For Blog #5...pick any news article/video clip that relates to sociology and what you have been learning. In this blog entry, you post the URL link of the article and then provide the following response:
1. Identify the problem: Students are to
show an understanding of the topic they are commenting on—that is, why is this
a social issue (or social problem); using your sociological imagination, what
theories/concepts can you apply to gain a better understanding of this social
issue (social problem)—this will be worth 4 points
2. Apply Theory: Choose one theoretical
perspective (functionalist, conflict theory, Interactionist) and apply it to
the social issue/social problem. What would a functionalist say about this? Or
a conflict theorist? Or an Interactionist? Be sure to provide an analysis and
enough explanation—this will be worth 4 points
3. Reflection: What do you think about
this blog post? Why did you comment on this specific topic? Why is this social
issue/social problem relevant in the field of sociology?—this will be worth 2
points
TOTAL POINTS: 10 POINTS
Rebekah M.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbsnews.com/news/nearly-1-2-million-teens-die-every-year-from-mostly-preventable-causes/
1. In this article the problem is very clear, many teens are dying from things that could easily be prevented. Adolescent deaths are on the rise and these deaths are completely preventable through healthcare programs, education, and law reforms. The countries that are mainly affected are low income and middle income countries. The main cause of death for boys are road injuries and for girls are pregnancy complications. The third most common death is through suicide or self-harm. Making it mandatory to where a seatbelt or helmet could reduce the rate of road injury death. Education on all of these issues would also reduce these deaths.
2. From a conflict perspective it is not a surprise that poorer countries are dealing with this. In these countries they do not have the means to educate and construct resources to help teenagers who may be in need of healthcare or prevention services. These countries are already struggling in general and cannot focus on one main problem, because there is more than one. Since these issues are affecting adolescents and young adults, their government may deem it less important because it does not affect the main economically beneficial people of the country. Those countries are going to focus more on the people bringing in money rather than them.
3. I chose this article because it drew my attention right away since it was talking about teens and deaths that are preventable. Since I work with Middle School kids the main causes of death weren’t surprising to me. If our country didn’t focus so heavily on education and keeping the people informed, I’m sure our country would also be having these issues. Even with our educating students on these topics we still see these deaths happening here so I can only imagine how many more there are in countries without education.
Welch, Ashley. "Nearly 1.2 Million Teens Die Every Year from Mostly Preventable Causes."CBS News. CBS Interactive, 16 May 2017. Web. 16 May 2017.
Sociology 101 Mark Powell
ReplyDeleteURL: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-homeless-housing-boyle-heights-20170516-story.html
1.In the Los Angeles county, there are nearly 47,000 homeless people, 27,000 whom live In L.A. This is a current problem in are city and is a major social issue. Homeless people have Been taking over parts of the city and been setting up camp on sidewalks, parks, and even near schools. This issue is starting to affect public safety and is only growing to larger numbers each year. One theory can be social control of the alarming amount of homelessness across LA. Society is only evolving and becoming more and more of a technology based economy, people who work minimum wage jobs are barley paying their bills, usually working 2 to 3 jobs. The lower class is having a much harder time to keep up, and many just cant. Resulting in losing everything, ending up on the streets and becoming another statistic. The social control over the population is getting out hand. We need to find better solution to help the increasing amount of homelessness. Carla Hall has found one little solution for a building project house homeless people, it’s an empty lot in Boyle heights. There just waiting on city council to approve, Jose Huizar Chair committee of PLUM (Planning and Land Use Management Committee), has refused to approve. The money is there, but no action is taking place.
2. From an interactionalist perspective, one might say that homelessness is the fault of the individual. Regardless who’s at fault, there still needs to be action taken for this issue. The plan they proposed in Boyle Heights should already be in progress, but it’s not. Letting the homelessness linger around cities is very dangerous for young children around schools, Interactionist would see that children and homeless people is a very frightful sight for public safety, they would recommend housing communities for them, a place where they are out of the way of society, maybe help the ones that were misfortune to get their lives back on track. The ones who are too far gone from society, they can build a facility in the desert and clean up the streets. Interactionist would have a hands-on approach and try and help as many as possible. They would talk to them and help them gain some sense of society to re integrate back into normal life. Even if that means building facilities for them to stay at, it will make more communities safer and help public safety.
3. I think its great blog post, it’s a major issue that’s noticeable all over LA. The rise of homelessness is on the rise, and having a better understanding of the situation can help keep our communities safer for us and the children who live there. I commented on this specific issue because I drive and do deliveries all over the city, and it’s come to my attention that nothing is really being done, especially near arts district of down town LA, it’s disgusting and frightful for people walking through these streets filled with homeless people. They have nothing to lose and are already dying of starvation and infection. Keeping that in mind, you don’t know exactly each one’s intentions. This social issue is relevant in sociology because it’s happening in our cities all over and its only getting worse. Sociologist should have plenty of work to help solve the problem clean up our cities.
Arpineh S.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/05/02/526538071/jimmy-kimmel-opens-up-about-his-newborn-sons-heart-surgery-and-praises-obamacare
1-In this article, the problem that writer wants to point out is the U.S. healthcare system and the importance of it. The writer uses comedian's life issue (Jimmy Kimmel) regarding his new born son's pre condition heart disease. Writer points the president Trump's purposed of budget cutting from healthcare system which is one of important needs in society's life. Pointing that Obamacare system that starts to work since 2014 is necessary for our lives especially for people that have a pre condition disease which they couldn't have health care insurance before that . The issue that this article wants to show us is that no matter in what political party we are and in which politic we believe, first we are humans and we need to have basics, which most important one is health and getting care in first place.
2- From the functionalist perspective the society works as a whole. Which in that whole every part has to do its own specific job. If we want to have a healthy society the big issue would be having healthy members. The society has to provide accessible healthcare system for its all members. If the wealthy part of society could access the health care system because they can afford to by a health insurance policy and the lower class or the middle class that the society is depend on their works couldn't access it, the function of that society could not work as a whole. Because the pig part of the U.S. population are the lower and middle class, the effect of not having secure health care will hit the big and important part of our society.
