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Hello everyone, my name is Lexi and I going to be starting my official start to college in the coming fall. I look this class because I was interested in learning about sociology. In high school, I was a cheerleader, equestrian, and I was on the rifle team. I plan to be a psychology major and thought taking an introduction to sociology would be a nice foundation to opening my mind to the reality of the world and to think sociologically.  

This blog provides insight to different aspects of society and I have provided artifacts to tie all of these aspects together to show how everything can be connected and how we can see the different sociological issues that surround us. 

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Dear Future Students,

This class is interesting and will make you think differently about the world that surrounds you. The textbook for this class has been the only one I actually wanted to read. I took about two days to sit down and read through each chapter and take notes. I liked to use colored pens to mark of different heading and vocabulary words. I rotated between three different colored sticky notes to mark information I was not quite sure about or something I thought was important. I Used for example, orange sticky notes throughout one chapter and then purple sticky notes for the next chapter. These were the studying strategies that I used, which helped me in learning the information and for the quizzes we had for each week.

The films we watched were interesting as well because the content was engaging and had you craving more by the end. I read through the study guide that was provided to us and then I would fill it in as I watched each film. Do not procrastinate in this class, especially for this project. It is best to try and work on this project as least once or every other week to ensure that at least some of it is getting done and you are not trying to do it the night before. 

I wish you all the best of luck and remember to apply yourself and give effort in everything you do in this class. 

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This course was my favorite by far throughout the semester. I learned about our social issues that surround us and how they are intertwined together that create one big picture. This course has opened my eyes to how I view the world around me and this project helped with that as well. The videos we watched were very interesting and I wish there was more. I cannot say I had a class before where I really read every chapter and watched the videos from start to finish except for this class. This course was laid out in a way that was easy to follow, learn, and interact with. I hope with my major in psychology, I can try to squeeze in some sociology classes so that I may improve myself in thinking like a sociologist in the world we live in. 

I felt as though I connected to the ‘Killing Us Softly 4′, because I never realized how much women were sexulaized in the media as much as they were and are to this day. I plan to look research more to see if the speaker, Jean Kilbourne, will be speaking at any events near Lancaster, PA, in the next few months or year. Watching the evolution and how women were altered and posed for these images were not something that was good for their self esteem and young women’s, but it was interesting to watch the process and evolution. 

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This is heartbreaking to see because you can often forget how many single dads there are because it is usually single moms that are being talked about. We usually assume that moms will only need to change their child's diaper, when there are single dads who have to change their child, but do not have the access to the proper resources. Changing this would be redemptive social movements because this targets a specific group but advocates for more radical changes (Conley, 2017, p. 707).

This change could help many single fathers in everyday life so that they may care for their child properly. This image alone should strike a movement because looking at this father trying to create an area, on his knees, to lay his child is outrageous. If he were to try to do this in public, people would be appalled, so instead, we should put changing tables in place in the men’s restroom. It may be possible to change their child’s diaper in the back of a car, but what if they do not have that option because they do not have a car, or they were on a walk in the stroller? This is something we have to think about and make a change to let dads change diapers. 

References

Conley, D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. New York; W. W. Norton.

Intersectional Feminism means addressing injustice and promoting equality wherever it may exist and whoever it may effect.

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This is a powerful book and movie. I myself watched the movie when it came out last year and loved it. I loved the message it gave to everyone watching about racism and seeing it through the eyes of Starr. When her friend, Khalill, was shot while they were being pulled over, this sparked a movement and protest to get justice for Khalil’s death. The officer was only put on suspension, which was the reason a movement was started. 

Starr struggles with discovering who she really is when she lived in a predominantly black neighborhood but goes to a private school that has mostly white students. You can see she has two different personalities between school and at home. Towards the, end she finds her voice and speaks up about Khalil and the justice he deserves during a protest. Also, part of the end, her father is about to try to kill King, the antagonist and ruler of their neighborhood. for almost killing Starr. Her youngest brother, Sekani, has his gun and points it at King. The police arrive at this moment are pull out their guns. Starr narrates and says “THUG LIFE. the hate you give little infants effs everyone”, which is the reason for the title ‘The Hate U Give’. Starr defuses the situation and asks the officers when they will understand that the hate and violence is not the answer. This is the desire for pluralism which is the presence and engaged coexistence of numerous distinct groups in one society (Conley, 2017, p. 352). In the community of Garden Heights is where King rules and there is the group of predominantly white students at Starr’s school where she felt out of place. She ultimately wants people of all races to come together and live in coexistence. 

