#10 - Gender & Sexuality

Gender and Sex are generally often misconcepted. Sex is defined as the biological distinction between females and males. Gender is defined as the socially constructed cultural expectations associated with women and men.

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#9 - Race & Ethnicity

Ethnicity is defined as a shared cultural heritage, often deriving from a common ancestry and homeland. Cultural heritage can consist of traditions, languages, celebrations, customs, and foods.  Race on the other-hand is defined as; a category of people widely percieved as sharing socially significant physical characteristics such as skin color.

Race is socially constructed- it is man-made. Why was race created? Race was created for control, driven by slavery and capitalism. Race still 'matters' today because the census is determined to see where money and resources are distributed. Once we begin to separate and divide people into different races, we are setting up a boundary for inequality.

In the article titled "Race Matters", written by Cornel West, the author spoke of the LA riots that were driven by 'race'.  I thought that the authors views for breaking down the barrier were inspiring. In the article, West states "To establish a new framework, we need to begin with a frank acknowledgment of the basic humanness and Americanness of each of us.have created rootless, dangling people with little link to the supportive networks—family, friends." I find it admirable of his seemingly simple and yet somehow unattainable ideals of basic human decency that is not as apparent in everyday life.

Blog #8 - Understanding Class

Class is defined as a group of people who share a roughly similar economic lifestyle.
Karl Marx analyzed class as being divided into two different economical divisions. Marx argued that the economy is driven based upon those who own production are are keys to valuable resources and those who do not. These two groups are known as the capitalists class (bourgeoisie) and the working class (proletariat). Marx viewed that capitalists exploited their workers in order to maximize their benefits/earnings.

Max Weber viewed class in the ideals of life chances. In Weber's view of life chances, people would have the capacity to earn money but were not considered capitalists. This view led to the creation of the 'middle class'.

The article titled "Cause of Death: Inequality" written by Alejandro Reuss, struck an odd chord within me.  It was quite shocking to read the statistics and causes of death within minorities solely based upon the stress of inequality.  While it seems understandable it just does not seem fair.

#7 - Deviance and Social Control

Deviance is defined as a behavior that does not conform to basic cultural norms and expectations.

What are the norms? and who determines the norm? Those factors boil down to being situational. This means that depending on the time or location (whether that being; country, city, daily setting such as school or church) of where you are at the time. The labeling theory of deviance is tricky. A behavior is marked as deviant only when a figure of authority can enforce that designation.

There are also levels of deviance that can lead to a positive social structure. For example, deviance can help define group boundaries and lead to social solidarity. Deviance is also a source of innovation. For example, if people did not stray from their suggested norms, then how would any process in life further? IF everyone continued on as they always do (how you dress, what you listen to, what foods you eat, etc.) then I think that life would be a very boring and drab existence. For me personally, embodying the norms would not be worth it. In the article titled, "Positive Functions of the Undeserving Poor: Uses of the Underclass in America", written by Herbert J. Gans, was quite interesting. I found it informative how he discussed the positive and negative functions of the undeserving poor.

A few examples of deviant behavior that I have encountered in my daily life are instances such as people crossing the street where there is not a designated crosswalk (Jay-walking) or how passengers on the train or bus who do not have any consideration and will loudly speak on their cellphone. An example that I find kind of gross but I see it so often that I am not even surprised anymore would be how individuals groom themselves on public transportation, Whether they are trimming their nails or blowing their nose onto the ground.

