Shift happens

The Shift Happens video presents a lot of staggering facts and predictions that are difficult to take in all at once, but that individually challenge one to think in larger, more global terms than normal. I found the population facts about China and India especially surprising, especially when comparing these numbers to the U.S. numbers. It is obvious from these populations shifts and from much of our material this semester that global dynamics will be changing in huge ways. Many Americans assume that the U.S. will always be THE global superpower, but, as we have learned, we are already losing jobs to China, and there is a trade deficit that favors China. With the capabilities that the Chinese (and other countries) are developing in the realms of technology and manpower, the U.S. will soon be ousted from their top position. This is scary to think about, in terms of democracy and human rights. Currently, the U.S. has a lot of power in what is happening in other countries as well as our own, and if China were to gain control of this power, with their track record of suppression of their own people, it is frightening to think of the implications this has on the rest of the world.

Urban/Suburban/Rural Life

I lived in the suburbs between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, for the majority of my life, from the time I was 2 until I moved out of my parents' house and went to college. The suburbs that I lived in were very typical in the way that the book describes the suburbs. Most of our neighbors were also white and middle class.

When I went to college at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, I was exposed to different types of people, though many were still from areas similar to where I was from. There were also people from very small towns and a few people from bigger cities. College Station is mainly a college town, as one would assume from the name, and though it is expanding quickly, it still has a very small-town feel. There are bigger cities within driving distance, such as Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth, but many of the permanent residents of College Station enjoy living in a smaller community.

After college, I lived in Okinawa, Japan, on a U.S. military base for four years, where I was able to travel quite a bit to different parts of Asia. I got to see many different living situations in other countries, and it was interesting to compare these countries to what I was familiar with. I traveled to some of the bigger cities in mainland Japan, including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, Nagasaki, etc, and comparing these cities with big cities in other countries like China, the Philippines, Thailand, and even Europe and the U.S. was interesting in that Japanese big cities seem very different from other countries' big cities. In Japan, most people dress professionally in public and things are much more organized and clean than in other countries that I've been to. I found South Korean cities to be similar to Japan in this way.

Now that I am back in the states, I definitely miss some things about Japan, especially when I go to the big cities here in the U.S. The courtesy and customer service in Japan could not be matched, and this is seen even in simple exchanges on the streets and on the subway systems, which I think go against what is usually assumed about large cities.

Power in Democracy

After reading the text, I have to agree with C. Wright Mills' theory about the power elite. Clearly, the effects of globalization have included the conglomeration of businesses into large corporations who have most of the control of the economy. In America, it seems that these corporations have most of the influence in the political realm and are gaining even more influence. The book comments about how the government is losing control over processes that are involved in the increasingly global economy, also called the legitimation crisis. It seems that the government cannot control large corporations and also doesn't have enough money available to help counter the effects of corporations' decisions to save money by moving their production plants to countries with cheaper labor. Because of this, people are losing faith in the government. The large corporations monetarily support the few powerful elite politicians who support policies that contribute to the corporations.

Is Walmart Good for America?

After watching the Frontline video on Walmart, I would have to say that the video itself was definitely biased on the question. I think that the video was obviously anti-Walmart and tried to convince viewers that Walmart is bad for America. That being said, I do agree with most of the video's portrayal of opinions, in that I think that Walmart is definitely good for China but bad for America. I think that Walmart is good for those people whose jobs and incomes are not affected by Walmart, but that Walmart's influence is increasing, and that more and more people are being affected.

The low cost of products is good for the American people, but the low wages for Walmart employees and the decrease in available jobs that is a product of Walmart's policy are not good at all. The decrease in income for these people creates a cycle where they are almost forced to shop at Walmart because of the low prices, but then they are supporting the very force that has caused them to be in a low income situation. I don't know if this is something that Walmart does on purpose or not. It reminds me, in a way, of the Fordism policy of raising wages so that people can afford to purchase the products that they are producing. However, it is backwards, because low wages force people to shop at Walmart in order to save money.

