Introduction To Sociology 12:30 TR FALL 2010

THIS IS THE FALL 2010 SOCIOLOGY CLASS WIKI'S. IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY IN THE 12:30 TTh YOU NEED TO POST YOUR WIKI ON THE PAGE ON FURTHER DOWN THE LEFT HAND SIDE.

History

Famous Sociologists

FINAL PROJECT – WIKI PRESENTATION

Emile Durkheim

Michael Morris
Scott Ochs

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
By Collin Gorham

Born in 1858, in Lorraine, France. His mother a merchants daughter, and his father the Chief Rabbi of the Vosges and Haute-Marne. Emile, coming from three generations of Rabbis was expected for him to follow in the steps of his forefathers. In 1881-82, He successfully passed his agregation (Exam required for admission to the teaching staff of secondary schools) and began teaching philosophy in 1882. He Began teaching at Bordeaux where in 1887, “Science Sociale” officially entered the French university system.
Durkheim is widely considered as the “Father” of sociology, and is credited with making sociology a science. His primary responsibility to Bordeaux was to lecture on theory, history, and practice of education, yet Durkheim still wrote over ten different books. The four most important of which are considered to be The Rules of the Sociological method, The Division of Labor in society, Suicide: A study in sociology, and The Elementary Forms of the Religious life. In his book the Division of Labor in Society, he introduced the concept of “anomie.” He Defined anomie as the as a condition where social and/or moral norms are confused, unclear, or simply not present. Durkheim felt that this lack of normsor preaccepted limits on behavior in a societyled to deviant behavior. In other words Anomie is the lack of regulation or the breakdown of norms. In these four books he has numerous famous quotes some of which are:
“ If one class of society is obliged, in order to live, to take any price for its’ services, while another can abstain from such action thanks to resources at his disposal which, however, are not necessarily due to any social superiority, the second has an unjust advantage over the first at law, in other words, there cannot be rich and poor at birth without them being unjust contracts” (The Division of labor in society)

“Treat Social Facts as things…” (The Rules of Sociological method)

“The strongest wills cannot elicit non-existent forces from nothingness, and the shocks of experiences constantly dissipate these facile illusions. Besides, even though through some incomprehensible miracle a pedagogical system were constituted in opposition to the social system, this very antagonism would rob it of all effect…Education, therefore, can be reformed only if society itself is reformed. To do that, the evil from which it suffers must be attacked at its source.”(Suicide: A Study in Sociology)

“Today it is generally sufficient that (truths or ideas) bear the stamp of science to receive a sort of privileged credit, because we have faith in science. But this faith does not differ essentially from religious faith. IN the last resort, the value which we attribute to science depends upon the idea which he collectively form of its nature and role in life; That it is as much as to say that it expresses a state of public opinion. In all social life, in fact, science rests upon opinion.”(The elementary forms of the Religious life)
Emile Durkheim is one of the most acclaimed sociologist, and his works have led to a much greater understanding of social science.

Albert Benschop, A. (2001, August 27). Emile durkheim. Retrieved from http://www.sociosite.net/topics/sociologists.php#durkheim

Jones, R.A. (2009, March 19). The durkheim pages. Retrieved from http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/

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Jeremy Funk

Karl Marx

Karl Marx was born on May 5th, 1818 in Trier, Germany. He went to the University of Bonn to major in law. His father moved him from Bonn to the University of Berlin where he stayed there for four years. After college, he became editor of a liberal newspaper that was backed up by industrialists. Because Marx kept questioning the economy, the Prussian government was forced to close the newspaper. After this happened, he then moved to France. In 1843, while in Paris, he started talking with groups that made up French socialists. After being in Paris for a while, Karl Marx became a communist. He wrote a book describing his views in a novel called "Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts." Even though it was written in the 1840's, it wasn't officially published until the 1930's. The book is about communism and the contrast between how people are alienated under capitalism. By 1844, Marx was expelled from Paris with his partner, Friedrich Engels. They then moved to Brussels where he stayed there for three years. He made another book titled "The German Ideology" which outlined that "the nature of individuals depends on the material conditions determining their production." During the writing of this book, Marx had predicted that industrial capitalism would be replaced by communism. Also, Marx wrote a 800 page book about capitalism, labor, and the world market. The Outlines was not published until the 1940s. In the 1850's his family had lived in poverty in a three bedroom apartment in England. It was hard for him to support four children. To support his family, Engels, his partner, was writing weekly articles for a foreign newspaper called the New York Daily Tribune. For the last part of Marx's life, his health was declining. To try and relieve his health, he traveled to therapeutic spas and he even traveled to Algeria. His wife and first daughter died before him and on March 14, 1883 Karl Marx died and was buried in a cemetery in London, England.

Karl Marx's viewed that the upper class, or bourgeoisie, were very controlling over the lower class, or proletariat. Because the proletariats were the working class, they were contributing the most wealth for the economy. The goods that the proletariats made were sold at a higher price that what the proletariats were actually making. the bourgeoisie were dependent on the goods that the lower class were making. Because of this, the proletariats had great resentment and wanted to overthrow the government. It would eventually lead to the destruction of capitalism. In Animal Farm, the book addressed the corruption of the revolution between the two groups. If there is a corrupt leader, it will lead to the demise of the classes. After the fall of capitalism, a new society would soon emerge. A new saying would come out "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." This means that every person is equal in everything they do. Everything would be shared by the people including land, labor and wealth. Karl Marx has had a major influence on society. His arguments about the bourgeoisie and the proletariat have had an impact on the way people live their lives.

Kreis, Steven. "Karl Marx, 1818-1883." The History Guide. 2008. 22 Nov. 2010. http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html.

"The Communist Manifesto-Bourgeoisie and Proletariat." 22. Nov. 2010.
http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/21cc/utopia/methods1/bourgeoisie1/bourgeoisie.html

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Emile Durkheim

Meredith Holman

To many, Emile Durkheim is considered to be the father of sociology. He is credited with making sociology a science, and having made it part of the French academic curriculum as "Science Sociale" in his later years .David Emile Durkheim was born on April 15, 1858 in Epinal, capital town of the department of Vosges, in Lorraine. His mother, Mélanie, was a merchant's daughter, and his father, Moïse, is was a rabbi of Epinal. Emile was a product of a orthodox Jewish family and a Jewish community. As a young boy, Emile spent part of his early school years in a rabbinical school destined to follow the footsteps of his father, grandfather and great grandfather, who had also been rabbis. Unfortunately, this desire was short-lived as he cut away from Judaism when he went to Paris. He left Epinal for Paris to prepare for admission into the school of Ecole Normale Superieur.Durkheim was a brilliant student at the College d'Epinaland was awarded a variety of honors and prizes. He was a very excellent student, for he was able to get his baccalaureates in letters in two years. He studied Hebrew, the Old Testament, and the Talmud, while at the same time following the regular course ofinstruction in secular schools. His intent was becoming a teacher. Years pass and he does not have much confidents in himself, so he became a member of high quality political and philosophical debates. In 1882, Durkheim became a teacher of philosophy and Emile was the first French academic sociologist as well. Along with teaching history and the practice of education, he as well had a passion for teaching social solidarity, family and kinship, incest, totemism, suicide, crime, religion, socialism, and law on Saturday mornings. He studied suicide and education.
In 1887, Durkheim married Louise Dreyfus, with whom he had a son, André, and later a daughter, Marie. Unfortunately Durkheim had a stroke when he found out that his son, who was sent to the front line of the Bulgarian war front late in 1915, Andréwas declared missing in January, and in April, 1916, was confirmed dead. This was a major tragedy to him. After his sons death was not the same afterwards.
A quote from Durkheim “"When we obey somebody because of moral authority which we recognize in him, we follow out his opinions, not because they seem wise, but because a certain sort of physical energy is imminent in the idea that we form of this person, which conquers our will and inclines it in the indicated direction." (The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life) He is considered to be one of the most influential men in the evolution of sociology. He had strong opinions about many aspects of life and the world around him. He brought forth a new evolution of thinking, and also changing the educational aspects too.

Sources

Excerpts from Robert Alun Jones [1986] Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works. Beverly Hills. CA: Sage Publications, pp. 12-23.

Lewis A. Coser [1977] Masters of Sociological Thought, pp. 143-44.

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Karl Marx by Phillip Weilert

Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818 in Trier. Marx grew up in Trier but got his education in Berlin and Bonn, where he studied law. After studying law he turned away from that and focused more on philosophy. He continued his schooling and then started writing in Berlin. He was then censored by many papers and people and took his work elsewhere. In 1843 his paper, Rheinische Zeitun, was censored by the German Government. Also in 1843 he was married the daughter of Privy Councillor von Westphalen in Trier. Karl then moved to Paris where he started studying political economy and the history of the great French Revolution. He was then banned from Paris and moved to Brussels where is started studying the same things. Marx still published the same work about society and his beliefs. He published these beliefs in both Paris and Brussels. He was then once again banished from Belgium but was invited back to Paris by the French provisional government. Working with the revolution he started writing for the Neue Rheinische Zeitung which ran until June 1849 and something that people still remember today. He was to face the government twice to silence his paper and thoughts he was sending to the public. He was again expelled and went to London to continue his works in social issues. After spending time in London he tried to stay behind the scenes and not get to involved but Karl Vogt talked him into writing some more ideas and printing them up. Throughout the rest of his life he kept writing and studying work until his death in March 14, 1883.

Marx believed in class conflict. He wanted there to be stability in the world and throughout history and future. The biggest argument for his theory is feudalism, capitalism, and socialism. He believed that people were split up into two different groups, the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. He believed that we needed to get rid of these two groups and allow people to share everything equally and not allow only a few people to own and control the land and property. He said that owners were making more money than they should because the owners were paying the workers less than they should be paying them and allow them to make more money. Marx really believed in history and believed that was the reason for revolutions and other revolts. He said the reasons we have cities and big towns were because of the bourgeoisie class fighting the government and other rules that were placed onto them to control the land owners. Marx still believes that there should be social criticism and political activates to help make everything more equal for everyone around the country. Karl Marx’s ideas are still being viewed and used today by many people; they have been reviewed for over hundred years. Marx ideas were used by Lenin in the Russian Revolution, and also with Immanuel Wallerstein and Theda Skocpol. Karl Marx has set the bar for social change and equality for years to come.

http://thecollaboratory.wikidot.com/introduction-to-sociology2
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/bio/marx/eng-1869.htm

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Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
By Travis Geile

