Lumberton, NC is different to live in than Colby, KS. First Lumberton’s calefaction and panorama varies from Colby. Lumberton is closer to the ocean so when it is hurricane season it gets bad. Lumberton lowest temperature gets to 27 degrees also it only snows in January. Lumberton has so many tree to hunt for deer, but Colby barely has any; I thought I was lost when I arrived here. Colby have tornados, in fact, the temperature get very low as the wind blow hard. Next, Lumberton and Colby people are unrelated. We talk with a more southern country slang, but Colby do more country things. For example, farming, riding horses, and everyone has a pick-up truck. Lumberton people do not greet each other or speak; however, Colby has a lot of polite people. They smile, say hey how you doing, and hold doors. Finally, Lumberton is a bigger city with more to do than Colby. Lumberton defiantly has more restaurants and gas stations. Lumberton has a mall and many places to have fun with your friends. Colby does not have a mall; let alone a bowling alley and a movie theater which only shows one clip at a time.
Emile Durkheim was born April 15, 1858 in eastern France. Durkheim was born into a strict line of French Jews, but at an early age he decided to go a different route and turned away from all religious involvement and became an agnostic.
While attending college, Durkheim majored in philosophy because the French school systems did not offer a social science curriculum. After graduation, Durkheim spent a year in Germany studying sociology and returned to where France started their first teacher’s training center in Bordeaux. Emile taught social science which was a first in France and was later credited for reforming the French school system by introducing social science to their curriculum.
Throughout Durkheim’s career he published many books including The Division of Labour in Society, Suicide, and The Elementary Forms of Religious Life.
In 1893 Emile wrote his dissertation known as The Division of Labor in Society. Division of labor is usually referred to how various tasks are divided up and performed in a society. In this book Durkheim describes how societies maintain social order based on two forms of solidarity—mechanical and organic. Mechanical solidarity is the social cohesion of preindustrial societies, in which there is a minimal division of labor and people feel united by shared values and common social bonds. Durkheim believed that people in preindustrial societies have more of a sense of belonging and there are more primary group relationships. Organic solidarity is the social cohesion found in industrial societies, in which people perform very specialized tasks and feel united by their mutual dependence. This means individuals in industrial societies are more status oriented as well as more focused on goals and contain less personal relationships.
Suicide (1897) is known as one of the groundbreaking books in the sociology field. Durkheim’s Suicide was a case study of suicide rates. Durkheim established that suicide rates were higher in men than women, single people have higher rates than those who are married, and rates for people without children were also higher than those that have children. Durkheim also distinguished four subtypes of suicide:
• Egoistic suicide-occurs among people who have a sense of not belonging in a social group
• Altruistic suicide-occurs among individuals characterized by a sense of being overwhelmed by a group’s beliefs and goals
• Anomic suicide-results from a lack of social directions and moral confusion
• Fatalistic suicide-results when a person is excessively regulated; opposite of anomic
“Each victim of suicide gives his act a personal stamp which expresses his temperament, the special conditions in which he is involved, and which, consequently, cannot be explained by the social and general causes of the phenomenon”—Emile Durkheim
The Elementary Forms of Religious Life written in 1912 with co-author Marcel Mauss examines the role that religion and mythology have in shaping the worldview and personality of people in ‘mechanical’ societies. Durkheim believed that religion was one of the most fundamental social institutions of humankind.
Emile Durkheim is one of the most important sociologists in history and is commonly known as “The Father of Sociology”. Durkheim passed away at the young age of 59 on November 15, 1917 in Paris.
Karl Marx was born on the river Moselle in Germany on May 5, 1818. He came from a long line of priests on both sides of his family. At the age of seventeen, Marx enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Bonn. At the University he became engaged to Jenny von Westphalen. Jenny’s father got Marx interested in Romantic literature and Saint-Simonian politics. The following year Marx's father sent him to the University of Berlin where he continued four years, at which time he abandoned his romanticism for the Hegelianism which ruled in Berlin at the time. Marx became a member of the Young Hegelian movement. This group produced a thorough evaluation of Christianity and the liberal opposition to the Prussian autocracy.During his first few months in Paris, Marx became a communist and write down his views in a series of writings. They were called the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts (1844) Marx outlined a humanist conception of communism and was influenced mainly by the philosophy of Ludwig Feuerbach. In Paris, Marx also developed his lifelong partnership with Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). Marx was expelled from Paris at the end of 1844. Marx traced the history of the various modes of production and predicted the collapse of industrial capitalism and it being replaced by communism. At the same time Marx was also composing The German Ideology. Also writing The Poverty of Philosophy against the idealistic socialism of P. J. Proudhon. Around that time Marx joined the Communist League. At a conference of the League in London at the end of 1847 Marx and Engels were commissioned to write a brief declaration of their position. Right after The Communist Manifesto was published, the 1848 wave of revolutions broke out in Europe.
Karl Marx and his family lived in poverty in a three room flat in the Soho quarter of London. They had 6 children but only three survived. During the last ten years of his life, Marx's health declined rapidly. He did manage to comment significantly on contemporary politics in Germany and Russia. Although Marx health did not improve, he traveled to European spas and to Algeria in search of improvement. The deaths of his oldest daughter and his wife clouded the last years of his life. Marx died March 14, 1883 and was buried at High gate Cemetery in North London. His collaborator and close friend Friedrich Engels delivered the following eulogy three days later:
Karl Marx Accomplishments:
• founder of modern international communism featured in the Soviet Union
• He reorganized the Communist League with Engels.
• He finalized the Communist manifesto which attacked the state as the instrument of cruelty and religion and culture as beliefs of the bourgeoisie.
• He wrote Das Kapital in London, although the second and third volumes of this were compiled by Engels from Marx's drafts and only published after his death
• Completed the “Communist Manifesto” which was a mixture of others people’s beliefs combined into one. Marx never denied that he used other people’s ideas but added them all together
o The “Communist Manifesto” stated that all men were born free but that society had got to such a state that the majority were in chains. Engels referred to the book as being the “very way of life"
Marxism: included ten points
1) The abolition of the property/ownership of land.
2) Income tax to be graded to income – the more an individual earned, the more they paid. The less you earned, the less you paid.
3) Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4) The seizure of all property of immigrants and rebels.
5) The centralization of all credit into the hands of the state by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive economy
6) Centralization of all means of communication and transport into the hands of the state.
7) The extension of factories and the instrument of production owned by the state. Bringing into cultivation all land not being used that could be and an improvement in the fertility of the soil.
8) The equal obligation of all to work and the establishment of industrial and agricultural armies.
9) The combination of agriculture and manufacturing industries with the gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country by the more equable distribution of the population over the country.
10) Free education for all children in public schools. The abolition of child labor in factories; an educated child would be better for society in the long term, than a child not educated.
David Emile Durkheim was born on April 15, 1858 in Epinal. His mother, Melanie, was a merchant's daughter, and his father, Moise, had been the rabbi of Epinal since the 1830s, and Chief Rabbi of the Vosges and Haute-Marne. Emile’s grandfather and great-grandfather were also rabbis. Emile spent part of his early education in a rabbinical school. This early ambition was dismissed while he was still a young boy, and soon after his arrival in Paris, Durkheim would break with Judaism altogether. But he still suffered the anti-Semitism of the French citizenry. Later, Durkheim would argue that the hostility of Christianity toward Judaism had created an unusual sense of solidarity among the Jews.
Durkheim was an outstanding student at the College of Epinal. He skipped two years and easily earned his baccalaureate in Letters in 1874 and Sciences in 1875. With his intent on becoming a teacher, Durkheim left Epinal for Paris to prepare for admission to the prestigious Ecole Normale Superieure. He began to become miserable while enrolled as an allowance based non-resident student. While in Paris his father became ill and left him anxious over his family's financial security. Emile felt alone in Paris and his intelligence was “ill-fitted” to the study of Latin and public speaking essential for admission to the Ecole. Durkheim was at last admitted near the end of 1879 after failing in his first two attempts at the entrance exam 1877 and 1878.
In Durkheim's generation at the Ecole he met the socialist Jean Jaures, who became his life-long friend, and also the philosophers Henri Bergson, Bustave Belot, Edmond Goblot, Felix Rauh, and Maurice Blondel, the psychologist Pierre Janet, the linguist Ferdinand Brunot, the historians Henri Berr and Camille Jullian, and the geographer Lucien Gallois. Despite constant fears of failure, which he constantly dealt with throughout his life, Durkheim became an active participant in the high-minded political and philosophical debates that characterized the Ecole. Durkheim's concerns were less political than academic. He criticized the literary rather than scientific emphasis of the Ecole, and later discovered three scholars; the philosophers Charles Renouvier and Emile Boutroux, and the historian Numas-Denis Fustel de Coulanges.
Durkheim's articles on Germany philosophy and social science caught the attention of Louis Liard, then Director of Higher Education in France. Liard resented the German pre-eminence in social science and was intrigued by Durkheim's suggestions for the reconstruction of a secular, scientific French morality. Durkheim was appointed in 1887 as "Chargéd'un Cours de Science Sociale et de Pédagogie" at Bordeaux.
