Introduction and Summary
This paper analyses the sociological behavior of ‘three minutes to hug’ in the article ‘At one border park, separated immigrant families hug across a steel divide’ written by Yanan Wang. The article is a discussion about how the immigrants living in Mexico and their loved ones in US often interact by embracing each other across the steel divide on the border between Mexico and USA. The immigrants have been separated from their families due to stringent rules that were enacted by the US government to bar illegal immigrants into the country. Due to this, some family members who have legal documents but for one reason or the other cannot travel to Mexico to meet their loved ones interact across the steel divide at the friendship park. The article looks at the experience of Esparza who is twenty three and other her mother so that she could hug her in the three minutes provided by the border patrol agents ( Wang 1).
Definition of the Theory
Symbolic interactionism theory examines how people interact in the society and how the interactions create an individual and the society (Society for the Study of Symbolic interaction 1). The theory posits that there are three ways through which society and individuals are constructed. These ways entail self-creating social interactions, the society is in turn created by social interactions and finally the self is created by the society (Grinnell College 1). The theory has three core assumptions on which conclusions are drawn on the creation and socialization of an individual to a larger society. The assumptions are meaning, language, and thought. The first assumption is that people react to issues according to the meaning they assign to it. The second assumption is that language is crucial in interpretation of symbols. The last assumption is that the way one thinks determines their interpretations of symbols (University of Twente 1). The theoretical paradigm thus plays a vital role in understanding what is being experienced in the daily lives of individuals in the society and how it is given meaning.
Connection
There exist different forms of hugs which are employed in the society with each portraying a different meaning. The connection between the theory and the three minutes to hug is the interpretation of the hug to the two groups of immigrants across the border. The three the minutes to hug is a form of symbolic interaction as it communicates affection to the families and their loved ones who have been separated (Sun 888). Alvarado a resident of San Diego in response to the three minutes to hug posits that ‘People say it’s sad, but most of the time you see tears of joy’ (Wang 1) This demonstrates the three minutes of hug has great meaning that is derived from it by the immigrants who are only allowed to interact with their loved ones through the boarder. The reaction from those who embraced each other such as the tear of joy means that the hug had a deeper meaning on the recipient. Also, the eagerness from the families to just have a glimpse and touch their loved ones indicates how significant the hugs are to these groups of individuals.
Conclusion
The article by Wang provides us with the experience of what the immigrants have to go through in order to interact with their families. The author identifies the importance of the three minutes of hug to these groups of individuals which this paper later analyzes. The paper has discussed the behavior using the theory of symbolic interaction which it has used to draw the connection between the three minutes behavior. The three minutes of hug have been identified has having a deeper meaning to the family as the portray affection to the loved ones.
Works Cited
Grinnell College. Symbolic Interactionalism.200o. Web. Accessed on May 8th, 2016 < http://web.grinnell.edu/courses/soc/s00/soc111-01/IntroTheories/Symbolic.html>
Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Symbolic Interaction. 2016. Web. Accessed on May 8th, 2016 < https://sites.google.com/site/sssinteraction/>
Sun Ron. Autonomous Generation of Symbolic Representation through Subsymbolic Activities. Philosophical Psychology, 26 (2013): 888- 912. Web. Accessed on May 8th, 2016 < http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=42934f00-2bcb-4e1f-9e50-941247f6351d%40sessionmgr104&vid=3&hid=103
Wang Yanan. At one Border Park, Separated Immigrant Families Hug across a Steel Divide. May 1st, 2016. Web. Accessed on May 8th, 2016 < https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/for-families-divided-by-a-mesh-fence-a-rare-chance-to-embrace/2016/05/01/d0fdcf08-0b07-11e6-a6b6-2e6de3695b0e_story.html>
