Introductory Sociology

Teen Pregnancy

ahatasak — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 08:52:13 +0000

I was recently thinking about a conversation we had in a class discussion. The conversation was about teen pregnancies – many of you had mentioned that girls having babies in high school was basically common, and definitely accepted. In fact, a CNN article titled “Teen pregnancies up for the first time in 15 years” explains that in 2005, 21 out of every 1000 girls between the ages of 15 and 17 gave birth to a child. At the time, I didn’t contribute to the conversation, but the more I thought about it the more I found it interesting and almost hard to believe. The reason why it was so hard for me to believe was because in all of my high school career I had witnessed only two pregnant girls; both of the girls dropped out of high school shortly after their pregnancies began.

So what exactly is the difference? Why is it that teen pregnancy is so much more accepted and common here in Arizona than where I grew up in the Bay Area of California? I find this very interesting. I definitely think that the socialization here (in Arizona) is very different than in California. This intrigues me because I would expect that regions nearby to each other would hold very similar socializational concepts.

When I began to decipher what the sociological differences existed between Arizona and California, I began to notice things that would truly effect the teen pregnancy phenomenon. For example, the high school I went to was an extremely wealthy school, where parents were very well-off and expected the same from their children. That being said, parents would most likely come to disown their children if they were pregnant. Not to mention, although I don’t know the laws regarding abortion here in Arizona, California allowed teenagers to get abortions with out their parents having any idea. The necessary funding for abortions were also easily accessible, considering the wealth of the area. The society I grew up in also expected incredible success from it’s students. If a high schooler was not an above-average student, or if they failed out of high school, they were looked down upon by their family, peers, and teachers alike. Although I don’t fully know the expectations of students in Arizona, I find that the pressures put on students by wealthy and prestigious parents in the Bay Area keep kids from feeling that having a baby as a teenager is acceptable. Social norms in California are far different than norms in Arizona, although we are only a few states away.

CNN article: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/07/10/teen.pregnancy/index.html

Best of Craigslist

csamdal — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 05:48:47 +0000

When finals get you down, there’s always the best of craigslist. If you’re unfamiliar, craigslist is a free site that allows people to post ads, much like the classified. Unlike the classifieds, anyone can post anything on craigslist. While there are many legitimate ads posted, some can be quite humorous, especially the services or personals ads. These are conveniently compiled into one list of “best ofs”
Here’s some of my favorites (warning, some inappropriate content)
super mario bros (very explicit content)
Six foot four transvestite
Essay: My Life Since Getting Out of Prison (inappropriate content)
Tina, The Telemarketer Who Called Me Last Night (inappropriate content)
While almost all of the “best of” posts are silly and inappropriate, the satire, and sometimes sincerity, allows for some insight into the norms and values of our society. The fact that they are listed as “best of” show that they violate some norm that is usually pretty funny. The telemarketer post that I linked to is a good example of a violation of norms. While it is a societal view that telemarketers are widely disliked, the man who receives the call doesn’t simply hang up, but takes it a step further. His being sexually forward, and attempting to justify his remarks is a clear violation of the norms of telemarketing phone calls. The Essay I linked to, though it is quite long, yet evokes many emotions. It is a man’s life story: from being accused of murder, going to prison, getting out of prison, falling in love, and starting a family. The essay violates many norms of college classes and assignments. Writing a lengthy paper when a short essay is assigned is both a waste of time and violation of the paper’s requirements. The content is inappropriate for an English course. He even brings up the issue of him being a man well in his thirties in a freshman level class and not in the workforce.
What people write on the internet is often humorous and entertaining, but there’s always a way to look deeper and produce some sociological insight. Have a nice holiday everyone.

Christmas Traditions

jrblanch — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 03:44:25 +0000

My sister and I recently had a rather humorous discussion about the”traditions” our Grandmother has upheld during Christmas visits at her house. Our Grandmother Jan has always had a bit of a shopping problem. If it is on sale or clearance, it is going in her cart. She is the rebate queen and scouers the newspaper for coupons and deals. At Christmas, she thinks she shines as the sale seeking savant.

As we carefully disassemble our stockings, a basket is passed around full of additional stocking stuffers. This basket is referred to as “The Crap Basket.” The rules say that you can take as many items out of the Crap Basket as you would like, but you can only add a maximum of two. In addition, one has an ulimited amount of trades within the Crap Basket and your own stocking.

When we share this story outloud with others, I realize how un-christmas-like this tradition is. Forthermore, it gets worse.

My brother, sister and I only get one or two actual christmas gifts at our Grandmother Jan’s house. The rest that we open are jokingly called “closet gifts.” These objects are collected throughout the year off clearance racks and sale isles and stored inside our Grandmother’s bedroom closet. When christmas rolls around, she makes sure to pull the same number for all her grandchildren so everyone opens the same amount of gifts. If our faces show that we are not entirely thrilled with a closet gift, our grandmother is quick to respond with “If you don’t like it, just leave it here and I’ll give it to someone else for their birthday!”