Born in Derby, England on April 27th, 1820, Herbert Spencer was educated in empirical science as a kid by his father. William George Spencer taught his son of the pre-Darwinism theories of biological evolution. Herbert Spencer learned math, physics, and enough Latin to give him the chance to translate simple texts. Spencer’s early interests included science, natural history, physics and chemistry. By the young age of 16 he had completed his formal education and was then considered an Assistant Schoolmaster. He had many jobs over the years such as working on the railroad during the “boom” years. It was during these years that he began to build a reputation as a philosopher behind the scenes. Beginning in 1848, Herbert Spencer took a job as sub-editor of The Economist, a free trade journal. Eventually, he went on to produce his first book in 1851. This book was called Social Statics. It was a dream of Spencer’s to spend is life writing, this was his chance to get noticed. Then in 1855, a second book called Principles of Psychology, was published. His reputation and popularity continued to grow exponentially becoming the most important philosopher of his time at one point. He had reached a popularity level that had been unseen. He was one of the first philosophers to sell over one million copies of his work during his lifetime. Herbert Spencer was known to expand the readers imagination and free the mind. People including William James and Emile Durkheim were known to develop theories based on those of Spencer’s.
A philosopher of science, Auguste Comte wrote an article that had a theory of sociocultural evolution that society progresses in three general stages. Spencer rejected this theory and considered the idea “reformulating social science in terms of evolutionary biology”. In terms of evolution Spencer could be considered as close to Darwinism as possible. He developed a theory that split society into two groups; the militant and the industrial. In short, basically militant society leans more to structured relationships, figures of authority etc. The industrial society was more complex and differentiated. Spencer always had a different look on society, considering it “social organisms” that have simply evolved. This was according to the universal laws of motion. In Social Statics, Spencer debated whether or not the evolution of society would end in anarchism or if we were on the right track hopefully producing continued role for the state. Although Spencer had an impact in early sociology, many of his theories were proved wrong by scientists and some people had jaded thoughts of his writing. His thoughts on structural functionalism are well respected in sociology. Many consider that he failed trying to introduce Darwinism into the social world. It seems that there was a part of society that considered Spencer to be dangerous in many ways. By the 1890’s, Emile Durkheim had established social research in formal academic sociology. Other theories began to take the spotlight and Spencer’s views and beliefs were seen as old news. His work in sociology was beneficial as he pioneered many ideas. Spencer published a work that basically introduced “Darwinism”, 7 years before the Darwinism theories were published.
“Society exists for the benefit of its members, not the members for the benefit of society.”
-Herbert Spencer
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/herbert_spencer_2.html#ixzz17UEpvFiZ
http://www.human-nature.com/rmyoung/papers/spencer.doc
http://socserv2.socsci.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/spencer/firprin.html
http://www.victorianweb.org/philosophy/spencer/spencer.html

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Brandon Neujahr

Max Weber was born in Erfurt, Prussia (1864) as the eldest son of an aspiring liberal politician whose family had become wealthy in the German linen industry. The father soon joined the more compliant, pro-Bismarckian "National-Liberals" and moved to Berlin, where he became a member of the Prussian House of Deputies (1868-97) and the Reichstag (1872-84). As such he became part of the Berlin social milieu and entertained in his house men prominent in scholarship and politics.

Helene Weber, the sociologist's mother, was raised in Calvinist orthodoxy. Though she gradually accepted a more tolerant theology, the Puritan morality of her mother remained intact within her. As a result of the social activities of her husband she came to feel increasingly estranged from him, and, after the deaths of two of her children and the serious illness of young Max, she was aghast at his inability to share her prolonged grief. He, in turn, tended to adopt a traditionally authoritarian manner at home and to demand absolute obedience from wife and children.

Weber left home to enroll at the University of Heidelberg in 1882, interrupting his studies after two years to fulfill his year of military service at Strassburg (Strasbourg). During this time he became very close to the family of his mother's sister, Ida Baumgarten, and her husband, the historian Hermann Baumgarten, whose influence on Weber's intellectual development was profound.

After his release from the military, Weber was asked by his father to finish his studies at the University of Berlin, where he could live at home. This was perhaps because his father considered the influence of the Baumgartens subversive of his son's character. From 1884 until his marriage in 1893, Weber left his father's house only for a semester of study at Göttingen in 1885, and for some brief periods of military manoeuvres with his reserve unit.
During most of his formative years as a scholar in legal and economic history, Weber was thus continually subject to his parents' conflicting and unanswerable claims on his loyalty. Since he spent his mid- and late-20s working simultaneously in two totally unremunerative apprenticeshipsas a lawyer's assistant and as a university assistanthe was financially unable to leave home until the autumn of 1893. At that time he received a temporary position in jurisprudence at the University of Berlin and married Marianne Schnitger, a second cousin.

The high point of his early scholarly career was his inaugural address at Freiburg in 1895, in which he pulled together some five years of study on the agrarian problems of Germany east of the Elbe into a devastating indictment of the ruling Junker aristocracy as historically obsolete. In Weber's view, the existing liberal parties were in no position to challenge and replace the Junkers.
Weber's political sociology is concerned with the distinction between charismatic, traditional, and legal forms of authority. Charisma refers to the gift of spiritual inspiration underlying the power of religious prophecy and political leadership. In many of these later concerns, Weber touched, sometimes explicitly, on themes that had first been broached by Nietzsche.
Indeed, Weber's most powerful impact on his contemporaries came in the last years of his life, when, from 1916 to 1918, he argued powerfully against Germany's annexationist war goals and in favour of a strengthened parliament. He stood bravely for sobriety in politics and scholarship against the apocalyptic mood of right-wing students in the months following Germany's defeat. After assisting in the drafting of the new constitution and in the founding of the German Democratic Party, Weber died of a lung infection in June 1920.

Weber's significance during his lifetime was considerable among German social scientists, many of whom were his personal friends in Heidelberg or Berlin; but because of the fact that little of his work was published in book form during his lifetime and because most of the journals in which he published had restricted audiences of scholarly specialists, his major impact was felt after his death.
In general, it may be said that Weber's greatest merit as a thinker was that he brought the social sciences in Germany, hitherto preoccupied largely with national problems, into direct critical confrontation with the international giants of 19th-century European thought – Marx and Nietzsche – and that through this confrontation he helped create a methodology and a body of literature dealing with the sociology of religion, the sociology of political parties, small group behavior, and the philosophy of history. His work continues to stimulate scholarship.

cepa.newschool.edu/het/profiles/weber.htm
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/weber/

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Culture

Hispanic American Culture

Vanessa Loya

Hispanic American Culture means a populated area of Hispanics and Latinos. They live in a different way than most white populated areas do. They have different food, music, dancing and language. They also may have different celebrations. They also have similarities to white populated cities. They take on the same jobs, view points and political stands.

Language
The languages of a Hispanic American Culture are Spanish, English, and a mixture of both called Spanglish.
Religion
The religion of these American cities is mainly Catholicism. I am a Baptist.
Food
Cuisines
There are many different dishes in Hispanic culture. Many main foods are spicy. Most dishes are prepared with oil, fatty butter, and sometimes deep fried. All dishes are served with Spanish rice and mashed pinto beans.
Soups and Broths
There a few different soups and broths. Caldo is a broth soup that is made with corn, squash, tomato, onion, beef, and water. My family usually eats Caldo for a morning dish on Christmas and New Year’s Day. Menudo is a thick soup that is made with red chili, hominy corn and pork feet. Menudo is a special breakfast dish. It is sometimes sold in most Mexican restaurants on weekend mornings. Posole is a traditional holiday broth. It is made with hominy corn and pork.
Sweet Bread
Pan Dulce or Mexican sweet bread is a sweet treat that is usually eat while drinking coffee, hot chocolate or milk. It is made with similar ingredients as any other sweet bread but this sweet bread is much quicker to make. It also has a sugary topping to it. They usually are sold in different colors.
Traditional Drinks
There are a few special drinks that are drunk in a Hispanic American Culture. They are usually made with fruit and seeds.
• Sweet Fruits
1. Guava
2. Mango
3. Papaya
4. Watermelon
• Sour Fruits
1. Lemon/lime
2. Orange
3. Pineapple
4. Strawberry
• Rice
1. Horchata
Music
The music that is mostly listened to in a Hispanic American Culture is mainly in Spanish. There is a variety of different types of Latino music.
• Reggaetón
• Tejano music
• Mariachis
• Rancheras
• Mexican pop/rap
Dances
• Folkloric dances
• Latin Ballroom dances
• Two step dances (for parties)
Holidays/Celebrations
These Hispanic cities in the United States have all the same holidays and celebrations, but there are a few extra that are celebrated.
• La Semana Santa (Easter and the Holy Week)
• Cinco de Mayo (May 5)
• May 10: Día de las Madres (Day of the Mothers)
• Nov. 1 & 2: Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
• Dec 16-24: Las Posadas (journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem)
• Quinceañera (15th Birthday) for girls only

It is awesome to live in a city where I can live with people with the same tastes. I think it is important to have a society that functions the same and not be pushed aside as a minority.

References

• The Hispanic American __http://www.thehispanicamerican.com/__
• Hispanic Holidays __http://www.de.nrcs.usda.gov/about/spanish/majorholidays.html__

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Asian American Culture

Kelsey Locke
Ciara Carnes

Definition of Asian American- The definition of Asian American is someone who is a U.S. citizen that has ancestry of Asian Descent.

Population Growth- While Asian American make up about 5% of the U.S.'s population (as of 2008), they are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S.

Food- The first style of Asian food is known as the southwest style that includes cuisines from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Burma. The second style of food is the northeast tradition, which originated from China, Korea, and Japan. A lot of their foods tend to have more oils, sauces and fats when cooking. Soy sauce is used in a lot, if not all of their dishes. The third major style of Asian food is southeast which includes Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Viet Nam, Indonesia, Brunei, Singapore, and Malaysia. Most of these dishes put emphasis on making lightly cooked foods, by stir-frying, steaming and or boiling. They use seasonings like basil, citrus juices, cilantro, and mint. Asian American food is a type of cuisine that is based on traditional dishes and flavors from Asia, especially China, but with altered ingredients and cooking techniques that make them unique to the United States. Americanized Asian food tends to have more meat than traditional Asian dishes and is more likely to use richer cooking techniques like frying or coating foods in thick sauces.

Some Examples of Food:
• Banh mi- It is a type of Vietnamese street-food sandwich that has, chicken, different types of vegetables and spices.
• Beggar’s chicken- It’s a stuffed chicken sealed tight with layers of lotus leaf, wax paper and mud. This dish takes hours of baking for all of the flavors to soak in.
• California rolls- contain sushi, avocado, sometimes rice, crab meat, and mayonnaise.
• Chop suey- stir fry dish that contains vegetables and meat with gravy.
• Chow mein- Very traditional Chinese dish. Also a stir fry, similar to Chop suey. Contains noodles that can be hard or softer, made with wheat flour, egg, and water.
• Dim sum- This dish originated in Canton. It has minced shrimp wrapped in a thin dough skin, filled with meat.
• Egg rolls- These are thin coverings of unraised dough, wrapped around various meat, seafood and vegetable mixtures, and then usually deep fried.
• Fortune cookie- Similar to a Japanese cookie called omikuji, but fortune cookies where made in America and were baked and served by Chinese immigrants early in the 1900s in California.
• Fried rice- Originated in the Yanchow province, it is a versatile dish which combines cooked rice, onions, soy sauce, and sometimes eggs.
• Sashimi- A Japanese term for a dish of sliced raw fish. The word is derived from sashi( to pierce) and mi (flesh).
• Sweet and sour pork- Very popular dish, Originated in China.
• Wontons- Are thin unleavened dough with fillings or as noodles.
• Tempura- Deep-fry batter-dipped shrimp. Originated from the Portuguese.
• Ramen noodles- Created by a Momofuku Ando, a Japanese food manuracturer in 1958. The word “ramen” the word is Japanese, referring to a broth with noodles.
• Peking duck- Most famous dish of Beijing.
• Mu Shu Pork- Dish that consists mostly of lean pork, mushrooms, beaten eggs, and cabbage. It can be served alone, or wrapped in thin pancakes.
• Kung Pao Chicken- Very common dish in the U.S. It’s a combination of chopped chicken and vegetables, like green and red peppers, carrots, or cabbage.
• Beef and Broccoli- This dish consists of thinly sliced beef that is cooked in oil with broccoli and tossed either with soy sauce or oyster sauce.
• Crab Rangoon- It is an appetizer made with a mixture of cream cheese and crab meat that is stuffed in wonton wrappers, or in dough. Then they are fried until they are crispy, and then served.

