Crash

This week in sociology, we watched a movie called Crash. It's a movie that follows different people and different races and how racism affects their daily lives. I've seen this movie before, but not with a sociological mind like I did in class. This movie really showed our class that race is a sociological construction and is engraved into everybody's heads. An example from the movie that shows this is when the detective classified his friend as white. She got offended and replied that her background is not white, but Puerto Rican and Salvadorian. This showed how much people judge others on the way their skin looks. This movie also showed our class how racism affects society. An example is when the mexican locksmith was accused of breaking into a store and trashing everything, but really it was not him. I feel like this movie opened everyone's eyes in how terrible and cruel explicit and implicit racism really is. An example of implicit racism is when the lady grabbed her husband to "protect" her from two black men. She did not know this would offend them, but it did.

Different Races

This week in Sociology, we learned about the concept of race. In sociology terms, race is not biological, but rather sociological. Society engraves in our heads how we categorize people and what groups they belong to just by looking at them. Race is a term used to associate people into certain groups based on their skin color. We learned in class that race is not that simple by comparing it to a metaphor. The metaphor was that my teacher brought in many different sports balls; soccer balls, basketballs, footballs, little balls, medium balls, and even plush balls. He then told us to categorize them into groups. My class put them according to color, type of ball, and size. Then my teacher started to add different kinds of sports balls from around the world. They did not fit in any of the categories completely, so we just stuck them into one they looked like they would fit into. This metaphor showed us that society categorizes races into different groups, but the reality is that if gather more and more races, it gets hard to categorize each person into a group due to their genetic makeup. This metaphor also showed us that we all learned in our head how we categorize races based on how they look and we group them all together, even if someone doesn't completely look like a race, we force them into it. Sociology has taught me to open my eyes about race because I used to categorize different looking people into creation groups of race without knowing what they actually are, but only based on their looks. But truly, based on everyones biological genetic makeup, we are all the same. Our skin color should not be judged on by society because they are "different"; skin color is all based on where their ancestry is from and how much UV rays are in that area, so it would be easier to adapt to that weather. In different societies, they treat different groups based on what that society thinks of that group. That group may be a minority there, or a "higher" authority. We read an article that explained how peoples race can change in a different area. Race is not a constant and based on where you are and how society there perceives your skin color, then that is how your race is going to be determined.

It's all about money.

Everyone wants to be rich. Who wouldn't want to be? The cars, the houses, the education, the clothes. What a life. But only a very small percent of Americans experience this lifestyle while the others suffer from poverty. They're not able to feed their children, or even themselves, or get a good paying job to provide the absolute necessities while the rich experience an abundant of materialistic things. Many people in lower classes (working class or blue collar) actually do hard labor each day to receive low pay and hopefully achieve a move up in social class. many parents also work hard to get money and provide a stable and healthy lifestyle for their children. So they do so much with hope that they'll succeed in moving up. Moving up is no doubt hard, and maybe even impossible to do for some. They can run into obstacles that slow them down; student loans, bankruptcy, education, family status and much more. But luckily for me, my mother worked hard to earn what we have today and I'm really thankful for that. She was an immigrant from Europe coming to America hoping to achieve the American dream. When she came here, she didn't have much. She worked a day job and at night she would go to school to learn English to get by. As she continued getting used to the living here, she started making more and succeeding and surprisingly today she is up in the middle class living a stable life. I believe people could move up with luck and determination, but it's very unlikely due to difficult obstacles.

Wealth in America

This week in Sociology, we learned about the tremendous gap of distributed wealth in America. We also did an activity where my teacher gave every student in the class 3 pennies and it was a gambling game where everyone gave a portion of their pennies and called heads or tails to see who wins. It seemed at first that it was a fair game because it was 50:50. But soon enough, the majority of the class had zero pennies and only a couple people had more than six. This activity shows that everyone has a chance to move up, but it's all about luck. It's luck if you're born into a wealthy family or a poor family and have less opportunities to rise. People in wealthy families will want to live up to their parents expectations. Since they have worked hard (or not) to earn the money they have and give their children a good future, the they automatically expect to see them graduate high school and go to college. Since I was born into a family of upper class, I know that my parents had high. Expectations of me since they raised me at a good school, etc. I feel that where you were born and the family that raises you have a large impact on your future because they determine where you go to school and show you how to live. America is so diverse in wealth among the people that we even have a social class. America has the biggest gap between the income of the poorest compared to the income of the richest. Americans don't want to believe that we have social classes, but the cold truth is that we do. In the social ladder, there is the lower class, middle class, and the upper class. 

