desperate housewives

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I was watching this weeks episode of desperate housewives.  There were tons of examples of sociology but I'm going to focus on mobs and riots.

This season, one of the major events is that Paul (the creepy neighbor who was in jail for murder) is opening a halfway house on Wisteria Lane.  All the neighbors are against the opening of the halfway house because of the fact that their are many little kids in the neighborhood. When the mayor comes to speak in favor of the house, all the neighbors come together to protest.  The families from Wisteria Lane bring signs and plan chants, but a near-by street brings bats and their willingness to start a fight.  According to our textbook a mob is " and emotionally stimulated, disorderly crowd that is ready to use destructive violence to achieve a purpose."  The group of neighbors from near-by streets could be considered a mob because they were angry about the halfway house and were willing to use violence to get what they wanted.

As the protests started to heat up, someone from the crowd saw Brie's ex-boyfriend punching his dad in the face. He was wearing his work clothes (he's a carpenter) so the crowd member thought he was one of the residents of the halfway house beating up an innocent guy. He shouted to the crowd "hey one of the con's is beating that guy up!" Immediately, a group began attacking Brie's ex.  When Brie walked out of her house and saw the commotion, she fired her gun into the air to get their attention. In doing so, she startled the entire crowd of protesters that weren't aware of the fight going on in Brie's yard. As soon as people realized someone had a gun, the crowd turned into a riot.  People began pushing to run away, some were trampled, cars were destroyed, ex-convicts were beaten with bats.  Since the crowd was still creating deliberate violence but no longer had a common purpose, it could be called a riot.

All of a sudden, I found myself thinking sociologically when I went to the after school workout for softball.  The first thing I realized was that the people I work out with is a secondary group.  We are all their to get stronger to we can be a better team.

The second thing I noticed was that the coaches use positive informal sanctions.  If they see you working hard they tell you that you're doing a good job and push you to work even harder.  Teammates also use informal positive sanctions when they give high fives and cheer for each other.

Third, I realized that the players who make the team in the spring are receiving a positive formal sanction because they are being specifically rewarded for being a hard working player by be given a spot on the team.

"I'm stuck in Folsom Prison, And time keeps draggin' on"

I found myself thinking about sociology when our class took a trip to the county courts and jail.  The first thing I noticed was how many symbols there were.  Symbols have a meaning that is mutually understood by a society.  Clothing is a major symbol at the courts and jail.  It is understood that anybody in a bright orange jumpsuit is an inmate, anybody in black robes is a judge, and any body with a badge and weapon belt is a type of officer.  Clothing is important at the courts and jail because it provides people with a way of knowing who should be respected and who should be feared. 

The second sociology topic I thought about was Social Darwinism.  This theory would have an interesting way of explaining why most people who go to jail once end up back in jail again.  Social Darwinism would say that while some people are just born to be successful, others are just born to fail and will continue to fail their entire life with no chance of ever becoming successful.  

The Little Prince(ss)

The article "Clothes encounter provides poignant lesson for son," was almost heartbreaking.  The three year old boy loves all his clothes and toys, whether they were meant to be for a boy or a girl. He loves dressing up like a construction worker the exact same amount that he loves dressing up like a princess.  However, society has told him that it's not okay for a little boy to like princess things. I believe the individuality in the kid's interests should be embraced and he should be able to wear the clothes he likes without being teased or judged by other kids. People in today's society care to much about judging what other's do. Too often people are put down for not following society's rules about gender roles. If everybody replaced their criticisms with compliments, the world would be a much better place for today's youth to grow up in. 

Lily In The Dugout

All of a sudden, I found myself thinking about sociology when my softball coach brought her 3 year old daughter Lily to my team's tournament in Indiana. Lily has come to many of our tournaments over the past year and I have been able to watch the process of her being socialized.

This morning, Lily brought her new coloring book to our game and sat in the dugout coloring the whole time.  She was able to sit quietly and do her own thing without much help from her mom or any of the girls on the team.  She need to be taken to the bathroom once.  Last year, everyone on the team would have to help keep an eye on Lily during games to make sure she didn't run out of the dugout onto the field or wander off and get lost in the park.  Lily has been socialized to sit in the dugout during games and not run away and also to "hold it" until she gets to a bathroom.

