Welcome to the SOC 101 class blog! This blog is a space for us to apply our sociological imaginations to our everyday experiences with the social world. We welcome and appreciate thoughtful comments.
How can someone make a racial stereotype basic on the color of your skin. If you cut each one of us open, you will see the same body parts. Why do we make racial jokes about someone race? Comic use a lots of racial stereotype in their jokes . Racial stereotype come from the media in which we all watch. Stereotype can be found for every race and ethnicity. It doesn't matter if your Africa American, Caucasians, or Chinese. Alot of racial stereotype are inaccurate. Racial stereotype can be very harmful because you all saying somethink negative about someone race. Some people has a different opinion they think there is no harm in having racial stereotype." They are just funny jokes". Here all some stereotype they use when it comes to different races. A typical stereotype for white people. They say white people have no rhythm. This is not always true because not every white person is without rhythm, and not every non white has rhythm.A typical stereotype for African American. They say African American are good at basketball. In the Nba there are 80 percent of African American that play professional basketball. This don't mean every man or women of color are good in basketball. There are Alot of good player who are nonblack as well. We evening experience racial stereotype with our own race. This video Iam about to show are telling people too stop using stereotype because people are killing themselves because people are using harmful jokes. http://youtu.be/Sq6USvV1K1Q Becareful what you say to people because words hurt more then hits sometimes.
The school district of Philadelphia has a bout 180,000 children attending school. Now if you believe that the youth is the future and education is the key to success. Then this may come to an alarm to you. 30% of the children in the school district live in poverty and 9% experience homelessness. This is a major concern for the students of the school district also a major concern with the future of our society.
Here are two quick facts, more than three-fourths of the children who attend Philadelphia public schools qualify for free or reduced price lunch. Also 74 of 267 Philadelphia District schools, over 90 percent of the student body qualifies for free or reduced price lunch. What this means is that children goin to these school either live under the poverty line or right above it.
Now facts show that hungry undernourished children will not do well in school.Children in schools coming from poverty stricken homes are less like to graduate, have academic struggles, behavior problems in classroom settings, and truancy. These children living in poverty are not getting the right amounts of food on a daily basis so this causes the brain to not grow because the body is not getting the right amount of nutrients it needs.
In conclusion the poverty in the city of Philadelphia is only becoming a bigger problem. For to long the issue is not being addressed and just over looked as if its not important. When in reality it effects the children growing up in poverty who are the future of our society. And as the children of our Philadelphia school district grow older and become adults it still effects them because they may still continue to live in poverty. If the children of our future are not being nourished and are not growing properly how can we as a society expect any change for the future
Education is the transmission of civilization and socialization. Education helps everyone develops his or her potential;life is the biggest educator it varies widely from culture to culture and age to age There is not a special place to educate, education can be done anywhere.education equipes individuals with that is necesary to be a productive member of the society. It is really important to be educated.Through learning, we acquire and develop knowledge and skills. attains all level of the society, like Children, to adult. Children learn from their environment and activities, and the adults around them act as teachers and students.So, As much we can educate yourself do it , because I think, and I believe, it do truly help us get ride of the societal problems.
One hundred and sixty thousand. What exactly does this number represent? The number of fast food restaurants in America. Sixty-five billion. What does this number represent? The amount of money spent in one year on fast food. Is there any wonder why America is the fattest country, or why there is such a rapid increase of obesity. This number fails to include neighbor stores that serves fried, processed, fatty, affordable food. Such places appeal to children's appetite, with bright catchy colors, and nice packaging. But what is this really doing to the children in our society? It is decreasing their nutritious food intake, which in affect is causing obesity, as well as health issues. But is this a real problem?
Children's Health
Obesity in children is a very serious problem. In fact it is directly a problem in which is being critically investigated by the Center for Disease Control or the CDC. In fact on the CDC's website, diseases are listed that are directly linked to childhood obesity. The number one disease was diabetes, closely followed by cardiovascular disease. Obese children would also have breathing problems, and may suffer from sleep apnea, in addition to asthma. They may also suffer from joint discomfort, liver disease, and gallstones. It also drains children of energy, after having a high peak off of unnatural energy. But, it will also effect a child's self-esteem, and self-confidence. Why should any child have to be subjected to that? After all the likelihood for obese children to become obese adults are high. So what can be done?
