- 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
Stereotypes
By Noah Jones
According to Webster, A stereotype is an oversimplified conception of a standardized image of a person or group. Stereotypes for the most part can be hurtful and are unnecessary. In other words, a stereotype is basically a label that we put on people that have certain characteristics. These characteristics can include: sex, race, religion, nationality, personal appearance, beliefs, and outlooks. Whether or not we choose to admit it, everyone makes stereotypes without even knowing it. Stereotypes start out cognitive but often affect attitudes and behaviors. When the brain makes connections among people or ideas it tends to generalize about that particular subject. For example, if there is a blond girl, someone might think that she is dimwitted or unintelligent. This would be known as a stereotype, putting a person in a category based on a preconceived generalization. Another example of stereotyping may be that African Americans are athletic. While this stereotype is partially true just like all other races, it is altogether impossible for every African American to be athletic.
In order for a stereotype to be installed in society, there has to be some kind of contributing information to the generalization. Basically, the person initializing the stereotype must have had some kind of experience or memory bias of a certain group or idea. A stereotype seems to bring out the bad from a group and apply it to a larger group even though they are not related in nature. Although stereotypes may reflect a belief, the individual with the supporting knowledge does not necessarily endorse such a belief. Furthermore, an individual may have been raised to believe certain ideas or stereotypes. People are often unaware of their own thoughts and associations.
In 1933, a group of American college students were asked to finish a questionnaire about a given list of nationalities and ethnic groups. The questionnaires contained a list of 84 personality traits and several different nationalities and were asked to choose five or six traits for each nationality. As a result, there was severe agreement in the traits selected. White Americans were seen as industrious, progressive and ambitious while African Americans were believed to be lazy ignorant and musical. According to the researchers, the participants were quite ready to set traits to nationalities that they had virtually no personal contact to. The overall conclusion of the study was that ethnic stereotypes are widespread and shared by members of a particular social group. Although the study took place in the 30’s where there was a lot more racial tension, the study was redone in 1951 and 1967 which revealed very similar results. The only difference was that the in general the stereotypes of the groups were more positive but the beliefs in the characteristics still existed.
A stereotype is an oversimplified conception of a standardized image of a person or group. Stereotypes for the most part can be hurtful and are unnecessary. They can be noticed by an individual’s race, sex, religion, personal appearance and beliefs. Stereotypes can be preconceived, taught or made from memory bias. In conclusion people should do everything within their conscious and physical activity to refrain from stereotyping. The world can be a much better place if we all work together to fully understand one another and do what’s best for society.
Works Cited
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/stereotype.aspx
http://www.simplypsychology.org/katz-braly.html
Masculinity and Substance Abuse
By: Matt Hubbel
Modern American society has seen many advances in the medical field, specifically in treatment programs relating to substance abuse. Although it is still considered criminal to be a drug user or addict in America today, there are treatment options available to people that they can take advantage of before they have an unfortunate encounter with law enforcement and the American criminal justice system. However, it is unlikely that addicts, men in particular, will take advantage of these programs without being required to utilize them by a court of law. Men are less likely than women to admit that they have a substance abuse problem, even when their addictions are spiraling out of control and having detrimental impacts on them or their families. In such circumstances, what causes men to deny reality, and ignore their abusive habits?
Gender identity is a driving factor for all people. We live in societies that implicitly dictate how a man or a woman is supposed to behave and think. These societal norms can have negative consequences. In American society, men are expected to be strong. They are expected to be able to handle their own problems, and to rarely ask for help from other people. In some particularly masculine circles, men are expected to drink and eat to access, or even use drugs on a more than recreational basis. Perhaps it is this attitude that prevents a male addict from seeing his specific addiction (whether it be an addiction to drug use, alcohol use, or an addictive eating disorder) as a problem. Instead viewing it as part of what makes him who he is.
“I don’t have a problem, so there’s no reason for me to stop…”. This is a common phrase among addicts. Male addicts often don’t view their addictions as addictions, but instead as an intricate part of their social behavior. Women are more likely than men to abuse drugs or alcohol in private, and female addicts are more likely than male addicts to identify as having few to no friends, or as having a limited social network. Men are more likely to abuse their addictions in public, social spheres. Such as abusing alcohol in a bar, or compulsive eating in a buffet. These circumstances stem from our society’s expectations of the gender roles of men and women. While it is generally acceptable for men to drink too much, abuse mind altering substances, or having poor control in relation to the amount of food they eat, these same actions are not considered acceptable from women. It is this aspect of gender identity, our implied societal norms, that often prohibits male addicts from not only seeking help for their dangerous addictions, but also preventing them from realizing they have a problem at all.
Addiction to alcohol is readily identified as a cause for concern in our society. Not only is it among the most common addictions that a man may suffer from, it is unique from other drugs in that is entirely legal in most of the United States. Alcohol use is often glorified in our culture. Our popular media, everything from movies to TV commercials, often portray excessive use of alcohol in a positive light. This perception of alcohol helps to fuel an alcoholic’s denial, and helps to encourage men to fuel their addictive behaviors, and dismiss their potential alcoholism as part of “having a good time” or “unwinding” after a long day of work or classes. Combine this line of thinking with what is generally accepted to be considered masculine, and the causes of denial become more clear.
Men are less likely to seek treatment for their addictions because they don’t view their behaviors as a problem, or they feel that if they admit to having a problem with substance abuse that it will make them appear weak. As a result, addiction treatment programs that are geared towards men tend to be more aggressive; often confronting the addict in a setting involving family or friends, and providing punitive consequences for relapse. While it is difficult to admit to having a substance abuse problem, it’s important for all people to be honest with themselves. If an individual finds that they suspect that they are demonstrating addictive behavior, they shouldn’t ignore those findings. Confronting addiction is difficult, but as a man, it’s important to realize that being honest with one’s self in regard to potential addiction does not make one less of a man.
References:
Gender Differences in Substance Abuse Treatment-
Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services
www.dbhds.virginia.gov/documents/OSAS-REGenderSpecificSATX.doc
Gender and Use of Substance Abuse Treatment Services
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health
pubs.niaaa.nih.gov › Publications
Anthony Farrington
Thinking Sociology
Sociology, the study of human social behaviour, origins, and development. The extraordinary world we live in is revolving around the people that are making a change in it. When we think of sociology, we think of the control of society that a few single people have over it. From the President, to Dictators, and others in command, they both lead and mislead people into believing what they feel is right. When they speak, they control everyone that’s listening. In our own little way, we all are controllers and dictators. When we are trying to make a point, we go through the ups and downs to get our point across or get the others to believe what we’re stating.
In sociology, there has been the change and development in the social life as the years progressed, and every year there are major changes. There has been people changing the way they live their everyday life, simply because they’ve been influenced by one that’s in control or that seems to make sense to them. There have been great developments in sociology from groups being formed to create change in the world. About 20 years ago, the world wasn’t half as bad as it is now, but who’s to say it won’t get better than 2 decades ago. Understanding the reasons to why society follows the dictators and leaders, everyone needs to meet what they’ve believed are obligations set by the ones in charge.
There may be a few bad outcomes when being socially controlled, but it too has a bright side. The leaders that have been set in charge have set the public in the right direction, but it’s up to society to take it the right or wrong way. They give us heads up on events, they give us information we would always need, and give a choice to choose who we would want to be the leader. We walk in others’ footsteps waiting to take another step, but chasing our own footsteps and hoping to create our own for others to walk in. Wanting to be leaders, we set our bars sometimes higher than we need them to be, being unable to reach our own bar and making silly mistakes. Thinking sociologically, the world will always have one to take that step to make it better. There will be one to make everyone wonder if this is the right step to make, when taking in the information of the new leader. From the children in first grade, there is one child that speaks out and becomes the little leader. Then, all of the other children listen to that specific child, following his orders and believing his statements. The cycle of sociology will remain and continue to change until time itself fades away; the social circle will eventually change from one person to a group of people leading.
References
http://modernsocieties.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/what-do-we-mean-by-thinking-sociologically/
http://www.s-cool.co.uk/a-level/sociology/introduction/revise-it/introduction-to-sociological-thinking
Societies Views of Women
Kaiya Canar
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “never judge a book by its cover” I was taught that for as long as I could remember. It simply means, you may see a person from the outside, but it’s always on the inside that matters. As I have gotten older, beauty is becoming more noticeable. When I was younger, I only worried about who stole my Barbie doll when I wasn’t looking. Now that I’m in college, I see the way that people look at each other and use what they see for their own judgment. This takes me to my first point.
Since I’m older; I see two main characteristics in people, beauty and presence. There are two parts to beauty: outside appearance and your outlook on life and your attitude. Most people see outside appearance as what the person really is, for example, for a class I had last year, I saw a skinny girl wearing Gucci sunglasses and holding a Louis Vuitton purse, I thought she would be nothing but snotty and rich. For me, I would never talk to a girl like her. But for that class, we had to pick someone we would never go up to and talk to on the streets so I thought, “What the heck” and went and approached her. Come to find out, she was really cool girl and we had a lot in common. I judged her by what she wore, rather then what she was actually like.
Another characteristic is the way people present themselves. If I were to walk into a classroom and start telling jokes with the teacher and would get everyone else laughing, you would think I am outgoing, like to laugh and am not shy. Most people see these people as being the most successful. However, as a woman, people don’t see women as being very funny. For example, I find Adam Sandler to be way funnier than Tina Fey. Guys have that “automatic humor” in them unlike most women.
In the article “The negative effects of Body Arts” indicates that society looks down upon people who have tattoos that are visible. Body art is described by many people as dirty, and gross. Applying for jobs these days can be difficult if you have body art that is visible, employers many not higher someone who has tattoos. Having tattoos can lead to ending up unemployed. In some building and businesses you are un-welcomed to go inside, they are either to have to cover them up. With having tattoos people think that they are tough like bikers. Many girls are ending up having tattoos at a younger age, sometimes with meaning or just because.
Referring to my first paragraph; women are judged by how they look in society. As women get older their skin starts to wrinkle due to multiple purposes. Many women end up getting Botox to tighten them and change their appearance. When women are in their forty’s they end up getting Botox and have to continue doing this to keep up with the appearance they have maintained so far. The people who don’t get Botox woman and men judge the ones who do get it. Everyone in society thinks of their appearance different, more try to maintain their appearance tip top shape others let nature takes its way.
The way women are looked in society is different with what type of class they may fall in and what they surround themselves with. When judging a book by its cover you will never know what is inside of a person, you will only know what you think they may be like by having tattoos on themselves. Everyone falls into their own category in society, and once they allow people to judge them they never follow what they think of themselves.
Resources
http://www.ghanafilla.net/the-negative-effects-of-body-art-tattoos/
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/08/women_who_get_botox.php
Social Identities: Stereotypes
By: Jessica Rudell
When out in public we all have our own personal cover, like a book, wether it be a hard cover, paperback, big, little, a little torn, laminated or missing. To some we might be a book that is interesting to every individual, we might get rated higher than some, or we might simply be the book that gets put on a shelf and never gets picked up. Some people may be as easy to read as when you open to the first chapter you know the whole story or could be completely opposite in having to read the last page of the last chapter of the last book of a novel
Now, social identities are a concept of how to understand who they are and why they do what they do. According to social identity people classify themselves and others as belonging to a specific group. Most often people regard people of similar heritage or beliefs more highly than those groups of different beliefs, breeds, character, and life style. Every town, city, direction we travel, pass through, and live will have a different profile to them. As we travel abroad the overall appearance varies from Russians, Chinese, Mexicans, Africans, and to Americans. When we land in a country, we develop our first personal impression. We decide how it varies from our own country. The first impression may be the people, the smell, and the land. As an example, maybe the complexion of the population is of a different color, clothing, and religion. Iran has different beliefs of clothing from their females to males. Chinese might be very easy to identify nation wide simply by the placement of their eyes. Mexicans may have a different language and complexion to their skin color and hair colors. The American may not be described in a certain way as the united states has many different variety within the states, although most commonly being Caucasian. As we study closer into the United States, I believe we stereotype people very highly before we even read the prologue of their book. Most often times, we travel to a city and see people in a cluster we instantly come to conclusions that may or may not be well formed. Some times thinking that people with saggy pants standing on a street corner may refer them to being in a gang and often assuming that people in gangs are dangerous. By quickly having first impressions we think of dangerous people and may not ever give those people a second chance. Since we never took the time to listen to their side of the story. People that have been in jail before may of simply been in jail to visit but without listening farther into their personal reasoning we assume they are a bad person and are labeled. When in all reality they may be the best person having a life changing story coming from behind bars. Although some people may never change or learn from mistakes. Once they are identified as a criminal their values viewed from most people are poor.
When traveling the country the different areas of the United States has different priorities. When going from the coast where the ocean and sea food may be a bigger aspect of life to farming in the Midwest, as well as different communities may be of different heritage such as Jewish or Amish being able to identify the community may make it easier to travel, fit in and navigate.
Resources
http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/definitions/social-identity-49
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
Deviation and Stigmatization
By Emily Johnston
In every society there are a set of “norms” that make some behaviors acceptable, and others not. Obviously, most people conform to these set boundaries, but that’s not always the case. There are those who deviate from the social norms of society, and thus are labeled deviants. Deviance is socially constructed, and can lead to stigmatization of individuals negatively affecting their social and self-identity.
To start off, what is deviance? Deviance is nonconformity with social norms. Their behavior does not parallel with the traditional moral values of the society in which they reside. It’s important to look at deviance from a sociological stand-point. Refrain from factoring in bias and personal opinion.
Deviant behavior is a matter of semantics and is labeled by society. According to the labelling theory, “the theory that explains deviance as a social process, whereby some people are able to define others as deviant. It emphasizes that the deviance is relative — it is not until a label is given to someone by someone else in a position of social power that the person actually ‘becomes’ a deviant” (Hammond). In other words, the views of the most powerful in that society are the ones that win over the weak, because they make their views count.
There are three levels of deviant behavior. The first level is the numerous forms of human behavior that exist in a society. The second is the variation of norms between social groups—this is where socialization takes place and sets the “norms” for the group. The final is the way that some people are identified as deviants by others, and come to form a deviant identity because of a social reaction and control (Fulcher and Scott).
There are two main concepts in the study of deviance: Primary Deviation and Secondary Deviation. Primary Deviation consists of the first two levels explaining deviant behavior. It’s “the behavior that runs counter to the normative expectations of a group, and is recognized as a deviant behavior by its members, but is tolerated or indulged as an allowable or permissible departure from what is normally expected” (Fulcher and Scott). In essence society recognizes a person’s behavior as deviant, but makes excuses and allowances due to outside factors. For example, if a boy throws his book across the room in frustration during class, the class might justify his action because his dad just passed away the week before. Also, the person who committed the deviant act does not internalize it as a part of the person's self-concept (Hammond).
The second level of explaining deviant behavior is Secondary Deviance. This “occurs when deviations are not normalized but are stigmatized or punished in some way. Social reaction becomes a central element in the deviant’s identity” (Fulcher and Scott). It is not normalized like Primary, but rather it is stigmatized or punished in some way. This is when law enforcement gets involved and takes control of the situation for the “well-being of others.”
With Secondary Deviance, the person committing the deviant act suffers from the consequences of obtaining that stigma, as well as the criminal punishment. For example: a man who graphitized a bus is labeled “inconsiderate” or “destructive.” When this stigmatization happens it can devalue that person’s whole social and self-identity. If they internalize what others stigmatize them as, the person accepts the deviant label, and incorporates it into their self-concept (Hammond).
To summarize, deviance is socially constructed and can lead to stigmatization of individuals, negatively affecting their social and self-identity. The powerful people in society set the “norms”, which are determined on a basis of constantly changing values. Most people follow these “norms,” but those who don’t are labeled deviant. There are three levels of deviance that compose Primary and Secondary Deviance. Primary Deviance is justified by society and does not affect the deviant’s social identity because it’s considered acceptable. Secondary Deviance is not justified by society and leads to the deviant incorporating this stigma as a part of their self-concept.
Citation:
Hammond, R. N.P. Web. 2 Oct 2013 <http://ww2.valdosta.edu/~klowney/devtheories.htm>
Fulcher, James and Scott, John. Sociology. Oxford University Press Inc. 2011. Print
Picture:
http://www.mybluegenome.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Screen-shot-2011-08-04-at-8.53.19-PM.png
Social Identity
By: Rebecca Aschenbrenner
Social identity is how we describe ourselves to others. It also makes us realized who we are, and what we like to do. It gives us pride in who we are and makes us feel like we belong. Social identities help us find things we like to do, and the kind of people we like to be around. Usually these identities draw us to people who have similar identities.
