Sociology Final Blog

                                                                 What we think

                                                         

Article on Parents keeping baby's Gender a secret

In terms of race, we have covered how we perceive different races. We also talked about how we act differently to different people based on their race and create a preconceived notion of people based on their race. Most people might not be consciously racist but they are subconsciously racist. People are always judging people based on their race and many times can’t even figure out one’s race based on appearance. We watched a video that showed us that people of different skin colors can be more similar compared to others of the same skin color. We read a few pieces on people judging others based on skin color as well and had to decide what is racist and what isn’t.  We also talked about how we are racist if we try to avoid the topic of race. If we talk about skin color and our differences then we are racist and if we don’t then we are racist for ignoring it. There is no way not to be racist. Some places like colleges become racist against whites because they try to compensate by admitting minorities instead of whites with the same credentials. I believe that race is something we should talk about openly but not have a negative connotation associated with any of them.

                A sociological definition of race is classifying people based on genetics. It can also be determined by geographical region. The biological one focuses on the physical aspects on the outside such as skin color, face shape, and eye color. I think the purpose of the IAT test is to show us whether or not we are a bit racist or have a certain connotation with a certain type of people. It is meant to show us that the society we live in has influenced our beliefs and led us to be unconsciously racist. I do not think that it is accurately measuring what it is trying to because it cannot judge our perceptions on different types of people by having us press a few buttons. There are too many variables involved. For example I had white and good together first and grew accustomed to it. For this reason the first few with black and good together I got wrong. At other times in the test, I couldn’t focus as much on the task because it became repetitive and tedious. What I was thinking at the time could have also slowed my reaction time. I did believe that sometimes black people could be superior athletes. I thought this because most professional players are black and they almost always seem to be faster than white people and be able to jump higher. Even recently the winner of one of the major marathons in New York was African. The winner last year was African as well. The school record holder for long jump is also black. I believe it even more now because there is scientific reasoning behind some of my assumptions that states it is partially true for black people to be better than white people at several athletic events. At the end of the day practice probably wins out but there could be a slight advantage for one athlete over another due to genetics.

                There is no doubt that this class has definitely changed my view on several sociological concepts. Even if my thinking has changed for a few months and even if it reverts to my original thought process, I have come a long way from barely knowing the whole concept and ideology of sociology. Sociology teaches us not only what people think and function but also why they think and function that way. I would have to say that I have developed a sociological imagination. Some things that I see differently include looking at things such as beliefs and values from different points of view and understanding why we are a culture that places emphasis on education and material possessions instead of just not thinking about it. I also can see how some cultures think a preset caste system is fair based on their beliefs. I also have realized that gender is more of a mindset than a trait. Boys don’t always want to learn about cars and sports and girls don’t always want to play with makeup and Barbie dolls. Our culture has just instilled in us that we are to behave a certain way based on sex. A article about parents not telling anyone about their baby’s sex appeared on yahoo yesterday and the first thing I thought about was sociology. Sure enough the parents in the article stated that they don’t want society to influence their baby and want their baby to decide for itself how it would like to behave. This confirms that surroundings affect us more than our internal or hereditary positions. I have seen the effect of societies on different individuals as well. I often hear talk girls talk about their weight obsession. This is because we are taught through media like advertising that skinny is good and fat is bad. We are also led to believe that white is good and black is bad. I often hear people talk about bad neighborhoods, but instead of saying bad they substitute the word with black. A black neighborhood is understood to be a bad one.

                In terms of topics I might have liked to talk about more, maybe talking about the clothing we wear, food we eat, and things of that nature might have been interesting to talk about more and get in depth in.  All of these things reveal how a certain person might think and act. The idea of the looking glass self was also very interesting. We could also have talked about how most people are who they think others want them to be instead of themselves. I also enjoyed the section we had on people living with animals and how it changed their interaction with others. This once again showed us that society is the most influential things in our lives.  There aren’t really any topics that I would have liked to spend less time on.