The Next Step
The First lady Michelle Obama has initiated a plan to make children healthier and decrease obesity. She promotes daily exercise, and healthy eating for children. She shows the bigger picture of eating healthy, how it improves health, and increase energy. But more has to be done. Primarily, it comes down to the parents. Parents need to teach and educate their children about eating healthy, why they need to eat healthy, and the benefits of eating healthy. This is very important especially for people living in cities? Why? The majority of people living in cities such as Philadelphia are non-white. Black children are currently hold the highest percentage of obesity. Black people also have high percentage of developing heart disease. Children need to see their parents making mature choices when it comes to healthy food. Parents may need to provide healthy food. Although healthier food is more expensive, with some research, parents can find places that provide affordable, healthy, nutritious foods. The CDC also provided a very important factor that may prevent childhood obesity, breastfeeding. For each month a child is breastfed, the chances of obesity is lowered. Breastfeeding for at least a year will cut down America's medical expenses by $2.2 billion dollars. So what should we know about childhood obesity.
The blame cant be put on children for their obesity. These children don't bring it on themselves either. In order to help children become healthier, parents, teachers and any influential adults, need to help, teach and encourage children to eat healthier.Healthier is the key word. Like Michelle Obama mentioned the point of helping children to eat healthy is not to neglect, but to learn moderation and balance. It is a fact: Children are the future. So why make a fatter future, full of misery, disease, and unhappiness. Why not change the way children think? Why not help them to appreciate healthy food? This has to start with us, these are our children, and we have to save them from a life that will cause them more pain than happiness, and possibly premature deaths. So what will you do to help them?
According to Joyce Mitchell and Lee Haroun the purpose of attaining good health is more than hoping to prevent disease and extend the length of life. It includes improving the quality of life. The United states remains the first nation in the world with a large rate of obesity, which is mainly caused by a bad food habits. The proportion of obese persons in the U.S grows regularly,and it has gone straight up over the years. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, the estimation average of people who are overweight or obese is 64% of adults and 30% of adults age 20 and above are obese. Which means, in this society we don't eat properly as we are supposed to,we eat unhealthy and that has a huge impact on our health condition. This clip shows us how the rate of obesity is gone up over the years.
The bad food habits, as well as the lack of activity, are the main factors responsible for this outbreak of obesity. And this phenomenon also gets young people, the category in which the percentage of obese men and women does not stop growing. Why such an increase? According to some specialists, it is the settled way of life, the way of living and of feeding which is still and always the cause. The American children spend numerous hours in front of any sorts of screens. So, they neglect the physical activity. Over and above the fact that meanwhile, they do not stop eating fast food and gulping down extremely sweetened drinks. This imbalance leads them invariably to gain weight. On the other hand we have this case of poverty, which is one of the reason of obesity if we can say that. People living in poverty don't have access to good and healthy food. They cannot afford it. That's why they refer themselves at the corner stores or fast food store where there are all the junk and unhealthy staff, because is cheap and that's all the can afford. Here is a clip that discuss a little bit of what I pointed out.
Obesity is not the only disease caused by a bad food habits, or a lot of stress there are some other diseases as well. For instance we have cardio-vascular diseases, strokes,diabetes, high blood pressure and so on. The question is what can we do to avoid all those diseases. I guess we have to change our food habits and lifestyle by eating fresh, more vegetables, fruits, grains and less food with high calories, avoid stress, sufficient exercise. A good idea will be also to create groups and organizations with a purpose to teach our population some good food habits and a good lifestyle management.
Throughout American history, the government has had many opportunities to correct, change, or make equal the race relations problem, they started, when they enslave the African Americans. Separate but equal, the Plessy v. Ferguson case was one attempt to correct a wrong. Which lead to Brown v. Board of Education, and as we learned in class these two cases changed little to nothing in terms of equal education among the races. This was one, opportunity lost. By denying African Americans a government subsidized mortgage loan in the development of the suburbs, during the fifties, was a crippling effect for racial equality. Another lost opportunity, “Do something, anything!“ about the inequality of American society because of race.
The one opportunity the government had to make amends for slavery was giving forty acres and a mule to the former slaves of the south. Unfortunately, Andrew Jackson, Lincoln’s vice president, defaulted the presidency, due to assassination, was an undercover racist, he stopped the most critical government decision to “try to make good the wrong they did for enslavement.” By pardoning the former white plantation owners, and granting the return of their land, African Americans were immediately restored to second class citizenship. Politicians are still under cover racist today, but if the decision was made to give the 40 acres and a mule to my ancestors, then the attitude of the psychological warfare would be more positive and as a nation we would have moved pass the damage of slavery. The playing field would be leveled here in 2011, well almost…
Please view and Play video up to :33 sec. then pause run to 1:15 and play ‘til end
Yes we need to get over it, move forward from the history of slavery, we all do. But to equal the effect slavery damaged to racial equality, we would need a government decision equally as strong, to correct the wrong. Not necessarily, 40 acres and a mule but definitely something culturally strong that would serve as a reversal of fortune. An idea that can work to solve the racial ignorance and equality here in America, I take from our police departments division of internal affairs. We can create a Fair Acts Bureau of investigation overseeing the government. This would be run by and for the citizens of the United States.
