Post 3

An individual's group, status, and role determine the generalizations or stereotypes given to them, also resulting in the way they perceive others. Generalizations can only be useful when applied accurately. We Generalize by comparing similarities in each experience, which help us classify certain things. In the movie A Bronx Tale, C's father generalizes Sonny as a "bad man" based on his prior knowledge of him. When we compare situations using false judgement, we are then stereotyping. As a young girl, I played for an all girls basketball team. I was stereotyped as a tom-boy for playing that specific sport. In reality, I was the furtherest thing from a tom-boy, I simply just enjoyed playing the sport. People are often quick to judge based on the little knowledge they know.

Sociologist study both micro and macro sociology. Macro sociology is the study of long-term social patterns, due to wide scale social systems. On the other hand, Micro sociology is the study of how people socially interact in small groups within a wider social system. Setting sail is an example of both studies. The decision of who would stay and who would go, depended mainly on the individuals' usefulness.  As an American culture, usefulness ranges from: strength, knowledge, health, opportunity and youth. All of these characteristics are portrayed as useful because they resemble a sense of future.

Sociologist study using two types of research, qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative data regards interviews, observations or notes which get more into scope of one's true self, while quantitative data deals more with surveys generalizing one's "idealistic" perspective of themselves and creating a statement about society as a whole. In the beginning of Gang Leader For a Day, he approaches the situation with quantitative data by having people take a survey, during the end of the story, he realizes that qualitative data is more useful because it gives sociologists a better understanding of the study.

Post 2

Within the past week we've read and discussed situations regarding sociological mindfulness, sociological imagination and the social construction of reality.

To recap, sociological mindfulness is realizing why each individual is the way they are, taking their perspective into consideration, and accepting it. Gang Leader For a Day demonstrates that anyone could ask a bunch of meaningless questions, but to experience poor men in their natural habitat, you are exposed to their true colors. This revealed something that had even struck the narrator himself, stereotypes. Many people probably assume they were poor because they hadn't gotten much education, when in fact, the leader of the gang (J.T). spoke of the experience he had with sociology in college. Also, he assumed J.T was going to order his gang members to kill him; instead, J.T. had taught him a powerful lesson. People aren't always are who you think they are. No one takes the time to get to know one another and that's why society is the way it is. We are so quick to judge based on what others tell us; in order to get past that, we must have awareness by seeing the whole dynamic of another and appreciating it.

Next, sociological imagination is something you can not see, but it impacts each individual by where they live, and when they live. Each person is shaped by society or the people they associate themselves with. An example all women in the U.S. can relate to is the idea that being thin is looked at as beautiful. Years ago, it was quite the opposite. Having fat on you was beautiful, not only because of appearance, but because it showed you were wealthy enough to afford food. The idea that you are shaped by where and when you live is demonstrated in the story Outliers. The town of Roseto was not healthy because of medical history, but more so, the idea of the social interaction and sense of community and family life. Rosetans thought nothing of this because this was considered normal where they lived.

Lastly, the sociological construction of reality is a society created of thoughts and experience, otherwise known as the "social norm." Females go to the restroom with other females constantly and that is something that is looked upon as socially acceptable. On the other hand, if males were to do that, they would be looked at funny. In reality, it's the same exact concept except society has told us it's not a "social norm" therefore we should shun the idea of it.