michaelwhiteruffin

[michaelwhiteruffin]

Chapter 14 Fieldwork

On the date of Wednesday, December 2nd. At 7:30 am, I observe an environmental interaction as the trash is collected every Wednesday by a team of trash collectors. The team doesn’t wear a specific uniform but something close to it so that they are recognizable. At 8:00 am, I order food. The state regulates the food by continuing to allow grocery stores to be open or food deliveries like Doordash or Uber eats to deliver food. Even with the pandemic in effect, there are requirements for these types of interactions, and those rules are enforced by the state. 9:00 am, is the time my first class starts. The state allows my institution to educate online. The state also allows me to pay for my education online while also offering in-state tuition for residents who live in the same state as the institution. The electricity and water supply runs daily which is also an example of the state’s infrastructure at work. At 5:00 pm, I get on the train to reach my destination. The state regulates transportation by allowing the trains to still function even with certain restrictions in place for riders who do use public transportation. The men and women who are employees of the metro are also employees of their area within their state. While entering with the media the state regulates what is shown on news channels and other areas of media that are coming out of the state. The many examples of state functions exist everywhere from the time you wake up to everything you do within a day.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

Chapter 13 Fieldwork

For my interview, I interviewed one of my friends’ father. He stated that he wasn’t very comfortable telling me a lot of information so he only gave me his version of basic information. He explained that his name for everyone in the household is Papa and that’s because he is the man of the house. Papa told me that he is 43 now. He migrated from El Salvador to the United States when he was 19. Papa said this was because he had a few family members migrate to the US. After their time in the US, they would participate in return migration and inform him and his family members of the opportunities that exist in the United States. Papa recited to me the day he had talked to his parents about leaving El Salvador because he was destined to be a businessman. Papa didn’t elaborate too much on the conversation with his parents but he told me that the hardest parts about leaving were the fact that his parents could not come. Also, the realization that failure was an option since he could not speak even a sentence in English.

Papa noted that his family was not poor but life was not the easiest when he was young. He met my friend’s mother in El Salvador and she was the final piece that pushed him to make the move. He explained that their plan was simple. Period. Papa made sure to emphasize the importance of hard work and patience while starting somewhere from which you weren’t born. Papa kept deeper information to a minimum even though his wife said it was appropriate to tell. He replied saying, “these are young men, no bad stuff.” I ended the interview with a question. The question being, “Would you change anything you’ve ever done ?” and “Was migrating the best decision of your life ?” For the first question, he hesitated and stated that he would’ve pushed harder to bring his parents but fortunately, he was able to travel back to El Salvador and give them a better life there.

He says now and then he still goes back about once or twice a year. As for the second question, he said the move from El Salvador to the United States was by far the best decision of his life. He explained that sometimes he wakes up and can’t believe his life is the way it is. He has his family with him and that is all that matters. This interview was certainly heavy and light at times. Papa’s English is better than what it used to be but is still not perfect. Fortunately, I am a moderate Spanish speaker and I could hold this interview with him. Altogether it was a heartwarming experience. 

[michaelwhiteruffin]

Chapter 11 Fieldwork

“Chocolate is happiness you can eat.” The Twix Bar. A cookie covered in Milk Chocolate and Caramel. The Ingredients in a Twix Bar are,  Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milk fat, soy lecithin, sugar, hydrogenated palm kernel oil and/or palm oil, enriched wheat flour, folic acid , corn syrup, skim milk, dextrose, cocoa powder, chocolate, salt, soy lecithin, baking soda.

The Ingredients of a Twix Bar come from all over the world. The Cocoa comes from West Africa, Southeast Asia, and, some parts of the Americas. The Cacao seed is roasted then shipped in molds. The Milk Chocolate is produced in Switzerland where the chocolate is mixed with milk and cacao powder. The bar production begins in Cleveland, Tennessee. the mixture that is dried into a powder. The sugar comes from Asia and Brazil and is mixed into the cacao. The cookie dough is made first and baked. A layer of Milk chocolate is applied to the cookie then Caramel which is made with sugar and butter is layered onto the bar. After the bar dries, another layer of chocolate is applied for the final layer. The cooking process should be about 25 minutes the bar is packaged and then shipped all across the US. It is brought to candy shops, gas station’s pharmacies, and many more stores and sellers. Where they can be available for purchase once in stock. A person who’s having a rough day or wants to surprise another person will purchase a bar.  The working conditions for the men and women produce the Cacao is not as good as it can be long hours without an equaling amount of pay.

