Games and Class

After we played the penny game, Monopoly, and watched the "People Like Us" video, I got a better sense of what wealth gives us in the US. Being born into wealth is a huge advantage. After playing the Monopoly game, I realized that it was much easier to win and succeed if you started off with money. I began with only $270, and in the end I finished with around $100, while the other players started with a lot of money and ended with even more. When you have a lot of money, it is easier to take risks and succeed, because if you lose, you still have a lot of money left over. I think that this concept exists in our world, outside of the Monopoly game, as well. When you begin with less money, it is a lot harder to move up in society and make more money. An advantage of having wealth in our society is socializing and networking with other people exactly like themselves. It is all about getting your name out there, and knowing the right people, and people with wealth have a much bigger opportunity to get what they want by knowing everybody that can benefit their name and their lifestyle. Also, the wealthy don't have to worry as much about their financial situation andhaving it all just disappear in one day. They have enough money to take financial risks and not have to worry about losing it all. I think that the only way to limit these privileges would for everybody to begin with the same amount of money when they were born- but that is impossible. Therefore, I don't think that there is any true way to limit the wealth that different people possess in our societies. As much as people claim that we don't have social classes and everybody is equal, everybody isn't. We can't change the privileges people have and the wealth people have, but we cantry to help the less fortunate and share our privileges with them.

"What a man is depends on his character; but what he does, and what
we think of what he does, depends on his circumstances. The characteristics that
ruin a man in one class made him eminent in another."
I think that Shaw is saying that opinions about people can change based on their environment and class. Something that is considered good in one society can be viewed as bad in another, just based on where those societies are. An example of a behavior that can be compared to this quote is "the idea of an aggressive real estate developer with an aggressive sanitation worker. Both are in business, but their qualities may be judged differently." This idea demonstrates that in an affluent area where the real estate is competitive and the hunt for housing is difficult, somebody would want that aggressive real estate developer. The customer can afford whatever the developer throws at them because they are wealthy, and the developer is trying to make good money as well. People are open to new ideas and new developments. However in a less affluent area, an aggressive developer can be a burden on people. If people love their surroundings, are against new housing projects, and can't even afford it, the aggressive developer would really bother the members of that society. This quote is just saying that the same person can be viewed different under different circumstances, and they can be positively deviant in one area, while negatively deviant in another.

Social Class

Social/economic class is the social category which you fit in to. I think that it is based on yoyur income and what you can afford and where you live. In your life, I think it influences who you are friends with and what you can accomplish in your life. People are generally friend with those in the same social class, because they can relate to each other. I also think that there is a tendency for people to judge others if they stray out of their designated class as well. I think that class and deviance correspond with how you live within your social class. I believe that sometimes it is negatively deviant for people to leave their social class and to befriend those in other classes. However, I think that it is seen as positively deviant for those in the higher classes to reach out to the less fortunate and the people in different classes to help out. I believe that there are unwritten rules about how to act within your social class and if you act out of it, then you are deviant and the public opinion made of you will negatively be affected.

Deviance

In my opinion, punishable deviance a societal construct and I don't think it is avoidable in our society. When people are negatively deviant, since it is against the norm we feel the need to punish them. I believe that we regulate the punishments through our court systems, but they aren't always fair and equal. Sometimes punishments which are given to white men aren't the same given to men of different ethnicities just because of their background. I believe that if we are going to punish those are are negatively deviant in societies, we need to punish fairly, and also with punishments that are able to help. Our punishment/penitentiary system tells us as sociologists that we judge people and and don't try to give them help because they are different than the rest of society. I think the rehab aspect of our jail systems are clearly lacking after watching the 30 days episode. I think that if these people were able to get the help they needed, and actually finish out the sessions, that they would come out of jail as better people and they would be less likely to get back involved in their old ways. In the film, the inmates weren't required to finish their rehab. If they were able to leave before it was over, they did. But I think if they were required to finish once they've started, they would be better off. I believe that the deviants who are in jail can be helped and improve their lifestyles if they just had the access to programs that could help them. They are are deviant because they don't know any other way, and if we could help them properly we could teach them the right way.

