Students will learn various modes of inquiry through interdisciplinary curricula—problem-posing, investigating, conceptualizing—in order to become active, self-motivated, and empowered learners.Exploration Paper
The Exploration paper is evidence of this goal because I investigated into my own life about my status of friend. The insights I gained from this assignment was that being a friend is not as easy as it seems. I feel I wrote about my status particularly well that I did a good job writing my example. I could have added more information from what I read and ananlyzed it more.
Exploration Paper
A status that I have found to be important to me is friend. To be a friend and to have at least one is a huge part of life. You can always talk to your family, but when you need to talk to someone else, you need a friend. They are there for you to and you can help them through whatever it is that they are having a problem with. Usually, you have at least one close friend. My best friend considers me a sister, and I feel the same. Without her, my status of friend would not be the same as it is now. I have changed as a person because I am a friend to others. It has taught me to care about others and want to be there if they need me to. I wanted to be the type of friend that others can rely on and trust, but I learned that it takes time to become that way because I needed to grow as a person to achieve it.
I can clearly see Berger’s ideas of externalization, internalization and objectivation in my past experiences. Externalization for the status of friendship is quite simple. My friend and I met in sixth grade. Being friends was new to us; we had to learn how it worked. Every time we spent time together or just talked, it “re-created” the friendship. Friendship is something that we constantly had to work on, and we still do. Objectivation for friendship is that it becomes a social reality. The friends begin to refer to themselves as “we”. Others understand what is meant by the word friends. Internalization is when we, as friends put time and effort into our friendship. We give each other advice and put our energy into preserving the friendship and not letting it get ruined. These concepts shed understanding on my own process of social construction because to be a friend is hard. You can be an acquaintance and not have to try to keep the friendship, but to be a friend you must keep trying and pushing to make things work. Erikson says that the status of a friend is important. In order to be one, you start from birth. What you learn from the very beginning is trust vs. mistrust. If that need is not satisfied, then you will not be able to be a friend. You need to trust and be trusted. All eight stages help with becoming the status of friend. Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt teach us to do things but have control. We can lead by example and do well. Initiative vs. Guilt ties into the stage above. Industry vs. Inferiority allows us to learn and teach what we know. Identity vs. Role Confusion is the stage where we grow and mature and learn how to be friends and more. If intimacy is fulfilled in Intimacy vs. Isolation, then we can love. In order to be with someone, you need to be their friend as well as more. Generativity vs. Stagnation and Ego Integrity vs. Despair and Disgust are two stages that I, myself, haven’t gone through, but you have the status of friend all your life. You can be a friend to a person, but you can also be a friend to a pet, because they are there for you and you at there for them. For the stages, that I have gone through, being a friend has applied to all. Coser stated that “the social origin of a person’s life comes by the pathway of intercourse with other persons”. Through intercourse with people, you become a friend to them. There is no sense of “I” without “you”, “he”, or “they”. When I speak about my friends, I say “they”, I include them in my life, and when they talk about me, and I am referred to in their stories and life.
I noticed that this status was important to me when I was in elementary school, when I was in 3rd/4th grade. People depended on me to go to birthday parties and other activities. It really became a huge thing for me when I was in high school. As you get older, you notice that most of the time you spend is with your friends. To have good relationships with people is key, and they need to be developed. High school has a lot of drama and just like everyone, I went through it. My friend and I were having problems because I thought her boyfriend was controlling and I didn’t like him. At that time, it seems like a big deal to us. She told me that I was supposed to stay her friend and support her and I disagreed. Her telling me that, made me think of what kind of friend I wanted to be. It was important for me to be a friend, and I struggled trying to find where I could be and be happy with it. I cared about her a lot, we talked about everything and I didn’t want to lose her. After a good period of time, I made a decision. I would let her do what she wanted but if she wanted to talk about something. That decision really changed my outlook on how to be a friend. It was important for me to be happy, but I began to understand that she needed to be happy too. That decision was hard for me, and every time we hung out together, it got easier and easier to be the type of friend that both her and I needed.
The current role of friend is still developing. It is currently problematic because it is still developing. It has setbacks such as when friends fight; it puts stress on the friendship and makes it feel like it was a waste of time. These fights will always occur, so the status will always be problematic. It is also problematic because to be a friend, you are expected to act a certain way. Society has made it that to be a friend to someone, you must do things a certain way. For example, for me, being a women and a friend to a different girl; it is expected that I am not allowed to go out with my friend’s ex-boyfriend. Theses things are unwritten and you are expected to learn them and follow them. If you do not, then you are not considered a friend. The steps I can take to transform this status into one that is empowering are to learn from it and make sure that rules such as those are not there. Malcolm X learned about religion and made it a huge part of his life and wanted to share it with everyone. I can take my knowledge of friendship and teach myself and my friends more about it. You can always learn more.
Bibliography
Wallace, Ruth A., Wolf, Alison, (1995) Berger, Peter: The Social Construction of Reality, Contemporary Sociological Theory, 4rth ed., (Discussion of Berger’s Theory), 262-269
Sugarman, Leonie. "Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development." Life-span Development: Concepts, Theories and Interventions (1986): 83-94.
Coser, Lewis. "Master's Of Sociological Thought." (1977): 305-307, 334-339.
Haley, Alex. Malcolm X. The Random House Publishing Group, 1964.
Time Management
This is good evidence of this goal because it shows how I investigated in my own life. I gained insight about my own life. I got to see how many hours a week I do certain things. It was a good assignment because it let me know what i could work on and improve on in my life. I feel I recorded my information very well and did the graphs/pie charts well. I wish I had made the charts a little bit more organized.
