ESJ - May 21
I looked up the zip code of where I currently live this weekend on Nielsen MyBestSegments. The described habitus is one that I feel that I do not necessarily fit into or accurately describes me. I also looked up Lincoln Park’s zip code and I also feel that I don’t fit into its description. I do, however, feel that all of the listed traits accurately describe these two different neighborhoods. I guess that brings about a ‘fish out of water feeling.’ This doesn’t really surprise me though since it’s relatively easy to tell when you’re out of place. Perhaps I’m just reading into the traits too much and not being flexible enough with what would accurately describe me.
ESJ: May 14
The excerpt “Joe Queenan’s Tour” from the documentary People Like Us explores social class. In it Queenan describes being part of the upper class as “being in high school”, living with constant worry of what others’ opinion of you are. Members of the upper class are motivated to fit in and therefore fear rejection from their social circle. A certain standard of living and culture becomes the norm among the class. Because everyone in the social class strives to fit in, they begin to enforce and perpetuate the constructed norms. A person who deviates from these set norms is labelled as deviant thus excluding them from the group they are a part of.
Everyday Sociology Journal; May 7
I have seen the Stanford Prison documentary prior to taking this class; I have also seen it in a psychology class. Each time I see it, I am reminded that human beings are, indeed, docile creatures (though I didn’t really think of it this way before this class). The documentary exposes the human ability to code-switch; learn new roles; perform them; and adopt them as their own.
After seeing this documentary twice, I still have a question. The documentary focuses on a single guard, the one who was the most brutal. The other guards are almost completely ignored, but it is mentioned that one of them did not like how the “lead” guard treated the prisoners so he would leave to run errands when he shared a shift with him. It seems as though some were more “motivated” to fulfill a role than others; therein lies my question. Why do some more readily adapt to and accept a situation sooner than others?
Born Rich
In one of the scenes in the documentary, Born Rich, Ivanka Trump shares a story where someone on the street had approached her and asked what it is like “to never experience pain.” Her reaction to this question, along with the general disposition of the majority of the other interviewees, was rather irksome. I feel that the person who had asked this had posed the right question in the wrong manner. People who are wealthy obviously experience pain, be it emotional, mental, or physical. The documentary, however, goes onto to portray wealth as something that is an immense burden. It almost seems as though the director is attempting to get viewers to hold sympathy for the rich, which is quite absurd. Obviously the rich have problems. However, it is important to remember that there are varying degrees of problems and the degree varies greatly depending on a person’s socioeconomic status. Personally, I feel that if a person’s biggest problem is figuring out how to occupy their time, they’re pretty well off. My view point, however, is also admittedly biased, but it does serve to show that perspective is also greatly dependent on one’s socioeconomic status.
Sociology of Green
Colors elicit emotion and can change the way we react and respond to things we see and experience in daily life. The color green can be considered a signifier; it, like all other colors, has certain things attributed to it. The color green,specifically, can be attributed to wealth and prosper, and more recently, eco-friendlyness. Green is the color that drives the entire eco-friendly movement as it is instantly associated with it. The color alone has almost become a call to action. Because we attach socially constructed attributes to colors, we give them the power to conjure up intense feelings within us. A persons favorite color can seemingly reveal a lot about them. For example, if someone purchases a new color and is given the choice of any color and they pick blood red, one can easily create a few assumptions about their personality. However, it is important to note that these assumptions may be completely incorrect.
Inactive blog is inactive.
I don’t know if you guys noticed, when I say ‘guys’ I mean all 15 of my followers, but I haven’t posted a single thing in about two months. And since I should really be working on homework at the moment, I figured it would be an excellent time to finally write a post.
I hadn’t done much over the past two months so there hasn’t been much to write. I finished up my second term at school and trudged through finals; this quarter should be light so I hope to finally devote some time into finding something I want to work on and actually following through.
Recently, I’ve been looking into HTML5 because ActionScript becomes a little less appealing every day I spend working with it. If I get around to it, I’ll make a post about this sometime next week.
Reboot.
I’ve deleted all of the posts from my blog. I’ve been meaning to start documenting my growth as a coder/developer/designer, and I guess this place is as good as any other. Hopefully this will serve as motivation and not just fizzle out and turn into nothing.
I’m not exactly sure what I’ll post yet, but I ultimately intend for this place to host my CV/Resume so all of the reblogs and tumblr-esque posts had to go, and they probably won’t be returning.
Real posts from here on out, even if they may be infrequent.
