Shared Gestures

When we started talking about “shared meanings” in sociology it really got my mind reeling. Language is such a complex thought! How we came up with multiple systems of utterances’(words) and symbols(writing) that we all understand is such a cool thing to think about!! What I really thought was an awesome blog topic, was shared gestures! We can make motions with our bodies, with our hands, which another person can understand as a meaning. In this blog I’m going to find examples of these “shared gestures” around the world. First I’ll start out with a few that I use on a day to day basis.

Okay, while thinking about gestures my mind immediately goes to driving. Haha, there are so many hand signals that we give each other when we’re driving to either help direct each other or insult each other. Anyways, we use these because when we’re driving it’s hard to verbally express ourselves to each other. Here are a few examples:

The “go ahead wave”. For example, say your stopped at a two way stop sign with another car and you want to give them the right away. you simply “wave them on”. When the other driver see’s this hand motion, he knows that you are letting him go first.

The second example is one of my favorites: The middle finger. This signal is used in many situations, especially when driving. You use this signal when you want to tell someone “Hey you! Why in the world did you do that!? That was so inconsiderate of you!” or something along those lines. 🙂

 

On a cheerier note, let’s look at the thumbs up! We give this simple gesture to say “good job!” or “awesome”. We all use this at this gesture in a positive way.

Forming a circle with your pointer finger and thumb with your other fingers straight up means different things in different countries. In the US and many other countries this sign means  “O.K.” but there are some exceptions. In Brazil and Germany this gesture is very obscene, it’s meaning to them is like saying “screw you”. In Japan, this means “money” and in France it has the additional meaning of “zero” or “worthless.”

 

One gesture I found really surprised me. I had no idea that other countries in the world find disrespect if you sit with soles shoes showing. In Thailand, Japan and France as well as countries of the Middle and Near East this gesture shows extreme disrespect. When you sit like that, you are expose the person you’re sitting across from the lowest and dirtiest part of your body. This is why they find it insulting. 

A funny one I found was the head nod. I’ve always been taught to nod my head up and down to express “yes”. If I were to go to Bulgaria or Greece, I probably would not get what I wanted. To them, this gesture means the exact opposite: no.

In America and English speaking European countries, beckoning someone to come to you with your index finger is widely accepted. But if you go to many Asian countries, including Japan, this gesture is considered very rude. In Singapore this gesture signifies death!!

 

This blog was awesome! It was so fascinating to learn about different countries shared gestures! I don’t want to be one of “those” Americans when I travel, that don’t know embarrassing hand gestures!

Haynes, Judy. “Communicating with Gestures.” EverythingESL: The K-12 ESL Resource from Judie Haynes. Everythingesl.net, 2004. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. <http://www.everythingesl.net/inservices/body_language.php&gt;.

The Simple Ways of the Amish People

In class this week we were discussing religion when the Amish popped up. I really learned a lot because I truly had no idea about these people’s day to day lives. In this blog, I’m going to talk about the decisions and processes that lead up to a decision all Amish teens must make.

The Amish like to stay separate from the rest of us so that they can focus on God. They show this by wearing plain clothes (long dresses, suits, and hats), speaking Pennsylvania Dutch, and by not participating in governmental affairs. They also reject all technology including any sort of electricity like cars, lighting in their houses, radios, telephones, computers, electric stoves and TVs.

Amish teenager’s go to school usually in one room schoolhouses, and like their homes, the schoolhouse does not have electricity. Usually, there are three to four students in each grade. Every student has the same teacher. They learn similar subjects, like i did, including English, Math and History. Amish do have “recess” and like to play sports during this time but do not have designated sports teams after school, or any extracurricular activities related to school for that matter. The biggest difference I think is that the Amish are only allowed to go to school until 8th grade. After, boys will find jobs in either a factory, work on their family’s farm or in their family’s business. Unmarried Amish girls will work in shops or nearby homes. Once they marry, it will be their job to stay home and maintain their family’s house.

Amish teenager’s will usually only date other Amish, but not always. There have been cases were Amish teen’s have been known to date “English” teens to drive their parents crazy. When it comes to marriage, the Amish can only marry another Amish or they take the risk of being “shunned”.

When an Amish teen turns 16, they enter the Rumspringa. This is a time when they get a temporary “release” from Amish rules and restrictions. They get to use electricity and technology, wear regular clothes such as jeans and tee shirts, and experiment with “English” activities such as drinking. This time is given to them to help them decide whether or not they want to continue to be Amish for the rest of their lives.

