Week 15

This week in sociology we learned about social class and levels of poverty in America. This week was very eye opening because it taught us that as much as we like to think America does not have a social class, we definitely do, but it just is not defined, like it is in some Indian and other cultures. We have a social class that is not noticeable unless suddenly in a city and you travel through each realm/section of the city and you see a stark contrast between the types of people and companies found in different areas of cities. The sad thing about poverty in America is that once you are born into poverty, it is a huge struggle to get out of poverty, especially since the upper class owns most of the money in America and they keep getting richer as the poor get poorer.

I am very lucky to have been born into a middle class family and town. I often take that for granted by carelessly spending money and not appreciating what I am given. The town my grandma lives in, however, has a lot of people that could be considered blue-collar working class and I can clearly sense that from the way they act and live. It is also interesting to see the cultural and value differences between classes, such as the working class valuing less materialistic things and non-tangible items, whereas the higher classes may value more materialistic things and value money over other things. Social class in America is actually a very noticeable thing if you become sociologically mindful and notice things around you.

Week 14- Jail and justice

These past two days, we have been discussing jail and the injustices prisoners must deal with due to their "deviant" actions that brought them to jail. We watched Morgan Spurlock's show, 30 Days in Jail, which was a short documentary that filmed Spurlock in jail for a full thirty days with other criminals, mainly those penalized with drug convictions This show showed many different perspectives of jail, such as the normal cells with a large common area in the middle, a solitary confinement cell, and a nicer jail that led outside and offered programs to get over drug addictions. One thing understood from all these perspectives, however, was that you are trapped. You go into jail, are completely stripped of your rights and are trapped in a large room for days upon days. It is an awful thought to think that so many people in jail made one mistake that ultimately messed up their whole life unless they find some way to repair the damage they've done. However, as seen with George and Travis, two of Spurlock's cell mates, they had the intentions of leaving jail and repairing their life, finding a job and fixing things, but were then sent back to prison only a short while after they were initially released. The Virginia jail's west side, which had a program for drug and alcohol addicts could be beneficial if the inmates stayed in the program beginning to end or if all prisoners, especially in the US even had the opportunity to go to programs like that and it is a shame that many 'criminals' do not have the opportunity to receive the help they need.

This perspective of jail taught me great insight about society and the criminal//jail industry in general. One main thing I got from this is another emphasis on nurture and how those around you deeply affect you and how your life turns out. For example, if my parents were drug or alcohol addicts, I would most likely have a better chance of being involved in those things as well, because I would be constantly surrounded by it. George, for example, said that when he got out of jail, he was going to stop hanging with the wrong people, (ultimately those who would pressure him into falling back into the vicious cycle of jail-release-jail again), but I bet that he did not escape those negative influences, and therefore was sent back to jail. This was a very sociological topic discussed and it really opened my eyes to the ideas of justice and how deeply others affect you.

Week 13- Saints and Roughnecks

This week in class, we daicsussed social deviance and how social classes affect our levels of deviance. One main article we read was about a small town that included two distinct high school groups- the Saints and the Roughnecks. The Saints were the ones involved in school activities and sports, had more money and appeared to be the good kids. The Roughnecks, however, were seen as the "badass" kids who were always messing around and had no motivation. However, both of these groups were involved in many crimes, and arguably the Saints did worse things than the Roughnecks. Despite similar actions from the two groups, the Saints were able to avoid police and get out of conflicts they were stuck in due to their perceived reputation of being good kids just messing around. The Roughnecks, however, always got in trouble with the cops and the community disapproved of them and saw then as deviant. The article discussed how the Saints went on to lead successful lives and got careers and educations. The Roughnecks, however, being trapped in their identity created by the society, were dropouts, low class people by the time they left high school and moves on in life. This article showed how society's perception of certain groups affects other groups and the individual group itself and was really interesting in showing how time and place affects one deviance and their actions.

At Stevenson, there are Saints and Roughnecks, but I saw them as doing different actions than the kids in the article. I compared the Saints in the article to the kids in school who appear to be good kids, involved in sports and activities, but do not pay much attention to school, but fake it in front of teachers in order to make the grade. Basically, they walk the walk ad talk the talk and this perceived notion gives teachers the sense that they really are good students, but unreality, they only do what's absolutely necessary to make the good kids. The Roughnecks, however, in Stevenson are the kids who everyone knows don't care about school- they ditch class, disrupt class and never get their homework done. Although they may be smart and just don't stay motivated, teachers and peers still have the perception that they are "slackers" and therefore punish them more or do not give them the same help that they would give one of the "Saints", given the situation. In our Stevenson subculture, the kids who appear to be slackers are seen as deviant and go against the norms of Stevenson, such as excelling in school and participating in class. I believe every society has Saints and Roughnecks and the perceived reputations of these groups change based on what the society thinks is deviant or not.

