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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
Aubrey Mills
Thinking Sociology
Single parenting
One of the worst things that a child can go through in life is watching their parents fight nonstop and eventually leaving each other for a divorce. Having to spend holidays at two separate places or sometimes not even getting to see one side of your family because one parent lives in a completely different state.
The impact of divorce on children especially those that are old enough to understand what is happening is critical. They can feel left out at school because most of the other kids have two parents that are in the same house. The stress can carry off onto them due to the constance arguing between the two parents on who gets the kids for the weekend or who has them for the holidays. It can even become a big challenge when one parent gets remarried to another person and starts a new life with a new family. It can even be stressful for the kid because they may not like staying with one parent due to issues but have to due to court. Being a kid and having to adjust two different living settings between the two houses can be changeling and overwhelming for the kid. One parent may allow the kid to get whatever they what while they are there and let them stay up late, while the other parent is stricter and has them in bed earlier. The hardest thing for children especially boys in “filling” in the fathers place and be the man of the house by taking care of and watching out for the mother and younger siblings. Children often believe that the reason that their parents got a divorce is because they were bad or something that they might have done. This is a big issue for the parents to explain to their children that it is not their fault and that they just can’t get along anymore.
As for the parents there is always the trouble of fighting over who gets the kids for the holidays and whether they are going to spend the all the summer with them or not.
Some ways to help your child deal with the divorce is to
•Be sure to talk to your children about what is happening between the two of you and that they know that it is not their fault
•Try to make sure that both home settings are roughly the same like the time they need to be in bed to the way they are being treated and punished
•Make sure that if you do not have a court visitation right that the children are getting equal quality time with each parent.
•Even though you are divorced try to avoid fighting in front of the children a relaxed setting and showing that you get alone is good for the kids.
•Talking to your kids about their feelings and helping them get through the fact their parents are no longer living in the same house is also very important.
Resources
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890856709641174
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/crq.3900140406/abstract
Olivia Sampson
DIVORCE WITH CHILDREN
All human beings search for love and compassion. Love is a feeling that cannot be described using words. The American Dream to have a perfect wedding, perfect house, perfect kids, and a perfect spouse. Not everything can be like that, humans make mistakes that can affect his or hers marriage. Divorce rate in America is 40 to 50 percent according to American Psychological Association. Children are the most affected through the divorce of his or hers parents.
Children often believe they have caused the conflict between their parents. Many children assume the responsibility for bringing their parents back together, causing them additional stress. Divorced parents are emotionally stress as well as financially stress, it is not what they want to have and trying to deal with the children who do not really understand what is going on. Children do not really grasp the idea why the parents are divorced because it is not what they wanted. With care and attention, however, a family’s strengths can be mobilized during a divorce, and children can be helped to deal constructively with the resolution of parental conflict. Talking to children about divorce is hard here are some tips that can help you and the child with these conservations.
• Do not keep it a secret or wait until the last minute.
• Tell your child together with your spouse if possible.
• Keep things simple and straight-forward and don't share more information than your child is asking for.
• Tell them the divorce is not their fault.
• Admit that this will be sad and upsetting for everyone.
• Reassure your child that you both still love them and will always be their parents.
• Do not discuss each other's faults or problems with the child.
Some of the common signs of distress should be noticed and to be taken care of. Some of the signs are like, acting more aggressive in younger kids, deep sadness and loss in older children, and potentially can affect with their own relationships and self-esteem. The best way to deal with the divorce with children is to let them know that they still have their mom and dad to be there for whenever they need them. However, it is the court’s decision to decide who takes custody of the kids. In rare situations a child may reject contact with one parent, and it is harmful for the child and the rejected parent. It is important to not push any pressure on the child.
Divorce is a situation that is unpleasant but however with support, you will eventually grow in to it, children will do the same. It will take longer for them. It is important to have both stay in touch with the child even though they are not living together. The child is the number one thing to take care at this situation.
Resources
http://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Families_and_Youth/Facts_for_Families/Facts_for_Families_Pages/Children_and_Divorce_01.aspx
http://www.apa.org/topics/divorce
lizabeth vancura
thinking sociology
A key part of engaging in sociology is to adopt a sociological viewpoint or 'think sociologically'. Etymologically, sociology is the 'study of society' but this doesn't differentiate sociology from other forms of social study
As we can see sociology is not just concerned with what is termed as negative social phenomena or what may be labelled as going ‘wrong’ in any given society. Sociology concerns itself with the social — what makes it possible? How do we explain regular patterns and reciprocated relations?
When you are sitting alone doing your homework, you are reading books written by other people, revising notes of lectures given by other people, writing essays to be read by other people. You may even be searching the World Wide Web for information and ideas, and that involves more people than you are ever likely to fit into a room!
Think about what you are doing when you read a book by a dead author. Your mind is interacting with the thoughts of someone who is no longer alive. But if you fall asleep doing your homework in the library, there may be a lot of people around, but you are not interacting with them.
Bauman and May think it is useful to think of three perspectives or strategies having shaped what is thought of as sociology today. These are what they call scientism, hermeneutics and pragmatism. Elements of each of these three ways of thinking sociologically have converged to shape what is accepted as sociological knowledge.
Sociological theory not only explains and informs us of the social world, it often has, implicitly or explicitly, underpinnings and pre-suppositions. Sociology is very much a contested discipline.
Sociological perspectives not only attempt to account for social change, but are themselves influenced or shaped by their own relevant social context.
Resources:
http://studymore.org.uk/ybaumay.htm
http://modernsocieties.wordpress.com/2007/09/30/what-do-we-mean-by-thinking-sociologically/
Austin Marshall
Social Identity
A social identity is the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group. Social identity tells us relate ourselves to others by what we have in common with different people. Like, relating ourselves to people by religion. Maybe even, where we grew up such as being Asian American, southerner or even from New York. Political beliefs are also a part that separate people there is republicans, democrats, and environmentalist. All three of these have different political views that mean that there are three different social groups not meaning that they will not be together in society but just they do not believe in the same concepts of life. Statuses in life can make a huge difference because of the money made. Family members make also can make social groups with age differences grandparents are always with grandparents at family reunions and the grandchildren are always running around with grandchildren. In addition, whether they are homeless and/or alcoholics stigmatize some identities. These different parts of a person life can help realize his/her overall identity.
Public identification can offer individuals with a feeling of self-esteem and a structure for socializing, and it can influence their actions. In tests performed by Henri Tajfel and John Turner, it was discovered that individuals preferred the people that are within the same group as them, regardless of whether the assignment to the social group was in based on the slightest common function or even if it was irrelevant. Moreover to how your perspective yourself, social identification also affects how other individuals treat you.
While gender identification usually happens between the age groups of two and three, many other types of identification keep developing throughout a person's life; for example, an attorney who formerly specific in business law but who changes to divorce law may modify his public identification from a corporate attorney to a divorce attorney. During the years of adolescence, youngsters go through the procedure of defining their social identification. Testing with body piercings, new hairstyles, songs choices, tattoo designs, and different types of outfit are methods in which youngsters try to fit in with a group or choose which group is right for them. While you want your youngsters to be able to fit in with a good group of kids, you want them to sustain their personality and have the self-esteem to avoid doing anything that goes against their own principles or those of their family members.
No References
Social Identity
Brooklyn Sidebottom
Everybody has their own social identity in this world. A social identity is the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group. Not everyone will have the same social identity. We are not born with social identity, we get to create it. As we grow up, we get to experience new concepts of the world. From there, we get to choose which path we want to take. Some characteristics are the same such as religion, interests, etc. People get to choose their own identity and don’t have to listen to what others say. This is the one time that people get to choose who they want to be rather than being told who they need to be. When we are the person we want to be, it makes up feel satisfied. It makes us feel accomplished knowing we chose our destiny.
According to the government, people are categorized into three different social groups: high class, working class, and low class. We don’t have a say what group we are put into. The social groups are based on only the amount of money that is made. It doesn’t matter what the government classifies us as because as individuals we get to choose our own social ranking.
Parents try to show the best paths to take, but in the end it’s up to us. Society is a bad influence on individuals now because of all the social media. Kids are so influenced by others that they often forget to make their own choices. The people who we are around impact our outcome and decisions based on what they do and say. The society is like robots, everyone wants to be like each other.
Social identity effects our behavior. How we act towards other people defines who we are. Social identity also effects our self-esteem. Whether or not people fit into other groups is when our self-esteem is affected. We want to increase our self-image and to do so we would down grade other groups to make our self-image better.
Resources
http://www.jstor.org/stable/258189?seq=2
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
Social Indentity
by: Juan Rubio
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/
Stafan Bradley
Dr. Thompson
Sociology
1, October 2014
What is social Identity ?
Social identity is the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group. Social identity first proposed that people come to understand and define themselves, in part, as members of social groups. Social identity theory is a fundamental theory in social psychology, the subfield of psychology that addresses how people are influenced by others. Social identity theory argues that groups are central to how people see themselves and have a profound impact on how people behave toward others
Social identity refers to those aspects of a person that are understood based on his or her group memberships There are a few related areas of study, which are concerned with the processes under which social identities form and their impact. Social identity theory is narrowly concerned with how concrete groups affect peoples' thoughts and behaviors .
A major finding of social identity theory is that people treat members of their group more favorably. While self-categorization theory is concerned with how even broad abstract groups or categories (e.g. all women) can affect peoples' thoughts and behavior. These two theories are typically combined in what is referred to as the social identity approach (or social identity perspective.
For example, preferring certain values, one might identify oneself as a conservative as opposed to a liberal. Some sociologists believe social identity can explain extreme behavior. A gang member, for example, might kill someone because the gang member identifies himself or herself as a member of a specific gang as opposed to another
References
From <http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/definitions/social-identity-49>
From <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:YTausczik/Social_identity_theory>
Social Identity
Patricia Mong-Rickard
Every day we are faced with the question, “Who are we?” We say our name without really thinking about it. Our name is just an ‘attempt to individualize and so distinguish a person from all other people’. It’s our personal identity, and it marks us out as a unique and distinct individual. But is our name who we really are; is that what makes us, us?
Our name is just a part of what makes us who we are. From the time we are born we are being formed into who we are or who we will become. Our parents pick out a name and have certain expectations that go along with the name. Everything about us or around us makes us who we are. The affection our parents give or the lack of; even the way we are dressed as a child, how we are raised, the type of household, and how many siblings we have. Our every day events are sculpting us into who we will become.
Our work and social interactions help define the type of person we are and places us into a certain class or social group. We therefore are labeled with our social identity. Social Identity is defined as ‘a particular label that has been applied to someone in order to indicate the type of person that they are’. In other words, it’s a stereotype or a label people give one another to describe the person’s character. Don’t confuse this with our personality character; it’s rather a collection of personality characteristics that interlink social roles or groups together.
Our social identity has somehow become an important role in our lives. Instead of it just being what we are and a small part of whom we are; Society is changing everything. It’s no longer just a classification. Our Social Identity is mutating into a person’s entire way of living or being. We are wrapped up in how we are perceived or what people think about us. We stop being ourselves. We are transforming; taking the role of our label or our Social Identity.
So when you are faced with the question ‘Describe yourself in three words’; what will you use to define yourself? We tend to say what we are: husband, daughter, nurse, black, Asian, and not who we are. Will you label yourself with your social identity, the way society defines you or will you defy the norms. Don’t let your social identity slowly take over who you are.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity_theory
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
*Mindi Keith*
Sociology Fall 2014
*Dr. Thompson*
Social Identities and Stereotyping
Social identity is a label given to show our relation to others according to what we have in common. We try to understand how the world functions by categorizing and evaluating groups, based on not enough information creating stereotypes.
For example, about two weeks ago I posted a picture to Facebook of a girl I work with, my boyfriend, and myself when we were closing up the restaurant. We were just hanging out after work off the clock having drinks (all of us are of age) and playing cards.
The next morning my mom called me and is literally freaking out because I am in a photo with that particular girl. Rumor around town in is that when her husband was in high school he was a drug dealer/user. My mom's exact words to me were, "My heart did a flip flop when I saw that picture on Facebook…You know how I feel about her husband. I'm just concerned about your reputation."
Needless to say, work and fast cars are seriously the only thing I have in common with this girl and we never hang out outside of work. Evidently our social identities are totally different, however my mother placed a stereotype on the girl I work with and automatically associated me with that same group she categorized the girl I work with.
Stereotyping can be hurtful, however all people do it unintentionally. People tend to use the idea of stereotyping when thinking about groups including members of the group and what they are affiliated with. When people use stereotyping they cam quickly create a biased opinion not only on an individual but the entire group of people. My mother placed my co-worker with dealer/druggie because of her husband. Automatically I became noticed not only to my mom but to all of Goodland, as a member of that group, however that's not how I placed myself nor did the other co-workers that were along, nor my boyfriend. As a matter of fact none of us were thinking about her relation to her husband. We were talking about fast cars and playing PNA. No one was aware of the social identity that was being placed on us from one simple picture. We thought we were all waitresses/waiters at Shiraz in Goodland. My mom and probably plenty of people around town stereotyped us without having enough information to determine if that's what/who we really are.
Stereotyping can lead to many issues including lowered self esteem, limited friendships, and even our understanding of other groups. If the human brain was wired to be more open minded I think that we could reduce these issues and the world that we know could be better. I attempt to be more open minded but I know I'm not there 100%. I jump from many different social groups attempting to find my social identity and in the process I get a stereotype thrown upon me.
All in all, although we don't mean to be biased we have a natural brain funtion that allows us to be stereotypical without even noticing that we are. The human brain automatically groups things together such as differences between groups and what certain groups have in common. Everyone want the self satisfaction of knowing who they are, and finding your social identity becomes important, and once we find that identity we aim to protect that identity and in turn we can become a stereotype.
Referrences
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://nwadvtp.com/education/articles/social-identity-stereotypes-prejudice-and-discrimination/
"Excuse me, but who are you"
Megan Kantor
Everyone has experienced that awkward question when someone says “Who are you?”. Those three small, simple words can mean one thing to most people. The persons name is all the asker is questioning. When a baby is born, he or she is given a name. The name is slapped onto a piece of paper with some other minor details. A code is then paired to that name just to make sure that baby knows even more just who he or she is and walla, that baby is now a person. But is that really what the question of “Who are you?” is asking?
Who a person is can simply mean their name or it can mean a deeper answer. When one thinks of the name Laquisha, they instantly think of an African American female. Please tell me where is it written down that naming a red headed, pale skinned, freckled faced caucasian male Laquisha is unacceptable. I have not seen the book of rules that says that it is not allowed to legally identify someone with a name that society sees as unfit. To truly understand who a person is identified by, one must know more than their name. Where are they from? What are their hobbies? What color is their skin? Are they a male or a female? What was there ACT score in the math section? These type of questions are what lead to the knowledge of knowing who is someone “is”. These are determining factors to lead to the classification of one’s Social Identity.
Social Identities are what the outside world sees of one certain person due to what or whom is being surrounded by them. For example, when a person thinks of the word nerd, they instantly think of awkward social skills, comic book conventions, glasses, weird sneakers, and bad fashion sense. A nerd is not one particular person, but it is a classification of people that groups similar people together. All “nerds” are not brought into this world wearing glass and carrying a suitcase of action figures to decorate his or her bedroom with. They are born just like the rest of the babies in the world. All of them are like a brand new white board. They start with a clean slate of being who ever the world around them develops them into. Things around this baby like the family, the media, friends, and neighbors will all start to draw on the childs white board. This then turns the child into something that will adapt to its surroundings to best fit in. Henri Tajfel (1979) proposed that the groups (e.g. social class, family, football team, etc) which people belong to were an important source of pride and self-esteem. Groups gives us a sense of social identity: A sense of belonging to the social world.
As the child grows, society will change as well. That white board can be erased, but it will continue to have the remaining leftover color from the previous markers. The child’s social identity will change as it grows to fit into the always changing society. Whether it was the young lady who would agree to be seen only when needed to the woman who recently left home who would revolt and spit in a man’s face if he told her she could not do as a man could. That same girl changed from being the submissive type to the hopefully dominant type in only a matter of a couple years. The reason this happened was because she was no longer in the home where it was best to keep your tongue, but into the open, opinionated world full of feminists that encourages the rebellion.