References 

Conley, D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. New York; W. W. Norton.

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Interracial couples have been a debate between both races. White and black people alike will be bias towards interracial couples and not like them. In this article the population of an experiment was 1,200 white people, over 250 black people and over 250 multiracial couples. The population is an entire group of individual persons, objects, or items from which samples may be drawn (Conley 2017, p. 62). The researchers wanted no only to see the bias, but specifically the explicit and implicit bias. The explicit bias is when a person thinks about the multiracial couple, for example, and says their opinion about the subject. Implicit bias would be saying how they feel about multiracial couples impulsively. 

This study showed that when showed images of interracial couples to see how long the participants would take to associate positive words with the images. White people took between about seventy and one hundred milliseconds to do so. Black people took between 110 and 160 milliseconds. Interracial couples took between zero and thirty milliseconds. These results show that white and black people will be bias towards multiracial couples, but only people whom were in or are in a relationship with the opposite race were not. They took the least amount of time to find words like ‘love’ and ‘happiness’ for the images. This is an interesting study because you can see how both races feel amount multiracial couples, but at the same time this topic has been something more widely accepted over the past couple of decades. 

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This image shows the difference between equality and equity. The image on the right is an example of equality of opportunity because everyone is given a fair chance to stand on the wooden box to see the game (Conley 2017, p. 245). The image on the right is an example of equality of condition because the equality is measured based on everyone’s height. The dad does not need to stand on a box because he is already tall enough, the ten-year-old boy on needs one to see, and the youngest needs two boxes to stand on. The condition is changed based on everyone’s needing to be able to see. This allows everyone to have a fair chance to see the game.

In society, everyone is always saying we need equality, but really, we have equality of conditions based on people’s different rate of pay in their own profession. Doctors will get paid more than that person working in McDonalds because doctors are studying medicine and saving lives. People who are working in food service make their money by serving people their food. When people want the equal rights as someone, they want the same privileges and advantages. When women wanted to vote, that was a right they wanted to have because men had the right to vote. Equality comes in different forms and in used in different ways. 

References 

Conley, D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. New York; W. W. Norton.

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ConlIn this episode of Grey’s Anatomy, this young resident, Dr. Casey Parker, is transgender. You would not have thought he was initially at girl, but he outs himself with Dr. Bailey is asking him why he hacked into the DMV. He explained that is sex is female, but proudly identifies as a man. So, in turn he changed his sex on his driver’s license to male.  When he says he is a proud trans man, he gave inspiration to people to be comfortable with who they are. This is a social issue that people are being educated on and we as human are to accept people for who they are. 

Sex is the biological differences that distinguish males from females (Conley, 2017, p. 281). Gender is a social position; the set of social arrangements that are built around normative sex categories (Conley, 2017, p. 281). This is where many people will confuse the term gender by believing gender is the same as a person’s sex. A person’s sex determines their body being male or female. The person may decide their gender and how they identified. Dr. Casey Parker was born a woman, but decided to be a man cause that is how he feels. 

References

Conley, D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. New York; W. W. Norton.

“And that’s how you introduce a trans character on TV”

- @itzzkait 

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Tattoos is something that many people have different views on. Some people who do not have them, believe that tattoos are horrendous, inappropriate, and unnecessary. Some argue that God would not want people to mark up their bodies with ink. People who have tattoos want to express themselves with the art on their bodies. With the people who judge these people for expressing themselves this way is symbolic interaction because people will make assumptions about a person with a tattoo and where it is. They interpret their tattoos in their own ways.

I myself have a rose on my shoulder that is blue and yellow, and I have my own story about it. My grandmother passed in March of 2017. I always knew I wanted to get a tattoo in honor of her but had not decided what to get. Then I realized her favorite flower was a rose, her favorite color was yellow, and the color of her eyes was blue. So, in turn, I decided to create a combination of the three and worked with a tattoo artist to figure out exactly what I wanted on my body for the rest of my life. To this day, I see my tattoo as a symbol of my grandmother and that she will be with me wherever I go. To other people, I may look like a typical girl with a rose tattoo and got it just because I wanted to. This is a prime example of symbolic interaction because my tattoo means something to me, that not everyone will understand when they look at the symbol I have for my grandmother. 

References

Conley, D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. New York; W. W. Norton.