I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. Normally when this phrase is recited it is with mental application in mind but in this instance I want to use it in the physical aspect. As a native North Philadelphia I have seen a lot of changes in the landscape of my neighborhood from abandoned houses to abandoned factories. Things which hurt me the most are the health the majority of my neighbors are in and the outlet of food sources available to us to eat from. As I grow older and older I see more fast food restaurants, corner stores, liquor stores, gas station convenience store, and mega bargain stores (ex. Wal-Mart) popping up everywhere. I remember a time when I use to help my great grandmother, Lucy Inez Murray, wash off the collard greens and break off the ends of string beans that she bought at the local produce market to prepare for the nightly dinner. Those days are long gone or I can say rapidly fading away like a Dirk Nowitzski jump shot.
Don’t get me wrong I know days are different where now time is money but if we don’t take the time to also feed ourselves properly we won’t have time to spend the money we work so hard to make. I don’t have an easy answer to solve this issue but I do know of one major contributing factor that has exacerbated issue, single parent homes. It’s hard when mothers, fathers too, have to come home to a “second shift” when they are already dog tired from working the job of which they are paid actual money. The children get caught in the middle because all we know is “I’m hungry, so let’s eat.” We don’t know how to cook, where the food comes from, or even sometimes why there is no food. So in turn what happens is the parent may grab something on the way in for the house to eat or just order out to save even more time.
With broken homes not disappearing no time soon I think a more feasible solution would be for local legislation to step in and put rules around the free enterprise practice for food businesses. I think that franchises are abusing the system by putting up businesses (like the ones I listed earlier) wherever the law will let them regardless of who the victim will be. More often victim is usually poor. If unhealthy food wasn’t so readily available we would have no other choice but to find other means to feed ourselves which more than likely will be the old fashioned ways of home cooking. At every BSO (Broad Street Orange Line) train stop from Spring Garden to Olney there is a fast food spot smack in your face as you come up the steps to the surface level. With its bright lights, cheap prices, and sweet smells it is hard to resist for the poor communities to resist the temptation.
As I said earlier, I know it isn’t easy but is it possible to change the diets in our areas with some effort. Become aware of the problem and stop ignoring it. Hold people in public office accountable for letting these thing occur. Most importantly for ourselves we need to get from in front our electronic devices and begin to exercise again.
Did you know 2/3 of Americans are over weight and 1/3 are expected to have diabetes. It's know surprise that America has the highest obesity rate in the world. We are considered the fastest nation. With the fast food industry increasing, its almost impossible to find a descent meal. .Although McDonalds, Burger King, Checkers , and Wendys target younger child, parents are funding these industry to continue to sell cheese burgers and french fries to their children. Low income families are also targets for fast food industrys, by offering the "dollar menu" low income families can buy more for a cheaper price. Spending twenty dollas at McDonald can feed your entire family whereas twenty dollars cannot buy an entire meal at grocery store. The video below discusses the cause for childhood obesity the lack of nutrition, excersise and pressure from fast food advertisments.
Childhood obseity in America is an epidemic. According to CBS news " Childhood obesity has tripled in the last thirty years by 15%".The lack of education regarding nutrition and the risk of obesity. is not offered in fast food commericals. Although we are deteremine where our dollar is spent, its not a coincidence that fast food is cheaper than healthy food. Most urban neighborhood are food deserts. There are more corner stores that offer artificial snacks and soft drinks. there are more fast food adveristments on billbroads in urban communities than surburan. The below video discusses the USDA new food guide pyramid.
The food guide plate is created by the USDA to help American understand the amount of fruits, vegatables, protiens and gains to consume daily. It's stated that the plate is easier to understand than the tradtional pyramid.There are many American who are aware of childhood obesity, but still ignores the risk. If American children eating habitats continues children they will not see their grandparents age.They will die from high blood pressure and diabetes.There are ways to change your child's diet instead of ordering a hamburger with french fries and a soda, the next time your at a fast food restaurant substitute the fries for a fruit cup and the soda for apple juice or milk. Those simple changes can make a big difference in your child's health.