Social identities start from birth, whether you are a boy or a girl. Boys are supposed to act one way, and girls another. If you act out of your group you could be made fun or not be accepted by the group anymore. When I was younger I was called a tom boy, because I liked to hang out with the boys, and I didn’t like to brush my hair, so my mom cut it short like a boy. Boys were not supposed to play with Barbie’s, and girls were supposed to not play in the dirt. Usually you follow with what they want you to be for a while, then you figure out who you are for yourself. You choose what you want to be, and who your friends are. You can join any group you’d like to, even if your parents are against it! It’s all up to you to be who you want to be.
Many times you will be proud of an identity you have. You want people to know that you belong in a group. It’s a person’s natural want to be involved, to be like, and to feel like we belong somewhere. Everyone wants to feel like they have something to live for. I, as everyone else, love to be in groups where people feel the same way that I do, and have the same experiences.
When you’re in your groups, you will defend your views and how you feel. You will maybe even bash other groups to make yours look better. It’s in human nature to make your group look better. You will find many negativities that you can use to make a group look worse than yours. You will usually join more groups that you think will make you look better, but what looks good to you, may look bad to someone else.
We usually connect to people with the same identities, because they probably have had the same experience that we had. For example, someone who has had a child, can connect with another mother. Both the mothers have the same roles with taking care of the child, and raising him or her. Once you have a kid, you join the group of mothers. But there are also many different groups of mothers that have different experiences. You could be a mother who adopts their children, or someone who has lost a child.
Anyone that is not in our groups are in the out-groups. They don’t fit in with the “cool” kids. We see this a lot in schools. In high schools, there are tons of out-groups, and only a couple of in-groups. If you don’t live up to the “cool” kids expectations, you are automatically in the out-group.
Social identities are a major part of our lives. We have to choose what kind of person we would like to be. Don’t let anyone tell you who you should be. Be yourself.
References:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://www.alleydog.com/glossary/definition.php?term=Social%20Identity%20Theory
Fulcher, James and John Scott., “ Sociology” Oxford University Press Inc: New York, 2011
Kelli Riggs
October 8, 2013
Dr. Mike Thompson
Midterm Wiki Essay Project
Sexual Identities
While much research has examined sexual problems and dysfunction, far less research has examined intersections between sexual satisfaction and sexual activity, particularly as it relates to social identities. This study utilized secondary analysis of 1,473 women from the National Health and Social Life Survey to examine the way sexual satisfaction and sexual activity are at times misaligned. Using factor and cluster analyses, four groups of women defined by being high or low on satisfaction and activity were predicted by nine demographic variables, including socioeconomic class, racial or ethnic identity, age, marital status, education, sexual identity, geographical "coming of age" location, employment status, and number of children. Results showed that lower status women, women of color, working-class women, younger women, less educated women, women who worked full-time, reported low satisfaction and high activity. Women who reported high satisfaction and low activity represented the largest cluster of women, indicating that more women reported a disjuncture between satisfaction and activity than did those reporting a match between satisfaction and activity. Implications for clinical, sexuality, and social identity literatures are discussed.
Results from the Young Men’s Survey suggest that two factors associated with HIV risk among MSMs. First, being a member of an ethnic or racial minority. Second history of anal sex with another male. Furthermore, the literature suggests that gay men who do not accept their sexual identity practice risky sexual behaviors more than gay men who are more accepting of their sexual identity. Furthermore, researchers have suggested that MSMs who have positive ethnic or sexual orientation identities were less likely than other MSMs to engage in HIV risk-taking behaviors, such as unprotected sexual contact. Gay African-Americans who affirm their sexual orientation identity feel they are perceived by other African Americans as abandoning ties to the African-American community and assuming another minority group status. Trobst, Herbst, Masters, and Costa found that within a sample consisting primarily of African Americans, individuals tended to engage in high risk behaviors, such as casual sex, to cope with emotional distress, such as poor social support. The primary aim of this study was to examine whether reported racial/sexual orientation identity and social support predict sexual risk-taking behaviors among African American men who have sex with men. The participants were 637 African American men who reported at least one sexual experience with another man. This project was a secondary analysis of a sample that participated in a national questionnaire. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to predict sexual risk from racial/sexual orientation and social support variables. In particular, social support variables were tested as possible mediator variables between racial/sexual orientation and sexual risk. Results from the study suggest that racial/sexual identification is not a significant predictor of sexual risk behavior and, as a result, social support is not a mediator between the two. In addition, there was not a relationship between social support and sexual risk behaviors. However, there was an association between racial/sexual identification and social support, which may be an area of further research.
Social Classes
By: Ashley Beek
When it comes to social identities, everybody has one. Your identity is something that defines you. Not everybody is the same, so having an identity can tell people apart from each other. It doesn’t matter if you’re a successful business worker, or an employee at a fast food restaurant, you have a specific identity. Based on what type of identity you possess, it then determines the social class you belong to. Social class is a label that has been around for ages, and separates people according to their lifestyle. It’s a social rank in terms of income and power. The main social classes in the United States are the working class, lower class, middle class, and higher class. Determining the social classes has always had an effect on our society. Based on simple things like what TV shows you watch or what books you read can establish your social class.
How do we know what class we belong to? At any time in our lives, our social class could change. There are a variety of things to be considered. Some of them include your parents’ level of education, the kind of work they do, what kind of income is earned, what type of house you live in, or what kind of vehicle you drive. This information is useful when trying to categorize yourself in a social class, but is it really true? Just by looking at someone can you really infer what class they come from? Of course everyone is going to have their own opinions but you can’t judge a book by its cover. Looks can be deceiving! Someone wearing worn out jeans could be a millionaire, but because of the clothes they are wearing people would think otherwise. People often disguise themselves just to adapt into their social class.
Social class basically starts when you’re a child. As growing up, children are taught to socialize within their social class. This is often acquired through the education systems. Those who are wealthy or have a luxurious lifestyle sometimes get more attention or recognition. Most often kids who are considered high-class, are viewed as the more intelligent kids than those who are in the lower class. This theory has never been proven, for the fact that lower class can have the same or higher IQ than the higher-class.
Working two full-time jobs at minimum wage versus working an eight hour shift can make quite the difference. You may work harder, but if the paycheck doesn’t show it, then your rank on the social ladder goes down. Who gets to decide the ranks? The government has a specific definition for each class. A research conducted in 2005 suggested that if a family of four makes less than $19,350, they are considered to be in poverty. This subject is argued frequently, because not all families are the same. Some may make less money but are supporting their family just fine. Putting people into these classes is not helping our society. Being classified as “poor” can affect people emotionally. When people are affected emotionally or physically this leads to the social classes turning against each other. This problem only makes the social gap become larger.
Social identity is what makes a person unique. You get to be who you want to be, but when social classes get in the way, people lose a sense of themselves. Placing people in a large group and saying they’re in that group because they’re all the same can definitely affect people. Our society is very stereotypical and that’s where the social classes come from. There will always be classes in the U.S., but only you can determine what type of person you really want to be.
Sources:
http://www.classism.org/about-class
http://social.jrank.org/pages/594/Social-Class-Effects.html
Identity through Names
By KaiLee A. Homburg
Names are a large part of how we see ourselves and how others see us. There are names for boys, names for girls, and unisex names. There are also names that are more common in a certain ethnicity than others. Several names that have been possessed by historic figures or celebrities have become popular titles for many people. The name that parents give to a newborn baby may stay with that infant for the rest of its life. Our names can help shape the identities of the people we will become.
From the beginning of our lives, our names are used to signify that we are an individual. Society records our names after our birth to recognize our existence and to keep the actions of each person separate from those around us (Deluzian). As individuals, we are proud to be one of a kind, and therefore take pride in the names that we are given. For example, when another person has mispronounced your name, you are quick to correct the mistake so as not to have your identity be distorted or to be confused with a different individual (Deluzian). Another display of the pride in our names is shown when we introduce ourselves or others by saying, “I am” or “This is,” which automatically connects the identity of that person with their name (Deluzian).
What makes us take pride in our names is the sense of identity that we associate with ourselves. It is our characteristics and our perspectives on who we are that creates our identity. This is why naming a child is so important to parents; a name is all the things they hope their child will become, the identity they plan for the baby to assume, put into one word. Sometimes parents name their children after members of the family in hopes of honoring that ancestor, or in hopes that the child may one day resemble or have similar personality traits of that family member. It isn't uncommon for names to be chosen because of the certain characteristics or meanings that are already associated with the title. Two of the most popular baby names today is Liam, which means “strong-willed warrior,” and Charlotte, meaning “free” (Baby Names).
Even though many parents try so hard to find the perfect name for their child, our names are just a matter of circumstance. When an actual individual thinks about their own identity, their name is only part of what makes them a rare individual. A person's name is the first aspect that makes them recognize that their identity makes them separate from others. What is identity? When you think about your identity, do you label yourself the way others would categorize you? I find it difficult to put myself into a few select categories to define my identity.
Our actual identities are complex and pretty much beyond describing or labeling. It is our substance that defines us, our conscience that separates us, and our ways of thinking that truly makes an identity. Each person has their own unique occurrences in their lives, and it is only the experiences that groups of people experience together that can actually be labeled or categorized. Even so, in group experience situations, each member of the group will have their own individual experiences within their minds that cannot be replicated and will differ from one another. However, it is a person's name that one connects to their experiences, and therefore helps to create a sense of their identity.
An identity may not fully be expressed through a name, but as we grow older with a name, it becomes part of a person's perspective of their identity. As people have many different views on how a name composes what an identity is, an identity may truly just be an indescribable essence of who we are. No matter what definition a person uses for identity, our names really do help shape the identities that we assume. Our names are what signifies to society that we are an individual; a unique identity.
WORK CITED
Deluzain, H. Edward. "Behind the Name: Names and Personal Identity." Behind the Name: Meaning of Names, Baby Name Meanings. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://www.behindthename.com/articles/3.php>.
"Baby Names at BabyNames.com | Baby Name Meanings | Baby Boy Names | Baby Girl Names | Top Most Popular Names." Baby Names at BabyNames.com | Baby Name Meanings | Baby Boy Names | Baby Girl Names | Top Most Popular Names. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2013. <http://www.babynames.com>.
Social Identities
Runner
By: Christopher Speaks
I started running in 8th grade because that was the cool thing to do at my school. I was pressured into it by my friends and older runners. At the time it was very hard, I kept thinking to myself, “how do these guys do it.” I started practicing more and more, soon I got better, and running suddenly became easier. At my first meet I got 1st place by a long shot, my coach told me that if I keep up the work that I would be on the Varsity team once I make it to high school. This motivated me to practice all summer before my freshman year.
In high school competition got harder and I was not finishing in 1st place like I was in middle school. I was being “showed up” by the more experienced and dedicated runners. Not being the best made me want to quit the team. Instead my teammates gave me confidence and told me that I have a good future ahead of me if I keep running.
My running career got better and better. I was ranked 5th in the state of Texas as a sophomore in high school. I felt like my running career was perfect. Then my mother met her future husband and we moved to a different school. In this process, running got harder, I didn’t have the team that I used to have to motivate me because my new school was all about football. Their cross country program did not have a coach and they had no runners. My running career went downhill. Soon I got more distractions, I met a girl that would change my life forever.
After an unsuccessful year of running and nothing to push me, I soon gained a new motivation. I felt like without running I was just another face in the crowd, but now I had more important things to worry about; my girlfriend Christina was pregnant. I was the man, so it was my job to figure out a way to support this baby. I considered working with my step Dad on the oil fields, there I would make enough income to support a family, but the thought of not being able to run depressed me. I considered all of my options and decided that I did not want to give up on my dreams, so I started running like I never had before.
I ran day and night, literally. I went to school during the day, afterwards I would go to work, get off at midnight, then go run. I had to run seven to eight miles sometimes, and then wake up at 6:30am to start my tedious day all over again. This was hard, but I did it in hopes of one day being able to provide a great life for my family. Soon I started winning races again. Everyone knew my name, and I was now 2nd in the state of Texas for Cross-country and Track. It was not long until colleges from all over wanted me. They all referred to me as “the kid with the hair.” The only problem was that none of the colleges were willing to make accommodations for my family. Every coach I talked to would never even consider my now wife and son. Then in the final days of high school, I received a call from Colby Kansas. They offered me a deal like no other. This coach actually considered my family, and was willing to do everything he could to make life as easy as possible for us. He gave me a scholarship that paid for all of my schooling, including my books. This is exactly what I was working for.
We saved every penny we had and moved fifteen hours away from our home. We now had a better opportunity to make something out of ourselves. I can now be labeled as “The Runner” that I worked so hard to get. Running has changed my life, and it all started just by getting pressured into joining the team.
Sources:
1. Speaks, Christopher. Personal Interview. 10/7/2013
2. Speaks, Christina. Interview. 10/7/2013
Identities
By Heather Schneider
When people think about social identities they may talk about social crowd’s people are associated with. In all reality social identity is the primary method within social psychology of defining individuals when it is important to distinguish between different levels or types of identities. Your social identity is the portion of your self-concept. When you are being yourself people define you and that is where your social identity starts to come about in your life. Some people act like it is being judged but if you pay attention to the ways you portray yourself and how you act it becomes who you are. Like take myself for example I run and always have and love to do any kind of sports and have always hung around others that played sports. I also grew up with a single father and brothers so I was known as a tom boy because I did all the things that guys liked to do growing up. Like playing all sports and didn’t mind getting dirty and all that kind of things. But even though I was labeled a tom boy growing up does not mean that it will be my social identity the rest of my life. People do change whether it be for the best or worst, people do change. Now I do the same things that I use to do as a kid growing up but now my identity is not all about sports and getting dirty and wearing all the tom boyish looking clothing.
We don’t really think that social identities really means anything to us until your sitting here taking a sociology class for a major and it makes you start to think outside of your normal thinking. You notice that from the time you was little that your social identity started to form and become who you are. Some people think that they should change who they are so that they can fit into a specific group or social class. Our books talk about role learning theory and It is when being born a child plays a role and started to become itself and grows into the person that they are when they get older. The child learns the mother, father, brother, sister and their own roles in life and learn from each one of them. It has a child see a role and then following through with it in life some way or another.
Another social identity is like in a marriage. You have the role of a husband and wife, now when you get married you don’t want to marry someone that wouldn’t hold up part of the marriage it would only cause fights within the marriage. Now you don’t have a list to follow to be the perfect husband or wife but you learn as you go in life. But your significant other and you become one and work through things in life and build on that social identity that you have become together as one. Society has changed through the years and in your marriage a lot of the wives no longer stay home and take care of all the house work and so it is changing the social image on marriage from what it was to what it is become in our society these days. With changing the social image of marriage it copes with the husband and wife and will benefit them better and in the process will make their marriage last. Now just because one marriage works one way does not mean that is the definition of a social identity of marriage to everyone.
References
Fulcher, James and John Scott., “ Sociology” Oxford University Press Inc: New York, 2011
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity_theory
Social Identities
By Scottie Gardner
“Social identity is defined as the primary method within social psychology of defining individuals when it is important to distinguish between different levels or types of identity”. So how do we as individuals identify who we are? Where do we as individuals belong? How is social identity developed? Born into a mixed race relationship, allowed me the opportunity to be more open to my own identity. For example, I am Black, Indian, White and Greek. My parents were very open with me as a child and gave me the choice to be my own individual. They taught me to proud of whom I was. As I grew older I identified with my black race more because I was more accepted with the friends I chose and the activities I was active in. Others may identify themselves based on religion or where they are from. For example, some may identify with the Baptist or Catholic religion or they identify as being a Southerner, or Easterner. Other groups may include political preference. “I am a Republican. I am a Democrat. I am a Liberal.” While others may identify with their occupation, I am a therapist, police officer, and or a nurse. However, on the other hand, we as a society place people in groups that the person may or may not want to be identified with. Unfortunately, there is usually a stigma related to these groups. Examples of these are but not limited too are racist, a cancer victim, Aids victim, poor, homeless or addicts.
Social identity can provide one a sense of self esteem. Depending on their experiences with the groups one identifies with; one can gain confidence in their own abilities. Not only does it provide a sense of self esteem, it also establishes an environment for socializing and it can have predictability to ones behavior. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on which group you identify and socialize with, it could have a positive or negative impact on you. That’s why it is important to surround yourself with positive influential people, because how you view or see yourself can also influence how other people treat you.
Many people identify themselves with multiple social identities. Depending on what one is doing. Someone may identify being a mother in the morning, teacher by day and a makeup artist three nights a week. We express ourselves through each of these roles to gain something. That may be confidence, comfort, esteem, knowledge and so on. It is up to the individual’s desired outcome. In my case, I have several identities as well. I consider myself a son, student, and an athlete. With each of these identities I seek out different outcomes. As a son I seek out love and acceptance, as a student I seek out knowledge to better myself, and as an athlete I seek out the confidence and my need for competition. However, there are others that seek their identity in all the wrong places. In all walks of life we seek acceptance and some will go through a lot to achieve it. In today’s society; young children that are not getting their needs met at home, look to get their needs met in the streets. They seek friends in the same position. Street gangs are tempting to these youth and for some reason they can identify with these groups and feel accepted. Unfortunately this usually turns out to be a negative experience and trouble tends to find them.