I think that part of the influence that Walmart has had is increasing consumerism in America. Many Americans cannot afford the lifestyles to which they have become accustomed, and credit card debt, along with other debt, is a huge problem. Walmart makes some of this consumerism possible for people, and keeps people expecting to be able to make purchases and have things that they do not necessarily want.

The U.S. trade deficit with China is disturbing. The U.S. is being forced into the role of a periphery country in its relationship with China, who is more like a core country in the relationship. The U.S. is exporting raw materials to China and importing finished products from China. We are becoming more and more dependent on China for cheap products that we cannot compete with.

I disagree with the viewpoint of the economist on the video who said that Walmart allows consumers to spend more money in other parts of the economy because they spend less at Walmart and then have extra money to spend elsewhere. I think that the more that people shop at Walmart, the more dependent they become on Walmart for the prices that they find there and realize that they are unable to afford to shop elsewhere. This is what capitalism is all about, finding the best price and having manufacturers compete for consumers' money, but when there are unfair practices going on in other countries like China that don't allow the U.S. to compete, such as unsafe working conditions, Chinese government subsidies, etc. capitalism cannot overcome like it should in theory.

Domestic Division of Labor

After filling out the chart, I wasn't too surprised by any of the results. I filled out the chart based on my family growing up, and I don't think that my family represented a typical family. The main reason for this was that my dad was an airline pilot, so his schedule wasn't very regular. He would be home for a few days or a week at a time, then he would be gone for anywhere from a day to a week at a time. When he was home, he helped out with most of the household chores, including chores that most other dads didn't help with, like laundry, cooking, and helping to take care of the kids. When he was gone, my mom took care of everything on her own, and did some things that most dads usually handled, but not as many, because, like was pointed out in the book and podcast, most "typically male" chores weren't as time sensitive. One thing that my dad didn't help with much at all was household cleaning, and my mom never mowed the lawn or helped with "outdoor chores" except for weeding and gardening. It's interesting that these chores were split up like this so drastically. My mom was a stay at home mom, and never worked after having kids, but with four kids in the family, she always had her hands full with us and didn't always have time to finish with cleaning chores. Still, my dad never volunteered to chip in with these. Something else that I find interesting when thinking back is that the chores that my dad "helped with" were never expected, but it was like it was considered a good deed for him to help with things not in his realm. On the other hand, my mom always did everything while he was gone but this was just expected.

I think that these values are definitely changing, and I can see it even in my own house now, with just my husband and I. When we were living in Okinawa and both working full time, we shared chores, but I was still always in charge of cooking. My husband doesn't have the same expectations that were present in my family growing up, in that he doesn't consider chores to be divided into male/female chores and instead thinks that they should all be split. This doesn't make sense with cooking, but the reason that I cook is because his idea of helping make dinner is to make two bowls of cereal, and he is happy to eat that way, but I prefer to have a "real" meal. Now that we are back in the states, and I am not currently working, I am in charge of a larger portion of the household chores than he is, which I consider fair, since he works everyday.

I think that chores are becoming less gendered, and even in households where wives don't work, I think that husbands are expected to do more work than they have in the past. Sometimes this seems unfair to me, in that the duties aren't being split evenly, but I think that it is a very positive thing that fathers are expected to be more involved in their kids' lives.

Secularization in America

I do believe that America is becoming more secular than it has been in the past. I think this is partly due to the fact that many other options for religions are present than have been in the past. America is still predominantly Christian, but there isn't the social stigma attached to being non-Christian that used to exist. I think that it is definitely a good thing that people don't feel as pressured to fit in with the mainstream religious viewpoint. I think that in different parts of the country, religion plays a much different role also. In the Biblebelt South, I think that secularization isn't as apparent as in other parts of the country, and that it is often expected for people to be Christian, but in the West and East, there is more diversification. I don't agree with the theories that suggest that having more options of religions doesn't increase secularization. I think that our society now is very focused on instant gratification and only spending time where it matters, and, to a lot of people, religion doesn't matter enough to spend time pursuing it. Perhaps these people still associate with a certain religion, but if they are not practicing the religion, I think that this can still be considered secularization.

