In the court room for the double murder trial, I felt tension in the room. I saw the victims family and I could not believe they were in the same room with the killer. The court room was organized, and during recess time officers were organizing everything even more. There had to be more than one officer in the room apparently, because there was one in every side of the court room. I enjoyed seeing how the judge, lawyer, witness etc. new what they were doing making everything run smoothly. The whole process of asking the witness questions is very lengthy. Being specific, including every detail, is what made the process long and boring.
This was a criminal case and the criminal committed a felony. Gary, the plaintiff, was charged with double murder. He was a young, Caucasian man, and his victims were his own mother, and a prostitute. This took place in Gary's house in Addison. The strain theory would go with this case because norms were fully absent on Gary's part. Based on the pictures shown in court, what he did I found shocking and disturbing.
   
In the jail i saw lots of Caucasian men and Latin men. I thought it was not too different from our school, which smells bad, majority of the walls are plane, its loud and under supervision. The difference is that at school we are not locked up in cells, or have to get escorted everywhere we go, and we as students get more privacy. Out of the four rationales in jail I only saw retribution and incapacitation. I saw the strain, shaming, control, feminist, and differential theories take place int he jail. I think that jail is helpful. Yes it keeps some bad people away form the communities but many still remain out. Those who come in aren't rehabilitated so they go out and come right back in. Therefore, I think that jails need to be changed in order to see change in people. Providing more humane conditions, and rehabilitation would be the key to success.

I found myself thinking sociologically when I was at my cousin's house. This day we went ding dong ditching around his neighborhood in Chicago.  Although it was really fun I bet those who were a victim of this weren't so happy. We took turns at ringing or knocking at houses, and even all the doorbells for an apartment building. Our parents thought we were outside playing kick ball, which we did for a while but then decided to do this. Kids of several different ages were involved, there were kids with nine years of age to 18 years of age.
If any parents, would have found out what we were doing they would have gotten upset, and tried to use the shaming theory on us by trying to make us feel guilty and never want to do it again. To them it would of been a deviant action, because its rude, and disrupts others. In the other hand, to us its not deviant because its a common way to have fun among our age group. Its not wrong to us also because no one is getting hurt, we are just simply having fun, plus there is not a law saying we can't do it. The differential association theory would be implied because the young ones would learn from us, even though its not to good.                 

I found myself thinking sociologically when I was talking with my guy friend. I was discussing about how an event in his life changed him. Before this event  he was an ordinary teen; going to  parties, hanging with friends, going to school etc. At home he was use to his mother preparing good food for when ever he got home, he got the usual please, thank you, and sorry from people. After he got in trouble with authorities he had to live in an environment that was new, the environment behind bars.
Desocialization was a process he had to go through because he was so use to the outside rules and rules at home, and then he had to learn to adapt to new ones in jail. In there he had to get use to being an independent guy, because guards were just yelling at all times, and inmates weren't always too polite. His life was pretty much controlled by the prison, so that makes the jail be a total institution. The thing that made his situation worse is that as soon as he had gotten use to life in there, he would have to come back out into the real world, in other words resocialize.  

I found myself thinking sociologically when I my eight year old cousin came to my house. She is an only child so she can act really stub-urn, and spoiled. She can get out of hand so many times that I sometimes ask myself if she has any morals. Crying and whining are her specialties, and help her get what she wants. When we were going to eat dinner she began complaining saying she did not want to eat what my mom had made, and that she wanted to eat cereal. She also tends to try and break the rules in our house, like taking food and drinks to the living room, and then she tries to blame it on my sister.The way she was acting reminded me of sociology class.
Morals, which is the distinction between right and wrong, I think are missing in my young cousin's life. I can tell she doesn't know her morals, based on her behavior, so she is at stage zero. Her parents would be placed in stage three because the only reason I think they yell at her to stop whining is, because they know my parents would get ticked off if they let their daughter do what ever she wanted. They are just seeking approval by my parents in a way, so they won't get upset. Even though my parents aren't too strict, I still think they could be placed in stage four. They like rules to be followed at our house, but they still wouldn't hold a grudge against someone if they break one at some point. 

