(Chapter 14) A Sociological Mind

             From this course, I have mainly received a new way of thinking.  Most of the topics throughout the course weren't extremely new to me, and I had experienced most of them at least once throughout my life.  This book really made me think about those common things with a new perspective though, and really see how everything interacts.  For instance, I had been familiar with the concept of the Baby Boom Generation, but until now I hadn't thought of it's long-term effects, rather than a possible spike in the healthcare field and the collapsing of Social Security.  Our sociology textbook talks about those, but still goes even farther.  It connects that being the first generation to grow up with effective birth control caused lower birthrates which in turn caused smaller generations below them.  This is turn leaves many Baby Boomers with fewer children to turn to for help in their old age than previous generations have generally had.  Consequently, they will become more reliant on social services to care for them, and in large numbers.  Also, technological advances must be taken into account when predicting the effects of the aging of this generation, as people are living longer now than ever before.  With this generation getting closer to retirement, and with fewer workers to replace them, businesses are also going to have to find ways of keeping workers longer.  There are so many factors in explaining why social things are happening, what's causing them, and what that means for the future that it can quickly get exhausting. 

           As overwhelming as it can be, I have already noticed a significant effect on how I think about things, which could quite possibly be an employment of the sociological imagination.  Today, while reading in my psychology book about stress, I started reflexively making connections.  It was talking about how hospitals have already started incorporating new research into common practice to help reduce patient stress before and after surgery.  I have experienced the use of these new practices first-hand in some hospitals, and have also been denied of them in others.  I realize that the difference between these hospitals' treatment plans was due to where they were specifically located in the metro area.  The last hospital I was at supposedly has the best high-end equipment, but was located in "a bad part of town," and was typically treating mostly poor ethnic minorities.  These factors were strongly reflected in the care that I received, from how I was treated by staff to how hesitant they were to give me seriously-needed pain medications that were considered typical treatment at other hospitals.  Pain pills were handed out like candy at more "affluent" hospitals (to which I usually denied), but were treated like ecstasy here.  And these hospitals are no more than 15 miles from each other!  Nevertheless, all of the differences made me think about the fact that just because there are better treatment plans being put into practice, a lot of people aren't getting to benefit from them.  There is plenty of research showing significant positive effects of these new approaches to patient stress, but some hospitals still can't incorporate them.  Just by being a certain race, being in a certain social class, living in a certain community, or even being a certain gender all have IMMENSE repercussions on what experiences you may have throughout your life.  Way more than I ever thought before.  It's all very fascinating to me to think about how everything in the world is so intricately interconnected, and I'm sure I will benefit from this new approach.

(Chapter 13) Immigration

          The most I know about my ancestry is that almost all, if not all of my ancestors came from somewhere in Europe.  If one were to check way back and find out exactly where my ancestors came from, I would be considered mostly German with large portions of French and Finnish in me as well.  There is a good chance that I might also be parts Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, and Estonian among other things.  I find this is all very common among the typical "white" American today.  
           What's more interesting about my family is the amount of immigration and emigration happening more in my generation.  People from my mother's side of the family more recently have a strange fascination with other countries.  Some find specific foreign countries enticing, whereas others travel more often until they find one they enjoy the most.  My mother's sister has always loved Japan, and after college, she finally visited there.  She fell in love with a Japanese man, married him, and became a citizen of Japan.  They have since had one baby girl, who is half American and half Japanese.  One of my mother's uncles (that is younger than her sister) moved to Ukraine.  He fell in love with a Ukrainian woman, married her, and has also had a baby girl.  One of my mom's brothers traveled around for years living in Ukraine, Thailand, Japan, the Philippines, and more.  He finally found a woman in the Philippines that he married and built a house for.  They have had a boy and girl together in the Philippines, but has since moved back to the United States.  Their children, however, have never been in the United States, and live with their grandmother in the Philippines.  My mom's other brother lived in the Philippines for a while as well until he found a wife and brought her back to the states.  They got married in both countries as the others did, but have lived here since.  They have had two baby boys and only live a town away from me.  
          In all, I have two half-Filipino cousins here in the US that I get to see fairly often, two half-Filipino cousins that I have never met in the Philippines, a half-Japanese cousin in Japan that I have met only twice, and a half-Ukrainian second-cousin that I have never met in Ukraine.  I have thankfully, met my Ukrainian great-aunt, my Japanese Uncle, and both my Filipino aunts though (who are now both American citizens).  I can only hope that someday I will be able to visit all of my cousins. 

