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Reflection

This course has taught me alot about the different aspects of society that I have never thought about before. Before this course, I didn't even know the definition of sociology, seeing that I had never taken a sociology course. I have learned a lot more about why we have all grown up on this planet but we are still so different and that is due to socialization. I notice the differences now in people, especially children, in the way they act. When you look at the parents and then the child, you can see why the saying “like mother like daughter” exists. Also I think that the module that spoke loudest to me was the gender module. I have experienced the inequality that women are served on a daily basis and the “Killing Us Softly 4” was a film that sparked my interest in this topic. I could not believe the ads that we seen in that film. I had never seen such sexualized ads before and now when I see them, it takes me back to this video. I will not longer buy from the brands that market their products in this way. Overall, this course has taught me to question things that before I had never thought twice about.

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Advice For Future Students

My advice for future students that take this course it that while it is a load of work, it is quite interesting. I had never taken a sociology course before this one and after taking this course, I would consider another course like this. My first piece of advice would be to plan time wisely. The chapters in the book are quite long, especially if you plan on taking notes like I did. Also, never put yourself in a situation where you have to rush through things. When in that position, it makes you work not as good as it could be. Another piece of advice I would give would be to actually absorb this information instead of skimming through it. For me, I ended up really liking the topics covered in this course even though I was not sure I would. Finally, I would suggest writing discussion posts in a separate processor instead of straight on D2L. I allows for more spelling and grammar errors to be found I have discovered. Overall, this course while it has been stressful, it was definitely fun and eye opening.

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Intro

Hi. My name is Kyra Boone. I am in college currently at Harrisburg Area Community College to receive my associates degree in Dental Hygiene. I am currently a dental assistant at a local dental office. While I do not have much free time, when I do I love to do anything that gets my creative juices flowing. Whether that be a big project or just a little raft, I like to keep my mind occupied while I can. My new current obsession is ‘color by sticker’ books. It is like color by number picture, put instead of colors you place stickers. When I have time to watch TV, I love competitive Food Network game shows. Although, to be completely honest, I do not do much cooking in my house. I have quite a few pets: 3 cats and a rabbit. In my family we like to have fancy cats. We have a Devon Rex, which is an almost hairless cat; it feels like petting a peach. We also have an abyssinian cat which originated in Egypt. He is a dark brown and orange cat with ticked fur. Our final cat is a rescue and she is a brown tabby. In conclusion, most of my life is consumed with work or school, but when I do have time off, I like to spend it with the people that I love.

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Social equality should be the aim of all societies across the world. Social equality is “a condition in which no differences in wealth, power, prestige or status based on nonnatural conventions exist” (Conley, 2017, p.239). This would be the ideal world for most, in which the people that get ahead are the ones that work the hardest. However, the current society in the United States would be one of social inequality. Socially inequality is defined as “ the result of priveleges and uneven access to resources and will eventually lead to social ills” (Conley, 2017, p.240). Inequality is very prevalent in our society. The more people someone knows, the more opportunities one will receive. Hard work does not always lead to the goal in social inequality.

In the photo above it shows different sized people trying to see over a fence. On the left side of this photo, everyone receives one box to stand on. This would be an example of equality of condition. Equality of condition is “the idea that everyone should have an equal starting point” (Conley, 2017, p.246). While everyone in this image is given a single box to stand on, not everyone can see the field because not everyone started at the same height. This can be seen in society as well. When three people graduated from the same high school, but only one got accepted into college, that would be equality of condition. Everyone was given the same opportunity to attend school, but only one person had connections. Therefore, the playing field was never exactly equal. One the right side of this photo, everyone can see the field. This image would be an example of equality of outcome, “the idea that each player must end up with the same amount regardless of the fairness of the game” (Conley, 2017, p.247). So while no one started out the same height, in the end they all landed at the same conclusion.

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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In the article, it explains that not just people that are homeless are using food banks. Often times, people that have a sudden loss of income can be seen at these facilities. Since food banks are not established and run by the government, people have more control of their food. In contrast, when they are on certain government assisted food plans, they are instructed on what they can buy. In order to sign up for food assistance, for example the WIC (women, infants and children) program, they must go to a government space. Most of the time, people working at these places are not inviting. However, participants noted that since the people working at a food bank facility are volunteers and not involved with the government, they are welcoming to the people that come through the doors. The recipients believed they were welcoming due to their want to be at the food bank. This article would be an example of qualitative data. Qualitative data as said in the book is, “used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions and motivations” (Conley, 2017, p.47). This particular study shows the opinions of 25 people in Bristol and what they think of the food banks. In this article it also shares the underlying reasons of why people tend to migrate to food banks. This type of data is collected through “participant observation” (Conley, 2017, p.47). Questions will be asked of the participants in an open-ended manner, allowing them to elaborate on the question. That allows sociologists to find the truth behind the question asked. Qualitative data is a major part of the research done to support sociological facts.