 “This is their time, If they’re going to return to the Amish church, this is the only time in their lives in which they are free not to be under the expectations of the Amish church.” Jackie Walker

Sometimes this time is too much to handle and often Amish teens get themselves into trouble. Rumspringa ends when they turn 20 and teens make the decision of returning, or not, to the Amish lifestyle. 95% usually return to the Amish lifestyle. If they choose to return they get baptized, join the church and have to give up all “English” activities and items they may have acquired.

Getting a better look at this life style fascinated me. I like how they look at life in such a simple way, though I’d never be able to accept that life style as my own

Walker, Jackie. “Not So Plain and Simple- The Life of An Amish Teen.” Relatemag.com. 30 Oct. 2009. Web. 4 May 2011.

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Durkheim’s Four Types of Suicide

Suicide. It’s a word I’ve become all too familiar with this past semester. It’s a touchy subject for most people, including myself, but looking at it in a sociological view makes it less close to home for me. In this blog I’m going to discuss Emile Durkheim’s theories about suicide.

Durkheim focused his studies on trying to figure out what makes people commit to this life ending choice and what factors in their lives may have given them the final push. Durkheim thought that economical, religious, marital, and militarily factors would influence his findings. After his study he concluded that there are four different “types” of suicide.

The first type is the Egoistic suicide. This type of suicide occurs when the degree of social integration is low. When a person commits this type of suicide they are not well supported in a social group. They feel like they are an outsider or loner and the only people they have in this world are themselves. They often feel very isolated and helpless during times in their lives when they are under stress.  

The second type is Altuistic suicide. This type of suicide occurs when the degree of social integration is too high. When a person commits this type of suicide they are greatly involved in a group. All that they care about are that groups norms and goals and they completely neglect their own needs and goals. They take their lives for a cause. A good example of this would be a suicide bomber.

Durkheim’s third type of suicide is Anomic Suicide. This kind of suicide is related to too low of a degree of regulation. This type of suicide is committed during times of great stress or change. Without regulation, a person cannot set reachable goals and in turn people get extremely frustrated. Life is too much for them to handle and it becomes meaningless to them. An example of this is when the market crashes or spikes.

The final type of suicide is Fatalistic suicide. People commit this suicide when their lives are kept under tight regulation. They often live their lives under extreme rules and high expectations. These types of people are left feeling like they’ve lost their sense of self.

Looking at this topic in Durkheim’s way of thinking was reallly interesting to me.

Durkheim, Emile, Suicide: A Study in Sociology, New York, The Free Press, 1951.

“Social Facts and Suicide.” University of Regina, Personal Web Server. 26 Oct. 1999. Web. 4 Apr. 2011. <http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/o26f99.htm&gt;.

Queer Theory

Sexuality. This is one term that I have no problem discussing. I’ve always been raised to except others for who they are so it’s nice to get a little insight of this subject in a sociological view. The study of sexuality has been a debated topic in sociology and produced the term “Queer Theory”.  

Stein and Plummer state in their essay Queer Theory/Sociology that there are four “hallmarks” of queer theory. The first is that somebody’s sexual power is not solely limited to themselves but effects others throughout a person’s life and is enforced by the different binary codes of society. The second hallmark states a problematization of sexual and gender roles are never on equal playing grounds. The third hallmark is one we see constantly in life. It states that a revisionist may write a whole other side to a well known historical figure to try and change people’s opinions about them. The fourth and final hallmark states that there now is a willingness to interrogate areas which normally would not be seen as the terrain of sexuality.

Stein A, Plummer K. 1996. “I can’t even think straight”: “Queer” theory and the missing sexual revolution in sociology. In Queer Theory/Sociology, ed. S Seidman, 6:129–44. Cambridge: Blackwell

Racial Medicine

In my sociology class each week we’re not just assinged readings, we’re also assigned to watch videos and listen to radio broadcasts. I came upon one NPR radio broadcast about the differences and connetions between Ethnicity and Race. This subject is very arruged upon. One of the subjects they were talking about is the first FDA approved “race” drug. This medication is called “Vidol” and it is a heart medication. This medication is advertized as an “African-American Heart Disease Medication”. In other words, it is tarrgeted to reach the black population. A lot of contraversy came up with the release of this drug. People denied the drug because doctors were now able to racially profile their patients by looking at the color of their skin. People who are against this drugs release think that this is defying their racial equality.

My thought on the subject is much diferent then theirs. If a drug is medically proven to give you a 60% better chance at beating heart disease, why would you not take it? Because it’s specifically made for blacks? To me, that’s idiotic. Denying a medication that could immencely increase your chances for survival makes no sence. I know that deep down, whether my skin is black, white, brown, purple or orange, we’re all human. If my insides are built a little different because of my heritage, I’ll accept that. That’s who I am and no one will ever be able to change that about me, including myself. And I’ll take pride in that. When a medication works better in some races, it shouldn’t be taken off the market because of racial inequality. Being a human, our biggest task in life is to survive. Period. So if there is a medicine out there that will help me do that, please, give it to me.

