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I am taking sociology because it is one of my requirements, but I also thought that it will be beneficial. Especially because I'm the kind of person who doesn't read a lot about what other people think or what's their opinion on something, and I don't really ask my self these questions that are in this class. so I think that this class is going to be beneficial.

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The first thing I bought from my own money was a notebook for my English class in my freshmen high school year.

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JCB p. 50 Contrasting Marxist and Durkheimian  perspectives

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JCB p. 50 Contrasting Marxist and Durkheimian  perspectives

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A food that is a totem in my life is middle eastern food. In culture, this food has a big background for me. According to Durkheimian perspective, food brings us together and creates a sense of social cohesion. Middle eastern food holds a sense of belonging to a particular social group. And while I read that chapter it did make sense to me and it also applied to me too. For example, how food brings us together, we use our cultural food. Marxist perspective is commodity fetishism. Which is understanding our relationship to food and the relationships involved in making a product. This perspective shows us that we need to appreciate the product we get because the workers who gave us the product did hard work. Labor relations in the product process.

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Symbols, language, food, and values are what make our culture. Like food, it has an important part with a lot of perspectives. Food is a material good and for specific cultural foods, you cant find them in many grocery stores. Also, people's food habits depend on their food environment. Everyone's mealtime differs from where they live and to how they prefer it. For example me. Our dinner would usually be meditation food. We wouldn't for example make American, Mexican, or greek food most of the time. So, food can reveal meanings interpersonal dynamics, and more.

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JCB p. 105 Coffee Shop Ethnography ( for 9/13)

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JCB p. 105 Coffee Shop Ethnography ( for 9/13)

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I remember going to a coffee shop 2 days ago, and I sat there and saw people coming in and out. Strangers for sure did talk with each other, in fact, I also talked with a stranger too! She had nice glasses and I gave her a compliment. The space and vibe at this coffee shop are really nice and lively, in my opinion. The design is very beautiful. What groups of people does this coffee shop seem to cater to in terms of age, class, race, or other social factors? A lot of people come to this coffee shop. All ages, like families, old and young people, all ages. And all races too, it depends also where you live. I see that this coffee shop is suitable for all people. And that's not only my opinion, but that's also what I saw. Some people do seem more welcome or welcoming than others, that's for sure. Even if it was a friend, family member, employee, worker, teacher, any person around you.

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Every person has a way of expressing themself and showing their culture and values. It can be in clothes, food, loving specific brands, and following or doing specific things. The relationship between our stuff and our sense of self is very important. For example, clothes. How a person dress shows their identity or how they feel. It can be the style they chose or the brand. And not only clothes. Smartphones, cars, music, and others. All of these things show our sense of self and identity.

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(H) Research Methods (Doing Sociological Research)for 9/13

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(H) Research Methods (Doing Sociological Research)for 9/13

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While I was reading about how sociologists do their research, I learned that how we do things on regular basis and they do it with more research. I realized that they use a variety of methods to do their research, experiment, interview, and documents or secondary resources. They usually use more than one so they can be sure that their research is right, and that's what caught my attention. In our daily lives, we don't think about that, we just use our quick knowledge and try to find the information we want. When we want to know why something happened we place our experiences, facts, and knowledge so we know the fact or event. We do that to get an understanding of what we want. But sociologists do it differently. They check constantly to see how the observations match a theory and then match it to the fact or event they were looking for. What also caught my attention is that guessing does not help us understand our social world. Sociologists must gather information and report it and present what is out there in the world. So whatever the research is, there should be common scenes and true events or facts. Common sense gives us information, but we still need to research and not only rely on it. We also need to search for empirical findings that make everything clear. Reading about the research model made me understand 8 basic steps that are involved in social research. One research made by sociologists that I thought is important is secondary analysis. It is a second research method, they analize the data already collected by others. Knowing how sociologists do their research made me see how it's important and needs work.

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(H) Pager, Would You Hire An Ex-Convict (For 9/13)

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(H) Pager, Would You Hire An Ex-Convict (For 9/13)

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I have asked this question to myself before, and my answer to it is yes. I would hire an Ex-convict or a person that was in jail but with certain conditions. If the person was in jail for an unserious crime and they were truthful and hardworking, I would hire them. They should be hired. People do change for the better and worse. Reading about Pagers method of Study design made me realize that there are some, good amount of jobs that hire people that had criminal records. And I believe it's a good thing. Race also affects people who are in or got out of jail and want to get hired. It can be positive or negative. For white with no record, it had a 34 percentage call back. With a criminal record, it had 17%. For black, no record had 14% and the criminal record had 5%. We can see how there is a racial difference in the effects of the criminal record. It is unfair and inequal that blacks are less than half likely to receive consideration by employers. I do agree that there should be strict rules and safety before hiring any person. But it should be on how the person is, not what his race is. Reading this study made me see how people with criminal records try to get employed and how it works.

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(H) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

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(H) The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

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People in everyday life are actors on stage, the audience is those who observe what others are doing, the parts are the roles that people play, dialogue consists of ritualized conversational exchanges. If we are all actors playing roles on the stage of life, where is our real self? Reading Goffman’s view made me understand and think about our self in the everyday life. When you approach any person, friend, coworker, teacher, the first thing you do is ask them questions. By the time you know how their personalities are and know some information about them. Information about individuals helps us define a situation and know what to accept from them. That way, the others will know how to best act by their behaviors, with people around them. Expressing our self can involve two kinds of sign activity. The expression that we give, which is verbal symbols that we use to convey the information to attach to these symbols. And one that we give off, the expectation being that the action was performed for reasons other than conveyed information. I also saw that communication and impression have a big part in our self. For example, our actions, impression, and communication will appear depending on how we should behave, and what the situation is. In some situations, it will lead us to a well-designed impression of a particular kind. The others may be impressed by the individual’s effort or might misunderstand it and come to wrong conclusions. That shows us how we should be aware of how we communicate and “act” or take a role with the people around us. First impressions are important. For example, reading about some teacher’s views of their first impression to their students on being tough and ease up as you go along. I see that it’s wrong. If your first impression was “tough” and very strict, the students won’t like the teacher and some would not want to respect them. I see that the first impression should be welcoming, nice, showing them that you have rules and control, respect, and that way they can be comfortable with the teacher and know what the consequences will be if doing something. Reading this chapter made me realize how the impression has a big effect on us and the people around us.

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(H) Thompson, Handling The Stigma of The Dead pg.249-264

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(H) Thompson, Handling The Stigma of The Dead pg.249-264

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Handling or doing the duties for the dead is a challenging but important job. In my opinion, I don’t agree with dressing and putting make-up on the dead then display them for the people to come and pay their respects for them. They can do the funeral without all that. Thompson’s article focuses on how they handle the stigma of their work. People say that people who work in that job get paid off other people's grief. But that's not true. Because that's their job, just like many other jobs. Seeing how people thought or treated the people who work in that job, made me realize that their job is hard and has to have the confidence for it. Like in the past, the person who worked in that job was not allowed to do certain things and was not allowed to be around people in a certain way. They shouldn’t treat them like that. People are the ones who needed them, and still want/need them, so why think or treat them in a different way?  Also what caught my attention is what Woods and Delisle said, avoid the use of the terms “dead” and “death” by substituting less harsh words such as “loss” “time of sorrow”. This technique is also used by morticians and funeral directors to reduce the stigma associated with their work. And by using that language it helps them and the people to have less stigma. Reading how the mortician described how he controlled his emotions was interesting. His point on trying to focus on the work and not getting it with your emotions is the right thing to do, or else you will not be able to do your work right. One method used by morticians is humor, but with limits. People who worked in that position don't want their children to be like them when they grow up, because of the misunderstanding of people, too hard, long hours, and the “income not nearly as high as most people think.” This study described and analyzed how people in the funeral industry reduce the stigma, how their job works, how to be professional at it and how to use the correct language to reduce the grief.

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There was a time that I purchased something to fit in with a group. I believe it happens to all of us one time. I was in 6th grade and I had two good friends. They were good, nice, and friendly. But they always wore vans in school and I usually wore the sport kind. I thought to myself, “I should get a pair of vans shoes so I could be like them.” I told my mom that I want to buy vans shoes. I felt that I was “like” them in a way, and they gave me compliments on my shoes.  I started wearing it for a month and it wasn’t really comfortable. So I told my mom and she told me that you shouldn’t do something you are not happy or comfortable with, just to satisfy people or feel that you’re like them. So in the end, when I purchased the vans I was not satisfied with them. And the truth is, don’t do anything that you are not happy or comfortable with to satisfy people or to be “like them”, only do the things that make you comfortable and satisfied.

