Author Archives: stevesantos

Liquid Modernity in UBC: The Constant change of Career Paths

As a university student, I often tend to feel pressured by my surrounding society to have a set career path ahead of me. I would always feel overwhelmed by the pressure of having to apply for certain programs in UBC that are considered beneficial to my chances of having a job or career after graduation. Surely I’m not alone when it comes to this kind of stress as a university students, for I’ve heard from friends and other fellow students struggling to figure out what they want to do post-graduation.

In addition, individuals who face such a problem are also concerned about having to surrender to this routine:

School => Graduation => 9-5 job => Career

Looks boring? I agree. It’s kinda sad. Insert excessive crying emoji.

A number of these individuals, myself including, would want to escape this norm. Our parents and peers also encourage this type of path or routine that should be followed in order to ensure “a good future”. However, following the traditional pattern shown above is difficult because of how an individual’s identity changes over time, constantly affecting and altering their life choices and preferences.

In my case, I used to have an interest in becoming a therapist, but that’s no longer the case (because PSYC 101 was as torturous as a redundant Michael Bay movie). I’m currently studying to enter the field of law and become an attorney for a career, because it is guaranteed to have good pay and associated with having a high reputation in the eyes of people around me. Although it’s quite a prestigious occupation, it’s not exactly my dream in life, which is to be an entertainer. Law is an interesting and significant field to be involved in, but entertaining audiences is definitely something that I want to pursue.

The point that I’m trying to make here is that when one creates a career path for him or herself, it’s usually not a set one and it could change during that path.

This whole situation reflects what sociologist Zygmunt Bauman referred to as “Liquid Modernity”, which means that as the values, cultures, and systems of society change, so do the self-identities of individuals. Rather than following a routine or traditional pattern, individuals make self-chosen paths that revolve around their own values. Bauman describes change in liquid modernity as interlocking “patterns of communication and co-ordination between individually conducted life policies on the one hand and political collectivities on the other”.(6) In other words, the personal choices the individual makes is associated with the values of larger groups of individuals or institutions.

Liquid modernity is evident at UBC, especially with the presence of various programs that help students determine their self-made choices to decide what they want to do as a career. UBC’s Co-Op programs provide students with the opportunity to explore different jobs that will help them determine what they want to do after graduating from university.

In September, I attended an Arts Co-Op orientation to learn more about the program in hopes to be able to explore the different jobs that the program provides. They talked about the career or job options that are available for students who either a) want to be trained for their future careers, or b) still don’t have an idea of what they want to do after graduation and want to explore the options available to them. Through the Co-Op program, students like myself can figure out what their career of choice should be, and help them identify what jobs are most suitable for themselves. The presenters at the orientation also added that students who are entered into the Co-Op program will have the opportunity to gain work experience and improved skills for interviews, resume-writing, and in other processes for getting jobs, helping them gain professionalism for the workplace. Admission into the Co-Op program leads to the identities of students being shaped and constructed in order to help them when they enter the workplace. Students would have a higher chance of being accepted in a job by having a professional attitude and appearance, having to act and dress in a certain way in order to impress employers. This shows that the influence of the norms in society, especially in the professional world, causes change in the individual’s identity and his or her choices in life.

In relation to Liquid Modernity, programs such as the Co-Op program help students deal with the uncertainty of what jobs or career they would want to have after graduating, causing them to change the way they act or think in order to fit the standards and requirements that are placed in order for the students to be admitted into such programs.

This shows the relationship between personal life choices and  how individuals are willing to make changes in their identities in order to follow the standards of institutions above them. In UBC, the variety of programs that are available help students create their own career paths in a fluid manner, rather than having to follow a traditional pattern. In addition, students like myself are likely to change their future plans while they still follow their initial path, influencing their identities and their perspectives on life along the way.

 

 

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Eliminating Racial Hierarchies at UBC: The Global Lounge

In her book “Race, Space, and the Law”, Sherene H. Razack discusses the concept of space as a social product, and how it can shape the identities of individuals. She states that identity-making processes that exist in spaces are multiple and gendered, isolating subordinate groups and creating a hierarchical race structure. In other words, the spaces that individuals are placed in shape their identities and how they are seen and perceived by others.

The effect of space on racial hierarchies can be looked at in a historical context. Due to the impact of imperialism and colonization in history, public spaces have created racial isolation between individuals of different ethnicities or minority groups, further highlighting the dominance of dominant groups (white European settlers) who have acted to keep the minority in their place. Although that isn’t quite the case today, there are still certain forms of racial isolation in spaces that exist in modern society. Though less extreme, there are still some occurrences in which racialized groups are interlocked with one another and cause a clash of cultures within the sharing of space. Steps have been taken to counteract the amount of racial isolation in areas, especially in UBC.

