SOC 100 - Sociology of Education Assignment

This was a fun assignment. I used Powerpoint 2010 and then converted the PP to a video file. The first wmv video I made was too big so I converted that one to mp4 which turned out great. I got a 45/45 on this and could have done a better job, but the initial video conversion took my poor laptop about 6 hours to make, so I didn't go back and fix my mistakes. I got a very good grade though. So here's the assignment: For your assignment select at least two countries not mentioned in the text or on the video and develop a slide presentation illustrating one of the three sociological perspectives mentioned in the text. In other words you would use the significant concepts (constructs) the perspective you choose and explain how these concepts and perspective could impact test scores. 

SOC 100 - Discussion Posts Day One

The next assignment we had in our Sociology 100 class was a discussion post. It was series of five posts answering some questions about a video we saw. The video is "Children of the Plains" and was a 20/20 special on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. A very good 20/20 video. Here is the link and I reccommend it:
http://abc.go.com/watch/2020/SH559026/VD55148316/2020-1014-children-of-the-plains
Day one:  How do the six myths and reality play out in this video? The six myths come from the textbook and I didn't quite get all of them.

Here's my post:

The first myth I see played out in this video is the myth of pure races. As we read in our text, this is myth. The video portrays the Lakota here as being unlike any other people. In our text it states that even though we have many visible differences, we humans are strikingly very homogeneous (same or similar nature). The second myth I see from our text is the myth of fixed number of races and I don’t see this played out in the video other than there are just two large groupings of people mentioned and that’s, Indian and White.  Either you’re Indian or White, but I don’t believe that’s the real message they intend, but I think that’s all that is mentioned.  I think this video shows a good deal about the culture of the Lakota and this breaks the myth that race is fixed by biology. As stated in our text, “race” depends more on the society in which we live than on biological characteristics.  I particularly like the powwow scenes and the dress of the dancers in this video.  Probably the biggest one that stands out for me is the myth of racial superiority. When the video told of how in as late as the 1940’s these Lakota children were being sent to western schools and sent there to be westernized, that myth just popped out. The federal government believed that they (Lakota) had to be westernized as if the Lakota were inferior. The children had their hair cut, and their clothes changed.
The reality is that no race is superior and even biologists can’t decide how people should be classified into races. People act on beliefs and not always the facts. Alcoholism and drug abused was shown in the video, but the fact is these problems plaque all people. I don’t think it was the intent of the video to suggest it’s only a problem on the reservation, but I can see how some people may get the idea that it’s because of race that it’s such a problem there. As the book said, people will act on perceptions and beliefs, not facts.

SOC 100 - Test Over Chapters 4 & 5

Okay this is the first test. I was looking forward to it and now that it's graded I'm kinda disappointed. The last answer I thought was good, but the professor didn't. I had a couple of small errors in the test just because I was in a hurry to get it done. I was going to a retreat in upper South Dakota and was really looking forward to that. The biggest error I had was Roosevelts name. It was Franklin and not Theodore that started the March of Dimes. So here it is. I got an 87%.

Introduction to Sociology

Soc 100

Test over Chapters four and five

Answer all five questions as completely as possible.  Yes, you may use your text, the internet, and any notes you may have taken from the video lectures.  Each question’s answer is worth 20 points each.  It is due 5:00 Friday October 14, 2011.

Erving Goffman introduced the idea that in everyday life we perform our assigned roles, and maintained that our social life was like a drama enacted on a stage. Discuss his approach to the study of everyday life.  Include in your discussion his ideas of front and back stage, as well as impression management.  Describe a major characteristic of your front stage and a major characteristic of your back state.  What is your favorite way of impression management?

Answer: Erving Goffman introduced the term dramaturgy into sociology to show how life is like a play. Goffman said that when we are born we are put on stage and though out our life we act. We have ideas on how we want others to think of us and we act on those ideas. This is what he called impression management.  Every day we are playing our roles and he divided them into two parts, front stage and back stage. Front stage is where we deliver our lines (a major characteristic of front stage) and when we are in front of people. If I were giving a speech to a class, that is considered front stage. Back stage is where we can relax (a characteristic of back stage) as if no one is watching. When we are alone and in our rooms is backstage.  One of my favorite ways of impression management is while working I dress in a company shirt and nice pants. No tennis shoes or blue jeans are allowed. My clients must see me as a professional. I also use a more professional language when around clients and I don’t use slang terms.

Define role strain and role conflict. Give an example of role strain that you might experience as a college student and an example of role conflict that you have experienced.

Answer: We have many roles.  We may be a son, daughter, father, mother, student, business owner, employee, or club member and so on. Sometimes two of our roles may have a conflict. I’m leaving for a retreat this weekend with my girlfriend, but at the same time I have this test due on Friday. There’s a role conflict between my role as a student and my role as a boyfriend. This will require some management on my part. I’ll need to make sure I have time to prepare to leave and also make sure my test paper is done and uploaded. A role strain is a conflict within a role, not between two roles. An example is with my role as a technician.  When I visit offices to fix problems with their equipment I want to be helpful and explain what went wrong or what they did wrong, but at the same time I don’t want them to feel bad. An example of a role strain as a college student may be that in a classroom I might know the answer to a question, but be hesitant to raise my hand in fear of making my fellow students look bad.

Apply functional analysis to "Mass Media in Social Life, You Can't be Thin Enough: Body Images and the Mass Media." How is the extreme emphasis on attaining a nearly impossible standard of body shape both functional and dysfunctional?

Answer: The functionalist approach to analyzing this article is seen within the article. Functional analysis will consider the large scale features of social life (macrosociology), such as social class. Thinness is associated with “good-looking”, and according to the research thin people make more money which raises their social class. Also, thin women are more likely to marry wealthier men. The extreme emphasis on body shape can be functional because it serves to motivate people to eat better, be healthier and to exercise. While at the same time it can be dysfunctional because not everyone has the access to good diet and gyms. These people are left out and looked upon differently through no fault of their own.

Compare and contrast the traditional society with the nontraditional society in reference to production, relationships, and evaluations of each system.

Answer: Production in traditional societies is less because there is less need for it. Importance is placed on personal relationships and not on material things.  In contrast, a nontraditional society people will consume more and the production is higher.  Nontraditional societies place more importance on self-interest and material things and people’s lives don’t center on family and friends as in a traditional society.  A traditional society is a close knit community; more importance is focused on family, lifelong friendships and long term relationships. There’s less need for long term relationships in a nontraditional society because things move faster and there’s less time to develop those close personal ties. In a nontraditional society much of our time is spent with strangers and short-time acquaintances. Both types of societies have advantages and disadvantages. An advantage in a traditional society is that everyone knows what they are expected to do and does it. One disadvantage though is that a traditional society is slow to change when new technologies are introduced. An example is the farming equipment of the Amish. A nontraditional society accepts change faster and invents new technologies allowing diversity among people, but at the same time it creates new problems associated with progress. An example is industrialization and the pollution it causes.

How do bureaucracies perpetuate themselves through goal displacement?  Provide an example of  a bureaucracy that used goal displacement and how they did it.

I think he was dead in the 1930’s as he was shot and killed in 1919.

Answer: Goal displacement is adopting new goals once the main objective is completed. This allows the bureaucracy to continue. A good example of this is with the March of Dimes, originally founded by Theodore Roosevelt in the 1930’s to find a cure for polio. Once the vaccine was found in the 1950’s they didn’t claim victory and close the doors, but instead found a new cause to pursue. This allowed them to continue and today the March of Dimes fights for the health of babies and against birth defects.