Paper & Pen?

Pen and paper use to be a must for anyone who was working or going to school. You needed to write things down so you would not forget and keep track of all your records. Pen and paper has been around for a long time and now every day the pen and paper are being used fewer and fewer times. Society’s norms are forever changing and adapting to the different ways of doing things that are considered “easier” than the original way.

That is why the pen and paper are dying out and the computer and cell phone are taking over. When you go to class there are usually more and more students each semester that put their binders away and just bring their laptop to school. This is changing the way we learn in a society, the teachers no longer write board after board of notes they have already prepared slides for each class. These slides are posted on a website and you can only view them from your computer. So unless you take note for note of the slides you better get a computer because that is how you are going to see that material again.

Obviously you will need to write down little note and reminders if you have a computer or not. This was always a paper and pen thing but now with society have such advanced cell phones you can place all your important reminders in your cell phone. The cell phone will even notice you the day of the event to remind you, just in case you forgot, paper and pen cannot do that. Society’s norms for what you need for learning and school are changing. Sooner or later paper and pen will have no use and will become a rarity in society.

Interpretation of a musician

Description

This is the singer to the band "Strangers" from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Sociological Interpretation

This picture displays an action shot of the intense live performance being put on by this band. This type of music being played is considered hardcore/metal music. Hardcore/Metal music is not something the average person listens too, making it unacceptable to majority of society. Societies social norms make up what is common, normal and accepted. Since the singer's style of music is not common, is is seen as different and unacceptable. Although the music is mainly a difference of opinions and taste, Hardcore/Metal music may be frowned up because of society's social norms.

The singer's tattoo's are widely on display, with a cut off shirt proudly showing them off. Tattoo's are traditionally seen as a form of social deviance. Stereotypical "proper" people are not often seen with tattoos. Although society is constantly changing, tattoo's still fall into the category of being socially deviant. The fact that the singer's tattoos are proudly displayed shows the singer showing no concern of being labelled socially deviant, and breaking traditional social norms.

Although not everyone attending this show can be seen, the one fan also displays tattoo's on his arms. Many of the people in attendance show similar style, and have complete different social norms than mainstream society. Although this singer may be seen as socially deviant to majority of society, he is looked up to in this hardcore/metal scene. Many of the fans will imitate these bands styles, making their smaller subculture have it's own social norms to abide by.

Marijuana and Alchohol

Description: A picture of the marijuana leaf.

Sociological Imagination:

Marijuana has been around for hundreds of years, although only highly popular since the 70's where huge numbers of people that smoke it, some people think of it as God's herb, some people see it as just another harmful drug. When people smoke marijuana is it too rebel against society, or is it for personal reasons that are unkown? The are are thousands of people in jail in the United States for possesion or trafiking marijuana. When thousands and thousands of people are in jail for marijuana it is no longer just a personal issue, but a societal issue , a global issue.

Social changes make marijuana a social drug, where at one point in time or another, you will be pressured to try it. Some people do it for an activity, for something to do, others for beliefs, instituions or simply a way of life. Does this make them in the rebellious stage of deviance, to rebel against society and do drugs, it is one of the biggest contributors to the rebelism of teens. To go outside the social norms and become a "stoner", wear baggy clothes, sporting tye dye bandanas, shirts, etc. Alchohol is way worse for your body, your brain , pretty much in every aspect, but alchohol has been accepted in society for hundreds of years, a social norm. At even the fanciest of parties, there is always alchohol present. Alchoholism has been in my family for a couple generations, ruining lives, being a nuisance to society, and alchoholism is of course not just a personal problem, but a problem in society. The people with these problems must look inside themselves and connect the problems they face in your biography to social institutions and locate yourself in history as said by Mills.

Is marijuana used only for coping with feelings and reality or is it part of a bigger social structure, a way of life, considered a social norm in some social structures, whether it be a group of friends, or something larger than that like the city of Amsterdam where it is "illegal, but not punishable" to buy marijuana in shops and smoke it there, while drawing over 5 million tourists a year solely for that reason.

