EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY FOR SOCIOLOGY STUDENTS: Due no later than Thursday, November 03, 2016!
This is an optional, extra credit opportunity for the first marking period. A successfully completed post will be worth 50 points toward your 1st marking period grade (like earning a 100% on a quiz). You have a choice of which article you want to use for your post so choose one that interests you (and there are some really cool posts on this site!). Obviously, it can't be a post that I have already assigned or used in class. You will find detailed instructions on how to complete your post below:
- Go to the website www.SociologyInFocus.com and choose a post that interests you.
- Read the post and listen to/watch any audio/video files that are embedded.
- In your own words, write a brief summary (200 words minimum) of the post.
- Answer the "Dig Deeper" questions at the end of the post
- Make 2 questions of your own that are related to the reading or the main topic of the post (avoid level 1 questions that simply ask for recall of information in the article). Here is a helpful link to help you develop higher order questions.
- Post your summary and questions as a comment under this post on the homework blog (PLEASE check your post for spelling, grammatical, and formatting errors before posting it to the blog!)
- I want you to do something that interests you but I don't want duplicate posts. I want there to be variety. There are numerous categories on the left hand side of the page and an archive by date. You are not just limited to what appears on the main page (these are only the most recent posts).
- When you find one you want, post a comment under this post to claim it before someone else does!
- If your questions are particularly good, I may use them in class or on a quiz or test. If I do, you will receive bonus points on your participation or quiz/test grade for that week.
"I cant walk in these shoes"
ReplyDeleteGetting In Cars with Strangers: The Sociology of Uber
ReplyDeleteCant buy me love(or can you?)
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ReplyDeleteA Sociologist Visits an Art Museum: Race, Art, and Selfies
ReplyDeleteJonna Grenier
ReplyDelete10/31/16
Sociology in Focus - “I Can’t Walk In These Shoes”: How Culture Manifests in the Material World
This article spoke of how society really makes us do things in weird ways. It talked mostly about how different gender norms are. The gender norms expect each sex to act differently than the other sex. Especially the way that we dress for certain things. Women are expected to wear dresses and “fancy shoes”, mostly heels, for certain formal events. Men are expected to wear suits and shiny dress shoes. The women is exposed to all of the elements due to the lack of coverage of her body, while the man is not exposed to the elements due to being completely covered. Men also have a lot of pockets to carry everything that they need which forces the women to have the man hold everything for them. This means that the women are dependent upon the man. They also depend on the man while walking down stairs or over some “uneven terrain” because their high heels don’t make things very easy.
Even people who are trying not to live under the norms end up realizing that they are. They don’t want to follow the social norms but it often happens on accident or without even thinking about it. These norms have been drilled into our heads since we were young and people think that they need to follow them so that they aren't seen as deviant for not following them.
An example that I’m thinking of would be prom. It is similar to what has beens adi in this article but I want to touch upon it. Prom has a lot of social norms that are expected upon other people. Females are expected to pick out an elaborate dress sometimes costing them upwards of $500. Females also are expected to get their nails done, their hair done, and their makeup done. Everything is expected to be perfect. Males going to prom are just told what color tie to wear and they can go out and get a tux. They don't have to do their hair, nails, or makeup. Girls spend months planning from prom while guys spend around a week. This shows how much more effort, money, and time women are expected to put into things while men don’t have to try as hard.
Other examples I can see would be age and how that changes the way our cultural ideas, beliefs, and values vary.
I think it reinforces cultural stereotypes because people are expected to act and dress certain ways. If you don’t follow these social norms you are seen as being deviant. Many people are afraid of being judged by other people. People at formal events tend to judge a lot more than they do when they are at casual events.
Personally, I don't think that we should change the way that people dress at formal events just because It has been going on forever and I like to get “all dolled up” for things. I do believe though, that some things could change to improve how bad culture can affect people and the things that we do.
If you were attending a formal event what would you think if a women showed up wearing a suit or a man showed up wearing a dress? Would you think that they were being deviant?
How can everyone help change the way society makes us act/dress?
On Thanking our Feminist Foremothers
ReplyDeleteCoercive Control and Intimate Partner Violence
ReplyDeleteThe following article was about a sociologist who had went and visited an art museum. Through her eyes and knowledge of sociology, she had noted differences about race and how our society has changed through technology. She points out race and how the people who are viewing the arts are predominantly white people while the guards and individuals who are taking care of the facility were predominantly black people. This detail can lead to many questions such as an inkling to the continuation of subtle segregation that still exists between white and black people even though we had took all the means of getting rid of that long ago. Another thing she had pointed out is the new art of the selfie. She describes seeing a white female taking multiple selfies in front of numerous different art pieces. She continues talking about it by asking multiple questions to the rules and regulation of taking selfies, and how there is differences as to who is taking the picture, where it’s being taken, and so on.
