Reflective essay

There were many very important concepts talked about throughout the semester in this sociology class, I feel like bracketing is one of the most important one we touched on. We learned about bracketing early on and this helped us keep on open mind throughout the rest of the course. Bracketing is being able to hold off or suspend preconceived notions or ideas on a certain subject in order to allow new and different ideas to enter through inquiry and is described by scholars as the premises of all learning and awareness

Being able to bracket has helped our class to be able to accept the concepts that we are being taught such as the social construction of race, class and even gods. While class is not hard to understand or see how it could be a social construction race took a little bit more time to understand, how its just a human construction, we are all different right? We all look different, and come from somewhere different so race must be a scientific fact. However, with the help of bracketing we were taught that race is a human construction and that two people of different ethnic backgrounds can have more genes in common then two people of the same decent.

At the beginning of this course I thought I understood race and racism; race being the things that divided us into different groups (based on our skin colour, facial features, ethnicity) and racism was discriminating based on these factors. However I learned that I was right about racism but race is open to interpretation. Race is not a scientific concept because there is nothing definitive about it; there are no set rules about how to categorize someone therefore each person could classify race differently.  I learned that race was just a social construction used to empower and give opportunities to some and leave the others to their own devises.

I can also say that before I learned about bracketing if someone told me that all people come from Africa I would have never believed them, brushed it off and thought that were being small minded. With the help of bracketing I was able to take in what was said in class watch some videos online when I got home (not sure I believed it right away) and understand that this really could be true and there is scientific evidence to back it up. This class has taught me more than just sociology it has taught me how to look at information; always be open minded so you can take other ideas in but be critical as well (do research and careful analysis).

Group Discussions

Nacirema            In my group we came up about how the article is a centenary tail of what not bracketing and critiquing ect. Could do to your understanding of a society. The society depicted in this article was unrecognizable at first how ever with a great deal of scrutiny it became oblivious that this was our culture; this is a very important article because no one would be wanting some one to read about their society like this; however, in a way that is familiar, relatable and easy to understand.

-I was the one who spoke for our group in the class discussion

Can we be ethnocentric free?            Our group thoroughly discussed this topic as we all found it to be a very interesting question. Our conclusion was that it is essential for a nation to care about its self first and have unity; however, being to ethnocentric free is also bad that is why my group decided that no one can be ethnocentric free (we will always we partial to what we know and like) but we can become aware of it and not let it get in the was of accepting others and their points of view.

- I was the one who spoke for our group in the class discussion

 Stanford Prison experiment                My group disused how fast we notice the changes start to happen and hoe fast the participants got into their roles and even forgot it was an experiment.

Nickeled and Dimmed               My group thought that being poor was a social and personal concern. Once you are born in to a poor family we decided that it is hard to get out therefore it is not your fault you were given less opportunities and things such as post secondary school may take a back seat to working in order to pay for life but also that schooling. However being poor can also be your own fault you may never try to do anything to better yourself or possibly lost your assets and money due to a bad stock dissuasion, gambling habit, addition ect.

Cool Concepts

This post is used for all my cool concepts except for the one that I posted early

2)  Incest

Its not that I find incest cool it’s just a subject that took me a little while to get my head around. I think its pretty interesting how incest became taboo so that family fights and confusion would not occur.  However I also know that throughout history royal family’s have married within the family in order to keep the royal blood as pure as possible. Also if incest was once not taboo then why did certain rules not become common place such as the eldest brother gets the eldest sister. I’m most defiantly not condoning this practice; however, the topic created a lot more questions for me then answers. Having more questions than answers is something I really enjoy, I love having topics roll around my had for ages with a understanding but still much to learn and this is one of those cases.                                                                                                                 A recent case in the media is the Fritzl case where a woman was held captive for 24 years by her father

 3) No Race

Another topic that struck me is the concept that there is no race and two people from different places in the world can have more in common genetically speaking then two people from the same place. I think this is the coolest thing ever. Its not something I would have thought of as being true however with the video we saw was very informative video that answered any questions we could have possibly had which I found very helpful. Not only being genetically more similar to someone of a different ethnicity we also learned about race being a social construct in which each person could classify races defiantly there for is not even a scientific method.                                        Race is a big issue right now in the media is Trayvon Martin case. We don’t know what really happened yet however may people think race played a part and it makes me think that a lot of people don’t know about this fact; people judge others on their differences however we are not that different from each other.

4) Looking glass self

The concept of the looking glass self was also very interesting. The looking glass self is a term used to describe how a person shapes them self’s based on how others view them. I really like this concept because I think its really true and was easy to see someone wanting to live up to others expectations or even for someone to feel like they should be rebels because everyone thinks they are doing it anyway.                                              I feel that this is shown in media right now in a round about type of way; the Stanly cup rioters are embarrassed to come forward because the people they know expect more of them and even the ones that are part of a group that may do something like that are now facing so much shame from the public that they know they shouldn’t have participated.  These people know the public sees the citizens of our community as better people than this.

