Chapter 13- Dysfunction of Religion

Religion is important to almost everybody in different ways. It can bring people together, but it can also rip people apart. Two dysfunctions of religion is using religion as justification for persecution  and using religion as justification for war and terrorism. These dysfunctions mean people kill and hurt people in the name of their religion. I included a picture of a penny with a cross cut out. Although this example is not as extreme, I think it fits into the category of religion dysfunctions perfectly. While at work one day an older man put this penny on the table and asked me if I was going to take it. I responded with “I didn't know it was for me, sorry!” to which he looked me in the eyes and said, “Yeah. You better take it. If you don’t, well, stop drop and roll isn't going to help you where you’re headed honey.” He proceeded to make comments the rest of the time I was waiting on him. I was so offended that this man thinks I’m going to hell if I do not take his penny. He is using his religion to shove his beliefs down my throat and into my brain, all while insulting me.  He is a living example of dysfunctional religion.

Chapter 13- Social Promotion/Functional Illiteracy

Social promotion and functional illiteracy go hand-in-hand in the education system of today’s world. Social promotion is passing students from one grade to the next even though they have not mastered the basic material. Functional Illiteracy is when graduates have not mastered things that should have been learned way back in grade school. I put a picture of graduation stickers used for graduation invitations at some point. This represents the fact that high school graduation, while a monumental step into the real world, is not taken as seriously as it used to. I remember when I was little hearing “big kids” fretting about if they would graduate or not. When I got to my senior year, it was easier than any other year I had previously encountered. I never heard one student worrying about if they would graduate. The classes got easier and we were passed without accurate comprehension.

Chapter 13- Grade Inflation

Grade inflation is when the professor adds extra points to the grade to help doctor student’s GPA’s. Grading is getting easier as the years go by and it is all because of grade inflation. The picture I included was of my math test. I originally got an awful grade and my professor decided to add ten points to everybody’s test. Maybe the test was just extra hard and that is why he added a curve to this exam. However, he has done this to every exam all semester making it possible for all students to pass the course. Although it is very appreciated by the students, it does not do justice to showing the school how the students are learning.

Chapter 13- Hidden Curriculum

Hidden curriculum is the attitudes and unwritten rules of behavior that schools teach in addition to the required lessons. Teachers use words like ‘proper’ and ‘good’ when referring to manners and language. This reinforces to the student what society wants them to do. I included a picture of an early childhood center, essentially a preschool. Here is where we create citizens. It is stage one of twelve year public school system training. Here is where they slip in lessons of sharing, caring, manners, and patriotism.

Chapter 10- Gender Vs. Sex

Sex is biologically how we are born; it has to do with the chromosomes and the body parts. Gender, however, is much more complicated. Gender consists of whatever behaviors ad attitudes a group considers proper for its males and females. Gender is not determined by biology; it is determined by the gender identity in which the person decides which gender they relate with. To represent this, I included a picture of an “It’s a Girl!!” announcement off a baby shower invite, which is how babies are greeted into this world. Although it physically may be a girl, that girl may grow up someday and relate with male traits and feelings. “It’s a Girl!! Or is it!” is a more accurate saying.

Chapter 10- Violence Against Women

Everywhere in the world has violence and one of the reoccurring characteristics of this violence is the gender inequality. Females are more likely to be victims of males and not the other way around. There are exceptions, of course, but it is not the norm. In this picture I am proudly sporting my Mace. As a woman I completely agree that there is an insane level of gender inequality in violence. I am terrified to walk to the dumpster in my apartment complex in the dark. I get anxiety when I clock out at work and it is already dark outside. I have my Mace with me at all times because I know as a woman I am so easily targeted.

Chapter 10- Gender Inequality in Education

Gender inequality in education has always been an issue. It used to be extremely rare to see women in college, let alone a woman actually obtain a degree. Now, almost as many women as men are becoming dentists, lawyers and doctors! This picture is simply of Maple Woods, where in all of the classes I am enrolled in, there are fewer men than women. I had not noticed this statistic until I started paying attention, and sure enough, the women are taking over Maple Woods!