3- I chose this article because I had the Obamacare insurance policy and I could afford to buy insurance for my family based on our income with government help. Having a health issue is not predectable for a family especially for a family with kids. I feel myself secure when my family have healthcare insurance and I can do my part in society and there are millions of individuals like me that needs this peace of mind to society functions as a whole.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSuzy Semerdjian
ReplyDeleteURL: http://abcnews.go.com/US/superintendent-link-bullying-year-gabriel-tayes-suicide/story?id=47510566
1) This article is talking about an eight year old boy, named Gabriel Taye, who hanged himself because he was bullied at school most of the time. Cincinnati public school, where Gabriel Taye attended, released footage which was recorded on January 24, during school, when Gabriel was seen entering the bathroom and shaking another students hand, when he feel to the ground and was left unconscious. Students were seen passing him by, but not stopping to help. Finally, a student reported to one of the teachers/staff members and they rushed Gabriel to the nurses office. The parents of the eight year old say that the cause of their child committing suicide had to be bulling although, the child never showed signs of being bullied or talked to an adult about it. The children who were in the bathroom when the bullying incident accused are now traumatized and blaming themselves for what happened to Gabriel. This is a social issue because know child should be put in this situation or grow through something like this at an early age or any age in that matter. Children should be able to talk to others about their problems, or have a parent/guardian that is there for them to help them open up and talk about things that go on in their daily lives. A person who is bullied may find it hard to trust people or may get older and become an adult who finds it hard to trust others, has problems making or keeping friends and lacks in confidence or self-worth. Also, kids who are bullied are more likely to experience things such as depression and anxiety or even worse, loss of interest in activities they used to enjoy. Parents and teachers should sit down and talk to their children about bullying and why they should not be involved in it, so that these things can be prevented for the future. No parent should have to go through this or think about their child taking their own life one day.
2) From the functionalist perspective, everyone has a part of this issue. We must all work as a whole to help prevent this. There is not only one person to blame, rather everyone. We must all find a solution and stop suicide in our society’s today. Although, we may not stop it entirely, we should still try to make a change to lower the rates. These issues are affecting children and adults in all parts of our world today, primarily the U.S. Bullying that takes place in school, may lead children into depression when they become adults. Bullies may come from dysfunctional families, which do not car how others feel. If we try to help the bullies release their pain or anger in other ways, such as therapy, their will be less children dying and less families blaming themselves because of it.
3) I choose this blog post because it is a serious topic and I can relate to it. While growing up, in my elementary years, I was always bullied. I felt like I had no one to talk to or no one understood me. Now as an adult, I realized that people where there for me, but I just never spoke up or tried to resolve the issue. Thankfully, suicide never crossed my mind. I never thought bullying can be so serious and lead to things that are way worse, such as taking their own lives. It saddens me to see children at such a young age, like Gabriel who was only eight years old, go through something that hurt him so badly, his only option was to commit suicide to let go of the pain. This social issue/problem is relevant to the field of Sociology because as someone who studies being social and trying to understand how a person behaves, it is important to treat others in ways that will not become involved in the society and create a conflict.
Minami Y #5
ReplyDeletehttp://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/10/29/499867678/the-debate-over-bilingual-education-in-california
1.In this article, “After Nearly 2 Decades, Californians Revisit Ban on Bilingual Education” says about that children who do not speak English as a first language, have a chance to get banned bilingual education. Therefore, children do not allow to speak another language such as Spanish in classroom. Although USA is one of the big melting pot countries in this world, and a lot of immigrant people live here, they cannot get bilingual education. In my opinion, this social issue becomes a big problem because the bilingual education is costs much more, and some people think that children must speak English perfectly first. However, children who get bilingual education are more likely to have optional for their future. There are some reasons why bilingual education is very important for immigrant children and even non-immigrant children. First reason is that immigrant children are better to use their first language to learn English fluently as soon as possible. When children learn English, they need to learn English by their first language. That way, they can understand more easily and faster. Second reason is that if immigrant people are coerced by only English education, they might lose their original culture or identity and it leads to negative thoughts about their culture. Also, non-immigrant children can have opportunity to get cross-cultural understanding. Therefore, children who are immigrant and non-immigrant can get close with each other even though they are different races. Now, school district has to think carefully about the bilingual education. Young people are able to gain study skills faster than adult, so it should not be banned the bilingual education. Education is one of the important parts in this society. In addition, there are many schools which has ESL programs, so we can get an equal educational system as well.
2.This article can apply functionalist perspective. If the government gives a proper education system, teachers give lecture appropriately to each student, then it can say a stable society which is called functional society. By getting bilingual education, they can be both professional to speak first and second language. It could say manifest function. In addition, latent function can say that they can learn from the peers another culture and be socialize well within a society. However, if the bilingual education is banned, immigrant students are suffered by non-equal educational system and become unstable society which is called dysfunctional. So, current society which is a global society should not ban the bilingual education for their children’s future.
3.I choose this blog post because I thought it is very important social issue for children’s future. I was not born in here, but I came here to study English. Since Japan also has English class, I learned English in junior and senior high school, but it was too basic, so it was not that helpful for me. Therefore, I came here to study more deeply, and now, I become more and more understanding English and American society. I have several friends who came from other countries. Here, USA is a diversity, so learning more than two languages is very helpful to understand each other’s background and common sense. I took ESL classes at GCC and got knowledge of English as well. So, I think it is important connection that when immigrant children go to school and study with peer who are not immigrant because they can share the values and norms. I believe bilingual education will be very helpful for their future to bond with each other.
Rebecca J.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/interviews/professor-cognitive-science-george-lakoff/
1. This interview with linguist and cognitive scientist George Lakoff discusses the ways that language is used, perceived, and interpreted in public discourse. Lakoff claims that one’s world view, which is established early on in life, is a major factor in determining what kinds of ideas can resonate and take hold in the mind, and what ideas will be either ignored, ridiculed, or considered completely unintelligible. He discusses how those who seek power can succeed by using language to tap into unconscious beliefs and influence public opinion and behaviors. I think this issue is Interactionist in nature, as language is acquired in a micro sociological context. One’s most primary, unconscious beliefs about the world and one’s place in it will develop at the micro level through our interactions with family, peers, and community.
Initially, before we acquire language, we have nothing but perception and some very basic forms of interaction from which we construct a rudimentary world view. Then, as we do start to use language we gain the ability to express that world view while having it further developed, shaped, and reinforced through our socialization. Later on, as fully formed adults, that view tends to filter and confine our perception. So the sequence of the process reverses: it takes initial perception and interaction to even form a world view, and then once that view solidifies, it comes to precede and determine perception. It is an interesting paradox that appears in many other aspects of social and mental development.
Though this issue is born within an Interactionist framework, I’m going to take a Conflict Theory perspective on the ways language is applied as a tool for manipulating the public mind.