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When they say more stuff equals a better life, it doesn’t always mean the quantity or money. People go/do shopping because they’re lonely or to relieve some stress they have, and sometimes for essential needs. Higher levels of loneliness led to the increase of materialism. They become lonelier over time and they tend to shop as a way of compensating for their loneliness. According to Durkheim’s study, one connection enduring value of individualism. Shopping feeds off our modern cultural valorization of the individual, and it in turn, fuels our individualism. The shared modern value of individualism is key to fully appreciating the ways that consumer culture shape a shared collective consciousness in contemporary society. When buying something we desire or want, we are a consumer hero and a consumer dupe. Because we are buying a product we desired but at the same time the economy grows. The consumer dupe approach takes a macro perspective that emphasizes the downsides of overspending. The consumer hero is seen as exercising agency by selecting and transforming the goods they purchase. Shoppers choose what they want and the market works to serve their needs. A sociological perspective moves beyond an individualistic approach to consumer choice. A sociological perspective will help us develop a nuanced vision of shopping that transcends the assumption that “We have the freedom and choice”, or “we are totally manipulated by the capitalist’s overlords”. This requires attention to micro and macro perspectives on our shopping habits. If somebody wants to buy a Hello Kitty pencil case for her niece it would be related to micro and macro. It’s related to “micro” by explorations of patterns of thought and behavior. And “macro” for enduring social structures. Consumers may make “rational” choices, but we’re also complex with feelings, impulses, and habits that shape the choices that we make. Durkheimian perspective focuses on the relationship between shopping and social solidarity, consumer choice, and the collective conscience.

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When I started reading Meyers’s view of if Hitler asked you, I totally disagreed with him. This research made me see and think how there are people are that are very injustice. Reading about the experiment that Milgram did, it is wrong. Knowing the obedience of people and seeing how it goes does not need that experiment, at least that’s how I see it. But in his view, he wanted to see how obedient are people, and sometimes it was like he expected and sometimes not. Milgram believes that he placed innocent and naive subjects in selfish obedience to his quest for “knowledge”. If I were one of the people, I wouldn’t agree to do that experiment. This experiment in my view is wrong and did not benefit us or me. Seeing how the “subjects” did the experiment and went with it is bad or disappointing. In Milgram’s view, he did this experiment to get results on how is people’s obedience, and he kind of got some results but there were still some things that confused him or did not get a full result for it.

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In my opinion, working in certain low-wage settings but having positive people or work is better than having a high-wage and a negative workplace. Having a stable income is important but not more than your physical and mental health. Workers have a big effect on fast food corporations. If there were no workers, the fast-food companies would not even exist. So they should pay their workers well and let them have what they worked for. There are labor struggles and individuals like who will take care of a child when you’re called in for a shift. Workers express their dissatisfaction by making a clear demand, an industry-wide raise to $15/hour, and the right to form a union. Even if there are still problems with the minimum wage for many workers that work in many things when they show their dissatisfaction and fight for their rights it will do a change, even if it takes time. When working in a fast-food restaurant or basically any restaurant, you need to be well trained or experienced. The micro-levels between employees and customers in retail fast food settings would be good and well if the employees did their job right and with efficiency, control, and calculability. It produces positive results, like standardized predictable products delivered in an efficient manner. And it’ll make their restaurant or company grow and people will trust and like that place. And all the credit, in my opinion, goes to the workers or the employees, because they are the ones who put their effort and efficiency in doing well in that job. So their minimum wage should be fair or a good wage.

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A place or corporate brand that I connect with or that seems meaningful in the life of those around me is a coffee shop, to be specific Peet's coffee shops. As a corporate pedagogue, Peet's or coffee shops teaches consumers some lessons, that coffee shops are a good place to meet up at or have a meeting in, that you can go have your coffee in a nice social place or alone at a quiet place. It teaches consumers important ideological lessons about how society can and should work. By employing effective ideological messages the cooperation can exercise a kind of “soft” power that advances its economic interests while distracting attention from its social and ecological problems.

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In my opinion, I do think that fast-food campaign demands for a $15-hour minimum wage are the employees’ right. Factors that might encourage the unionization of fast-food workers are, that workers should show their dissatisfaction not by themselves, all together with a group. The fast-food drive for unionization at least in North America is an uphill battle. The fact that fast-food workers have organized nationally, and broadly publicized their demand for a union and higher minimum wage, are notable achievements. In the case of Fight for 15, the recent activities of the occupy movement had directed the public’s attention towards economic inequalities. The raising of the minimum wage must be seen for fast-food workers because that’s their right, and it should also be for all service workers.

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(H) 411-424 Ehrenreich, Nickeled and Dimed

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(H) 411-424 Ehrenreich, Nickeled and Dimed

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I agree that there are a lot of people who only look at what they need or want, and do not look at the “unfortunate” people. They could be from the rich or middle class. Reading how Ehrenreich did a challenge that changed her life and about her experience made me understand how you could feel and know the life of the poor and the struggles they go through. From trying to find a job to finding a place to live, and how some of them find a solution to their problems. In Ehrenreich's situation this is not her actual life, this is just for an experiment and she already feels how challenging and overwhelming it is just from two weeks of this life. With that low-wage job she could not hold two jobs at once for one person, so thinking about other people with families, or single mothers, that would be very challenging and needs hard work. This is unfair for these people. They aren’t being taken care of or not being helped. There are a lot of poor or “unfortunate” people around the world, and that comes from how people or people in high positions are not looking or fixing this problem. Two things that caught my attention in Ehrenreich experiment is when she started working two jobs. It was really hard for her even though that was not her actual life, and some people are forced to live like that, it is hard and challenging. The second thing is how she was living a good middle class life. Everything she needs is there, enjoying her lunch at a good  restaurant  and having a conversation about the “unfortunate” people and then taking on a challenge on finding out how their life is and what their challenges are. Reading about that topic and about her experience made me think again about how these people live their lives and hopefully, we see a change that makes their living good.

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(H) 497-507 Leidner, over the counter at McDonald’s

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(H) 497-507 Leidner, over the counter at McDonald’s

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(H) 497-507 Leidner, over the counter at McDonald’s

They say that the success of McDonald’s came from how their employees work or treat their customers, the expectations of people to their food, and their good service. I personally don’t like McDonald’s but I do see that it’s busy all day, so that shows that people do like it.  It wants both managers and workers to dedicate themselves to the values summed up in three letters, “QSC” Quality, Service, and Cleanness, are the rules of every company to succeed. I’ve never heard of Hamburger University, workers train in Hamburger U. They teach Intermediate operation course, the applied equipment course, and the advanced operation course. Also, there is a full training program with the required amount of hours of work. This is required for everyone who wishes to own a McDonald’s store and is recommended for store managers. I’ve never imagined that this process exists! It has many details like Learning the Job, they have to be sure that the Big Mac is the same everywhere in the world, “station operation check” a short but highly detailed job description that shows how much ketchup and mustard should go on each kind of hamburger, what is the correct way of putting salt on the fries, and more details. It has too many strict details that they don’t need, in my opinion. You can have a successful restaurant with rules, but not that much. Reading about McDonald’s system or service was new to me, but I still see that this method of Hamburger U. doesn’t have to be required. Going to culinary school or something similar is enough, and then you can learn how to cook or do the job when you go to the place you want to work in. I agree with the same taste all over the world, but it also depends on the food.

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(H) 535-546 Wishard, Caught Between The Ages 

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(H) 535-546 Wishard, Caught Between The Ages 

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Wishard pursued Drucker’s thoughts and wants to suggest why he believes that we’re living at probably the most critical turning point of human history. While reading about between two ages, Wishard pointed out many contrasts, from print communication to electronic communication and more. Ages pass by and people are the ones who decide what to do and how. For example, globalization. In Wishard’s view globalization represents the world’s best chance to enrich the lives of the greatest number of people. Globalization is about culture, tradition, and historic relationships. Globalization goes to the very physiological foundations of people. Also technology development. Technology has changed a lot of things, for the better and worse. The pros of technology are that it helped humans with a lot of things, in our normal life like communicating, in medical, and work. The cons are that people used it for bad things, like on social media, cybercrime, and others. Seeing how not long ago technology grew so fast and people got adapted to it. This is a change between the ages. While I read about technology development, I thought about artificial intelligence, and it also talked about robots and how smart they can be. I don’t disagree with that, but I don’t think that robots should or will do our “roles” like some work or other problem-solving. Spiritual and psychological reorientation. The best measure of America’s physiological and spiritual life isn’t public opinion. It’s the content and quality of our culture. Wishard talks about the long-term Spiritual and psychological reorientation being similar to what happened when the Greco-Roman era gave way to the start of the Feudal Age. Earlier in the 20th century, if a person had personal problems they would go talk to a priest or something similar for their advice. And gradually it changed through time, and people started going to their psychologists. And that points out how people keep changing through ages. Reading Wishard’s view made me realize how a lot can change through time and it all happens on how people do it and go through it.