2nd six weeks

So as a disclaimer I missed school on Friday and when I went to update my blogs on Thursday after school I did not see the 2nd six weeks post that I was supposed to respond to, so when I was in Ohio until late sunday night, the blog had slipped my mind.
1. First, today I wore the classic Ugg boots, skinny dark jeans, a white tanktop, and a purple DC zip up. For my accessories, I wore a brown, think leather bracelet, and two silver rings. Second, my future plans consist of going to college, moving out west- hopefully to California- and begginning my career. Third, I love to snowboard, surf, listen to music, and hang out with my friends. I think that what I chose to wear is more nurture, because through how I was raised I developed my own style. I think think that my future plans are both nature and nurture, because even though one of my parents didnt attend college, I was still raised with the desire to go to college and be successful. I was also born into a family who provides me the opportunity to be able to even go to college. Lastly, I think that my favorite pastimes developed through nature, because I fell in love with surfing and snowboarding through my friends and from my love to be active during both seasons. I wasn't born with the love for snowboarding and surfing in my blood.
2.I think that status power in adolescents is so important because growing up they want to be the best and they want to be the most successful. Highschool is full of competition and the strive to be the best, and that is why teenagers want to the highest status power and they want to be better than everyone else. For most teenagers, they don't have very big problems to worry about, so they just strive to be the best.
3. Today, the socialization process for most teens is different than the previous generations. Today, kids are hardly around adults and therefore don't develop the best social skills or know how to talk to adults. For me, I work a job four times a week where I am constantly socializing with only adults - I only have like 2 coworkers who are younger than 18- and through that I feel that I have developed strong social skills and I know how to be mature and interact with adults. For other kids though, they don't always have the same situation. Not knowing how to communicate with adults I feel is slowing the maturity process of children today. Also, some teens hardly socialize at all. TV and video games overwhelm children and they spend more of their time staring at a screen than in the past. While kids should be out and playing and socializing with other people, they are sitting inside either by themselves or with a few others but not talking. I think that overall, technology influences the socialization process for many children today.
4. Some gender differences in the socialization process are developed from the toys that kids grow up with. Girls grow up with frilly, girly toys, while boys grow up with macho, manly toys. From the start, girls grow up by developing different character traits, while boys grow up developing character traits such as strong, tough, and rough. So, the toys that children grow up playing with affect their socializization process. Also, boys tend to like to play big group games, such as football and baseball. Big team sports force the boys to socialize with all different types of people. Then, it is more common for girls to be involved in sports such as dance or other sports where they are more to themselves and involved in their skills, so girls grow up with different groups of people. I think that these differences affect me and my friends personalities and abilities to socialize. Our characteristics were developed by being involved in different activies meant for different genders as children.

Adolescense.

The society that we live in today treat us like adolescents sometimes, and expect us to act like adults other times. It presents us with confusion; how are we supposed to know how to act or who to be when society is constantly switching up it's expectations? Like Sociosmith said in his blog, we are aloud to vote, drive, and even get married at 18, yet we still aren't aloud to drink. We are now seniors and we are aloud to drive to school, yet we aren't aloud to drive year round. It is difficult when you are expected to be an adult, yet you are still considered a child.
Also, status power overwhelms teenagers today. Status power is the want and need to have a higher status. I think that status power impacts teens and how we adapt because we are constantly trying to be better than everyone else. We strive to be the best we can be, as long as we overpower the others who are trying as well. I don't know why we feel the need for the status power, and I think that there is no way around it. Humans are very competetive people by nature, and I think that the want to be better than everyone else is always going to be there. I do think that it is not necessary for some people to take it to the extremes, but in my opinion status power will always be there.

