Crash

The racism in the movie is shocking. I have never seen this kind of racism either in person or in a movie and I was appalled. However, this is a sad fact of our society. Racism exists. Race exists. Race is not even real. People only have different color skin because of where they come from in the world. How much sun they get is a big determinant. Race is used as a skapegoat. I have seen racist and prejudice acts before such as racist jokes or jewish jokes or christian jokes but never have i seen racism to this extent. The fact that there are entire groups organized across multiple continents that endorse a raceal view is amazing. Race as a part of our social construction is inherent in us. Now that we are consious of the implicit racism we must try to change it.

Are We Nauturally Racist??

The ovious answer to this question is NO. We have moved on from the days of the Civil War and race riots and everyone is now and equal citizen. But this may not be as straighforward as we think it is. After seeing one of our classmates take and implicit racism test, we see that even in our world, people are inherintely racist without intending to be. We have been socially constructed to believe that WASPs are the most inherintly good and it goes downhill from there, ending in ethinic and darker skinned people. The doll test reaffirmed this implicit racism, showhing that no matter what race you are, you are taught from a very young age that white is good. This is a problem because every reace has good and bad traits. Therefore all races should be respected equally.

Monopoly

Playing monopoly with the amended rules according to the U.S. class system really did open my eyes to a better understanding of the class structure in the U.S. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. And although this may be sad, it is, on some levels, true. What we see is the rich getting more benefits and opportunities, which in turn allows them to become even richer, while the poor barely have any opportunities or help, therefore becoming even poorer. This is the unavoidable lack of manuverability in the class system of the United States. We see this in many statistics of real places such as big cities. Those who live in poverty, or are close to it, either stay in poverty or probably become a part of it. Those that have the money to get into a good pre school, then grade school, then high school, then college, make plenty of money because they started out with it. Sadly but truly, this is the inescapable class system of the United States.

Social Class

Social class can be beneficial, but also a very limiting factor. In the moive that we watched this week we learned how being born into a low social class can result in one being stuck in that social class for their whole life. On the other hand, being born into a high social class may lead to a lot of good opportunities and other benefits. The lady in the movie who worked at burger king has been stuck in that class for her entire life. And the guy who was a WASP has been socially constructed to believe that he is better than everyone. We can see this in statistics such as a higher percentage of minorities beeing jailed than whites, and a greater percentage of minorities being in poverty than whites. Social class is a limiting factor and is very hard to change and we must recognize that social class is not always decided by the individual.

A Flawed System

The criminal justice system in the United States is like a bee trap. Once you get in, you can get out. It is a revolving door, but the exit is nearly impossible to squeeze through. The way we currently treat criminals does nothing to help them and make them become better citizens. We simply get them off the streets. But once they return, most of them go back to doing exactly what they were doing before they were locked up. Then they get arrested again, and repeat the entire process, with each reoccurence resulting in a harsher, yet just as unproductive sentence. We have been socially constructed to think that criminals, even convicted of minor crimes, are bad people and should be put in jail. This leads to the kind of bee trap system we have. As we saw in the movie, 30 days in jail, the two criminals we saw released were both arrested within two months of attaining their freedom. In part, this is due to the expectations they are put forth for them. I have seen the same in school. Some students that are expected to be trouble makers live up to these expectations. I think because of these expectations, it makes is more normal for these specific kids to do what they do. It is not out of the ordinary because it is expected. We must try to lift these expectations in general and try to fix these bee trap models that we are stuck in.

Saints and Roughnecks

This study was an incredibly interesting one. It reveals something that many people know but do not talk about. That is that rich kids that play the game right can get away with almost anything because authority often just looks the other way. Poorer kids on the other hand have it opposite the rich kids and actually get in trouble for stuff that maybe they shouldnt be. Authority is more strict when it comes to poorer kids. This happens in Stevenson exactly the way it happened in the study, at least for the saints. Roughnecks are less prevelant, but saints are known and everyone just looks the other way, mostly, becasue people are afraid of their power. Saints have power to do a lot and exposing them would just end up bad for the person that ruined their act. This shows that deviance is relative. Deviant acts, in the case of the study both negative, are ignored in one case and exagerated in the other, depending on social standing. This may be unfair but it is kind of the way we have been socially constructed. The saints and roughnecks are very relevent to many places and are a great example of a basic social structure.

Are We Really Adults??

