I saw sociology when...

I see acts if deviance all the time! Basically every single day someone does something that society could consider deviant. I found it really interesting that doing something deviant isn't nessesarily breaking a law, it could be anything as simple as showing up to class late.
In class we learned about all the different deviance theories and i agree that all of those theories applies in one situation or another, but i have to really agree with the control theory, because it says that when you lack discepline you are deviant and those are the only times when i act deviantly. I can also say this for little kids, when there parents aren't around they break the rules and do whatever they want because there is nobody to tell them no. I think this could be the most obvious theory that when authority isn't around people act deviantly because this is probably the most common reason why people break rules and laws. My little cousin acts very deviantly when her mom isn't around. Her mom tells  her not to touch something and as soon as she leaves my cousin will touch it.

I saw sociology when...

     I saw sociology when i was watching my old family videos from when i was a baby. I remember in class we were talking about gender and how society views it as bad whenever a boy dresses or acts like a girl, or when a girl looks like a boy.
     In my old family videos I actually could have been and probably was referred to as a boy. I had short mullet hair and my parents always dressed me in blue clothes or just whatever t shirt they could find with a diaper. They said i liked it and i hated dressing up in dresses and having my hair in pig tails. My dad told me that whenever someone said i was a cute little boy and they had to correct them they would give them a disapproving look. I think it's so wierd how society has certain expectations and if someone (even a baby) doesn't meet them they disapprove. It makes me happy that society has come so far with gays and transgenders because im sure it's very hard for them.

Chinese Moms!

After reading the packet about the Chinese moms, i felt bad for their kids. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a mom that controlling and strict. I know the mom says that when they call their kids garbage and stupid it doesn't hurt their confidence but i don't see how calling anyone that can be a GOOD thing. On the other hand, i do think it is good that they instill in their kids the importance of education and trying your best. I think that forcing them to do some things is acceptable, but it isn't acceptable to shelter them from everything that normal kids do. The Chinese kids were socialized differently and they haven't had the same experiences as most kids, which makes their personality different.

Going along with making their personality different, Mead's theory of socialization really fits here. I think those kid's personalities develop based on how they were socialized. They grow up believing that success is the only option and that is how they live their lives. I think Piaget's theory also applies to these children. They start out not wanting to do what their mothers plan for them but once they start to mature they don't mind it as much.

Spain!

     Some of my friends in my spanish 3 class are going to spain over spring break. I had the opportunity to go, but i decided not to because i thought i would feel uncomfortable in a new country and staying with someone that i did not know. Not only would i not know them but i don't really know all about their rules and aspects of their culture. I think if i went i would have culture clash and culture shock because i might not be able to completely communicate with them and i would have to change some of my culture to fit in with theirs.
     An example of culture shock that i can think of would be that they drink alcohol on a regular basis with their friends, and i am NOT used to that. Also, they leave school in the middle of the day for a nap and they spend a lot of family time. An example of culture clash would be me not being able to communicate what i need to them because of the language barrier. I thought of all of this and the thought of going to Spain was uncomfortable so i decided not to go, but when my friends get back i'll be sure to ask them all about the culture they were a part of for a week.

Culture shock!

I found myself thinking sociologically when in class we were discussing the Middle East and Muslims and how their culture is so different than ours! 8th grade to sophmore year i "dated" a muslim, and i say "dated" because at the end of freshman year he broke up with me because of his religion, but we pretty much still considered ourselves together after that. At first everything was great between us and it was like any other relationship but then his parents started pressuring him with their culture and convinced him to stop dating me.
     We stopped dating officially but we still talked everyday. He would ALWAYS talk to me about his religion and he even tried to convert me to muslim. He told me about how they pray 5 times a day and have a certain way to cleanse themselves before a prayer. His mom wore the Hijab and she thought it was kind of disrespectful of me to wear a sleeveless shirt the first time i met her because she was all covered up. I would consider this culture shock because our cultures were so different, and his mom had trouble adjusting to how Americans dress and act. Although i'm sure she's used to seeing girls dressed without a Hijab, she wasn't prepared to see her son's girlfriend dressed so differently. The differences between our cultures were too strong and obviously that never worked out, but i think it was a good experience for me to see how other cultures can be so different than us Americans!

