Week Nine - Study of Gender

"Gender refers to the personal traits and social position that members of a society attach to being male and female. Gender involves hierarchy, leading sociologists to talk of gender stratification, the unequal distribution of wealth, power and privilege between men and women."


Sexism has always been a normal thing. The mail carrier was always called a mailman and the flight attendants always stewardesses. To my grandmother, this was never an offending thing. When she was little she learned how to cook and clean, mend clothes and watch after the children. However, when she grew up she went to work but after being married for a few years she had my mother and went to stay in the home like a she had learned a wife should do. 


I understand many women like to work, and because they are women should not affect whether they get the job or how much they are paid. Women can and do work just as hard, if not harder, then men. I knew a woman who had moved here from Russia during 1940's. She had come here to better her life. She had an education from Russia in architecture. When she applied for a job, because they did not know she was a woman they hired her only looking at her resume and the fact that she was top of her class. When she came into work the boss was slightly stunned she was a woman, but did not dismiss her. She told me that for the first few months she worked there she didn't ask a single question. Until she proved to her boss that she was worthy of her job did she finally feel she could converse with her co-workers in a way that was more social. She proved that just because she was a woman doesn't mean she can't work the same as a man. 

Week Ten - A Tale of Two Families

While reading about Byron Greens and Max Holland, I thought about my own life. My father always said that we were poor, but compared to by boyfriend whose family lived in Ohio and barely had enough money to feed their children dinner, my family is well off. My father has had enough money to put 2 children through college and only now is having to take out loans to out me through college. 


I believe that because I am Caucasian, I have had a better chance at getting into good schools and living in a good neighborhood. I don't, however, think its fair. I coasted through high school and didn't have to work while I've been studying. I only now have been hired at the mall because I want to move out of my father's home sooner. 


I know that other races have a harder time, especially in school if they don't have the support from the school and their family, whether it be because there aren't enough teachers or because their parent(s) work full time or work 2 jobs. 


This has to change though. I shouldn't be privileged because of the color of my skin. 

Week Eight - Why We Should Care About Global Inequality

Global inequality, we think, may not affect us personally but it does.


Where each country falls on the global scale all depends on who has the power and the money. The countries with less power money emit less pollution but might produce more brilliant minds. That same country, however, may be deep in poverty and thus have a negative affect on the global scale.


Global inequality affects all of us everyday when we buy things from the store or just breathe the air. Countries with money generally put out more pollution, but that doesn't mean the poorer countries are not affected by that pollution. Just because we do not see the pollution our country puts out, doesn't mean it doesn't affect every other country in the world.

Week Seven - Social Class

How much do you think social class matters in the U.S. today?


I believe that social class really only exists in politics and the entertainment industry. When you are rich you are more likely to be elected for a political position or chosen for a movie role. In everyday life, however, people don't particularly notice that you are low class or middle class. Maybe it's just me, I choose not to hold people's financial situations against them. Unless you look specifically like you are poor, not many people are going to notice. The only time that I have noticed when a person is of a high social class is when, at a baseball game or event and there are the "special" box seats that they sit in. 


I do believe that to a certain group of people, the higher classes, that social class matters in the U.S. That when they shop at Tysons 2 instead of just Tysons. I really think that social class only matters to a small portion of people in the general public. 

Week Six - Changing Social Connections

I do believe that people today are more isolated. Even though we are connected to people across the continent or the globe through Facebook, we never really have any interaction with them. Because of Facebook, I have noticed that I, personally, have a harder time talking to people in person. I believe that if I hadn't learned to have conversations online, I would probably be better at talking with people. I'm not socially awkward and I have never been diagnosed with any social complications, but I have a hard time with being with real people in person having actual conversations. I'm not always quick on what to say next but online I have more time to think so it's more acceptable that I take a few minutes to reply, whereas in person if you having a conversation and you don't immediatly reply to what someone just said, they wonder why and may think that you don't believe what they are saying or that you are mad at them. It's happened multiple times in conversations that I've had where, if I didn't comment on something immediatley have the other person said it, they question me. They ask if I'm mad, or did I not hear them.


Having conversations online is easier for me, and I assume many other people. You can think about what you are going to say next. If you want to be funny or serious, or if what you were going to say may come off as rude or stand-offish. In person, you have think quicker and really be on your toes. I have noticed that when I don't know what to say to a person, I usually nod my head or just say "Yeah," never really commenting on what they said or actually answering their question.


My mother always said that if someone called and you weren't home, you never knew. When she was in high school, they had just bought a answering machine before that if someone called, they couldn't leave a message and you would have never knew anyone had ever called you that day. Nowadays, everyone has their cell phone. You are connected to the outside world 24/7, all the time unless you turn your phone off. I don't think this is good for socitety. Being connected can be good for work and emergencies, but it can also interfere with your relationships with family and friends. We have all seen the movies with the fathers, while on vacation, take the business calls and leave the children playing alone on the beach. Being that connected makes the realtionships you have with you children, family, and friends more disconnected. It's unfair to those around you.

Week Four - Nature vs. Nurture Debate

     There are certain traits and conditions that many of us would like to have -- intelligence, athletic ability -- but there are others, such as psychopathy and cancer, that we'd like to avoid. The nature or nurture debate concerns whether these traits and conditions are a product of genetics or of the environment in which a person is brought up. For example, let's say that a man grows up to be a violent killer. Was he born with a gene that makes a person more violent? Or, were circumstances in his upbringing the ultimate cause of such a career? Did he lack loving parents? Was he exposed to violent movies and music? The nature or nurture debate has been difficult to resolve because there are plenty of people born with certain genes who don't grow up to express the traits associated with those genes, just as there have been plenty of people who have confounded all predictions based on how they were brought up.
     In some instances, it appears that nature nurture plays a greater role than nurture, and sometimes the reverse appears to be true. As I believe, and many others do as well, it is a tie. Neither nurture nor nature is more dominant over the other.
     A person's upbringing and environment affect his or her genes far too much to discount either option. If a man has a gene that's linked with being tall but he doesn't receive proper nutrition, then he may not reach full genetic potential. If a woman has a gene linked with musical ability but she never takes a violin lesson, she will never reach that potential either. On the other hand, someone born without a gene that lends itself to musical genius may still reach that point through hard work, lots of practice and supportive parents and peers.

Week Three - How American Culture Looks to Outsiders

Hugh Laurie's song for America - A bit of Fry and Laurie - BBC sketch


I suppose that in Hugh Laurie's sketch he was supposed to be dressed up as a "typical America" (a.k.a. a hill billy). He wore a plaid shirt and a bandanna.
The song lyrics were comprised of the words "America" and "States."
The audience was laughing at the face he was making and how he was singing the song.
The sketch/song ends with Hugh Laurie being punched by a another man.
I think the sketch represents how the British view Americans as barbaric and "hill-billy" like.


Frankly I did not find the video very funny, maybe because I am an American. I think the only joke the British has ever made about the Americans is that we are just giant hill billies and we have no manners or sense or style.