Final Blog!

This semester has been a wonderful experience and I enjoyed the class so much. I can't believe that it's the end of the semester, but I've learned so much. Before I didn't really think much about how I was influenced by todays society. I knew that I was influenced somewhat, but this class has taught me that I've been influenced the day I was conceived in my mom. My name is really long and it's because of my parents culture that they chose this name for me. I've also realized how our American cultures have influenced other racial groups. The way our American society works is so different than in most other foreign places. My mom was brought up more differently than me. My grandmother had 6 children so the care and attention my mom received is different than how she raised my sister and me. Sociological Imagination has taught me that my family, friends, neighbors, school, and teachers all influenced me in more than one way. Sociological Mindfulness taught me that I should open to new perspectives of others. I've always thought that just because my friends and I grew up in the same society, doesn't make us the same. Because my family was from Asia, I was able to be raised by two parents. My Asian parents and my American parents.

Now that I've learned new things about our society and how it affects, it's gotten me interested in living in a totally different society. I really want to go see how people communicate and treat each other in a less known world than the one I live in. Our society looks at race and class a lot. Do other minority societies do as well? This class may have ended, but I'm going to keep in mind what I've learned and apply it to my everyday life. I want to volunteer and make a difference in someone's life. Maybe not everyone's, but if one person is able to be happy because of what I did, then I'm fine with just one.

Race (Crash)

This week we watched Crash. In my opinion, this movie did a great job depicting racism. Even though we have civil rights so that everyone is equal, there is still racism today. In one of the scenes where one character is buying a gun with her dad, the owner of the store accuses them of being a terrorist race.

 We have made it so that those who look Middle-Eastern are terrorists and bad people. There were references to the twin towers and planes. These people were not Arabs, but Persians but that didn't matter to the clerk because he thinks they're are all the same. There are people who were born in America and maybe their parents were born in America as well, but if they have the physical features of a certain type of group, then they are that group. Everything is down to physical features. I liked how this movie did a great job showing the kinds of racism there is today. It's surprising how people are so quick to judge people and foreigners, but don't like to be judged themselves. I have made judgements before about people, but I also hate being judged when they don't even know me. It's like a taste of your own medicine. If you know how it feels to be judged by others, then judging other people isn't exactly going to make you feel so great. You have to stop yourself from judging although it's really hard. Racism isn't going to really end because there'll always be that one person who hates another race. This is part of us, but we should keep it ourself because once you insult someone, they'll feel they have protect themselves from you. And that could lead to chaos. We talk all nasty stereotypes, but that'll offend someone in the end. 

Race

This week we talked about race!!!!!!!! Now Sal told us that if you go to Brazil, then you're a different race than you may be in America. This is really interesting because you would think that races would be the same in all countries around the world. Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, etc. But if you really think about it, race is just a word that our society created to categorize people. We gave race a meaning when it's just really a label. If we are considered a different race in another country, this just shows that race is just according to what people think.

Now this made me think of people who are colorblind. If there were two different worlds where on one side lived people who were colorblind and another where they had normal vision. If they grew up not influenced by each other and then were put together, would they categorize people and just things in general differently than we do?

We learned that after we're born our environment influences us. What if we grew up in a completely different social environment?

30 Days

This week we continued talking about social class but we also talked about how people live in that class live. The poor were not even making enough to support their family let alone themselves. We watched a show and it was about how this couple who was living the high end of life but decided to live on minimum wage. Even on minimum wage, they were barely getting by. They were only trying to support each other but even that was hard. Those that have kids and more to take care of on minimum wage is just really brave. We know there's the lower poor class but we don't really do much. Sure there's a few here and there things that are done, but it's really not doing much if you step back and look at the whole poor class. The couple in the show only had to live on minimum wage for a month, but there's people who try to make it on minimum wage their whole lives.

We also played Monopoly but with different rules. Whoever rolled the highest dice would be the old money and then second highest was new money, but everyone later than that would be either middle-class or working class.We don't really get to pick our social status, especially if you're born into it. You can move up a bit, but that's really hard to do when everything almost requires money to attain. I only work at local cafes to make money so I can spend it on the movies are shopping, but there's people who  work in cafes to support their family at home.

Social Class

This week we learned about social class. Nobody really likes to talk about their social status, but we sure have a way of showing it. Those who are wealthier may not exactly straight out say they're rich so they can afford everything, but they show it by the things they own and wear. Those that are not as wealthy, the poor, definitely don't want to go off telling the world that they can't afford anything, but just by what they wear and what they own shows how much they have. From the following picture below, you can see  these young boys being put into different class just by what they're wearing. The left looks more sophisticated so it's safe to assume that they're wealthier and more prestigious and are able to buy the things they want. The right looks more mischievous and not well off. Even by their postures you can see the difference. The suited boys stand more manlier while the casual boys have their hands in their pockets and are slouching. 

Where you move also states your social status. Whom you associate yourselves with. We know that even if we don't speak about it, we're categorized into a certain social class. It seems to be better that even if you know you're part of a certain social class, as long as no one states it verbally then it's a little ok.

Deviance

This week we talked about deviance. Deviance means someone going against social norms. We read an article deviance. In the article the Saints were looked as good well behaved kids, but they committed crimes and were able to get away because they were able to have the resources to get out of trouble. I don't mean directly to the people, but the property of others and public places. You wouldn't think that those who got good grades would do those things. They committed more crimes than the Roughnecks. The Roughnecks were the real stereotypical bad kids. They didn't do good in school and committed crimes. Although they did commit crimes, they did far less crimes than the Saints. The Saints were richer than the Roughnecks so they were able to afford the nice clothes and nice home. The Roughnecks were the opposite. They couldn't afford nice clothes and because of that they fit the stereotypical gang look.

We were also asked to do a random act of kindness. I helped a mother and her son get their car from the rain. It was pouring I had a family umbrella with me in my mom's car. I went to the market to buy something and when I returned to return the cart, I saw a mom and her son standing under the roof of the store trying to escape the rain. I told her she can get under my umbrella to get to her car and she first  said it's fine but I insisted. I helped them get to their car and her mom thanked me. It felt really good to know that small action was able to help someone.

Bocce Ball

This past weekend I spent my Sunday volunteering for the Special Olympics Bocce Ball from 7:30AM-5:30PM. It was really fun except for the fact that I got sunburned on my face. It was really weird because it was really cold and windy, but the sun was out and apparently burning my face. Anyways, overall, I really enjoyed it and met so many new people.

I was in group N and my teammates and I switched the roles of duties. It was kind of confusing at first on how the game worked, but after two to three games we got the hang of it. I was worried that the whole day was going to be dark, cloudy, and raining, but thank goodness it didn't. The ground was really muddy and the bocce balls were muddy and wet. 

After two to three hours of playing, I observed the players and couldn't help but feel a nice warm feeling. It made me think that the athletes weren't afraid to act the way they wanted and express their thoughts. They didn't feel limited and restricted, but just wanted to have fun. I compared them to people I meet at school or at work and it was completely different. We don't express our thoughts even if they are good thoughts. Some people feel sorry for those with disabilities, but I kind of felt a bit jealous. I care more about how people will think of me instead of freely expressing myself.