Second Set of Padlet Posts by Yesenia De La Torre

Doing Sociological Research, Henslin/ Ch 2: Sociological Research

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-17 01:57:54 UTC

In this reading I learned that there are 3 dominant theories in sociology the first being symbolic interaction which is broken down into 3 major themes. The 3 themes in symbolic are that human beings have a self, people construct meaning and act on the basis of those meanings, and how people take into account the possible reactions of others. For example I can self-reflect on my actions/experiences I had throughout the day and depending what I did/experience, it will make me feel a certain way. For the 2nd theme as discussed in class if I am sitting at a table alone where there are multiple empty tables available to sit in and someone sits at the same table as me I would want to know what's the reasoning on why they couldn't sit somewhere else. For the 3rd theme as also discussed in class, I wouldn't want to wear pjs to school because of how others might react to me not being dressed decent. The 2nd dominant theory is functionalism in which any change to a part society affects other parts due to them being connected. The 3rd dominant theory is conflict theory where many groups in society are in conflict/competition for survival and they seek a higher position in society. There are 6 different types of research methods. Depending on what it is you are trying to research, the research method you use depends on what your goal is. For example like it said in the book if you are trying to interview rape victims you must establish rapport. This is a sensitive topic and most people won't be comfortable talking to you about their experiences. Sometimes using the participant observation helps you better understand behaviors, like for rape victims you can observe how their life was affected and if they go to therapy/counseling to seek help or ways of coping. IN some cases like if you use documents as a research method it's best to build strong connections to be able to have access to these reports/documents. Just like we discussed in class not everyone will want to just hand you their documents especially if your a stranger to them, so building a strong connection will better your chances at being able to view these documents. In ch.2 of the opens tax reading I learned that you can do research on just about anything and not all researches will be correct. When doing sociological research, it is more for you to try and understand sociological patterns. When doing these researches there are certain methods to do these researches for better results or sometimes it can also just be for your safety. For example sometimes it's best to stay anonymous when doing a sociological research because you wouldn't want to go up to a drug dealer and ask them "are you a drug dealer." That wouldn't be very ideal and can jeopardize your safety. Almost everyday I encounter some type of survey whether that be after watching a YouTube video or when scrolling through social media. On YouTube it usually asks me questions regarding the content. I usually just press skip on these surveys so I can continue watching my YouTube video. On instagram I usually get surveys about certain ads to try and get me to buy their products. I have also gotten surveys in school especially when i'm outside sitting alone on a bench near the quad area. I wonder if by me being alone rather than in a group, makes it easier for the person to give me a survey? I wasn't aware that I have tested my own personal social theories almost daily. For example if I eat healthier I will have more energy and I'll feel better. By using cause and effect and then actually testing my theory, it will either approve or disapprove my hypothesis. It also very important to be neutral to avoid any type of bias or judgment that can interfere with the study and become unethical. That is why there are codes of ethics to avoid this.

Would You Hire an Ex-Convict?

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-17 02:32:18 UTC

I believe racial discrimination still plays a huge role in job applicants to this day. Especially in African Americans there are bad stereotypes put on them which makes their every day life a lot more difficult. If race already has a major impact on everyone's job applications, now with a criminal record added there's little to no chance in getting hired in most cases. In the reading it showed how even whites with criminal records were more likely to get hired than African Americans with no criminal record. Overall whites had a better chance at getting hired than blacks(Pager). For example I work at a fast food restaurant where very few African Americans get hired. At the moment we have zero African Americans working at the fast food restaurant that I work at. I have seen some African Americans apply and I have asked the hiring manager why don't you hire them to give them a chance? The hiring manger responded saying "they don't work hard and will end up not showing up to work." Which is why I believe stereotypes play a huge role in the hiring process for African Americans. I personally think it depends on what the person was convicted with for me to consider hiring them or not. Some people who have convictions end up turning their life around for the better. A great example I can give is my older brother Jose, He has had a few convictions when he was younger. In high school he hung out with the wrong crowd and was badly influenced. I also believe our living situation had a great impact in his life especially since our single mother was trying her best to raise four kids on her own. He did in fact turn his life around for the better, he is now married and has two beautiful daughters. He currently works part time at an urgent care as a medical assistant and he recently received his CDL. He has always been good at communicating with others and looking confident, so I think that has also helped him out a lot. In that case people are capable of turning their lives around for the better after incarceration, but race and discrimination limits their possibility in getting hired along with stereotypes and social norms.

