Week 16: Shift Happens

From this video, it is obvious that students in China and India are surpassing the intellegence of students here in the United States.  I think that this can be explained by different cultural values in each country; families in the United States obviously stress that their children perform well in school but they want them to be well-rounded in other aspects of their lives such as in the arts and sports.  Because technology is always changing and updating, people today have to constantly be learning and upgrading to new systems.  Being resistant to change is very hard in today's world.  That being said, I think change is part of human nature.  We are very inquisitive and always trying things in new ways so I think that they changes in information processing are improving our lives.  But these new methods of communication have also made today's world more impersonal and cold; some people think that this is detracting from our lives while others think that this is an improvement.

The quote by former Secretary of Education Richard Riley was something that I'd heard before...."We are currently preparing students for jobs that don't exist yet, using technologies that haven't yet been invented, in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet."  This is really meaningful to me as an engineering student as once I graduate school, I will continuously have to adapt to new technologies that are being invented.

Pretty much every topic that we covered in class this semester can relate to this video.  India and China have really high birth rates which ties into overpopulation, family roles and relationship shows how different cultures have different values.  Obviously globalization is one of the main themes in this video because without globalization a lot of the technologies that we have in this world wouldn't be around because it takes such a huge collective of people to generate these ideas and constantly improve on other people's inventions.

Week 15: Suburban Life

I've spent my whole life in Northern Virginia.  I live in the heart of the suburbs as my house is close to multiple metro stops, I-66, and the toll road.  My house is in a typical suburban neighborhood; the houses are all pretty similiar, they have small yards, there is a community center, and a school and shopping center are both within walking distance.  I work in Loudon County and over the years I've watch suburbia spread across Northern Virginia.  What once was open farm lands is now home to sprawling subdivisons of cookie-cutter type houses.  The book talks about suburbanization and I have definitely seen the effects of this in my hometown.  More and more people work in the city each year and they need places to live.  Because of an increase in highways and other methods of easy transportation, people can live farther from the city but still easily commute back and forth.  One of the interesting points that the book brought up was how people move from "first suburbs" to newer outer-ring suburbs and to smaller urban areas.  This definitely seems to have happened around DC as people want to move farther from the city that they work in.  In the area that I live, I have noticed that people seem to value houses and shopping areas more than they value trees and open green spaces.

Week 14: Who has the power?

Democracy in the United States is definitely not a direct democracy.  As a liberal democracy, it is less of a government run by the people but more of a government run by the officials that the people elect.  I agree with Weber's theory of democractic elitism.  It is impossible for the voice of every citizen of the United States to be heard.  This theory makes the government the most effective at getting services out to the general population.  Schumpeter's statement that "democracy is the rule of the politician, not the people" is something I agree with. 

Another theory that I agree with is the pluralist theory.  This theory says that individual citizens can have little or no direct influence on political decision making but that the presence of an interest group can limit the centralization of power.  One person can't change the world but if they band enough people together, then they can make the world a different place.

One aspect of the United States democracy that I do not agree with is the use of the electoral college to elect the president.  I know that this policy was enacted by the founding fathers because they didn't trust the average man to make such an important decision as electing the leader of the free world.  But I think that using the electoral college doesn't give each person who is eligible to vote, a voice.  It clumps them by the political make-up of their state and sometimes makes people not vote because they feel as if their vote won't matter.  Because of the use of the electoral college in the United States, it leaves the most important decision in this democracy up to electors and makes it an indirect election.  If the US decided to forgo the electorial college in the future, it would be one step closer to being a true democracy run by the people.

Week 13: The Case of Walmart

Before I read the textbook and watched the Frontline documentary, I thought that the question "Is Walmart good for America?" was ridiculous.  I thought that obviously this big-box store that boasted low prices helped poorer people spend less money and really improved the economy.  Now, after reading the book and watching the documentary, I think that Walmart has been a terrible influence on America.

