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Fieldwork Assignment: Price of Sugar

After watching Price of Sugar, there were quite a few details that stuck out to me. The first being the Dominican Republic’s culture in this particular part. On top of being shocked that these people were malnourished, I was shocked that eating sugar cane was their norm. Comparing my culture to those in this community, you can definitely say that I as an American am more privileged than they are. Their norms of eating sugarcane can be seen as absurd and not normal to us Americans, as for them its means for survival.

When food supplies were little to none, these Dominicans valued the sugar cane because it gave them calories for the time being. It is because of the stratification in which they have been dealing with for years on end is why they do not see this as a problem. But, it was because of a Priest from the outer parts of the Dominican who had decided to get an understanding through thick description. He took his time to learn the language and observe their way of living to better help them. By doing so he brought them medical care, food resources, education, and so on.

With the right type of education, more and more people felt like they could find other resources elsewhere. There was one man whom the Priest interviewed, who was a part of a group of people called labor immigrants. He decided to migrate from his community in search of a low-skill and or low-wage job. Instead of helping those in need by creating some sort of chain migration, this young man decided to stay put in his new location. But at least he was one of the few who had a choice in his community. Some of these sugarcane communities are unable to get some sort of social capital.

Those who are put into a sort of social capital, where the U.S helps these areas out were more likely to become entrepreneurial immigrants. Like the young man, they go to these new locations and conduct businesses so that they are able to provide for themselves and their families. These people are often frowned upon by many still struggling in the sugarcane communities. Some people feel as if one was not willing to give back to those who helped them get to that point are traders. Then and if they decide to help, they can’t because the community becomes protected by these refugees.

These refugees are known to scare off any source of help, so these sugarcane communities still struggle daily. I feel as though if the people of the sugarcane communities were accepting of an education or any source willing to help them, then they would be more better off than they are. The Price of Sugar, was overall an informative piece that educated me as someone who loves sugar. If only I knew how much these communities struggled, I myself would try to do some sort of donating to be sure they got the food they need. Hopefully since this film was made, there has been some huge changes. Time to research!

Social Class and Inequality: Part 3

Bourdieu’s Social Class Perspective

Source: https://sociology.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/faculty/Riley/BourdieuClassTheory.pdf

According to this article, Bourdieu’s perspective of social class is quite different from both Marx and Weber. Bourdieu believes that a social class is, “not deﬁned by a property (not even the most determinant one, such as the volume and composition of capital) nor by a collection of properties (of sex, age, social origin, ethnic origin — proportion of blacks and whites, for examples, or natives and immigrants — income, education level, etc.).” But, he feels it is, “by the structure of relations between all the pertinent properties which gives its speciﬁc value to each of them and to the effects they exert on practices.” This means that Bourdieu feels social class is about the action in which is being done, not about the people. He feels it's about the collective ideas and how they correlate with each other to create a specific meaning. Not everyone dividing themselves based on their sociological perspectives on what makes a society.

Social Class and Inequality: Part 2

Weber’s Social Class Perspective

Source: http://www.brooklynsoc.org/courses/43.1/weber.html

According to this article Weber’s perspectives of social class are similar to Marx’s. It highlights that he has three perspectives as well. The first is, “a specific casual component of actors' life chances.” The second being, “which rests exclusively on economic interests and wealth.” The third one is, “ represented under conditions of labor and commodity markets. The possession of material resources, accumulated by advantage in the marketplace, results in distinctive qualities in terms of the standard of living.” All of these, like Marx's perspective, are saying that social class is defined by someone’s circumstances and points of view. That there is no set idea or definition of social class to Weber as well.

Social Class and Inequality: Part 1

Marx’s Social Class Perspective

Source: http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/s28f99.htm

According to this article, there are many aspects in which Marx defines social class. But the main three focuses of his perspective are group basis, property and class, and class as a social relationship--conflict and struggle. For group basis, the article highlights, “For Marx, classes cannot be defined by beginning observation and analysis from individuals, and building a definition of a social class as an aggregate of individuals with particular characteristics.” This means that it does not have one defined definition that it is all about the perspective of another. The article also highlights social class about property and class.

It states, “Classes are formed by the forces that define the mode of production, and classes are an aspect of the relations of production. That is, classes do not result from distribution of products (income differences, lender and borrower), social evaluation (status honour), or political or military power, but emerge right from relationship to the process of production. Classes are an essential aspect of production, the division of labour and the labour process.”

This means that the idea of social class was brought about by those who had higher power; and that anyone can formulate their perspective through any aspect. Lastly the article says, Marx social class is a social relationship dealing with conflict and struggle. It states, “Marx notes how the class defines itself, or is a class only as it acts in opposition to other classes. Referring to the emergence of the burghers or bourgeoisie as a class in early capitalist Europe, Marx notes how the separate individuals form a class only insofar as they have to carry on a common battle against another class; otherwise they are on hostile terms with each other as competitors.” Overall, this means that social class will always be an individualized perspective in Marx’s eyes. That there will never be a set meaning but a collective understanding.

