Week Sixteen Blog Entry: "Shift Happens"

This video makes me feel intimidated and excited about the world’s future all at once. Such statements as “by the third year of study, everything they learn in the first year of study will be outdated” make me feel utterly overwhelmed. And furthermore, I don’t believe there is anything our educational system, or any kind of system, can do to prepare us for this kind of future. It is simply too much to keep up with. Oftentimes I feel that our society is focused so much on being bigger, better and producing more and more and more, that the joys of life and the process of development, is lost on us. I feel our society has become unbalanced and addicted to consumption and focused on immediate-gratification, which is unhealthy for us, our families, our society and our surrounding environment. It is scary to me to think of a future society of sleep deprived, stressed out, wasteful and isolated individuals. I believe we have already arrived at this state, and there seems to be no limit, no stopping us now. Since we are “living in exponential times” I cannot even fathom what a future as the video suggests, will really look and feel like.

On the flip side, the video’s prediction of “100 million laptops being shipped to children in underdeveloped countries” make me feel grateful for the advances in our society and sees a benefit to certain populations for such things. Having computers with more knowledge and computing abilities than humans certainly could mean an ability to solve more of the world’s problems. But my thought is that it will only create more problems than it solves. Often times I find myself envying the lives of our ancestors; traveling in horse drawn carriage, living off the land, sleeping from dusk ‘til dawn, enjoying strong family values, consuming only the necessities of life, and taking pleasure in the simplest of things. As the pace of change continues to accelerate, I imagine things like this will be extinct in the very near future if we continue on this path.

It is difficult to see exactly where we are headed. Some social theorists believe we will soon be superseded by a postindustrial society, based on information and service rather than on manufacturing and industrialization. Perhaps this will not be as gloomy as my thoughts are currently taking me. “Information” does sound better, cleaner, and less intrusive than “industrialization.” But it will require a great shift in the way we do things as individuals, as families, as educational and work systems, and as a globalized society. The institutions and especially the culture of our society will transform entirely.

Week Fifteen Blog Entry: Urban Life

After college graduation, I moved to the city – Washington, DC, where I have resided for the past five years. I’ve seen tremendous changes in urban DC as the years pass, and I see my living experiences here reflected most accurately by the theory of urban ecology, which describe how cities grow in response to advantageous features of the environment. Washington, DC, a city established on the shore of the Potomac River, became ordered into “natural areas” through processes of competition, invasion, and succession (just like in biological ecology). I see how the expansions of suburbs like Arlington, Alexandria and Bethesda, contributed to the decay of inner city DC. Businesses and residents moved out of the central city to take advantage of lower tax rates, throwing DC into a cycle of deterioration, in which the more suburbia expands, the greater the problems faced by DC residents.

Property decayed in the District, and more of the population continued to leave. But in recent years there has been significant gentrification in the Logan Circle, H Street Corridor, NoMa, Columbia Heights and Petworth neighborhoods of DC as old vacant buildings are refurbished and put to new uses. In my Eckington (NoMa) neighborhood, a transitional neighborhood, I enjoy the sound of construction on most mornings as investors gut and renovate houses, I follow the restoration of an old firehouse down the street that will possibly be turned into a hip new restaurant, and I eagerly await a new H Street trolley which will bring people to the boutiques, restaurants, bars and businesses and revitalize the area. Wealthy people and young people are flooding into the District, seeking the arts and culture… and political careers (well, this is DC). And conversely, I see that most of my working-class work colleagues with families continue to move further and further out into the suburbs (Fredericksburg, Annapolis, Delaware) to take advantage of the lower-costs.

One of the most distinct characteristics I’ve noticed in DC, and in most large cities, is the segmentation of the neighborhoods. Just as the ecology theory describes, neighborhoods marked by close kinship and personal ties are actively created by city life. The residents of the city are able to develop connections with others who share similar backgrounds or interests. For example, my husband from Serbia, has made many new friends in DC also of Slavic background. One of his friends was from Bosnia and was a realtor here in DC. So we used him to find our new home. The neighborhood he knew the best was his own neighborhood, so he showed us the most amount of houses in that neighborhood, and we ended up buying our home in that neighborhood. Not coincidentally, a large number of Slavic people also reside in this neighborhood.