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Video response (Wealth Inequality in America)  

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Video response (Wealth Inequality in America)  

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After watching the video, I do agree that the reality in this country is not at all what we think it is. Seeing poor, middle, and rich on the chart that's in the video made me actually see how it is. The rich 10% percent had less than I thought, and the higher percentage of the rich have more than the 10%. The 1%, in my opinion, is inequal. It's true that they worked hard for their success but as the video shows, the average paid worker has to work more than a month to make what the CEO makes in one hour. And I see that the CEO gets paid more than they need, all of that comes from the people who work there, even the low-paid workers. If that 1% and the rich were given the amount of money fairly, there won't be inequality. What I understand is that the people are the ones who choose to give the money, how wealthy they can be, and to who. There are a lot of people that are rich, but they did not and are not working hard for it.

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JCB Ch.4

Goods that we consume allow us to draw social boundaries and it also aligns us with certain kinds of people and distinguishes us from others.  One of Bourdieu’s key insights was that class inequalities are reproduced over time through consumption habits, and that consumption is a key way that elites attain a kind of status. Economic, social, and cultural are 3 forms of capital. Economic capital is straight forward, social capital refers to the value that comes from your social relationships and networks, and cultural capital is a concept of key importance for understanding consumption. All of these identify our taste and self-presentation, objectified in our possessions such as clothing, books, art, and gaining what we will gain by having a university or college education and degree. For example coffee, people drank coffee as part of their meal or day. But today, drinking or going out for coffee can mean more than one thing. Studying, meeting, relaxing, and it’s also a way to express the social status and cultural capital. Consumers are interested in ethical consumption options - coffee that they can feel good about drinking Because it is seen to “do good”. Ethical consumption could lead consumers to participate in consumer boycotts. One major buycott option for coffee consumers is to purchase fair-trade coffee. Fairtrade guarantees a stable price for producers. The fair trade is designed to ensure that the coffee farmers are paid an amount for their crop that is good for them and promotes their basic needs. Most of the coffee is grown in the global south, and most of that coffee is consumed in the countries of the global north. The average Starbucks coffee is $4 or $5. Consumers always look for high status goods for the cheapest possible price. I guess that’s how people are. But that doesn’t always work. For example coffee. It’s kind of expensive because when consumers pay for their drink they aren’t just paying for it, but they’re also paying for the clean and comfy place and the expensive espresso machine. Sadly none of the profit from these investments goes back to the coffee farmers, and this is wrong and unfair. The farmers are the ones who worked hard to grow the coffee and they don’t get paid fairly. Another example is diamonds or ruby. Poor or people in need work in mines to find the rare diamond or any kind that is needed for the company they’re working for. Most of the luxurious Jewelry companies are very famous and their consumers pay high prices. But the people that work to find the rubies or diamonds get paid a low percentage of the investment. They are the ones who should get paid very well.

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Poverty is all around the world and a lot of people suffer from poverty. Poverty is more than what some people think. It affects their lives in every way, their relationships, unhealthy lifestyle, not getting the care they need, etc. In Merton’s explanation, he defines functions as “those observed consequences, of a phenomenon, which make for the adaption of a given social system.” Merton wrote 13 functions of poverty in American society. I don’t agree with how Merton wrote about the poor that they help keep the aristocracy busy, and that “society” uses the poor to benefit from charity affairs. He has a point, but some good people have big charity companies for the sake of giving and not to benefit from. Knowing that poverty survives in part because it is useful to society or some of its parts, is a bad thing. Eliminating poverty will be beneficial for the whole society. They will have a stable life and we can repair and make the country or place better. It can be eliminated only when they become dysfunctional for the powerful, or when the powerless can obtain enough power to change society.

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As people we all want to succeed to a higher level of education, work, or accomplishments than we are or than our parents were. Getting an education and reaching our goal is important. In this section, it says, “for many, their success has been accomplished despite what they were taught about what it means to be successful during their childhoods.” And that’s correct. It’s true. But you must work hard, put effort and time, and when the person is willing to do it because of their goals and to be successful, they will become motivated and, work hard for it. The cultural environment affects us too. Like music, books, lessons, schools, having older siblings, etc. Cultural capital is based on values, knowledge, and meaning. I and many others can relate. In my childhood, my parents always encouraged and taught us that education leads to success. And I for sure agree with them. In addition to that, I have older siblings. They went to college and university, so that gives an effect on us, we see that they went to college and we would do the same because we’re surrounded by that environment. It also depends on families. According to them, most respondents reported that their parents were interested in seeing their children “do better” than they had done. In my opinion that is true. It makes the child encouraged and want to keep going. But there are a lot of people who are very successful that did not have any encouragement from parents and still reached their goal. So in the end, it has to be in the person, they have to be self-motivated, eager, and ready to work towards their goals. Seeing how women in the past weren’t allowed to work, and now they are, made a big change in the working class. The effects of racial and ethnic prejudice and discrimination cross both class gender lines. The experience of racial discrimination adds an important element to the equation and modifies the experience of growing up working-class. Gender shouldn’t matter in the working class. Both can work what works for them. Every person in their childhood is taught something different, so some see that it’s ok and some don’t. After reading this section I realized that childhood, the environment we’re living in, and other things affect our view of education and the working class. Socialization within a class culture is perhaps not a “determinant in the reproduction of the social structure” as Bourdieu implied.

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I asked five people these questions and wrote their responses.

1. What race are you? 1.White/middle eastern  2.White 3. Asian 4. Hispanic 5. Hispanic

2. How do you know? How do you make that decision? 1.I know because my parents told me when I was young and this is me, It’s not a decision I was born like that.  2. I know that by knowing where I'm from and no one decides what their race is. 3. I know my race because this is my identity. 4. I know my race or anyone's race by how they look. 5. By how we look, we don’t decide our race.

3. How did you learn what race you are? Can you tell me about some of the early messages you first received about race in general or your race in particular? 1. When I was young I was taught that race is from where people are and who they are. 2. One thing I remember from middle school is that me and my friends were talking about race and we all guessed each other's race. We were correct, so I learned that race is important and it is our identity. 3. I learned what race I am from my parents. I learned my race from my family. Race is a large group of people who share the same religion, culture origin, background and other. 4. I learned what my race is when I was in elementary school, the teacher taught us about it. Race is the identity of a person and a group of people who share the same culture and other. 5. I learned about race at first from my parents and then I did more research. I was told that race is an important thing.

4. How do you decide what race other people are? Examples?  1. I decide what race other people are by looking at them, like how they look. 2. I think by there color or how they look. 3.How they look. 4. I can decide or know their race or how they look. 5. Maybe the color.

5. How do other people decide what race you are? Examples? 1. People decide what race I am by looking at me and whatever way they use to know. 2. For sure by looking at what my skin color is and how I look. 3. It depends how they see it. 4. They decide my race by looking at how I look. I am asian, hispanic, african american, white, ect. 5. They decide the race by looking at the person.

6. What is race?    1. Race is a group of people that share the same culture, background, religion, tribe or characteristics. 2. Race is a group of people from a race and they share some similar things. 3. Race is a large  group of people classed according to common racial and more. 4. Race is a group of people from different races that share the same culture, traditions and other things. 5. Race is the identity of people.

7. What does it mean to say that race is socially constructed?  1. I’m not sure but I believe that it’s a human invented description. 2. It means that race is not biological, it's socially constructed. 3. It means that people wanted race to be socially constructed. 4. Most people agree that race is socially constructed. I think it’s another way of saying race population so it gives a good definition. 5. Race is socially constructed because that's what people decided, it’s without biological meaning.