Blog #6

The film "Killing Us Softly" is a four part series created by Jean Kilborne which focuses on advertisements portrayal of women. Jean Kilborne started collecting advertisements in the 1960's that for one reason or another stuck out to her. She began seeing seeing a pattern within these adverts, they were all sending a strong message about women within our culture. Messages that stated "If your hair isn't beautiful, the rest hardly matters" which was depicted in a shampoo ad, and "Made for a woman's extra feelings." which was expressed in an advertisement for deodorant. In the film, Kilborne denotes that women are simply portrayed as objects in advertisements and therefor often dehumanized in order to sell a product. I found her explanation of the connection to violence and the dehumanization of women valid. I thought that she brought up a sensible argument when she stated that "once a person becomes dehumanized that violence is the inevitable next step since you are stripping their rights." and this does not only occur for women. Our brains process advertisements as subconscious information, so it is inevitable that we are taking in these negative images whether we realize it or not, Kilborne refers to this as a toxic cultural environment.
          Advertisements increasingly have the power to tell us who we are, how we should look and what we should become. Which is terrible to stomach, since through out the film it is expressed that we are just setting ourselves up for failure in the sense that all of the images portrayed in advertisements are photoshopped and digitally enhanced. It was quite ironic to hear the supermodel Cindy Crawford being quoted as saying "I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford." Kilborne also sheds light on the fact that men and women inhabit different worlds and for women your worth depends on how you look. Almost every single glossy-page fashion ad will tend to focus on one aspect of a females body (breast, legs, stomach) while excluding her face completely. In these pages, women tend to be placed in provocative poses while the men portrayed in these magazines are shown as dignified figures that are standing tall and strong. Kilborne sheds light on the increasingly important rising statistic of cosmetic surgeries. From the year 1997 - 2007 cosmetic procedures such as lipo, breast enhancement, botox, and eye lifts, 97% were preformed on women have risen 457% to almost 12 million per year. Kilborne can be quoted saying "our popular culture seems to have the ability to make women anywhere and everywhere feel terrible about themselves.". Kilborne is optimistic in the sense that in places such as Germany and other parts of Europe they are taking strides to use only real women and not models within their magazines as well as having labels placed within the digitally altered images. Kilborne argues that people need to  become citizens and not consumers. We need to be more aware of these advertisements and distance ourselves from them.

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The TED Talk titled "A Call to Men" given by Tony Porter he recounts personal experiences and explains the details of what he calls 'The Man Box'. Tony Porter opens up the talk by expressing the norms of how he was raised to think; men are in charge, men are tough, strong, women are weak, less valued and seen as objects. Which he refers to as the guidelines of collective socialization of men, he further describes this as something called The Man Box. The Man Box lists all the ingredients of being a man; don't cry openly, don't express emotions except for anger, demonstrate power control, do not be "like a woman", etc. He shares the personal story of a time when he was younger and his brother had tragically passed away. It wasn't until after the funeral ceremony that his father was able to break down into tears, of course no one else was around to witness this except for Tony and even then his father commended him for not tearing up as well as apologizing for the fact that was breaking down.
          Porter also shared of a time when his young daughter would come up to him in tears for whatever reason and it would be okay for him to console her and allow her to cry on his shoulder, though if his son thought he had the same privilege he would reply with something such as "I can't understand you when you're crying" and "Why don't you come back and talk to me like man.".  He claims that after saying such a statement to his son who was only a year or so older than his daughter he was taken back by his realization. In the talk he argues that it is important for men to be able to deconstruct and challenge the ideals of manhood and that it is okay to break away from the norm of the equation of violence against women. He indicates that all men should be on board to change to norms and to work together to teach their sons that it is okay not to be dominating and promote equality, to have and express normal human emotions.


The video "Killing Us Softly" and "A Call to Men" both heavily relate to the concepts expressed within the socialization chapter, as well as having ideals that relate to each other. For example, the very definition of socialization states that it is the process through which people learn their cultures basic norms, values, beliefs, and appropriate behaviors. It is through socialization that we learn and internalize society's structures and expectations. After watching "Killing Us Softly" it became apparent to me that the images being portrayed within the advertisements and in magazines are being internalized as the norm for women. The sexual ideals that are emphasized through the images are being interpreted to girls at a young age and are allotting them to associate these obscured values as norms. We are taught that beauty will equate to success, especially at a young age. For example, high heels for babies are now a thing, as well as bikinis for girls ages 7-9 years. In "A Call to Men" Porter shares the story of his very different reactions that he evokes when each of his children began to cry. With his daughter he allowed for her to do so, but with his son he was forging the gender socialization of 'being a man' into his son at the age of 5 years, telling him to stop his tears.
     I found that both of these videos intertwined with each other in the sense that while Porter is trying to breakdown the norms of men expressing only dominating qualities that fit within The Man Box, such as Do Not be 'like a woman'. It is within the advertisements that Jean Kilborn is shedding light on that are geared towards young men, such as the cigarette advertisement showing a man's bicep of a tattoo of a woman with the quote "You're looking at my feminine side." that are reinforcing these negative norms.