My blog is going to be about the heath in the American society and how factors such as enviroment,low paying jobs, and poor education contribute to America's obesity epidemic.
Some may not know but the enviroment you live in plays a key role in the type of advertisements and food restaurants you encounter on a daily basis. The U.S Department of Health and Human Services has found that the obesity rate among poverty-stricken women to be 5o percent higher than it is among women of a higher socioeconomic status.Obviously with enviroment being a factor, because usually when you have a higher socioeconomic status you have the privelege in better enviroments.Enviroments where there are more than just corner stores offering you soda,tasty cakes,and processed food.Unfortunately the majority of americans that are obese are blacks and hispanics.Ethnicities that normally live in poverty in america do to the lack of the funds that would afford them a better area to live in.I personally feel that a majority of minorities are birthed into a society that infects them with "back of the bus syndrome".A syndrome that categorizes individuals based on their ethnicities and outter appearances and as a result limits them to certain priveleges in life or makes obtaining those priveleges in life harder to obtain.That's not to say inequalities aren't experienced by whites too.That's just to say that due to institutionalized racism in government from centuries ago minorities are still viewed as less than so society inadvertly treats them as such.I mean in most impoverised areas there are tons of fast food retaurants,corner stores,low in markets,and billboards for cheeseburgers,milkshakes and other kinds of unhealthy foods.While in upperclass societies there are whole food markets,salad bars,restaurants and billboards that are promoting healthy foods.
Secondly,people in society who are occupying low paying jobs.Usually making minimum wage can only afford to purchase sugery treats, processed foods, low grade meets,and fast foods.Mainly because in our society we make healthier food more expensive to buy.As a result families in america with a low income suffer.I mean even children who attend schools in lower class neighborhoods suffer because if you attend school in that type of neighborhood usually your meals at school are processed cheap foods.Well if you don't believe me when I say enviroment,low paying jobs,and education are factors of obesity view the charts, pictures, and video below:
Now that you have looked at the charts displaying how poverty and obesity go hand and hand and have also wastched my video clips I'm sure you now have a better understanding of how obesity sometimes begins.But now my question to you is how can we stop it? Well I don't know about you but I think if we start by educating children in schools on healthy eatting we could prevent the next generation from being over weight. Also I think the government should pass an act that makes unhealthy food pricier and healthier food very affordable for all people. That way we'd have a happier, healthier, and more energetic society. Honestly with those improvements the world would be a better place.
LESS OBESITY AND MORE PROSPERITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think by now we all know that obesity is a problem in this country, but I think childhood obesity is devastating. We are responsible for our children. There are several factors that may cause childhood obesity. Some children's genetic make-up make them prone to being overweight, but with a managed diet and exercise this problem can usually be corrected. I think the biggest problem is children not being served the proper foods. Children are dependent on their caretakers, usually those caretakers are the parents. There may be several reasons why parents don't serve healthy foods. One reason could be money ; after watching the clip in class yesterday, it seems people feel that buying fast food or going to the corner store is cheaper than buying healthy food. I beg to differ, I think people are using money as an excuse. The truth is it's easier, more convenient to go to the corner store, or to purchase fast food. Parents are letting children tell them what they will and won't eat; they're afraid children won't like the meals that they prepare. What we must do as parents is start early, with our children's diet. We can't wait until this issue becomes a major problem. I know we want to blame the government for everything that is going wrong in our lives, and usually that is the case, but not now. We also want to blame the media ; we feel that advertisers are trying to ruin us. Newsflash this is our problem, we are creating it, like I said "we are responsible for what our children eat"! What we have to do is take a little extra time. We have to be more involved with our children's daily activities. We have to give them alternative things to do ; something other than sitting in front of the televison with a happy meal or playing video games. We should exercise with our children; remember we are their first teachers. I think people are uninformed about healthy foods being very expensive, we have to look for items that are on sale, the best thing to do is try growing some things, I know for a fact seeds are not as expensive as you think. It might sound like a lot of work, but aren't our children worth it? I picked this video so that everyone who reads this blog will know this is a serious problem.
The term Super size has been deleted from the proverbial vocabulary in our society today, but has anything really changed?? The fast food companies really are marketing geniuses, they have altered menus and made sure that people know that they are trying to change to be more health "friendly". But the truth is nothing has really changed. Although they have gotten rid of their flagship "Super Size" they have come out with more choices that hold more calories than super sized fries and drinks. So to say that McDonalds is health conscious is somewhat of a smoke screen because when they got rid of one three more sprang up. This all goes along with the marketing ploy that McDonalds is changing, and keeping Americans fat and confused. Fat and confused may sound funny but it is the truth, the CDC made a graph showing the obesity rates in country and our lovely state of Pennsylvania comes in 19th, not to shabby??
