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sferris414 · 4 years

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Final Concept Reflection

Scott Ferris: 2 Things I learned

Although I may forget some specific statistics and facts that I learned in this class, some concepts will impact the way that I think for the rest of my life.

First, the concept of white normativity and the host analogy expanded my current understanding of racism. I failed to acknowledge the fact that I never have to consider my race. Whenever people of color are pulled over by law enforcement, for example, they often question whether they will be treated the same. White people, however, do not have to think about this. This is an unfortunate consequence of racism and it is important that people learn about it.

Our class notes, discussions, and documentaries allowed me to learn that we have been socialized to be the “host”. This is another unfortunate repercussion of racism. It is terrible that people of color should have to think of themselves as guests in this day in age. “The racial reality of society [is] constructed by white supremacy” (Hartmann and Bell).

Secondly, after watching the Bridezilla, Say Yes to the Dress, and 90 Day Fiance, I was quickly introduced to the culture of weddings. I knew very little about the money, time, and significance that brides put into their dresses. I was aware that weddings are a special day for couples, but the significance that those TV shows portrayed on certain couples wedding days is remarkable. The studies that we conducted on marriage and love interest me. Listening to Aziz talk about his experiments and how dating has changed over the years interests me.

I am attending a wedding this summer. I will think about my cousin’s special day a bit differently after what I have learned about love and marriage in this class. I will now take notice when I learn of how different couples met. The ways that couples meet and interact now is much different than 20 years ago.

I enjoy reflecting on what I learned in this class through these blog reflections. I thank you for a great year regardless of the nationwide pandemic that changed all of our lives.

Kaylah Duke:

#1: Throughout the semester, there were several concepts that resonated with me and helped me analyze situations in my life differently. However, getting a deeper understanding of the sexualization and objectification of women allowed me to realize how much women have been degraded throughout our lifetime. There was a chart in our notes which pointed out generalizations of objectification, for example, “women are seen as being subordinate and passive, so things can easily be ‘done to a woman’- for example, discrimination, harassment, and violence.” Women have so much pressure on them to follow a lifestyle society has created for us. Moreover, it’s extremely upsetting watching how the media portrays women; this also creates room for women to become more self-conscious and insecure about their bodies and appearance. I appreciate Dr. McCown for including this material in our notes and drawing more focus to the ongoing challenges women deal with.

#2: Moreover, watching the film about Robbie challenged me to think differently when it comes to social disorders. Throughout the film, it was hard to determine whether Robbie was born with social problems (nature), or if the way he acted was a result of his environment and the way he was raised (nurture). Sometimes people are the way they are because of their surroundings and their influences. With Robbie, I believe that he was born with social challenges, however his environment added to his actions and had a negative effect on him and his behavior. Watching the film helped me realize the importance of sociology, studying people and their behaviors. Being in a sociology class helped me think about things differently and apply things to how I analyze certain situations.

What I learned from Scott:

Reading over what Scott learned, it is evident that white people will never be able to fully understand what being black in America feels like. For example, Scott mentioned being pulled over by law enforcement and how a white person and black person may have two completely different experiences. Fortunately, for white people, white supremacy still exists and it is something that will most likely follow them for the rest of their lives. On the other hand, black people will always come second, so we deal with another variety of challenges and it is something black people either fight or accept. Moreover, being a woman, I am completely aware of the time and money that goes into weddings and everything that comes with them. Extravagant weddings are seen as a “woman’s dream” and I personally don’t like how big, fancy weddings are seen as the norm, forcing women to have insecurities about how their wedding may turn out. Discussing these topics with people with opposing views could be challenging, being that the conversation could easily turn hostile and negative. However, having these conversations is important and learning other peoples’ perspectives can help you become more knowledgeable and aware of another person’s reality.

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sferris414 · 4 years

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Extra Credit Blog

April 1st: I am not sure how I am feeling after being told to not return to Virginia Tech for the rest of my second semester. I have not fully wrapped my brain around COVID-19, and what its affects will be. I do not personally know anyone who has tested positive, but I am bombarded by information on how bad this potentially be on the news. I am worried.