Durkheim emphasized the value of sociology to the more traditional humanist disciplines of philosophy, history and law. He had fears of "sociological imperialism" and that his “particular explanations of legal and moral institutions through reference to purely social causes undermined free will and individual moral agency.” These fears hindered Durkheim. Nonetheless, he gained the support and even loyalty of at least some of his Bordeaux colleagues. Throughout his Bordeaux period, Durkheim’s primary responsibility was to lecture on the theory, history, and practice of education. On Saturday mornings, he also taught a public lecture course on social science, devoted to specialized studies of particular social phenomena, including social solidarity, family and kinship, incest, suicide, crime, religion, socialism, and law.
In 1898, Durkheim founded the Année sociologique, which was the first social science journal in France. Durkheim's intellectual talent up to 1900 contradicted one of his central arguments that work, including intellectual work, should become more specialized, though remaining part of an organic whole. In 1896, therefore, putting aside his work on the history of socialism, Durkheim devoted himself to establishing a large program of journalistic collaboration based upon a complex division of intellectual labor. Supported by a group made up of intelligent young scholars, the Année was to provide an annual survey of the strictly sociological literature, to provide additional information on studies in other specialized fields, and to publish original monographs in sociology.
After seeking letters from Boutroux, Buisson, and Victor Brochard, the Council of the Faculty of Letters at the Sorbonne appointed Durkheim chargéd'un course by a large majority. Four years later Durkheim was made professor by a unanimous vote and assumed Buisson's chair, which was to be renamed "Science of Education and Sociology" in 1913.
Durkheim arrived in Paris and his "science of morality" offended philosophers, his "science of religion" offended Catholics, and his appointment to the Sorbonne offended those on the political Right. The appointment also gave Durkheim enormous power. His lecture courses were the only required courses at the Sorbonne, that were obligated for all students seeking degrees in philosophy, history, literature, and languages. As an administrator, he sat on the Council of the University as well as on many other councils and committees throughout the University and the Ministry of Public Instruction. Durkheim's enemies complained of his power, accusing him of "managing" appointments and creating chairs of sociology in provincial universities in order to extend his influence. Durkheim was frequently described as a "secular pope."
Durkheim's response to the war going on between Germany, Belgium, France and Russians vs. Prussia consisted of optimism and enthusiasm. Durkheim wrote patriotic pamphlets, and sent to his fellow-countrymen in the effort to maintain the national pride. For the most part, Durkheim was unaffected by the war hysteria, and though always a patriot, he was never a nationalist. However, bad news was on the way for Durkheim. He was entirely devoted to his son Andre, a linguist who had gained his aggregation just before the War, and was among the most brilliant of the younger Année circle. Andre was sent to the Bulgarian front late in 1915, and was declared missing in January. In April, 1916, he was confirmed dead.
Durkheim was devastated by his son's death. He buried himself in the war effort, and while speaking at one of his committee meetings, collapsed from a stroke. After resting for several months, relieved by America's entry into the war, he recovered and again tried to take up his work on La Morale, but on November 15, 1917, Durkheim died at the age of 59.
Sources:
Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc, 1986.
Nolan Carter
Jean Baudrillard
Over the history of the world there have been countless amounts of people on earth, and all of them different in every aspect imaginable. But every now and again you get someone that sticks out in the society. This man isn’t famous for playing sports, or being a movie star, but he is more famous for being one of the most brilliant sociologists of his time. Who is this man? It can only be Jean Baudrillard.
Jean Baudrillard was born on July 29, 1929 in Reims, France. Unfortunately he died on March 6, 2007 in Paris. Jean “was one of the foremost intellectual figures of the present age whose work combines philosophy, social theory, and an idiosyncratic cultural metaphysics that reflects on key events of phenomena of the epoch.” (Kellner) Jean got his education at the University of Paris X at Nanterre. He then moved on to study German at the Sorbonne. He taught literary in secondary school from 1956 all the way until 1966. Over those years he had translated books and philosophical papers, and put them into the literary reviews of the Les Temps Modernes. He got his dissertation in sociology from the University of Paris in 1968. From 1966-1968 Jean taught at Nanterre in the sociology department. Jean moved from Paris X to Paris IX which is now the University of Paris at Dauphine.
Jean has many accomplishments in his life but the ones that he is most famous for being a sociologist, cultural critic, and a theorist of postmodernity. Some of the ideas that he has created is the theory of “ 'hyperreality' and 'simulation'. These terms refer to the virtual or unreal nature of contemporary culture in an age of mass communication and mass consumption. We live in a world dominated by simulated experiences and feelings, Jean Baudrillard believes, and have lost the capacity to comprehend reality as it actually exists. We experience only prepared realities – edited war footage, meaningless acts of terrorism, the destruction of cultural values and the substitution of 'referendum.'” (egs.edu) Simulation means "the action or practice of simulating, with an intent to deceive," then also "a false assumption or display, a surface resemblance or imitation, of something," and finally as "the technique of imitating the behavior of some situation or process…by means of a suitably analogous situation or apparatus" (egs.edu). The best way to describe hyperreality is that the world that we live in is just a copy of the real world. And that the technology that has been created stimulates us into thinking that we are in the real world. If this sounds familiar this idea of hypereality has been transferred into the movie The Matrix.
In conclusion there have been many people in this world. But no one has ever been like jean Baudrillard. Jean had brought some of the most interesting things to the plate. Jean accomplished a lot in his life from teaching in a German secondary school to teaching at the University of Paris He has stretched the minds of people, by the theory of hyperreality and that the technology that we have created has us stimulated to think that we are living in a copy of the real world.
"Jean Baudrillard - Professor of Philosophy - Biography." The European Graduate School - Media and Communication - Graduate & Postgraduate Studies Program. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. <http://www.egs.edu/faculty/jean-baudrillard/biography/>.
Biography
Kirkland “K.B”Bodie Kirkland Bodie was born to businessman Ortland Bodie and Beatrice Outten in Nassau. He was born in “the early seventies”. He received his primary education at the Martin Town Primary School in Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama and was later relocated to Miami, Florida at about the age of four. Kirkland said that one-day; his father picked up the entire family and just took off to Miami. This move introduced KB to a lot of what he calls "middle of the road white music". Among his favorite artists were Frankie Avalon, Elvis Presley, and pop stars Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. Bodie’s dad, however, played the piano and organ and did read music quite well, according to KB.
Having no interest in playing music as a child, KB enjoyed riding around with his dad and listening to AM radio which featured some of his favorite artists. Upon his completion of high school, KB returned home to Grand Bahama where he held several odd jobs. These jobs include being a bus boy at the Bahama Princess, and stock boy at AID (Industrial & Automotive Distributors). He also began singing in talent shows and other special events in Grand Bahama.He was well into his teens when his childhood friend Sid Rolle approached him about starting a band. KB admits that he didn’t have a clue as to what that entailed. He quickly found out that you had to set up equipment, practice for long hours and of course use a microphone, especially when the band is playing rock music. Along with two other friends Dave Cooper and George Delancy, the group "Ego Tripp" was born. They all decided to quit their jobs and try the music business. They performed at Family Island regattas, weddings, and just about anything that came up. Their repertoire consisted of mostly rock, R&B, and little Bahamian music. The band went on to win a song contest early in their career and began recording with GBI Recording Studio under the watchful eye of Frank Penn.
In primary school, Kirk participated in the National Arts Festival where he sang solo part in the school choir. Kirk was also an athletic, he participated in track and field, playing basketball, softball and baseball. Years later when he returned back to the united states with his mother and siblings he continued singing. With his extordinary talent it earned him attention to the Hialeah High School in Florida. Kirkland Star suddenly rose quickly in the High School, teaches started recognizing his talent and told him to continue by joining the Drama Club. The voice that came out of his mouth was like no other (strong, bold and beautiful). He won the “Best Tenor” award in junior high and “Best Vocalist” in his senior year.
Kirk's Music Life
Kirkland Bodie, known as KB, was born in Nassau, Bahamas. When he was four he moved with his family to Miami, Florida, where he learned about what he called “middle of the road white music”. He enjoyed riding around with his father listening to a.m. radio which played some of his favorite artist, which include: Frankie Avalon, Elvis Presley, and Stevie Wonder. When he graduated high school KB returned to Grand Bahama. There he had several odd jobs like, bus boy and stock boy. KB also began to singing in talent shows and other special events held in Grand Bahama. KB met up with his childhood Sid Rolle, who wanted him to start a band, not having a clue of what that entailed, he quickly learned that he had to set up equipment’s, practice for long hours and of course use a microphone, especially when the band is playing rock music. He was also accompanied by two other friends Dave Cooper and George Delancy; the group was “Ego Tripp” was created. The band style of music consist of mostly rock, r&b and little Bahamian music, they won a song contest early in their career and began recording with GBI recording studios under the watchful eyes of Frank Penn.
