Race Post

For this post, please post about race.  You may wish to talk about the social construction of race (Here is a great recap that articulates the myth of race as genetics and why it is a social construction http://www.vox.com/2015/1/13/7536655/race-myth-debunked ),
ingroups/outgroups and stereotypes and prejudices especially explicit and implicit racism as well as white privilege.  Check out Macklemore's Song  White Privilege   

   He has also made the song White Privilege II which seems to be about the struggle of identity as a white person supporting Black Lives Matters and why he needs to support BLM.

As you apply it to your own experiences, you might want to think about: assumptions you have had about race (esp. biological), experiences you have had with other races and/or racism, and how privilege affects you. 

Sources you must use:
White Like Me video; Racial Formations Article (Omi and Winant); Macklemore Lyrics, READ SOME OF THESE ARTICLES and all the links/ideas on my blog.

Racial Formations

We will be beginning our unit on race this week and into next week.  Please do the following reading during class and be prepared for discussion tomorrow.

Here is the article you need to read.  You can find it HERE and click on Racial Formations

Read the questions to ponder section at the beginning, then answer the following:

1.     How could race be a social construct? Can you think of proof?

Read the first page (9, on the handout).  Then discuss question 3 and 4 and write your answers below. 

2.  What does it mean to be “one-thirty second black”? 

3.  Do you think one-thirty second black should mean someone is considered black?  If so, why?  If not, why not, and what should be the demarcation for being considered black?

Read page 10.  Then answer as a group:

4.  What does polygenesis mean?  What are the ways Europeans would treat people differently based on idea of polygenesis – list at least 3.

5.  How do biologists and anthropologists feel about the idea of race?

Read page 11.

6.  What does the author mean by “race is indeed a pre-eminently socio-historical concept”?

7.  What does “hypo-descent” mean?

Read page 12.

8.  How does classification of race differ in Brazil?

9.   What does “passing” mean?

10. How do people use race in everyday life?

Read page 13.  Then discuss as a group.

11.  What are at least three non-biological assumptions that race provides about an individual in the U.S.?

Read 14 and 15.  Then discuss these as a group:

12.  What role has race played in economics?

13.  What is the author’s thesis? Explain it.

Social Class and Deviance Blog 8 Due Dec. 9

For this post, you are required to apply both Deviance and Social Class.

For this post, explain the concept of deviance and how it is relative.  Discuss the unjust problems that relativity in deviances causes.  You may also explain how deviance labels people and creates a stigma as well as how it is connected to social class. How is deviance positive and negative.  Can you relate to being positively deviant?  Examples? Reflections on the action?  Some sources we looked at that must be included are Saints and Roughnecks.

 You must reflect on the movies The Line and People Like Us.  Please explain the dynamics of social class in the United States.  Explain how The Line and People Like Us contribute to our understanding of Social Class.  You should also discuss The Coin Flipping game and how it represents America.  Also watch and reflect on the TED TALK at the end of the monopoly post. For the sociological content, some of the concepts that were a part of this unit are:  income, wealth, prestige, power, social mobility, poverty and life chances. 

Explain how social class and socio-economic status affects this community.Do you see how social class is played out at SHS? Where do you see class conflicts in the community? How do you see social class playing a role in your own life? How has your family's mobility been? Are you growing up in the same social class as your parents? 

DUE FRIDAY Dec 9

The Line-Poverty in America

Chapter 1: The New Poverty, Dupage County, IL
Suburban poverty is growing faster than urban or rural poverty and is at a higher rate than urban poverty.
Often, these people will go unnoticed.  For example, there are at least 2% of SHS that qualifies for federal financial aid.  That's about 80 students, but often they go unnoticed.  Sometimes this anonymity is purposeful - there is a stigma that comes with poverty and so some impoverished people feel inferior.
The man in the video experienced downward structural mobility.
Divorce played a role. 

What surprised you about his story of poverty?
What did you learn?
What could he of done differently?

Chapter 2: The Violence of Poverty, Chicago, IL
Inner city poverty often accompanies violence.
Those in poverty are often living one trauma away from homelessness.
J Kwest
The threat of violence and trauma leave many urban poor not thinking about the future because they do not plan to live long enough to worry about their future.
One medical disaster can result in a downward spiral for the poor.  Divorce exacerbated her situation.  Sheila moves in with her mom and siblings to create a "community home".  Her children feel stigmatized at her school.

What surprised you about her story of poverty?
What did you learn?
What could she of done differently?

Chapter 3: The Nature of Poverty

What surprised you about his story of poverty?
What did you learn?
What could he of done differently?


Chapter 4: The Labor of Poverty, Charlotte, North Carolina
Left by his father, he had no money and his mother relied on welfare.  He had to pass up college and find a job instead.   Worked as a horse walker for 20 years, but then moved to North Carolina.  He worked hard, never used drugs, but refused to sleep in the street.  Having no skills, he had trouble finding a job.  He had to move into a homeless shelter.  He found work because a minister runs a nonprofit restaurant called the King's Kitchen.