Ethnicity and Race

From the readings, video, and websites that we researched this week, one thing that stood out to me was how much easier it is for people from any country to discriminate against others based on how they look than for any other reason. In Rwanda, when expatriots from other countries were being evacuated, more than one person commented in the video that all white people were removed, almost without questions, while all black people were left to fend for themselves. During World War II, when Japanese-Americans were rounded up and herded into concentration camps, German-Americans and Italian-Americans were left alone. Black people living in the U.S. have never been able to assimilate into culture the same way that white immigrants have been able to. These differences all seem based on how people look rather than other defining characteristics. Is this just because we are so visually-oriented or maybe just because our first judgements are usually from what we see? I know that discrimination is based on other factors as well, such as if someone has an accent, what cultural clothing someone wears, etc. but these things can be changed and don't seem to matter as much.

As a white person living in America, I had never experienced any type of racial discrimination, but when my husband and I lived in Japan for four years, I was able to see a little of what this could be like. The Americans living in Okinawa are sometimes portrayed badly to the Okinawan public, but not quite to the same extent that black Americans are portrayed in the media in America. I found that this made me and other Americans that I knew in Okinawa want to get past these judgements and try to be the opposite of what was thought of us. We went above and beyond to try to appear polite, quiet, not greedy, etc. but we were only in the country for a short period of time. I think that this forced attitude on our parts might have grown old after awhile, and we might have begun to resent it, but this is hard to say. After all, we were guests in their country, so we didn't expect the Okinawans to treat us as though we were not different at all. If we were in our own country, experiencing these same discriminatory stereotypes, it would have been a very different situation. Also, it was very frustrating to be out in public and see other Americans acting the way that "typical Americans" act, thus furthering the stereotypes to our Okinawan hosts.

Social Construction of Gender

In the text thus far, what surprised me was the different contexts of gender in other societies. I was interested to learn about gender roles in other cultures, and some of the less-defined divisions between genders in some cultures. If people from these cultures were to view our culture as we have studied theirs, they would probably be surprised to learn how we see each sex. I think that most people are aware of some gender differences between more well-known cultures, such as the stereotype that Latino men objectify women or the supposition that Asian women are quiet and submissive. The differences in gender that were mentioned in the text, however, are much different, in that the dominant sex is not always male. Like it was mentioned in the text, this raised questions to me about theories that use biological reasoning for differences in gender. However, it seemed that all societies had women doing at least 50% of the childcare, which does make sense biologically. I think that biological reasoning has some backing, but it can't explain all the differences in gender in our society or other societies.

Global Inequality

After reading the chapter in the text on Global Inequality, one thing that struck me as interesting was the very last section in the chapter about the possible consequences of increased globalization. One prediction was that our country might not remain a global superpower like it is now and has been in the past. This is interesting because I don't think that this is something that we, as Americans, consider. The current economic state has been blamed on many different things, but I don't think that globalization has even been considered by most people as a reason for possible economic decline. I believe that this reflects the typical American self-centered viewpoint. As the "greatest country in the world" we expect the U.S. to always be at the top, economically and diplomatically. The possibility that globalization could change this and even the playing field, making American wages decrease or causing other changes, is a very sobering thought. I think that I am like most Americans in thinking that we are currently in an economic low but that it will of course improve, hopefully sooner rather than later. This may be the case right now, but in the future, our economy might not continue to always improve, and we may have to rethink our relationship with other countries.