Overprotection = Problems

Description: This is a picture of a modern day playstructure. It is made mostly of plastic. It is also in the middle of an empty play ground on a lovely day.

Interpretation: Society has changed. Ten years ago when I was a young child I would have rushed out the door to play on a day such as the one depcited in the photo above. The play structure would have likely been crawling with children as would the play ground surrounding.

In today's society a parent's worst fear is lurking around every corner. A child could fall and break a limb or be abducted by a stranger hiding in the dark corners of the play ground and cause immediate panic and worry. Ideas such as these cause us to think twice about sending our children out to play on a lovely day. Often parents are concerned about letting their child play much farther than their front yard without constant supervision. By doing this have we created an epidemic?

Childhood obeisety today is a major issue within society. Children are spending more time indoors playing video games and using the internet than they are outdoors ... being children. Have we as a society created this epidemic through our desire to overprotect?

By overprotecting from either percieved or real danger parents have created an actual danger to their children's health... OBESITY!

Society tries to make up for this over protection by creating video games that supply our children with the exercise they would normally be getting outside. By doing this we shelter our children from the opportunities that outdoor exploration can offer. Our children are now more likely to be come video game creators than "bug hunters."

Can we reverse this situation or has it progressed beyond any chance of being reigned in?

Mass Media

Description

This is a picture of the Regina LeaderPost newspaper representing a form of advertisement and mass media.

Sociological Interpretation

We live in a world saturated by media, that bombards us with images through advertising. Mass media can be described as a large scale organization that uses such means as print, radio, television, and the internet to communicate to large numbers of people. In sociology, the function of mass media can be explained through a functionalist perspective. Mass media and advertisement function in society as means of surveillance, socialization and entertainment. Media becomes the pathway of inspecting our world by providing warnings of dangers, news, setting social agendas, and calling attention to certain issues of importance. Though surveillance functions to benefit society, it can also be harmful. By providing news of imminent danger it can produce widespread panic and anxiety. Media also broadcasts norms and values, that assists in social cohesiveness by giving people a sense of belonging from sharing the same values and norms. The socialization function of mass communication can produce a mass society in which everyone leads a totally predictable but colourless life. The third function of media is for the leisure of entertainment, yet it can excessively cloud people from reality and reduce social activity.

Specifically, we can look at different issues that are portrayed in media and their impacts on society. There has been a long debate about the effect of violence in media. The issue is whether media violence causes societal violence and whether there should be censorship to protect children, especially. On the other hand there are those who believe censorship is a smokescreen in hiding the root causes of violence in society. The culture of violence normalizes aggression and decreases the lack of empathy in our society. We can see that though violence in media may not be the core cause for aggressive behaviours, it does have an influence on increasing the likelihood of aggressive tendencies and provoking aggressive responses. Gender role socialization also occurs through media. Sets of behaviour, expectations and perceptions are learned and definitions of what it means to be a woman and what it means to be a man is established. For example, provocative images of partly clothed or naked women are especially prevalent in advertising. Women’s bodies are sexualized in advertisements in order to grab the viewer’s attention. Women become sexual objects when their bodies and their sexuality are linked to products that are bought and sold. This reinforces the message that women are objects rather than whole human beings. The presence of misinformation and media stereotypes, directs young people to turn to media for information about sex and sexuality. In a more broad perspective, we can examine the selectivity of what we focus on in our daily lives as mass communication provides us with basic information about current events. Do we watch television and movies, read magazines and newspapers, and play video games for entertainment, or to be better informed, or to escape life? None the less, the reality of our world is while we are doing all these things, we are also being socialized—learning about roles, behaviours, values, modes of conduct, possibilities and solutions to life’s daily stresses and dilemmas.

Socialization and Gender Roles

Description

Gifts presented to little kids in their teens.

Sociological Interpretation

The pictures above best understood is a form of primary socialization, which is the "acquisition of a basic knowledge of a society’s values, norms, folkways, and mores and thus including learning things like language, eating practices, everyday rules of conduct, and etiquette”, (Knuttila, 97). Through a myriad of actions and activities knowingly or unknowingly, children are socialized and taught what it is means to be a boy or a girl in the society.

