History, Symbolic Interaction and Social Psychology, Essay Example

The symbolic interaction, social psychology, and history of places differ. The way symbols influence social interactions between people. Social factors as culture, lifestyle, age, education, and occupation affect how groups and individuals imagine the city. The ideas, experiences, and past events of the neighborhoods, people, or even theories relate to current phenomena differently. This paper contemplates, academically and philosophically, the symbolic interaction, social psychology, and history of two vastly different neighborhoods, Soma district in San Francisco and Haight Street in San Francisco in the city. Symbolic interaction

Soma district and Haight Street form two social institutions. The various symbols present in the two neighborhoods describe the existing interaction. The Haiti Street has a rich history of an excellent locality for the prominent people to reside. It is an area substantially invested with recreational facilities, the best shopping centre and with the best restaurants. However, due to the insufficient social control measures, there are lots of illicit drug dealing occurrence, pan handling, and the high on-teens, which present social norms. On the other hand, the 1906 earthquake in the SoMA district symbolizes the insecurity (Rodriguez 40). This earthquake destroyed all the developments that previously existed. It provided fear for investors to risk investing at the place. It is the low earning group that risk living in the region. The Social Darwinism of the SoMA district presents poverty, and lower living standards. Despite the fact that further developments done later e.g. the construction of the conference centre (Moscone Centre), that hosts significant trade shows, the area still undermined. There was also the opening of San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and significant developments. Efforts employed to revive the vicinity of The SoMA district, and probably with time, it will be acceptable.  The two neighborhoods have different experiences concerning their symbolic interaction.

Social psychology

A high social class of people resides in Haight Street. Their culture, lifestyle, education level and the occupation are different from those of residents of SoMA district.  A third party would imagine that Haight residents are well educated, since they have all the resources to invest in the best schools ever (Anderson 56). They expected to live a comfortable lifestyle with all their needs and wants catered for. There is also an exceptionally high probability that the Haight residents have the most prominent jobs in the government, or maybe others are artists, musicians or government representatives. The region invaded with the prominent businesspersons in the United States with a few middle class residents. There however exists a socially constructed gap for the residents of the SoMA Street. The occupants of the region are more expectedly to be lowly educated, with low earning or rather casual jobs. The living standards of the SoMA district residents is average, where one can only afford the basic needs (food, shelter, clothing, healthcare and basic education). The recreation activity sidelined by such residents as it is either way; they have no money at their residual to spend on recreation, or they are too busy trying to make end meet. There is social inequality between the two residents. However, there could be cases where a fellow from SoMA district more learned than one from Haight Street. The irony could be that children from the Haight residents are not as learned as expected thus disproving the socially transmitted belief.

History

The street named after Henry Haight, a nineteenth century banker. He was the founder of the Protestant Orphan Asylum. The Haight Street in San Francisco is a well-known destination. It lends its name to the whole district thus called The Haight-Ashbury. Haight Street divided into two parts, Lower and Upper Haight, with the Divisadero Street separating the Upper and Lower Haight. Both sections contain Victorian buildings rented or owned to residential and commercial agencies (Anderson 25). The street has had prominent people as Graham Nash, the Grateful Dead and popular rock bands once resided.  It is worth labeling as a primary site for the summer of Love where even George Harrison and a cadre of Flower Children walked down. The current phenomena frequented locals’ visits, enjoyment of a brisk tourist trade, and the considerable degree of yuppie is due to the past events of the Haight Street. The SoMA (South of Market) is a large neighborhood located south of Market Street. Its sub-neighborhoods include Mission bay, South Beach, and Rincon Hill. A neighborhood formed to create a new subdivision after an extension of the boundaries of the pueblo southwards. The SoMA district has had reports of earthquake.  Thus wider streets towards development of light to heavy industry resulted because of the earthquakes. The South of Market has homed light industries, warehouses. The residents who resided there before include the seamen, transients, and other non-significant persons (Fancher 15). This history of the neighborhood presents a culture of poverty giving the SoMA a “skid row” reputation. There is an enormous Social contrast between the SoMA district and the Haight Street.

Works Cited

Anderson T. The Movement and the Sixties: Protest in America from Greensboro to Wounded Knee. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Fancher, Emily “Transbay proposal includes possible tallest building on West Coast.” San Francisco Business Times. 12-19, (2006).

Rodriguez, Joseph. “City Against Suburb” The Culture Wars in an American Metropolis Praeger, 40 (2000).