Socialization Blog 1

Reflecting on who I am and how I was brought up, I've realized that I am more alike my family than I've realized. It make sense, I guess, because they are the ones who raised me. I am like my family in the sense that we all have the same, sarcastic sense of humor, but when we make jokes about eachother we take it so personally and don't find it funny. We all have similar interests as well. My mom has always loved horses, and so I grew up around them and loving them. I also grew up riding my dad's motorcycle, so I love motorcycles and riding them as well. I think that it would be hard to work against their nature and nurture, because what they are interested and their attitudes are now apart of me as well. Therefore, I'd be working against myeslf. I don't think that it is possible to work against them because they are who I am always surrounded by. Besides my family, I am also very influenced by my three best friends. While I was heavily influenced by my famiy, they just helped me with the building blocks to become who I am. I think that my friends influence me more because I am also with them constantly, whether it be at school or on the weekends. My friends influence me because we are the same age. We have adapted the same interests, styles, and the same stuipid quirky facial expressions that when we make them we look like we have problems. I think that anybody I am constantly around helps me become who I am.

Agua

The water metaphor which was discussed in class is "culture is like water to a fish, it is absolutely essential and it permeates every single moment and action of a fish, but it is probably something a fish never ever sees or thinks about..just as our culture permeates our actions and actions without us realizing it." It was difficult for me to come up with an example of "water" in my life, but then it hit me. It was probably so hard for me to realize because it is actually just like water to a fish. I am always surrounded by it whether I'm the one using it or somebody else is. What I am talking about is technology. These days, no matter what, everybody is always somehow connected to technology. Everybody has cell phones. Everybody owns a computer or a laptop. Everybody has iPods. Everybody always has the choice to stay connected. Technology is always surrounding us.

I try to navigate the water, or technology, around me by staying respectful. Technology sometimes interferes with relationships. I have found myself having conversations with people, only to be interrupted with a text or call that they have recieved. I find that extremely disresepectul. Even though you do have the option to stay connected, it doesn't mean that you always have to respond to it. Sure, I love having the ability to shoot a text to my friends to see what they are doing or to just check in, but I don't think it is necessary to constantly be sitting on your phone or laptop to almost stalk people. Since when did it become so important to know what everybody else is doing? Why can't people just stay concentrated on their life and mind their own business? More than once, I have found myself annoyed with my phone. I have an iPhone, and I am obsessed with it. I know that I probably couldn't live without it. But sometimes I find myself ignoring it. I always have my iPhone on me, but there have been times where I just don't answer any of the calls or texts I have gotten. The fact that I do this actually bothers my friends about me. It's kind of funny but they have gotten mad at me when I don't answer their texts, but they don't understand that they shouldn't take it so personally. It's not like I am purposely ignoring them, I just don't want to talk to anybody. I want to stay in my own little bubble and worry about just myself and not feel the need to talk to everybody. I think that I behaviorally adjust to the cultural forces going on around me by setting my own guidelines and not conforming to the common belief that since you have the ability to answer to texts and calls, you have to respond to them.

Two values which I embrace are Individual Personality and Religiosity. I think that it is very important to be your own person and not confrom to everyone around you. I've been described by my friends more than once of being "real," and I take pride in that. I don't find it necessary to act differently around different groups of people. I am constantly true to myself. I think that I have my own style in the sense that I wear what I want. I have huge blonde curly hair and I embrace it. I'm goofy and I don't try to hide it. In my middle school days I would always straighten my hair because it was different, but now I embrace it. I like being my own person and having a unique personality. Along with embracing my Individual Personality, I also embrace Religiosity. Religion is every important in my life, and after going to a Christian summer camp two summers in a row, I learn that there is not reason to hide my religion. At camp I learned more about my Christian religion and how to share it with others. I also learned that people will have different viewpoints on religion and they sometimes may shut you down or treat you differently because of your beliefs, but I have learned how to deal with those and always stay true to my religion. Two values which I may creatively adjust to find my own hapiness would be Romantic Love and and Progress. I would first adjust Romantic Love to find my own hapiness because first of all, I don't think that all love needs to be romantic. I think that it is possible to be in love or love someone without it having to be romantic. Secondly, there is a quote that I like which is "Just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean that they don't love you with all they have." I think that is quote explains how you can adjust a value into your own. This quote is true, love doesn't always have to extremely romantic or the way that you pictured it, but you can adjust to it and it can then be just as perfect as you expected it to be. I would also adjust Progess. I chose progress because I think that progress has multiple interpretations. Progress for one person could be more or less the same for another person. I measure my progress after I set my own goals. Whether it be progress in the work environment, school environment, or with friends, I can change my progress and adjust it to how I am doing with my goals. So, I live by and adjust different sets of values depending on my outlook on life.

