'Tough Guise'

Men have a great deal of fear about being called “weak”. The definition of “tough guy” is defined by dominant group. I was shocked by what teen boys said about who “men” are. I thought that stereotypical men perception are often portrayed poorly or exaggerated. I thought that it is not as bad as how it is shown in the media. However, it turns out it is very true, especially at least for them. “Men” should be powerful, physical, strong, respected, independent, and tough. Those are very positive words and the opposite was pussy, bitch, mama’s boy, wimp, weak, and sissy. It is all negative words. They are actually mocking at the feminine qualities. I was thinking about what if I am a sensitive or emotional boy in class. There will be a lot of pure pressure, which I should act like a man like what others think of a man is supposed to be. The video warns the media is creating violence of masculinity in our society. It has been in our society for decades. And it also includes the color of people. Depending on an ethnic group the masculinity is differed. Moreover, media defines men as dominant group, so when the news introduces an accident, they usually focus on subordinated group, which is usually woman, or homosexuality. They leave out the key elements. They don’t pay attention to the masculinity. Like the speaker says in video, we have to “visualize” the hidden and violent masculinity. Personally I had put some thoughts on masculinity in past, but I did not know how to put them together neatly, but the video speaks very clearly for me. I was glad about it. One of other media affects people, especially men a lot, is sports culture. In the sports game, we occasionally see the fights between competitors. That kind of explains how we gain respect by not respecting others in our society. The more I grow up, the more I hear you should not let others look down you. Therefore, you should not be a “yes” man. You should say “no” to just show “I’m not an easy person.” And the tendency is that “No” person is more charming and cool, especially between high school kids. The most fascinating part was that shooting accident is increasing in teenagers. It was mostly about revenge. They got bullied, for they are more sensitive or they don’t act like one of “them.” The point I will try to make can be a little bit off the track. But still I kept thinking about this. In Korea, there is severe school bullying. It’s getting more serious, even it became the biggest societal issue. However, unlike American culture, Korean teenagers decide to commit suicide for revenge. It can be only the matter of legal issue of gun, but still they can try to hurt them physically or try to let them pay back, but instead, they kill themselves. I could say for sure youth violence is getting a serious problem, and wrong perception of masculinity participates deeply. It was interesting how different cultural group react differently on the same issue. I’m not saying which one is better than the other. Both are very tragic, but people should focus on what is implication to figure out the best solution.

Last Post

This must be the last post in my blog at least as a Sociology blog assignment. Before I start taking about two articles for this week, I need to talk about what I’ve learned in class in general. Before I take this class, I haven’t put some effort on thinking about race, and ethnicity. It is because my country, Korea, is nearly homogeneous. Like I said in class, I didn’t have to think about it, because unless you go abroad to travel or study, you are not going to meet other ethnicities much in your whole life. For me, race was just blacks It wasn’t even white or black. It seems like in my perception, the ordinary are whites, and something called “Race” was representative of blacks. Even though I am an Asian, ironically, I excluded Asians from race. I learned what the words exactly mean now. I don’t have to tell what the word means from what I think of the word seemingly means. I know what they are now clearly, how to divide them by characteristics, and what criteria they should meet to mean a certain thing. Overall, I was not always happy about a lot of readings and assignments, but I learned a lot from the professor and classmates as well. I really value both professor’s and classmates’ enthusiasm for learning, which taught me a lot.

I jabbered enough, so let’s get to the point. I read two articles: “Race Matters” by Cornel West, and “A different Mirror” by Ronald T. Takaki. Both of articles mainly talk about race and ethnicity themselves. The main difference was that the article, “A different Mirror” focuses on history perspective, while the article, “Race Matters” pays attention to economic perspective to discuss race in American society. I realized that being a white has a distinctive benefit in the society. I had never looked up blond girls with blue eyes. However, there is a reason why it is so popular, which I didn’t know. It was not just out-looking. Having blond hair and blue eyes can not only have a lot of meanings in the society, but also convey information to others. Both articles question “What does it mean to be an American?” or “Who are Americans?” Only certain people can be called and defined as Americans, whereas others are marked as “fit in”. The most important thing was in the articles that America was not just built from nothing in a newly recovered territory. Almost every ethnicity dedicated to build American history, culture, or even America itself. We can’t just ignore our history as the past memories. Each ethnicity’s status in American society grounds on cultural and historical background.

