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The Last Reflection!

The most impactful thing for me in class was that in general I learnt a lot about the United States. Every topic we discussed starting right from Culture to Race and Ethnicity at the end, I got to know more about the states. One of my main motives of enrolling into a Sociology class was because I wanted to know the society and culture here, so that I can better adapt. Thus, coming from a third world country, I could clearly differentiate certain things (culture, core values, norms, sexuality, marriages etc.) while I could also draw some connections between certain situations back in my country and here. (like how uneven the economy is, the poverty rates etc.) 

Also, the book we read, Modern Romance (by Aziz Ansari) was an amazing insight into today’s society. I am a part of the generation that grew up along with the Internet. So, we didn't really know about dating and romance in the past. We learnt about evolution of romance, how even the purpose of marriage has changed, and more importantly we were acquainted with things we didn't really experience. 

My partner said that even though he was brought up here in the states, quite a lot of topics were eye-opening and sensitive for him. He also agreed that many things are quite different here in the states. Thus, he understood why things could be strange or completely different for me. Furthermore, he agreed to whatever I had to say abut Modern Romance. He also said that he didn't really believe in online dating and in-person communication is the key for him. 

talking about him, he felt the Hunting Ground was a huge eye-opener for how the administration handles rape cases reported on college campuses. Also, whatever solution they came up with wasn't fair for the victims. One of the class discussions that had a greater impact on him was the Meritocracy. He claimed that the statistics were quite shocking and believed that it should be evened out. I wouldn't say his perspective was completely different, as I also had similar perspectives about whatever he said. We just discussed entire different things. 

The reason many people choose not to talk much is because they are scared of getting judged. Thus, it is very important for people to be tolerant about whatever is brought up in class.When you are in the receiving end, anything a person says is their perspective and not necessarily the right or the wrong! However, it is also important to think before speaking about sensitive issues. We as Sociology students should create a class environment where everyone is respected and everyone is tolerant. As Sociology students we should be able to develop this overtime. 

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CRASH

Some examples of the concepts we studied in class.

·     Frustration aggression hypothesis: Farhad (The Persian-American shop owner) raising his gun at/intending to kill Daniel (the locksmith), because according to him Daniel vandalized the shop. Farhad was already so frustrated with how he was treated in the area and thus, even owned a gun to be safe. He ended up taking such an aggressive action, due to the frustration inside him.

Jean also ends up yelling at her husband and saying extremely racist things about Daniel, and that she doesn’t trust him with the locks, because she was horrified and frustrated with whatever had happened to them.

·     Authoritarian Personality: I believe that there were 2 instances where Officer Hansen exemplified this personality. Firstly, when Officer Ryan was abusing Christine, he didn’t do anything to stop him. But we could also argue that it might lead to him facing troubles in maintaining his job. Even though we see him help Cameron, the man who was pulled up by Officer Ryan, escape a situation; he shoots Peter Water as he was taking out something from his pocket. Officer Hansen stereotypically assumed that he was taking out a gun/ trying to harm him, and thus, shot him.

·     Merton’s Four types of Discriminators: I could find quite a few examples for Prejudiced Discriminators in the movie: Firstly, Jean is seen as a racist woman throughout, how she complains about the locksmith and her maid not doing her work properly. However, at the end we see her realizing how intolerant she has been. Furthermore, the way Officer Ryan handled Christine when she was with her husband vs when she was alone was entirely different. Even though, she was in absolute need of help the second time, he never even tried to molest her. Lastly, Farhad also continuously accused Daniel of cheating him and for not doing his work properly, even though he had done his job very sincerely.

Contact Hypothesis:

When Jean injures herself the only person who could help her was her maid, who she always scolded. Thus, she ends up calling the maid, her best friend and realizes how intolerant she had been previously. Furthermore, Farhad accused Daniel of cheating him because he was an immigrant and even trying to kill him for vandalizing his store. But when Daniel’s daughter runs to save Daniel, Farhad has a different sort of contact with them, and later admits that the girl was his Angel and saved him and his family. Lastly, Anthony doesn’t sell the Asian girls and children, even though he could make a lot of money out of it. He could probably resonate with them.

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Race and Ethinicity

One of the problematic aspects of Race relations is that people are still not very open-minded and welcoming as a society. As a society, people still judge/look at other races from their own race or identity. Also, in the case of America, group superiority being one of the Core Values, encourages this kind of behavior. We are social beings and thus, we as humans want to be accepted by the society, we live in. Thus, the problem today is more about the struggle for acceptance and subsequently the struggle for equality.

Race-based Critical Theory: is a critical theory that puts race and racial ideologies while observing the social arrangements. It focuses on studying the core beliefs that lead to racial inequalities in the society.

