Response Paper #3

Response Paper #3

            Although I was sick in bed with a stomach virus this week, I was still able to be exposed to some definite media.  On Friday I went to work, so I only listened to my IPod on the way to work.   When I got to work, the only media I was exposed to was the internet.  Then that night, I went out to the movies to see Straw Dogs.  I came home and got into bed; my fiancé put on the TV to help us fall asleep and that was all.  Then on Saturday, I ran errands with my fiancé.  We had the radio on in the car, but we weren’t really paying attention to it.  You could say that we were exposed to billboard advertisements more so.  I then went over to my Mom’s house and ended up watching old episodes of Friends and Criminal Minds with her.  I then went home and the same thing happened as the night before; my fiancé and I put on the TV to go to sleep and that was all. 

            All of this media around us socializes us as human beings by “showing” us what is “normal” and the right way to act and do things.  This is the process of socialization.   Without the outside influences of media, we would have no idea what was popular or likeable, and we would just look/act/do what we wanted to for ourselves.  We begin socialization at our birth.  We learn through our parents, family, media, friends, daily life, and everything else around us.  This shapes who we are, what we believe, what we like, and what we do until we are old enough to decide for ourselves.  Even then the influence of society still wears on us.  Even advertisements tell us what we “should” buy and like.  There is no escaping the influence of mass media on your daily life. 

            The norms and values of society are all connected within socialization.  Norms are standards of behavior maintained by a society.  They also “show” what are normal things and proper.   Norms are widespread throughout a culture.  Values are collective conceptions of what is considered “good” or “bad” within a society.  These shape who are as a people.  Many different cultures value different things.  Example, we eat cows while other cultures the cow is the God and worshipped.  Some may think what others believe is strange, but to every culture there are always norms and values. 

            These shows that I watched are about moral “goodness” and they reflect the values of society.  Obviously a show like Criminal Minds is going to penalize robbers and murderers, and put the heroes on a pedestal.  They portray these values of America.  These should obviously be norms as well for our society, but there are always exceptions to every rule.  The movie I saw also valued the hero; the bad guys lose out in the end.  The same thing goes with the news; most of what you read is all negative about crime and whatnot. 

            Our culture really embraces and values the hero.  Mass media really proves this time and time again; our culture does not like the bad guy.  Socialization teaches us what laws there are, and how to properly behave in society.  It is integrated into our lives from the minute we are born; it is something we can never escape.  Without ever realizing it, we are exposed to thousands of ads a day.  There is never a free moment from mass media.

Response Paper #2

Response Paper #2

            Culture shock is something that most people have experienced at least once in their life.  It is realizing that you are experiencing someone else’s culture rather than your own.     It could be as simple as going to a new ethnic restaurant, going on a vacation to a different place, or simply talking with someone or a group of people from a different culture than your own.  Some people act surprised, some act upset or confused, and some people act very intrigued and embracing.  People may feel many different ways when confronted with a completely different way of life. 

            I myself experienced culture shock when I went on a few different vacations.  I had a lot of the same experiences, so I am grouping them into one.  The times that I experienced the most sense of “culture shock” was on vacation to St. Thomas, the Bahamas, and on a cruise to Mexico.  There were many different things I observed while on my trips.  One very noticeable and remember able things was the environment.  While traveling through the land of each of the places I went to, there were definite sights to take in and experience.  These places are so beautiful, yet there were some very impoverished areas; it is quite an ironic thing to me.  The language isn’t so much an issue as the language there was English; it was the accents that were very thick and hard to understand at times.  There are always some barriers when traveling to other places. 

            The people there were very touchy-feely and got very close to others.  They have no problem being in other people’s “personal space”. Here in America we value the space around us to be comfortable and relaxing; being in someone’s personal space usually makes people feel very uncomfortable and on edge.  Although everyone in the main tourist places are very friendly and feeding into that tourism aspect of the culture, the main culture is definitely a close, in your space one. It is just their way of living and how they handle everything that comes their way.

            In dealing with ethnocentrism while I was there, I realized what I thought I would never do.  Most people in the United States believe that it is the greatest nation on earth.  When you go somewhere outside of the US, you start to believe this more so.  You start to miss where you are from, and the comforts of being from America.  While some practices in America may be completely acceptable, they may not be in another culture, and vice versa.  You have to learn to accept the area that you are in, the people from there, and the culture that comes from the area.

            I learned to be more accepting and understanding of other’s cultures.  I also learned that you definitely cannot judge a book by its cover, or in this case cultural stigmas; you will surely miss out.  You may be nervous to try something, or think that something is totally crazy, but how will you know you don’t care for it if you don’t try it?  People tend to get so caught up in the normalcy of their lives. While we are out of our comfort zone, it is the perfect opportunity to try something new.   You can’t always look at other’s believing that your culture is the best.  In turn, I believe that we all need to be more embracing of other’s ways of life. 

Response Paper #1

Response Paper #1

            After reading Chapter 1 and 2 of the text, Sociology: A Brief Introduction, I anticipate taking a couple of things and applying them realistically to my life.  I anticipate being able to see through other people’s shoes better.  Gaining a better understanding of others will, in the long run, be quite beneficial.  By doing so, I will hopefully be able to predict risky communicating situations and avoid them.  To be able to learn how people act, why they act a certain way, and recognize it is a very powerful thing. 

            I also anticipate that perhaps other people will be able to avoid these situations as well.  One can only put their faith into other people so much, but I’d like to think that other people are as understanding of other’s cultures.  I hope the knowledge that is learned by our class is then shared with others.  If our class and all the other classes learning can share a bit with their peers, then perhaps some of the knowledge will be shared on a larger scale, and others would learn more from it.   If only everyone did this, then maybe we would be a more understanding and thoughtful culture. 

            I took Sociology a couple of years ago; although I can’t remember all that came from it, I do remember one major assignment.  We had to create some sort of public “mayhem” and record how those around us reacted.  My group decided to perform a little “work out/dance class” in the middle of a mall (far away from our home town might I add).  The idea of this was to see how people reacted, and perhaps why they did so.  It was quite interesting to see how different age groups and people from different ethnicities reacted.  It was mostly younger people who were “in” on the joke; most of the older people just sat and were looking awkwardly at us, or ignoring us completely.  It was a different way to look at sociology and experience it. 

            When looking at the different sociologists and their theories, I anticipate taking the most from two different sociologists.  Charles Cooley is the first one that I agree with.    His theories believe in looking at smaller groups, the face to face interactions, and how they interact in their own personal environments. I agree because these smaller groups really do shape who you are, what you believe in, what you like/prefer, and much more.  It is the influence from these smaller groups that do so.  I also truly agree with C. Wright Mills in his theories in regards to the “sociological imagination”.  I believe that the individual has a place in the larger realm of society.  In looking at the individual and how they fit into the larger part or society, it allows us to “realize” or roles.  I think everyone should view their society with an outsider’s view rather than their own view from the inside.  It would allow others to be more understanding of other’s societies, instead of just thinking about our own. 

            Overall, I anticipate meeting new people, learning about them and their experiences, learning about different cultures, and being able to apply what I’ve learned to a larger scale.  In doing so, I believe it will prove to be successful in both my education and career development.  Sociology is definitely something that should be learned and shared by all to make the world a better and more considerate place.