Chapter 10- Global Gender Inequality

Worldwide, gender is the primary division between people. Every culture and every society has their own ideas on what women should do, or how men should act. It is different in every country. For example, there are some countries where women are expected to cover up completely and stay home with the children. Showing their legs is disrespectful and may result in punishment.  In this picture, I am a woman wearing shorts, holding a purse and books with my apron because I am ready to go to work. In other countries my shorts would be forbidden. I would not be able to hold the purse because only the man should be in charge of money. The books would be out of the question because a women learning is such a ridiculous concept. Going to work? The only job I’d be having in other countries is a stay at home mother. There is so much gender inequality from border to border, and I am glad to be an American!

Chapter 9- Segregation

Segregation is the separation of racial or ethnic groups. This allows the dominant group to maintain social distance from minorities. Back when racial segregation was an overwhelming issue in America, everything from public schools to bathrooms were segregated making blacks and whites keep their distance from each other. The picture I have included is of the lunch table map in Mean Girls. Although it is not segregating only racial and ethnic groups, the segregation is clearly shown. Using group names such as “Preps”, “Jocks”, “Asian Nerds”, “Cool Asians”, “Unfriendly Black Hotties”, and “Girls Who Eat Their Feelings”. The cafeteria is nothing but segregation.

Chapter 9- Institutional Discrimination

Institutional Discrimination is how discrimination is woven into society. One example of this is with home mortgages. Early studies show that bankers were less likely to give loans to minorities rather than white people. This is the cause of equal opportunity statements in loans and job applications. Speaking of job applications, I have included a picture of Cracker Barrel’s equal opportunity statement. This means that the company cannot discriminate in hiring or any other area of the restaurant based on race, sexual orientation, or religion. This is one of Cracker Barrel’s current missions that they are most devoted to; treating everybody fairly.

Chapter 9- Positive Prejudice

Prejudice is a prejudging of any kind, usually in a negative way. However, there is positive prejudice, which exaggerates the virtues of a group, making people think that group is superior. I took a picture of the movie Mean Girls, in which positive prejudice plays a huge role. This group of girls is referred to in their school as “The Plastics” because they are so perfect they resemble Barbie’s. Everybody in the school just watches their every move in awe and is completely convinced they are superior. Positive prejudice placed The Plastics on a pedestal in their high school.

Chapter 9- Ethnicity

Ethnicity is a reference to people’s cultural characteristics and how people identify with one another on the basis of common ancestry and cultural heritage. Everybody has their own cultural characteristics such as distinctive foods, clothes, languages, music or religions. In this picture my boyfriend and I are standing in front of a Christmas tree. I feel like one of the major American cultural characteristics is how we all celebrate holidays. American ethnicity blows holidays up to a huge occasion; Christmas commercials start showing on November first! The Christmas tree is a huge cultural characteristic because it would be a challenge to find an American that did not know what a Christmas tree is.

Chapter 7/8- Wealth Vs. Income

 VS:

Wealth and Income are two very different concepts. Wealth is a person’s net worth, which can be found by adding up the value of someone’s property and subtracting that person’s debts. Income is a flow of money that can come from a variety of places such as wages, rent, interest, an allowance, and even gambling. In this picture I am showing Cracker Barrel and a ledger I created to help determine my wealth (it’s not 100% accurate by any means!). Cracker Barrel is my job; I spend 40+ hours a week there and it is my only source of cash flow. My income is the only way I can purchase things that I want. In the ledger, there are two colors; black for property and red for debts. By adding up the ‘black’ numbers and subtracting the ‘red’ numbers, my wealth can be determined.

Chapter 7/8- Prestige

Prestige is all about respect or regard.  Certain jobs are looked at with more prestige than others using four general features. The jobs held up on more prestige tend to pay more, require more education, involve more thought, and they offer greater independence to the worker. In this picture is a group of the trainers at my work. At my workplace, trainers are looked at with more prestige than regular servers. When you are training someone, the pay is better than the normal minimum wages. There are specific meetings that must be attended to teach trainers more about training. There is definitely more thought involved, because you have to think about the best way to explain processes. Greater independence is offered because you are not babied and have more opportunities to be independent in the restaurant. The red aprons in the picture are the 'prestigious' trainer aprons, and the brown one is the generic server apron. 