Out of the 4 key contributors to Race-based Critical Theory, I could resonate the most with Critical Whiteness Studies. I would like to elaborate taking a conflict perspective. As a conflict theorist would say that the dominant group has control over majority of the opportunities and resources. Thus, the dominant group will have the power to decide which group of people will receive what opportunities and resources. Also, how we discussed in class about media being in favor of the dominant group, and only shedding light on the victims. Something similar happens in reality. It is always the beliefs of the dominant group that results to inequalities, but they can escape the situation clearly because they are dominant.

Color blindness is a societal framework whereby the society will not limit opportunities a person can get, based on their color. The main thing that’s problematic about this framework is that it is very idealistic and tens to contradict the reality. Also, this framework has no room for larger structures and thus, using this framework to explain inequalities, often ends up in the victims getting blamed.

White normativity uses the white culture and identity to explain the inequalities in the society. It focuses more on the empowered and advantaged rather than the disadvantaged. It says that it is the beliefs, actions, ideologies and attitudes of the dominant group that determine the social structure and racial hierarchies.

In the “host” analogy, a respondent refers to the Whites as the “hosts” and people of other color as “guests”. If we look in a general scenario, the hosts usually own more resources and have control, while the guests are somewhat dependent on the hosts. This clearly shows how the society is structured by the White supremacy, through their ideologies and actions.

As I wrote about open-mindedness being a problematic aspect of Race relations, it is because the dominant group has the power to look upon things the way they want, and they have the power to structure the society the way they want. Thus, they can really decide whether to accept the races or not.

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Tough Guise!

The main idea behind the documentary Tough Guisewas that, to be a real man one needs to be strong, tough, intimidating and in control. Also, it says that a man only shows those sides that the dominant culture defines as “manly” and most of the times being a man and violent are connected. The documentary talks mainly about how much we have put masculinity and violence, that it is making people forget humanity.

I could connect several concepts we had studied to the movie. One would be Labeling Theory. Things like strength, toughness are used to label Masculinity. Thus, boys are show their vulnerability or emotion as they will be called weak for not measuring up to the labels. This also puts people under pressure. Thus, most of the times violence is a result of men and boys compensating for not being strong and muscular. Another concept would be Agents of Socialization. Beginning with Family and Peers, children who are abused/assaulted grow up to become preparators. Also, most of the mass shootings that happened in schools were because the performers were mistreated and bullied by their peers. The other agent that is seen dominantly in the documentary is Mass media. Mainly with the sports culture. How athletes depict the attitude that: You gain respect by disrespecting others (by humiliating their opponents). Also, the shapes of people are influenced by how the public figures carry themselves.

Men are brought up with this ideology that they don’t need anyone and that they can do it all by themselves. Thus, majority of people going for therapies ae women because seeking help is what women do. Thus, while men face problems they say “I don’t want to talk about it” rather than actually sharing it. (Gender Socialization and Gender Roles)

This is something that Jackson, the Anti-Violence Educator, stresses on. He says that the society that made Masculinity a pose and that you perform it. Thus, the society has constructed violent masculinity and reinforced it as a norm. (Societal Norm)

There were several things that stood out for me in the documentary. The very first thing was more upsetting than positive. It was a joke some public figure had made about RAPE! He said that the shooters should have had sex with the beautiful girls before killing them! The next thing that stood out for me was something that holds true even today! The fact that we talk more about the female victims rather than the male abusers. We apparently do this because the male is the dominant group. Instead of talking about the crime the male need we focus more on the victims. As a conflict theorist would say, because the male is the dominant group, they want to hide the crime they have committed by talking only about the victims.

Also, the documentary talked about how the sizes of men and women have changed and how that contributed to dominance. Over time, the more muscular, the more manly men look, while leaner women are considered more beautiful. Thus, that meant that they occupied more space symbolically. However, the little anecdote of the sport athlete stood out the most for me. Being an athlete, he was looked upon as extremely strong and tough, however he ended up getting emotional during one of his press meets. He also had good relations with one of his opponents, which was not other athletes conventionally did. Such public figures have huge influences on our lives and if he is behaving in such an unconventional manner, breaking the stereotypes, he telling people that vulnerability, compassion and care are also part of being a real man, and are not traits only women should have.

I didn’t agree with quite a lot of perspectives presented in the documentary.

Firstly, I don’t think today, being a man is tied to the strength at all. It is more about their character traits, personality and courage. Also, the ideology of a male not needing anyone is also something I disagree with. We human beings have a brain and a heart and thus, we go through psychological and emotional issues, and it is always a better option to share it with someone.

I agree with what Jackson said that we should create a positive society to allow men to become better humans rather than just gain some masculinity.

