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1.) A contemporary example of social change happening anywhere in the world right now.

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1.) A contemporary example of social change happening anywhere in the world right now.

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https://www.npr.org/2022/01/18/1073144770/at-home-free-covid-tests-omicron-cases

I believe this is a perfect example of social change happening right now. Within this article it explains how COVID testing is very expensive as well as how pharmacy's are now possibly just making profit at this point off of certain test's. People are pushing for more free and or cheaper testing. This pandemic is simply out of control, and paying to get tested to know if your healthy, could go to school or work is getting out of control. Us as a public is and or are pushing for more free test sites as well as cheaper test's. This reminded me that in Chapter 17 it is stated, " . Industrial societies actively promote many kinds of change. For example, auto manufacturers seek more efficient ways to power our cars, and advertisers try to convince us that life is not complete without a new iPhone or some other new electronic gadget. Yet rarely can anyone envision all the consequences of the changes that are set in motion" (527), this can relate to the article due to the fact that when COVID first started it did take a while and a lot longer to get test results but we upped our technological advances with that, yet people are being greedy and are now possibly abusing those fast tests as a way for more money.

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Heather Shadley-Tovar shelled out $120 to get her daughter a PCR test.

Elisha Wright spent about $300 on her daughters' antigen tests.

And Libertad Wright-Villanueva "bit the bullet" and ponied up $346 for her son and husband's tests.

All are members of the San Diego Vaccine Hunters Facebook group. They were exposed to COVID over the holidays. At-home antigen test kits were sold out and free appointments were booked for weeks, but some needed to know if they had put their relatives at risk and others wanted to know if they were clear to celebrate the new year with relatives. So, they paid for testing.

"I decided that this was really the only option for us because when you need answers ... you need them in a timely manner, not a week from now," said Christine Izzo, another member of the Facebook group.

Even though the general rule is that insurance should cover the cost of testing and a limited number of at-home test kits, and free kits are available, supply is limited and people continue to turn to expensive options.

Izzo's son goes to college in Chicago and her daughter is in a nursing program in San Diego. They had not been exposed. But their schools, like many, required a negative test to come back after the holiday break.

Izzo can get tested through work - she's a nurse at Sharp Memorial in San Diego - but her kids cannot.

"So, midweek [between Christmas and New Year's Day], I began searching," she said.

Many of the local testing sites closed for the holidays, Izzo said, and her healthcare provider would only test people with symptoms. As for at-home antigen kits: "I called a number of pharmacies, grocery stores, they just were nowhere to be found."

Time was running out and her kids' winter break was almost over, so Izzo expanded her search to include anywhere that could deliver results before their deadline. She found just one, and she'd have to pay.

"The rapid test for my son was $125, paid out of pocket in advance. And my daughter's PCR test with a report was $299. I swallowed hard," Izzo said. All up, it was $434.

She made an appointment at 2:00 p.m. for New Year's Eve.

"The line was extraordinary," Izzo said.

She estimates 200 cars snaked around the mall parking lot where the drive-through clinic had set up, about 20 miles from her home.

"It was an extraordinary volume of people. My thought was, I cannot believe the amount of people paying this amount of money for a simple COVID test that you should be able to purchase in your local pharmacy, and [tests] that are supposed to be available free of charge."

Two hours after their appointment time, Izzo's son and daughter rolled down the car windows to be swabbed. Izzo estimates they received their results about five hours later - both negative.

"I am blessed to say that for us, I'm able to work a couple of extra hours and cover the cost without a significant financial hardship," Izzo said. "I recognize for other people that means they wouldn't eat for a few weeks and that so many people just couldn't bear the cost."Izzo says her insurance rejected her reimbursement request.

The rise of boutique test sites

As omicron has muscled out delta to become the dominant COVID strain, hours-long lines have become common at free testing sites across the country. Many people haven't been lucky enough to snag an appointment. And at-home antigen tests have been just as scarce, in some areas. Boutique testing sites have sprung up to meet the overwhelming demand.

Since just before Christmas, about 200 people a day have pulled into the reserved parking places in front of Pure Care Pharmacy, in a small strip mall sandwiched between tract homes, about 20 miles north of downtown San Diego.

They come seeking COVID tests - willing to pay between $85 and $240 for them - many after failing to book free tests with the omicron crush.

"It's definitely helped us out financially," says Mina Said, who opened the independent pharmacy with his wife in 2018. They aim to be a family pharmacy, Said said, "to take care of the patient, not the prescription."

Pure Care began offering COVID tests in May, 2020.

"It's something that we've always had even before the pandemic, to provide these types of services - whether it's lipid panel, glucose testing or blood pressure testing - to the community," Said said. "This just fit into that same role, so it was a no-brainer for us."

