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jessekleiner-blog · 6 years ago

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Final Concept Reflection

I would like you to record (and elaborate—please do not simply list them) 2 things you learned in class that had an impact on you/your way of thinking. One should be from a documentary and one should be from class lecture/note material or the article you read.

I would then like you to share this with a classmate.

What is their response to what you learned? What do they think of it? Please document that.

What did they learn? How is their perspective different from yours? How is it the same?

The subjects we discuss in Sociology are often sensitive, so people tend to not talk about them. How could you communicate about these topics with someone who had very different opinions than you do in an effective way? Why should we strive for this?

Jesse Kleiner

The documentaries assigned in this course were very informative and lead way to many different ideas of thinking for me. Miss Representation was by far the most influential documentary I viewed in this course. It opened my eyes to just how exploited women really are in this society. We live in a world with an extreme double standard and it is important to break down those barriers as much as we can. There needs to be a certain level of respect for not just women, but people in general. Women have been suppressed for decades and just because we have made ‘so much progress’ does not mean we take a seat. Major careers in the STEM fields and politics are lacking women which is a major problem. The fact that today we still live in a world where the pay gap is still relevant is absolutely unacceptable.

Response: Yeah, I thought it was also interesting what Dr. McCown said last class about how when she went through the journals, she found that the girls in the class all seemed to find Miss Representation enticing and convincing, and tough guise as not so much. Whereas the guys saw both as valid and sad. And how Miss Representation also happens to be the film that was most influential for you, as opposed to tough guise. It is just interesting how we naturally see what is directly relevant to us, most clearly.

During lecture, I enjoyed learning all about the different sociological perspectives on gender stratification. It was enlightening to learn about all the different ways of thinking pertaining to this idsa. Functionalist, conflict, and feminist approaches bring light to theories that I would have never have thought about. My favorite one to learn about was the feminist approaches. I previously thought this was composed of only one way of thinking, but this is incorrect as it is composed of liberal, radical, socialist, and, multicultural feminism. My personal favorite was learning about radical feminism which traces roots back to patriarchy to women child bearing making them dependent on men. Thinking that male domination is actually the cause of things such as racism and all forms of human oppression. It was very interesting to be educated on theories of all different ways of thinking.

Response: Yeah, I also thought the different sociological perspectives were interesting. I had also learned the varying perspectives in 3 of my other classes, since a lot of my classes are very similar, so it was nice having the ideas reinforced and explained in so many different ways and see it be applied in so many different ways, in my Human Development classes, and my sociology classes.

Tabitha Ngo

I really enjoyed watching tough guise, and how raw and real it was. I appreciated how it addressed issues in society that many people fail to recognize or admit to. I also just truly appreciate seeing multiple perspectives, especially ones that I can’t necessarily relate to, however am able to see and understand. It was also just really interesting hearing and learning the about how societal factors have greatly affected this idea of masculinity, and being able to point out the effects of these macro-level factors in close friends around me. I felt as though my lense was widened to see a whole new world and think about how men engage in interactions and pointing back to why they are the way they are. I also think it is really interesting how closely it tied with Miss Representation in pointing out macro-level factors playing a role in the idea of how a girl should look and act. Watching both documentaries was just really eye opening and has definitely made me think twice about the things I see all around me, such as colors of toys, advertisements, and how I see two people of the opposite sex engaging in public.

Response: I agree, It was really interesting to watch Tough Guise and have another perspective when talking about an issue such as gun violence. I learned a lot from that documentary and find myself critiquing popular media now. Everytime I watch my friends play video games I see violence that is truly so unnecessary. Now that I have seen Tough Guise I constantly am in tune to what my guy friends are saying and trying to correct them when they say such things as “be a man”. It is so interesting how much influence media truly has on our society.

I really enjoyed our lecture on September 25th, when we spoke about social interaction and learned about the different perspectives and ideas on how and why people interact the way they do. I found Goffman’s suggestion of day to day interactions being very similar to being on stage or in a production. It truly made me step back and think about how true and evident that is, and how there is a very known social script present in many day to day interactions, such as shaking hands, and holding a door, and how bizarre it is that every person plays their role exactly as they are supposed to. And how quickly someone notices if someone were to do something that did not follow the script as if the whole production were messed up. I also was really interested by self-fulfilling prophecy, and am pretty passionate in this being extremely prevalent in our society and has a large influence in sculpting people into who society suspects them to be, particularly minorities, and sets them up for failure. Because society has these preconceived notions of how people of color act and speak, often times people feel as though they have no choice but to fulfil that image, because there is no use in attempting to prove them wrong. And I think this concept is something that needs to be spoken about more, and brought to light.