April 15th: I am used to online classes and they are not as difficult as I thought. There are only two classes that require me to login to zoom for live sessions. Although my internet is not ideal it is doing the job. COVID-19 is hanging around longer than I thought it would, though.

April 27th: (Prompt 1) I am beginning to become aggravated with the way our country is handling COVID-19. I understand that we want to save as many lives as we can, but I am beginning to think that the economic hardship that our country is/will be facing will cause Americans to suffer much worse than the health issues. I read an article by a Harvard Medical Director that said there have been near 70,000 deaths in the United States due to COVID-19. Of those, under 100 have been of Americans who were under 25 years of age; also, under 1,000 of those were under 45 years of age. I am fully aware that we would like to save as many lives as we can. But to reduce total hardship faced by Americans, I am beginning to believe that we should reduce the quarantine to those who are most at risk. (Those with underlying health conditions and the elderly) I respect others’ opinions who may disagree with me. I may be biased, considering that my zip code has 0 confirmed cases of COVID-19 to this day. Although I am more cautious of where I go, I do not where a mask unless I have to. I do not believe that I am putting others at risk. I still spend time with my 98 year old grandmother, while social distancing.

May 1st: (Prompt 2) I covered part of this prompt in my last entry. I do not where a mask unless I have to. Nobody has confronted me about wearing a mask. In Pennsylvania, we are now required to wear masks in places of gatherings. I abide by the rules. I wear a mask around anyone who believes I should. However, in the area which I reside, the severity of COVID-19 is much less. If I lived in northern NJ or near NYC, I would take a different approach. Although I have a lack of knowledge in the medical field, I often ponder what the effectiveness of the masks are. I trust Dr. Fauci and other medical officials that make these regulations. I just hope that the curve continues to decline.

May 4th: (Prompt 3) Currently, I feel pretty secure about where my life is. COVID-19 has reintroduced me to family members who I have not spoken to in many years. However, These passed few months have not always made me feel so secure. Initially, I selfishly frowned upon the fact that I missed the second half of my freshman year. My notions have changed over time. I now feel fortunate that I got to enjoy all of the festivities of my senior year of high school, last year. Between the senior trip, senior picnic, graduation, athletics, or just the year in general, I feel fortunate to have ended my 13 year stretch of education in such a healthier world. As our world leaders make decisions on how to deal with this pandemic, I trust that we will be able to go back to school in the fall.

Secondly, I innocently question the timeline of when our country will begin to operate again. Some people wish to wait until we come up with a 100% safe vaccine that cures the virus. I believe that this is unrealistic, based on past pandemics. We must trust that the young people with healthy immune systems can develop immunity to these viruses. I believe that the panic instilled in our country is delaying the reopening of our economy. Although some professions continue to get paid, million of Americans who rely on every paycheck are struggling to make ends meet. Businesses, churches, and other organizations will continue to close.

I enjoyed writing these blog entries more than I thought I would. I originally was interested in some extra credit. Keeping up to date with this blog caused me to feel more informed and to express my feelings on the current situation. Expressing my feelings on this national pandemic has made me feel better. Our country is in uncharted territory, and I hope that we can unite our country and overcome COVID-19 together.

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sferris414 · 4 years

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Concept Reflection 8

After reading Modern Romance and watching Say Yes to the Dress, Bridezilla, and 90 day fiance, I have drawn several connections between these pieces of media and the notes that we have gone over in class.

First, after watching the 3 bridal shows, it stood out to me how much emphasis people but on this one special day of their lives. In Bridezilla, one of the brides is so concerned about her partner’s bachelorette party because she wants to keep the secret that her partner is a woman. She then continues to become controlling of the strippers that are rumored to be at the party. She ends up crashing her own partners party to make sure that no strippers are there. This relates to the concept of social medias affects on relationships. She became so obsessed with the rumors through her cell phone that she ended up crashing the party.

Another couple on Bridezilla almost got divorced within days before the wedding. They were fighting due to their high stress levels. The bride to be stole her partner from her sister so their was already a high level of anger in the family to begin with. After the ceremony and reception, they were later interviewed and asked if they would have gotten married if the sister was not in the picture. They said no. This couple craved the attention, and lacked true commitment to each other. It was clear they had intimacy toward each other, but did not have long term goals. This relates to our class discussion of Sternberg’s triangle. Their love was not strong because it lacked commitment.