What surprised you about his story of poverty?
What did you learn?
What could he of done differently?

Final Paper – Community Service Reflection DUE: Monday December 12, 2016

Final Paper – Community Service Reflection

DUE: Monday December 12, 2016

After completing your service hours, you must reflect on your community service experiences.   Please write an authentic paper using details of your own experiences and relate your community service experiences to sociology.

Similar to each blog post, the paper should meet the standards of the class:

Literacy – Please relate your expe1riences to a variety of different sources (readings, videos, websites, images) from the semester.  Thoroughly explain the connection between the source and your service experience.  Try to be specific about what aspect of the service related to the source.  Your grade will be based on the following scale:

8-10- Student thoroughly connects a variety of sources from personal research or experience to community service experiences in a detailed and specific way.

7- Student thoroughly connects a couple of sources from throughout the semester to community service experiences in a detailed and specific way.

6- Student connects source from throughout the semester either lacking in variety, thoroughness or detail.

5-0- Student fails to connect sources from throughout the semester and is lacking in variety, thoroughness or detail.

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- Look back over my blog for the various sources we looked at this semester.

- Use your textbook as a source if necessary.

Sociological Content – Please connect your service experience(s) to the sociological concepts and terms we have used this year.  Please see the attached appendix for some suggestions of how to connect service experiences to sociology.

8-10- Student is able to connect multiple sociological concepts from different units in a meaningful and accurate way.  The connection is explained with irrefutable conviction.

7- Students is able to connect either multiple sociological concepts in a meaningful and accurate way with irrefutable conviction.  Or, the student is able to connect multiple concepts from various units but might lack some conviction, or leaving some meaning unclear.

6-  Student is able to connect a concept in a way that is either accurate or meaningful.

0-5- Student is unable to make connections that are accurate, meaningful.

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- Use the appendix on the back of this handout.

- The intro unit can be applied to every service opportunity.

- Research the organization that you worked with.  Find out who they help and why – this will give you ideas about how to connect to sociology.

Academic Expectations – Please write the reflection with proper prose, grammar, spelling and format.  Use .5-1.5 inch margins, 10-12 font, and double spacing.  Turn it in on time.

8-10- Student is able to do all of these.

7- Student misses one of these.

6- Student has 2 or 3 mistakes or is late.

5-0- Student has more than 3 mistakes or is late and has other mistakes.

TIPS:
- Spell check

-Formal Academic Writing

Appendix A – Connecting to Sociology

Introduction:

            Sociological Imagination – how are the individuals who you served shaped by circumstances larger than their own personal choices.  How are they shaped by when and where they live? Sociological Mindfulness – consider how this experience makes you aware that you are a part of society and you have an impact on it. Social construction of reality – explain how individuals’ feelings and experiences are shaped by society.  Ingroups-outgroups – explain how belonging to a group affects your feelings and stereotypes toward outgroups.

Culture:

Identify unique elements in your service experience, such as: material culture, norms, values and sanctions. Consider how these cultural elements aid in the functioning of the organization and how they contrast with mainstream elements of culture.  How do American values play a role in the plight of those being served or in your service work?

Socialization:

Analyze the modes of interaction that you engaged in during your service. Where there differences in the way that you acted towards the clients versus other volunteers versus members of the organization?  Did you see any processes of socialization occurring with yourself or with the clients that you were working with? 

Deviance:

Reflect on the whether the organization or clientele of the organization where you were volunteering bears any stigma from the larger community.  Often times, community-service organizations have the primary goal of aiding individuals who carry a deviant identity.  Whether it is poverty, substance abuse, illness, age, disability, etc. Observe how the clients manage their stigmatized identities. How do the workers at the organization treat the clients?  Do the clients manage or reject the label of deviant?  How does the work of the organization help change societal perceptions of the stigmatized?

Social Class:

What role does class inequality play in their organization?  How is the organization funded?  How do community service organizations in general generate enough interest for people to volunteer their time and donate their money to help others?  How does charity fit into the American Dream ideology?  Do you believe that most Americans are willing to sacrifice some of their own wealth to help those in need? Why? Why not?

Race/Ethnicity:

Reflect on the racial and ethnic dynamic of their organization.  Is there a difference between the racial or ethnic composition of the staff, the volunteers, and the clientele?  Did your experiences of the racial or ethnic composition at the organization parallel your everyday experiences?  Have you gained any insight into a particular group? Explain.

Social Class...is it a flip of a coin?

Today we wagered on flipping pennies in class. The exercise was a metaphor for deviance and social class. The exercise resembles real life in a number of ways:
It had the appearance of being fair and equal - everyone had a 50% chance of winning. However, the way the rules are written, the money will flow to the top with just a few having most coins and most people having very little.  The more money you have the more opportunities you have.

