The main thing that I will take away from this class is not to accept everything at face value. Over the course of the semester I have learned to analyze people, concepts, thing, etc. carefully. Perhaps legitimation is one of the major ideas we covered in this course that falls under this category. While I'm reading articles or listening to people speak/comment on something I find my self asking, "who is this person, and what do they know? Or what can I trust that they know?"
I really see the importance of the idea of legitimation and I think it is for my benefit to ask these guiding questions. If the person, in my mind is not legit, then I won't waste my time listening or hearing them out. If they are legit, then I'll listen, but whatever they say will not necessarily be accepted at face value.
Overall, I guess this way of going about life is kind of skeptical and that is exactly what I got out of this course. Being skeptical is important for two reasons I can think of 1) provides a system of checks and balances and 2) it helps to generate knowledge. However, there is a fine line between skeptical and challenging authority and this is where legitimation once again comes in!
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