The producers get the Cacao to the market in packaged sacks that then can be sold. The prices are based on supply and demand at the time of the sale and can result in various prices. Mars and Hershey’s are two leading chocolate traders in the world of chocolate. The (FDA) the Food and Drug Administration regulates the trade of  chocolate. Chocolate is marketed in numerous ways. It can be marketed through children and adults and or people of all ages on all platforms. Also, it is marketed for all occasions. I bought my Twix in a CVS. The CVS makes $1.39

[michaelwhiteruffin]

Field Work #10

http://people.duke.edu/~rcd2/Dissertation/D_Martin_Nathan_a_201005.pdf

This article illustrates Bordieu’s social theory by discussing Bordieu’s approach to social class. The articles does this by, examining class structures in a-list universities and the class structures that exist within them. The examination targets “campus networks” and “family alumni ties” which all can be distinguished using Bordieus’s social class theory. The article also addresses achievements and campus-life to social class.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/25/karl-marx-relevant-21st-century

The article posted above illustrates Karl Marx’s social class theory by elaborating on how the theory is more prominent in the 21st century than it has ever been. The article talks about current problems that exist all over the world and why they exist. Followed by what keeps them afloat for such a long time. The article also discusses how personnel in political power are at the front of power.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/karl-marx-yesterday-and-today

The following article illustrates Weber’s theory of social class by discussing how the level of achievement of persons coming from backgrounds of success has changed dramatically over the years. The article also discusses the impact of gender as well on the success rate over time. The discussion of how the son of a farmer and the son of a janitor can have two completely different levels of success and success at all.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

My family tree tells the small yet successful people that I have in my immediate family. My mother's side is a bit more extensive since she had a few more siblings.One of those siblings having a daughter which is my cousin. My father’s side however is the most secretive out of the two with me only knowing a good source of information about my uncle on his side. Both of my parents have a child with another partner.

Unfortunately, my mother and father’s families are both extremely secretive and I do not know much about my extended family. I wanted to keep the chart as accurate as I could so I stuck with what I know for sure. I also only stuck with the biological family memebers. I came to the conclusion that there are obviously more women than men in my family. I have a strong suspicion however that, with more information that I acquire that, that particular statistic will change.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

Fieldwork 7

While watching an hour of Marvel Lego adventures with my little sister I noticed that a mixture of four commercials played. The first two were a Hot Wheels commercial that only featured little boys and a Nerf commercial that also only featured little boys. The Hot Wheels commercial had heavy metal rock music in the background. The Nerf commercial also had some type of uptempo music in the background. Neither commercial explicitly says that the product is intended for male use only, but the scenes and overall marketing setup seems as if they are targeting a male audience. They mainly used colors like blue, black, and gray. The other two commercials were Doc Mcstuffins and Mush Meez. The Doc Mcstuffins commercial was purely based on the colors purple and pink and the tone and music were more of a tune instead of heavy metal. It only featured little girls and nurse products that were also pink and white. The third commercial that was played was a Mush Meez commercial that had little girls also one girl had purple hair like the doll that was being sold. The two advertisements that were clearly aimed at a younger female audience were pressing your toy as your “best friend”  action.

I think gender roles are created with particular broadcasted commercials. This is society’s way of planning for the child without them knowing it. I also think with this being done the historical norms of a boy and girl is pressed by parents. Where they only put their children in particular sports that are historically known to be populated with mainly boys or sports that are known to be heavily populated with girls. With this being said some parents choose to go against historical norms and choose to put their children in extracurricular activities that aren’t heavily populated with their gender.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

Fieldwork 6

Unfortunately my parents and grand parents did not know much about their ancestory outside of the US. My grandmother stated that her great great gradmother was born in Italy and that the family last name was altered when my ancestors moved to America. On my mother’s side not much information was gathered. The most that I had understood was that my great grandmother’s grandmother was Native American. After that not too much information. Due to the poor amount of information given to my grandparents and parents. I don’t feel that I was that successful in gathering information about my ancestory. However, I will conduct my own research soon.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

CH 5 Fieldwork

Fear- Fear of the unknown- White woman confronts a black man about entering the building that he happens to live in just like the woman. This is an example of fear. She told the police that she felt “uncomfortable” with him being there. Fear is one of the leading causes of racial profiling and it occurs every day simply because of the color of one’s skin. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-m-Yzepyj0&list=FLNG-5h1ZV0v5SBt92Mz8EJQ&index=1961