Religion- The results show that while no religion can claim a majority of followers in the Asian American community, as of 2008, those who claim no religious affiliation are the largest group. In fact, this group has grown significantly since the first ARIS study in 1990 and its percentage in 2008 (27%) among Asian American is the largest of all the major racial ethnic groups in the study (Whites are second with 16% claiming no religious affiliation). The second-largest religious group among Asian Americans are "Eastern Religions" that include Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, Baha'i, Shintoist, Zoroastrian, and Sikh. These Eastern Religions saw a dramatic increase from 1990 to 2001, then leveled off in 2008. Catholics are the third-largest group at 17% in 2008, with their proportions declining notably from 27% in 1990.

The category of "Christian Generic" (comprising those who identified as Christian, Protestant, Evangelical/ Born Again Christian, Born Again, Fundamentalist, Independent Christian, Missionary Alliance Church, and Non-Denominational Christian) is the fourth-largest group at 10% in 2008. Other Christian and Protestant denominations are listed below that. The results show that in 2008, Muslims represented 8% of the Asian American population (up from 3% in 1990) and "New Religious Movements" (comprising those who identified as Scientology, New Age, Eckankar, Spiritualist, Unitarian-Universalist, Deist, Wiccan, Pagan, Druid, Indian Religion, Santeria, and Rastafarian) claiming 2% in 2008.

Pop culture:
• Anime
• Dragon Ball Z
• Yu-Gi-Oh
• Pokemon
• Digimon
• Hello kitty
• Feng shui
• Chinese astrology
• Iron Chef
• Martial Arts
• Nintendo
• Sega
• Playstation
• Yoga
• Basketball players (Yao Ming)
• Baseball players (Ichiro Suzuki)
• Karaoke
• Martial Arts Movies
• Acupuncture
• Cars seen on movies such as The Fast and The Furious and on popular video games such as Need For Speed.

Asian Stereotypes:
Two primary stereotypes,
One is that all Asian Americans are the same. People don’t recognize that there are different Asian cultures like Korean American or Japanese or Indonesian, etc.
Second is that all Asian Americans are foreigners. More than half are born outside the U.S, but the others are born in the U.S.

Works Cited:

www.asian-nation.org/religion.shtml
http://www.asian-nation.org/asian-food.shtml
http://www.ehow.com/list_6021924_asian-american-foods.html
http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodasian.html
http://chineseculture.about.com/cs/popculturetrends/

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Taylor DeVine and Brittany Ellegood
Ecuador

Language
The language of the Ecuadorians is Spanish, but the indigenous nationalities speak various languages that belong to different linguistic families.
Religion
White is predominantly Roman Catholic and varies considerably according to social class. Conservative Catholicism is infused with patriotism. Protestantism with many dimensions and sects is common and growing, though with smaller congregations. Overall, a fatalistic world view prevails wherein, ultimately, God's will is seen to dominate events. Phrases such as "if God permits," "if God helps me," and "thanks to God," are ubiquitous. Natural disasters, which are common in Ecuador, are said to be God's punishment for collective sin. The government, though secular, is thought of as a powerful but unconcerned father who cares little for his "children" (citizens), thereby provoking God's wrath.
Food
The most basic, ubiquitous prepared food is soup, with many variations according to region and ingredients. Coastal fish and coconut milk chowders, sierran potato–based soups, and Amazonian pepper–pot dishes are joined by chicken consommé, cream of avocado, and cow's foot and tripe soup. The mildly fermented chicha made from manioc by indigenous people of Amazonia could be regarded as a soup in its daily, nonceremonial consumption. Other common nonfermented food drinks are made with barley and oatmeal.
The middle and upper classes follow a European model of diet and dining: the primary meal, dinner, features several courses, is served at 2:00 P.M. , and may last for two hours. First comes the soup, and then the segundo ("second") or seco ("dry") courses. It is a time to gather with family at home, or to meet friends or business acquaintances at a restaurant. Workers who travel far from home may take along lunch in a vertically compartmentalized lunch bucket, or buy inexpensive hot food from kiosks or street vendors. These foods include potato and meat soups or stews, choclos (corn on the cob), small sausages fried with onions and potatoes, and eggs. Other national favorites from the street to restaurants include empanadas , small meat, vegetable, or corn pies; shrimp, bivalves, fish, pork, or beef specialties; and "typical" dishes such as locro , a potato and cheese soup, and llapingachos , potato– cheese fritters. In urban Quito and Guayaquil one may choose food from Arby's, Domino's Pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald's, or TGI Friday's. A small number of caterers specialize in home–delivered prepared meals to accommodate employed women. Abundant fresh fruits and fruit juices are extremely popular.
Food Customs at Ceremonial Occasions. A variety of special dishes are prepared from fresh ingredients for ceremonial occasions by the woman of the house and her female maids. In the Sierra and parts of the Coast fanesca , a hearty soup that combines numerous beans, grains, and other vegetables cooked in fish broth, is served during Holy Week. Native people of Amazonia and the Sierra prepare chicha , a brew made from manioc and maize, respectively. This drink is served on all ceremonial occasions, but in Amazonia it also provides daily caloric intake. For the elite, alcoholic drinks, particularly
Economy
The lush Andean valleys and coastal farms produce vegetables and fruits in great variety and abundance, and there is active interregional marketing. Stable starches are rice, bananas, plantains, and taro, grown on the coast; potatoes, corn, barley, quinoa, and wheat from the Sierra; and, in Amazonia, plantains, bananas, and particularly the root crops manioc and taro. Coffee, sugar, cacao, and coconuts from the coast are widely distributed. Chickens are raised everywhere for meat and for eggs, which are a major source of protein. Other meats are provided by hogs, cattle, and sheep; fish and some game are important in the Oriente. A wide variety of sausages, processed meats, and canned tuna and sardines is available in markets. The dairy industry is strong in the Sierra and the Coast, providing milk and numerous types of cheeses. Supermarkets carry an increasingly wide variety of imported canned and dehydrated soups, as well as nationally produced canned cow's foot and tripe soups.

Dances/Music
• there is a national symphony and national folkloristic ballet in Quito, but Ecuador is probably best known internationally for indigenous bands that combine and recombine various genres of Andean "folk" music. Many come from Otavalo and Salasaca, but groups exist throughout the Andes and the Amazonian region. Black marimba groups from Esmeraldas are becoming internationally known

Holidays/Celebrations
• Soccer (futbol)
• National Liberation (May 24 and August 10th)
• Columbus Day (October 12)
• New Years Eve
• Epiphany (January 6-11)
• Pre Lenten Carnival
• Sierran Festivals of Saint Paul, Saint John, and Saint Peter, Corpus Christi,
• Incaic Inti Raymi solstice celebration

Work Cited
http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Ecuador.html

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REPUBLIC of INDONESIA

by: Gina Gultom and Kristania Besouw

Indonesia is the 16th largest country in terms of land area Indonesia has approximately 17,508 islands out of which 6,000 are inhabited. Indonesia is populated by 245,613,043 (July 2011 est.) 4th after China, India, and U.S.
Located at the line of equator, Indonesia has tropical climate all year long with two seasons: rainy and dry seasons.

Language
Indonesian or ‘Bahasa Indonesia’ is the official language. For most of Indonesian people, Bahasa is their second language, due to their traditional language. comprising some 300 ethnic groups who speak an estimated 583 languages and dialects.

Food
Most Indonesian eats rice as main dish. In fact, other foods like bread, spaghetti, pizza, etc. are considered snacks and will not call it a meal if it is not served with rice. Rice is served with any kind of meat, vegetables and fruit. Each area in Indonesia has its own traditional food. One thing they have in common: food rich of spices. The difference is some culture has sweeter, or spicier, than the others. All kind of food is exotic, but some are unusual such as paniki (bats), RW (spicy dog meat), tikus (white rat), cats, snakes, turtles, etc.

Culture
Indonesian Culture is influenced by India and China since ancient times. The European and the Middle Eastern influenced in the medieval age, which makes a rich cultural value.
Religions (2000 census): Muslim 86.1%, Protestant 5.7%, Catholic 3%, Hindu 1.8%, others 3.4%. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world.

Facts
• Most schools wear uniform. School day is Monday to Saturday.
• Laid back lifestyle
• Has several flora and fauna that only exist in Indonesia.
• Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world.
• Superimposed on the United States or Europe, Indonesia would stretch roughly from San Francisco to New York or from Madrid to Moscow.
• Has several of the world’s best diving site
• Each province has its own language, ethnic make-up, religions and history.
• Most people will define themselves locally before nationally.
• In addition there are many cultural influences stemming back from difference in heritage. Indonesians are a mix of Chinese, European, Indian, and Malay.
• Although Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world it also has a large number of Christian Protestants, Catholics, Hindus and Buddhists.
• People will define themselves according to their ethnic group, family and place of birth.
• The family is still very traditional in structure.
• Family members have clearly defined roles and a great sense of interdependence.
• Bali is one of the island
• Of the ten largest islands in the world, three are located in Indonesia
• Indonesia spreads over "Ring of Fire", situated in Western Pacific. It has over 400 active volcanoes and bears over 3 earthquakes per day.
• Indonesia is home to Komodo dragon (varanus komodoensis), the largest lizard in the world.
• Obama lived in Indonesia for 4 years. He was raised with Maya Soetoro-Ng, half sister from his mother and her second husband (Indonesian).

Add:

Works Cited:
http://www.123independenceday.com/indonesia/geography.html
http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/global-etiquette/indonesia.html
http://uniquefacts.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/unique-facts-amazing-facts-about-indonesia/

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Socialization

Homosexual Adoption
Sage Henderson
There is one simple question that faces the American society today and it is: Should gay and lesbian families be excluded from the adoption system? The biggest gay rights problem facing the world today is simply homosexual adoption. Homosexual adoption is viewed as being wrong to numerous people in today’s society but then again right to those with it as their only option to fulfill a dream of raising a child.