With a bit convincing from Frank Penn the band bought into playing more Bahamian music, by doing this caused the band to have a growing population in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Being a lead singer, KB was interested in writing his own songs, which prompted him to learn the keyboards and learn them fast, since he didn’t have a keyboardist. Songs like “Turn her loose and let her go”, and “You Winin” gave the band national attention. With the band going through difficulties of string of jobs among things, KB decided to go pursue a solo career after much frustration, in the early 90’s he moved to Nassau, on an invitation by Rudy Grant to make a debut appearance Family Island Lounge. During this period he achieved hits like She Fat, All the Meat, Start me up, Bush Mechanic and Annie, all of these songs were major hits in the Bahamas and all told stories of island folk and folklore. After having great success in the Family Island Lounge, a guy by the name of Gary Burnstein had heard KB’s music while he was on vacation in the Bahamas and met with KB and sought him out. Gary Burnstein invited KB to Boston, where he moved and performed for audiences all over New England area, for KB it was quite an adventure to learn about integration of so many West Indian and Caribbean people. This journey lasted for the best of four years before KB got homesick and returned to back to the Bahamas, in the mid 90’s.
During those many years, KB attributes his success locally to Rudy Grant who continued to promote his music. Through his career KB admit it’s been very challenging at times, and his greatest contribution has been being able to stay focused, avoiding the use of drugs, and not giving up on his dreams. KB now has his own recording studio and just recently completed a project featuring the songs of some of the Old Bahamian classics like “Eight Babies”, “Delia Gone”, and “Honey Love”. It is fair to say that KB started the rejuvenation of a movement which was led to many artists such as Geno D, Funky D, Stevie S, Sweet Emily, Ira Storr, and many great local artists getting the Bahamian Ting. KB now dreams of going to the family islands where he can live of serenity, he feels as if death came today, he would be satisfied with how his life has turned out. With all of the uncertainties facing the future of Bahamian music, KB is to be commended for committing himself to the preservation of his brand of the music of these Bahama Islands.
Latvia’s history and culture is a rich cultural-historic heritage. Because of its multicultural mix, Latvia’s history and culture stands out because of its variety, but at the same time its singularity and uniqueness.
The official language of Latvia is Latvian, which belongs to the Baltic language group of the Indo-European language family. Another notable language of Latvia is the nearly extinct Livonian language of Baltic-Finnic sub-branch of Uralic language family, which enjoys protection by law. The Latgalian language (a dialect of Latvian) is also protected by Latvian law as historical variation of Latvian language. Russian is by far the most widespread minority language.
Latvia is called “the singing nation”. It unusual to find a Latvian who has not sung in a choir or some other group at some point in their life. Every few years all Latvia's choirs, as well as folk dance groups, gather together for the Song Festival, which includes several thousand singers.
Folk songs are one of Latvia's national treasures. The Latvian folk song ("daina") is one of the distinguishing features of Latvian culture. There are three essential elements of these folk songs: tradition, literature and symbolism. The daina is a form of oral art and is a symbol that has both shaped and epitomized Latvia’s national identity for the last two centuries. Dating back well over a thousand years, more than 1.2 million texts and 30,000 melodies have been identified.
This is a list of holidays in Latvia.
Date
English Name
Local Name
Remarks
1 January
New Year's Day
Jaunais Gads
The Friday before Easter Sunday
Good Friday
Lielā Piektdiena
March/April
Easter Sunday
Lieldienas
The day after Easter Sunday
Easter Monday
2. Lieldienas
1 May
Labour Day
Darba svētki
The convocation of the constitutional assembly in 1920 also falls on May 1 and is also celebrated on this day.
4 May
Restoration of Independence day
Latvijas Republikas Neatkarības atjaunošanas dienu
On May 4, 1990, Latvia proclaimed its independence from the USSR, andrestoration of the Republic of Latvia. If the day is on the weekend the next Monday is a holiday.
Second Sunday of May
Mother's day
Mātes diena
23 June
Midsummer Eve
Līgo Diena
24 June
Midsummer
Jāņi
18 November
Proclamation of the Republic of Latvia
Latvijas Republikas proklamēšanas diena
The independence of Latvia was proclaimed on this day in 1918. If the day is on the weekend the next Monday is a holiday.
24 December
Christmas Eve
Ziemassvētku vakars
25 December
Christmas Day
Ziemassvētki
26 December
Boxing Day Second Day of Christmas
2. Ziemassvētki
31 December
New Year's Eve
Vecgada vakars
Latvia has also been organising Song and Dance Celebrations since 1873. During these celebrations, latvian amateur collectives from all over the world travel to Riga once every four years to join together in a giant mixed choir, or to perform folk dances.
For several decades, it has been possible to head to the ancient seaside fishermen villages for the Fishing Festival, when visitors can enjoy seafood, pay tribute to Neptune, eat, drink and be merry. In turn, Riga's new tradition is the unconventional “Go Blonde” parade at the beginning of summer. More than 1 000 blondes from around Latvia, dressed in stereotypical pink and with lapdogs in hand, hit the streets to raise money for charity. Another event that can be considered a new tradition (although it has ancient beginnings) is the “Naked Run” in Kuldīga. This event takes place on the eve of Līgo and involves around 50 brave souls who race buck-naked across the Old Venta Bridge.
The literature in the country of Latvia was primarily started by the epic national poem called Lacplesis, which translates to the Bear Slayer, written by Andrejs Pumpurs and based on traditional folk tales. The largest figure in Latvian literature is Janis Rainis who Latvians say would be compared to the great authors of the world had he not written in a lesser known language. Latvian written verses are short and poetic and often compared to the Japanese haiku. Krisjanis Barons wrote large collections of folk tunes and lyrics in the 19th century.
Traditional Latvian music is often set to traditional poetry called dainas, featuring pre-Christian themes and legends, drone vocal styles and Baltic zithers.
Dainas are very short, usually only one or two stanzas, unrhymed and in a four-footed trochaic metre. Lyrically, dainas concern themselves with native mythology but, in contrast to most similar forms, do not have any legendary heroes. Stories often revolve around pre-Christian deities like the sun goddess Saule, the moon god Meness and, most notably, the life of people, especially its three most important events - birth, wedding and death (including burial). The first collection of dainas was published between 1894 and 1915 as Latvju Dainas by Krišjānis Barons.
Genie (also known as Susan Wiley)
Luke Hedberg and Marcus Eggleston
As a child some people may take many things for granted such as not getting a new toy, or maybe not getting things exactly the way they wanted a certain situation to go. Genie, on the other hand was deprived of having a normal life.
Tucked away in a small bedroom since she was almost two Genie sat with no toys, no friends, and basically no life. Supposedly she was locked in her room to save her from the harmful outside world, according to her so-called dad Clark. Unfortunately all that did was cause her harm.
Her immediate family consisted of father Clark Wiley, her mother, Irene, and brother, John. Irene was basically impaired because of cataracts so she couldn’t help to save Genie even if she wanted to. Clark had told the other family members to never talk to Genie or give her any type of treatment. Her days consisted of being strapped down to a potty chair and her nights strapped into her bed. Because of never having any type of human contact or anyone talking to her she never learned how to communicate with others. According to professor Susan Curtiss, “she had missed her critical window of learning language.”
This is a picture of Genies house for the first thirteen years of her life. Temple City, California
Genie was found on the 4th of November in 1970. Thirteen years old at the time authorities quickly noticed that she couldn’t talk or learned hardly anything since she was a baby. They hoped that she still had a normal learning capacity. In fact, she had learned to talk and has an “enormous vocabulary” says Curtiss. Unfortunately she never learned or understood correct grammar.
Due to the lack of a proper raising and no schooling or teaching of any kind at all left Genie somewhat partially brain damaged. The left side of the cerebral cortex, which is used for speaking and language, hers never received the proper stimulation to develop regularly, according to Bruce Perry. In order for the brain to grow it needs to be stimulated so that it can develop, for Genie she never really used her brain much to learn to talk, all she could do is murmur a few sounds. Because of this her brain never developed with enough room to learn language.
Talking wasn’t the only problems that Genie suffered from. In addition to no language she could hardly walk. She was extremely frail boned and walked with a sort of limp, she held her hands up bent at her elbows and could hardly use them. Because of never learning to eat properly she couldn’t eat solid foods, she was forced to eat baby food and couldn’t chew or swallow easily.
After being found and her story reaching the news, her father Clark committed suicide and she was left in a children’s hospital. Researchers have studied about the process of learning languages and needed someone to help in the research of this. Genie was the perfect person. From the children’s hospital she went on to live with one of the children hospital therapists. There she was cared for and loved. It was apparent that she was comfortable living there but when Jeanne Butler tried to become her foster parent the Department of Public Social Services denied it, because she also worked at the hospital and couldn’t be a foster parent. After this she was moved into Dr. David Riglers home where she pretty much became a science experiment for testing. When moving into a new environment Genie started causing trouble, she went to the bathroom wherever she wanted in the house and often would have temper tantrums and sometimes hurt herself. But after a little while she finally calmed down and started to enjoy life with the Riggers. She lived there four years until the grant benefiting the Riglers wasn’t granted again because progress wasn’t being made.
