"Understanding Sexual Orientation"

In my point of view, article explains that heterosexuality and homosexuality were a continuum. A number of studies have been published over the past decade reporting that 5% or less of adolescents were aware of homosexual feelings, a finding also inconsistent with Kinsey's data. These studies have rejected prenatal hormones and rearing by homosexual parents as influencing sexual orientation. If Kinsey's data are correct and 40% or more of adolescents are aware of homosexual feeling the findings of these studies are invalid. Two replications of an initial study with representative samples of medical students found over 40% of both males and females currently aware of some homosexual feelings, consistent with Kinsey's conclusion. The ratio of reported homosexual to heterosexual feelings correlated with opposite sex-linked behaviors in the male, supporting the validity of the subjects' reports. If subjects representative of other subgroups of the population are investigated with this easily implemented method and report similar data, this theoretically and sociologically significant divergence of belief concerning the incidence of the heterosexual/homosexual balance would be resolved.

I think labels like homosexual and heterosexual can be useful, but I think we still have a lot of progress to make as far as some being more acceptable than others. People should be able to label themselves as homosexual if they want to without fear of being treated differently for being so, and I think a lot of the gray area that exists between homo and hetero exists as a result of that fear. The bad kind of gray area where people can’t come to terms with their own sexual and emotional needs, rather than the good kind of gray area that Michael Stipe seems to know all about, where he realizes that labels can be irrelevant as long as you are comfortable with who you are and what you want. 

A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki

An Article, A Different Mirror by Ronald Takaki  explains the perspectives of people who come form different cultures and how they are accepted by the American people but also Ronald Takaki does a good job in taking this events form the past and attaching them to modern day society and how the idea of racism has not disappeared.A on going theme is us against them because on one side the owners who are bringing this racism to the different race are saying they are just doing this action to make sure this other race doesn't have more power than the Americans.Were the other race is saying that the treatment which are being brought on by the masters is unfair and nobody should be treated like that also how the slave's don't have any rights which makes it unfair.I learned one thing that this fear that Americans have form other races did not die in fact it is still growing we as people should work together to resolve this issue.Also the idea of racism actually causes the morals and the values which this country was founded on would be lost. 

 Takaki brings together a multitude of voices to tell the rich, complex story of the non-Anglo peoples of the United States: African Americans, Asian Americans, Indians, Jews, Latinos, and more. He begins with the colonization of North America by the Europeans and "the racialization of savagery", whereby the Europeans came to believe that the Indians were different from and inferior to them, and that this difference was based on race and skin color. Then he goes on to examine the experiences of other peoples, taking a roughly chronological approach and devoting each chapter to a specific group and their experiences in a particular period.

“Doubly Divided” :The Racial Wealth Gap

 

The article analyzes the discriminative role of government between the long-term historical differences of wealth and power between the immigrants of European ancestry and immigrants of colors, giving specific examples of the legal discrimination between Irish immigrants and the Asian immigrants, particularly the Chinese and the Japanese, the appropriation of Indian lands, the slavery of the black people, and the exploitation on the Latinos.

In the United States, there have always been misconceptions that people of color now have equal economic opportunities and access to resources as whites do and that one’s economic prosperity depends mostly on one’s own efforts and imaginations. However, observations and data analysis show that there is still a wealth inequality among people of different color. In addition, current wealth gap among people of different races in the United States is constructed by the unequal institutional opportunities given to them in contemporary United States as well as throughout its history.

there has always been a wealth gap among races.   Historically, blacks were owned by whites as slaves in a system of most uneven opportunities. Numerous data and facts prove that there is still a racial wealth gap. I think that previous institutional racism and inequalities have impacted on the formation of racial wealth differences.

Underserving Poor" by Herbert Gans

In the Article "Positive Functions of the Undeserving Poor" by sociologist Herbert J. Gans discusses the strange alliance between the poor and the wealthy in American society. He states that the underprivileged in essence have kept several vocations in existence such as social work, criminology, and journalism. These vocations serve the double pretense of aiding the less fortunate and protecting society from these same individuals. He compares his analogy with that of Richard K. Merton, who applied the functional analysis theology to explain the prolonged existence of the political machine in urban areas.