These are the three of my beautiful cousins that I have gotten the pleasure of meeting.

The first two are my half-Filipino cousins that were born and live in America, and the last one is my half-Japanese cousin that lives in Japan.

(Oh and the white, European-looking one is me.)

          I believe that citizens today view immigration as volatile partly because of the media, and also partly out of ignorance.  Also, nobody ever wants to take any blame for any problems, so they will routinely look for someone else to put it on.  Immigrants just make an easy target for the arrogant.  Too often, people watch shows like Border Wars where illegal immigrants from Mexico are hunted down and kicked out of the country, and they assume that that is how all Mexicans got here.  Then they also go on to assume that they are the cause of all of our country's problems.  It isn't just Mexicans either.  Many Americans also ignorantly assume that all Muslims are terrorists and shouldn't be trusted which is an absurd accusation.  Commonly, Americans also (falsely) worry that immigrants aren't paying taxes and doing "their fair share" when in fact most are.  It all comes down to wrongly assumed stereotypes, and people being mislead by the media and pop culture.

(Chapter 12 part 2) Female Medical Professionals

          In my own personal experience, I have seen a few woman occupying professional jobs, and being a possibly-bias woman, actually prefer them to men.  My general practitioner is a woman, and I feel much more comfortable talking to her than any other male doctor I have seen, about female only issues and gender non-related issues.  She is one of the smartest doctors I have ever met, and if anything is more qualified for her job than any comparative males.  I don't like going to see anyone else for common medical issues, and actually prefer to wait longer for an appointment with her, than see any other doctor sooner.  She knows that I want to become a doctor, and says that I'll do great.  I've noticed she even tends to go more into depth explaining things to me than she might with other patients because of my interest.  She's always been extremely supportive and caring, and I don't know what I would do without her.
          My current dentist is also female, and I have actually developed a preference for female dentists because woman generally have smaller hands than men.  I quite bluntly feel it isn't as intrusive having her smaller hands digging around in my mouth as opposed to some male dentists I have seen.  Another female medical professional in my life is my foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon.  I had a different ankle surgeon before her, but didn't trust him enough to go back, and it wasn't based on the fact that he was male.  She just seemed much better qualified.  I learned after seeing her a few times that she also heads the Women's Orthopaedic Center which is one of the only orthopaedic programs in the nation dedicated solely to women.  This of course made me like her even more.  She isn't just changing this typically male profession by "simply" being a female working in the field, but she has taken it even farther by creating a women's orthopaedic specialty in evaluations, treatments, and research that didn't exist before.  Having always been interested in the medical professions, these woman have all reinforced my interest in the field, and have become role models for me.  I have wanted to become a pediatrician since I have been twelve-years-old, but my foot and ankle surgeon has even inspired me to look into orthopedics as an interest.  I'll never forget that the last thing she said to me, after having gotten to know me pretty well, was that I will make a great doctor one day.  These woman have all had a substantial effect on me both medically and personally.  Also, just looking around my chemistry and biology classes at the male-to-female ratio, I know that I am not the only young woman interested in these typically male-dominated science professions.  Hopefully, we will soon see even more equality in these professions.

