Deviance

The correct sociologists’ definition of deviance is an act (or actions) that seriously or repeatedly violate, or goes against, social norms. And this can either be positive or negative. Deviance is relative to time, place, and perception, creating an impact on every single person and our society. In class, we were to read this article on a man named Julio Diaz and his influence he had on deviance. Basically, this man daily rode the subway, just so he could go to his favorite restaurant. But one day he erratically got a knife pulled on him and was threatened if he didn’t give up his money. And while Julio was giving up his wallet, he questioned the boy and instead invited him to eat dinner with him. Usually, people who are being mugged do not invite their “mugger” to have dinner with them. But what was really surprising as well was the boy accepted the invitation. This act of positive deviance definitely had a twist on society, and shows the other sides of people that are more moral and respectable. Another topic of deviance that we discussed was the article on the “Saints and Roughnecks.” Essentially, both of the groups had few qualities that were in common, but and effects from society were pretty opposite. For example, the saints vandalize, drink alcohol, ditch class, violate driving laws, are dangerous to others, and have more money. And they overall get away with all of these things. The roughnecks, however, do not vandalize, drink alcohol, ditch class. They also are not a danger to others and have less money, but they do steal and fight, resulting in heavy consequences from the law (society is not kind/nice to them). I believe that deviance can change everyone’s perspective on life and it plays a huge role in our society today.

Nature versus Nurture

In class we discussed the different between nature and nurture. We were given a list of people (For example: NBA player, abusive spouse/parent, alcoholic, A/F student, and an accountant) and it was up to us to determine which one they fit into. And for a majority of the people selected, it was difficult to tell which category was correct. For the alcoholic, which was my groups topic, we said that it was nurture because it is something you do, an activity with influences around you. It is your choice to drink. But then we had a rebuttal that it was nature, because if you have an addictive personality, that is how the way you are/born with. But my opinion overall is that both in fact, meaning nature and nurture, play into everyone’s lives and both are what create who you are as in individual. It also relates to socialization, which is the process and factors that create the social animal in existence at this moment. Humans were made to be social and to learn (our cerebral cortex gives us that power), so therefore everything we do, such as even eye-contact or talking to one another influences every characteristic of our own lives.

Seeing The Water...

The phrase, “water to a fish” is meant that fish swim in it, basically every single moment of their lives that it is invisible to them what it really is. The water that is surrounded in everyday American life is difficult to see, considering we live it to the point where it’s completely natural for us. For example, the use of cell phones. In mainly our generation, cell phones are completely necessary for us to communicate with everyone around us. And it is also safer for us to be able to commune instantly. Also, another ordinary habit in my life is learning every day, by getting an education and having responsibilities to complete assignments on time.
When people navigate what is the norm and ordinary around them, it is because they are comfortable with their surroundings and adjust themselves to the point where they are comfortable with their environment. Most people everyday use the internet to find out information, but rarely you find people looking up info. in libraries. It all has to do with how they were brought up and what is most secure for their natural habits and boundaries. Many elders that I know of prefer not to use recent technology because it is unfamiliar with them and they don’t find the need to live their life in an updated state.
The American values that are most significant to me today are being able to have a choice in education and in general my individual freedom. With my individual freedom, I get to choose who I hang out with, what I do for fun, like hobbies and such. Adjusting my values in my life now to what I think is morally right is basically just doing what I am comfortable with and knowing what is best for myself in the long run, towards the future.

Culture

Last week, we had an assignment to present to the class, given different topics. Our presentation was based on values, norms, and sanctions. We demonstrated these three subjects into skits. Basically, on values we created a bathroom scene, where one person goes to a stall, and it is a hidden rule to not go to the stall right next to theirs. For norms, we had two people eating a banana, except one of the was eating it upside-down (which not many people do). And lastly, for sanctions we made the roles of a teacher and a student, and when the student received an A+, the teacher did the appropriate act and high-fived him (rather than hitting the rear-end like in football (-_-)’. The other presentations that my fellow classmates did were based on culture, material culture, nonmaterial culture, culture shock, culture relativism, etc. But the one that sparked my interest the most was ‘culture shock’. Culture shock is basically when there is intellectual discomfort when encountering a different environment. So let’s say you go into another country, and there is a different way to do many activities. It creates such an impact on you that you’re perplexed on how to act.

A Bronx Tale

In the film, A Bronx Tale, there was clearly much racial discrimination, and that was what the story was all about. It was demonstrating how both Italians and the African Americans differentiated themselves apart from each other, how serious the separation needed to be in their minds. It became so intense that it all led to violence, and this created numerous amounts of deaths. Collogero, the main character, was in the middle of both sides, and he had to make decisions that could change his social status. I think that at first he was in both Sonny’s crew group and his friends group. But towards the end, he starts to drift away from both as soon as he meets an African American girl, whom he falls for. His mental stability gets stronger and he makes decisions for himself. The reality of the neighborhood revolved around Sonny and his crew, due to the fact that he gained a lot of respect from creating himself as the image of fear. He wanted to be the higher authority, and this caused him to not trust anyone at all. The racist attitudes is unknown from where it started, but however it did, it increasingly got worse as the violence increased, creating more hatred towards each other. I thought this video did a good job demonstrating the ways each individual thinks, and how it can be changed by other people’s influence.

Freaks & Geeks

Freaks and Geeks was a really great show! I thought it was cool how all the cliques were put together, and the exaggeration of the bullying and rebellion added a touch of extra witty humor. Also, beside the point, I just loved how there were many actors/actresses in there that I knew of from other movies and how they fit the roles in it (for example: James Franco, Seth Rogen, Linda Cardellini, etc.).
If I were to compare this show to Stevenson, I would have to say that it’s pretty different here. Why? I feel most people at Stevenson are not only in one clique, and have various friends from many different groups. Also, I think people aren’t as intimidated by others to be who they truly are. I mean, everyone has insecurities about their lives, but I wouldn’t say it is as bad as it is perceived on this show. However, there are definitely certain ways that are similar to the average everyday high schooler life. We all go through changes in ourselves, and have decisions that will change our lives in the future, meaning both academically and socially. And this is throughout our entire lives. So in conclusion of it all, I felt that Freaks and Geeks is a insightful television show focusing on regular high school social interactions.

First Day

The first day of sociology class was very out of the ordinary. I walked into the classroom, and I was welcomed with a handshake from Mr. Smith. I thought it was a very pleasant gesture. Then I took a seat down. Then, instead of class beginning, Mr. Smith just sat on his desk and occasionally took sips of his water, looking rather solemn. Our class made little comments, laughed, and felt awkward because our teacher was not starting class the way all of our other classes started. For example, the normal way would be introducing the class and what its purpose served. But about 10 minutes later, he began to question our reactions to him, and it turned out that he was expressing what the class was about in a different way. Our responses and reactions are what we are going to look into in this course, and I think that it’s going to be very interesting.