Even though the prices at Walmart are so low, it harms the economy because it is causing people to lose there job.  Take the example that was in the beginning of the chapter in the textbook.  Kelly worked for Raley's grocery but when Walmart moved into the area, Raley's was put out of business.  Kelly lost her job that had decent pay and great benefits and was forced to work at Walmart where she recieved a sharp decrease in pay and lost most of her benefits. 

In the end, I think that Walmart has helped countries in Asia, most specifically China and has harmed the economies of the United States.  I still shop at places like Walmart and Target but after learning about what their business practices have done to the families and businesses in this country, I'm kind of ashamed to shop there.

Week 12: Domestic Division of Labor

Completing this activity reiterated to me how my parents pretty much share the work equally between all the members of the family.  My mom works full time as a teacher while my dad works full time for the federal government.  For as long as I can remember, my parents have been giving me age-appropriate tasks to help out with the chores.  My sister and I set the table for dinner and do the dishes while my mom cooks and my dad pays bills and deals with other household issues.  Obviously my dad does more of the maintenance chores and my mom does more of the cleaning/cooking/planning but neither one of them seems to put in more work than the other.  I think that my family is pretty a-typical; I don't know many families where the kids do as many chores as I do or where the dad pitches in to do the laundry or cook dinner.  I think it is important for everyone in a family to help eachother out and pull their own weight.  The values that I learned growing up from having to help out around the house have definitely helped me become a better person; doing so many chores also makes me appreciate my parents a whole lot more.  This activity was interesting as it made me compare a stereotypical family to my own and see just how much my family is different.

Week 11: Religion in Government

Learning about and discussing different religions is always interesting to me.  I was raised non-religious; although my family celebrates Christmas, I've never gone to church and my parents have never talked to me about religion.  Both of them were raised Cathlotic but decided not to have religion play a role in the lives of their kids.

I think that the seperation of church and state is important.  We live in a free country and everyone should be free to have their own beliefs, therefore religion shouldn't dictate how the government is run.  I do believe that religion plays an important role in society as it does help create a sense of community and like the book says in the "Behind the Headlines" feature, it can help children have better self-control and social skills.  The government shouldn't control religion and religion shouldn't control the government.  Because religious people make up the various levels within the government, it is obviously going to have some influence on their decisions and such but I think that church and state should remain as seperate as possible because religion is a huge source of conflict.

Week Ten: Race & Ethnicity

Exploring the website about the Japanese internment during World War II really put the whole situation in perspective.  It is crazy to read that United States citizens were seperated from their families just because of their heirtage.  The Yasutake family was discriminated upon just because of what they looked like.  It must have been tough for the family to reenter the general population of the United States; I can't imagine that it was easy for the children to return to school.  Reading their story really shows how much of a hardship these people were put through.  I did find it interesting when the website made a reference to 9/11; can you imagine if the US government put all Muslim Americans in internment camps?

Week 9: Social Construction of Gender

I agree with the book in saying that gender is learned through socialization.  Once society determines whether you are male or female you are expected to act in a certain way.  If you break the norm, then society is shocked.  Growing up, boys are typically given trucks and action figures to play with while girls are given dolls and dresses.  Boys are just expected to be stronger and more into playing rough and getting dirty than girls.  If a girl would rather play in the mud than play dress-up, people call her a "tomboy" or other such terms.  Although men and women may have different body-builds, I think it is ridiculous to say that men are smarter than women or vice versa.  Different people, regardless of sex and gender, have different skill sets and they shouldn't just be pegged a certain way because they are male or female.

I'm studying to be a mechanical engineer; the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech is only around 20% female.  Only around 5% of working mechanical engineers are female.  When people find out that I'm an engineering student, they are usually surprised because society seems to think that only men can build and design big machines.  It's definitely taken a bit of getting used to being constantly outnumbered in classes.  I had a math class my first semester that was 45 students and I was the only female.  It didn't take long for my professor to learn my name in that class.  Being a female in this field, it seems that I have to prove myself a little more than the guys to show that I do belong which I think goes back to society "assigning" genders.