Said said he was already licensed to perform simple laboratory tests. All facilities that provide COVID tests must be authorized under federal and state law. He said his big gamble when the pandemic began was whether to invest about $5,000 in antigen tests. He says back then, he had to buy in bulk - the smallest quantity he could purchase was 300 tests.

"It was a pretty big investment when a lot was unknown. You don't know if people are going to adopt this, or if it is going to take off," he said. "Back then, when we started antigens, maybe we'd get one to two people testing a day. But, it's paid off since."

Said said these days, each antigen test costs his business between $6 and $40, depending on the brand, and supply and demand. In turn, he charges $85.

People swab themselves in their cars and pass the specimen to Pure Care employees out the window to be read inside the pharmacy. Said said it's basically the same as an over-the-counter, at-home test. Results come back in about an hour, though the surge in demand has extended the wait, lately.

Meanwhile, for PCR tests, Said said his business pays pharmaceutical companies between $100 to $150 each.

"You can sometimes find a good deal where, if you buy many, they'll give you a discount," he said.

He charges his customers $240. PCR tests require a reader - a piece of equipment that cost about $900 early in the pandemic, according to Said's estimate, but has since come down to about $500. Said said he had bought many because each machine reads only one test at a time, though many larger labs have more expensive equipment that can process multiple tests simultaneously.

Said was reticent to talk about how much profit his pharmacy is making off COVID tests.

"The way we look at it is part of the profit ... is that we provide a service. We're providing the actual test itself, but we're also providing education. When we call with people's results, say you have a positive result, we're going to guide you through that. We consider that as part of the cost because it takes our time and expertise," Said said.

He added that they determined their prices for COVID tests by what the market would bear. "We wanted to stay competitive but, at the same time, stay with what the market value was," he said.

Said says because he's an independent pharmacy he cannot contract with health insurance providers on medical tests.

More free tests are a start

A bit further east, another laboratory charges $120 for a rapid PCR test, but reviewers complain that long lines back up into traffic. One national testing service makes house calls for $499. And Amazon offers its own brand of PCR test - processed by a laboratory it built - for $39.99. Though, they're currently unavailable.

Donaldson Conserve, an associate professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health at the George Washington University, says paying out-of-pocket for tests is a stopgap for those who can afford them.

"Unfortunately, the high cost prevents individuals who don't have the finances. But, even for those who can, it's not a sustainable approach. You may test negative today but get exposed next week. No-one wants to pay $400 every other week," Conserve said.

Insurance reimbursement for people who pay for tests varies depending on the circumstances of the test and people's plans.

Conserve likes the Biden administration's plan to provide free at-home test kits, though he says it comes a bit late. "Unfortunately, the focus was on promoting vaccination, thinking that would be enough. It's not," Conserve lamented.

President Biden announced Thursday that his administration will buy another 500 million at-home COVID tests for Americans on top of the 500 million he announced they had purchased last month.

"We're on track to roll out a website next week where you can order free tests shipped to your home," President Biden said Thursday, during a COVID response update. "And for those who want an immediate test, we continue to add FEMA testing sites, so there are more free in-person testing sites."

Starting January 15, insurance companies will have to reimburse people for eight at-home COVID tests a month. Families can order four free at-home test kits through the website COVIDtests.gov beginning January 19, according to senior administration officials. However, they said last week that the tests will take 7 to 12 days to arrive, which means people won't receive them until the end of the month, at the earliest.

Conserve said in order to be effective, distribution efforts must continue beyond a few months. "It has to be normalized and people have to get used to testing at home and understand where to get the kits and how to order them online," he said.

He'd also like to see more self-testing campaigns, in tandem with churches, barber shops and other pillars of trust.

"We have communities that are not aware of free self-testing ... communities that are most affected by the high rate of transmission," Conserve said. "And one of the reasons I believe is because some of these distribution strategies are only online. They don't have community partners going around to raise awareness and distribute kits."

Meanwhile, Christine Izzo, who paid more than $400 for her son and daughter to be tested, said the moment they got home from getting swabbed, she sat back down at her computer to book three more rapid PCR tests - one a week - required by her daughter's nursing program.

Good fortune got her an appointment at a free county site that promised a 48-hour turnaround. When Izzo spoke with NPR three days later, she was still awaiting the result.
A previous version of this story included NPR's estimate of Pure Care Pharmacy's revenue from Covid testing. We could not confirm this figure so we have removed it.

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How much would you pay for COVID testing? Christine paid $434

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Heather Shadley-Tovar shelled out $120 to get her daughter a PCR test. Elisha Wright spent about $300 on her daughters' antigen tests. And Libertad Wright-Villanueva "bit the bullet" and ponied up $346 for her son and husband's tests. All are members of the San Diego Vaccine Hunters Facebook group.

