masakisociblog

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Final Soci Blog

Looking over my blog posts from this semester, a common theme I notice in myself is how sad/disappointed I feel about the plethora of societal issues that I learned/became more aware of through this class. I understand that it is normal to get frustrated when one learns about a new injustice that has been affecting society, but learning about them and realizing that there are so many more problems with the way the world works and how difficult/basically impossible it is to even attempt solving them is a little disheartening. I'm thankful that I'm aware of these now as I am less ignorant but sad as I now have to live with this knowledge. What has me especially saddened is the drastic effects that climate change will have on how we live as a whole and the unfortunate reality that as an individual there is so little that I can do to set us on the right path. Overall though I am glad I choose this class and even if the semester was a little rough I was able to complete it.

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Soci Week 12

Cohen's reading brought back some thoughts I had before about how climate change will completely change the way of living that we have grown accustomed to. Unfortunately I am skeptical on the viability of his first two proposals of carbon absolutism and linking the political, technocratic and the carbon. I like his idea of carbon absolutism I feel like any attempt to try and shift the carbon narrative will be stopped by the fossil fuel lobby as it has been done many times before like with the individual carbon footprint narrative that was started by BP in order to make us feel like we were more responsible for climate change rather than the large industries that do significantly more damage than any one individual can do(except for celebrities and their private jet rides). I feel like linking the political, technocratic and the carbon will not accomplish much either as politicians will do what they always do and promise big changes, like how at every COP they all say that their working on "reducing their carbon footprint" and that "they are on track to keeping heating below 2 degrees C", but wont make any actual changes until it is past the point of no return.

However, I do agree with Cohen's last two proposals. Changing the way that we build cities like adding green roofs, shifting the power grid to renewables, and focusing on public transportation are great ideas that I believe cities can achieve! I agree the most with his conclusion of joining the fight. I myself have joined the extinction rebellion, a climate activist group, and have protested, written to local governments, etc. and finally feel like I am at least trying to make a difference rather than just be a doomer and wait for the climate crisis to kill us all.

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Soci Week 12

I'm continuously frustrated with how policies that are meant to "help" people end up making conditions worse. The implementation of the IMF's structural adjustment programs in Latin America during the 1980-90s that Davis talks about is an example of this. While they expected that after a short adjustment period poverty rates would significantly decrease through jobs created by capitalist investments, the neoliberal policies had instead increased unemployment and poverty rates throughout the region.

Martinez & Portes explain that even in Chile, the country cited as the success story of the neoliberal experiment, while open unemployment declined in the 90s, it increased again in 2001 along with the increase of workers with unprotected jobs. Those jobs were also of poor quality and lacked social services and protection against arbitrary firing.

Although these policies were meant to make conditions better, which I admit the standard of living has risen, I think that the 1 million people protesting in the streets of Santiago unsatisfied about their way of life is a sign that these neoliberal policies that were so quickly implemented(many due US backed military coups) need to change.

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Soci Week 11

The Klinenberg Dying Alone reading made me feel many things. First was a kind of worry and fear that the lonely reality that these old people face is what my future has in store for me especially now that it feels like our society is getting more and more isolated.

The saddest thing to me about this reading was how these old people thought that they were under constant threat of being attacked because of the media that they consumed painted the picture of Chicago being in constant chaos when in it was not the case. The one person who was found in their room with the windows nailed shut was especially sad to read.

What frustrates me is that if we had community support systems to check on the old isolated folks in the area they may have been saved and not have had to die feeling so lonely.

On a separate note, what we covered in class on Tuesday about natural disasters reminded me of a quote I read of "there is no such thing as a natural disaster" as they are only considered disasters because it affects humans since these natural phenomenon have been and will continue to occur long after humans go extinct. It bothers me how instead of making houses in places that will not get hit by extreme weather we use government money to rebuild houses that will just get destroyed again in a year.

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Soci Week 9?

I found it funny how the Majority Minority concept brought up in class thursday relates to the fear mongering that the right employs in their rhetoric. The juxtaposition of them being so afraid of immigrants entering the country when their ancestors were also immigrants gave me a good laugh.

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Soci Week 7

I did not think about the continuation of segregation until the readings this week. Realizing how we still continue to segregate through housing and economic factors frustrates me since now I see yet another facet of the legacy of disrriminatinatory practice.

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Soci Blog Week 6

According to DuBois I grew up in a "grade 1" social class but because of that and also where I lived I have felt a disconnect to my black heritage.

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Week 5 Soci Blog

I was thinking about the broken window theory and how in my town growing up there was never any broken windows and things were well maintained. The neighborhood I grew up in was well ordered but what bothered me was that we didn't really interact with our neighbors throughout my childhood.

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Week 4 Soci Blog

After reading chapter 2 of when work disappears I started thinking about how the decline of need for unskilled laborers left a lot of men without jobs. When factories needed large numbers of laborers that gave men a purpose. I think that the lack of a jobs/a purpose partly contributes to how men are increasingly depressed because of a lack of purpose or feeling of being needed.

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Week 3 Soci Blog

This week I watched a new show called Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. It takes place in the futuristic Night City where technology and humanity has integrated to the point where people are able to upgrade their bodies with cybernetic modifications and directly connect their minds to the internet. It is a dystopian imagination of the future where 3 major corporations run the world and the Corpos, people who work for them, are the elite class and everyone else lives in squalor.

You would think that with everyone connected through the internet people would be closer with one another, but instead it has atomized society to the point where it's survival of the fittest and the mighty dollar is the only thing that matters. There is no trust between people except for when working jobs and even then you can't be sure if the people you're with will betray you or not.

While the cybernetic enhancements and mind computer integration are in the realm of fantasy, what stuck out to me was the lack of trust between that every character had as a result of the Cyberpunk status quo. It eerily reminded me of Putnam's Bowling Alone article that we read for class this week. The world of Edgerunners is in my opinion a prime example of what the loss of social capital that Putnam's article explores can evolve into.

Thankfully I've seen trends of people trying to rebuild social capital and shift towards mutual aid. Although I think it is aesthetically cool, the neoliberal utopia of Edgerunners would be a terrible world to live in.