Entry 15: Inside Toyland

From my work experience, one could identify inequality at each job:

As a nanny, my role is somewhat of an unequal advantage 

by virtue of me having a job. I think the stereotypical nanny is

a female, varying in ages; however, media often times portrays

the teenage babysitter (such as in movies like The Incredibles or When a 

Stranger Calls). Both my gender and age give me an unfair advantage

to a job, when in reality, a 30 year old man may be just as 

qualified. Like Williams' observations of retail hiring, nannying is 

seen as a temporary job, both by the customer (parent) and the 

worker (the nanny). While this assumption is true, it does not really enable

someone to be a full-time nanny, unless of course they owned a daycare or 

something of that nature. 

I definitely fit the babysitter appearance stereotype portrayed in 

When a Stranger Calls. 

When I was a swim lesson instructor, the inequality was far more subtle.

Unlike the toy stores, the staff at the pool I worked at was very diverse.

There were males and females, mostly in high school or college. But there

were a few older instructors too. Ethnicity-wise, the staff was also pretty diverse.

There were probably more white people than any other race, but 

compared to the demographic make-up of the town, I'd say the pool staff

was much more diverse. Inequality I witnessed was similar to the gender-specific

toy issues Williams saw. When it was game time, girls would 

often play mermaids or play with toys and pretend to make food.

On the other hand, boys would play more violent games, like monsters

and sharks.

My job at Abercrombie was the most similar to Williams book.

The 50 person floor staff was primarily white, with the exception of three 

Asians, one African American, and someone with Native American ancestry. 

There were more females than males too, but the tasks were pretty much

 the same. The stockroom staff, though, was primarily male and had a 

lot of Latino workers. The merchandise is incredibly overpriced, so 

I believe it is targeted at an upper-class consumer population, like

"Diamond Toys" which is who usually shopped at the store. 

When more middle-class shoppers came

in, they often were easy to point out. They usually went straight to the 

unorganized, messy clearance section. Workers, unfortunately myself included,

would get really upset because they would make a huge mess, and usually

end up buying a ten dollar shirt (in the shoppers' defense, it was impossible 

not to make a mess unless you happened to be an XS and wanted whatever shirt

was folded on top). Also, these costumers usually paid in cash with exact change.

The intended audience was also white, illustrated by the multiple pictures of white children.

Occasionally there would be someone from a race of color, but 

Abercrombie had some lawsuits, so I'd attribute it to that.

I like girls that wear Abercrombie and Fitch...

I guess this song could have had an effect on popularity.

Overall, Abercrombie was definitely relatable to Inside Toyland

 not only in terms of workers, but also in terms of intended audience.

The points Williams made in the final chapter I think were useful; it's

not often that you read a piece that offers solutions to the problem the 

author is writing about. I also liked how the reading fell in time with the

holidays...it definitely made me want to watch Elf.

"10 am tomorrow, Santa's coming to town."

Entry 14: Social Class and Education

Bettie's article had an insight I didn't really think about

in my own life until recently. I always considered myself middle-class,

which is stupid if I consider pretty much every aspect of my life, until

last year. In a journalism class, there was a graph showing

just exactly what incomes accounted for middle-class and, as

stupid as I am with information like this, I knew my family's

income was well above the given number. After that, I

was very curious about my family's financial breakdown,

so I started asking my parents a lot of questions. I learned my dad

makes more money than I thought he did, and when my parents always

tell me I'm "lucky," which I undoubtably am, it really translated more

to "you're more upper-middle-class." 

It was really interesting to me how the girls learned to somewhat

define their own class standing. I thought it was also interesting how

different girls related to their friends class standing. Some girls

didn't perceive their having to work harder than their friends

as an innate difference; however, with Liz and Amanda,

it was intriguing to see Liz's angst toward Amanda

when it came to the difference in their levels of effort, and how Amanda

was able to slack off more. I feel like that's kind of a relatable issue regardless

of class...I know a variety of people who can not study at all and come

out with a grade they're content with, whether it be an A or a D. I do

see how the attachment between class is made, though. I've never

really made class connections in schoolwork, but I definitely have in other

regions. 

