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This is the introduction to my intro to sociology padlet. I'm first going to tell you what I knew about sociology before taking this class. Honestly, I didn't really know anything about sociology before taking this class. I thought sociology was about the study of the world and society. That's pretty much all I knew, just a very broad and general idea of the study. I really took this class because my mom recommended it and said that it would be a class that she thought I would enjoy. I think that the two modules I'm most eager to learn about are module 4, social interaction and self. And module 3 social structure. I think I’m most eager to learn about these modules because I want to understand more about why people do things in a social setting due to factors that have to do with themselves or with their social status. I feel like these modules will give me a bit of a different perspective on life and social situations. And also that leads me to my next point which is that what I really want to gain from this class is a better perspective or a different or another perspective of looking at the world.

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In module one we were assigned a reading called “The Forest, the Tree, and The One Thing”, and in that reading we learned about a concept called the path of least resistance. The path of least resistance is basically taking the easier route to avoid any social scrutiny or consequences. This happens because of different types of social systems and what their norms and beliefs are for each social status. Norms and beliefs lay out a path of what is considered ideal and appropriate for each social status. In the writing Allan Johnson uses a good example to explain the path of least resistance by using the game of Monopoly when he says, “While playing Monopoly, I could reach over and take money from the bank whenever I wanted, but I probably wouldn’t like the reaction I’d get from other players. When someone I like lands on a property I own, I could tell them that I’ll give them a break and not collect the rent but then happily collect it when someone I don’t like lands there. But people would probably object that I wasn’t playing “fair” or by the rules. Since I’d rather people not be angry with me or kick me out of the game, it’s easier to go by the rules even when I’d rather not. And so I usually do, following the path of least resistance that’s presented to people who occupy the same position I occupy in that particular system.” (The Forest, the Trees, and the One Thing pg.18). It's a long quote but I had to include it for you to grasp a good understanding. Johnson describes how the system of the game monopoly has social statuses and those are players and as players you could say there are a set of rules and norms that the players have to follow and following these rules and norms is a path of least resistance. In my own personal experiences I have had many paths of least resistance laid out before me. One particular time that this happened is when I was 17 in 12th grade. My friend told me he cheated on his girlfriend and I felt bad for her because I know she didn't deserve it and part of me almost wanted to tell her. I didn’t though of course because I wanted to be a good friend and not rat him out to his girlfriend. I did this because a path of least resistance was laid out for me because of the social roles we have as friends. To not tell his girlfriend and keep my mouth shut is the path of least resistance in the system of our friendship and the path that would result in the least amount of consequences and controversy.

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In module 2 we learned about the concept of the taken for granted sense of reality from the assigned reading “Cultures, symboles, ideas and stuff of life” chapter. We learned that every society has a culture that consists of a set of beliefs, norms, values, and symbols, and these are what shape our reality. And because these shape our reality it’s easy to think that these certain laws or customs or even ways of life are obvious or the only way to do things throughout the whole world because that is what everyone in your society knows and lives by and because that is the culture that you grew up in. The author also explains how it creates a sense of ignorance to not challenge or even question these parts of culture. Like I said this makes us think that specific customs or beliefs about how things work are obvious but that’s only true in your culture because different cultures all have different beliefs and different values and norms that shape reality. The author explains this using an example of the US political system when he says “U.S. culture, for example, takes it to be obvious that the country is a political democracy and that capitalist “free enterprise” is democracy’s economic equivalent. These beliefs are so powerful that no politician would dare say otherwise, knowing it would be political suicide even to suggest there might be something basically wrong with capitalism. No politician could hope to be elected after pointing out that in practice capitalism is anything but democratic since it concentrates economic power in so few hands that enter- prise is “free” primarily, if not only, for them.3 They would be at- tacked as disloyal, if not heretical, for questioning basic beliefs and sacred institutions, and the attacks would come most prominently from the mass media, corporate leaders, privately funded “think tanks,” and government officials, all of whom have a substantial interest in preserving the lopsided distribution of power and wealth in the United States.” (Cultures, Symboles, Ideas and Stuff of Life pg.47). Another example that is related to this example is when aristotle discovered that the world was round instead of flat. When he found out from looking at the eclipse from his telescope he told his discovery to the world but no one believed him because the culture that everyone from his time was raised with the belief that the world is flat. Everyone thought he was crazy even though he had blatant evidence that the world was round. Everyone still couldn’t come to believe him or change the way they see reality because their beliefs from their culture have shaped the way their reality has been for hundreds of years already. An experience that i’ve had with the taken for granted concept was when I was 18 and i went to japan for a family trip. My family went out for dinner and at the end of the dinner we left a tip for the waiter and when she counted the money she noticed that we left the tip and she seemed unsettled by it and she started speaking really fast and loudly and handed the tip money back. We did not understand a word she said so we just took the money and hurriedly left the restaurant. At the time I didn’t understand but when I told one of my friends about the situation when I got back home he told me that in Asia they don’t do tips because it’s not a part of their culture and he said that sometimes they'll take offense to the gesture. So basically I fell into the taken for granted sense of reality and because I was raised in a culture where tipping is a well known belief and norm, I thought this was a norm that applied everywhere and tried to apply it to a different culture that has a different set of beliefs for this gesture.