There are numerous children around the world waiting to be adopted everyday, but those that are older or even yet suffer from a mental disability are extremely hard to find homes for. “Children who fit this category are in foster homes right now with gay and lesbian parents who want to adopt them. It is unfair to the children to deny them permanent homes.”
The life that a child being raised by homosexual parents is truly different than that of what is considered a normal child in society. A seven year old, girl from California simply said; “I don't tell other kids about my mom. At school it kind of bothers me because when we play or tell stories, there's always a mom and a dad… What really bothers me is when my friends come over and then they get into if I know my dad. So I tell them no, not really… I ask my mom about my dad but… you see, I wonder about him. I don't know where he is… When I grow up I want to live with someone; I don't know if I want to get married and I don't know if I want to have kids.” Most children experience some sort of teasing, because they are not normal. Child Welfare Information Gateway quotes the following therapist, "It can be too hard a transition for some children, especially those who are older and have already formed preconceived notions about homosexuality," explains therapist Ruder. "Younger children usually have an easier time adjusting to a gay and lesbian parented home. They haven't learned the societal biases against gays and lesbians yet." This is one of the most important issues for gays and lesbians to consider before adopting a child.
The push against gay, lesbian, and same-sex couple’s adoption is more about gay discrimination than child welfare. There are already thousands of children living in gay couple households. The 2000 U. S. Census reports 33% of female same-sex couple’s households and 22% of male same-sex couple’s households already have at least one child under the age of 18 living at home. There is no conclusive evidence that homosexuality is linked to one's environment. But this simply means that growing up in a gay household does not make a child gay. And most children in the United States do not live with two married parents. In fact, according to the 2000 census, only 24% of homes were composed of married mother and father with children living at home. The Florida court argues that children are better off raised in a two-parent heterosexual household. In fact, scientific studies have shown that children who grow up in one or two-parent gay or lesbian households fare just as well emotionally and socially as children whose parents are heterosexual. Studies have shown that children are more influenced by their interactions with their parents, than by their sexual orientation. There is no legal reason why gays and lesbians should be denied the right to adopt children. The law only hurts children waiting to be adopted and deprives loving parents who would care for these children. If a couple has a child through artificial insemination, only the birth parent is recognized as the legal guardian. Through second-parent adoption, both parents can obtain legal custody of the child. In the states that do not allow second-parent adoption, if something happens to the custodial parent, the remaining parent, even if they have been raising the child for years, can be seen as a stranger in the eyes of the law. The child may not be eligible for the non-custodial parent’s health insurance, social security or other insurance if that parent becomes incapacitated. There is no way this can be in the best interest of the child.
Homosexual adoption is viewed as being right for some and wrong for others. If a couple is willing to put in the time and effort to raise a child, they should be able to adopt one. But the question remains the same from question as to where they live a destructive life from having same sex parents. It has also been said that gay men should not allowed to adopt, because they are statistically more likely to be child molesters in the end. There are many concerns when a child’s life is put at risk while being in a different that normal home.

Works Cited

http://jesuschristismygod.com/in-homosexualadoption.html
http://gaylife.about.com/od/gayparentingadoption/a/gayadoptionstat.htm
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/gendersexuality/ig/Lesbian-and-Gay-Rights-101/Gay- Adoption-Rights.htm
http://lesbianlife.about.com/cs/families/a/adoption_2.htm

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Social Identity
By: Ruby Noel

Have you as an individual ever taken a long look at where you stand in society? Where you stand in the social groups your involved in everyday? Social identity is how we recognize and make sense of one another. It’s essential to all social interactions and the foundation of our society and culture. But many if us have not really taken a glance as to where we as individuals are in society.

The first “society” or “social group” we really belong to is our families. Here we start to learn some of the fundamentals of life, such as communication, proper behavior and the need to feel a sense of belonging.

We truly start to find our social identity when we start attending school. During this time, we meet people and experience new things outside of our “comfort zone.” We begin to make decisions at school mainly based upon others perceptions of us at an early age. But this part of life truly launches during the middle school and high school ages, where we naturally find the people that make up our “social groups” throughout the rest of our lives. High school and moving up to colleges are the places that we really start to realize who we are, and where we belong in society.

Living and exchanging ideas with others is a necessary part of life that creates bonds and fills our need to feel accepted by people. But the consequence is many of us start to shape ourselves into people that we are not, so we are more “accepted” by the “rules of society”. A person’s self-presentation of themselves is often not the way their actual internal state is. People maneuver the signals they give off in order to manage the impression others have of them, to encourage emotional responses, because it’s required by society.

Social identity refers to the connection of an individual with primary and other human groups, based on factors such as capacities, experiences, mobility and location. The language we speak is one of the strongest held social identities we have. Language provides a primary source to be able to sort out, think about, make sense of and express our understanding of the reality we live in, which consists of our physical world, our own beliefs and interpersonal communication. Language is the only way we can obtain abstract ideas and increase our knowledge.

Ethnicity is another strong identity, including biological origins, customs, habits and distinguishing physical traits. Sharing the same customs throughout life brings ethnic cultures closer together, creating a sense of belonging. And with ethnicity comes nationality, which is our political sense of identity, with or without an ethnic foundation.

There is a power of place that affects all human beings; the warmth for a familiar land of our upbringing and our economic basis of life. Without this connection with one another, we would not have a social identity or a sense of belonging in the big place we know as our world. Through our social association with others we find out who we are and truly make sense of our social identity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=i_oI4aZn47E

Sources:

October 2006-SOCIAL IDENTITY- by August G. Jannarone

YouTube.com

World Encyclopedia (published 1988)

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Vincent Dillard

Social Isolation

Social Isolation has begun to have a heavy toll on America today than decades ago. Many Americans today don’t even have a person that they can express their personal problems or things that go on in their daily life, unless these people are a significant other in a relationship. For example, the people that were stranded in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2004, these people were so isolated that they didn’t know a person with a car to get out. On the other hand doesn’t mean a person who has 500 friends on face book, is not socially isolated. Those people still can’t get out their personal issues about what is going on in the world today, to those 500 people. The problem is the only social or family connections we are getting is when we are watching TV shows, such as ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ or ‘Desperate Housewives’. Televisions now are owned by 95 percent of American, where in 1950 only 5 percent owned televisions. The family and friendly atmosphere is gone and people are too isolated to the social media of America. However working a 9 to 5, five days a week, doesn’t give us a chance to socially meet new people, in addition bonding to a close family member. The effect of this keeps us in a social isolation box, where we don’t see different perspectives. As Robert D. Putnam best said, “For most of the 20th century. Americans were becoming more connected with family and friends , and there was more giving of blood and money, and all of these trend lives turn sharply in the middle ‘60s and have gone in the other direction ever since.”

In addition the three possible causes of social isolation are depression, autism, and reactive attachment disorder. First depression can lead to loss of appetite, constipation, headaches, and weight loss. For adult when social isolation occurs a person doesn’t feel the same satisfaction in activities that was entertaining in the past. However children, on the other hand, are different especially if you see changes in school, sleep, and their behavior.

Secondly Autism can be a factor in social isolation. This is a developmental disorder that appears in the first three years of a child’s life. Autism affects the brain’s normal development of social and communication skills. Boys are 3-4 more times to have autism than boys. Symptoms are constipation, flagging movements of hands. The person doesn’t make conversation, or the person hits themselves.

Lastly reactive attachment disorder it’s a problem with social interaction that occurs when a child’s basic physical and emotional needs are neglected. However this happens to children as infants in many cases it has happen to older children and teens. For example, Anna was socially isolated and found at the age of 6 but died at the age of 10. Then there is Genie who was found at the age of 13, and is still living to this day in California. Symptoms are defiance, inhibited behavior, preoccupation, and a weak mother-infant attachment.

Sources
http://www.washingtonpost.com
http://www.healthline.com

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Gabrielle McIntosh

Social Maltreatment

Social Maltreatment also known as psychological battering is very evident in the United States. It consists of all the types of abuse, such as sexual, emotional, mental and physical. Anyone can be affected by this, and many people are. When the term social maltreatment is searched child maltreatment shows up. The World Health Organization at www.who.int states that twenty percent of women and five to ten percent of men report being sexually abused as a child, and that twenty to fifty percent of all children report being physically abused. This shows that many children have falling victim to social maltreatment, but adults can be affected throughout their lifetime by being maltreated when they were children.

Where does social maltreatment happen? There are many places where social maltreatment happens. Maltreatment can start in the home with parents and their children. Parents can abuse their children in many ways that are against the law, but because parents are supposed to be the authority in the home, many children endure their abuse for long periods of time, sometimes throughout their whole childhood. Maltreatment can happen in the school. Students can be maltreated by their peers and even their teachers, because of their race, how they look and their social status. Social Maltreatment can happen in the work place. Employers and coworkers can maltreat each other. Social Maltreatment can happen anywhere at any time and in any age group.

What are the consequences of social maltreatment? There are many consequences to the victims of maltreatment. At www.aifs.gov.au it states that maltreated children “have been shown to have low self esteem, increased fear, guilt and self blame. They have been found to display relationship problems with their parents and peers, higher rates of mental health disorders among abused children include depression, anxiety, and nightmares or flashbacks. Adult survivors of maltreatment have been found to engage in certain dysfunctional behavioural patterns, many of which are considered to be coping mechanisms that are used in an attempt to overcome the emotional distress associated with past trauma. “They also state that survivors experience higher rates of: Depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, eating disorders, alcohol and substance use/dependence self-injurious behaviour and suicide.”

How to prevent social maltreatment? Maltreatment can be prevented by different steps. The World Health Organization at www.who.int states that “visits by nurses to parents and children in their homes to provide support, education, and information; parent education, usually delivered in groups, to improve child-rearing skills, increase knowledge of child development, and encourage positive child management strategies; and multi-component interventions, which typically include support and education of parents, pre-school education, and child care. “ To maximize the effects of prevention and care is to defining the problem; identifying causes and risk factors; designing and testing interventions aimed at minimizing the risk factors; disseminating information about the effectiveness of interventions and increasing the scale of proven effective interventions. Communities getting together and being aware of their members will also help to prevent this global problem.

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Temple Grandin
Case Rundel
Thomas Wieland
Carrie Jo Zornes

A professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University goes by the name of Dr. Grandin. She is a designer of livestock facilities and has the extra-ordinary ability to understand things from the livestock’s point of view. In 1950 she was diagnosed as autistic. Up until the age of three and a half years she did not talk with people. Her only means of communication were through screaming, peeping and humming. When she was diagnosed her parents were instructed to institutionalize her.

Temple has an amazing ability. That ability is to see things not through the human point of view but from how the cattle see things. Cattle like to balk at many things so the more distractions that are eliminated the easier cattle are to handle. She has also developed the low stress cattle handling. This includes no yelling, no slamming of gates, no hotshots/ cattle prods.

She obtained her BA at Franklin Pierce College and her MS in Animal Science at Arizona State University. She went on in her schooling and received her PhD in Animal Science at Arizona State University in 1989.

She is now a Professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University. Her courses include livestock behavior and facility design. As well as being a professor she is also one of the top designers of livestock handling facilities and equipment, and animal’s welfare. She also has appeared on numerous television shows, been featured in many magazines, broadcast on National Public Radio, wrote over 400 articles in both scientific journals and livestock newspapers. In 2010 she was named one of the top 100 most influential people by Times magazine. Another highlight of her life is that she is the author of many books including:

• “Thinking in Pictures”
• “Livestock Handling and Transport”
• “Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals”
• “Humane Livestock Handling”
• “Animals in Translation”
• “Animals Make Us Human”

On top of everything listed above she even has a movie made after her. It is an HBO movie titled appropriately “Temple Grandin”. It stars Clair Danes as Temple. The movie shows her life as a teenager, all the struggles she had to face, how she started her career, and she changed her appearance to fit in better with the “cattlemen”.