For example, one of my best friends is really wealthy, and he gets

a pretty hefty allowance each month. And he usually goes over his allowance or

is near $50 or below by the end of the month. I get really agitated

when I try to ask how he spends that much money, but then

I end up feeling really guilty because although my parents don't really

buy me things, pay for a lot of my food, or pay for gas, 

they virtually pay for everything else in college. In my experience,

I think there's going to be some form of class jealousy anyway you 

slice it. Even though I'm very well-off, there are things I 

get jealous of that people even more well-off have. 

Likewise, other class ranks are going to be jealous of something

a rank "above" them obtains. 

This really isn't relative, but this is all I could think about.

Entry 13: Gender- "Women, Power, and Hair"

Lady Gaga uses a resisting form of conformity

with her hairstyle to convey her power.

Thorne's study was interesting to me because I had made the connection that 

resistance to norm hairstyles was a form of showing power, but

I had never made the connection of accommodation as a form 

of taking power. I thought the girl who dyed her hair red was interesting too;

I see the vixen thing, but I mainly hear "gingers don't have souls" from

my friends when I talk about dying my hair. I also thought it was weird that 

the participant who's asian's boyfriend told her to change her hair.

Yes, I think hair can be seen as attractive, but from my experience with guys,

I've never heard of a guy really noticing hair unless it's a dramatic

change.

Personally, I rarely considered power when I style my hair; I guess

I would fall into the third category. I just kind of go through cycles

of growing my hair out, donating it, and then cutting it really short.

About a month ago, though, I was at a friend's house and I straightened my 

hair before we went out. My hair is pretty much down to my butt when 

straightened, so sometimes people will make comments about 

its length. One of my friends asked why girls did that. 

He also started asking why we get dressed up even if we know

we're just hanging out with friends. I gave a kind of smart-alec

remark, like would you rather us look like shit...but he had a pretty

good point. If I had to answer completely honestly, I think

it would be because I want to control people's perception

of me and on some level to have people, no one in particular,

to think I'm attractive...not that hair alone can do that...and

I guess me wanting people to find me attractive relates to power in ways 

I've never consciously noticed.

Entry 12: Gender- "Doing Gender as Resistance"

I'd consider myself to more of a tomboy than girly-girl

any day, but in my work experience, I completely contradict myself.

While employed at the great Abercrombie franchise, I found 

myself trying to ensure confidence in shoppers by convincing

them a particular style was very in, or, my personal favorite I caught myself

saying, "very fall." What does that even mean? Anyway, I would

not be caught saying anything like that around my friends.

I think in the environment  and the provisions of the job influenced my 

gender roles. As a female employee (or model, as they call you), you are

required to wear natural make up, natural hairstyles (meaning down or in

a pony tail), no nail polish, pink or red toe polish, flip flops or gray converse,

Abercrombie jeans, and a gray, blue, or white shirt. Aside from fitting the company's

look, the requirements enforced a definite gender type. My own behavior altered

while working there for sure.

.....yep

The reading by Tibbals sort of resinated with my Abercrombie

experience as well as my experience as a swim instructor. All the 

female instructors took on roles of flirty teachers or nurturing teachers.

I chose the nurturing role, but a lot of my friends got in trouble

for using lessons as a "social" time. I feel like we've all had an experience

that supported Tibbals claims. At family restaurants, particularly this one

trucker restaurant near my house, there are a few waitresses who not only

act maternal toward me, but my whole family as well. On waitress

asked my dad if my grandparents, whom go there

every weekend, were doing ok. That amount of care displays just what

Tibbals was referring to. Likewise, I've been to McDonald's or other

similar restaurants and have noticed the androgynous personas

the servers take on. One thing I think the reading did not really address

is the treatment of customers in family-style restaurants when the

server and the customer are the same age. I don't really know 

how I act with people working my own age. I feel like I'd be

just as respectful by bonds of age and mutual understanding of work,

but I don't know if everyone feels that way. Most adults 

I witness are respectful to servers around their age, but

it would be interesting to see if there is a different pattern of interaction.

Entry 11: Halloween and Urban Legends

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Me and my roommate dressed up as Rafiki from The Lion King

The Best and Horiuchi reading about urban legends was so

interesting to me! And relevant...in my english class, my teacher brought it up

too; however, he kind of confirmed what the piece was saying about

people not really knowing the history of any razor blades in apples. 