The wedding industrial complex can differ among people of different gender/ethnic combinations because not all families are accepting. The conflicts that were shown in these shows exemplify the cultural challenges that these couples have to go through.

On 90 day fiance, the episode that I watched showed how troubled the families interacted when the members of the marriage had different ethnic backgrounds. This relates to several class concepts on different levels. Several of these families were prejudice, meaning they had prior beliefs before even meeting someone based on their ethnic background. Secondly, they felt that they had to “win” over their spouse’s family in order to gain their approval. One member of the show did magic tricks to try and interact with the family at dinner but ended up creeping them out.

Another couple in 90 day fiance were thinking about moving in to the groom to be’s parents’ house. When they arrived at the house, it was clear that the family currently in the house was not ready to share belongings with this couple. This relates to the conflict that arises when couples marry and merge their belongings. Whether it be a place of residence, money, or vehicles, couples often struggle to share.

On Say Yes to the Dress, the episode that I watched featured Randy’s mom ends up surprising him at his shop. The episode featured Stephen Curry’s sister, and she brings several family members to go dress shopping. Her expectations for finding a dress were so high that she was not going to be satisfied until she made her unemotional mother cry on the scene. Her goal was to emotionally overwhelm her mother. This relates to our class discussion regarding the trend of couples to want to find their soulmate. In the 1950s, it was more normalized to find a spouse that could provide for you. Now everyone wants to find the perfect spouse and have the perfect wedding. Ms. Curry ended up spending nearly $10,000 on her dress. This supports the notions such as having the perfect day, which we discussed in class.

Modern Romance ties together with several concepts that we have discussed in class. In the book, Aziz surveys older people in a nursing home discussing the notion of true love and finding a soulmate. The majority of women said that they were willing to settle for less than their true love. They looked for different qualities than couples do now. Older women were more concerned for family security and looking for a man who could provide. They either learned to love or went elsewhere. Aziz refers to this as a companionate marriage.

The men, however, felt differently. Only about 37% of the men that were surveyed by Aziz and the sociologist said they were willing to settle for less. This is interesting how the two sexes had such different perspectives on finding their lifelong partners. This connects to the concept of gender roles in our class discussion/PPT. Functionalists believe that there are roles to be done by the mother (expressive) and roles to be carried out by the father (instrumental). Conflict theorists however, view families to be a source of inequality.

The different perspectives of family/marriage structures are an interesting topic to learn about. Weddings are becoming an increasingly larger part of our culture, being known as the couple’s perfect day. All four pieces of media had concepts that related to the topics that we discussed in class and took notes on.

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sferris414 · 4 years

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Concept Reflection 6

I feel that the biggest problem with race relations today is that it is still such a conversed topic. I understand the need to talk about it, but I envy the day that talking about race is unnecessary. It is realistic to acknowledge the many problems that exist because of race, but I believe the broader, bigger picture is that it is still needed to be discussed in such a progressive day in age.

From my understanding, the Critical Race Theory is a theory that acknowledges that the core of inequality today is rooted in prejudices against people with color. More specifically, our justice system today does not value people of different races equally. The Critical Race Theory states that it is unjust and unethical to treat those of different races differently, but that society does that very sin to this day.

Based on figure 8.1, the Critical Race Theory resonates with me the most because it makes me feel empathetic to minorities. Because I am white, I do not have to think about my race. However, minorities have to consider race more often then people realize. If our justice system and law enforcement administrations are corrupt against minorities, then how could they not feel betrayed by society? The Critical Race Theory thoroughly points out the problems with the unequal treatment of minorities. I believe that the Critical Race Theory is a concept that everyone should have the opportunity to learn about.

Colorblindness is a problem that is important to study to better understand its consequences. Colorblindness is a theory that occurs when individuals fail to accept the reality that as a society we are not fair towards our minorities. Similar to what I stated in the beginning of this blog, colorblindness happens when poor ideals get in the way of reality.