Once they can delineate their group unequivocally, individuals know which prototypes or norms to follow, curbing uncertainty and alleviating anxiety (Hogg & Mullin, 1999). In this reference it describes why social identities take place. Naturally, humans feel more comfortable in a group surrounding. So even if they have to join a group and adapt to that group that had very little relevance to themselves, they will do it for sake of feeling more comfortable.
So even though when someone says, “Who are you?”, they may simply be referring to ones name, think about who that person truly “is”. Because little do you know they could have held many different identities that you would of never guessed.
Resources
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://www.psych-it.com.au/Psychlopedia/article.asp?id=75
Zack Legleiter
10/6/14
Sociology
Many of us, much of the time, are able to take identity for granted. We seem to know who we are, we have a good enough working sense of who the others in our lives are, and they appear to relate to us in some way. Sooner or later however, a time arrives when identity becomes an issue. Others may speculate about our identity without us noticing it, or it becoming a particular issue. Such as if you start to not do interests that your friends are doing they might not want to be around you because you don't have that strong identity bond anymore. You will have to find new friends that will enjoy doing the same as you. In situations identity is, or has to established or verified but the stakes are not high, one way or the other, and life goes on much as before. Identification is not always so trivial however. Whether of ourselves or of others, is a process, something that we do. As a consequence, we may get it wrong. Especially when we try to make people see us in someway we truly aren't, and it may or may not matter.
There are many questions to ask about identity and identification. How do we know who we are, and how do others identify us. How do our senses of ourselves as consistently "who we are" with the knowledge that we can be different things to different people and in different circumstances? To what extent is it possible to become someone, or something other than what we now are? And is it possible to just be myself. There are however, many situations in which we only have a limited ability to influence how others to identify us. So, who we are, or who we are seen to be can matter enormously. Identification is not just a matter of encounters of the individual lives. Although identification always involves individuals, something else might always be at stake.
Resources
http://www.bbcprisonstudy.org/resources.php?p=59
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/theory%20clusters/interpersonal%20communication%20and%20relations/social_identity_theory/
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity_theory
Kelsey Carrasco
Dr. Thompson
Sociology
6 October 2014
Social Identity
Everyone wants to fit in some place and have a special bond with one or many people. A social identity is the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group. lets me this a simple way to understand. Tajfel (1979) proposed that the groups (e.g. social class, family, football team etc.) which people belonged to were an important source of pride and self-esteem.
Groups give us a sense of social identity: a sense of belonging to the social world. While gender identity usually occurs between the ages of two and three, many other forms of identity continue to evolve throughout a person's life; for example, a lawyer who formerly specialized in corporate law but who switches to divorce law may change his social identity from a corporate lawyer to a divorce lawyer. During the years of adolescence, teens undergo the process of defining their social identity. Experimenting with body piercing, new hairstyles, music preferences, tattoos, and different forms of dress are ways in which teens try to fit in with a group or decide which group is right for them.
While you want your teenagers to be able to fit in with friends (if they're a good group of kids), you want them to maintain their individuality and have the self-esteem to resist doing anything that violates their own values or those of their family. You can have many friends and also have many different friends from different groups but finding yourself makes it a better experience than trying to copy everyone and be the same. You can have different groups just like a church group and a sports group a hobby group people you are just with everyday group.
There is also people social identity groups like Asians, Mexicans, White, Black, Jewish. There can be a fat person, skinny person, tall, short, STDS, a blue eyed group, brown eyes, green. But when you find who you are, you realize how happy you can be with yourself and no one can bring you down mentally or emotionally. Show that person you want everyone to see so people don’t want to call you names and have them think they can bring you down because maybe they aren’t happy with their own identity and want to make fun of yours or maybe they need help with it. Everyone is going to be different and that's okay everyone should be, once you find that you can make things change in your life and be happy.
If I had to pick a way that people saw me well do see me, it has to be a very head strong, out-going, happy but can be out there kind of person. But that’s what makes me happy and feel good about myself. But no one knows what i’m scared of or who I like or don’t like or what I love doing in my spare time or where I like to live in the next couple of years. Or if someone has died close to be or if I’m struggling through a horrible stage in my life, they only see what they wanna see but no one can tell you not to be who you don’t want to be or who you do want to be. It’s all up to you and finding yourself is what makes high school and college the best time of your life and is get down deep into whatever you love or stay away from everything you hate so you can make changes in your life and be happy. Thats what its all about.
References
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://people.howstuffworks.com/what-is-social-identity.htm
Defining Social Identity Theory
Morgan Worthington
October 6 2014
The Social Identity Theory is defined as a piece of an individual’s self concept conceived from membership in a relevant social group. It was developed by Henri Tajfel and Josh Turner in the 1970s and 1980s. This theory introduces a new way to look social identity in which it can explain intergroup behaviour. The theory explains ways we act and react within our social group and with other social groups. For example the social identity theory says that in order to increase our self image we enhance the status of the group to which we belong. Thats were national pride comes from and even racial pride, even prejudice against other nationalities and races. The social identity theory says that we divide the world into “them” and “us” according to a process called social categorization. This process is known as in-group (us) and out-group (them).
The Social Identity Theory states that the in-group will discriminate against the out-group to boost their self image. The main prediction of social identity theory is that group members of the in group will look for negative aspects of the out group in order to feel better or cooler about themselves. Basically, everyone is looking to put down those that are different from another in order to feel better about themselves. The social identity theory also explains where racism comes from. It says prejudiced views between cultures results in racism. In extreme cases racism can result to genocide, such of the occurrence in Germany with the Jews and in Rwanda between the Hutus and Tutsis.
According to Henri Tajfel stereotyping (putting people into groups or categories) is part of our normal cognitive process. The normal cognitive process is described as the tendency to group things together. In response to the normal cognitive process we naturally tend to exaggerate the differences between groups and we exaggerate the similarities of things in the same group. Social categorization is one explanation of prejudice attitudes. The “them” and “us” mentality. It leads to these in-groups and out-groups. Tajfel and Turner said that there are three mental processes involved in the way we evaluate others as the “us” or “them”, or the in-group and out-group. There is a particular order in which these mental process take place. These processes include social categorisation, social identification and social comparison.
The first process is categorization. As humans we categorize objects in order to better understand them and identify them. We categorize people in a very similar manner. It really is only a way to understand people better. The intentions are good but it can have negative effects such as racism and discrimination. It helps us understand the social environment. Using social categories like black, white, Australian, Christian, Muslim, student, and bus driver because they are useful. Similar to how we categorize people we categorize ourselves.
Categorizing ourselves helps us find out things about ourselves by knowing what category we belong to. The second process is social identification. We hold on to the identity of the group we belong to. There will be an emotional significance to your identification to the group and your self esteem will become bound up with the group membership. The last process is social comparison. Once we identify a group we belong to we compare our own group to other groups we have created.
In order for your self esteem to be maintain usually your group needs to be compared favorably to other groups. All in all the social identity theory defines why we act a certain way and how we see other people
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity_theory
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
Ja’Mar Hammonds
Social Identity
Many people may not admit it but most of us care about what others think of us. People want to fit in and be well liked by others. Who doesn’t? Each person in this world is different and unique and likes different things. Not everyone in today’s society follows the “norms,” like wearing a certain brand of clothing or cutting their hair a certain way. Everyone is different. So how does a person figure out who they are as a person and what they like..? By hanging out with social groups and figuring out who they fit in with and who they don’t and finding their social identity.
Social identity is defined by dictionary.com as the portion of an individual’s self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group. People don’t just have to belong to one social identity either. They can classify themselves in “various social categories.” For example they can classify themselves based on age, religious preferences, gender and their age cohort (Ashforth). Individuals figure out who they are a person and their self-identity by the people that they hang around. For example a girl could try out for the basketball team and not like it because the rest of the girls on the team are “jocks” and that’s just not her personality. However that same girl goes and joins the glee club and loves it because the people in the club have more of the same personality that she does. The same goes for self-identity based on age. I personally don’t like hanging out with my parents friends because we don’t have anything in common. We don’t fit into the same group. When a person fits in with a certain group of people it makes them feel good on the inside because they aren’t being out casted; someone is accepting them for them. If a person can find a place where they fit with a certain group of people they will feel good about themselves and have self-worth.
Once socials identities are established and people know where they belong, stereotyping and discrimination start to take hold against other groups according to Henri Tajfel. The reason that groups stereotype and discriminate against each other is to make their group look better than the other. For example a football team might call the men’s cross country team a bunch of girls because they run for a sport and that’s not manly. In this situation the football team is trying to be superior to the cross country team. This is known as the social identity theory. This theory states that the in group will discriminate against the out group to enhance their self-image. It’s an us against them battle. If a certain group is seen as the superior ones, the more people are going to like them and the more people are going to respect them. The in group will try and find negative things about the out group to once again make themselves look better.
A prime example of an in group trying to make an out group look bad is the battle of the sexes. Men will all the time bash women to make themselves seem like the superior sex. They will say women aren’t as strong as men or as smart as men and that men are capable of doing more. In some cases this is true but in others it is not. Men are overall just trying to make themselves look better so they get more respect from others. In my opinion this has worked in favor for the men. We get paid more than women for the same work, and we are seen as a bigger threat. Women are seen as weaker. Social identity takes place with everyone whether we recognize it or not. We are constantly looking for that group that we fit into and for that self-satisfaction that comes from fitting in with others.
References:
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://www.jstor.org/stable/258189
Social Identity
Kody Maddox
Social identity is widely based in many areas of the world. People judge you in the world on not only who you socialize with but who you actually are as a person. Social identity plays a major part in how you interact with other people. Most of the time people gravitate towards people who are just like them. People of the same ethnic group and same culture tend to be more involved with each other.
I feel that your ultimate identity is developed in stages. It starts when you’re young all the way to pre-k when you first start interacting with other kids. You start experiencing how some kids are mean and judge you off your appearance and how you take that can affect your self-esteem. How you respond to these experiences will start to shape your behavior. Being known on what you can do and what you already have done is a big thing in the world now. Like in golf you rarely see African American males playing the sport because of how they are put into the world and how they are looked at by most American’s nobody wants to give them a chance. The game itself is hard to play and hard to get yourself to play the sport.
The identity of others is very important like in tribes and the Indians that have reservations and that are protected by the government, they barely have enough food and supplies to survive on along with the health and the medicine that they are given. Identity has many effects on peoples life such as when they go out into public everbody knows who they are because of their identity
Resources
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13504630.2011.587303#.VDSiWLl0zmI
http://www.english-area.com/paginas/nationalities.jpg
Vanessa Ramirez
Sociology
October 4, 2014
Social Identity
What is social identity?
What is social identity?
A social identity is a portion of an individual’s self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group. Social identity sometimes we refer as a label that has been applied to demonstrate who we are. As some point of your life, have you ever asked yourself who I am. Of course there is that one point where we sit and wonder who really are and how we identify ourselves.
Social Identity Theory was developed by Tajfel and Turner in 1979. The theory was originally developed to understand the psychological basis of inter-group discrimination. Tajfel attempted to identify the minimal conditions that would lead members of one group to discriminate in favor of the in-group to which they belonged and against another out-group.
Tajfel and Turner proposed that there were three categories involved in evaluating others as “us” or “them”. The outline they use follows a particular order.
The first is categorization. We tend to categorize objects in order to understand them and identify them. The same way we tend to categorize people and that’s including ourselves. We used categories like black, Hispanic, white, Christian, student, etc. An individual can belong to many different groups. More likely, we find things about ourselves by knowing what “categories” we belong to.
The other category is, social identification and this comes from the group we adopt to categorize ourselves as belonging to. An example of this second stage can be, if you identify yourself as parents, it is very likely that you adapt to this identity and begin to act in the ways parents are supposed to act. There will be an emotional significance to your identification with a group, and your self-esteem will become bound up with group membership.
In social identity theory the group membership is not something foreign or artificial which is attached onto the person, it is a real, true and vital part of the person. Again, it is crucial to remember in-groups are groups you identify with, and out-groups are ones that we don't identify with, and may discriminate against.
References
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/theory%20clusters/interpersonal%20communication%20and%20relations/social_identity_theory/
http://www.theage.com.au/comment/the-age-letters/flying-in-the-face-of-our-social-identity-20141009-3hnjs.html
Jamie Wright
Introduction to Sociology
Mr. Thompson
October 27, 2014
How people find their Cliques Today
It’s hard to know exactly when cliques actually began. Simply because their social aspect has become a huge part of all schools throughout the years. They’ve even began to form as early as kindergarten. Though the size and people differ and change throughout the years, cliques are a large part of the teenage life. Cliques are so important that they cover more than just one aspect of a person’s life in and out of school “80% of children are in a social group at school.” They are known to affect people on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram, just to name a few social media hot spots. Also, how you dress is not just something that people will judge, but it will define a large part of who you are and who you surround yourself with. Depending on what you decide to do for extra-curricular activities or even hobbies; most times that defines what group you belong in.
Social media can affect a person in many different ways; including their identity. Social media is so advanced that teens can be just about whoever they want to be; not knowing that everything that’s posted online, becomes permanent. Some feel that they are entitled to say whatever they want no matter who it could hurt or how much it can escalate. At the same time, the exact opposite can happen, it can raise awareness for a great cause and produce positive results.
Trends are constantly changing, every city, state, region and country. Popularity differs between fashion, cuisine, sports and so much more. With some cliques trends don’t matter as much. Every clique has a different set of unspoken rules that constantly changes based on trends and popularity as well Because of this rapidly changing world, people are trying to be ahead of the ball, when in reality, it’s almost impossible.
In one way or another, most teenagers participate in an afterschool activity, club or sport. “A new national survey which found that 79% of America's middle and high school students regularly participate in activities after school.” These types of organized groups, help students learn more about what they are interested is and ways to improve their skills. When teens are involved in extra-curricular activities, they begin to make friends based on their interests and likes. This will help them to find a clique that will benefit the students, try other things, and that will help the student to find a good clique to fit into. With this being said, I understand that not every teenager will or will want to be involved with extracurricular groups. That is ok, but at least try to find something to do so that they don’t get into trouble. Most times, finding a group that fits your personal interests and hobbies, can be incredibly beneficial to a person’s identity and in some cases, self-esteem.
I myself have seen the positive effects of how being in a clique has helped me discover my own social identity. While going through many rough patches of middle and high school years, teenagers need to have a group of friends that will help them with problems and have fun with minimal influence of drugs and alcohol. Teenagers are constantly comparing and judging themselves to others to find out where they fit best. It will always be changing, but as long as people stay true to who they are and who they want to be, there will always be a clique to be around and something fun and interesting to be around.
References:
http://www.publicagenda.org/press-releases/survey-sports-arts-clubs-volunteering-out-school-activities-play-crucial-positive-role-kids
http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Why-Do-Children-Form-Cliques
Dohar Harianja
Social identity
Could I Be Gay?
Social identity relates to how we identify ourselves in relation to others according to what we have in common. For example, we can identify ourselves according to where we're from (alaska, hawaii) or our vocation (nurse, doctor). Those social identities play different roles in social life. For instance, it can influence or provide self-esteem for socializing, as well as influence how other people treat you. We usually see the other group in which they belong as being different and members of our group as being similar to them.
According to Tajfel and Turner (1979) social identification is the process by which you or another person or persons identify with an in-group more overtly. The norms and attitudes of other members within that group are seen as compatible with your own or worthy of emulation by yourself, or as with another person.
We adopt our identity groups as where we belong. For instance, if you are a group of students, then you act the way a student should. Many sociologists believe social identity can explain how the person behaves. For instance, if you are a gang member, you might kill someone because he identifies himself as opposed to your gang.
Many forms of social identity exist, each of the types of social identity make some unique characteristic and reflect how we connect to other people. An example is gender identity. Gender identity includes personal and social attributes, social relationships, interests, abilities, and behaviors.
Janet Spence (1985) defines gender identity as a "fundamental existential sense of one’s maleness or femaleness" and a "pamitive, unarticulated concept of self. Initially laid down at an essentially preverbal stage of development and maintained at an unverbalized level."