2. Many of us adapt unconsciously to the people we communicate with. This is a pretty basic social skill: the ability to find something relatable in the other to make communication and harmonious social relations possible. But this adaptation can also be done consciously, either in one on one interaction, or more dangerously, at the macro level in politics, media, propaganda, and advertising, where deliberate manipulation is used as a tool for acquiring wealth or power. This is where Conflict Theory comes in. Those people or institutions that already have some degree of power and access to the public mind are the ones who get to frame the debate. They determine the bounds of possible discourse (often within narrow parameters), and any idea that falls outside of those limits is considered impossible or unintelligible. This happens all the time in mainstream media discussions of current events – the supposed opposite viewpoints on an issue are sometimes no more than minor variations on the same theme. This gives consumers of media the impression that if they hold a completely different view, that view is so crazy as to be unworthy of mention. It also may render each isolated individual less likely to discuss that idea with someone else, for fear of being considered completely off the wall.
Lakoff is claiming that once we absorb the linguistic framework and boundaries that have been presented by the power structure, then even if we disagree, we are left trying to argue against that framework from inside it. We are trying to use language that was carefully selected by others, and expect to somehow make a successful argument against their ideas. Instead, we are fortifying someone else’s manipulative language tool when we use that same tool to attempt a counterargument. The framers of the dialogue have already won once we start trying to express ourselves in their terms. Some leaders have an exceptional talent for finding the kernel of a certain world view in the public mind, tapping into it, and using it to influence public opinion. This talent could be used for or against the public good. (continued in next post)
(Rebecca J., continued from 2.)
DeleteAccording to Conflict Theory, it is more likely to be used against it, so as to perpetuate the existing power structure and keep less powerful groups in conflict with each other by activating unconscious fears. This prevents any forming of coalitions among disadvantaged groups, which is something that could actually threaten the power structure.
3. I looked for an article about this topic because I am interested in linguistics and its overlap with sociology. Also, I’ve noticed that some political groups seem to have a greater ability than others to seize the debate, define the terms, and then watch everyone else struggle to make a counterargument within their framework. I wonder sometimes if this is the result of a formal organized effort; do these groups employ linguists, psychologists and advertisers as consultants, and then coordinate their efforts on a nationwide scale? From the outside, this is how it appears to me. I think Lakoff is likely correct in his analysis, and I think the interviewer’s skeptical questions reveal a slight misunderstanding of the issue. Lakoff is not saying that anyone can be manipulated into any way of thinking without limitation. He is saying that if the seed of an idea is already present in one’s unconscious world view, then it doesn’t take much for someone else to activate and strengthen that idea through clever use of language. But if the seed is not present, an attempt to activate that idea is likely to fail. There are probably some extreme cases where this is not true - in situations of extreme physical deprivation or emotional suffering, one’s mind might be highly malleable and primed to take on ideas or beliefs that deviate from a previously held world view. But for the most part, a world view is unlikely to change much because it is largely unconscious. According to Lakoff, 98% of thought is unconscious and only 2% conscious. Given this distribution, maybe all we can do to be more open is to bring greater awareness to the thoughts that percolate through from our unconscious minds. It is fairly easy to do this if we want to. We can learn to recognize the patterns of thought that result from our unconscious filters, and then use our conscious minds to make room for our assumptions to be proven wrong. Or, more proactively, we can choose some course of action that actively challenges our assumptions, to find out if we were right or wrong.
The sociological relevance of this issue stems from the fact that language is a major instrument of socialization. Every other aspect of human society is built on language, so the linguistic context in which we operate can directly affect our decisions about how to organize society, whom we elect to represent us, how we choose to use our national resources and tax revenue, and how much responsibility we feel compelled to take to promote general human welfare. If this class has taught us one thing it is that we are inextricably interdependent, and to pretend otherwise is at best delusional. This being the case, as Lakoff suggests, we may best off refraining from angrily or self-righteously challenging each other’s world views. It may be more productive to find something we relate to in each other, and use that as a basis for interaction. Once there is a foundation of common ground and a visceral recognition of our common humanity, then perhaps, incidentally, minds might be changed as well.
Arlen Mehrabian
ReplyDeleteSOC 101
ARTICLE: https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/us/school-data-finds-pattern-of-inequality-along-racial-lines.html?_r=0
1) Today, we can find the racial inequality and its effects everywhere in our society, including our educational system. The studies show that racial minorities like African Americans and Hispanics have a higher chance of being suspended or expelled from school and they have less access to higher level of math and science classes. Black and Latino students are more likely to attend schools where some teachers do not meet the state teaching requirements. Now, this issue can cause additional problems. For example, poor education causes the poorly educated to make poor decisions. If you look at our prison system in Los Angeles County, you will see that majority of the inmates are African Americans or Hispanics, and this is partly because of our educational system and racial inequality. I believe that we can use Conflict and Interactionist theory/perspective to address this issue.
2) A) From a conflict point of view we can say that the budget that is given to the department of education is not being put to use correctly and those in charge of department are not up to the task. Or, the policy makers make the wrong policies. In other words, the system is corrupt. So, the only thing we can do is to protest and demand changes in the chain of command.
From an Interactionist point of view we can say that the educational system is very sophisticated. The money should be distributed equally between different sections. So the government distributes the budget between the departments like, D.O.D, Department of State, Department of Education and other agencies. The Department of Education has to pay for the teachers’ salary, insurance, school books and etc. When the department is short of money, the schools which need the money don’t get enough of that money. Specially, schools with lower ratings.
3) The reason I chose this article is because, education is extremely important to our society. It helps us to keep up with the evolution, it helps to adapt to newer techniques for productivity, it helps with occupational placement, and it reforms the attitudes (Education aims at the' reformation of attitudes wrongly developed by children already. For various reasons the child may have absorbed a host of attitudes, beliefs and disbeliefs, loyalties and prejudices, jealously and hatred).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suren-ramasubbu/influence-of-social-media-on-teenagers_b_7427740.html
ReplyDeleteThe problem that is associated with this topic lies on the understanding that teenagers have found a new form of freedom that only leads to more psychological demise. Even if this type of problem seems so far out there the long term effects of future possibilities leads to more depression, and self esteem issues. stemming from that it creates a culture that promotes ingenuine sense of satisfying others through manipulated social norms. As suran formats it he considers three to be main problems with social media in concert with teenagers. Those three follow up on cyberbullying, sexting, and facebook depression. Cyber bullying allows 28 percent of people to have that opportunity to show that manipulative culture without responsibility, so in a sense of its most direct form. Sexting is in the same realm taking advantage of people's insecurities then developing a worse fate than before, the article considers the statistics formed from research on the amount of teens through surveys to truly understand the nature of sexting.. Mostly in the theme of photos. It answers mercilessly that most people share the photo with others not just one other. This would do nothing but create plenty of self esteem issues supported by future stresses. And the last that is worse than the starbucks addiction, it is a new found addiction that involves everyone with a facebook. People have associated pleasure and torment. But the pleasure enough has satisfied the crowd more. And the curiosity possesses them to read into all the judgements people place on them on a cyber level. People have posted things on these sites like facebook that were personal and lead them to be blackmailed or ridiculed into constant uncomfort and low self esteem it almost feels as though as we progress through life we just manage to make less direct routes to torture many at once. I won't be surprise that hundreds of years ahead of us will kids in their history class look back at this as a more advanced medieval ages. Different torture same concept.