(just not this way)

(Chapter 12 part 1) Sexism

          I found chapter 12 difficult for me to read as it talked in-depth about rape.  Like Newman says, it "is the most personal of all violent crimes."  I know a lot of woman (family and friends) that have been raped, and a lot of them went unreported for the exact reasons stated in our textbook.  As hard as it was to read, I know that the first step in changing these characteristics of our society is through awareness and education, so I continued.  I strongly agree with Newman's idea that "as long as we live in a culture that objectifies women and glorifies male assertiveness, we will continue to have sexual violence."  This, however, is going to be a lot harder to overcome than some assume. 
          For example, my boyfriend is one of the least sexist men I have met and would never ever commit rape, but I have noticed that even he has old gender customs built into his thinking.  Normally he is about two or three inches taller than me, but when I wear high heels, I am taller than him.  He loves the way I look in heels, but because of our society's idea that males should have this physical assertiveness (such as height) over woman, it makes him uncomfortable to stand next to me when I am taller than him.  He admits that it makes him think that other people will think of him as "less manly," making him self-conscious about his height.  He would have no problem having a wife that made more money than him, but gets sensitive about his height in comparison to woman.  Over time I am sure that I could "break" him of this way of thinking, but it just goes to show that there are still many many gender norms prevalent in our society that most people probably don't even realize are sexist.

(Chapter 11) Race & Ethnicity

(Disclaimer: In this blog I have taken advantage of racial transparency.  Even though to some my name suggests differently, I am very "white," as are the friends that I mention here.)
          This past semester was my first at Hamline, and I signed up for a double in the campus dorms.  I was ecstatic when I found out that my roommate was going to be an international student from Chile.  I was a little worried about being able to communicate with her, but saw it as a wonderful opportunity.  My friends' reactions when they found out surprised me, though.  A few rude and ignorant assumptions were made that really caught me off-guard.  I couldn't understand how they could have such negative thoughts about someone they knew nothing about.  They didn't even care what country she was actually from just the fact that she wasn't from the United States made them think less of her.  I know that racism is still very prevalent in our country, but this still threw me off.  I kept an open mind, and my roommate and I turned out to have a lot in common.  We even had the same favorite TV show as kids, Bananas in Pajamas!  Obviously there were some differences though, which were all very interesting to hear about. 
          Just as Newman points out, racism doesn't just happen in the United States.  I learned from my roommate that in Chile most people that move there from Argentina are typically considered the lowest social class, and are stereotypically farm workers, maids, nannies, or housekeepers, almost exactly how Hispanics are commonly viewed in the US.  In her country, "Chileans" are considered to be most superior and "Argentinians" inferior.  In our country though we wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two.  This completely reinforces the idea that "race" can never be accurately defined universally.  It depends solely on each society's history and social construction of reality.
           Another interesting idea she introduced me to is the fact that white people from the United States somewhat arrogantly call themselves Americans, and tell her that she is not American.  This is one of her biggest pet peeves.  She lives in South AMERICA, yet she is still called a "non-American" here.  I do not know why we continue to proclaim our country as America and us being American when there are almost 30 other countries in the Americas.  I strongly feel that ignorance is the biggest flaw in this country today.  Although we have come a long way since slavery, there is still a long way to go before "race" is no longer considered a societal problem.  