Morgan Spurlock a documentry film maker made a docu/drama about eating McDonalds food for 30 days straight for his three meals a day and the results that he got were very shocking. Although this is a very drastic way of getting information and informing the american people about things that are bad for you, it worked. The information is flawed in some ways sadly, many people in the world eat unhealthy but do not eat McDonalds or fast food every day of there life for all three meals. This is just showing over time squshed into a month what can happen to someones body.
Ok, so because of this movie McDonalds pulled the super size option from the menu,good right? Wrong, this movie was made in 2004 and the graph above is from the present, so why is there still an increase? Maybe McDonalds and the other fast food king pins are not to blame. Sure its easy to point a finger at something that is so controversial like fast food, people know its bad for themselves but they only want retribution when the fast food that they love is killing them, and McDonalds is an easy target. The Fast Food Industry is'nt all to blame, its the companies that supply the food to them. If these subsidiaries were not so focused on making money but the wellfare and health of the people that buy there end product maybe McDonalds and the other fast food companies would be viewed differently.
I've put McDonalds at the spearhead of this post and it might sound like I want them to burn or "go under" but to be honest, I eat the food and like the taste. So to sit here and rant and rave about how this food is going to kill you and destroy worlds and not tell you that I eat it aswell, well thats just dumb. You cant end these companies but learn to live with them, hopefully they will change but if not, well now its on the consumer to know the limits of their bodies to this product
When I think about all the things that could happen as I journey around the city, I really have to thank God at the end of the day. I am one of the many individuals traveling around without health coverage. I also don’t consider myself to be in the best of health, having consumed more than my fair share of sugar and salt during my younger years. Considering my past eating habits, I could suffer a random situation of the heart at any time, perhaps anywhere. I am compelled to wonder what would happen if I were suffering on the bus? Would I be subjected to what psychology calls diffusion of responsibility? And, come to think of it, would I act to help someone else who was suffering on the bus? If I put myself in their position, I would have to, for fear that God would hold me accountable. Or would I freeze up, fearing that someone would accuse me of some sort of wrong doing. For example: the victim could arrive at the hospital only to find his/her wallet missing. Who do they blame? I would at least be a suspect. The aforementioned set of scenarios are my first take on the title topic.
For about six of my ten years of employment with a well-known health system, I’d made the occasional inquiry about how a typical part-time employee might obtain health coverage. As always, I was discouraged. Someone said there was such a thing as partial coverage where the part-time employee would contribute significantly more towards their coverage than a full-timer. Eventually, and elder employee had retired and my seniority afforded me that newly opened position. This occurrence was in the middle of the year. Further inquiry revealed to me that I had to wait for the beginning of the next year to, I believe the term they used was, elect a health care provider! I thank the Lord/God/Jesus that I had/have no pressing health issues (merely a desire to enjoy some transitions lens, prescription glasses and the good dental cleaning that all of our well-to-do society does).
In our society family has many different definitions. Family doesn't neccessarily mean we have the same bloodline. Among different cultures the definition of family varies. Household structures have changed since the 1940's. Usually our definition of family was the husband, wife, and child(ren), all taking on different rolls. The wife stayed home and took care of the household and children, while the husband went out and worked taking care of the finances.This traditional family is called the nuclear family. These days there are many extended family households. Is the traditional family thrown out the window? In my opinion yes. Because of economic problems divorced couples are living together and also friends and family. People consider their household their family members. Divorce rates have gone up in the last 20 years emphasized by William Doherty, Author of Take Back Your Marraige. Lack of ability to form relationships not only ends relationships, it causes people to quit school, quit jobs, quit their partners and abandon their kids. Lack of skills = poverty, not "class" = lack of skills. Doherty is right when he says woman are having children in unstable relationships. Poverty and hardship is not helping the normal family structure. In the black community marraige is rarely seen. One question: were families years ago really any less complex than they are today? My answer is Yes. The definition of family is not nuclear. Its single mothers, single fathers, grandparants etc. raising the children. Woman are working more and some men are staying home so the gender of the breadwinner and homemaker has changed.
In the media today Race and Ethinicity is somewhat sort of an issue. The way an African American person being protrayed would be different from the way a Caucasian would or an Asian. But why? Were all of the same race (human), we all eat and breathe to survive so why all the difference?
