Sociological Perspectives

Interviewees’ class, race, and gender

Mr. Aswani is a Thai native who lives in USA. His family is a lower class family in terms of social status. He is the sole breadwinner in a family of six. Alexander Gift is a Scottish native who has lived in USA for all his life. His family moved to US when he was just a toddler. He is from a rich family. Gift is a university student who is on a life mission to discover himself and have fun doing it.

Role of class, race, and gender in the lives of the interviewees

Mr. Aswani is not your normal American on the streets. Even though there are so many people with different cultures and characters in USA, his character and way of doing things makes him stand out. He has lived in America for the last 10 years. However, his mannerism has not changed that much. I was quite taken aback when Mr. Aswani decided to greet me with a wai. This is a prayer-like gesture that Thai people often use to say hello. In a Wai greeting, you put your hands together and bow a little bit. Mr. Aswani did this, smiling at me as he said ‘sawasdee’. I have read about it, I just wasn’t ready to be the one receiving this kind of greetings. I did not even know the appropriate response!

There’s nothing much that can make you think that Gift is not a native-born American. His easy going mannerism, his ability to keep time, his among others. The only thing that made me curious was his red hair. There are several redheads in USA. However, a close inspection will tell you that most of them are not Native Americans. Scotland is a country that has largest number of people with the red hair (Smith, 2017).

Culture makes us who we are. It makes us behave in a certain way even without noticing it (Kendall, 2013). One’s race actually informs most of our beliefs and habits. Mr. Aswani is a soft-spoken person. He does not interrupt you while you are speaking, neither does he force his opinions on you. I had to actually call him out any time I needed to hear his input. Even when I said something that he disagreed with, he maintained his cool and just let me have my way. He always answer questions first with a smile, then with words. He was very patient with me even when I stumbled in understanding some of the things he told me. Even after living in America for 10 years, he still has a Thai accent. He speaks English in a way that just makes you want to lean in and hear more. Being from a poor family, Mr. Aswani understand the hustle of having to look for money to feed a family and to educate the children. He is not extravagant. He does not live above his means. He understands that every penny he gets is quite useful. Coming from a culture where family is a central point in the society. He’d rather buy his wife and children nice clothes and take them out, rather than buy something for himself even it is more important. “My duty is towards my family, whatever I do, I do it for them,” he says proudly.

Gift is completely opposite of Mr. Aswani. He arrived at the interview scene minutes later. He mumbled apologies as he settled in his seat, fumbling with his pockets to find the keys. Gift is your typical teenager. Always in a hurry, ready to have his opinion heard, and always loud! He had his headphones on when he got in, with music loud enough for people around him to hear. When he settled down, he put his headphones around his neck and did not bother to switch off the music, subjecting us to an hour of hard rock music. He did not mind answering my questions. He would interrupt me while talking with a funny comment. Being from a rich family, Gift had a rather expensive taste of things. From the clothes he wore, his choice of words, his type of a drink, and his mannerism. To him, money is a slave to him. He does not work for money. He does not mind where money comes from. His purpose in life is to just enjoy life and be happy. According to him, ‘spending your time chasing money is slavery. We chase fun, not money.”

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Applying one of the sociological perspectives to individual’s lives

Symbolic interactionist perspective uses symbols to attach meaning to life. Sociologists use symbols and the details of the day to day life to understand how people deal with each other (Crossman, 2018). For example, when we take words as symbols, a sociologist can use words to understand the interaction between people. The society attaches meaning to such symbols. For example, the wedding ring is mostly used to show unending love. However, there are some people who see the ring as meaningless, just an expense.

I used this sociological perspective on my interviewees since it helps show what is important to them and how they interact with one another. This perspective clearly explains why the interviewees do things the way they do (Kendall, 2013). As a man and the family breadwinner, Mr. Aswani believes that his main role in the family is to provide for his family. Thus, he does not mind foregoing family-time to search for money. To him, providence is a proof of his love to his wife and his children. This is different from Gift who believes that family-time is more important than looking for money. Gift recounts sadly, “I have been brought in a place where daddy was never home. He was always chasing one project after another. We had so much money at home, we just were never a family. We did not do things that father and son do. I have grown up asking things and receiving from him.” To him, they’d rather have no money but have a bond as a family.