Infantilization

Before the discussion about infantilization a few weeks ago in class, I never really thought about how common it is to want to treat adults or even teens like children. The one place that kept coming into mind when thinking about infantilization was our own school. Stevenson is the epitome of treating it's students like little kids. I feel like we have more, crazier, security gaurds than some airports. Don't get me wrong, there are two security gaurds that I do love, but I always feel like the other ones are trying to find the smallest, stupidest thing we do wrong to get us into trouble. At lunch, security gaurds walk around and just stare at you and your friends while you are eating; your just eating! If you go into your bag and shuffle around looking for something, they will automatically come up and accuse you of texting. If you even need to share a chair with a friend at lunch because there aren't anymore chairs, they will yell at you and tell you to find a new one.. even if that is impossible. I understand that they are there to try to keep us all safe and to inforce the rules, but I think they take their jobs to the extreme. Also, so do some teachers. Teachers claim that we are in high school to learn to mature and get ready for the real world once we are out of high school, but if teachers continue treating us the way they are, it will be impossible to prepare for the real world. The first day of school my spanish teacher told our class that we aren't aloud to use the bathroom unless it is an emergancy. But one day when a kid clearly really needed to use the restroom and claimed that it was an emergancy, our teacher wouldn't let him. Who denies anybody the right to use the restroom? Even kids in preschool are aloud to use the restroom when they need to- they just need a supervisor to go with them. Atleast we don't need a teacher to come with us to the restroom, right? That's a plus. Maybe we are treated like this because they feel like since we are under their watch they need to have complete control. I don't know. But in my opinion, the faculty at our school should not claim that we are in high school to mature and prepare for our lives ahead of us, if we aren't even given the opportunity to do so.

Culture

So it has unfortunately taken me a while to spit another blog out, but I've finally got something to say. Our culture is obviously different than other cultures when it comes to our customs, language, and values. When I was thinking of some words/phrases/and sayings that we use compared to other cultures, the one word I came up with to describe it was sarcasm. When I started working at a restaurant as a hostess, I met a busser who was from Columbia. He didn't speak much english because he had just moved to America, but I managed to learn just a little bit about him. He had told me that he moved here by himself to stay with his Aunt and Uncle to make money for his family who still lives in Columbia. Recently, however, he has improved his English dramatically and I am able to carry on hour long conversations with him. I asked him how he learned English so well and he said he learned it just by talking to other people in English. When I asked if it was hard to learn, he laughed and said that it was incredibly hard, because there are so many words that have different meanings. He also mentioned that he had a hard time understanding people at first when they were being sarcastic. When he said that it clicked into my head that we had a discussion about this in class, and how real it is in our society today. As I was driving home I was thinking about how hard it would be to enter a new country, without parents, not speaking the native language. I think that we use sarcasm in our language because we have gotten so comfortable with eachother we don't think about the double meanings to what we say. When people say "Shutup!" or "I hate you!" that can be understood more ways than one. I was walking in the hallway last thursday and I heard one girl yelling "Shutup! I hate you!" when she was trying to flirt with another boy, but then I turned the corner and somebody yelled "Shutup!" and it was apparent that they were actually mad at the person they were yelling it to. To somebody just entering our culture and trying to adapt to the language, it would be very difficult to understand the meanings behind our words if we were all always sarcastic. Before my friend from Columbia learned was even the word sarcasm was, he was confused. Obviously people won't ever stop being sarcastic; I don't think that it is always bad. But I do think that it is important for people to think before they speak to different people, because what they say could be taken the wrong way.