In this clip above its the trailer for the famous show "Jersey Shore". The show is about 6 Italians who live at the Jersey Shore for the summer. It basically shows them partying, getting drunk, fighting, and hooking up with people. This behavior is deemed okay because the color of their skin whereas if it were African American people doing this, it would be out of pocket and disgracing. This show had 8.8 million viewers for its Season 4 premiere. For African Americans they had a similar show to Jersey Shore called College Hill. It was the same thing expect these students were all African American and all were in College. It was still the same hooking up, drinking, and fighting. This show only had 2.2 million viewers.
The drastic difference in views I think has to do with Ethnicity of course. The College Hill show would not really appeal to a Caucasian person because none of the people on the show are Caucasian. They probably feel as though they would not relate, because they are white. But there really is no diffence because were all human and do the same actions we are just of different skin colors.
The problem with society when it comes to ethinicity in media is they protray white people to be more superior than blacks, latinos, asians, and native americans. Almost every television show on tv has to have at least one caucasian person play a major role in the show.
It shouldn't have to be that way. I believe because we are all equal and the media doesn't protray us as all to be equal. Thats the problem today, everyone speaks about everyone being equal but no one really does anything about it. I think that if you want to get that message across you should start somewhere where you know all people will pay attention and thats on television.
A couple of week ago I had a check. My doctor told me I was obese for my height I'm about 5'8 and weigh 225lbs. After veiwing the clips in class today I never considered the impact society had on what we eat but after being informed I'm more aware now. Eating is a part of survival but damn we have to be careful of what we eat because it can kill us slowly high blood pressure, diabetes and some cancers. I live in what would be considered as the ghetto, and the stores in that area sell grease special and sugar bonuses cheesesteaks, fried chicken wing, ice cream and candy bars. Shoot I just made a meal out of that last night at work. Being in colllege and have a fulltime night jobs has done wonders to my diet. Not to far from where I live ther is a Whole Foods but that place is expensive hell. I can't afford to but food from there one time I brought a meal to prepare for myself and it cost me almost $40 shit I can go to the neighborhood store like Save A Lot and buy food for three day but it not as healthy. Big government creates these problems but I'm responsible for what comes out of my wallet and into my mouth.Maybe I need to start fasting a couple times a week to give my digestive system a break from the destruction I'm initiativing eating these unhealthy food or junk is a better term and get closer to God "Lol. I could start excercising more making a conscience decision to drink more water,eat fruits,do cereal for breakfast. Big government is aboyt money and always will be. I'm resposible for my health like the saying goes garbage in garbage out, I need and will make better food choices to enhance the quality of my life and hopefully other individuals can and collectively we can change the obesity graphs and in we spend our money on healthier food we can be healthier as a people physically,emotionally and intellectually. We as can effect change when we make changes within ourselves no one is putting a gun to our head making us be consumers of this crap. Ultimately the choice is ours. It's our fault if we are not aware. Ignorance is bliss. After being informed you can't go back to acting like you don't know. We should request government to encourage healthy food choices through grants and tax breaks, I beleive this could make a difference and lower health care cost.
What a word to describe a group of people of different cultures and characteristics. It is also fascinating that because we may be of the same race we may not be of the same ethnic group do to religious beliefs or other boundaries. Either way people must be identified some kind of way to their respective nationality, but most of us have been guilty in our personal bias or feelings toward a different race, be it positive or negative. I mean, what if we did not describe black people as of the African American race would we have racism? Sure we would we just would not call it that, I guess? What is more interesting about the process of race when it comes to identifying if a person should be classified as African American is the fact that all you need to qualify as Black is to have a very low percentage of DNA from the black race and you are in. Tiger woods is a great example of this in his comment once made that said, "I'm not really black, I'm 10% black", What?
About 33 minutes into their Q and A about race and ethnicity Tiger Woods is used as an example for an intro to a great comment and question about race. We find that there are a lot or people that have a problem with their own race because they personally would rather not be identified with a particular group. That is sad to hear because there are millions of people that are very young and uncertain about their ethnicity or race because of ignorance and fear. For example, if in the 1960's I was a person that looked almost white I would probably choose to be identified as a white man more quickly than I would identify myself as a black man. However, today as we have a African American President of this great United States in Barack Obama many people that would not identify them selves as black in the 1960's would quickly identify them selves as black today because of the different times that we are in now as a Nation and People
Because of this of race and ethnicity we see problems of injustice and standards of equality which tend to be unfair depending on what color you are. Equality of conditions are far from the idea that everyone should have an equal starting point from which to pursue his or her goals. Race seems to be the ruler of it all? Where you are from and what you have been associated with and who your parents are also plays a big part in describing
your race and ethnicity as well. Just give a new born Chinese baby to a Hispanic family and watch who the Chinese baby turns out to become, and how the baby identifies itself with its culture. Sounds interesting, right?
