Sociology

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Reflection

Now that I’ve taken this class, i do notice what I learned more. The most I see it is in advertisements. After watching the videos on how women are sexualized or shown to just be items more, I see it. When I’m looking at magazines or even just advertisements on TV. Women are often shown to be half naked and trying to be appealing. Along with that, I notice how often surveys are used to try and determine statistics. They pop up on random sites to try and get people to take part. They are definitely used a lot in studies. When I’m watching the news, I also see how many social movements are constantly taking place. It’s nice to notice more how people are fighting for rights and demanding improvement. This class has made me notice more about society and how sociology constantly connects to real life. It’s very informative and eye-opening.

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Advice for future students

My advice for future students would be to do the blog as you go! That helped me a lot to not be overwhelmed and made it a lot easier to get it done. If possible, it is nice to work ahead. I did this class over winter term though and didn’t end up having enough time to get far ahead. The films are really great and educational. Definitely take the time to watch them all the way through so you don’t lose your place. I found it very helpful to answer all the questions as I watched it. That made the quizzes very easily. The actual quizzes are easier if you take notes on the reading as you go. That helps make sure that you completely understand the concepts. Talking to other students could also help understand the concepts, I wish I did that more. Overall, it was a very interesting class to take.

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Introduction

Hi, my name is Molly and this is my sociology project. In this project, we were required to find some examples of things we learned throughout the class that relate to our class. This blog contains a small blip into every chapter we learned over winter term and what stood out to me the most. It talks about societies change and what we hope to see more improvements on, which is a lot. Throughout the semester, we were opened up to new concepts on some controversial topics and other less controversial concepts. It was overall very eye-opening to see how much society has changed throughout the years. We still have a long way to go through to become a more accepting society. I feel like I learned a lot and learned more in depth things on concepts I didn’t understand fully. This blog is packed full of some of my favorites and the most interesting things to me. Enjoy!

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[thesociologicalcinema]

“American Dream Must Be Accessible,” “No body left behind,” at the Oakland Women’s March, January 21, 2017. Photo credit: @lizhenry, on Twitter

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This image is an example of a social change for handicap people to have an accessible world. It’s another movement for social change to improve the world. This reminded me of the fight for rights that we also watched in “The Children’s March”. In that film, there were a lot more risks of death and injury. It was before a lot of laws were made and African American people were being killed and abused. Thankfully, in this march for the handicap, that is not going to happen. We have freedom of speech and rights to fight for equality. I know that many places are legally required to be handicap accessible. I know it can be more of an issue in other countries though. I can’t imagine or put myself in their place, but it must be very hard. To try and change your life to fit in you disability but still not be able to do everything would be very hard. I didn’t realize that this was still an issue today knowing that so many people are required to be handicap accessible. It shouldn’t be an issue because at times it is an unpreventable thing. It would be so disappointing to go somewhere and not be able to do whatever. I know there must be a lot of extra planning involved. Thankfully, there are requirements that should prevent this issue from getting worse. It’s just making the rest of the world handicap accessible. It’s going to take time, but it is very possible. The only hard thing would be historical locations that can’t change that won’t be accessible.

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Minorities Who 'Whiten' Job Resumes Get More Interviews

African American and Asian job applicants who mask their race on resumes seem to have better success getting job interviews, according to research by Katherine DeCelles and colleagues.

This article reminded me of the video we watched for class about minorities struggling to get jobs just because of their names. Somebody could have the exact same qualifications, yet not be chosen based off of race. I always thought that they would bring both of the people in for an interview and decide off of that. It’s sad to think that somebody may be getting less opportunity just based off of their name, and it’s very disappointing. This article goes on to state that “whitened” resumes are more likely to get callbacks for their applications above resumes from African Americans and Asians. It also goes in to talk about how people americanize their names as well to give themselves better chances as a whitening technique. Many companies are becoming more diverse though and may accept people of a different race for the sake of diversity. Some colleges even give scholarships based on race alone. Conley talks a lot about race and states that it’s “a group of people who share a set of characteristics-- typically, but not always, physical ones-- and are said to share common bloodlines” (Conley, 2017, p. 324). Race is a concept that we came up with as a society though. People aren’t different people based off of their race, they just may look like that group of people. Racism is a learned concept by society that is slowly starting to change, The article does show that we still have a lot of work to do. Race should not determine who gets hired and names should not determine who gets hired.