The Global Lounge at UBC (located around the Marine Drive residences) acknowledges multicultural diversity within the university, and provides a shared space for any student to use and feel at home. Throughout the school year, they hold various events to promote global citizenship and encourage networking between individuals from different groups. In addition, the structure of the lounge reflects on and recognizes the cultural diversity that exists within the university, and acknowledges the unseated Musqueam territory that the campus is placed on. In this manner, the Global Lounge acts as a counteraction to racial isolation on campus and providing students from different parts of the world to recognize themselves as individuals who come together within a shared space, rather than being isolated from one another.

I recently attended an event hosted by the Global Lounge known as “Impact Lab”, a series of workshops that promote topics related to global citizenship, and was attended by Global Lounge network members (such as myself), and others who were invited. The particular session that I attended focusing on the topic of “the power of connections”. These workshops helped give Global Lounge network members (such as myself) and other attendees an insight to the importance of connections between cultures and further solidify our knowledge of being global citizens, increasing our awareness of the people who we share the space with. The workshops that took place during the event gave those in attendance a better understanding of the sharing of cultures and the impact that recognizing the presence of other races and cultures can have on society.  One of the workshops that I took part in was hosted by two network members from the Caribbean African Association and Engineers without Borders, which discussed the failure of the PlayPump water system in Mozambique, and the role of culture in this situation. By discussing this, we gained a better understanding of how the clash of cultures and racial isolation can make an impact on a part of society, in this case the PlayPump project. For instance, revenue was dependent on the use of billboard ads that surround the water tank, which we determined was an unwise idea because the people in Mozambique wouldn’t mind the ads posted. In relation to Razack’s article, the implementation of a capitalist method like this creates a sense of racial hierarchy through the form of a South African organization placing themselves in the space of the Mozambique population, showing a clear existence of racial hierarchy within the shared space and making the identities of both parties more transparent.

To avoid racial hierarchy in UBC, the Global Lounge opens their space to all students who want to feel comfortable and welcomed in the university. That way, international students and local students aren’t isolated from one another and can share the identity of being UBC students and also global citizens, eliminating racial distinction and hierarchy in campus. In addition, with the acknowledgment of the unseated Musqueam territory that UBC is on, the Global Lounge provides a welcoming atmosphere that acts as the opposite to spatial regulation of the different types of students in UBC, allowing everyone to be more mindful and aware of the owners of the land they are on.

And last but not least, the Global Lounge gives those within the shared space the opportunity to be able to network with one another with a nice hot cup of free coffee. Because let’s face it, who doesn’t love free coffee?

 

 

 

 

 

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Sociological Imagination and Analyzing the Struggles of a UBC Student.

Life of a university student, more specifically a UBC student, surely comes with a number of difficulties that would get us thinking: What did we do to end up here? As students, we get so caught up by our own troubles, that we don’t consider their historical and biographical context. In other words,  we don’t really understand how our problems can have an effect on the society that surrounds us. We usually think that our personal problems only affect us individually, yet there is actually a connection between our issues and the framework of society.

In his article “The Promise of Sociology”, C. Wright Mills introduces the concept know as the Sociological Imagination,  a non-individualistic way to look at our personal problems in a much larger scale. Sociological Imagination shows us the distinction between a “personal trouble” and a “public issue” and helps us identify the relationship between our own individual troubles and problems that are on a larger scale.

Imagine a  UBC student who is under a financial struggle to pay for his education. Let’s call him Bart. Bart is pursuing his university education in UBC as a business student in Sauder and, due to not being financially able to afford schooling himself, is being funded with student loans. He then eventually faces student debt after completing his degree, and is stressed with having to earn the money he needs to repay his student loans. This would be known as a personal trouble, because the issue he is facing exists within himself.

Now, how can we view Bart’s problem on a larger scale? He surely wouldn’t be the only person facing financial troubles in university, let alone facing student debt. As a public social issue, having a large amount of students facing debt would affect the student community within the university and could possibly lead to changes in tuition costs or a change in the number of students attending UBC. Student loans and student debt can be seen as public issues because of how they extend beyond an individual’s personal problem, helping us understand the structure of society and how it can be amended.

The recent protest that occurred outside the Koerner library regarding fairness in tuition and housing process is an example of how public issues can change the structure of society. Because of proposed increases in tuition costs and residence contracts, students demanded lower costs in order to make their university experience much more fair and affordable for them. By protesting and expressing their outrage for the increase in housing and tuition costs, students are using their voices to promote change in the current social order. It is also worth thinking about how each student has their own personal troubles that are financial, which contributes to the amount of students financially struggling because of the high tuition and housing costs. Each student would have their own personal reasons to be involved in the protest, and with the amount of students who appeared outside the library to oppose the status quo, it is clear that the increase in tuition and housing costs is a public social issue that calls for change within the university system at UBC.

The use of Sociological Imagination is a helpful tool that we can use to analyze aspects of our lives and of those around us. In addition, it can help us understand why events such as the protest against increased costs take place and the issues that are to be addressed. By thinking about the relationship between personal troubles and public issues, we will be able to realize how the things that happen to us can affect the structure of the society we live in.

 

References:

Mills, C. W. (1959). The Sociological Imagination. New York: Oxford University Press, 1959.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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