Social Class and Poverty

For the past week in class we focused on social classes, and we discussed poverty. Living in a generally privileged and wealthy area, it is easy to get a misconception of what is poverty and the kinds of people that face poverty. Based on the activities in class and watching the beginning of 30 days, I realized that it is very difficult to be poor. It requires lot of sacrifices of luxury and sometimes necessities. Also, it is extremely difficult to get out of the poverty level. As we saw through our "life happens" activity in class, small obstacles create major setbacks in savings for those living in poverty. It does indeed seem that "the poor and getting poorer". However, what I was exposed to in class sometimes contradicts with my own experiences. My parents immigrated to the US when I was two years old. They were poor, they had very little money, and they didn't even know the language! How were my parents and the rest of my family able to achieve the success and position they are in today? Maybe it was the connections and supports of the Russian community that pushed them up in social class and wealth. It's just that from class I learned that getting out of poverty takes more than will power. It requires a lot of assistance from others and LUCK. However, from my family I learned that with the right goals and work ethic. you can achieve anything.

Positive Deviance

I am friendly with my neighbors. I say 'hi' to them whenever I see them and occasionally chat. We even exchange gifts during the holidays. However, other than that, my relationship with my neighbors doesn't go much farther than that. I feel that it is the norm not to know anything about the people who live next door to you.

For my positive deviance assignment, I bought some cheesecake, knocked on my neighbor's door, and gave it to them. I felt nervous before doing this; it's a little odd and kinda sketchy just giving your neighbor food for no reason at all. It fact, when I told my parents what I was planning to do, they told me that my neighbors where going to think that I'm crazy. But when I finally knocked on their door, my neighbor opened it, and she was very excited that I came by. She happily accepted the cheesecake and then asked me about where I was going to college. I was really glad this assignment led me to do that. While I do now talk to my neighbors often, I know that they are very nice people, and I was happy that I could surprise them with something sweet.

eight

This week in class we studied gender roles and how society constructs them. When I think of gender roles, I think of the 50's and shows like "Leave it to Beaver" where the roles of men and women are obviously stated. The woman was supposed to be a perfect housewife, care for the husband and children, and "stay in the kitchen", while the man was supposed to be rough and tough and be in charge. However, I feel that now gender roles are not as directly stated as they used to be. Through the movie that we saw in class, I realized how much the media develops gender without having to say "A boy or a girl should...".

One thing that was mentioned in class how gender is determined by what classes you take at school. I thought it was funny, because I have experienced this. Throughout high school I have taken multiple art classes, and although there is always a few exceptions, there was always a large majority of girls in the class. On the other hand, when I took classes like graphic arts of web media, the classes were mainly make up of boys. In fact, I was one of only two girls in web design. I guess this is displays a stereotype of gender where girls should take art classes because they are more emotional and can make this deep emotional art, while boys take more design based classes where they are smart enough to work computers and printing machines. This is obviously not true, and both boys and girls should be able to take either type of class without having to feel like they are going against their gender.

Seven (Blog 9)

This week in class we talked about different socializing agents, such as family, friends, and neighborhoods, and how the society we live in shapes who we are. One of the biggest socializing agents, especially for teenagers, is friends. I would agree that my fiends and the people that I choose to surround myself with are a huge influence on who I am. Whether I realize it or not, I constantly take on the qualities from my friends. Obviously, the reason that I became friends with certain people is because I like them so, it seems natural that I would take aspects that I admire in my friends and mimic them in myself. It can come from something as simple as music or fashion. I can tell that when I hang out with friends that dress more casual, I am more likely to wear sweatpants, while when I hand out with someone that dresses up more, I will definitely step it up in my style. Apart from that, morals are the most valuable thing that rub off from your friends onto you. Truthfully, if I had friends that drank or did drugs, I would probably too. Luckily, I surround myself with people that don't. I am very happy to say that I have good friends that I enjoy being around and only influence me in good ways.

Six

The discussion that our class had this week over American values got me thinking. I noticed that a low of the values that were mentioned such as personal control over the environment, change, individuality, time, and materialism, all connected to one another.

 I want to start by saying that one thing that really struck me was the idea that America lacks tradition. Because America is obsessed with always having the next best thing and constantly trying to get ahead (both individually through material values and generally as a world power), America sees the old as negative and doesn't value traditions. Personally, my parents are relatively new immigrants to America. While I do consider myself to be "American", I grew up with a lot of Russian/Ukrainian traditions. Participation in these traditions made me feel closer to my family and more aware of who I was as a person. So maybe American's lack tradition because they don't realize how important it is?

While that maybe true, another thought came to me. There are a lot of other families throughout the country that follow their own native traditions. Maybe we just don't have a common tradition? I feel that my parents don’t try to make friends with people who are not Russian or Ukrainian. Not that that’s bad, it doesn’t help with being socially mindful though. But it is difficult to understand and empathize with people who have different traditions and backgrounds. It makes sense to connect and be close to people that are similar to yourself. Maybe that is why America lacks tradition as a whole, because we are a "salad bowl". We all individually practice our own traditions but don't have a strong common uniting force. Could that explain why we respect the individual so much? because America grew up lacking a community?

Basically, this past week really opened my eyes and made me think why American culture is the way it is.

Five

This week we learned about culture shock and how people react when they are exposed to cultures and norms that are new to them. A few summers ago, my family and I went on a road trip through Italy and a few days in Switzerland. We began by landing in Switzerland and renting a car there. When we first saw the car we thought it was really cute, and it looked small compared to the cars we were used to seeing in the US. However, the second we crossed the border into Italy we quickly realized that out car was a lot bigger than we thought it to be. In Italy most of the roads are not much bigger than sidewalks. I hear people make fun of smart cars and mopeds often when I'm at home, but in Italy they make a lot of sense. It is difficult to try to maneuver through tiny city alleyways and quick turning roads in the mountains. The automobiles and other forms of transportation used in Italy are examples of material culture. My family definitely felt a little out of place in out "small" car.

We literally almost got stuck in between the walls of an ally similar to this one.

A non-material cultural component that we had to overcome was language. It was difficult to communicate especially when we had to ask for directions. Luckily, Italians really do speak with their hands. My dad has a relative that lives in Italy, and she was telling us about common gestures. However, a memory that stood out to me was when we stopped in a really small town village overnight. The owners of the hotel we stayed at knew not a word of English, and we spent about two hours checking in. We used everything from had gestures to drawings and dictionaries to try to communicate with each other. Eventually we were able to figure out what the other was saying. The owners were a really nice old couple and made us feel welcome.

Four

The past week in class we discussed a few sociological theories and how they are used to study how society works and functions. One of the theories we learned was Max Weber's theory of symbolic interactionism. It studies sociology from a micro perspective and focuses on the use of symbols to understand the people around us. This theory reminded me of a quiz I took online recently about the table manners of different countries. I learned a lot of interesting things from the quiz. For instance, in China it is considered rude to eat everything on your plate because it means that the hostess did not give you enough food. Also, in England if there are no utensils you better eat with your hands, or it suggests to the cook that the food wasn't appetizing enough to dig into right away. In the United States no one would be offended if you asked for a fork, and eating everything on your plate is considered a compliment. The quiz really showed how in different societies symbols mean different things. If you are not used to being in a different country and not accustomed to their symbols, it is really easy to insult someone. I learned that symbols play a large part in your interactions with others.

Here's a link to the quiz. Let's see if you know your table manners.
http://www.fekids.com/img/kln/flash/DontGrossOutTheWorld.swf