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MERITOCRACY

·     My model of Meritocracy would state the following:

1.     The most important tasks in the society will be done by people who have the ability to do that. For example, a farmer does one of the most important tasks of the society, feeding the society! Thus, farming must be done by people who have the ability and knowledge about how farming works and not just the money to buy a land and farm. It will be more if a main source of income for people rather than a side business. I say so, because the most important tasks in the society should be done with much care and consideration, which will only be given if the task is the main source of income.

2.     The most valued ability would be knowledge, regardless of the knowledge being gained through a college degree or experiences. Higher positions will be given to the people who are more capable in terms of knowledge and experience they have.

3.     The most important credential would be that of innovators, be it a researcher, scientist, or a businessman. With the faith and dependence people have in Science and Technology (Core American Value), such innovators are going to be crucial for the society to move forward. However, having said that, no credential will be viewed as less important. No matter how individualistic people have become, we live in a society, and we are interdependent. Thus, no task/credential would be labelled as less important.

4.     Tasks that require extensive training, courage and help make the society a better place for all will be valued highly and such positions will be rewarded highly. For example: firefighters, military, police, bomb disposals, educators, etc. require extensive training and they help make the society a safer place (police, military) and a better place to live in (educators).  

However, this model is definitely not going to work for all situations. For instance, with the example I gave with my first statement, farming being done by only people who have proper knowledge about it, might not work if there is a farmer who has all the abilities, but the finance required for farming. In that case, the farmer might just have to work with/for someone who has the finance. But that also means that the financer might have the control over the activities and might want things done their way. This way, the first statement tends to become more subjective rather than general. Furthermore, by considering Innovators the most important, superiority might develop. This will result to further chaos and discrimination.

·     We live in a society and thus everyone has a social status. It might change overtime but at every point in life we have a social status. Along with the status we have, we have roles which we are expected to perform. Roles in a society can be best carried out when there is a good means of communication among the people/groups in the society. Thus, this could be a reason why the American’s value hierarchically structured society. In a hierarchal arrangement, there are clear lines of communication, thus clearer communication means the roles can be carried out efficiently (Core American Value). Like a Functionalist theory would argue, I would say that hierarchal or not, the structure of the society should be in balance for a society to function. However, like a Conflict theorist would argue, such hierarchal structures will keep the powerful in power and the powerless without power.

·     Davis -Moore thesis gives a functionalist perspective on social stratification. And thus, states that stratification is important for a society to function. They argue that the more skills a job requires, there are less qualified people to do the job.

With the thesis stating that highly rewarded positions must be unique, this stresses on the American value of Achievement and Success. It is telling you to achieve something unique and to be better than others. However, even though he says unique, it can be perceived in different ways. Should the position be unique? Or the means you used to reach that position be unique? Furthermore, the thesis stresses quite a lot on important tasks and positions in the society. This might encourage group superiority among the people that are doing “important tasks” or hold “important positions” in the society.

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My Breaching Experiment

For this I thought of having two breaching experiments. One with someone I know, my friend, and another one with a complete stranger.

My first experiment was playing a game of tic-tac-toe with my friend. I let her go first and thus, she marked an X on one of the squares. When it was my turn, I marked O on one of the lines of the matrix instead of the squares. To which she said, “Where did you want it placed? Never mind!” After which, she made another matrix to start a new game.

The other experiment was with a complete stranger. I stood near a crosswalk and noticed a car approaching me. Once the man saw me, he started slowing down his car. I didn’t cross until the car stopped completely. After which, I just took a U-turn and started walking the other way instead of crossing the road. The man shook his head and shrugged in agitation, as he drove away!

As we know Norms are the basic standards of conduct and thus informal norms are such standards that are not stated in paper but are part of our daily lives. These Breaching Experiments are evidences for the existence of such norms. Even though I didn’t really behave as they had expected me to, I didn’t face any serious consequence, but that made them really angry and agitated!

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Research In Volunteering

For the volunteering i went to an animal shelter that was especially for cats. The only activity they allowed the volunteers to do was socialize with the cats. 

Because I was with animals I could not really have a shared language with them. But having said that, the signs and gestures the cats showed was a sort of communication between us. For example, few cats went to the corner to the cage and tried to go unnoticed as soon as I passed by, meaning that they don’t want to be bothered or are really scared. While, few cats came to the open side of the cage and tried playing my my hands or pushing them, signaling that they are in a playful mood. 

Some sort of socialization that I developed during that time was using the slow approach. The cats wouldn’t attack, if they are assured that they are not going to be harmed. Thus, i started approaching them slowly, allowing them to smell my hands that let them find out themselves that I wasn’t there to harm them in any way! So, after they were certain that I was harmless, they would rub their bodies against my hand or lick them gesturing that they are fine socializing with me. 

