Race

This week in class, we have been talking about race and the privileges that some races have. White people have it good for the most part. They have the most privileges out of all the races. They don't get discriminated against, they are accepted by most, and can do what they want and not get in trouble if something goes wrong. I believe this is because we live in a predominantly white society where being white is what is acceptable and if your not white, you are looked down on.
In class, we started watching the movie, Crash which depicts multiple people of different races and it shows their lives. It was difficult to watch some parts because of the things that occurred to "non-white people." There was one particular scene where an African American couple were pulled over and the female ended up getting sexually harassed by one of the cops. The couple could not do anything about it because the cops threatened the husband with arrest and he could not get arrested. Although this is just a movie, i think things like this do actually happen in real life. I think that some americans are not very accepting of other races and this causes problems.
Although I've never dealt with any issues due to my race, i think people are abused due to their race. Nobody chooses their race so why should people get harassed for it?

Why desire for economic security is not being met - She was diagnosed with cancer and can not afford health insurance or the treatments for her cancer.

More fair situation - Health insurance is affordable for all, including people with cancer and covers cancer treatment.

Relates to social class - This person probably thought that health insurance covered cancer treatment but then realized they were going to have to pay for the treatments out of their pockets. 

Chose this image - It was frustrating knowing that health insurance companies will not cover cancer treatments. People don't choose to get cancer.

Why desire for economic security is not being met - This man is very qualified but can not find any jobs. He has no money and has many medical conditions.

More fair situation - Easy access to jobs for all, health insurance that covers everything and a world where an education/resume means something.

Relates to social class - This person thought that having a good education and a good resume will help you find a job but he is now realizing that it doesn't matter how qualified you are, there are no jobs

Chose this image - I chose this image because I feel bad that the man can't find a job and therefore can't afford his meds. his daughter is also suffering because her dad cant afford her medications.

Why desire for economic security is not being met - This woman's father could not afford health insurance, he had a heart attack and could not receive any treatments and soon died.

More fair situation - People who have prior medical issues should still be able to afford health insurance

Relates to social class - This person expected that their health insurance would cover any major medical bills but once something happens people can no longer afford their insurance.

Chose this image -  I chose this image because of the high cost of health insurance, somebody might have died because they could not afford the proper health insurance that would pay for the treatment needed.

Education

This week in class, we talked about social class and how depending on your specific class, you have certain opportunities that others might have. Social class is primarily based on your income. The more money you make the higher the class you are in. One characteristic of class that i think manifest itself is education.
Depending on your social class, you have a better opportunity to receive a better education. There are certain schools which are located in predominantly higher class areas that in my opinion "give" a better education to their students than say a low income area. The reason i think this is because if you do live in a high/middle class area, your school receives more money than say a low income, inner city school. If your school receives lots of money, they can afford to hire more qualified personal and also provide more resources to their students.
This idea of schools receiving more money depending on where you live is not the same for the idea of financial aid. People who live in low income areas will receive more money in financial aid in order to be able to afford college. Although that is fair, i don't think your income (social class) should be the only way of determining financial aid because although the people in the middle class make more money that those in the lower class, they also probably have more bills and things to pay off. When it comes time for college and they don't get as much financial aid because they make too much money, they end up struggling to pay for it.
Fortunately, i live in a middle/high class neighborhood and my school provides an excellent education. My school has two learning centers fully equipped with teachers who specialize in one subject, computers, and extra books. There are many schools out there that can't even afford books in good condition but mine can afford hundres of Ipads. I don't think people take advantage of the many resources their schools provide and i think it is a shame.

Gender

These past two weeks in class, we have talked about gender and how media portrays each gender. Gender is defined as how you define yourself between your ears. To help us understand this, we watched a video called Killing Us Softly. It is about a lady named Jean who talks about how the media (advertisements) mainly portrays woman as sex objects and not as people where as men are always portrayed as these big, strong, tough men.
In my opinion, i believe Jean is wrong and that she takes things out of line. First off, people need to understand that advertisements main objective is to sell their product and that basically everything in them is digitally enhanced or unattainable. Jean says that ads that contain stick thin women are forcing girls to try and look like the ones they see in the ads. I believe it s the girls responsibility to know that the girls they see in the ads are not really that thin in real life and it really to just get peoples attention. Another thing that i disagree with that Jean said was that the government needs to start enforcing rules and regulations against what can be put in ads. If the government were to enforce certain laws, that would cause in my opinion serious controversy. First off, it violates the companies freedom of speech and expression. Also by regulating ads, it will cause a huge problem because then companies will not be able to sell their products efficently and therefore ruin our economy.

