Social Construction of Gender

What does it mean to be a man? In our society, we are taught young that being a man means you must be strong both physically and mentally. Just like women, men are also insecure. A specific insecurity every man holds is their manhood being taken from them. In Kimmel's Masculinity is a demonstration of men being bullied to the point where the only other option is to show violence. Men never use violence, as a last resort because their violence demonstrates confidence and strength which each must acquire. A couple years ago, I was at a gathering where two males had physically fought one another because one of them had been talking to the other's girlfriend. It's pretty pathetic that little things like that are taken the extremes by being resulted in violence.

On the other hand, women are more passive, emotional and feel a significant need to appeal to others through their looks, rather than with intelligence or their personality. This is due to the mass media's advertising in television and movies. Dove commercials oppose the media's messages, and try to give a more realistic view on women as a whole. Every year many girls, including my friends, make comments wishing they could look like the models in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Unfortunately, women strive to look a certain way attributed to the unrealistic images exposed to them. Women also feel they must meet up to the expectations or standards given to them just like males do. The stronger you are, the more respected you are; the more beautiful you look, the greater chances you are liked. Furthermore, both genders must go to the extremes to acquire the unrealistic expectations they feel they must meet.

Socialization

Socialization is the process by which we become human. There are two aspects, which play major roles known as nature and nurture. Nature deals with what you grow with that's unchangeable, otherwise known as heredity, while nurture deals more with what’s around you, or your environment. You need both in order for this process to be successfully, but how you're raised determines who you become.

"The Feral and Isolated Children" are examples of nurture because they demonstrate that certain characteristics are learned through particular environments. Children who are exposed to a wild life environment will adapt to wild life living. Isolated children on the other hand, are behind in developmental stages, furthermore, there are no connections or shared thoughts, which affect their behavior, attitudes, and values. Oprah's documentary was another example of how we as humans need interaction in order to thrive. You can have incredible genes, but without given the proper nurture, you cannot successfully evolve.

Socialization agents that are significant in my life are family, school, and the media. These impact our lives greatly; giving us ideas of who we are, or what we want to become. Family has a great influence on my nurture because these are the people who raised me, who I am surrounded by daily. My family in ways I may not even recognize has affected me.  Next, school also impacts my life because it's something I've been accustomed to for many years giving me a sense of what I enjoy, what I struggle with, who I am and where I want to go from here. The people I am surrounded by at school impact my decision making, but the main source we're all equally impacted by is media. It's something, which surrounds our lives daily. It's something that's unavoidable;  "The Mass Media" film we watched explains how consumer's decision making is influenced to buy certain products in order to improve the overall "happiness". The media has a negative impact because it gives us, and children unrealistic expectations of reality. Young girls believe that you find a prince charming and live happily ever after; while boys think crying means you're a weak baby. Unfortunately, the media starts young because they realize children don't know any better and some of us are unconsciously impacted by it whether we would like to admit it or not.

American Culture

Too many times our talents are wasted because as a culture we value money over happiness. We believe the more you devote yourself to a job, the more money you will make and the happier you will be. My mom always tells me to find a job I love, regardless of the pay, and I'll never have to work a day in my life. You have to be passionate about what you do; otherwise you won't put in 100% and be dedicated to what you're doing. You'll end up being miserable. In thrive, it is highly recommended to find a job you are passionate about, that works with the right people, and that addresses your talents. Do those few things, and you're setting yourself up for a happier life.

Many of us value time, yet we don't value spending, or making time for the right things. Our priorities aren't straight because as a culture our lives are so rushed, we tend to forget that making time for ourselves is important too. In Tuesday With Morrie, here's a man who is scheduled every minute of the day, not able to make time for someone he truly cares about. Mitch holds off proposing to Jannie not only because he doesn't have time, but he also fears love. Americans are afraid to love and show their love because we fear the whole idea of becoming vulnerable; trusting someone by slowly taking down the wall we've had built for so long, only to be abandoned or hurt. We fear the idea of how easily a person can come into our lives and make us happy, but also how easily that person could leave and take that happiness with them.

