Poverty in Pop

     Many songs that are popular in culture touch on many events that are happening in culture at the time. With that being said, poverty is a common subject amoung pop artist and song writers. Many celebraties have been through hardships before they reach stardom. We listened to songs that dealt with poverty. Some of these songs are "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman, "Royals" by Lorde, and "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. Many music artist sing and write about their hardships.

     How do you express your hardships? 

     Have you ever been through any hardships that have changed your life?

-ab(BAE)

Positive Deviance

     Julio Diaz was just having a normal day. He was on his way home after a long day at work and, sticking with tradition, he was going to his favorite diner to eat. As he was getting of the subway train Diaz was face to face with a mugger. The mugger demanded Diaz give him his wallet, so Diaz handed over his wallet and offered the mugger his coat. In a strange  turn of events, Diaz ended up having dinner with his mugger and ended up getting his wallet back! Julio Diaz performed an act called "positive deviance." This is where you break social norms but in a positive way. So instead of trying to fight back against the mugger Diaz stayed calm and was able to make a connection and turn a negative situation into a positive one for both him, and the mugger.

     After reading this, I was told to commit an act of positive deviance. Obviously I trying to get mugged so I could take my mugger out for a nice meal, but I was kind of stuck on what to do. Then I thought even the smallest gestures can be considered positive deviance. Something as small as complimenting someone's shoes, or giving someone a hug can work. Random acts of kindness can brighten anyone's day, including the person committing the act. I love to compliment people. Seeing their faces light up at such a simple statement can really make their day and change their moods.

     Random acts of kindness are qualified as deviance because they are unexpected, and not the societal norm. Most people just keep to themselves and do what they need to do. But stopping every once in a while to make someone's day is a bit unexpected but always appreciated. Although society says that if you break these social norms, you are a deviant, in these cases being a "deviant" is a good thing. Even though you are going against the norms you are positively influencing the community and making an impact on someone.

-ab(BAE)  

Is Violence Glorified?

     In class today, my teacher asked us if we, as honors students, believe our society is "Violent." The answers amongst my peers were mixed. Some thought that our society is violent, some thought it wasn't, and some thought about comparing two different nations and comparing the violence rates of both and finding out that way.

     One of my classmates, who though or society is violent, brought up that almost every movies that was nominated at the Oscars were violent movies. In fact, the night's two big winners, The Revenant and Mad Max: Fury Road, are know as action/violent films. On top of winning multiple awards, they grossed big bucks at the box office.

     In fact, if you were to look up, the most popular movies of all time, a good number of them would be action flicks. Television is the same way. There are shows like American Horror Story, Law and Order: SVU, and Criminal Minds, that make violence, crime and murder "Glorified." These shows are some of the most viewed shows on television.

     When people watch these shows, and movies, do they get a false aspect of Crime and Punishment?

     Do these shows and movies show an accurate portrayal of Crime and Punishment?

     Is violence Glorified, in our opinion?

-ab(BAE) 

    

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)