Social Class in the US today

Before reading the chapter in the text and spending some time on the People Like Us website, I probably would have said that social class in the US today affects some parts of our lives but that it doesn't have nearly the same effect as in other parts of the world or in other time periods. After reading and exploring the website, though, I would have to say that I was mistaken. I don't think that I realized before how much emphasis is placed on social class or how much everyone, including myself, tries to fit into their perceived social class. If I ever contemplated the reasons for why I chose certain consumer goods, I would have attributed it to trying to live a healthy lifestyle, but this, in and of itself, is a part of the middle-class expectation. Everyone wants to look healthy and seem focused on their health, because it is considered ignorant to eat unhealthy foods and avoid exercise. My husband and I had some family coming to visit a few weeks ago, so my grocery shopping was different than it normally is, because I was trying to make sure that our visitors would have foods that they were used to eating. At the grocery store, I found that I was embarrassed by the items that were in my cart that I usually avoid, such as white bread, 2% milk (as opposed to the skim milk that I always buy), and potato chips. At the time, I didn't stop to think about why I was embarrassed, but now I think that it had more to do with my paranoia that people would look in my cart and think that I was in a different class than the one that I perceive myself to be in. This is one demonstration that advertising and consumerism in America are even involved in social class divisions.

Changing Social Connections?

I have become aware, even before reading the text that addresses this issue, that our society is in the middle of a drastic change regarding the way we socially interact. Though the internet and other improvements in technology, such as cell phones, make it easier to keep in touch with people, the dynamic of social interactions is changing. Because it is so easy to keep in touch, I find that I often fail to make the effort to connect with people beyond a surface-level interaction. For example, if I haven't talked to a friend in awhile, I might send a text message or write a short note to them on facebook, but I won't actually call them or make an effort to get together to actually catch up. When I make such a minimalistic effort to keep in touch, it does keep the relationship going, but probably makes it suffer in the end, due to the lack of contact or actual conversation. I think that today, this is true for many people, and that it will increase as more and more people become comfortable with using technology and as people get used to this form of communication. I think that most people who use social networks like facebook probably have a larger number of acquaintances/friends, but that they have less of a connection with their close friends than before.

The Criminal Justice System

While reading the text for this week, I found the concept of shaming very interesting as a form of punishment. The text mentioned that Japan uses this approach to crime and that only 5% of convicted criminals spend time in jail.

Living in Japan for the past four years, I had the opportunity to observe some of their reactions to Americans, in particular to Americans living in their country. The dynamic between the US military and the Okinawans is interesting, in that the Okinawans love the Americans, but they also love to hate us. This is my personal opinion, based on my own observations. The Okinawan media focuses acutely on the individual actions of US military members, especially when a crime is committed, or allegedly committed, against an Okinawan.

I think that the Okinawans' reactions to crimes being committed by US servicemembers against Okinawans are possibly being made worse by the US military's attempts to assure Okinawans that something is being done to help the problem. For example, if a servicemember was to rob an Okinawan, the US military would react by assuring the Okinawan public that the suspect is in custody and then that the suspect, after being convicted, is in jail. This would probably not be reassuring to Okinawans, however, since they might see jail as a solution that is only used for the most dangerous of criminals because of Japan's use of reintegrative shaming in their criminal justice system.

The Japanese use of shaming and low prison rates also explain Okinawans' strong reactions to people who have been in prison. People who have spent time in prison are seen as dangerous, even more so than in American culture. Tattoos are associated with prison, so much so that in some public bath houses, tattoos are prohibited altogether.

Nature vs. Nurture

I have learned about the nature vs. nurture debate in many classroom settings, and I have had some time to think about my own views regarding this controversy. I believe that both nature and nurture play some role in the development of self, but that nurture's role is much larger. I also believe that nurture can often overpower nature, while the reverse is rarely true.

While listening to the podcast about this topic, I was taken back a bit by the speaker's opinion that people who view nurture as dominant are often people who are looking for social change. I am fairly conservative, and, after learning about the various sociological perspectives in this class, realize that I identify closely with the functionalist school of thought. Overall, I believe that society usually functions successfully, though there are definitely dysfunctional parts, and that trying to change the status quo is often futile. I can see how this view of society as a whole conflicts with a view of nurture as dominant, so it challenged me to try to figure out why I feel the way I do.