White normitivity is the notion that it is not only important to recognize how minorities are disadvantaged, but also to acknowledge how the majority is privileged and advantaged. It relates to our discussion because in class we had talked about white people not having to think about their race. For example, when a white person gets pulled over, they do not instinctively question whether they will be treated fairly. In our discussion about Crash, we covered that in the movie, and in reality, this is not true for people of color.

In the PDF article, Jill explains that she felt white people such as herself were “hosts” and that people of color were “guests”. She wish she did not feel that way but in reality, it is. This relates to our discussion about the younger police officer in the movie. At certain points in the movie, he felt that he needed to stick up for characters of color. He acted as a good “host”, when in reality, this concept of hosts and guests should not exist because nobody should be considered normal.

These concepts all relate to the problems of racial injustice which I explained early in the reflection. Until we as a society accept how unfair we are towards our “guests” we will not be able to make progress. Not all of us are ready to take the necessary steps to move forward as a society. Until then, we should continue to educate ourselves on these important topics.

Scott Ferris

4/16/20

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sferris414 · 4 years

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Blog #5: Model Meritocracy

America has an extremely structured social hierarchy which benefits some more than others. Below, I have created a model meritocracy where I have briefly restructured some of the high and low points of society.

In this model, I have emphasized that educators and medical staff should be valued more than almost everyone. During this pandemic, it is increasingly noticeable that those are two of the most essential types of professions. We need to keep people safe and educated. I would also like to point out how low I have placed sports and tourism on the hierarchy. These professions are simply for our entertainment and should not be nearly as high as they are in real life in my opinion.

People in the United States support such a structured hierarchy because we are money motivated. We choose careers based on how much money we will make, to an extent. Because of our capitalist economy, we place a monetary value on nearly everything that exists.

The Davis-Moore theory supports what I have stated. It says that as a society we value certain jobs more than others. It continues to state that jobs that can only be performed by a small number of people should have the greatest reward, hence the high demand for a college education.

Although this has been in effect for a long time, there are certain problems with this method of hierarchy. Thousands of people inherit large amounts of money from their ancestors. As they always say “the rich get richer”. In my fantasy model, I would select a monetary cap that allows only so much wealth be inherited from someone. Although this seems restrictive, it would benefit the equality of income over the long run.

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sferris414 · 5 years

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Breaching Experiment

My breaching experiment was a little awkward to say the least. While walking to class on Thursday and Friday, I decided that I was going to walk on the left (wrong) side of the drillfield paths. I acted like I was looking at my phone, but really could see the oncoming students in the corner of my eye. I wanted to see if they would willingly move out of the way or if they would wait until I noticed. Most people moved just far enough where we grazed shoulders and they gave me a look suggesting that I was in the wrong.

Very few people completely got out of my way. This suggests that it is expected for people to follow informal norms. I did not break the law by walking on the left side of the path, but people made sure that I realized that I was in the wrong. The result of this experiment allowed me personally experience how strictly people follow informal norms that are not necessarily enforced.

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sferris414 · 5 years

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Concept Reflection 3: There’s Something Different About Robbie

I believe that the problem with Robbie is a combination of biological and environmental issues. It is clear that something biologically was wrong with Robbie. For example, from a young age Robbie had anger issues when things did not go his way. These temper tantrums were not typical of kids his age. Family members began to feel threatened because he would yell obscene things toward his mother and father. The setting that Robbie was in as a child was a positive one. There was nothing abnormal about his original environment that could have led to his issues. Robbie’s problems were originally strictly biological.

As Robbie grew up, these anger issues became worse. His parents tried to do everything they could. At some point, they were forced to send him to a mental institution. I believe that at this point, the environment made Robbie’s issues progress. The setting at the mental institution could have made his biological condition worse. Being taken away from your family is one of the hardest things that could happen to anyone, let alone someone his age. A complete lifestyle change could not have helped his mental state, but it was the only choice that his parents had. Robbie was forced to leave because his parents did not feel safe in their home. I completely agree with their decision. The only possible thing that they could have done was to send him to the mental institution earlier. However, I am not too confident that even taking that course of action would have led to a different outcome.

Therefore, I believe that Robbie’s condition was originally biological, but his change of lifestyle did not help. With that being said, I do not think that Robbie’s parents could have logically done anything to help Robbie with his situation.

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