Most U.S. citizens do not like the idea of social class. They will not acknowledge the rules that create the distribution of wealth that we see in the exercise. But the reality is that our wealth and even our income in the U.S. resembles that of the coin flip metaphor; a few individuals at the top with enormous wealth and income and most people at the bottom making very little (comparatively).
Here is a graph of the real distribution of income in the US.  Notice how closely it resembles the coin flipping metaphor:

And the "rules" of our society help to create that dynamic. By "rules" I mean the opportunities and obstacles that we face based on our social class.


These rules can also be applied to what we have been talking about regarding deviance. One example is William Chambliss's study of The Saints and Roughnecks.  Those with money are able to stay clear of the criminal justice system while the majority of those who are locked up in prisons are citizens with low income.

 As I mentioned in an earlier post:

Wealthy crimes are generally "white collar" crime, esp. corporate crime. Instead of white collar crime, our society tends to focus on street crime such as robberies, murders, rapes. The media contributes to this b/c it is action-packed, full of emotion (fear), and personalized (it tells a good story). On the other hand, white collar crime is boring (numbers & statistics). But the reality is that it is more costly ($400bil). One example is Sears which defrauded poor customers of over $100 million. They pled guilty and avoided a trial; other companies settled out of court for similar practices. Firestone executives let faulty tires remain on U.S. vehicles even though they had been recalled in other countries. About 200 people killed. Under federal law, causing the death of a worker by willfully violating safety rules is a misdemeanor and punishable by up to six months in prison. Powerful people bypass the courts and are usually fined – no jail.

Sometimes we forget how fortunate we are relative to the rest of the world because the media is saturated with stories of the super wealthy. Here is a website that will rank you among the WORLD's population. That should provide some perspective as to how lucky we are.

However, relative to other Westernized modern countries, the US does not look so equal.  In fact, the inequality in the USA is closer to China, Mexico, Venezuela and Argentina and even Cuba!

This map shows the inequality present in countries around the world. The bluer countries are more equal and the more red are less equal:Notice how many countries are more equal than the United States.

And here is a post showing that the US has gotten more unequal over the past several decades.

Here is a post from the Society Pages about the damaging effects of income inequality.

--Sal Post.

Thin Ads + Low Body Image = Stress?
Ads Showing Skinny Models Might Hurt Self-Worth In Vulnerable Young Women Viewing ads of super-skinny models may make young women feel worse about themselves, especially if they have body image problems, according to a new study. Researcher Gayle Bessenoff, Ph.D., reports the findings in Psychology of Women Quarterly. Bessenoff is an assistant professor in the University of Connecticut's psychology department.

What Studies Show: Links Between Media and Self Esteem in Girls Many studies conclude that there is clearly a link between young women’s self esteem and the media. *The Journal of Research on Adolesence, in a study of body image and self esteem (Daniel Clay, Vivian L. Vignoles, Helga Dittmar - 2005), imparts that the the declining self esteem that girls often experience entering into adolescence is in part due to social comparison with media models. In a 2006 study of girls' body satisfaction and self esteem from the American Psychological Association (Hayley Dohnt,, Marika Tiggemann), research also illustrates that media creates a negative influence on girls' body images and self-esteem – particularly in regard to acceptable levels of thinness.

A particularly alarming media trend is the sexualization of women at younger and younger ages. Medical News Today discusses how suggestive images of young women negatively affect girls self-esteem, playing a role in onset of depression, eating disorders, and low-self-esteem. 

Sexualization Of Girls Is Linked To Common Mental Health Problems In Girls And WomenScienceDaily (Feb. 20, 2007) — A report of the American Psychological Association (APA) released today found evidence that the proliferation of sexualized images of girls and young women in advertising, merchandising, and media is harmful to girls' self-image and healthy development.

Dying to Fit In- Literally! Learning to Love Our Bodies and Ourselves By Christine Hartline, MAIn the United States approximately 10% of girls and women (numbering up to 10 million) are suffering from diagnosed eating disorders. Of these at least 50,000 will die as a direct result! Recent data reported by the American Psychiatric Association suggests that of all psychiatric disorders, the greatest excess of patient mortality due to natural and unnatural causes is associated with eating disorders and substance abuse.

Teen Body ImageMedia images have a strong effect on people's body image, particularly for women, because the ideals the media presents for women are farther from the average woman's body. The Social Issues Research Centre (SIRC) reports that in 1972, the ideal woman shown in the media (models, movie stars, etc.) weighed less than the average woman, yes, but only by 8%. By the late 90s, the difference had become 23%....In one study from Harvard University reported by (SIRC), it was found that by age 17, 7 out of 10 teens have been on a diet and as many as 80% of teens may have a negative body image....The onset of eating disorders for 86% of people is before they finish their teens.


Look at this powerful video about how people are made to think about themselves and how different that can be from reality:

And one more:
When did "like a girl" become a bad thing?