So who are you? How do social identities define who you are? How far will you go to belong? My parents gave me the freedom to define who I am today. I identified with groups that were positive and not so positive. One of the things that I really believed sustained me was being raised to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Having that relationship provides comfort when things get hard, and to know that God will always love me and be there.
Reference:
http://www.ask.com/wiki/Social_identity_theory
http://www.simplepsychology.org
Understanding Ones Self
By: Kyle Spencer
What defines one’s social identity, and is it society that shapes this image, or do humans themselves create it? Henri Tajfel’s theory explains how people in society split within groups known as in-groups and out-groups. Among theories, there have been many papers written over peoples ideas and understandings of this topic.
There are many things that can create a person’s social identity. We as humans do many of those things naturally and create our identity based upon a group and its members. I would say I am a white male, who is a Christian and loves to hunt and fish. Within that sentence, I listed multiple things that create my social identity. White, male, Christian, and I associate myself with people who hunt and fish. As Henri Tajfel explains in his theory, I would associate with people who share those common interests with me and that would become my clique. This, as Henri explains is an “in-group”. Now, say there is another group of people who are atheists, vegan, and female, who are strong animal rights activists. My group would most likely say slanderous things about that group to make our social identity appear better, and to improve the identity of the group, ourselves and others.
Throughout the years of our lives, we gain this social identity. Children discover their gender, teens discover who they are, and what social group they belong in. Young adults discover their social roll in life, providing them with their adult identity, such as being a lawyer, doctor, cop, etc. These social identities not only help us feel a sense of belonging, they can provide self-esteem, the structural need for socializing, and also influence behavior. Most people do not recognize choosing or developing their social identity. Humans do this unconsciously for three general reasons that Henry Tajfel and John Turner discovered in their studies of social identities. First of all, they found in a study that humans naturally use categorization things to better understand them. Humans typically do this, sorting others by race, religion and their interests. Secondly, Henry and John recognized how humans will accept identities of groups that we would associate with that share common beliefs, and interests. Lastly, once a person has accepted a group and their identity, that group and themselves will compare their group’s social identity among other groups to boost their self-esteem and reveal any hostility. Henry and John realized once there is hostility these groups will compete with one another for social status, resources such as jobs, and identities.
All in all, society, ourselves, and others influence who we are. The saying “you become who your friends are” is a relatively true statement when a person talks about one’s own or other’s social identity. And throughout the studies done by people such as Henry Tajfel and John Turner, people can gain an understanding of social identities and themselves. Their theories, observations, and results not only help others understand why people act the way they do in social situations, and things that can influence their actions in certain situations, their results help us and others understand what makes a person and defines who they are.
References:
www.howstuffworks.com
www.simplypshycology.com
Marcus Tibbles
Sociological Identities
Your sociological identity is the group identity you fit into. It’s your stereotype that you exist as. You could be a Mod, a Rocker, a Gearhead, a Mom, a Dad, a Shooter, or a Straight. Those aren’t the only examples, but these are a few examples of the labels that society puts on people based on what they do or how they dress. Personally I see myself as a Rocker/Gearhead. Some would say that classifies as an Idiot Redneck, but some should shut the hell up.
Anyways, stereotypes and sociological identities are the groups in society that you fit into. In these groups the people all have something similar that draws them to a certain thing. Personal identity is similar but it has to do with the personal aspects that make you who you are, and separate you from someone else. It’s the separator to keep us all from being the same. After all, not all Rockers are the same. On that note, not all men are the same ladies.
Stereotype: Rockers and Metal Heads are brain dead stoners who like to swing their hair back and forth and Emos are posers. That’s just not true, Rockers are leveled individuals who enjoy loud music, Metal Heads just dress weird, and Emo kids look like posers because they are. This is all personal experience talking here. Your sociological identity is determined by the culture around you and various things that influence you throughout your life.
Like what music or T.V. shows your parents enjoyed while you’re growing up have a determinate on what you like when you grow up. The games you play as a child can teach you social identities. Like Cops and Robbers teach children that criminals run from the law and the cops are out to stop them. You’re parents are probably the first to dress you, they choose the clothes based on their preference which in the end will influence you on the way you dress in the future. Though like I said culture determines a lot in the choices we make. One of the biggest being wether you follow the culture or not.
There’s also the factor if you’re homosexual or a straight, but you can’t be Bi cause that just makes you a whore. See labels, they can be hurtful sometimes. That’s also an example of how I think with the way I was raised. Without the input of parents and other influential people who knows what I would think. I certainly don’t know.
Now obviously if you are born a male you’ll be a male for the rest of your life, ignoring certain medical operations for this example. If you’re a man you’re expected to do man things like: grow beards, start a good career, or kill things with one punch. Women are supposed to know how to cook and clean and heal life threatening wounds with a kiss. Not only is that label but it’s a role that is expected to be filled. When your society raises you you’re taught what it means to be what sex you are. Why, because the roles have been a certain way for who knows how long. That has to do with gender identity. Of course if you don’t take your role you’re a jerk who’s throwing off the social order.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identity_%28social_science%29
Sociology by James Fulcher and John Scott http://global.oup.com/uk/orc/sociology/fulcher4e/
Image Source
http://righttojoy.com/transformation/personal/identity-who-are-you/
Separatism
By Heath Churchwell
From offices to grade schools to the streets, our society suffers from a crippling malice known as separatism. There are very obvious and aggressive forms of separatism like gangs, and there are more subtle and seemingly harmless forms such as cliques and clubs. No matter what kind of separatism it is, it is almost always harmful to the people involved or surrounding it. Separatism is usually caused by some sort of initial dispute that could be anything from racism to a simple disagreement. It can also be caused by the compilation of certain people with common interest. While there are some forms of positive separatism that benefit our society, most forms are negative and harmful.
Separatism in our government has its pros and cons. Each political party presents arguments for every major issue, this ensures that the best possible decision is established. While this might seem beneficial to our country, it also divides the United States citizens almost directly in half. Our country is divided on almost every major issue, which can sometimes cause hostility between groups of people. This is part of the reason why most people living in the same area tend to have most of the same views on politics.
Separatism in the school system is almost never a good thing. There are sometimes people who share a passion or a common goal and can help each other as a group to succeed. Although there are also cliques and clubs such that can be unaccepting towards outsiders. A clique is defined as a small group of people who spend time together and are not friendly to outsiders. This is Webster’s definition. Most people can relate to this problem because it goes on from grade school all the way through college. Anyone included in a group strives to be part of a more important group, and anyone not part of a group feels desperate to be accepted by one. This type of separatism causes discord in the schools and is absolutely unnecessary.
——One of the most aggressive types of separatism happens on the streets. Gangs can form anywhere but are usually in the bigger cities. They can be initiated by race, or demographics, or even a common interest such as bike gangs. A gang is defined as a group of criminals. The crimes these gangs commit are usually drug related but can also be hate crimes or robberies. Gangs are a huge problem in today’s society. They are troublesome for anybody living in the area, and anybody involved whether directly or indirectly, are harmed either physically or emotionally. Gangs create an unsafe environment for the citizens in the area and are hostile towards unlike races and lifestyles. Gangs may jump someone who looks rich or they might assault someone just for dressing in a way that is contrary to the norm. Out of all the forms of separatism, gangs are definitely the most violent and destructive to society.
Our society is full of separatism, while some is beneficial, most is negative and harmful to our society. Separatism is a division of people that is unfair and completely useless. While some separations have formed from past disputes or differences, most are based on race or commonality. The sad thing is, separatism is not a human instinct, or even a conscious effort to better our community’s lives. Separatism is a selfish subconscious effort to find a sense of security from the people around us.
Resources
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clique
http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Content/Documents/Impact-of-Gangs-on-Communities.pdf
Josh Quiroga
Gender Identity
Social Identity is a method that psychologist and sociologist use in order to define individuals and distinguish differences when it comes to people’s levels of identity types. The main concept of Social Identity is to help explain to people who they are and why they do certain things that they may do. With the theory of social identity people will classify themselves as others like if they belong to certain groups. As if they were categorized in certain groups like how kids are in high school for example. Everyone was in a certain group because the people they were around had a certain commonality that they could relate to within themselves. Social identity may also provide an individual with higher sense of self-esteem, and provide an influence in behavior. Not only dose Social Identity help on how people view themselves, but it influences how others may also treat you.
When dealing with Gender Identity people of both genders will often question them selves that they are in great discomfort with their own gender and regard whether they are male or female. They may present themselves as a member of the opposite sex and sometimes express a need to change their bodies to the opposite sex. The cause of this disorder is still unknown to this day, but there are many theories out there that explain how one might become like this. Several theory examples explains how the disorder may have come about was due by genetics like in chromosomal abnormalities, and a hormonal imbalance in fetal, or during childhood development.
Many parents and people may and will have their concerns when they see their little boys dress up like girls, parents will have fears about their son growing up. When it should be important for the child’s development to figure out on his or her own that if they are a boy or a girl. This stage of questioning oneself is usually around the time he or she is around the age of seven years old that they may have an understanding from where they stand in the world and question themselves… “Am I a boy, or am I a girl”, before that age parents shouldn’t freak out if their son plays with dolls or puts on a dress. As the same goes with girls when they play football or even play with action figures. It shouldn’t be a problem because a child is still too small to determine whether they are having gender identity issues. Until a child is around the certain age of questioning his or her identity, it’s acceptable to see him trying on moms dress or her playing around with the football, because the child is still exploring and still being curious to his or her surroundings and learning about their environments. Gender Identity disorder is rarely common among children and adults, but can still show up in early childhood. Its been known that some people know that they have a gender disorder before they even reach adolescence, such symptoms may be an expressed desire to be the opposite sex by passing themselves off as a boy or girl and maybe even calling themselves a boys name or girls name. Also he or she would be disgust with their genitals, as a male would pretend to not have a penis and females would have a fear of their breast growing and might bind them together to make them less noticeable, and will fear menstruating as well as refuse to sit down and pee. You will also know they have identity issues when they are rejected and secluded from their peers, and will believe that they will grow up to be the opposite sex.
Sources
www.webmd.com/sex/gender-identity-disorder
http://people.howstuffworks.com/what-is-social-identity.htm
Social Identities
By: Katie Becker
Men and women have always had unique characteristics. Men are known to act in a more masculine way, while females act in a more feminine way. However, both sexes can face many challenges within their social identities.
While in the work field men and women can be socially identified as doctors, lawyers, nurses, etc. However, when outside of their job they can be classified as mothers or fathers. The trouble comes when a man or women is socially classified as gay or lesbian.
Historically, homosexuals have been the targets of unjust discriminatory practice. When targeting lesbians and gays, they would label them as threats to the stability of the countries and would single them out. While these practices are considered rare now, some of them are still prevalent today. Many are still singled out for having a significant other of the same sex. They can still have limitations on job opportunities, parenting, and relationship recognition which are often justified by stereotypic assumptions. Often people that hold positions that must judge someone, such as a social worker or an adoption counselor, view homosexuality as an incapability to do parenting right.
As a result of being labeled gay or lesbian, a person may take on the description and interact in the terms of that identity. If prejudice and discrimination is what is being placed on them, then many may take on negative consequences, especially if lesbian or gay people attempt to conceal or deny their sexual orientation. Although many lesbians and gay men learn to cope with the social stigma against homosexuality, prejudice can have serious negative effects on health and well-being.
Even though society may label them as gay or lesbian, the gays or lesbians can label their own type of personal identity. What many may not realize is a personal identity is a way to distinguish one person from another that may share one or more of the same social identities. So, just because they are gay or lesbian does not mean that they are not a hard working mother or father. Which is a social identity many happen to fall under.
A gay, lesbian, or any other person, will identify themselves with their own personal identity. We often speak of one's “personal identity” as what makes them who they are. Your identity in this sense consists roughly of what makes you unique as an individual and different from others. Or it is the way you see or define yourself, or the network of values and convictions that structure your life. This individual identity is a property or properties. You might have had a different identity from the one that you in fact actually have. It is also a property that you may have only temporarily; for example you could swap your current individual identity for a new one, or perhaps even get by without any.
Many may have a verity of identities, presenting themselves as they pass from one situation to another. Examples would be, while at work they are a great boss or employee, while at home they are a great mother or father, or even in personal alone time they are relaxed, easy to be around and to get along with.
No matter how people identify themselves personally, they will always have a social identity that can control their lives.
Sources:
Fulcher, James and John Scott., “ Sociology” Oxford University Press Inc: New York, 2011
http://drchristopherblackwell.com/socialjusticearticle_001.pdf.pdf
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sexual-orientation.aspx
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/identity-personal/
Picture Source:
http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/20070221_blindfolded_11720971963930814051.jpg
Gender Identity
Danielle Schaffer
Before beginning this discussion of gender identity, we must first define sex and gender. The terms are often used interchangeably, when in fact they are not the same. Sex refers to the physical characteristics that separate males and females. Gender on the other hand, deals with how males and females think and behave. It use to be believed that sex determines gender and jobs were determined because of this biological makeup. This view is not universal and in fact, has become challenged. There are several different theories about this concept.
Specific gender-roles are assigned to both males and females that describe the way we work, and feel. These roles are shaped from birth. Adults begin forming the gender-roles for the child as soon as the sex is determined. The baby boy is considered “strong”, while the baby girl is “delicate”. As children get older their gender identity follows them. The child is rewarded for following the norm associated with their gender, or they could be isolated from the other children due to their deviance. Society will continue to enforce gender identity throughout the lifetime. This means that gender is socially constructed.
When a person fails to fall into what society deems the social norm gender diversity is formed. Gender diversity simply means that there are people whose ideals are not in the norms of society. The same rules for genders are not universal, and do not stand the test of time. As an example, pink is now considered a female dominant color. In America there are only two recognized genders: male and female. In other countries there are at times three recognized genders.
A person’s gender identity may not fall in line with what their anatomical sex is. Their gender identity refers to how they interpret their feeling and how they carry themselves. For the majority of the population the gender identity is the same as their anatomical sex. There are those whose gender identity and anatomical sex do not match. They may feel disconnected or shunned from society due to their inability to follows the norm and are labeled deviant.
If a person’s gender identity does not match their anatomical appearance they may choose to become transgendered, changing of the anatomical sex to match the feelings associated with a different gender. This could be done for many different reasons, but it is common so that a person may feel better accepted by society and to feel more at peace with themselves. A common myth is that being a transgender must imply sexual orientation. This is simply not true. Gender identity and a persons sexual preference are distinctly different.
Society forms us from the time we are born to follow certain gender norms. When in all reality there is no clear-cut line between how males and females should think and feel. The only reason that the gender identities are not questioned more often, is because the majority of the society falls into the norm. We are not all the same. We were made to be different.
Resources
https://www.genderspectrum.org/understanding-gender
http://thesavoia.com/2012/08/08/half-drag-the-two-faces-of-gender-identity/
Fulcher, James, and John Scott. Sociology. Oxford [u.a.: Oxford Univ., 2011. Print.
Social Identities
Brittany Wilson
Social identity is the defining of individuals in which distinguish between different types of groups. For instance, in society now days the three characteristics that are being judged the most are gender, race, and personality. I think this because our generation today has separated into those three groups. These characteristics are being judged every second of every day around the world.
Today, gender is judged in many ways in society because as a female compared to a male are two different things that really change the outlook of a person. First of all males are mainly responsible to sustain the household and bring in the income to support the family. They also have to take care of the lawn, mechanics, and things that female would not be able to do. Males are known to play sports and be very active in life. They also are known for just wearing shirts, jeans, athletic shorts, and tennis shoes. As females they are known as the housewife who do things such as laundry, cooking, shopping, and take care of the children. Females are also known to wear dresses, skirts, and heels. They also go and get pedicures and manicures done when they need to be pampered. Males and females have been known to do different things throughout the years because people are use to a tradition that has been started many years ago.
Race is differently than gender or personality because people have a different life style and come from different cultures. Most different race speak different languages which has an effect on other peoples views in which their being judge by the way they speak. Colored people also tend to have different careers and go off into different majors then others. Such as Caucasians are known to have careers such as being a teacher, doctor, dentist, and many more high society jobs. While, Hispanics tend to have the hard jobs such as working in fields or doing construction. African Americans are usually athletic and are known to go professional in sports such as football, basketball, and track. They also have different types of hairstyles. African Americans are know to braid and have dreds in their hair. Hispanics usually tend to have long thick hair while Caucasians hair is very thin like. This shows that our cultures are very different and have different life styles.