CULTURE

I found myself thinking sociologically when i was driving home from my boyfriends house the other night and i was listening to the radio. They were talking about the lastest celebrity gossip...mostly about Charlie Sheen and who's dating who. When i got home my family was eating dinner and they were talking about Miami Heat and just about sports in general. When i went to my room i turned on the TV, E News was on so i started watching and it was MORE about celebritys and who's wearing what. I didn't really think much of it at first but then i remembered what we were learning in sociology. This was all pop culture!
     I never realized before how much pop culture is around us at all times but it is a hhuge part of our lives! The media can make you believe pretty much anything they want about someone just from what they put out there. I think America is the way it is today because of the media and i don't know if that's such a good thing. Peoples lives revolve so much around pop culture, that can't be healthy!

Symbols for Americans!

I chose these Benjamin's because this is a major symbol for Americans. We have so much focus on money in America and everybody wants to be wealthy and successful which is what money also represents. If you don't live in America you recognize America for its supposed wealth and opportunity. Money is of course one of the main things i think of when i think of America.

I chose hotdogs, hamburgers, and fries as symbols for Americans because it's something most americans eat weekly and some everyday! It's a symbol of majority of our fast food restaurants and it's basically known as American food! Americans have this food at bbq's with family and the first thing i think of when i think of Americans is this kind of food.

I chose this picture as an American symbol because in other countries they think that America has a ton of crime! and we do! Every single time i turn on the news there is some type of crime they are talking about and some Americans find it entertaining to hear about the latest shocking crimes. The crimes in America are outrageous and people in other countries look at America as a crime filled place. Thats completely understandable to me.

The handshake represents American culture and an American symbol because everyone in America pretty much knows that if someone reaches out their hand they are waiting for a handshake. It is a way to greet someone you don't know or haven't seen in a while and everyone knows what it means. In other countries they don't know that thats how we greet eachother sometimes and they are caught off gaurd, as we discussed in class.

The atomic bomb is a symbol too because everyone knows that America is very advanced in nuclear technology. Whenever someone would worry about an upcoming war with the Middle East, they would be comforted by someone telling them "dont worry, we have the most atomic bombs out of everybody and ours are the most powerful." America is also known i think for having a lot of good war technology like tanks and things like that. I see the bomb as a symbol for how strong and powerful our country is. 





Mass Hyseria and Panic

     I found myself thinking socologically when i was talking to my grandma about what we were learing in class. I was telling her all about groups, statuses, roles, mass hysteria and panic. I explained to her the difference between mass hysteria and panic and gave her examples that we used in class to describe the differences. It turned out she already knew the difference and had her own story of mass hysteria!
     She started to tell me about back in the 1960's before she had my dad she worked in a dress making factory. She said while she was working some women started having strange syptoms like suddenly becoming numb and vomiting! Supposedly it was bug that was going around and many more women started having the symptoms and less and less of them were coming to work. The ones that had the disease said they were sure they got it from the factory. The women that were left including my grandma started seeing word of the illness in the news! My grandma said over 50 people soon claimed to have the bug and even went to the hospital! Everyone that was left was hysterical and praying they wouldn't get bitten by the so called bug. Eventually though, it was found that there was no such thing as the bug and nobody even had bites. Most of those women got the symptoms from the anxiety alone. I thought that was crazy for all those people to think they had a disease when really there was no such thing!

Groupssss!

Since we have been learning in class about so many different groups, i have been noticing a lot more the different groups around me. I myself am in about 8-10 groups! I have many statuses and roles to go along with those groups i'm in. I was watching the Jersey Shore the other day and there are some obvious groups with that. I was watching old episodes (when Agelina was still on) and i noticed that she is in the out group, kind of along with Sammy and Ronny. Everyone wanted Angelina to go home and everyone was getting sick of Sammy and Ronny's fighting all the time. One of the primary groups would be Mike, Vinny, and Pauly because they are very close and they even call themselves M.V.P. Another primary group is Snookie, J-Wow, and Deena, because they are very close. These are only a few i'm sure there are many more!
A group that i'm involved in would be a kinship group, because i know quite a few of my neighbors and i like to help them whenever i can. We're like a little community and i help some of them cut their grass in the summer! I am also in a primary group with my 4 best friends, and a secondary group with my school friends who i basically only just see from school! i can find an example from my life for every group there is but that would take all day! These are just a few of the groups that i've noticed and realized i'm a part of!

Functionalism!

