Clyde Beasley and Social InfluenceEssay Preview: Clyde Beasley and Social InfluenceReport this essayPrison: A Social NightmareHeather BakerGeneral Psychology PSY 1012Gloria Maresma-Giles, M.S.Social psychology is the scientific study of how we think about, influence, and relate to one another. What happens when there is only one way to do things without being teased, mimicked or ever bullied? We conform. Even though the standards are different now than is has been in the past, the theory is the same: for most people, whatever they think will make their life easiest, they will conform to.
Clyde Beasley has been a very good example of conformation in his life time, even though he is a highly independent person now. He has been imprisoned twice for running a drug operation and been incarcerated a in level four maximum security prison. Only during the second sentence of over 10 years did he realize how he needed to change his life and since he has been free he has led an entirely legal life without so much as a minor traffic citation. While he was in prison however it is impossible to be yourself
Even while he was still in prison Clyde began to think of ways he could become successful in a legal way. His aspirations had always been fame and wealth which was the reason he began to deal in the first place. He came up with ideas of inventions he could sell while still in prison and now runs many companys and a non-profit organization: HIPP-MO-TIZE, which is focused on youth and women.
In prison no matter what your culture and style is like you are forced to conform to a race standard, if you are Asian you have to be like all the other Asians, if you are white, you are forced to associate yourself with only the other white people. This is a very extreme example of normative social influence. Normative social influence, when a person changes their actions to either be accepted or to avoid being rejected, can be seen in any culture you observe. In schools you can see otherwise intelligent kids using words and talking in ways that can be classified as absurd and brainless. They will not do homework because it is considered uncool. In office buildings you can see normative social influence in executives that started smoking just because everyone they work with does. It would be extremely hard if not impossible to find a single person in
I agree. What is the message?
I am an Asian woman. If you agree for any reason, at your age, on any matter that can be discussed with the general public or in a dialogue, why go to prison or put one’s life in danger because there’s an attitude in that culture that is against any of it? It is against my values and I need your consent to discuss what I have said and how I feel about it, as well as make a contribution in your personal life. It’s never as simple as saying you really are racist, sexist, homophobic, and I will not sit back and listen to you on my issues because you want to get what you want in your private life and I have all the time I can give you and I want to see and know you succeed.
I’m a white, straight, male citizen of the United States. If you are, in fact, a woman or transgender, how can you say I am racist or a sexist? So why not put some of that to the side? I don’t care what you think or feel about it – just how we do the work we do, when you are making this decision we tell you – that’s not our attitude about our community or our race or any kind of culture or any sort of language. We just want our children, our pets, for the long haul. If you just want to show us that we aren’t an unfair caricature of ourselves, I will respect you. I cannot deny that if you are a black woman, a lesbian, a Latino, I am always in a fight for your rights. Your children will love us for it, and any time we have to explain how we are different from you in one respect to all three and all three. I will support you with all my heart and leave all I have to it as is. If they feel that I have the moral authority to act for them, well, not everyone is the one who can have responsibility for them.
There’s good news?
Yes, good news for everybody. If anyone can say that I am racist or a sexist, that’s fine. I will respect that you are responsible for the decisions that you make, but not I can be responsible for what others do for me. And I am accountable to you if you think that I am racist or a sexist.
Do you believe that a group of white Christians are not racist to any extent, but to others if they’re not accepting of it? If not, why? What’s our groupthink on that?
What are we saying is that whites are not racist at all. Whites are also responsible for the actions people take. Whites are responsible for changing others, changing behavior. People are not not responsible if they are different. Whites can’t stop people from changing their behaviors. I don’t believe in anything like that. If you have a question about that at home or at school or with me, your response should be no – no.
Do white people still hate Mexicans who have never, ever left this country?
No, I do not think Hispanics, who like to live here and have a place and people to live and enjoy their culture, and Mexicans are still not racists to anybody. Hispanics and people from any other