ATTENTION SUNDAY SOCIOLOGY CLASS
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- Sociology
- Thinking Sociologically
- Social Identities
- Culture, Knowledge and Belief
- Social Organization and Control
- Production, Inequalities and Social Division
- Digital Stories
Welcome to Sociology
The Study of Society.
Sociology focuses on identifying, explaining, and interpreting patterns and processes of human social relations. This introductory course is designed not just to teach you some of the major findings of sociology, but to help you master fundamental sociological skills, including the ability to think with a "sociological imagination" as well as integrate "technological fluency" with "informational literacy" utilizing basic computer-based data analysis—skils which have broad applicability in a range of educational and work settings.
Our goal in this class is for you to gain a different perspective of a diverse world often taken for granted and to gain new insight into the ways that society shapes people and the way people shape their society. Our objectives are directed at building competence as a critical thinker and change agent so that you will better able to raise relevant questions about the direction in which society is moving, interpret social trends, and examine significant social problems.
It is my hope that this hands-on experience of "doing" sociology will both enliven your interest in sociological analysis and help you develop practical skills that you can use in other contexts as well. We can best understand the process of social interaction when we understand the person in place and in time. Our syllabus sets the place, time and process of this course for you the person.
Welcome to my world, your world, our world.
Dr. Michael Thompson
What Is Class?
David F Tait
Intro Sociology
We all knew what the value of money was, With your mother and father supplying all your wants was a family that was well off, It was considered being "successful". Living in a predominately safe neighborhood with good schools. A well standing family not struggling making an accumulated 50,000 a year. Coming from a Hispanic culture and the first generation an interpretation of being of middle class was just that, but was this really middle class or lower class?
When you think of middle class, this is a structure that is visualized through perception rather than facts. According to the article “Who is middle class”, “…It is more about how you feel about yourself and your own life experiences that determine what class you identify with than the amount of money you make in a year (Citation: http://www.sociology.com/2013/05/social-class-who-middle-class/)”. Class is how you define yourself as a person with comfort ability. An individual can make $100,000 and consider themselves middle class just as someone who makes $25,000. C Wright Mill was a sociologist who examined this and thought that middle class was a term for normal. According to the article, “…if you feel like you are economically comparable to those that surround you, you are more likely to identify as middle class (Citation)”. The importance of class in a sociological view is that class is what one is identified as. There should be more kinds instead of someone just being set as middle class.
Sociology helps us to understand the world we live in, also understand ourselves and our position in society. If it was up to the people in society we would all be held up to higher standards; cause no one once to be looked down upon. Although some families think there rather comfortable; sociologist would consider it lower class. The reason families would be considered lower class is because of their parents not having a college degree. Icon such as a magazine, models are the perception of what you have to be in order to be considered "beautiful" in the world we live in today. In the economic stance point a college degree is a stamp which enables you to consider yourself "successful”; “However, when college is instead seen as a passport that needs to be stamped in order to gain access to lucrative careers"(Citation:(http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/30/college-degree-not-path-to-middle-class).
Society has a difficult time understanding why they are held to a high standards. They held to a higher standards because there expected to compete universally; but society (America itself) had not met these expectations. In society today being part of a “class” has more to do than just your income. Some people may argue saying that the job market is not as high, saying that even some people with college degrees at any level has been difficult to find a job but are they placed in a higher class anyway?. Although some people do have a college degree they are still placed in a lower class, because there has to be a balance between your income and your educational achievements. D.Phil. has a masters and a PhD, has a salary of $70 million (Citation: http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/dr-phil-net-worth/) this is considered high class in our society because of his educational and income standings. Kanye West according to Celebrity Net Worth (Citation: http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-rappers/kanye-west-net-worth/ ) is worth $100million which is more than D.Phil., but he doesn’t have a college degree which puts D.phil.to compete universally and make a change on America’s education and economy to.
Growing up you realize what is success and what you need to be considered higher, middle, or lower class. Sociology helps us to understand the world we live in, also understand ourselves and our position in society .It is not based on any specific religion or race. It is more about how you feel about yourself and your own life experiences that determine what class you identify with than the amount of money you make.
Kyle Summers
Suicide Awareness
Today’s society is experiencing a somewhat shocking increase rate of suicide. From 1999 to 2010, the suicide rate among Americans ages 35 to 64 rose by nearly 30 percent, to 17.6 deaths per 100,000 people, up from 13.7. (Parker-Pope). When most people think of suicide, they think of the individual struggles that person must have been going through. The first thing that comes to mind is that they must have been in depression or that they were mentally ill. Although individualistic problems most certainly contribute to why someone commits suicide, there are many sociological factors that contribute to the problem.
As time goes on, our expectations for ourselves rise. With each new generation come new expectations. With higher expectations comes an ungodly amount of pressure to meet those expectations. These social expectations form a wall that we are expected to not only climb, but build onto. Everyone has certain expectations and when one can’t seem to meet them they find suicide as the only option. They view themselves as socially unacceptable. In todays society there is a high level of judgment from others. We ourselves form a certain view on how things should be.
In the past decade our economy has faced a downturn. Statistics show that during times of financial and economic struggles, suicide rates rise. Some people may commit suicide to losing their job, or a cut in their salary.
Suicide is socially patterned. As more and more people commit suicide, it becomes viewed as an acceptable way out. If someone commits suicide then that affects all of the people who surround him or her. If someone close to them is experiencing some of the same problems as that person they might look at suicide as an acceptable solution. They tend to start viewing suicide as an option to fixing their troubles. “One suicide can inspire other people, unfortunately, to view suicide as an option,” (Parker-Pope).
Things even as little as every day changes can have an effect on someone’s mental health. Changes such as being socially unaccepted by a certain friend or group that you thought you were accepted by. Stereotypes contribute tremendously to the mental health of young individuals.
Suicide is predicted to keep rising. Many things such as changes in marriage, social isolation and family roles can create a pressure that is unbearable. The divorce rate is rising in the U.S. and this most certainly has an affect on the suicide rate in the U.S. Not only does is put the children under difficult circumstances but it also puts pressure on the adults. In todays society there is an image of the “perfect family” that everyone holds themselves to. When someone can’t hold himself or herself to that standard it can cause depression.
Society today holds ourselves to extremely high expectations. The bar is set so high that more often then not people find themselves as a failure in their eyes. Everyone wants to be the best, and expect to be the best. Once they feel that they haven’t met their own standards it’s hard for them not to felt judged by others. Living in a society that has so many expectations can be tough. People start to truly believe that they are a failure just because they can’t live up to what others expect out of them. It is important for us as one to take a step back and try not to put so much pressure on each other. Doing so I believe that suicide rates in the U.S. would drop significantly.
Works Cited
Parker-Pope, T. (n.d.). Suicide Rates Rise Sharply in U.S. Retrieved from nytimes.com: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/03/health/suicide-rate-rises-sharply-in-us.html?_r=0
Stengel, E. (n.d.). The Social effects of Attempted Suicide . Retrieved from NCBI.com: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1826412/
Sarah Churchwell
Social Identities-The America's Body Image
The American society has developed a lot over it's many years of its existence. Along with the population and culture change, the standards on an individuals body image has changed drastically as well. In the 1800's, women were concerned with staying slender, according to Madisen Redar, who wrote Body Image: Influence on American Women. She wrote that depending on how society flourishes or pummels- the higher the incomes were in society, the pressure to be thin rose dramatically to keep up with the fashion trends. The lower the income, the pressure to be dropped. Moving to toward the 1920’s, America’s idea of the perfect body changed in a slight degree again.
America became very prosperous during the twenties- it was called the roaring 20’s for reason. Parties were at their highest and the women were at their fastest. Like the 1800’s, the rise in wealth affected the standard on a woman’s body image. The wealthy became extremely interested in being active. They grew to love golfing, swimming, and tennis, which marked the new era of wanting to be physically fit. Going back into Madisen Redar’s article, Elizabeth Arden- a beauty guru- even provided fitness groups for women for domestic purposes.
Fashion magazines became very influential from the 1930’s toward the future.Vogue was an enormous contributor to the appearance of women. This magazine paved the way for other magazines such as, Sports Illustrated . Women were wanting to look like Marilyn Monroe, Twiggy, and Beyonce. I feel as if society places such a high standard of “beauty” and body image. We, as woman concentrate on how our hair, nails, face, and figure appeals, not only to the opposite sex, but to everyone else in this country. Women aren't the only ones who are being victimized, guys are also becoming to victims to a socially accepted body image.
Guys always have that “macho man” facade, but there’s much more to that as well. Over generations, the physical size of a man has drastically changed to fit the time period, but what happens when your body can’t keep up? You get scrutinized for not being up to parr. This is where physical enhancements come into play. Especially now, in the the twenty-first century. It’s all about being “stacked” or “tall, dark, and handsome”.
Society has made body image important within some sports. This isn't a problem associated with just female athletes, male athletes have similar issues. Male wrestlers have been known to develop eating disorders. Meeting a weight class is important to the sport and athletes will go to extreme measures to meet a requirement. Meeting a certain weight can determine if the athlete gets a win or a loss. The body weight that these athletes are under pressure to meet can cause them to overeat, starve themselves, take pills and other drugs. Overeating is a common eating disorder among male athletes. Common female athlete problems include anorexia, bulimia, and other medically recognized disorders.
Society sees men as big and muscular. When men do not have that natural body build they go to extreme measures. An example of men and boys in a sport that have this problem is football. Groups such as the NFL have strict testing policies about testing for drugs. These tests include muscle steroids. This will increase the amount of testosterone the body will produce, causing the persons body to produce bigger and more defined muscles. If an athlete is caught with steroids in their blood system they can be fined a large sum of money. For college, and amiture athletes this can also come with major consequence.
Resources
http://student.purduecal.edu/~mredar/2200_webtext.htm
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mrloganrhoades/the-best-and-worst-of-shirtless-nfl-starting-quarterbacks
Nick Rohr
Mr. Thompson
Sociology
06 October 2013
Thinking Sociologically
When someone is thinking sociologically, they put together connections between a person and their surroundings. According to Bauman and May, “Sociology is an extended commentary on the experiences that arise in social relations and is an interpretation of those experiences in relation to others and the social conditions in which people find themselves.” Basically, sociological thinking uses everyday observations to help understand things better .
A young man constantly received low test scores in algebra. The school counselor started to think sociologically to try to understand the reason behind it. The young man had studied the night before and could not understand why he received such a low score. The counselor came to the conclusion that his home life was a factor in it. The counselor found out that the boy had a younger brother that he took care of after school while his parents were working. This prevented him from doing much needed studying. He also found out that ADD ran in the family so when the boy did have time to study he had problems concentrating. If he hadn’t of been thinking sociologically he may have come to the conclusion that he didn’t study enough or that the young man just didn’t care.
Another example could be about suicide. Without thinking sociologically one could come to the conclusion that people who commit suicide have mental problems and suffer from depression. When thinking sociologically they would involve more social aspects to it. They could come to the conclusion that religion and family patterns may play a part in it. (Introduction to Sociological Thinking)
It can also be used with high disease risks in different countries. Without thinking sociologically, one could come to the conclusion that the country has poor hygiene. Thinking sociologically one would come to the conclusion that the country lacks a health care system and, they have poor living conditions caused by a previous war where most of their villages were destroyed.
Thinking sociologically helps people understand the bigger picture of why things are the way they are. Instead of coming to the conclusion that the outcomes of things are directly related to an individual, it shows the social impacts that caused that certain outcome. It can show a chain reaction that could have been out of that individuals control.
Resources:
http://modernsocieties.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/what-do-we-mean-by-thinking-sociologically/
http://www.sociology.org.uk/ylgmain2.htm
http://www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level/sociology/introduction/revise-it/introduction-to-sociological-thinking
Sarah Churchwell
Living Creatively
Not all people live the life that they really want to live. Some people have the struggle of not knowing what to do and how they want to live. The majority of the time people get in the rut of living a consistent life that they get stuck in. They don't usually have the ability to change their outlook or get on the creative side of things. The upsetting truth is that we simply lose the desire to be apart of something bigger. We don't care enough to make something bigger and better as we get older.
Creative living is not easy for a majority of people. Most people don't realize the creative talents that they have. They just give up on dreams and ambitions due to the fact that they don’t have that motivation for that desire anymore. When we are young everything is the world is new and exciting- everything around us is changing. We have that want and that need to see everything and understand the possibilities that the world possesses. Youth are impulsive and charge through this earth- they act on a split second decision and make connections that adults wouldn’t. Kids are not afraid of the world. They haven’t experienced it yet.. They don't see anything as impossible. Best of all, the younger a person is the less likely they’ll care about socially acceptable actions and ideas- they do what they want for the most part, and imagination is embraced. As adults people are just looking for the right answer not knowing that they can find that answer a different way. Children do not care if they got the answer wrong. As adults, there are always people who see a failure and tell the person how to fix that failure and that embarrassment is too much for some people.
The older we get, the more we realize that reality is settting in. We have bills to pay and responsibility to take care of. Our imagination is simply minimized throughout the process of gaining more responsibility. Focusing less on what the possibilities are. Social acceptance becomes such a major part of an adults everyday life that creativity is merely lost. People don't see themselves for the potential that they have. There is so much pressure forced uponon adults to conform to the majority. Being the minority is frowned upon and not accepted most of the time. This is not conducive to a creative atmosphere. Making everyone a little boring.
As adulthood sets in people become more afraid to fail. Chances are not taking because the fear of failure is too great.Adults look at consequences and not the possibility for the pay off. This is what causes us to get into ruts. Adults fear what isn't tradition. What isn't traditional must be wrong in the mind of an adult. They fear straying from what they know, to do something spectacular. Failure is down on so much is society that we fear it more then we should. If history is any indication, failures are ok. Infact they are bound to happen. People who have failed in the past are more likely to achieve a goal. When that goal is achieved they are more likely to have a bigger pay off because no one else wanted to take the risk. There is not a big pay off if there is no risk.
We achieve only what we strive to achieve. Sometimes its easy and other times its not. When a person attempts something out of the ordinary everything changes. Even if there is a massive failure, which is a possibility, at least they tried. People who don't “play by the rules” or conform are much more likely to not lead such a boring life. Taking a risk and seeing what the possibilities are is worth it to them. The people in this category are independent thinkers. Social acceptance isn't a major priority. When people let go of society they really start to live creatively. They let everything be the way that they need it to be. They look for what makes them happy. Pleasing society is impossible because it is forever changing. Expectations for how we live life is always changing from day to day. Living life creatively is something that everyone should strive for. Its a challenge that we should all try.
Resources
http://wendyjanelle.blogspot.com/
http://onmilwaukee.com/living/articles/adultpeerpressure0213.html
Colin Grueber
Religion in America
Religion can be considered part of culture; a person can choose your own religion. While you can chose this it is not common for the average person to take this as lightly as choosing what someone is having for dinner or what someone is going to wear for the day. A person’s beliefs can effect someone’s actions and thoughts. There can be the process of voting for someone specific due to your religious belief, in the last election Mitt Romney and Barrack Obama could both be chosen due to their beliefs. Romney was Mormon, which related mostly with white voters due to the religions lack of diversity. Obama is Christian, one of the most popular religions in the United States today. Religion can take an even more serious turn than a leader of a country. Someone’s beliefs can drive him or her to take others lives. Religion would be one of the strongest reasons for people doing radical actions. The trends of religion are changing quickly; in 1954 only 37 percent of people surveyed believed it was okay to express atheist views, in 1972 it was sixty five percent, and in 1991, 72 percent. Religion is fading due to the development of science.
America is one of the few places where people are free to practice whatever they believe. In other countries such as China it against the law to practice a certain religion or religions. America was founded on the idea of tolerance from being persecuted based off of beliefs or cultural ideas. Everyone has a stake in fighting for what they believe in, even if you feel you do not believe in anything that is impossible. You will believe in what will benefit you the most. Liberals believe that all religions are equal. This does not single out any religion but makes the idea of any single religion being truly correct much less. Conservatives normally believe in one religion but people can feel excluded or left out or judged. Beliefs can affect more then just ones acts but ones mental state. People can put all of their pain in a deity to make things seem more bearable or just try and put a light at the end of the tunnel. People will justify their religion in any way that they can. Considering what others go through America is very tolerant of beliefs and culture.