Death is another aspect we fear because again, it's the whole idea of someone we love leaving our lives forever. Materialism and death connect in a weird way. We believe that once someone is gone, the whole relationship is gone. A person may not physically be there but all the memories you shared, all the things they did to touch your life, you still love them regardless of their physical presence. We tend to forget this because we're so caught up in the idea of physical items bringing us happiness. As a culture, once something is lost or broken, we can easily replace it. Once a person passes, they're permanently gone, which is why we fear this idea so much. Morrie is a great example because he didn't dwell on what he had or hadn't, but the relationships and people he interacted with, sharing all his experiences with the people who meant something to him. People look at death as an ending point, but it's a natural part of life and it's a journey to a new beginning for everyone.

Community Service

I volunteered for an organization called Orphans of the Storm, which is an animal shelter located in Riverwoods. I attended an off site adoption event showcasing the cats and dogs at Northbrook Court on Saturday from 11AM-4: 45PM and Sunday from 12AM-5PM. Overall, I was extremely excited to volunteer because I adore animals and I knew it would bring joy to my life helping these innocent animals find a home. I realize that they also need affection and care, as well as humans do, so I decided to help donate and become a part of the event. You would expect many people to be open about adopting an animal, but as time went on, I realized that there are many different reasons why people can't adopt such as allergies, other pets at home, or they're simply not old enough. Obviously there are many other reasons, but acknowledging those circumstances, I started promoting donations towards little things such as extra newspapers, blankets, animal food, etc. The shelter is always in need of extra materials to provide the animals, and if someone is interested but cannot adopt a pet, or just has those supplies at home, why not help the cause? 

The people I came in counter with had many different attitudes, ages, races, and genders, but one thing they all had in common had been wealth. I appreciated the people who had given me the time of day and listened to the information I had provided. I felt reassured and grateful when donations were given to the specific dog that I was speaking about, or giving care to. Taking the time out of their day to give attention to the animals and donate their money to a good cause had brightened my day and I couldn't help but smile. While I was volunteering, I thought of how great it is to give back to my community and how thoughtful some people are to open organizations like these and support such causes. People who try to make a change in the world are the most genuine kind of people in my eyes. The supervisor was an extremely sweet lady named Jackie Borchew, who encouraged not only the volunteers, but also the others viewing the animals. She contributed to the wonderful experience I had, and could be contacted at Jackie@orphansofthestorm.org. The tasks i was instructed to do didn't take very long, they were practically effortless especially because I felt like I was doing something for a good cause, a great reason, rather than feeling forced to finish a dreadful task that would go unnoticed. On my way home, I had been in an uplifting mood, which followed through with me the rest of the night.  

Culture

When growing up, you learn certain rules, values, or behaviors to live by due to your specific culture. You don't know any other way of living because you've only been exposed or adapted to the environment around you. Nothing seems out of place, everyone around you also conforms and views the things you do to be "normal." Everything that is normal is a result of people and their cultural relativity.

Arriving from one culture to another could be quite overwhelming for an individual. Everything around seems so different, so new. They struggle to grasp the idea of things by taking everything in all at once. Some may feel like they have been living the wrong way and that's a result of cultural shock. Experiencing a new culture that pushes ethnocentrism can enhance this feeling. When others strive to make that individual behave the way they do, it's typically done through non-material culture such as rules, languages and gestures. These aspects vary from culture to culture, and because of this, it may make one feel as though it is necessary to conform to the cultural relativity, just to fit in. When my Hispanic friend told me he had a headache, I asked him if he wanted Ibuprofen. He then looked at me funny and said no, you. I looked at him with the same weird look and asked him why, thinking why wouldn't he want to help himself? He then told me in his culture, medicine is looked down upon and that the healthiest form of medicine is being natural; letting the body heal it. Due to the American culture, always quick with prescribing drugs and taking drugs when problems occur, it was my first instinct to just tell him to take a pill. Now looking back at the situation, he had not fallen into my ethnocentric idea; instead, he used a traditional rule from his culture.

The parts of non-material culture include folkways, mores and taboos. A folkway is the way of acting with more traditional rules, but not being judged. A more is something very serious that is supposed to be done and if it's not, the consequence will result in being judged. That something serious is like a moral or tradition. An example is if you decide not to wash your hands after you use the bathroom, people are going to judge you by viewing you as an unsanitary person. You would think that someone would want to after using the bathroom, but some do not and that's what distinguishes it from being a more versus a folkway or taboo. Now, a taboo is something so serious that even thinking about it would make you embarrassed. An example of a taboo from the story "Social time" is that here in America, people arrive at appointments earlier than they're supposed to because even thinking about being late makes Americans nervous.

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.