For most of us, we have already turned eighteen or will be turning eighteen in the next year or so. But although the period of transition between being a teenager and being an adult is extremely short, the amount of new responsibilities and privelages is enormous. We are able to vote, we have no curfew, and we are no longer necessarily relient on our parents. That is a problem though. Although adults are supposed to be self supporting, there are very few eighteen year old kids that can pay for everything they need. A similar, but less extreme situation is the transition from grade school to high school, something that I and all of my peers have experienced. There are a lot more responsibilites in high school such as better time management and taking initiative more on your own. Teachers are not constantly looking out for you like many are in grade school. Although there is a noticeable difference here, the change between seventeen and eighteen is much more extreme. It is very debatable to whether eighteen year olds are actually adults.

You Are Plenty Beautiful

The pressure on women from the media to look impossibly beuatiflul is greater than it has ever been. This is not fair nor should it be the way that women are expected to look. Also, in the media, they have been portrayed as objects more and more which is completely disrespectful. Although a lot of people claim that it is all in fun and just joking around, it is the subliminal messgaes that always get through. That is why it is so important to be supportive. The socialization of gender through the media has led to many unideal occurences in the male and female world both and we must realize it in order to change it. I see it everyday with the way girls dress and the way guys act in gneral and towards girls and it is unecessary and should change. The first step is accepting this, and then we will be able to do something about it.

Gender, Sex, and Sexuality

Is there a difference between all of these?? Absolutely. There is a distinct difference between all of these terms. Sex is whether one has male or female sexual organs. Sexuality is the sex that one is attracted to. If someone is attracted to the same sex, then he is homosexual. If someone is attracted to the opposite sex, then he is heterosexual. Gender is a bit more complicated. Gender is the way one thinks of themselves and acts according to societal norms. Gender is part of ones social construction. We start learning what gender is from the time we are kids by the way our parents talk to us, the way they treat us, how they dress us, and even what color our room is. We get exposed to social norms like this from the time we are born, and the sum of all of these cultural sexual norms determines our gender. We are all affected by these norms and we are the way we are because of them. We owe our gender much more to nuture than to nature.

Nature or Nurture? How about both?

There are some things that come naturally to us. The ability to suck is one example. Some things we know because we learn them either consiously or subconsiously. Almost everything else we do is an example of this. Studies have shown the importance of human interaction in the early stages of life. Simple human interaction can be the difference between fifty I.Q. points. We need to be nutured especially between the ages between 0 and 6 because are brain is the most absorbant at those ages so to speak. We learn a ton of basic skills and norms during these ages such as sexual differences between males and females in terms of their roles in society. All of this learning process is due to agents of socialization. Agents of socialization are groups that influence us and helps us to form our social construction of reality. These inclued groups such as family, friends, school or neighborhood. These agents of socialiation form our lives from the begining and continue to throughout it and that is why it is important that we understand them well.

Does Money Mean Happiness??

Money has always been thought of as the key to happiness and the embodiment of success. But money may not be the answer to finding happiness. The only reason we think this is because of our social construction of reality. Since we were kids we have always been taught to place a high value on money. Of course we need it to be happy, but once we reach a certain point, it does not make us any happier any more. Once we have food, a car, and a roof over our heads, there is not much more money can keep doing for us. Upgrading from a 20 in. t.v. to a 54 in. t.v. will not make one any happier. Either way, we will still see the same shows. We see this all the time. People work constantly just so they can make more money to supposedly attain more happiness. However, in the process of earning more money many people forget about the really important things in life, like family, friends, and our health. We lose track of theses important things chasing after money and that is the exact thing we must try to avoid in order to have a truly fulfilling life. We must do our best not to let our social construction of reality steer us in the wrong path.

America as an Outlier

In America, we are used to being able to go to the supermarket whenever we want, even at two in the morning. Now we can even go to the gym and workout at any time of the day. These common practicalities are in stark contrast to the cuture in Europe, specifically Germany. In Germany, as of a few years ago it was illegal to open a store on Sunday, after four on Saturday, or after eight on and week day. These laws would have Americans mind boggles while in Germany it is the norm. Every culture has its norms, and as a result of these norms we often times feel ethnocentric. Ethnocentrism is the feeling of something being odd or abnormal. For example, when I see what some Southeastern European people buy at my work, it seems very odd to me. They will buy five bushels of tomatoes, or large quantities of other kinds of produce, and in my head I say, what could they possibly be doing with so many tomatoes, I could never use that many, but that is becasue I am ethnocentric and I dont undersant that culture very well. Other examples would be the way people dress or the language that they use. Cultural norms are very influential in our lives and influence many of the decisions that we make.

Hold up which finger was that?!?!

