Blog Post 5

The solution that I most saw to this problem was to change the school system. After reading several excerpts from "Savage Inequalities" by Jonathan Kozol, I began to more understand how this cycle of poverty works and how it affects children and families of color. 

“It, is a matter of national pride that every child's ship be kept afloat.  Otherwise our nation would be subject to the charge that we deny poor chil­dren public school.  But what is now encompassed by the one word ('school") are two very different kinds of institutions that, in function, finance and inten­tion, serve entirely different roles.  Both are needed for our nation’s governance.  But children in one set of schools are educated to be governors; children in the other set of schools are trained for being governed.  The former are given the imaginative range to mobilize ideas for economic growth; the latter are pro­vided with the discipline to do the narrow tasks the first group will prescribe.
Societies cannot be all generals, no soldiers.  But, by our schooling pat­terns, we assure that soldiers' children are more likely to be soldiers and that the offspring of the generals will have at least the option to be generals.  If this is not so, if it is just a matter of the difficulty of assuring perfect fairness, why does the unfairness never benefit the children of the poor?”

Children who grow up in lower socioeconomic classes have very little opportunity to rise from that. Our education system is designed to help those with privilege advance and keep those who are less fortunate in their respective place. Being a student at Payton where we have access to so many resources and tools to help us achieve the highest level of success, it is not something that has even crossed my mind. That helped me decide to want to contact the U.S. Department of Education as well as volunteer at my local elementary school to help educate kids about their options and the importance of education. 

Blog Post 4- South Africa Post Apartheid and How this Relates to the US

Most of South Africa's problems were blamed on the Apartheid system, and introducing a new democratic government with Nelson Mandela as the president would help take care of the racial conflict that plagued South Africa. The results were not as great as everyone hoped they would be. South Africa had experienced a spike in population post apartheid, but the income inequality grew instead of shrank. The black population had a very slight increase in income, but the white population had a more significant increase in income. The asian population had a huge spike after Mandela stepped down as president, and the mixed race only slightly increased its wage. Blacks made up 79.2% of the country’s 51.8 million people, according to the 2011 census, up from 77.4% in 1996; whites were 8.9% of the population, down from 11% in 1996. There were more black leaders and black individuals in positions of power post-Apartheid, but the racial socioeconomic gap was still as big as ever. This then made me question what hope the USA has in decreasing the socioeconomic gap between races, as we have never even experienced apartheid. After slavery was abolished everything seemed well, and we as a country choose to only briefly speak about slavery in our history classes, but the long term effects of slavery are still in effect. Just like the articles in class that we read about how the war on drugs is like the new Jim Crowe, we are still experiencing racism that is cleverly covered up by our government.

Blog Post 3

The use of race as a tool for certain groups to take control of others is also explained by both the conflict and functionalist perspectives. The social conflict approach suggests that people separate themselves into opposing groups, one representing the advantaged and the other the disadvantaged. Race is often used as a factor for separation, which leads to the exploitation and dehumanization of certain races. This then carries on into the way our society behaves towards a race and how a certain race is treated. Race is a source of identity, which is why behavior and meaning of interactions changes depending on the race of the individual we are interacting with. Something that is related to race is dialect, which is a major influence on how people perceive you and interact with you. Obviously there will always be inequality, and in order for certain groups to feel advantaged and gain power, they must bring other groups down. During the age of colonization, Europeans called black Africans "humans in the rough" and believed it was their job to bring them to the same level as Europe. Because of this, they took advantage of the natives and used them for work and resources to better themselves, while justifying their actions through colonization and "improving" the country.

Blog Post 2

The next step of my project was to learn more about race and how different societies treat the issue of race. I began learning about this idea of race being socially constructed a little earlier then when we started talking about it in class. I am a middle class white girl and I recognize that I am very privileged, and I've never really thought about race that far. It really struck me as interesting that nobody is really born into a race, you're born with physical features that resemble your background, and then you are socialized into behaving a certain way. There is no biological feature that deems how you behave or what your personality is, and race is simply a hierarchal manner that allows certain groups to take control of others. This also correlated with what we were learning in class, because as we were learning about agents of socialization I was researching how we learn about race. Different agents of socialization act to influence children about race, and the way media portrays the issue of race affects how children view and act. When every Asian on TV is portrayed as being a genius and every black person is less educated, children believe that they will fill those roles. This once again goes back to the idea that we are not born with these personality traits, our society has established that certain characteristics are associated with each race and we grow up to believe that they are true.