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This article is about how machines have been taking over the job history over the past 120 years. In the 1890′s innovations were being created for other inventions to replace the ones at the time. An example given, is the creation of an assembly lines for mass production of cars. This replaced the jobs for people that created horse carriages and the tack for those horses. Another example is communication. Companies like Apple have generated billions of dollars, but machines will create the phones, which only gives jobs to board of directors and workers in Apple stores. It is interesting how we have corporations where machines create other machines. This does save time and sometimes can result in quantity over quality. 

The statistic that caught my attention was the title of technology taking over 90% of the jobs humans used to do. This does not mean there are only 10% of the jobs in society available, but it means 90% of the jobs that used to exist are replaced my nonhuman technology. Society looks for and creates new jobs so that people can still make money. People will work in factories and oversee the assembly lines and people can still work along the assembly line, depending on the company and product that is being produced.

References

Conley, D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. New York; W. W. Norton.

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I always see these types of videos on Facebook of social experiments. These two young men test how people react to bullying in a public place. Bullying is frown upon in schools but happens all of the time. This can be considered criminal, deviance, or both depending on how that person is being bullied. Even though bullying is looked down on in schools, it still happens and only some people will be willing to step in and stop it. It is not considered deviant to speak up and do something to help the person being bullied, so it makes you wonder why more people help that person It is not socially acceptable to bully someone, but people allow it to happen without letting someone know in a school setting or like the setting in this video. 

In the video, these boys pretend they are in a fight and one of them is being bullied. You can see many people, especially adults watch everything happen as they walk, but do nothing to intervene or prevent the bullying. There are few people that step in to end the fight. There is nothing socially wrong with ended a fight between two boys, but no one will want to offer their help. These boys say, “Actions speak louder than words”, which is very true because the act of intervening or telling a teacher about school will help end bullying. I think these boys making this video help with awareness to bullying and how people can do something about it. 

References

Conley, D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. New York; W. W. Norton.

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Growing up we are taught that barbies, dresses, and colors like pink are for girls. For boys, they are taught that monster trucks, G.I. Joe, and blue is meant for boys. This also goes with long and short hair for each gender. As we would continue to grow up, we would live with these social norms and play the role of being a girl or boy we were raised to be. In today’s society, people are able to express themselves more than they could even ten years ago. Wearing makeup was only encouraged for women and introduced to girls at a young age. This gif above of a boy wearing makeup is a prime example that we are able to express ourselves and can break from social norms.

Gender roles make us feel like we are only mean to like and do certain things as opposed to the opposite gender. Girls do not play football and boys are not cheerleaders. Today, that is not the case anymore. There are girls that are playing on their high school football team and there are plenty of boys who cheer for their school and do competition cheerleading. Sports in general used to be just for boys, but we have boys’ basketball and girls’ basketball so that girls can do the same activities as boys.

References

Conley, D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. New York; W. W. Norton.

Lewys is a super passionate seventeen year old beauty and fashion vlogger. He has found his niche creating beauty looks for boys and has a taste for high end products.

NCS, a government sponsored programme for young adults, has helped Lewys gain his confidence and embrace his passions.

If you’re 16/17 and want to gain confidence and shape your identity, you can sign up here

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Looking about this post, I actually thought about the social implications that Valentine’s Day brings to America. Valentine’s day is a way for companies to make a profit on other people’s happiness. Jeweler’s raise their prices because people usually want to buy something nice or propose to their significant other. Companies create all of these cute cards, stuffed animals, and chocolates to commercialize this holiday. Since this holiday is showcased as “the day of love” some people only tell their significant other how much they love them by showering them with gifts when they should be able to show their love and appreciation for that person every other day of the year. 

This could be a stretch, but I believe Valentine’s Day is invidious and conspicuous consumerism because, mostly men, want to buy their significant other an engagement ring and will want to go to a name brand store. These stores know that during this time of the year, people want to buy rings and they will usually raise the prices to make a profit or try to create discounted deals for buyers so that they come again for another piece of jewelry down the road. With these name brand rings, the engaged couple can proudly say how much it is worth and where it is from, so I believe this to be invidious and conspicuous because they go hand in hand with the name brand, price, and luxurious item.

Also, as a side note, I am not against this holiday, but I have thought about the social implications Valentine’s Day brings to the table. 

References

Conley, D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. New York; W. W. Norton.

I don’t always celebrate Valentine’s Day….But when I do, I point out its sociological implications.