In our western society, we determine our future expectations of teens with the type of gifts and cultural practices we expose them to, in their early years of life. Such gifts are differential toys like we see above: the boy child presented with a truck and the girl child, a Barbie doll. These gifts and many others are socializing agents, thus informing the child what cultural practices his or her gender stereotype demands and permits within the social structure.

The girl child presented with a Barbie doll and other gifts such as miniature cooking pot, irons, and lipstick is been taught that her beauty is paramount in her life. She has to be a replication of the doll in shape, height and clothing style. She is also been socialized to her domestic department in the house, where in she has to do the cooking, laundry and more. Her room is also most often painted pink, a color which have been ascribed a feminine tag by society, and as such reflects her salient position. On the other hand, the boy child presented with a truck and other gifts such as football and working tools is been socialized to his expected roles. He is taught to be strong, powerful, intelligent, skilled and rich in order that he should control and maintain the beauty of the woman, because he is the head of the woman. His role in the house is also been taught as to more of maintenance chores such as, painting and mowing the lawn. This assignment of household tasks by gender then leads children to link certain types of work with gender.

As children grow and develop, the gender stereotypes they are exposed to at home are reinforced by other elements in their environment and are thus perpetuated throughout childhood and on into adolescence (Martin, Wood, & Little, 1990). The girl child goes on maintaining her beauty by application of several body adoring lotion and oil and more especially, she keeps slim and trendy. The domestic chores become her preoccupation at home. And the boy on the other hand is seen becoming more muscular, doing his maintenance chores and always do things that shows off his masculinity over the girl child.

The parents of children are the primary influence on their gender role development and other social actors in the social structure do also play a vital role by re-emphasizing those expected norms and values. Through all these socialization agents, children learn gender stereotyped behavior. As children develop, these gender stereotypes become firmly entrenched beliefs and thus, are a part of the child's self concept.

Weight Loss

Description

This is a picture of a Jenny Craig weight loss ad

Sociological Interpretation

In our society today, we see many ads for losing weight. The term Mass Communication is defined as "various modes of communication(all print and electronic forms from radio to the internet) that are produced and presented in an effort to communication some messages to mass audiences"(Knuttila 299). This picture is an advertisment for a weight loss program called Jenny Craig. The women in the photo is celebrity Queen Latifha saying how she has lost 20 pounds while using this program.

In society, there is a certain body image of what women are supposed to look like. There is an image of what the "ideal" is. Society has created this image by television and magazine advertisments showing young girls that they should be skinny, tanned and have long blonde hair in order to be accepted into society. Advertisments like this tell girls that if they are a few pounds overweight that they need to lose weight in order to be happy with themselves.

By putting a celebrity into this ad, it shows girls that if Queen Latifah can lose weight than so can they. This also helps for the producers to sell their products if the person in the ad is someone that people know rather than an ordinary stranger. This tells us that in order to feel beautiful and healthy that we must lose weight by taking pills, drinking weight lose drinks and even joining these programs. Society has grilled this image of beauty into our minds that it has caused some girls to go to extremes to lose weight. Some girls have developed eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia in order to fit into this image of the ideal woman.

It is a horrible thing that society consistently reminds girls that they need to be skinny in order to be beautiful. Girls of all shapes and sizes are beautiful and our society needs to start accepting people for what they look like rather than by the ideal image that our society has created.

Sports Teams

Description:

This is a photo of a boys broomball team from my hometown, the Estevan Raiders.

Sociological Interpretation:

Social groups can be defined as two or more people who identify with one another, share common goals and values, and accept expectations and obligations as being members of this group. Social groups are found basically everywhere, but there are different levels of them. For example, society can be considered a large social group, and a team of any sport or recreational activity would be a smaller social group. People in social groups hold a sense of unity with the other members, and while apart from these groups they may be involved in groups separate from teammates, or some may be in many different groups together, but once they all join on the team they find some common ground with each other. They share similiar goals, values, and loyalty is expressed between them.