Week Eight: Global Inequality

Why should we care about global inequality?
One of the topics that stuck out to me after listening to the podcast was how interwined countries are.  As globalization increases, global inequality seems to become more important as it affects price of our products, the size and strength of the economy, the health of the environment, and whether they as a whole, contribute positively or negatively to the world.

Poorer countries have people who are more willing to do hard manual labor and produce products for less than they would be produced in a countries like the United States.  This an important to look at and realize that as global inequality lessens, the prices of different products are going to increase to meet the demands of the workers.  On the other hand, the fewer people living in poverty means that more and more people are able to buy goods and services which ultimately serves to strengthen the economy.  Also as countries become more wealthy, they can look towards improving environmental conditions.  We should care about global inequality because we are a more fortunate country than most and we should work to reduce poverty as ultimaltey it will benefit us.

Week Seven: Exploring Social Class

I think that social class is very important to people living in the United States.  It's not that people purposely judge others on their class, it's just so ingrained in society that it's hard to break away from it.  The book provides many great examples about how people from the working class, middle class, and upper class are all seperated.  It was definitely quite prominant in my high school who the "rich" kids were and who the "poor" kids were.  Because these two groups often live in different areas around town, they hardly ever interact and create their own social groups that are seperate from one another.  In high school, I was on the crew team.  Crew is often considered an rich person sport due to the astronomical costs of the equipment and the fact that it isn't paid for by the school.  Every year when we would compete at the Stotesbury Cup, the largest high school regatta, the trophies would be won by the elite, private schools were money wasn't an issue.
Exploring the PBS website about the documentary People Like Us was really interesting.  I liked reading the stories about the people from different classes and I could relate to a lot of them.  I think it definitely helped emphasis how social classes still play an important role in today's society.  After exploring the website, this documentary is on my list of movies to watch.

Week Six: Changing Social Connections

I've never really had the experience of living in a world without Facebook or email or instant messaging.  As a college sophomore, Facebook exploded in popularily during my freshman year of high school.  Before that, everyone had a myspace.  So for me, I've never really experienced a world without multiple electronic ways of communicating with my friends and family.  I do, however, think that Americans are more isolated today due to technology.  I have a large circle of friends due to various schools, jobs, and activities but my close friends who I having meaningful conversations with is much smaller.  Before all of this technology invaded our world, people had to make an effort to talk to their friends.  They had to go out and travel to see people who lived a long distance away instead of just calling them or Skyping with them.  I do think that this issue is something that society as a whole should be concerded about.  People seem to steadily be loosing the ability to interact face to face with strangers.  A lot of times when placed in awkward and uncomfortable situations, people pull out their phone to play games or text/email friends so they don't have to deal with strangers.  Technology has definitely helped people keep a wider circle of friends but it has made people more isolated due to the fact that their conversations are less meaningful

Week Five: The Criminal Justice System

Reading that only 38% of rapes are reported to the police is an alarming statistic.  I see why a majority of females do not wish to report sexual violence.  Having to have the whole traumatizing and embarrassing ordeal brought up over and over again isn't something most people want to have to deal with.  The thought of facing your attacker in court must also be unbearable.  During most rape proceedings, the women's own sexual history might be made public which would be embarassing and make the women feel as if the rape was her fault and as if she was the one on trial. Because of this, I think that the way rapes and other cases of sexual violence are handled should be reexamined.  Women should be able to report rapes to the police, knowing that everything will be done quickly and confidentially as to not tramautize the woman anymore.  It is ridiculous that some say that women should modify their behavior to reduce the risk of becoming a victim.  Women should have the right to dress however they want without being accused of "asking for trouble:".

While prisons keep dangerous criminals off the street, they have a downside in that they can make prisoners more hardened criminals.  There definitely isn't an easy way to fix this dilemia as possesing a criminal record can make it nearly impossible for reformed criminals to hold jobs and become full-functioning memebers of society again.  I'm not for getting rid of the prison system as I don't want to be living among criminals, I just think that it could be reformed in a way that it doesn't encourage prisoners to keep committing crimes and it allows former prisoners to have better opportunities once they reenter society.