Depending how well the Hispanic race is received during the time the baby is old enough to identify social groups or ethnic groups will determine who the baby will choose to identify itself as.
For the most part I think we all are proud of our race and ethnicity we all just have had trouble in our youth with fitting in and identifying with our own culture and race at times due to a number of reasons that you can come up with on your own as you think on this topic of race and ethnicity
Race is defined as the idea of biological classification of humans according to morphological features such as skin color or facial characteristics; according to Wikipedia. Race is divided into two categories, which is Black or White. There is an abundant amount of stereotypes for both racial categories, but the question remains What does it mean when a person says another individual is acting Black or acting White?
Over the years, Black’s and White’s have developed their own identity. Meaning a black person is “hood” with nappy hair or weave, loud, lacks the proper use of grammar, receives poor education, minority and lives in middle or lower class. There are so many features our society use to possibly identify a Black person and place someone in that category. Society tends to identify a White person as being well educated, the majority, proper use of grammar, privileged, long manageable hair and living in an upper class society. If our society sees a Black person living upper class, talking proper and lives in a house with a white picket fence, they are known as acting white. Same for a White person; if they listen to rap music, guys sag their pants, use Ebonics and get dreadlocks or breads the individual is known as acting Black. Acting this way is not a social norm and is not accepted by our society.
People who have the mind set that if an individual is acting outside of their race and acknowledges it as a problem can often lead to an act of prejudice. Prejudice is typically a negative view or assumption of someone. Prejudice is often encountered in our society in common places such as the work force, retail stores and the street (public society) just by walking past and individual. The act of prejudiced sometime is not done intentionally. Some people do it threw telling jokes or having a simple conversation or threw the way a person looks at another.
This video is comedian Steve Harvey showing an act of prejudice. He is doing it through telling jokes and comparing White people to Black people. This may be funny to some people but it also may hurt people.
It has been said, “You can’t throw money, at a social problem (education), and solve it,” but because of money, a person can do anything, “the sky’s the limit” we’ve also heard this rhetoric before. If we were to apply both these notions to each other, then by throwing money into education the sky’s the limit! My solution to the educational problem in American society is not to throw money, but invest money into education. Perhaps we can use the money making system of our prisons as a model to follow and apply that knowledge when investing money into our American education system. Success can be had by all. A financially strong education system will not only produce the successful product of a student but will make money in addition. The investment of equal money levels the playing field in the never ending world series of education.
The above YouTube video is by John Stossel titled "Stupid in America" part 3 of 3. (Please view it now, if you have not already) It touches on raw problems blocking the success of educating our youth. I attribute the failure of our education system not only to money but also the lack of factoring the social statistic of each of our students “starting out” level as it relates to the money invested in their education. Simply the more money spent on a student’s education; the better the education is that the student receives.
By investing money into education, the system can follow the structure of a successfully producing company. With particular focus on the “relentless pursuit of success” for our teachers and more importantly the success of students “employed” by the education system.
By financially investing in the student we would have a need to distinguish the levels of the students, in order to direct a more individual successful product ; which is the equally educated 18 year old citizen. As an invested school, an educator’s job is to teach plus direct a planned path of focus for our students to follow, in order to reach societal success in their career and life.
If this goal is not met, then the first line of correction should be with the teachers. Teachers should be trained on how to educate and motivate students as well as encourage them to pursue a successful path in life. If the teacher cannot complete these tasks, they should be terminated. Benchmarks, like employee evaluations, are one way to gage improvement. McDonald’s structure and profits are based on a routine; burgers, fries, happy customer; burgers, fries, happy customer. You cannot work and be successful at McDonald's and not be able to produce burgers and fries which are essential for returning customers and profit for the company.
A question of "where does the money come from" is in need of a solution. I propose to pool the property taxes to foot the bill for the education of each state. Yes, people will object to sharing their tax money with lower income neighborhoods. But my response to this is, we already share the paid taxes for welfare with low income families, even when we individual don’t use or receive the same distribution of that benefit. Unemployment taxes and Social Security taxes also fall into this category. Now join me in a fight to take another step in adding an equal education tax, as well.