This is a picture of Genie and her mother-March of 89’
After Genie was used for many years as a guinea pig her mother Dorothy sued the hospital for using a mentally handicapped girl for profit. Dorothy settled with the hospital out of court for an amount of money that hasn’t been told. Dorothy died in 2003 and today Genie lives in an undisclosed location somewhere in southern California in a retired group home where she can be looked after.
According to the German theorist Karl Marx, the social stratification was greatly skewed, skewed away from the bourgeoisie, the working class. Marx along with Frederich Engels worked to develop a new social order, where the spectra of social order wasn’t so dramatically skewed. Thus, the social idea of Communism or Marxism was born with the completion of the book The Communist Manifesto, in 1848. This book preached a new type of world order, a world without class and where society would all function together and be the ultimate producers that they could be, without worrying about the struggle or tension between the classes. But from this idea, there came many offshoots, taking only the pieces of Communism that they wanted and figures necessary to succeed in making a ‘classless paradise’.
First look at Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik revolt in Russia that led to the overthrow of the czars. Lenin took the pieces of Marxism and pieced them together with his own ideals to create the modern Communist society that is seen today around the world. However, history shows that Leninism-Marxism in that form is a catastrophic failure, leading to the ultimate class division, dictatorship. With the allowance of forced labor camps and loss of all other social organizations apart from the party left Russia battered, broken, and without any world power at the fall of the Berlin Wall in under eighty years, a single generation. Although there are examples where Communism has been somewhat effective, Cuba and Vietnam are under similar systems and Cuba is currently ranked as having one of the best healthcare systems worldwide. Marxism can also be seen, even when unnamed too; in South Africa, the late Nelson Mandela practiced his own form of social Marxism, with moderate success. With his system it led to the breakdown of the Apartheid, where the blacks and whites of the South African people were divided only by the color of their skin. This example is one of the more successful examples of Marxism, hidden under the title of Socialism, South Africa’s problems are still numerous, with the poverty rate increasing and slums around major cities gradually increasing. Is this what is to be expected when the ‘classless paradise’ is put into practice?
But the theory is much deeper than just a social standpoint, it ties into an economic area where all of the workers are equal. This is where the idea of Marxism falls apart, especially in our modern society where everyone is in search of becoming the Divus, or the self-made man. If the social structure doesn’t allow them to make their own individual pursuits, then why should they be sheep, blindly following the shepherd , which is the government, telling them what to do and how to do it. Therefore, modern social strata is too strongly tied to making man an individual instead of a collective that the ideals of Marx and Engles has no use in modern culture anymore. Sources http://www.marxist.com/what-is-marxism-economics-materialism.htm http://www.leninism.org/terms/terms.htm
Youth Stereotype
Jonathan Burgess and Lauren Shoaff
Are American Youth Negatively Portrayed in the Media? Is my generation being fairly judged as to our actions, our values, our work ethic, even our integrity? Do adults just see a group of kids hanging out together and assume that they must be up to no good? Do store associates watch young people for shop lifting and assume the adults in the store are less of a concern? If there is a disturbance, do the police assume the young people in the crowd are the cause of the problem? These are the questions many have asked. Is this a problem for young people in each generation or is the media particularly hard on this generation's youth?
A Stereotype is an overgeneralization about the appearance, behavior or other characteristics of members of particular groups. The dominant stereotype of today’s young people is that they are irresponsible, lazy and disrespectful. Common stereotypical behavior of youth includes drugs, sex and violence. But where does this image come from? One of the ways it is created is through the media outlets, such as newspapers and television, through the stories they choose to show, and because they focus on the negatives.
Articles abound about young people and many would say the majority are negative. Often youth seem to be patronized or victimized in the media. The question is, do the media intend to show teens in a negative light simply to influence the older generation or do the media relay negative stories about young people in order to create awareness?
Those that think the answer is yes, that the media intend to influence, feel the media is exploiting negative behaviors and youth problems. This in turn is feeding a story to the public that generalizes all youth into one problem category. Many say that the media highlights the negative because bad news sells more than good news. This " bad news sells" approach is disturbing on many levels but particularly hurtful to the younger generation. A stereotype affects the way a society views them, and what they expect from them. Through the media, stereotypes are created and reinforced. The youth stereotype that has been created in the media affects how adults view young people, and even how young people see themselves. The stereotype makes young people think that everyone older than them is looking at them under this negative stereotype.
Those who think the answer is no, that youth are not portrayed negatively in the media, believe instead that these stories deserve exposure in order to create awareness and help vulnerable youth. Bad news about teens is a chance for the public to see what's affecting youth culture in the United States and what can be done about it.
A case in point is an Associated Press Article in the Colby Free Press on November 28 2011 with the headline, "Teenager won’t apologize to Gov. Sam Brownback for disparaging tweet". Those who would view this article as unnecessarily negative might say it causes the public to think poorly of this young woman and conclude that all teenagers are the same. Others might instead say that this is an example of adults needing to teach young people about tact and appropriate voicing of discontent.
Every news story, even if not intentional, will reflect the reporters attitudes or beliefs in some way. As most people who are in the news field will be adults, an adult’s view on society will be portrayed. The media exploits the stereotypical view on today’s youth to make an intriguing story. This stereotypical image created by the media is just another way that newspapers and TV companies are trying to make more money. If they are showing captivating and important stories, more people will view it, and therefore they will make a larger profit. The media has now created a distorted view on young people through the choice of stories they show. The media has purposely tried to damage the reputation of youth in order to get viewers. In the newspapers why don’t we hear about young people doing well at school, or the fact that around 70% of young people between 15 and 21 have been involved in community and voluntary activities? (Bostrom, 2000) Why do we only hear about fights? This is because the media just wants to make money.
They have now created a reputation for today’s young people, which is causing them harm. People think of teenagers as violent and disrespectful people just because of what they are told in the media. What are the media really here for? Is it actually here to inform and entertain us, or is it just another way to make money, through the style of reporting on the youth of today. The media chose bias stories that they think would get viewers and readers to buy their newspapers or watch their shows. This means that the majority of stories about today’s youth will be about negative issues. This is because people like to hear about this kind of story. The majority of people find it more interesting to read a story about youths fighting then reading about young people doing good things.
If the media revolve around making money, they aren’t going to show a boring story that tells us information we don’t want to know. This is why the media use techniques to make stories interesting, and manipulate the viewer to believe what they are saying. They might only show one side of a story, or only choose to report on certain parts of a story. This can make the stories seem different to the truth. However, if this makes the story more appealing to the viewers it doesn’t matter. This is why not everything shown and reported on in the media can be taken as 100% truth.
Yes, sometimes young people are portrayed negatively in the media and sometimes what's portrayed is true. But in all fairness, there are other reports of exemplary young people and their great accomplishments. Maybe the lesson to be learned is not to generalize. The media should continue to report factually but not focus solely on the negative. Especially where youth are concerned, more accomplishments, more successes and more positives should be shared as well.
Work Cited
Debatewise Where Great Minds Differ. Does the Media Portray Youths in a Negative Way? 22 February 2011. http://debatewise.org/debates/1651-does-the-media- portray-youths-in-a-negative-way. 3 December 2011
Hollingsworth, Heather, "Teenager won’t apologize to Gov. Sam Brownback for disparaging tweet." Colby Free Press (Colby) 28 November 2011: page 1.
Social groups are very beneficial to everyone all across the entire world. If we didn’t have so many social groups across the countries, some certain people would suffer because they help them. I can relate to a social group helping me and my family and other people I know.
I have worked in a social group called the Ronald McDonald house. The Ronald McDonald house is very providing and helpful to so many people. There are several Ronald McDonald houses around the entire United States. The Ronald McDonald houses provide a place that helps make you feel like you are at home.
Ronald McDonald houses are located at various Children’s Mercy Hospitals. What the Ronald McDonald house is, is a place where families who have children in the hospital go. There are people who volunteer at these houses to prepare you dinner. When parents or even families have children in the hospital, it can be very stressful. It can also be hard if they are not close to home and not have everything they would be used to having at home.
Ronald McDonald houses are usually just like a normal home. They have a kitchen where you can go whenever you want and get whatever you want, and they have rooms and bathrooms. To stay in these houses, it is usually free. If there is a charge, which there usually isn’t, it is about twenty five dollars. This charge covers room costs. You also get to eat breakfast, lunch or dinner while you are there.
When I was in the hospital for over a week, the Ronald McDonald house was very helpful and accommodating to my parents and my sister. They could go there and eat or rest, or just to get away from the hospital and it was really good. They got a home cooked meal and could get away from the chaos of the hospital. You also meet a lot of families at the Ronald McDonald house where you can relate to them. Sometimes you even start to feel grateful because you realize that someone out there is having a worse time than you, and is going through more than you or your family is.