Anyway, there was always this old man in my neighborhood who gave

out apples and I remember one year, even though he's being doing it

since I was four, my dad warning my not to eat it, or 

at least let him inspect it before I did. For the record, I witnessed

my friend Courtney eat that apple almost every year, so that

old dude was just healthy I guess. My dad is a child of the

sixties, so it would make sense why he warned me, because

he was around ten when all the fear associated with the 

"Halloween Sadist" stuff began. 

The figures are what really intrigued me in this story;

I would almost expect more sadistic happenings, especially with the

hype Halloween gets for being such a dangerous time. Also, the 

fact that the two deaths were family related was surprising/ kind of sick.

The media's role in the hype is disappointing, but something I've covered

in my journalism classes...the news often repeats stories

and lacks complexity by only taking the same side to a story every time.

If the news reported a story with the actual facts, and included them in

the headlines or the lead, I think some misconceptions could be 

cleared up for the news-consuming public.

Entry 10: Electronic Identities

What's the statistic of relationships starting online again? One in five?

I think that's what e-harmony's commercial said. It's really cool to think

50, or even 20, years ago electronic identities were not even a part of

identities. 

In the presentation Ashley did, I thought it was really interesting

how certain people seemed to try to define their likes based on what

they thought their likes should be for their gender or race. The

NASCAR example really got me; there's no way

white women are really that concerned/interested with racing

cars. Unless they are the wives in Talladega Nights. 

"You sick, sons of bitches. I mean you walk in that door, on your two legs... all fat and cocky

 and lookin at me in my chair. And you tell me its all in my head? I hope that both

 of you have sons... Handsome, beautiful, articulate sons, who are talented

 and star athletes and they have their legs taken away. I mean

 I pray you know that pain and that hurt."

After thinking about what we discussed in class, I thought about

my own experience with online identities. I know when I change my

Facebook picture, it is half-based on perception management and 

how I want others to see me. If I look back, I can tell right when I got my Facebook

I would just do very generic pictures. Then, junior year I have a 

line of pictures of me doing something I deemed funny at 

the time, such as me dressed as a nerd. Senior year I really try to include all my best 

friends in my pictures. From then on, I kind of use pictures fitting for the

time of year (ex. Christmas time= tree lighting picture or if a 

friend is coming to visit= a picture of me and them).

Even writing on someone's wall I have to consider how other

people will perceive me. Also, I form my own

identity by never capitalizing proper nouns, beginning of sentences,

etc. It's funny to go back and read my wall-to-wall's

and see how my electronic self has emerged.

http://www.xanga.com/

Remember xanga? I never had a myspace, but I loved this. 

I'll be curious to see what new identities develop with the 

changes in technology. 

Entry 9: Identity

From the identity stuff we've learned, the most interesting

aspect for me was the idea of the "I" and the "me". It's weird to think 

about, but when you said, "I think about how you see me" helped me understand

better. The idea of the self as a social structure also rang a bell with me.

If I think about it, when people tell me I have a certain personality

trait or I do something, I, sometimes automatically,

adopt it as a fact. But with certain characteristics, I would never

associate them or disassociate them with myself had it not

been for someone telling me so. People constantly enforce my personal 

identity, but sometimes people will say things to me that I brush off.

Like you said in class with the hipster example, I get that too...

just from my friends, though. I think what it is is I'm more 

hipster than they are (but by no means a hipster...the label

has honestly loss whatever meaning it had).

I wonder how hipsters enforce rules...surely not the same

as gang members.

In the gang-related gun violence article, I thought it was interesting

how aware everyone interviewed was of their actions and motivations.

No one really said their behavior was unavoidable or not 

their fault. Even though they were all pretty much on the same page, 

they had different reasoning. Also, they articulated it differently: their speech,

their level of remorse, etc. 

Entry 8: Salvation on Sand Mountain

My own religious experiences are nowhere near as exciting as 

Salvation on Sand Mountain. Until I was 12, I only went to church one time, 

besides visiting churches with friends or other family,

at my dad's childhood church. In fact, I was more Catholic

than Episcopalian; speaking of which, when I asked my mom what 

denomination I was and she told me, I thought she said we

were paleontologists...which is something completely different. 