Identity development is ultimately the result of a lifelong journey. The person that an individual ultimately become unique; however, the process by which identity develops is similar among individuals. Although identity development is most often associated with adolescence, each developmental stage offers opportunities for reevaluation and modification.
Social identity begins at birth; for example parents put blue on boys and pink on girls. As the baby grows up as a child, sometimes he/she will say, I want to be a teacher. That is the expectation for what they will do in the future. Then, upon reaching young adolescence, she/he looks for careers that fit to his or her personality interest such as medical school. By late adolescence, they become accustomed with their identities and career paths. Our identity is also relation to other people, such as a father’s identity or a mother’s, house wife’s, etc. When we interact with adults, they will mostly talk about their profession. Often adolescents begin interactions with other members of the same culture who increase their knowledge.
We usually see the group to which others belong as being different from ours, and members of our group as being similar. Many people use sexual orientation as social identity. Sexual identity is defined as how individuals are placed within sexual categories. For example, it defines how to classify people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT).
One of the foundational theories of gay and lesbian identity development was developed in 1979 by Vivian Cass. Gay and lesbian are gender identities where people try to recognize their sexual orientation. The discrimination that gay and lesbian individuals face is a dilemma for their identity because their identity is not shared with large society. Mostly gay and lesbian individuals are facing social isolation from society, and also leads to discrimination and violent acts (homophobia). LGBT tries so hard to be accepted in society and try to establish that discrimination of gender identity is wrong. Prejudiced views between social identities may result in racism and may lead to violence.
References
http://maxweber.hunter.cuny.edu/pub/eres/SOC217_PIMENTEL/frable.pdf
http://www.utexas.edu/courses/stross/ant393b_files/ARTICLES/identity.pdf
Social Identity
Katie Fleener
Social Identity is ones sense of how they feel about their self as a member of a group. And how people understand who they are and why they do what they do. People like to be in groups that are more like themselves. Social Identity can explain extreme behavior. For example to get initiated into a gang you might have to kill someone or prove to the gang that you are not a chicken.
Social behavior will vary between interpersonal behavior and intergroup behavior. Interpersonal behavior is determined by the individual and interpersonal relationships between two or more people. Intergroup behavior is determined by your group of people that you hang around with.
You identity is not purely interpersonal or purely intergroup behavior. It is both combined. You behavior is usually driven by the compromise of your two behaviors. Social structure will predict which end of the spectrum mostly makes up your identity’s behavior or the behavior of each individual person.
The Social Identity theory is that individuals are motivated to achieve positive distinctiveness, also to strive for a positive self-concept. They want to strive to achieve or to maintain positive social identity. Individuals would rather engage in something that will help their own dreams and goals then engage in something that would help their group. Members are able to increase their positive individualism without changing the objective on some new dimension, changing the values assigned to the groups and also choosing an alternative out-group by which to compare to the in-group.
People are motivated to achieve and maintain positive concepts of how they want to be. Some people think that self-esteem and social identity are closely related. If someone is depressed in the group (especially if it is the leader or someone who is in charge of something) then it can bring the whole group down. Example: In a gang if someone hurts someone family or someone close to someone in the gang, then that person may want to hide for their life. Everyone in a gang is considered family, and when you hurt someone in their family or related to the family of the gang then they should feel the same pain that they made their family feel. Sometimes that can be as bad as shooting someone or starting their house on fire.
Similar groups sometimes may feel the need to individualize themselves from each other. If two groups have the same goals and the same feelings on how to react to things they have to have something that makes one group stand out more than the other. Even if it is just a vest in a biker club or every biker in the club has the same bike or it could be a t-shirt for a science club. It all just really depends on how the group wants to stand out to against the other group.
Resources:
www.chegg.com/homework-help/definitions/social-identity-49
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social-Identity-Theory
Shay-ann holness
Sociology
Social identity
“Without social identity, there is, in fact, no society”
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. Sociologists see identity as related to the society in which people exist. People, are in part, socialized into their identities. There are assorted ways that conceptions about individual and group identities are socially constructed. And identity is created against a social background that tries to make social interaction meaningful, understandable and well organized by categorizing people in various ways. The nature of identity is expressed as a social phenomenon and a dynamic feature of social life. The understanding that “who we are” is socially constructed permits us to account for the fact that how we view ourselves and how others see us is not socially static.
Social identity can provide people with a sense of self-esteem and a framework for socializing, and it can influence their behavior. Social identity also influences how other people treat you. At a general level, self-psychology is compelled to investigate the question of how the personal self relates to the social environment. To the extent that these theories place themselves in the tradition of "psychological" social psychology, they focus on explaining an individual's actions within a group in terms of mental events and states. However, some "sociological" social psychology theories go further by attempting to deal with the issue of identity at both the levels of individual cognition and of collective behavior. Many people gain a sense of positive self-esteem from their identity groups, which furthers a sense of community and belonging. Another issue that researchers have attempted to address is the question of why people engage in discrimination, why they tend to favor those they consider a part of their "in-group" over those considered to be outsiders. Both questions have been given extensive as part of the social identity approach. For example, in work surrounding social identity theory it has been shown that merely crafting cognitive distinction between in- and out-groups can lead to subtle effects on people's evaluations of others.
Different social situations also compel people to attach themselves to different self-identities which may cause some to feel marginalized, thus traveling between different groups and self-identifications. These different selves lead to constructed images dichotomized between what people want to be (the ideal self) and how others see them (the limited self). Educational background and Occupational status and roles significantly influence identity formation in this regard. Social identity theory proposes that people are motivated to achieve and maintain positive concepts of themselves. Some researchers, including Michael Hogg and Dominic Abrams, thus propose a fairly direct relationship between positive social identity and self-esteem. In what has become known as the "self-esteem hypothesis", self-esteem is predicted to relate to in-group bias in two ways. Firstly, successful intergroup discrimination elevates self-esteem. Secondly, depressed or threatened self-esteem promotes intergroup discrimination.
Some social identity theorists, including John Turner, consider the self-esteem hypothesis as not canonical to social identity theory. In fact, the self-esteem hypothesis is argued to be conflictual with the tenets of the theory. It is argued that the self-esteem hypothesis misunderstands the distinction between a social identity and a personal identity. Along those lines, John Turner and Penny Oakes argue against an interpretation of positive distinctiveness as a straight forward need for self-esteem or “quasi-biological drive toward prejudice”. They instead favor a somewhat more complex conception of positive self-concept as a reflection of the ideologies and social values of the perceiver. Additionally, it is argued that the self-esteem hypothesis neglects the alternative strategies to maintaining a positive self-concept that are articulated in social identity theory.
References:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FB%3AJOYO.0000032639.71472.19
http://sevencounties.org/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=37688&cn=1272
Hailey Schindler
Act Normal, Society’s Watching
Each person inhabits his or her own behaviors, experiences, and emotions all leading to the uniqueness of personality. With this self-formed personality however one is expected to adapt toward other members of society, to “blend in”, in a way. We learn this throughout the topic of Social Identities. Social identity can be described as a sense of belonging to the social world; a feeling that even the most outcasted human beings desire. Within section four of this topic, Goffman describes people as actors, using props and scenery to manipulate the eyes of others into believing what they claim to be. The human race is caught up in the idea of acceptance, the idea of normality. Masculinity and Feminism play roles in distinguishing ones social identity, ones normality through society.
Men and women have certain roles that contribute to the structure of society, with those roles come responsibilities towards a functional society. However, we learn in lecture seven that while humans conform to the social norms of society, there are those who do not, this can be described as deviance. One can relate deviance back to the way in which one’s self-formed personality was given meaning to the socialization process. We learn that there are two stages of deviance, primary and secondary. Much like a scolding parent would count to three before punishing a child, society counts to two until labeling the secondary deviation offense as “not normalized, even as a thief perhaps. Once noticed as a deviation in the secondary offense the public opinion of that person may change, identities being forced upon the individual without consent.
This harsh treatment, we learn, causes many to become ‘secret deviants’, to side step the harsh gloom of secondary deviation. Some are forced into deviation, into a life of crime and burglary. We learn that even in crime men and women take roles through the socialization process. Men contribute to crime most likely through theft, while women contribute through sexuality. Noticing the pattern of crime through gender shows that society attempts to follow social rule and gender class in even the lowest forms. Being a member of secondary deviation isn’t exactly ideal to the beings of society simply because its out of the norm. Human beings thirst for normality, but society thirsts for the truth.
In the topic of Culture, Knowledge, and Belief we learn that truth comes from the one of the most powerful forces, the media. Media influence is a hot debate simply because it shapes the thoughts of an audience, manipulating ones train of thought. The Internet is one of the world’s greatest inventions, while also one of its greatest enemies. Through the World Wide Web people are able to express their beliefs, and opinions freely, without censoring or editing. In today’s society popular media has become crime, sports, politics, and sex. The Internet however isn’t the only form of technology appealing to society. Radio and television, while broadcasting media in different forms, still broadcast human appeal. We learn through this section that media is a part of our everyday lives, morphing our ideas into the ideas of others, forcing us to believe what the producers want us to believe. Technology dominates our thoughts, perhaps to keep social norm, to keep restraint of the wandering mind.
References
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100629231706/spongebob/images/4/47/WIE_MA~1.
Armando Lobato
No Image
A social identity is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group membership. Meaning you are yourself. I can’t go and be Peyton Manning. IM stuck being Armando Lobato. The theory of social identity is easy. Social Identity Theory asserts that group membership creates in group, self-categorization and enhancement in ways that favor the in-group at the expense of the out-group. The examples of Turner and Tajfel (1986) showed that the mere act of individuals categorizing themselves as group members was sufficient to lead them to display in group favoritism. After being categorized of a group membership, individuals seek to achieve positive self-esteem by positively differentiating there in group from a comparison out group on some valued dimension. This quest for positive distinctiveness means that people’s sense of who they are is defined in terms of ‘we’ rather than ‘I’. We categorize people in the same way. We see the group to which we belong as being different from the others members of the same group as being more similar than they are. Social categorization is one explanation for prejudice attitudes which leads to in-groups and out-groups. Social identities differ from everyone. They are all based on groups you hang out with and what you do.
Resources
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/theory%20clusters/interpersonal%20communication%20and%20relations/social_identity_theory/
http://helensandoval.wordpress.com/2012/10/
Hannah Strange
Where Will I Fit In?
When you hear the word sociology, what pops into your mind? Most people probably think of different groups of people and the social aspect of the world. Although this is partially true, it isn’t wholly. Sociology is a very broad topic, under which majority of people have a category. What this means is that each person has a different place in the world, and when placed together, groups form based on peoples’ similar interests and personality traits. This can be defined as social structure- the patterned social arrangements in society that emerge from the actions of individuals. As people have studied sociology, it has opened up many job opportunities.
Some examples of jobs are marketing, public relations, education, and many more. This gives opportunity time and time again for persons to study sociology further and really “think sociologically.” This topic ties in very well with social identity. The many jobs listed above all somewhat study groups and how those groups evolve. This describes social identity in a type of way. Social identity can be known as a person’s sense of who they are, based on the group they are around. Just because one person tags himself with a certain social identity, doesn’t mean that another person will give them the same one.
The way people see themselves and others around them is very contrastive. Most people will do almost anything just to be accepted into a group of people, whether it is wrong or right. As sad as this is, it’s the truth. Being in a group gives one the sense of feeling important and belonging. One’s personality can many times change, depending on who they are around the longest. There are two types of socialization, primary and secondary, and both of these help individuals get an understanding of their true being. Whether it be from infancy where one is just learning different language and interactions between people, or as an adult interacting with the rest of the world, learning social skills and other aspects of life, both of these types of socialization are very important when determining one’s social identity.
After describing what thinking sociology and social identities are, I will apply both of these things to my life. Just like most teenagers, I have my group of friends that I like to hang around. For me, I have had the same friends my whole life because I have lived in Colby every since I was born. Not every kid gets this opportunity, because of their parents’ jobs or other reasons that involve them moving. Sometimes I consider myself lucky for this, but other times I wish that I would have had the opportunity to meet new people and have a variety of groups of friends, that way I’m not just attached to a certain few people. I would definitely say that the group you’re around shapes your personality. As I have grown up, I have become a mold of my friends combined. Not only do I have similar interests as my friends, but I also have gained a comparable vocabulary. Although we have an endless amount of things in common, our social identities are not all going to be the same. I might see myself as a different person than my friends see me, and they may see themselves much different than I see them, therefore they do not have the same social identity. Overall, I’m happy I’ve had the chance to grow up with the same group of people, but I am very excited to go on to college and get an idea of what it’s like to find new friends in which I have commonalities with.
References
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_structure
-Social Identity-
Danel Stithem
Social Identity is a person's sense of who they are based on their group memberships. The groups that people belong to these days, no matter who or what group it is, they are an important source of social identity and it helps people feel like they have a sense of belonging in the social world. To make ourselves feel better, we try to enhance our status with the group that we belong to. Prejudiced views between cultures may result in racism in extreme forms and racism may result in genocide. Stereotyping is based on a normal cognitive process which is the tendency to group thing together. So, in doing that, we seem to exaggerate the differences between groups and the similarities of things in the same groups. The group that we belong to is different in our eyes than any other groups. The social identities of individuals are not static but they do evolve rapidly over time. They construct these social categories and characterize the prototypes to differentiate their own groupfrom other collectives.
Resources
http://www.psych-it.com.au/Psychlopedia/article.asp?id=75
http://tesolatrennertnyc.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/social-identity-graphic.jpg
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
Social Identity
Zane Winger
According to Henri Tajfel, social identity is a person’s sense of who they are based on their group memberships. A social identity is what makes a person who they are and how they are viewed by others around them. These identities are usually expressed by labels. These labels can include gender, ethnicity, religion or occupation. People tend to embrace different labels in different situations to find their role in society. Another major part of social identity is how people are judged by those around them. I think stereotypes play a large role in how someone’s social identity is determined.
First impressions go a long way in how people are viewed in society and I believe one of the first thing people are judged on is their race. It is easy to identify people by their race because it is easy to see. Each race has different stereotypes about them. Whether or not these stereotypes are accurate, people either choose to embrace them or prove them wrong.
Another way people are perceived is by their job. If you meet someone and they introduce themselves as being a medical doctor you automatically make certain assumptions about them. You assume they must be intelligent and hard working to get through the many years of schooling it takes to become a doctor. You may also get the impression that they are a caring person who likes to help others.
You also assume they are fairly wealthy. So, just by knowing a person occupation, you feel like you have a pretty good understanding on what kind of person they are and what kind of life they live. We live in a society today where people are constantly being judged, especially here in Northwest Kansas in our small community. No matter where you go, your name and your reputation precede you.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity_theory
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
Lizabeth vancura
Symbolic Interactionism
A major frame work of sociological theory, “This perspective relies on the symbolic meaning that people develop and rely upon in the process of social interaction”. Symbolic interaction theory says people behave based on what they believe and not just on what is objectively true. Society is thought to be socially constructed through human interpretation.
Example: “A boy (Jeremy) and a girl (Kim) broke up last year. When Jeremy received an email from Kim to go out he agreed and they went to a bar. Jeremy had a different kind of meaning though in comparison with Kim. Jeremy went out as friends, where Kim went out as with the meaning of ‘potential boyfriend’. Also in the communication the language was misunderstood. Kim wanted to have a romantic night, while Jeremy wanted to have a talk in a bar. This is also caused by the nonverbal element of emails. The third miscommunication is under thought. When Jeremy replied so fast Kim thought that they were going out to a romantic place. Jeremy went out just as ‘friends’. They both used an internal dialogue to interpret the situation and to make a
perception of the evening”.
According to Blumer (1969) Symbolic Interactionism is the process of interaction in the formation of meanings for individuals. The inspiration for this theory came from Dewey (1981), which he believed that human beings are best understood in a practical, interactive relation to their environment.
According to Griffin, (1997) the theory consists of three core principles: meaning, language and thought. These core principles lead to conclusions about the creation of a person’s self and socialization into a larger community.
“Meaning states that humans act toward people and things according to the meanings that give to those people or things. Symbolic Interactionism holds the principal of meaning to be the central aspect of human behavior”.
