Culture Shock!

In class we watched a movie called, "God Grew Tired Of Us." It was really interesting to see how big of a culture shock the Lost Boys of Sudan had when the first entered the United States. They had to learn how to use the grocery store, use electricity, and many other things that people who live in the United States know how to do. People all over the world have different ways of talking, eating, celebrating, etc. It is our culture that makes us who we are. Now, although I didn't experienced such a culture shock as the Lost Boys because I haven't ever left the country, I know someone who has, my dad. My dad came to the United States when he was twenty. He was born and raised in Scotland, and right away, my dad experienced culture shock. Things such a driving on the other side of the road took a long time to get use to. He told me a story once about a time that he was driving on the wrong side of the road very late at night (so no one was endangered in anyway), and was pulled over by a cop. Once my dad explained his story, the cop just laughed and sent him on his way. It was one of the many things he had to get use to. Culture is everywhere. Everything we do is part of our culture, and everything we do isn't part of someone else's culture. It is the experience of someone else's culture that gives us this culture shock!

Ingroups and Outgroups : A Bronx Tale

This week in class we learned about ingroups and outgroups. These groups are pretty self explanatory. My ingroups are the groups that I am in. Outgroups are the groups that are not part of my group. It is really interesting to see all of the groups that I am not apart of, and how many groups I am apart of. I am a girl, at my specific high school, on the basketball team, and in many others. Also in class we watched a movie called, A Bronx Tale. I could see the ingroups and outgroups in that movie and it was also very apparent that many people didn't like the people that weren't in their ingroups. The main character, C, had many different ingroups. For example, he was white and Italian, he had his family, his friends, and the gangsters. The white people who lived in C's neighborhood didn't like the black people that lived in the next neighborhood. C's dad also didn't like Sonny, the "leader" of the gangsters. C's friends didn't like the  girl he likes' brother. That is how some people react to people who are in other outgroups. I think in the movie, C's master status, which is the main ingroup that he belongs to, changed. It started out as being a son to his mother and father. As he grew older, and started to hang more with Sonny than with his own family, he began to be a friend to Sonny. My master status has changed just like C's did. At first, I was only a daughter and a sister. As my life went on and I started to play sports, I realized that basketball player and teammate was my master status. Basketball is a huge part of my life and will take me to college, and many people know me for that. All around us are our ingroups and outgroups and as our lives go on, we become part of more groups, lose others, and possibly change our master status more than once.  

Abandon Ship!

In class this week, we had a very exciting schedule. Earlier in the week, we did an activity called, Abandon Ship, which helped us see the different ways sociologists study in small groups and larger groups. The smaller scale is called the micro level. On this level, the sociologists study the ways people act within a small group and how people act in face-to-face situations. The larger scale is called the macro level and on this level, sociologists study and look at the larger groups that influence an individual. While doing our Abandon Ship activity, it was easy to see how our macro and micro levels come into play. When deciding who to kick off the boat, it was obvious there were some people who knew that they were one of the people who weren't healthy. They either sat in the back and tried to go unnoticed, or when their name came up, they immediately tried to shift the topic of conversation to someone else. The people who knew that they were safe, like myself, began to talk and help out without worry of being noticed and kicked out. I was the Peace Corps Volunteer and someone had said, "We need to keep the Peace Corps Volunteer, because they are always nice people." After I heard that, I felt like it was easier for me to be more vocal, knowing I wasn't going to be kicked off. I tried to become more of a leader, while others decided to sit back and try not to be seen. It is the way our group interacted with each other which was the micro level of sociology seen in this activity. Later in the week, we got to experience Odyssey, which also showed the different levels of sociology. When I got to go and see the Faculty Rock Band, I noticed that all of the students were sitting in their seats, not really enjoying the performance. No matter how many times the band members said that we should stand up and dance, no one would do it. Us, as the group labeled Teenagers, decided that it wasn't the "cool" thing to do. The macro level of sociology showed because it is all of the other teenager's opinions, and ways that we have decided what is cool and what is not, that kept us in our seats the entire show. This whole week, it has been easy to see the macro and micro levels that sociologists study and how the large groups we are apart of, as well as the small groups we are apart of, affect us. 

Parent-Teen Conflicts

During this week, it was really interesting to continue learning about sociological imagination, as well as learn new things such as some of the reasons for parent-teen conflicts in today's society. While watching the pilot episode of Freaks and Geeks, we noticed the sociological imagination that is experienced in high schools. It was very obvious that the characters, such as Lindsay, were affected by society. Society really changed who she was because it wasn't "acceptable" to be a mathlete so, she tried to fit into the "cool" crowd and in the end realized that she was just conforming into something she wasn't. Later in the week, we read an article about putting parent-teen conflicts into perspective. While I read this article, I realized there was a huge connection to my own life, and realized how relevant it is to our generation. My dad always tells me stories about how when he was my age he had a job and he worked around the house, and for most of the time, had to provide a lot for himself. I could never imagine being as independent as he was, and having a job like he did. It is the differences in our generation that creates this conflict between us. Not because my dad likes to argue with me. It is because we both grew up in different times, with different expectations of society.