Automatic Racism

In class we did an activity in which someone did a computer activity to show there automatic reactions and distinctions that are made between "blacks and whites".It was crazy to see that automatically there was an unconscious preference of "whites," to "blacks". As we read further we learned that this preference even consists amongst "blacks." A study at the University of Washington furthered the evidence to this....it is possible to be racist without knowing it! Americans stereotypes and prejudices operate unconsciously! This seems as though it happens because of the culture we grow up in....how can we be completely unprejudiced, assuming we cannot just change American culture and views overnight?

Race

The concept that your race changes as you fly to another country is so strange! In America our veiws of race are so integrated into how we think it is almost incomprehesible to view it from others perspectives. For example the fact that in Brazil there are over a dozen racial categories based upon the shade of skin...although they're more individualized in there categories and it is not as clear cut as black and white it's still not acceptable. So....what is accpetable? Why would we possibley need to categorize race as we do? If there is no need to categorize, how do we stop?

Breaking down stereotypes and class divisions, is it possible?

Though most American's seem to take pride in the equality they feel the United States of America exhibits but, in reality our inequality has just shifted from being racially focused to now financially focused. I think that class stereotypes and prejudices are still acceptable in America today because it is a way in which people can feel more powerful and better than others. Any of the various terms to describe either poverty, climb to wealth, wealth) have negative connotations (ie: ghetto, white trash, social climber, yuppie, etc.). If racial slurs are not acceptable why are social slurs ok? Is it because social class is more gray than black or white- social class is more perception based than race?

Social Class in America

It's interesting how evident social class is...if you ask a student which towns that feed into our school have the most money, they could probably tell you pretty easily. Especially freshman year you will hear many students attempting to guess what Jr. High other students came from. Scarily enough, their guesses are usually accurate. So, what are they judging on? Material things and mannerisms! These things are even similar town to town! Certain towns kids will wear the designer clothes others won't, certain kids will be talking about their extravagant vacations others will not, this is just within our little area what is the effect on a larger scale? Location effects everything!! Mostly your location effects your education which effects where you will go in life. If you go to a well off High School or a poverty stricken one it makes a great difference. On this website America's Top High Schools are ranked....there are not many High Schools in poor areas and the financial status is factored in! The people who go to a good High School are more likely to go to a good college and therefore get the better paying job. The J-Curve in which most of the wealth is held by a very small portion of the population makes complete sense when you look at all the factors that seem like they will glue you to the class you were born into.

Jail Priorities

"A graver offense in Illinois to possess a minute amount of cocaine or heroin than to beat a wife, girlfriend, or a sister,"(Courtroom 302, 15) The priorities of the justice system are completely out of place! When in Illinois 26% of the prison population's most serious crime was a drug offense, there is definitely a problem. Even those who work in the justice system acknowledge that, "it's just jobs for people. We're pushing papers around." (Courtroom 310, 16) Especially with our struggling economy the government funds could be much better used in many places! Although, the only government official seeming yo care about doing anything about this problem is Governor Schwarzenegger...the people need to push changes in this area for anything to happen, but how?

The Election

Elections always seem like a huge deal but especially this year it seemed bigger than ever! It was so frustrating to be only months away from voting age! Luckily however, I volunteered as an election judge which was one of the greatest experiences on so many fronts. Getting to experience first hand how the voting works was very interesting! After sitting and helping people get set up to vote the polls finally closed... the machines did all the counting with the exception of the write in candidates which we had to go through and look for and mark down by hand. While going through the ballots looking for the write ins I was attempting to get a sense of how many people voted McCain VS. Obama...It seemed soo even at my polling place it was staggering to get home and see how land-slideish it was. As interesting as the system and the people coming to vote were....the most interesting thing was the other election judges who had worked many elections. Hearing them compare this election to previous they were very excited about the new-found voter excitement that they hadn't seen previously. They were also so adamit that we were the future and we should try to change how campaigns work because "people would actually listen to us." They wanted us to know they thought that campaigns should be shorter and election day should be a national holiday. I thought it was interesting that they thought people would only listen to us, this seems to be the disconnect, so much more would get done if we all tried to make a difference. Why don't people see that? Its not your age, sex, or race that matters its what you do with your life.

Masculinity...