If you have ever gone into pretty much any toy store there always seems to be different isles that are designated for boys and girls. This picture shows the advertisements that run in a Toys R Us catalog and how it expresses the differences that are associated with each gender. On the left side, the toys that are associated for girls are the princess dolls and dresses. On the right side, associated for boys,  the advertisement shows building blocks, trucks, and even a science kit.

This second photo shows how at even an infant stage toys are associated by gender. On the left is a diamond ring designated for young girls. I believe that the idea of a diamond ring is to instill the fact that women are supposed to aspire the ideals of marriage and hold hope for one day receiving a giant rock as an engagement ring. The right side of the photo is of a hammer rattle for baby boys. I think that this item is forging an idea that men are supposed to be strong and manly in the sense that they can build something and be handy with tools.

This advertisement made me laugh at first. It is basically stating that women are supposed to be familiar within the kitchen and that with the help of the easy-bake oven we are going to feel a sense of thrill and achieve that status, thanks to this product. When I was younger, I owned an Easy-Bake Oven and I can attest to the fact that a 40 watt light-bulb has not aided my abilities within the kitchen. I actually kind of hated using it since it was messy hassle to make something and definitely took well over an hour to bake a cake. That being beside the point, this advertisement is attempting to instill the idea that women are supposed to stay in the kitchen and bake delicious treats that are going to make the world a better place.

Blog # 5

When I hear the word oppression, I think of a powerful dictator who is subjecting a group of people to do something in an act against their own will. While this may be the case in some instances, oppression can take power in different forms. In the article titled "Five Faces of Oppression", the term oppression is defined and then explains the different forms of how, when, who, and where is becomes effective.

 Exploitation can basically be broken down to mean the utilization of something or someone in an unfair manor. The most common form of exploitation, that I have experienced, exists when pay wages are involved. Business owners or companies hire people to preform a task or produce/create a product for them and then that worker will not be justified in their pay or the conditions that they are forced to work in can be detrimental to their health. All in the name of increasing the profit for the business owner or company. For example, the shoe company Nike, has admitted to using child laborers in underdeveloped countries in order to manufacture their shoes. As many of us know, Nike is a powerful company and are able to retail their shoes up to $200 as well as indorse popular athletes to promote their company. So the fact that Nike can bestow the power to exploit their workers, especially children is a prime example of dehumanization. Marginalization is a form of oppression because it allows for a society as a whole to dismiss a group of people that are not considered within the norm. For example, the other day I read an article that stated the central government in Indonesia would be removing Balinese, a dialect of language, from the educational curriculum within this year. This would mean that the language would no longer be taught within schools. This arises the issue for people who are only familiar with Balinese as well as students who are currently studying the language in hopes to become teachers. Another example of people not being considered the norm are those that are obese. Society generally will look down upon the obese and they are often subjected to having to pay extra on airlines when traveling whether or not they can control their health issues.

Powerlessness as a form of oppression is considered exceptionally powerful because it allows for people to oppress themselves as well as others. The example given in the article summed the definition of powerlessness up for me perfectly. In the article, Harriet Tubman is quoted as once writing, "I would have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves.". When a person believes that they are powerless they often do not realize or see clearly the negative effects that are happening to them, they only understand it as how it should be. Cultural Imperialism is a form of oppression that involves taking the culture of the dominant class, separating it, and establishing it as the norm. For example, the article references that although America has no official language, English is the dominant language. This allows for other languages to be looked down on, which is sad because America  is virtually a cultural melting pot of cultures which does not stop people from saying hurtful things, such as 'This is America, we speak English here'. Something that can be considered just as terrible is expressing these thoughts via bumper sticker, nothing says getting your point across like promoting it on the back of your car.