Personality defines a person because it depends on how a person acts in public. In other words attitude explains a lot about a person. For instance, people today are judged by their looks, clothing, tattoos, piercings, and many other things. It is common to think that if a person has piercing or tattoos that they are known for being thieves, prostitutes, or drug dealers. If a person is innocent and shy, they are usually known for being the nerds. Nerds are known for wearing glasses and suspenders because that is how people have always thought of them as. These are just names put on people that might not even be a thief, prostitute, drug dealer, or nerd. Some people choose to have different personalities than other in which they are looked at differently.
Our generation today has really changed the outlook of social identity because of how we judge people. Gender, race, and personality of a person depend on their social identity. This happens because of the traditions that were made several years ago. People follow others and tend to judge people by the way they look. Our society will never change and people will always fall into to different groups.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity
http://www.tmcorp.com/Perspectives/Articles/Beyond-Categorization-Addressing-Social-Identity-as-Culture-and-Context/112/
Social Identities
By: Desmond Major
Social identity- the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group. Social identity theory is best described as a theory that predicts certain intergroup behaviors on the basis of perceived group status differences, the perceived legitimacy and stability of those status differences, and the perceived ability to move from one group to another. This contrasts with occasions where the term social identity theory is used to refer to general theorizing about human social selves. The human’s social self is controlled by their frame of mind placing them in a specific class of social groups.
Social groups can been defined as two or more people who interact with one another, share similar characteristics and collectively have a sense of unity. They are separated by either gender, sexuality, skin color, or ethnicity. Everyone falls in a social group, but the group that we all fall in is by choice. We choose our group by choosing who we want to be with, who we choose to be around, and who we influence or let influence us. Living in this extraordinary world, we are surrounded by straight people, bi-sexual, gay, and those that are unsure. These are choices that people have made in their everyday life due to what has happened either to them or around them. Even though being gay or bisexual isn’t right, we don’t have the right to judge anyone on their choice.
Homosexuality is a romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. And for years they have been targets of social discrimination. A common belief among the conservative faction is that homosexuality is a chosen lifestyle which is abnormal, unnatural, changeable, and hated by God. Many homosexuals argue that they have not chosen their sexuality, but that they were born that way, making homosexual behavior natural for them.
Recently, same-sex marriages, in most countries, has become legal. This suggests that as time has gone on. Homosexuality is being accepted more, by society. On the other hand, others believe homosexual marriage is wrong. Because they cannot have children. Many homosexual couples feel the need to hide their sexuality. Some believe if you are in love. You should be permitted to share it with others. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements are movements that advocate for the full acceptance of homosexuals and trans-genders in society. In these movements, people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is now generally called homosexual rights, sometimes called gay rights or gay and lesbian rights. Although there is no one organization that represents all homosexual and trans-genders and their interests, are active worldwide. A commonly stated goal among these movements is social equality for homosexuals. Some have also focused on building communities or worked towards liberation for the broader society from heterosexism and homophobia.
References:
Wikipedia.com
http://people.howstuffworks.com/what-is-social-identity.htm
Social Identity
Arielle Gil-Sanz
The idea that beliefs about “who we are” are created in a social context reflects the basic sociological theory that human beings are socially created, not prisoners of instinct.
Sociologist see identity as related to the society in which people exist. Social Identity is our identification on how we identify each other. Like what we have in common. Others
can identify each other from religion or our ethnicity.
We can also tell us a part from relationship from mom and dad or even a great aunt. Social behavior can influence on a persons behavior it can show people their self-esteem. Gender plays a big role in Social Identity this may accrue at any lifetime. For example a teacher teaches middle school but switches his career path in teaching at a High school things around him many change and how his Social Identity has changed.
During the years a lot of teenagers will experience Social Identity. Now a days they will experience with body piercing new hairstyles, music, tattoos, and how each of them dress to know what group they would fit in. We categorize people in the same way. We see the group to which we belong to just as being different from the other.
Socialization is an important factor in everyone's life. No matter one's color, race, gender, socialization occurs and brings about a social identity for every individual. Elements from the social identity theory are relevant and entirely evident in human society. When people belong to a certain kind of group, whether it is politics, sports, or class, humans use that to derive a sense of identity to our individual selves, based on social categorization.
There is an importance of social belonging and acceptance within everyone. People also bring out more the sense of identity by making different sorts of comparisons with out-groups. In using it, someone might invite one person into a group which has certain characteristics which they might want the one person to adopt.
By defending it, it’s all a matter about building a social identity, picking the groups that people join with care.
How the individual chooses to adapt to their environment and develop their own sense of self is the important sociological question here. I intend to discuss the main points of my own socialization and how I have found myself on the life path on which I am currently. Specifically, the main points of socialization are primary socialization, secondary socialization, and one's significant others.. Comparison is also a key part of social identity theory.
Once people have categorized themselves and others, they can start to compare themselves. People generally want to create favorable comparisons that make their own groups appear superior. This plays into psychological distinctiveness, the desire to be unique within a group identity, and to be viewed positively when compared to others.
References
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity_theory
Social identity
by Dolvine Serem
I am Dolvine Serem. I am tall and dark. I also have some other features that make me different from the others, that’s my personal identity. Personal identity is what marks someone out as a unique and quite distinct individual. I am mostly silent but can be loud when I get around the people I am familiar with, I am also honest , kind and polite. That is my social identity. In the world we live in people are defined or labeled as a specific type of person. A social identity marks people out as a unique and quite distinct individual.
How the society views us depends on how we carry ourselves and what we do and what we believe in. we can be identified by our sex; that is, we are either male or female. As a man or a woman we all have different expectations from the society. A man is expected to be more masculine and do work that is tough and requires a lot of energy. Women on the other hand are expected to be more feminine and gentle and are expected to do light and feminine works like cooking. However we have a group of people who as much as they fit perfectly well the biological requirements of one sex but consider that they belong elsewhere. Such people are called transsexuals.
We only got one childhood, no matter who you are. You can go to the whole world but you will always have a place to call home and a group of people to identify yourself with. A race is the observed physical and cultural characteristics of individuals and on discredited racial theories. Ethnicity is a general category for describing collective identities. In the past the black people faced discrimination from the whites simply because of the colour of their skin. They were seen as inferior and not of sound minds but after some struggle they are now considered as equals.
The rate of crime depends on many factors like the employment rate, the social identity of the person and how busy one is. Crime is a form of deviance that involves an infraction of the criminal laws. Most cities face crime rates that are high more than the small towns. This can be due to the fact that many people in the city are unemployed and hence have time to idle around and think of criminal ideas. Some of these people do drugs which make them do things that are against the law. Initially criminals were known to be men but as the years went by they started having women who did crime or they were used by other criminals to do crime. These are the people who have been tagged ‘bad’ and therefore they are not welcome in the society.
Our bodies are important as they are the house the soul and the spirit and so we have to take care of it. Keeping hygiene is among what we do to maintain our hygiene. When we fall sick we go to the hospital and get medicine and we take care of our body so that they don’t get ill by eating right and exercising and keeping away from bad habits like doing drugs that are harmful to the body like cocaine, bhang. Using these drugs not only harms the body but also the thinking and we may end up doing things that we would not do when we are sober.
In conclusion we are who we decide to be and we are identified by what we do and believe in.
Reference.
www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/orc/fulcher4e
sociology course book by James Fulcher and John Scott 4th edition
Heather Toal
Social Identities
The Social Identity Theory was developed by Tajfel and Turner in 1979. The theory was first developed to understand the psychological basis of intergroup discrimination. What is social identities? Social identification is the process by which we define ourselves in terms and categories that we share with other people. it’s a label that groups people together. Identity is a term that is used widely and can mean many different things to different people. There are many different types of social identity, which reflect the ways in which people connect to other groups and social categories. There are five distinct types: ethnic and religious identities, political identities, vocations and avocations, personal relationships, and stigmatized groups. Other identities can be defined more generally instead of not being tied to any individual group but to a generic group. Social identity is more than just a category though. It includes sets of beliefs, motivational considerations, and emotional associations.
The gender identity is one of the most mentioned identities when people are asked to describe themselves, and it is also one of the categories most often other use to describe a person. Personality traits, role behaviors, physical characterizes, and many other things can be linked to gender categories. Many investigators believe that gender is not useful as a single social category. Most investigators think that between two and three year old children have a sense of their gender. But there was also been a debate about how much children play a role in their own socialization. It’s also thought that the forces of socialization act on the individual to define gender. The socialization of children typically starts with the immediate family. Once the child reaches the age to start attending school, then the child’s peers begin to have an affect on the child’s socialization and what identity group the child might veer too. Teachers as early as preschool engage in behaviors that shape the behaviors of boys and girls in different ways. In gender identity, it’s important to know that the concept means more than a simple label of male or female. The gender identity has a net wider than just biological features. It also includes activities and interests, social relationships, communication styles, values, and personal and social attributes.
There is also ethnic and national identities which is learned quite early. Like racial identity or gender identity it is heavily influenced by stereotypes and belief systems. For lots of people, ethnicity is the center element of self-definition and becomes an important social identity. In the past social scientist used to categorize humans in terms of basically racial categories, such as Caucasian, Negroid, and Asian. These categories are used less frequently today. A more common categorization is now based on culture, language, and country of origin. Nationality can also be linked as an ethnic identity but often represents a distinct way of identify yourself. In the United States one can be an American and yet also have an identity of African American, Asian American, Latino, or West Indian.
One of the main reasons why social identification is a topic of such high interest is because categorizations have implications for behavior. Almost to the extent that one defines their selves in terms of a particular group, it also affects the behaviors which one interacts with others who may be members of different groups. Tajfel showed in his research that it takes very little to create a sense of identification with one group and a consequent disfavoring of another group. In his simple experiments, people were assigned to be in a specific group on the basis of a preference for one painter over another. Or on a distinction between preference for green or blue. With even the minimal and highly artificial basis for group identification, people were allocate rewards in such a way as to favor their own group and to disadvantage the other group. But behavioral implications of social identification go far beyond these simple experimental demonstrations.
Drugs and Drug Abuse
Tori Biddle
The abuse of drugs is one of the most widely discussed forms of deviance. A drug is a substance which may have medicinal, intoxicating, performance enhancing or other effects when taken or put into a human body or the body of another animal and is not considered a food or exclusively a food. Some drugs occur quite naturally in many widely used drinks and foods. For example, caffeine is found in both coffee and tea, alcohol is the basis of beer, wine and spirits, and vitamins are found in fresh fruits and vegetables. Quite a few drugs are used as medicines, but this is usually under the control of a doctor. For example, morphine, penicillin, and steroids are used in a wide variety of commercial trade names in hospitals, clinics, and surgeries. Several other varieties of drugs are available for purchase without a prescription in pharmacies and supermarkets. This broad, dictionary definition of “drugs”, however this is not what reporters and socialist mean when they use the word. These people refer to the non-medical use of drugs, such as glues, solvents, heroin, cocaine, or ecstasy. These are drugs that are deliberately used to achieve particular physiological changes, just for the pleasure or non-medical effects that they produce.
Addiction is seen as occurring where people have become psychologically dependent on the use of a particular drug and suffer serious and persistent withdrawal symptoms when its use is stopped. The idea of addiction to drugs is central to discussions of their non-medical uses, however, dependence is as much as a psychological as a physiological fact and, as such, it is shaped by social factors. You are not born knowing how to use drugs, people must chose to do so, and by this you learn how to use them and they become committed to their use only through social processes. Drugs do have specific physiological effects: alcohol and barbiturates depress mental activity, cocaine and caffeine stimulate it, and LSD distorts experiences and perception. The full effects of the drug depend on the social context in which they are used. Individuals who use drugs not only learn the techniques of other people, but they also learn how to enhance the effects of the drug. The non-medical use of any drugs is considered a deviant activity in today’s society. Deviance is surrounded by normative frameworks that structure the lives of users and lead the, to particular deviant careers.
Howard Becker was born in 1928 and was trained at the University of Chicago. His work was republished in the early 1960’s and it made a major contribution to the labelling theory of deviance. In an influential study of deviant activity, Becker documented the career stages involved in becoming a marijuana (cannabis) user. He showed that people drift into cannabis use for a variety of different reasons, but once they begin its use they will, if they persist follow a particular sequence of stages. There are three stages, first is the ‘beginner’, then the ‘occasional user’, and then the ‘regular user’. As users follow this sequence, smoking marijuana becomes an even more important part of their identity. Becker also shows that cannabis use rarely involves full blown secondary deviation, despite that fact that it is illegal. The ‘beginner’ stage is when he or she is offered the opportunity to smoke in a social situation, where there is a degree of social pressure to conform to group of norms, and where the group provides a safe place away from the public. The ‘occasional user’ must learn a number of skills and abilities associated with the use of the drug. The ‘regular user’ of cannabis can neutralize any conventional or official labels that may be applied to them by non-users. People who do not have the support of others are less likely to become regulars, but some people will accept the stereo-type of addiction or the idea and they are most likely to escalate to become a regular user.
Sources:
http://criminology.fsu.edu/crimtheory/becker.htm
Sociology Book James Fulcher and John Scott
Calvin Ochs
Social Identities
Boys and girls are given two separate social identities and eventually grow into another. At a young age boys are taught to be manly and tough while girls are taught to be feminine and proper. Then as they age boys are expected to take on responsibilities and authority. The social identity of a boy and a man go hand to hand but why? Because boys are raised to be men. Men who will raise a family and then will one day raise a boy of his own where he to will be taught the same things as he once was. So the social identity of boys is more of a sense I think that is past on by generation to generation. This is not always the case though there are many different factors or experiences that can shape a boy into the man he will once become.
Men are born into their social identity just as women are. From birth boys are already given expectations. They're a post to like certain thing and dislike others. For example people don't dress their new born son in pink and give him a stuffed unicorn. No they are dressed in colors that are considered not "girly" and generally given toys relevant to their gender like toy cars. Then as they age boys are given a football or gun rather then makeup or barbies. Everything that a child experiences I think contributes to their social identity and their future social identity.
How a boy is raised determines his future social identity as well. A boy given a book rather then a football may end up with a social identity of being more scholarly rather then an athlete. How we are raised and the things we grow up around will affect how we are seen in society later on in life.
Once a boy grows into an adult he is given responsibilities and structure. This also contributes to their social identity, but it's not the responsibilities or the structure that will determine their social identity it is how they go about following orders and taking care of their responsibilities. This is where a boy determines his social identity. As he grows he will face hardships, triumph, success,and struggles, but how he handles these things is another determination on how he will once be seen. A boy who has motivation and self discipline will often grow up to be successful and not stray off onto the beaten path. Of course though their are influences that can alter a boys path such a role models, family, friends, ect… For example a boys role model can be bad or good. A good role model to look up to may help mold you into a person with similar traits, but a bad role model may lead a boy onto the beaten path. All these are factors in how a boy will be seen later on in life.
How a boy grows up and is seen by society later on in his life depends on all these things. Rather he grew up to be a bum or a millionaire starts with how he was molded as a child. Men once boys are given another social identity later on in life and how that boy grew up and the choices he made determines what he will become.
Resources
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant393b_files/ARTICLES/identity.pdf
Social Identities
Konnor Kriss
Social identities are the process that emphasizes the similarities between oneself and others. Personal identity is defined by markers of individuality and uniqueness. Social identities are our place in society and we are placed by our past experiences and the groups we click with. We usually associate with people who commonalities with us. There are many types of social identity. There is ethnicity and religion, for example, Asain American, Jewish, West Indian and so on. There is political affiliation such as feminist, republican, and democrat. There are vocations and avocations like psychologists, artists, athletes etc. There are also stigmatized identities like a person with AIDS, homeless person, a fat person, alcoholics, and many more. It all stems from how we were raised and what we psychologically associate with things.
Being college students, we probably have already found our social identities and categorized with a certain group. However, sometimes we might change our identity in order to conform to a larger group. This could mean partying, drinking, smoking, or other things we maybe would not have considered in our prior social identity.
When we find our social identity and we have categorized ourselves with that group, it is common to separate ourselves from other groups. Something as simple as observing groups in a cafeteria can be an excellent example of this. Any of the many groups have similar interests, races, and even gender. The groups socially estrange from one another simply because of human nature. We may even find flaws in other groups and condemn them for it. Groups may also try to enhance the view of their group in order to establish social dominance, i.e., “cool kids.” It is important to not be oblivious to our discrimination of other groups.
