Race post 9

This week we have been discussing race and its impact it has on our day to day lives. Learning that race is just some made up term in order for us to differentiate people sort of makes me sick. I never realized how poorly people are treated just because of the pigment in their skin or the way their face may look. Learning something like this really makes me question our society. Why did we ever assume whites were better than blacks? What made someone "white like me" better than someone with a darker skin tone? In class we talked about how someone would define race. Coming up with a definition was near to impossible. We are all individuals and it is impossible to define race and put people into those categories. In the "White Like Me" video, people showed what it was like to be categorized into many different racial groups. It made me genuinely feel terrible that we mistreat people or even are afraid of certain people the second we look at them. But because of our society, being a white female, I will never quite be racially profiled as those with dark skin are. Race was made up and race is what people want you to believe. Race should not even exist but it does and it probably will for a long time. We continue to use racial slurs and jokes openly, we continue to assume every Asian should have their eyes a certain way or should be the next Albert Einstein, and we assume every tall black man is the next Michael Jordan. We can not define people by the way they look! We need to stop ourselves next time we want to crack a joke and be more socially aware that we could truly be hurting people with pointing out the way they look.  
Check this link out
http://www.funcage.com/blog/24-unfortunate-examples-of-accidental-racism/

Service Hours

For my community service, I completed all my hours through Bocce Ball and Stevenson's Blood drive. 
       Bocce Ball was an all day event where we worked with special needs and refereed and helped them play the game that they love!  This was the first time I have ever one on one interacted with special needs people. It was honestly nothing I expected it to be and was such a rewarding experience. I am so happy I decided to participate in this event organized by Sal. Everyone was so kind and it also didn't hurt to learn about a sport I have never played before! The smiles on the participant's faces were absolutely priceless and I will never forget the time I enjoyed with them.
       The blood drive was something that I really wanted to do and has been on my bucket list for quite sometime. I am usually not good with blood and couldn't even imagine the amount that would leave my body, but knowing that I could potentially save three lives by donating, I knew it was something I wanted to do. The blood drive was hosted at Stevenson but it was through LifeSource and their website is LifeSource.org and my ID number was W2868 14 013055. I am happy I went through with this and turns out it wasn't as hard for me as I assumed it would be! (They say this blood drive counted towards 3 service hours)

post 8 Deviance and Social Class

This unit has been discussions of deviance and social class. 


In Sociology, deviance describes actions or behaviors that violate social norms. This all depends on many factors of living such as the time era you live in or the place in which you live. There may be different social norms at a place that is a few hours away from you. These norms are surrounded around us and we are influenced by them daily.

In class we did an activity where we had to chose what we thought violated America's social norms. For the majority, our class agreed on what was a norm and what wasn't, but considering our surroundings, there were people who thought otherwise. This could have been caused by the people that the student grew up with or the place they were raised. There was no wrong or right answer to this activity, but this did help me become more socially aware. 

Another deviance activity we did was performing an act of positive deviance. Going out of your way to talk to someone that you normally wouldn't talk to, or even say hi to a total stranger in the hallway might seem weird, or out of your comfort zone, but it could potentially brighten someones day. I went against my day to day norms and there was a positive outcome by doing so.

We also talked about social class a bunch. I thought this topic was extremely interesting. As my family would probably be considered upper-middle class and because all of my friends that do not attend Stevenson always assume I am some rich snob, I thoroughly enjoyed this class discussion. I never realized how truly blessed I am. I am probably better off than 90% of America. THAT IS A LOT OF PEOPLE!!! I heard that if I had $20 to my name I am richer than many as well...and I still can't even fathom that statistic. Many people do not know the real meaning of poor-and I was one of them. We talked about wealth compared to income as well. Wealth is not only the money you make, but also the money you have in any assets or valuable personal belongings. People don't realize that owning things like a house or car are more than many Americans will ever own in their lifetime. Personally, my parents each have a car, my sister and I received brand new cars this year, and my two older siblings have each had a car given to them by my mom and dad. Saying this, I realize I am quite blessed and these conversations in class have given me a reality check. Next time I want to complain about not having something, or the newest and greatest iPhone, I will think back to these class discussions and realize how spoiled and fortunate I truly am. It also made me want to go home and give mom and dad a big hug and kiss for all the hard work they have done in their lives to get us to where we are today. 

Thanks for the interesting class discussions Sal! (50k Retweets and no essay!)

LGBT

When I was younger I always thought simply. A guy is a guy and a girl is a girl..that's it. But I never understood the way others live so deeply until we had class discussions and my peers spoke to our classroom. We have been discussing the LGBT community and I have learned so much.

The LGBT panel that came and talked to my class really showed me to the extent of how different everyone really is, and every one has different sexualities. I realized that people judge them daily.. and I also realized that there is no point for people to judge them. Just because they are 'different' than the way society wants them to be, does not mean their gender or sexuality defines who they truly are! For many people it is so hard to except homosexuality in the world, and coming from a religion that is against it, it can be confusing for me at times too.