“Radio Lab on Emergence.” Radio Lab on Emergence. NPR. 14 Aug. 2007. Radio.

Name’s!

In class this week we were talking about feminism. We started talking about how a last name of a new bride gets taken away and replaced with her new husband’s last name, and I thought this would be a cool topic for a blog. My own family is from Chile and we have a certain way of doing this too, though it is respectively a little different than just replacing the last name with the new one. I’ll talk more about that later in the blog. I wanted to know what my future options are! How many different things could I do with my last name! I’ve researched how different countries and cultures approach this topic. The following are some cool one’s that I’ve found.

Some different options are:

1)Keep my maiden name legally and professionally/publicly

2) Keep my maiden name professionally/publicly and change legal name

3) Keep maiden name legally but change professional/public name

4) Hyphenate maiden and husband’s name

When  your born, you receive you parents “surname” or what we usually call our “last name”. This name signifies that you are your parent’s child. It is also commonly refered to as your “family name”. When people get married, most American women today accept their new husband’s last name as their own and ditch their “maiden” name (last name given at birth). For an example, my name is Gabriela Marie Bravo. Say I married a man name John Edward Smith. My new married name would be Gabriela Marie Smith. Now this is all a matter of choice. My mother decided when she got married she wasn’t quite right with giving up her maiden name so she kept it. Instead of becoming Beverly Jo Bravo, she stayed Beverly Jo Ducey.

In Belgium a woman must keep her maiden name for official reasons and legal purposes. 

In Québec, all the women who have been married since April 2, 1981 must use their maiden names legally. As a result, most have seemed to keep their maiden names socially as well, because of the burden of having two names.

In Cambodia women keep their maiden names after they get married

In Croatia they give four possibilities: One, both the husband and wife keep their last names. Two, one take’s the other spouse’s last name. Three, both append the other spouse’s last name to their own. And lastly, they both use one compound last name.

In English speaking parts of the world, most people do the usual thing and take the husbands last name when married but in recent decades many movements have started to decline this common practice. Some women thing by taking their husbands last names they feel “owned” by that last name.

I’m not quite sure what I’ll do, but I kind of like the hyphen idea. There’s no way I want to completely rid of “Bravo”. Who know’s, maybe my future husband will take mine!

“Keeping One’s Maiden Name – Straight Dope Message Board.” Keeping Your Maiden Name. The Straight Dope Publishing, 06 June 2006. Web. 14 May 2011. <http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=375234&gt;.

Why Are People Poor?

People stay poor for many reasons but I have my own theory. Education and family drive.

Many people believe that we’re all born and all have the same chances to succeed in life. That’s the American Dream right? Take nothing and make an empire out of it? I believe this is way harder said than done.

My mother has been on the school board as long as I can remember. I’ve always been taught that more education will get me to where I want to be in life. Wait scratch that, I’ve always been taught that more education will get me a better job with MORE money. Statisitcs prove this right over and over. People with highschool degree’s will make more throughout life than people without. People with college degree’s will inturn make more money than people with only highschool degrees. Also, statistically true. So that’s where I want to start. My theory is that people usualy stay in the class that they were born into. The poor will usually die poor, and the rich will usually be taken care of well until they die rich too. 

I believe that this is because of education and family drive. It’s proven that a parent that went and graduated high school is more likely to push their own children to do the same versus a parent that did not graduate highschool. The bar is “set higher” for children from middle/upper class families. When this happens, parents will set consequences for their children if they to do not meet these expectations. This will often push the child through school and to a degree. When the bar is set lower, more often this happens in lower class families, the support at home is not always given to the child to pass school. I know that if my mother did not push me through highschool I definintely would not be sitting here now. There were so many time’s that I wanted to throw in the towel but my support system at home wouldn’t let me do that.  If they had, I’d be working minimum wage somewhere, just trying to pay rent.

That’s why I think people stay in there born-social classes. It’s the education and family support.

To Each Their Own

I’m writing this blog in response to an article I read called “Body Ritual Among the Nacirema” by Horace Miner.

 In this article Horace Miner describes the cultural rituals about  a North American group  called the Nacirema living in the territory between the Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of the Antilles. This strange group of people fascinated me with their rituals and “witch doctors” while I read about their culture. In the eyes of me, an 18-year-old girl going to college in Southern California, the Nacirema people have quite an interesting approach to life. They believe that without their “mouth” ritual (consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalized series of gestures) their teeth would crumble and fall out. They have many other painful rituals to heal themselves.