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In module three of my intro to sociology class we learned about social structures and the aspects of social structures. The aspect of social structure that I want to reflect on in this module that I found very interesting was statuses. I find statuses very interesting because of how many different statuses we occupy every day and throughout our lifetime. I find this aspect of social structure so interesting also because I've never really thought of our positions in society in this literal sense before the way that Alan Johnson describes them in his book.  There are ascribed statuses, ones that are given to us at birth. For example when I was born I was ascribed statuses of child, son and brother. There are also achieved statuses, statuses that we gain from going through life ones that we work for. When I became the age of 5 and started kindergarten I achieved the status of a student and when I got my first job at 16 I achieved the status of employee. Another type of status is situational statuses. A situational status is a status that we don't always hold and are only held in specific situations. For example when you enter a grocery store and you purchase groceries you hold the status of a customer but when you leave the grocery store and go back home you do not hold this status anymore. Statuses are important because they create a bond between us and a social system that we belong to and create paths of least resistance for us and they play a part in how we perceive life in those social systems and how we act in these social systems . I’ve had brief thoughts of my own on statuses before I ever took this class but I never thought into depth about all these different types of statuses and also what they do for us in social life. In the third chapter of Allan Johnson’s book he describes another reason why statuses are so important when he says “ Statuses are important in the structure of social life not in them- selves but in the relationships that connect them to one another. In a sense, statuses are inherently relational in that they don’t even ex- ist except in relation to other statuses. You can’t describe what a “manager,” a “mother,” or a “teacher” is without referring to some other status such as “employee” or “daughter” or “student.” This is true of anything that indicates position and location. “New York” has no meaning by itself, but it does have meaning in relation to names of other places located by some direction and distance from it. If there were a community or civilization that lived entirely with- out awareness of anything beyond itself, naming it is probably the last thing people would think to do.” ( The Structures of Social Life pg.90-91). Basically what Johnson is saying is that statuses are so important because they link us to one another and distinct our position in a social setting. Without statuses there is no social structure. The second concept that I would like to reflect on is neoliberalism. Neoliberalism is a word that I have never heard before I took this class. In the neoliberalism reading, we learned that neoliberalism is a political movement and an approach of government that the government can’t and shouldn't have the ability to create economic growth or give social welfare precisely. Instead it promotes the idea of very little government involvement by having unhindered markets and private enterprises for creating economic growth and social welfare. Neo liberalism directly relates to my life because since there is a priority on market deregulation it is harder for me as a student to find a reliable job that will support me through college. There’s more part time and contract jobs that are available and that is what I work right now a part time job.

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In module 4 we read the chapter “Us, It, and social interaction" from johnson’s book, and in the book we learn about Erving Goffman and his theory on social interaction and how it is like a stage performance. Goffman’s theory is that every social interaction we have is like a stage performance like we are actors and we are trying to play the best role of who we are or who we think we are to give the first impression that we want to. Like actors we would have the right props or wear specific clothes to match the roles that we want to embody. We do this to establish our sense of self in a social setting. Goffman gives a good example of this theory when he says, “ When two people go out on a date, for exam- ple, each spends time shaping the self they’ll present to the other—choosing which clothes to wear, whether to shower or use de- odorant or cologne, how to wear their hair, the use of jewelry and make-up. Every behavior contributes to the impression they create— what they say and how they say it, what they order in the restaurant and how they eat it, how often and how long they look at each other, what they laugh at and what they don’t, how much they talk and how much they listen, how and when they touch each other.” (Us, It, and Social Interaction pg.139) Another example I have of this is from my own personal experience. When I had a job interview around 6 months ago for the current front desk job I work at now I had to “play a character” so i can make a good first impression for the role that I was trying to be perceived as. Some things I did to get into this role was that I got a haircut, used cologne, cut my facial hair, wore a nice collared shirt, and when I got into the interview I tried to talk very professionally and sophisticated so I can play the roll of someone who is a sophisticated and qualified individual for the job I was applying for.

