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What did you first expect taking this course? Was it what you expected or no? Maybe include your background and journey before you began the course?

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I expected this course to be exactly like Psychology, but to my surprise we learned about studying other people; not just ourselves. I thought we would be learning about the gestures or movements or actions people do and how we can figure out how they are feeling in result of what they do. This class was definitely not what I expected it to be. I did not expect to learn about cults, or how age has to do with how we act, or how being a different gender can change how people think about you. My background to getting to this class was that I needed to take some sort of history class and Sociology was under that category. I was thinking about doing Psychology but I felt I did not need to know more about myself. I wanted to know more about people and why they act the way they do. I just wanted to research people from their actions, not their emotions. My counselor thought this would be a great class for me to take, so I did.

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Discuss your journey… Every portfolio should be accounted for in the reflection.

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To start off the year we were told that we were going to be learning 6 units. The first unit we learned was Sociology and Perspective. In this unit we learned about why we should care about sociology and how it is similar, yet different from psychology. We also learned about the benefits of having a sociological imagination and how past sociologists believe in for past human history. We moved forward and understood sociology and the perspectives of what a sociologist looks for in a person. We learned 3 major theories; Symbolic Interactionism, Functionalism, and Conflict Theory. These 3 theories are used in other units which shows how sociologists view society. Symbolic Interactionism is the belief that the root of society comes from its symbols. Functionalism is the society of a system of connected parts working of ether to keep a society intact. Lastly, conflict theory is the focus on social classes and their differences in wealth, power, and prestige. This unit helped me view things differently by watching people and how they act in public and how I can analyze them as a sociologist. My thoughts that were confirmed is that I would be watching people physically not mentally, unlike a psychologist.

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The next unit we learned was Culture. In this unit we about learned that culture is basically a judgement game. When learning about this unit we found out the effects of what culture does to a group of people and a society. Symbolic culture was introduced and was something that really stuck with me. There are 7 symbolic cultures; language, gestures, values, norms, sanctions, folkways, and mores. As a class we went into detail about each section and what they define in a culture. We then took these culture subjects and broke it down even further into emerging values that were down in culture today. The emerging values goes as follows; leisure, self fulfillment, physical fitness, youthfulness, and concern for the environment. Leisure is shown by using computer, video games, and vacations. Self Fulfillment is shown by self help, and personal development. Physical Fitness is show by the obvious fitness or looking good. Youthfulness is down by lots of people today which is Botox or plastic surgery. Finally, the concern for environment is shown by recycling, activists, and animal extinction. The last thing in this unit that we learned was the difference between cultural diffusion and leveling as well as ideal and real goals. To sum these words together is how groups react to being together and what they can do to further their groups over all other groups. This unit gave me a new look in life showing how different our culture is from others and that some things that we do are disrespectful as to others. I did not expect to learn about this type of unit in this class which was surprising and fun to learn about.

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The third unit we learned was Socialization. In this unit we were taught the difference between nature (heredity) and nurture (social environment). As a result these are both correct theories of why people are the way they are. Without having these nurturing qualities a child can turn into Genie. Genie is a girl that was abused and did not learn basic traits of intelligence, the ability to establish close bonds with others, and what solidifies the importance of nurturing has on development. The next topic we learned was the agents of socializations. There are 5 different agents; family, school, neighborhood, peers, and media. Family teaches basic values and norms that shape our identity. Schools focus on providing functioning members of society. Neighborhoods play a role if living in a poor community or in an affluent one. Peers provide very different social skills and become more significant than family. Media overrides the family and other institutions in instilling values and norms. Socialization theories like- Looking Glass-Self, Role Taking, Erikson’s 8 stages of Development, and Cognitive Development Theory. C.H. Clooney the creator of Looking Glass-Self focuses on the self development through reflecting and interactions with others. G.H. Mead the creator of Role Taking focuses on self development as well but in the stages from birth to age 4. Erikson’s 8 Stages focuses on developing personality in psychological and social stages. Cognitive Theory focuses on teaching young children from birth to 12 years old. By learning these elements of Socialization I have figured out how I was raised through key agents in my life. I view people differently from this unit because if I see a disturbed person on the streets the first thing I think about is “what was their home life as a child? Were they nurtured by their parents or family? How did they get to this point in their life?” Without this class I would not have been thinking these things. This class gave me a new look on people and how they act from starting off as a young child.