Community Service - Bocce Ball

On Sunday April 22nd, Me and my boyfriend offered to volunteer at the Bocce Ball Special Olympics tournament. I wanted to do this experience because I have never really surrounded myself around special-needs people and knew that it would be something different. I realized how grateful I am to have what I have, and to offer my assistance to others showed that people could really make an impact in someone else's life. Within my 9 hours there, I was able to meet many new people. Within our different groups, I was able to communicate with different people also. While assisting our elderly group, I met a woman named Debbie and me and her talked about many different topics that I knew meant a lot to her. She was very happy to just communicate to someone and her happiness made me joyful to know that just talking to her can make her day. After their game finished, I helped her to go get her lunch in her wheelchair and she constantly thanked me for a great day. After my Bocce Ball experience, I know I will become more active in my community because impacting someone else's life in a positive way, makes me sparklingly delighted.

America the Free...by locking people up!

This week in Sociology, we learned about life in prison and how deviant "authorities" are to criminals. We read a story called "Courtroom 302" which follows the guidelines of the Cook County Jailhouse, and this story particularly interested me because I have heard a lot of stories about the atrocious prison but never really looked deeply into it. It talks about the ways life is in there and how the prisoners get treated inside. They treat the prisoners like pests and not human beings. They constantly yell at them and torture them, as if they weren't deprived of their whole selves completely. America deals with criminals so poorly, that thinking if they throw them all into jail will solve the problem. It's as if they're throwing all their junk in a small closet and then when they open it, it just flies at them and they don't know what to do. They confine them into a small area, deprive necessary nutrients, ignore their medical needs, and take away all of their self-dignity. They claim that it's what they'll "need" to heal; that they'll learn their lesson. Truth is, it's the complete opposite of that. Prisoners that go into jail and get out, are most likely to head back into there. Another big issue with the prisons in America, is how overcrowded they get and reach the capacity level. In California, they have the second largest federal system in the U.S., they hold over 200% their designated capacity and 75% of the prisoners come back after they get bailed. In a film that we saw in class, "30 Days in Jail," it shows how some prisoners have to sleep on the floors with just a small mat that's looks like a piece of cloth. They treat these prisoners like caged animals.

Ew You're Picking Your Nose!

What? No I didn't! I was just scratching the side of my nose! On an episode of Seinfield, they showed an example of defiance. The main character was driving his car and his girlfriend at the time was driving her car next to his. At a red light, he scratched the right side of his nose, and to the girl, it looked as if he was picking his nose. Deviance is all dependent on time, place and perception. It's also different depending on each person or culture. Someone might think that theft is going against norms and some people might find it acceptable or normal. Deviance is any behavior that violates social norms. Deviance can be criminal or non-criminal. An assignment that we had to do in class related to doing an act of positive deviance to society. I wrote a letter to my English as my random act of kindness. It was against norms of society because no one really expects a student to show such appreciation to their teacher. I was being deviant when I dis this. Doing these acts of kindness shows that just something little could make someone smile all day. Also in class, we read a sorry called "Saints and Roughnecks." It shows how society is deviant towards people by their appearance and not what they do. The Saints are. Group of boys that are from upper-middle class families and do really good in school by having a B average and are on the schools "good" side. The Roughnecks are a group of boys that are from a lower class and constantly get in trouble at school and do not have a good reputation with society. The Saints are involved in almost the same activities as the Roughnecks after school, such as drinking alcohol and stealing and destroying public property. But society for not perceive the Saints as those kind of "bad" people because of their social status and reputation. "In seeking happiness for others, you find it for yourself." Anonymous

The Growing Man Metaphor.

I am making this blog up from a couple weeks ago as well. This week we learned about nature vs. nurture. This debate is dependent on whether or not the way the environment affects the way we behave or the way that we were raised by. Nature is made up of our genetic make-up and our hard-wired behavior. The nature theory takes things  a step further to say that maybe our intelligence and personality are also engraved in our DNA. Nurture is the behavior influenced by our environment. I believe that we are more influenced by nurture than nature, not only because a ton of researchers have proven it, but because I have experienced by myself. For example, when I was young, and I was a pet-fanatic, I would have a ton of hamsters. the hamsters I paid more attention too and cared more for, were the ones that were nice and happy with life. But the ones that I wouldn't pay much attention too, would bite me whenever I tried to pick them up or poop on me, etc. We also learned in class the "growing man metaphor." The idea is that to go from being a baby ruled by emotions, instincts and training to being a fully human adult, we need other people. Without other people, we would not be able to become fully conscious and aware adults in the future. 

Socialization Agents.

I am making this post up for the one I missed a while ago. Throughout everyones life, every human is shaped by the world in which they live in. This process is called Socialization, but this week in class we learned about the different agents of socialization. The definition of an agent of socialization is a group or people that influence the behaviors of an individual by making them think or act a certain way. Some examples of agents of socialization is your family, friends, religion, or even your gender. I would think that your family is the most important agent of socialization. Our family teaches us the core way to act towards things and determines peoples attitudes towards religion and ways of thinking. For example, my family has taught me to be a Catholic and reinforced it by taking me to church from a young age. I also think that education is an important agent of socialization. It teaches us from a young age particular skills and certain values in society by teaching us the greater function of society.

