Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The World is a Stage: Elvy Soltau

I am a lover of sociological theories, although I am very lazy when it comes on to studying them in depth. The theories that captivate my heart the most are: The Conflict theory, the Functionalist theory and Dramaturgy. The conflict theory was coined by Karl Marx, it focuses on inequality. The theory highlighted the idea that society is divided into two classes; the bourgeoisies and the proletariat. The bourgeoisies are the bosses, the rich people they are a small percentage of the population while on the other hand the proletariats are the larger percentage they are often referred to as the working class. The proletariats are treated unkindly and like properties instead of people. Karl Marx in his theory predicted that one day the proletariats will get wise and overthrow the bourgeois using war then equality will result.
The functionalist theory on the other hand states “each aspect of society is interdependent and contributes to society's stability and functioning as a whole. For example, the government provides education for the children of the family, which in turn pays taxes on which the state depends to keep itself running. That is, the family is dependent upon the school to help children grow up to have good jobs so that they can raise and support their own families. In the process, the children become law-abiding, taxpaying citizens, who in turn support the state.”  The  truth is quite evident to some extend in these theories, but the most practical one of them all (or the one that I agree with the most) is Dramaturgy, coined by Erving Goffman the main idea behind this theory is that the world is a stage and we’re all actors. The theory highlights the idea that our behavior vary depending on the group we’re in at the moment. Like actors on stage we give the audience what they want, only allowing certain people to our true secrets backstage.

We are all prim and proper in pubic or in the presence of authority but behind closed doors in our comfort zones we bring out the real us… some even have ‘ghetto behavior’. We wear mask, yes I said we! We’re all guilty even me. There are days when we pretend like we like this person just to maintain the ‘Christian’ perspective that individuals have of us.  Some of us wear mask of happiness when we’re dying inside, some to the greater extent wear some severe mask of hypocrisy. We smile in the face of those we know annoy the hell out of us.
There are those in work place, in the churches in our communities and even in our schools we act daily! But my question is for how long can we wear our mask? How long can we keep up a façade of happiness, kindness, spirituality and even love? How long can we lie to ourselves and others about our emotions? How long can we hide the real us? Time! Time will find us out. Time will catch up on us. We can’t pretend forever! Although I can agree that some of us should get act boy awards for our Stella performances daily. The world is our stage for real, God bless the few that get to see the real us.
I can understand that we’re all seeking acceptance, what I can’t seem to understand is why settle for being accepted for something we’re not. In that case are you truly accepted? I strongly believe that we rob ourselves of peace of mind when we pretend. Look at it, we have friends from several classes and creed and we have to be modifying our behavior around each, man that’s too much time wasted.
Is it a case that we're ashamed of ourselves or afraid of rejection? Or we haven’t established a concrete identity? Or are we forced to conform to certain standard by our families but secretly we disagree with them?
My take on all this is; pretending is time wasting, hurtful and unattractive.  When we pretend we waste not only our time but those of others. Imagine someone spent years trying to get to know you, then BAM!! You're not what the thought you were. What a lost? It’s hurtful in the case where they took you for someone trustworthy but then to find out you’re an empty shell. It’s unattractive because people know people and you don’t know who would be saying what about you. So you’ll never know who would be saying “you know Elvy? I don't trust her!” Bam! Reputation ruin.

This is an appeal to even me, because the world don’t know that I’m moody, thin skinned and quiet but we’re all under construction. My advice to us is be true to ourselves and know what we’re about, know what we stand for and let people know what we stand for. 
Save them time and might be money too.  

Don't be disappoint when people begin to act differently sometimes, its the mask that's falling off .

**Perky Parrot ** Over and out! 

6 comments:

  1. Are you saying that you wear a mask also Elvy?

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  2. Reminds me of the poem "Once Upon a Time" by Gabriel Okara

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  3. Leonard you've never found yourself masking your true feelings?

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  4. I fully agree with both the second and third theory, specifically the second one. And I think the functionalist theory exemplifies theory three ;mask and stages. Simply put, society teaches us which mask to wear, when and where. Think about a job working as an air hostess lol

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  5. An educational and interesting post

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