In the text The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology defines social change as, “the transformation of a culture over time” (Ferris, Stein 483). This can be looked at as a change in behavior, values, social organizations, and cultural symbols. It is described as a significant alteration that sociologists that result in extraordinary consequences or outcomes. It is the change in human interactions and interrelations. As there are a lot of things that tie into social change, it isn’t something that is noticed right away or that is understood completely until further along. Social change is something that occurs all the time and even at times unexpectedly. Social change is something that can happen and occur in a long-term or a short-term manner and can change throughout the term itself. 

            Some example of social changes, from Reference.com are the industrial revolution, women suffrage movement, the abolition of slavery, and the civil rights movements. As the article states, prior to the women’s suffrage movement, women were subordinate to men in the majority of aspects in society. In the perspective of a social change, women began to close the gender inequality by fighting for their rights and fighting for their right to vote. According to this article, social change and social movements typically stem from strained between those who have power of power and those who don’t. Change, in a social perspective manner, can be seen in many different concepts. It can be a process, an end, a social movement, or even a problem. The use of new ideas set new goals that are pushed to be achieved. Some types of social change, more specifically, are civilization, cultural, or the change in social relationships. Four of the main causes of social change deals with social scientists, technology, social institutions, population, and the environment. These four different aspects change and impact how society changes in a timely and exact manner. As these are all individual changes, they are in some way interrelated in some type of way. A change in one area can lead to a change in another. A significant way of understanding how society changes with working together and holding together, is the fact of being aware of how they change or fall apart. 

courses.lumenlearning.com

Environmental racism in “The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology” refers to sociology as “any environmental policy or practice that negatively affects individuals, groups, or communities because of their race or ethnicity. This term is shown in many different ways such as people living at a poor income status are not able to afford a home surrounded and in a nice overall area. This term is even related to people living in polluted air, drinking contaminated water, or living near a toxic waste site. Environmental racism can also be reinforced by such things as government, legal, political, and military institutions. Living in these types of areas are commonly by colored people and people with low income. From living in such ways, it is detrimental to their health and their ability to live in a way that’ll benefit them. The environmental movement has been emerging over the years due simply a response to environmental inequalities, threats to public health, and the differential enforcement and treatment of certain communities with regard to ecological concerns. People are living in areas that are threatened by the ecological hazards. Some living in such areas are suffering not only from the air around them or the water their drinking but suffering greatly from poverty.

In a video done by SociologyLive, states that racism is a lot more than just discrimination against people of color and the jobs their able to get, the places they’re able to live, etc. It deals with a lot with where they end up having to live and what exactly they are surrounded by. Factors of such ways of living are quick to cause physical, mental, and emotional pain. From this video, they explain that environmental racism is one of the subtlest types of racism. They gave such examples of people drinking contaminated water, kids playing on a playground next to factories. This affects the way they grow up and people’s over health as humans. This is causing people to get asthma, lead poisoning, and lung cancer. Statistics of environmental racism affects are shocking and “show that that it pervades all aspects of African Americans’ lives: environmentally unsound housing, schools with asbestos problems, facilities and playgrounds with lead paint” (SocilogLive). Statistics also prove that African American children are five times more likely to have lead poisoning than their Caucasian counterparts. Sociologists are finding and examining how exactly environmental racism is addressed in the long-term clean up.

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There are many different reasons as to why parents chose to homeschool their children, whether it is because of religion, social problems, or because of the disagreement with the educational system. Reading this blog, it was from a mom who does homeschool her two kids because of multiple reasons, some being not having to deal with social issues in the school and mainly trying to keep them away from any type of exposure to the socializing effects of peer culture in the public schools. She goes on to explain the importance of the community within the homeschooling life and the ability of her kids being able to interact with others. She states that “when kids enter a school, they’re joining a community” (AnEverydayStory 2015). She elaborates on being in a community, there being resources of interacting with other students to help enhance their lifestyle, the way they think, or how they perform in school. They play alongside other people their age in sports, problem solve together, negotiate with teachers, and argue and disagree with other students. The mother’s main concern is that just because she doesn’t have her kids enrolled within the public-school community, they don’t get those resources and don’t have the extra help that other students may have in the school system. She states strongly that the community like that doesn’t exist for her kids and that the issue of socialization is still a big one. Her hope is that socialization is worked on in a way that is consistent and purposeful. 