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Sports or exercise are important. I know people that play sports, I personally don’t play sport that much but I do regular exercise. People participate in doing sports for multiple reasons. It can be because they want to exercise, their favorite sport, want to get better at it, practice for a game, etc. Some physical benefits can be at stake in sports if the person doesn’t do very well or injured himself. Cultural status can be at stake for example because team culture and sport are important. It influences many areas that affect team functioning and performance. My favorite sport is soccer. Some social factors that have shaped my love of this sport are the sport itself, media, and others. It is for sure not a national sport culture, but I don’t mind. Playing sports with people of different demographic groups is different too. I have played a sport with people from different demographic groups, and I’m sure a lot of people have. Demographic groups are age, gender, cultural background, and family status. The micro and macro factors that influenced who played and who did not are age. There were kids of different ages and adults. That influenced everyone, playing and not. After reading this chapter I realized how sports that might sound simple has a big impact on people’s life, culture, race, and life too. It's like a business and it also has some positives and negatives sometimes.

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In this section, Ezekiel reports on his observations and interviews with groups of white racists. In Ezekiel’s experience, he was a Jewish person between a group of people who were racist to Jews. I can relate. I’ve had problems before in my childhood just because of my race. I would get stares, questions, but not too violent things. I didn’t feel very different or disturbed by what was happening around me because of how my parents raised or taught us. That reminds me of the reading (Social Inequality). Reading about Ezekiel’s experience made me realize how racism stayed between people throughout history. For generations, racism has always been a problem in an individual’s life. That made me think about why are people racist or still racist? After all, there are no biological differences between people. No race is superior to another, we’re all the same. Some of the things that people can have racist attitudes are taking a view of people that are around us, hanging around with people that are “like us” which sometimes over time can lead us to think that our race or group of people is better than others, we’re quick to judge, etc. What I agree on the most from Ezekiel’s writing is that racism is an important thing that a person should understand and reflect on in their life. For example, we should know that there is no preferred or better race than the other, and fix our thoughts if they seem racist. We should be more aware of our influences, get to know and understand race society before judging and understand ourselves and intentions better. Ezekiel mentioned that racism is a way of seeing or understanding the world and a way of thinking. To a certain degree of it is part of everyone who lives in a racist society. Racism subconsciously affects the way we view other people or individuals and affects negatively people of color and other races.

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How has your social class affected your life&choices? 10/26

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How has your social class affected your life&choices? 10/26

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I personally think that social classes have a significant impact on each person’s life, it can be positive or negative.  In my life, the social class that I live in affected me positively. For example, work and education. These two are very important in one’s life and choices. I chose to work and go to college, but how social classes affect that situation is, if a person can afford to go to college/university or not. Another thing is health, like medical care. Some people are unable to use healthcare because their status is high or they don’t qualify for it. The social class might have affected my personality, responsibilities, and opportunities. A choice that is affected is how I want to live and make my choices. It has an impact on almost every choice we make. It can be education, lifestyles, living, the people your around, etc. Every person should understand and know what their opportunities are and make choices that will have a good impact on their life.

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I’ve read and learned before about color and race and how people were treated but weren’t sure about some information or about the life experience of a child to adult. I care about things that involve race or color because I want to know why do people think that way. We’re all humans, so why do they have to act like that? It’s true that no one is perfect and we all make mistakes and do wrong things, but doing segregation or separating people because of their race or colors is something wrong and meaningless in my view. By meaningless I mean that it should have not happened. I feel that the people who made the rules and that separation of blacks and whites and other races, made it for their own good. Like for them people of the upper and other levels.  As I was reading Page’s experience and how it was like for him in his childhood, it made me realize how unfair it was for innocent children, not just the adults. What caught my attention in that section is when he wrote about the park he really wanted to go to but it was only for the white kids and not black, and he “wished” to be a white kid. This shows that there was a negative impact on them that they did not want to be who they’re supposed to be and made them think that white or other race is better or suitable in their society. There were a lot of life differences between the black and the whites. Also what I saw is that the priority and opportunities were for the whites. The blacks or African Americans were last to get opportunities for things and even healthcare. This problem is still going on today, it’s just in another way. There are some people who always have a negative idea about other races. But I believe that some people now are more educated about this case but no matter what happens there will always be positive people and negative people. There might not be a solution to this problem of racism and others because of how people are going to deal with it now and in the future. Like Padge said,”I can defy it, but I cannot deny it.”

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JCB 12 Music/Racism and Cultural Appropriation

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JCB 12 Music/Racism and Cultural Appropriation

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As I read JCB chapter 12, I noticed that music has a big impact on people’s lives. The music that we listen to is a part of who we are. Some songs have or carry very important messages and can change a person’s life by them thinking about what the song carries and then deciding whether this is right or wrong or related to them. Some of the songs that I read about carried the message of race/justice. And in my view, if the song was about their rights or about social protest, I agree with that form of a song or cultural expression. Some of my favorite songs carry a message of a social protest. When people choose to listen to these kinds of songs, they respect or care about the history or idea of what the song carries. Some material conditions that these artists are critiquing in their music are justice, race, political messages, social change, etc. Sometimes people listen to certain songs not just because of the music, but also because of who their artists are. Listening to radio stations or websites can also give us new forms of music or constrain our music preferences. I personally like to listen to a specific radio station, and I’ve been listening to it for years. It actually expanded my music preferences and gave me new kinds or forms of music. It has daily shows and it’s also very open to all kinds of people. To be specific about its music, they have all kinds. And that’s what expanded my music preferences. Music is more powerful than we think. I’ve thought before that music is just something to listen to when your board, but it’s actually more than that. It can carry positive, toxic, negative, or good messages. For example, depression. People that are sad or depressed would likely listen to sad or depressing songs. And that will make them feel worse. It will have a negative impact on them than a positive one. Music is powerful. It has a lot of influence on people. When a person has good tunes or music and lyrics, it will send its message out to people. Furthermore, technology has its part in music. The first part is giving the music. Like on websites, youtube, etc. And the other part is companies collecting and using information about our personal listening habits or music. What I think about that part is that it has a pro and a con. The pro is that they can have a database of all the people and see the social groups depending on the music, and know the consumer’s preferences. The con is that it will be for their own good and they’re not even getting permission from the consumers. In addition to that, they have artists that have a big influence on people, that work, or I would say have a part of the process of persuading people to choose certain companies or apps for their music. So it’s like target marketing efforts towards the consumers. Music has a big part in our lives, we just have to understand it. It can fix things and ruin things depending on its message.

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As I was reading On Becoming Male, it made me realize things that I’ve not thought about that much. It was beneficial to read Henslin’s experience and point of view instead of only research data. Henslin discussed about how we behave doesn’t depend on biology but on social learning. I definitely agree with that. Whether we’re female or male, our behaviors depend on our social learning and from place to place, culture to culture, and time to time. One thing that I thought about is when Henslin mentioned that in his view and experience, males have better or much more freedom and that their life is better than females. I agree and disagree with that part. The agreeing part is that yes, they had and have more “freedom” or opportunities than females, and might have the ability to do things we can’t. For example that could be some stuff in our regular life, work, opportunities, etc. And long ago women weren’t allowed to work. The disagreeing part is that neither males nor females have a better life than the other. They’re both challenging, beneficial, hard, good, and give to each person their opportunities in life despite what your sex or gender is. It has positives and negatives to each person who belongs in their group I would say, females/males. In Henslin’s experience and the view he wrote that being a male is to be rough and not weak or to be looked at shamefully by other males or people, they have to do rough things, not show their fear or worriedness about something or afraid of getting hurt, and to be proud of an average grade, etc.  In my view, this sounds like them trying to be “rough” in an unwise way, and this sounds wrong to me personally. My thought is being a male doesn’t mean that you should act “tough” and not get higher grades or not show feelings of fear or worriedness. This is the wrong idea that people have put into their minds. The male has to be manly in a way, wise with their choices and behavior. As I read the last section of Henslin’s observation, I understood that each of the males and females has different thinking, opinions, life decisions, etc. Moreover, both need each other to find themselves and understand new things about their selves. And this is true. Each person would give something up to know and understand the other person.