Week Fourteen Blog Entry: Who Has the Power?

I agree with the theory which describes the power elite as wielding the most power. Our text describes the power elite as a unified system of politicians, business leaders and military heads. The power elite come from white, wealthy families, have attended top-ranking universities like Harvard, Yale and Stanford, belong to the same clubs and committees, and often know one another personally, running in the same social circles. And they have a monopoly on power, making policy decisions in closed settings, thus, blocking interest groups and the mass population from having any real influence on how the country is run. It is rare to see anyone from the powerless ranks rise to the top level of power because the choices available to voters in presidential and congressional elections are so small that there is little effect or significance in who is actually chosen. This is especially disturbing since the social backgrounds of these leaders are unrepresentative of the United States population. The decisions being made are likely not the decisions the majority of the population would choose. With this structure, our country is seemingly more and more like a monarchy, leaving citizens with little reason to participate politically. We see this in the political morale of citizens who often wonder what difference it makes to vote.

Week Thirteen Blog Entry: Is Walmart Good For America?

As depicted in the PBS Special “Is Walmart Good for America?,” Walmart is a leader in logistics and a great efficiency machine – they understand the power of information and use barcodes to keep the right mix of products in the store. They have driven the shift from push production to pull production, and have led global retailers to become the most powerful companies in the global economy. We watch in the film as hundreds of millions of American shoppers stream into their stores every weekend, lured by the low prices. Walmart thrives on keeping their prices as low as possible to provide the customer with value and still make a profit on high volume and fast turnover.

But how do they keep their prices so low? Walmart has driven down the cost of goods to unreasonable lows, dropping products and denying shelf space to manufacturers who don’t bid at their lowest price points. They have taken their business entirely to Asia, where they can take advantage of low cost models. Their strategy - “low costs and go global.” Although the U.S. Government has struck a permanent trade agreement with the Chinese, most people have been losers from this trade. We saw in the PBS film how we are exporting approximately 3 billion dollars in raw goods to Asia, yet importing 36 billion dollars in material goods. And this was only at the Long Beach port, only a fraction of the entire picture. This strategy has destroyed competition from U.S. manufacturers, putting millions of Americans out of work.

Yes, Walmart produces things Americans want to buy. But Americans are also workers who need to earn a decent standard of living. Walmart has cut the ability of workers, Americans and non-Americans alike, to earn decent wages. Walmart has lowered our standard of living. This way of business is not good for America.

Week Twelve Blog Entry: Domestic Division of Labor

I am the one who takes care of the large majority of household tasks (cooking and meal prep, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, planning, organizing and tidying, gift and holiday purchases, car maintenance, etc.) But I usually reason with myself that it only feels uneven, and that although my husbands’ tasks (financial investments, paying the bills, taxes, home construction, repairs and maintenance, gardening, etc ) are fewer and further between, his tasks - are bigger in scope and effort, therefore, equaling the effort of my many smaller tasks. However, after filling out the family duties chart, I was shocked to see and really realize the profound inequality.

My family (my husband and myself – no kids yet) provides me with love, companionship and comfort, but I see with this exercise that my husband benefits more from this family structure, the male breadwinner model with male spheres of work and female spheres of work, than I do. Even more interestingly, I am the breadwinner of the family. Not only does my full time job provide more money and benefits for our family, but I am also in school trying to change careers (from law into nursing). Therefore, I am commuting 2 hours for work each day during the work week, working 8 hours, then coming home to study and take exams, and somewhere in there fitting in all of my household chores, aka my "second shift," and also trying to leave myself enough leisure time to relax and enjoy time with my husband. It is exhausting, yet I do it all without thinking twice and without asking for help, just because that is what I saw my mother do, that is what my mother in law does, and that is the structure that I grew up with and know.