Lily's agents of socialization are her parents, specifically her mom during softball games, the girls on my team, other parents on the team who sometimes keep an eye on her when she gets to be a distraction in the dugout, and the toys and games she brings with her to our games. According to George Herbert Mead, Lily's significant others right now are her parents and her generalized others are the girls on our team because she has a very close bond to her mom and dad but my team is just a random group of people that influences her.

Veggie Straw/Chip Nutrition Facts
130 calories per serving.

All of sudden, I found myself thinking about sociology when I found myself reading the Nutrition Facts label on my bag of Veggie Straws.  I realized that the Nutrition Facts labels that can be found on virtually every food product in our country are a symbol of  American culture.  People have become so obsessed with monitoring their calorie intake that they forget to look at the overall healthiness of a product.  When making a decision on what types of snacks to buy, many Americans base their decision on which product has fewer calories. The ignore the fact that while one product may have fewer calories than its competitor, it may have higher amounts of artificial flavors, sugar, sodium, and fat.  The calorie craze causes many people to think they're eating healthy when they're actually eating some of the worst food out there.

"One nation controlled by the media, information age of hysteria." ♪♫

You're sitting in a dark room.  There's 200 other people sitting all around you.  As you reach into a large tub sitting on your lap searching for a bite to eat, the wall in front of you lights up bright white.  This little lamp hops across the screen, "clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk."  It bounces on the letter 'I', "squeegee, squeegee, squeegee...POP." The 'I' is gone and as the lamp looks at you in confusion you know you are about to watch an awesome animated movie thanks to a team up between two of the richest corporations in the world- Disney and Pixar. 

Facebook: the ultimate symbol of social networking.  Teens and young adults rely on this website for almost everything.  Want to stay in touch with someone? Facebook them.  Want to know when someones birthday is?  Look it up on Facebook.  Just had an awesome weekend with your friends?  Better get those pics up on Facebook pronto.  Planning an awesome party?  If you want people to come, you ought to create a Facebook event.  All sorts of information is communicated through Facebook.  Basically Facebook represents all things social-life related. 

Many Americans can recognize this symbol in an instant. It is, of course, the logo of the sixth largest food company in the world, General Mills.  This symbol can represent many things: cereal, box tops, Pillsbury cookies, Yoplait yogurt, Green Giant veggies, delicious Haagan-Dazs  ice cream, Nature Valley, Fiber One, Hamburger Helper, etc.  For many reading this blog, it represents the delicious air that gives us a reason to go to school each day.

Pac-Man, Mario, and Frogger are all symbols for the video game craze.  A concept that began in arcades has now spread into homes across America.  Young children's minds are being wasted away by hours upon hours of video game use. 

The #2 pencil.  One of the simplest objects in the world.  Yet it means so much.  What does it represent?  Scantrons, bubbles, stress, ISATs, PSATs, SATs, ACTs, A, B, C, D, true, false, yes, no, multiple choice, paragraph on the back, this: , not this: , "teacher can I borrow one?", high school, college.  The list is endless.

"Numbers, letters, learn to spell."♪♫

All of a sudden, I found myself thinking about sociology when I overheard some kids talking about wanting to smoke some "pot" after school.  This caused me to think about the Sapir Whorf Hypothesis which states that the more important something is to a culture, the more words there will be to describe that thing.

I began thinking about all the words that mean the same thing as marijuana: pot, weed, ganja, kronic, cannabis, buddha, herb, green, mary jane, skunk, grass, bobby brown, 30s, swag, dro, hash, kush, dope, super greens, dank, broccoli, nuggets, hemp, reefer, resin, shake, kill.  Seeing as how there are many more terms not included here, I have come to the conclusion that marijuana is very important in American culture. It's actually pretty sad how important it seems to be.