“Language gives humans a means by which to negotiate meaning through symbols. Humans identify meaning in speech acts with others”.
“Thought modifies each individual’s interpretation of symbols. Thought is a mental conversation that requires different points of view”.
With these three elements it make people use ‘the looking-glass self’: they take the role of the other, how do we look to another people. Without talk there would be no self-concept. People are part of a community, where our generalized other is the sum total of responses and expectations that we pick up from the people around us. We naturally give more weight to the views of significant others.
Race and gender can also be understood through the symbolic interactionist lens. Having no biological bases at all, both race and gender are social constructs that function based on what we believe to be true about people, given what they look like. We use socially constructed meanings of race and gender to help us decide who to interact with, how to do so, and to help us determine, sometimes inaccurately, the meaning of a person's words or actions.
references
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/theory%20clusters/interpersonal%20communication%20and%20relations/symbolic_interactionism/
http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociological-Theory/a/Symbolic-Interaction-Theory.htm
Gabriel Bird
Intro. to Sociology
Dr. Thompson
November 16, 2014
A Person’s Social Identity
As I walked into a restaurant sat at the counter to grab something to eat a man sets beside me. Long beard and hair, tattoos and ear piercings. His clothes are black leather and has a patch on his back that has a club logo on it. I’m sitting there ordering my food I think of this man and the hell he causes people. The people he runs around with tough, mean, no nonsense kind of guys, how much turmoil he goes through at night for the damage he has caused during that day. The man turns to speak to me and I notice the tone of his voice is soft and gentle. As he engage in conversation I learn that he is a teacher. Has a wife and kids, goes to church and gets together with friends to watch football games and volunteers in the local clubs to help the community he lives in.
I realized I labeled this guy by his look and demeanor. His social identity was easy for me, but as I peeled back the layers I truly had his identity all wrong Social identity is one's sense of self as a member of a social group (or groups). So I can see how growing up people put these labels on us and presume our identities without really getting to know that person.
In high school most people want to fit in and be accepted by society and their peers, but it’s what our peers that stereotype us. could be by their families with, the way one dresses and by what interest a person likes. This is how we become stereotyped as the jocks , the nerds, the geeks, the stoners and the labels go on and on.
One identity is forever changing and adapting to new surroundings and influences that we experience everyday from college to the workforce it keeps changing. As we get older and our interest keep changing and we become married, have kids, working, so on and so on. Multiple identities are formed, we become the husband, father, co-worker and in each place we have that identity. Even when we walk out the door into the hobbies we partake in. A singer in a band to a church going guy. Each identity is treated differently by the environment they are in. So our workplace identifies us as professionals, at home we are the caregivers and in our rockband or church group we become the friends peers of our society.
Social identities can provide people with a sense of self esteem and a framework for socializing and can influence their behavior. If you're in a gang likely you could perform acts of violence. If you are in a church choir likely you would engage in charity work for the good.
It’s said that as we walk through this life of ours, we as a society label peoples identity by first glance. But if you stop and really look and listen, another person transforms in front of your eyes. A whole new identity has just emerged.
Resources:
http://www.chegg.com/homework-help/definitions/social-identity-49
http://people.howstuffworks.com/what-is-social-identity.htm
Danielle McNeely
Social Identity
“The nicest people I've ever met were covered in tattoos and piercings. The most judgemental people I've met are the ones who go to church every Sunday.”
Labeling people by what they wear and how they look has become a way of life for our society. Making constant judgements of other people that aren’t the same as you makes them an outcast to you.
“Fitting in” is what you have to do nowadays to be liked, you have to find a group or clique to be associated with. We have divided the world into us and them. Us being the in crowd and them being the out crowd. A first glance judgment may make people write you off as being someone they want to get to know.
You just moved to a new town and have to go to an all new high school where you don't know anyone. If you walk around with your head down and wear all black clothes and you go and walk past a group of girls wearing all pink with their heads held high, chances are they have labeled you as an outcast and they aren’t going to befriend you anytime soon.
You could have every single thing in common with that group of girls, but because our society bases everything off of a first glance judgement, you’ll never know.
One day you wake up, you decide to wear something pink and maybe curl your hair and walk with your head up. The people that wrote you off at first start to re-notice you and talk to you. You’re no longer an outcast. The messed up thing is, you’re still the same person, you just wore something different and people accepted you more because of it.
Resources
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/theory%20clusters/interpersonal%20communication%20and%20relations/social_identity_theory/
Danielle Rodriguez
Thompson
Sociology
November 20, 2014
Differences down the Block
La Labor De Valtierra is located and the Municipality of San Felipe, Guanajuato, Mexico, which is my mom’s birth place and currently home to her sister Reina, one my grandfather’s sister and a population of 649 persons. My grandparents migrated to the United States when my mom was only 5 years old in hopes for a better life and were blessed enough to become residents of the U.S. and my mom and dad even more blessed to become U.S citizens because of a short declaration to give lawful presents to all those living in the States, called amnesty. My mom graduated from Roosevelt High School located in Johnstown, CO. Soon after she married my dad who is from Durango, Mexico, but came to the U.S. for the same reason as my grandparents and graduated from Greeley West High School in Greeley, CO on a Student Visa.
My mom’s sister Reina moved to Houston, Texas with her husband Alfonso who worked at a refinery. After having their youngest child, Crystal, they decided to move back to La Labor where his parents lived and owned farming land. In such poor communities like La Labor, agriculture has a high demand for workers and it is where all the money is at.
My mom visited last month with my grandparents for my aunts 50th birthday! I decided to write about the class and culture difference between how my aunt Reina lives compared to my grandpas sister who lives less than 2 blocks away from her. Also, I’m going to talk about the difference in culture from here in the United States as to the culture in Mexico and how it has a big influence on education.
My aunt Reina and uncle Alfonso are the wealthiest family in the small town of La Labor, alongside his dad who handed down the farm land for him to carry on. Their house is a Mexican styled stucco home that is bigger than an average home in the U.S., but that is mainly because they built them. My aunt is a housewife who does what any typical housewife does! She is up at the crack of dawn every morning to make sure her husband and sons have breakfast before going out to work on the farm, she cleans, prepares lunch, and does a lot of volunteer work at the church because she is a very dedicated to her catholic religion (as most Mexicans are). When and if my uncle is in Houston she is in charge of paying the workers till he gets back (since he still works at a refinery). On the farm they have cows, pigs, horses etc. They contract workers and sell the milk to a main dairy distributer in Mexico and sell their pigs once they are big!
On the contrary, my grandpa’s sister owns land only because she was the only sibling still living in La Labor so my great grandpa left it to her. She lives in a one bedroom home with no floors by herself with a stove that runs off of a gas tank and she gets her water from a well whereas my aunt Reina has all the appliance any middle class home in the U.S. would have (kitchen, stove, microwave, oven etc.) worry-free of gas or water ever running short. As a matter of fact my grandpa’s sister gas tank did run out while my mom was visiting so they cooked over an open fire that afternoon! She has never been married so she does not have a husband to take on the responsibility of growing crops or maintaining animal’s as my aunt Reina does. She basically had to give the land to someone else because she does not have the money to buy the supplies and materials to run a farm like my uncle Alfonso does. Unlike him who contracts the workers and gets most of the profit because they’re his machines and materials, she only gets a certain percentage because nothing other than the land is hers! She gets $100 from the government a month from her social security/retirement.
You can only imagine how drastic the difference is in just their daily lives by just knowing that little information about their lifestyles and income. It’s unbelievable for me to imagine how different the two live while living so close to each other! That just comes to show how important agriculture and farming is in Mexico, especially in small and poor communities like La Labor!
References:
http://www.rlc.fao.org/en/about-fao/regional-priorities/family-farming/baf/2013-06/ffo/
http://www.en.nuestro-mexico.com/Guanajuato/San-Felipe/La-Labor/
Douglas J.W.B (1964), The Home and School (London: MacGibbon & Kee).
Jon Vance
Dr.Thompson
Sociology
Religion is a topic that can calm a person or create a boiling conversation between two people. There are many different sociologic reasons behind this matter such as, New Movements are seen to help the understanding how society itself is affecting religions and its importance. The believers of religion practice for a higher power, while the non-believers often times use logic and skepticism from human understanding, for example science or the studies of human interaction.
Understanding how religion is seen today in America is an important matter to the cause. Without understanding where it stands in importance there is no conclusions that can be brought to attention. According to, Alternet.org, “Of those aged 18 to 35, three in 10 say they are not affiliated with any religion, while only half are “absolutely certain” a god exists. These are at or near the highest levels of religious disaffiliation recorded for any generation in the 25 years the Pew Research Center has been polling on these topics.” This state of decline in religious practices give a wonder, to why in history so many were believers and why today young adults and the middle aged have found something else to draw their attention along with comfort of certainty that many use a god for. The same source continues to evaluate where these minds are heading and the simple answer is to a different belief system. “The fastest growing religious faith in the United States is the group collectively labeled ‘Nones,’ who spurn organized religion in favor of non-defined skepticism about faith. About two-thirds of Nones say they are former believers…shunning the religion of their parents for any number of reasons: the advancement of human understanding; greater access to information; the scandals of the Catholic Church; and the over-zealousness of the Christian Right.” This supports the sociologic idea that humans are finding a new understanding of earth and themselves, which gives them another focus and belief that is often times themselves, leading them not to need the support of a god or higher power.
Another topic of religion is the conflict that it creates in the world, one of the most influential and nationally media covered wars has been in the Middle East, and much of this is from religion. As stated before religion is used for comfort or assertiveness in the afterlife. However, it can cause much controversy for people do not agree in the same beliefs. A simple Google search will result in many conflicts caused my religions centuries ago to today. In the article, “Doesn't religion cause most of the conflict in the world?” people from different religions speak of this question and one particular Islam women says, “state-imposed atheism was a defining feature of brutal 20th century regimes led by Stalin, Tito, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot among others, which resulted in the suffering and murder of millions. Tens of thousands of Russian Christians alone were executed for their beliefs by atheists intent on purging religion from the Soviet Union.” This woman gives the examples of the turmoil and the life’s taken all because of their beliefs and practices and how one-person views them as wrong for it is not what they see as correct. These acts in themselves give the examples of the turmoil that religion causes.
Even though religion is on the decline, it is obvious that the topic is still on the rise because of all the hatred and cruelty it causes. One can understand that these conflicts could be a cause to why many are turning away from religions are trying to find peace in themselves.
The people are simply turning to more things that can be seen as realistic rather than a god who has power, but rather the people who can create harmony.
References
http://www.alternet.org/belief/religion-america-great-decline-christian-right-has-major-role-hastening-it
Ibid.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/02/religion-wars-conflict
Kirsten Schorer
Dr. Thompson
Sociology
My culture
Culture is what makes up a person’s way of life. After we are born we are brought to church and baptized, then introducing religion into our lives. As we grow we slowly learn the language our parents teach us, preparing us for school. After learning to speak they pass on traditions and customs they learned as children from their parents. In school we learn about our country in my least favorite class History. In high school we learn about our government, as they shape us to be adults. And get us ready for the “real world”.
In the short 18 years I have been alive, I have lived in 4 different states. I was born in Washington and now I live in Kansas. Along the way I noticed that each place I lived in had its own type of culture and ways of doing things. And if I was there for enough time, these things would grow on me. I lived in Tennessee for about a little bit, when I came back to Arizona I had myself one crazy accent. Going from state to state people use different words for different things. When I first moved to Kansas I would call a Mountain Dew a soda, now I call it a pop. I was with my friend the other day and I said “Let’s go get a soda”. They looked at me and asked if I meant a pop, they then continued to give me lesson on why it’s called pop.
I moved to Kansas when I was 15 years old. Coming from a class of 250 students, I was shocked when I found out there was less than 20 people in my new class. Growing up in a town of 40,000+ people it wasn’t that hard to make friends. This wasn’t the case in the town I am now from. I found that if you weren’t raised in this town from birth or at least a young age, you are less likely to be accepted in the community. Or if somebody in town doesn’t like you, you might as well get outta town. Because once 1 person doesn’t like you, a lot of people won’t like you. There are a lot of different cultural things about where I’m from and Kansas, but being a kid, all I’ve really experienced in this state is high school.
References
Myself
https://www.google.com/search?q=culture&oq=culture&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.2063j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8#q=culture
Jamaica Culture
By Shay-Ann Holness
One love one heart is a very popular saying in Jamaica. Who are we? The people make Jamaica and Jamaica make the people. The mesh of culture influences that have made us who we are. We’re a naturally warm and friendly bunch of people, welcoming everyone with huge smiles and open arms. As Jamaicans and the culture we prefer to laugh than cry, dance than stand still and express oneself rather than hold back. Our past, marked by slavery and struggle for independence and freedom, has made us proud and strong. And we celebrate thru our music sports and art. Our official language is English but we speak it in our unique Jamaican accent. Our street language is patois, this suits our personalities and sense of fun perfectly. Patois is easy to pick up and enjoyable to learn. Jamaican culture represents a combination of cultures that have inhabited the Greater Antilles Island. Jamaica family includes a close-knit web of aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. Jamaica have a healthy distrust of those in authority and prefer to put their faith in those they know well, such as their extended family and close friends who are treated as if they were family.
Jamaica has the highest number of churches per capital in the world and more than one hundred different Christian denominations. Most Jamaicans are Christians, the largest denominations are the Anglicans, Baptists Methodists, Pentecostals, Brethren, Roman Catholics and Rastafarianism. Rastafari ganja is their superior source of life. The most prominent, internationally known aspects of Jamaica’s African Caribbean culture is the Rastafari movement, particularly those elements that are express through reggae music. Bob Marley has become the most high-profile exponent of the Rastafari culture and belief. Rastafari is a monotheistic belief system based on teachings in the old testament and new testament what distinguishes Rastafari from Christianity is that Rasta’s believe in divinity of the Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia. Rastafarianism believe they are one of the lost tribes of Israel who were sold into slavery and taken to Babylon (Jamaica) and believe they must return to Zion. There are three types of Rastafarianism in Jamaica: the Bobo shanti order wearing long robes and tightly wrapped turbans, Nyahbinghi sect focus mainly on Emperor Haile Selassie and they proclaim that he is the incarnation of the supreme deity and the twelve tribes, members are allowed to worship in a church of their house. They consider themselves direct descendants of the twelve sons of David.
Though t you know you actually have no idea. A few facts about Jamaica that even I had to say really, we had electricity before the united states, running water before the united states, phone cards before the united states, first Caribbean English speaking island to gain independence, first team from English speaking Caribbean island to qualify for the football (soccer) world cup, apart from the united states, Jamaica has won the most world and Olympic medals, is the third largest island in the Caribbean a Jamaica flag is the only flag in the world, that doesn’t share any of the colors of the American flag. Jamaica also was the first island in the Caribbean to produce rum on a commercial basis. Jamaica was the first tropical country to enter the IOC winter Olympics. The bob sleigh team’s efforts inspired the film ‘Cool Running’s’. We have the second largest butterfly in the world another interesting facts on Jamaicans that it was the first British colonial territory to establish a postal service, Jamaica has more multiple (two or more) live births than anywhere else in the world. I expect you to at least know that Jamaica is the birth place of Robert (“bob”) Marley.
References
.Mytripblog.org
www.vistjamaica.com
Adrian Gibson
WIKI ESSAY
Culture knowledge and Belief
The Bahamas has many different culture knowledge and beliefs. Many people live their lives different ways eat certain things believe in whatever they were thought and that’s the same way Bahamians live Dining in the Bahamas is a wonderful experience, it is said that Bahamas food is never bland, so you better get your palate ready to experience a variety of tastes. The Bahamas is heaven for seafood lovers, fresh seafood's are available all over the island with a variety of presentations whipped up by different restaurants.
The Conch (pronounced as "konk") is one of the popular delicacies in the Bahamas. Its a mollusk with white tender meat that is cooked in a variety of ways including conch stew, conch chowder, conch salad, scorched (raw washed with lime juice and salt water topped with onions and tomatoes and lots of pepper), and the popular deep fried conch fritters.
