Marx isn't bad?

This week we have been talking about global stratification. Global Stratification deals with social class. There are three systems. They are slavery, the caste system, and the class system.

The caste system is a closed system used in India. In this system, your "caste" determines your role in society. It is not possible to move up in this system. What you were in a past life determines your "caste." There are four categories. They are:

1. Brahmins

2. Kshatriyas

3. Vaishyas

4. Shudras

If you didn't fit into any of those categories you were considered an "untouchable." The untouchables dealt with disposal of the dead and were excluded altogether and treated horribly. The Brahmins were scholars, teachers, and fire priests. The Kshatriyas were kings, warriors, law enforcers, and administrators. The Vaishyas were agriculturists, cattle raisers, traders, and bankers. The Shudras were artisans, craftsmen, and service providers.

The Class System is an open system. This means that it is possible to move around and change roles. Where you are in the class system is based on where you were born and your individual achievements. The most powerful class in a society often uses markers such as costume, grooming, manners and language codes that mark insiders and outsiders; unique political rights such as honorary titles; and, concepts of social honour or face that are claimed to only be applicable to the in group. But each class has distinctive features, often becoming defining elements of personal identity and uniting factors in group behaviour.

One of the main supporters/creators of the social class system is Karl Marx. This week's article is all about him. According to this article, Marx isn't really all that bad. His ideas and principles were just blown out of proportion by China and Russia. The Marxism theory is one that states that well-heeled capitalist nations might use their resources to create justice for their people. There is no document that has received more compliments on a historical achievement than The Communist Manifesto, not even The Wall Street Journal. Marx questioned why the ideas "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" could never be used without violence, poverty, and exploitation.

Equality for some meant inequality for others. Freedom for some brought oppression and unhappiness for many.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/04/21/qanda.iran.blogger/index.html?hpt=Sbin
^^^^^^This is an interesting article about what is going on in Iran right now. Iran is going through turmoil right now. Their economy is in shambles. Without a clear leader, it is hard to maintain control. People are unhappy with how life is in Iran; not everyone though.

Sex.

This week we focused on the role of gender in commercials. Many toys are advertised to a specific gender. Boys toys are geared more towards violence and battles, while girls toys tend to be more occupational, like mini-kitchens or nurses.

The female stereotypical role is to marry and have children. She is also to put her family's welfare before her own; be loving, compassionate, caring, nurturing, and sympathetic; and find time to be sexy and feel beautiful. The male stereotypical role is to be the financial provider. He is also to be assertive, competitive, independent, courageous, and career-focused; hold his emotions in check; and always initiate sex. These sorts of stereotypes can prove harmful; they can stifle individual expression and creativity, as well as hinder personal and professional growth.

This week's article is the second half of last week's article. Since I was not able to feasibly relate this week's class topics to the article, I have been permitted to just talk about the article.

This half of the article is all about how people relate and react to others. This is still based off "the looking glass self." Charles Horton Cooley believed that "the looking glass self" has three major components. The first is that actors learn about themselves in all situations by exercising their imagination. They imagine themselves as others see them. After doing that, they imagine how people would evaluate their performance. Thirdly, the actor reacts.

Next the article talks about justifications versus excuses. Excuses are when people accept the charge of wrongdoings. Justifications are when people do not accept that charge. There are many different types of excuses. There is: appeal to accident, appeal to defeasibility, appeal to biological drives, and scapegoating. Justifications are also called techniques of neutralization. Types of justifications are: the denial of injury, the denial of a victim, condemning the condemners, and the appeal to loyalties. Many conversations have three aspects; a reproach, an account, and an evaluation. In a reproach, one person takes offence at the actions of the other. The accuser communicates this to the other and that person then provides an account for why they acted the way they did. Then finally, the accuser either accepts the account or denies it.

Is there a predator looking for your child?

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This week in class we talked about socialization. We also watched a movie made by Frontline about "growing up online." This movie pointed out many true and false points about teenagers and internet activity. While it is true that teenagers are addicted to the internet (mainly facebook and other such sites), we are not telling the whole world exactly where we live. We're not stupid like the video made it seem at first.

To prove my point that teens are addicted to facebook, I tried to keep myself off of my facebook until I finished this blog post. Sadly I caved shortly after starting. As I am writing this, I only make it a couple sentences before I check to see if anything has changed at all. My efforts are useless because there's no way something could have changed in the 30 seconds I wasn't looking. I incessantly press the home button to refresh my news feed. Nothing. Not even a new status.