As well as my parents and sister staying in the Ronald McDonald house, I have helped volunteer there. Ever since I have started volunteering at a place, I usually never stop and make an effort to go there at least once a month, and at some places even twice a week. Once you look at how bad some other people have it, you realize how lucky you are and it makes you grateful.
You learn so many people’s stories and have a greater appreciation for everything. When I volunteered, and had talked to some families staying at the Ronald McDonald house, some brought tears to my eyes. It makes you feel really good once you cook them dinner, make them a decoration, or even just talk to them.
The Ronald McDonald house is a great organization and is very helpful. Not only does the hospital provide these places for you, others also donate a lot of money or volunteer their time to try and make your night better.
Sources: rmhc.com, childrensmercy.org
Homelessness
Katie Clancy and Whitney Green
Homeless Statistics
Between five and six hundred thousand people are considered homeless at any given time.
The most common cause of homelessness in America is Poverty. Statistics show between twenty and thirty percent of homeless families in 1996 said they had gone without food for part of the previous month.
The homeless people also face a constant threat of harm. They spend more time in a hospital and in jail than their poor counterparts. Majority are victims of violent crimes and almost one fourth need medical care.
Children in homelessness families tend to do worse in school and have lower attendance and more long term absences
Sixty percent of single men are homeless.
Families constitute about one third of all homeless people and is the fastest growing group of homeless.
They say the homeless elderly will also be an important group as American ages in the next decades.
Seventy percent of homeless people live in central cities, rural homelessness is a hidden problem. The rural are more likely to be families that are homeless for shorter periods of time, resulting in domestic violence. Preventing Homelessness in America
Involve local governments: The homelessness usually qualify for various kinds of public assistance, so public agencies need to be involved in coordinating services and referring clients to homeless programs.
Do a “gap analysis” to determine the character of the homeless and potentially homeless in your community.
Hire staff experienced at coordinating various funding streams, especially federal grants.
Train providers of services such as health clinics, food pantries and about how to integrate homeless awareness into their usual procedures.
Provide rural homeless ness families with temporary shelter and rental places, because rural homeless are often homeless for only short periods of time as said above..
In a 2000 report of Mayors:
Single men comprise 44 percent of the homeless, single women 13 percent, families with children 36 percent and unaccompanied minors seven percent.
The homeless population is about fifty percent of African American, thirty five percent is white, twelve percent is Hispanic and two percent is Native American and one percent for Asian
Twenty one percent received income from family members or friends,
Sixty six percent of the homeless have problems with drugs, alcohol or a mental illness.
Twenty two percent have been psychically assaulted.
Seven percent have been sexually assaulted.
Thirty eight percent say someone stole money or things from them directly.
Thirty percent have been homeless for more than two years.
We live in an amazing time. The world we have today no longer has the obstacles or the inconvenience created by physical distance. Technology destroys these barriers and replaces them with an artificial sense of proximity. The use of cell phones, text messaging, laptops, and video-chat mediums provide the ability to access to world. This increase in available information also increases the global consciousness about changing trends, creating a more globally aware culture. Of course, with 800 million users, Facebook is the undisputed king of social networking, and it has changed the face of social interaction.
A Harvard student named Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in 2004 along with his college roommates and it’s inception came with controversy. When created, three fellow students accused Zuckerberg of stealing their idea as they had asked him to create a similar product. Instead of assisting these students, Zuckerberg spent his time creating a competing product, a product that would eventually become on of the most profitable web sites of all time. Facebook allows users to upload information, photos, and videos about their lives in order to share with other users. Essentially, Facebook is a constantly updating scrapbook.
Facebook causes mixed feelings among sociologists. Some believe it is beneficial in that it allows for the continuous contact among friends, but others argue that it actually increases antisocial tendencies because there is no direct, person-to-person contact. There is one thing social scientists agree upon, however, and that is on Facebook’s utility as a data-gathering medium to discover evidence on theories which have long been disputed. The site has been the source of data for projects involving everything from romance to student success in the technological age.
Nicole Ellison, a professor at Michigan State University conducted research into the satisfaction and well-being of students in an effort to find correlations between Facebook and the mental-health of students. What Ellison and her colleagues discovered was that among students with low self-esteem, they have many acquaintances rather than legitimate friends. These “weak ties” as she calls them, lead to a decrease in self-assurance and thus cause individuals to have a lower sense of satisfaction with life.
When speaking of Facebook, many times there is a reference to a concept known as social capital. This is an idea brought about by the increase of social networking perpetuated by the rise of the internet which basically states that humans accumulate friends for the purpose that one day, those friends may be needed for more of a purpose than just companionship. Facebook is the perfect medium through which social capital can be accomplished. It gives users an entire world of possibilities through which they can reach out, make friends, and eventually gain social capital.
Although the path to success Facebook followed is nothing short of controversial, it is impossible to deny its social significance and importance. Facebook’s impact stretches the span of possibility from beneficial to detrimental. It has been the medium of cyber-bullying and hatred, and it has also been responsible for many successful and fruitful interactions. Love it or hate it, Facebook is a staple of modern society and it is here to stay for quite some time.
Criminal gangs have been around as long as crime itself. Humans have always been together for mutual protection and support. Gangs have always been a way for people to get what they want. Today, gangs have their own sub-language, symbols, handshakes, and other identifiers.
Violence caused by gangs is a problem in every major city in the United States. In major cities gangs are responsible for nearly half of all homicides. Gangs are also becoming more involved with using computers and other technology to commit crime.
The question you may wonder is why people join gangs. There are four main reasons why people do. Poverty, peer pressure, boredom, and despair are the four main reasons. Drug uses is an underlying factor in all of the reasons though. Poverty is one reason though for people joining gangs and it is because many gangs exist primarily as a moneymaking enterprise. They turn to crime as a way to get money. This is a main reason why gangs mainly exist in poor, rundown areas of cities. But not everyone that joins a gang is poor, and not every gang member is poor.
Peer pressure is a reason for people joining gangs because gang members tend to be young, and young people are very susceptible to peer pressure. If they live in a gang area or go to school where gang presence is strong, they will most likely follow the others and be in a gang. It's easy for young people to follow the crowd and do what others are doing.
Some people have nothing else to do, so they join gangs because of boredom. They turn to mischief to entertain themselves. Many communities try to stop people from joining gangs by giving teenagers other things to do. Dance, sports, and youth programs can keep kids off the street and stop them from joining gangs. Communities try to come up with as many positive and productive things as possible for teenagers to do so they stay out of trouble.
The last main reason that people join gangs is because of despair. Despair is a state of mind. People who grew up having parents who lived in poverty often never see a chance of getting a job for themselves, or leaving their poor neighborhood, or even getting an education. Most likely they have always been surrounded by drugs and gangs when growing up. Their parents may also not have been active in their life’s, so a gang may seem like the closest thing to a family to them. Becoming part of a gang gives them a sense of belonging and being a part of something important that they can’t get otherwise.
There are three major types of street gangs and they are ethic gangs, turf gangs, and prison gangs. Ethic gangs are gangs that define themselves by the nationality or race of the members of the gang. One category of ethic gangs is not based on the ethnicities of the people in the gang, but by the ethnicities they hate. Neo-Nazi gangs, skinhead gangs, and white supremacist gangs unite because of their hatred for non-Protestant Christians, Jews, blacks, and Hispanics.
Another type of gang is turf gangs. Turf gangs define themselves by the territory that they control. The gang’s members usually live within the territory. These gangs commonly have the same ethnicity. Turf gangs usually name their gangs after the area that they control. If members of other gangs come on to their territory, the punishment is usually a beating or death.
The last type of gang out of the three major types is prison gangs. When gang members go to prison, they are still part of their gang, and street gangs continue to fight inside of prison walls. There are some gangs that start inside of prison walls though, and they then extend their reach to the outside world. These gangs are typically very tough and brutal.
Most of the people in gangs are exposed to the gang life at a very young age. The money and respect that older gang members earn impressive to the young. Gangs usually use the younger children to carry weapons and drugs or commit crimes because they tend to attract less attention and if caught they serve shorter sentences in juvenile detention centers than an adult gang member would serve in prison.
When somebody new joins the gang, the new member must go through initiation. Initiation is when the initiate has to endure certain rights. The most common is “jumping in”, which is a beating issued by all gang members. Gangs that accept females as members usually rape the girls for their initiation. Sometimes instead of jumping in, the gang member has to do a mission, like stealing a car. Getting a tattoo can be another kind of initiation also.
Daily gang life is nothing too exciting. They sleep late, sit around the neighborhood, drink and do drugs, and sometimes go to a meeting place during the evenings. Respect is what gangs try the hardest to get. Committing crimes is how gang members gain their respect.
Gangs identify themselves by dressing similar or wearing their gangs color. They mark their turf with graffiti in their colors, displaying gang symbols. When one gang marks another gang’s territory with their symbol, it usually means war, and can lead to violence. Gangs also have certain gang signs they make with hands, or a certain walk or dancing walk pattern that they do.