            From the test The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology, it talks and elaborates about the homeschool life as well as charter schools and the idea of unschooling aspect of it. It states, “many parents homeschool their children not only to control their academic education but also to limit their exposure to the socializing effects of peer culture” (Ferris, Stein 2018). There are problems within the schools dealing with racism, teacher’s pet, and other students getting more benefits because of their social status, their class, race, gender, etc. With the statistics showing that the academic achievement of homeschooled students, on average, is significantly above that of public-school students and homeschooling keeps kids away from socialization, why wouldn’t homeschooling be more common that it is today? From the text, it shows that in the United States, homeschooling has been growing steadily since the 1980’s with current growth rates of 5-12 percent a year, which puts the number at 1.8 million students in the US being homeschooled. On top of homeschooling, unschooling rates are also increasing as it is a way of rejecting the standard curriculum that is typically taught to students, as well as conventional teaching methods and classroom environments. This approach makes lessons more meaningful and personal to the students as it goes along with their specific type of learning style.  

http://www.aneverydaystory.com/2015/03/04/socialisation-homeschool/

The idea of sex and gender and “what you are supposed to be” and “what you are supposed to act like” is impacted by thousands of different things in our day to day life. Family, sports, yourself, friends, all play a huge role in shaping who you are yourself identity as a whole. Something that people may not think too much about when it comes to that aspect is the impact that schools have on individuals as they go about learning about identity and who they are. From the book “The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology” states that the differences in the educational experiences of girls and boys also begin to appear early, both in the classroom and on the playground” (Ferris, Stein 2018). It is extremely common for kids from a young age to have a general idea of what gender and sex are and how life correlates with it, even without being aware of it. Girls and boys are typically given things to play with, in the classroom, that relates to their gender whether it’s dolls or trucks. It is also common that teachers interact with the students differently depending on their gender. It is typical to see teachers be more lenient with boys being rambunctious and rowdy rather than a girl acting such a way. 

    An article written from GenderSpectrum.com elaborates on the fact that “regardless of a student’s age, gender impacts a child’s experience at school across the grades” (GenderSpectrum 2019). There is a good amount of research done to show how exactly gender is affecting the individual’s in the school setting looking at what kids are allowing others to join in on, what types of toys they get to play with, and how they interact with one another. Something that is a common expectation for schools is to have, teach, and encourage of respect, acceptance, and inclusive of everyone regardless of what one’s identity is or who and how they express themselves. As education has a huge impact on students’ lives, they take account of the way that they interact with the kids and the way gender diversity in children and teens is viewed. School is an important way for students to be exploring and finding who they are and what type of interests they have as they evolve through their life. “It is inexcusable that any child might be prevented from pursuing their passions simply based on others’ perspective of their gender (GenderSpectrum 2019). It is important for schools to be opening and welcoming, encouraging and respecting of all kids’ and who they identify to be despite disagreement or any type of disapproval. 

https://www.genderspectrum.org/explore-topics/education/

Sociology, race, and ethnicity all have a strong tie within each other as they each affect and impact social life around the world every day and differently for each individual from place to place. Something that sociology focuses on regarding race and ethnicity is how it changes the ways that social, political, economic relations and interact with one another. Racism comes in many different forms and aspects as it all affects people differently, while some are more drastic than others. From the text “The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology” by definition states that prejudice is “an idea about the characteristics of a group that is applied to all members of the group and is unlikely to change regardless of the evidence against it” (Ferris, Stein 2018). This relates to stereotypes and the typical idea of a group that is rooted in generalizations. The textbook uses examples such as “all Mexicans are lazy” and “all Irish are drunks” (Ferris, Stein 2018). Typically, prejudices are negative in a way that portrays such group as something people don’t want to be or are embarrassed to be affiliated with. Most times, prejudices are set ideas and are generally hard to avoid and move away from as it is extremely common to believe something about a certain group after hearing it from your society as “we are socialized into the values and norms of society, we may unknowingly pick up some type of prejudice acts” (Ferris, Stein 2018).

From Simply Psychology, Saul McLeod states, “Prejudice is an unjustified or incorrect attitude (usually negative) towards an individual based solely on the individual’s membership of a social group” (Ferris, Stein 2018). This idea and acts are common to fall into discrimination against a race, gender, religion, social class, etc. which by definition is “unequal treatment of individuals based on their membership in a social group: usually motivated by prejudice” (Ferris, Stein 2018). It is not at all times however, but a person may not act on their attitude, therefore, can be prejudiced but not discriminate against them. As McLeod explains in his article, “prejudice includes all three components of an attitude, effective, behavioral, and cognitive while discrimination” (McLeod 2008). He goes on to explain the four main explanations behind the acts of prejudice and discrimination which are an authoritarian personality who are people who tend to be hostile to those who are of inferior status, but obedient to people with high status, fairly rigid in their own opinions and beliefs, and conventional, upholding traditional values. Realistic conflict theory which refers to “a Marxist-based social theory which argues that individuals and groups within society have differing amounts of material and non-material resources and that the more powerful groups use their power in order to exploit groups with less power” (Definitions). He also talks about stereotyping and social identity. It is common to be strongly influenced by society and their peers as they tie in with social norms and behaviors.  