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In module 5 of deviance and social control we were given the panopticon reading, which was a chapter from the book, “ Discipline and Punishment: The Birth of the Prison” by Michel Foucault and we learned about the prison style of the panopticon. “Foucault explains what the Panopticon is when he says Bentham's Panopticon is the architectural figure of this composition. We know the principle on which it was based: at the periphery, an annular building; at the center, a tower; this tower is pierced with wide windows that open onto the inner side of the ring; the peripheric building is divided into cells, each of which extends the whole width of the building; they have two windows, one on the inside, corresponding to the windows of the tower; the other, on the outside, allows the light to cross the cell from one end to the other. All that is needed, then, is to place a supervisor in a central tower and to shut up in each cell a madman, a patient, a condemned man, a worker or a schoolboy. By the effect of backlighting, one can observe from the tower, standing out precisely against the light, the small captive shadows in the cells of the periphery. They are like so many cages, so many small theatres, in which each actor is alone, perfectly individualized and constantly visible.” (Foucault). The significance of this prison design is that ​​this tower allows a single supervisor to observe all the inmates without them knowing whether or when they are being watched. Foucault uses the Panopticon as a metaphor to show how visibility itself becomes a form of power. The constant possibility of being watched creates a state of self-discipline among the inmates, where they internalize the expectations that are being imposed on them by the prisons. Inmates regulate their own behavior, not out of fear of punishment, but because they are conditioned to believe they are always under scrutiny. A way that this relates to my life or an example of this is back when I was in highschool or middle school a lot of people would take their phones out during test and cheat but I was always too scared to do that because The teacher would always stand at the front of the class where she could see everyone and she would go on her computer. Although most of the time most kids didn’t get caught I still didn’t want to do it because I had the uncertainty that I was always being watched and it made me follow the rules, and that is almost the same thing as the idea of the panopticon prison system it holds the same purpose which is to make people do what they're supposed to do and regulate their own actions and behavior because they feel as if they are always being watched.

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Module 6 Race and ethnicity we were assigned a reading called "New Racism," Color-Blind Racism, and the Future of Whiteness in America” by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva. Bonilla-Silva's reading talks about how racism still exists in America today, even though laws have changed and many people think things have gotten better. He points out that despite legal changes, racism continues through less obvious ways that keep racial hierarchies in place. He also mentions the color-blind racism, a belief system that hides ongoing racial disparities by saying everyone has equal opportunities, which actually keeps existing inequalities going without fixing them. Another point he brings up is the future of whiteness, Bonilla-Silva suggests that whiteness in America might change in the future, becoming more like how race works in Latin America. This could make racial differences based on skin color even more important. One snippet from the text that was especially infuriating to me is when Silva says,” the idea that "it is the [black's] own fault that he is a lower-caste ... a lower-class man" or the assertion that blacks lack initiative, are shiftless, and have no sense of time; in short, what happened to the basic claim that minorities (but again, blacks in particular) are subhuman? “(Silva). Me being a Black individual in America and reading this and knowing that this is what they thought of African Americans  during the Jim Crow laws and also knowing that some people still think this about blacks really just pisses me off and lights a fire under. Whenever I read racist stuff like this it truly does feel like a personal attack against me and my family.