The sticker reads: "Speak English or go back to the sorry ass country you left."

Violence is the most visible form of oppression. Besides the fact that it can be observed in the form of physical harm it can also exist verbally as well as be self inflicted. All people should be allowed to pursue how and any which way their lives pan out. No single person, group, or form of government should be  allowed to oppress others into thinking otherwise or use physically use force in order to make them do such.


In 1961, a man named Stanley Milgram devised a test to see if ordinary law abiding citizens were able to administer an electric shock to other people in the name of science. The test included 12 participants who were led to believe that this experiment was about conducting a memory test, while it actually was created to test the power authority holds. The participants were designated as a teacher, the one giving the shocks, or the learner, the one receiving the shocks. The volts that the participants were to receive were between 15-450 volts, 450 surpassing the limit within the U.K. Within the video, the teacher was portrayed as the participant while the learner was an actor pretending to also be apart of the experiment. The teacher and learner were able to greet each other in the waiting room before the experiment took place as well as have the teacher witness the learner being strapped into the chair where the voltage would be initiated. This allowed for the teacher to have a first hand perspective of the situation the learner was being subjected to. To reinforce the severity of the test, the teacher was exposed to a 45 volt shock in order to understand what the learner was experiencing. The point of this experiment is ultimately to show if the teacher will stop the test or obey the professor who is advocating the test, even after the teacher is able to listen to prerecorded screams from the learner.

One of the first participants shown is a man who I thought that I identified with the most. He was apparently only 1 of 3 participants who could not continue on with the survey after hearing the screams from the learner. He compared the study to the Nazis in the sense that he was told to obey an authority figure while his morals would not allow him to obey the professor, thus putting an end to the survey. One of the other participants of the survey, a woman who was a personal coach, kept reassuring herself before pushing on to the next button/voltage. She would say something like "the participant signed a release form, right?' or 'We should stop before it continues up to the lethal voltage, right?' but then continue on once the professor insured her that it was all in the name of science.  When I was watching this video, I could not understand how or why the participants could allow themselves to continue. I understand that the professor was there to tell them that the survey was 'essential' to science, but if they were randomly selected then they could have easily found other participants to partake within the survey. After being confronted the participants who continued on with the survey were looking to blame the instructor while they themselves were the ones who allowed for the button to be pushed, controlling the voltage. There was no coercive power involved within this experiment, no would would have been punished, they were only helping out in the name of science. I think the power that was expressed was legitimate in the sense that they wanted to obey the scientists orders above all else, even if it constituted harm to another human being.

PhotoVoice - Blog #4

Culture and Society are two terms that go hand in hand. There can be many levels that allow for a culture to operate. Culture effects how a society eats, thinks, lives, it is something that must be learned. Below are some terms that can be found within Chapter 3 that I have associated with my own culture.

Dialect is a form of language with its own distinctive accent, vocabulary, and in some cases grammatical characteristics. Being born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, I can definitely attest to the fact that some of the people around where I grew up and still currently live have a "Brooklynese" accent. I am not too sure of the origins of Brooklynese as not all folks talk in this dialect but I have been exposed to it my entire life. Some words are mashed together, for example, the term 'Forget about it' becomes "fuhgeddaboudit" and the term 'Not for nothing' becomes "NotFa' Nuthin". Other words have sounds added to them, such as the 'aw' sound in the word coffee which becomes "Cawfee". Here is a picture of an exit sign that can be found on the border of Brooklyn and Queens borough line.