https://www.simplypsychology.org/prejudice.html

In this article, it goes into depth about poverty and what it means from a sociological perspective and how it affects the human nation, the relation, and the result and consequences of it personally and nationally. By definition, in the article, it states “poverty is a social condition that is characterized by the lack of resources necessary for basic survival or necessary to meet a certain minimum level of living standards expected for the place where one lives” (ThoughtCo. 2018). It explains the social aspect of poverty and goes into depth about the personal income of one and how that stands to show someone’s class and, in this sense, how that affects their social standing. It goes on to explain that from place to place, the poverty levels differ, which makes “sociologists believe that it is best defined by conditions of existence, like lack of access to food, clothing, and shelter” (ThoughtCo. 2018). They explain common experiences of people in poverty and what they typically go through such as hunger, starvation, homelessness, absence of health care, and are usually alienated from mainstream society. Poverty can vary in many different ways including the level of intensity, health-wise, and where the poverty is located. 

    Poverty is originated from “the uneven distribution of material resources and wealth on a global scale and within nations” (ThoughtCo. 2018). Sociologists say that it is a social condition within societies from an unequal and inequitable distribution of income and wealth. The social mobility is commonly most difficult. As it says in “The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology” that poverty can be defined in relative or absolute terms. From the book, it states that by definition, “relative deprivation is a comparative measure, whereby people are considered impoverished if their standard of living is lower than that of other members of society” (Ferris, Stein 201). All while “Absolute deprivation is a measure whereby people are unable to meet minimal standards for food, shelter, clothing, and health care” (Ferris, Stein 201). The book then goes on to talk about the poverty lines and its rates regarding the differentiation and how it changes so much depending on where people are located. It states, “ The poverty line has often been criticized because of the way it is uniformly applied without regard to regional or other differences” (Ferris, Stein 202). For an example of this specifically, one family living in one state may need two or three times as much of an income compared to a family living in another state that only needs one or two incomes because rent is less expensive as well as health care, child care, transportation, and many more.

https://www.thoughtco.com/poverty-3026458

Deviance from a sociological perspective sees it as “a behavior, trait, belief, or other characteristic that violates a norm and causes a negative reaction” (Ferris, Stein 2018). Sociologists spend a lot of time studying what causes deviant behavior, how it is enforced, what the end result of situations looks like for the individual and the law enforcement. As this article from ThoughtCo explains, deviance and social vary, of course among societies, communities, and the period of time. This is overall behavior that differs and departs significantly from regular social expectations. This article describes that is it not just within the individual which causes such behavior, but the social context that follows along and influences a social being and is looked at from group processes, definitions, and judgements. 

            Something that comes from the study of deviant behavior is the explanation upon a variety of different things people do that change over time; something that could be considered normal then and isn’t now, and vice versa. These are things such as tattoos, body piercings, clothing, eating disorders, drug use, and underage drinking. A big topic that controversial throughout studies is the condition under what makes suicide behavior acceptable. “Would one who commits suicide in the face of a terminal illness be judged differently from a despondent person who jumps from a window?” (ThoughtCo. 2018). This article explains the four different theoretical approaches, structural strain theory, structural functionalist standpoint, conflict theory, and labeling theory. Looking at things from these different perspectives, gives sociologist reacts to such acts. Deviant behavior lies within not just self-behavior and reacts from social responses behavior from others. This article states that from a study done, it is common that deviant people continue participating in criminal and deviant acts because of the fact of them already being labeled and seen as people who would do such things and at times this falls within their class, race, gender, or at all times. They believe that since they are seen as such thing by society, is it against their personal being to change and go against that label.

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https://www.thoughtco.com/sociology-of-crime-and-deviance-3026279

            This week, after going over culture and all of the different aspects of it regarding the components of culture, the variations, types of norms, and how those norms are enforced. I thought it would be interesting to find something that related to the aspect of that and how it affects the culture itself from person to person, specifically in America. Culture is something that is learned and passed down throughout generations through communication and the teachings from one to another. It is something that as someone who is used to these norms, it doesn’t seem different, abnormal, or weird by any aspect because that is what they are used to and all that they have known to act like and what is considered normal in their culture. Coming from another point of view or from another culture, it may not be like that and when traveling, seeing people do certain things, may cause culture shock and maybe make an individual realize how different culture really is from one place to the next.