Grouper a white, flaky fish with mild flavor is also one of the popular dishes. Bahamians are experts in cooking this kind of fish. Mostly served boiled together with homemade bread. A tasteful experience that is to die for. Boiled fish is also served with gritts or as a side dish of spiced rice with peas and vegetables.
A Rock Lobster (a lobster with no claws) is also one of the favorites. Mostly added to soups, salads and stew. I don't why but it's not popularly served by itself. Peas are also widely used, pea based broth like the pea soup with dumpling and salt beef and split pea and ham soup are very popular. A unique soup also known to the Caribbean and Bahamas is the "souse" often added with chicken, oxtail, pig's feet or sheep's tongue, giving it a unique and flavorful taste - Must try!
For dessert, coconut based products are very popular. You can find coconut tarts, cakes, puddings, pies, custard and ice cream. Sometimes it's even added as a topping on some of the dishes. Coconut juice or milk is also a popular refreshment. Coconut is found everywhere in the Bahamas and they were able to think of different ways to consume it.
Bahamas food is truly a unique treat for the palate, most of the food is spicy and often washed down with beer (even in the morning) or soda. If you want to experience true Bahamas food make sure to try some of the delicacies listed above, they will be served in a variety of ways that you will surely enjoy.
Resources
http://www.worldwidewebawards.net/Food/Bahamas.html
http://www.myoutislands.com/bahamas-resorts/culture.cfm
Migration of Different Tribes to Kenyan Land
Sydney Ajanga
Migration through the centuries from north and south led to Kenya becoming one of the most diverse African countries. Kenya has no one belief that identifies it because of its diversity. For example, the Swahili people living along the coast, several pastoralist communities mainly in the North, different communities in Central, and Western regions and therefore having a mutually acceptable cultural identification is a difficult think for Kenya as a country. There are forty two different tribes that live in Kenya but their cultures practices are similar because of their language, daily living activities, and the physical environment. The major tribes of Kenya include: The Masaai people of the Great Rift Valley, Kikuyu people of central province, and Luhya of western Kenya province.
The Maasai tribe is a unique group of people that live in the Eastern province of Kenya. The Maasai are well known because of the type of live they lead. For example, they dress up in a different way as compared to other ethics groups; they do not wear shirts, shorts, or trousers, but they wear traditionally clothes made from the animal products such as the skin herd of the cattle, ship, and coats skin. One reason that the Maasai has not changed their way of living even after the colonization of the British people and is because they wanted to keep their own culture from being interfered with by other tribes as well as foreign people. The Maasai people move from one place to another leading a unique life called nomadic people. The Maasai move and search for their animal’s food, water, and grass for the animals to graze on. The Maasai people moved to Kenya long time ago, and settled in different parts of Kenya. Their way of live has made them to be recognized by people from different parts of the world. Kenya has received a lot of recognition by other people globally because the Maasai presents a unique life that has attracted other tourists from different parts of the world. Not only are tourists interesting in touring the Maasai community but, they are also interested in learning more about the Maasai. Kenya’s economy has grown as results of tourists who visit the Maasai people (Archambault, 2013).
Kikuyu people are one of the major and special tribe of Kenya. The Kikuyu moved to Kenya and settled in the central province of Kenya. Kikuyu has subtribes that include: the Meru, Embu, Chuka, Kamba, and Mberee. The kikyu people depend on agriculture. Kikuyu people moved to Kenya from the Northern side of the country. By nature; they are farmers who grow different grow crops such as maize, beans, and tea leaves. The Kikuyu people are well known for their skills in small and large scale business. These are some of the activities that have enabled the economy of Kenya to grow and expand (Parsons, 2012).
The Luhya people are one of the largest tribes that live in western Kenya. They belong to the Bantu speaking people. They are the second largest tribe among the Bantu with a population of about 5.3 million people, which is 14% of the nation's total population of 38 million. The Luhya speaking people of Kenya consists of about 16 sub-ethnic, the most dominant groups being the: Bukusu, Maragoli, Wanga, Nyore, Marama, Idakho, Kisa, Isukha, Tsotso,Tiriki, Kabras, Nyala, Tachoni, Khayo, Marachi and Samia. The Luhya conduct different types of farming activities within highlands of Western Kenya, around Lake Victoria, Nandi Escarpment, and around Mt. Elgon to the north. There is densely populated making the availability for farming so limited (Yamano, and Deininger, 2005).
References
Archambault, C. S. (2013). “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”: The Role of International Maasai Migrants in Rural Sustainable Community Development. Sustainability, 5, 3665-3678;
Parsons T. (2012). Being kikuyu in Meru: challenging the tribal geography of colonial Kenya. Journal of African History, (53) 65-86.
Yamano, T. and Deininger .K. (2005). Land conflicts in Kenya: causes, impacts, and resolutions. Retrieved, 10/2/2014 from, http://www3.grips.ac.jp/.
From <https://www.google.com/>
Catherine Bonhomme
The concept of the social identity relates to people how the representation of themselves can be built depending on the social life where they live. This identity changes according to the learning process of the social live.
There are two parts of social identities. The first one is the personal or self-identity and the second one is the collective identity.
The Personal or self-identity refers to our unique and personal qualities such as our beliefs, our abilities and skills. We can identify ourselves according to religion or where we’re from, political affiliations, vocation or relationship.
The collective self includes all the qualities that arise from being part of a society, culture, family, groups, clubs…. For example, you may identify yourself as a protestant, male, football player, who is very popular with people at school.
It’s mostly the teenagers who try to find their own identity. They want to be more dependent and have more autonomy. Because they don’t want any more identify themselves with their parents but more likely with a group of the same age, a group that they want to belong with. The identification of several groups can be just for the style of the clothes, the sport that they practice, the kind of music they listen etc.
There are so many factors that influence the identity. For example, the gender is influenced by how the parents treated that, or by neighbors and friends. Boys and girls are dressed in different colors and have different types of toys. The social class and the age have a big influence too. There is the nationalization of a person which referred the identity. And finally, the most important way is our personal identity because it means how we perceive ourselves. Our personal identity is vital for us and we communicate and negotiate that with other people.
There is a theory by Tajfel and Turner in 1979 that proposed three mental processes for evaluating the other in a group or out of this group. The first is categorization. Everybody categorize people for understand the social environment in social categories. The second one is identification. People adopt the identity of the group they have categorized themselves as belonging to. And the third one is the comparison. Once people have categorized themselves as part of a group and have identified with that group they then tend to compare that group with other groups.
References:
http://www.psychologie-et-societe.org/identite-sociale.aspx
http://www.uvp5.univ-paris5.fr/TFL/Ac/AffFicheT.asp?CleFiche=1211&Org=QUTH
https://moniviestin.jyu.fi/ohjelmat/hum/viesti/en/ics/14
Brooke Gettler
09/06/14
Sociology of culture
The sociology of culture and, the related, cultural sociology concern the systematic analysis of culture, usually understood as the ensemble of symbolic codes used by members of a society, as it is manifested in the society. For Georg Simmel, culture referred to "the cultivation of individuals through the agency of external forms which have been objectified in the course of history". Culture in the sociological field is analyzed as the ways of thinking and describing, the ways of acting, and the material objects that together shape a people's way of life.
Contemporary sociologists' approach to culture is often divided between a "sociology of culture" and "cultural sociology" - the terms are similar, though not interchangeable.[1] The sociology of culture is an older concept, and considers some topics and objects as more-or-less "cultural" than others. While, cultural sociology sees all, or most, social phenomena as inherently cultural at some level.[2] For instance, a leading proponent of the "strong program" in cultural sociology, Jeffrey C. Alexander, argues: "To believe in the possibility of cultural sociology is to subscribe to the idea that every action, no matter how instrumental, reflexive, or coerced vis-a-vis its external environment, is embedded to some extent in a horizon of affect and meaning."[3] In terms of analysis, sociology of culture often attempts to explain some discretely cultural phenomena as a product of social processes, while cultural sociology sees culture as a component of explanations of social phenomena.[4] As opposed to the field of cultural studies, cultural sociology does not reduce all human matters to a problem of cultural encoding and decoding. For instance, Pierre Bourdieu's cultural sociology has a "clear recognition of the social and the economic as categories which are interlinked with, but not reducible to, the cultural."[5]
Cultural sociology first emerged in Weimar Germany, where sociologists such as Alfred Weber used the term Kultursoziologie (cultural sociology). Cultural sociology was then "reinvented" in the English-speaking world as a product of the "cultural turn" of the 1960s, which ushered in structuralist and postmodern approaches to social science. This type of cultural sociology may loosely be regarded as an approach incorporating cultural analysis and critical theory. In the beginning of the cultural turn, sociologists tended to use qualitative methods and hermeneutic approaches to research, focusing on meanings, words, artifacts and symbols. "Culture" has since become an important concept across many branches of sociology, including historically quantitative and model-based subfields, such as social stratification and social network analysis.
The sociology of culture grew from the intersection between sociology, as shaped by early theorists like Marx, Durkheim, and Weber, and with the growing discipline of anthropology where researchers pioneered ethnographic strategies for describing and analyzing a variety of cultures around the world. Part of the legacy of the early development of the field is still felt in the methods (much of cultural sociological research is qualitative) in the theories (a variety of critical approaches to sociology are central to current research communities) and substantive focus of the field. For instance, relationships between popular culture, political control, and social class were early and lasting concerns in the field.
Karl Marx
As a major contributor to Conflict Theory, Marx's argued that culture served to justify inequality. The ruling class, or the bourgeoisie produce a culture that promotes their interests, while repressing the interests of the proletariat. His most famous line to this effect is that "Religion is the opium of the people". Marx believed that the "engine of history" was the struggle between groups of people with diverging economic interests and thus the economy determined the cultural "super-structure" of values and ideologies. For this reason, Marx is a considered a materialist as he believes that the economic (material) produces the cultural (ideal), which "stands Hegel on his head",[6]who argued the ideal produced the material.
Resources
www.google.com/search?q=sociology+of+culture&biw=1366&bih=667&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=uio0VOy2NpSBygShwYD4CA&sqi=2&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai9pRv_t3y8
French Culture
Miranda Shelton
When you think of the French what pops into your mind? Do you think of love, wine, food, art, romance, or the Eiffel Tower? If you did you are on the right track. French culture, in the past and today, is a culture of romance and sophisticated social life. Most of the French are Roman Catholic, and are heavily involved in their roles at the church. Church is where many people go to socialize.
Food is so important to the French and their culture and upbringing. In America we tend to eat three, one course meals a day, but in France their meals include multiple courses. Dinner, le dîner, is served with a starter of soup, then the main dish usually meat and vegetables, followed by a small salad, cheese, and dessert. Wine is served with dinner as well. Not only is it seen as a divine drink, the Roman Catholics drink wine as a representation of Jesus and his blood shed for them. Children begin drinking wine at meals during their teenage years. Women and their children are usually involved with meal preparation even if they work full time.
Another thing the French take great pride in is their etiquette. A person’s social class has much to do with what is considered “proper etiquette.” Generally, when greeting a friend or relative, they will shake hands and kiss each other’s cheek. I’m sure we’ve seen this on movies and TV shows, but it holds certain significance. Kissing each other’s cheek represents respect and well wishes. Public etiquette is quite different in France that here in the United States. People are expected to keep their eyes on what’s in front of them and not to speak to strangers. In public it is considered rude to talk loudly on the phone or person to person.
Graphic art and performance arts have a great dominance in French culture. Their most important forms of graphic are include: paintings, sculptures, and architecture. Many of the paintings from the Romanticism era are still on display today. Theatre and dance are also forms of art that are important to the French. Paris is known for having the best dance and opera schools in the country and the entire world. Many years ago going to an opera was only for the high class men and women. Today, it is very common for high, middle, and low class to be seen at an opera. Many French cities hold movie festivals. Cannes, France hold the biggest movie festival in the country in the early spring.
Paris is known as the fashion capitol of the world. Many French men and women take great pride in what they wear. High and middle class strive to look their best on a day to day basis. Fashion is important part of their social class, dressing “down” might associate them with the peasants. Many of the French dress sophisticated and business orientated. Dresses, skirts, suits, long coats, scarfs, and berets are classic items worn by the French on a day to day basis. It is very rare to see a woman out on the town in sweat pants and a t-shirt.
From what you’ve read you can tell that the French culture is a very sophisticated and a highly artsy one. Their culture takes great pride in things us Americans look past every day. Much respect to the French for keeping meals a family affair and keeping a sense of class at the dinner table. The French maintain the 1700’s standards of etiquette, fashion, meal time, and art while living in the modern day. If you go to France I hope you find this tid-bit of information helpful to you. Au revoir!
Resources
http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/France.html
http://www.livescience.com/39149-french-culture.html
Heather Cleveland
Religion: What is the Big Deal?
Is your religion a peacekeeper in your life? Most religions are formed to show you are not alone. It gives people a reason to feel a part of something or a part of some group. In today’s society I feel more people than not question their existence and fear where they will end up. But with the numbers given by NPR’s David Greene: One-fifth of Americans are religiously unaffiliated — higher than at any time in recent U.S. history — and those younger than 30 especially seem to be drifting from organized religion. A third of young Americans say they don't belong to any religion.
After reading the peoples interviews from the NPR, it shows they all were raised in some type of religion whether it was Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Catholic, etc. The thing that strikes me most was the interview with the guy raised Christian, he feels no longer accepted because of his tattoo that is placed on the inside of his wrist that has a Christian symbol. I feel the problem with religion in today’s society is that the older people still think of the traditional religion. As for the younger generation we believe no matter if we have a tattoo or not, if we still believe and participate in the word of God we will be saved. Kinnaman notes that, while research cannot prove causation, given the nature of polling and the complex dynamics of cultural and spiritual change, it can however, point to possible underlying trends.
With today’s social media, many of the relational connections that people used to get from the church community they no longer get. Pastoral home visits, phone calls from church are becoming a TV, radio or newspaper ad, even direct mailing and billboards are down. Seeing the lack of outreach to the people they have a lack of motivation to attend the church.
The main reason I feel for a decreasing church participation is the skeptics. When the non-churched were asked to describe what they believe are the positive and negative contributions of Christianity in America, almost half (49%) could not identify a single favorable impact and nearly two-fifths (37%) were unable to identity a negative impact. The unchurched who complains about Christians in society disposed toward violence in the name of Christ, the Church’s stand against gay marriage, sexual abuse scandals, and involvement in politics.
All these examples can be considered opinionated, but in truth what Christians stand by is what the Bible says. With most of this list being moral decisions I believe that Christians have it right. Just because society is changing does not mean what the Bible says is changing. Those older generational people will continue to follow the morals they were raised upon and not change them just because everyone believes they should become a part of what society is today.
With the moral and beliefs out of the way, why are people continually not going to the Lords house to worship? Many find that just reading the bible is sufficed. Many churches are still traditional in how they present the message. I know for me, going and having the connection with the people that are in the church with me worshiping gives me a stronger feel for a bond with Jesus. I also attend a traditional church back home but here in college I attend a church with a praise band and a pastor that doesn’t always gives the message in a traditional way. I enjoy both types of services.
Religion is different for everyone. Some have adapted to today’s society some have not. The basic start of any religion is still the same.
Resources
http://www.npr.org/2013/01/15/169342349/more-young-people-are-moving-away-from-religion-but-why
https://www.barna.org/barna-update/culture/685-five-trends-among-the-unchurched#.VFqen9F0xYc
Shelby Siebert
Indian Living Culture
The culture of India is the world’s oldest, reaching back about 5,000 years. The first and the supreme culture in the world. India is a very diverse country, and different regions have their own distinct cultures. Language, religion, food and the arts are just some of the various aspects of Indian culture.
India has 28 states and seven territories, and each has at least one official language. While the national languages are Hindi and English, there are about 22 official languages and nearly four hundred living languages spoken in various parts of the country. Most of the languages of India belong to two families, Aryan and Dravidian.
India’s religion is identified as the birthplace of Hinduism and Buddhism. A huge majority about eight four percent of the population identifies as Hindu. There are many variations of Hinduism, and four predominant sections, Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakteya, and Smarta. About thirteen percent of Indians are Muslims, making it one of the largest Islamic nations in the world. Christians and Sikhs make up a small percentage of the population, and there are fewer Buddhists and Jains.