Her designs make the cattle stay calmer, keep the cattle safer, and also make it easier for processing. She has facilities located all over the world including, USA, Canada, Europe, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and many more countries. A couple of her livestock handling designs
include :

• Round Pen/Low stress handling of cattle in a circular graze- cattle like circles. They will graze in circles generally. This is also why the round pen is so effective. Keep cattle in round pen numbers low.
• Squeeze Chute- when the squeeze is applied it gives the animals a feeling of being relaxed. Much like the way a baby feels when their mother is cradling them. This is the way Temple made it through college. She built herself a portable squeeze chute that she took with her. Whenever that sign of her autism would show she would simply put herself in her chute and it would calm her down. At her house to this day she still has a full size chute if she needs it.
• Snake w/closed side paneling- cattle are very curious creatures. They like to see things and then stand still and try to figure out what it is. This causes balking and holdups. If the bottom of the snakes panels are closed sides then the animal is more likely to continue walking because nothing has caught its attention. The snake design allows the animals to play follow the leader. As long as they can see the animal in front of them they will continue to walk ahead as well.
• Dipping Vats- Temple actually put herself through one of these dipping vats. In doing this she discovered why cattle disliked them so much. She made her own design and in this design there are stair steps to allow the cattle to lower themselves into it instead of them just jumping in not knowing the bottom. There are also stairs on the other side allowing the animal to get themselves out without injury. In this design she also said to not rush the animals. Cattle naturally like water and want to be in it. As long as they are not forced to jump into it they will go by themselves causing less stress.
• Proper livestock restraint for stunning (Electric or Captive)
• Preventing injuries or bruising (dark cuts)- dark cuts are cuts of the meat that are thrown away. It is bruising caused by to much stress on the animal, or animals being to crowded.
• Preventing blind spot injuries to humans- cattle do kick and they can kick hard. If you stay out of their blind spots they generally will not try to cause harm to you. A rule of thumb is if you can see their eyes they can see you.
• “Couple” cattle, no singles- if at all possible do not single an animal out. Let him have a “buddy” or “companion”, they will be easier to work and it helps them to remain calm and put less stress on them. Single cattle are where most of the injuries that happen to humans occur at.
• Chasing Cattle- do not chase after a single, lone, agitated bovine. They will always return to be with others because of their herd instinct. If one is loose in your plant, remind all employees to remain quiet, calm, and still. Have one designated person to ease it out of a door. The more the animal is spooked the more that animal will destroy.

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Anorexia Nervosa
By Nick Rimpley

Society’s overemphsis of physical appearances put pressure on some individuals to make pour choices. Anorexia has become a result of this pressure. Some people have decided to stop eating for a period of time to keep their weight down but in their eyes of being overweight is a totally different degree of others. Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by self-starvation unrealistic fear of weight gain and conspicuous distortion of body image. People with Anorexia go to the extreme to reach and maintain the very low weight they want. The lower the weight they reach, the more obsessed they become with dieting and weight loss. There are two types of Anorexia that people can get involved with, restricting and purging. Restricting is when they restrict the amount of calories they put in their bodies. They usually follow drastic diets, go on fasts, and exercise to excess. Purging is where people get rid of the calories they have eat by vomiting or using laxatives. This eating disorder usually starts out with a normal diet. This person may start dieting and exercising for the main factor, just to get in shape, but when the pounds start coming off something is triggered to lose even more weight. There is not just one single explanation for Anorexia, but there have been a number of theories to explain this disorder. Many cases can be cause from family problem or everyday life. Some cases come from people who are perfectionists. They have to be perfect in schoolwork and other matters in addition to weight control. Family dysfunction can also be a result of it, which anorexia may serve as a distraction for family problems. Another hypothesis is the desire to appear fragile and nonthreatening as possible. This reflects the idea the female passivity and weakness are attractive to males. When someone has this eating disorder there are some signs for others to recognize. One clear sign is drastic weight loss with no medical reason and the constant complain about being overweight in certain places such as the stomach, hips and thighs. The first physical signs and effects of anorexia are loss of menstrual periods, lack of energy and weakness, feeling cold all the time, dry yellowish skin, constipation and abdominal pain, restlessness and insomnia, dizziness, fainting, headaches, and growth of fine hair all over the body and face. “In addition to the cultural pressure to be thin, there are other family and social pressures that can contribute to anorexia. This includes participation in an activity that demands slenderness, such as ballet, gymnastics, or modeling. It also includes having parents who are overly controlling, put a lot of emphasis on looks, diet themselves, or criticize their children’s bodies and appearance. Stressful life events- such as the onset of puberty, a breakup, or going away to school- can also trigger anorexia.” (Healthline)
www.healthline.com

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Gender Socialization
By
Jeremiah Johnson

In American society, woman always have been viewed in t what role she should play in the home. That she is the homemaker or caretaker. Even when women break the stereotypical role of being a housewife and join the working force, they still are not given a equal opportunity at acquiring jobs that is seen to be as advancing or of higher recognition, as they would like to have. Men usually always take those positions.

In a nuclear family, married couples reside with their children. 88% of divorced parents with children, the kids live with the mother. It refers to the increasing proportions of the poor women and children. This trend results from several factors, including dramatic growth of female headed households, a decline in the proportion of the poor who are elderly (not matched by the a decline in the poverty of women and children, and a continuing wage inequality between women and men. Large number of poor women is associated with a large number of poor children. 2001- 16% of children in the US under 18 were poor. 9.5% white children, 30% black children, 28% Hispanic children, and 11.5% Asian American children. Over one quarter of all families headed by women are poor. Wages for young workers have declined because most unmarried mothers are quite young, so there is a strong likelihood their children will be poor. Because of the divorce rate and in some cases little child support provided by men, women are more likely than men to live with children and able to be financially responsible for them. However, women without children also suffer a high poverty rate, compounded in by the fact that women now live longer than before and are less likely to be married than in previous periods.

The Glass Ceiling has been dubbed a well known obstacle to even the most successful women The term calls forth the subtle yet decisive barrier to advancement that women find in the workplace. Women can see the top and they may even get close, but there is an invisible barrier at which they cant reach.

Gender Socialization is the process by which men and women learn the expectations associated with their sex. The Human Capital Theory explains the gender differences in wages, as the result of differences in the individual characteristics that workers bring to jobs. Human Capital Theory assumes that the economic system is fair and competitive, and that wage differences reflect the differences in the resources or the level of work individuals bring to their jobs. Factors such as age, prior experience, number of hrs worked, and education are the main variables. The theory states that the extent to which human beings vary in these characteristics will influence their worth in the labor market. Higher job turnover rates, work records interrupted by child rearing, and family responsibilities could negatively influence the earning power of women for example. Much evidence supports the explanation for the differences between the wages of men and women because of age, education, and the experience do influence earnings.

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Social Groups

Gangs in the United States

Skyler Rains

Definition:
The definition of a gang according to dictionary.com is: “A group of people associated for some criminal or anti-social purpose.”

How They Started:
Gangs are currently and always have been primarily created for one thing; protection. The members of gangs want protection from many different things and they feel a gang-member will protect them from anything from racial violence and discrimination, to bad pasts and hate crimes. While they want to feel this sense of protection, they also need to feel a sense of “brotherhood.” The earliest ‘gangs’ of the United States were created just after the Revolutionary War in the 1780’s. These social groups were not created to murder or get together and beat people up. In a sense they were a form of self-protection and were you not in a game you weren’t susceptible to be killed physically, just socially. If you weren’t in these ‘gangs,’ they didn’t accept you the same as they would someone who was part of their ‘gangs.’

Early Gangs:
As previously stated, the earliest gangs in the United States were social and a part of the norm in society. The first street gangs, or the gangs we think of today, began forming in about 1920. Irish immigrants would band together based on name and ethnicity to form these groups of violence on the streets of New York City. A very good example of these gangs is shown in the movie, Gangs of New York. As more and more different ethnic groups and different classes of people began to move into New York many types of gangs began to form. By 1920, over 1300 gangs had been reported in the city of Chicago alone. Not to mention the 1500 in New York City and also the gangs that were beginning to form in Los Angeles, California around this time. Law enforcement officers would know about the activities that these gangs were participating in, and they would just ignore it. They couldn’t do anything about it because they couldn’t bring down a whole gang, they could only bring down the individual that they catch in the act of murder, theft, etc. In the western cultures they would rob trains of the passenger’s gold and other jewelry, or take cowboy’s cattle when they rested on long cattle drives. As we progressed into the 40’s and 50’s women began to feel left out, and in turn created gangs of their own. Examples of their kind of ‘gangs’ are like the Pink Ladies in the movie Grease.

Gangs Today:
Today gangs are represented by colors or symbols in order to distinguish one group from another. Sometimes they are characterized by having many tattoos, and not looking like functional members of society. However, some of them may be the richest people you will ever meet. They come from all different ethnicities and cities. Even though gangs predominantly only include males, many female gangs have been formed since the 1950’s; so many in fact that a book was written about it. In some cities, like Los Angeles, Houston, New York City, Chicago, and other metropolises, gangs are sometimes a part of everyday life. They are based on the three R’s: Reputation, Respect, and Revenge. Seven percent of teens today have admitted to being part of a gang, twenty percent of teens say that they know someone who has died or been a victim of gang violence. In the United States today the average gang age is seventeen years old. Today gangs have evolved from being a member of a group who will provide you protection from other groups to being a member of a group who steals, is involved with drug trafficking, or murder. The primary age group that is involved in gangs these days is teenagers. Here is a list of a few of the predominant gangs today: Bloods, Crips, the KKK still exists, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Texas Syndicate (a California prison gang), Hells Angels, Irish Mob (which is broken up into about 30 different gangs), and the Italian Mafia (which is broken up into about 50 different crime families.)

How Gangs Effect Life in American Cities:
In large cities in America where gangs are prevalent, they tend to suck up a city’s police and law enforcement resources. Higher level gangs require more money in order to trace their activities. They also require more man power and can sometimes involve the FBI. Gangs bring down the property values of large neighborhoods and increase crime rates in any city. They force local businesses to pay sums of money so that they will “protect” them. By using intimidating schemes gangs can raise local grocery prices and prices of other goods in the cities that they ‘run.’ In many cities in the United States gangs make a large impact in society that people from cities without gangs may not realize. It takes living in a gang-prevalent area for people to realize just how much these groups control. If you are a family member of someone who is in a gang you might as well be in the gang too. They control who their members hang out with, who they date, who knows anything about their organization, and they usually control the organized crime and drug trafficking in their city.

Sources:
http://www.ehow.com/about_4598220_effects-of-gangs.html
http://www.gangsorus.com/gang_history.html
http://www.hopefs.org/Behavior/TeensandGangs.html

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Social Control

Quiet Rage

Courtney Amundson

Gangs

Gangs have been around for many years, but what are the reason people keep joining gangs? Knowing why people join gangs can help us understand and help lower the gang membership number. “A gang is defined, as a group of people who associate continuously for the common purpose of engaging in criminal or delinquent activities” (Klein and Mazson, 2006). According to Diana Kendall, there are three basic gang types- criminal, conflict, and retreatist- which emerge on the basis of what type of illegitimate opportunity structure is available in a specific area” (2010). This paper will examine why people join gangs, the effect they have on people, and what we can do to lower the crime in gangs.
First of all, humans have a need to belong to a group, or someone. Being able to belong feels a void for humans. “Gangs provide many benefits to their members. Some of these include: companionship, protection, a sense of belonging, fast money, training, relief of frustration, power, and self-esteem (MSSC, 1988)” (Gangs in America, 2010). Although, being in a gang is wrong because it promotes violence and crime. When crime and violence are around children growing up they are more likely to be involved with crime than if they were not around it.
They typical gang member had many of these risk factors in childhood: between the ages of about five and ten years started showing disrespect for parents and teaches and refusing to obey rules, getting angry easily, and blaming others for their mistakes. Between the ages of about ten and 15 years displaying disregard for others by being physically cruel, community crimes, refusing to attend school, refusing to obey authority figures, and running away from home (Cassel, Elaine, 1997).

