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References

Conley D. (2017). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction To Thinking Like A Sociologist. New York, NY: W.W. Norton.

Ritzer, G. (1983). The McDonaldization of Society. Journal of American Culture, 6(1), 371-379. 

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Reflection

Sociology is the study of human society. Seeing as we all live in some sort of human society, this subject pertains to everyone. In a way, I think we are all sociologists. I think we are all guilty of people watching and analyzing different things about human society. We all have a sociological imagination, but how in tune is it? This course helps awaken the sociological imagination in ways a true sociologist would decipher human society.

I believe this course will be relevant for my future career as a Registered Nurse. After all, nurses work with people, and people make up human society.

After taking this course, I do not think I will ever look at an advertisement the same again. I think as a younger person, I could connect well with the culture and media chapter. My generation grew up with the cell phones and new platforms of media such as social media. I have to say those things have changed us as individuals more so than the older generations even though they have access to it too. They have not grown up with it like we have. Overall I think I connect most with the films Inequality for All and The Children’s March. Those two films really made the issue of inequality sink in. I think I connected to them the most because in my eyes all people are created equal. All people should be treated equally. Some people may act or behave better than others, but that does not make them better. Sometimes it is a result of our nurture and how we were raised, where we came from, and who our parents were. One thing I think is very important is to treat others the way you want to be treated. Take a walk in their shoes before jumping to conclusions. If we were all a little more empathetic, maybe we could help make the world a better place for future generations.

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Advice

This was only the second online course I have ever taken. This was a condensed summer course and only lasted six weeks. We covered a lot of information in a short amount of time. Honestly, I found this online course required more work than most classes I have ever taken on a campus. Time management is very important, especially since the class was only six weeks long.

My recommendation for future Sociology 201 students taking the course online is to avoid procrastination. This class involved a lot of reading. I found reading the textbook to be my biggest help. The professor also provided online lessons and activities. I believe these lessons and activities were very helpful in fully grasping the content provided you have the time to do them.

I also advise future students to get well acquainted with D2L and how the course is set up before getting started. At first, I found it confusing to navigate the online course. I highly suggest reading the syllabus and reading the news posts from the professor which were helpful in navigating the course.

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Introduction

Hello Tumblr, I am a nursing student at HACC-Lancaster. I will be starting my final year of nursing school starting this fall semester of 2018. I will graduate in May of 2019 with my RN. This is my final project for Sociology 201 which required me to create a Tumblr blog relevant to Sociology.  

This blog is to demonstrate my ability of using my sociological imagination. The objective was to find artifacts focused on Sociology and apply information I learned from the course to the artifacts from the web.

I had to find an artifact for each of the chapters we covered in the course. Those included theory, research, culture, socialization, deviance, social class, globalization, gender, race, and social movements.

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This article from CNN is about the Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide. The Supreme Court ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage. After the ruling, the White House was lit up in rainbow colors in celebration of the ruling.

The gay rights movement has been going on for the past several decades; however this was a huge victory at the time. The United States became the 21st country to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide. Same-sex couples can now enjoy the same legal rights and benefits as heterosexual couples do. They will also be recognized on legal documents such as birth and death certificates. According to the article, the Supreme Court’s ruling only supported our country’s growing support for same-sex marriage and states that two thirds of Americans are now in favor.

I think this article is a good example of a reformative social movement. A reformative social movement is a social movement that advocates for limited social change but seeks to effect that change across an entire society (Conley, 2017, p. 707). There are three stages to a social movement: emergence, coalescence, and institutionalization. Coalescence was exhibited when the bill was first proposed. When the Supreme Court passed the bill, it was institutionalized. Love is love, and love won in this ruling.

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Five African American women were playing golf. According to the golf club, the women were playing too slowly. After they finished the first round of nine holes, the club said they took too long of a break before playing the second round. The women were asked to leave the golf course, they were offered their money back, and the police were called. According to the women, they were discriminated against.

I have never heard of people being kicked off the course for playing too slowly. Proper golf etiquette tells you that if the group behind you catches up, you should let them play through and go ahead of you or at least that is what I was taught. Normally people only golf in foursomes or less, however a five-some is not unheard of.

Each golf course defines their pace of play because each course is different. This specific golf course estimates that it should take roughly four hours and fifteen minutes to finish all eighteen holes according to the scorecard. This golf course also has several rules. One of them states that pace of play is monitored by the club, and contact will be made with your group if you fall behind. Another one of their rules states that golfers not complying will be asked to adhere to the rules or be asked to leave with zero refund.

The golf course ended up calling the police on these women. No charges were filed, but the women did end up leaving. This incident has gained national attention. After the incident, a golfer who was playing in the group behind the five women said that his group never caught up to the women. Do you think this was racial discrimination?

I think this story is a good example of racism and discrimination. Racism is the belief that members of separate races possess different and unequal traits (Conley, 2017, p. 325). Discrimination is harmful or negative acts (not mere thoughts) against people deemed inferior on the basis of their racial category, without regard to their individual merit (Conley, 2017, p. 359). I personally have never heard of people getting kicked off the golf course for playing too slowly, especially white people. The club also acted against these women, rather than just asking them to play at a quicker pace.    