I decided to ask my friends for some synonyms for volunteer and donate.  They were only able to come up with about two words off the top of their head.  However, when I asked them for synonyms for marijuana, they came up with a significantly longer list. And these are people who haven't smoked marijuana a single time in their life; the topic is so prevalent in our society that even people with anti-drug beliefs know multiple words to describe it.  The Sapir Whorf Hypothesis would say, based on our language, that marijuana is more important to Americans than volunteering and donating to the less fortunate. That's just sad.

"I got mixed up confusion, man it's a killin' me." ♫♪

In his article Bemused in America Part 5: Language, Stefan Schirmer addresses the problems that American idioms cause for foreigners.  Schrimer, a native German speaker, finds it strange that we have so many different ways to say the same thing and so many words with multiple meanings.  He uses the phrase "passed away" as an example.  When he first encountered the phrase, he knew the meaning of pass and the meaning of away and took the phrase to mean something along the lines of "gone out to lunch" when of course it meant someone had died.  As a native English speaker, I can see how our language may be strange and even frustrating to foreigners.  Schrimer is probably used to a word having a meaning and only one meaning, and that word is probably the only word with that meaning.  So of course our culture would seem strange to him, what sort of crazy culture would create such a confusingly complex language?  Why would we make things more difficult than they need to be?  I would imagine Schrimer asks himself these questions all the time.

This article relates the the American value of self-expression. One reason the English language has so many words is so that we can better express ourselves.  If someone says they feel "happy" then we have a general idea of there emotion.  However is someone was to say they are "effervescent", then they have more specifically expressed their emotion and we can better understand them.

"Money, so they say, is the root of all evil today."♪♫

All of a sudden, I found myself thinking sociologically when I opened my early birthday card from my grandparents.  On the front of the card was an image of a cute little kitten with a purple ribbon bow on its head.  The inside of the card read, "Happy Birthday to a girl who's completely cute!  Have a Purr-fect Day!"  The card was very sweet and I'm thankful to know my grandparents think I'm "completely cute," but of course the part of the card that I was most thankful for was the check inside for $40.00.  When I looked at the check, I began to think about concepts of symbolic interactionism and how they related to my life at that moment.

Symbolic interactionism is the theoretical perspective that focuses on interaction among people- interaction based on mutually understood symbols.  When I looked at the check I though about how it was a symbol.  A symbol that I could show to any banker and they would understand that I wanted to trade them one piece of paper labeled "$40" for two pieces of paper each labeled "$20."  My interaction with the banker would be based on mutually understood symbols,  therefore becoming a perfect example of symbolic interaction.  Then, all of a sudden, I found myself thinking about how my two new pieces of paper labeled "$20" are themselves, two new symbols.  Symbols that I can now take to a store to make another trade.  This time, however, the item(s) I receive in return for my two pieces of paper labeled "$20" will be something much more useful than paper, be it a pair of shoes or a couple new CDs.  I can't wait to take my pieces of paper to the store and have a symbolic interaction with the cashier.

"People are Strange, When You're a Stranger."♪♫

Alright let's see here, how do I explain who I am in two little paragraphs? I guess I'll start from the beginning, then probably just throw everything else in randomly.

One interesting thing about me is that I am adopted.  I'm very open about the topic and love answering people's questions to help them understand adoption better.  Here is a list of my favorite things and activities that help define who I am: softball, the colors green and blue, Italian food, listening to good music, helping people, walking on the beach during sunset and into the night, pondering philosophical ideas, arizona tea, building snowmen, painting, coloring books, and eating frozen Eggo waffles. And my not so favorites: ants, bugs, fast food, people who don't respect my right to breathe smoke-free air, war, and hearing people describe injuries.  My main role models/heroes/favorite people are my parents and family, my friends,  my travel softball coach, and many of my teachers- special shout outs go to Mr. C. for sparking my interest in philosophy and love for learning and to all my art teachers for helping me out with anything and everything.

This paragraph will be the "Me In the Future" paragraph.  My goal is to go to Oberlin College in Ohio to play D3 softball and to double major in Psychology and Philosophy with a minor in Studio Art.  I'm thinking about becoming an art therapist;  I would love to be able to help people especially through art.  I am ridiculously excited about going to college but I also am so excited to have a great senior year and really make the most of my time left in high school. Also, I want to visit Antarctica.