Week Four: Nature vs. Nurture

I definitely think that gender roles and how they are percieved by society is on the nurture side.  Although we are shaped by biology with the fact that we are either male or female, we learn through play as children the roles that men and women typically take on in society.  The "Beth/Adam" experiment deals with gender socialization and seems to prove the point that gender roles are learned through social factors and influences of people around you.  Reading in the textbook about children's storybooks and the roles that males and females take in those books isn't surprising.  Most media portrays males as the protector of the family and women as the one who stays home to raise the children.  The quote by the mother of the 5 year old boy who read a story to her son and reversed the sexes was amusing but also eye-opening.  It really made me realize how much as a society we assign genders.

The section in the book on "unsocialized" children brought up a lot of interesting arguements.  After reading this section, I think that nurture is what influences humans the most.  If it was human nature to know how to speak and do a variety of other tasks then the "wild boy of Aveyron" and "Genie" both would have known how to speak and interact with others.  Instead when they did try to communicate, it was through strange noises.  Genie eventually did learn English but it was on such a basic level.  Althought it is possible that both children suffered from undiagnozed mental abnormalities, it is more likely that the fact they weren't nurtured as young children is the reason behind their strange and unhuman-like behaviors.

Week 3: American Culture

When the YouTube clip first showed the stage and Hugh Laurie playing the piano I didn't know what to expect.  It was an interesting spoof on country music and how America portrays itself through its music..  Hugh Laurie literally said two words during the 1:11 minute video; he only said "America" and "the States", repeating them both over and over again.  The audience keeps laughing because they think the skit accurately portrays American music and how little content songs actually have.

Hugh Laurie and the skit seem to also be mocking American clothing and style as he is wearing a bandana and a plaid shirt while the British character who punches him at the end of the video is wearing a formal suit.

In the eyes of the British, American culture seems to be informal (in regards to clothing), over the top patriotic, and the music seems to lack actual content and substance.

Week Two: Stanford Prison Experiment

Learning about the Stanford Prison Experiment was an eye-opening experience.  Before this class, I hadn't heard of the study at all and reading and learning about it was really interesting.  That being said, I think that the experiment was completely ethical.  70 men applied to be a part of the study but only 24 were chosen as the researchers wanted to make sure that all participants were of sound mind and body.  The participants were compensated for their time and they weren't forced to participate in the study.  Before the experiment began, all participants gave their informed consent to be involved in this study.  All of the actions take by the guards against the prisoners actually happened in real life prisons.  The experiment sought out to replicate a real life prison and I think it did just that.

When I was doing more outside reading on the experiment, I was surprised by the fact that visiting hours for the prisoner's families were held.  Obviously the men's families had to know about the study they were participating in, I just surprised me that they agreed to play along with it and visit their son and see the extreme conditions he was living in.  It is really amazing that it took 50 outside visitors before one expressed concern over what was taking place in the Stanford Psychology building's basement.

Week One

Hey guys! My name is Emily and I'm a sophomore in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech majoring in mechanical engineering.  I'm hoping to one day work as a civilian for the Army building tanks and unmanned ground vehicles.  Basically I'm interested in big machines and learning how they work.  I love Virginia Tech and everything it has to offer, especially Thursday night football games in Lane Stadium.  I'm taking Soc 200 to fulfil a Curriculum for Liberal Education requirement but even if it wasn't a requirement, I would probably still take the class because I want to broaden my horizons.

When I'm not in class, I love being outside and just exploring.  My favorite thing to do is go sailing.  I'm addicted to trashy TLC shows such as Sister Wives and Toddlers & Tiaras.  My roommate recently got me addicted to stumbleupon.com so I probably spend way to much time stumblin'.  This summer I'm working as a barista at a local coffee shop, taking summer classes, and spending time with my family.  As much as I love being back in NoVA, I'm really excited to go back to Blacksburg!