The ways that people engage in social interaction is largely informed by the cultural norms and values that

provide the framework for human behavior. People act according to specific social contexts and how they expect others to react to their action. If there is a negative response, the action is modified. When people modify their interactions in society they also modify culture. This is why culture and society are dynamic and constantly changing from new circumstances. The many forces that shape culture also shape social relations. The assignment that pushed me to face the realities of our societys tendencies was during a literature review in my research methods course about the food industry. This literature review had good timing, with all the information I wanted to share after watching a documentary named ood Inc. This documentary had a vast amount of interesting information about how food regulations in !merica can become corrupt. The most vivid in description was the culture of a farmers life had been affected by big money and controlled by people that are completely disconnected from the life of a farmer and the culture that comes along with it. !nother class that covered social and cultural awareness was in the organi"ation#group dynamics class. In class we would create different kinds of groups with women, and men. $ome times the groups would contain people with diverse backgrounds and sometimes the groups would contain people of similar interest. We evaluated the productiveness and kinds of results each group would conclude. This was a great way to see how different kinds of people can come up with different solutions. It made me think about what I kind of people I would choose when putting a group together for decisions making. I personally, believe it is best to have a wide variety of diversity within a group for a well rounded understanding of the situation at hand.

The number one class the made the biggest effect during my time at %iller &ollege was in my human diversity course. %y professor was ama"ing with the way he could make you feel what an opposing party might have been feeling in a story where there are always two sides to be heard. That human diversity class was one of the first classes I took in the bachelor level and it will stick with me for all time. I learned about stereotypes, values, respect, morals, culture of many kinds and so much more. I felt like I had been seeing things only my way and this class brought me out of my self consumed world and face the truth of reality in our society made of so many different cultures. People rely on symbols and meanings to define and interpret social relations. $ociety organi"es and make sense of the world including themselves and others by assigning symbolic meanings to individuals and their position in society. !ssigned meanings shape cultural expectations, norms, and values for social behavior. Ine'uality ties a person or groups social positioning to a trait or characteristic that is presumed to be universal. Ideas and concepts develop, not out of a natural order, but within specific social contexts. $ocial perspective and popular conceptions are invented ideas that originate in a particular social system, yet, appear natural to those who accept it. They appear natural because, like culture, the ideas are learned and shared. $ocial constructs are embedded in culture and language( they inform the ways that people organi"e and represent reality. These traits are learned and shared, social constructs are also dynamic because people reproduce according to their own interpretations and changing circumstances.