Mr. Aswani believes that his words have an impact on the people he speaks them to. This is the reason he chooses his words wisely. He is soft-spoken, he does not like it when people are loud-mouthed around him. Mr. Aswani will hardly raise his voice at you. When he gets angry, he’d rather just keep quiet and not say a word to you. He knows that words from an angry person tend to be hurtful and he is not into the business of hurting people. Smiling is a way of showing that you are in good terms with the other person. Pleasantries are never a waste of time. This is according to Mr. Aswani. It is hard to work with someone who is always solemn. Thai people love having fun, they love to just be happy together. This is the reason why Mr. Aswani is ever-smiling.

Gift believes that he has a right to speak his mind. He won’t just sit when you insult him or say something he disagrees with. During the interview, it was not once or twice that he interrupted me when I said something that did not sit well with him. He believes that when he is angry, he should let it out, otherwise it will just continue hurting him inside. Unlike Mr. Aswani, Gift does not really care about pleasantries. He believes that time is money, he does not have to spend time with you trying to create a rapport so that you can work well together. As long as terms and conditions are laid on the table and accepted, he does not mind if you work together for a whole week without uttering a word.

Benefits and limitations to using interview as a research methodology

With interviews, it is really easy to get lots of information as compared to other data collection methods. You get to receive information, more than what you asked for and some of this side info can be more important than what you thought of (Alshenqeeti, 2014).

Interviews, especially face-to-face make it easier for you to read the body language of the interviewee. Especially when you are conducting a research on culture, sociology, or psychology, it is very important to read the non-verbal cues and interviews make it easy (Alshenqeeti, 2014). Interviews also ensure that there is clarity both in the questions asked and the answers given.

Interviews are time consuming. It takes time before some of the interviewees can actually open up and talk to the interviewer. It also takes time to collect all the necessary data and compile it (Alshenqeeti, 2014). I spent twice the amount of time I thought I would spend interviewing Mr. Aswani and Gift. Sometimes interviewees can go off track and as an interviewer, you have to be keen enough, respectful yet firm to bring them back to your question.

Interviews can be unreliable in that the interviewees can decide to tell you what they think you want to hear and not what is really true. It takes a keen interviewer to realize that an interviewee is trying to throw you off track. This means that an interviewer has to listen, not just to the words but to the body movement and any gestures and facial expressions made.

Analyzing each person’s specific components of culture

According to Thai culture, family is very important. Unlike the western culture where we do not place much importance to family, Thai people take the family as the steering wheel for the society. The extended family lives together and everyone knows their roles. Respect is also a big deal to Thai people. The kind of language they use, the greetings (for instance the wai) among other things mean a lot to them. This is the reason why Mr. Aswani is so inclined to his family. He may not be rich, or have a social status in the US, but the wellbeing of his family is what makes him proud.

Gift is Scotland native. However, he was born and brought up in USA, meaning that he has no remarkable Scottish culture. Since US is one of the countries with diverse cultures, Gift is a typical American teenager. His motto in life is to have fun. Coming from a rich family, Gift never had to struggle for anything in life. His purpose in life is to find fulfilment and personal happiness. He cares about his personal peace and will not just sit back and listen to someone who hurts him or says things that he disagrees with. He is not very patient. However, he understands his role in the society and plays it perfectly.

Culture, gender, race, and class play a great role in how we relate with each other. Mr. Aswani and Gift have been brought up in different places, with different cultures. Their approaches to life differs, so is how they relate with others.

References

Kendall, D. (2013). Sociology in our times. 11^th Independence, KY: Wadsworth Publishing.

Crossman, A. (2018). Learn about symbolic interactionism. ThoughtCo.

Umran, L. M. (2014). The understanding of cultural differences through intercultural of the communication. International journal of humanities and social science invention, 3(2): 69-74.

Smith, O. (2017). Mapped: which countries have the most redheads? Telegraph

Alshenqeeti, H. (2014). Interviewing as a data collection method: a critical review. English linguistics research, 3(1). Doi:10.5430/elr.v3nlp39