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.