In class we had been discussing how masculinity is being fueled negatively by the culture. In our discussions the example that most stuck out in my mind is the fact that GI Joe action figure's biceps getting disproportionately bigger by the decade. We discussed that it's the societal pressures (through toys, advertisements, how we treat boys when they're young, etc.) we put on men to act strong and be strong but another side of this picture just occurred to me. Several chapters into this book I am reading, I was stunned as to how applicable it is to the discussions we have been having in class. This book is called, "Wild at Heart,"discusses how theoretically the roles of men and women go all the way back to the creation of earth. "Adventure, with all its requisite danger and wildness, is a deeply spiritual longing written into the soul of man..."what I have read so far has gotten me to think more deeply about the roles of men and women in society and the effect those roles must have. Back in history as far back as you can go men were the hunters and women were the gatherers...How do we know that masculinity is not just purely genetic and the lack of constructive outlet now-a-days is the cause of violence? What if these masculine traits are natural and the contradiction of the naturalness of these traits vs. the necessity to be domesticated and stuck indoors is causing the violence? Think: If you domesticated a tiger through generations and generations would the need to hunt and be aggressive vanish? Is this any different than humans?

Today's society puts a ridiculous amount of pressure on both males and females. To compound this problem the pressures come from everywhere and are so common that most people aren't even consciously aware of the pressure. The messages are sent through everything from toys, to magazines, to television, to the advertisements and marketing that constantly surround us.

Little girls grow up with dolls that come with increasingly provocative clothing and often enough a demeaning theme. When I was little I absolutely loved Barbie dolls and soon Diva Starz too. The Diva Starz dolls each had personalities, accessories, they even talked! Only in retrospect do I realize what an awful image those dolls conveyed to little girls. The different personalities of the dolls consisted of,"your personal expert on style, a hip cool chick and a techno whiz, a girl who loved the outdoors so much that she'd bring it inside, a model citizen, and a sporty girl." These dolls said stupid things, were barely dressed, and further more they seemed to convey the idea that girls are not multi-dimensional but rather are only capable of being about one thing like the dolls. Though the Diva Starz have been "phased out" they have just been replaced with Bratz and My Scene Dolls. Is there going to be a resolution to this cultural disaster? If this continues to go down hill, how will our youth grow up and how will that effect future generations?

What Should We Really Fear?

The media and politicans promote fear in America. The television and movies we watch are not only very violent but then shows such as Cops, America's Most Wanted, and 60 Minutes: To Catch a Predator make it seem as though the violence is happening right next door. As for politicans, their campaigns count on American's fear to get them into office. The politicans campaign that if you do not vote for them, so that they can change how badly things are going, the unfortunate things will happen specifically to you. There is nothing to fear but the fear itself. The fear is the largest difference between America and the rest of the world. The fear pushes people into thinking they need to defend themselves. They fear their neighbors and everybody around them but really because of the dangerous situation this fear creates- they should fear themselves and their actions.

In the movie Tuesdays with Morrie, in the begining of the movie Mitch valued hard work, achievement, and success financially and career wise. This is true not only for my parents but most people I know. The focus on financial success and therefore material things begins from the moment we are born. Everything about our culture is materialistic; baby showers are to recieve gifts, as are birthdays, and even holidays such as christmas. To achieve possesion of these material things it seems necesary to be focused on career and money. Success is purely perspective therefore it is absolutely possible to achieve a different type of success. Who is to say that the impoverished people, who in many of our eyes have nothing, aren't completely satisfied and happy with something as simplistic as having their health or a happy and loving family. Those things to them may very well be their perspective of success. Why is it that we do not see success as making it safely through a day and treating people well?

Political Expression Not Acceptable?

This week in class, our teacher wore a T-shirt supporting Obama. When he arrived to class late, he told us it was because another teacher was giving him a hard time for wearing the shirt. I find this completely ridiculous. During the last election I was in 8th grade and the story reminded me of how our teachers would not tell us who they were voting for but yet they would relay variations of their oppinions like they were facts. I would come home and tell my family what I had learned and they would say that it was not an unbiased fact. Being that young and not watching the debates and recieving information soley at school from teachers insisting they were unbiased is not fair. At least if teachers voice their oppinions you know where they are coming from because it is hard if not impossible to be completely unbiased.

Cultural Assimilation in a Card Game?

