Adrina’s Sociology Blog

Summary

This article talks about domestic violence in the UK. The amount of domestic violence that resulted in death has increased and is at its highest its been in 5 years (Swann, 2019).  When it comes to domestic violence most victims are women. One woman talked about was Charlotte Huggins. She was stabbed by her ex who was angry about seeing her with another man. Her trial and murder didn’t get much attention in the media. Swann claims that the fact domestic violence remains invisible, it is part of the issue regarding violence against women Swan, 2019). BBC News followed the first 100 killings of 2019 and around a 5^th of the murders was including a significant other, family member or ex (Swann,2019).  One of the victims was Alison, who was stabbed by her ex 22 times in front of her daughter. Swann claims the most shocking was a man who was married for 17 years who murders his wife in front of a babe they newly fostered. The man was a former police officer who then placed his wife in a suitcase and buried her in a shallow grave. After the case, the son of the two decided he wanted to try and help people in this situation. As referenced in the article, the son states “We want the government to fix our problems. But I think realistically, what we actually need to do is work collectively as a community to create better things.” (Swann, 2019) Basically the government ends up introducing a bill aimed at trying to tackle the problems of domestic violence. 

Reflection

We are currently learning about family and marriage. With family and marriage, comes possibility for abuse. That includes domestic abuse or intimate partner violence. According to the book abuse comes in different forms, physical, verbal, psychological, financial and sexual (OpenStaxx, 2017). Having this article speak about domestic violence and how the amount of cases are rising is unsettling to me. The article talks about physically abusive relationships that resulted in death. This topic hits home for me because I just recently had an old classmate from high school get murdered from her former boyfriend. I also was in a relationship where i was both physically and verbally abused by my boyfriend. The article talked about how part of the problem is the fact cases are invisible and I agree. Victims are scared to speak up, victims are scared to leave, victims ignore or let the problem slide because they said sorry. The epidemic needs to change or the amount of DV is going to keep rising. Growing from an abusive relationship definitely shaped who I am and shapes how I interact with possible relationship partners. 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49459674

word count: 451

Summary

On February 26th, 2012, an African-American teenager was fatally shot by a man of mexican and white decent. The man had claimed that the teenager looked and seemed suspicious. After buying a bag of skittles and a juice from a store, the teen was walking home and was seen by the man and the man decided to call a non-emergency hotline to report the suspicious teen. The police stated to not follow the teen however he did anyway and thats when gun shots were heard however no one saw the incident or any altercations. The man claims it was self-defense and was released, police didn’t even arrest the man. Later on, the man was charged 2nd-degree murder but after trial the jury saw the man to not be guilty. This case got a lot of attention throughout the world. The world believed that the man profiled the teen to be threatening and suspicious just because the teen was african-american. Protests and rallies took place nationwide all because of this one teen who was shot and all he had on him was a skittles bag and some juice. Plenty of people showed up for the Million Hoodie March to try and demand justice for the teen.

Reflection

In my point of view, this situation has to do with race. This man saw an African-American teen with a hoodie on an assumed the worse. According to the book, a stereotype is defined as “oversimplified ideas about groups of people” (OpenStax, 2017 p244). Basically, its as if you took an umbrella and put a whole race of people under that umbrella and created an idea about all the people under that umbrella. As if an individual person of that race is exactly like every single person under that umbrella. However, that is not the case. I believe the man stereotyped this teenager and assumed he was threatening because of the color of his skin. The book even talks about this case stating how there were claims about racial profiling involving this case. Racial profiling is law enforcement assuming someone did or didn’t do the crime based off of their race (OpenStax, 2017). The man was apart of the community’s neighborhood watch program, saw a black teen and saw him as threatening and suspicious and then follows the teen and ends up killing him. I see this as him racially profiling the teenager and assuming he was up to no good based off his race. It was not fair, I do feel like racism had ran its course with this one.

Word Count: 426

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/florida-teen-trayvon-martin-is-shot-and-killed

Summary

The Washington Post article “Why poor kids don’t stay in college” is about people In lower income families and how it is harder for them to stay and be successful in college. It talks about a student name Terrell Kellam who is a low income student who takes multiple buses to get to classes and hardly has anything to eat throughout the day (Guo, 2014). The articles states more and more people are attending college however success and graduation rates remain low regardless of the high school completion rates increasing. The article states how people who come from low-income backgrounds are not as likely to even begin college let alone finish it, they have less chances of being successful in college compared to others in higher-income backgrounds. Overall the article speaks about how low-income students in college have more struggles than those who are wealthier. When it comes to having enough money for books are a good computer to work with, its not as easy to come by when you are of low income. Kellam hardly has enough money for food to eat every day, so he does not have money for books, he does not have money for a laptop to do homework with, he doesn’t have a cellphone. He is almost in a position to fail regardless of how much effort he puts in. 

