Race

I have always heard the term "race" and thought it was a legitimate thing. But after really learning about the term race and the effects of it, I have realized it is really not even a word. Race is really just a social construct created to arbitrarily categorize people. I had never thought of racism in this way until I actually read the exact definition of it. Also, growing up white I never realized some of the things that people with color face everyday. In the article, "Daily effects of white privilege" it really opened my eyes to the simple things the majority go through that is no big deal but to others (who face racism) is an obstacle. One statement in the article that stood out to me was, "I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin."I had never thought of the fact that bandages only come in "one" flesh color which is nude. On a black or Latino person this would stand out more than if it was on a white person. There were also a lot of other things in the article I never would of that as a "white privilege" until I actually read and thought about it. Some other facts about race I thought were interesting was that race has no genetic basis. There is not one characteristic, trait or even gene that distinguishes one "race" to another "race". I had never thought about race and genetics and it makes sense that they really do have no correlation with each other. Another fact that surprised me was that human subspecies don't exist. In fact, we are one of the most similar of all species. Yet, "race" makes it seem like people are from entirely different hemispheres. I really enjoyed Jane Elliot's demonstration on race through her experiment called "Angry Eyes". She really made me realize what it is like for people that go through racism not just for an hour, but for a lifetime. It really disappointed me how one of the students from the demo walked out and ended up leaving. That was not fair to the thousands of people who face racism every single day and cannot just walk away from it. I hope in the future we can have more people like Jane Elliot who care about the feelings of those facing racism and help put an end to the cruelty people endure.

Social Class

Equality is a very important aspect to American society. All people expect equal chance, opportunity and choice. One concept though that exists in society today, social class, contradicts our expectations of equality. Social class is a large group of people who rank close to one another in wealth, power and prestige. But if our society is supposedly “equal” wouldn’t everyone belong in the same social class? This is why our society is so troubled. We call ourselves equal when there is clearly a huge distinction between the poor and the rich. One fact that I read about that really alarmed me about our society was, “If a 1 ½ inch block were to equal $500 of income, the average American is only 7 feet off the ground, the average family would be 12 feet off the ground while some families incomes propels past the top of Mt. Everest (29,028 feet).” This really opened my eyes to see how our society is really split up when it’s supposedly equal. This also relates to the 99% and how many people think social mobility is possible with education and hard work. This analogy though is not what society is like today. Many people move up in social class because of wealth, power and prestige. Power is the ability to get your way despite the desires of other people. Wealth is property and income and prestige is respect or regard. Now the question is, should success and high social class be determined by education and hard work or power, prestige and wealth? This is the reason social mobility has been very hard for many Americans today. It’s hard to see a change in the future too because it seems like the rich (power elite) keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. Hopefully things can turn around for future generations and every one can have a better equal opportunity and social class can be determined by education and hard work over power and prestige. 

The 99%

Why desire for economic security is not being met- She is working 3 jobs even though she does have a graduate degree. She is the only one with health insurance and only one with a job in her household. They live paycheck to paycheck.
More fair situation- Better paying jobs for people with degrees, health insurance for all
Relates to social class- This person probably though with a good education and a degree she could get a good paying job. Now this person has to work 3 jobs just to support her family.
Chose this image: It was so sad to think some parents have to work that many jobs to support a family even with a college education and degree.

Why desire for economic security is not being met- She has a college degree and is in loan debt and credit card debt. She has two jobs making minimum wage.
More fair situation- More higher paying jobs for people with education and degrees.
Relates to Social Class- It makes it seem like having an education and degree does not relate to getting a good job and supporting your self.
Chose this Image: It startled me to see her sister say that it was HER fault that her life was like this.

Why desire for economic security- They have two jobs and choose between paying for health insurance or their mortgage. They are a college graduate and say they will most likely work until they die because social security will most likely be unavailable by the time they need it.
More fair situation- The rich helping out the working-class and not changing things just for their own benefit. Better jobs for college graduates.
Relates to Social Class- Shows how rich will always get richer and poor will always get poorer, since the rich only do things to benefit themselves.
Chose this image: The things they say were really sad and made me realize a lot about our society such as, "I have to pay 30% in taxes so that too-big-to-fail companies can be rescued from their own self-inflicted failure while I drive a 9 year old car with 120,000 miles and am forced to choose whether to pay for my health insurance or mortgage and have no money set aside for retirement."