Paleontology made me think of Ross from FRIENDS.

But I digress. My neighbors growing up were Catholic, and I was really

jealous they went to Sunday school and celebrated St. Nicholas Day (first

 Sunday in December, I think, when you leave your shoes out at night and 

get presents in them in the morning). We still celebrated Christmas and Easter,

but just didn't go to church. During sixth grade, though, I started going and 

going to Sunday School. I did a two year confirmation program and got 

confirmed, but I honestly took more out of watching the movie "Year One"

than I did in those two years, education-wise. One cool thing we did

in confirmation was service project. For one project, we went to a

different church, a Baptist church for my group. 

It was SO different from my church...we never clap, dance, say "Amen"

(unless instructed), or smile. Just kidding. Kind of. 

For me, on a much smaller scale, this new church was similar to 

Covington's experience. 

My church!

The collective behavior he observed was, to me, irrational. But, 

I'm sure to plenty of religions look at Christianity as irrational,

or at least certain parts of it. Once something is adopted as a group

norm, it is hard to remove. I was thinking about this at a concert last night, 

actually: grinding is probably the weirdest thing ever.

It's really primitive. The Cha-cha slide is weird too.

We must look like insects doing some weird group dance. 

Portugal. The Man! I thought of the how weird people look 

when they dance because I was on the upper level, and I was watching people

head bob and dance.

Entry 7: Mass/collective behavior

Lifton's piece "Nazi Doctors at Auschwitz" was really

interesting, particularly when discussing "doubling". I think

it's a really hard concept to try to imagine oneself in; I sit here and assure

myself I would never submit to such an act under any amount of 

pressure...but, for lack of a better saying, easier said than done.

Not only was there an immense amount of pressure put on doctors,

indirect as well as direct, but there were years of culminating 

beliefs and ideologies prior to the treatment. So, as much as I convince

myself I'd behave differently, I cannot be sure I would.

The concept of doubling and having two distinct personalities

is very explainable to me. I feel like that is a natural response, and

it is applicable in some lesser-scale instances of everyday life. Most 

people would classify very different personalities at their home life and work life,

particularly individuals with professions like police officers. Or mob members.

I always think it's funny how mobsters are portrayed in movies as

some of the meanest people, but the most loving, family-oriented

people, too. 

Even after beating and murdering, the mobsters still interact with family in

"regular" ways.

Entry 6: Social Group Dynamics, Obedience, and Conformity

After class on Wednesday, I was walking down

9th Street by the library. I noticed I started running my hand along 

the bushes I was walking next to. So I stopped, and was kind of trying to 

figure out why I started doing that in the first place. Then, I saw the person in 

front of me doing it. He stopped a few seconds later, but I saw the

guy in front of him was doing it too. I don't know if this

was exactly conformity, but it was funny to observe. 

I honestly find myself doing things like that all the time, though.

For instance, right when I met my best friend's roommate, Rachel,  I really

like her bangs. After Rachel left, I told my friend, Sasha, I liked

Rachel's bangs. Sasha told me she knew, because I was playing with my hair

the entire time. I'm not sure how exactly to define conformity, but for me,

I usually do things I know someone else can relate to on some level. 

Those are the bangs.

Even though I had already read the Milgram experiment, it was 

interesting to restudy it. I honestly don't know what I would do

in that situation. I think everyone would hope to be able to stand up,

and stop delivering the shocks, but easier said than done. I'm very easily 

persuaded, and if someone can verbally defend a point, they pretty 

much have won me over. This is good because I'm open-minded,

but horrible because literally every position can be argued. 

Entry 5: The Body

I actually found "Women and Their Clitoris" REAL interesting. 

The responses of all the different participants developed the consensus that

they were taught about sex in a strictly reproductive sense. For me and, 

I think, for all my friends, that's how anatomy was presented. Not

only at school, but with my parents and friends as well. Similar to 

one of the participants, I remember my mom buying me this specific

book and kind of just being like, "Oh, read this at your leisure." And 

I'd always act so grossed out, but then I'd read it anyway. If pleasure

was more prominent in my learning, I feel like I'd be very different...