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In this article, Eder headed a research team that explored the social world of girls in middle school. This is an important age. At this point in life, girls are developing their identity. The thing that was focused on in this research was appearance. In Woodview, the middle school that was mentioned in the article pointed that cheerleading and appearance are important and how they are judged by their appearance. Not only cheerleaders, but it’s also in other things and regular life.  As I read how some of the girls think about appearance and that their appearance is literally more important than how or who they are, I thought to myself that this life is wrong and affects them negatively and some of them won’t even care and their only concern is their appearance. In my opinion, it doesn’t matter if your a male or female, both should take care of how they look without exaggeration and also care about their character or who they are. So for example putting on makeup. A lot of girls or women would wake up very early to put on makeup to look pretty in their view and others. And they wouldn't live a day without makeup. That is caring about appearance with exaggeration. They don't see their selves pretty or beautiful if they did not put make-up on. That also puts a negative result on them. It’s not about how you look from the outside, it’s from the inside. I feel that people or in this case girls have to understand this and not just say it. The bigger problem is social media and the wrong friends. Girls at this age would start to compare themselves to others and judge or gossip. It sends wrong ideas to them and the ones around them. They would start comparing how they look or if they look like a specific person. As I read the article it mentioned the role of girls gossip. The group of girls that gossip thinks that they are better than them, the ones they're gossiping about. In my opinion, that kind of gossip is unrespectful and wrong especially if it came from the “role models”. There are schools that hold some contests that appearance is an important part of it. So we can assume that any of the girls who enter wants to be judged on the basis of their appearance. And like I said that will have a negative effect on them. It sends them a message that appearance is who you are and not what you do or who you actually are from the inside. The conclusion that Eder had is that girls and women continue to be viewed as sexual objects within the media as well as other arenas from cheerleading and more. And I believe that a girl or woman can become whoever and whatever she wants to be. They have to learn that from childhood and even if they didn’t, they will realize it when they grow up. Women must struggle to overcome all these negative things such as not being treated fairly, not seeing that they have feelings, thoughts, actions, etc, and from comparing and judging. In the end, what I understand is that every woman can change her life if she started to see her personality instead of her appearance and not gossip about one another or compare their selves to others.  Then they can develop their unique interests and have a positive impact on their selves and the people around them.

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H) 180-191 Thorne and Luria, Sexuality and Gender

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H) 180-191 Thorne and Luria, Sexuality and Gender

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This article showed that Luria and Thorne studied 4th and 5th grade in 4 schools and 3 states. They found that the children are usually very careful to separate their friendships and activities on the basis of sex. At this age, girls are concerned about “being nice” while boys focus on sports and testing the limits of rules. As I read, I saw that there was gender segregation. In my opinion gender segregation in schools is a normal thing. I can relate to this because I work in an afterschool program, and I started to realize how they separate on the basis of sex but not always. The day I read this section I started paying more attention to how the students treat each other, choose where to sit, decide where to play, and other things that were mentioned in the reading. In the reading, it mentioned how each group, boys and girls, controls some areas and activities such as large playing fields, basketball courts, concrete space, and jungle gym. What I think about this is that both boys and girls control specific areas in the playground because this is the thing they enjoy doing. Most of the boys would go to basketball courts and grass to play soccer. Most of the girls would go to grass areas, somewhere on the blacktop and the jungle gym, because this is what they enjoy playing. So playgrounds also have gendered spaces, gender segregation happens on a daily basis and especially in school. What was also mentioned in the article is about boys and girls language and treating each other. Boys use bad words more than girls. It could be when they’re playing, excited, or disagreeing on somethings. I believe that boys use bad words more than girls because they want to prove themselves or sound “cool”.At the same time, they are trying to break the rule or see the limits. Not all of them are like that, and I for sure don’t agree with that but the thing that we could do is to remind or tell them not to use bad words. An example like at work. A lot of boys use bad words while having a conversation or playing, but when they see us the staff, they stop using them because they know it’s wrong. Also, there would be one or two boys from the group who comes up to the staff and tells us that the boys were using bad words on other students. I would usually talk to them about what they did, sometimes it helps and sometimes they just agree with what I’m saying. Girls usually don’t use bad words a lot, but it also depends on who they hang out with. So if they play a game that involves boys and girls they might use the words more. When girls interact with each other it’s the opposite of boys. They mostly talk about who is friends with or “likes” whom and friendships. In interaction with one another, they are less likely than boys to give high fives, poke on the back and tap back. They are more likely to do the same but lightly. Moreover, in their separate gender groups, girls and boys learn somewhat different patterns of bonding. Boys share the group rule-breaking and girls maintain the construction of friendship and others. I also see that whatever the children do in their childhood, they are doing things they will follow as adults but with a small difference.

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(H) 192-198: Tannen, But What Do You Mean?

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(H) 192-198: Tannen, But What Do You Mean?

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In this section, Tannen was talking about Women and Men conversation. It was mostly at work. As I read, I tried to compare some of her analyses with my own experience or problems at work. There was more than one thing that I think applies to me, and one of them is apologizing. I am not the kind of person that says sorry for no reason all the time, but sometimes I put half of the blame on myself if I feel that I should do that. For example, one time my female colleague was planning things we will do during the week with the students. She did not plan anything and asked me if I had any plans, she apologized first then my response was, “oh, I’m sorry. I did not plan much but I have two. We can do them together.” I felt that I should also say sorry because I did not have much and we should have told each other the week before. So I feel that sharing the blame on both is a good thing but not on everyone and not every time. If there’s something I want to point out or share, I always try my best to give it to them nicely and at the same time let them know that this is what I think and how I see it. The other thing that I think applies to me is blaming. I try my best to take people’s comments positively, but it’s hard sometimes. When someone tells me that something happened or I did something that could’ve been done differently, I automatically blame myself. I believe that this is wrong and I’m getting better at changing that behavior I would say, not for the people around me, but myself. I should blame myself when the situation needs to but not every time. One example would be at work. It was my first month working at the after-school program and it was homework hour. I had the 5th and 6th graders and was telling them where to sit. I had control over the situation the whole time and felt proud of myself. But little did I know that one student was missing. I did not notice the whole time until my facilitator found this student “sleeping” on the bench in the playground. I wasn’t surprised that he stayed outside and did not line up, because this is how he is. Moreover of the story is that I blamed myself for not realizing that he wasn’t with us earlier. I thought that this is my fault and I should blame myself. My facilitator did not say anything about it to me which made me feel worse. She told me the day after, in a friendly way to use the roster for a few days to make sure that I have all the students. After a week we had a conversation and I was glad that she understood that it was a challenging situation for me. That made me have confidence in doing my best. So I wasn’t criticized, but it taught me that if I ever got criticized I should first take it positively and know whose fault is it and even if it was mine, not blame myself too much and know how to approach them too. Something that I also thought was important from Tannen's results in men and women conversation is that men tend to interrupt more than women do. They interrupt men and women. I agree with that, but only a specific group of men. She also said that men tend to not listen to speakers as much as women do. Women are much likely to engage in up talk or up speak even when making declaratory sentences. After reading this section I got benefited because I needed to know and understand these things. I felt that these things would apply to almost all the people that I know and each would see it differently. All of the 7 miscommunications that were mentioned made me more aware of how I should approach and interact with people. I feel that It made me understand myself and how I understood miscommunication.

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(H) 341-348 Katz, The Importance Of Being Beautiful

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(H) 341-348 Katz, The Importance Of Being Beautiful

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Katz pointed out that rankings are based on attractiveness and they have significant consequences in our lives. I agree with her Katz point. Sadly, a lot of people all over the world judge people based on their looks before even getting to know who they are and how their personality is. In my opinion, judging/treating people differently based on their looks is very wrong. I’m not saying that people are perfect but it’s still happening. I remember one time that I judged someone based on how they looked. After I talked to that person, I felt guilty on how I judged that person so I tried to apologize in a way. I really hate when I judge people on how they look, but the good thing is when I start to think that way, I remind myself immediately that people are from the inside not from the outside. Just like “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. As I was reading Katz article, It says that jobs hire and refuse people based on their appearance. This is a huge mistake. How will their appearance help run the company or job? They are destroying a person’s career based on how they think the person looks! Rejecting a competent person just because they think that he/she is not attractive is bad for both sides, the job, and the employee. That reminded me of an article I read once online, a year ago, it had something about changing your appearance if it’s going to help you get what you want whether it was work or being “accepted”. I was disappointed that there was such a thing. Why would they encourage people to change how they look, to look in a certain way? I thought to myself that whoever wrote such things didn’t care about peoples’ feelings and just wanted to get benefited. Katz mentioned something important that caught my attention. It was how teachers treat their students or doctors treat their patients, based on their appearance. This has a negative impact on the students or patients. For example. My friend at work told me once about her experience while working in a different school for the first quarter of the school year. She said that one of the staff favored 3 students because of how they looked and because of their race. She neglected the rest of the students and gave more attention to these students. My friend didn’t want to get involved or tell her directly that what she’s doing is wrong. So she tried her best to treat the rest of the kids fairly and help them too. What I think is that it’s very disappointing that even schools that should be the place where kids learn the manners and how to treat people well, is actually the opposite and worse sometimes. But in the end, there’s always pros and cons in everything and every place. Judging by looks, treating and accepting people based on their looks is a very bad thing and people should be more open to others. We can’t change human nature, but in my view, I believe that people should get more educated about how to treat people or how to not judge people based on their looks.

