Post 9

Although people think most racism died years ago there are still people who are explicitly racist and in reality a majority of people have implicit bias against other races. A great example of explicit racism is the hate groups that are located across the country such as the KKK. Although not as present as in was in the past explicit racism is still alive across the country. Implicit racism is being bias against other races unintentionally. The video of a white person stealing a bike and a black person stealing a bike clearly shows this. Both guys were stealing the bike but for some reason people only called the police on the black person and some people even helped the white person cut the lock. Although not intentional this is still being bias against black people. I like to think that I am not racist but I could be and not even notice it. If I am being honest there have been times growing up where i have judge people by the color of their skin because it is how society constructs them to be worse than white people and it is society implying this that causes people to be implicitly bias.
             Being a white male I would be considered very privileged. I grew up in a good area with good schools and plenty of opportunities. Growing up black it is more likely that they would grow up in a worse school and a worse neighborhood than I did. even though there is no difference between us other than the color of our skin it is still more likely for black people to grow up in poverty and in a bad area. This can be connected to employers implicit bias or racism and them being more likely to hire white people even if they do not mean to. White people have more privilege and having more opportunity to make money.  In my current school the number of white students is much greater than the number of black students who are enrolled there. My school is considered a good school and this shows how white kids growing up have more privilege than the majority of black students growing up.
         

Post 8

Growing up I had no idea of the huge wealth gap between the top 1% and the rest of the country. And also how it is nearly impossible to move up to the 1%, and not very many people from poverty move up in social class during their lifetime. The distribution of wealth in the country is skewed so far to the top percent that the middle class is very close to being in poverty. People who are born in a upper middle class family are more likely to go to college and therefore make more money in their lifetime than those who can't afford to go to college. But even if you go to college, you aren't making nearly enough money so it helps to be born into a wealthy family. Social mobility is someone's ability to move up or down from a social class.

        It is way more likely for someone to move down in social class, such as the man from the movie The Line. He was a wealthy man with a family but then something went wrong and he lost everything he had. He had moved from the upper middle class to the lower class . Once he was in the lower class he had a hard time making money and he couldn't move back up in class. In The rendija nickel and dimed Barbara realizes the struggle of living in poverty and how hard it is to make money while in a lower social class. She connected how it is easier to make money if you already have money compared to trying to make money while starting in a lower social class. Living in my area most people have a good amount of wealth and get a steady income. But despite this people can lose their money and fall into poverty relatively easily because the middle and even upper middle class is so close to the lower class that there is just a very small difference. This is a very big problem because the wealth in this country is skewed towards the top 1%.

Post 7

Our culture tends to identify being a man with being strong, adventurous, and not being emotional. We also generalize all women with being too sensitive, weak, and not adventurous even though the majority aren't like this. We especially saw this in the movie we watched Killing us softly 4, the movie showed female models who were all shown in small, submissive positions. Most of the models were not doing anything in the pictures while the male models were shown outdoors being adventurous or doing something in the photos. This sends a bad message to our youth telling them that girls are meant to be less adventurous and not to stand up for themselves. Instead woman should be portrayed as being adventurous and following their dreams.
             Men are shown as being tough, strong, and having no emotions. In the movie we watched called Tough Guise 2 we looked at how our culture causes men to feel the need to be violent and tells men that being violent is just something men do. In my life I have seen this a lot. My cousin is a professional fighter who used to do MMA which is probably the best example of how violence is seen as good and entertaining. While MMA is seen as entertaining and is condoned other martial arts teach self defense and stress that it should only be used as a last resort. On my own I saw a video on YouTube of a Brazilian Jiu Jistu black belt, Rener Gracie, who explains that in most circumstances fighting is avoidable and that fighting should be a last resort. But our culture makes men think that if they don't stand up for themselves they aren't real men. This is something we need to change or violence among men will continue.

Post 6

When someone is born they are born with animal like instincts. This is their nature. Nurture is the way someone is raised to act and what they do when they are older. As we saw with the Feral children such as Danielle it is extremely detrimental to an individuals health if they are not raised communicating and living with other people. Within the very small window of 6 months to 5 years a child must began to learn to communicate and perform tasks before their ability to do so normally will be gone forever. Through watching these types of videos about people who grew up without being nurtured I understood how little we are made through nature and how much we are effected by our upbringing and our nurture. Certain things in our life such as family, media, and our friends play a huge role in socialization. These specific things are tools to socializing kids at a very young age. Through the media especially the youth is influenced by advertisements saying what is right and what is wrong. Advertisements also play a role in instilling values, customs and beliefs into children at a young age. Media is one of the biggest agents of socialization along with family, friends and school.