Kinship & Family Fieldwork

This diagram includes my family and my extended family. My father does not have any siblings and his father passed while he was young so he does not have siblings. But, his wife brought some siblings into the family. My mother on the other hand, has two siblings my aunt and uncle. Both in which have children. I do not really have much of a close relationship with most of my family. So there is not much to say about them.

Fieldwork Assignment Ch. 8

How many commercials were aimed at boys?

> The channel of choice was Cartoon Network. There were many commercials aimed at boys. Action figures and nerf guns were the main commercials of choice.

How many commercials were aimed at girls?

> There were limited commercials aimed at girls on Cartoon Network. I saw only two or three commercials dealing with nail kits, bracelets or even Barbie dolls.

Were any commercials not gendered?

> There were some commercials not gendered and these were more of the informative ones. Almost as if aimed at the adults as well, such has health insurance, medicines, and so on.

What techniques did the ads use to attract boys or girls?

> I saw a lot of bright colored items, exciting music, and lots of kids in each of these children commercials. I feel as if these were the main techniques to attract the boys and girls.

In what ways do these commercials teach gendered behavior?

> These commercials teach gendered behavior by making each have more of a certain gender than the other. As well as emphasizing that these are for girls only or boys only. I especially noticed a color scheme. The color scheme’s were like pink and purple for the girls and blues, greens, and oranges for the boys. In society, light colors have been set to be more feminine as opposed to darker colors. So, using that is how I feel these commercials taught gendered behavior.

Lastly:

> After reading my classmates posts, I believe that we naturally create gender roles. I feel we create gender roles because we want a certain gender to act a certain way, due to what has been standardized in modern day society. Society places the idea that women should be more soft, loving, into makeup and so forth. As for men, they are taught to be strong, rough, independent, hunters and gathers, so on and so forth. Therefore, it is a societal thing instead of a unknown of “boys will be boys” or “girls will be girls”.

Fieldwork Assignment 6: Part 6

Racial Ideology powerfully affects the health of the non-whites.

This image is to represent how doctors who are known to be racist, often look past the issues of anyone who is not of white descent. This African American woman’s presence is not of relevance to this doctor therefore he would not give her the proper advice based strictly on her race.

Fieldwork Assignment 6: Part 5

Institutional Racism is defined as discriminatory racial practices that are rooted into the political, economic, and educational systems.

This image shows how an African American couple is discriminated against from getting any type of money. Instead of providing the proper advice, the lady is then leading them to a loan officer who is clearly affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. Therefore, showing how hinderance in financial literacy causes a big issue through something as small as labeling someone to a specific race.

Fieldwork Assignment 6: Part 4

Individual Racism is the beliefs, attitudes, and actions of individuals that support or perpetuate racism.

This image above shows a man (on the left) being discriminated against and hindered from a job because of the beliefs of a company’s managers comments from his “clients”. Clearly there are no clients in the picture, therefore proving the discrimination was coming from the individual himself.

Fieldwork Assignment 6: Part 3

White Supremacy is the belief that white people are superior to those of all other races, especially the black race, and should therefore dominate society.

This picture illustrates how someone who is white is intimidated by a young man who is of mixed race. To show that the whites are in control in this “white supremacy” was by pointing a gun at his head. Not only is this the wrong way and this is a false way to show dominance, this is not fair to people of another race.

Fieldwork Assignment 6: Part 2

Miscegenation is a mixture of races in marriage, cohabitation, or sexual intercourse between a white person and a member of another race.

This picture represents how people were discriminated against based on their preferences of who they want to marry. Here is an example of an interracial couple who are happy but, face the judgments of other’s.

Fieldwork Assignment 6: Part 1

Colonialism can be defined as is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to another.

This picture was chosen because it shows how a particular race such as African Americans, have always been subjected to other superior races. In many different countries who placed whites as a superior race, have all placed. This picture showed how the blacks are trying to break the walls of the suppression of the superior race.

Concept Map

Fieldwork Assignment #4

https://youtu.be/AWpsOqh8q0M

This song by Beyoncé emphasizes three important topics. One being gender roles, two being the power in which a man holds over a woman, and lastly how the dialect between a man and woman is different.

The consistent line throughout the song is “If I were a boy”. But, in particular when the song starts it says “If I were a boy, Even just for a day; I'd roll outta bed in the morning, And throw on what I wanted and go.” This is highlighting the struggles between a man and a woman. Women have to go the extra mile to look presentable as for a man, he can take minutes to get ready before rolling out the door. Beyoncé tends to code switch between when she is talking about women and men in this song. Her perspective is based on what woman see’s in a man, but she’s also picturing herself in his shoes. This is what makes this song so powerful.

Which leads to the next point of power. She expresses, “If I were a boy I think I could understand; How it feels to love a girl, I swear I'd be a better man.” In these lines she is showing how powerful a man would be towards a woman if he knew how she felt and thought. Here she is using such focal vocabulary to emphasize such hurt and the realities between the two genders. This in a way is how she touched a lot of people in the song.

