Jean-Jacues Rousseau's theory about corruption relates
to the "clean slate" idea. He stated that corruption come from society. So if
one is not influenced positively they may end up corrupt and be a hindrance on
society. If a child grows up in a "dysfunctional family" they may be at a
disadvantage to a child like my brother who is getting the same social education
from my parents and the society we live in.
     Charles Harton Cooley also touched on the idea of identities. He
believed that identities are formed from interactions with people in society.
This would mean that the more interactions one has the more choices that have to
form there own identity. In a sense my upbringing and my brother's can be
dangerous in a way because our parents have to be careful not to shelter us too
much form parts of society. Otherwise we create one sided identities and...

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