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In module 7 gender, we were assigned the reading “gender key terms and ideas'' and honestly majority of these terms were brand new to me. I haven't heard a lot of them just because there aren't really any people in my life that fall under these terms. The title of the reading is pretty self explanatory, it goes over various key terms that have to do with gender and different types of gender. I will share two terms that I never really heard of or knew too much about. The first term, that I never heard of that I learned about in this reading was non-binary, and the author describes non-binary a ” I defined nonbinary above but it's important to note that anyone included under the umbrella of nonbinary is also trans. Their gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.” I think this is an important term to know and be aware of because I feel like someone that is non binary you could easily confuse their gender and call them the wrong pronouns and they can take it as disrespectful and you can hurt their feelings. So I feel like it’s better to be aware of these terms so you don’t have to unknowingly disrespect people and make them feel uncomfortable. The second term I learned from this reading was Transexual. The author describes this term when he says “ Some people still identify as transexual but the term is considered outdated now. It is used to specifically describe someone who has modified their body to transition from one sex/gender to another (or at least desires to). It was used in contrast to transgender, which was thought to describe someone who did not want to modify their body.” According to the reading it is an outdated term but what stumps me about these terms is they all seem to mean the same thing, transgender, non-binary, and transexual. I feel like if these terms were more simplified and were made  easier to remember it would be more of a common knowledge to people.

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In Module 8 sexuality, we were assigned to read an article called Millennials, Sex, and the Economy: The Sociological Imagination in Action By Angelique Harris. In this article the author Harris divulges into how this current generation of millennials are less involved with hookup culture and losing their virginities before adulthood due to many factors such as teenagers being more in touch with their sexuality, or the over use and easy access to technology and pornography. But the main reason that she talks about and that I want to shed light upon is the rise in the economy. Back when I was in highschool and fresh out of highschool I was very involved in dating girls but when I started attending college and thinking about a career plan I realized that I had less and less time to participate in dating. One quote that resonated with me is when Harris says, “For instance, dating for millennials (and anyone for that matter) can be quite expensive, with the cost of flowers, movies, dinner, dessert, drinks, and a Lyft all mounting up. Dating has become so costly that some would rather not go out and opt, instead, to grab coffee and stream a movie at home rather than go out for dinner and drinks” (Harris). This relates to me because I feel the same way, I am a college student that works a part time job and also I am trying to join an electrician apprenticeship. First off I don’t really have a lot of time to date because having a girlfriend is like having a partime job but also because I only work a part time job I don't really have the money to fund a bunch of dates or a full out relationship. I’d rather use that money to pay for my classes, or go out with my friends.

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In the final module, module 9 social class, we read an article by Karen Sternheimer called “Does College Alienate Low Income Students”. In the article Sternheimer talks about how challenging it is for low income students to pay their tuition and attend full time school. Some of the challenges she says they face are, not being able to make friends, go to parties, join clubs and participate in extracurricular activities because they have to fully focus on school and work part time jobs to aid themselves through college or help their parents at home. A excerpt from the text that resonates with my life is when Sternheimer says, “So when the Los Angeles Times recently reported that a tuition increase will push the bill for students at my university to over $50,000 for the first time next fall, costing an estimated $70,000 including housing, food, books, and other expenses, I was surprised. A majority of the student body receives some form of financial aid, so not every student must come up with a whopping $280,000 to pay for their degree. When I was an undergraduate (at a different expensive private university), I had a scholarship that covered half of my tuition. Coming up with half of the current tuition sounds like an impossible task for most families.”(Sternheimer). I think this is a good example of what it was like for me coming out of highschool, because I was raised by a single mother it always seemed impossible for me to be able to go to a four year school because of the tuition. Even starting off going to a community college I always thought that when I transfer I would have to pay an absurd amount for tuition so the first two years after I graduated highschool I never really had my eyes set on going to college. I also never had outstanding grades so I didn’t see myself getting scholarships or that much financial aid. My mom made just enough so I wouldn’t really qualify for financial aid but she also couldn’t pay to send me to college. I’m now at a point where I know if I get a degree it will help me in the long haul so I am going to take on the challenge of going to a four year and trying to work a job at the same time so I could support myself while going to school.

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I think some of the theories that stood out to me the most from this class were Irving Goffman's theory on social interaction, because I think It was a very interesting way to look at how we operate in a social setting when we are around new people and also it’s interesting to know why we act a certain way in a social setting. I think the Module that has the most relevance to my life would have to be Module 6, especially because of the mini assignment learning about how black people were segregated by the government in the housing community because that exact thing happened to my great grandparents. Before I was born my great grandparents tried to buy a house in a white neighborhood of Menlo Park but because they were a bi-racial couple no one would sell them a house there so they had to buy a house in a dangerous neighborhood with more colored people in East Palo Alto. Honestly nothing from this course really challenged any of my previous thinking because this was all new information, I would just say a lot of the information from this course was a new way to look at social life.