A team of any kind is an example of an in-group. Members of an in-group are loyal to eachother, and they will create boundaries between themselves and others who may be competitively threatening. Out-groups are the groups to which the in-group sees competition and provokes. The members of the in-group usually dress alike to distinguish themselves from the out-groups (jerseys, jackets, hats, etc.), they compete against the out-group (which usually strengthens the unity in the group) and the members usually look negatively to the out-group but see themselves as positive.

You can definately see all of the above when watching sports games. There always seems to be some kind of tension between the two teams (sometimes there is little tension, but oftentimes it is very visible and can be felt throughout the crowd). In physical sports such as hockey and broomball, the teams often fight with eachother, defend their teammates, and retaliate in a negative way (penalties, etc). All teams wear some kind of distinguishing clothing or items that show what team they are a part of, be it a certain color, a jersey, nametags, jackets, etc. When these people are wearing their uniforms, there is a definite sense of belonging and unity between them all, and anyone who has played on a sports team is sure to have felt that feeling before. Often, once the jerseys come off, the in-groups and the out-groups leave the competitiveness with their jerseys and they may form other social groups with eachother.

Social groups are important in society, as they can shape who we are and give us a sense of belonging. Everyone is involved in social groups, and most are involved in a wide variety of them; on teams, friends, family, study groups, close co-workers, etc.

Different Sizes of Houses

Description

This is a picture of two different types and sizes of houses. On the left side, the picture shows a smaller house and the right side is a house of which a celebrity or a richer person would be able to own.

Sociological Interpertation

There are many different forms of a houses a person could have from a trailer to ones like in the picture above. Many people are unable to afford a home, which brings us to the idea of dimensions of inequality in Canada. In 1973 Statistics Canada estimated that 60% of Canadians earned income that put them into the middle class lifestyle. By 1996 only 44% of Canadians could be classified in the middle class lifestyle category. (Web posting of Dimensions of Inequality in Canada) The income of many people in Canada are so low they are unable to afford a home so many must turn to the option of renting. Comparing them to many of the celebrities today who can afford homes like the one in the picture above on the right side.

Celebrities are part of the richer population because they are able to have anything they would like and many have more than one house. Relating this to the Conflict Theory which means that there are two type of people in the Conflict Theory. There are the people who don't have and are fighting for their share and then there are the people who do have but are struggling to keep what they do have. Many people in Canada are trying to fight for their share by trying to get better jobs so they can afford a home for themselves. Lots of people must have two jobs in able to have a decent lifestyle to afford to live with the prices increasing in the economy.

Many celebrities buy houses because they want to show off their success. By purchasing big homes and many of the celebrities infact do have more than one house throughtout different places in the world. It is sad that many people are even unable to have their own home and there are celebrities who can have more than one home much bigger than what other people would dream to have.

In conclusion there will always be inequality throughtout Canada relating it back to the Conflict Theory. There will always be people who don't have and try to fight for there share and people who will have that try to keep it. Celebrities will always have an advantage compared to a lot of the other population in the world.

Conforming to Brand Clothing

Description

This is a picture of Nike shoes.

Sociological interpretation

These Nike shoes demonstrate the need to fit in due to norms of our culture or a specific subculture by wearing brand clothing.

People are very influenced by what others think of them “Much of our conduct is influenced, structured, and prescribed by what we know about how we are expected to act.”(Knuttila, 61). The norms of a culture are usually obeyed because there can be consequences if they are not met. The violation of not wearing brand clothing would be considered a folkway “The violation of a folkway can draw attention to a person’s action or personality.”(Knuttila, 60). People would rather wear what is considered normal and conform than to draw attention and to be thought of as inferior.