A lot of my friends had this book too, and I'm pretty sure they did 

the same grossed-out-but-actually-interested act.

I was less interested by the tattoo article. The argument

is pretty unresolvable. I mean, some people definitely do get

tattoos for social assimilation purposes, but everyone is going to have

their own personal associations and meanings to things

simply because no two people, except maybe siamese twins, have the same

exact shared life experiences. For example, I think it's safe to say

the Harley Davidson tattoo has communal meanings of motorists, 

rugid-ness, and freedom; however, one person might love Harleys because

their dad had a motorcycle, while someone else might embrace the company

because it allowed them to get away and separate from families. 

I would never get a tattoo of a corporate logo. I don't know if I'd

get a tattoo at all...unless I become more consistent and stop

changing my mind and opinions. 

So I literally just spent 30 minutes trying to find this picture of

a kid the grade above me from high school who got a tattoo of his 

best friend's face on his butt...he deleted his facebook, though, so

I couldn't find it. Here's a good alternative:

Entry 4: Emotion Work and Managing Emotions

The Emotion Work and Feeling Rules article provoked

a lot of reflection of my emotional life and habits. I constantly find

myself questioning what I feel and shaping the emotions I convey

to societal appropriateness. 

One example I thought of was when my Great Aunt died when I

was a freshman in high school. She lived in Boston, so I did not

see her too often; we visited each other enough, though, to

the point where we had a pretty good relationship. 

On the day she died, I was obviously sad, but I kept feeling like I was 

sad only because I should have been sad. After a lot of self-analyzing, I 

decided I would probably just express my grief at her funeral, and

that it simply had not hit me yet. Well, her funeral came

and it was the same kind of feeling. I felt, and still feel, 

heartless for not being able to convey my sadness

the way everyone else did. Ever since then, whenever

something sad happens, I'm always somewhat scared I won't

seem as sad as everyone else and people will assume I don't care.

Like when I said bye to my friends before we all left for college,

I cried with three of my really good friends. But when a large

group of my friends were hanging out our last night, I was

the only girl who wasn't crying. I don't know what it is. 

As apparently unemotional as I am, "Graduation"

by Vitamin C gets me every time. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HDM3eYp4KQ

The other reading, about the animal shelter, was really upsetting.

It wasn't so bad because I have an extreme opinion one way or the other, though.

It was bad for me because I guess I can equally see both sides of the fence.

Killing an animal would be hard enough, and then to have to manage 

that emotion and change your opinions into more of an "economic"

sense...I would not do well with that. Having people constantly asking

you, and judging you, about your job would be tiring too. I found it interesting

they included that often times workers cope

with the situation through humor. I do it too, but it's so 

weird how laughing and making light of bad situations makes them

more acceptable. 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/C-3PO

C3PO was the first thing I thought of when I thought of comic relief.

Entry 3: September 11

I know it's cliche when people say you'll never forge where you

were and what you were doing on September 11, 2001.

Well it's completely true.

The morning of September 11 I was running late to school, per usual,

and my mom was about to drive me to Oak Grove Elementary School.

Fourth grade was not my favorite year, so I leisurely got ready. 

While I was in the bathroom, I heard the phone ring, recognized it was my dad,

and was perplexed as my mom continually said, "Oh no". 

For some reason I thought my dad's building got robbed.

My mom briefly explained what she knew had happened, which was confirmed

by the radio as we drove to school.

Once I got to my class, I immediately told my teacher a plane crashed into one

of the Twin Towers (at the time, only one had). My teacher told me I was lying. Great lady.

Anyway, after we went to music class, my teacher sat my class 

down and told us what happened. A lot of my classmates took it 

really hard; a couple of them had parents whom were traveling, one from Washington.

One kid locked himself in a locker. I'm not really sure what we did the rest of the day...

I think we colored, and I know we weren't allowed outside for recess. 

When I got home that night, my parents were transfixed by the television. I honestly 

think I was too young to grasp the gravity of the day, but I'll never forget seeing 

the huge dust cloud after the second tower fell and images of people

jumping out of windows. This summer I went to the Newseum in Washington, which 

has an exhibit dedicated to 9/11. Although I hadn't really looked at footage

or papers in a while, I remembered seeing specific covers of papers

I had seen almost ten years earlier on my kitchen table the morning after.

