30. November 2011 by student.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2006:
• Suicide was the eleventh leading cause of death for all ages.
• More than 33,000 suicides occurred in the U.S. This is the equivalent of 91 suicides per day; one suicide every 16 minutes or 10.95 suicides per 100,000 population.
• Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 25-34 year olds and the third leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year olds.
• Among 15- to 24-year olds, suicide accounts for 12.0% of all deaths annually.

http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/pdf/Suicide-DataSheet-a.pdf

C. Wright Mills intended for the phrase “sociological imagination” to refer to the capacity to recognize and understand how each person’s experiences relate to the entire society (p5). I believe he was explaining how a person might normally believe that a certain circumstance or situation is merely a personal problem but if that person were to explore his or her “sociological imagination,” he or she may learn that the situation is actually a social problem which affects a higher number of people (p5). For example, I worked in a call center for TelePerformance USA for four years providing technical support for computers and internet. The building was closed in December of 2007 and every employee was laid off with severance pay. We were told that our positions had been outsourced to a company in the Philippines. At first, I thought it was a personal problem for each employee. However, while unemployed, I spent an extensive amount of time watching MSNBC nightly political news and learned that outsourcing was already an existing social economic problem and was a result of government deregulation.

Emile Durkheim asserted that “social facts” are actions, thoughts, and emotions of individuals that are not only beyond the individuals’ control but are actually the result of society’s control (p15). He knew that previous societies had controlled individuals by stressing common “morals, beliefs, and values” and he witnessed a drastic change in said morals, beliefs, and values when “urbanization” occurred at an unusually rapid pace as a result of “industrialization” to the point that society’s ability to control individuals became “strained” and consequently “ineffective” (p15). Durkheim referred to this type of “strain” as an “anomie” which deteriorates, disintegrates, dissolves, or even completely destroys one’s “sense of purpose” or “sense of belonging” (p15-16). For example, I believe such changes in American morals, beliefs, and values may have been factors in my mother’s suicide. When republican policies prevailed for nearly a decade, she began to lose faith in the system and in people. She voted for George W. Bush but then felt deceived when she realized how adversely the policies affected/effected her financially, mentally, and emotionally. The added emphasis on individualism and personal responsibility, the rhetoric and eventual belief that if someone is unemployed it is their own fault, the realization that health care companies were being rewarded for doing everything within their power to deny coverage to those who need it most, and many other such “anomies” caused my mother immense grief and overwhelming feelings of helplessness and alienation contributed greatly to her decision to end her own life in November of 2007. She felt that society did not reflect her own morals, beliefs, and values. Her sense of unity, “purpose, and belonging” diminished (p15). She felt like an outsider.

According to the CDC, “Suicide is a serious public health problem that can have lasting harmful effects on individuals, families, and communities. Ideally, prevention addresses all levels of influence: individual, relationship, community, and societal. Effective prevention strategies are needed to promote awareness of suicide and encourage a commitment to social change.”
http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/suicide/index.html

According to suicidology.org, “there is a clear and direct relationship between rates of unemployment and suicide. Economic strain, personal financial crises have been well documented as precipitating events in individual deaths by suicide. Of current concern is the high rate of home foreclosures.” As I have previously stated, I believe it is a responsibility of government to protect citizens. I believe in a big government that creates jobs and regulates industry to protect consumers. Regulation and accountability might have prevented the housing bubble or could help prevent such a crisis in the future. “For most Americans, our homes are our primary investment and the locus of our identities and social support systems. When combined with the loss of job, home loss has been found to be one of the most common economic strains associated with suicides. In contrast to many other developed nations, the US provides little cushion to buffer these strains.” I believe our government should do more to reverse the unemployment rate and decrease the forclosure rate which would subsequently reduce the suicide rate.
http://www.suicidology.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=254&name=DLFE-437.pdf

Society and economics greatly influence an individual’s decision to commit suicide. According to the U.S. Census Burear, “in 2010, 46.2 million Americans were in poverty, the poverty rate in 2010 (15.1%) was the highest poverty rate since 1993, and the number of people in poverty in 2010 (46.2 million) is the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published.”
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/index.html

Our leaders in Washington should be doing everything within their power to grow the economy, put Americans back to work, reduce poverty, provide healthcare and education, protect consumers, create fairness, and essentially promote general welfare.

Kendall, Diana. “Chapters 1-3” Sociology in Our Times. 8th edition. Wadsworth. Cengage Learning: 2011,2008. 4-78. Print

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [Online]. (2007). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC (producer). Available from URL: www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/index.html.