Resources
*http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/beliefs.htm
*http://www.baylor.edu/content/services/document.php/153501.pdf
Jimena Garcia
Social Identies
I am just like you and the rest of the people on this planet, an individual. An individual who happens to be a twenty one year old, working, woman; who is Hispanic, a college student, and an underprivileged person who is far from being middle class. That’s pretty much how I am labeled as a person. From all of this information about me, a sense of what kind of a person I am is clear. Social identities are labels that we use to identify ourselves in relation to others.
The different roles you play and the style of life you live help to identify who you are, and how people treat you. A style of life is the way that people carry out the tasks associated with their most important social positions and customs and practices they follow as members of particular social groups. Occupations, gender-roles, and ethnic-group membership may all be associated with particular and distinct styles of life, and it is these that are important in determining a person’s social standing. Social identity forms through one’s identifications with not only those close to a person but society as a whole. It’s through the life and experiences that we have as we grow that we build our own social identity.
A lot of different social situations occur in our lives and everyone’s are different. What we do from those different situations and who we portray as individuals can identify you. People are most commonly identified by their occupation; in modern capitalist societies such as ours, status is largely determined by money and occupation. For example, people who have a big house with a nice car and nice everything are doctors or lawyers and have a lot of money. The occupation or title of a person can also somewhat tell you what kind of person you think they might be, like preachers and caregivers are good people, simply because of what they do.
A person’s race or ethnicity is another defining feature of social identity. In a multi-racial society such as ours minority ethnic groups such as Hispanics and African Americans are often stereotyped with negative social identities. I don’t get how someone can judge another person by how they look, I wouldn’t say that where I grew up I experienced anything like that, but I can say that it is true in society today. A person’s ethnicity is definitely something we notice when encountering different people, and thus is a huge factor in social identity.
Another huge way that a person can be identified in society is their gender. Gender is a given identity and it will most likely stay the same throughout a person’s life. It is how we are first identified even before the time we were born. We learned from observing and reproducing what our parents showed us when we were children and repeated that as adults. The types of parents we have and the kind of culture we grew up in are great factors of how and what we learned from our parents; parents have a great influence on children’s behaviors, especially when it comes to gender roles.
In conclusion, a social identity doesn’t show who or how a person really is. A person, who is a thief, may be a thief to be able to provide for his family. It does however show what kind of a person society brands them as. A person’s occupation, ethnicity or race, and gender all show us what kind of a person someone may be, but that is it. We won’t ever be able to just tell who someone really is by just looking at them.
Resources
http://people.howstuffworks.com/what-is-social-identity.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity_theory
Nick Rohr
Mr. Thompson
Sociology
6 October 2013
Social Identities: From a Catholic to a……Twerking Baptist?
We all have our own personal identity. It is how we identify ourselves as individuals. Social identity is how we relate ourselves to others by what we have in common. We in turn form groups by these common grounds that set us apart from different social groups. Social identities are formed as soon as we are born and change many times as we age and mature. We have social identities that define ourselves as parents, by race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, and even the act of twerking.
A young girl, while she was in middle school, was in band class. She mostly hung out with other kids that played musical instruments. That was part of her Social Identity at the time. Band helped define her. As she grew up her social identities changed, as she changed as a person. She went from being a Catholic to a Baptist and from a music player to a skateboarding hippy. Then, when they young girl went off to college, she came across a group of people that were taking on the world by storm. They were twerkers.
Twerkers are a group of people that identify themselves by basically shaking their booty in an up and down motion. At first this skateboarding hippy Baptist had nothing to do with this group of twerkers. But one lonely friday evening, everything would change. It all started with an innocent Youtube video. Intrigued be the act of twerking, the young girl watched another video and then another. Before she knew it she was twerking by herself in her cold dark damp basement. She was hooked. Soon she was going to local clubs showing off her new twerking abilities. She started wearing booty shorts that accented her booty shaking and soon started associating with other fellow twerkers. Twerking was now a part of her social identity. But even though she was a twerker, that didn’t mean she was no longer a skateboarding hippy Baptist. She still went to church, skateboarded, and hit the ol’ pipe every night before watching “The Voice” with her other hippy friends. Those were still things that she identified herself as socially. Now she just added “twerker” as another identity. A few years later, after this now grown woman had a baby, twerking was behind her (no pun intended). Raising a child, that may or may not have resulted from excessive twerking at a local club, had made this woman realize that being a twerking mom wasn’t socially accepted where she was. Her twerking skateboarding hippy days were over. Now she was just a mom who went to church.
Social identities help define who we are socially and they can be ever changing as we grow as people. If we want to become a part of a different social group, first we have to change who we are and how we are perceived. It would be hard for someone known to be a drug dealer to get a job at a pharmacy. Like the young girl I used as an example, she went from being defined as a Catholic who played musical instruments to a hippy skateboarding Baptist who twerked. That led her to be just a mom who went to church. Social identities are not set in stone. We have the power to change what we want to be, no matter who we are.
Resources:
http://wat2146.ucr.edu/papers/00a.pdf
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7327.html
The Effects of Divorce on Children
By: Asena Yildiz
I remember my mother's and father's fight with each other, my nanny's scream and the picture where my father almost killed my mother. And I was only 8. There were a lot of difficulties in our family before that fight but that fight was the first and last that I saw. I realized that my parents are divorcing when I saw my father packing his bag. That was the most terrible feeling. I felt like he was leaving us and never would call us or see us. I was crying and asking my mother to forgive him but when my mother looked at me with the tears on her eyes I realized that this time he will never come back.
This divorce changed my whole life but at the same time ruined my whole psychology. Before their divorce I was acting really good, I was listening to my parents, going to bed at time, doing my homework but when they divorced I changed without even realizing it. I started to miss schools, started to scream at my mother because I blamed her. For children, divorce can be stressful, sad, and confusing. At any age, kids may feel uncertain or angry at the prospect of mom and dad splitting up. I was one of them. They were trying to explain me the situation but the only thing that mattered to me was becoming a family again. It also made me very sad because I was seperated from my brother and sister. It is really hard to see the picture where your brother and sister leaves the house when it is their home. My brother and sister were older than me but divorce introduces a massive change into the life of a boy or girl no matter what the age she or he is. No matter how hard they tried or even lying about that they are together again I did not believe any of the things they were saying. I think the reason for children to be unhappy about their parent's divorce is thinking that they will never have a family again, or fear of losing one of the parents. I was so afraid to lose my father so I was forcing him to give me his car keys when he was taking me to school to be sure that he would not leave.
Another fear about divorce is that you know you will never do the same things together. The worst part is that after divorcing parents are dividing kids into two pieces. I remember it like yesterday, I stayed with my mother so I was going to my father's house every weekend to see my father, brother and sister. And when we would ask him why they got divorced he would say it is your mother's fault and when I was asking my mother she was saying that it was his fault. I could not understand who was wrong and who was right because they were telling different things and they were trying to blame each other. That's why I began to be alone in my room all the time, not eating with my mother or father, or not going out to somewhere with them because I was used to see my whole family with me when we were going somewhere. And the funny part is that no matter how many years passed, you will still remember your father's packing bag or mother's crying or brother's and sister's screaming that they do not want to leave home. So my advice is for those people who are going to marry choose your husband or wife wisely because children never get over with their parents divorce, they just get used to it.
Resources
http://cpancf.com/articles_files/efffectsdivorceonchildren.asp
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/201112/the-impact-divorce-young-children-and-adolescents
Labels On Teen Parents
By: Christina Speaks
Almost one million teen girls get pregnant each year. That is about four out of ten women going through at least one pregnancy before they are twenty. People may say that it is normal for other countries to have pregnant teens, but it really not as common compared to the United States. America has the highest recorded rates of teen pregnancy than any other country. Rates are declining though, compared to those in 1991. Currently, America is at their lowest rate ever recorded, maybe which is why teen pregnancy is such a big deal these days.
Teen Moms are made out to be something they are not thanks to the media. Reality TV shows make teen moms out to be high school dropouts, unsuccessful parents, single, and struggling Moms, granted that some teen moms end up like this, it is not just because they are teenagers. There is plenty of older women that go through the same hardships, but you will not see a reality TV show starring them. What these shows have done is given the label of “teen mom” on these young women, this label has turned into the stereotype that all young moms become unsuccessful, but that is not true.
I have always wanted to be more than just a statistic, and get rid of the label everyone looks down on. There are lots of stereotypes about Teen parents, such as we are high school dropouts, have unsuccessful marriages, we are not capable of growing up early, and that we will not make it to college; being that only 2% actually finish. Those that are capable would not make a good reality TV show though. I found out I was pregnant three days before my sixteenth birthday. I was just a sophomore in high school, I did not have a driver’s license, I had no job, and my boyfriend Chris was already considering not going to college, to go work on the oil fields with his step dad. We were definitely a mess. Chris’s parents were supportive, being that his Mom was also once a Teen Mom, my parents on the other hand thought the only way to help us was to split Chris and I up, and them finish raising me and the baby. This was the first part of my motivation to graduate high school early, by doing this; I would have a better chance at getting emancipated. My school offered a program that would allow me to finish school at my own pace online called the “Choices Program.” I started as soon as my sophomore year of high school ended, worked all summer long, and finished my junior and senior year within four months, allowing me to graduate two years before my original class of 2014. After this, the judge suggested to my parents to let me get married and they agreed. At thirty eight weeks pregnant, Chris and I finally were married and living together for the first time. We did not have much for our son, and thankfully our family and friends came together and threw us the best baby shower anyone could ever ask for. We received everything we needed for our son Waylen. We had enough diapers to last Waylen until he was eight months old! Waylen was born on the 20th of November, 2012. He was a healthy ten pound, twenty one and a half inches long baby boy. He was the answer to everything. Not only did he bring my family together for the first time in my life, but he gave Chris the motivation to work harder at running, and earn himself a scholarship for college. Being parents has its challenges, but we always seem to find a way to pull through for Waylen and for our marriage. I look back now, and I honestly would not want to have it any other way.
Everyone is given a label, and it is up to society to make it good or bad. The name “teen mom” has turned into a name that people look down on. I cannot tell everyone my story, so no matter what I accomplish, or how good of a Mom I am, I will always have the label “teen mom.” I am okay with that though, because that is what motivates me to become the best I can be, and provide Waylen with a great life. The day I become successful, is the day I motivate other young moms, and change societies opinion on the label “teen mom.”
Sources:
1. “Trends in Teen Pregnancy and Childbearing.” Office of Adolescents and Childbearing. Web. 13 September, 2013. 7 October, 2013. http://www.hhs.gov/ash/oah/adolescent-health-topics/reproductive-health/teen-pregnancy/trends.html
2. Speaks, Christina. Personal Interview. 10/7/2013
Colin Grueber
Gender Identities
Social Identities is a main category of sociology, under that there are many different sub categories. There are gender identities, ethnic and national identities, sexual orientation, and so on. Gender identity is something that everyone can relate to; in life someone will probably call you a girl if you are a man or the opposite. If we didn’t have gender identities this would not be a bug deal. Your gender can affect such things as personality traits. Women are supposed to be more gentle, while men should be able to provide for a family, women should stay home with the kids, men should not show their emotions. These are all personality traits based off the typical gender identity in society. Physical traits can also be based off of ones gender identity. Men should look rougher with facial hair, broad shoulders, more muscle, etc. Women should be skinny, smaller, have wider hips, etc. These are all ideals our society puts on the different gender identities. Gender identity can differ based off the way someone looks at himself or herself.
If a woman is a feminist or if she just don’t bother buying into a specific gender role. Men or women can associate themselves with the other gender and be considered a transgender. Terminology for genders, biological/anatomical sex, it is the sex of the person at birth. This is most often the gender identity that the individual will associate with. Transgender is someone who falls outside the social norm for a gender role. There are gender identity disorders; someone with one can be very uncomfortable. Nobody knows what causes these disorders; it is a rare disorder that can affect children and adults alike. Symptoms can be the individual expressing the desire to be the opposite sex, belief that they will grow up to be the opposite sex, etc. It is important to realize that not everyone will feel comfortable talking about his or her gender identity. It is perfectly normal to have some traits of the other sex such as staying home with a child or cleaning the house for a man. For a woman it could be working in jobs such a construction or being willing to fight. Nobody has the exact same idea of their own gender identity and we must be willing to accept others and any differences they might have.
Resources
*http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant393b_files/ARTICLES/identity.pdf
*https://www.genderspectrum.org/understanding-gender
Social Identities & Culture Knowledge
By Cassie Cruz
I think we all have a little of concern when we see a little boy who dresses up like a girl or plays with dolls, but when a little girl plays with cars or likes to play ball with all the boys and wants to be tough we simply think it is their “tom-boy” stage. It is said that children from the ages of 6 to 7 figure out if their a boy or girl and the differences of the two. But I think this is not true, yes sure for the majority of children but their are kids out there who are born boys but say they were suppose to be girls and girls who say they were suppose to be boys.
I have a little cousin named Aviana Maria Balbuena who just turned 4 and I believe she was one of the few children who was born a girl but was meant to be a boy. I could be wrong like the studies say it may just be a stage. All I know is shes not cute shes “cool”, she loves Spider-Man, plays with action figures/cars, loves to show off how strong she is, and lets not forget her best friend Hanna. When I first moved in I was given a tour of the house and when I got to Aviana’s room she pointed to a picture of Hanna and her hanging on her wall and said “this is my friend Hanna, shes really beautiful and I love her” you can’t imagine the thoughts going through my head after hearing this coming from a 4 year old. Then her older sister who is 5 years old and also my cousin laughed and told me “Nana just thinks shes a boy” I was in shock to her two young kids talking like this and being so serious.
For the first few weeks I would think of how my family is Catholic and being Catholic, engaging in the same sex in any sentimental way was NOT acceptable. I of course had no problem with loving someone of the same sex as you, what worried me was how hard life would be for her and what the elder people in my family would say about it or would they disown her? I worry if she1 will be bullied in school or hated all because she can’t help who she is and who she loves, simply cause she was born that way. Any where you look there is always people who criticize homosexuality, its all over the Internet, and the news. Heck its wold wide, there are now 14 to 17 states that passed the same sex marriage. It is little changes like this in the wold that give a little more hope for the future of Aviana. Not many states have passed this law and may states won’t take the time of day to even think of ever passing the same sex marriage law, but these 14 to 17 states that have, well its a damn good place to start.
Some parents may say or think that its a bad thing that we support her or say we should not encourage her into thinking she really is a boy, because we buy her boy toys or cause we don’t correct her when she refers to herself as a boy. What people don’t understand is that we have no control of what Aviana say’s, does, or how she even acts. I mean to a certain extend yes. I think letting her have her room painted all blue with Spider-Man stickers everywhere and letting her refer to herself as a boy is not us encouraging her into homosexuality but more of us show her our acceptance for who she really is. To show her we love her for who she is perfection, flaws and all.
Recources
http://people.howstuffworks.com/what-is-social-identity.htm
http://www.bilerico.com/2011/09/tomboy_identities_a_strictly_temporary_diversion.php
What is a Boy Suppose to do?
By Todd Kane
Firemen, Policemen, construction workers, I am sure that the first thing that comes to mind in these work areas is a man. From birth in American society there as a pre made plan of what toys we are going to like, what hobbies we will adopt, even something as simple as what are favorite color is supposed to be.
From the time a baby boy exits the womb he is already being told what he is going to like. He is surrounded by the color blue, pictures of athletes, and monster trucks. This is known as a gender role. According to Buzzle.com Gender of a person reflects the masculine or feminine attributes of an individual, with respect to the psychology, biology, and role in society. A gender role is the responsibility or the way of living of a person in society, with respect to its lifestyle. A boy will grow up in his home where more often than not his father will hold a certain set of duties and his mother will hold a separate set of duties. The father in American society is expected to be stern, strong, and work in some sort of manual labor. Some of the male house hold chores would be thinks like; mowing the lawn, fixing an appliance, or working on renovations on the house. The mother in American society on the other hand has an entirely different set of duties. More often than not the mother will keep the house clean, care for the children, and be seen as the gentler of the two parents. Some of the predisposed chores a mother is expected to do are things like; cooking, cleaning, keeping the house in order. It’s not being sexist or insensitive for the developing child to make these connections and assumptions. It is simply his society telling him that this is how things function in a “normal” family.