Even though I know my husband would happily pitch in if I asked, I would struggle with thinking of myself as a lazy woman, or a bad wife, just because this is the model that has been ingrained in our culture, and to not live up to that model would be short changing my family. Perhaps being aware of this may help us all to begin allocating tasks more equally among household members. But changing this deeply ingrained model will prove challenging and will take more than you or I alone. It will take the awareness of society on the whole to change this extraordinarily unequal model and mindset.

Week Eleven Blog Entry: Religion

I do not think that the world is secularizing, or decreasing in religious belief and involvement. I do agree that we have seen a weakening of the social and political power of religious organizations, and that we have seen a decline in formal religious observance. However, I believe that religion is to be understood in a broader view, and not just in terms of the traditional church. I believe religion incorporates such dimensions as personal spirituality, and that we have actually seen a measurable rise in personal spirituality. For instance, take Oprah’s Book Club which recently featured spiritual teacher and author, Ekhart Tolle. Mr. Tolle has written such books as “The Power of Now,” and “A New Earth.” Additionally, he and Oprah joined together to produce A New Earth classes, teaching inspiring millions of viewers around the globe. Additionally, I believe the rise in natural disasters, wars, and conflicts around the world has contributed to the large belief in “something bigger than oneself.” Religion, or spirituality, remains a significant force in this world, but certainly in new and different forms.

Week Ten Blog Entry: A Tale of Two Families

In reading the parallel stories of Byron and May in “A Tale of Two Families,” I find myself relating more closely with Max’s experience. My parents benefitted from stable jobs, homes increasing in value in nice neighborhoods, and the financial stability of their own parents. I am now benefitting from the advantaged starting point my parents gave to me. And I hope to one day give my potential children a leg up in life by starting from an even higher point.

I liken this to saving for retirement, with the advantages compounding on one another. If you start investing in your 401k early on, the money continues to compound, adding up to a very large lump sum at the end. But if you start investing late, no matter how much you put in, it will not have the chance to compound and you will end up with something, but not as much as it could have been.
Just like the 401k account, Max’s advantages in life compounded, one on top of the other, and led him to the wealth he has now. Byron and his family made some solid investments into their future, but it took them more time to do so, therefore, decreasing the amount of wealth he holds now.

These two stories have opened my eyes to see how my economic position in life is directly related to the path of my ancestors. Although my parents worked incredibly hard for everything they have, they were given the advantage of beginning their journey without debt and without having to step in financially for their parents and other family members. They were able to put the entire amount of money they worked for into their future. And they benefitted from real estate in stable and more affluent communities. Perhaps if my life were more similar to Byron’s, I would be contributing part of my paycheck to helping out my family. Perhaps, I would not be able to afford myself that nice suit which got me a new job. And perhaps I would not even live in the community that was close enough to get to that new, high paying job. I’ve seen how life advantages add up, and if you are not given any advantages, it is incredibly hard to be competitive with the rest of the community.

Week Nine Blog Entry: Social Construction of Gender

What you've read about the social construction of gender may have seemed totally normal to you, or you may have strongly disagreed with sociologists' arguments about gender, or you may just have been shocked at some of what you learned. Please take some time to reflect on this material by adding an entry to your blog. You can write about whatever aspect you'd like of this segment of the reading, discussing your personal responses to it and how your personal experiences and observations support or fail to support the sociological perspective.

Before taking this Sociology course, I gave the most weight to the role of biology in the creation of our gender identities and roles. In studying our text, podcasts and videos, I continue to believe there is a strong biological basis for many gender differences, such as the natural instinct women have to become the primary caregivers for their babies. But I’ve now expanded my views to also understand the growing belief that gender identities might be entirely created by society linking gender identities with sex differences (social construction).

