"Shift Happens"

Changes in information processing and availability have improved our lives in a dramatic way. Even in this class we can see how much it has changed. Just a few years ago no one would have ever thought that people would be able to get a college degree in the comfort of their own home. Even online proctoring has made taking tests at home a viable option. Companies like Amazon make it so I can also order something from my phone and have it delivered the very next day. Efficient and technologically savvy, Amazon even makes the transaction cheap. Everyone in the world has become dependent on having information at the touch of their fingertips within seconds and even now people are complaining its too slow.

I do feel like this is detracting us from our lives in some way. Just as an example, going to college meant leaving your parents to grow up, meeting new friends and sharing life experiences. This is no longer the case. Many students never have to set foot in a campus. Fairfax County schools are even implementing an online program. High school is a major source of socialization, in years to come, when the vast majority of graduates have earned their dimplomas or degrees online, what will their communication skills be like? I think technology is great and although it has also helped humanity live tightly together in "megacities" it couldn't have pushed us further away from each other.

Urban/Suburban/Rural Life

I grew up with a father who was in the Air Force so we had the opportunity to move around quite a bit, although we typically found ourselves living in suburbia.  A good portion of my family, however, lives mainly in rural areas. For example, on my father's side they live in a small farming town in North Dakota.

Although I've never lived in North Dakota with my family I have spent a great deal of time there and over the last 25 years have seen a great deal of change. McCranahan and Beale theorized the "aging in place" phenomenom and in the town that my family lives this is exactly the case. The closest "big" town (a big town would be considered a town with a Walmart) is a 40 minute drive away. When I first visited the town when I was a child there were about 700 people living there. As the old got older and the young pursued education rather farming, the town slowly dwindled. The young moved to the larger cities of either Fargo, Grand Forks or Bismarck while the old slowly faded away. To this day only about 300 people live there. Most of my family moved to Fargo, since my younger cousins were now of college age. We can easily see urbanization at work even on this small scale.

Who Has the Power?

When I take a look at Democracy and the riches and freedoms it has brought America I feel proud. Democracy breeds capitalism and at the heart of capitalism is every man for himself...a dog eat dog scenario. In no other government and economy can someone rise up out of poverty to become wealthy. We've learned of course that this is not typical and most people tend to stay in the classes to which they were born into. This trend tends to keep the small wealthy group rich, the middle class stuck being "average" and the poor destined to live in poverty.  I firmly believe in C. Wright Mill's "power elite" theory where a small group of people (more than likely white males) run the economy, the government and international influence. These business and political  leaders all work together to find solutions to problems that mainly benefit them and then the people that support the infrastructure last. In theory Democracy should give power to the people but in reality the people ARE given the right to choose but usually have to choose between two people who both already reside within the power elite.

Is Walmart Good for America?

I think Walmart in it's present state is horrible for America. When Sam Walton founded the store in 1962 it was about selling American-made goods at low prices. Now Walmart has turned into a conglomerate bully by forcing its suppliers to turn to Asian manufacturers and by taking only the lowest of bids. According to our textbook Walmart has the 22nd largest economy in the world, that's higher than many European countries and most African, Middle Eastern and Latin America countries. Walmart also has low employee moral. Although Forbes marked Walmart as one of the top 100 companies to work for the employees on average take home pay of under $250 a week. This pay scale puts employees below the poverty level. Many of the employees are not allowed to work more than 32 hours to reach full-time status and to receive benefits. 

Walmart is a great example of how influential a company can get under capitalism.

Domestic Division of Labor Exercise

From my child until now the tasks in my family have changed dramatically. I was raised with my mom and dad with no siblings. When I was a child and too young to do any chores my dad was the breadwinner in the family (he worked in the Air Force) and my mom worked part-time and cared for the home and cooked and cleaned. My father's responsibility on the weekends were to maintain the house and yard. Then and up until this day my father has been responsible for paying bills and managing the finances. Once I grew older both my mother and father worked full-time. I helped by keeping the house clean after school and cooking some of the family dinners, alleviating some of the work of my mother's "second shift." At this point in time my father works full-time and my mother cares for the house. She does most of the yardwork and some of the household repairs since she no longer cares for any children or pets and is able to dedicate a good portion of her time to her religion.