Positive Deviance

Deviance is when you do something that is recognized as violating expected rules and norms. Most people consider deviance to be negative…but it doesn’t have to be. You can also violate the norms of society by doing something positive. For example, Julio Diaz recorded his story in New York City when he treated his mugger right. A teenage boy had a knife and threatned to kill Diaz for his money and instead of getting scared Diaz offered his wallet and his coat. He also offered to pay for a meal for the boy and gave him some extra cash. This is considered a positive act of deviance because usually someone would not offer to do something nice for someone that was trying to steal their money and kill them. This little positive act of deviance though probably changed the boy’s life.

My positive act of deviance was to give hot chocolate to one of the Sodexo workers that stand outside in the mornings directing traffic. I feel bad in the morning when they are outside and shivering because it is so cold. I would consider this an act of positive deviance because it is defiantly not a norm to bring the Sodexo hot chocolate. Most students usually do not acknowledge them at all and just blow them off. It is also positive because it is doing a good thing for someone.

It made me feel really good because he was so generous and thanked me a lot. He was also smiling so wide and it felt good to do this for him. My friend who I drive to school with also gave him the hot chocolate with me and she felt really good about doing it too. No one else really saw except us two because it was before school outside.

This really made me think a lot about the norms in our community. It is sad how it is not a norm to do those kinds of things for people in our community. It is as if positive deviance is not allowed but in reality it should be enforced. I now think a lot differently about how people should treat each other in society and have a good perspective on positive vs. negative deviance. 

Commercial Realism

Erving Goffman, a Canadian-born sociologist and writer, calls advertising "commercial realism." Which means advertising is trying to present the world in ways that could be real. He focuses on advertising in this aspect because of what their seeming normality tells us about ourselves. While watching the video in class, I noticed the huge difference in the way men and women are portrayed in ads. Females are shown very delicate and have a light touch. Men on the other hand, are shown very powerful with perfect stance and direct focus. In other ads women are shown on the ground defenseless and unaware with men hovering over them with perfect attentiveness. These kinds of ads are disturbing because it almost shows men raping women in ads and that is what we are supposed to perceive as 'normal'. If people start accepting this idea of "commercial realism" then our culture could be getting the wrong messages about men and women. These ads are trying to present the world in ways that could be real. Since the communication between the consumer and the ad is very quick it sticks to them because the ads are deep and familiar and when you look at them at first they seem very normal. But if you really study ads you can tell the weirdness in how people are posing, positioned and in what they are doing. This is wrong for media to try and tell us how we perceive femininity and masculinity and what is normal. 

Field Trip Day

This week my class took a field trip to listen to a panel of speakers. Two were gay, two were lesbian and one was transgender. In our society today many people frown upon others who chose to live their lives this way. After listening to the speakers though, I feel society needs to change in order for acceptance and unity in many communities. It's sad to hear the words the speakers were called such as faggot, queer, he/she and many more. One thing that really stuck out to me during the presentation was how they said, "We didn't choose to be this way, just like you didn't choose to be straight." I had never really thought of it like that  and it made me realize that they didn't really have a choice. It also relates to the whole nature vs. nurture idea. They were explaining how the choice of being either gay, straight, transgender, etc is nature. It is as if they are "genetically" born with the idea of that is what their identity is and that's "normal" for them. Thankfully, Stevenson is very progressive and has helped out a lot for these kinds of students. Programs like the GSA and Peer Helpers make school a lot easier for them. Hopefully for future generations speakers like these can help educate more people about LGBTQ so people are more accepting and understand.