The story of Jan Morris, a well-known travel writer who underwent a sex change to become a woman, struck me the most. She described her experiences at a restaurant as formerly a man and then now as a woman. When she was a man, the waiter would greet her with “respectful seriousness.” Now that she is a woman, the waiter greets her with playfulness and humor, and expects her to respond with something frivolous… which she does. This reinforces the social perception that characterizes masculinity with strength and tough attitudes, and therefore, specific mannerisms like seriousness and respect. And vice versa, it reinforces the social perception that characterizes femininity with grace and gentleness, and therefore, specific mannerisms like passiveness.

My beliefs on the role of biology were further challenged with the study on the hormonal makeup of monkeys. It was shown that providing opportunities for monkeys to be dominant over others increased their testosterone levels. This means hormones may not necessarily cause certain behaviors. Instead, certain behaviors may cause the production of hormones.

These two examples of social construction have certainly challenged my belief that biology, not culture, underlies gender differences. However, I continue to reason that gender identities, for the most part, seem to be so similar across countries, societies, cultures, time, etc, that there has to be more than social construction. There must be a biological basis for our identities. Also, in my experience within my own network of family, friends and colleagues, there seems to be a common thread between the way male minds operate and a common thread between the way female minds operate. Furthermore, the mere existence of the vast library of books like “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus,” suggests there are incredible differences in the ways male and female brains function.

Week Eight Blog Entry: Global Inequality

We should care about global inequality because it affects our everyday lives. The countries around the world are increasingly intertwined. The most popular toy in the world, Barbie, exemplifies this connectedness. A product of the global commodity chain, Barbie’s origins span around the whole world. She begins in the United States, where she is designed, and she continues on to make stops in Saudi Arabia, China, and Japan for molding, shaping, manufacturing, dressing, marketing and advertising.

Because of this connectedness, the stratification system can affect such things as the prices of products we buy, how we use natural resources, and how much pollution our country emits. It affects our attitudes towards people from other countries, and can even contribute to hatred and warfare.

Technology is one of the most important tools in everyday modern life. It is the basis for much of the innovation and economic growth we see. But because of global stratification – technology innovators, technology adopters, and technologically disconnected – either you have it or you don’t, which further polarizes the rich and the poor countries, and traps the poor in a vicious circle.

Additionally, when we try to fix global problems, such as poverty and hunger, we should look at the countries who benefit from the world being organized in this way. Perhaps here lies the answer to why the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. In understanding this, perhaps we will be better equipped to help poverty-stricken countries break the cycle.

Week Seven Blog Entry: Social Class

Social class matters greatly in the U.S. today. In a society consisting of strata, where the more privileged are at the top, and the less privileged nearer the bottom, most people are in a constant struggle to reach the top, or at least, keep themselves from landing on the bottom. The lower strata tend to be insecure about the future, but as you move up towards the top, you are more likely to enjoy a comfortable, secure, and even luxurious lifestyle.

Most parents want to give their children the maximum number of life chances, i.e. the best odds of achieving economic prosperity. And the best chance an individual has of achieving wealth is to start off as wealthy in the first place. I’ve seen this first hand with my Cousin Steve’s family in Maryland. Cousin Steve and his wife have two young boys, ages one and three. Cousin Steve, an engineer, and his wife a public school teacher, belong to the middle to upper middle class and live in a nice community. They began looking at pre-schools this year and were deciding between enrolling in the public pre-school nearby, or a private pre-school a little further away. They have decided to put their eldest boy on the waitlist for a private pre-school and will be paying steep private school tuition when that time comes. As a lifelong public school student, I couldn’t wrap my head around this. I couldn’t understand why my cousin and his wife would want to pay tens of thousands of dollars for a private pre-school! It seemed so silly! And this would be just the beginning of their private school education. Next will be private tuitions for elementary school, middle school, high school and college, I don’t want to imagine what the final bill will look like! But then Cousin Steve explained to me how these private schools will open the doors to friends with wealthy parents in high positions, therefore, opening up countless opportunities to influence their son’s social and economic status and boost them towards the top. After hearing his reasoning, it’s still not something I would choose, but I can see the line of thinking and I can imagine his sons likely will have a better shot at achieving economic prosperity with this leg up in the game so early on.