Quantitive Research: Good Teaching Leads to Better Learning

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-17 02:36:27 UTC

Some questions that can be used to measure quantitive research are by asking on a scale of 1(low)-5(high) how often did the teacher review difficult topics to make sure it was understood? What is the score on students exams after a lesson? Are the students completing all the assigned assignments? How many students are actually attending each class? I would use these questions in order to see how reliable this claim is that good teaching leads to better learning. To measure qualitative research I would ask the students How clear and understandable are each lessons? When something seemed difficult or hard to understand, did the teacher help clarify to be able to understand? How many students are actually participating in class discussions? What is the culture in the classroom? I would use these questions to help measure the engagement and understanding of each students experience during class.

Coffee Shop Ethnography

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-17 04:31:46 UTC

I arrived to the coffee shop at about 8:00pm. 1 hour before this coffee shop closes, it is already dark outside. As I'm walking towards the entrance of the shop there is a few tables outside. In one of the outside tables to the left there's a group of men sitting and enjoying their hot coffee's and conversating. As I open the door to walk inside the coffee shop I get a whiff of the strong aroma of coffee. As I'm walking inside I see an older couple sitting at a table to the right of the entrance and next to the restrooms. This couple is drinking iced coffee. The woman is on her phone sitting on the bench side of the table while the man is on a wheel chair sitting at the corner of the table next to the woman. To the left of the entrance there's a long but short table against the window with 4 empty chairs facing the window. As I continue walking past the couple and the restrooms there is a wooden display with a variety of cups for guests to choose from to buy. Across from the wooden display is a trash with 2 holes 1 hole is for waste and the other is for recycle. I finally get to the cashier and I see 3 female employees working. One of the employee welcomes me in and tells me to give her a second before she takes my order. I nodded up and down and patiently wait for her to take my order. They seem busy trying to multitask taking drive thru's orders and make their orders at the same time. After a couple minutes, I finally get my order taken and I order a Caramel Frappuccino. I go sit down across from the register at a tall table next to another tall table where there's 2 Hispanic/Latina women in their 50's sitting. I can hear these 2 women who i'm sitting next to speak in Spanish and talk about an injury one of the women recently had. I overheard her say she was at a party wearing high heels and incorrectly took a step which caused her to sprain her ankle. She was complaining about how swollen her ankle had become and how bad the medication was that was prescribed to her in order to relieve some pain. A few minutes go by and my order is called out for me to grab. I get up to grab my order then sit back down at the same table I was at before. To the back of the restaurant there is about 4 empty high tables. A man wearing a yellow shirt and white cap walks in smiling. He stands by the restroom waiting for one of the workers to acknowledge him. When one of the coworkers finally sees him, he asked for the code to the restroom, and she goes and puts the code in for him. That man had only came in to use the restroom, when he got out the restroom he exited the building urgently. I can hear 2 of the employees giggling and talking to each other about their weekend plans. The 3rd employee seems to be in the back office most of the time. She doesn't really come out to help the other 2 employees, during my visit she only came out the back office a couple times which was to wipe down the counter top and restock items on the shelves. I think she might be the manager in charge and she's most likely getting ready to close. A 2nd man walks in wearing a blue long sleeve shirt and purple pants, this man was probably in his 60's by the way that his hair was all white. He walked in confidently straight to the counter where his coffee was already waiting for him. His visit to the coffee shop was short, he walked in and out in less than 3 minutes. He must've placed a mobile order which was ready for him to pick up. Shortly after, the couple that was sitting by the entrance threw away their empty cups of iced coffee and left the building. At this moment the only people inside the building are the 3 employees, the 2 women I am sitting next to, and myself. The drive thru seems to be busy still, I can hear the employees constantly taking orders on the their headsets. It is now 8:36pm, I have finally finished my Caramel Frappuccino. I get up slowly to throw away my empty cup and walk towards the exit. Once I get to the door the employees thank me for my visit and tell me to have a nice night. I reply with "thank you, you as well" and walk out the door. The 2 women I was sitting next to stayed inside the coffee shop.