Social Identities can also be a bit stereotypical when it comes to the matter of gender. A males identity is to be the provider for a family. This can sometimes prohibit women from deviating from the norm and result in further solidification of the stereotype. Females are supposed to stay home and clean or cook according to society’s social stigma for them. There are many other stereotypes predetermined for men and women and even when we are young we are expected to partake in sociologically acceptable behavior. Young girls like pink and dolls, while boys play in the mud and like football. These stigmas can be harmful to society by constricting creativity and uniqueness. In these social norms comes deviation. Deviation is when we break from social norms and become non-parallel to acceptable behavior. Much of society has a hard time with deviation and this is when labeling and discrimination can occur. These discriminations mainly come from opposing social groups or past generations. Too often have we heard of elders claiming social norms and how deviation is punishable to them.
Today society is constantly distorting what is normal and acceptable behavior. It can be difficult to find our social identities, especially when they might deviate from the norm. We all have had our own experiences and up-bringing that have helped determine our social group, helped us categorize with that group, and to finally associate with that group as our own. It can be difficult to change our focuses and change social identities, due to society’s acceptance or even group acceptance. Finally, deviating from social norms can also be extremely difficult, however, without deviation, there would be no uniqueness and the world would be one synonymous, boring group.
Sources:
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant393b_files/ARTICLES/identity.pdf
McLeod, S. A. (2008). Social Identity Theory - Simply Psychology.Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
Gender Identity
Bruce Watkins
Children’s Physical development is shaped by his or hers biological factors. Both boys and girls are born with distinctive sexual organs, but it’s when the secondary sexual characteristics that emerge upon the puberty stage. The important party of gender identity is shaped by the same sex hormones enabling sexual organs. Some children are born with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia also known as CAH. CAH causes children to have a higher level of androgens than their peers that where not born with CAH. Scientists have done research on children with CAH to see how it has affected behaviors. Their research showed that boys acted normal around their peers but girls displayed more gender-stereotypic male traits and behaviors. This effects gender identity because the girls are now classified as being more like a girl. When they are born with CAH there genitals have more of a boy like figure. They have more of a penis then a vagina. Yes the girls can go threw surgery, But after the surgery it does not change how they act or who they are it just changes the looks of them. We could view some one with CAH differently just because they hang out and act more like the boys. They don’t have much attention to girly like things like kids her age.
The Psychoanalytic approach is another way we could look at gender identity in sociology. When babies are first born they become attached to their first caretaker like their mother. They then identify theme self as being a mother figure because they don’t know any different. Threw time as the child grows up they start to learn who they are and what their identity should be from the people around them. Boys realize that they are different from their mom and need to start establishing a male figure. There for instead of being attached to their mother like they were when they were born they start to become attached to the fathers. Because they are becoming attached to their fathers they distance themselves from their mothers. However girls maintain their attachment to their mothers because they have no reason to put a boundary around being attached to their mom since they want to be more feminine like her then the father. The only way girls may change their attachment to their fathers is if the father become more involved in parenting just like the women are in life.
Gender socialization is also another big role in gender identity. Socialization is how we present are self to others are behavior, characteristics, attitude it all part of are socialization as a person. We learn the way or society by socializing with a group of people so that we know how to function within in it. Socialization is also a way or learning. We learn by what is a proper behavior. How should we speak to other to present are self the right way. We can either reinforced good behavior or bad behavior. As adults we can help control children’s socialization actions and how they will socialize when they get older. Children also learn their proper behavior from their parents. Not only do we as parents control some of how they act and what they say but by what we do influences them also. Children learn from the media, peer groups, and any other source of socialization around them.
There are many types of gender identity. The big one we deal with today are how children’s socializes an act. They are the future of the world so we want to teach them to grow correctly so they fit in socially. We don’t want to be that one parent that are kids sticks out and is the weird one in the school system. So we teach them the things we know an see around us so they will show their gender identity correctly.
**References:
www.sevencounties.com
www.unc.edu/~pnc/strat/4-13-06.ppt
Women Dominating Men in Society
Deandra Williams
To many people determining your sex or sexuality may seem easy, but what we don’t know is that there are many people that struggle with it daily. What seems like a simple biological matter is actually a very complex matter that involves social processes that require both sociological and biological explanation. Determining your sex is the biological difference between men and women, depending on the number of X and Y chromosomes in your body. A man has one X and one Y chromosome, as for women they have two X chromosomes. Some people fit in perfectly with the biological requirements of one specific sex but feel as though they belong somewhere else. People like to use the terms ‘trapped in wrong body’ or ‘born the wrong way.’ The physical difference between men and women should not be seen as biologically determined. According to Thomas Laqueur (1990), this is, historically speaking, quite a recent way of thinking. For two millennia, from the time of ancient Greeks to the eighteenth century, a ‘one-sex model’ dominated ways of thinking about men and women. People knew the difference between men and women but didn’t think of them as two separate sexes.
“Gender is not ultimately a matter of institutions, but of practices, of what people actually do. They can resist and subvert structures and within an overall pattern of male domination, there are areas where women dominate.” Women and girls have many more opportunities and face different challenges in today’s society. “Women who have achieved great stature in government, industry, sports, and the media have become a familiar sight. And yet, it appears that there is no clear public understanding of the realities of women’s and girls’ lives in this country.” People believe that few women work but more women are the head of households; they also seem to believe that fewer women and children live in poverty, in spite of also believing that women earn significantly less than men. By 2050, women will basically make up 47 percent of the workforce in the United States. Now that society has sought out women to be less than what they truly are, women as a whole have made a huge difference in today’s world; they have taken on some of the roles that men do daily. The representation of women did increase considerably in the 1987 election and they later then began to take office.
“As male employment has declined and women have gone out to work, men have come under pressure to do domestic and childcare for work. If in a particular household men are unemployed and women are earning more money, there are good reasons for maintaining a domestic division of labor but revising the sex roles.” In early years men were the primary “bread winners” in the house hold. Many of the traditional behaviors expected of men are also becoming less emphasized in some modern cultures. Men in today’s society are generally at home, doing house work such as taking care of the children, cooking and other house duties. Men still do take on important roles in today’s society
Resources
Source 1: http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/gender-roles-society-changing
Source 2: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karin-kamp/gender-equality_b_2120430.html
The Concepts and Theories of Sexuality
Ariel Hutchinson
Sexuality is socially constructed and not biologically determined. The word “sex” is used to describe sexual behavior and the phrase “having sex”. A person’s sexuality refers to aspects of identity, lifestyle, and community associated with activities. Homosexual or heterosexual is to do with their inborn nature and cannot be changed. Becoming homosexual is the existence of an inherited disposition or tendency towards the homosexual behavior. Being gay is not just sexual practices; it’s the assumption of sexual identity in social character. Homosexual activities are labeled as deviant in many societies including ancient Greece and traditional Japan. Ken Plummer work in 1975 has shown male homosexuality can be understood as a process of social learning. He thinks sexual socialization involves learning and managing it consequences for other aspects of one’s life. Adolescence is critical for adult sexual identity. This happens in the peer group where sexual adolescence takes place. Also boys tend to enter into casual exploratory sexual encounters with other boys around this time.
These are transient encounters when boys may come to see them as signs of homosexual inclinations. Some of them might not be into football and aggressive sports like the others. Some might enjoy doing hair or anything dealing with art and their judged; being called a sissy or just gay. These feelings may be reinforced by others making remarks about a boy’s effeminacy. Self-identification may be reinforced by social isolation. A boy may keep his feelings to himself because of his identity secret and become increasingly solitary. Coming out allows greater avowal of homosexuality and they more open with others perceived to be similar. By meeting and knowing somebody the same sexuality as you, you become more alternative, positive, and able to reconstruct their sense in more positive terms.
Being heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual is commonly taken for granted and can be placed in these categories. In the nineteenth century, these categories were used to classify people before the new language of sexuality derived from the two-sex model. Homosexuals are sometimes frowned on by religious people the most, simply because they think that the bible says it’s an abomination or a sin. Being “gay” is something that shouldn’t be frowned upon; people should have the rights to be themselves consistently because people generally work the best when they are accepted in society, at their workplace, at school, and in public. Homosexuals should easily be accepted and be able to live their own lives. In certain countries homosexuality isn’t accepted whatsoever, and can be punishable up until death.
“Homophobia is critical and hostile behavior such as discrimination and violence on the basis of sexual orientations that are non-heterosexual.” Homophobia is still common in schools over sixty-five percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual people have experienced bullying, and it is much more on the rise in faith schools. “The assertion of gay cultures has been something of a two-edged sword. It has given gays a voice, an identity, a positive image, and a collective organization that could provide mutual support and campaign on their behalf to demand an end to discrimination against them.” As we know now, male and female behavior has converged, and sexuality has become simply a matter of lifestyle or choice.
Sources Sociology Book James Fulcher and John Scott
Society’s outlook on men vs. women
Amanda Miller
We all know the differences between men and women right? Men are supposed to be the strong ones that takes care of the house and provides for the family. While women on the other hand women are supposed to cook and do the dishes. Why do men get treated differently than the woman if their gay? Why do women have to stay at home and watch the kids, while men get to be out and about doing what they want? There are so many things that society has made men and women out to be. As a society we don't treat everyone the same because of their gender.
Let’s talk about women first. Women don't get all the privileges that men do. While men can play almost every sport and get paid double money, while women hardly get any money for the sports they play. Men also don't have to go through as much as women do. Women have to carry a baby for nine months while men don't have to do any of that. Women also have to have menstrual cycle which is terrible because of all the cramps and pain that women go through. Also women have more reasonability then men do. We have to take care of all the children, cook, clean, and make sure that the men is okay to, but that’s what women are supposed to do right? Although men have it quit easy there is difficulties that they have.
Sometimes a man’s life can be quite difficult. While men have to do almost all the hard labor and make most of the money women get to stay home with the kids and just clean up the house. Also if a man is gay it makes their life just a little harder. If a man chooses to be gay he probably get talked about really bad or even get beat up really bad for the way he is. Women on the other hand can be gay and dress like a man and nobody would say nothing to her. Also women have more of a break then men in the judicial system. Men can get up to 20 years to prison for stealing while women rarely get sentence. There are many things women go through, but men might have it just as hard as women do.
What makes men and women so different from each other in our society? While males work most often more active than females they also tend to have the upper hand. Most men like to go to a gym and workout while women would rather stay home and do their makeup. This gives males the upper hand because while there out there working women are stuck at home doing basically nothing. Women are also more dependent than men are. Most women would depend on a man to lift heavy things and do extra things around the house, while men don't need anybody help to do almost anything. There are different things that makes men and women different.
Women and men are different in many ways so we all get judge different in our society. Men do almost all the work while women stay at home. Women have to carry a child for nine months, while man just have to produce the child. Men get judged differently in the court of law then women do. Our society makes the women out to be a person who stays in the house and cook and clean, and then men to do all the hard labor. Our society makes our social identities different, which makes people see men and women as a certain way.
References:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19469589
http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756384/obo-9780199756384-0025.xml
Sociology Book James Fulcher and John Scott
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Military Spouse Stereotypes
Jessica Razo
What is a stereotype exactly? Stereotypes assign with the same qualities into different groups such as their race, nationality, sexual nationality, and gender just to name a few. They generalize different groups of people in the manners that have led to discrimination and ignore the diversity within groups, stereotypes should be avoided. Stereotypes are oversimplifications of people groups widely circulated in certain societies. Why do we come up with stereotypes? Most stereotypes come from one universal truth at a period in time. That truth then gest applied to the group or genre in an exaggerated manner. If you focus on one group of people there are different stereotypes for that group that may not be for other groups.
Military spouses, seem to have a lot of stereotypes. Not only do they have the civilian world saying they are true, you do have some military spouses that say it about their own. This comes from one stereotype that “military spouses wear their significant others rank, and they think they are better than civilian wives.” Rosanna Morgan, a Navy wife, said “I have to agree with this one, most Navy spouses think they are above civilians. In reality we are civilians, our husbands are in the military, not us. We're just along for the ride.” Most wives would agree with this statement. They did not take the oath, they didn’t sign on the dotted line, so in reality they are still civilians married to a military man. Some posts have their service members on gate guard duty, and when a wife of a superior service member drives through, that wife thinks they need to salute them. So, in reality yes this stereotype is true with some cases, but in the most part a lot of spouses know that they are not the military member. They are no better than those in the civilian world being they are civilians themselves and are not better then civilian wives.
It has been said that all military wives are female. This is true for the most part, however there are some males who marry a military member who is a female. There are also same sex couples, and some couples who are duel military. John Sinko who is active Army is dating Daniel Phelps. They do deal with every day criticism, however a lot of people around them accept them for being a same sex couple. You also have those who are duel military. Ashley Whitman, active army, was married to another army member for several years. They ended up having a daughter but in the end did get a divorce, and now she is dating another service member who she ended up having another child with. Which leads into another stereotype, that all military spouses do are have babies. Society views military spouses as people who don’t have ambition or career aspirations so they are lazy and always having babies. As someone who has three kids, I can tell from firsthand experience that there is a lot more than just having babies. Some choose to have babies and some choose to delay it or are unable to have kids. Just because they are military doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to have a family. Ali Fretwell a Coast Guard wife disagrees, “Many of the coast guard wives I know have bachelors or masters degrees unless they're fresh from high school which I don't see all that often.” Some wives put their dreams on hold so that they can support their spouse in their military career. Some spouses like to be home makers, and some do achieve their dreams and goals while married to a military member. Childcare is costly and so this results in a lot becoming stay at homes moms. Which in results, not all spouses are lazy, they have their hands full taking care of the kids, their spouse, the house, and more.
One big stereotype is that military gets paid bank, and have great benefits. Yes it is true the benefits are good, and some do marry for the Tricare (military insurance). Magen Gable, was married to an Army member and says “The benefits are rather good, and Tricare doesn't do plastic surgery unless proven medically necessary. Some do get married for some of those reasons, but it's the same in the civilian world.” Yes, Tricare will do plastic surgery only if it’s medically needed. I had a reduction due to health reasons, but that is the only reason why I have heard of plastic surgery being done. Military does not make “bank”. Some spouse make more than their husband does with his paycheck. This stereotype is completely false.
“I do think most spouses cheat because they are not in love, and they get lonely when their spouse is deployed” quotes John Sinko. On the other hand Angela Pullins states “Obviously not since I haven't. Generalizations like that are dumb.” This stereotype depends on the couple. Not only does it happen in the military would but also the civilian world. This stereotype fits in with any group in the world. It is not just the spouse that cheats. When I was married to my ex-husband I sat at home taking care of the kids and everything else. I was also dealing with him being an abusive husband, and he ended up cheating on me. People cheat no matter what group society puts you in.
In all, most stereotypes come from one specific truth, small or large, that is magnified to be a general rule. Some of the military stereotypes are true to some extent and some have no truth at all. However, it’s the same in the civilian world. Stereotypes belong in every group and more are presented to us every day. They may have been true at one point in time and because of that society buys into them.
Resources:
- tp://www.militaryspouse.com/articles/35-negative-military-spouse-stereotypes/
- http://www.veteransunited.com/spouse/military-myth-busting-common-spouse-family-stereotypes/
- http://www.ukessays.com/essays/sociology/stereotypes-are-formed-within-a-culture-sociology-essay.php
- http://www.lumrix.net/medical/sociology/stereotypes.html
- Eric Raoder (Civilian)
- Ali Fretwell (Coast Guard Wife)
- Rosana Morgan (Navy Wife)
- Ashley Lynn Whitman (US Army, ex duel military)
- Magen Marie Gable (Ex-Army Wife)
- Angela Pullins (Spouse)
- John Sinko
- Daniel Phelps (Same sex boyfriend to soldier)
Social Identity
by Jacob Thompson
What is Social Identity? Is it that we are who we are? Is it who others think we are? How do we measure our identities against that of others? On what scale is there to judge where each individual is, “socially”?
Society goes through a lifetime of change, and is different for everyone. It starts with gender in the younger ages, such as grade school. When I was little, the girls were supposedly the carriers of a vicious disease known as “cooties.” From there society grew to be more mature and different things have decided what is “cool” from then on. But that being said, from the point of birth we all fit a number of social stigmas, whether it be on purpose or by accident, some may even fit it by trying not to fit in. One way another, however, there is also someone that each individual will be identify with, we just have to figure out what. For example, people may identify with race or nationality, age, gender, or a variety of other reasons.
We, as students fit in because we’re students. We are college students, and I believe that being in college lets one see a substantial array of social identities. At Colby Community College alone, there are a number of groups, mainly all the sports teams, the music students, the various groups of partiers. There are the foreign students, who would identify with different groups. We would also identify with others involved in the same fields. Some people would identify because of their drives to do well in school. But it all comes down to how others see us.
