Final Blog

Its sad to say this is my last entry for this blog that has come so far, I've learned alot on the way so to say. Since the first day of sociology to now my way of thinking has changed. My eyes have been opened to seeing how everything around me effects who I am. I now know why culture and everything else around me effects how i think, im a changed man.

The one part of sociology that has changed how i think the most is Deviance and Social Class, I believe that effects my thinking from a day to day basis. Now when Im some where lets say the mall I really analyze people and try to see there life story. I try to use things we've talked about in class such as social class and think to my self, instead of thinking I wonder what it would like to be them or thank god im have alot of money I now think that there life is just were there comfortable in there social class and i would be uncomfortable in there shoes I would feel deviant. I should be happy the way my social class is now and embrace it instead of trying to be something im not like a higher class. To be honest if i were in a room full of WASPS i would think these people are tools and the would think what is this trashy person doing here.

Crash

In class we watched the movie Crash which is about racism and stereotypes. In one of the scenes in the movie a White couple are walking to there car and the wife sees two black guys down the side walk and holds her husband closer to her. She did this because she was scared of two black guys, which is racism. Because she felt threatened by seeing two black guys at night, she got closer to her husband because she was scared. She is assuming that when you see black people they are going to try to rob you or hurt you which is stereotyping black people. But was she right the two black guys then stole the white couples car at gunpoint. I too stereotype, for example if im at a mall or some where and I see a group of black kids i usually stay clear of them. Its because when i read the news usually when there is a shooting or something black people are usually involved. I stereotype just like the Woman in the movie.

Community Service/ Implicit Racism

For community service I coached the Jr. Patriots wrestling program, for four practices and a tournament. During my experience I felt what it means to have a role in society, which most deans don't experience yet. I felt the power of contributing to society by having control and help mentoring kids in wrestling. I would teach kids wrestling and critique them on there wrestling skills. Well during the tournament I helped coach a kid i was coaching pinned a kid and the other kid got up and whipped his head gear. The kid I was coaching came up to me and started talking about his match he then asked if the kid was so mean cause he was black. I was taken back by what i heard and then realized thats the way the kid was brought up to think, the people he grew up around some how effected how he thought. its then i realized that i too was kinda thinking that not realizing what i was thinking. Im racist sub-concisely, its crazy how you can be something and not even realize it.

Minimum Wage Whats The Big Deal ?

This week in class we watched a TV series called 30 days. In this episode a man and his wife lived a month on minimum wage. Well your thinking right now whats the big deal its not that bad well that's what i thought coming from a middle class family getting to do just about everything I want and get what ever I want. Not in a spoiled way for example if I want an ipod i either ask for it for my birthday or the holidays, or I save my money up and buy it. Well compared to how this guys life was I was living royalty. Well, as the month went on this guy and his wife went down hill. From having to walk to work to waking up at 5am to sit around hoping to get work that day. There workday was rough it was manual labor for 8 hours a day. There home life even worse they were living in a shady part of town in a run down apartment with ANTS in it. They couldn't really afford food except for beans, they had to go to a free store to get hand me down cloths and what not. Compared to there previous life they were living in misery. But were does the lesson come in, well at the end of the month after saving every penny by walking to work, eating cheap food, and etc. They were in debit still after simple hospital bills they owed about $500, so what I realized is people in poverty/ minimum wage don't really have the chance to move up in life. Even if Low income family's want to climb the economic latter they really can't. You need money to go to college which they can't afford. People usually end up in the social class they are raised in because of economic restrictions. That's the big deal of minimum wage.

Social Class

This past week in class we watched a video about social class. Well in the video I learned that usually the social class your born into is the social class you will end up in. Like people who are born in the family of WASPS or OLD MONEY will probably end up as WASPS (aka having a ton of money) well in some cases there are new money, people who climb the economic latter. While middle class born people usually end up in middle class like myself. Both my parents are accountants, which puts us in middle class, and I want to become one too which is probably going to put me in middle class too when im older. Just like people in the lower class, since they usually can't afford college there not usually going to end up with a college degree which most people in the middle class have a college degree. There usually end up at a blue college job, putting them back in lower class.

Drugs and Prisions

Recently we watched a show about people in Jail. Well in the video it was about life in jail, whose in jail, how they got there, will they end up there again, and so on. Well from that video I learned that most people in Jail are lower class people, minorities, and in most cases do hard drugs. Well usually the people who are in Jail don't have alot of money because people with money usually end up getting out of what ever trouble they got into by getting an expensive lawyer instead of a state assigned lawyer who you get to speak 7 mins with. Well the people who usually go to Jail will end up going back to jail once they get out because they don't have a job or money there not really able to get out of the slums. Well I realized that because im in a Middle class family even if my lawyer couldn't get me out of a jail i would probably not end up going back there because my family would be able to get me back on my feet and head me in the right direction unlike lower class people who would have trouble getting back on there feet considering there economic situation.

Coin Flip

In class we did this activity were everybody started out with the same amount of coins (3) and you would flip a coin to decide who takes the other persons coins. Well after about 5 mins there ended up with most people having a few or none. There a few people with having like around 10 or  so and one person having around 40 coins. Well then are teacher told us how this relates to life, some people have most of the money, some have a decent amount of money and most have almost no money compared to the top of the the list of income. Well, i realized that for me living in a middle class family, with a decent family income compared to the top, its almost im possible to make it to the top its like flipping a coin only the lucky make it to the top.