Race

This week in sociology, we focused mainly on racism. While watching the movie "Crash," we all gained a greater perspective on how almost everyone is racist, but on a subtle level. Because of the society we grow up in, we are shaped to harbor these stereotypes. We often take these generalizations into consideration when we make daily decisions. For example, a woman in the movie decided to hold her purse tighter and move closer to her husband when two black men passed by the couple. She, from years of brainwashing, believed that she needed to steer clear of them in order to protect herself. This is a great example of implicit racism. She was definitely wrong to do this, but her assumptions ended up being correct. The men stole their car and threatened her. Being black myself, I wasn't too happy that her thoughts were right. I wanted the black men to overcome their stereotypes, but I eventually realized that this wasn't the goal of the movie. The movie was supposed to get us to realize that (whether incorrect or not) we all have some hint of prejudice in us. So, we need first realize these stereotypes and then work towards avoiding them.

Race

This week,  we have been focusing on race in sociology. We've mostly been doing little demos and mini lessons to help us ease into this new lesson. So far, we've learned that it is part of human nature to place people into different groups. Many of these groupings are based on race. So, many social groups in our society are divided among racial lines and groups of different races inevitably develop stereotypes about other racial groups. This is a really sad cycle, but I don't think it will ever end. Past examples have taught us that it's simply in our nature as human beings to do so. However, I hope that we can slowly begin to put limitations on the stereotypes we create.

Minimum wage

Lately, we have been focusing on the large gap between the rich and the poor in sociology. We even watched a video that depicted a perfect example of this. In the video, a man and his wife tried to live 30 days while being paid minimum wage. I always see adults working at places like fast food restaurants and grocery stores, but I have never taken the time to really sit down amd see what their life is like. The people on the show had an extremely difficult time making ends meet, and they were only doing this for a short period of time. I can't imagine what it would be like to live your life pay check to pay check on a daily basis. After this unit, I think I'm much more thankful for everything I have. Also, I have realized that our country really isn't one of equal opportunity.