The past week, we took a "field trip" in school to listen to a few panelist who were either gay, lesbian, or tans gender. We listened to each one as they each shared their stories about growing up and realizing their sexuality. While listening, it was very sad to hear about all of the panelists stories and how some of their parents weren't accepting. It also really hit when i found out that 3/5 of the panelists had tried to commit suicide.
I think it it really hard for somebody who is not gay or lesbian to really understand what people who are gay or lesbian go through. I know in my life, i use derogatory terms like gay and fag when talking to friends, but when i say it, i'm using it in a kidding way. After listening to the panelist stories and hearing how much it hurts them when they hear the words, i am going to make a effort to not use the terms at all because they are really hurtful to some people.

Agents of Socialization

This week in class, we discussed socialization and the agents of socialization. Socialization is the process of learning and internalizing the values, beliefs, and norms of our social group, by which we become functioning members of society.  We get "socialized" by agents of socialization. Agents of socialization can be parents, peers, neighborhood, media; really, they can be anything that forms us into the people we become.
In class, we watched an episode of Freaks and Geeks. In the episode, Lindsay and Sam's parents were going out of town. Lindsay's friends had convinced her to have a party in which there would be alcohol at. In this case, her friends were an agent of socialization. They were forming Lindsay into a person that has parties with alcohol. By doing this, she would be seen as cool. Sam on the other hand did not want Lindsay to have alcohol at the party. He pressured his friend to use his Bar Mitzvah money in order to buy a keg of non-alcholic beer. Sam in this case was an agent of socialization for his friend. He told him by doing this, he could come to Lindsay's party.
This week also happened to be Halloween. Halloween is a time for people to dress up and look funny, dumb, sexy, etc. The way people decide to dress up is based on agents of socialization. One agent of socialization that influences peoples costumes is media. Media is a huge agent of socialization on halloween because people usually dress up as whatever is hot in the world or in the media. I remember going to the halloween store with a couple of friends and looking at masks. They had a hole section dedicated to political officials. This was in my opinion because of the upcoming election and the amount of media coverage of it. Another agent of socialization on halloween are peers. Your peers ultimately help you decide what you are going to be for halloween. You can go anywhere in the world for halloween and see a group of people dressed as the same thing. This is because they all agreed to wear the same thing based on their interest and because they are friends. This year i didn't dress up because my friends decided not to dress up. My friends were an agent of socialization for me. They influenced my choice not to dress up.

Parenting

This week in class, we discussed the nature vs nurture debate. This debate is basically on whether we behave based on our genetics or do we behave from what we have learned through social interaction. We also read an article based on parenting and how we basically "baby" our children in todays society.
We were given four questions to ask one of our parent this week for our blog. I interviewed my mom.
Question #1: What did you want/expect for me before I was born?
My mom actually wanted me to be a girl because they had just had my older brother so they wanted a girl. She wanted me to have brown curly hair and grow up to be a doctor.
Question #2: What about me reminds you of yourself?
She said so much reminded me of her. I am a hard worker like her, i'm good at math like she is, I am meticulous and pay attention to detail like her, I'm a neat freak, and i like nice things like she does. I am also kind and helpful to other people.
Question #3: What is unique about me?
She said that I never give up and how I never let hard times interfere with my life. Also that I am the hardest working person that she knows.
Question #4: Did you and dad discuss discipline with each other? Has that part of parenting been difficult?
My parents did not discuss discipline. They did not have really have any issues with me. My pediatrician told them that they should expect good behavior right from when I was young and they never really had to discipline me. This part of parenting is difficult for my parents because they have a difficult time following through with their "threats."

I Need More Time!

