This is a blog based around Sal's period 4 Sociology class.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Culture Shock

This week starting a new unit on different cultures has been really interesting. Learning about the Japanese toilets, and other things that would be considered normal in other countries was an eye opener. When I saw the picture of the toilet in the middle of the city that looked like mirrors on the outside and on the inside you can see everyone else out there, it reminded me of when I went to St. Martin. In 5th grade, I went on my first Caribbean cruise with my family and one of the stops was St. Martin. St. Martin is split because of the two countries that originally settled there, so the side that we docked on was Dutch, and the other side was French, and they would both speak their native languages there, along with having each countries flags. I really liked the Dutch side, but my family wanted to see what the French side was like. When we got there, we got to this really nice mall but me and my mom had to go to the bathroom. We got there and the doors went from floor to ceiling with brass door handles, but you could see the shadow of someone sitting on the toilet. You could see every move that they made and I didn't feel comfortable with people watching, but to the natives it was no big deal. You would have to pay ten cents for toilet paper and you would just go in and do business without even thinking about women standing outside possibly watching. It was a huge culture shock for me.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

"Never Waste Good Talent"

"The Bronx Tale" was a movie about Chazz Pomenteri's life growing up in the Bronx. I'm not usually one to watch that type of movie, but it sent a really good message to "Never waste good talent", and it was powerful to see what was really happening back in the 1960's. The main character, Collogero, was shown as a kid and then eight years later when he became a teenager. It showed the types of groups he was classified in as well. If someone were to watch the movie that wasn't in a sociology class they would probably say that C was a part of Sonny's group. After learning about how people are put in different groups, C was not as much part of the large group as he and Sonny were in their own group. All of the guys in the group feared Sonny, and once he was dead they didn't care. Sonny and C cared about each other, belonging in their own group. C also belonged in the group of his friends. He would try to do exactly what they were doing because they were the kids he had grown up with, but because he was growing up, he realized some of the things they did were stupid and wrong. When he saw his friends in body bags after being caught in a fire from the flame throwers being thrown back at them, C understood that he was only with them to have people his own age around him. Above all, C's master status was a son, not just to his father, but to Sonny as well. He would take advice from both of them, and would never try to upset either of them, even though he hurt his father a few times.
We all have a master status even if we never think about it. My master status is being a friend because I'm the one that everyone can trust, depend on, come to for advice, or just for a good laugh. I do my best to make sure other people have a good time. Even though that is my master status I'm a sister, a daughter, camp counselor, swim instructor, best friend, and many more. This movie made me understand how groups are formed better, especially with having segregated areas.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Should we generalize about people?

After reading the article "Should we generalize about people?" by Joel Charon, it made me understand the difference more between generalizing and stereotyping.  There was one part that stands out clearly to me, and that was when it talked about how we get our generalizations from the past and whatever we have heard, no matter what, we stick with it.  The example was the common cold, and how it's contagious and if you don't want to get it then you don't touch that person.  Everyone just "knows" that.  The difference between that and stereotypes, is stereotyping is on a specific group or person, so for example, if someone wears all black then they are weird, which isn't true at all. People stereotype without even realizing it too.  During this past summer I was a camp counselor, and all the staff seemed to talk to each other about the different "cliques" or "groups" at the camp.  For instance there were the college counselors, the high school counselors, the junior counselors, the counselors from the one unit that wasn't "cool", the specials staff, office staff, and the pool staff.  Everyone would always get ideas about the different people without even knowing who the were.  Why would they do that?  People use what they are thinking as a way to show more knowledge in one situation to the next.  So doing the "Short Sleeves" and "Long Sleeves' activity helped me understand that after being split up into my own group, immediately ideas were going through my head as to why the other group was wearing short sleeves without even asking.  

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Abandoned Ship

In class we did the abandoned ship simulation and not being one of the characters on the ship made me able to observe what was going on and actually start to think like a sociologist.  One of the first things I noticed was that everyone wanted to do "Nose Goes" to see who would have to leave the life boat without really thinking about what social status anyone had or what anyone else had to say.  I really liked watching how teens try to decide on things.  It's like they're advertising, trying to sell why they should stay on the ship.  When the nine people that needed to be kicked off were kicked off and everyone went back to their seats someone asked the "Army Captain" what character he was and at what time he was kicked off, and then said "Oh, you should have stayed".  When that person said that, It made me realize that teenagers will make decisions without really thinking it through.  As teenagers growing up in America, we live in a fast-paced society and want to get things done as quickly as possible and try to make the right choice.  If you try to make a choice quickly, you really don't have enough time to think about it.  So if the class was really on a ship, and that person that they "should have" kept on was told to go overboard, they would not be able to bring people back.  Teens have to slow down and really think about their actions and choices because if they don't it will only get them so far down the road when they are adults.  
That's it for this week!
Ali