Does she really look like that?

This week in sociology, we learned more in depth about how the media affects females And males. The media is a huge part of everyones live nd we rarely realize how much it actually impacts our decisions. We are bombarded with about 2,000 ads every day, and a good percentage of this ads are perceiving each gender negatively. For example, they make women seem vulnerable and weak against men. Also making them be seen as they way society wants them to be seen like the "perfect" woman. The media manipulates models on Photoshop, constantly changing every inch of their body; changing their body size, lengthening their necks and legs, making eyes bigger, hair fuller, perfect complexion and so much more words cannot describe. When women see these photos, they look at themselves as ugly, fat and not what society expects them be like. They develop mental problems, become self-conscious and develop eating disorders. A personal example is when I realized how weirdly "perfect" these women were on television, and how much I wanted to look like them. I dyed my hair, wanted to be as skinny and thin like them, but I realized that I could never be like that, and no one ever will look like that. Everyone is beautiful in their own way and should not compare themselves to the fake women on ads, because they don't even look like that.

Teachings of Life

This week in Sociology, we learned about the ways we live in our culture and our potentials. We watched a documentary on a Sociology teacher named Morrie. The narrator used to be one of favorite students and he wanted to say goodbye to him the right way. While he was constantly over at his house, Morrie would teach him the meanings of life every Tuesday. Morrie teaches him that our culture remourses death. Morrie quotes "When we were infants we needed others to live, when we are dying we need others to live, but here's the secret - in between we need others even more." I completely agree with this quote because we don't realize how much we need others while we live, which causes the sense of individualism and isolation. I feel like also distrusting plays a role into individualism because we do not like to rely on others because we learned not to trust anyone but yourself in this society. For example, when given a choice in class to work with a partner for an assignment, I choose to be alone because more than likely I'll be stuck with all the work.

What is this...?

Everyone knows that awkward and uncomfortable feeling they get when they experience something new to them. Just like when someone moves from their homeland, for example like Kenya, and move to the United States. They experience something called Culture Shock. In class, we watched a documentary called "God Grew Tired of Us." It was about a group of Africans moving to America to have an opportunity to escape the war and experience privileges that Americans experience that their home country does not. They were very confused with the different culture and had many questions. For example, they did not know what a shower was or how to use it. They also didn't understand electricity or our stores and foods. They experienced culture shock. Also in class, we learned about American values that we follow. Just like how important time is to Americans. Americans are very concerned with getting things on time and done in detail and precision. Time is so valued because one can accomplish more goals than those who do not. Time=money. For example, my parents need to work a certain amount of hours per week, and if they do not achieve that goal, they'll get fired. It's not worth the stress of being jobless then to do what your supposed too, on time.

In n' Out-Groups

What groups are you in? Imagine all the different groups that you are a part of. Friends, family, race, gender, school, sports, religion, culture, and many more. Many people don't realize how many in-groups they are a part of. An in-group is a group that an individual feels as though they belong, like a member, due to common interests and hobbies. An out-group are basically a group that an individual is not a part of, maybe even takes complete opposite opinion on them. Members of an in-group immediately get along due to their common interests, and also develop favoritism and judgements against groups that are not "them". For example, we did an activity in class where our teacher split us up into 2 groups depending on the color shirt you were wearing, black or colored shirt. A leader in each group was to right down ideas on why the other group was wearing a shirt that was not same colored as theirs. When the whole class got together again, the leaders shared their lists. To surprise, much of the list were judgements that probably weren't true. The groups assumed things about the other group without a logic reason, just "because". A personal example was when I was involved in a sport. Whenever we had competitions, our team would make mean remarks about the others performance, but we don't really know their issue. Maybe they had a migraine that day, or sprained their ankle and tried their best but couldn't do their best. People should treat others the way they want to be treated.

Social Groups

This week in Sociology was very short due to Odyssey, a fine arts exploration that the whole school takes part in. It showed me that everyone can work together to create something bigger and took me out of my 'bubble' to discover new things. We also did an activity in class called "Abandon Ship" where we had 16 members on a boat, and 7 of them had to be thrown overboard. Since I was an old woman, I knew that I was not going to stay on the boat since I had no use and was very weak and could not hold onto expectations. This proved that in our society we view strength and youth as more valuable, then the old and wise. When I made a list of all the groups I was apart of, it was strange to see that II had an influence on many people in my life and I didn't really realize it. It was very interesting to view that I am one person involved in many different things with many different people. 