I actually think that this mother has gotten way out of hand with her ways of raising her children. If kids are taught that violence is not the answer, and that screaming is disrespectful, why does the mother act this way? The time were she made Lulu play the song in the piano right she yelled at her to the point were she lost her voice. If you want your kids to be successful in life, the parents have to motivate and guide them through that success, but this doesn't have to be done the way that she is doing it. Just because this is the way she thinks Chinese moms do it, does not mean it is the right way.
If she wants to be a good mom she should bring her kids on top in life, but with her girls having fun at the same time. The right way to raise your children will be by guiding them to success; with patience, positive attitude, and even fun. I feel like this mom breaks all of these things and just cares about how others are going to view her and her daughters. She is not considering the negative impact this is going to have on her daughters. I think this mom is messed up and that success has her blind.
Sigmud Freud's theory that personality is influenced by interaction with parent is going to be seen later  in these girls future's. They were raised with over loads of practice, and yelling and insults, well this can cause the girls to be the same with others. Charles Cooley said the idea of the looking glass self, and this can be applied here for when the girls ever feel negative about themselves, and they say it is because of the way their parents treated them with negative comments. Mead's idea of the significance of getting under the skin of others by taking their roles, is something that the mom is not doing. I think that the mom should go under the same pressure she puts her children in so she feels what they go through. 

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I was watching a recording of traditional dances on television. I  was so amazed at the variation of dances that exist in the world. There was dances from different parts of Mexico, dances from down in South America, Spain and many more. I was able to connect the variations with the culture unit in my sociology class. Before I knew it I had at least included about five different words form class and applied them to life. 
For example, when I saw a dance that required the people to wear masks, I thought that was strangely different. My thoughts towards that cultural dance made me sound ethnocentric . The universal is something that cultures have a like, but that are done differently. In this case dancing is a part of all of these counties culture although, they each had something unique about them. In some there was a lot of jumping, or turning, and acting, or tying a ribbon into a bow etc. To some people a jump in a dance is a norm, and to another culture a jump can be breaking a norm. The differences among the dances is what made the whole show more intereseting to watch.

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I was talking to my aunt. We were talking about her marriage, which was with a white man and how they had to adapt to one in another in some things. It was funny because they came from different cultures so food, religion, parties and much more are different. She began telling me how he sometimes felt a little weird in the beginning of their marriage, because he was the only white person usually at parties. The good thing is that there was really no negative opinions from either of them towards each other, or counterculture. the different cultures reminded me of some terms in sociology class.
When I found out they were getting married, my uncle told me that he accepted our culture even though he still had not adapted himself to our culture.This would be making his culture the subculture. Even though my uncle's side was use to different things from us like; their parties are usually at noon, eat different food etc., there was no culture clash. His family and our family have been able to get along with each other, and actually have been finding it fun to try to learn from different cultures, so no fighting is seen. The interaction between the different cultures have brought ethnocentrism. We have made comments to each other like you guys are obsessed with beans, and you guys have parties too early and much more.   

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when, I was listening to rap and hip- hop  music. As I was listening to this music I remembered how some people could not connect with these types of songs because they did not understand it. All the reasons as to why many don't understand this music, brought me back to sociology terms. I knew the reasons for the confusion were due to the language (lyrics), the stories of the song, and the listeners back ground. In other words the confusion were the symbols that the songs might of had, the culture the artist and listeners came from, and much more.

Songs that rappers, in the pop culture, like Wisin y Yandel, Tupac, Eminem, J Cole and much more would sing, would have a variety of people connecting with them. For example, like those who come from a Mexican culture could relate with music from Wisin y Yandel. This is because any time these artist mentioned places in Mexico, customs in Latin America, or problems with immigration, people from this back ground could have a deep connection with the song because they have experienced them. When lyrics speak about civil rights movement, or slavery many African Americans would connect with them. Now, a variety of hip-hop and rap songs do focus on the idea of poverty, a common struggle within people of any cultural back ground. So the word money within  lyrics could be a symbol for a days meal or a blessing/miracle to those who are poor or in a middle class. To those who are rich, money is a symbol of a shopping spring for their pets or getting more powerful.Over all, to really understand rap and hip-hop one has to have an idea of were the artist and their lyrics is coming from.