This week in class, we really focused on American culture and the things we value as Americans. We read an article by Robert Kohls in which he described 13 American values. After reading them and discussing them, I realized that in my opinion, almost all of the values in one way or another were connected through time. As Americans, we value our time and other peoples time. The major value that has to do with time I think is efficiency. As Americans we want to be as efficient as possible because we like to succeed and be the best person that we can be.
There are some values that may be hard to connect with time. One of those might be that as Americans, we are materialistic. We like to have many things yes, but by having these materials, it shows ourselves and others that we have worked hard for a period of time and our materials show our success.
Time plays a major role in my life. Everyday, I stick to a schedule. I get up, go to school, go home, babysit, eat dinner, watch TV, and then go to sleep. These things seem routine to Americans but there are places in the world where you do what you want when you want. Every American wants to use the their time as effectively as possible. We set deadlines in order for ourselves to stick to the schedule. Something that I realized that I do everyday is set my alarm on my phone. Although this is such a small task, it sets up my entire day. By waking up at the time i need to, it allows me to stay on schedule. If my alarms doesn't go off or I forget to set it, my hole schedule has been thrown off.
According to Kohl, Americans embrace change but I believe with the thought of time in mind that we don't like change. Change can cause in a loss of time. A loss of time is inefficient and since Americans always want to be the most efficient, Americans don't like change.

Culture

This week in class we talked about culture and how there are different types of culture. Besides the different types of culture, there are many little things with in culture that I believe nobody thinks about. Culture is defined as the entire way of life of a group of people that acts as a lens through which one views the world and is passed from one generation to the next. Ones culture guides them and helps them make decisions. One of the small things with in culture is language. Language is a system of communications using vocal sounds, gestures or written symbols. I think that as an American, I never think about this really but there are many other languages out in the world and that not everybody in the world speaks English.
One day i watching this TV show with my brother and it was a towing show were people got their cars towed. In the show, one of the tow truck drivers was towing an illegally parked car when the people who owned the car ran up. These people happened to be asian and spoke no english. I thought to myself, why are you in America if you cant speak english and how are they suppose to speak/connect with people. The people thought the tow truck driver was almost a robber and he was trying to steal their car. This is were the language barrier comes in to play. Since nobody spoke the same language, it was difficult for everybody to get on the same page. In the end, the problem was solved but it just shows how there are other languages and when people don't speak the same one, a problem could arise.
Another thing to do with culture are a mores and folkways. An a more is a norm that carries great moral significance and a folkway is a loosely enforced norm involving customs or practices. In class we tried to recreate the song Thats A More with our own a mores and folkways. When we were coming up with the a mores and folkways, i realized that everybody violates a mores and folways. One folkway my group came up with was walking on the right side of the hallway. I know that i have walked on the other side of the hallway before and tough nothing of it. I think violating folkways are less sever than violation a mores. Violating an amore would be ditching class. When ditching class you get a deans pass. When you walk on the other side of the hallway you get nothing. This shows the difference in severity of breaking the two.