    In my source, they are talking about American norms and how it is passed down from one generation to the next. In this video, the mom is out in public with her kids at a Starbucks and is trying to teach them a sense of “personal space”. By definition, personal space is “the region surrounding a person which they regard as theirs psychologically.” She shows her kids this by pulling them away from strangers in public when they are standing relatively close to them to a point where it may be uncomfortable to one individual or both. In America, personal space, for most people, is a known thing unconsciously that people do out of comfort, common courteously, and something that is considered normal. In this video, the mother states that she wants her kids to be compassionate, kind, respectful and that the idea of personal space falls right along with reading and math. Being in consideration of other people and their personal space is what she believes is the right thing to do and that is important enough to teach her kids starting at a young age. The narrator mentions that of all cultures on the planet, American’s need the most personal space. Thinking more in-depth about personal space, it would be considered extremely uncomfortable and abnormal for someone to come to stand right next to you in line at the grocery store, or in line to get food, or at the park. Personal space is considered a norm in America and most people encounter it completely unconsciously without having to think about it and being aware of it. 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=90&v=GwEFzzArqhM

A big concept from chapter one that I thought was interesting was the macro-sociological theory. It is one of the main focuses of sociology while it is the study of large-scale social systems and long-term social patterns and processes. There are many reasons why understanding and analyzing macro sociology is important to the study of people, society, and its patterns. Some being a greater insight into the social canvas that is the overall background to an individual’s life and their lifestyle as a whole. It gives sociologists a better idea of why people live and do certain things the way they do on a larger scale. The difference between macro-sociology and micro-sociology helps with the different analysis of relationships of big groups like churches, schools, communities, etc. and the individuals within them. Sociologists are able to grasp a better understanding of what influences bigger communities as a whole and what patterns are clear from group to group and individual to individual. This study helps show and examine the similarities and differences in comparisons of certain people, groups, and larger societies. Things can vary in differences from class standing, ethnicity, gender, location, type of environment, on top of many other things. This concept is extremely important to the study of sociology given its overall help in patterns and big ideas in comparing communities and societies. 

From the video that I watched for this week, I gained a lot of insight on how exactly things started and how the term came about, as early as 1917. It states that very large things can happen in small interactions. This shows the overall difference between micro-sociology and macro sociology and how it can change the whole entire study from simply what you are looking and observing. The video states that a small interaction can have a very large consequence. An example that was given was the head of state with another head of state can decide the happenings and changes of the economy, wars, and entire people overall. Knowing what a population involves a lot of micro activities such as looking at data, assembling statistics, and analyzing. Studying these things results in macro studies and shows an overall picture of what society looks like ethnicity, gender, class standing, etc. This gives a better understanding of things from a bigger picture and a better idea of what influences society and people overall.

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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=14&v=2_miTpq2bmA

After this week’s reading, something that stuck out to me was the idea of culture shock and the meaning behind it as well as how different it can be from person to person depending on who they are and where they are and what exactly they are doing. Watching a YouTube video about students who studied abroad in different places, I noticed that some people experienced a sense of an overwhelming feeling while trying to get used to the new culture while some people felt excited to try new things, meet new people and experience a new life to them. It is interesting to see how people adapt to new cultures and the new life they are living. Whether they are traveling from place to place for business trips, studying abroad, or just to vacation, the difference in the culture from what you’re used to has a big impact on the time spent in the new place as well as the experience they encounter. The people video I watched, were a number of students who spent time studying abroad away from home. They talked about the feeling of homesick, missing food from home, and missing their families. As time went on, they felt more comfortable with the experience and as they adjusted to the language, the weather, and made friends, they were able to consider that place home.

From the reading, the direct definition of culture shock is “a sense of disorientation that occurs when entering a radically new social or cultural environment”. It is interesting to think about why people might want to study abroad. With the interest of getting an education, they are able to do that on top of traveling the world and seeing new things. Sociology studies cultures in many different aspects and I feel as if it is important for that study to talk to students who have experienced culture shock first hand and how they adapted to it, how it changed them, and how they dealt with the shock of being away from everything that is normal to them only while having to make a completely new normal for themselves. From the reading, it is explained that is very important to be able to put all judgment aside and have an open mind when entering a new country, state, city, etc. As it states in the reading, “when we so completely lack an understanding of our surroundings, that we are truly able to perceive what is right in front of our eyes.” We should be able to experience new things, find new things out about other people as well as ourselves, and see the world for what it is.

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