Chapter 5: Socialization Chapter AND 4.3: Social Construction of Reality

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-23 03:12:44 UTC

Socialization is important because without it we wouldn't know how to act properly. By socializing we learn the basics of material and non material culture. We acquire skills which are needed in order to successfully function in a society. For example if you go out to eat at a fancy restaurant you most likely won't eat with your hands or with your elbows on the table. This may be considered rude to some cultures. You will probably have different sets of forks and knives designed for different meals. Through social interactions we learn what's appropriate and what's not appropriate. Many people argue that we are who we are specifically through nature or specifically through nurture. I believe that the way we are is affected by both nature and nurture because although we are born a certain way I strongly believe that our environment can redirect the way we think and do activities. Our Genetics sets a natural ability in critical thinking, but our environment determines how these traits are used. Social groups play an important role in socializing us. Our families are our 1st agent of socialization. They teach us how to do things like how to eat, talk, dress, ect. Our peers help us learn social norms and reinforce them. Sometimes our peers can have a bad influence on us because sometimes they influence cuss words and drugs. Our institutional agents teach us how to behave, follow rules, and directions. Sociologist Berger and Luckmann both argued that society is created by habituation. We accept our society the way it is because It was created before us and we all agree on it. I have different roles and statues. For example I am a daughter, sister, and an aunty which are examples of ascribed statuses because I didn't have a choice. I am also a snowboarder, an employee, and a college student which are examples of achieved statuses because I have a choice to do these things. I experience both role strain and role conflict in my life because I have a lot of things to I need to do daily with not enough time to get them all done. I also experience role conflict with my job and my home and trying to have a balance between them. We portray ourselves accordingly to our settings. Our behavior and ways of thinking changes depending on social environment. As Goffman explaines we are like character always changing our "props" and "front stage" performances.

Goffman, The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-23 05:26:44 UTC

Goffman compares how the world is like a stage and every person is a performer. We are all shaping these characters on a daily basis. He then goes on to explain something I agree on as well, which is how relationships are determined by the type of interactions and communication that people are involved in. Almost all relationships are initially evaluated by first impressions, this is something I've also grown to realize. This is a big reason why many people in the presence of others will try to give off an impression that will be in their best interest to convey. This method of concealment is mainly used for one reason which is gaining acceptance from others. Depending on someone's reasons however they can also give off different impressions in order to simply receive a predicted reaction. This form of manipulation can be applied to further control the individuals responses to other interactions. For example we put on different personas depending on certain situations. I will act completely different for a job interview than how I would act hanging out with some friends. In class we even discussed how we present ourselves differently depending on who we're meeting with. Our language will even change to sound more mature and professional like for a job interview.

Thompson, Handling the Stigma of Handling the dead

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-24 01:00:00 UTC

Before reading this excerpt I never really realized or even thought about how much stigma morticians and funeral directors handle. I was oblivious of the fact that simply for doing their job, they are faced with lots of negative stigma. Most people see morticians and funeral directors as cold and unfriendly people. It shocks me that for this reason some people in this profession go as far as trying to hide it completely to avoid the stigma. There were however some techniques discussed that seemed very helpful like getting connecting with the community to break those negative perceptions. Another technique mentioned that is required in my opinion to keep your sanity in this profession is emotional detachment when handling the dead. Despite being a good profession financially, there are some disadvantages to the job. One things for sure, it's not for everybody, including myself.