ReplyDeleteIn the selfie of myself that I’m looking at has a friends dog in it. Comparing it to my other friends selfies on instagram, it’s pretty “basic” as kids our age would say. I’m smiling with my head slightly tilted, it’s just overall a cute picture. My friends all take the same kinds of pictures of ourselves with the camera kind of tilted, with nice color filters to make it look nice.
A norm is a kind of social rule that is usually followed by everyone else. For most selfies, you should take a picture of yourself smiling, and taking pictures in this case at an art museum isn’t uncommon. Like the article said, it shows that the person had been there and had seen a certain art piece. It’s kind of melding pop and high culture together.
I used the LACMA, or the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. As I scrolled through the pictures on instagram, I could see a whole lot of people took pictures specifically of the columns that are in the museum. Many take selfies with their family and friends along with full body pictures of themselves with the columns. It’s very iconic and a memorable picture to take for people. The norms that show up are of course the selfies and even
I unfortunately could not answer the last question since it asked me to visit an art museum.
In your words, why has the selfie now become an almost pressured norm?
With the observation of black guards and white visitors, does this occur in every public place? (ex. Such as a black waiter and a white customer)
Should White Parents be allowed to adopt Children of Color?
ReplyDeleteThanking our Feminist Foremothers, Lexi Beauregard:
ReplyDeleteWomen have had a rough path throughout the centuries. We’ve always had to appeal to what men want, cater to their needs, not follow our own dreams because we were “meant to be housewives”, supposed to take care of the household chores, it was our duty to make sure everything was in tip top shape. This article is telling women to thank an aging feminist for helping in the shape of society accepting women. Women in today’s society don't realize how hard feminists from years ago had to work for us to be able to even take stuff for granted. We expect to be able to work in a place with men and assume we won't be treated different because of our gender. We go to school without being judged for actually working to make ourselves educated. Women a while ago couldn't go to school without being judged, we couldn't work in the same place as men. Although women still did it, not only for themselves but for the future for women. This article is saying women today need to continue the fight for no gender discrimination under any circumstance, and to thank an aging feminist for what we have now.
All the women in my family are feminists to an extent. They all believe that women are and should always be equal, but they aren’t feminazi’s. Whenever my brothers would pick fights with me at a family dinner or holiday, my family always encouraged me hold my ground, told me just because I was a girl didn't mean i couldn't fight back.
I personally would mind being called a feminist, only because feminists usually get the label feminazi’s and I don't really think of myself as one. Yes women can do anything a man can, but that doesn't mean we should be expected too. Men are also made to take care of women and vice versa, all to a certain extent.
I feel like I can say things in a situation and my voice will be heard. If I did that years ago i wouldn't be even glanced at.
Personally I don't see a benefit for men in feminism, I think that no matter what men will be looked at as a competition for women to be better. Women will always look for ways to make us more equal. We can look at it as a competition.
So, when women do become as equal as men, how will society change?
When society changes to accept that women are as equal as men, would the feminist foremothers be proud? Would they be proud to see if society will change either for the negative or positive?
Ryan Langmaid
ReplyDeleteSociology Extra credit Marking period 1
The Lasting Effects of Having a Teacher Mispronounce your Name
The Lasting Effects of Having a Teacher Mispronounce your Name
This article talked about the effect of mispronouncing a student’s name on their education. It is true that most kids in today’s schools are taught by teachers of the same ethnic background. However, sometimes there is a student who is not from America and has a name that is hard to pronounce. Often times when a student’s name is difficult to pronounce the teacher will struggle pronouncing it consistently or divert to calling them by a nickname. This can be offensive to the student because name define who we are. Name can carry tradition or family names. They can have deep meaning and it can be insulting when the teacher keeps mispronouncing it. The article showed a study of the number of kids between the ages of 16 and 24 years who dropped out of school along with their racial heritage. The article made the point that it can be hard for someone to be taught by a teacher who is of a different background than them. Studies have shown that kids who are taught by teachers of the same racial background score better on standardized tests than do kids of different racial origin. Could this all lead back to the simple mispronunciation of a name? That is what the article seems to suggest. Mispronouncing a student’s name can have a drastic impact on their education and even their decision to stay in school. It is important for kids to feel welcome and accepted in school and it all starts with their name.