A Cultural norm is expressed as certain rules and expectations that are set in order for "appropriate" behavior within a society. Here are two examples that I come across almost daily. In many public restrooms, including those located on campus, you can find these signs that are there to enlighten the public on how to now spread their germs. These expectations do not possess any mores, which are strictly enforced norms with potential penalties for violation, but if you were to cough or sneeze on a crowded train car you can definitely guarantee dirty looks from your fellow passengers and some that will give up their seat near you in order go get away from you. 

I work for Starbucks Coffee and the partners there use our own form of language and symbols, which is defined as an elaborate system of symbols that allows people to communicate with one another in complex ways and an object, image, gesture or sound that is used to represent something else in order for us to quickly and effectively communicate orders to each other.

To save time and space on the cup there are symbols for each beverage that allow for us to understand what the customer wants. There are standards for each beverage but some customers prefer to customize their order and by the use of symbols this allows for us to understand what is requested. For example this cup translates into a triple shot, skim-milk, no whipped cream, cinnamon dolce latte. I believe that this example falls into the category of a subculture, which is a culture associated with smaller groups in the society that have distinct norms, values, and lifestyles that set them apart from the dominant culture, in the sense that many people apart from Starbucks partners and true caffeine addicts may have no idea as to what those symbols represent.

This next picture portrays an example of cultural behavior, which is defined as the actions associated with a group that help to reproduce a distinct way of life. If you have ever gone to a heavy/rock music type of show, then you have probably witnessed the act of moshing.

Moshing is a dancing style that usually takes place on an open floor within a crowd of people. Some people tent to mosh in a manor of wildly flailing their arms and legs and sometimes this action can cause people to become violent rather quickly, hence the warning of the sign.


This picture was taken in the Red-light district located in Amsterdam, Holland. In Amsterdam prostitution is legal and within the red-light district women can rent out display windows in order to promote themselves. There are strict laws protecting the women who choose to work within this profession and it is considered a more if you were to stare or taunt them.

When I first arrived in Amsterdam, I had experienced complete culture shock, the experience of being disorientated because of a lack of knowledge abut an unfamiliar situation. I had known before my arrival that I would encounter these ladies in the window but seeing them with my own eyes definitely took me by surprise. Here at home, prostitution definitely exists and is not legal in the eyes of the law and when I think of prostitution I picture women hanging out on a street corner in a shady neighborhood while trying to avoid the police. In Amsterdam, the police are all over the red-light district patrolling the streets for safety precautions as well as for the safety of the women working there. Although this product of Dutch culture differs drastically from my own, I approached my experience of culture shock by attempting to gain an understanding of this practice. When one sets out to understand rather than judge a culture from its standards, this is known as cultural relativism. 

This is a picture of an Egyptian dish called Koshari.

Koshari typically consists of rice, lentils, macaroni, chickpeas, and topped with a semi-spicy tomato sauce and fried onions. This dish would be considered an example of a cultural object, which is expressed as the physical items that are created by and associated with people who share a culture. Many Egyptians are familiar with this dish as it is quite a popular street-food that can be found and sold from many food vendors about the city. My father was born in Egypt and traveled to American in his early 20's. Every few years my family and I travel to Egypt to visit the side of the family that still lives over there. I was never deeply immersed within the Egyptian culture, so I unfortunately do not speak the language but certain dishes such as Koshari make me think of my family members back in Egypt.

Teenage Wasteland..

After reading the excerpt taken from Teenage Wasteland Suburbia’s Dead-End Kids written by Donna Gaines I am not sure exactly how to feel about her writing. At first I thought that this excerpt started off strong in the sense that she was Gaines was making keen observations such as “...The suicide pact in Bergenfield seemed to be a symptom of something larger, a metaphor for something more universal.” As well as asking important questions such as “What was the nature of the social bond that tied them so closely?” leading her to delve deeper into the situation she was reporting.  But then she would make statements that I felt was contradictory of her own feelings. For example, later in the excerpt she states that “Never the less, everyone pretends that everything is possible if you give it your best shot. We actually believe it.” Maybe in a way she was being empathetic towards the kids that had chosen to end their lives but I felt that her statement came across as sarcastic and almost unsympathetic in a way. Why would we as a society or even on a personal level set out to accomplish anything since we’re only pretending that goals are possible to achieve? 