But at the end of the day, if they are happy with who they are and are living a blissful life, I will support the person for everything they are and more.

For my junior research paper I chose to focus on Mass Media and the Affect it has on Women. Sociology focuses on this topic in a great way and the videos we watched on body image spoke to me. As a 18 year old girl, headed off to California in a month, I find myself constantly being insecure and caring about how skinny I am, what I am wearing, and sometimes being overly self-conscious. But I blame it all on society. And the media. They have transformed our innocent brains into self-obsessed image hungry human beings. It's sad, because I find myself being so hard on myself. I would never treat a friend the way I treat my body, so why do I continue to live this certain way? It's almost impossible to avoid nowadays, but learning about this stuff in class really helped me focus in on what is truly important in life.  

It is 2014 people! Wake up! We all must accept one another and love who we are for all that we are, and for all that we are not.

SOCIALIZATION

Socialization shapes us and plays a role in how we live and grow up. These agents of socialization are groups that we are apart of, and groups that we may not even think of that shape us. The first is family. Growing up you can choose your friends, what hobbies or sports you want to be a part of, but you do not get to pick your family. The family you are born into is the family you will be surrounded by your whole life. I was blessed to grow up  in an amazing family that taught me so much about life and about myself, but it was not until this unit in Sociology that I realized all the latent lessons my family has taught me. Sports are also a big part of growing up and a major factor in socialization, through sports you learn that life is not all about winning but the lessons you learn from a sport last a lifetime. I learned a lot more than just how score goals in soccer. I learned that without teammates and others you cannot succeed, and you have to rely on others sometimes, and trust is very important. Soccer has been one of the biggest influencing factors in my life.Another key agent of socialization is religion. People tend to socialize with others who have the same beliefs as themselves. It is easy to click with people when you can talk about something that really does mean a lot to both of you. As I have aged, I have personally found it way easier to get along with people who share the same beliefs I do in religion. I was raised Christian, but recently found myself enjoying Catholicism. Being raised under these roots, I have been impacted greatly under God. Everyone has different agents of socialization that may influence them more than others, but all of these agents do effect everyone. Socialization is everywhere and it was pretty neat learning about all of this.

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In class, we have been discussing American Culture.

We began by reading, The Values Americans Live By.  As I read through this article, I started to think of how some of these values applied to my life.  As we were talking in Sociology, I realized a lot of the values discussed were actually pretty accurate.  In particular, I felt individualism and independence was one of the values Americans feel strongly about.  When you are a child, you depend heavily on your parents, but as you grow older everyone is taught that independence is crucial to success. For example, going off to college is something that most Americans strive for nowadays. Being an individual and graduating after four years is what we must strive for. This is all based on the idea of "The American Dream" or otherwise known as making a lot of money and true success. College is all about being alone and becoming someone great without the influence of others, quite contrary to how we were taught so many things as young children. These days, it is almost frowned upon if we depend on our parents past the age of high school, and it is extremely embarrassing if we still live at home on mom and dad's couch. It is expected of us to take on this new adventure in life, and be successful without the help from ANYONE (including mommy and daddy loaning out money to us).

In the movie Tuesday's With Morrie, Morrie (the cutest old man I have ever encountered) believed that no one should be ashamed of asking someone for help or being influenced by others.
Morrie taught us this as his sickness became worse, he became more dependent on the people surrounding him. His caretaker would even clean him up after he had to take a number two! It was almost as though he was an infant once again. In Mitch's life, love what always a problem.  Love is a taboo at times, because it makes us vulnerable and dependent on others. Becoming dependent on another for your own happiness is practically scary to present day Americans.  We believe that in order to be happy, we must create happiness within ourselves, not because of another person. But Morrie teaches us that in order to truly be a happy human being, we must allow our surroundings and nature into our lives. As Americans, we must accept that relationships are crucial to true happiness and success.

Personally, I function on communication and love from others. I need to be surrounded around people to truly feel happy. And when I am alone, I feel like something is missing. I do in fact consider myself an individual as well. I love my free time and I love striving for a goal and reaching it and being able to say I did it all on my own. Morrie is a key example of a man who is happy, and that is someone who I hope to be like one day. But with the society in which I live, it is quite hard to do that with the constant pressure from people to be great and to be individualized in all that I do.

Blog 4

This unit was interesting to me because I like learning about other cultures. When we played cards in class, I was comfortable with my first table! That was my culture. However, when I moved tables I was shocked at how the other group was playing. The way they were playing was wrong and no one would listen to me. It almost made me angry! I realized that I was being ethnocentric, I had to understand that they play differently just like other cultures have multiple perspectives and ways they do things. The video God Grew Tired of Us opened my eyes to how our views are quite different from the rest of the world. Living in the same place for all of my life has limited me to learning new cultures. But when I am older I plan on traveling a lot and getting to know different cultures. In America, eating with utensils is a more just like leaving food on your plate is a more in china and finishing it all is a taboo!