Blog Post 1

The beginning of this project was inspired by my trip to South Africa, and the contrasting levels of poverty that I saw between neighborhoods. Growing up in Chicago, I see differences in socioeconomic status all the time while traveling between neighborhoods. But nothing I've seen in
chicago compared to what i was witnessing in South Africa. Multi-million dollar homes with huge electric fences around them were blocks away from neighborhoods that lived in metal shacks with no plumbing or electricity. The fact that such wealthy people could live right next to people suffering from poverty and not even blink an eye was really was struck me and made me more interested in the problem. Upon research, I wasn't surprised to learn that most of the higher income individuals were white and a majority of the people living in poverty were colored. This is what inspired me to learn more about the issue of race and how it plays into economic status and life in society.

Unit 2 Blog Post

1. How is gender socially constructed and what effect does this have?

According to the “Doing Gender” article by Candance West and Don H Zimmerman, there is a difference between sex and gender, and “gender is a powerful ideological device, which produces, reproduces, and legitimates the choices and limits that are predicated on sex category” (181). Because of this ideological device that is gender, people feel the need to fit the roles that that gender upholds in society. Our sex is predetermined at birth, and has biological traits associated with it, but gender is fluid and “... not a set of traits, nor a variable, nor a role, but the product of social doings” (176). Because gender is essentially a performance that helps us interact with others, anyone who does not fit these gender roles is automatically excluded, and that leads to things such as racism and sexism, according to “Masculinity as Homophobia”. Because of these gender roles, we are conditioned to believe we have a certain place in society, and we must act a certain way. The book “Im Glad Im a Boy, Im Glad Im a Girl”, demonstrates the roles that we are conditioned to fulfill, from the early stages of childhood. This norm in our society then excludes people of other races, genders, and sexualities who do not conform to the basic ideologies behind each gender role.

2. How has learning about socialization and gender affected the development of your sociological imagination?

Through what we have learned about socialization and gender, I have developed a broader understanding of the difference between gender and sex, and how gender roles work to influence our lives. Because of this, I am able to understand and analyze the interactions between people and actions of individuals based on their gender roles. One of the most interesting articles we read this unit was titled “The Confidence Gap”, and it explained that although many women are overconfident and overly prepared, they do not expect raises or promotions because they have been taught that they are less qualified and less likely to earn that spot. Because of this new understanding that has added to the development of my sociological imagination, it is easier to understand the lack of representation of women in roles of power because of the gender roles working to hold them back. Another interesting article that helps put my sociological imagination to work is “TV Alters Fiji Girls View of Body”, which helps explain how we are socialized to fit gender roles through the use of media. This article and the “Im Glad Im a Boy, Im Glad Im a Girl” book both help demonstrate how we are not born thinking that we need to act in a certain way, but different agents of socialization work to condition us to want to fulfill our gender roles and put on this “act” of gender.

3.How, if at all, can problems dealing with gender stratification and gender discrimination be solved?

This is a tricky question because just as many other shifts in perspective, this takes time and not everyone can have their minds changed. According to the “Masculinity as Homophobia” article, “Peace of mind, relief from gender struggle, will come only from a politics of inclusion, not exclusion, from standing up for equality and justice, and not by running away,” which is basically a solution that avoids giving a solution. He suggests that we must fight for equality and justice, which will then spread awareness and open people’s viewpoints. Although this is true, it is much easier said than done. The main thing that will allow for change to happen is for other people to be able to develop their sociological imagination. Just as with almost anything, education is key. Once people are educated about the construction of gender roles and it’s effects on the behavior of individuals, people can not only be aware of their own actions and how they fit into gender roles, but also then pass that on to the next generation, and use their power as agents of socialization to help spread the understanding of the social construct of gender. Once again, that is easier said than done. Taking small steps such as the article about Target stopping the labeling of children’s toys and boys or girls, can help spread the idea of gender being fluid, and not predetermined at birth. With that comes the issue of protests and opposition, which puts a roadblock in the way of any progress than can be made. But just as any movement, time will help change happen, and the only thing anyone can really do is develop their own sociological imagination and then use their power as an agent of socialization to spread it to their friends, family, colleagues, etc.

Project Topic Questions

My topic is based on the huge socioeconomic gap in South Africa, and the crime rates that follow the gap. I chose this topic because my trip to South Africa was really eye opening, and was the first time I ever really experienced the socioeconomic gap and blatant racism. I will be working alone. I will be focusing on what is the social construct of race and why does it happen? How is the social construct of race different in America vs South Africa? What incentives cause people to commit theft? How does the symbolic interactionist approach to sociology explain the gap, and how does that then lead to the conflict and functionalist approach? How does the social construct of race create socioeconomic gaps, and why is nothing done about it?

Obviously I still have more questions to ask, but so far this is what I have had on my mind and started doing research on. I definitely want to focus on race and the socioeconomic gap in South Africa, but my questions and primary focus and completely change as I continue doing research.