Family Socialization

Family has said to be the most important socializing factor in contributing to who we are today. This is because these are the people we spend the most time with and that have taught us rules, values and other facets of society and who we are. My assignment this week was to take a more in-depth look into how my family has socialized me. I decided to interview my mom and ask her an assortment of questions. When I asked her "what expectations she had for me before I was born" her answer was, "To be healthy and have no developmental problems." When I asked her "what lessons, values or ideas has she tried hardest to impart to me" she said, "That money isn't everything and be the best and do the best in whatever I do. Also, treat people nicely, fairly and honestly and be a caring and loving person, good friend, and someone people want to be around." When I asked her "what tradition is most important to you that I carry on" she said, "To keep my faith in Judaism and celebrate the holidays with family and continue that on with my own family." When I asked her, "Did you struggle with figuring out how to discipline me?" she said, "Only as I became a teenager." When I asked her, "What habits or parts of my personality do I have that you recognize as your own?" she said, "Always wanting more and not being satisfied with what I have and also very outgoing, personable, and funny." The answer that surprised me the most was about my religion. Since my family isn't very conservative with religion I didn't think that would be the most important tradition to her. I learned that my mom really values religion a lot and that she believes in my hopes and dreams. I feel my family has in many ways shaped who I am based on religion and how much I push my self to do the best I can.

God Grew Tired of Us

This week in class we watched the film God Grew Tired of Us. The film is a documentary of the lives of several african men that are refugees from Sudan. Many of them lost a lot of family members and endured great hardships to survive. Years later, many of them were given the chance to leave their hometown and go to America. Yes to you it might seem like adjusting to American life would be easy, but for these African men it was a hard struggle to get used to American society. One example was the whole concept of "time." In American society "time is money" and is how Americans fit so many things in their schedule at once. But when the African men were explaining their plans to leave Africa one of them said, "We will leave in the morning...or maybe not...but we will leave at some point." This shows how other cultures don't value time as much as American society does. I thought this was very interesting because I was not aware of this before watching this film. Another thing about the film I thought was interesting was the escalator scene. In our social construction of reality, riding an escalator is such a norm we don't even think twice about it. But the African men were so overwhelmed with the idea of it and were almost falling over when they were getting on and off of it. This film really showed how social construction of reality, sociological imagination and social mindfulness play a key role in our lives and we should be more aware of other cultures.

Ethnocentrism

Ethnocentrism is the principle of using one's own culture as a means or standard by which to evaluate another group or individual. This leads to the view that cultures other than one's own are abnormal. Some examples of ethnocentrism are talking about British drivers driving "on the wrong side" of the road. Why not just say "opposite side" or even "left hand side"? Another example is reading Hebrew. Instead of saying that reading hebrew is from "left to right" or "the opposite direction" we say "backwards." One time I personally was being ethnocentric was when I was eating at a chinese restaurant. I was looking through the menu and came across dog. Yes dog as in the furry, cute, little animals that Americans have as pets. I uncontrollably screamed out "DOG?" not realizing everyone was looking at me. The disgust on my face probably offended the owners of the restaurant because of my carelessness in accepting their culture. Ethnocentrism leads people to make false assumptions about cultural differences. People are ethnocentric when they use their cultural norms to make generalizations about other peoples' cultures and customs. Such generalizations can be way off base and cause people to misjudge other people. Ethnocentrism can lead to cultural misinterpretation and it often distorts communication between human beings. 