In the case of buying brand shoes, you could decide to buy $20 walmart shoes, or you could buy the priciest of $200 or more. The $20 shoes are going to be sufficient, but people feel the need to try and fit in with norms and will spend the extra money. You can see from this example that following norms has a very powerful affect on how we act. People would be willing to spend up to 10 times more on shoes just so they can fit in to the norms. Showing that you wear brand clothing can be a sign of wealth, or that you are fashionable/cool and this is a big reason why people conform to these types of clothing. Normally brand clothing comes at a high price, and if you wear it you will be showing your wealth. People also are drawn to buying brand clothing because of their peers. If a few of people are rich and they buy the top of the line clothing they might influence the rest of the group to keep up with their standards. Peers will also be the ones to judge the clothing you wear. If you are wearing something that isn't conforming to the norms, then your peers might think of you negatively.

McDonald's

Description:

This is a picture of the McDonald's on 51st Street in Saskatoon

Sociological Interpretation:

In our society today, the media is effectively telling us either to be thin or to consume large amounts of fast food. McDonald’s advertises their toys on television to draw the kids in, so they go back and forth between being told to not gain weight and to eat happy meals because they can get a free toy. The toys are also quite gender specific and I remember that when I was little I received a “Barbie” doll instead of the “Hot Wheels” car that I truly wanted. The workers assumed that since I was a girl I would naturally want the Barbie doll. It is interesting how the Barbie doll symbolizes what an “ideal woman” should look like and McDonald’s are selling them at fast food place where the fries are made of potatoes that have been altered so completely that they do not even decompose over time. By looking at just the happy meal we find out a little more about our culture that shapes us so greatly.

McDonald’s has been finding fresh ways to promote their food. For instance, the franchise on 51^st Street in Saskatoon has renovated and now looks like a stylish restaurant. There is also an advertisement on television with a model who is dressed up in a clown costume and holding a burger. In my opinion, this is telling young girls that they can look gorgeous and slim, and eat McDonald’s at the same time. The influence that the media has on our community is to swing us from one extreme to another. Fast food places such as McDonald’s are successful in capturing the eyes and stomachs of our society, but then the other side of the media comes into play. Right after you eat your delicious Big Mac, you walk past a magazine stand with advertisements of how to keep those few extra pounds off and pictures of women with slim figures. This shows very clearly how our culture throws us back and forth between eating fast food and then not eating fast food or hardly eating anything at all.

Class and Gas Companies

Description

A gas pump found in Regina.

Sociological Interpretation

Gas companies have commonly been said to be sneaky, cunning, and cutthroat. For an example of this, one only has to look to the Enron debacle to see that this statement is at least somewhat true. Class paradigms; specifically elite and conflict theory, explain this phenomenon fully. Gas companies and the people that run them use their considerable economic and political power to further their own position, to the detriment of the consumer.

Because of North America’s dependence on oil and gas, gas companies can easily set the price at whatever will sell. This ensures that money flows out of the consumer’s pocket, and into the company’s. In exercising this economic power however, the companies create conflict with the consumers, who are understandably angry about the high prices. In dominating the economically less favored using their substantial monetary means, gas companies keep themselves in a favorable position, to the detriment of the groups below them. Conflict theory states that ruling classes “have attempted to impose their views and ideals about the world on the entire society” (Knutilla, pg343). From this statement, it is clear that from a conflict perspective, gas companies are definitely a ‘ruling force’.

In addition to the companies’ economic means, the link to political power also comes into play. Through aggressive lobbying, as well as backing high-ranking politicians, gas companies have achieved a high degree of political power. One of the basic principles of elite theory is that the ruling class uses primarily political power in order to control the less dominant classes. This can be easily seen in the case of gas companies, as constant political dealings exploit the North American public, who most likely don’t have much of an idea some of these deals are even occurring. For an example, in the US, one politician running for congress was offered upwards of $200,000 to allow oil companies to drill. He turned them down, and made the deal public (source:http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2010/03/green-party-congressional-candidate-tells-gas-company-go-frack-yourself/) However, how many of these ‘deals’ are still going on, and how many politicians accept them? According to elite theory, a great majority of politicians would, as the top group of ‘elites’ are said to create policies that benefit themselves, even to the detriment of the lower classes.

Looking from the sociological lenses of both conflict and elite theory, gas companies are seen to use both their substantial economic power as well as their political clout to influence the market and policies, in order to enhance/keep their position in society.