Week 12- Masculinity

This week in sociology, we read a very interesting article, "Adolescent Masculinity" by Michael Kimmel and Matthew Mahler. This article addressed the topic of school violence. In class when we discussed what we thought Kimmel's thesis would be, I wrote: Violence, an expanding issue facing our nation's schools, has often been linked to violence in the media, violent video games, availability of guns, history of child abuse, and/or racial/gender tensions. However, there is a stronger, more direct link between teen violence and masculinity and is potentially the main cause of young violence. Although violence in the media can be related to school violence, this article argued that there is rather a direct correlation with masculinity, which is a value influenced by the violence in media, and school shootings, rather than there being a direct correlation with violence in the media and school violence. Masculinity, which is a huge American value that we often forget to see, includes the idea that men hve to tough, brave, and strong, or else they are seen as weak and more feminine. THe idea that "men do not lose their voice, they can it" would describe why violence in schools has been a major issue. Growing boys feel like they need to prove their worthiness as a man, and see violence as an answer to this. Surprisingly, it is more often white suburban boys who are doing the shooting, rather than the assumed and stereotyped minorities doing the shootings. Kimmel argued that because so many minorities can fall back on that stereotype if they need to seem strong, powerful and intimidating. Many argue that racism has grown because many racist people fear the minorities. Becasue of this fear, minorities do not feel the need to prove their masculinity, for their minority already proves their toughness. This value of masculinity in our culture is an expanding value and has drastically affected the balance of our society, between genders, races, poverty, etc. The value in our American culture of masculinity is directly related to school violence in boys trying to prove their worth as men.

In my own life, many of my guys friends are seen as violent, or struggle with their personal identity because some of them are not muscular or appear to be manly. I have seen many wish to be more manly and try to prove their worth, and this has affected their relationships with people as well as their own self-image. Before this topic came up, I always wondered what had caused this strong desire for strength and power in my friends, and now I understand why they want it so bad- our culture wants them to have it. There have been many instances where I have feared their violence and worried about their safety in trying to defend themselves when someone pushes them past their breaking point. I have also seen many of my guy friends become more impulsively violent, reacting to the moment, and regretting it later. A few of my guy friends sometimes even wrestle "for fun", but then end up getting worked up, pissed off and hard to control. This insight on why males feel the need to be strong and powerful makes so much more sense now. I hope there will be social changes that stop this violence and the feeling that men need to be strong.

Week 11- Media and Halloween

This week in class, we began discussion over gender, as well as the effects of media on children, and how gender and media coincide with each other in relation to how it effects children. The video we watched was one of the most interesting videos I have ever watched and really opened my eyes to all of the effects of media on children, and how even from the beginning of their birth, they are constantly being bombarded with pressures, brands, and gender-specific rules, such as the cute-sy halloween costumes for females, or the rough-and-tough truck toys for the boys. I never realized this before, but after the video I realized that we are all surrounded by these gender-specific rules- girls are considered sloppy in they don't wear makeup or wear sweatpants every day, but if guys dress a little nicer, people question it. The basis of these "rules" and who or what created them was the question on my mind all week, and this week really made me think about how we don't need to follow the "rules" set for us from the time we are born- we must follow our own beliefs and attempt to avoid as much of these rules as possible in order to avoid corruption from media.
We also watched Freaks and Geeks again, which was very amusing, as well as interesting. Although it does not tie into gender, I did find the conflict over what age is "too old" for halloween very interesting, which also tied to the part of the video that discussed that the age at which we reach adulthood is decreasing. The freshmen boys were considered losers for trick-or-treating at that age, but the mother found it perfectly OK for them to be trick-or-treating, because she had done so when she was his age. That age has clearly changed, according to Freaks and Geeks, which has led to conflict and an interesting question- Who or what can determine the zenith of adolescence and who should be able to control the age of adulthood? Because clearly, media is only decreasing the age of adulthood more and more.
This week was very insightful and posed a lot of questions about our society and how we are all a part of everything and that we really do have an impact on people, just like the bell's sound that travels and reaches many places.