Final Blog Entry!

Race

This week in Sociology class we have been focusing on race and its origins.  I was amazed to hear that race does not actually exist and is rather just a concept that we have developed over time to explain the differences in our pigmentation.  In reality, we have different skin colors because of the amount of melanin in our skin.  The amount of melanin a person has in their skin has evolved over time due to how much sunlight his or her ancestors have experienced.  For example, someone growing up in Africa would need more melanin to protect their body from absorbing solar radiation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin_color).  However someone who grew up in a northern European country would have less melanin in their skin since they are not being hit by as strong of sun-rays. 

This isn't to say, however, that our skin color is determined at birth based on the climate that we live in and that we can adapt different skin colors over time depending on we live.  It takes THOUSANDS, if not MILLIONS of years for evolution to occur.

Sociological Definition of Race

A sociological definition of race is based on outward appearance.  For example, when we see someone of a dark skin tone, we immediately assume that the person is not white.  I thought that the picture above was a good metaphor for this sociological definition.  While the girl might appear to be of a darker skin tone, under the surface she is "white".  I don't think that race can be explained, I think that it is just our explanation for why our skin tones are different.  It is our way of distinguishing people from each other.
Biological Definition of Race

A biological definition of race would be that race is determined through our genes and that it is encoded in our DNA.  However, studies have shown that there is no possible way to distinguish race by looking at DNA, leading us to believe that "race" is just a concept of our imagination.

IAT Tests
IAT tests, as defined by Wikipedia are:
The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is an experimental measure within social psychology designed to detect the strength of a person's automatic association between mental representations of objects (concepts) in memory. A computer-based measure, the IAT requires that users rapidly categorize two target concepts with an attribute (e.g. the concepts "male" and "female" with the attribute "logical"), such that easier pairings (faster responses) are interpreted as more strongly associated in memory than more difficult pairings (slower responses).

During class we took an IAT test.  Here is the link for the tests: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/.  I believe that the purpose of taking these tests is to see how society has influenced our ideas about race.  From my results, it stated that I had a strong preference for European Americans.  I was not surpirsed by my results because we tend to have a preference for people who are most similar to us, but I found it sad that it was a lot easier for me to respond to questions when "good" and "white" was grouped together.  I think that this test is measuring what it is trying to measure because you do it without having to think about it very hard and rather just click on what first comes to your mind when you think of "good", "bad", "white", and "black".

African Americans Biologically Superior Athletes?

Does this picture to the right look familiar?  It seems to be that African Americans dominate the sprinting events in track.  REAL LIFE EXAMPLE: I know from personal experience that if there are African American girls and White girls in the same sprinting race that the African American girls are more likely to win the race.  It is true that African Americans are born with more "fast-twitched" fibers in their body, which allow them to sprint quickly, but it isn't all genetics.  Running is very much mental, as I would know as a serious track athlete.  Although many people believe that the African Americans will always win the sprinting events, it isn't always the case.  I know a girl from Hoffman Estates High School who is seeded second in state right now for the 100 meter dash, and low and behold she's white!  This just goes to prove that African Americans are not necessarily biologically superior in athletics.

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Sociology Review

It's crazy to think that it has already been a semester since I started Sociology class.  I feel so much more aware of what is going on around me because of Sociology and I see things in a new light because of it.  For example, I have begun to understand how people's environments affect their outlooks on life and how it can affect the rest of their lives.  One thing in particular that I'm so glad that I learned was that the "American Dream" is not always achievable.  We think that if we work hard enough that we can achieve everything that we set our minds to.  However, there are so many other variables that go into it like your parents' experiences and the environment in which you now reside. 

