SocBook 11th entry 10/2/18

Today in class a video was shared from an episode of the Simpsons. In the scene they discussed Kubler-Ross’s 5 stages of death. We also all shared something from our “hands on” project.  It was made clear that all of the theories cover general patterns and can vary from person to person and even from culture to culture.

We covered the last part of Chapter 5. Agents of Socialization. The major influences in our socialization are family, school, peer groups and the mass media. They are all very powerful and family is the post influential. We did watch videos on Harlow’s monkeys and it was clear that love and intimacy are just as important for social development as food and water are for physical development. Lack of love can also impair physical development even if an infant is given plenty of food. All of these basic needs begin with family. The next influence is the school environment. The school reinforces what is being taught by the family. It reinforces gender roles and introduces them to peer groups.  Birds of a feather flock together. We are all judged by the company we keep. Generally, a person wants to be accepted into a group and they will imitate the behaviors of other members in order to be accepted. Many times, the desire to be accepted into a group is stronger than the desire to follow rules. If the group follows the rules, then so will the new member but if the group tends to disregard rules the new member will follow that trend. Mass media is the final factor and it affects all of us. I personally do not watch the news. I tried to last night and found myself furious within 30 minutes.

The above video is a great explanation of how peer pressure works. It describes a scenario that is not so destructive to show how easily we fall to peer pressure. I like that there is data to demonstrate that certain cultures and even our gender may have a correlation as to how likely we are to be influenced by peer pressure.

We covered resocialization with respect to total institutions. Resocialization is to radically alter personality through deliberate control of the environment. Total institutions are settings in which people are isolated from the rest of society and manipulated by an administrative staff. Many societies including our own, tends to focus on the failures of the individual rather than the successes. Society also has a tendency towards negative reinforcement in order to re-socialize. In order for you to re-socialize yourself, you must have a good understanding of what is going on in your life.

Positive I can do – Work had to achieve my goal of becoming a biologist.

Negative I can do – Stop doing homework.

Positive society can do – Work together to save the environment.

Negative society can do – Continue being selfish. Each individual only look for what they can gain.

491 Words

SocBook 10th entry 9/28/18

On Friday we talked about the major psychological theories and how they affect social behavior.  We watched a short video on Harlow’s monkeys experiment. The experiment took infant monkeys away from their mothers. In isolation there were two surrogate mothers. One made of wire mesh that would give milk and one covered in a blanket that did not. The infant always clung to the surrogate with the blanket even though it did not give milk. Once the infant was introduced to other monkeys it was unable to integrate and had major health problems. All the test subjects had shortened life expectancy.

We briefly discussed Darwin vs Watson and the nature vs nurture theories. Darwin proposed that social behavior was all biological. This meant that if an organism learned a behavior then its offspring would inherit that behavior and survive. Watson offered the position that social behavior is completely learned and that any healthy human child could be influenced toward any path given the right circumstance.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle and both forces play a major role in human development and social behavior.

The video covers Freud's personality model with Id, Ego and Super Ego. Id represents the basic drives. The Ego is the conscious efforts to balance pleasure with society. The Super Ego is cultural values and societal norms internalized by the individual.

Piaget developed a model included the following stages: Sensorimotor, Pre-operational, Concrete-operational and Formal-operational.  Sensorimotor is the stage when infants learn the world with only their senses. Pre-operational is the first use of language and symbols. Concrete-operational is when they make casual connections with the world. Formal-operational is abstract and critical thinking.

Kohlberg built on this developing the preconventional, conventional and postconventional.  Preconventional is simply what feels good. Conventional is sort of a reward punishment system and Postconventional is the abstract “freedom and justice” way of thinking.

Gilligan repeated the same study but incorporating females showing that males and females think differently.

Mead developed the idea of “I” and “Me”. “I” is how we see ourselves. “Me” is how we think others see us. This is also called the looking-glass self and no he was not talking about the awesome band that sang Brandy.

Erikson’s 8 stages of development include: Infancy, toddlerhood, preschool, preadolescence, adolescence, young adulthood, middle adulthood and old age.

Kubler-Ross developed and described 5 stages of death. The stages are denial, anger, negotiation, resignation and acceptance.

Positive I can do - let my kids make decisions so they can develop critical thinking skills.
Negative I can do - Do everything for my kids so they end up being useless adults.
Positive society can do - Having trouble with this one today
Negative society can do - Allow no experts to continue making decisions for society.

9/26/18 Worksheet definition entry

a.       Socialization – The lifelong social experience by which individuals develop human potential and learn patterns of their culture.

b.      I and Me – I is the view of self as the subject and me is the view of self as an object.

c.       Looking-glass self – Term for the image people have of themselves based on how they suppose others perceive them. 

d.      Self – George H. Mead term for a dimension of personality composed of an individual’s self-awareness and self-image.

e.       Personality – A person’s fairly consistent patterns of thinking, feeling and acting.

f.        Social isolation: (required, and give 2 examples) 2 points Anna and Genie. Feral children.

g.      Gerontology – The study of old age or aging.

    h. Anticipatory socialization - the process of social learning directed toward gaining a desired position, commonly occurs among peers.

    i: Ascribed vs. Achieved statuses (required, and give 2 examples to each term.
       You need to check Chapter 6).  4 points Ascribed status: a social position that someone receives at birth or assumes involuntarily later in life.

ascribed status - a social position that someone receives at birth or takes on involuntarily later in life.

achieved status - a social position that someone takes on voluntarily that reflects personal ability and effort.

