Final Blog

After taking and finishing the sociology course, there are a few things that I would change about the way I view everything in my life as previous blogged in my first blog in January. I had said that family had shaped almost everything in my life from what sports I had played to the attitude I had when appraoching different situations. Though my family had a huge impact on the person I have become, they did not have as big of an impact as I had previously thought. One example of this was I had played soccer as a child and had continued at club levels through my sophmore year in high school. I thought I had gotten involved in this sport due to my parents and family's invlovement in it. Then as I learn more through my sociology class I had learned that I had been shaped into a soccer player due to the community I live in: the suburbs. Most suburban children play this sport. It's where the term "soccer mom" was developed.
Sociology has made me think differently about myself, my life, and those around me. I had learned that I am not as individual as I thought. And the reason why I had previously thought I was was because of the American value that we are all independent and individualistic. Everyone in our community is similar to each other. This is all because of the way our society has shaped us. From the television shows we watch to the activities we all partake in in our free time.

Crash on Racism

Not all forms of racism are stuck just to the isue of black and white. In the movie Crash, the white woman who's care is stolen by two black men changes the locks on the door after the fact. When she sees that the man who changes the locks is Mexican, she gets into an arguement with her husband over changing the locks again the next morning becuase she thinks he's going to sell a key to his "homeboys" so that they can rob their house. She had no other reason to think this way other than the fact that he was Mexican. If racism was simply a black and white issue, this woman would not have expressed her implicit racism towards this young man for his Hispanic background.
Society's tendency to single racism to a black and white issue creates confusion over race issues in America. The minorities feel that when white citizens act differently in a negative way towards them that it is racism. But when confronted with the issue, most white citizens view racism only against African Americans. Therefore the differing views of racism cause much confusion over the subject.

Explicit Racism vs. Implicit Racism

When one thinks about racism in general, one normally thinks about explicit racism such as the KKK, but it can come in many forms other than just blantantly. The only place I have seen explicit racism is in movies. This is probably due to the fact that I live in a mostly sheltered community. I have, however, experienced implicit racism. After 9/11 there was much hype about Arabic people in the United States. My best friend was Arab and looking back on it, her family ere the only Arabs I had trusted. Maybe media had played a rold in developing these certain views about people. All had seen in the news was hrrible events almost all in which Arabs were to blame. Guarenteed, I was too young to watch the news frequently. However, my parents did; and seeing thee negative views of people being flashed before my eyes was enough to scare me into holding implicit racism within myself.
Both forms of racism can prove to be dangerous, but which one seems to prove to be more detrimental to society as well as individual people?

Chances of Moving Up in the World

According to observations, moving up in society in social class is near impossible. It seems almost as if the saying "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer" proves true. My mom grew up more so in working class I would say. Although, my grandmother also did not work, my grandfather worked two jobs, one during the day and one at night, in order to provide well for a family of twelve. My dad also came from a working class in Ireland. He had lived on a farm with his parents and his eight siblings. He helped his parents with his older brother in order to make money for his family.

After learning about social class in sociology and how hard it is to change your social and economic status even in America where the American Dream is a high value. I think that my parents did move up slightly in class by working hard in order to give my brother and I better than what they had. However, I do also agree that I will not change my class. It affected where I chose to go to college and also which career I will choose to pursue. These choice will ultimately affect how much money I will make in the future which in turn my class status will completely depend upon.

Justice is Served?

Prisons today are overcrowded with "criminals". Where do these people come from and why are they here? Well, most are from lower/working classes of the American system. They are busted simply on the grounds that they do not have the money nor the power to influence what happens to them. Instead, the unfair justice system holds their fates in its hands. Those who have money for a good lawyer get off easy, but those who cannot afford a lawyer are left to fend for themselves.

A whopping 50% of these prisoners are imprisoned for drug related crimes. Addiction to drugs used to be something seen as a problem for which one must receive medical attention and guidance. Instead, the justice systems are scooping them up to place them in jail before they are even given a chance to rehabilitate. To make matters worse, instead of giving these people proper treatment so that they can recover and be more responsible upon their release, they are locked away and force to face withdrawl without guidance and assistance. Why is this? In society today people look down upon criminals not only for their actions, but for using their tax dollars. We think "Why should we pay more money to help them? What did they do to help society?". But it is just like Morgan says on the show 30 Days, that helping these people will ultimately create a ripple effect even from just that even 1% of criminals who do recover. It eventually creates a ripple effect so big that it would seem worth it to pay to help these people out.

As a whole the justice system needs to be changed itself. It acts as a revolving door: most who are imprisoned, come back soon after their release. Why? Because as Americans we like to think we are perfect. We make mistakes, but we don't acknowledge them. So most Americans say "once a criminal, always a criminal". This most likely causes criminals to go back to jail. They are rejected by society so they regress back to the last place they felt more accepted by their peers even if it is behind steel bars.

Secret Agent: Family

Family is a huge influence on one's life. Family plays a huge role in shaping a person. Their views, beliefs, even habits all originate from their family members. Some even pursue the same career as their parents or gaurdians. In my own family, before my family had moved back to the United States, we had lived in Ireland where my father was a high school teacher. Next year I am planning to go to Miami University to study to become a special education teach and the high school level. So i guess one could say I followed in the footsteps of my father. Even our personalities are unlike. Not only do I look a lot like my father, we act alike too. Our sense of sarcastic humor, active lifestyle, and temper are all the same. When you think about this, is it really that weird? I mean maybe it's a little weird that I have all these qualities similar to my father and almost none to my mother. Maybe that was becuase at a young age I observed my father's actions more than my mothers or for some other reason. Family provides the basis for your morals and your quirks. It's unusual to realize that even one's quirks that one may think makes them different from others is not really that different becuase they were taught to you by others when you were younger and still using observations as your main way to learn.

Human Nurture

The experiences in our lives shape us as human beings. We have seen this through the cases of Genie and Danielle. If you think about it to yourself though, wouldn't one agree without the evidence of these cases? A baby is not racist at birth, he learns to discriminate through the actions of his parents. Or even examples of how to chew. This week Sal told us of how even at table during lunch, his daughter would mock him chewing his sandwich by making the same movement in eating her own mashed up food. Thinking back to stories of my own life, that's how I know i learned to speak. Would anyone of us had uttered the words of "mama" and "daddy" had they not been said over and over to us as a child. How about our own name? We have heard it in our direction since it was given to us, thus we know our own name. After learning about these cases and reflecting them upon my own life, it is hard to imagine what life would be life had I never learned these things. One never stops to think at how something so small can provide the basis of who you become for the rest of your life.