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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#research #HACCSOCI201

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People are banding together to show their support for a common goal in the hope of change. A social movement is “a collective behavior that is purposeful, organized and institutionalized but not ritualized” (Conley, 2017, 704). Often times, these social movements will be motivated by a social or political aim. Social movements have been plastered in the media recently; Black Lives Matter, Call for justice and the impeachment of the President. The particular social movement shown in this picture is the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Occupy Wall Street movement is “ the 99% percenters, represents an equally diverse set of social actors, not seeded by wealthy donors”(Conely, 2017, p.710). This movement is particularly focused on the economic inequality seen in the United States. This is a good example of a social movement because people are banning together for a purpose. They want to see change within the economy and to see this change, they protest.`This type of social movement could also be characterized as a revolutionary movement. A revolutionary movement is “a social movement that advocates the radical reorganization of society”(Conley, 2017, p. 707). Social movements have changed our society since the 1900s. Some of the most common would be the Me Too movement, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Pro-Choice movement just to name a few. The movements can show exactly what would have been happening in that time period and what they wanted changed.

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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Racism is a big part of so many people’s lives and is still very active in today’s society. Racism is defined in the book as, “the belief that members of separate races possess different and unequal traits” (Conley, 2017, p.325). We can see this in recent news, mostly through the social movement of Black Lives Matter. They are trying to demonstrate the others the racism that occurs within the police force. Pointing out the excessive deaths of their fellow African Americans when in contact with the police.

In this specific artifact it reads “racism is as American as baseball”, demonstrating that America is still heavily divided by race. In general, I would say that Americans are plagued with ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is “the belief that one’s own culture or group is superior to others and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one’s own” (Conley, 2017, p.328). America seems to only see people from their own shoes instead of looking through someone else's. Americans discriminate against anyone that looks, speaks or acts different from themselves. We have become so used to this idea, that not many people are challenging it. That is, people that are not experiencing this discrimination. While we have become better at incorporating people not of our own culture, we are still very hesitant of them. Racism, as it has become better in the last few decades, still remains heavy in the United States.

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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Gender has been a recent controversial topic in the news lately as more people are saying they are neither male nor female. So while they might be male in sex,”the biological differences that distinguish males from females” their sexuality, “desire, sexual preference and sexual identity and behavior” may be female (Conley, 2017, p.281). While the idea of gender may be changing, the idea of gender roles have not. Gender roles as stated in the book are “sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as a male or female” (Conley, 2017, p.289). From birth we can see gender roles being implemented. When it is a boy they are dressed in blue and a girl is decorated in pink. This picture shows many different things that are seen as male in society’s eyes and what is feminine. As a woman one is expected to be a good cook, should clean, and raise the children. Men are supposed to go out and work to bring money home for the family. While as the years come and go, more and more people are breaking these roles, it still seems to be present. Men are supposed to be tough and women are known to have emotions. One may ask why we continue to support these roles and the answer would be because those are the social norms. One does not want their child to be an outcast due to their son wearing a pink shirt to school. We want our children and ourselves to be seen as the majority and do not want to stick out too far from the typical. Gender roles that been implemented since the early days and it does not seem like they will be washed away anytime soon.

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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Sociology is “the study of human society” (Conley, 2017,p.3). Sociology can be seen at an individual level or a larger scale like a society. Either way, sociologist are trying to figure out what exactly causes us to be who we are. By looking through different lenses, sociologists can find out a lot of things about a person. The artifact above is an example of a social institution, which is “a complex group of interdependent positions that together perform a social role and reproduce themselves over time” (Conley, 2017, p.15). A large social institution is religion. People come together from everywhere due to the common belief of theirs. If you were to ask a person how they know that Jesus was a man, they might explain to you that the Bible says so. The Bible never makes mention of this however, so how can we know Jesus was a man? We can not be for certain, but because of the common belief of Christians that he was male, that is what has been passed down for years and years. That is actually what a social institution does; it convinces its members of something and that is then passed down to generations below. So while some may see that Jesus was a man as a fact, it is simply a tale passed down from generations. While it may be true, no one today was alive and experienced it. Social institution in the end is “ a grand narrative that constitutes social identity is nothing more than the sum of individual stories told between pairs of individuals” (Conley, 2017, p.15).

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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Globalization has become a huge topic in the past couple of years. Globalization is “the rise in the trade of goods and services across national boundaries, as well as the increased mobility of multinational businesses and migrant labor” (Conely, 2017, p.263). Globalization has become popular for the United States in specific because when we ship our items to China, it costs less than to have that product produced here. Also, the company can pay the workers less than they would have to pay American people. The McDonaldization example correlates with the subject of globalization. The McDonaldization of society shows that we are starting to become like Mcdonald’s. We “emphasize efficiency, predictability, calculability, substitution of nonhuman for human technology and control over uncertainty” (Crossman, 2018). We, as a society, have become very impatient. We want everything done fast and perfect.