The internet is where many kids feel most comfortable. The movie spoke about many kids who said they were 100% themselves online. They weren't comfortable being completely themselves in real life around their peers. They feel that they won't be judged at all when they're online. The internet is so "easy." The parents in the video were overly concerned in my opinion. Speaking from experience, I know what I should and should not share online. I know that if someone I don't know asks me personal information I should not tell them. These "rules" have been drilled into my head ever since elementary school when we first started using computers.

This week's honors article was all about self. More specifically, the looking-glass self and mirror self-recognition. The article states that, "In his Tree of Knowledge System, Henriques states that the human ego or 'self' has evolved because human beings are the only animals that have had to justify their behavior to others." One theory is the mirror self-recognition paradigm. This paradigm says that "animals are given the opportunity to see their reflection in a mirror. If the animal shows signs of recognizing the image in the mirror as its own, this ability suggests that the animal possesses a rudimentary ability to take itself as the object of its own cognition." Showing this ability does not necessarily mean that the species has reached the human level of self-awareness, and not showing that ability does not mean that the animal lacks the ability of self-awareness.

Do you speak Amurican?

The past couple days we have been watching the documentary "Do You Speak American?" The host traveled all around the country talking with different people about where "correct" English is spoken. Many people surveyed on a train believed that the most correct English is spoken in the Midwest. Our accent is believed to be the most neutral. When new culture is introduced, the native tongue begins to adapt to the changes in dialect. One example of this is Chicano English vs. Spanglish. Spanglish is a mixture of Spanish and English. The Spanish words used do have a meaning in the sentence whereas in Chicano English, the Spanish words thrown in are usually slang and don't add much meaning to the sentence. Chicano English is mainly slang.

Warning: contains language unsuitable for young children.

This weeks article was all about how language shapes how we think. Research has revealed that when we are taught our native language, we acquire habits of thought that shape our experiences. Some common mistakes people make are assuming that if a language doesn't have a word for something, those people don't understand the concept. This is not true. There is no evidence that proves this. What a language must convey and what it may convey are two different things.

In English, we don't have to specify if the person we are talking about is a man or a woman. In other languages such as French or German, it is necessary to specify the gender of the person or even object of which you are speaking. Though in English, it is necessary to specify the time events occur. In languages such as Chinese, time doesn't really matter because the verb tense does not change from present to past or future. These differences in language force us to consider what information or details are really important.

Language has many influences on society. The big one in America is whether or not Spanish will someday become our second or even first language. Are the Spaniards taking over? Tune in next time to find out. (Or just wait a couple years)

Euthanasia does not equal Youth in Asia...

This week in class, we discussed euthanasia. We were divided up in to two groups to debate the two stances. Group A was pro-euthanasia, and group B was anti-euthanasia. Our deliberation question was whether our democracy should permit doctors to assist in a patients suicide or not. Group A's most powerful statement was that the guidelines for euthanasia are extremely strict so it is rather difficult to actually get euthanized. Group B's most powerful statements were that euthanasia causes an emotional detachment from death and that euthanasia goes against the Hippocratic Oath. The Hippocratic Oath is as follows; "I will neither give a deadly drug to anyone if asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect." Doctors recite this oath before receiving their doctors license. I believe the most interesting facts from the reading we were given were that there are specific guidelines for doctors to follow when they grant euthanasia and they're very strict; in the Netherlands, 10,000 requests for euthanasia are granted, 1/3 of them are actually granted; and patients have the right to refuse medical treatment. America values having the choice when it comes to one's final days.

Another thing America values is food. Food is a major part of our culture. The way you eat can determine who you are, or even who you want to be. Starchy carbs like potatoes, macaroni, and rice are great comfort foods because they metabolize slowly and have a calming effect. Sweet foods do the opposite. They metabolize quickly and leave a hyper feeling. Our food habits reflect our anxieties, aspirations, and ways of relating to others. Like fingerprints, these habits are unique. Researchers suggest that food preference starts at birth. A study was done where a group of new mothers were given either a garlic or a vanilla flavored capsule. They ingested this capsule and soon their breast milk showed signs of these flavors. The babies responded by drinking more of the flavored milk than non flavored milk. Another study was done with mothers to prove that we associate certain foods with positive or negative feelings, and that these can be conditioned. A group of mothers were given red bibs to wear when breast feeding. After time, their babies recognized the red bibs and associated them with feeding time. Overall, food has major control over our lives.

NORMal?

This week we talked about social norms. Social norms are "rules" used by society. Norms deem what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. As humans mature, each learns when and where it is appropriate to say certain things, to use certain words, to discuss certain topics or wear certain clothes, and when not to. If these rules are not followed, exclusion from the group could occur.