Lorax and the Trees

In class, we began to watch the movie The Lorax. We are watching The Lorax because there are many examples that connect to our first unit of sociology.
The Lorax is based in the place called Thneedville. In Thneedville, there are no real trees. People use "blow up" trees. They like them because they don't require any work and they can change color according to the season. These trees in my opinion are Thneedvillians social construct of reality. Social construct of reality is what people define as real because of their background assumptions and life experiences. The people of Thneedville I believe have come to think that the "trees" are "real." Obviously the people know that the trees are fake but since almost all of them have never seen a real tree, they don't know what a real "tree" is and just assume that everybody has trees like they do. Ted, the main character is determined to find a real tree because a girl named Audrey, who Ted like, wants to make her happy. Ted risks his life in order to find out how he can get a tree. He disobeys Mr. O'hares (Man with all the power in Thneedville) order which were to not leave Thneedville (Barricaded in) and goes to see the Once-ler in order to find about what happened to the trees.
When Ted goes to see the Once-ler, the Once-ler tells Ted about what happened to the trees. As he tells him, the Once-ler mentioned a guy named the Lorax. The Lorax was there to protect the land, but especially the trees. When the Once-ler mentioned that he had chopped down the first tree and the Lorax was there to tell him to stop and he needed to preserve the trees. Here, the Lorax was being sociologically mindful. Sociological Mindfulness is to see and appreciate things unique qualities. The Lorax wanted to preserve the trees and saw the uniqueness in the trees.
Like the Lorax, there has been things in which I have tried to preserve, but in the end, I couldn't. Although this is a bit more extreme than the Loraxs situation, I am a dog lover. I love dogs. It breaks my heart when I see dogs in shelters and dogs that have been abused. I wish that I could adopt every single one but I know that is impossible. It doesnt matter how many dogs i adopt, there will always be dogs that don't get adopted and end up dying because of it.
When the Once-ler was cutting down the trees, he was not using his sociological imagination. Sociological Imagination is when one sees the connection between private concerns of an individual and important social issues. The Once-ler was using the trees to create sneeds. Sneeds were these things that could act as anything. As they became more popular, more trees needed to be cut down. In the end, all the trees had been cut down and all the animals had to leave. The Once-ler failed to see what his actions were causing to the environment around them.
Structural Functionalism is the idea that society is like a complex system that works together and everything is smooth. In the Lorax, a structural functionalist would see Thneedville as almost like a Utopia. Everybody works together in achieving a peaceful place and nobody fights. Although this is a movie, I don't believe this type of society is possible because in our world people disagree with others. In Thneedville, everyone get along to create this "happy place."
Conflict theory is the idea that in society, there arises problem and it really comes down to who has the power. In the Lorax, Mr. O'Hare is the richest man in Thneedvile and he has all the power. The people of Thneedville are almost under the control of Mr. O'Hares every word. In the end when Ted goes to plant the seed and people start to agree with him then once Mr. O'Hare says no, everybody agrees with him. A conflict theorist would see that Mr. O'hare has all the power and that's what I think our world is like today.

The Power of the Chair

The conflict theory states that people in a higher social class will succeed more in life than those in lower classes than them. Karl Marx did a study in which he realized that rich people lived longer than those who were poor by 20 years. I believe that this theory also applies in the sense that people with strength or popularity will succeed more than those under than them.

This theory can be related to musical chairs. In musical chairs, everybody is fighting to get on a chair once the music stops. But in the game there are different types of people playing. There are those people who would do anything to get on a chair even if it meant pushing someone else to get on a chair. There are the people who are nice and would rather just get out if meant having to fight someone for a chair, and there are those people who just are playing because they have to but they don't want to lose.

In our class I noticed that most of the people who were left in the end were the aggressive ones and the ones who were out were the people who didn't really care if they lost. I also noticed a few people who took control of people and while nobody was moving they would push people in order to get them walking so they could get on a chair. I personally was one of the people who was there because i had to but i didn't want to lose. I would put my hand on a chair and not move until the next chair was open.

This is like the conflict theory because it shows how the more outspoken and powerful students stayed in the game. This is an example of being socially construct of reality. It is an example because the people who were aggressive and powerful was because of their past life experiences. They have had competition in their life before and they want everything in their life to be like a competition. 

Building As A Group

Sociological minfulness is understanding that our actions have many consequences whether they are good or bad and these consequences have a big part in affecting the people around us and they may affect us. This week in class we read a piece by Michael Schwalbe. In the article he wrote that sociological mindfulness "is especially important for helpins us see that the consequences of our words and deeds often escape our intentions." I think he means that we need to think wbefore we act because things that can seem funny to one person may affend somebody else. He gives an example of when somebody says a joke. The person telling the jokes thinks it's funny. But as word spreads, somebody might not like the joke because it is offensive and the joke teller would be to blame.
This has happened to me multiple times. I have told my friends jokes before and i think it's hilarious but one of my friends here and the are like whats wrong with you. But on the flipside, I've also been the one who has heard jokes and thought to myself what's wrong with people today.
I am very involve with helping people with dissabilities and am very against bullying but in particular, bullying against kids with special needs. On twitter there is a saying where if a girl retweets you, give her the D. Well one boy thought it would be funny to write "If she's a ret***, give her the D D D." Here is a perfect example of when you need to be sociologcally mindful. The boy was making fun of mentally cahllenged girls. They do not choose to be that way but anyways the boy maybe thought it was funny when he heard it (Which i dont see why its funny) but he did. The boy recieved a lot of critism for this. He was not being sociolgcally mindful. He thought it was funny but he was the only one.
This is why you need to be very careful about what you syay and think before you act.