Gangs can have a bad effect on the community, the children, and the poverty around the city or town. “Gangs tear apart communities and disrupts our schools. Although most gang violence occurs between rival gangs of the same ethic backgrounds, gang activity affects nearly everyone in the community in a personal way” (Gangs in America, 1993). Another problem with gangs in a community is the firearms and drugs they ‘usually’ posses. Because the firearms can end up into the schools and effect the children and the violence with continue into the next generation. “As a tragic example, several children have been killed in Chicago’s Cabrini-Green housing complex in recent years as a result of bullets from gang cross-fire” (Gangs in America, 1993).
Unfortunately, there is no one easy solution to stop gang violence and crime. According to —— “Some suggested approaches to reducing gang activity is to get the schools involved to forbid wearing gang paraphernalia, provide support for victims of gang violence and intimidation, and add gang and drug prevention into the school curricula” just to name a few. (Gangs in America, 1993).
In conclusion, there are many types of gangs in many difference places in the city, rural areas, and suburbs. To lower the violence and crime rate will take more than just law enforcement because additional punishment just worsens the problem. Lowering gang rate will take time and when the risks of being in a gang out way the good is when gang rates will dramatically decrease.

Works Cited
Cassel, Elaine. "Gangs: Why Do People Join Gangs?" Ablongman. Peregrine Publishers, Inc., 1997. Web. 08 Dec. 2010. <http://www.ablongman.com/html/psychplace_acts/gangs/whyjoin.html>.

"Gangs in America." The National Center for Victims of Crime. Atfa XP Web Software Company, LLC., 1993. Web. 6 Dec. 2010. <http://www.ncvc.org/ncvc/Main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&DocumentID =32352>.

"Gangs: Why People Join Them and the Typical Gang Member." LotsOfEssays.com - Over 32,000 Essays, Term Papers and Book Reports Available for Instant Access!! 2010. Web. 08 Dec. 2010. <http://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/2000118.html>.

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Roxana Soriano

Stanford County Prison
August 14, 1971

In 1971, the psychologist Philip Zimbardo tried to show that prison guards and convicts would tend to slip into predefined roles, behaving in a way that they thought was required, rather than using their own judgment and morals. Zimbardo was trying to show what happened when all of the individuality and dignity was stripped away from a human, and their life was completely controlled. He wanted show the dehumanization and loosening of social and moral values that can happen to guards in such a situation.

To conduct the Stanford Prison Experiment, Zimbardo constructed a mock correctional facility in the basement of Stanford University. Adverts were placed in local newspapers offering $15 per day for participants in this program. Of the 75 responses, the 24 male subjects judged to be most mentally and emotionally stable were selected. Mainly middle class and white, they were divided into two groups randomly, of 12 prisoners and 12 guards. The group selected to be the guards were outfitted in ‘military-style’ intimidating uniforms. They were also equipped with wooden batons and mirrored shades, to prevent eye-contact and make the guards appear less human. In an initiation meeting, Zimbardo, who acted as the superintendent for the duration of the Stanford Prison Experiment, informed the guards that the only rule was that no physical punishment was allowed. Other than that, the guards could run the prison as they wanted, and would be divided into regular working shifts and patterns. Prisoners on the other hand were dressed and were allowed no underwear. They were to be addressed by their identity numbers only. They also had a small chain around one ankle to remind them that they were inmates in a correctional facility. They had only basic sleeping mattresses and plain food being supplied.

Before this, the prisoners were instructed to wait at home "to be called" for the start of the experiment; their homes were raided without any warning, arrested by the real local police department and charged with armed robbery. The Palo Alto Police had agreed to help with the experiment. As if they were real-life suspects, the prisoners were read their rights and fingerprints taken. After being stripped and searched they were taken into the cells that would be their homes for the next two weeks. Zimbardo, acting as a prison superintendent, would be able to observe and make notes about what happened during the study. The prisoners began to suffer allot of humiliations and punishments by the guards, and many began to show signs of mental and emotional distress. On the second day of the experiment, the prisoners organized to show rebellion as a protest about the conditions they held. Guards worked extra hours and came up with a strategy to break up in the cells to put down the rebellion using fire-extinguishers.

Standard prisoner counts and roll-call became a way of humiliation for the prisoners. Exercise and physical punishments becoming more and more common. Mattresses were confiscated from the prisoners and they were forced to sleep on cold, hard floors. Toilet facilities became a privilege, instead of a basic human right. The inmates often had to clean the toilet facilities with their bare hands. Prisoners were often stripped and subjected to sexual humiliation. The Stanford Prison Experiment showed that one third of the guards began to show an extreme abuse toward the prisoners and Zimbardo himself started to become part of the experiment. Two of the prisoners had to be removed early because they were showing real signs of emotional distress (prisoner 8612 and prisoner 819). Interestingly, none of the prisoners wanted to quit the experiment early, even when they were told that they would be denied their participation pay. The prisoners became institutionalized very quickly and adapted to their roles. A replacement prisoner was introduced (prisoner 416) and was instructed to go on hunger strike as a protest about the treatment of his other inmates. Prisoner 416 refuse to eat sausage left in his tray he was thrown in to the whole (for solitary) with the sausage on hand. When the inmates were informed that, if the rest of their prisoners gave up their blankets, he would be released from solitary confinement, all but one refused to give up their blanket. The Stanford Prison Experiment carried on for six days until Christina Mastack came in to interview guards and prisoners and was shocked by the scenes that she was seeing. Zimbardo terminated the experiment early and noted that out of over 50 visitors from out side the experiment this lady was the only one to be concern about what was happening. The conclusion was, Zimbardo believed that the experiment showed how the individual personalities of people could be swamped when they were given positions of authority. Social and economical factors also determined how both groups behaved with individuals acting in a way that they thought was required, rather than using their own judgment. The experiment appeared to show how subjects reacted to the specific needs of the situation rather than referring to their own morals or beliefs.

The results of the experiment have been used in many high profile court cases over the years, to try and show that a prison must have clear instructions and guidelines from higher level authorities, or prisoner abuse may occur. There is a movie similar to this experiment called “The Experiment”. it is similar on how fast they take their rolls and how prisoners were humiliated. They do add more action so the movie can be more interesting to some people.

Sources
http://www.prisonexp.org/legnews.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKW_MzREPp4

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The Stanford Prison Experiment
Zebulun Wallsmith

In 1971 at Stanford University, an experiment was conducted to research the psychological effects of being a prisoner or a prison guard. Essentially, a group of young men from around the country were brought together to live in a prison environment for two weeks while researchers would watch and note the psychological effects of each. Half of the students were designated to act as prison guards in this environment, while the other half of them were set up as prisoners.

While the project was meant to view the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or a prison guard, the researchers commented that they experiment showed a lot of similarities to a real life prison, almost to the point of mirroring the behaviors of both inmates and guards alike. The prisoners began to show the familiar behavior of prisoners, and the guards began to take their jobs incredibly seriously, to the point where their actions became more and more sadistic.

Stanford Prison Experiment Documentary

The prisoners, before even arriving, were first brought in by police officers in a mock arrest. When they were brought to the facility at Stanford University, they were first stripped down, hosed, and deloused as a group. Afterward, they were all given a matching smock to wear and were forced to keep their hair in nylon stockings, in order to simulate the effect of having one’s head shaved. By stripping the prisoners of their identities, they began to see themselves as less of people and more of the number in which each of them was designated.

The guards, on the other hand, were given their own uniforms. These, unlike the prisoners, allowed the students to retain their sense of identity to an extent, and prevented them from feeling emasculated, like the prisoners’ smocks did. Furthermore, the guards carried around clubs borrowed from the local police precinct. These were not necessarily meant to be used, but served more as a tool for intimidation.

When “prisoners” started acting out, the guards were left to their own creativity in order to punish the delinquent actions of the “prisoners”. At first, the students portraying the guards assigned push-ups to the entire group, with the intention that by punishing everyone for one person’s actions, everyone would step in and help to control the delinquent individual. This behavior is often seen in both prison settings and the military, where the sense of identity is also removed from individuals. Next, the guards began assigning the prisoners to solitary confinement when their actions were deemed inappropriate. Once more, this type of punishment is commonly seen in real-life prisons, in order to break the morale of a prisoner and make them into a more docile individual.

At one point during the experiment, the guards noticed that the prisoners were beginning to unite together. Of course, this would be seen as something threatening to the guards’ power, and could potentially even become dangerous to the experiment and to the safety of individuals, themselves. In order to remedy this problem, the guards would play a role to the prisoners, in which they would hint that one of them was secretly a rat, giving information to the guards in return for promised benefits. In reality, this behavior is shown in actual prisons by the guards in order to deflect the aggression onto other prisoners and away from the guards.

Originally, the experiment was intended to last for two weeks. However, the participants began to show changes in personality much faster than anticipated. The prison guards were becoming cruel and sadistic, often offering to stay past their assigned shift. The prisoners, however, were becoming depressed and actually losing their own sense of identity. Because these behaviors were deemed dangerous to the health and well-being of the individuals, the experiment was terminated prematurely after only six days.

Sources:
http://www.prisonexp.org/
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=677084988379129606

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Kristi Sheets

Stanford Prison Experiment

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Social Structure and Interaction

Ethnomethodology
-Torey Taylor

-Origination
Commonsense is used all day, every day. Ethnomethodology is the study of commonsense knowledge that people use to understand the situations in which they find themselves. This form of social sciences teaches people how to act in given situations at a certain time. The word ethnomethodology comes from the term “ethno” for people and methodology for a system of methods.

Ethnomethodology theory was developed by Harold Garfinkel in the 1960‘s. Garfinkel disagreed with some views of some sociology views, and was against how sociology did not involve how people create a form of their own reality and produce their own world. Garfinkel’s viewpoint of ethno methodology describes that people create methods to use in daily life to construct their reality. This is primarily done through intimate exchanges of meaning in conversations and also through the analysis of the detail of the interaction.

This branch of sociology can also be considered the forming foundation of the Labeling Perspective. It explains how different labels or titles given to certain people can reflect and describe how people use these label’s to interact in everyday situations. How labels can influence the commonsense knowledge part of ethnomethodology to how someone will react.

Ethnomethodolical research is sometimes look widely downed upon because it does not follow mainstream sociology ideas in convinced ways. Ethnomethodology instead of looking at macrolevel social institutions such as economy and education. Instead, it looks how these are created. As an alternative, it illustrates how certain realties are created, instead of being ascribed.

-Experiments
One of ethnomethodology’s main testing is through Breaching Experiments. Breaching Experiments are a method to see how a certain group of people will react or be confused if unspoken rules or norms are broken by members of the group.

Some examples of breaching experiments are:

• Asking a McDonald’s worker for an item only found at Burger King
• Standing extremely close to someone while trying to maintain a conversation
• Trying to haggle with someone selling something that wouldn’t typically be bartered for

One of Garfinkel’s most famous breaching experiments was conducting his student’s to return home and act as Lodger’s or some other position. Parents would be confused as they were typically used to their normal behavior.

-Indexicality and Reflexivity
Indexicality and Reflexivity are two of the main foundations and ideas that ethnomethodology are built upon. Indexicality is how certain context is interpreted through which how and who it is seen through. Certain situations are seen differently by different people. Reflexivity on the other hand, is how someone acts on a situations depending on how they refer back to themselves on it.