I found all of the topics that we talked about in Sociology to be fascinating, but I wish that we would have been able to do a research project to see hands-on how Sociology is part of our everyday lives.  I think that it would have been neat to survey people at my own high school and to conduct a study whose results would further educate me in the study of Sociology!  I might just have to conduct my own experiment this summer!  How's that for Sociologically Imaginative? :)



You Are What You Eat Part 2

It's crazy to think that something as small as food can reveal our social class to other people.  We may not notice it coming from an affluent town like Barrington, but even our grocery stores mimic the general social class of our area.  Take the Barrington Jewel for example.  We always have the freshest produce and the biggest selection when it comes to making healthy choices.  This is because this area can afford to spend the extra money to get the proper nourishment our bodies need.  In the Honors Article, "Divided We Eat", the point was brought up that "...the richest Americans can afford to buy berries out of season at Whole Foods..."  This link details what is defined as "Watermelon Season"...Watermelon Season.  I found this fact so interesting because watermelon is offered at the Jewel year round because people are willing to pay the price to eat what they want.  I remember going to a Jewel in Elgin a few years ago because we were in the area and I saw the fruit selection that they had to offer.  The produce department was drastically smaller than the one at the Barrington Jewel that I had been used to and it was clear that the fruit and vegetables were not as fresh.  It was amazing to me that just driving 30 minutes away could make all the difference in the type of produce you were able to eat.

The Jewel-Osco pictured above is a good representation of being a marker of social class.  Its grand appearance and big glass windows show that it must be located in an affluent area.  "...America is a place of extremes, and what you eat for dinner has become the definitive marker of social status..." (Divided We Eat). 

However, not only food is a marker of our social status.  From the "Social Class in America" video that we have been watching in class, we saw that objects can be symbols of status.  In other words, a "status symbol".  Think about the clothes that you own, the car that you drive, or the electronics that you have.  You bought all of these things either consciously or unconsciously to enhance your status.  I remember in 7th grade, all of the girls were starting to buy Juicy Couture sweatpants and hoodies.  I remember going to Macy's and looking at the price label for a sweatshirt and being appalled at how expensive they were.  $92 for a sweatshirt??  Yet it was a purchase I would make in 7th grade because I wanted to elevate my status.  Luckily I still own the sweatshirt today so I have at least gotten my money's worth out of it!

On another note, the way that we act also can determine our social class.  In the video below we see the reason why Rednecks get the stereotype that they have today...

In the "Social Class in America" video, we saw that some people just want to elevate their social class.  For example, Ginnie Sayles (who married a millionaire), offers lessons to make-over one's social class.  She charges a whopping price of $1500 for these lessons!  You would think that she would not make an income because she wouldn't get any customers, but you'd be surprised at how much people are willing to pay in order to change social classes.  But it isn't as easy as taking a few lessons...people know what your status is.  The movie "Mean Girls" comes to mind when I think about social status and classes.  This movie trailer shows how much attention people give to the stereotypes and where people came from...

For all of you who haven't seen the movie (which is a must-see), it is about Cady, a new-girl from Africa who has just moved to the suburbs, and her struggles to fit in and take-down the reigning social queen, Regina George.  It takes Cady awhile to be accepted by Regina because she comes from a different social class than Regina and her friends (Regina drives a silver lexus, has a mansion, and her friend Gretchen's dad invented Toaster Struddle), and even when she begins to dress and act like the girls, they always know how to put her back in her place if she annoys them or does something wrong because THEY KNOW HER ROOTS, where she came from.  It is something that people will never forget.

Finally, back to food.  The Honors Article said that "...the contents of a child's lunchbox can be fodder for a 20-minute conversation."  Shows you how much people care about what other people are eating!  From the video, we saw the problems with choosing a community grocery store in Burlington, Vermont.  At the heart of this conflict? BREAD.  The co-op, which offers healthier choices at a heftier price, did not offer white bread, but rather had fresh bread that was more expensive than what people were willing to pay.  This shows that something as simple as bread could symbolize the difference in our classes.  The co-op eventually agreed to stock white bread at a cheaper price so that all of the community could be happy with their selection.

As a last note, in the article, it was mentioned that "...Fischler has found no single time of day (or night) when American predictably sit together and eat.  By contrast, 54 percent of the French dine at 12:30 each day.  Only 9.5 percent of the French are obese."  Typically my family has a sit-down meal with the whole family a few times a week, and when we are all not able to eat at the same time, my mom has prepared the meal in advance so that we can eat a healthy meal at whatever time we are able to.  Now I know not everyone is lucky enough to do that, but it's interesting how just having a sit-down meal can drastically reduce the obesity rate in a population.  Getting McDonald's out of the hands of small children now can seriously help them in the future.