Sociology by Zeana Velez

Why am I taking this class?

zeanavelez97 — 2025-01-16 20:02:48 UTC

Before taking this class I wasn't really sure what Sociology was. But it sounded very interesting and I love to take opportunities to learn new things. However, after watching some of the videos and doing some of the readings, I have a better understanding of what sociology is. I cant wait to dive into this semester and learn more ways sociologists look at the world and do the research to come to these understandings about people. I also am very excited to learn about the new ways to look at why people do things and why things work the way they do from a social standpoint.

The first thing I bought was..

zeanavelez97 — 2025-01-17 00:18:13 UTC

The first purchase I made by myself was when i was about 9-10 years old. I was a young girl raised by my single dad and my brother. My mom was not around when I was a child. I didn't really have an everyday female role model in my life to teach me about all the girly stuff and take me out to go shopping for girl stuff. But I remember always seeing girls/women with their nails done. We were a lower class family so I didn't really have the luxury of being able to do stuff like getting my nails done. I remember one day I had realized I had saved up enough change to go and get my nails done. My dad let me go get them so I remember walking down the street to the nail salon with like $25 worth of quarters! i still remember the feeling of walking into the salon and sitting in the chair for the first time. I felt really happy. At the time I believed I wanted to get my nails done just because they were cute. As I look back from an older perspective I realize I wanted them done because it was part of the standard for girls/women. That you had to look good, (have your hair,nails,makeup done etc) smell good, etc or you were less of a woman. You don't feel like you fit in to societies standard for women if you don't check off all the boxes. However, it's something that is still a very big standard in the world. Women and young girls are going through depression and committing suicide they cant afford the luxury of paying for the things that society says we have to have to be more lady like. This is what leads to the global process of finding ways to get these items or services for cheaper prices leading to counterfeit items, illegal surgeries, etc leading to infections and death in women. All because they want to fit in with the social standpoint of what a women should be. So that first purchase will be something I will never forget because it did make me really happy to buy my own thing for the first time, It also makes me sad because the first thing I bought should have been something that I wanted because I knew I liked it. Not something that society made me feel like I needed to fit in.

JCB: Jeans/Discovering Sociology

zeanavelez97 — 2025-01-17 02:38:35 UTC

I have never taken the time or even thought about taking the time to think about where my Jeans came from. However, I have definitely thought about what jeans were in style and knew I always wanted them. This chapter really opened my mind to think about how something that's so simple to us can have such a bigger meaning. It really interested me when I learned about how all the cotton it takes to make 1 pear of jeans may have came from multiple different places. I remember the first pair of jeans I really wanted was a pair of apple bottom jeans. When the song came out the clothing brand became really popular. Especially the Jeans. When I finally got a pair I was so excited because I had a pair of name brand jeans that were in style. It was also the same thing when True Religion came into style. Which is a great example of this chapter. When True Religion came out, it became super popular among what people consider thugs. The brand appealed to them because it was a luxury, expensive pair of jeans. But since you see all the people who you would think have a lot of money wearing them , everybody wanted them. You felt popular if you were wearing their brand. This chapter has really opened my mind to think more about the items I'm buying and ask myself why I'm buying them.