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This article is about Title IX. According to the article, The Department of Justice and the Department of Education are advising schools on transgender students. Under Title IX, no student would be asked to reveal their gender in any form. If schools do not follow Title IX, they could lose their federal funding. Title IX guides schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom of their choice.

The Departments of Justice and Education want to protect transgender students’ civil rights. Title IX includes definitions for gender identity, sex assigned at birth, and transgender, and gender transition. The goal is for transgender students to be able to enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment. Schools are to treat transgender students as their gender identity rather than the sex they were assigned at birth.

I think this article is a great example of sex, sexuality, gender, and gender roles. Sex is the biological differences that distinguish males from females (Conley, 2017, p. 281). Sexuality is the desire, sexual preference, and sexual identity and behavior (Conley, 2017, p. 281). Gender is a social position, the set of social arrangements that are built around normative sex categories (Conley, 2017, p. 281). These transgender students may have been born a certain sex, however they are identifying with the opposite gender which changes their sexuality.

Lastly, society tells us that if you have a penis you should use the men’s bathroom whereas if you have a vagina you should use the women’s bathroom. This is where gender roles come into play. Gender roles are sets of behavioral norms assumed to accompany one’s status as a male or female (Conley, 2017, p. 289). What do you think? Should transgender people be allowed to use the bathroom of their choice? Should their rights include their sexuality or should it go by sex and gender?

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The McDonaldization of our country and other societies is occurring more frequently these days. Companies like Hershey are focusing on efficiency, predictability, calculability meaning quantity over quality, replacing humans with nonhuman technology, and control over uncertainty.

This article in the Cape May County Herald is about Hershey’s decision to move their plant to Mexico. The article says millions of jobs have left America to go to other countries. Why? Other countries, like Mexico, do not have to offer their workers the same rights and protections that we have in the United States. These companies, like Hershey, are maximizing their profits. Americans are losing their jobs to cheap labor.

This article is a good example of efficiency. Efficiency is the best or optimum means to any given end (Ritzer, 1983, p. 372). Hershey is utilizing cheap labor to optimize their products and maximize their profit. This is also a good example of calculability. Hershey’s chocolate is enjoyed all around the world. By moving their factory to Mexico and using cheaper labor, Hershey is able to make more chocolate for less money. Therefore, Hershey is focusing on quantity rather than quality.

I would not be surprised if one day, Hershey replaces more if not all of their workers with nonhuman technology. Lastly, Hershey has more control now that they have moved their plant to Mexico. Because Mexican workers do not have the same rights and protections as American workers nor does their country have the same laws as America, Hershey has more control over their products. I think it is awful that in order to save a few dollars, companies are willing to take jobs away from Americans. We learned from the video Inequality for All, that if money is invested in the middle class it ends up paying off in the long run and benefits our economy even more.

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This article from the Boston Globe is a book review of “Squeezed” by Alissa Quart and is mainly about income inequality. The article states that the middle class is shrinking. The top one percent is getting richer while the middle class is shrinking and getting poorer and even the poor are getting poorer. In her book, Quart focuses on the middle class. The middle class is a term commonly used to describe those individuals with non manual jobs that pay significantly more than the poverty line-though this is a highly debated and expansive category, particularly in the United States, where broad swathes of the population consider themselves middle class (Conley, 2017, p. 260).

Quart claims the middle class is being subjected to a psychological burden, anxiety, and a specific pain. The middle class is educated, and they are also experienced workers. The article says how the saying “do what you love” is no longer reasonable. Even with an education and multiple degrees, some people can no longer afford their rent, mortgage, bills, etc. The article talks about an example from Quart’s book about teachers. According to Quart, many teachers now have to pick up part time work on top of their full time job. One reason for this in the article is because of tax breaks for the upper class. 

The upper class is a term for the economic elite (Conley, 2017, p. 258). The article claims that members of the upper class are willing to spend money on what they want, but rarely want to pay higher taxes. I think this article is good evidence that the social mobility of the middle class is becoming stagnant and declining.

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In this video, two people pretend to be holding an imaginary rope across a sidewalk. The first pedestrian to encounter the imaginary rope decides to step over it rather than walk through it. This in turn leads to other pedestrians stepping over the imaginary rope. Although one does see that some people realize it is a prank, and they end up walking through normally without stepping over the imaginary rope.

The two men, who are pretending to hold the imaginary rope, are displaying social deviance. Social deviance is any transgression of socially established norms (Conley, 2017, p. 191). Conley says that social deviance can be minor, but it is breaking the rules that most people follow (Conley, 2017, p. 191). Conley would describe this act as informal deviance; the two men are not harming anyone nor will they be punished, but what they are doing is not necessarily right (Conley, 2017, p. 191). Imagine if an elderly person attempting to step over the imaginary rope ended up falling and breaking a hip.  