There are however families that break ties with the social norm. As time progresses there are more and more families that adopt their own specific roles and duties that are found in the “normal” American household. According to the website curiosity.com from Discovery,” Given that times have changed, and men and women's roles are less stringently defined.” There are mothers who are firemen and there are fathers who are nurses. There is nothing wrong with being raised in a family with these dynamics, but will it have an effect on the development on the child that is growing up in this household? Maybe this family has their daughter mow the lawn and the son clean the bathrooms. Could this effect how they interact in society? It’s hard to say whether or not being raised in a home with different gender roles has a positive or negative affect on how the child will later function in society. You wouldn’t think something as simple as doing the dishes or mowing the lawn would have an impact on the life of a developing adolescent. Then again, if it wasn’t a big deal why would our roles have been the way they are for hundreds of years?
Gender roles are changing more and more every day. Men are staying at home and taking care of the kids more and more. Women are going out and getting a degree and are being the primary bread winner of the family. This is breaking a social norm that has been in place since our existence. Some say change is a good thing. Others hate change more than anything. Gender roles are on their way to equality, and it’s up to you to decide what you think about it.
Resources
Curiosity.com from Discovery
http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/gender-roles-society-changing
Buzzle
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/gender-roles-in-society.html
Wiki Essay 2 Social I
Paige Roopchan
Intro to Sociology
October 3, 2013
Race and Ethnicity
In some circumstances, people’s looks can be deceiving. When race is a major part of the picture, people are quick to judge and create stereotypes. Not only do they place labels, but they seldom have the wrong assumptions.
Coming from a mixed culture and country, it’s typical to be mixed with many different ethnicities. When people look at me, they quickly assumed that I’m black. But being a part of a huge melting pot of races, my dad’s side of the family are mainly Indians from India and Spanish from Venezuela. My mom side is where traces of black show up. But even my mother isn’t fully black. She’s black and German. Constantly I am categorized as African American, at times I try to be black but it just doesn’t work out for the best. One of my favorite statements that is frequently said is, “But you have black people hair.” What people fail to realize is that my hair is nothing compared to an African’s. The textures are incredibly different.
Another misconception is that most black people are ‘ganisters’ hood rats and bad parents, but that’s a common mistake. Sure there are people out there that prove that stereotype to be true, but it is ridiculous to think that every black man or woman is anything like that. Color has always seemed to be an issue in different scenarios. Rarely do you ever hear stereotypes about the Caucasian race. According to statistics, by 2043 whites will be the minority of America. Currently, the population of immigrants are increasing daily. Not only are blacks and Hispanics taking over the economy but they’re taking over the office. Since Obama has been in office, I can’t even begin to count how many racial slurs I have heard towards him.
Besides from politics and media, race is a common issue we deal with daily. Schools are becoming more integrated and some people have yet to drop their old ways. I have met elder people that have had a problem with my complexion. I have also met people from Italy who have been the stereotypical racist ‘bastards.’ What society sees with race makes no sense to me. I don’t really grasp the concept of why color truly matters to others. One really neat thing that I have noticed though is that kids are always willing to embrace the ‘color’ factor and tend to state what’s on their mind. Especially when it leads to biracial couples, people have a huge problem with that. Changingtides.com states that before dating his girlfriend of eight months, Chalmers prepared himself for the constant criticism he would receive from others including family members. In my personal opinion I don’t think skin color shouldn’t define ‘love.’ What a ridiculous mentality to have. Other issues that couples of different races face are loss of friends and family. Some situations are taken so far that the couples can lose the respect of their fellow peers or family; which can be quite a difficult situation to encounter. But kudos to the person that first embraced the idea. If you look back into the history of our past, most families have some trace of black, Jewish or even white in their background.
Race can affect the way others think of you in many different ways, but why worry about a person’s skin when what truly matters is personality and heart. Issues like these are the many reasons why most people have little faith in humanity and its many cruel ways. The importance of getting to know someone comes first.
Resources
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2341066/Whites-soon-minority-American-children-age-5.html
http://changingtides.ua.edu/?p=201
Cory Cyrus
10/4/13
Sociology
Social identity is how one categorizes themselves in a group or category. Social identities are present in all societies and are used to establish groups within a society. Social identities are based upon the group one is associated with although all views of that person aren’t the exact same as the group. Three types of social identity are gender identity, ethnic/ national identity, and sexual orientation identity.
If you were asked to describe yourself what would you say? It would most likely start with, “I am a man…” or “I am a woman…”. This is common with all members of society. Gender is the first way we identify ourselves and how others identify us. Common example of gender identities are displayed in occupations and relationships. An example of gender identity in the work place is nursing. Nursing has generally been a female occupation but as time moves on this field is slowly becoming more diverse. Based on gender many identities can be formed; such as: physical characteristics, relationships, roles, and personal traits. Physical characteristics of men would be broad shoulders and a deep voice, while a physical characteristic of women would be a softer voice and less broad shoulders. Roles between genders can also vary. An example of this would be taking care of children, being a leader, or being a strong worker. Personal traits between genders also vary. One gender may be calm and considerate of others while the other is aggressive and selfish. So as you can see just by your gender you have plenty of identity.
Again if you were asked to describe yourself what would you say? After you get your gender identity across, the next common descriptor is ethnic/ national identity. Ethnic/ national identity is basically where you are from and is commonly used to identify someone. Ethnic identity varies a lot especially with the growing diversity in the world. Ethnic identity covers ones culture, language, and country of decent. For example Vietnamese ethnic people have a distinct culture, language, and country of origin in which to identify themselves. National identity is closely linked to ethnic identity. An example of national identity is being American. This means your national identity can be American, but at the same time African American, or Indian. This is a very common way of identifying others and yourself.
To finish off the question previously asked most people identify their sexual orientation. With the growth of gay and lesbians sexual orientation has become a common use of identity. This is now a strong label people have on themselves, sometimes good sometimes bad. the best way to explain social identities is to give a couple of examples of how different people would identify themselves when asked the question in the previous paragraphs. “My name is John I am a 35 year old male. I was born and raised in America and have a wife and 2 children.” Looking at this example all three identities are displayed; gender, nationality, and sexuality. Another person might be different for example, “My name is Jasmine I am 26 years old. I was born in Mexico and speak Spanish as well. I’ve been an American citizen for 15 years now. I now live in Colorado with my girlfriend of 2 years.” This example shows all three aspects of identity as well.
Social identities are labels that we and others have in society which help describe who we are. We are all labeled, Male/ Female, American/ Spanish/ Asian, gay/ straight. These are all ways to describe one another and identify groups in society.
Works Cited
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant393b_files/ARTICLES/identity.pdf
http://people.howstuffworks.com/what-is-social-identity.htm
Nutrition
Christina Ehr
Our society has become healthier over the years, but as the world has become more modern, the food we eat becomes more processed and unhealthy. The foods that are bad for us are tasty and that is what we are drawn to. We want food to taste good. There are all kinds of fast food restaurants that cater to the fast pace society that we are a part of and they draw on people to come eat there with their different ways of influence.
The processed foods are something that draws people in because they are inexpensive, they do not go bad very quickly, and they taste good. People argue a lot for the processed foods because they are cheap and affordable to people who do not have a lot of money or try not to spend a lot. The junk food contains all kinds of preservatives so they last a long time. This is good for people who buy a lot of food because it lasts for a while. Processed snacks are filled with all kinds of ingredients to make them taste good, but these are absolutely horrible on people’s bodies. These may appear to be good, but masking the hidden dangers of eating too much of it. The type of ingredients to look out for and be aware of are trans-fats, saturated fats, and large amounts of sugar and sodium, or high fructose corn syrup. Foods with a large amount of these ingredients should be avoided as best as possible so that a person can be healthier than putting those chemicals and bad things in their bodies.
Because we live in such a fast-paced life, we have to eat on the go. It has become much easier just to buy a lunch from a place like McDonald’s than to make a lunch from home. The fast food restaurant industry really plays on the short time scale for busy people so they can just go real quick to get food that sounds good. The connection to places like McDonalds and good food comes from when people are children and would get fast food for lunch as a treat and it came with a toy. The tactics of chains like this are for people to connect them with memories and think of the food as delicious when it is really quite bad for them. Fast food usually sounds better than the healthier options from home and it can be more convenient.
Eating all of this fast food leads people to very bad eating habits. When always going to fast food when someone is craving it, does not have time to make anything, or is being lazy is a very bad practice to get into. It is especially bad when parents start doing this with their children. This type of lifestyle is leading to obesity and shorter lifespans. People have become very bad influences on each other and their offspring, which is just a vicious cycle of unhealthiness. Fast food is not always bad, but when eaten on a regular basis and leaning on it instead of being able to make meals from home, it can cause horrible effects that will drain our lives and happiness.
Our society has put much pressure on what we eat. Fast foods help us to keep up with the busyness of everyday life and processed foods taste good and last a long time. People need to be more aware of the ingredients in foods and what they are putting into their bodies without being controlled by the society of fast food of which they are members.
Resources
Jegtvig, Shereen. “What are Processed Foods?” Oct. 1, 2013. <http://nutrition.about.com/od/askyournutritionist/f/processedfoods.htm>. Web.
Moore, Julie. “Fast Food Nation and Fast Food's Effect on American Society.” Oct. 1, 2013. <http://voices.yahoo.com/fast-food-nation-fast-foods-effect-american-1310925.html?cat=5>. Web.
Marriage
Yuanyuan Huang
Marriage is often said to be the foundation of society. It is also a pillar for an individual's identity. With families constantly forming, the definition of marriage and gender roles are also constantly changing. The history of marriage is long as the history of humans. In modern times, the purpose is prominently for love; however, it is not always this way. Marrying for love in most of human history did not play a significant role. In earlier times, politics and money were solemn purposes. Who cares about emotions anyways? No matter what the purposes of marriage were, one fact that remained unchanged throughout history is procreation. Society and other factors has determined the role of the male and female in marriage.
The purpose of marriage in B.C. was primarily to ensure families’ safety. Marrying someone from a nearby tribe allows one to rely on more people during hardships. Society had an “I-will-marry-you-whether-you-like-it-or-not” attitude. Men didn’t value marriage that much. It was expected for married men to love affairs with numerous mistresses, while women expected to bear children and not commit adultery. Want a divorce? You wish. In some cases, they had forced to marry a male relative if her husband died. They are subjected to the rules of males, and seen as properties to be bought, returned, or sold.
In the Middle Ages, marriage was used to maintain power, status, and wealth. Two families merge into one to help each other in various situations. Things for women were slightly better. Although it was still arranged marriage, they started to have a voice in the house. Soon, the church decided to lay its hands on marriage. By the 17th century, it set guidelines that prohibited marriage between in-laws or by the same blood. An official ceremony was conducted instead of a simple "transaction".
Gradually, the idea of marrying for love comes to place, starting in England and France. Marriage still required that women to give up their property. It wasn’t until 1870 and 1882 that England passed the Married Women’s Property Act, which states women can keep their belongings and inherit money. By the early 20th century, people began dating and decided for themselves to get married or not. If couples do not get a long, they can now get a divorce, something that didn’t even exist before. Both sides sees marriage as something that can help improve each other. Women, on the other hand, became more independent. Expecting to be subservient to their husbands was considered outdated.
As society changes, so does the definition of marriage. The roles of men and women changes accordingly. In ancient times, marriage was for family safety. Married women had no say in everything. When the church get involved in this private matter, the respect for each other increased. Marriage now has the definition of a bondage between two people seeking love and happiness. No one will know what the definition of marriage will be, but it will be greatly influenced by the economy and new values that the society holds.
Resources
The Week. How Marriage Has Changed over Centuries. June 1, 2012.<http://theweek.com/article/index/228541/how-marriage-has-changed-over-centuries>. Web.
Molly Edmunds. Betrothed Through the Centuries: A Timeline of Marriage. March 1, 2011. <http://people.howstuffworks.com/marriage-timeline7.htm>. Web.
Alissa Dorough. How Women Were Viewed in Ancient Times. Nov. 18, 2009. <http://voices.yahoo.com/how-women-were-viewed-ancient-times-4907062.html>. Web.
Identity
Brandon Gaede
Social identity is just how we identify ourselves to others around us. Their are many ways we can identify ourselves, our race, religion, ethnicity, political affiliation, gender, sexual orientation, and vocation. Social identity can influence behavior and how you interact with other people. Also social identity may help you view yourself better, and help how other people interact with you. If you change your job that may affect you social identity. Say you change from a teacher to a garbage truck driver some people may look down on you. Some people may do extreme things to fit in with their identity group; get tattoos, piercings, change hair styles, dress differently. Which some things are hard to undo once you do them, but that's a part of life, we learn from our mistakes. Some sooner than others though.
Another part of this theory is that even though we don't know it, we subconsciously categorize people before we even have a chance to get to know them. But that's how all humans work, even though we should keep an open mind before judging someone, it's just in out nature. Also how was categorize someone also impacts how we treat them. Say you see some guy who looks gay. Depending on how or where you were raised you may treat him differently then someone else would. When people categorized themselves they can start comparing themselves to other groups, and people generally create favorable comparisons for themselves than to other groups.
Basically anything you do helps create your identity. If you played cops and robbers as a kid, or was riding your bike and wrecked. Everyone has unique experiences, so no two people are alike. we just try to find people who we think we relate to the best. Which sometimes is hard, because some people may have had a life altering experience in their life which effects them to this day so they may lack a trust in other people so they just keep to themselves, or they just never had them ambition to go out and meet people. Some people find being lazy is more fun then going outside and working, or having fun. So most people think they are lazy or have no motivation, which could be the case.
Resources
[http://people.howstuffworks.com/what-is-social-identity.htm]
[http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-social-identity-theory.htm]
Noe Belmares
Social Identities
Social Identity in my point of view is the way people live and how people are identified by one another. Social identity has a strong meaning and can be very complex to some. A social identity defines a person in the sense that they are a part of a specific social group. Sociologists, which is a person that studies human social behavior and the human society, uses the concept of social identity to explain how people understand who they are and why they do what they do.
There are thousands of different cultures, religions, behaviors, and groups among the world today, and I believe all of these different things fall under the category of social identities. People prefer certain values as opposed to other people for example, certain people are democrats, as to others may be republicans. Another example may be in school, students tend to socialize with the people that are most like themselves; therefore the different groups you see in school systems have diverse social identities. You may have the athletes that specifically hang out with the athletes. There are the students that excel academically who make up their own group. There are many more types of groups but the way you classify them is how they are made up. You can classify groups by race, culture, religion, appearance, hobbies and many other attributes.
People regard groups more like themselves more positively, identifying themselves as members of such groups in contrast to others. After all of the segregation and inequality this world has been through in the past centuries, our world is still filled with so much racism and judgment. This is where social identity comes into play. There is such thing as social identity today because people join into groups that they most fit into. According to studies, social identities rely on two factors. The first factor is permeability. If we believe that we can still progress in society despite our group membership, we will try to distance ourselves from the group and be seen as an individual. If there is no progress of being our own person, we tend to look for a group of others that we most fit into to improve our situations.
What we do together as a group depends on the second factor: security. If we believe that the present situation is right for us, we will adapt to it. But if there is something wrong with the society we linger around, we will try and change the group, or society we are in. Social identities revolve around the social identities theory. The everyday role we play in life is described as our social identity. The people we hang out with most likely or should have a lot in common with us because when you’re around them for so long we end up picking up one another’s behaviors. During the years we go through, we might spend our whole lives finding our true social identities or may change our identities throughout life. As a teen, I see and undergo different changes to myself and other teens often. Teens may go through experimenting with body piercings, new hairstyles, music preferences, tattoos, and many different styles of dressing just to decide which group they think is right for them.
