Positive deviance

Positive deviance is an act the is unusual and out of the norm but it is still a good act. Earlier this week I committed an act of positive deviance. I went to lifetime and after my workout I went to the locker room and saw two younger kids arguing over something. As I listened in I heard that they were arguing over 5 dollars that they had bet eachother in a game of basketball. I went over to my locker and got two five dollar bills. I walked over to them and handed each kid five dollars and walked away. They both seemed very surprised by this and just stood there for a whole after this happened. I felt pretty good after I did this because of the reaction that I got from them. Doing acts of positive deviance can make someone's day and can even make your own

Gender roles

Our society has shaped us into having to be certain people. Society now has specific expectations on how people should look or act. Boys and girls are stereotyped into pretty specific categories now. Younger girls are expected to play with dolls and like certain clothes and boys are expected to like sports, action figures, and playing outside. We see it as wrong if a little girl likes playing with cars and a little boy enjoys playing with barbies. Some of the things that I feel I was expected to do because of gender roles is liking sports. I feel like because that's what we all talk about, that you almost have to watch them even if you don't like them. Stereotypes have shaped our society to where there is now a right and wrong thing for kids to play with or behave.

Socializing agent

I think the biggest socializing agent that has shaped me has been my peers. I went to a private school for the first three years of highschool. I was only one of two kids that went there from my grade school. All the other kids that went there had been planning on going there for a long time. All of the kids had known eachother for years because they had all gone to private grade school together and I came from a public one. Since they were all very close I felt like an outsider. This shaped me into more of a quiet kid. I think that if I went to Stevenson for all four years I would be more comfortable and louder in classes because I would have been with people I knew and liked. I think the people iv been around have had the most influence on who I am.

This week in class we looked at different cultures and how they do things differently.  We got to see a video of what other peoples houses looked like in some different countries.  Before watching the video, i knew houses in other cultures looked different from ours on the outside but i didn't really think about the inside.  It was a big surprise to me when the lady from Denmark said that with less stuff brings more happiness.  This seems like the complete opposite of what our culture tries to do.  We all need as many things as we can get our hands on.  Another thing that I found very interesting was the rooms in other homes.  The kids bedrooms in Denmark are very small.  Its not a place to always hide in, its only purpose is to sleep there.  Our bedrooms are big and messy.  We also use them to watch tv, go on the computer, or study.  We use our room to be alone whereas people in Denmark spend time with their families.  One other thing that really shocked me was that they have bathrooms with no doors on them.  This is completely against our culture.  We are all about privacy in our culture and no one would ever not have a door on their bathroom.  Looking at other cultures really interested me.

Culture from a different view

We usually think about the way we live and what we do on an everyday basis as normal and nothing out of the ordinary but thats not how everyone else sees it.  Coming into our country from an outside country could put some people into culture shock.  This is a state experienced when suddenly exposed to a new/strange social or cultural environment.  Some of the things we do, wear, or say are very different from other cultures. We learned that you can tell a lot from a culture from material culture.  These are objects associated with a cultural group, such as tools, machines, utensils, buildings, and artwork.  It is any physical object that gives social meaning.  All countries also have different forms of communication.  We all use different signs and language in order to communicate with each other.  This unit made me open my eyes more and not only see things from my point of view and accept things that might be out of the norm for me.

This week we got to watch a t.v show in class called Freaks and Geeks. It related to what we have been talking about in class a lot. In the show, all three theoretical perspectives were shown. The show demonstrated structual functionalism by showing how a school runs and the typical social classes that are associated with a high school. The popular kids were "cooler" then the nonpopular students. There were people who caused some dysfunction in the show to. Dysfunction is something that leads to sociL change. The girl in the show went from being herself to trying to fit in with another croud. The show also demonstrated the conflict perspective. The freaks were the power of the school and controlled almost everyone else because no one would stand up to them. It also showed symbolic interation. The arm coat was a symbol of her being rebellious and trying to fit in with people she was not like. Overall I thought the episode related to what we were learning In a big way and really helped me understand the unit.

first day

The first day of sociology was a lot different then what i thought it would be.  Coming into a room where the teacher is just sitting at the desk is definitely something new.  It was a little bit awkward at first but after awhile people started to figure out what was going on.  All though we all knew what was happening, no one said anything.  No one wanted to step up and ask what was going on.  The first day turned out to be good though, should be a good semester.