Response: I also enjoyed that lecture! It was so interesting to learn about because it is one thing we all do. I was honestly so interesting in learning more about this concept since we I do it every single day without even realizing. We all know what to say and when to say it. I was an orientation leader this summer and that entire job was a social script. I compared that lesson a lot to the way I acted in that job because I was more or less so different. I said all the right things and smiled when I was suppose to. I also agree with your second point. It saddens me that people feel like there is no where to go but be the stereotype because their race is so suppressed. They have no choice so they often act the way they are ‘thought’ to act.

Tabitha

I think the best approach towards discussing sensitive topics with someone who has very different opinions than you is to agree to disagree, but still attempt to listen and understand their perspective, and allow them to have their opinion, but simply not agree with it. I think it is important for people to feel as though they are heard, and that their opinion is valid, because it is. However, when they run into misunderstandings of factual information regarding the issue, they can indeed be wrong. However, their opinions alone can not be wrong. And giving them the space and respect to openly speak their opinion, despite your own views, is really important to maintain a civil conversation. They also may say or offer something in a way you have never heard or thought about before, and if we live in a constant bubble of only our perspectives on things, we will never grow and see the world for its actuality.

Jesse

Effective communication can be so difficult when talking to someone who has completely different opinions than you. I think the best way to talk about these sensitive topics is through education. Maybe that is letting them look at some statics to realize that this is indeed such an issue. Numbers are not biased. Next I would use good listening skills to hear them out on what they are trying to say. When mutual respect is gained they are more likely to listen to what you have to say instead of fighting with you.

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jessekleiner-blog · 6 years ago

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I feel as though the most problematic aspect of race relations today consequently something that was mentioned in the article. When we try to fix the racial gap and negative feeling towards one another through programs designed to bridge the inequality, it is often apparent that it causes a result opposite of the ‘intent. Another major problem is in this country is people not recognizing that racism is still a major problem in this country. In recent studies, Hispanic and African American people were more likely to say there is a racial issue still present in this country than Caucasian individuals. This is a problem because if there is no recognition for a problem, it makes it more difficult to prove it needs solving.

Race-Based Critical Theory: The modern world is structured by race and there is a purpose for racist people in our culture to bring it to the forefront to be recognized as a problem. There will always be a structure to the world in which resources are not distributed evenly. The main goal is to look at racism in a generally perspective looking at the social structure. A theory that resonated with me the most is Racial formation theory the key theorist being Michael Omi and Howard Winant. One line that really stuck out to me was “Race is socially constructed and continuously reproduced”. I find that I agree with this statement a lot of people of the idea that racism is not born it is taught. Since your parents are racist and look at the world a certain way you make have a higher chance of adopting those view not know that it is the wrong way to look at a thing. Negativity is spread like wildfire and produced every day in society. The first African American that hurts someone compared to the 100 white people who do will always be remembered more than the caucasian person.

Color blindness is the theory that racism does not exist and no matter what race you are we all have the same equal opportunities. This can be problematic because it does not bring racism into the light to be recognized as a true problem. With this, we see people not be accounted for which produced the opposite results and makes people of color even more racially discriminated against. White normativity is the idea that the dominance whether that be our culture, language, or the way we act is above all. This is believed to be something people need to aspire to be and is considered normal. In the host example, white people are seen as the hosts while African Americans are seen as the guests. Basically meaning that the diversity of this country is rested on the back of white people to define culture and what you should be aspiring to be. We are the dominant aspect of this world. These ideas play into the concern mentioned at the beginning by truly identifying those concepts. I mentioned above that a major problem is that people are not aware of this inequality which through color blindness makes the problem of racism worse.

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jessekleiner-blog · 6 years ago

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Every Tuesday for two hours, I volunteer at Warm Hearth Village. Some of the responsibilities I have include setting up coffee socials for the residence, helping them with exercises, and organizing whatever needs to be done. I enjoy the work I contribute to Warm Health because you can truly see the difference in this geriatric population. They appear to be happier which means a lot since these individuals may not have that much time left.

