Week 4 Question 1: How we "BUILD" worlds

According to the social constructionist perspective, we build worlds because as a social group, we create collective ideas of ourselves, of one another and then of the world. As a group of people, we live inside the world of communication because most of what we know and believe about the world comes to us through communication not direct experience. Well I guess that is true for most of us in still living in this world today. But not really true for those that lived thousands of years ago who had to experience stuff first hand to then be able to pass the knowledge down to us. But for most of us today, we learn from those that came before us; that is how we sometimes make our decision. We base our knowledge on what we learned from our parents and older friends. In a sense we build our own perspective on the world based on other people's take on the world. For an example, I was born in Vietnam and came over here when I was 5 years old. Some of my views on the world was different to kids who grew up in the United States. I had a culture shock when I came to America because I was introduced to so many new types of food and types of languages. It was also a big thing to go to America. America was considered the land where dreams come true; the land of the FREE. The communist side won in the Vietnam War and it was a huge downfall for my parents and for those that fought for democracy. So to be able to go to America and escape the oppression was a huge opportunity for only some fortunate few. Since my father was a soldier alongside the Americans, he was granted amnesty into America. Some who tried to escape by boat did not succeed and was put in jail. It was very hard times. My view on the American world was a beautiful land where people have vast pool of opportunities to reach their goals. This is true to other Vietnamese kids who also grew up in Vietnam. But for the children who did not have the same background as I did, did not have a special view on the land they live in. Also, I was taught that communism is a terrible form of government because it provides more opportunities for a government to become corrupt and to oppress the people. I always had a negative view on communism. When I reached high school, I learned more about communism and how it originated from Karl Marx. I was also taught on several examples of communism such as China and South Korea. Many Americans also disliked communism because the American government fought very hard against communism. The government had used propaganda and other factors to show the American people that communism is a bad thing. Based on the knowledge and experience that I've learned from my father, I've come to conclude a negative view on the world of communism. But others who grew up in a communist country may have some prideful beliefs on it. Because I was raised to believe that communism was a terrible form of government, I was able to understand the meaning behind the teachings on communism and why the United States government decided to engage on a war against communism. I was able to easily understand the lectures from my teachers and this helped me in writing my essays and succeeding in my midterms on communism.

Within this world of communication there are four cultural tools that we use to decipher and understand the communication. These cultural tools are symbolic codes, cognitive customs, the cultural traditions, and the sets of roles and rules. These tools can help us succeed in life and sometimes may hurt us because we cannot understand a certain view of the world. But if we have the ability to process the information and the ability adapt to new environment, we will have a higher chance of succeeding in life.