As people get older and start to settle down, I believe by then most people find what group defines them. Social identities have and will always be a big part of everyone’s life, and people will do anything to maintain self-esteem for themselves. Society is getting bigger and bigger every day, and we will always be a part of society, but only in our own ways.
http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/definitions/social-identity-49
http://www.bbcprisonstudy.org/resources.php?p=59
Education
Kyle Summers
Over the years society has become smarter and smarter. With that comes higher and higher expectations. Education has become more important throughout the years. As a child it is a law in the United States that you go to school until the age of eighteen, when you legally become an adult. Yes there are ways to get around it. You can drop out or get your GED but ultimately you will be seen as a failure through the eyes of today’s leaders.
Education plays a pivotal role in influencing the personality of the younger generation. It helps children find out where they fit in, in social situations. It teaches them how to socialize with others. Whether that is within groups they feel comfortable around, or groups they might tend to stay away from. They are exposed to social groups. They then find which groups they belong to, and which groups they might set apart from.
Education is believed to play an important role in teaching children culture. To maintain themselves societies exploit the culture in which they live in. Culture is not carried through hereditary traits, therefor it must be taught to the younger generation. Things like religion, beliefs, and music are all things that form a society. In order to keep that society alive culture is taught through the education system.
Education is also believed to be one of the steps to completing the socialization process. Beginning at a young age schools are there to teach children the basics. Basics such as, the sense of right from wrong, or honesty and what is fair. Although much of these lessons come from the parents of the child, in today’s society the school is now expected to finish the job. Basically without education many believe children wont learn the basic morals or values they need to be successful.
There are two main paths of education that are offered, Private or Public. Private schools are much more costly than Public schools. Many parents tend to believe that the extra money is worth it for a “better” education. Private schools not only focus on the education to help children succeed in the work force, but also offer education on religion. Public schools essentially offer the same education just without the religion factor. To many these are the only two options for their children.
Although in today’s society a proper education is what is expected for a child, there are different paths that some parents expect from their children. For example, a farm boy is not going to go out and get the education that is believed to be so prestige in today’s society. His expectations are going to be to work long days on the farm. Even if the child longs for an education, he won’t have the time and often in cases the money to go out and get one. Due to living in a society that views education as such an important thing this is often viewed as wrong. Some look at it as unfair to the child because they wont have the same opportunity as someone who has been educated.
Today’s society has put an extreme pressure on the next generation getting a worthy education. We all want what’s best for our children and their families. Education helps us keep up with a society that is constantly growing and getting better. People need to take a step back and look at the pressure this puts on our children. Rather than force something on them we need to focus on setting up a path that will create a successful future for each individual.
Works Cited
Baker, D. (n.d.). The Effects of Education on Society. Retrieved from davidbakerresearchproject.wordpress.com: http://davidbakerresearchproject.wordpress.com
Kumar, B. (n.d.). What is the importance of Education to our society? Retrieved from Preservearticles.com: http://www.preservearticles.com/201102224127/what-is-the-importance-of-education-to-our-society.html
Gender
Stephen Cornett
Gender can be more than being the state of being male or female. Gender can also be a social structure. According to the text book gender roles specify the ways in which men and women are expected to feel, think, and behave. Gender roles than are learned though gender socialization. One example of this is when I was a first and second grader; I would bring toys that were not normal for a boy to bring to school. Being a kid I didn’t feel like that was wrong, even when I got made fun of. As I got in to third grade I started playing with toys that a boy was supposed to play with.
According to chegg.com gender socialization is the process of learning the social expectations and attitudes associated with one's sex. One way we show this is even before a kid is born we predetermine what gender it is by colors. An example of this was given in our text book talking about how a study was done in Brewer Britain that had the same baby dress in pink then in blue. Adults immediately assume the pink meant female and blue meant male. The child was than handled and spoken to quite differently. When in pink the baby was described as beautiful, when in blue strong. Another way we show gender socialization is by what social roles we learn for example girls learn to bake and clean and boys learn to mow learns and takes out garbage. When I was little enjoyed cleaning house rather than taking care of the lawn.
Both genders have stereotypes in society. Male stereotypes are that they are tough, have physical strength, authority, and aggression. Growing up boys look up to their fathers, athletes and film characters for their masculinity. Males are to be the bread winner and the provider. Women stereotypes are that they are to be loving, compassionate, caring, nurturing, and sympathetic. Growing up girls look up to their mom, Disney characters like Cinderella, snow white. Females are to be the house keeper. In my family the roles were opposite. My mom was the main bread winner. My dad worked but, my mom worked more. My parents’ divorce so my sister became the mother aspect by taking care of my brother and I while my mom works two jobs. My sister was a tom boy growing up; it was rare to see her in a dress. Family like mine shows that the traditional roles of man and women are changing.
Society in itself is slowly starting to be more accepting of fathers staying home taking care of the kids, while the mom is the bread winner.
Today there are shows that show the role shift, shows like modern dad is example. At the same time there are shows that show the normal roles, like duck dynasty, where the man are the bread winners.
Work cited
Sociology 4th edition, James Fulcher, Oxford press 2011
http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/definitions/gender-socialization-49
**Social Identities: Talk Nerdy to Me
Breanna Emahizer
Wiki Essay 2 Sociology**
Who are we? Who we are depends on the social identity, or who we grew up around as well as the identity that our society had given to us. Our attitude, how we act as well as our morals and ideals in life depend on what society had shaped for us at a young age. We will continue to act in the identity that was assigned to us so to speak. The art of giving out labels depends on where you fit in on the social ladder. If you are good at sports, popular, and are a decent student you would be considered a jock. On the other hand if you are involved in drama and the arts you would be considered the Artsy type, and for our final stereotype, if you were a straight ‘A’ student who had few friends, studied hard and was the teacher’s pet, you were a geek or nerd.
For starters, the stereo typical nerd is that poor kid who gets beat up, shoved in to lockers, pushed down into trash cans as well as down the stairs and in the toilets for swirley’s. The typical nerd had few friends, was a great student and was seen as more of the loner. He or she would usually be better at academics instead of sports. They are the top of the class, teacher’s pet kind of kids. They are the butt of the jokes most of the time, and they are mocked and made fun of. The true definition of a nerd is a person typically described as being overly intellectual, obsessive, or socially impaired. They may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, obscure, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical or relating to topics of fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities.
These kids are the same as the jock, the cheerleader, the dancer, or the music star. All were labeled. All were molded from a young age. Some had their confidence broken while others had their egos stroked. The geek just a label given to a smart kid in order to categorize them. These labels are part of the hierarchy of the popularity system in high school. As soon as the label is given, we will try to conform to that mold. The mold that could either make or break a child’s confidence. No matter how hard we will try and out grow our childhood labels, we will end up having roots that trace back to our younger selves. You never know, you could be the next genius, world pop star or the next business tycoon and your actions and how you handle situations will show bits and pieces of who you were before.
Even though our younger selves may haunt us, that doesn’t mean we can’t rise above that. Some of the nerdiest people I know had puberty hit them like a brick and then they became the popular ones out of high school, became rich and got great jobs and are doing awesome in life. It they can do it, so can the younger generations. Hard work can get you anywhere in life if you put your mind to it.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerd
http://nerdhurdles.wordpress.com/2010/03/
Jed Gray
Social Identity: teenager
There many stereotypes in the area of teens, ranging from teen driving, to teen lawfulness, many teens are unjustly looked down upon. As a teen I have heard many accounts of how it must have been caused by some teen who either didn’t know how to drive or was texting, when it could just of likely been an adult doing the exact same thing. The amount of adults I have seen who are either texting or seam to have forgotten there drivers education coarse is astonishing. You don’t have to be young to be a bad drive.
Gang activity is also commonly associated with teens. This stereotype has a good bit of truth to it. As youth, people are generally much more impressionable, this is why good role models are important, and why most recruitment is aimed at youth. The number of youth gangs throughout the U.S. tops 24,500, and the number of teens and young adults involved in gang activity is higher than 772,500. Although this is true and teens are statistically more likely to be involved in gang activity, that doesn’t mean that all gang activity is due to teens or that every teen you see is in a gang.
Teenagers of this generation are also often accused of being disassociated with nature or anti social because of video games and the internet. Although it is true that just about every teenager frequently uses the internet and many enjoy video games it doesn’t mean that they are antisocial or that they are disassociated with nature. Firstly because the majority of online teen activity is social networking and for most teens talking in person and getting out of the house frequently is still a must. Also many teen that I know much prefer things like hunting and hiking over video games. Though it is true that some teens prefer to lock themselves in there basement and “game out” the belief that most teens are like this comes from the extreme cases getting media attention and regular non reclusive teens living there lives unnoticed.
In closing there are many stereotypes about teens, some of them mostly true and others being horribly inaccurate. Most of the false stereotypes are due to the media attention being giving the extreme or interesting cases. This tends to give teens a negative image and create very few positive stereotypes about teens. So if you pass a teen on the street is it safe to assume that he or she is a bad driving gaming gangster? The decision is up to you.
Work cited
http://www.teenhelp.com/teen-violence/teen-gang-involvement.html
http://www.froedtert.com/HealthResources/JustDrive/DrivingResearchandStatistics/
http://kindledspirit.com.au/2012/05/02/reiki-for-teenagers-children/
Cheyanne Soderlund
Mr. Thompson
Sociology
Social Identities
In the beginning God created Adam and Eve, a man and a woman who have two social and important gender roles in society. A gender role is the image projected by a person that identifies their femaleness or maleness. As for men it is working hard labor outside the home, protecting their family, and being the sole breadwinner, whereas for women their role is taking care of their family, providing nurturing and daily needs, and janitorial duties around the home.
Ever since the beginning of time when God created Adam he was given the roles of protecting his family from harm, hunting animals for food, and being the rock of the family. In today’s society though as men's roles stay the same they aren’t accepting of women’s roles changing. Traditionally men are following society’s image they give them and are pursuing high titles of jobs being a doctor, lawyer or CEO. Men are dependent upon the old identities that society gives them that when they are faced with new expectations they are reluctant to change. For example, men aren’t able to wrap their minds around the idea of their wife or girlfriend making more money than them. Society has socially shaped men to being this “macho” image that when they are faced with changes men struggle with what their masculinity means if they aren’t the sole breadwinner.
What comes to your mind when you think of women? For most people and myself it is usually the qualities such as busy, nurturing, and loving. Women’s roles in society have always been in around the home, whether it is raising their children or preparing an evening meal for their husbands. However, because of events in the world in World War II women had to change their roles in society whether they wanted to or not. Women were given the image of pursuing jobs with lower titles such as a nurse or a secretary. However although woman were excited about the change there was still struggles happening. Women constantly had to deal with making less than men in wages and not being able to advance to highest positions within a company. However with change in the air, women's gender roles have changed within the last few years, opening new opportunities. Women in today’s society are taking on the breadwinner position in the family. They are on a daily basis of juggling both work and home. Women in today’s society as still perceived as being the primary caretaker and are known as being the one who leaves work to pick up the child from school when they are ill. Women are also being able to receive high titles in businesses and are not being discriminated against. Despite the changes in the workplace, women’s roles at home are still the same as it was in past generations. Women do most of the work whether it is housework or business work, while the men earn most of the money. It's a struggle for women to feel that they have to decide to choose their own career choices but are still ruled by the same old gender role expectations.
In addition, the change of roles have been life changing in the last thirty years. Women and men are constantly trying to find their place in society. Although women aren’t given the pressure of being the caretaker in today’s society many are still the caretakers but are being the primary breadwinners as well. As for men their roles in a sense have remained the same but are taking on more home care work. In conclusion, men and women’s roles have changed in society and will continue to change as the world adapts to new expectations. I am excited to see what is to come in the future once I am an adult and see if gender roles have changed once again.
Works Cited:
http://people.howstuffworks.com/men-women-roles-changing.htm
http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/8/Gender-roles.html
Farmer and Rancher
By: Sarah Krehbiel
The stereotypical farmer is a redneck, or a hillbilly and lives in the backwoods. They wear overalls and a ball cap all the time. No one even thinks about a woman being a farmer, they just think she stays in the house and bakes food all day. Or if they do they think of her they think she wears shorts and boots all the time. For some reason people think farmers are uneducated, and don't know how to read or speak proper english. But in reality they are just people, many go to college, they do know how to speak proper English and don't wear shorts and boots or overalls. They wear normal clothing like such as, jeans and boots. People think that the only music farmers and ranchers listen to is country and bluegrass but they listen to so many different genres of music.
Farmers and ranchers are way more important than people think. We wouldn't be able to live without agriculture. The farmers and ranchers are what makes agriculture continue. Without agriculture we wouldn't have clothes, a warm place to sleep and most importantly we would have food.
Many people think their food comes from a store, but it doesn't it takes a lot of hard work to grow the food and feed the world. Another thing many people think is that farmers are taking up the land that could be used for something else, but how else are you going to grow the food? Americans enjoy a food supply that is abundant, affordable overall and among the world's safest, thanks in large to the efficiency of America's farm and ranch families. The average American farmer feeds about 155 people worldwide. In 1960 that number was 25.6. Twenty-two million American workers produce, process, sell and trade the nations food and fiber. But only 4.6 million of those people live on the farms. Thats slightly less than two percent of the total U.S. Population. Nearly thirty percent of today's farmers and ranchers have attended college, with over half of their group obtaining a degree. A growing number of today's farmers and ranchers with four year college degrees are pursuing post-graduate studies.
Farmers and ranchers are proud to be Americans. They fly the American flag high. There are rednecks in the world, who fly the rebel flag but they are rednecks not farmers or ranchers. Yes, rednecks wear shorts and boots or overalls, but again they are not farmers or ranchers. Farmers and ranchers are down to earth people. They come from miles around just too help their neighbor out. There are many country songs that do tell you about the real farmer or ranchers.
For some reason farmers and ranchers are stereotyped with not caring about the animals. But thats not true at all, they work rain or shine, in many weather conditions, just to keep the animals healthy and growing. They work 24/7, 365 days a year, no vacation or holidays off. Ranchers don't make their money until the animal is sold, so of course they will take care of the animal. Plus it's the right thing to do and it's their responsibility as a steward of the land and their livestock. Many people will watch a rodeo and see one of the animals get hurt and then say they are abusing the animals. Animals are athletes also, and as in every other sport the athletes get hurt, but when it happens to an animals its abuse, if it were a person they wouldn't complain. They are not hurting the animal intensionally, sometimes accidents happen and sometimes they can't be stopped.
So in conclusion farmers and ranchers are the people who feed the world. Without them we wouldn't be alive.
Works Cited
"General Facts About Agriculture." NC State University. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Oct. 2013. <http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/CollegeRelations/AGRICU.htm>.
Bateman, Ashley. "Farmers Stereotype." blogspot . Ed. Ashley Bateman. N.p., 10 Feb. 2013. Web. 3 Oct. 2013. <http://ashleyrbateman.blogspot.com/2013/02/stereotypes-of-american-farmerrancher.html>.
"Fast Facts About Agriculture." The Voice of Agriculture. American Farm Bureau Federation, n.d. Web. 2 Oct. 2013. <http://www.fb.org/index.php? action=newsroom.fastfacts>.
"Ag Facts." Iowa Farm Bureau. Iowa Farm Bureau, n.d. Web. 2 Oct. 2013. <http://www.iowafarmbureau.com/public/167/ag-in-your-life/ag-facts>.
Positive vs. Negative Social Identities
by Kate Scott
In sociology, the term “social identity” is used as a way of labeling or linking us to a certain sect of society. Our text defines it as a particular label that has been applied in order to indicate the type of person that they are. And with most of the population, a social identity is often discovered and taken on within the teenage years or in one’s twenties as a person transitions into a career of their choice. However, these identities are generally not derived from individual personality characteristics but rather groups that link them to social roles or categories.
Many of these social identities can be derived from gender, ethnicity, or careers. These can be as broad as women/men, Caucasian/Asian, or a teacher/doctor. I define myself as a middle-class, Caucasian student. In some cases however, such identities may be linked to stereotypes of such roles rather than general social positions or careers. A person’s social identity may also be, and is commonly a mix of general roles to create a diverse set of identities specified to create more select groups.
That’s not to be said, however, that such roles are unchanging and permanent. Such identities can be fluid and varied to accept a career shift or new role taken on by a person. Even more so, the identity may even shift throughout the day, depending on the role played out by an individual, such as identifying as a doctor or nurse at work and a parent while home.
