Johnson chapter 6

Johnson’s thesis in chapter six states, “Contrary to the individualistic model, social life happens only as people participate in social systems—families, schools, workplaces. religious organizations, and so on. If we want to understand what happens in the world, including patterns of privilege and oppression, we have to understand the dynamic relation between people and social systems.”
The author is saying that as people take part in social systems, we learn that how we are related to the ideas of the world and the people who are in the world. We learn the concept of value and how some things and some people are more important than others. We learn to determine what normal behavior is and what is not. The author uses an example about how he watched television growing up and the message that the TV portrayed was, “straight white men are the most important people on the planet because they’re the ones who supposedly do the most important things. They’re the strong ones who build; the heroes who fight the good fight; the geniuses, writers, and artists who create.” He also goes on to describe how the world puts out messages that men are dominant, and all of the subordinate groups should do what the men say. It goes on to say “men, for example, are encouraged to expect women to tend and take care of them, to defer to and support men not matter how badly men behave. He goes on to use the television show Everybody Loves Raymond as an example.
Is the argument the author is making completely accurate? I believe that the argument that the author has come up with is accurate. He gives multiple examples of how we are to act in social situations and if what is considered normal behavior is altered to something someone is not used to what will happen. He uses an example of standing backwards on an elevator and look at the wall instead of facing forward at the door. See what people do, see how many awkward looks someone will receive.
I felt that this was one of my favorite chapters thus far. He gives examples that I could relate to and have seen before, so that I know what my reaction was compared to the reactions that he received. The example about things people don’t do in movie theaters was a good example, because it was 100% true. Nobody does that and if they did it there would be uproar about it. This was a fun chapter to read.