-Ethnomethodology today
Ethnomethodology can be a very important study and people who are interested in the topic can pursue a degree at many different colleges. Most individuals who pursue a degree or study ethnomethodology typically take their learned skills into the research field of the topic. Ethnomethodologists can be employed in settings like government agencies, private consulting firms, and sociological research organizations. Ethnomethodology can also be useful during cultural exchanges in which people have difficulty understanding the cultural norms of the people they are trying to work with.

Sources
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ethnomethodology.htm
http://www.informatics-review.com/wiki/index.php/Ethnomethodology

Crime and Deviance

Jonathan Funk

Terrorism:

Terrorism is an act of violence to instill fear into people for a specific purpose. It is a planned out criminal attack against religious or ethnic groups, or against a country. Terrorists want seek attention by carrying out horrendous attacks in order to bring change and hoping to gain power. Terrorism can be anything from hijackings, bombing, and even assassinations. Large cities, government facilities, and airports can be targets of terrorism, because they want to get a point across so a large audience is wanted.
When one thinks of terrorism, what usually come to mind are overseas Islamic groups who come to the U.S. and attack, killing thousands of people.
But domestic terrorism is also a big threat to the safety of people, just as international terrorists were on the September 11 attacks. Geoff Shank, a U.S. Marshal Chief Inspector says, "Not a lot of attention is being paid to this, because everybody is concerned about the guy in a turban. But there are still plenty of angry Midwestern guys out there." People within the United States who may have radical and hateful views want to get a point across. One extreme case was the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which is the worst case of terrorism by a U.S. citizen.

There are terrorists within our country. Even anti-abortion extremists who kill doctors, such as the case in Wichita when abortion doctor George Tiller was shot and killed in his church, by activist Scott Roeder. Domestic terrorism can extend to groups of animal rights activists who set fire to homes and cars of employees and threatening their family members, to an animal testing facility. They want to get their point across that animal testing needed to be stopped, so they did it in an extreme way, which is considered terrorism.
Thousands and thousands of people lost their lives in the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Liberty, freedom, and the rights of the American people is what U.S. stands for. Terrorists from another country didn't believe in the same ideals that America stands for, so four planes were hijacked. It didn't matter that the terrorists were killed as well. Two were flown into the World Trade Center towers, one into the Pentagon, and one crashed in a field when passengers thwarted the terrorist's intention of flying it into the White House. Fear and disorganization was what the terrorists wanted to instill in the American people. To deal with the outcome of what happened, finding enemies such as Osama bin Laden is a major priority. This has lead to a war on terror in trying to detain the people responsible. Terrorists aren't just radical extremists overseas, but people in our own country; from extreme animal activists to anti-abortionists.

Johnson, Kevin. "Domestic terrorism: New Trouble at Home." USA Today. 2008. 23 Nov 2010. <http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-11-14-domestic- terrorism_x.htm>

"What Happened on 9/11." Classbrain. 2006. 23 Nov 2010. <http://www.classbrain.com/artfreekid/publish/cat_index_2.shtml>

"Terrorism." FEMA. 2010. 23 Nov 2010. <http://www.fema.gov/hazard/terrorism/index.shtm>
Kenny, Jennifer. "What is Terrorism." edhelper. 2009. 23 Nov 2010. http://edhelper.com/ReadingComprehension_33_243.html

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Deviance to Crime
By Michael Halbleib

Deviance is defined as any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs. Behavioral deviance is the most common form of deviance. This type of deviance begins with a person’s intentional or inadvertent (carelessness) actions. Intentional could be drinking too much or stealing. Inadvertent would be like crying at a comedy show or losing a lot of money betting.

The question I want answered is if drinking too much is deviance, does that apply to underage drinkers as well or just for legal adults? If it does apply to underage drinkers, does it become a crime if they are caught and if deviance doesn’t apply, is it a crime from the beginning?

In today’s society underage drinking is expected and for those who don’t drink while underage can be seen as deviant by those around them. There are a large number of illegal offenses committed everyday such as: parking, speeding, stealing, and underage drinking. These type of things are expected in our society today, so for most people minor acts like the ones listed above are hard to be seen as deviant. What could be considered deviant in one town could be seen as just an everyday thing in another town; it all depends on what the social norms are in that town. It also depends on the people involved in the situation. What is considered deviant to one person could be seen as ok or, in the case of underage drinking, just kids being kids to another. What is viewed as deviant changes over time. About 15 or 20 years ago underage drinking was viewed more as acceptable and expected more than today. In the present day this is seen more as deviant behavior and in some towns, or areas, more as a crime.

To answer the questions stated above, no where it directly states that underage drinking is deviant, it only states that it depends on what the social norms are in that area to determine if it is deviance or not. Some areas believe its deviance, some think it’s just kids being kids and others believe it to be a crime. I believe that underage drinking is expected in most parts of the U.S. today, so most people probably don’t see it as deviance. Law enforcement believes, as it is there job to up hold the law, that underage drinking is a crime as soon as a person under the age of 21 consumes an alcoholic beverage. Now people under 21 who drink don’t see it as committing a crime unless they are caught and charged with minor in consumption. If the drinking age was lowered back down to 18 (the age where people are considered to be adults anyways) there would be a lot less problems with the abuse of alcohol. Most people who drank a considerable amount when they were underage showed a dramatic decrease in consumption after becoming of the legal age. This is most likely because the thrill of trying to get away with it is gone and it doesn’t seem like that big deal anymore. So either way you want to look at it, deviance or crime, I believe there would be a lot less of it occur if the drinking age was lowered to 18 at which age we are considered to be adults by society.

Sources
Browne, K. (n.d.). An introduction to sociology - Google Books. Google Books. Retrieved December 4, 2010, from

http://books.google.com/books?id=-YSLhDOwziIC&pg=PA216&lpg=PA216&dq=underage+drinking+deviance+or+crime&source=bl&ots=I2gKcgwvdo&sig=mHldzcrTrBUB9BhtmP00UmMbQ_k&hl=en&ei=po36TOb6PIurnQeio63JCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CB4Q6AEwAA#v=onepa

Kendall, D. E. (2010). Sociology in our times: the essentials (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth.

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The Bloody Benders
By Erica Palmer

The first mass murders to take place in Kansas were located in Neosho, County Kansas. A small family known as the Bender family arrived in 1872. The couple had a son and a daughter. They rarely spoke, but the neighbors thought they seemed friendly enough. When they arrived, they built a small house that served as a country store and an inn. The front of the house was reserved for travelers while the Bender family lived in the back of the house.

The Benders’ daughter Kate was the exception to the rest of the quiet family. She was bright, beautiful and popular. She held public readings and men were the majority of her audience. They traveled far distances just to see her.
The travelers began to notice strange sounds coming from the back room where the Benders’ lived. They placed a large canvas curtain between the front room and the back room. They would keep an eye out for the wealthy travelers who came in to see Kate. The Benders’ would place the wealthy travelers nearest the curtain for the night. During the night, one of the male Benders would kill the wealthy traveler and pull them to the other side of the curtain to clear them of their possessions. They would put the bodies in the basement until the morning when the building was empty of people and couple of them would go out and bury the bodies on the property.

The family was making quite a bit of money, and sometimes Kate would call people in for private readings and her brother would stop travelers on the road and encourage them to stay in the inn.

These murders ended in 1873, when a man came to see Kate and sent word to his brother of what he was doing. When the brother who went to see Kate disappeared, his brother came looking for him. When he arrived, the family assured him that his brother never showed up there, and they had him convinced, until he found one of his brothers’ prized possessions under his bed. It was a locket that his brother would have never left behind.
While the man was trying to tell the authorities what he found, he discovered the two male Benders burying a body in the backyard. He and the authorities came back the next day and found that the whole Bender family had packed up and moved away the night before.

When the property was searched they found lots of bodies, some new graves and some dating back to when the Benders first moved in. The Benders were never found but there are stories of people claiming to have seen them.

Sources:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/697691/the_bloody_benders_the_first_mass_murders.html?cat=37

http://www.prairieghosts.com/bender.html

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Behavioral Deviance and Crime
Lucas Baumfalk

Deviance is defined as any behavior, belief, or condition that violates significant social norms in the society or group in which it occurs. There are four different types of deviance, however the most common of them all is deviance based solely upon behavior. This is known as behavioral deviance.
Behavioral Deviance, seen as the most familiar, can be divided into two sub-categories. First of the two is intentional deviance, in which the person is aware of their behavior and that it is viewed as deviant. Secondly is inadvertent deviance, which is defined by actions not of the person’s intention or not meant to be deviant.

Intentional deviance again is deviance based upon intentional acts by an individual or group. Example of this sort of deviance would include such actions as drinking while under age, stealing from a mall, or breaking into a building without permission. Because intentional deviance is done by people who know what they are doing, it is often seen as the worse of the two types of behavioral deviance.

The other breed of this specific type of deviance is inadvertent deviance. This sort of deviance can be exemplified by actions such as laughing at a funeral, or losing money by gambling. These types of deviance are often times associated with crime. Crime is defined as behavior that violates criminal law and is punishable with fines, jail terms, and other sanctions.
While some forms of deviant behavior only violate folkways, or social standards that can be broken without being viewed as a serious infraction; some deviant acts go above and beyond, violating criminal law which in turn makes the person responsible for the deviant act a criminal.

Deviant acts such as a man walking down the side of the road with his shirt off would most likely be seen as a violation to a folkway. In other words, people may notice right away that he has no shirt, but it isn’t very likely that anyone will care. If we change the topless person walking of the side of the road to a woman however, things quickly change. The same act committed by a different gender is now creating a violation of a more, or social law that are viewed as more serious infractions if violated. This type of deviance would be seen as intentional.

Another situation that could be used as an example would be the gambling money away. If a person goes to a casino in loss Vegas with all of their savings, but loses it all at the blackjack tables, this would be seen as an inadvertent deviation. Included in this would be acts such as reading a text message that makes you laugh while at a funeral service.

Works Cited:
student.ccbcmd.edu/~wbarry/sociology101/crime_dev.doc
Kendall, Kiana. “Sociology In Our Times: The Essentials”. 7th edition 2001-2007 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

Family and Relationships

Teen Pregnancies

Ashley McMullen and Callie Reed

It is a beautiful and exciting thing for a baby to be created, yet it can be a frightening and uncertain time for a teen that was not planning to become pregnant. Many girls are terrified to tell their parents they are pregnant, while others have highly irresponsible or abusive parents who are absolutely not a refuge or resource for their pregnant teen. Teen’s biggest concerns might have been hanging out with friends and wondering what clothes to wear, and now she’s dealing with morning sickness and scheduling prenatal visits.

The United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the western industrialized world. It has cost the U.S. over seven billion dollars annually. Thirty-four percent of young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of twenty, which are about 820,000 a year. Eight in ten of these pregnancies are unintended and seventy-nine percent are to unmarried teens.

If your daughter is pregnant and planning to have the baby, many changes await your family. It’s certainly not what most parents will expect; nearly one million teenage girls in the United States will give birth ever year. Some parents feel a sense of guilt, thinking that if only they had done more to protect their child this wouldn’t have happened. In some cases, parents are embarrassed by their teen’s pregnancy and worried about how family, friends, and neighbors will react, others are happy about the news of the soon to be grandchild. If a parent needs help coping with their feelings about the situation it is always a good idea to seek professional counseling. Whether the teenager has made their decision, or is still considering what to do about the pregnancy and the child they are carrying they may be feeling angry, depressed, guilty, ashamed or, hopeless. The teenager needs to know that there is hope.

