Week 6: Deviance & Social Control

Formal and informal social controls are presented daily at Montgomery College. For example formal interactions are displayed by the rules Montgomery College imposes on students. The rules include the number of times a student can be absent and/or late to class before they get dropped or the materials a student needs for certain courses. As well security at Montgomery College also enforces a smoking-free campus and non-violence. If these formal interactions are not followed thoroughly, the student jeopardizes his/her attendance to the college. Furthermore, informal social controls include the respect students automatically give to their professors because its a social norm. Also, respect is shown to one another no matter their race, even though they are strangers.

photo from: http://www.mindingthecampus.com/originals/inside-college-classroom.jpg

Mass Media- Team 2

I was on team 2, pro-mass media.
For question two, some rebuttals from team 1 were that messages were repetitious and biased. As well as they send out negative stereotypes, political leaders are gatekeeping, and mass media tends to make cultures materialistic.
My rebuttal for this argument is that yes, sometimes messages delivered through the media are repetitious, but its needed to that the public can be aware of the messages being delivered. As for the messages being biased it true, but at least they deliver the important information. Negative stereotypes aren't presented in every source of media and the ones that do are faulty sources. There are other types of media that fix those stereotypes by presenting the truth. To add on, political leaders maybe gatekeeping, but there are always people who know how to hack and get their opinions heard. Finally, mass media does not makes cultures materialistic. It helps society transition into high technology in order to make life easier and better.

For question three, the rebuttals were that the media made social change/movements too extreme and the news were over-dramatized.
My rebuttal for this argument is that the media over dramatizes things to make people intrested in knowing the facts and grasping their attention. If the media just presented a boring report with something that doesn't catch the audiences attention, then people won't really mentally process the information being given out and act on their beliefs.

references:

http://scienceofvirtues.org/ImageStore/protest.jpg

http://www.rdillman.com/HFCL/TUTOR/Media/Media.Image/mc.gatekeeping.gif

WEEK 4: Social Interaction, Groups, and Social Structure

For this weeks blog i decided to write about the Roma and their issues with bureaucracy. As we all read the article by Buisness and Law, " Romanian witches have to pay taxes, abide by bureaucracy", the Roma population are being forced to pay 16% income taxes for the labor they do. I read an article by BBC News, which tells how the Roma population are migrating to other European countries because the Romanian government doesn't support them. The Romanian government doesn't give the Roma health care or financial support for their school. I chose to focus on this topic because to me it seems illogical for a particular type of social group to pay income taxes, and others aren't. Especially when the Roma population live in rural conditions and statistics show that majority do not have a long life span. Furthermore, I understand that the type of labor that the Roma perform doesn't require any regular taxes to be cut off their check, but the percent that has been decided by the government is too high. It seems as if bureaucracy in a way is trying to eliminate the labor they perform, by passing this law.
When I reflected on this topic I realized that bureaucracy has a great influence on the way we may live our daily lives. For example, as an individual I may be forced to pay taxes on unreasonable things, without being able to have a voice in the decision. In greater society, the creation of uncommon taxes can create havoc and economic changes to families.

References:

Romania Issues New Income Tax On Witches | The New Republic. (n.d.). The New Republic. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.tnr.com/article/world/81989/Romania-witch-income-tax

Romanian witches have to pay taxes, abide by bureaucracy. (n.d.). International Business News, Financial News, Market News, Politics, Forex, Commodities - International Business Times - IBTimes.com. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/110709/20110209/romania-taxes-witches.htm

Thorpe, N. (n.d.). BBC News - Limited choices push Roma from Romania. BBC - Homepage. Retrieved February 20, 2011, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11028599

Week 3: Cultural Relativism and Human Rights

In Ethiopia and other parts of Africa it is costumed to perform circumcision on young females without their consent. FGM ( female genital mutilation) usually is done 10 days after birth or when the girl is 8 years old. There are three types of FGM, sunna mutilation, excision, and infibulation. Sunna mutilation is done mostly in West Africa by removing some or all of the clitoris. Excision is performed in Sudan and its consists of the clitoris, labia minora and prepuce being removed. Finally, Infibulation is done in Ethiopia, Egypt and Somalia, where they remove the clitoris and prepuce and later sew up some of the vulva. Furthermore, this procedure is very unsanitary and painful because no antibiotics and anesthetics are used. FGM is not done because of religious beliefs, rather its more of cultural custom that has spread throughout years among different religions. It is done because the people believe it prevents the woman to have any sexual drive before marriage and therefore it keeps them pure.
This practice can be considered a human rights issue because it is dangerous to the young females health and can cause many complications as they grow up. Also its done without their consent and they don't have any say on whether to continue with the surgery or not.
Cultural relativism can defend this practice because its something that is common custom in their culture. It has been done for years and passed on through generations, so its something that others must view objectively.
Personally, I believe this practice shouldn't continue to be done because it risks the lives of young girls, who aren't aware of the consequences of the procedure. Though, a similar practice is done in the west, male circumcision, but it doesn't have health risks like FGM. I believe that those cultures should be educated about the health risks of their practices and in hope they could stop and reduce the continuation of FGM.

References:

FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION FEMALE (CIRCUMCISION) IN AFRICA, MIDDLE EAST AND FAR EAST. (n.d.). ReligiousTolerance.org by the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://www.religioustolerance.org/fem_cirm1.htm

UNICEF - Ethiopia - Female Genital Cutting: Painful procedures in the name of tradition. (n.d.). UNICEF - UNICEF Home. Retrieved February 13, 2011, from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/ethiopia_18246.html

First Week of Class

The first week of class was very insightful to me. Coming to the first day of class I wasn't too sure of what the study of Sociology really consisted of. The sociological imagination perspective became very useful to my everyday judgment of other cultures. Living in a diverse community it isn't rare to see how many different customs are presented daily. Though I might not be able to keep 100% objectivity, I am able now to actually consider and acknowledge other customs without being too judgmental. Its not that easy. The pictures which were presented during class that demonstrated what different cultures considered normal, like the neck rings in China, was an eye opener to me because it made be realize how ideals vary depending where a person is from. I am looking forward to learning more on the theories and perspectives that have been developed in order to understand the differences in society.