Divided We eat

                                                   Map shows "poorer" states have higher rate of diabities

                                                      most expensive foods

The article Divided We Eat is about Americans and our eating habits. It talks about how our eating habits are much worse than most countries, and how many of us don’t care about how healthy our food is. Most of us care primarily about the taste. The first paragraph instantly sets the tone.  Mrs. Miller says “I have a espresso made in Allesi pot and mixed with organic milk which has been gently heated and hand fluffed by my husband.” She goes on to talk about homemade bread and imported cheese. She is showing us the great disparity between what Americans eat. While some of us have organic and imported cheese, others just grab a soda to go.

                People eat food for different reasons. Some of us eat for pleasure while others eat for health, yet others eat just to stay alive. I think the food we eat tells us a lot about our personality, and also our wealth and social class. Miller tells us that many people eat just junk food. This type of food is not just unhealthy, but is often associated with lower class. As we saw in the video in class, I was amazed that parents in Appalachia put mountain dew in their child’s milk bottles. We must also understand that this was not due to the sole reason of the parent’s incompetence, but also because they cannot afford milk. Mountain dew is probably half the price of milk, and therefore is a cheaper alternative.

                While reading this article, I made a connection with my own life. Miller talks about a family who disagrees on what to eat. The mother wants to buy organic food, while the mother-in-law saw no use in wasting money on the organic food. A couple of years ago, my mother got on the trend of eating healthy, organic food. She and my father often disagree on whether organic food is worth the price. My mom believes it is while my father has the concept of food is food. For the last few years, all of our milk has come from Oberweis, and we only buy the organic eggs and vegetables. This is significantly more expensive, but many people believe that if you can afford it, you should eat organic. The mother- in- law in the article makes the statement “It’s not like our food is poison”, and while it might not be poison it is definitely not as healthy.

                The U.S. has not been very concerned about health until recently. We are just concerned with outer perception, and that is why most of us only care about losing weight and looking better. The article also talks about how dinner is the most important meal. Consider a single parent living in the lower class, and she wants to take her kids out to dinner before her son’s soccer game. She is not going to fork over $80 for food at the cheesecake factory, she is going to go to McDonalds and get some food for about $10. Even a wealthy parent would do the same. All of the fast food restaurants are unhealthy. We can’t get our food from Applebee’s within two minutes, and if we are in a hurry, we go to McDonalds. With Americans, time is money, and it is very important with little time to eat. This automatically makes our take our choice an unhealthy one.

                As I mentioned earlier, many people simply can’t afford to eat healthy. Organic foods are much more expensive than nonorganic, and with someone just hoping to put food in their mouth, I am sure they aren’t too picky about the preservatives in their food. A good example is the one we saw in the video. The community was debating on whether to put the organic grocery store in their town, or the supermarket. The lower class was worried about how they would afford the higher priced food while the middle class welcomed the idea of fresh and healthy produce. If every Jewel turned into a Whole Foods, most of us would be worried about how to feed our families on a budget, and for this reason we are willing to trade organic for a cheaper price. The article states that “lower income families buy sugary, fat, and processed foods because they are cheaper” and I agree. People would rather eat three unhealthy meals a day compared to one healthy meal. Our brain just tells us that we are hungry, not that we must fill our belly with healthy food.

                Another reason we don’t spend on food is because it is only tasted for a few seconds, and turns into crap, literally within a few hours. We are a society who like to show that we have money by spending on cars, or designer clothes, but we can’t show off our wealth by purchasing organic food because that just goes straight into our body. Food is not like a car we can drive around or a coach purse we can show off. It is just something we eat in order to get energy. We also care more about taste compared to health. All of the holidays like Halloween and Valentine’s Day include food like candy and chocolate, and when we go to someone’s house we often take a box of chocolates. We don’t ever give organic tomatoes. When we go out with friends we get some ice cream, not organic soup. Taste is what America is known for. In a recent article, a website listed the most well like foods by Americans. None of them are healthy choices, but they are all tasty. The list includes smores, chicken wings, cookie dough ice cream, and the corn dog. If only today could be like fifty years ago where everything was organic. As I am writing this blog, my face is stuffed with chocolate chip ice cream and all that matters is that it tastes good.