My Grandmother has turned Christmas into a spectacle, rather than a holiday where giving and family is celebrated. She must watch everyone open as many gifts as possible in order to feel like she has given properly to her loved ones. In order for the day to be successful, she must see physical evidence. There must be piles and piles of wrapping paper and overflowing shopping bags leaving with every family member. Do not mention that the total cost of this extravaganza is probable mere few hundred dollars.

My Grandmother operates under the same concept that the media uses to try and manipulate society. This concept tells us that more is better. In addition, members in society are judged and weighed by their material possessions, not their inner wealth. Advertisements and corporations bombard us with images and messages telling us what to buy, why we need it, and what we will feel when we do.

My Grandmother Jan is the ultimate poster girl for this problem. She sees a red sticker and instantly reaches out to grab ahold of a media dream she has been disciplined to believe. She reminds me that Christman is not about how many gifts we open, or even how many we are able to give to those around us. Christmas is about giving when we thought we could not and sharing the things we have had trouble saying throughout the year. These acts do not always hold a high price, but often come free with just a little careful thought. If we choose to think independently, we can come up with the best gifts.

Anomie in the Dorms

knpike — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:33:23 +0000

Anomie is a state of normlessness caused by rapid social change. When people are forced to adjust rapidly to a new way of life, there can be many positive and negative repercussions. When those affected are able to change with their surroudnings, they can flourish. However, anomie can also lead to suicide because people cannot cope with the new environment.

For those of us who are living on campus for the first time, we may have experienced anomie. Moving from a typical, American household to a building full of wild and crazy collegiates is not always an easy transition for everyone. Freshmen living on campus are forced to cross their threshold every day. We create new norms, and sometimes new phrases are born. (How many of you have been sexiled since the beginning of the semester?)

The downside of this process is the rising stress levels among students to find their niche without falling behind in their classes. Oftentimes, students cannot cope and take drastic or even harmful measures to combat feelings of alienation or isolation.

Upon running out of M&G, some may resort to sneaking a few apples or cupcakes out of the diners. Any event that supplies free food is a MUST. When walking across campus, students have to learn the most effective ways of dodging longboarders and cyclists on their way to class.

What I find most interesting is how much people rely on norms to get them through their days. So much so, that when anomie occurs, people can feel lost, scared, and confused. It reminds me of the unethical sociological experiment of standing backwards in an elevator. A seemingly harmless act can cause an individual enough grief to render the experiment too torturous to conduct. Humans are creatures of habit. No matter how much of a free spirit one may desire to be, some level of structure is necessary to maintain some level of comfort and happiness in life.

Bathroom Norms

acbowman42 — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 18:10:03 +0000

Below is a link to a funny quiz on which urinal a man should choose based on which ones are occupied.

http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/choosing_a_urinal.htm

I first read this back in 9th grade and have always got a kick out of it. It is interesting in that it illustrates unspoken norms that men follow when going to a bathroom. We are never told by our friends or parents never to pick a urinal next to someone else if others are available, or to always pick one next to a wall if given the chance. It is almost as if these tendencies are instinctual. However, it cannot be a human instinct, as women behave differently in restrooms. They often like to go together and talk to each other. Actions like this are very much frowned upon in the men’s bathroom. An explanation for this difference could be that when men go to the bathroom, they expose their genitalia and use these norms to protect themselves. Women on the other hand have internal genitalia and are separated by stalls.

This issue goes back all the way to the beginning of the semester. The question is how do we learn the norms of bathroom etiquette? Is it through socialization and watching what our dads do? Is it cognitive development that changes our actions as we grow older? Why do men and women act differently in the bathroom? In keeping with th trend of the third article, I think this would be an interesting study. So if you ever see someone in the restroom taking extensive notes on how you act in the bathroom, just relax, it is for the purpose of increasing mankind’s knowledge.

Over the Edge

kapearso — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 19:39:37 +0000

I just read a pretty sombering article that talked about the increased rate of suicide among men during times of economic depression. The article discusses the different reasons that men are more likely to committ suicide during these times. The researchers found that the poor economy results in increased suicide rates among men due to the loss of a job, the loss of money, or the inability to begin a new career. Additionally, the article talked aobut how the men in the military are also much more likely to kill themselves after returning from a war. This is partially because of a sense of isolation or disorganization after leaving the military, but it is also because of something the author referred to as “learned fearlessness” which means that during the times of extreme stress and chaos, like a battlefield, the men learn to forgo natural instincts of self-preservation. They lose part of their emotional complex and this loss of fear allows them to pursue suicide without restraint if they choose.

Clearly there are many factors that weigh in on our lives, and during these hard times we need to be aware of the factors that can effect close friends and family. The article lists several keys to watch for on the second page and it is something that we should all be looking out for.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28001610/

On a side note, it was interesting that the article focused on men so much. The reason given was that men are four times more likely than woment to actually complete a suicide attempt. Interestingly enough, three times the number of women attempt to committ suicide than men. I would be very interested to know why women are more inclined to attempt to kill themselves, but not actually go through with it.