Lastly, the dialect of the song is short and simple. She often uses shorter versions of a full term, but in way that it has much paralanguage behind it. Beyoncé uses the paralanguage of cries and screams throughout the song to express the pain and hurt. Especially where she says, “'Cause I know how it hurts. When you lose the one you wanted. 'Cause he's taken you for granted And everything you had got destroyed.” Here listeners who have been in the same predicament can cry and scream with her. Paralanguage is what most people relate too, and Beyoncé did that justice in this song.

Fieldwork Assignment 3

What location did you choose? What drew you to it? Describe what you found.

The location I chose was the Valentine’s area of the grocery store. It was the first location I came across as soon as I set foot in the store and when I exited the store. I saw lots of heart balloons, flowers, bags to put the flowers in, and even red and pink decorated cupcakes.

What did you notice in your observations that you’ve never noticed before?

I noticed that the store was quite busier than usual. You could tell that a lot of people were in the store to get last minute gifts for whomever. I mainly saw lots of men in the Valentine’s area more than women. I even noticed that when I first came in the store there were lots of flowers available compared to when I left. So that means lots more people came into that area while I was shopping and bought a gift.

What is absent that you might have expected to find?

I did not see much candy over in the Valentine’s area. I thought because the forefront of the store was specifically all Valentine’s day. But, there was a separate aisle within the store dedicated to Valentine’s day. This was weird to me because you would think it would be close in range. I feel as though that’s the stores plan to keep people in there longer and tempted to buy more than just a few things.

Visit the same block or space at a different time of day or different day of the week. How do your observations vary?

The time difference between the time of when I came into the store and left was only an hour. So within the hour, I noticed there were more people in the Valentine area while I was leaving compared to when I came in. Again, I saw a lot more men than women. Which leads me to believe that Valentine’s Day is more of an appreciation for women more so then the men. I also observed that people were more drawn to the inexpensive items compared to the pricer ones. Other than that there were not that many differences.

Culture of Consumerism

Item

Cost

Want/Need

Origin of Desire

iPhone 7

$900

Need

Friends, Social Media

Jackets

$100-$200

Need

Stay Warm

Cantu Hair Products

$35

Need

Keep Hair Moisturized

Pajamas

$10-$20

Need

Lounging

Portraits

Want

Decoration

Febreeze

Need

Keep Room Smelling Nice

Perfume/Lotion

$4-$8

Need

To Stay Smelling Good

Makeup Mirror

$10

Want

To Get a Close Look at what I’m doing

I learned that I have lot of items. I also learned that after completing this assignment that I need to not need so many items. I should just want for it. I learned that there are many elements that make up my room. As you see in this picture below, I have portraits on my wall which I have designed. Whenever I look at them I feel at peace because of their beauty.

Fieldwork Assignment 1

1. What is in this product? Where did the ingredients come from? How is this product made?

The product of choice is Glade air freshener. These ingredients are chemically formed in a laboratory throughout the USA, Canada, and Germany. Glade does not disclose much of its ingredients other than: Fragrance, Solubilizers, Emulsifier, Stabilizer, Corrosion Inhibitor, and Propellants.

2. Who makes this product (individuals) and what is their life like?

SC Johnson “A Family Company” makes Glade products and various other cleaning and fragrance products. Fisk Johnson is the current CEO of SC Johnson and he his continuing the legacy of this family made company. Fisk Johnson is the leader of a fifth generation and a 133 yr old company. They are a family business who lives happily and makes sure those who work there are accounted for.

3. What is the impact of this product on the local community where it is produced and the areas where people consume it?

This company is spread out throughout the USA, Canada, and Germany so it has great impact on household cleaning products not just their air freshener brand Glade. So SC Johnson’s products are a necessity in everyone’s household for whether it’s to clean up or erase an odor.

4. Describe the relationship between the product and the people that produce these products in that community? Do they consume it? How much money do they earn? Did this product affect the people in their community and how? Has it affected people in the community differently based on their age, gender or social class?

Lots of people throughout the USA, Canada, and Germany use these products. SC Johnson products are sold in practically any store. After researching, there were not many sources describing who works at these different companies. Nor do they disclose how much workers are receiving for their contribution. No explanation of how the product affected the community of workers found. As well as if there were any biases on their age, gender, or social class.

5. How much do you pay for this product? What is the real social cost of this product including roads for transportation, pollution, garbage disposal and who pays for them?

When I purchase Glade I pay between $0.97 and $2.00. SC Johnson has not disclosed how much it costs to make their products. There are no articles or even links on their website targeting these particular matters.

6. What is the environmental impact of this product? What is required to grow or process ingredients or what is required to be done to acquire the materials for the chosen product?

When the product was first made, many scientists suspected that the product had too many aerosols and toxic chemicals. These were said to lead to destruction in Earth’s ozone layers. Since then, the company has claimed to have taken all of these toxic chemicals and now its “non-toxic”. The products have to be approved before being sold to the public now because of their history of potential toxic products.

Sources used:

https://slate.com/technology/2010/09/are-air-fresheners-bad-for-the-environment.html

https://www.scjohnson.com/en/search?text=cost%20to%20make%20products

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