Bread Expert

We watched a movie called "People Like Us" where people from different social classes were interviewed and talked about how things you buy and own can show off your social class and basically brand you as a person. The one thing I really remember from the movie was an elderly woman who was titled "Bread Expert"...she was talking about all the different types of bread, and how some bread was really bad, and some were really good. I never really thought that the type of bread you buy shows off your social class, but I guess if you think of the bigger picture, like the things you're willing to spend a lot of money on, or the cheaper things you buy rather than the expensive, really does show off your social class. I never really thought of social class affecting me as an individual since I'm still a teenager but it really does affect us. Like what kind of car we have for ourselves, but we really should be thinking how lucky we are to have a car when some people's families don't even own a vehicle.

Deviance x2

In class this week we read an article called The Saints and The Rednecks by William J. Chambliss. This was a story where a sociologist followed students that both demonstrated behaviors outside the social norm (deviance) and documented their actions. This guy, William J. Chambliss, labeled the groups "the saints" and "the roughnecks" based on how others perceived them. The saints were seen around town as good students, smart, intelligent, wealthy (or had some money), and all around good students that had a bright future ahead of them. The roughnecks were just the typical bad guys---the ones who ditched class, didn't do their homework because they didn't care, didn't have a lot of money, didn't really know what they were doing with their lives. Both these groups ditched class, lied to their teachers, and were equally deviant, however, they weren't punished the same. I thought this was really shocking because when I think of someone ditching class, I think of getting in trouble. But when the saints ditched class, they'd come up with some excuse like a different teacher needed to see them, while the roughnecks were honest that they didn't want to go. Honestly, I think it's better to be a roughneck than a saint, because at least you're honest when you're a roughneck, even though you're breaking the rules. At our school if you ditch a class, 2 days later you get called down to the dean. The dean asks you why you weren't there, and you can either say you didn't go, or you got called out or something and then they ask your parents. It really depends on the type of person you are. If you'd rather lie when you get in trouble or just get in trouble because you deserve to.

Deviance

This week in class, we focused on the topic of deviance. Deviance is actions or behaviors that violate cultural norms. How other people perceive our actions, and how we perceive others. I think a lot of deviance comes from where and how you're raised. For example, in class we took a survey with a list of 17 different questions, such as "walking with groceries on your head" or "a man wearing a dress" and we had to check next to it if we thought that was unacceptable. I had checked off less than four as unacceptable, because I felt that most of the things on the list were okay for people to do. I was really shocked that some people checked off more than 10 as unacceptable. There was a lot on that list. If nothing on that list is okay to do, then what is? I think I don't judge people as harshly as others because I've been judged before, like by being Jewish. I think everyones judges, but everyone is also deviant. I don't understand how we can be both, but majority of people are.

media affects us

This week in class we've been focusing on how media affects both us as individuals. I thought it was really shocking that media has stereotypes and is powerful enough that it can affect our everyday lives, and how we think about ourselves.

 I buy magazines a lot, so I know what the media prints and how they make these models and actresses and stars look. They look so fake, like fake skin and almost too skinny. I think that these pictures that magazines print attempt at making women want to buy their product so they can look just like the model, but I was really shocked to learn that it's media ads that show these images of gorgeous and almost unreal people that cause girls to have eating disorders, and low self esteem. In magazines you see like celebrities (pretty much women) being judged on like the way they dressed, or their weight, so as a girl, I start to think constantly, "do I look alright?" or "am I too fat?" The media does affect us a lot more than I used to think it did. 

Our teacher showed us a magazine where there were toys for little girls and boys. If he hadn't have pointed out that the girls were always shown playing with their toys somewhere safe (like inside a bedroom, or a living room, or a kitchen even...), and the boys playing outside (backyard, and my personal favorite: in outerspace), than I never would have noticed. But it's these little images that we see in the media that affect us when we're kids and adults. I never really thought about media in a way of being harmful to anyone, but after discussing how the media depicts women and causes all these serious problems, I know that a lot of it is harmful and kind of degrading.