Deviance

DEVIANCE

     What is deviance?

     Deviance is how someone would describe a person that does bad things. But, what is classified as bad? The definition of deviance can change depending on what the societal norms are to you. In class we learned about a tribe of people that walked around naked, chewed on tobacco, and wiped their noses with their hands. (When pointing out that their hands were dirty, the people of the tribe would spit in their hands then wipe the dirt in their hair).

     When hearing about this, my class was appalled! When my teacher asked us if these people were deviants, we immediately answered yes! But then I started to think, "What would they think of someone like me?" I'm a teenage girl with long, curly hair, freckles, and no piercings/tattoos. They would probably think I was a deviant. Then the conversation got more interesting.

     My class took a deviance quiz. We were asked several questions, such as:

          Do you drink/smoke? If so, how much? 

          Do you have piercings/tattoos?

          Have you ever driven over the speed limit or gotten a ticket?

     Some of these things I would not consider deviance, but by the definition of deviance, if you go 5 miles per hour over the speed limit, you are breaking the law, therefore, you are a deviant.

     By this definition, I am a deviant. I have gone over the speed limit, I have cheated on a test, I have lied to my parents- but are these really considered acts of deviance in our society?

     With this in mind, would you consider yourself a deviant? Why or why not?

-ab(BAE)

Gender Identity

Gender Identity

     Many people in society think that "gender" and "sex" are the same thing. In reality, they are far from being the same. "Sex" is based ones anatomy, while "gender" is how one identifies. This basically means, you could be a girl, and have all physical features of a girl, but in your mind you think of yourself as a boy.

     In my sociology class we watched a video of small children answering questions about gender.

           "Are you a boy or girl?"

           "Does the boy doll or girl doll make more money?"

           "Who likes to clean the house: the girl doll or boy doll?"

    So on and so forth. While watching I could tell that the clip was dated. During the whole clip, I kept thinking to myself, "if they asked the same questions to kids today, the answers would be completely different."

     I see many news stories of young twins, and one twin identifies with the opposite gender. This is becoming more of a societal norm. There is even a TV show about a transgender 14 year old, who was born a boy, but ever since he was little he wore dresses and wanted to be a girl. Instead of fighting with the child, his parents allowed the child to get a sex change, to feel more comfortable. Now she is happier than ever.

     I believe that our society is made up of more forward thinking citizens, and I think, soon, it will not matter if you are male, female, or transgendered. The gender stereotypes are fading into the background and will soon be gone forever.

    

     What do you all think of gender stereotypes? Will they last or disappear completely?

-ab(BAE)

Self-Concept

Self-Concept

     Self-Concept is the way a person views themselves. Some people's self-concept is much higher than others. Any little thing can boost your concept or tear it down. For instance, everyday when I walk into my Trig/Pre-Calc class, my confidence in immediately lowered by 60%. That class has a way of making me feel 50 shades of stupid- 48 shades I didn't even know existed.

     On the other hand, today at my lunch table, my friend decided to run his fingers through my hair and then tell me how amazing and luscious my hair is. The confidence in myself I lost during Trig was regained because so one random compliment. Along with multiple friends saying that I could get through the horror of trig and assuring me everything was going to be ok, by the end of the school day I was almost back to my 100% self-concept.

     Simple acts can help boost anyone's confidence and can turn someone's whole day around. I challenge anyone who reads this blog post to do/say something nice to help build up someone else's self-concept. Who knows, it may boost your own too!

-ab(BAE)

Cultural Lag

     The other day, in class, my sociology teacher brought up cultural lag. Even though we live in a very advanced society full on new technology, we still experience cultural lag. The reason why schools take a summer break is because, when Earth was made up of mostly farmers and people had to farm in order to survive, children would take the summer months off of school to help harvest the fields.

      To hear him say this it made me think that children have not helped harvest fields for hundreds of years. So it raises the question, should all schools switch to year round school?

     As someone who has never had year-round school, it is hard for me to think about if I would enjoy it or not. I think I wouldn't because even though you get breaks through out the school year, it is nice to know that I will have a whole 3 months away from school and not 1-2 weeks.

     I know that after my classmates and myself come back from a 2 week long holiday break, we are virtually zombies, walking around school for the first week back. I think if we had year round school and had random breaks every 6 weeks, students would constantly be in that groggy phase after a 2 week break.

    With a whole 3 month break, students get the rest they need and by the end of the break, students look forward to coming back to school.

     What do you all think? Which would you prefer?

-ab(BAE)