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2.) Collective Behavior (Topic: Conflict and Change) 

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2.) Collective Behavior (Topic: Conflict and Change) 

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I chose this image because I feel as if this can put conflict and change into a simple perspective. In Chapter 17, it is stated, " . Yet Marx correctly foresaw that social conflict arising from inequality (involving not just class but also race and gender) would force changes in every society, including our own, to improve the lives of working people." (528) When it comes down to conflict and change it doesn't just revolve around one sole person or thing, it is revolved around everyone and everything, or at least it can be. This image reflects how big conflict and change can get. Whether it is between a couple people or a vast majority, you must work on it together as a whole. People need to stop being selfish and see how change starts with one but takes communication to fix the conflict to create change. If you see or notice a problem it is always great to communicate it.  People need to work together as a team to get anywhere in life.

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3.) Structural-Functional Perspective: Modernity as a Mass Society

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3.) Structural-Functional Perspective: Modernity as a Mass Society

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I feel as if this GIF can relate back onto the Structural-Functional Perspective, modernity as a mass society due to the fact that in Chapter 17 it was stated, " Geographic mobility, mass communication, and exposure to diverse ways of life all weaken traditional values. People become more tolerant of social diversity, defending individual rights and freedom of choice. Treating people differently because of their race, sex, or religion comes to be defined as backward and unjust. In the process, minorities at the margins of society gain greater power and broader participation in public life" (540). As a society, we have a lot of problems that are foreseen and or not really talked about, and when they are it's the mass public that comes up with solutions to these problems and or put ideas on the board to leave the more powerful people to speak up about. We move through our society as a whole, and come up with solutions together for the most part if you really sit down and think about it.

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4.) Social-Conflict Perspective: Modernity as Class Society

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4.) Social-Conflict Perspective: Modernity as Class Society

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I chose this quote because I feel as if it resonated with what was stated in Chapter 17, " Modern societies encourage people to view human well-being as a technical puzzle to be solved by engineers and other experts rather than through the pursuit of social justice" (541). The two quotes relate due to the fact that they both emphasize that people need to try. Life isn't as easy as it seems and sometimes you have to figure yourself out to find yourself in a good situation or stand-point in life. People need to step into the discomfort or into fear to really see the things that can be different in life if they really put their mind to it. People can't limit their self when they need to see change and or development.

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5.) Symbolic Interactionist Perspective: Modernity and the Individual

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5.) Symbolic Interactionist Perspective: Modernity and the Individual

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I chose this fact sheet due to the reason that it highlights modernity and the individual in a simple way. This fact sheet made me think of when in Chapter 17 it was stated, " To David Riesman (1970, orig. 1950), modernization brings changes in social character, personality patterns common to members of a particular society. Preindustrial societies promote what Riesman calls tradition-directedness, rigid conformity to time-honored ways of living. Members of traditional societies model their lives on those of their ancestors, so that “living a good life” amounts to “doing what people have always done" (543). This two link up together due to the sole fact that it conveys that wihtin a society as there are differences within people, whether it be culture wise, or personality wise it may be hard for people to truly find themselves. Why? Because they are trying to see if there is a norm possibly. At times, some people just adjust to the "norm" even if it means acting a certain way, or saying certain things. Some people leech onto each other to find themselves. Although, some people also just simply adjust to what their family taught them growing up.

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I chose this cartoon because I feel like it correlates to Chapter 17 when it was stated, " . Modern people look to the future expecting their lives to improve in significant ways. Members (and even leaders) of a postmodern society are less confident about what the future holds" (546). This quote relates back to the cartoon due to the fact that in this image it is emphasizing how the older generation almost seems to be divided with the younger. They seemed almost unsettled with theit differences at this party, which highlights how we may have different views, outlooks, morals, values, and traditions.

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I chose this Queen song because I feel like it really highlights the raw, authenticity of a world we live in, all the struggles we face and or go through. It also relates back to Chapter 17, especially when it was stated, " The tragic plight of the world’s poor shows that some desperately needed change has not yet occurred." I relate this back to this song when Queen sang, "You know that every day a helpless child is born
Who needs some loving care inside a happy home, Somewhere, a wealthy man is sitting on his throne, Waiting for life to go by", this highlights how our society in one way is struggling with poverty, as some make a mass amount of money and sit well and happy in luxury. Between the two, there seems to be conflict, as well as economic struggle is conveyed. Within the song, it also highlights how people starve, how laws are broken, how people are saddened. Essentially, overall, this song truly shows the true colors of the world we live in, with the struggles that we have going on, and questions the listeners, "Is this the world we created?". Basically asking, is this what you want? At the end of the day, this song I feel as if can also interpret the need and want for change, which is a big part of modernization. There is, and will always be change in our world. I am intrigued to see what the next generation does after us.

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Is This The World We Created...? - Remastered 2011

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Is This The World We Created...? - Remastered 2011