SocBook 9th entry 9/25/18

     Today we finished watching the video which was our window to the world. We covered Polynesian cultures who are greatly tied to the sea. They live in open houses that are better for surviving storms. They are great at building small boats for fishing and some tribes can dive for up to 3 minutes.

     Above is the music video of the song "Your Welcome" from the Disney move Moana. After watching the movie with my kids I was interested in seeing how accurate the movie was in depicting Polynesian culture. It was surprisingly accurate and most of the feats mentioned in the song are accomplishments that are represented in the myths surrounding Maui. 

     We covered marshland Arabs from southern Iraq. These people live among reeds in the marshlands and depend on the reeds for everything. They even use the reeds to build islands. On these islands they build their houses also out of reeds. They keep water buffalo for milk and dung but do not kill or eat them. They use boats to navigate the marsh for hunting birds and fishing. Each tribe has a community hut where guests can stay, and they share food, drinks and stories.

     The Amazon rainforest has many tribes, but most are gone because of modern society moving into the forest for lumber and mining. The few that remain have maintained their way of life for up to 10,000 years. They live in very large communal houses and only need about 4 hour a day to get enough food. The rest of the time is used for arts. They give their children pets to teach them about animals. Men hunt and use a blow pipe with poison darts. All members of the tribe get equal portion of the hunt.

     There are many African tribes. Some are hunter gatherer tribes, and some are nomadic desert traders. Some nomads settled down and became agrarian. The Maasai keep cattle for milk and blood.  They have many dancing rituals and paint their bodies.

     Papua New Guinea has 1000 tribes on a single island. They keep the men and women separated and perform bloodletting. They believe that you are what you eat so if you eat a man you will become a man. They say they don’t have cannibals any more, but this may not be true. They still fight ancient battles but sometimes have dancing ceremonies instead.

     Mongolia of central Asia has nomads. They are masters of cavalry and keep a light weight lifestyle. Strangers are welcome. In Bhutan they are very devout Buddhists. Religion governs their lives and they have an intense respect for nature.

One positive of me: Continue to look at other cultures with respect.

One negative of me: Judge other cultures by my own cultural standard.

One positive of society: Make rules that benefits the most people possible

One negative of society: Too much praise to the wrong people. Entertainers instead of people learning to make lives better.

493 Words

SocBook 8th entry Friday 9/21/18

     Today in class we spend a good deal of time discussing upcoming assignments as well as going over Journal entry requirements again. Zach showed a video expressing a grim outlook on societies dependence on mobile devices. We got instructions to draw a map of our lives and once we complete our reading assignment we will know exactly what to do.

     There was a brief conversation about the Ancient Greek story of Pandora. The story is that Pandora received a gift from the sky God Zues and was instructed never to open it. Since she had been endowed with curiosity she could not resist and once she opened the box it let out all of the horrible things that plague mankind. She was able to close the box and the only thing she kept from escaping was hope. Crystal explained that this story symbolizes that no human society is perfect, and that Sociology can help us get closer to perfection.

     We spent the last part of class watching a video which allowed us to look through a window at some other cultures.  We watched about the Australian Aborigines, the Japanese, culture from India and the Native Americans. One thing that it seems all of these societies have in common is the great respect for their history and their religions. This may be something that they share with all human cultures. Even though this may be a common theme in human society, it could also be a source of conflict between different societies. Each culture has their own beginning and their own creation myth. Each culture believes that its story is true and is therefore the stories of other cultures are not true. This can cause conflict between different cultures which leads to the suppression of less technologically advanced cultures.

     The video above explains very basically the process of the Mikvah in the Jewish tradition. If you analyse the video it is not too difficult to see how there may have been physical benefits along with spiritual benefits. It is easy to see how there are some components that may have slowly changed within the Jewish tradition and how many other cultures may have borrowed from this tradition. 

      It is my opinion that most cultural traditions began with a practical purpose. For example, a group notices that if they go into a pool of water before the weekly tribal dance (which could also have a practical application) they tend not get sick as often. Not knowing the reason, they assume this practice as part of the tradition simply because those members of the tribe that do not participate seem to get sick more often. Eventually the original reason may be lost, and the tradition continues simply because that is the way it has always been. Behaviors that promote survival are simply encouraged while behaviors that have greater risk are discouraged. Even today there are more people that wish to be cautious and avoid risk even though sometimes risk can produce huge rewards. More often risk leads to failure which in some cases can be catastrophic for an individual or even a society.

Positive I can do: Remember that in order for society to function, members must care about each other.

Negative I can do: Be selfish and deny help even when I can help.

Positive Society can do: Help each other at a more local level. Devise a better way of helping than just giving a hand out.

Negative Society can do: Continue giving hand outs which does not always promote self-improvement.