Posted in Social Problems | 1 Comment »

30. November 2011 by student.

How do you feel about being able to assemble your children from genes listed in a catalog? A lot of controversy and ethical issues occur around human genetic engineering. It is a very risky procedure that has not yet been perfected. The heart of the debate lies in who has the right to modify an unborn human. Some believe that every fetus has an inherent right to remain genetically unmodified; others believe that parents hold the rights to change their unborn child, while others still believe that every child should have the right to be born free from preventable diseases.

                Human genetic engineering is, “the alteration of an individual’s genotype (genetic make-up of a cell) with the aim of choosing the phenotype (an organism’s observable characteristics or traits) of a newborn or changing the existing phenotype of a child or adult.” It means changing the genes in a living human cell in order to introduce new characteristics, enhance existing characteristics, or repair genetic defects in the human cells. Human genetic engineering holds the promise of curing genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis, and increasing the immunity of people to viruses. It represents society’s first attempt to scientifically alter the human evolutionary process.

                Whether you support human genetic engineering or not, there are many advantages and disadvantages to this process-

Advantages include:

·         Helping to prevent life-threatening and incurable diseases like cancer, and Alzheimer’s

·         Better drugs could be produced that are disease or gene specific that attack the specific genetic mutation in an individual

·         A possibility to increase the average life span of an individual to live a healthy, long life, free of diseases and disorders

·         Make it possible to slow down or reverse certain cellular metabolism that may be able to fulfill the desire to remain ‘forever young’

·         ‘Designer babies’- Parents can choose the characteristics of their babies, for example: blond hair with blue eyes, high IQ, and fair skin

·         Cloning humans: illegal now, but it could be a quest to produce the perfect human beings

Disadvantages include:

·         Loss of identity and individuality, and human diversity

·         May end up producing ‘Super humans’

·         Smarter humans means larger brains – difficulty during birth procedures

·         Long life could lead to population problems

·         A division between genetically engineered humans and those that are ‘normal’

·         Human cloning could lead to problems in figuring out who’s who

Human genetic engineering could make or break our society. It’s incredible to think about how this could possibly work, and whether or not it really could cure diseases or life-threatening illnesses. I feel that if human genetic engineering becomes perfected and legal, I believe that people who are in a coma, who are in a vegetative state, who have traumatic brain damage, or who have a life-threatening illness or incurable disease, should be allowed this option. However; if you are someone who just wants this procedure so you can look young forever, or be smarter and brighter, or for those parents who want to choose what their baby looks like, I completely 100 percent disagree with human genetic engineering as an option. You are who you are, and it is your choice as to whether you want to change yourself or not for the better. There are many other ways you can overcome obstacles and better yourself such as working out, going to school and reading to become more knowledgeable, eating healthy, etc. to live the life you want. I think human genetic engineering will lead to more judgment in our society when used for perfecting and making people, ‘super-humans.’

                What’s your intake on human genetic engineering? Should genetic engineering be used to produce super-humans? Should we be able to determine the sex of our children? Should human genetic engineering be used for curing genetic diseases? Do you think human genetic engineering will affect our society for better or worse?

Sites Used:

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/genetic-engineering-in-humans.html

http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/humgeneng.html

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 3 Comments »

30. November 2011 by student.

C. Wright Mills is credited with coming up with the idea of the sociological imagination. The political philosophy known as anarchism utilizes the same type of sociological imagination. Anarchists aren’t frequently caught up in the pettiness of worrying about one elected official or that one bad corporation. The main focus of anarchism is to analyze macrolevel institutions like capitalism, racism, states, the patriarchy, etc. Basically, the two (sociology and anarchism [and specifically modern conflict theory]) converge at the complex idea of society.

There has always been a minor connection between sociology and anarchism. C Wright Mills professed himself to be a “goddamned anarchist” and wrote highly of the IWW and its members. Peter Kropotkin was translating Herbert Spencer’s work and hanging out from time to time with fellow comrade Pitirim Sorokin. It almost seems too perfect how well anarchism and sociology go together.

Conflict theory, specifically the theory of C. Wright Mills, could be copied down verbatim as an anarchist critique of society or vice versa. Mills spoke about the power elites that are in charge of the state, the corporations, and the military: the three most dominant hierarchies. Mills was talking about corporate control of the government immediately after World War 2, and the message still resounds within anarchist thinking. The entire basis around conflict theory is that hierarchical structures and institutions have only the benefit of their leaders in mind, not the people.