Required Entry: Interactions with various agents

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-26 03:37:25 UTC

My interactions with various agents of socialization have affected my decision to be in college by trying to encourage me to pursuit better education for a good paying job. My family has always had high expectations for me. Both of my parents didn't go to school past 9th grade. Although my mom did study a medical assistant course back in her home town, she eventually left that job to come to the U.S for a better opportunity in life. This makes me feel pressured to attend college and pursuit a good paying job. I want to make my family proud of what I can achieve in life. School has also influenced my decision to be in college by encouraging me to do better and not to give up. Many of my past teachers were very supportive towards my classmates and I. My teachers would always tell us that by going to college we would be successful in life. This motivated me to keep trying in school and when times get hard it's ok to seek help or assistance. My friends weren't the best influence to me. They often skipped class and they didn't have good grades. Most of my friends didn't care much about attending college, all they really cared about was hanging out, and having a part time job. On the other hand I had a few friends who had positive comments on college. At first I wasn't sure what I wanted to do in life, but with motivation from my family and school I now have a plan on what to do.

Mandatory Post: How do I Experience Role Strain and Role Conflict in my Life?

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-27 05:36:52 UTC

I experience role strain in my everyday life. Especially now that I am a first year college student I feel a lot more stressed and overwhelmed on trying to turn in assignments on time, achieve good grades, study for upcoming tests, and having a balance between my work/school/social life. This can be very exhausting for me which is why I try my best to manage my time more wisely without procrastinating so I can get as much as I can done. I also constantly experience role strain because I am a manger at the restaurant I work at and sometimes I get called in early or have to stay a little extra time to help out my co workers. This limits my time to do school work. I work 5 days a week and the other 2 days I go to school. I don't have a "day off," if I'm not at work then I'm at school. This affects my social life because I barely have time to do other things. My friends are always wanting to hang out, but I try my best to prioritize doing homework so I rarely have spare time to hangout with my friends.

Chapter 6: Groups and Organizations

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-27 06:29:10 UTC

In this reading I learned that there are 2 main groups. The primary group consist of our families or significant others who we engage with emotionally and in long-term. The secondary group is usually short-term and more goal oriented. These groups tend to be larger than Primary groups. An example of a secondary group can be your work place. Personally, I consider my job a secondary group, but within this large group I have met some coworkers that I am now close to. We find a time to hangout outside of work. This now makes them apart of my primary group because I begin to connect with them at an emotional level (expressive function). Within these 2 groups there are in-groups and out-groups, in other words it's when you feel like you belong to a group or the feeling to fit in or out. Sometimes I feel like I don't fit in to a group when everyone within the group is talking about a certain topic that I have no knowledge in. With the popularity and increase of social media unfortunately cyberbullying has increased as well. Each day when I log into my social media I see at least 1 negative post or comment about someone. In some cases people try to justify their actions by saying "it's just a joke" but if the roles were switched they definitely wouldn't be ok with it either. People can suffer mental issues and social anxiety due to these negative comments. Reference groups are people who we compare ourselves too. These groups can influence our behaviors. For example sometimes we compare ourselves to our siblings and friends like in the taste of music and clothes which can influence us to start dressing a certain way or by listening to their type of music we might grow interest in different music genres. In small groups people know each other pretty well. In a dyad group, it consists of 2 people and in a triad group, it consists of 3 people. These groups tend to not be as strong as larger groups because for example in a dyad group if one person withdraws then the group seizes to exist. That is why usually in marriage family and friends help support the marriage to help keep the married couple together. There are 3 main categories between formal organizations being normative/voluntary, coercive, and utilitarian. I am a manager at the restaurant I work in so I am always delighting tasks. The crew come to me for any questions/concerns. If for some reason I can't answer their questions I got to my general manager who then goes to our supervisor and so on. small business are gradually going out of business due to larger well known businesses like coffee shops and restaurants. Especially when they're located near each other it makes it really competitive and difficult for these small businesses to maintain their customers.

