ETHNICITY

By: Jaime Green

Ethnicity is a group of people whose members identify with each other through a common heritage, language, culture and most times, religion that stresses their common ancestry.

My blog is about ethnicity, which in my sociology class I'm learning, there are quite a few worldwide. Some ethnicities are obvious just by looking at a person, and some are not so obvious. When people think about ethnicity we tend to go with the obvious (i.e. skin color, the shape of one's face or eyes, hair texture) but the more I learn in class, the more I'm starting to NOT be so quick to form a personal opinion.
I used to think when I saw a black person with light eyes or even light skin, they had to be mixed with something.

An African American baby with blue eyes

 But upon some research and a little of broadening my perceptions, I'm realizing that its not true. I used to think that all people who, just by appearances, looked Hispanic, was Hispanic, but after talking to them, was told that they are in fact, not Hispanic. As much as I hate to admit it, I also thought that all white people were simply white. I never even bothered to take the time to consider what "white" was. I was just going by their skin color never taking into consideration that they could be German, Jewish or even Italian. Ignorance also plays a role in our perception of how we view different ethnicities!! Depending on what we have been taught and the things we have decided to hold onto through adult-hood will also mold and shape our perceptions of others based their ethnic backgrounds!

In closing, thanks to sociology I've humbled myself to accept AND acknowledge races of all kinds. I'm learning to not be so quick to judge people outside of my comfortable "race"! We are all created the same and we definitely bleed and basically die the same. We ALL live here on planet earth and are existing together as a human race. Everyone accepting one's race without bias would be spectacular in a perfect world, but just opening YOUR eyes with acceptance the next time you see a person with a different ethnic background, will suffice for now because hey, we all have to start somewhere, why not start with yourself!!!!!

School of the Hard Knocks

     In today's society education is a very important key that makes one successful in life no matter what. So, I could say that since education is so important ,which i really do believe, all of the Philadelphia public school district kids shouldn't be complaining about how terrible their school is and what it looks like and they should just be happy that they are receiving an education. Well.... that would never be something that I feel is acceptable to say. I have to agree with the young urban community that these schools around in the area look more like prisons than a place of education. Ok so in the media we do hear about violence in urban schools and people talking about there is no helping these kids because they don't appreciate anything even if a school has even been rebuilt.  To me how the urban city "jail school house" looks is going to have a big impact on how the kids act. I feel as though motivation and support is always necessary in any child's life if it causes them to want to go to school, but that motivation can get thrown out the window once you step in front of a place that is supposed to better my future and the first thing I see is barbed wire an gates on all the windows. Maybe all the bad the media portrays about public schools is an outcry from the students that something needs to change. It's not only the students that are frustrated but also the parents and teachers of the community. We shouldn't ignore the people who at the end of the day who has control of some of our futures. I am sick of hearing the whole story line of  "I made it out of nothing into something". Don't get me wrong I am proud of child or adult that has made something out of their education even if they had a horrible school system. What would really make me proud is when it becomes more common for people to say I made it out of something to something even better.

By, Idella Logan

Has our society become more dependant on McDonaldization ?

By Johnnylee Benitez

     McDonaldization refers to the increasing and ubiquitous presence of the fast-food model in most organizations that shape daily life. (pg.144.) McDonaldization had started in fast food places, by making soda machines, frying machines, easier assembly lines, drive thru, and the menu computer screens. From there on it has escalated through other companies such as WaWa. This makes businesses run faster, longer, and more efficient. Today many people are being replaced by these machines that our society use. It seems that the society depends more on technology then it's own people.  In the text book, it states that George Ritzer "identifies four dimensions of the McDonalization process : efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control." (pg 144.)

   I agree that McDonaldization has helped our society into organizing how our food industries run business. But has our society become fully dependant?, i do think so. For an example, in WaWa they have the computer screens to help you order and make your own hoagies. What happens if you happen to step into one WaWa store that doesn't have one? For those who are used to the computer screen can they order their food and think that it would still be the same sandwich? In some cases yes, and in some cases people might think different. Also these computer screens have helped those who are making the food, it's harder to mess up an order, because the order in in front of your face. McDonaldization has improved how we eat and how ordering food is going to become easier and faster for our future.

McDonaldization had truly improved our society and yes our society has become dependent on it. But even with this one new upgrade to our food industries will this change how our food is processed later on down the line?

Outsourcing

By Jonathan Lopez

          What is outsourcing? Outsourcing is when a company finds a provider or manufacturer somewhere else in the world  that would cost less to hire and then firing the old workers that cost much more to hire. Therefore giving  jobs to other people besides your country. This happens every day to American companies. Companies can afford to pay the works more money so they go over sea's where the cost of paying someone is less. Why pay someone more money to do the same work that someone else can do for much cheaper. But isn't this good for the companies right? For them yes, but for the people that lost their jobs no. Sure it's good for other people on the other side of the world to get work too, but if this keep on happening then every job would be sent over sea's leaving millions of people out of work.

          One of the biggest places jobs are being sent to are china and India. These places are blooming with jobs because the people that live in these place can't find work because they are so over populated and  are willing to work for much less in able to help support their family. Companies like Nike, Apple, Microsoft, and Forever 21 are all American companies that outsource their jobs to other non-American people.

