# data[].attributes.body
Name: Bin Li
Class: SOC_010_B01_22U
SID: 862200120

# data[].attributes.body
The first concept I want to talk about is material culture. In my words, material culture is things that exist in the physical world and attribute to a specific group of people.

The picture I show above is a traditional Chinese funeral. I have one experience of this when my grandfather passed away two years ago. All my grandfather's children and other relatives have to dress in white and with different shapes of hats depending on the generation.

I think this is a good example of material culture. Since it is culture, it is something unique and different from things outside one place. The dresses and hats are things that we can touch and feel. They are not ideal or other immaterial things which dive inside the cultural river. They are boats that we on to move from the past to the future. This is why I connect the funeral with material culture.

# data[].attributes.body
The second concept that brings my attention is the concept of socialization. In my words, socialization is the process that a person starts to understand and learn those norms and values appropriate in society.

The picture I show is a typical Chinese classroom. I have been in that kind of teaching style for about 10 years, which really reminds me of the idea of socialization. It is the place for most Chinese students to understand how they view the world.

In my memory, my middle school teachers really helped me a lot about how to be appropriate in this society. At that time, we would take a class called Ideology and morality. In that class, the teacher would introduce some basic philosophical or political ideas to the students and leave them with an essential understanding of the world and society. At the very least for me, I learned a lot from those classes and had the consciousness of how to face those values and norms which used to confuse me. And that is why I would connect this to the concept of socialization.

# data[].attributes.body
The third concept I want to connect is the idea of gender roles. My explanation for gender role is society's expectations and cultural customs. The expectation and regulation force a person to behave like how people want the gender to behave.

The picture I show above is the moment when my grandfather died, and it was also the first time I see my father crying. He always taught me to hide all my emotions and stand straight as a man. But he also shows the "non-male" aspect to me because of the emotional crush.

I am emotional and sensitive when I was little. That does not mean I am not tough or I am a coward. But I am always taught to be strong in my mind and body. In my idea, I can be the character that fits my gender and I also need the time to slow down and behave not that muscular. Each gender would have a time that makes them be not "gender-fit". That is how I connect gender role to my life.

# data[].attributes.body
This time I want to talk about the concept of grade inflation. In my words, grade inflation is the phenomenon that now students seem to get more excellent scores like A than students in the past.

When I was in primary school, the teacher used the hundred-mark system to evaluate the scores. I used to get 80-90 and I didn't feel anything wrong with that. Once when I know that my nephew's average grade in primary school is 98-100, and that really shocks me.

Grade inflation is a very common phenomenon in China. I still could not believe how can kids get such high scores on their tests. And that is the average score almost for everyone. If my nephew gets the score I used to have, their parents might feel extremely upset about their kid. But my source was not bad when time back to 2012 when I was in primary school. I think the comparison can really represent the situation of grade inflation a lot.

# data[].attributes.body
The last concept I want to talk about is meritocracy. In my words, this means a perfect situation where everyone could earn things by how hard they work.

I want to talk about this because my father is the one who makes his life by effort and brings a good life to me. My father used to live in a small village and dropped from school when he was still 16. He went to big cities and made a living for a better future.

Although meritocracy is an ideal system and has not become a real system yet, it worked when my father started his business. He made a lot of money which can afford the life that I am having. Meritocracy is the way that my father changed his life and my life. If no meritocracy at all, there won't be me studying at an American university.