Mill’s trio of the Power Elite can be perfectly exemplified by the soon to be former (again) Egyptian government. Pre-Mubarak leaving, the military was comprised of handpicked Mubarak sympathizers, while the military was basically a part of every industry inside the Egyptian economy. Mubarak and his cronies controlled the state, the military, and the corporations. Unlike the mass society Mill’s spoke about in The Power Elite, the Egyptians showed that they were much more powerful than the power elite by ousting Mubarak from power (technically it took up until last week because power was ceded to the military and the people kept protesting because the military didn’t seem like they wanted to give up power, but they finally got their parliamentary vote). It was a true people’s revolution, and I think Mill’s would be proud.

Posted in Social Problems | 3 Comments »

30. November 2011 by student.

One of my biggest concerns with how large the Occupy Wall Street movement is getting, is that it seems to be getting co-opted by liberal reformists. The people that don’t want to dismantle the economic structures that only exist to maintain separation between the Mills power elite and working class folks. The people that want to keep capitalism but simply get corporations out of the government. Those people. It’s usually the ones drinking a Starbucks coffee while they’re outside protesting.

Occupy Oakland called for a General Strike (first one in the US since ‘46) on November 2nd and effectively shut down the city’s main port and representation of capitalism. It was a wonderful day until reports started coming in that anarchists were breaking the windows at Whole Foods and spray painting the outside walls. This was followed by a bunch of the aforementioned reformists deciding to protect the store and even push around the anarchists and a group of the crowd started chanting “Peaceful Protest!”

When did property destruction become violence? No one was harmed, except for the windows of a corporation run by a man who’s anti-union, pro-free markets, and anti-healthcare. These protestors were protecting his property while selling out those who were actively participating with them in the protest, and they did it all in the name of “non-violence.”

I’ll concede that nonviolence as a means of enacting change is the moral high ground. What I will say is that purely nonviolent tactics have never enacted change; and they definitely won’t when you have power structures like the state that have a Weberian monopoly on violence. Police are justified under the current power structure to use unjust and aggressive violence to quell the dissent of those actively working to point out and dismantle their power.  I recognize the power behind nonviolent movements, but I think it’s naive to believe that an institution whose power is predicated on coercion and violence can be subverted by purely nonviolent methods. The problem with fetishizing nonviolent tactics is the fact that it alienates those with whom solidarity should be shown; in essence, those who exercise self-defense against the state are excluded and denigrated for simply preferring/practicing alternative tactics.

Posted in Social Problems | 2 Comments »

30. November 2011 by student.

How many times have any of us caught ourselves saying things like “shemale” or “tranny” or “ladyboy” in regards to something we’ve seen on television or in movies, or maybe just in casual conversation? Did anyone see the Hangover 2 or was I the only one who didn’t laugh at all during the what seemed to be 40 minute “HAHA EW YOU HAD SEX WITH A MAN” punchline? What that is a prime example of is transphobia permeating through pop culture.

Transphobia (for the sake of this blog) is defined as the discrimination and prejudice of transgender individuals. These folks are just like you and I, they just don’t believe that their biological sex has anything to do with their gender identity. Western society is structured around the idea of a strict gender binary where there is male/female and nothing else. What about the people who don’t think the qualify as either? To write them off as crazy would not only be dismissive, but it would be extremely ethnocentric. Plenty of cultures around the world believe in genders outside of male/female (e.g., Hijra in South Asia and Two-Spirit in the indigenous populations of North America).

Transphobia claims the life of on average at least 1 person a month each year. That’s one person’s son or daughter getting murdered simply because of bigotry and intolerance. Not only does transphobia manifest itself into physical violence, it presents itself as a form of systemic discrimination against transgender people. When transgender people are hurt or have medical issues, it’s hard for them to receive medical care because most doctors never took the time to learn how to treat someone who existed outside of some socially constructed gender binary.  It’s perfectly legal to fire someone simply because they’re transgender in 35/50 states. 90% of transgender folks surveyed for the National Center for Transgender Equality “National Transgender Discrimination Survey” said they had been harassed, mistreated, or discriminated against at their place of employment.

Our socially ingrained idea of heteronormativity is now a dangerous thing. People are dying month by month. The attempted suicide rate of transfolk is through the roof compared to the general population. 41% of transgender people attempted suicide and the rates continue to increase when you bring in factors like harassment, job firing, and physical or sexual assault. Our antiquated views of heteronormativity are causing fellow human beings to become homeless or forced to sell themselves or drugs to survive. They are forced to find illegitimate means to simply buy food for themselves or their families.