Ignorance- Bill Maher Bill Maher the late-night show host uses a highly degrading racial slur on live television. In an interview with the senator of Nebraska, Maher says, “Senator I’m a house nigger.” This is a clear example of ignorance as Maher does not take into account the effects and history of the topic just entertained. Often this is the case in areas of media where someone is not aware of their audience nor of what they are saying which can be inappropriate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z8ybuZ5aMc

Lack of exposure- Lack of exposure and diversity. Another leading cause in racial tension and injustice. The article linked below talks about how the lack of diversity and or undiverse businesses can lead to racial problems among employees that are hired. The article discusses how someone’s connection to a country can be impactful to the workplace or how a nation’s economics can be affected and that leads to changes in the workplace.

https://theconversation.com/how-racism-and-a-lack-of-diversity-can-harm-productivity-in-our-workplaces-73119

Inherent Bias- In the linked video Anderson Cooper discusses a study that details how African American children and White children view each other. Inherent bias is shown in some of the interviews with the children as some discuss how their parents don’t “allow” being friends with children that have a different skin color.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPVNJgfDwpw

[michaelwhiteruffin]

Chapter 4 Fieldwork

Health 203.008

In this class there are 37 women and 15 men.

Female students speak more often in this class. For female students comments are usually an extension of their knowledge on the subject these comment ranging from 7-8 seconds. The questions are second. The questions range from 10-12 seconds with12 or 13 words used most of the questions. 

Most of the cameras are off in class so for the only students that I saw with cameras on they all looked attentive and eager to hear the information that was given.

The speaking style in this class is different because some of the topics that are talked about in class are not applicable to the men in class.

More women than men have their cameras on in this class. There are very few students with cameras on in this class.

The instructor of this class is a woman and she encourages communication in this class by asking men and women in this class questions that require communication between the two.

I think that our instructor does her job to the best of her ability and tries to interact with the class equally.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

The location that I chose is a block away from the house that I grew up in. What drew me to it was the fact that the last time I had been there was when I was a freshman in high school and it was the place that I called home for a long time. It’s the neighborhood I grew up in and learned in. What I found there were most of the same business that were there when I was living there. I found a lot of new people that did not live there before and I also found apartment buildings that were not there before. I found a lot of Gentrification is what I found.

Something that I noticed in my observations that I didn’t notice before was the busy nature that all streets had. Usually the side streets were never busy; they would have about ten cars an hour go through but my time spent documenting showed something different. I saw heavy traffic on the side streets.

Something that I expected to find were less people, I saw more people than I would usually see walking. Especially with the pandemic still being active. I thought I would see a couple of people walking and maybe a few people running or jogging but no the sidewalks were basically full.

Obviously Covid-19 has caused some of the small businesses in the neighborhood to close and put a lot of the native washingtonians who still live in that neighborhood in stressful situations. I also think Covid-19 has also provided more gentrification for people who are moving into DC. Unfortunately the spaces that were once owned by native washingtonians are no longer owned because of the reduction in business.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

What I learned about myself is that I am a practical person. The most expensive things that I own all are used regularly or daily and they have a purpose. I don’t think I own anything that I could be subsituted. There are maybe a couple of things that I could have tried to find better prices on but that’s about it. Like other people I have small hobbies or things that like to collect or do but I don’t get out of hand with it.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

The history of this item is that these are earphones are they are beats headphones and they have been in production for about five years. They were made in China in a production factory. The impact of this item has on my life is monumental. I listen to music everyday and music too me is considered oxygen. My day is never the same the same without music and these beats earphones provide me with music anytime and that is essential. According to Scmp.com the workers who work in the Beat maufacturing plants are given good benefits but the hourly pay could be better. With this being said the Beats organization has chosen to expand in China.Starting with the manufacturing plants located there and soon. Licsensed distributors.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

This a data table depicting Increasing Migration in other parts of the world. Many of the people who are refugees or are seeking asylum are trying to evacuate from their origin country which can be functioning off of war, poor living conditions or, below standard education levels. As wars become more consistant this forces people to leave their country in order to find a better life in another country.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

This is an example of Uneven Development. Uneven Development can have many causes and this particular cause is Development Geography. This can occur anywhere and has significant effects anywhere it exists. It is because it is  the change in quality of life for the inhabitants in the area.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

This is an example of Flexible Accumulation as Nike is using their brand to facilitate a basketball camp in another country. This is a strategy that can be used to influence others in the area and increase or attract profits from those around. By going global and not remaining in the US, Nike is able to increase revenue by making their brand popular across the world.

[michaelwhiteruffin]

This is the internet it is an example of Time-space compression as it makes communication across the world faster and more productive for all users.