(Ryan Langmaid continued)
ReplyDelete1.) What is the story behind your name? Describe how your family selected your name(s)
~There is no particular origin or story behind my name. My parents named me what they did for no reason other than the fact that they liked that name. My name doesn’t have any special meaning like some of the kids mentioned in the article. My family selected my name based on the names that they enjoyed. It didn’t mean anything other than to them. They enjoyed the name enough to give it to me. Even though I wasn’t named after a person or given a specific meaning, I am still proud of my name.
2.) Have you ever had a teacher who didn’t share your cultural background? What cross-cultural issues, if any, did you experience?
~The closest I have come to having a teacher that didn’t share my cultural experience was when I took Spanish 3 with Mr. Herren. The fact that he had lived in Spain for part of his life added a different cultural background that I wasn’t used to. However, I didn’t experience any issues. I found his background to be very educational and helpful in class. I know that this wasn’t a truly different cultural background like the article describes but it is as close as I have come.
3.) Could you see some possible benefits to being educated by someone who was from a cultural background different from yours? If so, what learning opportunities do you think that white students may be missing out on because of the overrepresentation of white Americans in the teacher pool?
~I could see many benefits from being taught by someone from a different background. They have so much to offer from their experience. You would not only learn the subject but also get an insight of a totally different culture. Students today miss out on this variety. They get to see how Americans teach. Students today don’t get to see how teachers of different backgrounds conduct a class. They might have ways of teaching that are more helpful to some kids. It is hard to know without trying it.
4.) Sociologists are keen on saying that social privilege is often invisible to those who have it. How could having your teacher pronounce your name correctly be an example of this?
~This goes along with the idea of you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Students who have never had a problem with the pronunciation of their name don’t know what it’s like to have someone mispronounce it. They can’t imagine how insulting it can be because they have never had to deal with it. It’s easier to find something funny when it’s not happening to you.
Questions:
~How is trying to picture what it would be like to be a foreigner and have someone mispronounce your name an example of the sociological perspective?
~As sociologists, we study society and the impact things have in it. How do you think having a school with teachers from every racial background would differ from a school with teachers from one racial background? Explain
Sophia Rampone
ReplyDelete11/2/16
“Trump’s Locker Room Talk: Proving Masculinity Through Objectification”
This article is about the sociological reasons behind Trump’s recent scandal. The footage from 2005 has audio, recorded by live microphones on both Donald Trump and Billy Bush. They are heard doing what sociologist, Beth A. Quinn, calls girl-watching. Essentially they are sexually evaluating the news reporter and making lewd comments. At one point Trump describes being able to kiss women without consent and grab them by their genitals because he was a “star.” This is completely unacceptable and would never be spoken in front of the woman. When he was recently confronted about the video, he called the media a distraction from more important events and just “locker room talk.” He accepted no responsibility for his actions, while Billy Bush was quite apologetic. This displays girl-watching. It is a male behavior perpetrated by society where men sexually evaluate and objectify women verbally or gesturally in order to promote their sexual prowess and straightness. Quinn believes that girl watching is a form of gendered play and men do it in the presence of other men to show masculinity and prove they are sexually active. In a study on girl watching, Quinn found that many behaved just as trump did and failed to see any issues with what they were doing. The men in the study often became flustered when reminded that the women were people and not objects. They also created excuses just as Trump did, that women were either too sensitive or didn’t understand their intentions. It was also said that 40 years ago people wouldn’t be offended by things like that. This is because of societal change. Our society is trying to move in a direction where objectification and behaviors like girl-watching is unacceptable. I see this as a positive change. In conclusion, according to Quinn, “Girl-watching, sexual harassment, and “locker room talk” are not about ignorance, but are about ignoring others’ humanity.”
The concept of gender play is related to gendered presentation as it is often used as a method of displaying a certain image. For example, girl watching is a form of gendered play in which men try to promote masculinity and sexual prowess. This reinforces their gendered presentation as male.
I’d like to believe that if I overheard “locker room talk” I would certainly intervene. I have no qualms calling out sexist/objectifying comments as I have done several times in the past. To me this sort of act is very degrading and will not be seen as wrong if people remain quiet.
Gender and education certainly play a role in election choice. When this story was released, women everywhere shared their disgust and sexual assault stories while many diehard male Trump supporters say that these comments from 11 years ago are irrelevant. These people also believe that Trump would restore a certain power to men in American culture that they see as lost. I would agree that comments from 11 years ago shouldn’t matter IF his views had changed, however he defended his comments and still has the same attitude towards women.
Masculinity has always played a role in elections and often calls a candidate’s gender presentation into the spotlight. If a candidate shows a certain gender dominance they may be more attractive to those who value that type of image. Also if a candidate seems to value male/female power they are more likely to attract the attention of those voters.
Questions:
Do you think that these trends of gender play are something that society should move away from?
How do you think girl watching affects females in society?