Throughout the world there are many differnt cultural norms. Anything from hand gestures, to the way you eat, to the way you use the bathroom, there are cultural barriers throughout the world. Sometimes these barriers can prevent us from communicating our ideas affectively. For example, if I were to ask a Japanese person a question, and they scratched his head, it would mean that he is embarrased. However, in American culture that means that you either have an itch or are thinking. So as I am waiting for an answer the Japanese person is probably thinking why does this guy not leave, and it is becasue of the cultural barrier. These cultural norms however also reveal the way a society thinks. In Japanese culture the way they use a toilet and bath and wash themselves reaveals the value that they place on cleanliness, as opposed to its lower value in American culture. Our job is to learn these different cultural norms as best we can so that we can start to break down cultural walls.

A Bronx Tale

In the movie A Bronx Tale, some amazingly inhumane things happen, as a result of peoples' social constructions of reality and as a result of the groups that they are in. For example, when Sunny and his crew beat up the group of bikers in the bar, if there had been some one in the bar that was not part of the group they most likely would have been left out of it. This occurs because being in the group of bikers contributes to one's identity and if Sunny does not like a biker, then he does not like any biker. An example of how peoples' social constructions of reality influence them is clearly seen in the racial divide between blacks and whites. When a white person enters a black neighborhood, or vice versa, they are immediately either chased away or physically abused. This only happened because people were taught to hate the other race. Although a person may not do something to specifically harm another, they hate them because that is how they grew up. How have we been able to do away with some of these racial barriers? What effect do the racial barriers have in the movie?

Meaning Hidden by Numbers

In the book Gang Leader for a Day, the difference between quantitative data and qualitative data is very clearly portrayed. Using quantitative data, such as taking mass surveys, is often times useful, but sometimes simply using data can hide the deeper issues. In the book using a survey was obvioulsy not the best way to go about studying how black and poor people felt about their lives. Sometimes a good sociologist has to get closer to the study and actually observe. Often times its is hard to realize an issue and understand it unless you experience it. Therefore, a good sociologist must live the study as opposed to just study it, just like the character in the book does. This strategy is similar to situations that happen in every day life. I know it happens to me a lot. Somebody will tell me something and I will say, I know whay you are saying, but I wont actually understand it. Then the same thing will happen to me and I will grasp it so much better. It is very important to experience things to be able to understand them proberly.

Our social contruction of reality

Why is it that spit is repulsive while saliva is not? We swallow our saliva constantly throughout the day without even thinking twice. But we would never spit into a cup then drink our spit and swallow it again because THAT IS GROSS!! But why? The answer is our social construction of reality. From the time we are born we start having our minds molded by society. Society at this point is constructing our reality. Because of the people and events that happen around us, we are made to think certain things are gross for example, or that certain things are normal even though they may actually be gross. Here is a potential situation. If I were to tell you that worms are juicy, very nutritious, and when seasoned properly, tasted excellent, you still would not eat them. But why?? Assuming everything i said to you was true, it seems like eating worms would be very beneficial to you and at the same time you would enjoy them. It is because society has constructed our reality in such a way that eating worms is looked upon as disgusting. In what other ways does society construct our reality? Why do you think we allow it to happen?

Are we brainwashed?

Since kindergarten, in every class we have had, we have commenced by listening to the teacher tell us what to do. So what do we do when a different situation is thrown at us? Starting our sociology class with utter silence was this situation. There was no teacher telling us what to do. We did not know what to do. But why? Why do we not know how to react to a situation like this? As some would see it, it is because we have been brainwashed. As we have gotten older, we have learned to cooperate with the norms of our society. Our society and everyone in it has molded our idea of normal since we were kids. Now, when we are put into a new situation, we do not know how to react. We have been "brainwashed" to live in the presence of noise, and that silence is "akward". Here is an example. I was at a lunch table with a couple of your friends and four our five people I did not know. My friends went to buy lunch and I was alone with these people. Becasue we have never seen each other before we did not know what to talk about so there was silence. Now, we felt akward or weird. The only reason we feel like this is becasue we have been brainwashed to think that silence is akward. What are some other situations where this occurs? Why do we give into these norms instead of breaking out of our everyday preconceptions?

Who am I

Hi, my name is Connor and I am a huge fan of abbreviating things. Hence the name of my blog. Its supposed to sound like... Just Bin your Cs. It it short for just bustin your chops. It's a saying that I picked up from my best friend's father. When I say it to many of my friends they get a kick out of it because it is either a very unused term or just very outdated. That is just one example of how i like to abbreviate things. Some of the things I do outside of school include playing in a rock band. Me and three other students have been together for four years now and are now consistently getting paying gigs. I also participate in almost every IM sport that my school offers. The biggest influences in my life are my friends and my parents. I am with one of those groups pretty much twenty four seven so I suppose it makes sense. I do not have any specific goals really, I guess just to succeed, but that is very broad. I cannot really think of anything specific though so right now I am just doing what I have to do and I am going to see where that takes me.