Gang Leader For A Day

This unit our class read a short part of the novel "Gang Leader For A Day." Sudhir Venkatesh, a young sociologist who studied in Chicago, tells his story through this award-winning novel. While living in Chicago, he always wondered why people were given maps of where to walk because what was marked as 'dangerous' seemed perfectly fine to him. Cottage Grove Park to Sudhir was a beautiful place to spend time but to the city it was dangerous and forbidden. One of his missions he got from his professor was to study how young blacks were affected by specific neighborhood factors. Sudhir was excited to do this assignment and learn why the black communities were considered dangerous and why they lived this way. One thing he didn't know though was how to talk to them. He asked questions like, "How do you like being black and poor?" and had choices of answers such as "Good, not so good, ok, fairly bad, bad." Sudhir in this case was not being very sociologically mindful of how the poor African Americans would react to these questions. Sociological mindfulness involves being attentive to your actions and realizing that your behavior has a collective impact on your community and society. People tend to think children are more sociologically more mindful than adults because they're seeing the world new perspectives all the time. To be more mindful Sudhir conducted his results by using ethnography instead of surveys. This meant that he actually hung out and got to understand the lives of these young black men instead of asking them questions. I think ethnography is a better way to get information than surveys because it gives you first hand experience to a whole new world. This causes you to be more mindful and understanding of your community and surroundings. Sudhir was able to get much better answers by gathering his information this way than by survey. Sociological mindfulness is very important to society today. It helps create more peace and understanding between people. I now understand why one should do things such as community service because if we help our surroundings and the people that are in our lives it benefits everyone, including ourselves. 


Appearance plays an important role in society today. Many girls are pressured to look skinny, pretty and even dress a certain way. This can lead to many eating disorders and a lost of self. Factors that contribute to this change in self is from classmates, bullying and the media. Sociological imagination is the vivid awareness of the relationship between experience and the wider society. This explains society's contribution to this problem among young teen girls. 


Is there really a difference between spit and saliva? During class my teacher had a classmate of mine spit into a spoon. When she asked someone to hold the spoon or look at it everyone turned away in disgust. But isn't what was in the spoon the same as what is in everyone's mouth? The reason people make it such a big difference is because of their social construction of reality. Yet spit is just the same exact thing as saliva this social construction of reality causes us to think of them differently. 

Abandon Ship

This week my class did an activity called "Abandon Ship" based off an actual event that occured in the late 1800's. There were 16 people on board which included sailors, officers, Nobel Prize winners, poets, husbands & wives, medical students and more. What happened was their ship was sinking and a bad storm was approaching. The only lifeboat they had was designed for 9 and with 16 people on it they would have all died. Our job was to decide which 9 should be able to stay on the lifeboat. The thought of having to decide who should stay alive was a hard task and made me feel very uncomfortable. Everyone should be entitled to life and no one should have to choose for them. But unfortantley that is what happened. The ship's officer got to choose who stayed and who left. I don't know how people could do that kind of thing and not think of themselves as a killer. It was also sad to see how society views each other. The officer looked at everyone in a 'micro' view. As Americans there are many things we value such as education, youth, intelligence, etc. This was how people were picked to stay or not. Although they could have had such amazing qualities, if they didn't fit what the officer thought of as an 'ideal' American they were left behind. This activity showed me how judgemental and critical Americans are of each other. We like to judge before we get to know a person and make faulty assumptions. It is also sad how the Officer was so willing to choose people to leave behind and for the reasons he did. Americans also tend to have a sense of selfish-ness where they are willing to hurt others to get by in life. People should really step back and accept each other for who they are and learn to get along and help out their peers.

"Doing Nothing"

Yesterday at around 7 p.m. I arrived at Target. I walked in casually and set place in the middle of the store, just standing there. I didn't talk to anyone, use my phone, or think about anything but "doing nothing." I chose Target because I knew there would be a variety of people there. While standing there I got a lot of strange looks and felt as if I was on display. One comical thing that happened was I got stuck in the middle of traffic between people. This one old lady in a wheel chair was giving me rude looks, trying to figure out what I was doing and whether I would move or not. I eventually ended up moving over so she wouldn't get mad. Some men that passed by laughed and one lady even tried talking to me. I feel the older the people were the more curious and confused they were. While conducting this experiment I felt very awkward and not sure of what to do with my self. I kept looking around to see people's reactions curious as to what they were thinking. Some people that walked by seemed to not even care and just walked along as if I wasn't even there at all. It was very difficult for me to do nothing because I am always doing something. I was very tempted to either pull out my phone, start looking around the store...anything. I felt as though I couldn't be myself because I was so caught up in doing nothing. I also felt like an outsider and very alone. Doing this exercise really changed my perspective on what it is like to actually "do nothing." All of the sudden your ordinary world turns into a strange place.