Mr. Merton's reasoning was that the political machine continued to exist because it served several positive functions in society. Mr. Gans applies this same logic to the existence of poverty in a society that had so much material wealth and concluded that poverty had 13 functions in society that was beneficial to non-poor members. They include: making sure that the menial work tasks of society will be taken care of, the creation of jobs that provide aid for the poor, and the existence of the poor keeps the aristocracy busy with charitable works, thus demonstrating charity to the less fortunate and superiority over the elites who chose to spend their free time making more money. He also give several alternatives to poverty such as redistribution of the wealth in society, putting everyone on a more even playing field, but ultimately concluded that poverty will continue to exist because disturbing the unequal balance between the poor and the wealthy in society would prove to be dysfunctional for the affluent and that will not happen.

 

Deviance:

Deviant Behavior

Sociologically, deviance requires a norm or rule, a norm or rule violator, an audience, and a likelihood that the violation will elicit a negative response. Sound simple enough? Maybe if you take the easy way out in saying that deviance is the difference between what is right and what is wrong. However deviance is not an absolute verdict for the right and wrong. Sociologists have two perspectives about deviance and they are the positivist and constructionist perspectives. Positivists believe in three elements and they are absolutism meaning deviance is absolutely intrinsically real, objective: deviance is an observable object and determinism: deviance is a determined behavior; it is a product of cause and effect. Constructionist object to the three elements of the positivist perspective and I have come up with their own; relativism: deviance is a label, defined as such at a given time and place, subjective: deviance is a subjective experience and voluntarism: deviance is a voluntary act; it is non-causal. Most people have a hard time trying to figure out which perspective is right and which one is wrong, when in all actuality, neither one is right or wrong.
We have already discussed this topic during class which explains deviance and crime. This section talks more about deviance being a learned behavior. Deviance is any behavior that violates cultural norms. Deviance is often divided into two types of deviant activities. The first, crime is the violation of formally enacted laws and is referred to as formal deviance. Examples of formal deviance would include: robbery, theft, rape, murder, and assault, just to name a few. The second type of deviant behavior refers to violations of informal social norms, norms that have not been codified into law, and is referred to as informal deviance. Examples of informal deviance might include: picking one's nose, belching loudly (in some cultures), or standing too close to another unnecessarily (again, in some cultures).

Killing Us Softly 3: Advertising’s Image of Women 

&

Tony Porter: A call to men

 

•   The documentary film, Killing Us Softly III, It is targeted at women and men who are bombarded with advertisements every day.It takes a more recent view of advertising’s negative portrayal and impact on American society and culture.It also discusses the pressure women feel to be beautiful. If a specific type of beauty (young, white, thin...) is not obtained than the message it gives is that you are not worthy or valuable.A main point in the clip is that of women being objectified in advertisements. Often only one part of the body is emphasized so not only is a woman ‘a thing’ but only one part of that thing is focused on. Breasts, for example, are used to sell any and everything.It can be concluded that today advertisements portray women in an extremely dangerous and unfavorable light. Women are used as objects, animals and are suitable to subjection for male violence. These kinds of portrayals can be embarrassing and devaluing to the female self perception.Whatever the action may be, it is integral that both men and women take a stand against the objectification and violence of women portrayed in advertisements for future generations.  

   

• Porter tells powerful stories from his own life, including a story of rape, showing how a "mentality, drummed into so many men and boys, can lead men to disrespect, mistreat and abuse women and each other." He notes men are part of the solution and problem, promoting a specific solution to men: break free of the "man box." 

   

• socialization, the process by which people learn the characteristics of their group—the attitudes, values, and actions that are thought appropriate for them. Learning is what creates our sense of who we are as a man or woman—our gender identity.Both video relate to each other and also explains that the society expects different attitudes and behaviors from boys and girls. Gender socialization is the tendency for boys and girls to be socialized differently. Boys are raised to conform to the male gender role, and girls are raised to conform to the female gender or role.

  •