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Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: an introduction to thinking like a

            sociologist (4th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton

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This image brought me back to the videos we watch on sexualizing women in the media. This add shows an African American female being depicted as an animal in order to sell a perfume called animale. One of the videos stated that they are often depicted as animals or being uncivilized. This advertisement is not only racist but also can be considered sexist. The female in this video is also naked to be considered sexier or more appealing. It was interesting to so easily find an advertisement that showed that to be true. Advertisements like this are still very common, even though there is more of an awareness. Women are being depicted more as real people with different bodies. There has been a lot of progress in society as far as women in the media goes. Women of every shape, size, and color are being represented more. Conley references gender roles in this chapter as well. Gender roles are the roles we are expect to be according to society (Conley, 2017, p. 289). You can see in the media the women are advertising perfume, makeup, and “women’s things”. They are also used to sexualize things with the thought of “if men drink that, then they will get this really pretty girl”. There is often sexism in the media. Progress has been made in the media though! There is still room for improvement since it is a big social change, but awareness is the first step. Many more people are fighting for representation and realistic expectations.

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Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: an introduction to thinking like a

             sociologist (4th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton

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In this unit, we learned about Mcdonaldization. One of the steps that stood out to me was control and how important it is for Mcdonaldization to work. Mcdonaldization was all about the perfect world and having everything exactly the same, like a well oiled machine. The concept is the our world expects things to be like a mcdonalds, the fast food chain. Mcdonalds are always quick, you know what you are getting, and they are very much the same in the product they send out. It’s a working order machine. People don’t like it when things are different or unexpected, they want to be able to walk into a place and get what they expected to get. This image captures the amount of control needed for that to work. I think of it more as people being robots, controlled on a string. For everything to be perfect, human mistake is not accepted. There’s just one perfect person controlling everything. This reminded me of all the times somebody got mad at a retail worker. They would yell at the retail worker for something that is completely out of control, expecting perfection. In reality, the thing that the people are so angry about are not in the retail workers control. All they do is check them out. Not everywhere is like a mcdonalds and society isn’t meant to be perfect. Many places are turning into these factory like places. Everything is being pumped out the same and mistakes still occur. It is impossible for everybody to be on a string to ensure perfection. It’s an unrealistic expectation.

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This image was a good cartoon like sketch for me to show social class. I think it shows the struggle of getting up the ladder of social class. The steps are what they are trying to climb in order to get to the top of the economic pyramid. In the real world, not everybody can be on the top, even though that would be really nice. People are constantly trying to move up though and make more money, walking up the steps and improving themselves. Therefore, the people on the top have more money to maintain the concept of social class. Conley states the the upper class are considered “the economic elite”, which would be the people on the top tier (Conley, 2017, p. 258). Everybody is trying to be on top and considered the economic elite, but it’s not possible for them to all fit. Conley also states that the middle class is the most expansive group, which makes it the largest group (Conley, 2017, p. 260). Many people in the middle class are very comfortable where they are. They are financially stable but not able to buy everything like the upper class may be able to. If they were to move up, the upper class would as well to still be considered the economic elite. It would more likely result in inflation for people to constantly be trying to get into the group of the elite. In order for them to be considered elite, not everybody could be up there. Overall, this image captures the desire to get there, but shows the in the end it isn’t possible for everybody to be up there. It is an elite group and will stay that way.

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Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: an introduction to thinking like a

              sociologist (4th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton

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Gender pay gap has narrowed, but changed little in past decade

The gender gap in pay has narrowed since 1980, but it has remained relatively stable over the past 15 years or so. In 2017, women earned 82% of what men earned.

In this article, it discusses a recent study on the wage gap and unfair wages between men and women. The article was done to show that there is still a large gap between men and women, even though there has been improvements. Women are still getting paid less than men even though the problem is out in the open. The study uses surveys to determine how women are being treated unfairly in the workplace. Conley states that a survey is “an ordered series of questions intended to elicit information from respondents” (Conley, 2017, p.64). This article continues to talk about discrimination in the workplace and how women are more likely to fall victim to it. Men may still face discrimination, but surveys show that it’s mainly women having to deal with it. Women are also shown to be more likely than men to have to take breaks in their work for family reasons. Women are expected to be present in a family crisis, yet they are judged when taking leave. The statistics show that even though women have seen improvements on these issues, there is still a long way to go. Women in the workplace still face many issues along with judgement when needing to take leave. Women are put under more pressure to be present in work, yet they go in and face discrimination and unequal pay. Overall, progress has been made which is comforting to see. There is still a long way to go though and more opportunity to see more progress.