(Chapter 10) Hypothetical Family Budget

          For a family of four living in my hometown, with both parents working, a seven-year-old in school, and a three-year-old in daycare, I estimated the very minimum annual expenses to be at least $27,720.  This included the bare minimums of food, clothing, housing, transportation, daycare, and utilities.  I was being optimistic in hoping that at least the children would qualify for medical assistance, therefore covering the costs of healthcare.  My estimate didn't include any entertainment costs (like toys, games, movies,  or even birthday and Christmas presents), home maintenance, car payments, car insurance, or regular car maintenance.  I also didn't account for any land-line or cell phone bills which are almost impossible to live without either.  They also wouldn't have any internet or TV channels.  Even without theses amenities that most affluent Americans take for granted my estimate is still $5,607 above what is considered to be the poverty line.  One of the only expenses left to be cut back on would possibly be transportation by participating in ride-share or using public transportation when possible.  They could also try to have willing family members or neighbors watch the three-year-old whenever possible to cut back on daycare expenses.  The very last thing I see that could be cut back on would be food expenses by finding ways to get more for less and stretching what you've got.
           I know from experience that it can be incredibly embarrassing growing up knowing that your friends all have more than you.  It's really hard to see all their new clothes, toys, and cool stuff they have that your parents can't afford, and to hear about all their awesome vacations.  It was most difficult for me being at school and trying to hide that I was getting free lunch.  I was embarrassed and didn't want anyone to know, but every time we got our lunch account slips passed out mine would say $0.00.  Other students started to notice and wondered how I was still able to get lunch every day.  I would always just shrug it off and pretend I didn't know what was going on.  Even though it was obviously difficult and not ideal, I have learned to try and look at the bright side of growing up with this lifestyle.  Growing up without TV for one isn't a bad thing.  It encourages kids to play outside more, be more active, and show more creativity.  Naturally, it's also harder to spoil your children when you don't have the funds, and I think that growing up without everything that you want causes one to have more appreciation for things later in life.  I believe the outcomes of such situations depend a lot on how the parents handle it and what they teach their children.  Obviously this isn't the same for everybody, but I feel like growing up with my family struggling really demonstrated what I don't want for myself in the future.  It has been and continues to be an encouragement to do everything in my power to make sure that I create a better situation for myself and my family.  Thankfully, I have so far been given the wonderful opportunities needed to make that happen.  I know that there are others who aren't as lucky, but they should never stop trying.  You need to be prepared for when opportunity comes your way.

(Chapter 9) My Life as a Student

          My high school was located in a large town that consisted of mostly elderly residents who no longer had children attending school in the area.  This demographic created a social dilemma in our school community.  Because the elderly saw no direct benefit to them, our town saw much-needed education levies fail repeatedly.  Our school district suffered severely and my class experienced the worst of it.  The first thing that we saw go was our 8th grade send-off party.  The classes before and after mine all received the privilege of this celebration between middle school and high school except mine.  Students and parents alike were outraged, but the school board couldn't do anything about it.  The summer before my freshman year of high school, numerous teachers in the district were laid off due to budget cuts.  French was cut, leaving Spanish as the only foreign language class available.  Many art classes were cut as well.  The next year, our cheer-leading team and pep band were also cut due to lack of funding.  A life-skills teacher and a computer teacher were laid off as well leaving only one teacher for each subject.  The middle school choir teacher was also laid off, forcing the high school choir teacher to run back-and-forth between the middle and high school during the day teaching all middle and high school choir students.  Many choir students who were in his classes before and after these cuts said that he became an entirely different person, and would often take his exhaustion and frustration out on the students.  These ridiculous budget cuts led one of the most loved teachers in our school to quickly become one of the most hated.  Other teachers experienced similar resentments as their class sizes and work loads kept increasing.  Swimming units were also cut out of high school gym class curriculum because the district could no longer afford to keep the pool open for the school year.  This social dilemma of voter demographic caused my student body's opportunities to go from limited to almost non-existent.  There was virtually no choice left in choosing classes, and interests in any subjects beyond the basics couldn't be pursued.  Even the sports teams and extracurricular activities that were still offered to students were so expensive that most families couldn't afford for their teenagers to participate in those they were interested in.  This deterioration of our high school left a lot of time for disheartened students to find other (non-productive and usually harmful) ways of spending their time.  This ironically would annoy the elderly residents who didn't want to pay any more in taxes to help us young people create better lives for ourselves, consequently keeping us off the streets. 
          As a college student, I am still part of the education system and plan to be for quite a while.  Even after I finish all the schooling that I desire, I want to have children who will also one day have to attend school.  I will then be responsible for choosing a school system for them and will continue to participate in their education.  I don't see myself as ever really being very far from the education system or ever not being affected by it.