The culture of this group is interesting. Beyond anything, I think that these individuals all have one big thing in common. They are all in need of assisted living and most of them struggle with memory loss or Alzheimers. I can tell that some of these people are not ones for a lot of conversation, but then some will talk to me for an hour and still have things to say. It is interesting to me to see the cognitive abilities of these individuals. Some are very deteriorated while others seem to have it mostly all together.

Everyone is very nice who works at this location. You have to have a strong gift to work with this population in order to get a lot out of this job. It is interesting to me to see that a lot of the people working at these nursing/retirement homes are young. I believe this is the norm because a lot of times people working mentally and physically exhausting jobs will experience burnout. Elder abuse is huge in nursing homes and it is truly upsetting people have the heart to do that.

It is easy to tell the social groups of this location. These are the people that interact frequently with each other, share a common identity and a feeling of interdependence. For example, these are the people that come to the coffee socials together or the people who always work out together. There is always a role expectation when it comes to the people who work at Warm Hearth Village. You are to be hard working, patient, kind, and flexible. Working with a population such as this has its difficulties that need to be addressed and taken care of.

Throughout the building, you can notice many secondary groups throughout. These people are a more specialized group in which members engage in more impersonal, goal-oriented relationships for a limited period of time. Examples of this include the nursing staff, the physical therapy staff, or the cafeteria workers. I spend a lot of my time with the activities director. He is the leader of all social aspects dealing with the village. I would say he has a democratic leadership style because he is for the people. He asks the residents what they would most enjoy doing and he tries his best to serve them.

With this population, there is are many problems that they might face along the way. This includes problems with mobility and maybe feelings of depression. A lot of these individuals are faced with problems of pain or decreased mobility. This may make just walking difficult so it is up to the physical therapist to target those issues in order to help with mobility. Another thing that may be present in this population is depression. Depression is very high in this population and it may help to address these people’s concerns. Giving people resources to help this problem may include counseling or access to get a prescription.

I very much so enjoy volunteering in this area and hope to see more people in the community reaching out and doing so. Volunteering is great because people will never truly understand the large impact they are making on the people around them. If everyone just volunteered their time for just a short amount, we could make a huge impact in not only the community but the county, state, country, and beyond.

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jessekleiner-blog · 7 years ago

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· What was the main idea/s behind it?

America is saturated in a culture full of guns in violence. They live a world of mass shootings and suicides. Women are harassed, abused, assaulted, and raped but somehow it is still a women’s issue. No matter what kind of violence it is, there is always a disconnect from calling it a men’s issue. It is also so common when a man of color does these things, for that to be the defining factor. “Oh well, it was because he was African America that he did that…”. Race comes to the forefront of the issues, taking on an issue of race now. Another main idea is the fact that many people think “boys will be boys” which just justifies the violence being created. Of course, there are biological factors that men and women differ, but there is no excuse biology can cover why men are unable to make moral and ethical decisions. This culture just glorifies guns and violence.

· What were some of the relevant concepts from class that you saw depicted in the movie?

I think one of the relevant concepts here is deviance and how someone defines it. For example, the DVDs titles “Bum Fights”. These boys would go out and find homeless people, beat them up, and tape it in order to film it for material to put on these DVDs. These men when they were interviewed, said that there is no problem in what they are doing. They do not believe that the act they are doing is deviant in any way. They think it is just simply a way to make money and entertain people. If someone was doing this to one of the boy’s family members, I guarantee you that they would have defined that behavior as deviant.

· What were some points that stood out for you in the movie?

Even in movies such as shark tails, the father shark explains to his son shark that violence is the way of the world. His son was vegetarian and he told his other son go out and make him a “real shark”. Basically telling him he needs to be violent because that is just the way it is. I also thought it was interesting how they brought up the fact that men do not use violence as the last resort, but the first thing they revert to in order to resolve a dispute. Another thing that stood out to me in this movie was the football players who raped that girl just to prove that they were real men. The fact that she could not CONCENT but they did not even care. These men rape these girls in order to bond with each other to show they are ‘manly’.

· Did you agree with the perspective in the movie? Why or why not?