'People Like Us'

The video ‘People like us’ discusses the social class in our society. The point this video tries to make was that products we use and choices we make represent our “Social location.” It has been believed that money allows us to have a freedom to create our own lifestyle. On the other hand, others claim that no matter how much money you have, it doesn’t change your social status. The upper class requires not only money, but manners, attitude, and so on. People can tell where you are belonging to depending on how you speak, what you wear, where you live, how you treat people, and even which brand bread do you eat every morning. White’s upper class dominates American lifestyle culturally and politically. In addition, race is a huge part of defining class. Upper middle class in African American community insists they have a trouble to be treated as they deserve. The fact they can’t move up their social status or they can’t get invited by White’s certain club, even though they are belonging to the certain club class’ criteria statistically and financially teaches wrong value to their children. As in, African American kids think they should act like a white kid to move up or to be invited. This class is very deep in our society even unconsciously. I believe nobody is free from class stratification. No one, whether you are rich or you are poor. 

Positive functions undeserving poor

             The reading was about upside of the undeserving poor in society. It’s said that everything has a function positively and negatively. The reading reminds me of the first time I read the Sociology book. Specifically, it made me think of sociological thinking. The book emphasizes how sociologists look at the society. It’s like looking at a glass of water. Some might think there’s only a half glass of water, whereas others think there’s even a half glass of water. However, sociologists should consider how much water is left, how much water remains, and how much air there was. Their thinking should not be ‘either/or’, but ‘both/and’. In fact, ‘Functional Structuralism’ helps to understand this reading better. When we talked about ‘Functional Structuralism’ in class, we discuss positive function of homeless person sitting in the subway train in society. The person will make us motivated. We might think ‘I WILL NEVER BE LIKE THAT. I SHOULD WORK HARD.’ I believe that it is a positive function in society for sure. I would move on the real reading. Among thirteen positive functions that writer suggested, some of them were a little tricky to understand and others were very impressive. First of all, people who are out of formal labor market are more likely to supply illegal goods. The fascinating thing was people who are supplied by them are usually rich. And another impressive one was they create jobs in markets. Lately, unemployment issue is getting more serious. Then, undeserving poor create jobs. They are more likely to suffer mentally and physically, so a lot of job such as doctor, teacher, healer, consultant, counselor and psychologist will be needed. The way of they live as an undeserving poor actually helps people who are not banished from labor market in many ways. However, we don’t appreciate enough. We don’t feel bad for them enough either. Everything started from the one point. The only way we can help undeserving poor suffer less is helping our country overcome this serious poverty.

Reading

             For this week, I don’t really have much to talk about. Thus, I’m going to respond a little bit about this week reading, ‘Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System’ by David Cole. After reading it, I’ve thought about what the “Race” really means in our society. Of course, I’ve been influenced in some way, but relatively not much. So I’ve never had a feeling about this issue. Even though I’m an Asian in America, I didn’t feel much about discrimination or unprivileged treat. Or it is possible that I just didn’t care. As we’ve talked about it, things like race, ethnicity, and the society I belong to shaped my identity. And those are crucial factors for one’s socialization, for they have a great impact on each individual. However, sometimes, we don’t have control over things. I believe that perception, stereotype, and bias are very natural. Even it is difficult to tell when it’s formed because it was formed subconsciously. However, they don’t come from nothing. In fact, they come from real sources, evidences, or experiences. Only thing is it’s a little exaggerated. I know my writing is not very well-organized this time, but I was trying to write my train of thought after reading. Everyone should be keenly aware of what their behavior makes the result consequently. Somebody will be discriminated unfairly because of our behavior or attitude in the past. I know it is not as easy as saying. Just ideally, I HOPE.

Socialization.

1. Summarize ‘Killing us softly.’ (1-2 paragraphs)

‘Killing us softly’ is a documentary film focusing on the perception of women in modern society, and subsequently, altering their behavior and setting an established ideal which they are expected to follow. In the film, the speech focuses on the display of sexual objections of women throughout the recent decades, stating that the advertisements often set a specific yet frequently unobtainable standard of appearance and behavior for women of all ages. Additionally, the speech shows several examples to state that the same standards do not apply to men, who are generally portrayed as the dominant gender.