Chapter 7/8- Contradictory Class Location

The argument that some people are members of more than one class at one time is called Contradictory Class Locations. This was developed by Erik Wright and he means that a person’s position in the class structure can really create contradictory interests. The gist of this argument is that if a person rises from a lower class to a higher, that person’s interests will be different than the ones who started at the high class. In this picture my boyfriend is in his suit holding a server book ready to take an order. This is an example of Contradictory Class Location because he started out with the company as a server and moved himself up to management over the last three years. While all the other managers tend to leave servers out to fend for themselves while they take care of the kitchen, my boyfriend is always really behind his servers in everything they do. He understands what they are feeling because that is where he came from. This would indicate he is a member of two classes; the management class and the server class. He’s a prime example of a Contradictory Class Location.

Chapter 7/8- Horatio Alger Myth

The Horatio Alger Myth is based on the belief that limitless possibilities are given to everybody. The positive side of this belief is that it encourages everybody to compete for higher positions and reach for the best ‘them’ they can be.  The negative side of this belief is that it places blame for failure directly on the individual. This picture is of the song “Started From The Bottom”, because it is exactly what the Horatio Alger Myth is referring to. In the song Drake is saying he started from the bottom, now he’s here and that his whole crew is with him. He is just demonstrating how he went through struggles that shot him up the social class ladder. This song was playing during a conference I went to for my old job. It played as one of the platinum members walked out and they proceeded to talk about how they were “just a normal, poor person who worked really hard to get where they are now.” I think the accuracy of the Horatio Alger Myth is not really there, but I see how it is a good idea to motivate people to work harder.

Chapter 6- Stigma

Deviance refers to any violation of norms, no matter how small or large the deviance may be. Stigma is deviance without any action required. Stigma refers to characteristics that discredit people. These characteristics could include violations of norms of appearance and norms of ability. Involuntary memberships can also be a stigma, such as being diseased or victimized. In this picture, my one and only birthmark is shown right under my earring. This big freckle has been on my neck since day one. I did not ask to have it there; I was just born with it. Birth marks are a great example of a stigma.

Chapter 6-Strain Theory

Cultural goals are a big part of society because everyone wants them. These goals consist of things such as possessions, wealth, or prestige. Although everybody wants these things, many people feel that the actually success of attaining these goals is blocked. Robert Merton developed strain theory, which refers to the frustrations people feel. Hard work and higher education are great examples of strain in the theory, because although we enroll ourselves in school and work hard in our jobs to collect experience, it is very frustrating when these norms do not seem to help attain the goals. In this picture is my textbooks and my work apron. I work full time, overtime when I can, and go to school full time. I spend all my time juggling school and work with hopes of getting a “Better Job”. I often get frustrated while I’m juggling all these things, fearing it may not pay off. This is an example of the Strain Theory, and of my success being blocked.

Chapter 6-Illegitimate Opportunity Structure

Illegitimate Opportunity Structure is a theory developed by Cloward and Ohlin in 1960, and it explains that in the urban slums an alternative door to success opens including robbery, gambling, drug dealing, prostitution and other crimes. An example of this is drug dealers who present the image of being rich and leading a rich lifestyle, when crime is the only thing that got them to that place. In this picture is a rough area of downtown Kansas City, where some of these alternative doors to success are opened daily. Every city has their “scary” area, and this is one in KC. Because the legal, easier doors to success have been slammed in the lower social class’ faces, they are forced to do illegal activity to try to get ahead in life.

Chapter 6-Embrace Labels

Most people in society tend to avoid labels, especially negative ones. Some people like the diverse identity and encourage labels. One example of this is teenagers who use strange techniques to rebel and reject against adult norms. In this picture is my little sister who does just this. In this picture she had just shaved her head off, not caring what anybody thinks. The norm for teenage girls is long, always styled hair and she went against this norm and embraced whatever labels people could throw her way. Also in my family, we have always been told to stick with our natural hair; so natural hair is the adult norm we saw in our parents. By my sister chopping all her hair off (after dying it pink by the way), she is refuting all adult norms we grew up knowing.