By investing money in education through a business structure, within a 3 year period, the material culture of education would change. The goal of closer parity in our educational systems would be reached. The level of one’s education is the great equalizer. And equal should be the starting point of everyone’s life, here in America.
Over the years, America has experienced several increases and set backs as far as financial support in regards to the economy itself and its citizens. We have faced budget cuts within our school systems, many have battled with taxes, the BP spill had a huge effect and going green seems to the ultimate goal right now in society. People are contributing what they can while others hope our world and government stays in one piece, as they attend to their everyday busy schedule. What some people may be unaware of is that millions are struggling with diseases that come from poverty, being homeless, bad hygiene, etc.
Surprisingly, women are more at risk due to the higher population and are more likely to see treatment than men. While, some women are diabetic, some men suffer from parasite diseases and the elderly experience Alzheimers. It affects 5.1 million people-stated in Sociology Matters by Richard Schaffer.It has also been revealed that obesity, smoking, etc. associates with chronic disease. ( You can visit http://www..soundvision.com/info/poor/statistics.asap
As far as poverty in America, about 36 million are on the poverty level. There isn’t enough food for everyone; crazy thing is we waste food-about 100 billion Ibs. a year. As far as minimum wage, American workers age 16 and overwere paid $7.25 per hour, it increased a little yet 3 million were still under the wage. With income, some people face problems while others kind of have it easier. The upper class owned at least thirty six percent of all privately held wealth and as far as the other nineteen percent has about half- fifty to fifty five percent. This group consists of professionals: lawyers, doctors, psychologists, government people, etc. The lower class owns fifteen percent for a major group of 80%.-also known as the minimum wage workers, etc. (You can visit
In a world filled with billions of people who are as uniquely different as we are the same, the opinions on the definition of male and female and the accepted behaviors for each of these roles by society are as varied as the number of stars in the sky.
Sociology has studied the differences between male and female on the macro and micro levels and have put forth four main perspectives of how ascribed gender roles and stereotyping affect women and their place in society. In this case, I am looking at the feminist perspective. Once a baby's biological identity has been determined, they are then socialized and trained to follow the rules of that gender. Boys are taught to be tough and in charge and girls are taught to be 'lady like' and cooperative. This mind set is generally followed into adulthood and now the men are heads of households and women are helpmates, doing whatever the husband says. The man went to work and made the money and the woman remained at home and handled the domestic side of family life. At one time, these roles were clearly defined and strictly adhered to.
In time, a few things happened to rock the foundation of the male dominated society. The advent of World War II, Gloria Steinem and the Woman's Liberation movement. World War II brought about the first major wave of women into the workforce doing non traditional female work. Many women worked in factories making parts for planes and missiles. These factory positions formerly held by men were now filled by women out of necessity. All of the men were at war and someone had to keep the ammunition coming. In 1942 there were also major advancements made by women in the military. The U.S. Congress established the Women's Auxiliary Army Corp (WAACs) in May, in the month of July,Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Services (WAVES) was authorized by the U.S. Congress and in September, the Women's Air force Service Pilots (WASPs) were also established. The armed forces were supplied with more than 1000 pilots from the WAVEs. Women were on the move and the gender roles were beginning to intermingle.
The fight to gain equality and to improve the social status of women began before World War II. During the nineteenth century, one of the most recognized and outspoken activists for women's rights was Susan B. Anthony(Feb. 1820-March 1906). Gloria Steinem picked up the torch during the 1960's. Ms. Steinem is an American feminist, journalist and social and political activist. During the 1960's and 1970's, hers was one of the loudest voices to be heard in the fight against discrimination, sexism, and gender bias. She is still active and fighting for women's rights at the age of 77 years old. HBO very recently showed a documentary of her life titled 'Gloria: In Her Own Words'. (Metro Daily News paper dated August 15, 2011)
This is a link. http://www.feminist.com/about that offers helpful information and other links to issues that concern women.
Today, there is still a gap in pay between men and women. But as time has shown, the roles are changing for both males and females. The gender restrictions are no longer so stringent and inflexible. We now have women playing major roles in media such as Oprah Winfrey, who owns her own television network and news magazine. In years gone by that would have been unheard of. There are women who are performing equally as well or better than men in many formerly forbidden corporate positions. Women are Corporate Executievs, firefighters, astronauts, chemists and even race car drivers. As far as equal pay, we still have a ways to go, but we are cracking that glass ceiling every day.
By Robyn Brown