The text claims “a social identity is regarded as somehow fundamental to a person’s whole way of being: it is what the person is, above all else.” Such roles seem to offer a positive sense of self-esteem and confidence in their personhood and being part of a group. However, when that role is unchallenged or not fully accepted, a sense of inadequacy may arise and challenge the individual with a negative social identity. In younger years, often as early as the teenage years, this may result in dangerous behaviors: ranging from drug abuse, eating disorders, or self-harm.
In fact, 79% of all reported self-injurers are under the age of 18. While that is a very large majority, it’s even more staggering when you find that 9% of self-injurers are between the ages of 19-23. Even more so, approximately 85% of all self-injurers are female.
These statistics hit home for me, because my little sister Molly is a “cutter”, aka self-injurer. She is almost a walking statistic, being both female and under the age of 18. And if you look into the stereotypes of self-injury, she’s almost a textbook case – loner, quiet, depressed, and somewhat isolated. Her story of self-injury began only a few short months ago, but seemed escalated and triggered by blogs and Internet sites of kids who shared her feelings and thoughts. After a few weeks of talking to a counselor and researching on our own, we found that self-injury – such in the case of my sister, can be results of a negative social identity.
After talking to my sister, I found that she feels separated and isolated from her peers and found a sense of community with online friends who shared her depressed thoughts and inner struggles. So, although negative, she had found a social identity. I struggled with this, because I had previously generally considered social identities to be positive things – at least the ones surrounding me.
Resources
HowStuffWorks.com Contributors. "What is social identity?" 08 April 2011. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://people.howstuffworks.com/what-is-social-identity.htm> 28 October 2013.
Sociology 4th edition, James Fulcher, Oxford press 2011
"Cutting and Self-Injury: We Can Help." Parenting.org. Boys Town, 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.
Jimena Garcia
Religion in Society
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Religion. The very word itself is central to human society in many aspects. The definition of religion that is most widely accepted is as follows: a code of shared values that a people may live by. There are three main types of religion; polytheistic, monotheistic, and atheistic. Polytheistic religions center around the worship of many gods in many aspects. Well known polytheistic religions are the ancient Greco-Roman and Germanic pantheons, and the modern day Hindu and Shinto religions. Monotheistic religions are defined by having one supreme deity, and include Judism, Christianity, Islam, and Zoroastrianism. There are also atheistic religions, meaning its adherents do not worship a deity, but live by the same spiritual code such as Buddhism.
The importance of religion to humanity throughout history is paramount. Since time immemorial, man has practiced ceremonial burials which signify a belief in the afterlife and thus indicate a main foundation of religion. Religion also had a crucial role in the development of early human civilizations, where high priests and semi-divine god-kings unified the masses and formed the first city-states in Mesopotamia. Much later in the middle ages, religious war became a hallmark of the era. The Catholic Church promised spiritual salvation to those who would take up the sword in reclaiming the holy city of Jerusalem for Christianity. This concept of holy war was not only limited to the Christian crusaders, but also to the Islamic peoples that they conquered. This manifest in the form of Jihad or “struggle for faith,” an ideal that still exists among the conservative religious element of modern Islamic peoples.
Although most modern nations are secular democracies, most nations throughout history have been ruled by leaders proclaiming Divine Right. Divine Right is the belief that the ruler of the nation rules by the grace of God and must answer to no one but God alone. Although before independence from Great Britain the United States was ruled by a king that proclaimed a Divine Right, we have a secular government since we broke away to form our own nation. However, many of our laws and ideals are based off of religious morals in one form or another. A few nations around the world have a state religion, meaning that the ruling body of the state funds supports and/or enforces a specific religious doctrine. There are even nations that are ruled by a purely religious body. This type of government is called a theocracy. Theocratic governments may still have non-religious civic leaders but the courts of law and the head of the government is ruled by religious doctrine and a religious body. Two prime examples of this in modern times are the Holy See of the Vatican, ruled by the pope, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, ruled by the Grand Ayyatollah. There are also nations that “hyberdize” between Theocratic and Secular government institutions. Modern nations that function in this way include Afghanistan Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The afore mentioned countries have secular ruling bodies but follow traditional Islamic law as laid down by the Quran, called Sharia.
To conclude, it may be said that sociology is inherently tied to religion. Not only was religion one of the first unifiers of social groups, but it paved the way for mans many sociological changes throughout history. As religion was once the only logical way for man to explain the great unknown mysteries of his world, scientific knowledge is slowly overtaking it. Although religion may still be a relevant and important aspect of humanity, it is yet to be foreseen if religion may stand the test of time for another millennia.
Resources:
Wikipedia.org
Religion, Society and the Individual; an Introduction to the Sociology of Religion. Yinger, J. Milton Oxford, England: Macmillan. (1957). xvi 655 pp.
Paige Roopchan
Intro Sociology
October 3rd 2013
Religion
Religion can sometimes be a touchy subject for everyone. One rarely ever approaches the question on what others religiously believe.
In many different cultures, religion is viewed as one of their main focal points. What is most important to other countries is mainly their religion. I was born and raised on the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago, so religion was viewed way differently than America. My dad’s family was strictly raised Hindu and grew up with an Indian background. One thing that I did notice was that it wasn’t just the religion of Hinduism. The Hindu culture of Trinidad was a mixture of many different religious aspects such as Christianity. My mom on the other hand was raised completely Pentecostal, so that was more of what I developed.
From the looks of humanity, people wouldn’t survive without religion. Because of religion, man has the capability of being civilized. According to an article on About.com, “As a belief system, religion shapes what people think and how they see the world. As a social institution, religion is a pattern of social action organized around the beliefs and practices that people develop to answer questions about the meaning of existence.” In reality, religion gives an idea on how to go about our everyday lives and grasp the truth behind what we truly believe in. At some points, religion can affect how others see the world. Sometimes those views can have a negative impact on society because of religions point of view or trait to eliminate races and other religions.
There are multiple outlooks on religion. Some can be positive but just like every other thing in this world; religion has its downfalls and mishaps. Many people see Christianity as just another religion, but in reality, faith-based Christians don’t base their lives on a precise religion. It’s based on actual relationship with God in your day to day life. But having Him in your day to day life, helping make decisions and guide you along life’s journey. Those who just have religion-based Christianity don’t have a relationship with God and attend religious events and go through a specific routine. Some only have these opportunities on a weekly, monthly or sometimes yearly basis. Some people may see no difference at all between the two or even want nothing to do with any sort of belief. Because of what society has become, faith and belief has been pushed back behind closed doors. Between hypocrites and straight up craziness, no one wants to be a part of any sort of belief if they are mistreated. One thing that affects churches these days is the way they phrase things and mislead abuse and treat people. No one wants to walk into a building where they just don’t feel welcome.
Meanwhile, others are just completely against the idea of “religion.” According to The Unbounded Spirit, “The starting point of religion is fear. Religion is based on the idea of sin: all people are born sinners, impure souls, and if they don’t purify themselves they will soon be condemned to hell by God, where they will have to experience eternal suffering.” Now, this can be a misconception of most religious outlooks. What people fail to realize is not every single religion or belief to be exact sees life like that. But it’s also getting a little harder to find others that truly know the real reasons behind their beliefs or even faith.
As many may see religion and beliefs as a joke, some others find it entirely reassuring. Some may think religion and Christianity contradicts itself, but in all reality, you’ll never know until to find out and seek for yourself.
Resources
http://theunboundedspirit.com/the-negative-effects-of-religion-on-society/
http://sociology.about.com/od/Disciplines/a/Sociology-Of-Religion.htm
Military Spouses
Paige Todd
Life for the military spouse has always had a unique set of challenges and joys. They face long and unpredictable hours, lengthy separations, frequent moves and loneliness. These things come with the territory. On the flip side, many opportunities exist for military spouses that they may not have otherwise had.
Military personnel have no set hours of work; they may come home from work early or late at night. Thus, it is difficult to plan things in advance because the length of the workday varies depending upon what needs accomplished on that particular day.
During deployment, service members are separated from loved ones for 6-15 months at a time with little to no communication, and homecoming dates are apt to change, usually multiple times. An ever-present possibility of injury or death adds to the stress level shouldered by military families. Interestingly though, an informal February 2005 study done by the Army found that fear of injury or death is not the greatest cause of stress to military couples. The biggest stressor is the loss of the close relationship with their spouse during deployment. Therefore, though communication is often limited, it is even more important than in civilian families in order to keep marriages and families strong through long and usually multiple separations.
With rare exception, every 2-3 years the family will "PCS," (a permanent change of station) which means they will be moved to a new base. Moves mean getting to know a new base and community. Friendships must also be formed quickly, because in a few years they will be moving again.
Loneliness is a part of life for military couples who are separated, whether it be physically (due to miles) or emotionally (due to the fact that service members typically withdraw emotionally from their families as separation becomes more certain). Spouses feel detached from one another due to a lack of communication, which causes loneliness. Parting is always difficult; you do not know whether your spouse will return home or what lies ahead for the both of you. Separation itself is difficult because of uncertainty as well as loneliness.
Despite the challenges, military members have a tendency to marry much younger than their civilian counterparts. However, the divorce rate is no greater than that of comparable civilians. This lifestyle teaches one patience and flexibility, as well as good communication skills with loved ones. "Hurry up and wait" proves to be true time and again, and the loved ones of a service member quickly learn to not count on homecoming dates since said dates will likely be changed several times.
The sorrow of parting and the hardship of separation are made bearable by the prospect of a joyful reunion to look forward to during the time apart. Jacey Eckhart, a military life consultant, says, "If I ever forget what happy is, take me to the airport so I can remember that the first greeting after a military homecoming is not happy. That first greeting after months and months apart is elation. It is euphoria. It is homecoming."
Patriotism grows exponentially as one realizes through personal experience the true sacrifices our service members make each day. Despite hardships, life in the military can be extremely rewarding.
Resources
Donna Miles, Army Divorce Rates Drop as Marriage Programs Gain Momentum, American Forces Press Service, January 27, 2006.
http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=14501
Tom Philpott, Military marriages show a surprising level of resilience Stars and Stripes, April 12, 2012
http://www.stripes.com/news/military-marriages-show-a-surprising-level-of-resilience-1.174275
Jacey Eckhart, If I Ever Forget What Happy Looks Like Spouse Buzz
http://spousebuzz.com/blog/2013/08/if-i-ever-forget-what-happy-looks-like.html
Nondenominational Christians
Paige Todd
Nondenominational christian churches are independent of any denomination. They have their own structure and priorities.
The idea of a "typical" nondenominational church does not exist, since nondenominational churches, by definition, have no affiliation with a particular sect of Christianity, such as Catholicism, Methodists, or Episcopalian. One nondenominational church may vary widely from the next. Nondenominational churches, like all churches, have various numbers of members, from less than fifty to thousands. Most nondenominational churches are evangelical and are based on New Testament teaching.
Therefore, there is one pastor, then possibly an associate pastor, then church elders selected from the church body by its members, then the congregation en mass. The church is independent and geographically based, not part of a national or international organization of leadership.
The sacred canopy of nondenominational churches (things that are considered sacred) is very small compared to denominational churches. The Bible is sacred, and hymns are sacred. Objects, such as the eucharist, are not.
Nondenominational churches choose to be such so that they can minister to congregants without interference from outside sources. For example, there isn't a set schedule of message topics circulated throughout nondenominational churches from which to choose. This self-governing church body is based upon biblical teachings that show that the church is answerable to God alone, not a church hierarchy.
Despite being independent from denominations, churches who try to practice the example shown in the Book of Acts in the Bible believe that churches should have community with one another and support each other. Churches wrote to one another, and they greeted each other through Paul's letters.
Timothy Dalrymple, an evangelical columnist, says "American Christianity is a vital open marketplace of religious ideas in churches. These non-denominational churches can try 100 things and find a model that works." The model that works often has a "well-defined conservative expression of Christianity," instead of mainline churches' social action agendas. Left-wing politics is where the leadership is, but not the congregation. That may be why people are gravitating towards churches with strong biblical teaching.
Resources
Michael De Groote, Deseret News, February 25, 2011, The rise of the nons: Why nondenominational churches are winning over mainline churches, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700113490/The-rise-of-the-nons-Why-nondenominational-churches-are-winning-over-mainline-churches.html?pg=all
http://www.gotquestions.org/non-denominational-church.html
Countries and Their Cultures
by Asena Yildiz
I am from a Istanbul Turkey. Istanbul is a population of 20 million people and it’s the largest city in Turkey. It is about 2000 miles squared. I was born and raised in Istanbul and I always liked its lights during the night, its calmness and its beauty. I was feeling that I was at home until I moved to Georgia. Georgia is the country which is near to Turkey and its approximately the size of Colorado State. My religion is Muslim as I was born in Turkey but I was not raised that strict as Georgian kids. I did not went to my church every week. When I first came to Georgia it was really hard for me because I did not know the language, I did not know anything about their culture. I was unfamiliar with everything and I did not know a lot of people. I went to American school and my mother thought that it would be easier for me but it was not. I remember we had a class of religion and pastor was forcing me to change my religion and become a Christian. Muslim religion and Orthodox religion do not different in many ways. The way it becomes different is because of people. When I was living in Istanbul we also had a religious class but we were not only talking about Muslims, we were also talking about Christians. Our teacher was trying to tell us about different cultures and their religions. But as I realized people were not the same in Georgia. They were always trying to protect their religion, pastor was always trying to talk about only Orthodox religion and I think it is wrong. Because children have to learn not only about their religion but also about other religions. For example in Turkey we not only have our churches but also we have Baptism church or Orthodox church because we respect for other people.
Another differences between Turkey and Georgia is their cultures and traditions. In Turkey almost every family has its own traditions not everyone follows those traditions that people do. In Georgia people are very strict with their traditions and they are always trying to follow them. For example they would prefer to eat their own Georgian food than to eat some Italian or Chinese. In Istanbul I almost went to try new meals from different cultures almost every week. I think it also depends on family. Because who you are becoming depends on how your parents raised you and in my family we had a right to do what we wanted and we had a right to say what we wanted. Of course we sometimes had to go to family meals, we had to visit our elders but we enjoyed it when we were doing it. Because I do not see those children in my age happy when their parents force them to go to the Georgian restaurant just because it is Georgian when they want to go somewhere else. These kind of families are disappearing slowly in Georgia but the fact is that Georgia is not developed as Turkey or another Asian countries. But it is perfect in the way of beauty. Georgia is a country of nature and people are more friendly in there than in Turkey and I think the reason for that is population. In Istanbul you will have 1% chance to see the person once you saw. But in Tbilisi you can see people twice a day and become friends with them because its population is only 3 million.
Resources
http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Georgia.html
http://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Turkey.html
Advertising
Christina Ehr
As Americans, we are bombarded by advertisements while doing almost anything. We can see these throughout our TV shows, while listening to the radio or Pandora, or reading magazines and even seeing ads on billboards on the highway. Advertisers use a few different tactics to get an audience to buy their product or visit their business. One very simple strategy they use is just putting their ads out there for people to see, another more influential one is to use people’s emotions to catch their attention, and the most common tactic is using sexism to catch people’s attention. There are some good ways to ignore it, though. The main way of not letting ads influence people is by being mindful of what is being shown on commercials and seeing how they are attempting to persuade people. Another good thing is to look for the slant that they have on it towards one sex or another or any slant in the way they are going at all.
The strategy of putting ads out there is just to get people aware of a company or their product. That helps people to see them as an option for whatever they are trying say. It has been proven that if something is put out there and explained at all even without a good reason for it, people respond better.
Advertisers can easily manipulate people by piercing their emotions and getting some sort of reaction out of them. Any kind of influence they have either negative or positive, these companies can get into the back of people’s minds for future reference and they will think about it when the need for a product or certain need arises. Emotions can really lead a person in the decisions that they make especially good ones. Emotions help people to remember things better so they can think back to different ads to come to a decision on where to shop, or eat, or what to buy.
Sexism is a huge influence on people and has been for a many years. They use sexism by the different ways men and women can be portrayed on the commercials or ads. This pushes different products on the different sexes so they buy it. The different stereotypes also can manipulate the other by portraying both sexes as stupid and using that as a sway toward their company.