What seems to be involved here is a conflict perspective because of the issue being a future problem and hoping through awareness there will be strategies to end this from developing into an even huger factor to the well being of future generations. Going off the blog there are many things that just started happening that involves teenage fame through ridicule and sexual presentation. These people are rewarded for such behaviors through financial stability and fame… is that reality the american dream? It will be in the future with no questions asked. It will change the way we live but not for the better. And through the conflict lense I can say that it needs to be resolved by its loud direct issues proven by the actions of our peers who fall under this theme of problems.
(Continued)
DeleteI commented on this post because I see that people are well aware of this issue. But no one really does anything about it they just continue to do it to reach a fame no one will really ever get. Everyone wants to feel important and have a sense of control. There are many methods to control but one that has take everyone's major is to represent themselves as better in some way through social media. Its funny cause we tend to feed each other lies and create new standards through media and since the majority is a part of it then it is easy to want it just as bad… people are only interested in control and this topic being one of the main obvious ones i wanted to serve as a small reminder of this issue that will be a huge factor in the generations to come. The article is great because of the research done but it lacks more creativity… I can’t really expect much seeing as it is merely a brief summary on this subject so i won’t completely complain. I just feel the people are tired of hearing the same thing and it is time to find a different route to create a better understanding and motivate a new perspective to create a nation wide if not world wide role exit. This article is relevant because this affects everyone on a national level. Creating constant poisons that are not rejected.
Rudy Arredondo
Luiza Mkrtchyan
ReplyDeleteSOC 101
Article:https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/30/us/politics/trump-executive-order-immigration-refugees.html?ref=politics
According to a January, 30, 2017 news article by Ron Nixon, published on the website of the New York Times, entitled "Why It’s Already Difficult to Gain Entry Into the U.S.", entering the U.S. has already become a problem for foreigners, even though the immigration reforms put forward by President Trump have not been implemented yet. Besides, while Trump justified his initiatives, saying that stricter border controls will prevent terrorists from invading the country, there are already a lot of special programs that have been dealing successfully with these threats to national security for years.
President Trump’s words about an urgent need for extreme vetting have caused resentment among immigrants. However, there already exist quite a few immigration programs that complicate the process of entering the U.S. for foreign citizens. Nixon starts with describing the so-called preclearence program, that is run by the Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP). CBP officials are dispatched to the airports of different countries. Their main task is to collect fingertips and background information about those willing to enter the U.S. Guided by the data collected, they can allow or forbid a foreigner to cross the United States border. According to the Government Accountability Office, this measure has already helped to prevent tens of thousand of people from arriving in the United States, since agents managed to determine that they posed threats to the national security of the United States.
The author then moves on to the discussion the IAP program. IAP abbreviation stands for Immigration Advisory Program, and it is aimed at identifying high-risk passengers and terrorists before they board airplanes heading to the United States. Their functions and methods are different from that of the CBP officials. IAP agents are unarmed, they do not possess any law enforcement authority, and most of the time they assist air companies in preventing fraud and make recommendations about allowing of forbidding passengers to board flights. Although airlines are not obliged to follow their advise, they normally do.
In the next part the author informs the reader about the Visa Security Program run by The Immigration and Customs Enforcement arm of Homeland Security (ICE). ICE agents are attached to diplomatic posts across the globe; their task is to make sure that criminals are not granted a visa. To that end, they investigate all visa applications and interview applicants. Over the past two years, ICE agents have prevented roughly 2000 people related to terrorist organizations from getting visas.
Further on, the author examines the Visa waiver restrictions that underwent certain modifications during the Obama administration in response to the terrorist attacks of 2015 in France. Visa waiver program is not limited to the U.S. solely, it rather used in 38 countries. The program complicates the migration process for immigrants coming from Iran, Syria, and Sudan. However, Visa waiver does not imply that the citizens of the aforementioned countries cannot enter the United States at all; it requires them to undergo a stricter screening procedure.
Nixon maintains, that despite Trump's rhetoric about building walls against illegal immigrants and extreme vetting, it is already quite difficult to enter the United States, owing to a whole set of programs that are aimed at identifying criminals and preventing them from stepping on the American soil even before they arrive at the airport.
3. Why I choose this topic because most of us all immigrants. We want to have all right as citizens. There's lot of people who's families far away from us and we are trying do something to bring them here in us but this situation made it more harder. People can't get visa for this country.
Angelina D.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.vice.com/en_us/article/the-secret-ways-social-media-is-built-for-addiction
1. In Your Addiction to Social Media Is No Accident, the writer, Julian Morgan,writes about the control social media has over individuals and the tricks these social media designers use to keep social media users coming back to their applications several times daily. This is a social issue because it involves every single user with a Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram or Twitter account. These tactics involve the users in a way that makes advertising spaces very profitable, because, the more people that look, the more these social apps can charge advertisers for the spot. It’s easy to understand why people spend a lot of time on these different apps. We have a natural curiosity in the lives of others, in their adventures and their pets. Now, what was a site to keep in contact with others has shifted into a measurement of ones own worth. Through like, love and laughter buttons, the user is more interested in knowing whether someone liked their pictures and activities. Through push notifications, these apps are continuously reminding the users to come back and continue on their product.
2. Conflict theory can be applied to this specific situation because these apps are simply using its users to make money for them. Meanwhile, the users are ignoring their own lives, oblivious to the fact that these apps are simply getting richer. In this specific situation, these popular apps are competing against each other to get the most users on their apps the longest. They use addictive strategies to get users to come back. As explained in the article, Attention economy is a new term that "describes the supply and demand of a persons attention.” If anyone of these apps can controls its users attention and keep them coming back, it can charge advertisers way more for the space they occupy. What’s very addictive about these social platforms is that the burst of happiness a user gets from getting a “like” is so strong that as soon as we get a notification, we’re likely to return to the site and continue scrolling through. As the users, we don’t see the hidden reasons why we’re compelled to return to these sites several times a day, but the developers know exactly how to hook us.
3. I think we all know that these apps make it easy for us to return by notifying us about likes and things that may interest us. What we don’t realize, i think, is that we are making them richer by clicking a single button. I don’t think we realize, especially younger users, is that they’re robbing us of time with family and friends, time for work and school. Whether it’s purposefully or not, we’re the ones losing and they’re the ones winning. We’ll only realize it once we’ve realized how much time we’ve wasted looking down at our phones.