I think most people in my society today would think most of these people’s daily routines horrific, just like I do at the thought of putting hog hair in my mouth. BUT I do not find the Nicirema people crazy. I honestly think that if I traded shoe’s with A Nicireman woman my same age for day, she would feel just as disturbed as I would. And after reading this article I let my mind wander and tried to picture myself and the things I do on a daily basis through the eyes of another person, in another country and even in another world. The things I do everyday and consider “regular” and “comfortable” things, started seeming stranger and stranger thinking about them from an outsider’s perspective. I realized that any outside perspective of any culture is going to rub you as wrong just because you have your own comfortable-everyday rituals of your own. But that does not mean that the everyday rituals and activities of others are wrong, I just realized that everyone’s different. And there’s really nothing wrong with that. That’s what make’s me who I am today. That’s what makes me, me.

 

Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites like Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter have made a great impact on today’s society. We are now easily able to keep in contact with people that we couldn’t before. If you asked a room full of college students if they had a Facebook or Myspace account I think that not more than one person would say no. I think I only have one or two friends that don’t actively use a Social Networking Site. Is this good or is this bad? Are people becoming too attached to their computers?! Clicking For Friendship talks about both the negative and positive aspects of these sites.

Myspace and Facebook have made communicating with others so simple and easy. The use of these social sites is not attributed to one group of people but varies immensely between races, genders, and ages of people. Some people, before these sites were created, have trouble speaking and socializing with other people. I believe that speaking to other’s online is a whole lot easier than doing so in person. For example, if you are “chatting” with someone online you’re not staring them face to face and have as much time as you need to come up with responses to their utterances. This in a way takes the pressure off of talking with others. In a way, I think “Cool, even people that have social issues can communicate and create relationships with others now.” But then another thought hits me. When I was a kid I definitely had issues speaking with others and when I look back now, I realize that if I had always hid behind a computer screen I would have never learned the social skills that I have today. And these skills don’t just help me in day to day interactions with people, they also help me in situations like job interviews. So, is it really a good thing? Maybe not. At least not as someone’s only means of communication.

Okay, okay… enough with the negatives. There are some amazing things that have come out of these sites! For example, the ways in which I use mine. My father is from Chile in South America and is the oldest of seven children. This makes me 1 out of the 50ish cousin that I have. Most of my dad’s side of my family still reside in Chile. Facebook has allowed me to keep in touch with all of my primo favoritos. 🙂 My grandparents even have Facebook!

So yes, social networking sites have their good and bad points. It’s really all about how you use them!

Lee, Daniel B., Jessica Goede and Rebecca Shryock. “Clicking for Friendship: Social Network Sites and the Medium of Personhood.” 49, 1-10. MedieKultur, 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2011.

The Sociological Take On Music

So far in this class I’ve only written blogs about topics that branch off of the stuff we’ve learned in class. But now, I want to do something a little different, I want to research something I’ve already been interested in for a long time. Music. Music is the biggest part of my life and I wanted to see if there was a connection between it and sociology. And what I’ve found really opened my eyes to the history of music.

The Sociology of Music- The study of the relationship between music and society. The study of this relationship looks at the meaning of music in society and how society influences the growth of music. Music sociologists study how music reflects society and how society influences different genres of music, directly and indirectly. All the different kinds of music in the world, fall within the span of this discipline.

The official start to the study of musical sociology dates backs to the early 20^th century. For example Hermann Abert studied the relationship between the medieval church and popular music of that time. Max Weber, who we’ve been discussing in class, actually discussed the relationship between the technical characteristics of Western Music and social structures in 1921 in his published work Die rationalen und soziologischen Grundlagen der Musik. Today Musical Sociology is divided into three principal schools. The first is concerned solely with the context and function music has within society. It looks at the musical market and the relationship between different social groups and different types of music. Then there is the work of Theodor W. Adorno who developed a theory of the “musical standard”. This stardard states that the certain music of a culture symbolizes both the society itself and an artistic illustration of that society. It emphasizes the progressive character of music as a social indictor and social assumption from the type of popular music at that time. Lastly, Marxism which is represented by  the work of Hanns Eisler. His thoughts were that music changes throughout time because of changes in the economy and society at large. He argues ‘that each new musical style does not arise from an aesthetically new viewpoint, and thus does not represent a revolution in material, but that the alteration of the material is forcibly determined by historically necessary alteration of the function of music in society in general’ (Musik und Politik, 1973). Recently in the sociological study of music we lean to explain individual works of music less according to their meaning or historical position. We now tend to look at music in terms of social function (or social market) and social effect.

I find this very true. I look at poplular music today and honestly hate it. It all sounds the same to me. I feel like popular music today is COMPLETELY influenced by money. I’ll stick to my underground indie music. 🙂