          How would one stop this from happening? Well we can put a tax on companies that outsource where the tax would be enough that is would be cheaper to make in America, and therefore they would want to move back to America. The next one people are going to hate me for this, but is to try to put restrictions on labor unions. I am not saying that all labor unions are bad but when people ask for more money consistently and the companies don't have no money to give what do you think the companies is going to consider. One rise prices on product to enable one  to get more money,  and they might lost consumers. Or two, move to another country where it's cheaper and they don't have to rise prices and not lose consumers.  

Does Rap Influence Crime??

By Anna Petrovsky

Some people feel that rap music influences behaviors, leading to crime, hate, and other acts of out burst. They had identified rap as- a musical form that makes use of rhyme, rhythmatic speech, and street vernacular, which is recited or loosely chanted over a musical soundtrack. Which isn’t a false statement, but the way they observed the music was through lyrics and even possibly of what they thought it meant. Not once have they mentioned of why those lyrics were produced in the first place. Rappers like 2Pac, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Notorious B.I.G., and etc...went through tough times that dragged through childhood to their teen years, with bad neighborhoods to grow up, and poor family and living conditions. They had found music as a way to escape the real world, express themselves, their emotions, and just to have others see things thru their eyes. Music is a good way to get your thoughts and feelings out on paper, just like a poem or story but with music and beats.

As a kid Eminen (Marshall) faced a rough childhood, having only himself to count on. As getting older faced more troubles with family and drugs. As many know that his music is mainly about his struggles. After years of battling, he was finally able to over pass that. As this video above by Eminem shows strength and how he is showing him as a survivor, also as his lyrics say                 

                                                                              "Everybody 

                                                        Come take my hand 
                                      We'll walk this road together, through the storm
                                                  Whatever weather, cold or warm
                                         Just lettin you know that, you're not alone"

states you don't have to do this yourself. 

 They didn’t have any attention to send out the wrong message to others. Another thing is that some musicians have a limitation to what can be released and how their lyrics should be like. A good ex. Is Lil Wayne, a famous rapper with his own record label still has a limit to what his lyrics should be like in order to be fully produced. Even though many rappers wish to produce what they have written, their producers won’t allow it each have reasons to why that isn’t allowed. Also sociologist had believed that lyrics had come from a “street code” to gain respect. Also not fully a false statement, but who wouldn’t want respect if you had been ridiculed by your peers. I just don’t agree the way sociologist put the blame on one genre of music, or music itself. Some types of media can have an influence on others, also problems one can face, and people’s surroundings can influence them. So music can’t be the blame of it all, don’t people always say find a way to express yourself. Well music is one way to do that, whether you’re doing it with a beat or a heavy drum. It’s all a form of letting yourself be heard, not to cause violence or crime. 

GLOBALIZATION: Good or Bad?

 By: Diomassi Sissoko

Globalization is helping people to have better lives. According to our Sociology Essentials book, globalization means increased economic, political, and social interconnectedness and interdependence among societies in the world. Like many other things in world, globalization has positive and negative effects in the world.

One positive effect of globalization is culture. People around the world know now the cultures of other countries that they have never being before. People around the entire world know about the United States of America without being in USA. They listen to American musics, watch American movies and wear the same cloths as Americans.

Another positive effect of globalization is business. Because of globalization, China and India are becoming more developed, industrialized countries in world. Many people are moving their companies to those countries because labor is cheap.

One negative effect of globalization is unemployment in some rich countries like the United States.

 

Like you can see in this video, one cause of high rate of unemployment in USA is due to globalization. American companies are taking jobs from their country and give them to other countries.

In conclusion, globalization is helping many people and destroying some countries` economy. I think that globalization is good because it has more positive effects than negative effects on people.

1-800-Can I Talk to an American Please?

By: Amy Smith

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnhTQFHkgmw&feature=related

     When Americans make a phone call to companies that affect their everyday lives, like Wachovia Bank or Apple, the person that answers the phone is not a fellow American. American corporations and businesses have been shipping American jobs across seas to India for the past two decades. India has a lower cost of living; therefore companies can give a lower salary for the same job that an American could perform. This system of outsourcing allows the rich to get richer and the middle/lower class to become unemployed in America.

    

     The following link provides a list of American companies that CNN discovered to have
outsourced American jobs:

http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/popups/exporting.america/content.html#b

     As shown in the video above, the Indian who answers the phone call has gone through training to be able to speak in understandable dialects of the English language. An alias is established for each worker so that the American caller is under the impression that they are speaking to another American. This tactic is not successful, since Americans know about the outsourcing of call centers. Many Americans develop resentment towards the people answering the phone calls once they detect the accent. Rather than aggravating the already overworked and underpaid Indian receptionist, the caller should ask, “Can I speak to an American Please?”. I have learned from experience with multiple companies, such as Dell and Bank of America, that they are more than willing to transfer your call back to America. If everyone would have their calls transferred to an American call center, more jobs would become available here in the States, resulting in less outsourced positions.
     Americans need to realize that they should be mad at the government for providing tax breaks to these outsourcing corporations and mad at the CEO’s that make extra for their pockets; not the Indians who take a job that pays their bills. By boycotting talking to foreigners and lobbing politicians to change outsourcing policy, Americans can dial a 1-800 number and talk to someone who knows the culture and language, since the receiver also lives it.