Stereotypes are a big part of society. They affect how we behave, or even shape our lives. For example, society sees the man as being the head of the household, which is even more important to some cultures than others. I believe that is the reason it took so long in history for women to get rights, privileges, and even jobs/occupations, which only goes to further show the changing society. People stereotype people who smoke, or drink. And socially, people who do “drugs” are seen as bad people by most. Even though they just live their life, and make different decisions as others. There are stereotypes no matter what people do. But they are identified because of decisions they make. Stereotypes may get some groups to bully or dislike other groups. In situations as race, or nationality it can cause some issues. In some places, clothing can be a big deal. Everyone has a preconceived notion of how people should look. Society is all about fitting in.
Sources
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity_theory
Ashley Riley
Gender Differences
Sociology is the scientific study of human behavior, social groups, and society. It looks at social relationships and institution going from the area of crime all the way to religion. Therefore with this being said, sociology helps us to look at life from a different prospective. We see things now as we would never see them before. This teaches us the values of life and the basic everyday norms. The study of Sociology is divided into sections such as: culture, knowledge, and belief, social organization and control, production, Inequalities, and social divisions, and there is the group in which my study continues: social identities.
Social identity is the part of an individual's self-concept brought from being a part of a certain social group, said to have been originally formulated by Henri Tajfel and John Turner. Social identity is basically finding out one’s personality and who they really are in society. This theory introduced the concept of a social identity as a way to explain intergroup behavior. This brings occasions where the term social identity theory is used to refer to general theorizing about human social selves.
Society is made the way it ought to be, for with separation brings stereotyping and this later brings differences. Differences such as Gender differences is where individuals are divided according to their peers and actions that are carried out. Girls would stick to small groups of their peers and act according to their age bracket, whether it’s going out shopping, having sleep overs, or partying. Meanwhile boys would do the same, but in different ways. Boys are born with a more sense of adrenalin, therefore they do things more effectively than girls would. Studies have showed that females take to peer pressure a lot, but studies will not tell you how easily persuaded males can be by other males. Males and females are alike in many ways, but different in so many circumstances.
As children would, each child has a special feeling for a certain parent and according to the CCC Sociology book, males tend to cling to towards their mothers as girls would cling towards their fathers. For example: a mass murderer is caught, charged and sentenced, and the odds are 2-5 of the first person for him to reach by phone is his mother. Also a girl has a horrible experience with her boyfriend and things aren’t looking good, research shows that chances are she would call her father to ask for advice before anyone. These are facts of male and both female. Other differences such as race and sex discrimination is nothing new under the sun. Race has been going on for as long as we individuals can remember, for where it started who knows. Sex discrimination is one of the largest differences among society today, for now there is a large population of homosexuals as well as bisexuals. These differences are effective in both beneficial and non-beneficial ways. They are beneficial, because in a world where there are no differences mean a world of complete likeness and can we live in a world where everyone’s alike? Society is made to have confusion, problems and everyday conflict, so it would be quite difficult to live in complete likeness to one another. Despite them being beneficial, these differences are also non-beneficial, because they become social problems that can be maintained or prevented, but it takes more than one person to get the ball rolling. It takes a society to take a stand and fight for a change in order for something to takes place. Things will remain the same unless someone takes charge.
References
“SOCIOLOGY” James Fulcher and John Scott, Fourth Edition
http://news.discovery.com/human/life/science-behind-gender-differences-130528.htm
Jermaine Smith
Sex and Gender In Today's Society
Sociology is ‘’ the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society’’ states Google. Sociology is the way we act, react, feel and see ourselves. Sociology is made up of many different branches; in this case we are looking at the Social Identities and gender.
The James Fulcher and John Scott Sociology textbook describes gender to be referring, ‘’to differences in the way that men and women in a particular society are expected to feel, think, and behave,’’ Where as Google see’s gender to be, ‘’the state of being male or female.’’ Gender variance is a normal part of human expression. It is closely documented throughout cultures as well as history. A person’s gender identity can be the same or different than the sex they were at birth. Studies claim that individuals between the ages of 18 months and 3 years are when the development/structure of the body stage occurs. Most people develop a gender identity that matches their biological sex. On the other hand, some gender identities are different from their biological or assigned sex. Some persons choose to physically, mentally and/or surgically change their sex. Those individuals can be called Trans genders or Transsexuals. The process of change in which they go through also affects the ways in which people communicate towards them. Assumptions are made because of one’s displayed gender; some may not be identified correctly. Physical appearances play a big role. There are many aspects such as behaviour, clothing, haircut, voice, and other forms of presentation. Some see the need to do this to fully match their gender identity. This shows that yes, gender is based on physical traits but gender can also be determined by their culture and or background. Another dispute is between males and females and males and female in the cooperate world.
Males are seen an expected to behave and think in a Masculine way. This means males are expected to have courage, which means to do what is necessary without showing weakness. Inspire, which means so never force her submission when she’s trying to elevate herself. Discipline, which means to take full charge of your life and whatever happens do not blame anybody else for your actions and confidence which means believing in yourself and that you are already what you need to be.
The male gender has specific jobs in which society believes that they are the superior gender in or which they only should be involved in. These consist of law enforcers, military, race car drivers, construction workers, fire fighters and entrepreneur just to name a few. These careers are seen as more male jobs because they involve man power, bravery and respect.
Women on the other hand are expected to behave in a Feminine way. Behaving in a Feminine way is seen as behaving with a sense of class. This involves being soft and sweet, express yourself without using profanity, sitting with legs crossed or closed and not acting tough and wild. Some feminine careers are hair dressers, nurses, cashier and a masseuse. Those occupations are seen more as a feminine career than a male.
There are some careers which gender has nothing to do with the business. It basically reflects off of the productivity level. Some of these careers are cutting hair, being a police, immigration officer, business manager, coaching (depending on the sport) and salesman.
It is clear that gender is based on person’s sexual orientation but also an individual’s physical appearance. Gender also effects persons in the cooperate world but when there is no discrimination about a person’s sexual orientation productivity can be great; because in some cases women are harder workers than men but men can be more productive in some areas because of their masculine figure. This can also be vice versa.
References
source 1: https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+gender&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a
Google
source 2: http://psychology.about.com/od/gindex/g/gender.htm
Social Identity
By Ramone Houston
Social Identity is made up of selected categories, each category having its own set of “norms”. When people stray from these set norms they are labeled deviant. These identities are stigmatized such as a prostitute, drug dealer, or homeless person. At certain ages of an individual they are around people that influence their behavior. This behavior is learned throughout your whole life and can be considered a norm or be seen as deviant. Some social groups see deviants as a norm, like gangs, Mafias, etc.
Religion also has a different set of norms and deviants. Growing up with a Christian religion your social identity would be completely different from those of the Jewish, Muslim, or Hindu religions. When adolescence becomes a teen they go through a change in identity. They start to experiment with tattoos, new ways of dressing, hair styles, and piercing. This is to fit in with their friends or a group that is right for them. People also take on identities off of what TV portrays one to be. There are people that think that how people act in TV shows is how people really act, when most of the time that’s not the case.
Some may think that Race and Ethnicity is the same thing. When it’s completely different, Race is white, Black, or Latin. On the other side ethnicity is Irish, African American, or Dutch. For example you can have an African American and an African. They are both black but they have a different ethnicity so they are completely different. This goes the same way with religion and spiritual affiliation. You can be the same race as someone but have two different religions like Christian and Muslim. Therefor the identity is completely different; their views on things will be different, what they see as norms may be different to each other as well. Deviant behavior could be seen as a norm to the other. A person’s identity is reflected off what the person believes, who they are friends with, an off the media. This is part of the reason why certain groups hang out together. They have some of the same things in common so it is very easy to get along. Football players get along with football players, teachers get along with teachers, and so on and so on. This isn’t always true; there are those who are friends with individuals that are labeled deviant; they don’t carry out deviant acts with sad friends. This tends to be the case people are friends with deviant individuals but they aren’t deviant themselves.
There all millions of things that occur throughout an individual’s life that could cause changes in their identity. These changes can be good they could be bad, but these will make who the person is. All of these things have an effect on someone’s identity, Race, Ethnicity, Sex orientation, Religion, Socioeconomic Class, age, gender, sex, National origin, and physical or mental learning ability. Each class having its own set of norms and deviance.
References
www.howstuffworks.com
www.tanenbaum.org
James Jone
s
Social Identities
Racial Profiling is probably one of the biggest things that African Americans have to deal with here in the US in today’s society. The way that Law Enforcement see it as if things shouldn’t belong in certain neighborhoods. Certain people should have certain things pertaining to how they live. If there were to see different they would say it’s either because of drugs or theft. They would also call it “suspicious” to make it sound better instead of saying that they are messing with them because of their skin color. When they call there self-doing their job they are really just guessing trying to see if they come up with something. Even when they conducted traffic stops half the time it was the minority that they stop off of being suspicious. They say they go for the minority because they are really the reason why the crime rate is so high that it is. With less of the minority on the streets the lesser the crime rate is. They say that it’s okay to assume that someone is up to no good even if they don’t show a threat to them. They may check them and ask questions just off of assumption. There really isn’t any way that you can get around racial profiling. It’s going to be any wear just because how bad raisicim was back in the day. In some Law Enforcement eyes you’re always guilty of committing a crime because of your skin color. You’re guilty even when innocent. The best way to try and beat this type of harassment is to try and take it to court and get a appealing to say that you were being being justified because of your race or gender. Most of the time they don’t see it the same way that you see it.—
The reason why they are profiling is because they are trying to keep all the crimes in tact to make sure that the population is not at risk of any harm. The blacks race really did it to them selfs because of so much harm they do to their society the crime rate is at a all time high. Include Homicides, Robbery, Rape are the main three factors that contribute to the crime rate and blacks are the leading the way in all three ways. So they just make even harder on there self. If theyre to were to stop all the violence and the crime then it wouldn’t give the police any lead way to mess with them or suspect any thing of them and could go on and live there lives like they want to with always having to deal with the harassment that they go through on a daily basis. Its not that police want to do be ass wholes about it but they have no choice when you show nothing but bad habbits. Looking up to no good. You can damn near look at a person and tell if they have good intentions just by the way that they carry their self as a human being.They leave them with no choice but to assume something is up. People know right from wrong but still choose to do wrong just thinking that they can get away with it when they know that its just going to come back and get them in the end. Those are the ones who make it worse for those ones who have nothing but good intentions to do nothing but the right things in life
References
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Racial_Profiling.aspx
http://www.helium.com/debates/135077-can-racial-profiling-be-a-useful-way-to-identify-potential-criminals/side_by_side?page=3
James Jones
Social Identities
Concepts and Theories
Race and Racism.
The thing about race and racism is not that it’s about your color people are being identified by more than just that now of days. All sorts of things: hair color, eye color, body form, skin color. No one is perfect in any type of way so everyone is being judge in every different way there is because someone is always going to have something to say about someone. No matter how perfect someone may think that they are there is going to be something that someone doesn’t like about them and they are going to critic them. Racism is a common used word for someone that it not being given their human rights and justice for the act that is being put against them. Racism may be expressed individually and consciously, through explicit thoughts, feelings, or acts, or socially and unconsciously, through institutions that promote inequalities among races. It’s all how people use the words that there using to make you feel a certain way. On how they proceed about it. Racism makes its way into our heads is through the media. By letting things go to their head when it’s not really what they see and hear to be made out to be. The way that people where brought up is really the main reasoning behind knowing if someone is racist or not or to have those types of tendencies. Theories of racism argue that racism is a form of extreme prejudice and is a manifestation of the psychological process of social perception. A prejudice is a form of extreme stereotype, and a stereotype is an attitude of one person towards another individual or group. Racism one of the Nation’s biggest problem when it comes down to everything. Money, Job, Rights, Freedom. You will always have to face adversity in life no matter what the situation is having to overcome everything making sure that you got what you want in life. Racism is the belief that characteristics and abilities can be attributed to people simply on the basis of their race and that some racial groups are superior to others. Racism and discrimination have been used as powerful weapons encouraging fear or hatred of others in times of conflict and war, and even during economic downturns.
References .wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism, http://www.globalissues.org/article/165/racism
Just seeing if this works
Suicide
Evann Hardy
Suicide is the action of killing oneself intentionally. Every 40 seconds another person commits suicide. Suicide is the tenth most common cause of death in the United States. Firearms are by far the most common method of suicide. Durkheim 1897 was a book used to illustrate how methodology could be applied to individual acts. He believed suicide rates are social facts. That it varies from one group to another and from one social situation to another.
Individuals who have the highest list of suicides are white men, but women and teens are reported for having more suicide attempts. Men are four times more likely to commit suicide compared to women. As far as when it comes to race, it has been reported that Whites have one of the highest rates of suicide in the United States. Besides race, religion, marriage, and age have also been taken into account. It was proven that as far as religion goes Protestants are more likely to commit suicide than Catholics. It was also proven that individuals who are married are less likely to commit suicide than individuals who are single, windowed, or divorced. They believe this is because individuals who are married have financial stability, better mental health, and accumulated social capital. As far as age, suicide is the leading cause of death amongst young adults (10-24 years old). The book that Durkheim wrote also was able to prove that the suicide rate drops in times of war and increases at times of economic crisis.
There are four types of suicide as far as when it comes to regulation and integration. First is egoistic suicide. Egoistic suicide results from “egoism”. The weak social integration of an individual. Next is anomic suicide. Anomic suicide is suicide because of a lack of any regulation by shared norms. Without the balance of desires and circumstances, we find ourselves in a state of anomie. Then we have altruistic suicide. Altruistic suicide is when social bonds are too strong. It is the opposite of egoistic suicide. Finally we have fatalistic suicide. Fatalistic suicide is the opposite of anomic suicide. It results from an oppression of the individual by excessively high regulation. When levels of social regulation and integration are at their extremes is when Durkheim believed people were susceptible to suicide.
I have always know that suicide was an issue that we deal with on a daily basis, but after reading about it I see more of an issue. People are thinking that the easiest way to deal with their problems is to end their life. Times have been hard and everyone is trying to figure out a way to make ends meet and to work hard and pay their bills, sometimes life seems hopeless. In those times is when we really need to look around and make sure we are doing all we can to make life a little easier for everyone. I know it is when we are going through these trying times that we just want to give up, but don’t. There are ways to get through any situation, just need to look for a way. I can believe that when it comes to suicide that it is the White men who are the leading cause of suicide, to me it like they are too proud to ask for help and don’t want to look like they aren’t able to provide. That’s not it at all its just everyone is being hit so hard from the economy that everyone needs help.
Suicide rates are steadily increasing. Statics have shown that each suicide affects at least six other people. So please think of the people that you may be hurting when you are thinking about taking your life, nothing is worth it!!!!
References:
Fulcher, James, and John Scott, “Sociology”.
http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/Summaries/suicide.html
Women in Different Cultures
Savannah Zahradka
There are many differences between growing up as an American woman than growing up in any other culture. As an American woman, I have so many opportunities. I could get any job I want, have any religion I want, and I could choose not to get married and have a family. But in some other countries and cultures women only have few, if any, rights compared to men. In some countries, women aren’t given the right to vote or go to school. Women in some countries aren’t allowed to leave the house by herself after dark because it is too dangerous. Men attack women and abuse them very often. In India, abuse against women is at a scary rate. One incident involved six men brutally raping a young women when she was on a train home from watching a movie. Women in India are scared to go anywhere at night because of the risk of being hurt, raped, or killed. American Women don’t worry about that near as much, and I’m very grateful for that.
In some cultures around the world, women are encouraged to get married at a very young age. They don’t go to school, they just get married and start raising a family. There are still marriages where the parents set it up. Women could be marrying men that they don’t even love—their parents just want them to be together. Here in the United States, women have the choice to marry whoever they want, whenever they want. We’re starting to see that women are getting married for the first time later in life, and those women aren’t looked down on or scolded. This just means that they’ve had more time to figure out their career, their life, and what they really want in a spouse. In the documentary “One Day on Earth,” there was a 14-year-old girl who chose to stay in school instead of getting married like her parents wanted her to. During an interview with the girl’s mother, her mother wasn’t proud of her daughter because she said she would be of more use to the family if she quite school and got married like her other two sisters did. It’s so crazy to think about it. As American women, we’re required to go to school up until the 12th grade. After that, we’re told that a higher education is very important to getting a good career in life. Whereas in other countries, women are encouraged to stop going to school after the 4th grade and start helping her mother with household duties.
Another big freedom American women have is the freedom to wear whatever the hell we want. There are countries where women are required to cover everything but their eyes when they’re outside of their own home. If they don’t, they could be arrested or even beaten. American women can wear anything they like, (within reason,) and no one can do anything about it. Sure, certain places have certain rules about clothing. At most workplaces, we are required to wear certain types of clothes or follow a certain dress code. But we can express ourselves by what we wear, and I think that shows individuality. We are also capable of getting almost any job we want. Women in America can be lawyers, doctors, police officers, ect. In some countries, women don’t even have the opportunity to have a job. They are just expected to stay home and raise the family. The World Economic Forum ranked India 105th in the world in terms of economic opportunities and education for women, and women only had a 65 percent literacy rate. I’m glad I live in America where I have equal opportunities, and equal rights.