In class we did an interesting activity in which the class was seperated into groups of four in which we learned the rules of a card game. Once the rules were understood we were supposed to play the game silently. Then the groups were switched up, the winners and losers rotated to different tables leaving two of the original people at each table. After the new tables were assembled the silent games begun. It soon became apparent that some of the new groups were struggling. We found out that each table had learned different rules! The responses or in some cases the lack there of were so interesting. Some of the tables had given up on being silent where as others were motioning vigorously. Additionaly, others were silent; either paused in confusion or some of the players had given into the others rules. What was the deciding factor in these dynamics? Was it the ratio of players who knew what variation of the rules or was it simply based on the personality of the players? The activity was a great simulation of what it must be like to be in a different culture with a language barrier. An article on wikipedia discussing cultural assimilation explains models to reasons why assimilation does or doesnt occur it is interesting it contrast to the activity we did in class and our discussion of mores and taboos!

You Would....

Everyone categorizes and judges others. Inversely everyone has also been categorized and judged. In class, while discussing whether or nor it is appropriate to categorize or judge, we read a poem called "The Cookie Thief," In this poem a woman falsely characterizes a man and never stops to question her oppinion or her actions. Situations like the poem happen all the time and are so common most are not even aware. It is common to hear the words gay or retarded used in a derogatory manner. When people use these words they may just be kidding, or not. But either way the words mean something very real. Using these words in that context is generalizing a certain sexual orientation and a condition as negative. Even generalizations and judgements less obvious than that happen alll the time; it is common to hear people responding to somebody by saying "you would" this is judging them...Generalizations are going to happen no matter what but its important to not judge...the generalizations must be fair and backed by evidence.

Who Stays & Who Goes?

In class we did an activity in which people were assigned roles such as sailors, doctors, poets, athletes, etc. each role was very specific as to describing the character, their assets, and their limits. Then we were told that our characters were on a ocean liner which was struck by a left over mine from World War 2. We are on an overcrowded lifeboat designed to hold 9 but there are 16 people aboard. Now we have to decide who will be thrown overboard so we can survive and not sink in an oncoming storm.

After we had made the decisions we had to analyze why we chose to throw who we did over. This led into a discussion of macro vs. microsociology. As far as the Macrosociology perspective goes; as an American culture we seem to value health, youth, and usefulness. The people who were thrown off of the boat tended to be injured, old, or not have anything to offer or a combonation of the previously mentioned. If you thought about how this activity would have occured differently in another country such as certain asian cultures value their elders more then their youth. Micro focuses more on the ongoings of smaller areas like the classroom or the school. Were certain people volunteering to leave because there friends had left? probably!

It was so interesting to look at why we made our decisions and see how we are affected on both a large and small scale by the stuff happening around us. Additionally, it was interesting to think about how this experiment was soooo consistent in the results of who was voted off year after year.

Gang Leader for a Day...

For homework we read a passage out of this book, "Gang Leader for a Day," I had already read this book for my econoomics class. After re-reading this passage with a sociological mindset it was so interesting how much the article had to offer. When reading it previously the questions that the author kept interjecting about what he was describing seemed distracting if not pointless. Re-reading it the questions had so much to offer about how his experiment was developing and the difference between the two categories of sociologists: those that study by using quantitative and statistical techniques and those that study life by direct observation(Ethnographers). This passage also provided great information on the positives and negatives of each method of studying sociology.

Scilence

The first day of class we walked in and took our seats, our teacher introduced himself, and then took a seat behind everybody in the back of the room. We looked around at each other uncertain of what to do, it was just expected that we would come in and the teacher would list off the rules, expectations, and maybe even begin teaching some material. We sat in silence for nearly five minutes, occasional nervous laughter breaking the quiet. I sat there thinking this is sooo awkward. Why was it awkward!? Why are we unable to just not talk. Silence is usually broken by somebody stating that, " this is awkward," or "awkward turtle." When you really take a step back and analyze that, it's really strange that people thinking silence is uncomfortable is so common that there is a widespread custom of what to do to break that silence. There's even a wikiHow on other ways to fill awkward silence(http://www.wikihow.com/Fill-Awkward-Silences)! Our teacher told us that silence is uncomfortable to us because we are not used to it! We grew up with T.V.s and even when were not watching a show there is a commercial; so many people have music on or the T.V. on while doing other things because they can't focus otherwise. This is really interesting and I'm sure that there are many ways that this affects us; but is it for the better?

I love sports and anything to do with fitness. I'm all about health from the inside out; accupuncture, healthy food, and all that. I love cars and have grown up going to Porsche races... the sound of those engines is just about my favorite thing. I'm really nervous about applying to college but at the same time it's way exciting. My family and I are really close and they are a really big influence on me. My goal is to be a psychologist, I want to help people! =)