Reflection

This Article goes to show how much social status can affect or shape someone in society. The article shows how there is ability to believe in the American Dream which is the ability or thought that anyone can do anything if they work hard and put their minds to it (OpenStax, 2017). People of low income are graduated high school, the article stated 4 out of 5 people graduated high school, however the college success rates were low. The article shows how even though you can think about the American Dream people in the lower classes have to work even harder and go through a lot more struggle and obstacles. People in higher social status may not need to work their way through college however, those of low income families still need to work to make money which takes away from their studies and schooling. Also some families of lower income may need to help out at home with their siblings or parents because they don’t have it as well as those in higher social classes. Social classes definitely contribute to someone’s own success. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/storyline/wp/2014/10/20/why-poor-kids-dont-stay-in-college/

word count: 410

Summary

The video talks about someone who was formerly incarcerated who had the ability to get an education in prison. Through a program called Bard Prison Initiative, Sebastian Yoon was able to earn a college degree in prison. He claims Bard Prison Initiative saved his life. While in prison he felt very hopeless and lonely. He had no sense of what life after prison would be like. Whether he would be able to contribute to society or not once out of prison was questioning to him. He had no idea whether or not he would be able to make a life for himself after getting out. He claims that being in prison he is seen more as an animal rather than a person or human being. He is hoping that after making this documentary people can see prisoners in a different point of view. The documentary shows how people of different ages still have the ability to learn, they still can make better decisions and gain knowledge, whether your 18 and in college or 35 and in prison. Yoon didn’t want to be defined by the prison clothes on his body, he wanted to be defined by his mind and his heart. Showing people that even after making bad decisions he can still contribute to society after imprisonment. He is not an animal, he is a human being with the ability to come out of a hard situation. BPI allowed him to make something out of himself and not define himself as just someone who was in prison. 

Reflection

Socialization begins at such a young age; people are shaped into who they are throughout their lives. Every society has a set of norms and beliefs, you grow up learning the standards and expectations of your society. When someone goes to prison they’re no longer seen as part of the society. They are not accepted or approved by the society because they obviously went against their societies standards and expectations. When going to prison, you go through the process of resocialization. When going to prison, prisoners are told to strip down, get patted down, and given a set of clothes that look the same as every other prisoner there; this is an example of a degrading ceremony. People in prison can go in either direction, they can move forward or they can keep moving backwards. In this story, the person moved forward. He made bad decisions, went against norms which got him in prison but he was able to resocialize himself by getting in the college program in prison. He was able to give himself a sort of peace of mind by getting an education and giving himself a better personal identity. This alone allows him to get out of prison in a better place than if he just did his time. Society will be able to accept him more. He can leave prison with a sense of knowing the standards and expectations of his society and also contribute to the society in a way he wasn’t able to before or in prison. He is probably leaving prison stronger and more resilient than most. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/videos/former-incarcerated-student-education-in-prison-saved-my-life/vi-BBXbYBe

Word Count: 521

Summary

In the article, “How the world feels about LGBT people”, Rosenberg talks about how different countries view lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. Unlike the U.S., some countries such as Uganda and Russia aren’t as accepting and up for equality for people of the LGBT community. There’s quite a few people who stated that they were more favorable of the LGBT community but also some were less favorable and some had no change in attitude. The article states that “Sixty-seven percent agreed with the statement that “human rights should be applied to everyone, regardless of whom they feel attracted to or the gender they identify with.” Just 16 percent disagreed.” (Rosenberg, 2016). Although there are more people who support the LGBT community there was countries who think it should be illegal. Some people even say they would be disappointed if their kid told them they were gay. The article states it is difficult to determine if the response to LGBT is because of the disapproval of being gay or the thoughts about your children’s safety and whether or not they will be accepted. Marriage equality gave the LGBT community the ability to fight for their rights to the same thing as straight peers. The most respondents it some countries say gay marriage should be legal but also some countries such as Asia or Latin America where most people said it shouldn’t be legal. The article also speaks on equality in the work place. People should be able to have job security; people feel that they shouldn’t be able to fire you because of your sexual orientation. 

Reflection

Sociology is the study of society. When studying sociology OpenStax (2017) states C. Wright Mills described sociological imagination as the ability to see relationships between someone’s behavior and the culture that shaped their choices and views (OpenStax 2017: 6). I feel as if this really relates to people’s thoughts and views on the LGBT community. People tend to feel as if being gay is not socially acceptable. This can be because people grew up on not thinking its okay. People in a catholic setting will feel strongly about not accepting anyone of the LGBT community. This is all because that’s the culture they were brought up in made them not accept people that are gay or trans. OpenStax also states “It’s a way of seeing our own and other people’s behavior in relationship to history and social structure” (OpenStax 2017: 6). The more and more acceptance of LGBT is allowing for younger generations to be accepting as well because that’s what they are growing up to know and start understanding. But based off people behaviors and perceptions and the relationship it has with social structure and background shows how it is understandable that there are people who just can’t bring themselves to accepting anyone of the LGBT Community. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/act-four/wp/2016/05/17/how-the-world-feels-about-lgbt-people/

Word Count: 475