I firmly believe in the division of domestic labor that work should be divided evenly between the husband and the wife. Personally I love to cook but hate to clean. I love to fix things around the house and care for the yard. Since my partner doesn't mind cleaning, I do my best to make things easier for her (ie. rinse of dishes, put things away, etc.) If my partner does not work or works part-time I would consider it lazy not to help around the house. Essentially, work hours and domestic hours should be equal between partners.

Do you think that our society, and/or the world, is secularizing, or not?

Its very difficult to measure secularization or even define religion. For me personally, I do see a secularization in our society. In fact, a decrease in religious practices can be seen in industrial societies as science, technology and rational thought evolve. However in non-industritial societies I don't believe that secularization is taking place. According to the article "Scientists suggest reason for religion's decline" Dan Margolis states "There are less religious people in America than ever, and that percentage is far higher than in many European countries." Basically the article goes on to suggest that being a member of a social group, such as political party, fraternity and even a religion comes with certain perks.  "The model indicates that in these societies the perceived utility of religious non-affiliation is greater than that of adhering to a religion, and therefore predicts continued growth of non-affiliation, tending toward the disappearance of religion."

References
Margolis, Dan. "Scientists Suggest Reason for Religion's Decline." Scientists Suggest Reason for Religion's Decline. People's World, 23 Mar. 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2012. <http://peoplesworld.org/scientists-suggest-reason-for-religion-s-decline/>.

Race and Ethnicity Topics - "Tale of Two Families"

Max is white and Byron is black, they both lived different lives but now share the same job, same salary and live in the same neighborhood. The only difference is Byron has half the net assets of Max. The "Tale of Two Families" shows that Max's family started off with financial support from his parents and a low-interest loan from a government VA loan, Byron's family struggled to scrape together $1,000 downpayment for their $6,500 house. Byron's family is treated to the lower paying jobs and confined to the poorer neighborhood while Max's family thrived in the white neighborhoods.

When you read about poverty in the textbook the weight of the issues of race inequality doesn't really hit home unless you see it in action. There's an obvious issue and although it has been getting better for the last few years since the Civil Rights movement, discrimination is in the workplace is still evident. Gender inequality in the workplace is even more prevolent and this makes it even harder for a black woman to succeed.

The Social Construction of Gender

After reading the first section I have to disagree about the role in biology in explaining the differences between males and females and gender inequality. I believe that gender socialization plays a bigger part in determining how one gender is supposed to act separate from the other. From birth most cultures cultivate the gender role within the child. Males are taught to provide for the family and women are meant to care for the family by means of taking care of household duties and raising the child. We've even seen in many cultures far from the Western influence mixed roles, especially in New Guinea where the Arapesh society showed that "both sexes were passive, gentle, unaggressive and emotionally responsive to the needs of others" and in the Mundugumor both sexes were attributed to having aggresive behavior, not just the male.

The Social Construction of Gender

After reading the section in the book about gender inequality I completely agree with the way the sociologists theorized about gender roles. In many societies of the past and present gender inequality has affected women the most. Men have almost always held "ma

Why we should care about global inequality.

There are obvious reasons why we should care about global inequality, such as lower wages in foreign countries keep costs of products cheap for us living in the higher income countries. There is, however, more important reasons to care. For the simple sake of humanity for one. People are living in less than ideal conditions, working all hours of the day, for next-to-nothing wages all so Billy can get his Nikes on sale.
I guess the ultimate question is: can there actually be global equality? Can the poor countries of Africa and Asia ever be an equal to the United States or Canada or Australia. I don't think it can. The pure definition of capitalism is "an economic system that includes private ownership of the means of production, creation of goods or services for profit or income, the accumulation of capital, competitive markets, voluntary exchange, and wage labor." Just like the upper classes of any country needs the middle to working class for wage labor the higher income countries need the lower income countries to thrive.

Exploring Social Class in the U.S.

How much do you think social class matters in the U.S. today?