Posted in Social Problems | 1 Comment »

30. November 2011 by student.

While factors such as genetics and physical activity contribute to childhood obesity, parenting practices may have the largest impact on a child’s eating behavior.Parents directly influence their child’s eating habits. Parents, especially impact the development of a child’s preference for healthy foods as well as their ability to regulate how much they eat. studies of low-income families that an “indulgent” feeding style is strongly associated with childhood obesity. In this style, parents let their kids eat whatever they want and demonstrate a lot of nurturance during dinner, making it a very pleasant experience these low levels of control are associated with obesity. This could categorized as social stratification because the lower class families are at a disadvantage financially and therefore may not be able to afford healthier food choices, food choices like chips and soda are a cheaper alternative of feeding the family. Foods like that contain ingredients that facilitate increased weight gain and the desire to eat more and blocking the satiety area of the brain.However, high levels of control can also contribute to childhood obesity.When parents push children to finish their vegetables in order to get dessert, the dessert becomes more rewarding, other vegetables become less rewarding, children begin to like ice cream better, for instance, and beans less.

Another component of “high control” parenting includes frequently encouraging children to finish a meal and using excessive reasoning to make them eat more of a specific food such as vegetables. Additionally, when parents use restrictions to encourage healthy eating, such as withholding candy, soda-pop and other sweet beverages, children may want to eat or drink more of it simply because they know they cannot have it. This is clash between power arrangements and the children see eating junk food as a symbolic value. The parents are using their power as the adults and caregivers and almost forcing the children to eat the food which can become overused and almost authoritative. When deprived of something that children feel they deserve, they might start rebelling whether its conscious or unconscious and start sneaking in more junk food in their diet, or whenever they have the chance to eat it they will over consume because it is scarce in their home; which can lead to obesity.

Oftentimes, as parents put pressure on their kids to eat, the kids are focused more on what the parents want and less on their internal cues. As a result, kids are less attentive to their internal cues of being full and tend to eat more than they really need to eat.While too much control or not enough control is often associated with obesity, medium control appears to have a different, and desired, effect.Parents should provide availability of healthy snacks and give them choices such as two vegetables instead of one. They should also make meals about positive social interaction and quality family time, not about how much food is consumed.

http://in.reuters.com/article/2008/07/09/us-parenting-style-idINCOL96232120080709

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

30. November 2011 by student.

There have been documentations of double eyelid surgery in Asia as early as the 19th century but became popular after WWII. After westerners started coming into Asia, the plastic surgery industry started to pick up because more people wanted to have features like the foreigners whom they thought were beautiful. Now, in the 21st century having plastic surgery done is very common in asian countries such as Korea, and service for this type of business can be found almost everywhere; with procedures that can take as little as 30 minutes to perform. When I asked among my peers in school if they have ever heard of Asian plastic surgery they had all replied no. This entry will discuss the perspective of surgery performed from a Korean native and how this issue is the influence of social stability or instability, social conflict, and interaction.

According to an online site, Medscape, ‘ South Korea has the highest ratio of cosmetic surgeons to citizens worldwide. “It has become so common that girls will get eyelid surgery as high school graduation present. I personally have a cousin who had double eyelid surgery during her eigth grade year and specifically asked “ Make it like the eyes of White people.” What made Koreans fall in plastic surgery this much? It has some kind of magical appeal to the, which is the promise of beauty. Women are often convinced that suffering and sacrificing things like the giant costs of the procedures is necessary and worthy in order to bear the fruits of beauty.With good looks, the Korean society believes that beauty leads to attracting a better looking partener, which leads to a better lifestyle and better looking children. And also, better looks equals better chances for competitive jobs, especially in the business field. Basically they believe that physical beauty equals happiness.

And in Korean, they also impossibly apply the same standards for beauty as the Western world does. A women should be tall, thin, with a milky complexion, chiseled facial features, long legs, nice big eyes, and perfectly angles nose. In a popular Korean movie titled,” 200 pounds of beauty,” It shows the struggle of an obese unattractive young lady that goes to the extreme limit of having her whole body done through plastic surgery in order to become a singing pop star and ultimately wish to have her manager realize her physical beauty and fall in love with her; despite her already graet personality and natural talent. The main character in unattractive in all the ways we might think such as her weight, crazy hair, no facial definition, bad teeth, and small eyes. The young woman believed cosmetic surgery is the key to her success with her career and ultimately her love life. However, Asian people experience similar internal dilemmas with their appearances too but do not live around white people to actually effect their opinions about themselves. So if environment is not the primary cause of this drive to look “whiter,” then what is?

