Tattoos is something that many people have different views on. Some people who do not have them, believe that tattoos are horrendous, inappropriate, and unnecessary. Some argue that God would not want people to mark up their bodies with ink. People who have tattoos want to express themselves with the art on their bodies. With the people who judge these people for expressing themselves this way is symbolic interaction because people will make assumptions about a person with a tattoo and where it is. They interpret their tattoos in their own ways.
I myself have a rose on my shoulder that is blue and yellow, and I have my own story about it. My grandmother passed in March of 2017. I always knew I wanted to get a tattoo in honor of her but had not decided what to get. Then I realized her favorite flower was a rose, her favorite color was yellow, and the color of her eyes was blue. So, in turn, I decided to create a combination of the three and worked with a tattoo artist to figure out exactly what I wanted on my body for the rest of my life. To this day, I see my tattoo as a symbol of my grandmother and that she will be with me wherever I go. To other people, I may look like a typical girl with a rose tattoo and got it just because I wanted to. This is a prime example of symbolic interaction because my tattoo means something to me, that not everyone will understand when they look at the symbol I have for my grandmother.
References
Conley, D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking like a Sociologist. New York; W. W. Norton.
The "doll test" is a psychological experiment designed in the 1940s in the USA to test the degree of marginalization felt by African American children caused...
Oh, this video breaks my heart every time I see it. If the subjects were adults, I would not be stunned, but these are little kids who are innocent and have little to no experience in life. What actually is racism? It is a belief that members of separate races possess different and unequal traits. (Conley, pg. 506). This leads to both the dominant and nondominant race looking down on the minority.
Nowadays racism is not just looking at a set of physical characteristics but something that comes with social implications. Two terms related to this topic are one-drop rule and miscegenation. At one point in America was the "one-drop rule" which asserted that just "one drop" of black blood makes a person black. This rule was built upon and developed laws passed in many US states forbidding miscegenation which is interracial marriage. This made it clear that anyone of black lineage fell on the unfortunate side of the racial divide, so the rule made sure there were two societies: one black and other one white. With this history and what children see on the news about the mistreatment of black people, they are prone to think their own race is terrible and violent and the whites are much nicer and beautiful to be with. These children will grow up with insecurities that are hidden and will not be confident enough to show that they can be successful. They too are privileged.
This issue is not easy to solve as these children go to school and can be told the opposite of what you want them to know. But I think parents should do their best to encourage kids to talk to them about any little problems they face and teach them the right way to view themselves.
word count 298.
Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a sociologist. Race New York: W.W. Norton.
Windows are something that many of us take for granted – they're just part of the houses we live in or the buildings we work in. And yet for older people, windows can be vital as a way to access the world, especially for those who spend a lot of time indoors.
During the module we learned about different research methods. Qualitive methods attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot be readily converted to numeric form (Conley, 2017, p. 47). Charles Musselwhite interviewed 42 people for this article. Interviewing people is a great form of collecting qualitive data. You must collect data if you want to be able to support your claim. This article talks about why windows are so important for older people. Everyone that he interviewed was over the age of 65 and went outside less than once a week. For them, windows are a way they connect with the outside world. There are plenty of older people who spend most of their time indoors for many reasons. Having big windows that they can sit in front of allow them to see their neighbors, nature, community workers, etc. Looking out windows are fascinating to them and they can make assumptions as to where people are headed, what they are doing, and back up stories they hear or see on television or on the radio. Looking out the window gives them the chance to create stories about other people and it keeps them entertained throughout the day. We learned about the labeling theory in another module and that is when individuals subconsciously notice how others see or label them (Conley, 2017, p.207). Some of the people interviewed felt as though they would be considered nosey because they were always in the windows. Windows are also important for them to let light and fresh air into their living space.
Word Count-260
Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a sociologist. (5th ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
People become especially excited during the Christmas season. In an interesting study of the southern hemisphere, shows that the major cultural and religious celebrations really got people “in the mood”. This study was done by the University of Indiana and the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência in Portugal. They used quantitative methods to achieve the results of this project. Quantitative methods are “methods that seek to obtain information about the social world that is already in or can be converted to numeric form” (Conley, 2017, p. 47). The researches of this experiment looked at the number of sex related searches on the internet compared to the time of year, specifically around Christmas time. They used numbers and statistics to prove that the increased birth rate nine months after Christmas has a correlation with increased sex interest during Christmas. This held true when comparing the results of the Christian, southern hemisphere countries and the Christian, northern hemisphere countries. Which allowed the researchers to come to the conclusion that there was no correlation to the winter solstice that may have biologically influenced people’s libido, due to the fact the southern hemisphere countries celebrate Christmas in the winter and when the northern hemisphere countries celebrate Christmas it is considered summer in the southern countries. To prove their research further, there was no increased sex searches during December and, in turn, increased birth rate nine months later, in Northern countries that did not celebrate Christmas. They also took into consideration the major holidays of other countries such as Eid-al-Fitr. This again proved that it was not the solstice that promoted increased searches, it was the corresponding cultural holiday spirit (Wood, Varela, Bollen, Rocha & Gonçalves-Sá, 2017).