Teens who are already pregnant can improve their chances of having a healthy baby by:

• Getting early and regular prenatal care from a health care provider or clinic.
• Eating a nutritious and balanced diet.
• Stop smoking and avoid secondhand smoke. (Smoking increases the risk for low birth weight, premature birth, pregnancy complications and SIDS.
• Stop drinking alcohol or using illicit drugs. (Alcohol and drug use limit fetal growth and can cause birth defects)
• Avoiding all prescription and over-the-counter drugs, unless recommended by a health care provider who is aware of the pregnancy.

Eating well greatly increases a teen’s chances of having a healthy baby, so they need to be encouraged to maintain a well balanced diet that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grain breads. Also, drinking plenty of water is a necessity.

A baby born to a teenage mother is at a higher risk than a baby born to an older mother for premature birth, low birth weight, other serious health problems, and death. Babies who are premature and have a low birth weight may have organs that are not fully developed. This can lead to bleeding problems, such as, respiratory distress syndrome, bleeding in the brain, vision loss, and serious intestinal problems.

• 11.7% of 15-year-old mothers had a low birth weight baby in 2006
• 9.5% of 19-year-old mothers had a low birth weight baby in 2006.

The primary reason that teenage girls who have never had intercourse give for abstaining from sex is that having sex would be against their religious or moral values. Three of four girls in over half of boys report that girls who have sex do so because their boyfriend wants them to. Teenagers who have strong emotional attachments to their parents are less likely to be sexually active at an early age. Teens that have been raised by both parents from birth have lower probabilities of having sex than youths who grew up in any other family situation.

Here are some interesting facts about teen pregnancy:

• 2006 saw the first rise in the U.S. teen pregnancy rate in 15 years
• An estimated 750,000 teens will become pregnant this year
• About 1 and 3 women become pregnant at least once before they’re 20.
• A sexually active teen that does not use contraceptives has a 90% chance of becoming pregnant within a year.
• It affects education, only a third of teen mothers earn their high school diploma. 1.5% has a college degree by age 30
• It also affects their kids; girls born to teen mothers are more likely to be teen mothers themselves. Boys born to teen moms are more likely to end up in prison
• 75% of girls and over half of boys report that girls who have sex do so because their boyfriends want them to
• 8 in 10 girls and 6 in 10 boys say that they wish they had waited until they were older to have sex

Having a child at a young age will always have consequences. With a teen’s education being cut short, they may lack job skills which will make it hard for them to find and keep a job. Teen mothers are more likely to live in poverty than women who delay having intercourse.

Works Cited

http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-teen-pregnancy

http://www.familyfirstaid.org/teen-pregnancy.html

http://www.allaboutlifechallenges.org/teen-pregnancy.htm

http://www.marchofdimes.com/Professionals/medicalresources_teenpregnancy.html

http://kidshealth.org/parent/positive/talk/teen_pregnancy.html#

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Children Don’t Get to Choose
Aisha Moss

I have joked sometimes about how couples need to take a test before they are allowed to have children; but, when you really think about it…sometimes it makes really great sense! Children don’t choose the family they are born into, and yet some are forced to live in households that even animals would suffer in.

In today’s society it is becoming more of a norm for couples not to have children at all. And, with the advances in birth control having a choice is a lot easier. According to sociologists Leslie King and Madonna Harrington Meyer (1997), “Many U.S. women spend up to one-half of their life attempting to control their reproductivity”(370). Women are more likely than men to decide not to have children at all. This, however, comes in conflict with pronatalist bias, which is those who decide not to have children have to justify themselves to society.

What about those families that do not have the “perfect plan” when having children? Families like, teen parents, or divorced couples, or even homosexual couples. How are children affected in these types of families?

The United States has the highest pregnancy rate among teenagers than anywhere else in the world. Many factors are believed to contribute to this rising rate in teen pregnancies. Such as: poor education, teens participating in promiscuity, and lack of using contraceptives. Children suffer the consequences of their parent’s mistakes over and over again. Teen parents more often than not, do not finish high school or go on to further their education. They are stuck with menial jobs and their children with many hardships in their lives. Over half of teen parents never stay together, and fathers are hardly ever involved in their children’s lives.

Divorce rates, like everything else in this country, are rising. So, single parent families are increasing. “About 42 percent of all white children and 86 percent of African American children will spend part of their childhood living in a household headed by a single mother who is divorced, separated, never married, or widowed (Garfinkel and Mclanahan, 1986).” Children are more likely to have poor academic achievement, higher dropout rates, early pregnancies, and more common drug and alcohol abuse.

Finally, a huge conflict in our society today is, gay couples having, adopting, or raising children. It is argued that they can bring the same type of foundation as a man and woman couple could. However, statistics show that there is extreme damage done the children in any family lacking a father or a mother. Children learn from their parents, how to ride a bike from Dad, and how to bake a cake from mom. When either of these influences is taken out of the picture, extreme confusion arises. A mother is there to nurture and care for the child. A father disciplines and shows a child how to respect one another. What happens when there are two to nurture or two to discipline? That child has no choice, but to see only one point of view.

Children do not decide to live in this world, we bring them into it. They are forced to live with the consequences of their selfish parents. So, it is our responsibility to provide the BEST possible care for them. Having children should be a long thought out planned process. We should be ready, as adults, and mature couples to take on the challenges of having a little one.

Works Cited
Sociology In Our Times, 7th Edition Chapter 11
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/ho0090.html

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Divorcing because of in-law matters
By ashley heier

Marriage is a happy thought and always will be. To be together with someone forever and always having a best friend is an opportunity everyone wants in life. Sometimes that opportunity slips away from you because of divorce. Maybe you got divorced because the other was cheating, maybe you’re not happy anymore, or one of the biggest reasons today is that the in-laws got involved.

When parents interfere with their son or daughter’s relationship with another is never been a good thing. It may lead to a breakdown of a marriage because they constantly remind you of little things they might not like about that person and give you peer pressure on what to do with your love life. When parents interfere with the personal problems of loved ones it has never been a good thing and is very uncalled for. They don’t understand that interfering in the personal issues of the couple they are hampering in their married life and making things difficult. Parents will act like uninvited judges of their problems giving their input and all the do is worsen the situation. This is a terrible problem in marriage and is deeply rooted in our society. Even with understanding parents tend to break up marriages because they think they know completely what is best for their child. They do not understand though that even if their words could change a person’s mind on what they feel for someone else. Yes the family has been with them the moment they are born and believe they know exactly what their child needs; but every child has their secrets from their parents and not even know it. Maybe who they are with is completely and utter perfect for them because they can be 100 percent themselves around them unlike they can with their parents because they are judge by them. Parents need to remember that they should take care of the children only when that really need it and they should refrain themselves from such act.

A divorce lawyer named Peter Baker has dealt with many divorces and has dealt with several cases where one spouse is totally reliant on their parents and it drives the other spouse crazy because they married them to have that comfort but they will not receive it from the person they have married. He speaks about how one couple he dealt with where the husband could not stand how the wife spent almost all her free time with her mother and even stayed the night there in her old room before they were married. She became more reliant on her mother’s comfort and words than her own husbands that it led to their separation then divorce. Peter also said “I believe that for a marriage to work, couples should not spend too much time with their parents or other family members. This can create many problems. Those marriages where parents and family live in a different province or country are quite strangely enough the most successful marriages. Problems very often arise in a marriage where one spouse spends too much time with his or her direct family.”

When a problem arises in a couple one person who is close to their family members will get them involved and the other gets jealous because they could not just speak to them about it. They also get jealous because their family member will turn their back towards their family members spouse and pretty much make them feel terrible about themselves. It is a natural thing to always side with your family but doing this is just childish. They are not always there when fights happen and what is said between them. They are also not there when they spend their intimate most romantic times together either so they cannot see how in love they are with each other.

Mothers always think they know best. Incorrect, they may know some of what is best but love is always and forever will be (in the United States since we do not have arranged marriages and everyone marries for love) the person’s choice. Everyone has their flaws but if they love them enough they over look those flaws that family members may never over look. Mothers will always interfere with relationships if they do not like the girl their son is dating. The reason to why this is because the mother will always think there is never anyone good enough like they are for them in the whole world. To them every girl is just another problem in their son’s life goals. For girls their mothers just want them to be happy and they will give their input. But guys seem to rely more on their families than girls do in the divorce process because they have something to fall back on.

In reality though everyone needs to remember you always need to do what you want to do 100 percent and what feels good to you. And not let anyone ever interfere with your life. You must be mature enough to make life choices and if you choose to marry this person you need to stick by it and pretty much tell your family to deal with it or to go away. Picking sides is never a good thing but you must always stand your ground for your loved one. If your family loves you they will hopefully one day see what they love about that person that you love about them.

Work Cited
http://www.capetownlawyer.co.za/divorce/reasons/interference-by-family.php5
http://www.divorcerecords.me/news/Divorce-due2009082590920.html

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Suicide
By Rochelle Boyce
When it comes to teen suicide, the statistics make it clear that attempted suicide is a big deal as it relates to the youth. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for teenagers. Even though we do not hear a great deal about teen suicide, it is a very big problem, causing the deaths of thousands of teenagers across the country each year.
Teen suicide attempts are calls for help
Many teenagers have thoughts of death. These can come from a variety of causes, and can result in actual attempts on their own lives. It is important to take suicide attempts seriously. While there is no way to reliably figure the exact ratio of attempted suicides to completed suicides, the National Institute of Mental Health believes that as many as 25 suicides are attempted for each one that is completed. And this does not even cover the teenage suicide attempts and completed suicides that are never heard about. Understanding that a teen suicide attempt is a call for help is essential in preventing a completed attempt later. It is interesting to see that there are some very clear indications that suicide is different for males and females, attempted and completed suicides alike. For example, males are four times more likely to die from suicide than females. However, teen girls are more likely than teen boys to attempt suicide. So, even though teenage girls make more attempts on their own lives than teenage boys, the boys are more likely to actually complete a suicide attempt. They do not allow for intervention, and are less likely to “call for help” through a suicide attempt, since there is often little opportunity to get males into treatment since their suicide completion rate is higher than that of females.
Some of the strongest teenage suicide risk factors include the following:
• Aggressive behavior
• Disruptive behavior
• Substance abuse
• Depression
Another risk factor to consider is the presence of firearms. Because firearms are used in more than half of teen suicides, it is important to realize that easy access to a firearm and ammunition can contribute to a teenage death by suicide. Teenagers who express suicidal thoughts and feelings should not have ready access to firearms. Part of preventing teen suicide also includes recognizing the issues that can trigger feelings of teen depression leading to suicidal thoughts and feelings. Teen suicide prevention requires diligence on the part of guardians, as well as a willingness to seek professional help when it is needed.
Recognizing teen suicidal behavior
One of the first steps to teen suicide prevention is to recognize suicidal behaviors in teenagers. It is important to be involved in a teenager’s life, so that you can recognize when behavior seems a little abnormal and prone to teen depression and/or teen suicide. Be on the lookout for behavior that indicates a pattern of suicidal thoughts and feelings, including the following:
• Expresses thoughts of death, dying and a desire to leave this life
• Changes in normal habits, such as eating and sleeping, and spending time with friends and family
• Dramatic weight fluctuations, in any direction
• Evidence of substance abuse (alcohol and drugs, both legal and illegal)
• Dramatic mood swings (becomes very happy after feeling very depressed)
• Lost interest in schoolwork and extracurricular activities (including declining grades)