The next closest thing to living around white people is seeing them all over TV, billboards, and magazines. With globalization alive and well in South Korean, Western pop culture has grown into every corner of the country. Lacost, Estee-Lauder, Ralph Lauren, and Chanel are some of the heavily sought Western brands. The Korean exchange their advanced electronic devices through companies such as LG, Samsung, and Hyundai in return for Western clothing, cosmetics, and pop idols like Britney Spears. However, Koreans do not just admire these Western idols, and purchase their albums and clothes, but they want to look like them. Maybe this explains why the majority of Korean celebrities have gone under the knife at least once. For instance, Korean Boa-Kwon, who now rules the female pop world in all Northeast Asia (Japan, china, and korea), got eyelid surgery and had her nose Heightened. So just like Britney Spears set the trend for mini plaid skirts for American girls and bearing their midriffs, Boa has inspired and assured many Korean girls that cosmetic surgery is normal and “cool” thing to do.

Korean pop culture is dominating Asia today with its soap opera series, movies, cosmetics, and technology In 2004, after the hit TV show “Dae-jand geum” many Japanese and Taiwanese women flocked to South Korea cosmetic clinics asking to look like the hit’s main character, Youn Hae Lee, who is known for her big eyes, small chin, and high nose.

Perhaps this beauty ideal is not a trend but a very real standard that is growing deeper in Korean society. Appearance is starting to play a bigger role in the workplace, where men are starting to get plastic surgery too.ABC new reports that cosmetic surgery clinics in korea are starting to get higher rates of male clients; the most surgeries are almost identical to those for women— eyelid and nose jobs. Therefore, the continuing high rates of cosmetic surgeries, and the growing number of Korean celebrities who look almost “white” as a result of these procedures, indicate the extent to which Western beauty standards have been ingrained into South Korea.

The quest for western beauty can also be political as well as cultural. Going back to the Imperialist era in the 1800’s, the idea of white supremacy is still in their minds since Western Nations like the United States are still the most powerful and wealthiest. Maybe even the idea of walking, talking, and looking like the white race is still there subtlely. For example, many countries around the world, including South Korea, are required to speak Enlisgh, the language we speak in the United States, which is looked upon as the world power. As a result, most South Korean student are reasonably fluent in English by the time they hit higschool.

Maybe the obsession with beauty is due to the fact that human nature always strives dor what is thought to be better. So Korean associate beauty with people of countires that are wealthier than they are as a result to be more like them. The fact that nearly half the population is somehow displeased  with their appearance and willing to undergo cosmetic surgery shows that something is culturally wrong here. Essentially, the face of Korean media needs to change. They need to stop promoting the message that beauty means to look like Nicole Kidman and Britney Spears.

Burt Herman, “ S Korea Boom in Male Plastic Sugery,” in ABC News Health, 2006; Sandy Cobrin, “ Asian-American Criticize Eylid Surgery Craze,” in Women’s E-news

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »

30. November 2011 by student.

Early last week there was a 16 year old girl that was caught prostituting organized by pimps. My question is where is the parents of this young girl who where supposed to be in school getting education, what was the condition for the girl to have to be engage in prostitution. As a parent we have to have better communication with our children,encourage,teach, and make them stronger, regardless of life situation.Parent have to engage them selves to know who your child frequente with, call for help before its too late. Children are often forced by social structures and individual agents into situations in which adults take advantage and abuse them.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 2 Comments »

30. November 2011 by student.

I have had a neighbor who have 7 year old boy who was extremely over weight. The school try to help the child, mom refused the help by thinking that is not over weight her child is well taking care. She doesn’t understand how severe this child ’s health problem could be in the future.As I watching the news Ohio mom loses custody of obese son. This child’s problem was so severe that the department of children and family services have to take over the situation, to protect the child,s life after they have been working with the mother for more than a year before asking juvenile court for custody of the child.From my point of view I think removal from the home may be in the good interest of the child is life imminent health risks. Faillure to address medical problems even there were some help was offered to the mother. As a parent I feel sorry for the boy by taking him  away from his parents and at the sametime it is for his best interest.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | No Comments »

30. November 2011 by student.

Elderly people face a variety of issues as they age.  Issues to health, emotions, finance and overall well-being. it is important to recognize the needs of older people and at the same time it is important to observe that the older population as a whole is neither hepless nor dependent. Most older people are capable of coping and adapting. despite increasing poor health and frailty as they age ,they need someone to look after and stand for them. Older people contribute immeasurable to their families and communities in various roles and also sacrifice their well-being to help their children and grand children. they deserve better life as they aged.Remember that older people contribute to their communities their decades of accumulated experience, knowledge and understanding.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 1 Comment »