After reading through the stories on the "People Like Us" page I was suprised to find someone who lived similarly to me. Karen's father was in the military and traveled around the world, she also had to change her social status which each move and she moved to Western PA and then to a VA suburb, both of which my family did too. One difference is my dad was enlisted and her dad was an officer so we didn't do country clubs in PA. I think social class matters a great deal in the U.S. today. Unfortunately I wish it didn't. Even though Karen's father moved to VA and couldn't afford to do the more expensive things they did in PA they would've still looked at my family differently because at that time my father hadn't graduated from college. Before retiring after 20 years, he finally recieved his B.S., took a job consulting at the Pentagon and moved into the upper middle class. Although he enjoys some luxuries, coming from a working class he knows what it is like and doesn't believe in giving in to social class boundaries and enjoys the company of people on all levels of the social classes.

Changing Social Connections?

Do you think Americans today are more isolated due to technology?

I'm not sure I would believe that Americans are more isolated due to technology. In fact, technology gives people the ability to communicate to those who they would otherwise lose ties with. In fact, even agoraphobics and introverts alike can maintain friendships without leaving the comfort of their home or physically engaging in social functions. There will always be people that would rather stay in on a Friday night and play with video games than hang out at a social gathering but these types of people have existed even before technology is where its at today.

The Criminal Justice System

Do you see some of the proposed solutions (such as community policing or shaming) as good ideas for dealing with crime in the U.S?

I think they proposed solutions are good ideas for other countries but would be hard to implement in the U.S. Japan, with one of the lowest crime rates in the world, have been using the shaming principle as part of their heritage. The U.S. is a melting pot of different religions, ethnicities and backgrounds and, especially in urban areas, shaming would be near impossible. I think community policing may work in the smaller communities and in more rural or suburban areas of the U.S. but I'm not sure how well it will work in the urban areas. Neighborhood Watch has been a successful program in many suburban areas in the U.S.

Nature vs. Nurture and Socialization

I agree nature is a factor in determing the evolution of human thinking but would side with the nurture side as the main ingredient. More often than not good, honest, trustworthy people come from wholesome families that have a strong influence on the individual's personal growth. Individuals who are raised in a less than great atmosphere or who are raised by their peers may be more likely to have social or violence issues. Nature will, of course, take its course and a child will turn into a man or woman with different thinking and thought processes but how that person was raised will determine the way he or she thinks.

Understanding How American Culture Looks to Outsiders

The BBC clips shows that Americans are full of themselves and create music that really has no meaning. I'm not really sure of the comedic properties of the British guy punching the American...does he hate Americans? Or does he hate American music? I would seem to think that Brits find the American culture annoying, we have so many fads in America and do so many things that irritate other countries.

The Stanford Prison Experiment

Do you think the Stanford Prison Experiment was ethical? Why or why not?

After reading about the experiment and watching the interview with Dr. Zimbardo I believe the study was ethical, but barely.  According to the doctor these students were paid and everyone was informed of the potential seriousness of the study. I think some people may consider the study unethical because of its unintended outcome. I don't think anyone expected a rebellion of the prisoners and their reaction of the guards because of this.  I think it was right for the study to end after the third day, any longer and I would consider this experiment unethical.

Week One Blog Entry: Introductions

Hi everyone! My name is Mike Finley. I'm currently pursuing the IT degree at NVCC while working full-time as a network engineer for an engineering firm in Chantilly, VA. I plan to transfer to GMU to work on my B.S. in Information Technology next spring.

This semester I’m keeping busy with my job and five online classes at NVCC. I’m taking SOC200 for two reasons. First, to obviously fill a social science elective and secondly Sociology has been a curiosity of mine for awhile now as well as psychology, which may be my next social science elective.

Other than working full-time and taking classes I still find time to get a good workout at the gym at least four days a week. I also enjoy playing with my 4 year old lab/beagle mix Sydney.

Some of my personal favorites:

　

Food:

Hamburgers

Steak

General Tso's Chicken

Tacos

　

Music:

New Found Glory

The Starting Line

Fall Out Boy

2Pac

　

TV:

How I Met Your Mother

Storage Wars

Raising Hope

All of the Sunday animation shows on Fox