Social Construction of Reality in "A Bronx Tale"

In the film "A Bronx Tale," the neighborhood that Collegero, or "C", grew up in was socially contructed based on the environment and the people that occupied it. There were no written rules to help with the construction of the community, but everybody who lived there knew them. In my opinion, one of the people who played a significant role on the rules and expectations of the community was Sonny. Sonny had the master power to help with whatever was needed, or to kill whatever was needed. However, Sonny's power didn't come about out of respect and admiration, but it was the outcome of fear. Under the fear of Sonny, people knew to respect him, and to respect everybody else that Sonny would want you to respect. The community knew that if Sonny asked for something to be done, it had to be done. They knew that they could not deny Sonny of anything that he asked, because there would be a consequence. Also, it was known that the African Americans and the Italians did not get along, and they weren't supposed to interact. I think that this came about because of racism and because of just following what the rest of the people in the community were doing. Nobody thought to step out and befriend people of that race, so when C met Jane, an African American girl, C thought that there was going to me some issues. He thought that both the community and Sonny would judge him and there would be severe consequences for him having interest in an African American. However, Sonny threw a curveball when C told him about Jane, and Sonny told him to go for it. That is another example of how Sonny had power over the community. Basically, whatever Sonny said goes, and if he approved, everything seemed okay. Sonny was the dominant character with forming the construction of the community in the film. Sonny had the power to control the community because everybody feared him. They feared that if they stepped out of line, their lives would be more difficult or would even be put into danger. Sonny had the group and the connections to basically rule, so the took advantage of it. Without a figure like Sonny, I think the rough community would lack protection. Sure there would be police to help, but I believe the neighborhood would be more dangerous. So, overall, the community was formed by Sonny taking charge, and everybody was secretly greatful for having somebody look over them.

Abandon Ship

Last week, we did a boat activity where we had to chose who was to get booted off of the stranded boat. Surprisingly, a lot of the characters I thought were to stay and which characters I thought were to leave, didn't. The character I was playing was Quarter Master MacDonald, and little was known about me. My role sheet said that I served in the navy, and I suffered injuries to both of my hands from an explosion to the point where I couldn't use them. I was married, and I had four children in the U.S. 

When we started, it was surprising to me when the rest of the shipmates chose to kick off characters like the pregnant women and her husband, or the fat self-made millionaire. In my opinion, those two characters were equally important as the man who was going to release important information to the public to help with the world's ecology problem. But, in the rest of the shipmate's eyes, people like the pregnant women and the fat man were not important just because they didn't seem to have any important reasons to stay; they didn't have anything to offer to the world. Maybe the pregnant women was so important to me because not only would she be taking her own life, but also her unborn baby as well. As for the husband, I think that he chose to go too because they are a pair- they are young and in love and one cannot live without the other. As for the self-made millionaire, he chose to leave because he was a little overweight and thought he was taking up too much room. I feel that today we are all so quick to judge people based on their outer appearance rather than people's worth. This man must have been brilliant to become as successful as he had, yet he was thrown off because of his body and not because of his brains. Along with my character, I was thrown off for the same reason. Nobody knew anything about me, making me useless to society. Also, my hands didn't work, so I was useless to the shipmates. 

Tying this activity back to the discussion we recently had about stereotypes, I feel that this process of judgement and dismissal occurs everyday within society. Within the first 7 seconds of meeting somebody, our initial impressions are made. Whether these impressions are that the person is fat, tall, skinny, mean, caring, funny- they aren't based off of any factual information. They are just made because of what we see, or because of what we have heard.  I think that the same thing happened on the boat. We got on the boat, read everybody's description, and then chose who we were going to kick off based on the two or three sentences about them. I think that is why the fat guy was thrown off, and I was thrown off, the person with useless hands, and the elderly people were thrown off-  we all thought that those people weren't anything to society or they weren't as important to save because of their outer appearance. 