In review, gangs have a major impact on the crimes and violent acts committed today. Every city has gangs and have gang violence and crimes committed. Gang members commit crimes to gain respect. Most of the members are in the gang because that is the only thing they know how to do. Gangs are also the closest thing to a family for some members.
When you think of adoption of a child what is the first thing that comes to your mind? We ask this question because whatever you are probably thinking of is most likely wrong. Adoption, although it is fairly common in the U.S.A and around the world, has many different processes to go through before you can have a child to raise. These processes are not only time consuming but also pretty darn expensive. Adopted children face that others do not, including bullying, mental strain brought on through stress of not knowing their real parents, tension between children and adoptive parents, and other things normal children might not face.
According to theadoptionguide.com the process of adoption is a very prolonged, sometimes expensive, and thought out procedure. The process for adoption can take anywhere between 18 and 68 months and the cost on average according to creatingafamily.org is around 32,000 U.S. dollars. The first step is to research about adoption. This is to help you understand what you are getting into before you make a decision. The next step is to decide what type of adoption you are going to move forward with. After these steps have been completed you move on to your home study procedures. These are a series of steps where you prepare your home and records for a new member of your family. This includes getting birth-certificates, tax returns, references, etc. In this study you are also studied to see how good of a parent you would be, and how children friendly your home is for the new addition to the household.
Following this procedure you then move on to being matched with a baby. They start looking for a baby that would be a match for you. After finding a match they then check medically, if international it could take longer. This being followed up by a referral check of the mother. Soon the parents will receive the child and start to make bonds with the infant. This can be initially hard sometimes for the new parents to adjust. They may seek help from a specialized counselor. The final steps in this process are to get it all legalized through the courts. This involves acquiring the birth certificates of the child, making them legal bound to the parents, and the post placement reports. Finally, you have your adopted child and are starting a new life.
Later on in life when the adoptive child is older and decides to head off to a secondary school (like this one) they can even receive scholarships that will help them pay their way to getting a better job. Furthermore, if you adopt a child there are new legislation that has made tax credits for adoptive families. One act in particular being the “The Hope For Children Act” which grants an adoption tax credit of 10,000 dollars and a possibly tax exclusion of 10,000 dollars for prospective parents lucky enough to have an employer provided adoption benefit package. So the above average cost of adoption is not always accurate depending on if you receive these benefits or not.
According to mentalhelp.net, many adopted children feel they are left wanting because they do not have any knowledge of their birth parents. Some children have a lower self-esteem because they feel their original parents did not want them. Lower self-esteem, leaves these children vulnerable to bullying as they age. In most cases though, the adoptive parents can defuse these feelings because they are prepared for this situation a head of time. These issues may not surface for some time because the child may not notice any differences in life. Outside sources questioning the child on differences, such as when the child is a different race than the parents can cause tension for the family. Some adopted children, however, feel that the adoption is in the past and have no desire to seek out their biological relatives—they were adopted for a reason and that is that. Not knowing one’s parents can be more of a serious problem than just an emotional need. With no contact, important medical records and documents are inaccessible. Serious, genetic conditions that are normally expected to passed down can go without notice. Heart problems and other genetic, life-threatening illnesses are more dangerous if the patient has no warning of the onset. Some states have an open record policy which allows adopted children to have easier access to their birth parents’ history without giving contact information. Most adoption agencies try to attain these records before the child is even adopted, but in cases when the child is forcibly removed, the child’s biological parents may not cooperate with authorities.
Adoption.com states that “in a 1998 issue of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, in a 1998 issue of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, the authors said they believed adopted children had more emotional difficulties than nonadopted children, but they also believed problems are often accentuated and blown out of proportion by well-meaning but overly worried adoptive parents.” This means that because parents expect an adopted child to be more prone to psychiatric problems, the parents seek psychiatric help for issues that normally would not need it. The fact that most adoptive parents, due to the cost of adoption, have a higher socioeconomic standing allows them to pay for psychiatric treatment more easily than most. Thus, more adopted children receive psychiatric treatment, which makes the statistics of adopted children being treated higher—“a self-fulfilling prophesy.”
After reading this project hopefully the idea of adoption is much clearer for those who were not enlightened on the idea. Not only is it expensive, time consuming, and all the stressfulness of having a child, but it also changes the adoptive parents life, along with the new-born infants life forever entwining them together in the bond of a family.
What is a family? At first, this seems to be a pretty straight- forward answer, but in reality it can be a very complex one. Sociology in Our Times by Diana Kendall, defines families as: relationships in which people live together with commitment, form an economic unit and care for any young, and consider their identity to be significantly attached to the group. There can be many different types of ‘family’. For example there can be single parent households, unmarried couples, gays/lesbians, grandparents who raise the children, adoption, ect. However, would you consider your pets to be a part of your family too? You feed, care, and play with them, so a man with twelve cats can be an example of a family also. Most sports teams in college consider their team to be a family because of how much time the team spends with one another, and the special bonds that form. The word family can have several different representations to a person.
Families differ around the world, but overall family represents the main concepts like love, caring, providing, friendship, and an emotional support system. In our life, we all will participate in two different types of families. Family of orientation is the family in which a person is born into and where early socialization takes place. Family of procreation is the family that a person has by having or adopting children. Other types of family are extended family and nuclear family too. Extended family is a family unit composed of relatives in addition to parents and children who live in the same household. Basically, this is a person’s aunt/uncle, grandparents, and cousins. This type of family is found mainly in agricultural societies because it is easier to have more people help with agriculture and food production. A nuclear family is dominating over and extended family because of industrialization and urbanization. Nuclear family is a family composed of one or two parents and their dependent children, all of whom live apart from other relatives.
Functionalist Perspective of Family: Functionalists believe that family played a very important positive role in raising the next generation. Back in the day, people believed that the men were responsible for fulfilling the instrumental role (economically fit, making important decisions, and being the leader in the family.) Conversely, women take care of the expressive role (making sure the household maintains order, taking care of the children, doing the housework, and meeting the emotional needs of the family.) Parents are responsible for the socialization of their children, making sure they stay out of trouble, providing economical and psychological support, and providing social status/ reputation. Children should feel comfort, sympathy, and support from their family.
Conflict Perspective of Family: Conflict theorists believe families are places for maintain the inequalities of society. The rich give their children a better start in life and nurture them more successfully due to their favorable material position. At the same time, the poor can do little more than survive and cope which could latter lead to divorce and marriage problems. Families in capitalist societies are similar to the working setting; women are dominated by men in the home.
Feminist Perspective of Family: This approach criticizes in particular the gender based differences promoted by the functionalists where they emphasize that a woman should be nurturing and stay at home and the man should be the main worker.
Symbolic Interactionist Perspective of Family: Is the roles of the family and how they are acted out in the family. It explains the family relationships and the interpretations/ interactions that happen in the families lives. What people say and do is very important in family dynamics.
Postmodernist Perspective on Family: Since people are more opted to follow individual freedom there has been a decline in the influence of family. Sociologists define the postmodern family as permeable. This means that the family changes or makes modifications. For example how extended family transformed into nuclear family based on the needs and changes of society. Another example is romantic love; now day’s people make love to people who they are not interested in marrying. When people do this, then it makes marriage look not permanent, which leads to higher rates of divorce. Urbanity is another characteristic of this perspective. Now parents are bringing their work into their home and this invades the boundary or work and home. With technology, bosses can email/ txt and expect an immediate response. A person could be enjoying taking their child to the park on their day off and receive and email on their phone form their boss. This could hurt the family relationships and make the family not communicate with one another.
Marriage: Marriage is understood as the unity of one man and one woman. People get married for many reasons. For example, people want to have children, fall in love, escape from a bad home life, they are in need of money, or even feel social pressure. Fifty percent of marriages in the United States are dual-earner marriages (both spouses are in the labor force). This has caused men to take on more household and child-care responsibilities to help out their wives out. Marriage greatly benefits the society due to being the foundation of a family and a basic building block for society. It provides stability and meaning to relationships, remains the ideal for raising children, and it plays an important role in passing on culture and civilization to future generations. All societies agree on the concept of marriage; the union of two sexes. Except, there is now controversy today on same sex marriage. The controversy still is not solved and continues to shift back and forth due to people wanting the same rights as normal marriages receive. Marriage is not just a private contract, but a social institution of great public values and concerns
Divorce: A judicial declaration dissolving a marriage in whole or in part, especially one that releases the husband and wife from all matrimonial obligations, so one can remarry if they want to. Over the past years, divorce rates have slightly gone up. A saying many people are familiar with is 1 out of 2 marriages end in divorce. This is almost true but the divorce rate never fully reached the rate of 50%. The divorce rate is actually closer to 43%, and it usually happens around the 15-20 anniversary mark of how long the couple has been married. Some causes of divorce are getting married too young, getting married too soon, disapproval of the marriage by relatives, economic problems, and of course unhappy marriages. Divorce is very complicated and so are the factors that contribute to the divorce. Two major consequences that follow divorce are economic and emotional impact on the family members; this especially affects children. Couples who take ownership of their marriage and who realize that marriage is not bliss and that it often requires much work, experience more stability and strength when they nurture their marriage. They treat their marriage like a nice car and become committed to prevent breakdowns rather than wait to repair them. Keeping a positive outlook on one’s marriage and having good communication skills is a must in marriage.