I believe this video connects well to the term conformist. A conformist is an individual who accepts both the goals and the strategies that are considered socially acceptable to achieve those goals (Conley, 2017, p, 205). Some of the pedestrians witness others stepping over the invisible rope, therefore they also step over it. We also see good examples of innovators. Innovators are social deviants who accept socially acceptable goals but reject socially acceptable means to achieve them (Conley, 2017, p. 205). The innovators see the conformists stepping over the imaginary rope, however, they do not follow suit and walk straight through. I think there are even examples of a retreatist in the video. Some of the pedestrians walk out around the two men and avoid the invisible rope altogether.   

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Immigration is a controversial topic. This article is about new policies from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The new policies subject legally documented immigrants to deportation if they break the rules of federal and state programs that offer public benefits. Immigrants who allegedly abuse the public benefits will have to appear before an immigration court. Immigrants could be deported if they are found guilty of fraud or misrepresentation. The public benefits offered include: Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Supplemental Security Income, and Children’s Health Insurance Program. The Homeland Security Department is now trying to prevent documented immigrants who receive these benefits from even attaining a green card. Experts say that these new policies will speed up and increase deportation.

I think this article is a good example of achieved status. Achieved status is a status into which one enters; voluntary status (Conley, 2017, p, 133.) These documented immigrants go through a complicated process to receive a green card or their achieved status. These new policies threaten to take away their achieved status.

Immigrants also have an ascribed status. An ascribed status is a status into which one is born; involuntary status (Conley, 2017, p. 133). Their ascribed status would pertain to whichever country they were born in making them a citizen of their home country. Together, the ascribed status and the achieved status make up their status set.

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This instagram post depicts a private jet Floyd Mayweather got for his birthday. This private jet is a good example of material culture. Material culture is everything that is a part of our constructed, physical environment, including technology (Conley, 2017, p. 82).

This instagram post is also a good example of media. Media is any formats, platforms, or vehicles that carry, present, or communicate information (Conley, 2017, p. 93). Through instagram, Floyd Mayweather was able to flaunt is new private jet and show it off to all his followers.

This post also portrays consumerism, specifically conspicuous consumption and invidious consumption. These two terms were derived from Thorstein Veblen. Conspicuous consumption is spending money on and acquiring luxury goods and services to publicly display one's economic purchasing power (Veblen). To the conspicuous consumer, such a public display of discretionary economic purchasing power is a means of either attaining or maintaining a given social status (Veblen). Mayweather is not only showing off his private jet, but the mat in front of the steps of the plane displays his record, 50-0, with the words “The Best Ever” under it. He is stating that he is the best boxer there is with the wealth to prove it. He is maintaining his social status. Invidious consumption is the ostentatious consumption of goods that is meant to provoke the envy of other people (Veblen). Why else would Floyd Mayweather post a picture of his new private jet on instagram?

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The Australian National University found evidence there is a link between ethnicity and bias. They had participants watch videos of people speaking. The people in the videos were ethnically diverse. At first, the videos were muted. The participants could see but not hear the person in the video speaking. An Asian looking person was considered to have an accent whereas a white or Caucasian looking person was said to have no accent. It turned out the white looking person was German speaking English with an accent, and the Asian looking person was Korean speaking English with an accent. The participants then had to listen to video recordings of people speaking, but they were not allowed to visually see the video. From just listening, the researchers found that people rated the accents of both the Asian and white looking people as similar. Next, the participants were both allowed to visually watch and listen to the videos. Participants now considered the white looking person to have a stronger accent than the Asian looking person. The University said this last finding was new and unexpected. The researchers concluded that people do not expect to hear an accent from a white looking person and are extra surprised when they do. The experiment showed that people display biases towards not only ethnically diverse people, but for white looking people as well. The University hopes this experiments raises awareness about both racial and linguistic bias and discrimination.

I think this study is a good example of qualitative methods. Qualitative methods are methods that attempt to collect information about the social world that cannot be readily converted to numeric form (Conley, 2017, p. 47). This study is also a good example of an inductive approach. An inductive approach is a research approach that starts with empirical observations and then works to form a theory (Conley, 2017, p. 48). After the researchers had the participants watch and listen to the videos of the people speaking, they formed a theory that there is a link between ethnicity and bias. Lastly, the researchers found a correlation between ethnicity and bias.

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This video contains images and video clips of the Children’s March in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. This video shows how African Americans were treated before the Civil Rights Act was passed.

This video is a good example of the conflict theory. The conflict theory is the idea that conflict between competing interests is the basic, animating force of social change and society in general (Conley, 2017, p. 32). This theory was expanded from the ideas of Karl Marx, and it was coined by Ralph Dahrendorf, Lewis Coser, and others (Conley, 2017, p. 32). Conley tells us that competition is the conflict, and it drives social change (Conley, 2017, p. 32).   This social change occurs through revolution and war rather than evolution or baby steps (Conley, 2017, p. 32).

There are many social institutions. Churches are just one example. During this time, the 16th Street Baptist Church was preaching something other than your typical church sermon. James Bevel called on the children to march on the city and to fill up the jails in order to bring national attention to inequality. The adults would not march for fear of losing their jobs, houses, and cars. Therefore, the children ended up marching to fight for their civil rights, equality, and freedom.