2. Summarize a Call to Men. (1-2 paragraphs)

In “A call to Men,” Tony Porter uncovers and explains the inner structure of an average man’s behavior and perceived role in modern society. He focuses on established values of the so-called “man box’’, focusing on how the box limits a male’s ability to express, and consequently feel emotion. He uses several prominent examples from his life to analyze cases in which the standards of the “man box” were challenged by unusual and/or deeply emotional circumstances, such as the death of family member, or the exploitation of a mentally handicapped female.
3. Explain how both video relate to our chapter on Socialization. (1-2 paragraphs)

According to George Herbert Mead’s theory, there are three stages in learning and perception. Since we are very young, we imitated how our parents think or behave without knowing or understanding why they are doing. We’ve imitated people who are socialized in certain ways. Finally, we will be the ones who shape our identity in the society. This kind of procedure (socialization) is constantly happening throughout our relationship with primary socialization groups and second socialization groups. Men or women are socialized by how we are taught from experiences. For example, “mama’s boys” are socialized in a different way. Aside from the matter of right or wrong, they are socialized with a mom more than anyone else. Thus, it shows that people who we interact with is very important in socialization.

4. Find one picture that represents the ways that boys and girls are socialized? (E.G. toys, TV, products etc.)

The media strike in Korea

             In Korea, a big issue is going on right now. There are three major broadcasting stations, which all go on strike, so the production was halted. They are against Government’s unreasonable politics about the press. The Korea Government tries to suppress and violate the freedom of speech. They fire people who are against their politics. It hasn’t been performed that largely and unusually. Aside from the fact itself, it shows ‘Conflict pattern of Social interaction’ very well. In fact, these broadcasting stations are competitors to each other, yet they band together by the strike, and this solidarity helps people stay stronger against the opposition. Citizens are fully supporting the strike as much as celebrities, directors, and journalists. I hope people in charge listen to their words carefully soon.

FALLING IN LOVE AND LOVING

BY. FRANCESCO ALBERONI

I thought what to write on blog for this week thoroughly. Honestly, I couldn’t come up with any idea, so I just quit thinking and started reading Prof. Applewhite’s new post on his blog. While I was writing a comment on his blog, I could come up with an interesting idea, which was buried in the past. I was talking about the correlation between sub-culture and dominant culture. In fact, I claimed that that correlation exists in any relationship, even though it is an emotional relationship between two people. It reminds me of one book, which I read in the past, called ‘Falling in love and loving’ by Francesco Alberoni. The author hypothesizes the procedure of “falling in love” is beyond sexual sublimation, Psychology, Sociology, or Art. He defined the procedure as a phenomenon between two people. He is a sociologist, who studies “collective movement” like French Revolution. It was absurd at first, for he tries to explain two people falling in love with French Revolution. However, I was inspired by his sociological imagination.

 To be honest, I read this book before I explore ‘Sociology’, so I couldn’t understand a lot of parts. But since I read through it again, I can recognize some sociologists (especially, I think the author was mainly based on Durkheim) and some terms such as sociological imagination. I didn’t read the entire book. I just picked up some interesting parts before. But I realized that I could see as much as I know. I think I might learn what “know” really means. I will read this entire book carefully again. I will really appreciate if somebody shares some thought about this book.

P.s. I have an electronic form of this book. Tell me if somebody is interested in it. J

Sociology thinking about "'the Walking Dead"

            We’ve talked about the society a lot in class. Today what I want to talk about is if the world is Chaos or order. The world seems to be in Chaos, but it is actually ordered. The apparent example is TV show called “the Walking dead.” I watched it through this weekend. This drama is mainly about zombies. In the show, the world is covered by walkers, which are people whose brains are completely ruined except very few parts. Basically the story talks about how the survivors deal with the situation, and zombies. The one scene explains why the world is ordered very well. Two groups of survivor had a conversation to get weapons first. One of them was gangs, yet they were helping the sick elderly, and they say all people they’ve encountered were bad. Here is the main conversation. “Guess, the world was changed,” “No, it’s the same as it ever was, but we can’t take it.” What he’s saying is the world seems more chaotic, but it is still working in a system. Only difference is that the situation is a little getting worse.  I think the world is more likely chaos and order at the same time, but the character has a point. We’ve got to think about what it stands for. My sociological imagination is still not enough, but I’m glad that I can find the connection between my joy from personal life and the sociological thinking.

Welcome!

Hi, I'm Sangeun Lee.
For my introductory entry, I will introduce my roll model to you to explain me. He is a Korean broadcasting director. He always makes such a funny and creative program. Aside from that, he always reminds me of the duty, which we should be aware of what is going on around us and the world, as one of members in society, and as a person leading media. His program is a comedy, yet he never forgets pointing out the political or societal issues in his show.

My biggest goal is I want to become one's roll model. I want to become a person who my friends or family are proud of. So far, I'm still looking for what I really want to do, or what I want to be. Possible answers will be psychologist, Business person, or director.

I was talking about myself for you to get to know me a little better. It will help you understand my thoughts, which will be posted in the future. Thank you for spending time on reading my FIRST POST! Have a nice day!