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1576/social-networking-sites-and-romantic-relationships-effects-on-development-maintenance-and-dissolution-of-relationships
ReplyDelete1.Identify the problem:
In today's world we reply mostly on technology to do basically everything. Talk to friends, communicate with friends and families across the world, and even start new relationships. This is a great way to communicate. Also with social media comes showing the world how you live, what you do. Status updating and posting photos. Most Facebook relation ships start from one seeing the others photo liking them and starting a conversation. This can lead to romance and serious relationships. However it can also create problems for the couples. Some couples might get jealous of having more friends on their social sites. Also having your relationship displayed to the public eye can get peers talking and create problems. Nowadays you can't really trust anyone. Using social media, you should be put out there and have your whole life displayed users should somewhat be mysterious at times and keep people thinking. Social media starts and ends relationships. I believe if you want to keep a strong relationship in either love or friendship you must keep it somewhat private.
2. Applying Theory:
Functionalist believe that social media has two basic functions, to connect people together and inform them about everyday lives. Connecting this to the functionalist approach we see how it fills the world with so much information, entertainment and, socialization. The French sociologist Emile Durkheim argued that it was necessary to understand the “needs” of the social organism to which social phenomena correspond. And some of these needs might mean finding "love" and relationships over social media, which a lot of people have accomplished. But it's also rare to have a good strong relationship over social media and long distances.
3. Reflection:
I strongly believe that interactions and socialization is number one in our world today. However there should be ways to keep it private in order to reduce issues with friends, family and intimate relationships. Over the years a lot of teenagers have hurt themselves over social media issues like talking bad about someone or something. Social media can take over our brain and brain wash us, we need to understand not everything in our life's needs to go on social media
Alisa Papazyan
ReplyDeleteSierra V.W.
ReplyDelete1. The Supreme Court ruled that, “North Carolina’s Republican controlled legislature unlawfully relied on race when drawing two of the state’s congressional districts”, as well as finding the same trends in Republican-Led legislatures in Virginia and Alabama. They claim this was to protect their majority votes and not to decrease the impact of minority votes, but seeing as they relied on race heavily to “reshuffle votes from one district to another”; they have illegally gone about “sharing” political power. This is especially unfair as the 2016 election was held in the unfairly redrawn districts, not allowing minorities in the area a fair representation. By unevenly distributing voters in other districts minority voters’ influence was significantly lowered. North Carolina state legislators claim the overall idea “was to preserve republican control.” If silencing votes of minorities is maintaining “republican control”, there is an obvious racial discrimination in the North Carolina’s legislation. This clear racial gerrymandering is a social issue because of the already polarized state our country is in now seems to be furthered by government racial discrimination. The argument that legislatures were trying to hold onto their Republican majority is ridiculously misleading as the Supreme Court and the house are dominated by republicans, why one would think republican legislatives are at a disadvantage makes as much sense as the racial gerrymandering they were caught for. Stratification of the social classes is particularly shown here as those in minority groups who most likely live in lower middle class and poverty stricken areas, those more likely to vote democrat, within North Carolina were unequally disadvantaged as their votes were not represented as equally as those who are more economically advantaged than they are, those who are more likely to vote republican. Based on people’s social class, they were either given an advantage or a disadvantage to the representation of their votes to benefit the already majority holding republicans who further unethically extended their grasp of votes in their favor. If those in a lower class of predominantly minorities voices’ can’t be heard because the proper representation is not there then their issues and concerns are likely to be ignored and over looked, making it difficult for those in the bottom to rise up and do better for themselves. If they are set up to fail and be silenced, the chances of reaching a better life are slim.
2. In the perspective of a conflict theorist this is a prime example of resources and power being withheld by those who control them for their gain only. Since democracy and voting is such a large part of our society and the trust we put into our government this is a clear violation of that trust, what little left there is. A conflict perspective could also argue that not only is this withholding one resource from a group in an inferior position but many such as, material, social, and cultural resources. In a country that relies heavily on voting and democracy for representation of its people the deliberate racial gerrymandering is pulling the resources from their hands and the opportunity for better resources. The inequality displayed and the class and racial discrimination attempted to be passed by North Carolina state legislatures is a perfect example of maintaining the privileges of groups in a higher position and keeping the “inferior” at their low positions.
3. I chose this blog post because it fit so perfectly with the chapter we just finished about social structure and how power is distributed unequally among the social classes. It infuriated me that such action was only taken and made known public after such votes would have mattered. This is such a prevalent issue in the field of sociology because those in positions of power are purposefully and unethically holding those with lower socioeconomic down for their gain.
Sierra V.W.
Deletehttps://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-rules-race-improperly-dominated-nc-redistricting-efforts/2017/05/22/c159fc70-3efa-11e7-8c25-44d09ff5a4a8_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_court-1150a%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.d28c3e133393
Hailey McNall :
ReplyDeletehttps://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/greening-the-media/201406/the-problems-and-possibilities-social-media
One of the biggest problems in our world today is social media. What was intended to be a way of connecting people, forming relationships through online communicating, has actually turned against itself. According to this article, the term "social media" means to communicate and form relationships through websites. The problem is tells us is this; it creates lonelness, and essentially becomes ones whole world. For example, instagram, a widely known and very popular website in which you post pictures of yourself or others to get "likes" and follows from other people. Essentially the idea is to post fun pictures and be satisfied with a few likes. But because our world is so full of people setting a trent to see how many likes they can get in an hour, has not only made people feel bad about themselves, but they also feel that thier pictures are not "good enough" resulting in feeling bad about themselves which brings their self confidence down, making it so that they do not talk to anyone. There are so many beauty gurus on this site that become insta famous. We want to be like them, but that in turn makes us feel bad because we will never be like them, and will never have the confidence to go up and talk to a cute guy or even just people in genral. We have become to concerned about what we look like, act like, dress like, because we are afraid others will judge us, so we refrain from talking to people in person and only online.
From a functionalist perspective, the social environment cannot function properly, meaning if people keep this trend up, we will not know how to talk to others, or how to carry on conversations with others. Not only that, but our daily activities will start to suffer, because all we want to do, is be on social media all the time. Who cares about intamacey? I can be intimate with someone online. Unfortunately you cannot. You need face to face interaction, talking with one another, hearing thier voice, seeing their facial expressions, etc. to be intimate with someone. One just cannot do that online, when you do not even see the person, and all you are talking to is a picture.