5) False consciousness

The final concept that really stood out to me was false consciousness as well as class-consciousness. I found this interesting because all it takes is for a few people to become aware of the amount of power the ruling class has over the working class and rally the others together to change every thing.                                                                     This is in the news every time a group strikes; they are looking for better working conditions, more money, and even better benefits

Video – Stanford Prison Experiment

The Stanford experiment is a video that shows a collage professor doing a experiment creating a prison type environment to find out what happens when you put good people in an evil place and does humanity or evil triumph. They found that very fast people become comfortable with their rolls as guard or prisoner. The guards pushed, abused and embarrassed the prisoners and the prisoners tried to retaliate against the guards. What was most amazing about this experiment was that some of the prisoners thought it was real and they might not be going home. It was not until the professor (warden) had brought a colleague to see his work he realized things had gotten to get out of control. He learned that he need a objective opinion not involved in the prion to over see an experiment like this. The experiment was stopped immediately (only 6 days in). This video showed us how humans react to situations they are put in and how fast we can adapt to something new. None of these people were bad people but they defiantly changed the guards became sadistic and the prisoners depressed and it show our class a great lesson on how we can change so rapidly but also how important it is to properly control an experiment.

Video – Danger of a Single Story

The danger of a single story was a video we watched were Chimamanda Adichie an African author told her story. She told a story about when she was a little girl and would read about story’s of young white girls from America; these became the stories the started to wright. Chimamanda talked about how hard it become to see something different if you are only told one thing and don’t look for something else. There is a single story of Africa, the poor needing help and saving; however, there are many people all throughout Africa who do not have this story. A person is created by many stories good and bad; a signal story is not untrue but it is not the complete story.

 

Videos – Nickelled and Dimed

Nickelled and dimed is a witty short about recent grad learning about the “poor”. He learned about how many people need more than one job to make ends meet, how even though the economy is doing ok the wages of most people are saying the same, well there are many jobs there are a lot that cannot be lived on. The poor in away are giving to the rich; the poor work really hard so the rich are dressed well eat well and cheep and this is all because the people helping the right (waiter, store clerk, cleaner etc.) are being paid very little.

 

“Negotiation, not Retribution” – article

Negotiation, not retribution

Summery: This article talks about how the deaths on September 11^th we horrible that there are many others deaths that occur around the world daily that are just as important for example the 3 million deaths in Congo. It also talks about how there are only permanent interests not permanent friends in politics.

How I feel. I feel really bad for the people in other places of the world that do not get as much recognition for their deaths as westerners do. I also feel like are government is not working in our best interest if they are friends one day with someone and enemy’s the next or vise versa

What do I think? I think we need to start watching our backs and paying more attention to what the government is feeding to us not allowing other peoples deaths to be forgotten and not allowing the government to so easily flip sides.

What do I believe? I believe that the part about only permanent interests not permanent friends is a very true statement however if it is an honorable statement is another story.

What do I know? I know that tragic deaths of people in the western world get more recognition than those in other country’s when they often live and die much more tragically.

“the Phantom of the Race” – Article

The phantom of the race

What question did the text/chapter raise?                                                         The question raised in this article is one about how we should go about becoming anti-racist.

How did the text answer this question?                                                               We need to approach the education of race to young children particularly in primary school. Its been proven that race is a social construct and that combating its existence will be an uphill battle that needs to start with children.

How does the answer match out own ideas and experiences?                         Yes we all see differences in others (between ethnic groups) however, we need to realize that there is can be more biological differences between 2 white people than to people of different ethnic backgrounds.

“forgiveness is not part of the lessons learned” – article

Forgiveness is not part of the lessons learned

 What question did the text/chapter raise?                                                         The question raised in this chapter whose deaths are more important, more recognized and how does this affect us.

How did the text answer this question?                                                              The answer to this question is that we do recognize the deaths of certain people more than others. There are memorials and monuments for the victims in the western. This keeps us having short memories and thinking about the things that the government wants us to think about.

How does the answer match our own ideas and experiences?                        This ideas do make a lot of sense we are told about certain events more than others, we remember certain people more than others. And above and beyond that we are told by the government one day that we are working with someone then the next we are against them or vice versa.

 

“Who will Liberate Liberia?” – article

“Who will Liberate Liberia?”

Summery:This reading talks about who is helped by the western world, why they are helped and where that leaves every one else. With the money spent on the “axis of evil” could help with many other thing such as providing food and medicine for the developing world.

Passage: “What is the coalition of the willing to liberate Liberia? The Bush government contends that Liberia’s liberation can be carried out by Liberians and Africans themselves. “Why?” You ask. Because Iraq is awash in oil. Poor Liberia has no oil. Not even the historic link and blood ties between America and Liberia matter. All this is perfect logic in our Orwellian world.”

Why I chose this passage: I chose this passage from “who will liberate Liberia” because I feel it not only sums up the whole article but it also is very thought provoking. It shows us how unbalanced the western world help to others is. Our governments help if there is something to gain from helping that particular place such as Iraq and its oil.