Well my mother name is Yvonne ward! Never seen my father i wish he was there for me but oh well it's part of life right? Well for me going up life was like hell! My entire family member was either on the blocks or pushing that works or in and out prison. So i didn't have a role model to looks up to. My family is so crazy about money they do anything's to get it kill, rob whatever it take to get that green paper. That why i hate money cause it's destroy my family and it's all evil! Well mom got 32 years doing time right now lords knows i miss my black Queen i wish she was right here by my side! It's hurt me so much because i told her she need to sit down somewhere she don't need to be selling drugs like that but since im the son in the relationships or what not she didn't listen to me! She writes me all the time and said son you was right i should had listen to you! I'm the only one out of my mother child told her that! Well when mom got locked up i meet this white chick or what not in grade school we starting talking and it's didn't work out she told me we were better off as friends.told her it kewl i understand. To make a long story short her parents pretty mcuh is my God's parents! We have a great relationships she pretty kewl or what not she being there every since i was an 11 years old! I respect her for being there for me and i thank her for all she done for me! Well 2 months ago i lost my brother Wayne he got shot trying to rob another person! Well people asks me all the time how do i make it thought the day? When i get up i pray to lord and read my bible before i do anything's doing the day!
Sex and Gender
Theresa Bray and Chelsea Brady
Everything from a person’s profession, to their jobs at home, to the way they interact with other people differs depending on gender and gender roles which tend to be chosen and taught by society. Social interactions come from a variety of sources and begin inside the home.
According the text Sociologists in Our Time, “gender is defined as the culturally and socially constructed difference between males and females found in the meanings, beliefs and practices associated with “femininity” and “masculinity”.” Children learn from an early age, usually no older than 3, what their gender identity is, that is, how they perceive themselves as male or female. Our first perceptions of gender and gender roles come from our parents either intentionally or unintentionally. Parents show gender expectations with the toys they provide their children, the chores they assign them and by the behaviors they expect from them. In this way, children begin to develop their gender identity by associating certain behaviors and activities as either male or female and eventually integrate these ideas into their own beliefs. For example, playing with dolls and cleaning the house are often seen as activities for girls while playing with cars and mowing the lawn are activities that are usually associated with boys. But who decides what boys should do and what girls should do?
Many sociologists say that social and cultural processes are the most significant when deciding what males and females are, what they should do, and how they relate to each other. The text Sociologist in Our Time defines gender role as “the attitudes, behaviors, and activities that are socially defined as appropriate for each sex and are learned through the socialization process”. Gender role socialization occurs by any means of activities, behaviors, suggestions, encouragements, and disciplines that children are exposed to. What it means to be male or female in the social aspect and how to think and act in masculine or feminine ways are taught to us by our families, peers, teachers, and the media.
Parental influence plays a major part in the development of a child’s gender role and gender identity. In the house it is most common to see females in a housekeeping role and males as a supporter by bringing home an income and children raised in these traditional families tend to fall into similar roles. On the other hand, children raised in less traditional homes, such as one in which the father takes care of the house and the mother works, tend to be more open minded about non-traditional gender roles. For example, girls whose mothers work outside the home tend to grow up with a gender identity that considers females as being able to make decisions without concern for whether it is feminine or masculine.
Gender identity and gender roles are learned from parents and reinforced by society, i.e. school. Children often get praised for following traditional gender roles or teased for going against the gender role. For example, girls are often praised for how pretty they look and boys are commonly praised for their achievements in sports. In this way, girls learn that looks are very important and boys learn that sports are very important.
According to buzzle.com ‘sexism’ or ‘gender discrimination’ basically means the prejudicial treatment of a group or a person due to their gender or sex. All around the world, woman and men are still separated as far as how they are treated in society or the work place and also at school. In theory, gender discrimination can affect both men and woman, however, it is women who have been at the receiving end through the ages and across cultures, since most cultures in the world are patriarchal, or male dominated.
Children spend most of their time playing games with friends. But are there games more acceptable for girls or games more acceptable for boys? Research has been done and boys tend to play games that are more competitive and have much more rules to follow, while girls like to play with groups of friends around their age and play hopscotch or jump rope, games that have minimal competitiveness. For boys, competitive sport becomes a means of “constructing a masculine identity, a legitimated outlet for violence and aggression, and an avenue for upward mobility” (Lorber, 1994: 43). Woman athletes consider themselves both woman and athletes. That is something a little confusing to me because that is saying that woman can’t be athletes, which isn’t true. Still today sports remain divided between male and female, but there are still so many options of sports between both male and female options.
When you think about the 40’s when woman were to stay home and clean the house and do laundry and cook the meals while also taking care of the children, while the husband was at his white collar job all day, this was once the American dream. Some may still think that women don’t belong in the work place, but that is a stereotype of the past. There are many woman now that hold a higher position then men at work. One of the most common ways a male gets discriminated against in the workplace is if he has a ‘feminine’ job. Then that man is most likely considered gay or not a ‘real man’. Which this isn’t fair because peoples’ certain interests shouldn’t affect how others perceive them.
My thought about all of this is that everyone around the world need to realize that woman are coming into their own and are going to start fighting for what we want. Woman are strong and can do anything men can.
Sources,:
Sociology In Our Times
www.buzzle.com
Development of Women in the 20th Century
Jessica Piper and Kristina Hahn
Woman has not had or has gotten the same rights as men for many years. The 20th century saw far-reaching change in many aspects of women's lives. Gaining new legal and political rights together with more economic and social status. The first half of the century saw women's legal and political rights 'evened up' with men's. There for we are going to talk about the development of the women in the society and the rights which established in the 20th century.
Woman got some political rights but not as many as they wanted. But least they got some like the most important political right won by women was the right to vote. This was given to women over 30 in 1918 and women over 21 (the same age as the male franchise) in 1928. After getting the voting right woman just started to spread out and make things work for woman by becoming members in government things. Women were already playing a part in local government politics. In 1909, Jesse Wilston Phipps became the first woman to chair a council sub-committee. By 1925, the L.C.C. had 25 women members. This just shows woman should have some things as men as well.
Woman’s legal right have to do with their political rights as well but legal rights are more about the family. From the time Vermont established a legal system in the 1780s until the early twentieth century, women’s relationship to the family determined their legal and political status as citizens. The concept of covertures, derived from the British common law tradition, formed the basis of marriage law and custom; it obligated the male head of each household to protect, support, and represents its female occupants and minors. Wives were expected to serve the household by birthing and nurturing children and laboring in food, cloth, or other home-based production. Wives’ legal identity was merged with that of their husbands. Married women could not own property directly, sign legal contracts, or sue for debts; they held no individual rights to their children. They could provide legal testimony (except against their husbands), but they could not serve on juries. By custom, women were allowed to petition local officials about family or other issues, including divorce. This is why men think woman can’t do anything.
Woman during the War couldn’t go out and get job because once the men for the war came back they would get their jobs taken. Woman went to work in the factories during the war. They found it awesome that they could talk about their drills. They even found it comforting that they could use their own money that they worked for and go buy things. They even got to make their own decisions. About six million women joined the workforce during the war. After the men power started to run out the woman were even asked to join the army. Woman start proving their selves but still men don’t think they can do things, besides stay at home and cook.
After the war was over, there was an economic boom all over the world. As you know, Germany was divided into two different parts the Eastern part, which was occupied by the Soviet Union, and the Western part, which was occupied by France, the US, and Great Britain. Between both parts they built a wall and both parts had different political systems, one was capitalism and the other one was communism. Western Germany had a big economic boom because of the Western Allies, who helped them to establish the capitalism. So, the women did not have to go to work because their husbands earned enough money to provide the family. Before 1977, the man could decide whether his wife should go to work or not. “Same pay for same work” was also established for women in the 1970s.
The economic boom was not so strong in the eastern part of the world. So the GDR (German Democratic Republic) had to suffer from the Soviet Union. 90% of the women in the GDR had to go to work because the men were not able to earn enough money to provide the family. The good fact of working for the women was that they could reach higher positions now. Furthermore, they established Kindergartens in the eastern part for supporting the women. After the reunion in 1990, the women got equal rights in both parts.