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Toys have a good amount of impact on a person’s life. It could be good or bad. People see toys in a different way depending on their culture or lifestyle. Toys also change a lot from time to time. Some toys that I remember my parents used to play with are the fishing toy, dolls, a remote control car, and maybe more. I can’t remember much because most of the things they told me about weren’t toys, it was just games they used to play. They didn’t have a lot of toys. What they mostly enjoyed is playing games with their family and friends or buying things that they need or something nice. Comparing one toy from their time to now is dolls. Today dolls are very different than their time. In my view, I don’t like the new dolls because they look in a certain way that makes the kids want to look like them. Some examples are barbie, Bratz, and new dolls that can also be from movies that look weird and has unethical messages, in my opinion. Comparing commercials that we see today are different from the past. It depends on what the toy is. For example, let’s say there was an advertisement that was about race cars. In the commercial, it would look cooler than the actual toy because they would add the colors, background, sounds, lights, etc. So when the kids or youth see the commercial, they would want to buy it. But in the past, the commercials did not have that much. They would have kids play with the toy and show what the item is. Parents should always have control over what choices their kids could have when buying a new toy. There should be a limit on what’s available. For example, when my little siblings went the other day to buy a new toy, my mom told them that there are specific toys they could get. She always reminds them that some toys are not suitable for everyone. And they understand. We wouldn’t let them pick toys that have violence, wrong ideas, and that stuff. I’m glad that they understand that and in the end, they find something that they like and get it. So parents should let their kids have a choice but with limits. Toys are also tied up in the process of class socialization. Some parents work hard to provide their children with the key items needed to fit in. They sometimes purchase items that threaten the family’s financial stability. Parents were thoughtlessly fulfilling children’s materialistic demands. To live outside children’s consumer culture, parents should not get their kids items to “fit in”. I think that when parents do that, their kids will start to see that we can only fit in if we have specific material, objects, and not them. And they’re not helping their kids. They’re just consuming items that “help them fit in”, and it’s a bad thing. Seeing that even in toys or purchasing toys there are classes and socializing children or families to fit into a position in the class hierarchy is kind of new to me. I’ve seen and heard about it before, but now it’s clear to me. For example, the middle-class, on how the children observe their parents interacting with store employees. They learn to see themselves as a particular kind of people who are entitled to a different kind of consumer experience. Children in other countries have toys that are relatively cheap and available. So in the low-price environment, purchasing power and consumer demand grow. Children’s consumption expectations in affluent countries can only exist in a global labor context where toys can be cheaply manufactured and shipped around the world. Micro-interactions show social pressure to possess new toys and acquire new things. For example, fitting in. Parents get pressured on buying things for tier kids to “fit in”, and their kids get socially pressured because they want to fit in. The biggest impact for kids is at school. Children use consumer goods to forge and maintain friendships, and to establish their place within particular social groups. Toys have a positive and negative sides. Some positive things are, allowing the child to experience and imagine new things like getting out of their daily things, some toys can be educational, develop problem-solving skills, develop some skills that they need in life, etc. Some negative outcomes that occur from toys are, many toys distract kids and reduce their focus. Some toys may also decrease the child’s life skills, social interactions, imaginations, and teamwork.

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I opened Target’s website and saw both sections for boys and girls. I first looked at the girls toys. At the first of the page, it showed DIY kits for bracelets and hair accessories, and dolls. And when I opened the boys section, what first popped up are cars, action figures, building sets, and nerf. Toys are organized by gender. And this is how marketing works, they have separate sections for each of the boys and girls so they can attract the kids to buy toys. How I tell if a toy is targeted towards a girl or a boy is by looking at what the toy is. For example, make-up kits, DIY Jewelry, and some girly dolls.  I find it hard for boys because, in my opinion, their toys are suitable for girls too. Some of the toys that can be targeted towards boys are action figures, RC cars, and things that have some kind of action.  Also, there are many toys that are gender-neutral. Some of them are educational toys/games, board and card games, animal toys, some plush toys, etc. I agree that there are some toys that are only for boys and girls, but also see that there are also for both. Something additional that I searched for is costumes. Costumes are also gendered. Costumes play a role in reinforcing gender stereotypes. Girls are often dressed up as princesses and boys as superheroes. So it's like putting the idea of girls are "weak" and boys are "strong". And even if a girl would dress up as a superhero, it would be very different than the boy. It would be fitted and shows some skin. So, it also sends out the wrong idea. I feel that now they have more options for what they want to wear, but it depends on the people and what they choose and how they chose to think about that topic.

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H) 519-534 Miller, Women In The Military 

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H) 519-534 Miller, Women In The Military 

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I’ve never paid much attention to women being in the military and how their life is. The truth is not like I expected. It’s more challenging and stressful than I thought. But in my opinion, it’s challenging and hard for both men and women. This reading was focused more on how men react to the presence of women in formerly all-male jobs noting that they are using techniques of resistance more commonly associated with the protest of minorities. Some challenges or problems that women face that were mentioned in the reading are gender harassment, rumors, and military sexual trauma. What I think about this is that if women really want to serve in the military, there should be a separation. A place for women and a place for men. They should only be together for specific training and then go back to their place.  There should be a way and that would lessen the trouble and problems they have going on, and they would feel safer in a way.

While women serve, they have some benefits that are helpful for them. For example, educational opportunities, have easier tasks or training. From the men’s view, they see that it is unfair for women to have a greater opportunity for education than them. I see that they should have that opportunity because they would be less likely to have a greater chance to be promoted above their peers. That reminded me of my friend. She once told me when we were in high school about going to the military or not. She wanted to hear my opinion or advice. I told her if you have the courage and ready for that military life, you can go. Then I asked her if she knows how it’s going to be like and she wasn’t sure, neither me. I told her that it depends on how you see it, how your life is, and ask other people and females who have served or know about it. In the end, I didn’t know what she decided. As I read Miller’s reading, I saw some of the situations about the woman’s life in the military. In my opinion, women can serve in the military, but there should be more rules that are helpful for them and keep them safe. In the military, soldiers’ experience of gender varies according to rank, age, race, and occupational specialty. This is a bad thing that even in the military or military training that should be a place where everyone should be serious and follows the rules and that stuff, is actually the opposite in more than one thing.  Female soldiers are more likely than male soldiers to report harassment of any kind, and some can be reported after deployment.

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JCB CH.11 Beauty/Ideology and Intersectionality

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JCB CH.11 Beauty/Ideology and Intersectionality

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Every person sees beauty differently. Different cultures have different preferences, and there are huge variations within those cultures of what individuals prefer. Some cultural ideals that encourage people to consume products are having a brighter skin tone, wearing fashionable clothes, make-up, etc. There is one thing that encourages me to buy products, clothes. I believe that clothes are an important part of showing the mood you are in, it expresses your culture and social identity. If people want to achieve their cultural ideals they would have to buy these products. I think that it can’t be reached without consuming the items. I believe that understanding beauty has been created by society. For example, most women would think that being beautiful is to have straight thick hair, a thin body, flawless skin, etc. In my opinion, that’s very wrong. Every person is beautiful the way they are. That’s just the idea that came from people that made people think about beauty in a certain wrong way. I feel very empowered to resist dominant appearance ideals. I’ve been like that my whole life. No matter what the media says or shows about what beauty “is” I wouldn’t try to look in a certain way or change myself for people or society. Some ways that people can resist the appearance ideal is to use positive and beautiful words for themselves. They have to see the good in them so they feel confident and not get influenced by others or the media. It’s crazy how people want to change themselves a lot just for the people in society and to be “accepted” in it. One of the biggest impacts that makes it worse is social media. People would look at others and see that they might look better than them in whatever they think would make them more beautiful. So they would start changing how they look and sometimes it would lead them for example to anorexia and other things. Real beauty isn’t about how we look and how other people see it, it’s from how we treat, care, respect, and help each other. True beauty is the one people have inside them, if they have a kind caring clean heart, their appearance will be beautiful no matter how others see it. I believe that a place where broader beauty norms are resisted and rejected is ourselves. We should see if we judge and have all of these norms on ourselves first. Then see if we place them on other people around us. I see that each person should start understanding and stop changing for others to accept us or to be better or at their level. Only if it was changing for the better like quitting bad habits. Despite the gender, culture, race, and body size, each person is unique and has a sense of life, beauty, and style.