By viewing the People Like Us website, I saw how expressing my individual identity through decorating my living room, etc, can reveal my class and my class tastes. My chosen living room items - frames of recent family photos, hardwood floors, and a Labrador dog - revealed my position as middle middle class. This matters because expressing our class, whether intentional or not, can make the difference between closing and opening the doors to opportunities. For example, if I show up to a job interview for a position as a News Anchor in grungy street clothes and smelling of foul body odor, my appearance may scream “lower class”, and I will likely not get the job/opportunity. If I show up to the same interview polished, with my hair neatly done and my suit cleaned and pressed, my neat appearance will increase the probability of getting the job.

Week Six Blog Entry: Changing Social Connections?

I think Americans today are more isolated due to technology. Technology allows us to be more transient; we can work remotely and live anywhere. And with that, we see the physical distances increase between friends and loved ones. Although we can communicate across the distance with technology (email, facebook, text message, twitter, skype, digital photos, youtube, etc), it cannot ever compare to the closeness we feel with face-to face relationships. Emailing someone far away is not the same thing as them bringing you chicken soup. And having many casual relationships will never bring the same meaning as having a handful of deep friendships in which you can share things that are important to you.

Furthermore, we are seeing people being replaced in favor of automated processes/machines – banks use ATM’s for as many transactions as possible, do-it-yourself check out stations at the grocery store are beginning to outnumber the clerks, voice recordings answer the phone for utility services, and you can even choose an electronic machine over a movie theater attendant to dispense tickets. This is problematic because we are losing human contact and are therefore becoming starved to make connections wherever possible. This sense of desperation makes us vulnerable to all sorts of people and circumstances, something which we are already seeing and should be concerned with.

Week Five Blog Entry: Community Policing in Dealing with Crime

I believe community policing, is a fantastic solution to help the police forces in preventing crime. I think this serves as a form of target hardening, making it more difficult for crimes to occur in the first place. It gets the citizens involved, and furthermore, helps the police become more in touch with the communities, fostering stronger relationships and open lines of communication. Who better to protect the communities than the people who live in the communities? Also, by community members taking better care of their communities, they may be able to prevent “broken windows”, a theory which shows how signs of neglect leads to social decay. By showing that a community is involved and that it “repairs their broken windows”, communities can discourage further crimes from being committed.

Community policing may also serve as a form of stigmatizing shaming, a method which has proven successful in Japan. For instance, people may be deterred from perpetrating crimes against people and property in their own communities if these people are involved members of the community and they would have to see them and be labeled as outcasts by them every day if they got caught committing a crime.

Week Four Blog Entry: Nature vs. Nurture

My view on the nature versus nurture debate is that the learning of gender roles, or gender socialization, can be attributed to a combination of nature and nurture.

I attribute nature/biology as being responsible for our underlying motives. The way men and women’s bodies are built – anatomical structure, hormones, brain function, etc – must predispose us towards certain temperaments and roles in society, i.e. women as caregivers and men as providers.

These biological factors likely set into motion values, norms, and social practices that then continued through time (social reproduction). These social practices are now so entrenched in society that they’ve also become the behaviors, and roles perpetuated through nurturing. In the course textbook, sociologist George Herbert Meade’s work showed us that children develop their sense of self by coming to see themselves as others see them. Therefore, if “others”, or agents of socialization, see that child as a cute little girl, the child will pick up on those cues – for instance the child will learn that pink colors, toy dolls, helping mom in the kitchen, floral scents, books with female characters, and television programming emphasizing female attributes, are attributed to themselves. Even in the case the parents choose to raise the child in a nonsexist environment, the nonsexist child rearing study showed us that outside influences are virtually impossible to avoid. The child will still pick up biased cues as to who they are, or how others see them.

