Question for my sociology class?

Question

Why do people wear "masks"? As in the masks we act. Obviously as seen through many observations people act differently in different environments. Why is this? What is your opinion on this? Do you act differently around your grandparents than you do your parents? Act differently around your parents than you do around your friends? What about teachers? We have several different masks, and we act of what we are not... why is this? What types of masks do you wear? why do you wear them?

this would help a lot to do some research. Thank you.

-Sociology student.

Answer 1

I act very differently in different situations and around different people. It just depends on the environment- there are certain societal norms and expectations in certain places, and there are fewer pressures among friends and close relatives. For example, some students are heavy drinkers and act silly with their friends, but around teachers, they say they do not touch alcohol and act very maturely. With a teacher you may restrict yourself more because he/she is authority and demands more respect that your same-age peers. One may use swear words in front of friends, but not in front of parents, because Mom and Dad were the ones who taught the elementary schooler not to use bad words. People wear masks because there are times to be formal/informal, silly/serious, etc. People conform to social and cultural norms to protect sides that they only want some people to see (the drinking, swearing side..) :D good luck on your research

Answer 2

because we as human beings are social animals...we always want our good side to show in front of our loved ones, we tend to hide some of our features by wearing a mask when we are around our grand parents because we want our grandparents to be proud of us...we tend to wear a different mask infront of our parents because we tend to want something from them in return maybe and we dont want them to change there minds...and we wear a different mask with our friends because we want our friends to look at our COOL side.

Answer 3

Get your hands on The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life by Erving Goffman -- very readable and interesting book. He uses a theatre metaphor.

Yes, we all have somewhat different persona, depending on who we're with -- and the context.

It's actually not a BAD thing. For instance, when hanging out with friends, the whole point is just to enjoy each other. When at work, the work is the point, and excessive goofing off and laughing is counter-productive.

Things one might ordinarily say might shock or offend one's grandparents.

When with one's parents, one often falls back into being like a child -- sometimes because parents bring this on by talking to us or treating us as the children we once were, rather than the adults we are now. (This is one of the not-so-good aspects.)

When at work, or with teachers, one wants to put across competence, intelligence, interest in doing good work, and so on. Teachers and bosses have power over us. So we hold back snappish words, and put on a professional or scholarly demeanor.

BTW, people like parents and teachers act differently around us than around their peers, too.

Answer 4

People wear masks to hide the person they fear they might be.