References
Singh, Shreyasi, How it Feels to be a Woman in India. CNN http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/04/how-it-feels-to-be-a-woman-in-india/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_at_first_marriage
Chinese Women
Haylie Montoya
The Chinese culture is very different than other cultures. Family is a huge thing to the Chinese as it is to every other culture but they also have different beliefs then other cultures such as the Americans. The head of the household is the son in the family, then their wives and the children. The older the person is in that household, the more power they have and no matter what every man is more powerful than the women. In the Chinese family they didn’t care for their daughters the way they cared for their sons. They would rather have their son sleep in a bed with toys and more clothes compared to the girls to sleep on the floor, broken toys and ragged, used clothing. The families are in one household with usually 3 generations in that house and can have four or five surnames but in some villages they have only one surname. When a women gets married she leaves her family and moves in with the husband in his hometown. The estimated guess that for every 120 men there are only 100 women. Women got treated very differently than the men, they have different expectations to live by.
The Chinese women had a lot of violence towards them such as acid throwing, bride burning, dating abuse, domestic violence and pregnancy, forced prostitution, forced abortion, murder of pregnant women, foot binding and many more. One main thing women were expected to have was small feet, they got their feet binded to prevent the growth from happening. This starts at the age between 4 to 7 years old. They would get their feet soaked in water or animal blood with herbs, get their toe nails clipped and then a foot massage. After that is when the real pain happened; every toe would be broken except for the big toe. The foot then would be wrapped and then women wore smaller shoes because the requirement for the size of women’s feet was to be only four inches long. The women had expectations for their facial and physical appearance also. Many of the women had to have plastic surgery for eye lids, nose job, and cheek implants. They want the women to have clear, pale white skin and to avoid the sun as much as possible. Many of the women also have eating disorders because according the men they want the women to be skinny and to fit into a size small. Even in different parts of China men would have different views on the women. In one area a man will think a girl is a little bit ugly and another man from a different area will say she is gorgeous and will treat her decent then the other men in the different area.
Some other culture traditions for Chinese women is when a women has a baby she should rest for a month after the baby is born. This is one of the only times men will have the women eat more and more so that they can be healthy also they don’t take as many showers in that month either. When women went to school more men would be enrolled. Men are expected to have higher education for better jobs, the women will get jobs that don’t require as much education as the jobs men work require. Also men were superior to health care because women were less of a priority. Over time this has changed and now both men and women are equal in health care. Over time some of the women’s other Chinese traditions have been changed also, such as foot binding is not illegal and more women have jobs resulting in day-care for their children. Also women getting education has decreased more and the men getting education has increased.
The Chinese culture for the women is different than it is for other women in other countries. They are treated poorly and less superior to men. They have different expectations and are help to a different standard then the men are.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_China
http://middlekingdomlife.com/guide/understanding-chinese-women.htm
Atheism as a belief system
Chantee Luna
Belief can be defined as trust, faith, or confidence in something. Most people would say that Atheism is not a belief system when in reality it is. Atheists believe that there is no God’s high above and that we should focus on now instead of a possible afterlife. “An atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church. An atheist believes that deed must be done instead of prayer said. An atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanished, war eliminated.” (O’Hair, 40). Sixteen percent of Americans are Atheist and this percentage increases every year. Why is it that the values of religion are lost in such short times? Easy, for atheism provides several beliefs that catch the common persons interest; scientific trust, self-identity, and a mindset of peace.
Scientific trust is one of the most important pieces of being an atheist. Evolution is the main evidence that they trust in. There are facts that show how closely we relate to primates, but there is little or no evidence that an almighty God created us. An atheist treats the bible or any other religious book as a folktale rather than a book from up above. Atheists are usually skeptical and therefore love evidence to back up any shady subjects. “God is an hypothesis, and, as such, stands in need of proof: the onus probandi rests on the theist.” (Salt, 9).
The most important thing atheist value is self-identity. Without specific commandments and rules they are able to choose the person they want to be. Christian’s consider it sinful if you are a homosexual, a murderer, lie for any reason, disobedience to God, and of course if you commit blaspheme. You can pray for forgiveness for any sins but if you commit blaspheme (doubting God), than you will go to hell. Making sure to not allow yourself into any of these sins will shape you into the “perfect Christian”, or more as the same common Christian. Atheist can live their life anyway they please. Some choose to live with several values and others choose to live with none. Just because one doesn't follow the commandments given by God doesn't make them bad.
Lastly, atheist want to help make peace achievable in their life time. As President Nixon said “In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect .The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars.” When it has come to wars or riots the wars that has occurred were because of religious beliefs. Two of the most popular wars were: the Crusader War which were mainly several wars between Christians and Muslims and World War II began because Hitler didn't like the Judaism religion. Crimes are also something Atheist try to prevent. One percent of prisoners in the United States are atheist, while ninety-nine percent of prisoners are of some sort of religion. This means that religious people are more likely to commit crimes than an atheist. Christians are not all good, atheists can be equally as good or even better.
As you can see, atheism is not just a mindset but a belief system. The Religious population may over power the atheist now, but there will be a day when people discover the reality of life and forget about impressing a God. Atheist believe in scientific evidence, self-identity, and peace. Therefore, atheist are free, happier, and have no worries. We mustn't judge a person by belief but rather by the choice the individual makes in their own judgments.
Source:
O'Hair, Madalyn Murray. What on Earth Is an Atheist! New York: Arno, 1972. Print.
Salt, Henry S. "The Necessity of Atheism." Selected Essays on Atheism. By Percy Bysshe Shelley. New York: Arno, 1972. N. pag. Print.
“Atheists Supply Less Than 1% Of Prison Populations It’s Suprising How Many People Say to M.” N.p.n.d Web. 05 Oct. 2013. http://www.skepticfiles.org/american/prison.htm
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/richardmn164353.html
Picture source:
http://churchandstate.org.uk/2013/09/one-third-of-americans-under-30-have-no-religion-how-will-that-change-the-country/
The Importance of Subcultures and Self Identity
Daniel Valdez
Through the study of social identity we are able to tell that humans do not identify with their own self but with the values, beliefs and nationalities of their social groups. Such is the case with subculture, many kids who have entered to the teenage era of their lives adopt the beliefs and values of certain subcultures or countercultures in order to defy the norm.
Many of these subcultures are often based around music: hippie, punk, goth, metal-head, hip-hop/rap, reggae, Etc. Even the ones that are not music based share a mutual interest, belief set, or clothing. Usually there is that kid, he claims to not be a part of any subculture, which is a lie. As long as an individual has a group of friends to relate with he will always be a part of a subculture, even if it is merely a group on the internet.
Individuals that adopt a sub-cultural belief do so to engage in a type of anti-social behavior, whether violent or non-violent. One could be a punk rocker or metal-head that engages in drug and alcohol consumption and mosh pits at a concert venue or a "gangster" type that will join in a turf war against the people that live on the other side of the block. However, it is important to note that not all subcultures are based around anti-social, deviant behavior. The vegetarian subculture, for example, embraces the ideology of animal liberation and planet protection and will often indulge in community service and voluntary work. People in the Otaku subculture will get together in conventions or other events to enjoy Japanese animation and comic books, as will people who would consider themselves "geeks" with western media.
Kids that come from a broken home or damaged family are more likely to embrace the ideology of subcultures and the approval of their peers. They will do anything to accept approval and will generate a "them against us" mentality. They will seek out to stand out and willingly volunteer themselves to whatever task will earn them the most notoriety disregarding the danger. The act of weeding out the posers(charlatans, fakers) is important among many subcultures, usually ending in a never-ending cycle of hatred and can/will lead to violent behavior against anyone deemed unworthy, or a poser. A cycle of hypocrisy is present in many subcultures, some bands will consider themselves "Straight Edge"( Punk Rockers against alcohol, drug consumption, pre-marital sex) on stage and will drop the act off-stage. There is also a resentment against mainstream media and/or bands that earn a name and become successful to some degree and change their style, or "sell out."
In conclusion, I consider myself a metal-head: I listen to heavy metal, I wear the shirts and I go to the shows. I do have many other interests, however, my personal outlook of the world wasn't as influenced by my parents or teachers but the music I like. Some may find that cringe worthy or hard to believe but I believe that it is a positive thing to have something to relate to with others than to go on without a purpose, subcultures can be a good thing for those looking for an escape with people they feel they can trust.
Sources (website URL)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity_theory
http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Subculture.html
http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/45974_Chapter_1.pdf
http://whitedragonawa.wordpress.com/2009/12/10/hardcore-culture-punk-rock-life-heavy-metal-way-hardcore/#comments
Society’s outlook on Culture, Knowledge and Belief
Deja Cato
Culture has been a central problem to issues, the media shapes the way that people think and live. Culture can be anything from communication, beliefs, or ways of life along with certain patterns of behaviors. Folk culture, high culture, popular culture, and dominant culture are some of the different types of culture. Some of the main ways that the media gets the attention of the people are TV, radio, newspaper/magazine and for young children and teens it can be video games. The internet is one the most important ways of communication to people, which is also known as “Cyber culture” it has to mainly do with social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram those three give society new thoughts, ideas, and change their perspectives on certain things.
In today’s society education is central to the socialization process. Being educated makes a huge difference in someone’s life. “Education is the process of learning and acquiring knowledge at school from a teacher, receiving knowledge at home from a parent, a family member, and even an acquaintance. Education is a key that allows people to move up in the world, seek better jobs, and succeed in life. Education is one factor that affects job positions people hold, advance in their further career, the income they make, and the title they hold. The more educated a person is, the more prestige and power that person holds.” Education has progressed drastically, at the beginning of the nineteenth century there was no national system of education. In the beginning the only universities were Cambridge and Oxford, which were exclusive institutions. Today having knowledge is an important factor, which separates you from others on the working field and in society itself. Having an education can be very beneficial to yourself and your future endeavors, you are what you learn.
“A religion is a system of beliefs through which people organize and order their lives. This is often thought to involve a belief in god or gods, but this is not the case with all religious beliefs.” Religion originated about 50,000 years ago as soon just as humans appeared on earth. Religion developed along while other cultures developed, it started off as a way to explain things that could not be explained by the limited knowledge of people. Comte saw a conflict between religion and science. “A more radical view of religion was taken by Marx, like Comte, Marx believed that the theistic forms of religion would disappear as modern societies matured. He believes that religion will be swept completely away when capitalism is overthrown and when, in consequence, alienation and class divisions finally disappear from human history. Today in modern society the belief in God is often held to be less common in Europe and America today than it was the case in the past. Atheists have seen this trend favorably, seeing it as liberation from superstitious and irrational beliefs. The sociological concept of secularization involves two closely related ideas.” Today religion plays a huge role in society, simply because just about every human being is a part of some religious group.
Resources
Reference 1: http://EzineArticles.com/6251224 Reference 2 http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/best-of
Culture
Sandra Bustillos
Culture; defined as the arts and other manifestations of human intellectual achievement regarded collectively. Sure, that is a text book definition, but what is culture in real life? Is it the way we act or what we believe in? Or is it how people live in their own society. In all reality, culture is all of these things. It is in everything that we do, and how we live. Culture is how we talk, or how we react to certain things, or even what we hold to be of high value. It is interesting to see how many cultures can differ; in religious beliefs, values, behaviors, customs, and even certain colloquialisms. For one example, people from Kansas and people from Wisconsin have totally different cultural aspects which are clearly known.
Since Wisconsin is a heavily German state, many people know the state for its love of beer. So it is socially and culturally acceptable for parents to bring their 14 year old child to the bar with them and to allow them a beer. It is even legally allowed as long as the child has parental consent. Meanwhile, in Kansas, that is not the same case. People may drink with their families at home, but it is legally unacceptable to drink in public if you are underage. One example of a colloquialism is the fact that people in Kansas say ‘drinking fountain’ while people in Wisconsin say ‘bubblar’. Another example of a behavior that differs between Kansans and Wisconsinites is when you’re driving down a Kansas highway you’ll receive a wave, but in Wisconsin you’re more likely to get a middle finger from your “reckless driving”. These cultural aspects are easily determined from the common recognition of them. Someone coming from Wisconsin that moves to Kansas will quickly realize how different it is, and will correct their ways in order to be socially accepted.
Thinking about how many people try to conform to the societal norms, I googled the definitions of society and culture. After clicking on one page, this sentence stuck out the most, “Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions”, and it clearly relates both society and culture. The social aspect of life is not always something that is associated with cultural-ism. The definition of society is different than the definition of culture, being the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. But society and culture are closely related. Culture is a way of life, while society is the formation of it. Society involves the grouping of people that have aspects of their life or other factors in common. By surrounding themselves with other people of like minded opinions, social gatherings and meetings go smoother with less confrontations.
After doing some research on culture, trying to fully understand it, I discovered that there are three levels of culture. The first level is the body of cultural traditions, the second level is subcultures, and the third level is cultural universals. The body of cultural traditions is pretty much just the typical idea of differing languages, traditions and beliefs that set them apart. Even though they were mostly raised in those beliefs because of their parents teaching them that way or because they have other family members who do it. The second level of subcultures is basically just shared cultural traits that make them different from the rest of society, such as food traditions, dialect or languages, and other traits that come from their ancestral backgrounds. The final level is cultural universals, including things that learned behavior patterns that all of humanity shares. It doesn’t matter who you are, or where you are, you’ll share these traits. Some examples are using a verbal language to communicate, using age or gender to classify people, using peoples relationships to classify them, raising children in a family setting, a concept of privacy, having art, or even having some kind of body ornamentation.
So, as it turns out, culture just isn’t as simple as 1, 2, 3. There is no text book answer that can tell you absolutely everything there is to know about every single culture. There are so many different sides and aspects that you need to look at when considering what culture is, be it just the definition, or examples of different cultures, or even different levels of culture. Culture is a lot like life, it is hard to understand completely, and even harder to define.
Resources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1403295/
Fulcher, James and John Scott., “ Sociology” Oxford University Press Inc: New York, 2011
Canada
By: Anthony McKinley
My view of Canada surrounds the topic of Culture, Knowledge and Belief. Canada has had a lot of important national figures shape the model citizen of which Canadians are today. Accepting, thankful, and friendly are just three words that express a Canadian identity. I feel like there are some specific examples in Canadian history that can outline my reasoning of Canada being a great place. Terry Fox, the building of the Canadian railway and our diverse culture are just a few reasons of why Canada is what it is today. Canada did not become a country until 1982, and the country of Canada contains many different culture aspects that Canadians live by in today’s society. Therefor what Canadians eat, believe in and value goes in any other country of the world.
Terry Fox is one of many historical figures in Canadian society. Being ranked inside the list of the top 5 Canadians to ever live, Fox is considered by many as a hero. Fox had his right leg amputated in 1977 when he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. Prior to the amputation Fox participated in many athletic activities including long distance running and basketball. In 1980 Fox began the Marathon of Hope, a run to raise money for other victims of cancer. Fox ran for 143 days straight making it nearly half-way across Canada where his run came up short in Thunder Bay Ontario because of the cancer that had spread through his body. His run was heard around the world and the awareness he raised is to this day unheard of. Winning multiple National awards after death and raising in upwards of $500 million dollars towards cancer awareness, Terry Fox is regarded as a Humanitarian and National Hero.
The Canadian Pacific Railway was a National movement to create a railroad that reached from the most eastern to the most western part of Canada so that immigrants would be able to homestead in new parts of the country. Known as the only transcontinental railway CP Rail quickly became one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the country, helping develop Western Canada as it is today. Building the railway was highly controversial because of the manual labor it would take. The founders paid many thousands of navy's; European and Chinese immigrants to build the railway for anywhere from $1 to $2.50 dollars a day. The workers had to pay their own way to and from work, for food, housing and any other resources needed in order to survive sometimes only making $16 dollars every 2 months. Chinese immigrants working in British Columbia never made more than $1.75 a day and were often unable to save enough money to send back home, the one reason why they left home in the first place. Given the most dangerous jobs they were paid the least and treated a lot like slaves. As recently as 2006, the Canadian government made a formal apology to all Chinese people living in Canada for the mis-treatment during the building of the railway. However, without those people the railway would have never been finished in Western Canada making it very difficult for people to start a life in British Columbia. This railway involved many different types of people working hard to diversify Canada and plays a crucial role in our cultural background.
