Macro Level Perspective Analysis

After reading Chapter 1, my eyes have been opened to a study of human communication that is virtually open-ended. The idea everyone has different perspectives and sees the world differently based on their specific situation in life is hard to wrap my mind around. I can see how I walk through my life as an “everyday actor”. I see things from my point of view, which has been shaped by my personal hardships, challenges, triumphs, experiences and how these things have affected me. Rarely do I stop to consider why someone else may not agree with me or would do something differently or why their perception of a given situation may be different than my own. I like the idea that I perceive things in my own unique way based on my specific experiences and situation in life. To look at something with a macro-level perspective is to study society by looking at a large-scale social structure in order to determine how it affects the lives of groups and individuals. The opposite of which is micro-level perspective. This perspective concentrates on the interactions of individuals and how those interactions create larger patterns. I
would like to discuss how the recent economic crisis has affected my life. The economy has impacted me on many levels. It has changed the way I shop, what I do for entertainment and most importantly, my recent decision to quit my job and go back to school. Inflation has changed my shopping habits everywhere from the gas station to the grocery store. Grocery shopping used to be something I didn’t put much thought into. If my family needed something, I would jump in the car and go out to get it. Most days I would stop at the store on the way home from work and pick up just what we needed for that night’s dinner. Things are dramatically different now. Recently, my fiancé and I have begun meal planning for the week to cut down on our grocery bill and eliminate the multiple unnecessary (and expensive) trips to the store. Along the same lines, with gas prices continuing to rise, I find myself not going out as much and staying around the neighborhood more frequently. This affects what I my family and I do for entertainment. Where trips multiple trips to amusement parks and the beach used to consume our summers, we have had to limit and replace those activities. Nights out on the town, going to the movies and eating out are not priority any longer. Making good financial decisions has moved its way to the forefront. Planning dinners, game nights and play dates with our neighbors is a regular part of our weekly routine now. In a sense, these changes in our lifestyle have brought our family closer together. I enjoy our dinners together every night and the time we spend at home playing games with our children. These routines have made my life less cluttered and have allowed me to focus on what is truly important to me, raising my child. My career path is the most dramatic change imposed on me by the current economy.
Price tags and taxes continued to rise, while my income seemed to be decreasing slowly. Ten year ago, bartending served as a lucrative business for me. Over the past few years, I have noticed people not throwing money around as freely as they had in the past. Tips dwindled as I saw more and more people losing their jobs, applying for unemployment and some on welfare. After learning that I was pregnant with our second child last year, I had to step back and take an honest look my family’s financial future and what changes that could be made on my end so we could remain comfortable. That is when I made the decision to quit my job, where I had been comfortable and happy for many years, and pursue furthering my education in search of a new recession proof
career. Seeing how the economy has affected me was not a problem. Looking at the topic from a sociological perspective and trying to understand how it may affect others was a more daunting task. Studying the topic using a “beginners mind” and viewing it outside of my own perspective is not as easy as it may seem. I believe others have defiantly been affected in similar ways as me, but I see some differences also. As I stated earlier, many people have lost their jobs. This has forced some to lose their homes, vehicles and general sense of security in their lives. I can assume that this could cause depression or mood changes in some that may even begin to affect their relationship with their family or spouse. Could this have something to do with the divorce rates being so high? I have also noticed people not having as many children as those from previous generations. Could the state of the economy have anything to do with this? Are people choosing to have smaller families instead of committing to the financial obligations of a large family? I thought it was an interesting exercise to look outside of my own situation and question the topic through the perspective of others.