I chose this article because I used to be like this. It made me unhappy, and all of the real intimate relationships I had with my family and friends, all went down hill. I am still trying to gain back those relationships and it has been a long time. Not only that, but my grades started slipping, and I just overall felt depressed because my phone, and what ever social site I was on literally became my world. Its not a bad thing to go on social media every once in a while, but its time to take a break when it interferes with your outside life.
Eleni P.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/sing-sing-prisoners-redefine-paying-a-debt-to-society_us_591f7ee5e4b0e8f558bb268d
1. Recently Bianca Tylek of Huffington post interviewed 5 men at Sing Sing Correctional facility in New York that had been incarcerated for life for committing crimes ranging from robbery to murder each of which had been in prisoned since their teens. She was able to conclude that, “Today, they prioritize community service as the leaders and active members of various organizations within the prison: the NAACP, Latinos Unidos, and the Jaycees among others”. Each organization has a different goal, from raising money for school supplies to raising gun control awareness. These men and others also are together and formed a group called Forgotten Voices these men to aid public combat gun violence in 2010. Shortly, superintendent Michael Carpa took control of the society and helped further their projects and start the Voices From Within. After reading the first part of the article its obvious that some prisoners are trying to change and integrate back into society but unfortunately there are many people that don't believe this could happen which is why towards the end of the article Tylek explains how hard it is for these men to raise money to fund their projects. This is a big problem because theres nothing they can do to raise money by themselves, and being in prison restricts them from having social networks and they lack all 3 kinds of capitol Bordeau talked about. Quintessentially these people come from low income households or poverty so they can’t rely on their family to help them and they don't have any other kinds of primary groups other than their fellow inmates. So they don't have many options to raising money. At the very end of the article, there is a link to which people can click on and donate money.
2. A functional theorist would recognize this as a problem because they look at the big picture. They see that a system has different functioning parts and everything needs to work together so that society can function efficiently. A functional theorist would recognize that if prisons were able to raise money they could raise awareness to combat different violent acts as a manifest function and as a latent function it would establish a form of negative reinforcement to individuals because they would say to them selves, “I don't want to go to prison for something that little” or “Its not worth going to prison for the rest of my life”. It would establish and reinforce norms.
3. I came across this article as I was looking for a topic to write about for my last blog assignment and it really opened my eyes. To be completely honest before reading this article I would have never even thought about donating to a prison because I couldn't think of a reason to help people that are deviant to society but this article made me realize that they need to be given a second chance and many of them are trying to repay society and they just lack the capitol needed to do so. This article also relates to the class discussions we have had about prisoners that are let go from prison and figuratively thrown back into society and i believe that if funding becomes more available the transition from prison back to society would be smother and the ex-convicts would more likely not be deviant again. I think this is relevant in the field of society because it helps people that have been removed from society slowly integrate back and establish norms and values into people that are in a society.
Imani
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/asia/jakarta-sex-party-lgbt/index.html
1. This article is about homosexual men in Indonesia being imprisoned for choosing to live their lives the way they want. This is a social issue beacuse why should it matter how someone else chooses to live their life, and the fact that the government is getting involved and taking action blows my mind. 2 men were arrested and were sentenced to 85 "lashes" for committing sexual relations! This is not only a violation of human rights but an act against the LGBT community that needs more attention, this is a hate crime dictated by the Indonesian government.
2. From a functionalists perspective this is VERY damaging, imagine how the young homosexual boys living in Indonesia and seeing this on the news are feeling? Probably terrified. This is affecting their mental heathy in a very negative way. Some will probably try to hide their true selves, but you can only do that for so long. Seeing this they will also start the think that maybe their feelings are wrong and look at themselves and ask, "why am I like this?". This can lead to severe consequences.
3. Reading this article made me very sad. The thought of people just trying to live their lives the way that wish and being tossed in jail is so horrific. The Indonesian police should be focused on more important matters. Are these men hurting anyone? No, are the threatening lives? No, then why are hundreds of men sitting in an Indonesian prison for no reason. I commented on this article because I believe everyone should live their life the way that makes them happy as long as they aren't hurting themselves or anyone else. We are human and we are all different, who's to judge us and tell us the way we were made is wrong?
Fernando L.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/co-parenting-after-divorce/201304/the-impact-parental-alienation-children
Interfering with a loving parent-child relationship can create an imbalance in what would and could be construed as effective social norms of society. According to Kruk, “What children of divorce most want and need is to maintain healthy and strong relationships with both of their parents, and to be shielded from their parents' conflicts. Some parents, however, in an effort to bolster their parental identity, create an expectation that children choose sides. In more extreme situations, they foster the child’s rejection of the other parent. In the most extreme cases, children are manipulated by one parent to hate the other, despite children’s innate desire to love and be loved by both their parents.” Furthermore, the probable outcome of these children are those with high if not extreme behaviors of deviance; for example, substance abuse, constant criminal behaviors, suicidal ideations, and all other deviant mentalities in between.
From an interactionist perspective, this issue would be perceived as a form of disorder. According to Witt, “[S]ociety is the product of our everyday interactions (with parents, friends, teachers, or strangers) through which we establish shared meanings and thus construct order. Because society is dependent on this ongoing construction, society is fluid and subject to change.” In other words, one parent alienating a child or children from properly interacting with the other parent can be highly detrimental in the upbringings of a child or children by leading them to ostracize a parent if not both or even become antisocial towards the rest of society through means of fear and hate. In this matter, the negative and unresolved byproducts of divorce if not legal separation, to say the least, would be the primary reason this chaos in society begins to occur.
This post was generalized in the sense that everyone’s story or experience regarding their impacted situation of parental alienation on their children may be different, but the outcome is usually the same if not similar. I chose to comment on this specific topic because for the past nine years I’ve been dealing with having custody of my children from 5% of the time within the first three years (only every other weekends - Friday night thru Sunday night) of my divorce, to having a restraining order placed on me for three years (no form of contact), and then finally ending up with custody of only 1% of the time (every other Sunday for only 10 hours). Now, it appears that my children pretend to want to be with me and seems that it’s only to develop a relationship so that when they want something from me they can simply state, “Because I’m your kid...” Other than that, my children display a lot of resentments towards me. As much as I’d love to have more time with my children from my first marriage, that is simply undoable at the moment as their mother has full legal and physical custody and every moment I get in life to want to spend more time with my children the answer has been some form of excuse as to why they cannot. The sad part about this for me is it’s my children who inform me that they don’t want to spend time with me. At the end of the day, it is our children who receive the short end of the stick and suffer most due to one parent if not both behaving uncivilized and immature in regards to the upbringings of all children involved. This social issue is relevant in the field of sociology because it is our young generation who will carry over our customs, traditions, values, social norms, and so forth into our future and if social distortions become the new way of life, then how much longer until the established foundation of our society crumbles into ruins? Nothing changes if nothing changes, which is why for what it’s worth I do not give up on my children and apply myself to remain in their lives as much and as best as I can with all that life has given me; just like my parents did and continue to do for me.