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The next topic that was taught was Unit 4, Social Organization. This unit is described by the McDonalidization of Society. This is described by 4 terms that humans have succumbed to and what we call a norm. Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, and Control. Efficiency is the optimal method for accomplishing a task. Calculability is quality equals quantity. Predictability is the same every time. Control is the standardization and replacement of human by non-human technologies. Moving forward we learned that groups are the essence of life. What this means is  with a group in our life it shows us the way to live in this world. In this section we dove deeper into this idea of a group and broke it up into dyads and triads and what this means to have this. A dyad is the smallest and strongest form of a group, consisting of only 2 people. An example of this is your significant other or a best friend. Though this can be unstable because either group can unilaterally decide to dissolve the group, result of a breakup of a friend or significant other. A triad is a group of 3. Having a group of 3 allows alliances between 2 of the members, against the 3rd which weakens the group. Social Structures and Status’s is the underlying pattern of social relationships in a group. Status describes the position a person occupies social structure. Leadership in groups can be a result from a social status. Leadership Qualities is a behavioral mode that leaders use to influence members. There are 3 leadership styles that are used; authoritarian, laissez-faire, and a democratic leadership. An authoritarian is favoring or enforcing strict obedience to authority. Laissez-faire is lead by absence and not wasn’t o be a leader at all. A Democratic Leadership strives to set group policy by discussion and agreement. Having a authoritarian leader can create groupthink which is people that have a group that is made without objective thought. Conditions to groupthink is groups who are real “tight” or close, having a outside threat creates a tighter pact to one another, and having a authoritarian leader. By having these conditions you could be stuck in a cult or somewhere that you do not want to be. Knowing these conditions I am more aware of who I talk to and how they act. I view society differently from this unit by understanding people and how they act in groups. Also how our society is based on the McDonaldization of Society and how we expect that to happen everyday. My thoughts coming into this course is that I wanted to know why people do what they do from being in groups and why people do not open up to others.

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The following unit we learned about was Unit 5, Deviance and Social Control. Deviance is the violation of norms that a society agrees upon. Social Control is groups formal and informal means of enforcing its norms. Deviance in depth is specified to 4 characteristics; time, cultural, values, cultural universal, and social construct. Time is what is considered deviant today may not be deviant tomorrow. For example, form fitted clothing and swimsuits. Cultural values is how we label an issue determines our moral point of view. These values come from religion, political, economic, philosophical principles. For example, arranged marriages, religious customs, and greetings. Cultural universal is how we find deviants in every culture on the planet. It is always the way to find a group of nonconformists who break the rules. For example, basic needs like cooking and cleaning. Social construct is how each society views actions differently. Society tolerates a behavior until it is no longer deviant. For example, prohibition like drinking alcohol in the past times and now totally legal today. Sociological Perspectives of symbolic Interactionism, functionalism, and conflict theory describes what people see in us. Moving forward, as a class we all took a vote and decided between rehabilitation or no rehabilitation. The votes were favored more towards no rehabilitation. I believe this vote had greater numbers because people did not understand what disintegrative shaming and reintegrative shaming was. The main difference between the two is that one shapes an individual so that they are suited to go back to society, instead of being locked away and being called an offender and being shamed for that. A functionalist interpretation of strain theory is people who feel strain when trying to reach cultural goals. Four responses to this “strain theory” is innovators; people who act the goals of society but use illegitimate means to reach them. Ritualism; people who become discouraged and give up. Retreatism; people who regret goals and become discouraged. Rebellion; convinced society is corrupt. To reject norms and goals and seeks to create new ones or let feelings be known. Finally, the last subject we learned in this unit is crime and its statistics. Crime is the violation of norms that are written into laws. The overall crime statistics have men that are white as the biggest offenders. Which was really surprising to me. I view society differently from learning this unit by understanding how different the world used to be versus how it was. Aswell as being more understanding and hopeful for inmates that had or have been institutionalized by the system. Before going into this unit I thought that we would be learning deviant people and how they are wrong. After learning this unit I have now confirmed that we learned about what deviance is linked to.

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Would you recommend this course to others? Why or why not? Please explain...

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I would recommend this course to someone who wants to learn more about society and why people act the way they do. This course is a great way to learn about society in the real world and goes over multiple topics in the world. This class was very eye opening to me in what we were taught like the crime unit and culture. Those two were my favorite because I was never exposed to crime and what it can truly do to people. I liked the culture unit because it went over the different ways that culture is symbolic of. What I also enjoy from this class is how we can relate certain movies like Shrek and The Breakfast Club back to sociology and its terms of why people do what they do.

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In this final unit we learned about Social Class and Institutions. Social Stratification is a system in which groups of people are divided into wealth, power, prestige. Social Stratification is the overall viewpoint in this unit. Wealth is the value of a person’s property, minus its debts. For example, property in many forms; buildings, skyscrapers, etc. Power is the ability to carry out your will, even over the resistance of others. Prestige is the widespread respect and admiration felt for someone or something based off their achievements or quality. For example, only an emperor and family can wear purple. Social class for a person is based on how they speak, eat, dress, and their manners. If someone has these qualities to the highest extent they should be on the higher end of the social stratification. Though if people do not have these qualities, there are consequences of the social class. It goes as follows; physical, mental, family health, education, religion, and politics. Moving forward, there are 3 types of social mobility that creates a structure in our society. Inter generational Mobility is the change that family members make in social class from 1 generation to the next. This creates people to move up and down the social ladder. Structural Mobility is the movement up or down the ladder because of changes in the structure of society, not to individual efforts. Finally, exchange mobility is about the same numbers of people moving up and down the social class ladder. After learning this unit I have seen and recognize this phenomenon of the social stratification of wealth, power, and prestige. This course has confirmed my question of why people do what they do because of the power, prestige, and wealth that others do in the outside world based off their social status in their day to day life.