American culture

Growing up in the United States we are different from a lot of other places culturally. In the United States we are very different culturally than other countries. We seem to get caught up in work and time, leaving nearly no time for our important relationships. And this is something we have gotten used to as Americans. We continuously work to make money for the future but neglect to make sure we are happy when we are working. Other countries value relationships more and do not focus so much on work. In Tuesday's with Morrie, Mitch at first is consumed with work and almost does not go to visit Morrie because he didn't think he had time. But once he started to rebuild his relationship with Morrie he made time no matter the consequences with his job. In the article the values Americans live by, it talks about how in countries such as Brazil it acceptable a to show up 15 minutes late or even stay after class and miss the start of your next class. But in the United States we have no time to spare.
         One place I see the American culture in my life is in the pace of my life. Some days I go to school early in the morning and then go straight to work, leaving no time in my day to spend time with other people. Other countries would have shorter school days or shorter work hours to make time for relaxation and relationships with friends and family. I think that this is one of the worst American Values and we should try not to overload our day but make time for things that are more important in the long run.

post 4

Because I have lived in one place for my entire life I haven't been exposed to very many different cultures other than my own. This makes me and other people like me very ethnocentric and not being able to see what other cultures are like. Being ethnocentric means looking and evaluating other peoples cultures according to your own. One specific example could be the video "God Grew Tired of us" which shows young african boys transition into American life. They find things we do to be weird such as our lack of being social on the streets or not being able to go into a strangers house which would be normal back in their home country. In this film one of the boys was seen cooking which he said is looked down upon in his culture because he is a man, but here in the U.S. no one would think twice about it.
           So far in my life I have noticed differences in nonmaterial culture between different groups of people. When I went to the Dominican Republic a while ago, everyone was very friendly and inviting. They also were very touchy such as climbing on our backs and hugging us. This is a gesture and nonmaterial culture. This can also be connected to the video of President George Bush and the foreign minister which showed them holding hands. To us this is considered weird and not normal, but the President knew he had to conform to the foreign culture to get the trust of the foreign leader. Also in the video you can clearly see that when the two were speaking both feet were firmly planted on the ground not showing the soles of their shoes. The reason is because in the culture of the foreign leader it is a mores to shoe the bottom of ones shoes or feet and is considered disrespectful.

post 2

About four years ago I had the chance to go on a missions trip to the Dominican Republic. We went there and helped to build a church and walls around it. Throughout the week that we were there  we got to spend time with the people who lived near us. Some of them didn't go to school, some didn't have fresh water to drink, but everyone had a smile on their face. While we were working there our biggest goal was to affect the lives of the people. Being aware of the affect we have on people is being sociological mindful. We could clearly see how we were affecting the lives of the people who lived there but one thing i didn't realize until I got home was, how much they affected me.
           Whether it was being invited into someones home for some food, or being given a gift before you go home. Little things like this impacted my life more than I realized at the time. This experience humbled me greatly. Experiencing people who had so little give gifts to people who had a lot more made me realize how less privileged people can be happier and better people than people who grew up with everything. Realizing that just by someone giving me a gift impacted the way I viewed society is having a sociological imagination.
         
Sociological Mindfulness: Realizing how we affected the lives of people there by building them a church and handing out food.
     
Sociological Imagination: Understanding how their society and way of life impacted us while we were on our trip.

Post 1 Who's Jeff

Hi I'm Jeff. I am a relatively outgoing guy and I love to meet new people. I have one twin brother and an older brother in college. I enjoy playing sports such as volleyball and basketball with my friends and family.  I currently teach swim lessons and lifeguard at a health club nearby. After high school I have plans to study criminology. After that I plan on joining the military. My biggest inspirations in my life have been both of my Grandpas. Both of them had such successful and meaningful lives it inspires me to follow in their footsteps. Throughout my life I have played almost every sport possible for a kid, football, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, volleyball, and track. But now I just play club volleyball. I like adventure and especially doing things I have never done before.