The best way for anyone to not be influenced by ads is just to be mindful when a commercial comes on or while reading the newspaper or magazines. Making sure that a person thinks about what is going on with the ad and how they are trying to affect someone can help the ad not to have an effect on people. Realizing the slant or bias of an advertisement is a very good way not to be affected by what the company is trying to do. Making sure to not just sit without thinking when commercials come on and being prepared for the emotional effects they may have is the best defense in not being persuaded by the emotions and letting that ad affect you later.
Advertisers have many different ways of influence. These tactics include putting their name out there and getting awareness out, drawing on people’s emotions, and sexism. The best way to go against that is to be prepared and figure out the bias or slant of that company. Make sure, that when watching ads, to think them through so that they cannot get into the back of people’s minds to sway them when making decisions later. In a society that is constantly bombarded with advertisements everywhere, it is good to know and remember what they are trying to do and how not to be impacted by them.
Resources
Dachis, Adam. “How Advertising Manipulates Your Choices and Spending Habits (and What to Do About It”).Oct. 1, 2013. <http://lifehacker.com/5824328/how-advertising-manipulates-your-choices-and-spending-habits-and-what-to-do-about-it>. Web.
Rizzo, Tom. “Advertising’s Influence and Stereotyping of Society”. Oct. 1, 2013. <http://thecoffeehousechronicles.com/advertisings-influence-and-stereotyping-of-society.html>. Web.
Culture Forecast: Hallyu Wave
Yuanyuan Huang
"Ehh, sexy lady!” Sound familiar? If you know what this song is from, then the “Hallyu” has swept through your town. The “Hallyu”, Korean Wave, is a pop-culture phenomenon that is making its way around the globe, spreading it traditional culture. The term “Hallyu” was coined by Chinese Press. In past decade, South Korea has been referred to Hollywood of the East or “Hallyu-wood”. Thanks to the rise of digital technologies and social networks, such as YouTube, the wave grew immensely both domestically and internationally. What products does South Korea produce to promote their culture? How did they manage to gain so many supporters?
First, the target audience is the main tactic. The Korean Wave consists of Kpop or Korean pop music and things regarding to fashion, life, and language, mostly targeting young females. Kpop plays the vital role in keeping the wave alive. The music is a mixture of upbeat Western music and high-energy Japanese pop with English “hooks” that makes the song easy to memorize. The beat of the music first captures the young audiences' ears. Then the song is synchronized by slick choreography that's easy to master. These techniques makes fans go crazy because it is rather something new. Social networks is essential for communication nowadays because news spread quickly. Once a new song comes out on YouTube, many fans take the time to learn the song with the dance. Kpop has so far conquered Asia, South America, and beginning to rest on the shores of Europe and North America. With the elements of Kpop, it makes learning the language easier for many foreign fans.
South Korea exports high quality things. While Kpop targets young audiences, Korean dramas (k-dramas) target both young people and mid-aged people. After learning a bit Korean from songs, watching k-dramas is the next step for mostly foreign viewers to gain knowledge about South Korea’s lifestyle. K-dramas are the second biggest contributor to Hallyu Wave. There are stories of modern South Korea, emphasizing most of family or how women rise up to through the ranks and fictionalized historical dramas. As a viewer from abroad, the dramas tell unique stories that reflect every aspects of South Korea’s culture, such as fashion, food, and history. For the targeted viewers, it creates something that they can relate or look up to. If people can relate, then there are higher chances to like something.
South Korea promotes its culture to the rest of the world with these strategies. It has taught people to appreciate different cultures. With the media, it ultimately gained many people’s hearts. There are three factors that can explain the Hallyu’s success. According to Korean Ambassador to Indonesia Kim Young Sun, Koreans appreciate foreign cultures, so they blend local and foreign cultures without abandoning the traditional culture. He also added there is excitement and joy in Korean pop culture that is appreciated by people of different cultures. Lastly, there is sincerity of people that brought the Hallyu Wave to a higher level. Learning about cultures will allow us to be closer and open our minds in a new perspective.
Resources
The Hallyu Wave: Will it ever offically make it to America? CNN.Nov.8, 2010. <http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-516936>. Web.
Seoul and Phnom Penh.South Korea’s pop-cultural exports Economist. Jan. 25, 2010. <http://www.economist.com/node/15385735>. Web.
Cheyanne Soderlund
Mr. Thompson
Sociology
Societies Unrealistic Views on Women
Did you know that out of 4,000 men and women, 56 percent of women said they were dissatisfied with their overall appearance, and an astounding 89 percent said they wanted to lose weight? Where did women get this horrible unrealistic image in their mind? It is due to society’s idea and advertising of how a woman should be portrayed. Women are constantly being pressured and tortured by media to conform to their ideas that women are having lower self-esteem due to the false advertising of a women’s body image in today’s society.
Women in today’s society are more and more concerned with the way they look. They want to have the “perfect body” and will do anything to achieve it, whether it is trying a new workout routine, finding the best weight loss diet, or going under the knife. Women will do whatever it takes to get the ideal image and look like that “skinny famous person” in the magazine, on TV, or on the internet. Where ever women go they are bombarded by media on a daily basis. However, society’s view on women didn’t always used to be this way, thin didn’t used to be in. It started in colonial times with the harsh environments; women were needed to help in the family for survival. In addition, the women were needed to be physically strong, thus having their body frame being bigger to be able to work. In that era, if women were skinny it was symbolized as they were of poverty, illness, and fragility. Women in this era were looked up to and valued for their strong and physically able bodies. However, as time passes by it brings changes also.
In the 19th century the body image of women yet changed again, it was valued that women had tiny waists and large bustles. However, with the change of image brought many health problems such as women fainting, headaches, shortness of breath, dislocated organs, shortness of breath, and even too doing crazy things such as removal of ribs to create the skinniest waist. This is when the famous “corset” came into fashion and began the feminist movement. During this era women began going out of the norm and refused wearing the normal ankle/ knee length dress and went towards comfort over looks. A group of women decided to change society’s normal view on women by cutting their hair short and binding their breasts. This is what started the era of the “flapper” suggesting that the new fashionable thing was to be angular, thin, and boy-ish looking. However it wasn’t until the 1960’s when thin became in and the famous “Twiggy” waif model became famous for her long skinny image. With so many changes women were continuously having to change to society’s new norms for them, and if they didn’t they were looked at down upon. Women were going through the motions and weren’t able to love their selves due to society’s impossible body image they portrayed women should be having.
In today’s society, young girls and teens are being pressured to look a certain way on a daily basis. They are constantly being harassed with celebrities such as Selena Gomez or Taylor Swift, with their perfected beauty and their rail-thin frame. However, teens don’t realize that the media fixes the celebrities flaws and are setting them up for failure. This just shows how big of an influence media is on people every day.
Media needs to understand the harms they are putting on people, especially women, because due to this “perfect image” women are having dangerous health problems due to the failure of this ideal body image. Society has distorted women’s body image over the past fifty years by putting unrealistic perfect women in magazines that are airbrushed, to pushing the perfect thin celebrity to advertise to young girls. In addition, I think that women need to ignore society’s view of this rail-thin image and love their selves for who they are. So, go ahead and eat a Twinkie, it beats starving one's self. Remember one isn’t ugly; society is ugly for making one try to be something they aren’t meant to be.
Works Cited:
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Adolescents_Body/
http://ap.psychiatryonline.org/article.aspx?articleID=50181
Mennonites
By: Sarah Krehbiel
What is Mennonite? Mennonites are Antibaptist which basically means they are baptized twice. Once when they are babies and then again when they are older, old enough to choose to follow Christ on their own. Mennonites got their name from Menno Simon.
There are three different types of Mennonites; Amish, Traditional and Assimilated. The Amish dress plainly, women wear dresses and all clothing is hand made. The women and girls wear bonnets and the men wear hats. They drive a horse and buggy and have no electricity at all. Amish hold church services at each others homes. There are different types of Traditional Mennonites those who use horse and buggy and those who drive vehicles. They allow electricity but have restrictions on TV and internet. Traditional Mennonites dress plainly and conservative, usually women wear dresses or skirts, and the men are allowed to wear store boughten clothing as long as its conservative and plain. They hold church services in meeting houses and rarely attend college. The Assimilated Mennonites usually attend college and use up-to-date technology and electricity. They drive vehicles and wear contemporary dress. There are different branch of Amish and Traditional Mennonites such as Old Order Mennonites or Holdeman Mennonite. Even the Assimilated Mennonites have different branches.
The Amish and Traditional Mennonites are very conservative people. The Amish tend to be carpenters and build cabinets and furniture. While the Traditional Mennonites tend to be agriculturalists and have mostly small farms. Both live in rural areas. The Assimilated Mennonites often live in urban areas but also in rural areas. They also tend to be in bigger professions than the Amish or Traditional Mennonites. All Mennonites sing hymns, some old some new. The more conservative Mennonites don't have music, but the Assimilated Mennonites sing more contemporary songs and have music. Mennonites are also known for their four part harmony when singing the older hymns. There are four main Mennonite Colleges, two of which are in Kansas. Hesston College is in Hesston, Kansas and Bethel College is in Newton, Kansas. The other two are Eastern Mennonite University is in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and last but not least there is Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana.
Mennonites are known for their emphasis on peace, community service and mutual aid. They are known for pacifism, because they oppose to war and violence. The Dove symbol stands for peace. Mennonite Disaster Service is base in North America and provides both immediate and long-term responses to hurricanes, floods and other natural disasters. Mennonite Central Committee provides disaster relief around the World, alongside their long-term international development programs. Mennonite Voluntary Service participants serve one to three year terms living in international communities and working in a wide range of fields. Placement options range from home repair to public health issues, youth ministry to immigration law and educational to environmental.
Mennonites in general are known for their good homemade foods. Vereniki is a cottage cheese dumpling with ham gravy on top. Borscht is a soup with cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onions and chunks of beef. Bohne Beroggi is a sweet yeast bun stuffed with mashed potatoes and pinto beens. A Bierock is a cabbage and ground beef filled bun. Zwieback is a double decker roll. Zwieback backers pride themselves when they come out right because it's a tricky roll to bake because the top sometimes falls off. New Years Cookies are like fritters with raisins and glazed with icing. Cruellers are deep fried dough served with watermelon. Pluma Moos is a raisin and prunes, cinnamon dessert. Russian Pancakes are extra thin pancakes sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and rolled up. Pfeffernuesse are small, round biscuits with ground nuts and spices. They are also called pepper nuts and are common at Christmas time. A Poppyseed roll is a pastry consisting of a sweet yeast bread with a dense, rich, bittersweet filling of poppyseed. A Whoopee Pie is a dessert made of two chocolate cookies mortared together with a vanilla frosting. And then there's the famous homemade pies of all flavors.
So in conclusion, Mennonites are a diverse denomination of peaceful Antibaptists who volunteer around the world, and cook awesome homemade foods.
Works Cited
Roth, John D. "About Mennonites." Mennonite Church. MCUSA, n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. <http://history.mennonite.net>.
"Who's Amish & Who's Not." American Experience . PBS, n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/amish-who/>.
Jed Gray
Judaism
Judaism is often described as Christianity without the new testament thought this isn't false it may not mean any thing to some people. Judaism despite the beliefs of many is not a race it is a religion although judaism originated in the Hebrew culture which is often called Jewish.
Jews believe in the old testament. They believe that there is one god who created heaven, Earth, and all that exists. They believe that there are several prophets who wrote the word of god in what we now call the bible and that it is important to live by its commandments in order to achieve eternal life. Although they do not believe that Jesus was the messiah they do believe that the Messiah will come one day. They believe that Israel is god promised land to his people (them) and that they were led there by god through a man named moses.
In closing not all jews are hebrew and not all hebrew people are jewish so just because someone has curly hair they are not necessarily jewish. Jews tend to follow there commandment and have strict morals and the “capitol” of there culture is Israel.
Music Influence
Monte Campbell
Music is something that is found to influence young people to do negative things. The rap and rhythm and blues genres are causing people to become more sexually active at a young age. In some cultures, a person has to be married before becoming sexual with a partner. This type of music also influences the younger generations to be extremely violent towards each other and anyone in the way. This violence often leads to murders or possibly suicides. These people can also be influences by the more modern music to want make money in any way they can. Whether it be selling drugs, stealing other people’s property, or anything else to keep them well off as well as supporting their families, young people are trying to make money as fast as they can. This often means committing crimes in the hopes of making a quick dollar. The last way music influences society is by making drugs and alcohol more common in our daily lives.
Sex is something that we see not only in music, but in movies and media all over. Music has moved to be extremely sexual. Much of the rap and Rhythm and blues music involves sex in ways of talking about getting women, having one night stands, having sex in general, and using drugs to enhance the sexual experience. There are more and more songs about getting laid in any way possible whether it comes to lying to someone or giving them drugs to influence them to go to bed with them.
Modern music today influences our society to become more violent. The songs that are heard talk about getting what a person wants no matter what the cost. Music influences young people to join gangs, get weapons no matter how they do it, and use them for robberies at convenience stores or any place with a cash register. Guns make people feel like they have more power and influence over others so when they take them out to the bars or the club, they tend to use them to be tougher than the other guy and to show that they are serious.
Money is something that drives everyone in society. Music just makes it more of an emotional thing. Music makes getting money seem like an adrenal rush and makes it glamorous and addicting to get and to have no matter how they get it. There are all kinds of ways to gain money. One is conning them using internet sites, stealing from places that they are comfortable, and then major things like robbing stores or banks or selling drugs. There have been incidents of people setting others up in order to what make money and sometimes ending up with murders on their hands that lead to jail time.
Because of music, drugs and alcohol become a way of life for people. Drinking socially is almost expected of anyone that is at least a teenager. Drugs go along with partying or as a way to get out of the difficulties that people regularly face in their lives. Alcohol or drugs can be found in just about any rap or rhythm and blues song that is out in our society. Drugs and alcohol have become especially emotional now because that is what people go to when things aren’t always the greatest or in order to celebrate the good things in life.
Music influences our society in ways like pushing people to be sexually active, be more violent, do anything to make money, and to go to drugs and alcohol for any occasion. These things have become so normal in our society and music is something that has had a control over that.
Resources
http://teenink.com/college_guide/college_essays/article/300582/Effects-of-Music-on-Society/
http://itstheskittlee.hubpages.com/hub/Music-and-the-Influence-on-Society
Cory Cyrus
9/30/13
Sociology
Wiki Essay Social Control
Who has the power and are we really free? Some say yes, yet society has a control over us that most people can’t even see. Social control and organization is present in all societies and plays a role in how a society works. The way societies are organized will also play a role in how they are controlled. How can society control individuals? Societies have laws, noted deviant behavior, and social norms which are used to control the society.
Social organization is the way individuals act within relationships and groups, and how the structure is laid out. Each group or relationship has a specific structure which it abides by. An example of a social organization is marriage. In this relationship there are certain roles that each spouse plays in the structure. Both spouses must adapt from being an individual to a couple. Each marriage will have different features to it so there isn’t “one size fits all” for social structures. Another example of a social organization is a community. Just like a married couple a community has various features to it that make each one unique. The way social organizations are set up lead to the bigger topic which is social control.
There are four types of social control in societies. Internal, external, formal, and informal social control is present in each society. Internal social control is accepting norms and knowing to step outside that norm is an act of defiance. Internal control is formed from socialization from family, school, and mass media. Not everybody accepts the norms taught to them as a child, and this is where external social control comes into play. This means that whenever has stepped out of line society tries to real them back into line by negative sanctions. The laws and rules society has in place comes from organizations and government in order to control society. These laws being enforced is an example of formal social control. These are the obvious forms of control a society can see. On the other hand there is informal social control which is more discrete in the control of society. Informal social control uses normal behaviors and customs as rules and enforces them with criticism and judgment. So instead of enforcing laws with tickets or jail time, this enforces norms and customs with guilt and judgment. This form of social control is more effective than formal control because of the way it reaches each individuals personality. This means it reaches each person on a more personal level making it more evident for them to change their behavior. In our society informal social control has a strong grip on people’s behavior. Whenever a member of society breaks a norm all other members of society guilt the deviant into changing his/ her behavior creating informal social control.