Social Creation

This week, we learned about how our society affects the way that we see certain things and how we perceive them, which is called Social Construction of Reality. An example of Social Construction of Reality is the way society perceives saliva and spit. It's considered 'weird' if someone spits onto a spoon and puts it back in their mouth, (if they were to do that), but it was just in their mouth, so what's so weird about it? The activity in class really helped me understand what this term meant. It's not considered right because society made everyone think that it's just not normal. This really helps me understand how much of an impact society really has on me and everyone around me. An example that connects to my life is how all of the students at my high school have a high tech cell phone, like the newest iPhone, and if someone doesn't have a touch screen, or a QWERTY keyboard, then they wouldn't accept it and find it odd. This week in class truly showed me how big of an impact society has on everyone.

Sociological Mindfulness

The definition of Sociology is the study of the development, structure, and functioning of the human society. The idea of Sociology is to go beyond the expectations and look ahead of the norm.  In Michael Schwalbe's story, Sociologically Mindfulness, he explains and teaches how people should be mindful of their surroundings. People lack to see how every familiar thing truly affects us because they lack the necessary kind of mindfulness. Mindfulness is more than paying attention, it is to see and appreciate its unique qualities. He gives the example of a person to not just being aware of and paying attention to somebody, but instead trying to see and appreciate their differences as a thinking and feeling being. When they are mindful of a person in this way, they see past the stereotypes and prejudices. Sociological mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to how the world works. We are all tuned-in just by being members of society and living, But to be truly mindful of the world, we must lean to see it for what it is. We must learn the ideas necessary to see what makes the world a unique phenomenon. He asks his readers what the purpose of being sociologically mindful is and he gives three intelligent beliefs. When one is mindful of his surrounding, they achieve a good life. One that society is peaceful, cooperative, and that everyone should receive equal rights. Also, no one should enjoy power and privilege at the expense of others. And finally, everyone is obliged to consider how their actions affect others. In succeeding on being mindful to the world, helps us see that the consequences of our words and actions often escape our intentions.Words are powerful; and can harm others indirectly, even if no harm was intended. Being sociologically mindful also means paying attention to the hardships that people face. If we understand how others circumstances differ from ours, we are more likely to show compassion for them and to grant them the respect they deserve as human beings. Every day people use sociology even when they don't know it. For example, when you interpret the people you meet and how you behave around them. We often fail to see and appreciate all of our connections to others due to our daily concerns for ourselves. Sociological mindfulness held us see these threads of social life and how they obligate to us. The main benefit of this awareness is that it can make us more responsible members of the community. As Americans and individuals of this fast-paced life, we learn that it is good to be self-reliant, to achieve on our own, and to look out for ourselves. This can blind us to our independence with others, and keep us from seeing how they can benefit us and the community. Everyone can try to enrich the lives of others by teaching, promoting health, or organizing for change. He ends this story with the question, What kind of mark do you want to leave on the earth for having lived? This story started my sociological thinking of life and taught me that if everyone were to have sociological mindfulness, the world would be a much better place.

"It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness." -Karl Marx

Who Am I?

Who am I? I am simply another teenager in this enormous world trying to find out the answer to that question. Even though I don’t completely understand myself, there are some aspects that I know and accept. I am a lovable girl with a passion for nature and the arts, curious about everything, and definitely different than others. You will not find someone like me. A curiosity for exploring and adventuring sparks up my imagination and creativity. The most important thing to me currently is my family. No matter where you are, and what you do, they will always be there and love you. My parents and sister have taught me a lot throughout the years and I don’t know where I would be without them. They have taught me love, care, wisdom, respect, and to be responsible for your own actions. They have also taught me in order to be 
successful, you need to work hard and earn it. Everyone knows the best feeling in the world is to complete something you’ve done and be proud of it. I love to make art, always have and always will. I have a sketchbook full of my drawings and ideas. I love to draw, paint, and sculpt. The idea of creating something of your own is amazing. I am a huge animal person; I love all kinds of animals. I have 3 dogs, 2 cats, an iguana, and fishes. I don’t know where I would be without music. Music allows me to let go and just enjoy life. Since my family is from a European background, the history behind Europe interests me because history is the foundation of the world. I love to think deeply and think about the questions of life. My ultimate dream to achieve in my lifetime is to travel the world. There is so much more out there to explore and discover. Some places I would want to visit are Germany, Rome, England, Ireland, and Amsterdam; pretty much all around Europe. My trip last summer to British Columbia, Canada sparked my love for different environments. I also love to snowboard. The fresh air and the view while going down the mountain exhilarates me. Even though I don't know the answer to this question, I'm working hard to find it out and I can feel that I'm pretty close to finding it out.

"To the question of your life, you are the answer. 

And to the problems of your life, you are the solution."