Summer Endings
After a summer studying sociology, I can say that I’m excited for a summer without school for a couple weeks. Sociology has been a great summer class because in the summer (at least for me) there’s more time to think about the concepts and how they apply to your life. Many of the ideas that […]
Changing Gender Roles in Ballet
To apply the ideas of gender roles to my life, I looked at gender stereotypes and common gender roles of ballet dancers. In the age of romantic and classical ballet, women were the stars and men were there to assist the women in lifts and turns and so on. Women had to be feminine to […]
Tarzan and Kala
Whenever people start talking about race I actually dread the conversation. Not because as a white middle class female I feel guilty or awkward talking about race, but because I grew up without seeing the color of people’s skin. I mean of course I saw differing skin colors, but I, even as a child, saw […]
Drafting Epigenetics
Part I: Intro and background information Nature versus nurture, a disagreement about the relative importance of biology (“nature”) and the social environment (“nurture”) in influencing human behavior. There are two very different positions that have been engaged during this debate. One of them is the biological determinism which, contends that biology, specifically our genetic […]
Poor Conceptions
When listening to politicians speeches, you almost always hear promises and words like “freedom” and “the American dream” to get listeners engaged and excited. Americans pride themselves on freedom and patriotism and politicians know this. What is not as commonly spoken about is the economic inequality that continues to increase in this country. Sociologist Jay […]
Connect
The most obvious connections for me were through my family, school, and dance life. I had trouble thinking of the last macro level connection, and after asking my friend for help she reminded me of the connections I’ve made through my church. I think this connection wasn’t very prominent to me at first because […]
The “I” and “Me”
An argument presented by sociologist George Mead regarding the “I” and “me,” is affecting us all on a daily basis. Balancing the “I,” or spontaneous, impulsive part of yourself with the “me,” experiences from social interaction self, is what creates each individuals personality. Every choice made, creates our sense of self and pokes at […]
Power over Yourself
“At minimum you always have power over your own actions” (122). Power is a concept that binds social life together unknowingly for many people. Most people feel much less power to than power over, yet empowering ourselves daily is a constant reminder of the power we have over ourselves, if only that. In […]
26 Million by School Bus
“26 million Americans travel by school bus each day.” In episode 2, nation on the move, the transportation systems in the United States were examined. Much like the analogy to the trail, highways are the paths created by the government that everyday drivers follow. In fact, every type of transportation, from trains to planes, […]