Something interesting observation was that all the kittens were kept in groups in the cages, and these cages were made in such a way that they can jump, run and play. We know it is easier to mold a child than a n adult. So, this playful setting for the kittens could have been done to make the kittens less dangerous and more playful by allowing them to socialize with other kittens and creating a playful environment for all of them!

One of the major challenges that they might face would be cleanliness. Handling a large number of cats who are of different age group and come from different situations and thus, need specific kind of care and attention, is a difficult task. However, they have managed things properly. Every cage has a container with pea gravel in it, so that the feces of the cats don’t make the entire cage dirty. Also, upon interacting with one of the volunteers, I got to know that cats clean themselves, and thus, they don’t need to give the cats baths often. 

Furthermore, another challenge that they could potentially face is the fact that they are dealing with animals. Even though they are trained, they are animals. Also, we don’t have a shared language so, we cant really say much about their mood. Thus, to overcome this, they make sure that whoever handles the cats, no matter for how long, is made aware that if the cats resist, you must step back and leave them alone!

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There is something different about Robbie

I think the problem Robbie had was a combination of both nature and nurture. I say so because, as we see that he had anger management issues right from the time he was a kid, and thus it was something biological. But the hatred he had towards his step mother was an effect of the environment around him. (Him being put into a psychiatric care)

With the anger management issue, the only thing that they could have possibly done was seek for external help and they did so. They were not experienced enough and his issues were getting slightly out of control. But with Robbie always wanting his step mother out of the picture and dreaming his parents getting re-married could be an effect of the environment he was brought up in. I think his father and his step mother should have talked to him about how marriage works and how remarrying is not done with an intention to ruin someone’s life or come in between people. They should have had a conversation with him about the institution of marriage and what happens when things go wrong. Also, at one point he starts drawing sketches of his father and step mother getting stabbed. Maybe he had thought that both of them have went against him and that his father follows whatever his step mother says. They as parents should have had conversations with him that even though they have re-married, the family will be like any other normal family. 

May be individualism, that Americans value, could be an explanation for what happened. Maybe his parents thought that he would be fine on his own even after the re-marriage because at the end of the day he will have someone to give him that motherly love and care, and he will understand things on his own. However, this wrong assumption might have lead to things getting worse. 

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All About Me!

I am Khushi and I am from Nepal. I am majoring in Computational Modeling and Data Analytics (CMDA), Then why sociology? Well, I am from a different part of the world. To be specific, from a third-world country and thus, our lifestyles are completely different . So, having knowledge about behaviors in different societies and learning to accept and respect them is something that I needed to learn.

Some insights into my nature, I'm slightly reserved a s person, obviously because of certain experiences. I don't open up real quick. I am sometime who enjoys alone-time a lot. I am really passionate about dance. Even though I am not a trained dancer, I enjoy dancing a lot. I am a huge Bollywood ( Indian Film Industry) fan, to an extent that I had written my personal essay while applying to colleges on how Bollywood movies and songs have influenced me as a person.

I believe that theories can really be formulated for things that are somewhat constant and standard, but here we are talking about society and thus, it is neither of the two mentioned above. thus, I believe Postmodern perspectives explain the society the best. with every new generation or even decade, life styles change, people's behaviors change. The change in behavior could be because of education or some experiences. As we say change is constant in life. Thus, I feel the postmodern perspective is the best way to explain a society.

An example could be: Like a decade back were people as health conscious as they are now? Not really! Now that they are they have brought a change in their food habits, sleep patterns, shopping habits and ultimately their lifestyle.

[khushiparajuli-blog]

All About Me!

I am Khushi and I am from Nepal. I am majoring in Computational Modeling and Data Analytics (CMDA), Then why sociology? Well, I am from a different part of the world. To be specific, from a third-world country and thus, our lifestyles are completely different . So, having knowledge about behaviors in different societies and learning to accept and respect them is something that I needed to learn.

Some insights into my nature, I'm slightly reserved a s person, obviously because of certain experiences. I don't open up real quick. I am sometime who enjoys alone-time a lot. I am really passionate about dance. Even though I am not a trained dancer, I enjoy dancing a lot. I am a huge Bollywood ( Indian Film Industry) fan, to an extent that I had written my personal essay while applying to colleges on how Bollywood movies and songs have influenced me as a person.

I believe that theories can really be formulated for things that are somewhat constant and standard, but here we are talking about society and thus, it is neither of the two mentioned above. thus, I believe Postmodern perspectives explain the society the best. with every new generation or even decade, life styles change, people's behaviors change. The change in behavior could be because of education or some experiences. As we say change is constant in life. Thus, I feel the postmodern perspective is the best way to explain a society.

An example could be: Like a decade back were people as health conscious as they are now? Not really! Now that they are they have brought a change in their food habits, sleep patterns, shopping habits and ultimately their lifestyle.