India is known for its large assortment of dishes and its liberal use of herbs and spices. Cooking styles vary from region to region. Wheat, Basmati rice and pulses with Chana are important in the Indian diet. The food is rich with curries and spices, including ginger, coriander, cardamom, turmeric, dried hot peppers, and cinnamon, among others. Thick condiments and spreads made from assorted fruits and vegetables such as tamarind and tomatoes and mint, and other herbs are sued generously in Indian cooking. Many Hindus are vegetarians, but lamb and chicken are common in main dishes for non-vegetarians. Most of Indian food is eaten with fingers or bread used at utensils. There is a wide array of breads served with meals, including naan, a leavened, oven-baked flatbread, and bhatoora, which is a fried fluffy flatbread that is common in North India and eaten with curry.
The most well-known example of Indian architecture is the Tahj Mahal, built by Mighal Emperor Shah Jahan to honor his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal. It combines elements from Islamic, Persian, Ottoman Turkish and Indian architectural styles. India also has many ancient temples.
India is well known for its film industry, which is based in Mumbai and is often referred to as Bollywood. The country began as a major producer of moves in the 1930s. today the films are known for their elaborate singing and dancing and Bollywood produces more films per year than Hollywood. Indian dance has a tradition of more than 2,000 years.
Indian clothing is closely identified with the colorful silk worn by many of the country’s woman. The traditional clothing for men is the dhoti, an unstitched piece of cloth about five yards long that is tied around the waist and legs. Men also wear a kurta, a loose shirt that is worn about knee length. For special occasions, men wear a sherwani, which is a long coat that is buttoned up to the collar and down to the knees.
The Indian country celebrates Republic Day which is Jan 26th, Independence Day (Aug 15th) and Mahatma Gandhi’s Birthday (Oct. 2nd). There are also a number of Hindu festivals that are celebrated, including Diwali, a five day festival known as the festival of lights and marks a time of home based family celebrations.
India is a very unique country with lots of different traditions and customs as far as languages, religions, foods, architecture, arts, clothing, and celebrations. Every country is unique in their own way and also very different in different aspects of the world.
Resources
http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/India.html
http://www.indianmirror.com/culture/cul1.html
Modern Belief Vs. Traditional Belief
Tahnee Saxton
11/12/14**
Living in the United States includes the benefit to have our own belief system. We are able to view everything in our own way. Most of the time our views are the same as our families and friends, but the beauty of having our own beliefs is the fact that sometimes they are different. The beliefs of American people can usually be split into two different categories. The first is the traditional belief system, and the second is the modern belief system.
People with traditional beliefs have views that are unchanging. Views like these are most commonly found with older white men and women. However, there are people of all races, ages, and genders that fit within the traditional system. Traditional beliefs tend to lean to the right, having a more conservative political view. People with traditional views are commonly more religious than those with modern beliefs, and have a stronger moral background. Traditional Americans believe that oral communication is needed, and believe in strong family units with a mother and a father in wedlock.
Traditionalists want to use all energy resources available to promote more jobs. Traditional Americans believe in those rights given in the bill of rights, and those only. These types of people say we should be able to bear arms. They also believe in a strong military that will be able to protect us as a nation. Traditionalists also believe in self responsibility, small government, and individual liberty. There are many ups and downs to the traditional belief system. Often times traditionalists are unwilling to try new things, making it very difficult to try and solve new problems.
On the other hand, people with modern beliefs have newer, changing views. Younger people of different races are most commonly found in the modernist system. The modern belief system tends to lean to the left, having more liberal views. Modernists are commonly pro-choice, supporting things like gay marriage, abortion, legalization of marijuana, etc. Beliefs in the modern system lean towards equality with a larger government to make that possible. Safety to the environment is also really important for a person with modern views. Modernists strive to use renewable energy that is eco-friendly. Modernists would like to see the government take care of the people, make sure the people have their individual rights, and make sure the world around them is healthy. Often times modernists are very accepting to new things and types of people.
If everyone shared common beliefs then life would be a lot simpler. The truth is that no matter what we do as a society, we will always be different than one another. The things that influence our beliefs will always trump outside influences. These things like family, religion, race, and culture is what makes us different than the next person. Even though our belief systems make it difficult to make decisions as a country, it is really nice to be able to think for ourselves and have the freedom to choose.
References
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Conservative_vs_Liberal
http://www.studentnewsdaily.com/conservative-vs-liberal-beliefs/
http://www.oleantimesherald.com/commentary/article_81631358-3837-11e4-a8ff-0019bb2963f4.html
Adrian Gibson
Wiki Essay
Culture Knowledge and Belief
The people who live in The Bahamas are predominantly of West African descent who were captured and forced into slavery on the cotton plantations in the Americas.
Most white residents of the Bahamas are descendants of the first English settlers who migrated to Bermuda in 1647 to gain religious freedom and settled on the island of Eleuthera.
The culture is a melting pot of many native customs ranging from the indigenous "Indian" people who populated the Bahamas, including West African, English and other cultures who over the past three or four centuries, arrived in the Bahamas.
People from many diverse backgrounds, such as British Loyalists (accompanied by slaves) fleeing America after the War of Independence, Bermudan slaves, people from other Caribbean islands, and many other nationalities.
Bahamian culture today has been shaped by their experiences, beliefs and lifestyles.
Junkanoo is a Bahamian festival that occurs during the dark hours of morning on the 26th of December and again bringing in its first hours of light on the first day of the New Year. Thousands dance through Bay Street, Nassau's town center, like a wild ocean of color, while deep goat skin rhythms reverberate off the surrounding walls and cow bells chatter over the singing of brass horns. The sidewalk like a snake comes to life twisting blacks and browns while balconies and roof tops sway under the rhythmic feet of onlookers. There is a timeless sense, a feeling inside that is so vital that even the deaf feel to move. And as though possessed, these God-like cardboard sculptures dive and rise to the awesome music that lifts their spirits beyond the flesh
Many Bahamians have an artistic side, which they express through their colorful art, infectious music or exuberant dancing. When you visit The Bahamas, take time to view the local artwork. Not surprisingly, you'll see brightly colored art that reflects the beauty of the people and their islands. Have attained international acclaim. Ferguson's works are on permanent display at the Pompey Museum in Nassau. Although virtually any type of international food can be found in The Islands of the Bahamas, it would be a mistake to miss an opportunity to sample the local cuisine. No matter where you are, you won't have any difficulty finding plenty of restaurants serving Bahamian cuisine and fresh local seafood at reasonable prices.
The cuisine of The Islands of the Bahamas is never, ever bland. Spicy, subtly and uniquely flavored with local meats and produce, more than any other cuisine in the West Indies, Bahamian cooking has been influenced by the American South.
References
http://www.bahamasgateway.com/cuisine.htm
http://bahamas-history.net/bahamas-culture.html
Zachary Bird
A typical day could be going to school, work, socializing in community clubs and eating. Always doing the same thing day in and day out growing up. When something new is introduced into your life as simple as a new food, do you wonder why I have never ate that before? Likely it’s because of the cultural life around you. Because in the society you're living in is the only belief, lifestyle you have ever known. Just a normal safe felling.
Cultural identity is the identity or feeling of belonging to as part of the self-conception and self perception to nationality, ethnicity, religion, social class, generation, locality and any kind of social group that have it’s own distinct culture.
Have you ever been in a store and hear people talk, some have an accent that is distinctive and just a little off that you know they are not from this country. Usually you can tell where a person is from like mexico, England, Canada by the way they speak. Language could be a culture barrier as people migrate to one country from another. when people move to america they have to adapt to a new language and meaning. Language develops from the wants of people who tend to disperse themselves in a common given location over a particular period of time.
wanting to blend in and be a part of their new surroundings many start to learn new meanings words. How to communicate with a new ethnic background. An example could be how words are defined from one country to another. In the U.S. we may say the word wrench a tool to apply a grip is known as spanner in the U.K. We may say principles and they say headmasters. So knowing one meaning could be confusing to others as we try to break the language barrier.
Most cultural identities are well know and stereotyped. Just like music a common thread we all share through every culture. By just listening to the music you can tell where it originated from. If you would hear bongos and reggae being played, likely you would think the music came from Jamaica culture. Latin music would bring to the ears salsa and Spanish. Even food can trigger a sense of one's cultural background. Pasta, meatballs, cannolis all would be Italian, egg rolls, orange chicken, stir fry would bring to mind Chinese food. Each nationality has their own blends of spices, grains and meats. each cooked in different ways that are distinct from one another. many cultures cook with what their land has to offer them or by their religious beliefs. Do you know that in India Hindus do not eat beef It's against their beliefs. The consumption of beef bee came a taboo, due to cattle being considered sacred in Hinduism. Many Indians continue to follow this belief, making the use of beef in Indian foods is rare.
As america become the melting pot. Various different ethnic groups try to hold onto their identities, especially in the modern world, where people can become Americanized and lose their identities as they learn to live a new life style. The only thing they can try to hold onto is their traditions that they have brought with them. finding people to carry on their traditions to feel a sense of belonging. As more people are becoming modernized\, people fear the loss of their culture. Intercultural dialogue help to solve this problem. Intercultural dialogue is the communication within various cultures. This informs cultures about other cultures and what makes them special. The sharing and education in practices and beliefs of other cultures helps to bring culture back into society. By learning about a cultures helps eliminates stereotyping, grant acceptance of different cultures.
References
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/cultural_identity
http://www.indianfoodforever.com/food-guide/indian-food-cuisine.html
Justin Underwood
Dr. Thompson
Sociology
Nov 7, 2014
Africa Culture
What is Africa’s Culture? According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Africa, Africa’s culture is varied and manifold. It is a product of the diverse populations that today inhabit the continent of Africa. Like much of the world, it has been impacted upon by both internal and external forces. Africa is divided into a great number of ethnic cultures. Some rich but also some poor. What makes them so rich is their arts and crafts. African arts and crafts find expression in a variety of woodcarving, brass, and leather art works. Africa arts and crafts include sculpture, painting, pottery, headgear, and dresses.
African culture has always placed emphasis on personal appearance and jewelry has remained an important personal accessory. Many pieces of such jewelry are made of cowry shells and similar materials. Masks are made with elaborate designs and are important part of African culture. In most of traditional art and craft of Africa, certain themes significant to African culture recur, including a couple, a woman with a child, a male with a weapon or animal, and an outsider or a stranger. Couples may represent ancestors, community founder, married couple or twins. The man with the weapon or animal theme symbolizes honor and power. A stranger may be from some other tribe or someone from a different country, and more distorted portrayal of the stranger indicates proportionately greater gap from the stranger.
Like all human cultures, African folklore and religion represents a variety of social facets of the various cultures in Africa. Like almost all civilizations and cultures, flood myths have been circulating in different parts of Africa. Culture and religion share space and are deeply intertwined in African cultures. Folktales also play an important role in many African cultures. Outsiders hearing an ethnic group's stories, it provides an insight into the community's beliefs, views, and customs. For people within the community, it allows them to encompass their group's uniqueness. They show the human desires and fears of a group, such as love, marriage, and death. Folktales are also seen as a tool for education and entertainment. They provide a way for children to understand the material and social environment. Every story has a moral to teach people, such as good will prevail over evil. For entertainment, stories are set in fantastic, non-human worlds. Even though folktales are for entertainment, they bring a sense of belonging and pride to communities in Africa.
According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_culture African-American culture, finds its earliest roots in the dances of the hundreds of African ethnic groups that made up African slaves in the Americas as well as influences from European sources in the United States. Dance in the African tradition, and thus in the tradition of slaves, was a part of both everyday life and special occasions. Many of these traditions of African body language survive as elements of modern dance. Modern popular dance in America is also greatly influenced by African-American dance. American popular dance has also drawn many influences from African-American dance most notably in the hip-hop genre. As you can see Africa has a unique culture in many different things, from what they make to what they wear and not to comment their dance that they do.
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_culture
Estefany Cardenas
Sociology
Mexican Culture
Mexico has changed rapidly during the nineteenth century in different ways; contemporary life in the cities has become very similar to that of cities in the United States and Europe. However, most Mexican towns follow the lifestyle of their ancestors. The big cities of Mexico are Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey.
Mexico recognizes Spanish as the national language. In addition to Spanish, is recognized as an official language in 67 Indian languages, including: Nahuatl, Mayan, Mixtec and Tzeltal, the best known and spoken in the country. English is spoken by many Mexicans in the country because there’s tourism in the area.
Catholicism in Mexico is the religion of most Mexicans. Established by the arrival of the Spanish in the Mexican territories, but Mexico is a country where church and state are conducted completely independently. This separation was declared in the 1917 Constitution.
The history of Mexican cinema dates to the beginning of the 20th century. The Golden Age of Mexican cinema is the name given to the period between 1935 and 1959, where the quality and economic success of the cinema of Mexico reached its peak. An era when renowned actors such as Cantinflas and Dolores del Río appeared on the silver screen.
Mexican cuisine is known for its blending of Indigenous and European cultures, and to a lesser extent, African and Asian. Traditionally, the main Mexican ingredients consisted of maize, beans, both red and white meats, potatoes, tomatoes, seafood, chili peppers, squash, nuts, avocados and various herbs native to Mexico. Popular dishes include tacos, enchiladas, mole sauce, atole, tamales, and pozole. Popular beverages include water flavored with a variety of fruit juices, and cinnamon-flavored hot chocolate prepared with milk or water and blended until it becomes frothed using a traditional wooden tool called a molinillo. Alcoholic beverages native to Mexico include mescal, pulque, andtequila. Mexican beer is also popular in Mexico and are exported. There are international award-winning Mexican wineries that produce and export wine. The most important and frequently used spices in Mexican cuisine are chili powder, cumin, oregano, cilantro, epazote, cinnamon, and cocoa. Chocolate originated in Mexico and was prized by the Aztecs. It remains an important ingredient in Mexico.
The ranchera and mariachi are, are the most popular genres in the country and are a kind of national music, but they are not representative of the musical culture of the entire country. El Mariachi has its origins in the state of Jalisco.
The traditional national sport of Mexico is Charreria, which consists of a series of equestrian events. The national horse of Mexico, used in Charreria, is the Azteca. Bullfighting, a tradition brought from Spain, is also popular. Mexico has a big place for bullfighting in the world - The Plaza de toros in Mexico City which seats 48,000 people.
Football team sport in Mexico. Most states have their own representative football teams. Among the country's significant teams include Chivas de Guadalajara, Club América, Cruz Azul, and Pumas de la UNAM. Notable players include Hugo Sánchez, Claudio Suárez, Luis Hernández, Francisco Palencia, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Memo Ochoa, Jared Borgetti, Rafael Márquez, Pável Pardo. Mexico is a country with great culture.
References:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultura_de_M%C3%A9xico
Modern Education
Blake Mari
As high school students make the transition to the college lifestyle new leaning techniques are integrated. One of these teaching styles or techniques is to use technology to make advanced accelerated classes. These classes make it possible to eliminate some paperwork and confine the class content to one webpage. This technology also makes it possible to stay connected to family at home.
Some of the pros of making classes technical are accessibility, experience with technology, and reduced stress on teachers. Putting classes on the internet for students to access materials and assignments can allow students to take classes without the cost of books. This also allows students to work on homework/classwork in alternate location with only taking a computer and having internet access. Having experience with technology will be a major attribute in most career fields. Having to work with the technology in classes gives students a general background in technology and networking. Finally having student’s projects and homework in one location makes it easier on teachers to keep track of grades and student materials.
Having technology also helps to aid in communication among students and teachers. If a student needs help on a project they can ask other students or a teacher questions from their couch. This puts less stress on students that have a hard time with face to face communication or who are afraid to ask questions. Many teachers have used an alert system that compiles all of the students contact information so they can send one message to all students. This works great for schedule changes, class cancelations, or announcements of projects or class material. Many students have found it more comfortable to use social media such as Facebook to communicate with other students and or teachers. This not only allows freedom of time and place but also creates a record of conversations so there is a clear understanding of what is expected from both parties.