Recourses:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Railway
http://www.terryfox.org/
Fitness
Nick Silva
Today, fitness has become a very important aspect of todays society. We see fitness all over because today health has become very important as people have started to become more aware of health as the fast food industry has become more prominent in our world. Fitness is necessary to be healthy and as shows as Biggest Loser have become popular, people have become more motivated to get healthy and fit.
Our society is very aware of appearances so many people are trying to lose weight and fitness has become a popular thing in our country. There have come about all kinds of fitness routines built to help people gain muscle or lose weight depending on their need. Personally, I used fitness to lose ninety-five pounds. I just began to work out more and that is really the key to lose weight. Losing weight is how a person can look and feel the way that they want to. The purpose of getting fit is to look good. Appearance has become something that is so important in our society and everyone wants to look sexy. The way to look sexy is getting fit. Because people want to get sexy, they have to get fit.
The way that people in our society are getting fit is by starting to work out more. They go to their local gyms and get involved in different activities in order to feel and look much better. Many people also hire personal trainers to help them design activities to target their specific needs and desires from a workout regimen. There are also many places that people can find workouts that are quick and easy to form to their specific daily lives.
The different ways that people get fit are exercising, not judging themselves, getting enough sleep, playing motivating music while they exercise, eating nutritious and wholesome food, drinking water. These are just about the perfect combination to be fit. It is obviously important to exercise and making sure to be confident in him or herself will help them to be more motivated in doing well. Making sure to not be too critical of oneself will help to not tear a person down when they are making progress. Playing good music while working out will help to push someone harder to do their best in the activity that they are working on. Music is very encouraging to a person. Eating nutritiously gives a good foundation for working out and gives the body what it needs to work for the day and to exercise. Nutritious food also helps a body to lose weight because there is not junk going into the body. Drinking water is also a large factor because when a body is hydrated, it can burn weight easier, not get as hungry and helps the body to function more properly.
People in society use this to help them get fit to feel better and look better. Fitness has really helped our society to become healthier. Fitness influences society because of the different places people work out, the people that work out, and the ways that they get fit. Peoples drive to be fit has changed the way that they shop and eat and go about their day. Food has become healthier and people have become more conscious of it. They have become more active and many new trainers and exercise shows and regimens have come about. People tend to do things like walk more and take the stairs over the elevator in an attempt to be more fit. Society overall has become more fit and it has been very beneficial to us as a country.
Resources
http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Fit-and-Sexy
http://www.livelifewell.nsw.gov.au/healthyeating/
Culture, Knowledge and Belief
Marci Scripter
There are a lot of people in this world and they are all different in so many different ways. One of the ways is culture. First we need to understand what culture is. According to the “Culture and Society Defined”, Culture consists of the beliefs, behaviors, objects, and other characteristics common to the members of a particular group or society. Through culture, people and groups define themselves, conform to society's shared values, and contribute to society. Thus, culture includes many societal aspects: language, customs, values, norms, mores, rules, tools, technologies, products, organizations, and institutions. There are some people that think if you are Mexican and you speak Spanish you should not be in the United States speaking Spanish. They think you need to speak English because English is the man language spoken in the United States. They say this so they don’t have to dill with leaning how to speak Spanish to they can understand. I think this is due to people not wanting to change and want only serotonin people where they are living. Satiate is also catering to people that speak a different language then just English. Like when you call a business on the phone they ask you to press one for English and two for Spanish. I believe they are even trying to get Spanish as the official language of the United State but that is not the norm.
Another norm that society makes people think is that people need to be to be skinny. Society shows tiny models to advertise clothing and assessors. This make bigger people fill like outsiders and down. When people fill down then they eat and this can lead to obesity. According to the “overweight and obese in adults”, says 30.5% (60 million) of adults (age 20 and older) in the United States are obese. This might not seem like a lot bit it is. Plus obesity can some with more problems. Some problems are high blood pressure and high cholesterol. This are not problems that you can just ignore they can sometimes lead to death. This is you the first lady is trying to get schools to cool healthier foods for children to help keep them healthy. Another thing in school that goes on in is clothing. If a child does not has the newest clothing on the market or some clothes that don’t have holes from being worn too much or passed down. If kids has these cloths they get looked down on because their parents night not have enough money or they might not wont to spent much money on clothing. Now some schools are trying to go to making their students have a dress codes. If you don’t know what a dress code is it is where all the kids where the exact same kind of clothing. For example wearing black pants and a polo shirt. Some people think this is a great idea and some thing that it doesn’t let the kids so show their individual personalities.
Technology has a big part in how sociology plays a part in the world. For example the internet shows us how we judge people. There is all ways someone on yahoo.com front page for something they did front, from dressing bad or having an affair. We don’t know these people vary well and we are quick to judge them on what we think life should be like. We even see picture advertisements of how to lose the weigh in the shorts time. We need to stop judging people and like them for their self’s. We need to love are self’s to. If we do this we will fill better about are self’s.
Resources
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/sociology/culture-and-societies/culture-and-society-defined
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/fall05/holman/statistics.html
Hunting**
By: Luke Whitfield
Waking up early for what you’ve been waiting for all year. So excited you couldn’t even sleep the night before. It’s been a family tradition since before I can remember. Opening day is like this for hunters all over the country. But society portrays hunters differently than what they really are. This is a social identity that labels hunters. Everyone and every group in society has an identity, or stereotype, that society uses to label them. When you are identified as a hunter some people in society see you as an adrenaline junky that kills for fun. In actuality hunters have a great respect for nature and hunting is a tradition that is deep in the roots of all hunters. When you think about hunting what comes to mind? Society sees it one way, while hunters see their actual identity.
People who don’t hunt or are not involved in the outdoors don’t not realize how important harvesting an animal can be for them. They view hunters as being inhumane to the animal and that it is unnecessary to kill an animal. Anyone who is a nonhunter believes that it is to dangerous, just because there is a firearm involved, does not mean that it is dangerous. People will not be smart about what they are doing when handling a gun and my not have ever learned the proper way of how to use a firearm. Its just like the saying “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. Once there is ever an incident with a murdering in the society with a gun, people will always blame it on the weapon that was used. This topic will always lead over to hunting because of the firearms that are involved, and these are usually the people who don’t believe in killing animals.
I firmly believe that hunting is good for our society. Just like in the old days if we would have had the issue of no hunting, how would they have survived. The indains for example would have never made it, with out harvesting animals. It’s the way we were made to live our lives, and its how we should live it. Also if we did not harvest animals, over population would be a huge issue. There would be animals and birds roaming the cities and towns, making problems throughout the country.
All in all there are problems and controversies all over are society. No matter what you do to try and avoid these conflicts, there will always be the pros and cons. People have there beliefs and they will stick by them for most of there life. Usually what ever your parents believe and how they raise you, will develop you for the rest of your life on how your views will be on a subject like this. Hopefully one day everyone can come to a conclusion that this is the way it needs to be, and that there is no reason to fight on this matter.
source]]
REFERENCES:
http://www.peta.org/issues/Wildlife/why-sport-hunting-is-cruel-and-unnecessary.aspx
http://www.idausa.org/campaigns/wild-free2/habitats-campaign/anti-
Why Americans Hate Indians
By: Regina Johnson
We the people of US live in a country where there are many different cultures around us daily and yet some of us still choose to be highly racist. Our country has been through hell and back with racists. We cease the opportunity to think that by our Country being “Free” means that that we can talk down any race we want because they are not like us, Such as Indians. But why I ask, “Why do we tend to put other cultures down when we ourselves have been through this patronizing effect years ago?” So why do Americans hate Indians from India so much?
Americans seem to hate Indians because of several reasons, first is because of their culture and because of certain acts committed by certain people, because it was said that certain Indians tribes let their family members get together. This rumor, gossip, or fact was said that made people hate Indians right off the back. And I can understand why some would hate that certain situation but why blame all Indians, I’m pretty sure there were some tribes that actually brought up their children right. Just like Americans, we are not perfect because we all know that there are some people in America that has done this crime on several occasions. And do you think that if people from other countries found out about that one person or those several people they would think all Americans were like that. If you found out someone thought that of all Americans what would you do? Which is why it is so disgracing for Americans to down grade a culture after all we’ve been through. This country has the most diverse of cultures within its borders and yet we tend to become the most viral people to disgrace a different nationality. It makes absolutely no sense.
The culture of the India was referred to as "Sa Prathama Sanskrati Vishvavara" — the first and the supreme culture in the world. Now India is considered a very diverse country, with different regions that have their own distinct cultures, and yet it seems that most of them are the nicest people ever considering they’ve only been brought up around Indians. But as for the American’s that don’t really like them lies under the fact that they don’t have knowledge about them, their culture, their knowledge, and their beliefs. For Example, recently the Miss America Pageant was won by and Indian Decent and as soon as the results were read Twitter blew up with hateful comments toward her because she wasn’t an American, which is just plain wrong.
Those Americans who don’t have knowledge about the Indians hate them more, because it seems that we fear the stuff that we have no knowledge about. Such as their Religion we tend to judge them about what they believe in rather than take the time and actually look into what it is. As some of you know some of our religious beliefs started in India. Such as Christianity, it traces its history to India. We also judge them on their healing methods. In India certain tribes heal the wounded way differently than we heal our own. They use their knowledge and beliefs to heal just like we do. When we try to heal someone that is wounded we use our knowledge and beliefs to try to fix the problem.
Now as we know, we all have different beliefs but the Americans who dislike Indians decide not to like their beliefs either because we tend to believe that our culture is superior or better than others without conflict. Which usually resolves with someone being racist toward someone they hardly even know which brings us right back to where we started in the beginning years ago. So in my opinion, if we truly are the great nation that we say we are then we need to learn how to accept the many cultures coming into our country that way we are not just speaking words but proving our action of acceptance.
References:
http://indians.org/tribal-directory.html
http://www.livescience.com/28634-indian-culture.html
Jermaine Smith
Women and Education
Shanae Reynolds
Education
Reference:
http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/baldwin/classes/soc142/scznDEF.html
The Sociology book
Education is the central to the socialization process. WE focus on the relationship between education and society. Are families are the ones that carry out are primary socialization, but we can only take socialization so far. Since families can only carry out so much of socialization in life we send are kids to a school system to provide them with their secondary socialization.
Education provides are kids with the skills needed for the specialized occupation of industrial societies. Child can only acquire their occupation of industrial societies threw formal education. This is because our education system turns are children into member of society by socializing them into the common values and norms of our society today. By teaching are children the values or our society gives them a sense of national identity, learning national languages and customs, the symbols of nationality, and history of the nation. The schools also discipline children so they learn how to behave in moral ways. The teachers play important roles in disciplining the children because they aren’t only teaching children to obey but also getting them to appreciate the moral basis of society. We discipline are children so they learn and understand the reason for moral behavior. Once they understand the moral behavior they start to behave morally like we want them to.
Children learn socialization from their peers. They started learning this in the early age of life. When children were born they didn’t only learn how to start socializing but they started to identity what gender they were. All children have a natural socialization. This occurs when infants start to explore, play and discover the social world around them. Why they start to be social they learn the gender they are. When they were born all children were attached to their mothers. But threw natural socialization boys slowly become more attached to their fathers then their mothers because they start exploring what their father does and how they have same parts and look alike. As for girls they stay attached to their mothers. Children also go through planned socialization when other people take actions designed to teach or train each other. Fathers start to take actions in their younger sons and show them how they should act and be when they grow older in life. We teach are kids this as they grow up so they learn the gender. Even though we go through this with are children sometimes they still grow up to be who they are.
As are children go through socialization and school they learn how to behave out around the world. In elementary they learn how to sit and be quite and pay attention. We also learn how to walk in public by walking around in school buildings quietly and slowly. When we get old to about the middle school age we learn a little bit more. Children still have to sit quite in class and pay attention but now we are giving them responsibility. Their responsibility is to handle sports some and on top of that homework. During sports in middle school they start to travel to different places around their area so teach them also how to act in public not just a school system. When they hit high school they not only play sports and do homework but now they have the ability to work. They now learn how to handle their money.
The Upper Class and Their Culture
Molly Tolle
As most of Americans are classified in the ever so cliché sounding middle class, we may look at the upper class as a mysterious subject. Not only do we not understand how the social identity of being an upper class person can look so easy and luxurious, but we have no idea how their culture could be so different from ours, seeing as we live in the same country with the same economy and the same surroundings. As I take a look into these curious lives, I have to remember that these people are sociologically divided within their own social group and that as they find their identity, their society looks much different than our working class view.
Sociologically, the upper class is a small minority of the American Population, compared to the middle and lower class. They are not classified into the upper class due to their occupations, bet yet to the amount of money they have, whether inherited or earned. The upper class are the people raised in homes bigger than they need, attending expensive private schools, and are excluded from what the middle class thinks of as a normal while getting through school, work. This is the reason that some have an envious or even resentful attitude towards these people. What we do not think of is that the upper class people are born into this lifestyle and know no other way. Yes, their lives may have more luxurious features to them, but we also have luxurious, although it takes a good heart to see them sometimes, that they may not have.
For instance, since these people are raised in such private schools in large homes usually not needing much of anything, they are unknowingly being raise into a very independent mindset. By putting children in these situations, they grow to have and get used to having plenty of time to themselves. One might ask what the problem in that may be. Well when one is raised like such they learn plenty about themselves and their lives, but what about others. The upper class lacks an understanding of other people and their emotions, therefore coming off as maybe selfish or uneducated, while in fact they did not have the opportunity to fully understand what the middle and lower classes may classify as proper social skills. I believe this is another reason the other classes may resent the upper class, while not fully thinking about their culture inside of their social group.
The values of upper class and the values of the middle class are similar, yet very different. In their culture, they value such things like tradition and authority. The middle class also values these things but in a very different way. While the upper class looks at authority, they see it as power over other upper class families, while middle class adults pride their authority over not only a well doing business or career, but also a well behaved house of children of which know where the authority is in the household. And as we both try to carry on important traditions, the traditions themselves are very different. The upper class traditions tend to relate historically, while the middle class tends to put family events into a traditional view, such as a family dinner at Christmas time or putting up the large old Christmas tree the day weekend after Thanksgiving.
While there are major differences between these classes, I believe we need to be more understanding of one another and not so quick to say ones differences are bad. While the middle class may see the upper class in such a way they can’t understand, the upper class does not know the other class’s lifestyles either. It would be ignorant to throw out judgment calls when one does not have a full understanding of a person’s culture, and only sees their labeled social identity.
Works Cited
Association for Psychological Science. "Social Class as Culture." 8 August 2011. Association for Pychological Science. Article. 3 October 2013.
School Improvement Network. How to Save a Public School. 3 October 2013. Picture.
Desmond Major
Ronald Wells,
Racial Profiling Of Black
Every African-American male in this country who drives either knowingly or unknowingly has been the victim of racial profiling by law enforcement officials. African-American males are disproportionately targeted, stopped, and searched by law enforcement officials based on race and gender. Enforcement of public laws view prosecute, and incarcerate African-American males. On the basis of race and gender, governmental officials have devised a profile of black and male as criminals.
Driving while black has been used to describe the practice of law enforcement officials to stop African-American drivers without probable cause. The practice particularly targets African-American males.Racial profiling involves a pre-disposition held by law enforcement officers who are members of the majority, to believe that minorities, and particularly African-American males, are engaged in criminal activities; therefore, they are stopped and searched without probable cause or reasonable suspicion. Racial profiling has been institutionalized into our American justice system, as well as other systems that disproportionately exclude, punish, and ostracize African-American males. African-American males have fallen prey to law enforcement agencies, as they use racial profiling as a technique to selectively enforce laws and regulations. Data show that nationwide, the police exercise power primarily against African Americans and Latinos. So no person of color is safe from anywhere, regardless of their obedience to the law, their age, the type of car they drive, or their station in life. Skin color has become evidence of the propensity to commit crime, and police use this "evidence" against minority drivers on the road all the time.
Racial profiling is also based on the premise that most drug offenses are committed by minorities. The premise is actually untrue, but it has nonetheless become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Because police look for drugs primarily among African Americans, they find a disproportionate number of them with contraband. Therefore, more minorities are arrested, prosecuted, convicted, and jailed, thus reinforcing the perception that drug trafficking is primarily a minority activity. This perception creates the profile that results in more stops of minority drivers. At the same time, white drivers receive far less police attention, many of the drug dealers and possessors among them go unapprehended, and the perception that whites commit fewer drug offenses than minorities is perpetuated. This results in the persecution of innocent people based on their skin color. It has a corrosive effect on the legitimacy of the entire justice system. It deters people of color from cooperating with the police in criminal investigations. And in the courtroom, it causes jurors of all races and ethnicities to doubt the testimony of police officers when they serve as witnesses, making criminal cases more difficult to win.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_profiling
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/01/racial-profiling-in-drug-stings_n_3690551.html——