Today, after school I reminded my underclassmen friends that they only have 53 days left of having friends because that's when the seniors are through. I instantly regreted this when they both snapped at me saying "shut up." It wasn't nice of me to say that they'll have no friends when we leave. I broke one of the social norms; think about what you say before you say it. That's something I've always struggled with.

A major social norm that if broken creates many awkward situations is facing front in an elevator. Also, when in an elevator do not talk to anyone unless spoken to first. How to avoid awkward elevator rides!

How much is that Rac on the roadside?

Napoleon Chagnon lived with and studied the Yąnomamö Indians who live in southern Venezuela and part of Brazil for nineteen months. The Yąnomamö people were described by Chagnon as “the fierce people.” Chagnon was astounded by the importance of aggression in the Yąnomamö culture. As soon as Chagnon started his work in the field, he experienced major “culture shock.” He arrived in a small, aluminum rowboat with a large motor. This part of the journey was two and a half days.

 

Chagnon was surprised when they finally arrived in the village. A dozen naked, dirty men greeted them while looking down the shafts of their drawn arrows. There were wads of green tobacco between their lower teeth and lips. Dripping from their noses were strands of dark-green slime. This is a side effect of a hallucinogenic drug the men blow up their noses; the green powder saturates the mucus in their noses. Chagnon was also greeted by an overpowering stench of decaying vegetation. After some time, Chagnon became accustomed to the Yąnomamö ways. He eventually discovered that maintaining personal hygiene was too much of a hassle.

 

Everything was different than America. It took Chagnon much longer to fix meals. By the time he would be done making breakfast, it was almost lunch time. To prepare oatmeal, Chagnon had to take two trips to the river and then haul the water back to his hut. He then had to juggle getting the stove started up and mixing powdered milk to put in coffee. Most of the time, the alcohol would burn off before he could get the kerosene flowing, causing him to have to start all over. Once he got everything set up and running, he had to boil the oatmeal and then once it was finished, pick out all of the bugs that had gotten in. Another change was laundry. Chagnon limited his clothing changes to once a week to try and solve the laundry issue. The Yąnomamö people obviously don’t value personal hygiene as much as Americans do.

 

Another value of the Yąnomamö people is sharing ones food. When you share your food with another, you are displaying friendship to them. They did not understand that Chagnon did not bring enough food to share with all of them. They also didn’t understand the concept of privacy; a major American value. The Yąnomamö would enter his hut and steal from him. They would pester him with demands such as “If you don’t take me with you on your next trip to Widokaiya-terik I’ll chop a hole in your canoe!” To counteract this, Chagnon realized he had to start acting like the Yąnomamö: sly, aggressive, and intimidating.

 

In class we read an article about the “Nacirema” culture and the Asu culture. The Nacirema culture is obsessed with their teeth. They have a whole ritual surrounding their mouths. They take a stick with hog hairs on the end and put it in their mouth with magical powders on the bristles. They then move the bundle around in a series of gestures. The Nacirema men scrape their faces with a sharp tool everyday; and the women cook their heads in small ovens for an hour four times during each lunar month. The Asu culture has a sacred Rac. To have more than one Rac means that you are in good social standing. The Rac requires a lot of up keep. Their path must be relatively straight. Houses are demolished to ensure this.

Okay, show of hands, who thought that these were actual cultures? It’s ok if you did. Now watch me as I shoot your thoughts down. These cultures, my friends, are an analogy for America. That’s right, you heard me; America. A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N backwards is N-A-C-I-R-E-M-A. A-S-U is U-S-A backwards. The “crazy antics” of these cultures are code for what we do. We spend thousands of dollars on braces and retainers and various other remedies to out oral issues. We hunt the perfect toothbrush down at the local Jewel Osco. Girls spend hours a week blow-drying and straightening their hair. Rac? Try CAR.

Americans spend thousands and thousands of dollars on their cars. Their cars are their “babies.”

 

Recently, I have realized just how much I value my car. It’s my transportation everywhere. I depend on it every single day to get me to school and back. I am super protective of it, partly because if the airbag gets deployed the car will be considered totaled due to the 273,000+ miles on it. Recently I had my car parked on the side of the road at my friend’s house. A snow plow had to pass by my car and the cars of my friends. Without really thinking I exclaimed, “Please don’t hit my car!” My friends then said, “Our cars are out there too you know.” I was only thinking of my car; my baby; my ride home at the end of the night.