Time Management Assignment
Each graphic representation of the data communicates information differently. The bar graph shows a comparison of the five activities in comparison to each other. The pie charts show the percentage of time that I spend during the week doing everyday activities. The strengths of the bar graph are that it is easier to compare all the time management and see the comparisons. It is very easy to compare the estimated, optimal, and actual times because they are right in front of you. You are able to look at the graph and easily see how many hours per week I spend doing activities. The strength of a pie chart is it represents the data differently, using percentages. It is divided to look at each section of time, and within each section is how much time I spend doing activities. The weakness of a pie chart is that it is not as easy to read because if gives you separate pie charts for each of the times. All you can really compare are the percentages so it is not as visual as the bar graph.My estimated and actual times were quite close. I have found out that I spend most of my time doing activities and sleeping. I suppose I already knew that but looking at it visually really showed how those two things are the biggest parts of my life. The difference in my predicted and actual times allocated was 3%. I had a pretty good idea of how much I do in my week. Recording my time management for the week, showed that sleep and doing activities are the two things that are most important to me right now. Sleep is something I try to get more of because I always feel like I don’t get enough of it. Activities are mostly spending time with my friends. My friends are a big part of my life and when I look at the pie chart for the actual time, I can really see it. Farb stated that everything is categorized and that the categories come from cultures we live in. at first, when I planned out my categories, I had chosen too many. I was able to put them together so that they still fit together. As Zerubavel stated that things become meaningful when placed in a category, my categories represent certain places I go and what I do. Eating means I can eat at home, go out, or just eat a snack. Sleeping is what I do at night or if I take a nap in the daytime because I am tired. School is what I think of when I do my homework, attend classes or commute to school. Activities include spending time with my friends and just relaxing, and work is the place I go to do my job. Storti talked about how there are monochromic and polychromic ways to look at time. I think that in my life, it is mostly monochromic. I find myself busy and not having enough time to do everything that I would like. I use it and try not to waste it.
Here are the graphs
Soc 200 Assignment 1
There are a lot of private troubles in the home. Couples get more stressed out when they have children. When too many conflicts arise that can’t be solved, people are forced to make a hard choice; divorce. Divorce is hardest on children, it affects their lives greatly. When I was seven years old, my parents got a divorce. As a child, it was very hard on me, and it was something that I couldn’t understand. When I got older, I was able to understand more about why it had happened. My parents had more troubles then I was able to see when I was little. I remembered going to school and seeing everyone’s parents together and couldn’t help wondering why I couldn’t be normal and why my parents couldn’t get back together. It wasn’t something that I heard about other then from my family. It was a private matter that wasn’t discussed. The affect it had on me wasn’t just at home, but out in public. How I acted affected others around me just as well.
As soon as divorce occurs, everyone’s lives change. Parents with custody of the child need to change their schedules to meet the needs of the child’s. This causes stress on the parent because not all job schedules are flexible. It may cause people do get laid off or find other jobs that work better for them. This is where daycares are very important to society. They are places where children can stay so that the parent can maintain there job and work enough hours to make enough money. Stress from the parents usually transfers onto the child. Parents may become abusive, which then becomes a problem for the government to take care of. A child is looked at differently by others after their parents divorce. People’s attitudes change with news of a divorce. They look upon the children with pity and children at school may make fun of them because they are different. The typical family is mother, father, and children living under one roof. When that ideal family “breaks”, children are forced to re-build their ideas of a happy functional family. Money matters are a big cause of divorce. Parents begin to use their children to their advantage. Whoever gets the child gets more money because the other parent must pay child support. They use the children for their own needs and that causes children to feel abandoned and that affects their school life and begins to concern teachers and others around them. It is said that if a child’s parents are divorced, then they too will get divorced in their lifetime. This affects the way their relationships will turn out. Divorce is not just a private trouble; it affects everyone who is connected to the divorced. It spreads to other couples and in time, affects everyone everywhere.
Factual question: What happens to the children when their parents get divorced?
How children are affected includes the way the divorce occurred; was it peaceful or did it happen under bad circumstances. There are many ways a divorce could end, and how it did determines how a child is affected by it.
Comparative question: Are children affected more by divorce in the United States then in other countries?
We know how children are affected in the United States, but are there better resources in other countries that may help the transition and coping? Divorces may happen less in other countries because of their religious or cultural beliefs.
Developmental question: How have divorce rates risen or fallen in the past?
In the past has it been harder on children when their parents get divorced? It may determine how society is moving along with this topic today. Is divorce talked about with children now more than it was? If children have a greater knowledge of what happens and who to turn to for help, then our country is improving.
Theoretical question: Has having children affected how frequently divorce happens?
Do families try harder to stay together if they have children or does it not matter? Have people started to let divorce become a casual thing, or are they now more cautious before they even marry.
Soc 200 Weekly Assignment 3
The show depicts the “dominant culture” as American. American culture is not a specific culture, it is many put together that are used and understood by most. The boundary around this culture is drawn in terms of language norms because everyone adds their own style into it.
A subculture identified in the film was African American. A pattern of norms that are different from those of the dominant culture is that African Americans pronounce words and speak differently. An example of that would be instead of saying “isn’t” (this isn’t working), they say “ain’t” (this ain’t working). This separates them from the dominant culture because everyone is expected to speak as expected.
In the film, they showed a computer animated face that they were able to give voices too. When they put up an animated face of an African American man that worked there and gave him a voice of someone from the south, but didn’t show the face, it was surprising when they did. When we listen to someone’s voice, we create a picture in our minds of what they should look like.
A group of individuals dealing with competing agents of socialization are teenagers. They are constantly trying to express themselves and be understood. They talk in their own way; they seem to have their own language. They have their own slang terms and this comes from the movie Clueless. Certain terms and phrases that were used in that movie are still used today by teenagers.