Week Three Blog Entry: Understanding how American Culture Looks to Outsiders

After watching the BBC comedy sketch where Hugh Laurie sang the “America” song, I gathered the British audience seemed to feel American culture looks self-centered and arrogant. Hugh Laurie belted out, in a perfect American accent, lyrics consisting only of “America” and “The States” as the British audience roared with laughter all the way to the end where another famous British actor came and punched Laurie (playing the American singer) in the gut. I confirmed my interpretation of the skit by reading the YouTube comments below. Comments like “all these pretentious patriotic songs from the US sound like that to me,” were rampant, and it seemed the consensus was Americans were a bunch of self-righteous jerks.

Although the sketch may have pointed out a truth – yes, we Americans do have many patriotic songs, all sounding similar enough – I feel there is a strong reason for those patriotic songs, and it has nothing to do with being self-centered or pretentious. The sketch did a good job of poking fun, just as Americans poke fun at the British from time to time, however, the YouTube comments took the suggestion of American culture one step further and exposed a larger truth of how America is perceived unfavorably by outsiders.

Week Two Blog Entry: Stanford Prison Experiment

Do you think the Stanford Prison Experiment was ethical? Why or why not?

I believe the Stanford Prison Experiment was unethical because it fostered an environment where cruelty was accepted (by prisoners, their families and psychology staff), and even expected (prison guards believed they were ‘just playing their role or doing their job’). Humans suffered tremendously during the course of the experiment, which is unacceptable. Furthermore, the experiment was unethical because Dr. Zimbardo gave himself an active role in the experiment, relinquishing any control he may have had over his experiment as an outsider observing and gathering data.

However, I also believe it may have been a necessary experiment in the course of human history because it showed that it is unethical to perform experiments where pain, demoralization, humiliation and dehumanization is or has the potential to be inflicted. Unfortunately, we are not always able to know our limits until they have been passed. Therefore, this experiment may have served as a warning to others.

I also believe a lot of good can come from this heinous experiment. The experiment showed how easily environments can manipulate good people to behave as monsters. “You can’t be a sweet cucumber in a vinegar barrel,” Dr. Zimbardo said at the Abu Ghraib trial. The experiment showed that when people are exposed to a number of stressors, deindividuation, or a group mindset can rapidly take over. These lessons have the potential to help such groups who are particularly prone to objectification, and therefore, more easily victimized. For instance, nursing homes and prisons. Perhaps extra care and precautions can put into place here.

Although the experiment was unethical in many ways, it may have been necessary to illustrate how dangerous deindividuation is, and to serve as a precaution to future researchers and to places where environments may be ripe for creating certain roles and behaviors.

Week One Blog Entry: Introductions

Hello, I am Heather P! I am 27 years old and live in the District. I have a sweet husband of 3 years and a "new" very old rowhome we are fixing up together. I have attended university twice... first for my B.A. in Econ, and second for my M.A. in Environmental Law. I have been working in business for the past 5 years and can't fathom sitting in an office until retirement! Over many years of soul searching I was very lucky to find my career passion. So I find myself enrolled in school yet again (yikes!) and working on courses to become a Registered Nurse. I am hoping to attend NOVA's R.N. program, but am also applying to Marymount University, which requires a course in Sociology.

For a more personal touch, my passions include the ocean, dancing, and my family. My husband and I are eager to learn how to sail so we may live aboard a boat one day and sail around the world. When I need some "me" time, I go to my local dance studio, Joy of Motion, where I enjoy jazz and ballet dancing. And I love visiting family and friends located in Eastern Europe and the West Coast of the US.

My favorite television shows include a new lawyer show on CBS called "The Good Wife" and another newbie, "Glee", on FOX. I go nuts for Michael Jackson music, especially "The Way You Make Me Feel." And I really enjoy the classic chick flick movies "Sleepless in Seattle" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, and "While You Were Sleeping" with Sandra Bullock.

I look forward to reading my classmates SOC 200 blogs and a successful course this summer semester. Happy blogging...