Word count: 255

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: an introduction to thinking like a

               sociologist (4th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton 

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My post on theory was brought back to social institutions (Conley, 2017, 15). A social institution can be a place that shapes people over time, and my immediate thought was school (Conley, 2017, 15). We go to school almost every day growing up and we learn a lot about social norms and how to act by being in there. We learn what not to do to offend people, and how to act to be considered “normal”. We learn how to address people and the unwritten rules. The social institution itself is made to do the same thing every day but is more than just a school. It’s also every aspect of the school, down to the name (Conley, 2017, 15). Social institution is a very broad term that can define something, even as its identity changes. A school may change names, but it is still the same social institution. A school is also where you learn to have a sociological imagination. They teach you about different places and make you think how different each part of the world is. A sociological imagination is mostly being able to connect in some way, shape, or form (Conley, 2017, 4). They teach you to question things and start to become a sociologist. I would’ve never known the changes throughout history and how different the world has changed through time without going to my social institution. Overall, Sociology is captured in school very well, and I think it is the most important social institution, even though it can just be trying to produce successful people any way that they can.

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Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: an introduction to thinking like a sociologist (4th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton

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I always loved this image because it captures people going against what everybody else does. It was the first thing that popped into my head when I thought of social deviance. Social deviance is going against societies norms (Conley, 2017, p.191). Social deviance can range to not being a good thing, but I think minor social deviance can be good for society. If all of us followed the norms, the world would be a more robotic place. Conley states “Social norms and rules are fluid to change” (Conley, 2017, p.191). This to me means that social deviance also changes and what is perceived as social deviance. Once upon a time, it was considered rude to even touch your phone at the dinner table. Now people pull that out all the time to show a picture or look for information. That to me is a change in social deviance as time changes. Social deviance could also strain social cohesion if it gets too excessive (Conley, 2017, p. 193). Social cohesion is also very important in a society because it means that people are getting along and able to live together. If there is too much social deviance in a society, the cohesion starts to break. People don’t want to constantly be around the person who doesn’t get social cues ever. Overall, social deviance may be important to have some of, but too much could have a bad influence. It’s important to know when to be different or when to follow social norms.

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 Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: an introduction to thinking like a sociologist (4th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton 

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I think this image really captures gender roles and how they affect people. The boys silhouette shows the boys head is full of “men’s things” such as tools to do construction and fix things. The girls silhouette is full of “women’s things” like makeup. Stereotypically, that’s what each gender should be interested in. Conley states that gender roles are “sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as a male or female” (Conley, 2017, p. 133). Gender roles are starting to become a thing of the past as women and men are more widely accepted to enjoy whatever they want. Gender is more fluid than many people thought before, and both genders have the right to have different interests. This also helps to break the glass ceiling with professions as “men’s jobs” and “women’s jobs” no longer exist. Anybody could be either and that should be equally accepted. Conley also goes on to state that at a young age, we are socialized into our gender roles (Conley, 2017, p. 135). In ways such as girls always playing with the pink toys and boys can’t play with certain toys. This is also being changed, even in the media. You see more images of boys playing with dolls and girls with cars. Overall, we have made a lot of progress on blurring these once very strict roles. Some people may naturally even fall into that role, but it is being forced on them much less. Like every social change, it’ll take time.

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Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: an introduction to thinking like a

              sociologist (4th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton

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I chose this photo because I think it accurately captures consumers in America. Everybody is looking down and not fully paying attention, walking like robots. It’s focused on material stuff and not non-material things, such as values. Nonmaterial things can still bring good things to people. This connects to conspicuous consumption because it shows economy and the power to purchase. People are out there with the shopping carts looking for new things to buy, checking the media for what is popular. It also captures the media in it because the people are doing their shopping but looking at things that may share news, so they can be up to date. The media has a very large effect on the American consumer and what they are after. I think consumers can be stereotyped as well as being people who only want the new and improved thing. We are all consumers though, it’s just the difference of what you get. The media may say that everybody is getting the new iphone and a consumer could be somebody who runs right out to get it, or they could be happy with the iphone they have. This is where consumerism comes in because belongings do not mean happiness. Consumerism is meaning the objects could mean happiness, which is not the case. Nonmaterial things could also promote happiness. I believe being a consumer is always evolving. What’s new in the world is always evolving, and there are great things that come out of that. People may donate more and that’s one of the positive things with the amount of stuff somebody may purchase.

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Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: an introduction to thinking like a sociologist (4th ed.). New York, NY: W.W. Norton