522 Words

SocBook 7th entryTuesday 9/18/18

     Today in Sociology class we discussed analyzing the importance of culture within and between societies.  We talked about Culture, Nation and Society. Most people never question their own culture or society. They simply accept things and assume that everyone else is wrong.

     Culture is a shared way of life. Crystal used the analogy of a fish in a fish bowl. Culture is like the water and the fish is unaware of the water until it is taken out of the fish bowl. Culture is made up of Language, Symbols, Values, Beliefs, Behavior and Material Objects.

     Language is a system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another.  She showed to videos to explain how language affects society. One was the bud light commercial showing how different parts of the country or communities respond to different ways of saying the same thing. The second video was on the coca-cola commercial where America the Beautiful was sang in different languages and parts of society responded in a negative way.

     Symbols are defined as anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who share culture.

   The video shows hidden meanings in 16 major logos. The logos of major companies having multiple meanings shows the power and depth of symbolism. It is through symbols that all language and communications are formed and sometimes we aren't aware of all the meaning in a symbol.

     A Nation is a political entity with designated boarders.

     A Society is an organized interaction of people who typically live in a nation or some other specific territory.

     Crystal used a few examples today. One is that we are all like a brick. We live in a world with other bricks. Our relationship is like the mortar or glue that holds the bricks together. Once you have enough bricks you can build a wall which is society. If you isolate yourself and have no relationships then you will not be a part of society.

     She mentioned minimum wage as a good example of how you can use sociology to examine both sides of the issue. Workers may need more money to survive but the employee also wants to make a profit. Who is right in this issue? Is it right to force employers to pay a certain amount to the workers? If so can they just raise the price of the product to make up for the loss in payroll?  If the product cost more and the employees are also consumers, have they really gained by getting a wage increase? Is it right to put a cap on product prices to ensure that the workers wages can really make an impact? Sociology can help us to ensure that both groups are being treated fairly.

Positive I can do: Try to understand society may not be what I think. Investigate different layers.
Negative I can do: Think that I have it all figured out.

Positive society: push for importance of education.
Negative society: Keep segregated based on culture. Do not explore other people.

   

SocBook 6th entry Friday 9/14/18

We live in a world where we can’t trust anything. All of the information we take in must be scrutinized by using the scientific method. This way we can get true information. Chrystal gave us 10 steps for the research method

Pick a topic

Review literature to find out what others have already learned.

What exactly are your questions?

What will you need to carry out your research?

Are there any ethical concerns?

What method will you use?

What will you record the data?

What do the data tell you?

What are your conclusions?

How can you share what you’ve learned?

 There are a few ways to perform research. Experiment, Participant Observation, Survey and Existing Sources.

You should start broad and narrow down on exactly what you are trying to find out. Use a random sample so it does not create a bias and use the biggest sample you can. There must not harm humans during their lifetime during an experiment. Jane Goodall is an example of participant observation in chimp society.  A survey is exactly what it sounds like. A series of questions to be filled out by participants. Existing sources means to research and you must watch out for plagiarism. 

People use common sense but that does not always lead to the truth. Sociology uses empirical data. 

Two main types of research are Qualitative and Quantitative.

Quantitative research uses lots of data to get exact results. You process lots of information on lots of people quickly. This starts by asking questions, reviewing literature to see what is written. Then select the research method and propose a hypothesis. A hypothesis is a statement and a theory is the explanation of the hypothesis.

Qualitative research uses individual data to get broad results. This allows for individuals to give immediate results. For this method you have to define the researchers roll in the group. Define the Problem. Identify the theory that drives the problem. This involves research and reviewing literature. Selecting information gathering tools and analyzing the data.

Both perspectives are important and have advantages. They are used to explain behavior and its consequences. You can combine both and use mixed method.

Ethnology is the study of the characteristics of various peoples and the differences and relationships between them. Ethnology allows you to get as close as possible to seeing from another groups point of view.  The video explains that ethnography is completely immersive and attempts to record life without disruption.  It applies social and academic theories to a small group to understand a larger one. It states that ethnography is actionable by working in complementary practices.

Positive from me to society: reconnect with old friends
Negative from me to society: Stay reclusive and disconnected

Positive from society to me: Sharing happy memories with reconnected friends
Negative from society to me: Exhausting to discern good people from bad

Cultural Experience 227 words:

The first time I left my home culture was when I joined the Army. I was introduced to a new culture made up of a mixture of many cultures. We learned to become a team by having a common goal. Even in this large mixed culture eventually smaller groups began to form. People with similar backgrounds or interests would group together.

The next major cultural experience for me was traveling to the Middle East. Spending time in the Arabic culture was very strange for many reasons. The first thing I noticed was the lack of diversity. In the US even in the least diverse areas there are still many groups of different people. In Mosul for example, there were only Iraqis. Everyone dressed the same and looked the same. They all spoke the same language. The only difference was religion and even that was hard to tell apart most of the time. At the time I thought the second major difference was the attitude towards community. They did not seem to care about their neighbors. Each house was surrounded by walls and gates. They would throw their trash out into the street with no care for how it made the entire community worse. As I have gotten older I can now see that there are communities like this all over the world and all over the US.