Jessica Ruiz
ReplyDeleteAnderson, Jenny. "Why we shouldn’t celebrate the huge drop in school bullying." Quartz. Quartz, 18 May 2017. Web. 22 May 2017.
This article discusses the decrease in amount of bullying incidents being reported in schools. Per this article, it is discussed that the amount of incidents regarding bullying have decreased, however, the reason they have decreased isn’t something to be happy about. According to a study conducted in Maryland, students are not reporting the incidents as much in hopes to continue to have a “sense of belonging”. This article reminded me of the term conformity, in which the students are conforming to the “norm”, by not reporting the bullying incidents. Aside from the lack of reports, Bullying in itself is a social issue that affects the Bully, the Victim, and the other students within the school. As we have learned, School (Education) is one of the Agents of Socialization which immensely contributes to the socialization of a person. If students, at an elementary school age, are bullies, being bullied or simply witnessing bullying, it can and will negatively affect their life in the future.
An Interactionalist, who believes “society is a product of our everyday interactions”, would believe that bullying can negatively alter a child’s future. In the interactions that are happening between Peer Groups (another Agent of Socialization), children who are bullying, being bullied, or witnessing bullying are learning those behaviors and will then apply them to their adult life. In this article, the author gives an example of what bullying will cause in the lives of the bully or the victim. She says, “Bullies are at greater risk for academic problems, substance abuse, and violent behavior later in adolescence and adulthood.” She goes on to explain the effects that bullying has on victims of bullying, she believes that victims are, “at greater risk of developing anxiety and depression.” Through these two statements from the article’s author, we see how these interactions will negative affect young children. In regards to the lack of reports about bullying in school, I believe that from an interactionalist perspective, we see that children are choosing to conform with their peer groups by opting out of reporting the incidents of bullying.
I believe this blog post was very interesting because it highlighted a big issue that is affecting millions of children worldwide. Bullying is a growing epidemic, and it is something that alters a child’s future. We learn in Cooley’s Looking-Glass Self theory, that sometimes we become who we think others perceive us to be. A Bully will go on in life being the bully, which can negatively impact his relationships, or even career. A Victim will go on in life playing the role of the victim, which will also have a negative impact on his/ her relationships. This becomes an issue of sociology because these children are members of a society, and need to learn to work cohesively to ensure a well working society. I chose to talk about this topic because I personally have been affected by bullying. I see the negative affects the bullying has had on me as an adult, and I like to learn ways to stop the bullying from happening, especially in school. Also, I believe this a good topic to discuss in a sociology class since the negative interactions happening (bullying), often lead to issues for adults.
Gregory Navasarkian
ReplyDeleteURL: http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/26/local/la-me-one-way-gender-revolution-20131227
1. In the article “Men Are Stuck in Gender Roles” the author explains how women have recently moved out of their traditional gender roles while men have not. Women have become prominent in historically male occupations such as doctors and entrepreneurs. However, men are not able to take the roles traditionally held by women because they are not socially acceptable. Society in general, does not believe that it is the role of men to stay at home. For example, in the article it states that only eight percent of the population believes a family is better off it the father stays home. Also, when men are doing something that is considered feminine it is looked at much more negatively than when a woman does something that is traditionally masculine. This is a social issue because it is society that places artificial barriers onto what each gender can do. Each gender norm is assigned to men and women by society as a whole. Furthermore, society has moved away from the traditional roles for women, steadily giving them more opportunities, but at the same time no advancements have been made for men, which society needs to pay more attention to. Society also needs to allow men to feel comfortable leaving their traditional gender roles. The theory that comes to mind when thinking about this topic is the theory of the looking glass self which states that people do and think what they feel they are supposed to as a result of societies norms.
2. From the interactionist perspective we can look at what might be causing individuals to leave their traditional roles for roles normally associated with the other gender. An interactionist would ask why an individual is interested in leaving their own genders traditional roles, weather it is because of changing circumstances at home or something different altogether. Furthermore, and internationalist would look at how the reason behind men not leaving their traditional roles has to do with societies lack of openness towards the prospect of a man fulfilling the roles associated with women. For example, Cooley would say that men are not leaving their roles because they are not able to, rather they are acting in compliance with what their peers feel should be their behavior, instead of what they believe to be the best choice for themselves. Through the interactionist perspective we can see that the reason men are not comfortable leaving their traditional gender roles is resulting from their interactions with society as a whole.
3. I think this article is interesting because it is about a topic that is hardly ever discussed. It is important to look at the changes in women’s abilities to leave their traditional roles over time. However, the changes in a man’s ability to leave their gender roles is often overlooked. Sociologists have always looked at the inequalities between men and women, which there is a great deal of, and what women have done to advance their ability to leave behind their gender norms. But they never look at how men have done nothing to break the social stigma behind leaving their own traditional roles of being the head of a household and the person responsible for going to work to support their family. This social issue is important in the field of sociology because it is about how men interact with society and how society determines what is considered acceptable for a man to do. A sociologist can look at society’s basic perceptions of men leaving their traditional roles for roles usually held by women, and what has or has not changed over time.
Alex Novshadyan
ReplyDelete1. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has conducted research and surveys and collected reports of student crimes being commited across schools in the nation as a result of the Donald Trump campaign and his eventual election. What was found is that hate crimes and racism had “skyrocketed” in the aftermath of Trump, which they have the named “The Trump Effect.” Majority of these incidents took place in schools with a majority of white students, however, not all perpitrators were whites. Reports of racial slurs, racist symbols such as sawasticas, and even fights were being commited in greater numbers during Trumps campaign, and after he was elected they started to become more frequent. Children being exposed to racial remarks and actions by the President of the United States and even the people who supported him were terrible influences on and supported this unacceptable behavior.
2. According to the Interactionalist theory, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and other characteristics create our indicidual identities but also give identities to the group in a whole. When one group, whether it be by race, gender, or sexual orientation, is discriminated against or created a negatice image of it alters the view point of other groups against them.
3. It is important to sociologists to understand what creates the status quo surrounding these groups and how other groups look up or even down on them. It’s necessary to look into this inorder to potentiall stop racism, gender equality, and other social conflicts created simply by the general identity of the group.
Link: https://www.thoughtco.com/trump-affect-on-american-education-system-4118208
Laritza F.
