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? :)