Well nothing actually happened to me personally, but i found my self thinking sociologically when i was driving down Winfield road on my way home and i saw someone pulled over by a police officer. As i was driving by i thought of how the police wouldn't have much work if people weren't speeding and getting into accidents and what not. I was thinking of how everything has its own purpose and everything works together to function. The people help the police have jobs by drinking  before they get into the car, then the police help the lawyers get jobs defending the people, then the lawyers help the judge make a decision.
I didn't realize that everything had an effect on something else so much! Everyone plays a different role, whether you're the criminal, police, lawyer, judge, jury...etc. Everyone contributes to the main things that make up the world and society as we see it. So, as i was driving home, i thought of all that and i thought it would be a good blog to post since i couldn't find anything really interesting that has happened to me lately.

I can't believe a theft situation happened to me!

Last Friday night my aunt and uncle (basically my parents) weren't going to be home so i decided to invite a few people over. My closest friends came over along with my boyfriend and a few of his friends. Everything was going great and everyone was just sitting around talking and having a good time. My boyfriend and I started talking in the other room for about 10 minutes and when i came back into the kitchen/dining room i noticed my aunt and uncle's liquor cabinet was opened. I went around asking everyone who took something from it, but everyone denied it. My boyfriend got involved and started smelling everyones cups and it turned out that one of the guys that he brought over had stolen almost a whole bottle of their most expensive liquor. I was so upset about the whole situtation that i went upstairs to tell my friends how betrayed i felt (he was my friend too) and while i was up there, apparently he stole MORE liquor from a different bottle and my boyfriend caught him and he kicked him out for me and told me he decided to leave, because he didn't want to tell me he caught him again because i was already upset.
All of the sudden, I found myself thinking sociologically when this whole situation was happening because i remembered what we had learned in class! Its so ironic that that happened to me while we were talking about theft! It's totally true that if not everyone steps in to help, because one of my best friends saw him take pour it into his cup and she didn't stop him  because she said she didn't know what he might do. I personally am happy my boyfriend handled it because i'm not the kind of person to yell at someone and kick them out. I definitely will not be having people over when nobody is home again because of how that night turned out.

Sociologists in society today

Jane Addams was not my sociologist that i made a facebook for, but i like Jane a lot better :)

If Jane Addams was alive today and attended the Powder Puff Football game, she would be very pleased. At the Powder Puff game, the girls dressed up in shorts, t-shirts, tennis shoes, and bandanas to play football. The boys wore cheerleading uniforms (with skirts not shorts). I love the Powder Puff games because it's a chance to show that girls really can play football and it's not just a man's sport. Also, i love seeing the boys wearing skirts and cheerleading, which is mainly known as a girls sport although men do cheerlead. 

Jane Addams was a sociologist who cared about social problems created by imbalance of power between genders. Back in Jane's time when the men were considered, in a way, better than women, Jane spent her time with women's suffrage. I think Jane would be very pleased to see that now in highschools we're able to have these kinds of activites that show women are equal to men. She spend a lot of time working on these types of problems with imbalance of power. She would also be very pleased to know that the roles have changed now days, and women are much more independent. I personally really like Jane for her perserverance and her contributions to society.

Who am I?

My name is Alyssa Jordan Gunnison, im almost 17 years old, and i'm from Atlanta Georgia. I moved to Illinois when i was 13 and came here to West Chicago and went to West Chicago Middle School. Both of my parents have substance abuse problems and knew they couldn't care for me anymore, so now i live with my Aunt Christine and Uncle Dennis. My mom still lives in Georgia and my dad just moved here to Illinois but i don't see him often. My family life is a big part of who i am today, i didn't grow up with the stereotypical family. My life has been totally different than most peoples but i look at it in a positive way because i've experienced many things that most people my age haven't and it's made me learn a lot about life and myself. I love to watch shows on my laptop whenever i have free time, because after a long week at school or just a long day i like to lay in my bed with ice cream and watch a good show like the Batchelor or Bad Girls Club. I get average grades (A's and B's). I want to attend a University in Illinois like NIU or U of I and study medicine. My dream would be to attend college, take some good medical classes, possibly get into med school and start my career as a Radiologist.
I have 4 best friends who i tell everything to and i know i can trust them. I don't like to have a huge group of friends because in the past i've had bad experiences with trusting friends in a big group, and i'm so happy i found my 4 best friends who i know i can trust. I consider myself someone people can talk to about problems and i always try to help, sometimes it's not the best because i take on other peoples worries but i don't mind. I can pretty much be doing anything with my friends and we will have a good time. I've been told that i laugh at everything and i laugh way too much, i've also been told i'm too positive, but i dont see the reason why people are always so negative! I am a strong believer in the law of attraction so i believe thinking positively helps you. It helps me at least. Well i don't really know what else to say about myself but those are pretty much the basics about me.