 Jersey shore I think can symbolize America, and specially the youth. This show is well known throughout the whole country by kids, teens, adults and even seniors. A good percentage of the viewers, mainly teens, can relate to things that go on in the show. For example, many drink, party, are  involved in drama, and have sexual intercourse. Over all the show represents a common life style of many teens living in America, even though it is not so great.

                                                Fast food places in my opinion will never run out of business from what I see. Many people here in the US depend on places like Burger King, White Castle, McDonald's etc., as their food source every day. For what ever reason people buy fast food, doesn't change the fact that they eat it a lot. Fast food is not healthy food, and even though many are aware of this they don't seem to change their eating habits. As a result, I truly do think that fast food is a major symbol that represents America.
                                                 Money, money, money... this is definitely something that represents America. I say this because to several people, money, is the most important thing in their lives. They love it so much that they sacrifice friendships,family and so many other things, just so they can have more bills in their pocket. People become obsessed with money that they fall into problems like gambling, and other illegal activity (selling drugs, human trafficking). The way many think that money can buy them happiness, proofs that they cherish money a lot.
                                                  I think that America can be represented by the white headed eagle.To begin with, eagles have good eye vision that helps them catch what they want, and this is like Americans always looking for what is best for them. This can include people looking for things like power, a good house, car, job, health, a good reputation etc. Another thing is that eagles catch small prey as food just like Americans can sometimes step on others smaller than them just to get to the top. Another reason why this is a symbol is because the eagle is found in things like American coins, bills and much more.
                                                    All around the United States we can find families that own one or more pet/s. Animals like dogs, cats, lizards, fish, monkeys, hamsters, bunnies, birds and much more belong to families. They are loved by majority of the people here in the USA that pets are refer to as family now. Love for pets can be shown by the pet shops that have all sorts of things for pets, including a variety of clothes, collars, food etc.Due to the great number of people that own a pet, I can say that pets are an important part of the American culture, therefore, a symbol of this country.

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when, I went to a concert with my friend. I knew the attitude she carried during school and it was calm, and serious most of the time. Then the event came along and it was this friend of mine, another close friend and me hanging out only. Wow, I could not believe how long I had known this person for and until now I found out their true self. My friend's attitude changes reminded me right away of many terms I learned in sociology class.
The way my friend acted the way others expected her to in class, was a norm. She told me she was quiet because she was expected to be chill at school, as in not being crazy and getting or of hand.This is like the emergent norm theory, because my friend's attitude and actions in school were affected by the public's expectations.More over, at the concert she was more cheery, open and more social. I could tell she felt like in a whole new environment because she said she could be herself any where outside of school. I thought it was cool because there at the concert I connected with two more theories learned in class. One of them was the contagion theory, due to my other friend getting crazy as well like the one I am talking about. This connects because their attitudes are being affected by one another and by the audience as well. This sounds like a domino affect, which is what I defined contagion theory as. Lastly, the way that people at the show were there because they like the artist as well was showing the convergence theory, which is people coming together due to a common interest.
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All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I was walking to my English class. I noticed that my senior class mates kept on complaining about how freshman are so annoying, and that they hate school and all sorts of complaining. Immediately when I heard this I was able to classify the seniors and freshmen in  groups. I could see how based one each of their behaviors I could tell so much about them. They each can be placed in different groups that we talked about in my sociology class, depending from which view we see things by.

For example, from the senior's view the freshmen are consider an out-group because they are viewed as immature, dumb, and annoying kids. It can be that the seniors, as the in-group, bug the young ones because they feel like they are acting the way they are supposed to, which is conformity. This makes them all be in a coercion group because is like seniors force one another to act superior towards those freshmen. When the freshmen are told to shut-up in the hall way by seniors they respond by getting louder, laughing and continuing doing their own thing. To me this shows that they do not care about what others think and they feel like they are at the top, so they are the in-group now. The way that the freshmen stood up to those seniors, showed cooperation. Overall, this competition between grades, which is unnecessary, shows conflict within the seniors and freshmen.