I liked this activity because it was based on a true story, and we also got to experience how people act and how people justify their choices. Every person had a reason in their own mind as to why they wanted to throw somebody off. But nobody had a legitimate reason that would truly make it okay to throw that person off the boat in real life. All of the reasons were based off of judgement, and I find it interesting how everything our class has talked about is beginning to tie back together to form a bigger picture, and I'm looking forwards to the next discussion to see how it relates as well.

Freaks and Geeks

The show Freaks and Geeks that we watched was funny, serious, and also opened my eyes. It was interesting to me because at Stevenson, I really don't think groups like that exist. Sure, there are different groups of friends who hang out with each other more than others, but I don't think that those groups are classified as simply the "freaks" and "geeks." The groups of friends at Stevenson are all mixed and have different labels. I think that if they were filming at Stevenson, they would have groups such as: the athletes, kids involved in theater, kids not involved in anything, the staff, and maybe even the freshman would have their own group, because they are always the newbies and everybody is interested in the new "bait." 

I think that in the "Stevenson World," the staff would have power over the students, and the different grade levels would have power over the younger grades. Clearly, the staff would have power over the students because they run the place and expect us to treat them with respect. If we don't though, they have more power out of anybody to punish us or warn us for the future.  Also, I think that each grade has power over the younger grade because we each feel like we have more experience and we are wiser than the younger grade. For some reason, that makes us feel like we are better than somebody younger than us.

I'm not sure if I know what important symbols there are for the Stevenson society, but if I'd have to chose one I would say our mascot, the Patriot. I think that it represents a strong, powerful individual.  By attending Stevenson, each student becomes a Patriot, and therefore must represent who and what we are.

So, hopefully we can watch more episodes of "Freaks and Geeks" that relate to our lives and our class in the future, and I'll be able to blog about those then too!

Who am I?

For starters, my name is Erika and I am finally a senior this year! and I'm looking forwards to graduating highschool and moving on with my life. I am a generally caring, sincere, and loud (depending on my comfort level with my surroundings). I find myself to bethe happiest I can be when I am somewhere on a beach. This summer I went to Hawaii for two weeks, and it was probably the two best weeks of my life. I spent my days waking up early (gasp) and surfing and spending time with my family. In the winter to keep myself occupied, I love to go snowboarding with all of my girlfriends. Also, music is a big part of my life too. Each month I find myself obsessed with a new band or song, and I'm always relating my life to the songs I'm into. This week, I've been listening to my friend's band 'Good Luck Jane' on repeat, and you can check them out on iTunes or at www.myspace.com/goodluckjane. I'm also heavily influenced by my parents and my three best girlfriends. Since they are who I am constantly interacting with, I am able to grow, learn to know who I am, and who I want to be, based off of our experiences and views on life. Well, that's it now! gooooodbye.

MY first day..

So, my first day in sociology was actually everybody else's second day because I switched into it, but it was still a different experience. Out of my three years at school so far, I have never gotten lost to the extent that I did that day.. which is pretty embarrassing considering I should know this school better than most people now that I am a senior..
It began when I first walked into a classroom, gave the teacher my name, got assigned a seat, and then learned that it was a "Global Relations" classroom. Then, after looking at my schedule..very carefully.. I found the right classroom. Once I got there, however, the door was locked and the lights were off. Nobody was in there.. yeah, this would happen to me. So, after stumbling around confused for a good 5 minutes, a teacher spotted me and decided that I looked like I needed some help. Luckily, I found a friend who didn't want to go to class so he stayed with me during this whole ordeal. So the teacher opened up the classroom and told me that the class was changing rooms and would be there shortly.. but after 10 mintues and nobdoy showed up, I figured, yet again, I was in the wrong room. Long story short, my classroom was in the computer lab that day, and since I went to the classroom that everybody was going to be assigned to starting NEXT week, there was no sign on the door telling me to go to the computer lab. So, halfway through the period, I found my class in the computer labs. After joking that I "didn't know how to read the sign that was on the door" .. even though there WAS no sign, I got settled in, and was finally able to begin this blog.