Societies are organized in a way to control all aspects within the society. There are obvious ways of control that we can all recognize such as laws; however, there are also hidden ways of social control that have an even greater effect on behavior. So in the end our greatest influence is ourselves and the society we live in.
Works cited
http://www.preservearticles.com/2011091313349/what-are-the-different-types-of-social-organizations.html
http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/socialcontrol.htm
http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Social_control
Noe Belmares
Social Organization and Control
Social Organization and control play a huge role in the world today. Social organization is a sociological concept, defined as a pattern of relationships between and among individuals and groups. Characteristics of social organizations include qualities such as size, sexual composition, spatiotemporal cohesion, leadership, structure, division of labor, communication systems, and so on. Social organization should be a relationship within any race. A society should consist of a broad institutional interrelationship in a society.
Social control refers generally to societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behavior in an attempt to gain conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. Social control is a part of a social organization but its meaning is a little different. In general, Social control refers to societal and political mechanisms or processes that regulate individual and group behavior in an attempt to gain conformity and compliance to the rules of a given society, state, or social group. Since sociology formed, social control has also been around.
The control against society today is indeed the laws that we face every day. The government is in control of everyone and if we fail to follow the laws of the government, we will be dealt with by the control of the government. Control is a strong word and is usually seen when somebody or something is above others. When someone or something is in control, they have the ability to do just about anything they want to do to whoever they control. For example, if there are sergeants that have higher power than a soldier in training, that sergeant can do and tell the soldier anything. The soldier has to listen or face the consequences. In this circumstance, if the soldier does not listen, the soldier is now breaking the laws that have been set before him. The sergeant has total control over his soldiers. 
There are two different forms of control. These forms are Informal means of control, and Formal means of social control. Informal is Internalization of norms and values by a process known as socialization, which is defined as “the process by which an individual, born with behavioral potentialities of enormously wide range, is led to develop actual behavior which is confined to the narrower range of what is acceptable for him by the group standards. This just means that you take on different behaviors as you age and are influenced by the group you are in or around. Formal means of social control is pretty much just the laws enforced by government to prevent chaos or anomie in society. This is also known as regulation. The beliefs of people are what really control people today. Even though the law may say one thing, most people will not follow it because they believe in the opposite. Younger people who are not old enough to drink will still do it because younger people are known for this.
Social control is also within cultures. Cultures have to follow control and rules. The government is a huge organization, but I don't believe they have as much power as people think they have. If the government had a ton or power, people wouldn't still be doing illegal acts like killing, affiliating in gangs, selling and smuggling drugs, ect. There is many organizations in the U.S. alone. People should also control themselves and not let organizations control them. Be who you are, not what people tell you to be.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_control
http://www.umsl.edu/~keelr/200/socialcontrol.htm
Religion
Sarah Lamm
Religion is defined as an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods by Merriam Webster Dictionary. Some form of it has also been around since the beginning of humanity. Though, some religions were founded centuries later. Whether you believe in one god, many gods, or no god, you must admit religion has made an impact on humanity. Religion can be strong enough to convince people to do something they would not normally do in the name of God. It is not always a good impact, but religion has left a serious impression on history. The religion that has affect America most is Christianity.
Christianity has some respectable aspects about it; this religion unites people for a certain goal. Morality is promoted in it. For example: Be kind, be faithful, give to charity, do not murder, etc. Some churches take donations to give towards charity. A study, National Catholic Register mentioned, found religious people give more to charity than anyone else. Another thing religion gives is comfort to people; with religion they believe there is more to their lives and they have a purpose. If a love one dies, it is believed they go to heaven, which also comforts people. Another good impact religion has is the ability to keep people calm and anxiety free. If a religious person is worrying about something, they pray to their god and usually feel better and more secure. According to Dr. Patrick Fagan, religion helps stabilize marriages, and stable marriages leads to better children, which overall lead to a better generation. Religion also decreases the likelihood of divorce. It furthermore decreases domestic violence. Religion helps negate all kinds of stereotypical societal taboos. Like drug and alcohol abuse, pre-martial sex, crimes, suicide, divorces, etc. Belief in a god can have great effects on the people who believe in it.
Even if religion has a good side, it also has a bad side. Religion can be seen as hypocritical since it discriminates against people who do not follow their way, though it is supposed to be accepting of everyone. Religion sometimes discriminates against people who even believe in their religion, but they have a certain attribute the church does not like. According to Probe Ministries, Christianity “is a source of bigotry.” Certain religions participate in this deed more than others. Bigotry and Christianity has led to wars. Another bad thing Christianity does is sometimes ignores scientific facts just because it does not fit with their ideals. One of the most famous examples of this is when the Catholic Church warned Galileo not to teach the Earth orbited the Sun. His books were additionally banned and/or censored. Then they put him on trial for teaching these “lies”. He was found guilty and put on house arrest until he died nine years later. According to Probe Ministries, Christianity stops the progression of science. Religion can have bad effects on people who partake in actions or beliefs that go against the church. Those people might not be purposely going against the church.
Religion has made an impact on the world. Christianity has especially made an impact in America. It has even left a legacy. Christianity has done good things for America. They give money to charity and put an emphasis on having virtuous morals. But, Christianity does have its downsides. It can be discriminatory and refuse scientific facts. For better or worse, Christianity has changed America.
Resources
Drake, Tim. "Religious People Donate More to Church and Charity." National Catholic Register. N.p., 31 Aug. 2012. Web. 01 Oct. 2013.
Fagan, Dr. Patrick. "Why Religion Matters Even More: The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability." The Heritage Foundation. N.p., 18 Dec. 2006. Web. 30 Sept. 2013.
Williams, Jimmy. "The Social and Historical Impact of Christianity-." Probe Ministries. N.p., 2000. Web. 01 Oct. 2013.
Overeating
By: Christina Speaks
Believe it or not, overeating is as much as a disorder as under eating. About 75% of overeating is in response to emotions. Overeating can lead to serious health problems such as obesity. People who are obese are at greater risk of developing type- two- diabetes, high blood pressure, as well as heart disease, and are more likely to suffer from strokes. Not only does obesity lead to physical problems, but emotional and social problems as well. Things such as anxiety, depression, anger, and stress are all contributing factors to overeating as well as social, emotional, situational, and thoughts.
Anxiety and depression can cause people to under eat, or overeat. This happens because people have developed a habit in using food to comfort them. Anxiety and depression go hand and hand when it comes to overeating because anxiety causes hyper activity, while depression causes sadness. So people develop this “hyper appetite” for food when they need comfort during depression. When it comes to stress and anger, people also will look for comfort, and a lot of times, it is with food. There are many ways to relieve stress and anger without food, but once people make a habit out of using food for comfort, it is hard to replace that with a new habit. It is hard to break a habit that people are not even aware of. Most people assume they are just hungry, when they are really not. It is literally “all in their head.” Once someone becomes aware of this “fake hunger trigger,” they can find new ways to relieve stress and anger, such as, going for a walk, or talking to a friend.
Sometimes people do not even have a good reason as to why they are eating. They could be eating just because the person next to them is eating, or because someone is encouraging them to. People eat too when they are feeling emotional. An emotion as simple as just boredom triggers someone to over eat. When someone goes to the movies, they probably are going to get snacks, even if they had already eaten; they do this because of the situation they are in. Depending on what situation people are in, it can cause them to over eat, because of the availability, and convince of the food. Walking past a snack isle in a convenient store, or going to a sporting event triggers hunger. Lastly, people talk themselves into overeating in their own thoughts. They do this by making excuses as to why they feel the need to eat, or if they have poor self esteem. Someone who has poor self esteem about their weight due to overeating probably thinks about ways of improving themselves. There are two kinds of people in this world, one who will actually break their bad eating habits and improve themselves, and then one who will become depressed about their bad eating habits and let them just continue to get worse.
Even the smallest things contribute to overeating, and these small things to lead to big issues. Becoming aware of your faults could help improve your lifestyle, and possibly save your life.
Sources:
1. Philips, Suzanne. "Eating Disorders." This Emotional Life. 10/9/2013. Web. 2011
2. http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/weight-loss-tips/tips-how-stop-overeating
Social organization and control:
Breanna Emahizer
Social control has been and always will be a major part of our society. No matter where you grow up, you will have a social normal, or what that particular part of that society believes is fitted to that area. It is a form of persuasion, which influences your behaviors and your thoughts. It is also how people interact within their relationships and groups. This is manipulation at its most basic form. It happens thorough out our modern day society. Now it is way more commonly known than it was in earlier on in history. Some who argue for social control say that without some degree of social control and mutual accommodation such as that obtained through persuasion, the human community becomes disordered. Persuasion gains more acceptance in this way.
There are four main types of control: Internal, external, formal, and informal social control is present in each society. First, let’s take a look at each one. Internal social control is defined as the process by which an individual, born with great potential of quite an enormous range, is confined to a narrower range which is accepted by group standards. Next, let’s look at Forma social control. This is defined as external standards that are enforced by the government to prevent chaos in the society. Next is Informal. Informal social control is relied on by more traditional societies. Individuals internalize the values of their society. Finally, we have External control which basically means whenever anybody steps out of what society deems acceptable, they are to be reeled back in or at least they will hopefully be retrieved.
We will look at the social organization that occurs in our modern day Governmental system to break it down just slightly more than it was. The actions that have occurred over the last few years and even in the last few months, makes everyone wonder why the government thinks they need to keep all of our public issues private while our private issues are put out in the open. They talk openly on what they believe is needed on the home front, in our lives, in the media and then they will keep secrets for the public on our public opinion of what is most important to us. This will make questions arise as to who you think is actually in charge.
The government is a major player with being in the form of social control and organization but it’s not the only one. Every society has laws, behaviors that they deem deviant as well as the social norms that they say must be followed. They control what they believe we should be doing, how we should do it, and when we do it. They pretty much tell us how we should live our lives under their roof to put is simply. It is, again, a basic form of manipulation that not just they have mastered, but many ordinary people have mastered over the years.
Who is actually in control? Are we really a nation of free people? Or are we under an illusion that has been set up. Some say social control is everywhere. Some don’t believe it exists. Even if they can’t see it, it is there, possibly just lurking in their next decision. Either way, it is there no matter where you look in history, in society, in magazines, and even in newspapers and walking downtown to the local drug store. You can see it everywhere you look.
Resources
Fulcher, James, and John Scott. Sociology. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Print
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551023/social-control
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_control
http://theunboundedspirit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/social-control1.jpg
Social Organization and Control
Taylor Russ
“Social control is a concept that refers to the ways in which people’s thoughts, feelings, appearance, and behavior are regulated in social systems.” (Crossman.)
The way that children and young adults dress defines where they stand in the social group. For example, kids who dress with brand name clothes tend to be more popular and are in the upper class. Then there is the kids who wear clothes that are off brand and are not always new, those kids are usually from the middle or low class group and seem to just barely get by socially in high school.
“On the one hand it refers to a cultural value placed on the accumulation of material possessions, a process in which people base their sense of themselves, their well-being, and social standing on possession.”(Crossman)
I feel like materialism is a learned concept from the kids parents just like any other learned attitude. Those children who are more materialistic seem to be the more popular kids that are from the upper class and then the kids who are not as materialistic appreciate the value of a dollar and are from the working middle or lower class.
Even in school it seems that those better dressed kids tend to get treated better and get more opportunities in progressing academically simply because of their parents and the kids care free attitude about the value of a dollar. The working class children tend to have more things to worry about and often put their social status further down on their list of priorities.
According to education.com it states that uniforms can reduce or erase cultural and economic differences between kids. Being from a school where I used to wear uniforms I can defiantly tell the difference of kid’s attitudes towards one another. Although the upper class kids still seemed to differentiate themselves by saying that their uniform was still better than others, the middle and lower class kids didn’t feel as bad by what they were wearing. When I went to a school where there were no uniforms it just seemed to make it easier for the upper class children to pick on the other kids. Many argue that uniforms affect the way kids show their individuality but most do not realize that their social status is already decided by their parents and the way that they dress is just their way of “showing off” what they may or may not have.
The way that people dress also changes the way the society looks at them. Say that there are two people in a store and one is dressed in designer clothes and looks well groomed and then the other person is dressed in some off brand clothes with their total self not well groomed. Now which one would society be more likely to go ask any simple question like directions or what is a good restaurant to eat at? Most of today’s society would choose the better dressed person simply because that person looks more approachable.
Even in the work place the better dressed person is more likely to get the job rather than the under dressed person. Appearance defiantly alters people’s perception even if they may have a great resume or impressive references. Also in the workplace it seems that the well dressed employees tend to get a somewhat higher paycheck.
Reference
http://www.education.com/reference/article/reality-school-dress-policies/
http://sociology.about.com/od/S_Index/g/Social-Control.htm
Domestic Violence and Abuse
Stephen Cornett
Home is where you should be able to feel safe, have comfort, and affection. However some homes don’t offer comfort, instead it is a place of violence and sexual abuse. Sadly abuse has always been around, but recently has slowly become a major issue. According to the textbook there are three possible explanations of why it has become a major issue. One reason is because the changes in behavior. Another reason is the redefinition of behavior. Behavior once considered acceptable or only minor form of deviance has been redefined as unacceptable or serious, as in the beating of children or ‘date rape. Thirdly there has been an increase in awareness. Unacceptable behavior that was previously concealed has come to light, a rediscovery of the family’s dark side.
Abuse is loosely defined. According to Webster dictionary abuse is defined as a corrupt practice or custom: obsolete: a deceitful act: physical maltreatment. Some people in society feel that a parent should not spank their child with a belt/hand for punishment, they would call this abuse. To a point these people are true because it could be physical maltreatment. I feel that if parents responsibly spank there child for punishment it would not be abuse. However if a parent is using the belt/hand or any and leaves a scar or bruise I believe it is abuse. So this brings up the debate of what is abuse and what is not abuse, and who should decide. Some parents all they know is spanking for punishment because their parents did it on them and it was successful. So why change, just because society says it wrong.
Abuse is a subject that hits close to home. When I was young I physically abuse my mom, but with guidance I learn that what I was doing was wrong. In today’s society I feel if I was an adult being physical to a child I wouldn’t have been able to have that second chance to prove that what I was doing was wrong. I feel in our society when it comes to any abuse it is a one done thing, exceptionally if it is sex abuse. I am guilty of it to, my dad commit a sex crime, and till this day I still believe he is a sex offender. I have not spoken to my dad in 13 years and I still make the assumption he has change. How is right that I classified someone I haven’t spoken to for so long. I feel that society and I do this because that is all we know of that person. We can’t overlook what that adult did to something so precious.
Sources
Sociology 4th edition, James Fulcher, Oxford press 2011
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abuse
Athletic Social Division
by Todd Kane
A key feature of contemporary sociology is the growth of interest in non-class forms of social division and identity. These can include gender and ethnics, but also athletics. If an athlete is good at his/her sport, other students often overlook the ethnic and cultural differences and concentrate on the contribution made to the success of the sport. There is a certain social division that takes place in high school between athletes and the rest of the student body. In this essay we are going to examine the division that takes place between the student body and the athletes in a small school.
An athlete develops and identity in relation to the role played in his/her sport. According to 2010 College Sport Research Institute, athletic identity is a good indicator that shows how one’s athletic involvement and experience can affect the person psychologically and cognitively. It also stated "athletic identity could be developed and maintained by the influence of others as well as the athlete himself/herself. It was also found that significant differences in athletic identity may exist between genders and among different racial groups." Being a part of a team itself is its own cultural division.
The athletes are held to a higher standard than the rest of the student body. They are expected to maintain a specific grade point average, whereas the remainder of the students are allowed to maintain as high or as low of a grade point average as they desire. This system seems backwards in a sense that the people who are expected to put more work and time into their school work are the ones who have less time to work on school due to the time dedicated to their sport. Whereas, the kids with more time to apply to their school work are permitted to receive whatever type of grade without being punished as the athlete.
The expectation of a higher standard for an athlete does make a positive impact. The researchers from the College Sport Research Institute perceived some special status must be associated with being a student-athlete, since many participants appeared eager to associate with the role. This indicated to the researchers that the participants in this study associated a positive image with the student-athlete title. It also made one speculate if this positive association is related to the statement, real men (or women) play sports.