Meyer, If Hitler Asked You...

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-28 01:08:29 UTC

It's fascinating to find out some people would be willing to go as far as hurting others upon request. This is based on certain position of power or authority someone has over another. I also never really realized how obedient and easily manipulated we the American people are as a majority. This is proven as mentioned with an experiment done to Yale students, but it's also visible with social media on a daily basis. The only real efficient way to make someone willingly disobey would be through a great amount of discomfort or even pain. In several unbelievable cases however some people will even endure pain without disobeying the governing authority. For most people this is due to their lack of skills and confidence, which leads to a fear of failure. In other words for those closed minded people it's just easier to do as they're told.

A time group conformity/Obedience to authority affected my behavior

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-09-28 01:44:35 UTC

Group conformity often affects my behavior. I tend to go along with what a group agrees on to fit in with the group. I am afraid of rejection, but especially among random people so I usually try to avoid standing out. A specific time that group conformity affected my behavior was when I had hung out with some co-workers for the first time and we couldn't decide on where to go for dinner. At first everyone was just naming random places we could possibly go eat at like Tequileros, Buffalo Wild Wings, Dennys, etc. People started to agree on some options to go eat at certain places. Then it had finally came down to 2 options either Buffalo Wild Wings or Tequileros. I had just ate wings that week so I really didn't feel like getting wings again in the same week. At first I was agreeing with going to Tequileros to eat, but then slowly everyone started to Agree that we should go to Buffalo Wild Wings. I didn't want to be the only one who disagreed on going to Buffalo Wild Wings. So although I didn't want to go there to eat, I ended up agreeing with everyone else on eating at Buffalo Wild Wings to fit in with the group.

Ch 4.1: Types of Societies AND Ch. 18: Work and Economy

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-10-02 06:19:36 UTC

There are different types of societies. Society is the people around you who share beliefs or ideas. We have greatly improved in the society we are in today. Before it was more difficult for people to survive due to lack of material and skills. In today's society we have learned many techniques on how to do things faster and efficiently. Before the industrial revolution societies were small which made their production very limited. In hunter-gatherer societies the men were typically the hunters and the women would stay back and gather material. These societies didn't have a set place due to lack of resources so they were constantly relocating in search for food. In patrol societies they learned to domesticate animals for survival. They eventually learned to trade with other groups by exchanging goods. Horticultural society came to rise around the same time as pastoral. They learned to grow plants by moving to places where it rained and where the weather conditions were perfect in maintaining these plants. In agricultural societies they learned to survive with tools which made farming a little easier. They also learned to reuse waste as fertilizer for the benefit of achieving better crops. In feudal societies it consisted of nobles and lords who would fight for their lands. Industrial societies began using steam power which started becoming more popular. People were able to purchase machines for better quality in work and to get jobs done faster. Post industrial society is based on production and services.

Ehrenreich, Nickeled and Dimes

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-10-03 05:23:51 UTC

Ehrenreich states how middle class people don't really understand how life is like for the poor. Barbara as well as myself are faced with a financial dilemma where we must consider what are our needs and what are our wants. A key point was also mentioned which is how in most cases in order to find a decent job several applications and rejections are needed. Same as in any other job, you get used to it after a while, but not always will it be super busy. By giving a working appearance even when it's not busy helps in any job because managers are always supervising. One reality is true for most people, the majority of the money you make at work goes towards. Some people will go as far as getting 2 or even 3 jobs just to have enough to provide for themselves and their family. I also find myself trying to minimize my expenses in any way. People with lower incomes tend to get used to this lifestyle due to it being an everyday routine. Most the time they don't realize their real knowledge and their work.