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I opened the Nike website. I  analyzed it and found that there are women, men, white, black, Asian, and maybe Latino. I first looked at the women’s section and found that most of the models were thin. Nike has always been like that. “Supporting” or having only thin models. They recently added average-sized or plus-sized models. I saw that they focus on body size because they should be clothing for fitness or exercising. They have more than one race. They have white, black, Asian, and Latino. For the men’s section, it was similar. They had more than one race, but most of their models were thin or had no body fat. For race, they were both equal. Nike had a fair amount of men and women. Nike says, “ we are committed to fostering an inclusive culture and breaking down barriers for athletes around the world. We celebrate diversity and strive to create equal playing fields for all.” I don’t agree with that. Even though Nike is a diverse company, but it didn’t or doesn’t treat its athletes well. It has some contracts and rules that they have to be eligible for it. One example is athletes. The treatment of young female athletes by Nike is a prime example of manipulating women into believing they have a spot at the table when, in reality, they are simply being exploited to the advantage of those in power.

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(H) 425-431 Coontz, The American Family

Coontz points out in this selection how families were in the past, and how they are now. I’ve paid attention to the parts that had the comparison of the past and now to how parents treated their kids and how much time they spent with them. In the past, very few moms worked. Now it has increased. Working moms also spend a good amount of time with their children because they don’t get this chance all day. Fathers in the past worked all day and did not spend enough time with their children, but it also depended on how the family was. For example, some were working as a family, some fathers worked half the day, and some worked for days or weeks without seeing their children. Today there is a greater chance for fathers to spend time with their kids because of the working moms during the day or half. It’s a good thing for the family. Fathers still work, but they spend more time with their kids. Some positive effects are kids doing better in school, fathers understanding kids more, and making a stronger family relationship. All of that depends on the family, it might not always be positive. I see that it’s a good thing having both parents work with a good schedule. When they both work, they can have a better stronger good family. They must have a good life schedule for their family so they can do things correctly and have a positive effect on the family. For example, if both parents worked and they are the kind of parents that don’t give enough attention to their kids, and they had 2 kids, one is in middle school and one in elementary. If they both worked from the morning till evening, in my view, they won’t have that much time to spend with their kids and will not have a really strong relationship with them. So it always depends on how the parents are and how they take care of their families. So, raising and taking care of children needs the commitment of the parents to be responsible and build a good family. And that works with single parents as well. They can work and spend time with their kids. The American family has classically been understood as a nuclear family. Mother, Father, and Children. It could be happy or not. After I’ve read this section I saw a view of how the American family is and can be. I believe that every family is different because of place, time, culture, and their thoughts of a “perfect” or good family.

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JCB CH.8

The wedding is to celebrate marriage. I see that no matter what culture or religion a person is in, they celebrate their marriage by doing a wedding, having witnesses, etc. I think that a diamond ring for some people is the first thing they think about when they start planning for weddings. A wedding ring is important. Because it shows that they are in a committed relationship. The ring is a symbol of commitment to your significant other, but they don’t have to be too expensive. I believe that people would want a diamond ring for their weddings because of myths and of how people made it look that it’s the ideal ring for a bride. For example, they say that diamond rings are a symbol of eternal love and that it brings happiness in their future. So people do the same as other people believe these lies and consume materials that are sold for them so they could keep the business going like a lot of other things in our life. Ideals of marriage and family have been, and continue to be shaped by structural forces. Now, many women work. I see that working conditions can have an impact on the relationships between couples. For example, if the couples both worked and did not schedule their time, plans, and life, they won’t be able to spend much time together and they might feel overwhelmed and the relationship might not work. The positive side is that they both work, which means they both have their budget and can help each other. Each will have a different pay level, but that should not affect them negatively. Also, they have to schedule their time and plan things together, and their relationship will work out. Working can be challenging sometimes when you are in a relationship. It depends on the work they are in, so each will get affected differently. I think that the most important thing for the relationship to work and not affect it is to do a good plan or schedule for their time and life, and see what might affect them and what doesn’t. If they find things that might affect their private life, they should change or get rid of the problem. When people talk about how their dream wedding will look like, most of the time they don’t think of the expenses they’ll have to pay. But when it’s real, they plan it out either as they dreamed, bigger, or on budget. If I were to plan for my wedding, I wouldn’t make it very fancy or luxurious. I believe that this is a waste of money. I would buy a car with the amount that a lot of people spend on only their weddings. So, I would divide up the labor of planning the wedding between both of us. I believe that both should be involved in planning out their dream wedding and how they want it to look and turnout because it’s for both of them. The planning would be the place, the guests, food, decor, clothes, pictures, time, etc. Dividing the wedding planning might differ from person to person. For example, groups of people like, heterosexual or gay/lesbian. I think that each person would do it differently from their view of life and people. I think it differs because of the lifestyle of each person.

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A lot of people fantasize about their future wedding. I personally don’t. “White wedding” is described by a marriage celebration featuring some combination of the following elements, a bride in an expensive white gown, a special ceremony, bouquets of flowers, a fancy meal and/or a party, and a honeymoon. All of these things can be part of someone’s dream wedding, but they choose the most expensive stuff, more than what they can afford. They would have to work and save up, get a loan, or help from family members. I see that most people do long wedding planning and technically waste their money on it not only for their happiness but to show off in a way. Each person’s wedding would be different because of culture, religion, beliefs, and lifestyle. For me, if I were to plan my wedding, it would be different from some stuff I read in this chapter. Some examples would be food, place, clothes, and more. One example is the way of celebrating. Men would have to be in a separate place from women. Then at the end, the bride and groom get together and ride their wedding car and go home. For the general wedding planning around the world, it would also differ depending on class, race/ethnicity, etc. For example, most of the higher class people would want their wedding to be more luxurious, expensive, and big. For race/ethnicity, it would differ on how they celebrate, things they do,  and even in expenses. For example, if we compare an Asian wedding to a European wedding there would be differences in almost everything. From how the ceremony to the food to the clothes.

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In one situation I thought that a person was weird is when I and my sister were walking in a store and there was a person not following us but saw him more than once while walking in the store. He wasn’t bad or anything, but I just thought that he was “weird”. At first, he asked us a question about an item and then we continued walking. Then we saw him again and he said hi, then saw him 3 more times I would say so that’s what I thought was “weird”.

What norms were being violated by this person?  Did you know those norms were “there”?  Where is this “there?’

Some norms that were being violated by this person are trying to have a conversation, following but not with bad intentions because we didn’t feel danger. I did know that these norms were there because it happened more than once at the same time and I felt from the way of being in the situation that this is how the person would behave. “There” is the behavior that we’re referring to.

How were the norms specific to the person’s social status (age, gender, race, class, etc.)?

The norms were specific to the person’s age, and gender. I feel that gender and age always come first in norms and how do people behave, sometimes race.  Age because when everyone is at a different age they behave differently and people see things from a different view. Gender, both genders also behave differently, and that is what makes the norms specific to each person.

Are there situations in which these behaviors might appear rational?  Describe them.  What is the significance of this?

For example, a situation would be, a person would dress or talk in a certain way and we might think that they are “weird” or “crazy”. But when we talk to them or get to know them, they will look, act, and speak differently than we thought. The way of speaking, dressing, acting, or behaving might appear rational.

Can you imagine a situation where you might behave similarly and not think of yourself as “weird or “crazy?”

Yes. There were a lot of times that I did a lot of things and behaved in a certain way that I did not think that I’m ‘weird” or “crazy”. I believe that people see that a person is “weird” or “crazy” based on what they think is right and logical or normal. One example is me sitting and doing my work, then I start tapping on my desk. My sister says that I’m weird and that annoys her. But sometimes that helps me concentrate. She thinks it’s “weird” because this is how she sees it, and not because it is.

How did the label (“weird,”  “crazy,” etc.) affect how you perceived the situation and the person?  How did the label affect your interaction with or feelings about the person?