Society

taiheif — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 04:44:47 +0000

Recently, I read Jean-Jacque Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality which claims that there is a fundamental divide between human nature and society – a divide which causes human beings to become corrupt when living within society. According to Rousseau, man began in a natural state with the primary concern of his own preservation. However, as humans began to increase their faculties (for example, tools for hunting) they became conscious of their superiority over all other animals in nature. Humans began to develop relationships expressed through comparative language such as “large and small” and “strong and weak.” As the mind developed, humans began to make mutual commitments in order to increase efficiency, thus spurring an increase in interaction between human beings. Leaving the realm of independence, humans entered the realm of inequality – from the instant one man needed the help of another, and it was found to be useful for one man to have provisions for two, equality disappeared. Eventually, the mind developed to a point where humans were able to improve their industry and faculties to a point where they began to create shelters. As the strong built houses and the weak imitated, humans began to unrightfully lay claim personal properties. This is considered to be the first revolution in human progress. As humans interacted more and more they further developed the concept of comparison and preference and began to view other humans as ranked by their qualities such as strength, intelligence, beauty, skill, merit or talents. Naturally, the strong and intelligent were able to yield the most from the land leaving the weak and the dumb to live off of considerably less. Soon, the contingent of humans who were able to yield the most from the land became the rich, while the rest became the poor. Ultimately, the rich employed the work of the poor – eventually enslaving them – all the while the rich consuming more than was necessary for survival. This in turn led to conflict between the landowning rich and the enslaved poor. In order to protect their possessions the rich devised laws which were designed to appear to enforce equality. Easily seduced by the lure of potential equality, the poor universally agreed upon following the laws set in place by the rich. With the introduction of laws, society was born. Thus, as Rousseau argues, society is the product of inequality – society is corruption incarnate. From a sociological standpoint, it is interesting to view society as inherently corrupt. If we are to believe that human beings are affected by the society in which they live, and human beings in turn affect society, from Rousseau’s standpoint, the injustices produced through human actions are merely a product of the society in which they live.

Reponse to Earlier Commentary on Father-Son Relationships

adamtheising — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:58:07 +0000

This post is kind of a response to the earlier post titled “Father-Son Relationships Just aren’t that Exciting.”

My initial thoughts concerning the lack of father-son relationships in the media (relative to mother-daughter) addressed whether father-son relationships are the type of thing that can even be demonstrated in the media. When I think of typical American male bonding actions, I think of tossing the football, having a beer, talking politics, trying to prove that one man is more MANLY than another.

This isn’t just how father-son relationships work; it’s how most male interaction (at least stereotypically) operates. When one looks at how men interact with other men, there is a noticeable trend. Men are raised to pursue great accomplishments and achieve things unfathomable to their fathers. And that’s simply how young men are socialized. It’s an unspoken understanding; the media can’t or won’t show it because it is so simple. Maybe there’s more depth to a relationship between a girl and her mother. Or maybe the only reason women have these “deep” relationships is because society and the media say that they have to…

In any case, relationships between father and son are simple. In our society, it is a father’s job to prepare his son for the real world. There’s nothing glorious or exciting about it. That’s why there is little media coverage on it.

Freeeeee.

lgallett — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:54:09 +0000

What is it about nature that is freeing? A few friends and I visited Sedona this weekend and it was simply amazing how sitting on a rock could make us contemplate the biggest things in both our futures and our pasts. While this may seem overwhelming (which it was), it was also so freeing to sit on a rock in the middle of nature and not worry about anything else: not homework, papers, jobs etc. It led me to wonder: “what causes stress?” Do stressful people create stressors: homework, jobs, schedules or does the evolution of society simply require these stressful entities? I know this may seem more historical/anthropological but, why do the things we implement in our lives to regulate and create order end up tying us down? Why, in a world full of control freaks and time management workshops, do we savor and schedule and plan opportunities to get away from all these? Why is it so great to feel so small next to the large rocks and trees when I spend most of my life trying to be the best, most, and greatest?

Maybe the answer to all of these is exactly the opposite of what I’m doing now. Maybe getting away from the city, from people, from school, from stressors involves getting away from sociology itself (lol). Out in the wilderness I’m not worried about the cliques and cliches, the analyses and tendencies. Maybe in order to truly learn about ourselves and our society and take a true sociological look at the world around us, we have to first exit that world and realize what it’s like outside of it….

Imbalance in Family Roles

csamdal — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:11:47 +0000

The issue of gender came up in my group’s chapter discussion of Competing Devotions. It made me think about whether or not I knew any at home dads. I’ve been thinking about it off and on this past week and I don’t know any families in which the mother is the primary breadwinner and the father stays at home. Not knowing any male homemakers really put into perspective how rare it is for the mother to be the primary breadwinner. In class, we touched on how the roles of women are changing and how women are entering the workforce, not only in the States but in other countries as well. Although there is this significant change in the gender role for women, men’s roles haven’t experienced any similar change. Men seem to be making room for women in the workforce, but women don’t seem to be making room for men in the home. Women now have the difficult task of balancing work and family, whereas men seem to sit comfortably in their role as the source of income with few domestic responsibilities. Because of this lack of balance, the institution of the family is suffering. Without a strong parental influence at home, children will be the ones who will be affected the most. Changes in family roles affect some more than others, but imbalance is dangerous to the institution of the family. Men need to shift their role in order to provide balance in the family.