The researchers used the correlational experimental method. Correlation means “simultaneous variation in two variables” (Conley, 2017, p. 48). We cannot prove whether it is the increased sex searches that promote sexual relations or whether increased sexual relations increase sex searchers. However, we can definitively say that the increased sexual relations that apparently take place during the holiday season, which is related to increased sex searches, does produce an increased birth rate nine month after each of the holidays. This study is also an example of a deductive approach. A deductive approach starts with a theory or hypothesis, makes observations and analyzes the data collected to confirm or reject that theory (Conley, 2017, p. 48). The scientists started with the theory that biological or cultural aspects contribute to fluctuating birth rates. They then hypothesized that cultural aspects affected feelings during cultural holidays which lead to increased birth rates nine months later. They made a second hypothesis that biological aspects, in this case the winter solstice, increased the birth rate nine months later. They observed patterns during different cultural celebrations to come to the conclusion that it is culture that contributes to birth rates, not so much biology (Wood, Varela, Bollen, Rocha, & Gonçalves-Sá, 2017).
Word Count - 484
Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: An introduction to thinking like a sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Wood, I., Varela, P., Bollen, J., Rocha, L., & Gonçalves-Sá, J. (2017). Human sexual cycles are driven by culture and match collective moods. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 1-11, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18262-5
I'm probably the worst person in the world to give advice, because, from sun up to sun down, and even in between, my life is a wreck. I call off work, I forget to feed my dogs, I miss assignments, and overall don't know what I'm doing with my life. However, I do have three vital things that I think might be of help. One, pay attention to deadlines. This class is a little different than other online classes I've had in that instead of all of my assignments being due Sunday night, some are due throughout the week. Don't make the same mistakes I did and miss deadlines. Two, do additional research. If something peaks your interest, do a Google search and learn more. You'll be more interested in the class, understand the material better, and cultivate a desire to constantly learn more. Three, ask for help. If you don't understand something, ask. If something seems wrong to you, ask. If you are confused about the directions to an assignment, ask. People genuinely want to help you. I wish you nothing but the best of luck in all your endevours. PS. Do the reading. For real. Sometimes its hard, but its worth it. You will fail the quizzes if you don't.
Deviance is any behavior that violates a social norm. This can be as simple as walking on the left side of the road or as massive as homicide. Above is a clip from the kids film Lego Movie. In case you are not familiar with this, one of the main premises in the film is that main character Emmet tries his best to be normal. He even has a book called How to Fit in, Have Everyone Like You, and Always be Happy. Through a series of event, Emmet is found out to be 'the special' who is destined to fulfill a prophecy; far from normal. This film is a good example of social conformity and deviance. In each societal group there is an unwritten list of things that are acceptable. (There are cases in which these rules are written down, such as laws.) In our world, some of these 'rules' might include not picking your nose, not talking to other customers at the grocery store unless necessary, saying thank you when someone holds the door for you, etc. There is also the idea that there is no truly deviant act and that all acts are acceptable. This is becoming even more true in our current society. There are no longer 'norms' for things like gender, sexuality, family structure, the way to raise children, and the list goes on. I personally believe when we have no definition for deviance, we begin to live in a very dangerous world. There is a verse in the Judeo-Christian bible that says, “...every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” The following chapters then go on to describe genocide, murder, rape, pillaging, and so forth. When there is no right then there is no wrong.
Word Count: 294
References:
Lego Movie. Performance by Chris Pratt, 2014. Warner Brothers. Accessed 20 Apr. 2017.
The below article is an example of sociological research. Ms. Carter did a study about why women marry and whether or not it is a realistic and viable option.
The data in this study is very qualitative as there are no concrete numbers such as “Martha is 33% happy in her marriage”. However there are some numbers in this study such as at what age they were married, or how many marriages they have had, but mostly the researcher used qualitative data to measure things like where they met and how happy they were. This study was perfectly ethical, if a bit invasive. The researcher asked a lot of personal questions but did not ask participants to do anything or put themselves in any danger. As sociological researchers, we must be very careful to follow a code of ethics. Although, some of the best studies we have come from people who did not follow a code of ethics. Those that pushed the boundaries of human safety produced some of the most interesting results. This, however, does not mean that we should endanger our subjects just to get 'interesting' results. It does make sense, to make the best of bad situations, and to glean as much research as possible from challenging sociological events. Such as in the example of children who are abused or people who have AIDS. It is our job, as sociologist, to view the world around us as a giant research lab at our disposal. We observe and we learn.
Word Count: 255
References:
Carter, J. (2017, February 28). Why Marry? The Role of Tradition in Women's Marital Aspirations. In Sociological Research Online.
I will try my best to give advice for future students regarding this project/class and what I have gleaned from it. I took this course because it is required for my major of nursing. I can say though, that I have learned so much in this class, and that it has opened my eyes to things that I never knew before or things that I didn’t understand. This is the second time for me to be taking “Intro to Sociology” and I must say that the professor you choose has everything to do with passing or not. The first professor I had wasn’t as helpful and tended to have his “pets”. The professor I had this time has been absolutely amazing. Dr. J, I want to say a special “Thank-you” for all you have done for me! Dr. J is willing to go above and beyond to help anyone pass this course. If you decide, or if you need to take an “Intro to Sociology” course with HACC, I highly recommend that you take it with Dr. Sarah Jacobson. During this final Tumblr project, Dr. J was very patient with me as I tried to understand all the requirements. This Tumblr project is actually not as hard as the instructions make it sound and if you need help, Dr. J is ready to assist. Because I haven’t done the photo essay project, I can’t give you a comparison, but I personally think the Tumblr project was easier. For example, instead of taking all those photos like the photo essay project students had to, one could simply browse the internet and share that particular photo with the class instead. We had to find an article or photo that pertained to our particular subject, I had deviance, social class, and globalization and the economy, and then reblog or add our research to it. I hope this helps you with your decision making.
