Oral #3

At the beginning of class today we discussed the last night’s elections. The topic came up about Obama. His mother is white, which is something I never knew. Obama’s father is black, but since his mother is white that makes him only half black. It’s interesting to think about because he is consider America’s first “black” president, yet he is only half black. What makes people consider him to be black over white is something to consider. We discussed in our group that it may be because he looks “more black than white”. However we also don’t believe those who didn’t vote for him did so because he was black. It is true that the majority of white votes where for Mitt Romney, it may be because they preferred him as a candidate to Obama, not necessarily a racial concern. 

Illustration #3

The last couple classes have begun with video clips on society and how it affects our behaviours. They were very clever and quite humorous. 

I found the strongest example in the videos were the elevator. In the elevator scene, they had a few people standing in the elevator. These people were the actors, and whenever someone came in the elevator they would all begin to mess with that person. The actors would all turn to face the back of the elevator, leaving the other person unsure of what was going on. Nearly every time they did this the person would turn with them, not wanting to face a different direction than everyone else. It was funny to watch, but when you think about it, it’s a natural instinct. The impact society has on us is strong, no one wants to stick out, so they follow everyone else. The people in the elevator took a step further also when they would all turn unanimously, or take off their hats. It really opened your eyes to how easily we get caught up it social behaviour and impact.

Illustration #2

Christ and Cultures: Multiculturalism and The Gospel of Christ

I was not keen on the idea of reading this article. I am not someone who is for Christianity. I am not saying they are bad people, most of them are actually kind hearted and wonderful. I have a lot of Christian friends. The problem I have is the way they push their religion on people. I gave it a try and it wasn’t for me. I’m not interested. I don’t believe that anyone who doesn’t follow God is going to hell. 

Christianity is a great example of multiculturalism however. Christianity accepts people or all races and encourages that blend of culture. They made a great point about the Olympic Games, and how they draw everyone together and suddenly no one cares what colour of skin you have. We all come together to celebrate as one world. It’s such a beautiful concept.

The idea of multiculturalism is amazing. Our world is slowly reaching that goal, but there are definitely still issues. I am constantly seeing examples of racism and discrimination on the news and in the paper. I don’t think multiculturalism is impossible to achieve, but I think it’s going to take a long time. Despite the diversity in schools and communities we have now, we still see that separation in smaller forms.

Oral #2

We discussed ethnocentrism in class the other day and we learnt some facts that I found quite surprising. The population of Africa in 2011 was 1,032,532,974 people. The area of Africa is 11.6 million square miles. Despite how small it looks on a map, Africa is actually a lot larger than Canada. Africa is even larger than the whole continent of North America.

It’s crazy how Africa can be portrayed on every map and this tiny continent when in reality it is the second largest continent in the world.

It makes me wonder what other proportions of countries and continents that are way off. It makes the whole aspect of learning facts contradictory. They are teaching kids in school incorrect information, whether it is intentional or not. I realize it is only a map, but in my perspective it should be displayed correctly. Or at least taught that way in school.

Participation: Illustration #1

Body Ritual Among The Nacirema

I found the rituals of the Nacerima culture to be quite intriguing. Saying they focus a lot on the human body would not appear out of the ordinary, until you get to know their rituals. I believe the fact that these people believe they cannot live without their magical medicines contained in their shrines is concerning in the least. The Nacirema rely on these “medicine men” and “holy-mouth-men” who are specialized practitioners with these medicines, and are supposedly powerful.  Despite the fact that their methods are tortuous and do not always work, the Nacirema continue to put all their faith in these men and continue to seek their help. Another interesting fact about the Nacirema was their fascination and horror with the human mouth, and how they feel it has a connection with their social relationships.

Participation: Oral #1

Today in class we discussed engaging your sociological imagination. In my small group, we came up with several examples for the five given topics. In terms of minority status, we discussed how the minority has changed. The ‘white’ person is now considered the minority group, especially in the lower mainland of British Columbia. My little brother for example, transferred schools due to being bullied for his race. A topic that brought up a lot of concern was gender. For instance, co-ed gym classes. The male students do not generally include the females in terms or sports and athletics. Another concern was sexism. When we moved on to socioeconomic status, Shelby brought up the fact that she is looked down a lot for working a part time job at Zellers even though she needs the job to pay for her school tuition. Jaclyn told us about a couple examples of family structure. One was divorce, and the other was in her own family. As the oldest child in her family, the feels responsible to take on more roles. She explained how in Asian families, they generally prefer male children. Jaclyn said she tries to take on more of a male role in the household, being the first born and a female. 

Biographical Sketch

My name is Brooke Reid and I recently graduated at the grade 12 level from Panorama Ridge Secondary in June. I am currently attending my first year of university at Kwantlen Polytechnic and I am majoring in Criminology. I am interested in forensic science and computer science, though I haven’t completely decided which aspect of criminology I am most interested in yet. I’m am taking several courses to learn as much as I can, and hopefully discover what I want to go into. My current understanding of Sociology is that it is the study of human interaction. There is a lot more depth to relationships than what is seen on the surface. Society has a huge impact on our lives and how we behave. Everyone associates with each other differently, which makes it difficult for certain people to get along. Some struggle with socializing while for others it comes natural. I took this course not only because it was a requirement, but also for how interesting it looked. I am curious about different social behaviors and patterns. I have a younger cousin who struggles with socialization and what society considers to be socially acceptable. I would love to uncover what is going through her mind and others who do not necessarily share the same common notion. As well, I am fascinated by the way society has such strong influence on our perspective of life and the choices we make. Perhaps what society considers to be correct isn’t really right at all.