County leaders also uses the concept of athletic identity is used to merge cultures. An example of this is the Olympics. If countries have conflict, they are asked to have a truce The Untied Nations can be quoted, "Today the Olympic Truce has become an expression of mankind's desire to build a world based on the rules of fair competition, peace, humanity and reconciliation." The athletes build relationships with others from other countries because of their common athletic identities.
Examples of social division does not have to be on a global scale. Athletes and non-athletes separate themselves in essentially all social situations. The lunch room is a very easy location to observe this in action. The tables separate the athletes from the rest. It does not matter the gender of the athlete, the athlete will still sit with other athletes as opposed to a regular student. The division is not intended to come across as rude or inconsiderate. It is just the social division that inevitably takes place
Resources
Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, 2010, 3, 176-193 176
© 2010 College Sport Research Institute
http://csri-jiia.org/documents/puclications/research_articles/2010/JIIA_2010_3_10_176_193_Athletic%20Identity.pdf
SociologyVol. 35, No. 4, pp. 835–854. Printed in the United Kingdom © 2001 BSA Publications Limited
http://www.freewebs.com/stratificare_mobilitate/Anthias%20on%20Social%20Divisions,%20Ethnicity%20and%20Class.pdf
The United Nations
http://www.un.org/events/olympictruce/background.shtml
Class
Brandon Gaede
We deal with social division every day. Some people in the upper class won't associate with people from a lower social class because they feel like they are inferior to them, because they don't have as much money to spend. When really people in the lower class may have just not had the opportunity or the money growing up as people in the upper class. Also now people in the lower class may have a less opportunity because of the economy, or they lost their job because of the economy and they are having a hard time getting on their feet again. Also there are always conflicts between classes. The upper class thinks they are better then everyone. The middle class tries not to talk with the lower class and doesn't like the upper class. Finally the lower class just talks with the lower class because no one else talks with them.
As a society we have always looked down on the lower class. Weather they are homeless or just living in a bad part of town, and we don't want to talk with them because we feel as in some way we will become poor if we do. As a human race we have always discriminated against someone else if we didn't feel like they were one of "us." We did in against the African Americans, the Native Americans, the Jews and these are just the main ones that have happened in recent years, and these ethnicities are still discriminated against to this day. It's just in our nature, we see something we don't like about someone and we either ignore them or discriminate them.
The people we discriminate against race the most seem to be in the lower class, and I believe that most people who are there started there because we put them there. Right off the bat we made slaves out of the African Americans, and once you start in the lower class its hard to get out. Also us discriminating them doesn't help either. Another way people may be in the lower class is if they have committed a crime, because people don't want to hire a criminal who has committed multiple crimes and has a bunch of tattoos. So criminals find it very hard to find good jobs to work their way out of the lower class.
Resources
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_class]
[http://article-marketing.articlesbase.com/social-diversity-590193.html]
The Polarization of a Political Party
Sarah Lamm
In America at the present, the issue that divides us most is politics. Politics gets people involved. It can be seen around the country: politicians’ signs in yards, campaign billboards, newspaper articles, and even television ads. Yet sometimes it get people too involved and to focus on their differences instead of the similarities. Politics is defined as activities “that relate to influencing the actions and policies of a government or getting and keeping power in a government”, from Merriam Webster. The definition presented is perfect, since everyone who is involved in politics would agree they want “their party” in control. “Their party” defined as the party they are self-affiliated with. Politics creates barriers and riffs between people. Everyone has a different beliefs and how the government should go about them. Though times have changed, parties have become more polarized, especially the Republican Party. It has changed a lot even in the last 20 years.
Bob Dole, former presidential nominee, explained it best when talking about the change the Republican Party has gone through. “I think they ought to put a sign on the national committee doors that says ‘closed for repairs’ until New Year’s Day next year and spend that time going over ideas and positive agendas,” Dole said when asked about the state of today’s Republicans. Dole also said he doubted he could make it in today’s party. “I doubt it,” Dole said. “Reagan couldn’t have made it. Certainly Nixon could not have made it because he had ideas. We might have made it, but I doubt it.” 17 years ago, Bob Dole used to be the symbol of the Republican Party. But now they will not even consider him.
According to Christian Science Monitor, Dole was a type of legislator that is becoming outdated: one who would compromise and make deals. Whether good or bad, those legislators made deals. Currently, the government is shutdown because the House Republicans will not make a deal with the Democratic Senate. More specifically the Tea Party, an extremist sub-group of the Republican Party, will not make deals. Tea Partiers run under the Republican Party, so they are not a third party. The fact of the matter is the party has changed and became less willing to compromise with the opposition.
The Tea Party is prime example of the changing of the Republican Party. According to Al Gore, the Tea Party has the “strategy to promote corporate profit at the expense of the public good.” The Tea Party, though a small number, controls a decent part of Congress. They are the reason why the House can not pass a clean government spending bill.
The Republican Party has change over the decades and especially the last two one. The whole party has become more polarized. Some of the legendary Republicans could not even get elected nowadays. Compromising and deals are less likely to be made in this new party. The Republican Party even has an extremists group in the party that has enough control in Congress to shutdown the government. As the saying goes “They're Not Your Grandpa's Grand Old Party!”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/al-gore/tea-party-koch-brothers-big-tobacco_b_2689380.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/22/1195739/-They-re-Not-Your-Grandpa-s-Grand-Old-Party
Sarah Churchwell
*Social Identities-The America's Body Image*
The American society has developed a lot over it's many years of its existence. Along with the population and culture change, the standards on an individuals body image has changed drastically as well. In the 1800's, women were concerned with staying slender, according to Madisen Redar, who wrote Body Image: Influence on American Women. She wrote that depending on how society flourishes or pummels- the higher the incomes were in society, the pressure to be thin rose dramatically to keep up with the fashion trends. The lower the income, the pressure to be dropped. Moving to toward the 1920’s, America’s idea of the perfect body changed in a slight degree again.
America became very prosperous during the twenties- it was called the roaring 20’s for reason. Parties were at their highest and the women were at their fastest. Like the 1800’s, the rise in wealth affected the standard on a woman’s body image. The wealthy became extremely interested in being active. They grew to love golfing, swimming, and tennis, which marked the new era of wanting to be physically fit. Going back into Madisen Redar’s article, Elizabeth Arden- a beauty guru- even provided fitness groups for women for domestic purposes.
Fashion magazines became very influential from the 1930’s toward the future.Vogue was an enormous contributor to the appearance of women. This magazine paved the way for other magazines such as, Sports Illustrated . Women were wanting to look like Marilyn Monroe, Twiggy, and Beyonce. I feel as if society places such a high standard of “beauty” and body image. We, as woman concentrate on how our hair, nails, face, and figure appeals, not only to the opposite sex, but to everyone else in this country. Women aren't the only ones who are being victimized, guys are also becoming to victims to a socially accepted body image.
Guys always have that “macho man” facade, but there’s much more to that as well. Over generations, the physical size of a man has drastically changed to fit the time period, but what happens when your body can’t keep up? You get scrutinized for not being up to parr. This is where physical enhancements come into play. Especially now, in the the twenty-first century. It’s all about being “stacked” or “tall, dark, and handsome”.
Society has made body image important within some sports. This isn't a problem associated with just female athletes, male athletes have similar issues. Male wrestlers have been known to develop eating disorders. Meeting a weight class is important to the sport and athletes will go to extreme measures to meet a requirement. Meeting a certain weight can determine if the athlete gets a win or a loss. The body weight that these athletes are under pressure to meet can cause them to overeat, starve themselves, take pills and other drugs. Overeating is a common eating disorder among male athletes. Common female athlete problems include anorexia, bulimia, and other medically recognized disorders.
Society sees men as big and muscular. When men do not have that natural body build they go to extreme measures. An example of men and boys in a sport that have this problem is football. Groups such as the NFL have strict testing policies about testing for drugs. These tests include muscle steroids. This will increase the amount of testosterone the body will produce, causing the persons body to produce bigger and more defined muscles. If an athlete is caught with steroids in their blood system they can be fined a large sum of money. For college, and amiture athletes this can also come with major consequence.
http://student.purduecal.edu/~mredar/2200_webtext.htm
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mrloganrhoades/the-best-and-worst-of-shirtless-nfl-starting-quarterbacks
Social Organization and Control
Taylor Russ
“Social control is a concept that refers to the ways in which people’s thoughts, feelings, appearance, and behavior are regulated in social systems.” (Crossman.)
The way that children and young adults dress defines where they stand in the social group. For example, kids who dress with brand name clothes tend to be more popular and are in the upper class. Then there is the kids who wear clothes that are off brand and are not always new, those kids are usually from the middle or low class group and seem to just barely get by socially in high school.
“On the one hand it refers to a cultural value placed on the accumulation of material possessions, a process in which people base their sense of themselves, their well-being, and social standing on possession.”(Crossman)
I feel like materialism is a learned concept from the kids parents just like any other learned attitude. Those children who are more materialistic seem to be the more popular kids that are from the upper class and then the kids who are not as materialistic appreciate the value of a dollar and are from the working middle or lower class.
Even in school it seems that those better dressed kids tend to get treated better and get more opportunities in progressing academically simply because of their parents and the kids care free attitude about the value of a dollar. The working class children tend to have more things to worry about and often put their social status further down on their list of priorities.
According to education.com it states that uniforms can reduce or erase cultural and economic differences between kids. Being from a school where I used to wear uniforms I can defiantly tell the difference of kid’s attitudes towards one another. Although the upper class kids still seemed to differentiate themselves by saying that their uniform was still better than others, the middle and lower class kids didn’t feel as bad by what they were wearing. When I went to a school where there were no uniforms it just seemed to make it easier for the upper class children to pick on the other kids. Many argue that uniforms affect the way kids show their individuality but most do not realize that their social status is already decided by their parents and the way that they dress is just their way of “showing off” what they may or may not have.
The way that people dress also changes the way the society looks at them. Say that there are two people in a store and one is dressed in designer clothes and looks well groomed and then the other person is dressed in some off brand clothes with their total self not well groomed. Now which one would society be more likely to go ask any simple question like directions or what is a good restaurant to eat at? Most of today’s society would choose the better dressed person simply because that person looks more approachable.
Even in the work place the better dressed person is more likely to get the job rather than the under dressed person. Appearance defiantly alters people’s perception even if they may have a great resume or impressive references. Also in the workplace it seems that the well dressed employees tend to get a somewhat higher paycheck.
Reference
http://www.education.com/reference/article/reality-school-dress-policies/
http://sociology.about.com/od/S_Index/g/Social-Control.htm
Sarah Churchwell
Living Creatively
Not all people live the life that they really want to live. Some people have the struggle of not knowing what to do and how they want to live. The majority of the time people get in the rut of living a consistent life that they get stuck in. They don't usually have the ability to change their outlook or get on the creative side of things. The upsetting truth is that we simply lose the desire to be apart of something bigger. We don't care enough to make something bigger and better as we get older.
Creative living is not easy for a majority of people. Most people don't realize the creative talents that they have. They just give up on dreams and ambitions due to the fact that they don’t have that motivation for that desire anymore. When we are young everything is the world is new and exciting- everything around us is changing. We have that want and that need to see everything and understand the possibilities that the world possesses. Youth are impulsive and charge through this earth- they act on a split second decision and make connections that adults wouldn’t. Kids are not afraid of the world. They haven’t experienced it yet.. They don't see anything as impossible. Best of all, the younger a person is the less likely they’ll care about socially acceptable actions and ideas- they do what they want for the most part, and imagination is embraced. As adults people are just looking for the right answer not knowing that they can find that answer a different way. Children do not care if they got the answer wrong. As adults, there are always people who see a failure and tell the person how to fix that failure and that embarrassment is too much for some people.
The older we get, the more we realize that reality is settting in. We have bills to pay and responsibility to take care of. Our imagination is simply minimized throughout the process of gaining more responsibility. Focusing less on what the possibilities are. Social acceptance becomes such a major part of an adults everyday life that creativity is merely lost. People don't see themselves for the potential that they have. There is so much pressure forced uponon adults to conform to the majority. Being the minority is frowned upon and not accepted most of the time. This is not conducive to a creative atmosphere. Making everyone a little boring.
As adulthood sets in people become more afraid to fail. Chances are not taking because the fear of failure is too great.Adults look at consequences and not the possibility for the pay off. This is what causes us to get into ruts. Adults fear what isn't tradition. What isn't traditional must be wrong in the mind of an adult. They fear straying from what they know, to do something spectacular. Failure is down on so much is society that we fear it more then we should. If history is any indication, failures are ok. Infact they are bound to happen. People who have failed in the past are more likely to achieve a goal. When that goal is achieved they are more likely to have a bigger pay off because no one else wanted to take the risk. There is not a big pay off if there is no risk.
We achieve only what we strive to achieve. Sometimes its easy and other times its not. When a person attempts something out of the ordinary everything changes. Even if there is a massive failure, which is a possibility, at least they tried. People who don't “play by the rules” or conform are much more likely to not lead such a boring life. Taking a risk and seeing what the possibilities are is worth it to them. The people in this category are independent thinkers. Social acceptance isn't a major priority. When people let go of society they really start to live creatively. They let everything be the way that they need it to be. They look for what makes them happy. Pleasing society is impossible because it is forever changing. Expectations for how we live life is always changing from day to day. Living life creatively is something that everyone should strive for. Its a challenge that we should all try.
Resources
http://wendyjanelle.blogspot.com/
http://onmilwaukee.com/living/articles/adultpeerpressure0213.html
Jimena Garcia
Paige Todd
Todd Kane
Stephen Cornett
Noe Belmares & Colin Grueber
Kyle Summers & David Tait
Sarah Lamm
Yuanyuan Huang
Christina Ehr and Paige Roopchan
Christina Speaks, Cheyanne Soderlund, Sarah Churchwell
Sarah K. and Breanna E.
Brandon G. and Jed G.
Stefan, Cory, and Nick
Cassie Cruz and Asena Yildiz
Emily Nuss
Stefan Gligorijevic
Dr. Thompson
Sociology
October-8-2013
Traveling around the Europe I met many people and there cultures. United States of America was new experience, new people, new culture, new places. But in my opinion people are the same all around the World. In every country there are religious people, business people, farmers, robbers ,etc.
People from my country doesn’t like Americans. Also Russians, actually more then 60-70% of population in the World doesn’t like United States of America. Some of them have good reasons but most of them have that opinion because of there government and media in there countries. On another side in USA people hates Russia, North Korea, in almost every American movie Russians or Serbians are terrorist, we are killing our children, mothers, we hate the world I mean we are always bad boys. When I say that I’m from Serbia people think that I’m kind of terrorist or that is Serbia is still in the war. And they don’t even know where is Serbia. And if I ask them what do you think were is Serbia, they will say somewhere in Russia. And distance between capital cities in Serbia and Russia is 2 499 km. So Serbia in not really in Russia. Last mount everybody were talking about Syria. Well your media actually government told you a story that, they want to go in Syria to help somebody. Ooh nooo, that is THE GREATEST lie that I ever heard. Serbia, Bosnia, Iraq, Iran, these are some of the countries where you have been, or where you are even today. We don’t want you in our countries, when I say that I mean we don’t want your ARMY in our countries. I have been in 7-8 states, I met a lot of people and I like all of them, I think you are really good nation. But your government send as wrong picture.
Your government and your media doesn’t show you real picture of World. But that is not just yours problem, every country has that problem, I’m really trying to explain every time when I have a chance. Nothing is like seems. People are everywhere the same. Some people never will believe me but people are the same everywhere, there is no point to hate anybody. Governments trying to manipulate as.
—http://www.google.com/imgres?newwindow=1&sa=X&rlz=2C1GTPM_enRS0537RS0538&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbnid=UkV_Wbsz9ZhitM:&imgrefurl=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/feb/25/russia.serbia&docid=q_YS_vS0vqfyGM&imgurl=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2008/02/25/kosmain.jpg&w=460&h=276&ei=jilWUsWxJIHc8ATZ0oCQDg&zoom=1&iact=rc&page=1&tbnh=174&tbnw=262&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&tx=437&ty=322