Maya Lin's point that other memorials were "propagandized statements about

the victory" is applicable to September 11, and likens it to Vietnam 

because the central purpose of the monuments are to commemorate 

the life lost. With 9/11, there was no disagreement of the role of the monument,

but because Vietnam appeared different than any other U.S. war. Today the media

is very open with the 9/11 memorial, and there is a national agreement. The controversy 

of the Vietnam Memorial reminds me of the dispute about the placement of 

a mosque near ground zero. While America maintains the common

epithet of the "melting pot", the debate of appropriateness of the location contradicts it. 

I feel like the media and politicians blew this out of the water, although I get the 

gravity of it. Regardless if its right, I thought the whole issue took

attention away from where attention should have been: those who

lost their lives. 

Entry 2: Socialization

What do hedgehogs have to do with sociology?

Relatively little. 

But I really want a hedgehog and my friends were warning me they were mean...

if you socialize them, though, they're actually really nice...

So back to Social Psych...

I ate up the two readings ("Becoming a Marihuana User" and pages 126-136).

To start, I think the smoking story was interesting because of the different quotes they had

from people. Just the whole perspective of the reason behind smoking was something I'd never

considered...how "the motivation or disposition to engage in the activity is built

up in the course of learning to engage in it and does not antedate this learning process."

I've just never considered doing drugs as a learning process, probably 

because there's this "cool" (for lack of a better word) stereotype that goes along

with smoking; someone's first time smoking is not what I think about when I think of drugs. 

The whole process of becoming a marijuana user is so socially based, and the processes are so

 simple, but accurate. I started thinking about how many other things people can only find

 pleasure in when one has to go through a process of learning to see something as an object

of fun...running, complete opposite end of the spectrum, is kind of like that for me:

the object of running really isn't that fun, but my friends started running so I ran with them.

After a while, it just became something I did on my own and considered fun.

I wonder what Hyde's first time smoking was like...

For the other reading, I was intrigued by the study of Jill Carter's sexual education.

I really wish I had been taught like that. "The Talk" is unavoidably awkward, 

but I think Fox Academy handled it as gracefully and fairly as possible.

The private school aspect had a ton to do with it...still, if public schools could do that,

I think it'd be beneficial. I don't even remember what I was taught during sex. ed....

but I can guarantee I would of retained a lot more if I got to do a sweet art project on it.

Entry 1: Nature and the Social

First blog entry....WAHOOOO! 

I'm not a huge blogger, so bear with me. I'm really pleased with this class so far and impressed with the book. With that said, onto Nature and the Social. 

As I was reading the book and other material, it reminded me of a ton of the Anthropology class I took last year. My class spent a lot of time discussing behavior, and whether it was biological or cultural. One example that stuck with me was the question Professor Palmer raised while talking about natural behavior v. learned behavior: if smiling is a learned behavior, why do blind babies smile? Well, after substantial arguing, we determined although smiling may seem like a natural behavior, something must make one smile, and without that stimulant, one would not smile. So smiling is technically learned, but not necessarily uniform in how it is learned. Kind of a tangent, but every time I hear nature v. nurture (or what have you), I think of that class. 

Talking about social foundations was interesting...the predisposition to engage with other humans is particularly fascinating. When I babysit young children, I've observed how attentive and alert they are to everything I do: they make constant eye contact and learn incredibly fast. That sponge-like learning is so cool...it makes me wish my parents taught me a different language when I was younger. Two of my best friends, Haye (pronounced "Hi-ya") and Siyi ("C"), are bilingual, and it makes me very jealous.

(Haye is on the far right and Siyi is directly to his left.)

Haye moved from Holland when he was ten and is fluent in Dutch. Siyi was born in China, but moved before she was one; however, she still speaks Chinese at home, though she seldom will in front of me. 

Another thing I though about was social construction of reality, and how literally EVERYTHING around us is constructed from human projections of reality...it really trips me up. 

Side-note: the device the director holds in his hand in this clip of the The Truman Show reminds me of an Ipad.

That's all for now!