social class

This week in sociology we talked about social classess. We learned that the class you are born into is pretty much the class you stay in for your whole life. We also watched a video and read a chapter of a novel about 2 different cases of non-working class citizens trying to live minimum wage job lives. It was really interesting how hard it really was for these people and how many people have to live like that for real. This situation is unfortunate because america is supposed to be the land of oppurtunities, however, it is really hard to get oppurtunities unless you are born into a wealthy family. This idea relates to my life well becuase my grandfather worked at an office making a middle class salary and now my father works at an office and makes a middle class salary as well. My father however, does make a little more than his father and our family now is better off than his family was but we are still upper middle class family.

Male and Female Stereotype (Blog from earlier in the grading period)

In sociology we discussed gender stereotypes. As most people know, males are stereotyped to be the head of the household and women are stereotyped to do the household roles such as cooking and cleaning. Recently this has been changing as more and more women seek profesions but still majority of the time this is the case. This is true in my life as well. Up untill a few years back, my Dad was working, and still is, and my Mom stayed at home and took care of my sister and I. She cleaned and made dinner everyday. Then, she got a job, making her no longer available around the house. At first this was wierd to me and I still expected her to make dinner every night. I would say things like "You're the mom so you are supposed to make dinner," without even realizing how awful that is to say. I now understand that both men and women can work and they can both do household work. It is unbeleivable the way we are programmed to place specific gender roles to the point where we don't even realize how unfair that is.

Drugs and Jail

This week in class we talked about drugs and jail. Sociology has so much to do with both of these issues. Many people think that in jail, inmates are forced to go through therapy or classess to help them stay out of jail when they are free but actaully they dont do much of anything. Actually, majority of the people who get out of jail end up right back in it. I believe that one of the main reason's this happens is because of their locatins. When someone is released from jail, they are most likly going to go home. Once they are home, they are going to start hanging around with the same people in the same places. Now, if they were commiting crimes with these people in these places, why would they live their life any different after jail. This is the same reason that I feel so many drug addicts get hooked right after getting out of rehab or jail. They end up with the same people who most likely are still using drugs and it is just as easy for them to get their hands on drugs. I feel that the real way to stop people from commiting crimes again or to stay off drugs would be to relocate them. It is to hard for them to not go back to their prior lifestyle.

saints and roughnecks

This week in class we read an article called saints and roughnecks. It was about a sociologist who studied to groups from the same school. Both groups participated in devient acts, however the saints were "good" kids and were never looked down upon. You can probably say just the opposite for the roughnecks. I think that at stevenson we do have both saints and roughnecks. The saints at stevenson are the kids who get good grades and have followed the rules up until recently. The roughnecks at stevenson are the students who have been causing trouble since grade school. Overall, however, I feel that stevenson is majority saints.