Leidner, Over the Counter at McDonald's

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-10-04 04:00:02 UTC

Good planning and training is needed to rationalize at the workplace. Other examples would be better tools like automatic sauce dispensers or even computers at registers. These new technologies help at workplaces like Mcdonalds or in any other retail businesses. In my opinions an important way of promoting a business is through online visual advertising to promote the companies products like a burger for Mcdonalds. In most cases many business prefer to have less employees who are more efficient and who can work longer hours instead of having more employees working at once in order to match the flow of customers. Management needs to work together in order to ensure everything runs smoothly at the same time as complying with corporates standards. For example Mcdonalds including other businesses have routinized most of their workers responsibilities in order to avoid any confusion or ix up. In my opinion this is very important because there are many lazy people who have a hard time doing simple tasks. Sometimes they even show up to work with negative attitudes which doesn't help at all. There needs to be good communication and customer service. This comes tremendously handy because you learn to deal with difficult customers and complaints. I have realized that management can't control everything at the end of the day management can only do so much so it comes doesn't to the employees responsibility and discipline in working as a team to successfully function.

Mandatory post: A list of 10 clothings and what does it tell you about the world?

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-10-05 01:13:20 UTC

1 of my Under Armor shorts was made in Nicaragua, 2 of my Shein Shirts were made in China, 1 of my denim Aeropostale shorts was made in Cambodia, 2 of my denim American Eagle pants were made in China, 1 of my Ross shirts was made in Indonesia, 1 tank top from Ross was made in Guatemala, 1 sweater from Sac State University was made in Honduras, 1 of my Nike sweaters was made in Thailand. This is actually pretty fascinating to me how I could not find 1 single piece of clothing in my room that was made in the U.S.A. I have noticed that many items in my home are made in China. This really shows me how complex the economy is and how the world would rather manufacture items in a different country because of lower costs of labor. In a different country human rights are violated and people are over worked with no overtime money. This makes it cheaper for companies because they don't need to worry about employee benefits. The material in another country is also way cheaper than in the U.S.A which makes supply and demand more affective. If the demand is high then the supply is low and if the demand is low then the supply becomes high. We discussed this in class how some farmers will purposely kill some crops on their farms to keep prices high. In class we also talked about how we also have pollution regulations, this limits a factory's ability to release a certain amount of pollution in the air. We have these regulations to try and reduce environmental damage. In addition to this many companies would rather have products shipped overseas where there are no regulations so theres no limit to how much pollution they're throwing out.

Wishard, Caught between the Ages

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-10-06 05:11:16 UTC

One of the world's most impactful changes in present day would be the globalization of capitalism. Even though many parts of the world are closed and opposed to capitalism, her in the west we have grown very fond of the idea by giving us a sense of freedom. The idea and freedom of capitalization has led many people to follow the trend of migrating to this country and starting a business. However many parts of the world have different views towards us here in the west. We must learn to respect other nations for their political and cultural beliefs. The way I see it technological advances have way more of an impact because they affect us in all shapes and forms. For example AI which surpasses human intelligence could potentially replace human workers in most aspects. This could also be an idea introduced from previous civilization in fear of us coming to the same distressing fate as them. It completely depends on an individual and where their moral beliefs are prioritized.

Required entry: The federal minimum wage is $7.25

delatorreyesenia03 — 2025-10-06 05:11:25 UTC

It makes me upset how the federal minimum wage is only $7.25. I also never realized how long it has been sitting at $7.25 for. With today's economy everything is so expensive now. $7.25 isn't even near enough money for someone to live off of. Companies are constantly raising their prices as well. Many people including myself wouldn't buy a product like fruits unless theres a special offer. Yes, I believe all full-time jobs should pay a living wage that would cover all of life's expenses. I think this is a huge reason why we have an increase in homelessness because many jobs aren't paying enough money to cover all of their needs and expenses. Each year rent just keeps on increasing and unless your job is also giving you a raise, you won't be able to keep up with your monthly bills. I also believe this is why in many homes people live with others to divide the bills equally because unless you have a decent paying job, you probably won't be able to live off on your own. Today even a little studio or one bedroom apartment is at least about $1000 dollars of rent and when you include all of your other bills and expenses, it might be difficult to pay them off when your income isn't good.