When labeling a situation or a person “weird” it affects how we see them and interact with them. When I labeled the person as “weird”, it made me feel that the person did something wrong and that I should interact with him differently. It could be positive or negative, depending on the situation, it could be serious or not.  We become aware of some things and behaviors they use and we should use with them and the situation to make it better or just to get out of it. In my situation it made me feel and interact with the person with more awareness.

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(H) Eating Your Friends Is The Hardest 277-286

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(H) Eating Your Friends Is The Hardest 277-286

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The story of Andes survivors wasn’t like I expected. I thought that it will talk about the survivors and not surviving by eating other dead bodies. Henslin wrote that these principles are fundamental to human life. The sociological view of this story and its norms make sense, but I don’t agree with it all.  The only thing I thought that was correct in the reading is, when circumstances change, definitions can become outmoded-even definitions about fundamental aspects of life. So, depending on the situation sometimes we do things that we’ve never done just to survive or get out of a situation. That was the idea. If I was in their situation, I would rather die or live from water from snow melting but not eat dead human bodies, not even raw animal meat. One thing that was repeated in the reading is that they are allowed to eat from the dead bodies because it doesn’t have a soul. There are two things that I disagree with. One is that they shouldn’t even think about doing that. And two, this is still a human body, it’s not something to be eaten. In the story, there was a point that they had to put norms and limits to what is everyone allowed to do. Also, it shows that it’s socially constructed. One main thing that I think was important from this reading is that it was trying to show us how humans or society are and how they change their norms and definitions in their lives to what works with them, even if it was something wrong.

The story of Andes survivors wasn’t like I expected. I thought that it will talk about the survivors and not surviving by eating other dead bodies. Henslin wrote that these principles are fundamental to human life. The sociological view of this story and its norms make sense, but I don’t agree with it all.  The only thing I thought that was correct in the reading is, when circumstances change, definitions can become outmoded-even definitions about fundamental aspects of life. So, depending on the situation sometimes we do things that we’ve never done just to survive or get out of a situation. That was the idea. If I was in their situation, I would rather die or live from water from snow melting but not eat dead human bodies, not even raw animal meat. One thing that was repeated in the reading is that they are allowed to eat from the dead bodies because it doesn’t have a soul. There are two things that I disagree with. One is that they shouldn’t even think about doing that. And two, this is still a human body, it’s not something to be eaten. In the story, there was a point that they had to put norms and limits to what is everyone allowed to do. Also, it shows that it’s socially constructed. One main thing that I think was important from this reading is that it was trying to show us how humans or society are and how they change their norms and definitions in their lives to what works with them, even if it was something wrong.

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(H) 315-321 Zimbardo, The Pathology of imprisonment

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(H) 315-321 Zimbardo, The Pathology of imprisonment

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This reading was about Zimbardo’s experiment on how prison life is for the prisoners and the guards. While I read, I saw that prisoners get treated badly and not humanly and that some guards think that they are powerful and don’t follow the rules that they are supposed to follow. I think that no matter who the prisoner is and what they did, they shouldn’t get treated badly and/or not like a human. I thought to myself that the guards should get trained better and not like how they are now. If the guards or the people working in the prison got trained better and actually followed the rules, they would be better and prisoners would get treated fairly. In addition to that, the treatment and rights given to the prisoner should change too so they could treat them better. For example, let’s say that the guards got trained that they should be mean, aggressive, etc. with the prisoner because they are criminals and that stuff, they would treat them bad, and not like a human. But if they trained the guards that they should treat the prisoner as a human, even though they did a crime or something wrong. They would have limits, not control them, etc. it would make things better and there wouldn’t be many problems. I do agree that there are levels of how bad the prisoners are. But they are still humans, and if we always treat the wrong with the bad treatment, when will it end, it’s not going to end it or make it better, it will make them have hatred and get revenge. Just like what was mentioned in the reading. A prisoner was a thief but he said that when he gets released, he doesn’t want to steal nor do anything wrong. But he want to kill the people who treated him very badly in prison.

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(H) 322-334 Rosenhan, On Being Sane In Insane Places

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(H) 322-334 Rosenhan, On Being Sane In Insane Places

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After I read Rosenhan’s experiment, I saw that the patients were just seen as insane or with a mental problem and they did not trust or care about what the patients told them. They just labeled them as patients with mental problems. Labeling theory was used and is used when we see behavior from a person and then decide if they have that behavior or not so they would be labeled. I can compare that experiment to something I believe is similar to it. The doctors labeled the patients that they had a serious mental illness and they weren’t admitting that they had it, but the patients weren’t actually mentally ill. That reminds me of race. There are 2 examples. The first one is black and white. Like in the past, whites believed that the blacks were there to obey them and work for them. So they were labeled as slaves and were seen as people with no rights etc. But the truth is that they are all the same but they were unjust, so slavery occurred. The second example suspecting people in always doing wrong just because they did it once. For example, a thief. A person stole once and then was labeled as a thief, people might be suspicious that they will steal again. These were some of my opinions on labeling and how people might use it in their lives. I feel that labeling theory is a bad thing for people because that's what they think and might be wrong but they still do it. As I read that section it made me realize how labeling theory is and how it can affect a person's life because it can be wrong and not what the person is or like.

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(H) 470-480 Hunt, Police Accounts of Normal Force 

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(H) 470-480 Hunt, Police Accounts of Normal Force 

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After reading Hunts section on how police officers treat people/criminals and how they are allowed to use force and when, I understood that there are many situations that a police officer can use too much or little force and sometimes get out of control. Each officer is different. Each of them follows the rules but sometimes they are controlled by their emotions. What I think is those police officers should use force, but shouldn’t be used randomly and without control. I agree that they shouldn’t have a weak personality,  look scared or hesitant in doing something, but they should still be mindful of how and when they use the force. For example, almost half of the chases or similar to it, by the police end in violence. Like a person getting arrested and the person not following their instructions, so they end up hitting that person. It’s true that police officers deal with very stressful and hard situations, but being too aggressive will make things worse. If I were in a position that can make police violence less, one thing would be is to use fewer materials and to learn something like martial arts. They would have control over the person and situation without injuring or hurting them, and they would feel more confident in themselves and wiser with what they’re doing. And all of that starts with how the police officers are being trained. Martial arts should be the first thing every officer is being trained. And then they can tell them how to use force and when. So in the academies, they should have good trainers and leaders, and they should get trained well and not with too much aggression and to become an aggressive officer. Reading Hunt’s section was beneficial for me and it made me understand better the world of a police officer and how some use unnecessary force.

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(H)  446-460: Gracey,  Kindergarten as Academic Boot Camp

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(H)  446-460: Gracey,  Kindergarten as Academic Boot Camp

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After reading this article I have realized that kindergarten and school, in general, can change a child’s life, and especially kindergarten. At this age, they are young and learn from the people around them and their role models, teachers. I read that it prepares them for participation in the bureaucratic organization of large modern school systems, and occupational bureaucracies of modern society. Students in kindergarten need to be taught the role of a student. They are young and they would follow it fast and throughout their school years. The most thing that caught my attention is teaching students their role. I see that it has positives and negatives. The positives are that students should learn what’s expected from them and what they should do and follow their role as a student. The kinda negative part is following or doing what they’re told without asking why. That part made me think why do the staff or teachers sometimes want students to do what they’re told without asking?

I feel that sometimes students should ask why and we should tell them the reason. Then I realized that if students were taught their role and how students should behave, then they wouldn’t need to question why they are doing that. But to reach that goal, faculty should be able to teach and show the students what their role is and what is expected from them. From my view, I see that it is important for students to do what they’re asked without asking most of the time unless it’s something they shouldn’t do because the teacher wants everything to stay in control and avoid any trouble, problems, and misbehaving from children. One example would be moving students to a different seat. In this situation, students shouldn’t ask why because the teacher did it for a reason and the student should know why. Like if they were being noisy, misbehaving, or sitting next to a person they’re not allowed to sit with for multiple reasons like chatting with them or bothering them. This reading made me compare what I’ve read to how I treat and teach some students at the afterschool program. For example, teaching the students their role and what’s expected from them. I remind them that they should follow rules and do things that are asked of them and participate and behave well. There are many things that a student should follow, so teaching students their role needs to come from everyone working in schools. Then they would stick to it in and outside school. I believe that Gracey’s article was helpful and made me aware of how students should learn their role and how they can learn things that affect their everyday life either good or bad.