This photo shows a great example of the concept of substitution of nonhuman to human technology. This concept is seen within the “McDonaldization of Society” example. As a society, we are starting to replace humans with robots for certain jobs. By doing this we are ridding people of their purpose in society. We are replacing everything with robots because of our infatuation with predictability. By replacing humans with robots, there will no longer be ‘human error’ present. More and more examples are becoming apparent with replacing human technology with nonhuman technology. At the grocery store, there are self checkout lines, reducing the amount of people kept on staff. However, this example is one that is perfect to demonstrate the downfall of this replacement. I have never used the self checkout without it glitching. Whether that is because I picked something up too early or rested on the scale, it still takes a human to fix this machine. My ultimate question would be if this substitution is actually worth it in the end. We still need humans to fix this nonhuman technology, so is it really benefitting society in the long run?

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Crossman, A. (2018, Sept. 10). McDonaldization Defined. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/mcdonaldization-of-society-3026751

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Social deviance can be demonstrated in many different ways in our society. Social deviance is defined as, “any transgression of socially established norms” (Conley, 2017, p.191). When someone is seen doing something ‘out of the norm’ they are committing an act of social deviance. Basically, doing something that causes someone to stare at you in disbelief. Conformity is the opposite of social deviance. Conformity is anything that one is doing that correlates with ‘normal’.

In this video, it shows an audience listening to a man give a speech. The first half of his speak he is making valid points. However, the second part of his speak he starts spewing complete gibberish. His end game is to find out if the people in the audience listening to him will give him a standing ovation, even though half of his speech made no sense. By having two of the audience members planned to stand up at the end of the speech the peer pressure made the rest of the unsuspecting audience follow their lead. This video can be used as an example of social control. Social control as defined by Conley is "what sociologists refer to as the set of mechanisms that create normative compliance, the act of abiding by society's norms or simply following the rules of group life" (2017, p.198). Social control is seen here is the standing ovation that occurs even though no one thought he deserved it. The audience only participated because the people around them were doing it and they felt pressured to stand. When everyone started to stand up, it was now the social norm so others were willing to participate. This is an example of conformity as well. Everyone followed the others lead because they did not want to be the outcast.

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Ross, Steven. [Professor Ross]. (2017). Brain Games-Conformity (Standing Ovations). [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft7mwyiPyIo

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Socialization happens to almost everyone that is currently a member of society. Socialization is “the process by which individuals internalize the values, beliefs and norms of a given society and learn to function as members of that society” (Conley, 2017, p.118). Socialization is important in learning basic functions when we are growing up. Without socialization, we may not have ‘common sense’ or understand basic cues.

 Resocialization however, allows one to relearn basic functions or think of them in a different way. As stated in the book,"Resocialization is the process by which one's sense of social values, beliefs and norms are reengineered, often deliberately, through an intense social process that may take place in a total institution"(Conley, 2017, p.131). For the specific example above, resocialization is shown. In Boston, they are attempting to exercise a new program called the People Achieving Change Together or the PACT unit. This program is meant for incarcerated people between the ages of 18-24 to come together to make this their last appearance in jail. They all reside on the same floor and are given adult responsibilities to handle while still under supervision. They are required to attend certain classes to prepare them for reentry into the world after their sentence is up. Since brain development continues into the mid-twenties, this age group has the best chance to reform and resocialize themselves for the world once they are released. By teaching these children that are still in a state of life that they can relearn, the prison is trying to change their actions after they are released. This is an example of resocialization because they are reteaching previously learned skills to introduce them in a new way to force a better outcome. Resocialization can be used to change one’s unfavorable behaviors, into behaviors that align with social norms. Socialization teaches us about norms of our particular society, while socialization teaches one new ways of their old norms.

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

Quinn, C. (2018, Apr. 29). A new approach to incarceration in the US.: Responsibility. [Audio Podcast]. Retrieved from https://www.npr.org/2018/04/29/606381461/a-new-approach-to-incarceration-in-the-u-s-responsibility

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Culture is a huge part of anyone’s life and that is why it is so important in sociology. Culture is defined as, “the sum of the social categories and concepts we embrace in addition to beliefs, behaviors (except instinctual ones) and practices; everything but the natural environment around us” (Conley, 2017, p.78). Basically everything around us is part of our culture, that is what defines societies from other societies. American culture is exponentially different than culture in India. In specific, this picture demonstrates consumerism. Consumerism is “the steady acquisition of material possessions, often with the belief that happiness and fulfillment can thus be achieved” (Conley, 2017, p.107). Consumerism is a huge part of American culture. So much so that Black Friday is a holiday dedicated to this concept. As a society we have become engulfed in this idea that the more we have, the happier we will be. Just because one is surrounded by things does not mean happiness, even though they may have bought those things in the attempt that it would.Consumerism is often seen in celebrities because they must keep up their ‘image’ in the media. The Life of the Rich and Famous shows one just how much we, as a society, are obsessed with buying the biggest and best of things. A whole show can be made demonstrating just how much one person spends on luxury items. Another place where consumerism can be seen is on the show Hoarders. In this program, it shows people that have so many items, they have completely filled their house. While in this program the participants are not buying luxury items, consumerism is still present. They become obsessed with their belongings and maybe just the act of shopping. Overall, consumerism is a major part of our culture, especially in the United States.

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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