Online classes also allow more people to participate in educational opportunities that typically wouldn’t because of time, money, or age of student. Many people want to move up in a job or gain more education in a different career field but do not have the time to attend normal classes as a campus. Also many non-traditional students have a harder time fitting into the college life as they are older or have other obligations such as work and family. Having the opportunity to attend school online opens up the education field to these nontraditional students. Many people have gone back to college to earn or finish a degree online.
Where technology based classes have faults are in the social and personal aspects as well as the technology failure itself. When students do not work together in class and make networking connections the personal aspect of college has been compromised. In future jobs communication and face to face interaction is a large part of the workspace. Last technology is not always perfect or cheap. Computers and internet often crash leaving a student stranded without the ability to participate in the class. The cost of a computer to take online classes is always growing and the cost doesn’t stop there. Internet connections are often purchased for the home of the student. When technology fails to work many times students are faced with a bill to get computers fixed.
The technology rich education system has not peeked. There will be more to come in education as the technology improves. I believe that technology has its good and bad moments in the education world and improvement will always be welcome.
Ariana Jacquez
Mr. Thompson
Sociology
Track, Hack, and See
In today’s world, especially in our generation there is so much technology that it is beginning to define our generation. While no other generation has seen an era with this much technology introduced to them. I remember when MySpace, walkmans, and VHS was the thing. Today if you asked kids just a couple years younger than me what those things were they would have no clue. In just a matter of years we have gone from a little technological to booming with technology and while all of this is amazing, is it all that it’s made out to be?
I could name you four major social media websites that while doing what they’re supposed to are not necessarily safe. First let’s start with Facebook, a social media website that allows you to keep in contact with old friends and meet new ones, sounds great right? Wrong, although Facebook does it’s job it allows the government to have access to your PRIVATE information. “Government agencies around the world demanded access to the information of over 38,000 Facebook users in the first half of this year.” If this statement doesn’t make you feel violated I don’t know what will. So the question goes, if the government can get information from one social website, can they get it from all of them? I say yes.
Who doesn’t have a cell phone? Who doesn’t have a smart phone? “Smartphone penetration has not only passed half of all mobile subscribers, but has gone well beyond 50% of all adult Americans for the first time.” This means that over half of the people who are subscribed to a telephone company have smart phone and while they are all great and dandy and do everything we want them to, the government easily looks them at. The government has the ability to track, hack, and see everything on your phone. They enjoy this way of search of seizure because there is no warrants involved and majority of people have no clue.
Lastly are the things that identify us in the systems such as license plates, I.D.’s, and credit cards. If the government wanted to know anything about you all they would have to do was get any of these numbers and it would pretty much tell them anything they needed to know about you including where you live, who you are, and any other information they would need to know. It is not as advanced as the technological ways that I listed above but still effective. In fact today people are beginning to learn the ways of hacking and are hacking peoples computers, phones, social networks and stealing money off of peoples credit cards.
So what is our world evolving into? Our government can hack things and steal from us but it’s against the law for a citizen to do it? Since when has it been okay for law enforcement to do a search and seizure without a warrant but still they do. This is not the example that should be set for our country or world. But if the government does it why shouldn’t everyone else?
Resources
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/27/facebook-government-user-requests
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markrogowsky/2013/06/06/more-than-half-of-us-have-smartphones-giving-apple-and-google-much-to-smile-about/
Media's Control
Quade Baugh
In today’s society people have many beliefs and ideas. But most ideas are not set to any standard set. Some ideas only last for a short time but not all. Now a days ideas spurs from what we see around us and how they make us feel. The influence is of these ideas come from the media. The media makes us believe things that we would not normally believe. They do this through there propaganda. This propaganda is not always for the worse, it is a lot of good information. Sometimes though it seems to be one sided and never brings in the other sides of the stories. When this happens then everyone gets information on that top through only one opinion this is when everything goes bad. When these stories release the world is against the side not being covered. This is like the quote that history is written by the victors. This means that only the seen positive force is the one that gets its story told. This may be true but only few people truly know. Media will always control the mass, it always has and always will.
Television media is the most affect way of controlling masses. Yes books and magazines can but you only read those and do not hear it. Through television a message is seen and also it is hear making it duel affective on the people. When it is propaganda is hear it because more emotions to be felt other than there would be if it was only read. Propaganda this way is said in such was that it causes one sided emotions for a topic. This is not always in the case though, there is always going to be a group or two that see the subject through other views. This then causes conflicting ideas to arise which then gives more control to the leaders through fear of the conflicts.
Many of the seen propaganda is individualized through public figures. These being from actors to professionals to the president. No matter the person they will always give their opinion on a subject through their point of view. These individuals also must get their opinions from somewhere, either from them seeing it or being told. In the opinion of many, these individuals are being controlled, but by whom or what. This all comes from the beliefs of the masses. If someone has ideas against the norm, then others will seek to either built this idea up or tear it down. Again this is done through the media and again mainly through television propaganda.
The media needs to become more independent from groups or individuals. The propaganda and control they preside over the people is becoming more of a problem then it helps. But also the people are to blame for being so easily persuaded. Media groups need to open up what they are showing to both sides, not close one side of an issue off from the public viewing. If this were to be done then more people would be less like to be easily persuaded, this then would lower the stress put on the people of the world. Not all media shown is harmful but the material that is need to be more open than just one side of the story.
Resources
http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6
http://mediaanalyticssummit.com/?gclid=CJrR55CYm8ECFYZzMgoduFYA5g
Austin Ihle
URBANIZATION
Urbanization: The movement in population from a rural area to an urban area. Urban area: Cities and their surrounding areas that have high density of human structures. These definitions act as a basis for sociologists to analyse the current shifts in population. For the past 150 years urbanisation has become the greatest shift of population distribution in the world. Every day the amount of people, populating the worlds cities is increasing. “A hundred years ago just 2 out of 10 people on Earth lived in cities. Today more than half the world's population lives in cities.” (CNBC John Schoen, 2014) This social organization of people is occurring in all forms of the developed world, however, for slightly different reasons. Less developed countries show the least urbanization, developing countries show the second most and developed countries have the greatest percentage of their population in urban areas. The major controls affecting urbanization are work opportunities, transport and leisure; therefore these factors manipulate the majority of the worlds population.
Less developed countries act as an example of the way modern society was approximately 300 years ago. This consists of the majority of the population living off the land, some of their populations nomadically others through growing to survive. These countries are classified as less developed countries. In these less developed countries social trends also show that people are moving to urban areas. An example of this is Burma, it has an urban population percentage of 32.6% and increasing by 2.49% each year. For these people, the factor that controls where they live is purely work opportunities. If they have a job then thats where they will live. The move to urban areas for these people living in less developed countries is typically due to the increase in capitol goods in rural areas. The more capitol goods that are used during production results in fewer labourers needed for the same job. Due to this, less people are needed to work the farms. Even though their capitol goods are limited they are increasing enough that people are loosing their jobs in these rural areas. To survive they are moving to urban areas. For everyone, people provide a market, therefore the more people the greater the market thus a better chance to make profit when selling goods. Less developed countries are slowly becoming more developed therefore people are moving to urban areas, as has already happened in more developed countries, because this is where work is for them.
Similar to less developed countries, developing countries’ urbanization is increasing due to work opportunities. Mexico is a prime example of a developing country and they have an urbanization percentage of 78.1% of the total population increasing at 1.49% per year. These developing countries, such as Mexico, are primarily controlled by transport, enhancing their work opportunities. The reason transport plays a big part in the increases of urbanisation is because it allows people to live in urban areas that are more affordable outside a city and use the, train, bus or road network to get into the city to make their business successful. The transport system therefore indirectly acts as a capitol good for those who rely on it for their work and lively hood. As these transport systems and market are only in urban areas these factors control population shifts to urban areas in developing countries.
Just another step up is developed countries. Developed countries have the greatest urbanization percentage yet it is still increasing every year. Japan for example has an urban population of 91.3% which is increasing by 0.57% every year. In these developed countries urbanization also increases due to work and transport however leisure also attracts population. One form of leisure is shopping. Once again, more people equals a greater market. This is a positive for sellers and can also be an attraction for buyers. Certain high end products will never be sold in small towns due to the small markets, but megacities however can foster “specialization in key industries or services” (CNBC John Schoen, 2014) because of the large market. This attracts the wealthy to large cities and is another reason for the worlds megacities in these developed countries. Another leisure option is holiday locations, such as luxury urban areas that are formed due to tourism. That makes leisure another form of control people follow to form an expected social organisation.
Every day urbanization is increasing everywhere in the world for different reasons. Typically it is for work however, the closer people live to cities the more opportunities they have to earn more money, but the living costs also increase the closer people move to the city. Transport therefore is required to balance these costs out so its possible to earn more. If people have that ability to earn more than people can also spend money on leisure activities, which once again most of the time becomes a movement of urbanization. These controls all help form a consistent and measurable social organisation that has been occurring and observed in society for hundreds of years. No matter how large the cities get this social trend doesn't show signs of changing anytime soon.
Resources
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2212.html
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/population-and-urbanization-17/urbanization-and-the-development-of-cities-123/the-process-of-urbanization-695-3433/
http://www.cnbc.com/id/101469042
Danielle McNeely
Conformity
“When people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other.” -Eric Hoffer
Conformity is the action that is oriented to a social norm and falls within the definition of proper behavior permitted by the norm. Unless people in a society conform and have norms, a social organization may not be effectively maintained and inevitably would create chaos. Conformity usually happens when an individual wants to have a sense of security within a group, usually the group is of similar age, race, gender.
There are social influences that people don't realize cause them to conform. The three social influences are information, normative, and minority.
Informational social influence happens when a person turns to the members of the group to seek and believe accurate information about reality. This case usually happens when a person is scared or in an unfamiliar setting and they seek information from who they think is an intelligent person, and then go by the information they are given whether it’s right or wrong.
Normative social influence happens when a person conforms to be liked, or accepted, by the members of a group. The unknown need to feel accepted by a group is human nature, we were born to want to be liked. When people deviate from the group they are less liked and become outcasts to the group. When in a group of strangers, you may be more likely to do what they are doing, such as drinking or smoking, because you want them to accept you and see that you have something in common. You are more likely to deviate from the normative influences of your friends because they already accept you and know you.
Minority influence occurs when a small percent of the group comes to the conclusion that the majority of the group is wrong. There has to be a legitimate case for the minority influence to change the group’s way of thinking. Most often times the minority influence causes conflict and negative emotions in the group.
Resources
http://www.sociologyguide.com/social-control/conformity.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conformity
Estefany Cardenas
Man is a social being, hence it has always met with other men to form groups, communities and societies and meet their needs. The organizations are: family members, employees, citizens of towns, states, nations, clubs, political parties, and religious groups, etc. Our individual identities are greatly defined by the groups to which we belong and by our positions within them.
There are two important things in the social organization.
Status: is our relative social position within a group for example: a man may have the status of father in his family
Role: is the part our society expects us to play in a given status for example: a man’s role may require him to provide for, guide, and protect his children.
The social controls are practices, attitudes and values, to maintain the established order in societies.
The Regulation of social control
To succeed the social control it must be regulated in relation to the whole society and there must be agencies of social control that can order it, avoiding marginalization and social stability is compromised when agencies lose power. All societies impose social control on their citizens.
Large-scale societies: mechanisms like laws, courts, and police. Formal social control measures are being implemented through statutes, laws and regulations against unwanted behaviors. These measures are supported by the government and other institutions, from sanctions to imprisonment or confinement.
Small-scale societies: maintain social control without legal institutions. Informal measures are those that are not institutionalized as the media, education, moral standards, etc., which do not have a formalized through written rules or laws. They are more important than formal because they transmit habits, rules and certain values. Police is an example: it’s a mechanism of informal social control that is derived from the state. Has the ability to of punishment and repression against the citizen. Its main function is to maintain law and public order.
In my point of view, I think that all the societies has organization and control because If that doesn’t exist, everybody would do whatever they wanted and the world would be a disaster. I can imagine a world without government in each country but, what would happen? Everything would be disaster. I know that sometimes who coordinates the society are not honest people, but for that reason, we should be aware and do the correct and we can live in harmony with the rest of the world.
References:
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos11/orgsoc/orgsoc.shtml
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_social
++ Social Organization and Social Control
Jason Shepherd
Social Organization refers to the relationship between individuals and groups. Some of the things to look for while comparing the two would include: sexual composition, size, leadership, structure, communication systems, and division of labor. Social Organization is also defined as the “…network of relationships helps members of a group stay connected to one another in order to maintain a sense of community with a group.” Most of the time the organization of a group is influenced by culture, religion or other factors that they all have in common.
Social Organizations can be anywhere from workers in factories to groups in a school. It could also be Religions in towns, from Catholics, Christians, Methodist, and Mormons. Most of the time in a group there is a leader within them. This could take form of Pastors, Preachers, Fathers or any “leaders” of the churches.
Also you could take for example the popular cliques in high school. They are a form of social organizations within a school. They usually have one leader that they all look up to and follow. The members will change throughout the years, but the group itself will stay the same and they will always have that one member they look up to.
Social Control is when society or political processes regulate the groups or individuals behavior. It is the standard set of rules or norms within a certain society that everyone is measured up to. Over the years since social control has been identified it has taken on several different meaning. There are currently two different forms of social control: Informal Mean of Control and Formal Means of Control.
Informal control refers to the norms of society. It is referring mainly to what the society deems acceptable for that particular area or group. When an individual or group strays away from the norms of society, they are sometimes ridiculed or disowned within that certain community. It is ingrained in most of us that we learn the norms of our society at a young age in order to function properly without being embarrasses or disowned within our own communities.
Formal control refers to the laws and regulations the government has put in place for all of society. They are the laws that prevent murders, rapes, frauds, or any other crime you can think of. This is a way for the government to have some sort of order within the social organizations that pop up. Take for example a social organization like a gang in a large city. They would try and take over the entire community if it weren’t for the laws set in force to stop them from raping or murdering the people they don’t like. Not that this is deterring them any, but the example is that the laws are supposed to make society a safer and better place to live.
Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_structure
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/culture/cultural-competence/understand-culture-social-organization/main
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_control
Children who go through a divorce.
Katie Fleener
When parents think about getting a divorce with children being involved parents need to think about what will be best for the children. I am a person that has gone through a divorce and my parents told us to choose where we wanted to live ether with mom or with dad. Well I choose my mom due to I was not letting my little brother be the only child with my mom because at the time of the divorce she did not have a job. Still to this day I do not know why they got divorced and I am afraid to ask. Two months after my parents got divorced my dad moved to Indiana to be closer to his mom then four months after that my mom moved to Colorado to live with her boyfriend that she had met online. I stayed in Kansas and lived by myself at sixteen, because I personally do not like the guy and still to this day do not like him. My parents use my as their means of communication to each other because they do not like talking to each other. It has been this way for eight years now because even when they were married they could not stand talking to each other because one of them would start a fight.
Please if you ever think about getting a divorce make sure you tell the kids why and also don’t make them be the middle man. Here are some reasons why: Children who have gone through a divorce seem to fall behind in their math and social skills and they don’t seem to catch back up. Researchers say that along with these difficulties they also have problems with anxiety, sadness, and low-self-esteem. Most parents do not see how much they have hurt their children with a divorce until a couple years down the road.
The best place to raise children is in a stable home with two happy parents. Even if a marriage is unhappy can you repair it over time just for the kid’s sake? I know of parents that wait till all of their kids are 18-20 to get a divorce and just stick it out and be happy so they know that the kids will have the life they deserve.
Some Children are affected more by divorce then others. This is because some children know that it is coming because of the fights, the yelling, or even sometimes the violence and abuse. If the parents just nicely agree on who will have what kid when and how long they will have them then it is much easier on the kid then a custody battle and the kids having to go through that or making the kids choose which parent they would rather live with and making the other parent feel bad because they didn’t choose them.
How the parents behave after the divorce is a big thing too. If the parents just let their kids run free after the divorce and don’t discipline their child anymore then they are going to get into trouble at school and may even get involved with drugs and alcohol. Depending on how the child takes the divorce and handles everything will depend on how much the parents have to pay attention to their kids.