ReplyDeleteURL: https://www.thoughtco.com/meet-the-people-behind-donald-trumps-popularity-4068073
1-Making decisions is a big responsibility that might have an effect in our lives, but that is also related to who we are in essence, our beliefs and our level of education, within other aspects. Many times people make decisions either for their own convenience or to go against others; we can see this reflected in the article: “Meet the People Behind Donald Trump’s Popularity”. This article involves a social issue that characterized many of the Trump’s supporters as racism and sexism discriminative toward others. This is a social issue because the discrimination of gender and race it’s been a problem in America that need to be eliminated or at least diminished, but now, under the Trump’s presidency is going to be in increase because that is in essence what he has been promoting in his political campaign: the power of whites over others different from their race or gender. (gender and race discrimination). We can better understand this social issue by applying the concept of discrimination: is an action or practice that excludes, disadvantages, or merely differentiates between individuals or groups of individuals on the basis of some ascribed or perceived trait.
Many people that support Trump believe that his presidency would make the U.S. safer from terrorism and improve the economy, and finally make America great again; but great for whom? Certainly not for women, or Americans of color, or children, or gay men, or religious minorities, but for white people mostly, because his idea is to swept the nation from immigrants and put whites on top of the power. However, as we can read in this article, many people that support him don’t really like him neither see him as an admirable personality, but even so, they still give him the vote either to go against democrats or because they are just fine with that racism, sexism and religious and other bigotries.
2-From the functionalist perspective, social stability is necessary for a strong society; and adequate socialization and social integration are necessary for social stability. Furthermore,
for society in order to function efficiency, the relations within the members of society must contribute to the harmonious conduct and stability of society. Members must have a sense of assimilation to understand that although we are all different, we need one another and we must work together for the society in order to thrive. Promoting race and gender discrimination may effect on the harmony and well development of a society. As example we can look at how the level of violence has increased since Trump started his political campaign where he has been manifesting in several occasions his dislike for immigrants, Muslims, gays, and the rest of the population other than whites. People who follow is ideas have started to attack publically Mexican people, deportations has increased, which bring as a consequences separation of family members, leaving some kids without their parents, and the fear in the immigrant population is somehow depriving them of having a normal life. As a result, the America society is not functional anymore, social inequality prevails stronger than ever and discrimination along with abuses, by whites toward the rest of the population, is what is being seen in the streets and social networks.
Laritza F. (...) continuation
ReplyDelete3-I think this blog post exposes one of the social problems that our society have face through the years and how this problem instead of being solved is increasing causing a dysfunctional society and affecting its equilibrium. I decide to comment in this specific topic because after so many years of intense attempts to make America a nice place to live, where exist human rights not matter the race or gender, and now when finally, it seemed to get more consolidated, a racist and sexism appear divulging his discriminative ideas and over that, he has been supported for so many people till the point that they make him gain the presidency of the USA. I cannot understand how this happened if there is so many people advocating of reasonable equal society. This social issue is relevant in the field of sociology because beyond that Trump washed the brain of many people with his promises of “make America great again”, another percent of the population that voted for him agreed with his ways of discrimination, which can be related to the social status of these people along with their level of education, their family background and other aspects study for sociologists to understand the behavior of people in relation with society.
Maryori A.
ReplyDeleteHere are some links to show Segregation based on the perception of children and teens about this problem
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sff2N8rez_8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OKgUdQF-Fg
In this article show us how the schools where children receive the education affects the way children think about their selves and their surroundings; Not leaving behind how children are affected by the believes of their own family. This problem of inequality increase by their teens years, it seems is because they have been socially exposed to negative feedback about other races. However, It seems necessary to increasing race diversity in the education system (schools). Consequently, increasing diversity could prepare children to increase their acceptance and tolerance toward other ethnic groups, genders, and different social classes. In other words schools and family should work together to teach children that they can be friends with people from different races. Therefore this diversity could allow all the students to experience the same privileges education wise, and at the same time be exposed to expand the way they think about their opportunities in life. Not leaving behind that these differences like Carla Shedd an assistant professor of sociology and African American studies at Columbia University, shared about inequality between children and how this could also bring a positive outcome, as she mentioned: “It's a burden, but it's an important skill set that prepares them later on for inequality with a different face”, this exposure to inequality will allow children to approach life more successfully. Nevertheless, his could decrease the perception and the generalized prejudices society has against the minorities groups, in this case Hispanics and African Americans. Is important to provide children with better education and social experiences, because it is fundamental to shaped their future opportunities and how they will approach life.
Based on the conflict theory schools are helping to create and increase this inequality by not changing their system and instead reproducing it. The increased number of private schools, and segregated schools seems to be becoming more common. Therefore, are creating limitations to those students in the minority groups, and increasing inequality as consequence. On the other hand, the dominant groups like whites in the school system is decreasing African American’s and Hispanic children’s the opportunity to interact and have equal learning opportunities about formal norms, values and interpersonal skills. However, is important to understand that children in segregated schools are growing up not knowing that inequalities and some injustices against their race are not normal.
Maryori A. Cont.
ReplyDeleteThis article show the reader the importance of increasing diversity in school, so children can grow up with a more open view to the multicultural pot in where they live in. For sociologist, is important to approach this difference of behavior to create a more functionalist society, and to reduce problems of inequality treatment and bullying specially since young age. With this goal in mind, that these differences between minority and dominant groups will eventually become accepted by society, in order to increase equal treatment. I commented on this because I believe that the education system can change children perception about inequality and friendship between other races, but I also believe parents have an important role of how they children think about other cultures, and with who they can be socialized. In some cases the parents do not allow their children to interact with kids that are different in terms of race or economical status, as the example of 13 year old Jimmy and African American in the video, who experienced rejection when the mother of his white friend prohibit him to hung up with his child; In my case I feel the difference, because I come from a Hispanic country and I feel that some people prejudice, and their lack of knowledge placed all Hispanics in the same bag, for some we all come from Mexico, we all came illegal to this country, or we all come from a low income family, which is not the case of many of us. Another erroneous view is the case of African Americans where society place them as deviants and as an inferior culture, is teaching children to have prejudice and to stay away from them or mistreat them for example, the case of Dante in this article where he mentioned that he was bully so much that he had to move to another school. Unfortunately, these differences can affect children self-esteem. Lamentably, people sometimes is forced to believe that inequality is normal, just because they haven’t have the chance to have different experiences neither the opportunity to be treated with respect. I believe that people in these days are lacking education and tolerance toward others. Therefore exposing children to diversity cultures in the school and teaching them to leave behind prejudice, and that it is socially acceptable to share with children from different backgrounds could decrease inequality, bullying in schools and racial discrimination.