I liked how they shifted violence from being a learned behavior to being a taught behavior. When we teach these boys that there is no true “boy code”, this takes the pressure off them in order to be the stereotypical “real man”. When boys are taught this, it makes them think that if they step out of this box, they are deemed unworthy. This just fosters sexual violence, demands of power, and hunger for respect. We need to change the mind of these boys that being a man isn’t all about domination and power.

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jessekleiner-blog · 7 years ago

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· What was the main idea/s behind it?

These people getting in their dream schools but ended up getting raped. Thinking that these colleges have a reputation for being a safe place when in reality it really isn’t. These people learn later on that they are not the only ones. These girls did a lot of campuses and found that the rapist still allowed on campus was against what Title 9 said. These girls made their case to UNCW. People said these allegations were false since it would ruin the reputation of the university.

· What were some of the relevant concepts from class that you saw depicted in the movie? Is there anything that can be related back to Miss Representation?

I think there definitely are topics that relate back to Miss Representation. One is the fact of the patriarchy. These women basically making their case that they are raped and men absolutely looking the other way. Saying “ oh what were you wearing.... what did you drink....”. Basically, these people turning the blame back on the victim and making them feel like they are in the wrong possibly. Relating this back to class, there are many outlets of peer and gender socialization when it comes to expectations of women and men. If anything were to happen to men in the same numbers that women are raped, there would be the absolute rage in the entire world in order to get a law passed or get the perpetrators in jail. When this happens to women, they are just told you “be careful”.

· What were some points that stood out for you in the movie?

One of the things that stood out to me in this the fact that men are raped as well and people tend to overlook this as well. The fact that a suicide note that was written included the description of a man getting sexually assaulted by another man is ridiculous. These assaults are bringing these people to kill themselves, and I personally have no idea how these people can sleep at night knowing that they were the reason someone took their own life.

· What is the primary problem in this documentary? How might we go about resolving it?

The primary problem in this documentary was the fact that victims usually don't have a voice. They are overlooked although sexual assault keeps on happening over and over again. Even if cases are made they are usually not taken care of until 1 or 2 years later which lets them assault more and more people in the meantime. The problem of how sexual assault affects people to the degree of taking their own lives is heartbreaking. The fact about an issue like this is silence is the worst thing to have. There need to be aware of what is happening in order to look out for it. I was an orientation leader over the summer and one thing I talked to ALL my students about is bystander intervention. Just how you can make a difference in anyone's life by just speaking up. Earlier this year I got dinner with one of my students and she told me this story about how she was at a party and her friend was very intoxicated. This man then proceeded to take her up to a room and take her clothes off without her consent. She ran into the room and grabbed her friend as quickly as she could and they went home that night with no one getting hurt. That night could have turned out a lot differently. If one student gets saved from sexual assault then to me my job all summer was worth it. To solve issues like this, we need to bring light to these situations so people can act when they see it potentially happening. I also feel as though this documentary sheds light on the survivors and their stories which is great.

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jessekleiner-blog · 7 years ago

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The main idea in this documentary is that women are exploited and men continue to dominate the world. Women are extremely underrepresented in our government. Women make up 51% of the entire population, yet our congress does not represent that. The picture above represents the confidence levels of men versus women. Here we see women barely hanging on while men are on top. Men continue to have the upper hand and people continue to see the world in one certain way without change.

I think there are a lot of relevant concepts in this movie that we have discussed in class. One is the idea of sexism which is the subordination of one sex, usually female, based on the assumed superiority of the other sex Another one is the idea of patriarchy which is how men hold all the power and confidence. The movie also talks about the different gender roles men and women are suppose to take on in the world. For example, women staying in the house doing work while men had a corporate job outside the home.

One point that stuck out to me was the fact that after the war, women did not want to leave their jobs in the factory. They actually enjoyed these jobs and wished to stay. In turn, they all got fired and the media tried to figure out a way for these women to be domestic again. They actually made shows and movies that made the domestication of women desirable in order to appeal to women.

I did enjoy the concepts and perspectives in this movies. This actually opened my eyes to things that I never was exposed to. Now I will pay more close attention to news and how women are exploited or disrespected just through media representation. I thought it was interesting how they showed a lot of clips that were aired on TV of women getting disrespected. It also gave me an idea of how the shows I watch actually exploit women such as E-News.

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