While all the differences were going on in Germany, also a movement, which called “feminism”, started in the 1960s. The feminists asked for same pay and equal rights. In 1966, the National Organization for Women was founded in the US to bring equality for all women in the world. There was an amendment (Equal Right Amendment) which says that the “equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the US or any state on account of sex”. But there was a lot of disagreement in the country and so the amendment died a few years later. In 1975, the UK established a law, which called Rights of Sex Discrimination, and it was for equal pay. It achieved acceptance and a lot of European countries followed it. In addition to that, the birth control movement was really important in the 1960s and 1970s. It says that women are allowed to decide about their reproduction. Furthermore, abortion became a big topic in the society because women can decide whether they want to have the child or not. Today people use abortion and birth control to control the increase of the world population, especially in China. The women made a huge step forward in these decades but it has not stoppedyet.
During the 1990s and the change of the millennium, women got more equal to men. Now women have equal rights in front of the law in kind of every country, also for their children. Moreover, it is typical that women have higher positions now, for instance to be a manager in a huge company. Women still have a double burden with family and career. If a woman with a child applies for a higher position in a job, the boss still favor the man, who applies too, because the woman, even she has better skills than the man, has to care about her child and can not be there all the time. Also there are still differences in payment between male and female. Men get better paid than women. Furthermore, there are still stereotypes that women do the household and care about the family but men also dothe household nowadays. People also recognize an increase in divorces over the last few years. That means that there are a lot of women who are single and have a child or more and have to go to work. So family is not that much important than 50 years ago.
All in all women rights changed a lot in the last century. Once a couple big things changed then many little things changed. This turned big things in many people lives to change and prove that woman should be able to do the same things as men can do. I know some things are not possible because women do not have the physical conditions as men. But there are still some differences between men and women not only in the payment also in behavior and in front of the law, especially the Arabian countries. I hope the women will take some actions to become equal and to start getting an education and start being free to wear what they want to wear and to think what they want to think. Do not underestimate the woman, gentlemen.
Kaiya Canar
10/2/13
Intro to Sociology
I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “never judge a book by its cover” I was taught that for as long as I could remember. It simply means, you may see a person from the outside, but it’s always on the inside that matters. As I have gotten older, beauty is becoming more noticeable. When I was younger, I only worried about who stole my Barbie doll when I wasn’t looking. Now that I’m in college, I see the way that people look at each other and use what they see for their own judgment. This takes me to my first point.
Since I’m older; I see two main characteristics in people, beauty and presence. There are two parts to beauty: outside appearance and your outlook on life and your attitude. Most people see outside appearance as what the person really is, for example, for a class I had last year, I saw a skinny girl wearing Gucci sunglasses and holding a Louis Vuitton purse, I thought she would be nothing but snotty and rich. For me, I would never talk to a girl like her. But for that class, we had to pick someone we would never go up to and talk to on the streets so I thought, “What the heck” and went and approached her. Come to find out, she was really cool girl and we had a lot in common. I judged her by what she wore, rather then what she was actually like.
Another characteristic is the way people present themselves. If I were to walk into a classroom and start telling jokes with the teacher and would get everyone else laughing, you would think I am outgoing, like to laugh and am not shy. Most people see these people as being the most successful. However, as a woman, people don’t see women as being very funny. For example, I find Adam Sandler to be way funnier than Tina Fey. Guys have that “automatic humor” in them unlike most women.
In the article “The negative effects of Body Arts” indicates that society looks down upon people who have tattoos that are visible. Body art is described by many people as dirty, and gross. Applying for jobs these days can be difficult if you have body art that is visible, employers many not higher someone who has tattoos. Having tattoos can lead to ending up unemployed. In some building and businesses you are un-welcomed to go inside, they are either to have to cover them up. With having tattoos people think that they are tough like bikers. Many girls are ending up having tattoos at a younger age, sometimes with meaning or just because.
Referring to my first paragraph; women are judged by how they look in society. As women get older their skin starts to wrinkle due to multiple purposes. Many women end up getting Botox to tighten them and change their appearance. When women are in their forty’s they end up getting Botox and have to continue doing this to keep up with the appearance they have maintained so far. The people who don’t get Botox woman and men judge the ones who do get it. Everyone in society thinks of their appearance different, more try to maintain their appearance tip top shape others let nature takes its way.
The way women are looked in society is different with what type of class they may fall in and what they surround themselves with. When judging a book by its cover you will never know what is inside of a person, you will only know what you think they may be like by having tattoos on themselves. Everyone falls into their own category in society, and once they allow people to judge them they never follow what they think of themselves.
We live in a world where everyone forms their own opinion. It's completely natural for someone to form an opinion about someone at first glance. Whether it were true or not. It's rather easy sometimes to classify the type of person they are in just a simple first impression. Although sometimes, its not always right.
There are so many different types of types. It ranges from ethnicity to background, rural to suburban, nice to rude, athletic to nerds, rich to poor. The list can go on and on and on. Although we don't realize how much some of those assumptions can hurt others. While it can also boost their self confidence, it can also certainly drag it way down. They may not be proud of what they are "classified" as. For all we know they could be striving to change that outlook on themselves. People are just way too quick to judge and also kind of stubborn to get to change their view. It all winds back to one of the earlier rules we learned in life. "Don't judge a book by its cover."
Another typical stereotype is between men and women. Many people believe men are bigger and stronger than women. Which is usually true. However many also believe women cannot do a man's job. Which isn't always true. Washing dishes, doing laundry, taking care of the kids, cooking, those are all jobs that bring women to mind. However there are a number of men who accomplish those tasks on the daily. Men are thought to be the ones to bring home the larger income. This is not true in all households. Women are criticized when attempting to play a men's sport or try to become a part of any of the system. This is one of the largest stereotypes known. As well as the major stereotype of races. There are many assumptions when it comes to different races.
People don't always take into consideration another basic social rule, "Treat others the way you want to be treated." It can certainly hurt others mentally. They sit in their room wishing they could be someone else. Because even if they try to fit into a different stereotype, they know others will look down on them questioning why they even considered trying to be like that. They would be known as the "wannabe". No one takes into perspective the fact that they cant change the major factors that stop them from being what they want to be. Things such as family, financial states, and location. Society just does not like to accept the fact not everyone is happy with who they are. They're supposed to love who they are whether they're in a good or bad state.
In society certain stereotypes are more applicable to get away with certain crimes or acts that others would not. Examples being celebrities or pro athletes. Anything that they would happen to commit would be considered not as big of a deal and acceptable. Which they serve as many role models. Now this may not be true. Which is a stereotype. What society believes is not always what it seems.
Society does not accept change without hesitation. Usually society is not as willing to change. Therefore its almost impossible to not stereotype. I feel as if we could get close if we could be more understanding of others. But that's a very large goal to try and accomplish. Its just how the world works. Just remember to put yourself in the others place before hand.
We live in a world where the word judge free zone never actually applies, every single one of us are guilty of it at times for example a person to shoot down a drug addict in public, but behind closed doors their son is a drug addict.The first impressions can have a long lasting effect on what we think about a person until we really get to know them better. before you judge someone ask yourself if you know this person inside and out and if you know what made them the person that they are today. People judge because of judging people comes from the simple need to discriminate to find distinction between those who might be friendly or somehow like yourself. nearly everything you do in life is based on some choice, some judgement. Stereotyping is a form of pre judgement that is prevalent in society today, Stereotypes are feelings concerning the characteristics of specific crowds or associates of those organizations. We are growing up in a society where the general public is only informed by the media with celebrities and such and some vulgar rap music, which sets the main look and behavior for everyone. If you don't have the certain "look" or you're not acting a certain way, then you're automatically stereotyped.
Location can be a factor of stereotype a huge stereotype i can relate to is one of being a student ahtlete the biggest is that student athletes are dumb jocks they dont care about anyone but theirselves we are supposedly a bully to those who dont seem cool. I was told in highschool that i act differently towards others and i judge others but I was in a class with all special ed kids due to my disabilitties i had so the way people categorized me was completely false and was just put in that category due to the fact that i play sports. Men and women are sterotyped due to the contrevesey that women cannot play men sports such as girls cannot play football and they dont play basketball.
One of the most common stereotypes are "wealthy" and the "poor" the rich look down at the poor or the rich are not happy. They think poor people are stupid and uneducated just cause they don't have money. But I think a poor person will work harder and appreciate what they have more than a rich person. My family isn't rich, but we aren't stupid and uneducated all of my parents kids are going to graduate college and that is a huge accomplishment.Unfortunately the rich do turn their noses up. Luckily my parents raised me right. They are a true rags to riches story, and they made sure I worked for the stuff I got. Only education and upbringing can change these stereotypes
Do Americans stereotype blacks based on the color of their skin, or the content of their character? its the content of their character, but its not all blacks in america. Its as you said, the ghetto trash. I'm sure black americans that are not from the ghetto will view ghetto blacks as trash too. Its the same as whites viewing white trash badly. So, yes, its mostly because the ghettos and hoods give blacks a bad name. Look at all the gang related bullcrap in places like chicago. It scars their name, but Skin color is also a big factor. You don't know their character, you see the color and assume they're any number of terrible things.
As long as there are different races and cultures, stereotypes will never go away. This is because humans fear what they do not understand and thus, must categorise behaviour in order to better understand the world around them. Society wont accept the change without hesitation.