I’d like to feel that there is more to her writing that I maybe didn’t grasp on my own but I couldn’t help but feel that some of her observations completely strayed from the topic. There were times while reading that I would forget or not quite understand what the point she was trying to make was. For example, when discussing in the scheme of how things really are she states “Girls get slightly different choices. They may hope to become spectacular by virtue of their talents and their beauty.” I felt that she wasn’t really explaining much but just making an observation.  Her unveiling of the reason as to “Why did they do it?” was also disappointing, I felt. Her response to such a question after conducting her extensive research was “They had bad lives.” Which, yes, I can agree with her on that point since it was expressed that the kids had terrible issues that they were dealing with at home and the fact they had also lost a friend a few months prior. In conclusion, I feel that she wasn’t able to answer her own question that she had initially sought out to answer through conducting her research.  

Maybe I am missing her point?  … What do you think?

Discussion on the reading "Association Is Not Causation"

In the first section of Chapter two, the readings express an in-depth breakdown of how Social Science research is conducted. The chapter states that there are four key elements that make up the basis of Social Science research: identifying and understanding patterns in social life; meaning that Social science researchers look to connect the link via individual behaviors, experience, and their perception to better understand social life; gathering evidence in order to find the patterns that are comparative thus conducting several forms of data; explaining how the evidence was collected and analyzed and viewing the resulting research claims as transitional knowledge. 

In the reading titled Association Is Not Causation – Alcohol and Other Drugs Do Not Cause Violence written by Richard J. Gelles and Mary M. Cavanaugh depict with enough support that alcohol and drug, use, while closely associated to violence are not the sole cause of violence in the home, towards children, women or the cause of homicides.  What I found interesting about this excerpt was that the writers mentioned that although there have been different forms of collected data whether it be from experimental laboratory evidence,  survey research, or from blood tests of men arrested for beating their wives; that regardless the definitions of violence and drugs has been consistently ambiguous. For example, the majority of studies that have been conducted have grouped all drugs into one category while each drug has a different effect on their own and different effects on each individual. The same goes for violence, there are different types of violence whether it be shoving a person or beating them within an inch of their life. So to say that drugs and alcohol have a direct effect to causing violence is a broad statement. I also found the cross-cultural research evidence interesting in the sense that drinking behavior varies from each culture. If a person has the mindset that what they are drinking will impair their personalities and actions they will feel more inclined to act out and feel that it is okay because they can blame it on the alcohol.

            I choose to read this article over the other options because I was interested in reading about how the research would be conducted to prove that alcohol and drugs were not a direct link to violence in our society since there are always news stories about these tragic events. I believe that the writers and researchers of this article were able to break down and cover all of their bases to prove the fact that violence is not a direct cause and simply an association between the two. After reading this article it opened my eyes to want to try and keep asking myself the question of “why?” I’d like to delve deeper into facts and understand that there is no simple black and white answer to questions.  
           

 

Who am I?

Who am I? My name is Jacqueline Ali and I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.  My mother is born an Irish-American woman from Brooklyn and my father hails from Cairo, Egypt. I think that at a young age traveling to Egypt to visit my father’s side of the family had an impact on me. I was exposed to different cultures and people that were very different than my own living in Brooklyn, New York. Being able to travel and immerse myself within different cultures allowed for me to learn and appreciate where I came from. When I think of a historical event the first one that comes to my mind are the events that took place on September 11th. I can remember being in school and hearing students and teachers repeating what was going on but not understanding the extent of what was exactly was happening at the time and then coming home and seeing those events being played
out on television. I am especially reminded of those events when traveling to and from school. September 11th is one of the first historical events in my lifetime that I have been either effected by or have been able to grasp the understanding of such an a matter. On some level those unfortunate events have reminded me of the mark from the recent super storm and how I am progressively watching areas in my neighborhood rebuild as Downtown once did.