In my introspection, I found that when I think of nature vs. nurture, I think mainly of what influence my parents had on me and what influence I will have on my own children. In regards to changing society, I think that people will do what they want to do and what they think is best, regardless of whether they are told they are wrong or that a different way is better. I think that the nurture factor in society is a very specific and individualized concept. People usually raise their own children the way that they learned from their parents. Though some safety campaigns have been helpful, such as the "Back to Bed" campaign that advocates putting babies on their backs to sleep in order to reduce SIDS, most people still have attachments to what they know as best, and they are reluctant to change. Many things need to become a social norm before people will even consider changing what they know. An example of this is breastfeeding. Though it has been known for decades that breastfeeding is healthier for babies and for moms, breastfeeding is just now starting to become a social norm in America, and even then, it is only considered socially acceptable for very young babies in certain situations.

In conclusion, I do believe that nurture plays a more dominant role than nature, but that nurture is not something that can easily be changed in society.

How American Culture Looks to Outsiders

While watching the video clip of Hugh Laurie singing his "America" song, I wasn't surprised or enlightened much by what I was seeing. Having lived overseas and having travelled quite a bit, I think that I am aware of other countries' viewpoints of America's ego.

I think that different countries have different viewpoints about America, which is reflective of those countries' own culture. For example, I believe that the way that Japanese people view Americans is very different from how British people view Americans.

After living in Japan and speaking to Japanese people on this same topic, I learned that when Japanese people picture Americans, they automatically think of rudeness and pushiness but not necessarily of a lack of education or ignorance. Japanese culture involves so much subtlety and courtesy that when they think of Americans, it makes sense that they would think of us as rude and pushy in comparison.

On the other hand, I think that when British people picture Americans, they think of ignorant, uneducated people who think that they are better than the rest of the world. British people, and other Europeans also, pride themselves on knowing what is going on around the world, economically and otherwise, so are surprised by Americans' self-centered attitude that they consider ignorant. This was shown in the video by the words that Hugh Laurie was singing. These viewpoints that British people have have also been exacerbated by the US government's foreign policy.

Stanford Prison Experiment

I believe that the researchers did not initially try to conduct an unethical experiment with the information that they had at the beginning of the experiment, but that it did turn out to be unethical.

In the video of the interview of one of the prisoners, he was clearly able to differentiate between the experiment and real life, now that the experiment was over, but during the experiment, he had a hard time identifying with himself and instead became the character that he was playing. Also, he seemed to have a certain opinion of the prison guard that did not go away after the experiment was over. I think that these things show that he did suffer from psychological harm, which is one indicator of an unethical experiment.

I think that the researchers were justified in calling off the experiment early and that this was the best course of action that they could have followed. I think that if they had allowed the experiment to continue, the abuse of prisoners most likely would have progressed, possibly to the extent that it did at Abu Ghraib.

Week One Blog Entry: Introduction

Hi fellow classmates!
I am a military spouse and just recently moved to Virginia. My husband and I lived in Okinawa, Japan for the past four years, and we loved it there. It was much warmer there, and I'm still trying to get used to the cold weather here!

I have a bachelor's degree from Texas A&M University in Nutritional Sciences. I have had a hard time finding a job in my field since being back in the states, so I decided to go back to school to be a nurse. I am planning on applying to a few different accelerated BSN/RN programs, but first, I have to take some prerequisites that I didn't need for my nutrition degree. Sociology happens to be one of those prereqs. Hopefully, after I earn my nursing degree, it will be easier for me to find a job wherever we end up moving.

I am a runner and triathlete, and I have completed 11 marathons and 3 Ironman triathlons, among other, shorter-distance races. Currently, my training is pretty light, because I am four months pregnant, but I am still running every day. Also, my seven-month old Great Dane keeps me pretty active!

I'm looking forward to meeting you all, and to learning together in this class!