Even though the children grow up leading healthy and productive lives after the divorce they are at a greater risk for emotional and physical problems. Some children are affected more emotionally then other children. Especially with the loss of one parent the children seem to be a lone more often and have less supervision so they are able to get into more trouble.
Resources:
www.divorce.usu.edu/files/uploads/Lesson5.pdf
http://www.webmd.com/children/news/20110602/divorce-affects-kids-academic-social-skills
Role Reversal in the Family
Donna Ronco
Sociology
11/17/14
The term “stay at home dad” is more common now than in the past. Due to layoffs and unemployment rates rising. The mothers of the family work while the fathers stay at home with children. The Census Bureau finds that about 3.5 percent of stay-at-home parents are fathers, though that's doubled in a decade. More woman are going to college and getting higher jobs and want to work.
According to the npr.org that 28 percent of women now out earn their husbands, a trend driven by the fact that more women than men now earn college degrees. "Men today are now reporting higher levels of work-family conflict than women are," They feel "not just pressure, but the desire to be more involved in family life and child care and housework and cooking. And at the same time, all of the polls are showing that women are now just as likely as men to say that they want to have challenging careers."
Typically professional woman get insurance while blue collar working men don’t always get insurance. Men and woman sometimes agree for the mother to work and earn the income while the father stays at home with the children.
Resources:
http://www.npr.org/2013/05/15/180300236/stay-at-home-dads-breadwinner-moms-and-making-it-all-work
http://www.workingmother.com/2010/2/home/dad-mom-role-reversals
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/24/female-breadwinners/2015559/
Capitalist Problem
Quade Baugh
In todays industry market there are many different types of production styles. But overall capitalist seem to be the most talked about. This is due to it being seen as the more aggressive market which is true. But I see capitalist markets as being more productive. This is the fact that the owners of such companies want more money which causes them to flood more products in. These companies though put in enough products to get their product out but not enough to drive the product down in price. This strategy is both bad and good.
The bad formed from this is that capitalist companies own every company that has a similar product. This doesn’t allow for other companies to grow in prosper in the free market. Another down fall to this is that these companies can then have a bigger influence in the economy and also the government. This is due to being able to support their ideas through the money they can give certain groups or government officials. This causes problems for the smaller less supported groups to have any influence at all. There can also be good in a capitalist company is that for the owners and the employees is that there is a large profit margin for those companies. This allows for the large gain of money for the companies. When there is more money for these companies then more employees can be hired which provides more jobs for more people. But this is done without raising wages because again capitalist companies are all about the profit so that means spending the least amount of money as possible for these companies.
Companies that then have become so large that they can no longer expand without keeping large profit margin end up out sourcing. This is a real problem because it lowers the economy and jobs of American are lost because the companies move out. Out sourcing should not be allowed for the companies. There should be regulations on major companies on out sourcing because it hurt the economy and job market majorly. But this cannot be done because those regulated companies would then pull out their financial support of the government, that then hurting the rich men who control the government. So then no regulations are placed because it is seen as constitutional thing causing even more trouble.
I believe that capitalist companies need to be stopped. They are no good to the economic system because they hurt everything when they out source. Most of these companies are only out to help themselves and their already rich friends. The government needs to break away from these companies and enforce strict rules on them to make sure that they will not cause the American people to lose their jobs. Once these companies are kept in the states and produce goods here then only will we see an increase in the economic system of America. Something needs to be done before all companies are lost to capitalism and their out sourcing ways.
Resources
http://www.newhistory.org/CH01.htm
http://www.aei.org/publication/the-end-of-american-capitalism/
**Mindi Keith
12:30pm class
Gender Inequality (Pay Gap)
The difference in male and female wages is called the gender pay gap. These days 4 out of 10 families have a woman who is either the equal or the mail provider of a household. Even though women tend to earn more degrees then men they earn less money then men. In 2013 woman made $0.78 cents for every dollar earned by men. In almost every job that data could be collected among genders, women are earning less then men.
There are a few possibilities as to why this is, such as: Gender discrimination, the pay gap is closing quickly, women work in industries that pay less, they have a tendency to not know how to negotiate well (women are less likely to ask for a raise than a man), mothers choose to work less (the more children a woman has the less money she makes, but the more children a man has, the more money he makes), women with children earn 7-14% less then a women without children.
My personal theory is that ethically people have a hard time believing women should be out of the house or kitchen. I think the pay gap is there to keep women away from the workforce and at home caring for their families. Unfortunately now-a-days it takes two to make a living, and sadly women earn less than a man at the same job doing the same things, and or even has the same degree, she earns less money. How is that even okay? It's a simple problem to correct. Chances are a woman can get the job done better than a man anyway, depending on the job. It's proven that we are better at somethings (like multi-tasking) then men. Why not pay the same wages and make it equal—not to mention I'm pretty sure we went through the whole women's rights thing decades ago…
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_pay_gap
www.huffingtonpost.com/news/gender-pay-gap
and for fun:
http://theawesomer.com/lwt-wage-gap/291245/
**Alexis Germaine
12:30 pm class 10-17-14
ent/blogs.dir/1/files/2012/05/Photoxpress_465661-657x245.jpg]]
The Social Dollar
Currency has been somewhat of a persistent topic that sociologists look at, but is not a dominant one, but why is that? This is one of the things that really make the world go around these days, whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. You’ll have to decide that for yourself. When we think about the currency and the dollar, so to speak, we think about spending, donating, earning, and surviving. Without the currency we as a social community would have to go back to the way things were in the days of old. This means a different currency based on trading goods such as food, medicine, and other precious commodities like gold. In society we grow up with an inherent knowledge that in order to live and survive we need currency to do so. So what would our social world be like without the dollar? Would we still use items in a currency to get what we need or want in society? Socially would we still be as social as we are in a community if we didn’t have this currency?
First I look at the society today and see that the commodities are misused in many ways. Federal welfare was designed to help get people going through hard times back on their feet, this is the process where money is issued to those in need but an ever growing number of people are becoming dependent on this program. There are many loop holes in this program that are designed to help the American people. This is a very backwards system that the social structure has created as it is using currency or trade to create dependency on the federal system which is not what the program was originally designed for. People socially abuse each other through money, people interact socially at local businesses through money, People can choose to help others through the dollar, or people will misuse the money for evil, yet it all ties socially into our world.
So what if that green piece of paper with the face of old presidents on them just became a typical piece of paper? I am referring to fiat currency. This means that the US dollar that use to be backed up by gold or other precious metals owned by the federal government, would have nothing to back it with besides the United States property. This is also looked at as a collapse in currency; Fort Knox is basically empty according to Ron Paul on the Lew Rockwell Show. Worldwide other countries would refuse our currency as payment. The first thing to go in a collapse would be gasoline. The second would be general market, food, water, commodities, because there would be nothing to transport these goods. What would this do to us as a society? If you asked me I would have to say wide spread panic.
Society would not know what to do if the currency failed in our nation. The social structure that we are, is based on currency, without it we would seem to be nothing but poverty. Would it be better to go back to the days of old? Would the wealth of the nation & corporate influence still hold power over our society? Personally I think the world would be in chaos and unpredictable, but we may never know for sure until we are all socially put to the test as a nation.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societal_collapse
http://webuser.bus.umich.edu/wayneb/pdfs/sociology/sociology%20of%20money.pdf
http://www.ronpaul.com/2010-05-10/ron-paul-on-the-lew-rockwell-show-3/
(May watch video if you want too I did and read below it.)
Jeremiah Castaneda
Economic Inequality
Money makes the world go round. The only issue with this old adage is that not everyone’s world is going round. Since the days that Jesus walked the earth there was a division of people into what is recognized as “economic classes”. The rich associate with the rich and the poor are left to slowly fade into the black due to lack of green. It is a structure that has allowed humans to identify royalty and the poor. If currency had never come into existence then the world as we know it wouldn’t be as we know it.
Monopoly is a great game. It teaches patience and strategy, but it also shows us that the poor get poorer and the rich richer. The inequality in wealth throughout the world has become a major issue in the wellbeing of other humans born into the wrong environment. Some countries don’t even have clean water to drink, whereas in America and other developed countries it gets bottled and sold to the slightly parched. It has become an unsolvable phenomenon of people trying to dig themselves out of a financial hole, but keep getting deeper and deeper with every move made. It is true that practicing budgetary discipline that over time one may be able to get out of debt and possibly even thrive financially, but the chances of being able to live a life debt free in 21st century America is slim to none.
A big issue that has been raised is taxes. Our current president believes that higher taxes are a good attempt in getting closer to getting America out of its colossal debt, when in reality the people of America just end up spending money for the government to repeat its old habits. The wealthiest of the wealthy in America should truly be the ones who get a significantly higher tax rate, but the government takes more from the working class and gives breaks to the 1%. It is unreasonable and illogical. True the statement prior may be subjective, but the only ones who will disagree are living a carefree debtless life. In all honesty, yes, many people are truly responsible for the debt that they are in. although, the debt that they’re in may be due to trying to live life comfortably and spending money on what they want rather than need, but why should one group of people be entitled to a more than the other?
All men are equal, no? This statement must only be true when speaking biologically. The sad truth of the matter is: equality is a fairytale fed to the people to shut them up. People shouldn't feel guilty if they are wealthier than others. It’s life. Acknowledging this fact, however, makes one question the so called money we have. After the gold stander was removed currency just became cheap metal and paper. Money is not a real thing. If only we could have fought off our innate human greed in the earliest days of our existence then true equality could very well exist rather than the separation in “classes” we've come to know.
References
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_great_divergence/features/2010/the_united_states_of_inequality/introducing_the_great_divergence.html
http://tifwe.org/resources/income-inequality/part-one/
http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GoldStandard.html
Simone Clopton
African American Culture
African American culture is also known as black culture. The distinct identity of African American culture is rooted in the historical experience of the African American people, including the middle passage. The culture is rooted in West and central Africa.
The African American culture was established during the slavery period, producing a dynamic culture that has had and continues to have a profound impact on American culture as a whole. Slavery restricted the ability of African Americans to practice their culture traditions, but many practices, values, and beliefs survived and over time have been modified and even some blended with European cultures such as that of Native Americans. Elaborate rituals and ceremonies were a significant part of African American ancestral culture.
Many West African societies traditionally believed that spirits dwelled in their surrounding nature, so they treated their environment with mindful care. West Africa also believed that spiritual life source existed after death, and that ancestors in this spiritual realm could then mediate the supreme creator and living. They also believed in spiritual possession. When Christianity began to spread across North Africa it shifted the religion and it began to displace traditional African practices. After emancipation, unique African American traditions continued to flourish as distinctive traditions and radical innovations in music, art, literature, religion, cuisine, and in other fields.
References:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/6g.asp
http://www.thewright.org/?gclid=CjwKEAjwwdOhBRCG0fPrlfO1gGUSJAC1FmHXlQI1EC90__YpG0iZgNkvP9q2BoUXIYxLrFCq6Ar2EBoCxnPw_wcB
http://www.redstate.com/diary/tomjeffersonsghost/2013/07/15/the-cold-hard-truth-about-black-culture/
Brooke Gettler
Social identity
NO IMAGE
What gives us our social identities? Off the top of my head, I think it is the way one dresses and speaks as well as interests and groups to which we belong. “A social identity is the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevant social group.[1] As originally formulated by Henri Tajfel and John Turner in the 1970s and the 1980s,[2] social identity theory introduced the concept of a social identity as a way in which to explain intergroup behaviour.”
“The central hypothesis of social identity theory is that group members of an in-group will seek to find negative aspects of an out-group, thus enhancing their self-image.” One could see how this would lead to racism or any other form of prejudice. Basically social identity involves both what a person thinks about himself or herself and what kind of groups that person belongs to. Is she a golf player, soccer player, debater? Is he Christian or Jewish? Does she like pets or maybe volunteer? All these things develop a person’s identity and which groups she or he can move in or out of.
Social psychologist and Stanford assistant professor Gregory Walton says that when a person does not belong to a group they are not in a good place and their sense of well-being has been harmed. A person can feel lonely and apart from the group or society. “Walton's earlier studies demonstrated that a sense of social belonging can affect motivation and continued persistence, even on impossible tasks. That is, if you don't feel like you belong, you are both less motivated and less likely to hang in there in the face of obstacles”
We all want to belong in one way or another. It is just human nature.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_identity_theory
http://www.simplypsychology.org/social-identity-theory.html
http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/01/health/enayati-importance-of-belon
Catherine Bonhomme
Inequality
The inequality between men and women has existed since always and everywhere in the world. It’s for around two hundred years that feminist had to fight to have same rights like men. Through those women, women are more considered is the society and they have more rights even in some country where to be a women is very dangerous but the situation gets better. Now, the mentalities have changed but there are still inequalities. These inequalities are determined by the representation of the political, by the salaries, the access of an employment and to be the domestic chores.
But, when will be the time for the total equality?
Where does the inequality come from? It started with religions. I am going to explain with the Christian religion, but it’s the same with Muslim and Judaism with other examples. In this religion, women cannot divorce, they cannot use means of contraception, they cannot abort and they have to be subdued by their husband. That means that women cannot do what they want with their own body and they cannot say anything against that.
There is a form of socialization that the children learned when they played. For example, when a girl plays with a doll, plays to cook like their mother during that the boy plays with cars and guns. This is called stereotypes and this idea is propagated by our reckless. In this case, we don’t delete this image of the women who has to take care of the family during that the men works with his car.
Now, talk about the inequality in the workplace. Of course, women have more independence. Before women were working in the house, do the housework, take care of the family, cook the diner for the children and the men who are very tired and hungry after his day at work. But now, they have abandoned to work in the house during that the father is working for earn money for all of the family. But, even if the majority of women work, they have more difficulties to climb the grade of their work. Instead, 93% of men are boss and politicians. How can we explain that? Because a lot of studies have demonstrated that women are more graduated after their studies than men. The salary is less important for women and still in 2014 even the situation gets better and better. When an boss has to choose their workers, they are looking for if the women have children or if she can have a baby after. Because women as to take some days off if they are pregnant, if their children are sick. In France in 2013, 80% of women said that they are confronting with the decisions or attitudes sexists.
Because of these sexual discriminations a day is consecrated for women. “The international women’s day” which is every 8th of March. This day is the occasion to make an assessment of the progress and celebrate the brave acts and the determination of feminist. But this day remind us that there are still inequalities.
In fact, there are still feminist because the problems still exist. Recently, it’s a famous star who toke the place and talk about the discriminations. She is Emma Watson. And she told about her own experience and said why she is a feminist and she wants to change many things for women’s rights.
Resources
http://inegalites-tpe.e-monsite.com/pages/d-ou-viennent-les-inegalites-hommes-femmes.html
http://www.marieclaire.fr/,journee-de-la-femme,20258,460000.asp
http://www.parismatch.com/People/Cinema/Emma-Watson-son-discours-bouleverse-le-web-597714
Jairo Garcia
12-16-2014
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Claudius Russell
12-17-14
Shaquille Dent
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Mindi Keith
Adrian Gibson
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Bethany Littlechild
12-16-14
Shelby Siebert
12-14-14
Shayann Holness
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Olivia Sampson
11-27-14
Hearing Loss
Alexis Germaine
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I Am Jacqueline
Danielle McNeely
Tahnee Saxton
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Cole Schneider
12-13-14
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcIdoIwpFyA
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Collin Stacha & Tyler Koehn
12-16-14
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Abbey Martin
12/14/14
Dakota Kohler
12/15/2014
Mara Nash
Sociology
Tiffani Hapke
digital story
TUNG TRAN
Improper Placement of Essay/No References
Zane Winger
Double Standards
Today’s world is ruled by double standards. Men are the bread winners, woman raise the children. This is what the norm in the US is today. This has changed slightly over recent years but is still what is generally acceptable. Men are expected to make more money than woman and in most studies this is accurate. Woman push for equality, but most would find it odd if a man would stay at home and a woman would be the bread winner. I honestly don’t think that we will ever get to a point where woman will be considered equals to men. The United States will always be ruled by double standards. Men will always make more money than woman. Is it right? No, but I think it will always be the social norm in United States.
Danel Stithem-Digital Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZB61v8cCIY&feature=youtu.be