All of a sudden, I found myself thinking sociologically when I was at the mall with my friends. I began to notice that I have different types of friends all throughout school and out. I could tell right away which group I enjoyed being with the most, and those that I chose just to be far from. At the mall I was having fun, and began to think of how my true, close friends are the right ones to be with. Yet I found myself having a relationship with other people, even though it was not as great. I knew from here that everyone has many groups he or she belongs to, but more importantly a group that they actually like.
All of the group arrangements within me and my friends connected very well with the different social groups I learned in sociology class. When ever I was with my closest friends, or with family I knew they were my primary groups. This was because when ever I was with them I saw all of the characteristics that a primary group holds. That would include being helpful to one another, caring and relatively small. In the other hand those distant friends of mine, which are in school or even outside of school, are my somewhat of a reference group. I consider them this because they are not close to me, there can be a variety of them, and the only reason we speak is because we are in the same class. This group is nothing like my family or close friends, because with them we have so many things in common that we have fun and respect each other, which makes them fall as an interest group.

2/3/11

All of a sudden, I found myself thinking sociologically when I was building a snow hill on Thursday. My family, some neighborhood friends and I decided to build a snow hill over the weekend, and I noticed there were some challenges along the way. Since there were many people doing one thing things did not go too smoothly at times. For example, while some were adding snow to the hill some were sliding down it, destroying the hill. Another conflict that occurred was that there weren't enough shovels for everyone so some people at the beginning were doing more work than others.
I was able to connect this experience with the puzzle activity and the Conflict Theory. The way that there was many people doing one single thing reminded me of the group of people trying to form a puzzle. The Conflict Theory applies because there was things getting in the way of both, trying to build a snow hill and forming a puzzle. In both activities there were many ideas going on at one time, which created made things more complicated at times. From both if these experiences I concluded that the solutions to the conflicts, from lack of supplies, too many hands, too many ideas and confusion were similar for both. We all had to simple accept each others ideas, and take turns, making everyone's jobs easy and equal. In the puzzle strategies from different people were used, and in the snow hill everyone had an equal job.

All of a sudden, I found myself thinking sociologically when I was watching American Idol. One contestant sang and was not approved by the judges, this female contestant got very upset because they denied her. She began to argue back that they were wrong, that they denied her only for one reason and her voice was not that reason. She said that it was because she was not as skinny and well shaped like other female contestants. She began to claim that her visual appearance has negatively impacted the judges decisions and that her voice was better than other fit females. The judges tried to clear things up by telling her that looks do not mater at all because they were there to judge peoples voices, not there looks. Yet the woman was not convinced.

This situation brought the concept of "Sociological Imagination" to mind. This book written by C Wright Mills  mentioned the ability to see a connection between the whole world and our own personal lives. This concept reminded me of the lady in American Idol because she began to use her appearances as the reason why the judges denied her. Her thoughts probably came form all of the media that is shown out in public. The common thing is seeing tall, skinny women in advertisements, movies and videos. I think she probably felt like the judges did not like her because she did not carry the media image of a tall, skinny woman.The way females are expected to be the hot, perfect woman by the media has affected people like the lady on the show by not feeling good enough to become famous. Overall the connection here is that the media in the world can impact the way someone feels and acts. Sadly, in this case it has had a negative impact on an individual.     

who am I?

My name is Miriam. I was born in Los Angeles, California but grew up in Chicago. I now live in West Chicago with my parents, three brothers and one sister. I enjoy doing anything that involves music. Some of my favorite artists are Drake, Aventura, Prince Royce, Beyonce, Alicia Keys and many more. I like to have a good time anywhere I go, and just try to be a positive, happy person. I am a senior in high schoool and I do not know what I want to be in the future, but I do know I want to be successful. The biggest influences in my life would be everyone in my family, to me they are just the right people to trust.