Final Concept Reflection

(Olivia Rogers and Alicen Potts)

I would like you to record (and elaborate—please do not simply list them) 2 things you learned in class that had an impact on you/your way of thinking.  One should be from a documentary/video and one should be from class lecture/note material or the article you read.

(Olivia)

It is definitely something I should have realized, and maybe I did in the way I viewed things, but I never had thinking like “these are mens problems, not women’s problems” in response to things like domestic violence, rape, or other oppressive and violent actions towards women. That quote is a main thing I took from “Tough Guise.” And no, I’m not saying I didn’t blame men for doing these things, I guess all my life I only saw mainly women fighting for these things to change, not men. And that is exactly the point! That overtime it has become OUR responsibility to fight against these horrible things, so men (and everyone else) sees them as “women’s issues.” It’s ridiculous. It’s the men primarily (statistically) committing these crimes against women, and yet it’s come to the women—who are going through it—to fight against it. This needs to change, and hopefully by saying that these are “men’s issues,” we can get more men to check their friends, family members, coworkers, etc in what they say and do.

Secondly, I was interested to learn the actual definition of deviance is not just doing crimes, but just straying from the norm in general. I really only thought about deviant behavior as something illegal, or something that could get you in trouble with the law. I never really thought that just violating social norms could be considered deviance.

(Alicen)

   Importance of family for socialization- “what’s different about Robbie”

“What's Different About Robbie” was one of the first videos we watched in class and the one that sat with me the most. While his story was tragic, demonstrating the failure of the mental health system and the lives lost due to Robbie’s actions, what I took out from the episode was how much the family plays a role in socializing their children. The episode showed the families inability to deal with Robbie's raging emotions from a young age and how the failure of his first socialization group led to a lack of identity and social skills which affected his success in other socialization groups. Due to his parents' decision to institutionalize him during key developmental years, his social success was greatly hindered later on in life.

Families are the first agent of socialization for children which influence our first values system, political socialization and form a sense of self. Ideally families will be able to pass on constructive lessons that children can take into the world to form their own opinions, however this transmission of beliefs and norms can break down, as it did in robbies case. Due to robbies lack of familial bond, he was unable to effectively learn from other sources of socialization like his peers, school and the media. The breakdown of robbies home environment led to a breakdown in his socialization pattern which, in my opinion, influenced him to make the drastic decision to harm others.

If Robbie had been able to learn and comprehend hurting others is bad, constitutive ways to deal with emotions and how to form successful relationships, I think Robbie's story would have ended differently. While there are many in’s and out’s that influenced Robbie to kill others, the breakdown of the family unit, demonstrated through the documentary, caused a domino effect as he was unable to fully flourish in other settings. “What's Different About Robbie '' impacted how I view individuals' creation of self as many of the opinions we hold of others and ourselves relates back to how we were raised. Further, the family plays a large role in the transmission of class as many families tend to stay in the same economic sector as their parents did. This example of socialization can affect many opportunities for individuals later in life based on their class and skin color and further demonstrate the importance of a positive and strong family unit.

2.   Race relations- white normativity- how my presence affects those of color

I took this class as a part of my requirements for my criminology degree and hoped to learn more about race relations, and I wasn't disappointed. I learned a lot of key terms and themes that are important to keep in mind when evaluating individuals positions in society and its relation to race and class. However, I found the document “Race-based Critical Theory and the “Happy Talk” of diversity in America '' to have the greatest impact as it opened my eyes to my white privilege and how it affects discussion of race theory. While I have always understood the discussion of institutionalized racism, discrimnaiton and prejudice being formed from the oppression of colored people at the hands of white people, I had not thought about how these definitions and theories were created out of white perspectives.

Colorblindness and white normativity were new terms that changed how I viewed my white privilege. Both of these definitions fail to recognize how race plays a large role in the creations of people's identities as race is connected to many different cultures. By ignoring race, as is done in color blindness, one is ignoring years of oppression in the united states based on “white superiority” and how formation of today's institutions, like the prison system, criminal justice system and even the job market are based on the oppression of another group solely based on the fact that they are not white. White normativity also focuses on white superiority but uses the idea to preserve white domination over colored people consciously or subconsciously. By focusing on white superiority to perpetuate systems of inequality one is obscuring the experiences of people of color and focuses on how whites have advantages.

This problematic analysis fails again to recognize the culture and identities of colored people and how systems today are influenced by past relations of dominance based on skin color. The host analogy does a good job at explaining how ideas of white normativity and color blindness make people of color feel like they are only guests in “our white space” and that we have to accept them into the space thus giving them “privilege.” By recognizing my white privilege I'm able to work to break down institutionalized barriers which prefer me over another because of the color of my skin. More realty i've learned how, at times, my whit privilege can be helpful for the black community in spreading news of racism and discrimination as, unfortunately, many institutions like the media and lawmakers give preference towards these stories. Ultimately though, the recognition of my white privilege has helped me learn how to be an advocate for change and a partner to communities of color when my white privilege can bring awareness to these struggles of discrimination and prejudice when needed.

I would then like you to share this with a classmate.

What is their response to what you learned? What do they think of it? Please document that.

My partner learned about how much of an impact family socialization can have on a child, as shown in the video “What’s different about Robbie.” She thinks that the lack of family bond and his home environment is what led him down the path of violence. While I think this could definitely be the case, I am of the opinion that his psychological state was more of a factor in his violent decline, as his family got him help to try to fix his issues, and showed that they wanted to help him get better (but he ultimately didn’t). I will say, however, that a few events in his home life could have just made things worse, like the ring incident with the stealing money situation. But overall, I lean more towards his brain being the main problem.

She also learned about the terms white normatively and color blindness, and how they can reduce the progress we’ve made towards true equality by “not seeing color,” which is really just ignoring the years of oppression that people have faced. I think it is important for all white people to be informed about the issues that people of color face, as we have to be allies to them to ensure that our society can move forward, because—as Alicen mentioned—sometimes stories or opinions from white people are taken more seriously, so we should use the privilege and power we have to help those that we can.”

What did they learn? How is thier perspective different from yours? How is it the same?

My partner Olivia learned the importance of not separating issues into “mens” and “women's” issues but rather having a combined effort to fight injustices like domestic violence, rape and other oppressive actions. By having men step up, take responsibility and advocate for less violence against women, which they have been statistically proven to commit more, there can be greater social responsibility and accountability between men to check on their friends and families actions. I think Olivia's point of view is very insightful and is similar to how I think there can be greater reform by changing the rhetoric around “women's issues” to instead be issues everyone faces and must take action against in order to see change.

Olivia's second point about learning that deviant behavior can include breaking social norms in addition to breaking the law was something new I also learned! It is interesting to see how small breaks from social script that we think are “weird” is actually deviant behavior and how minor actions don't carry the same consequences as breaking the law does even though they are both forms of deviant behavior. I also think it's interesting the types of ways people are influenced to partake in deviant behavior and the interesting implications that hanging out with a social group holds.

The subjects we discuss in Sociology are often sensitive, so people tend to not talk about them. How could you communicate about these topics with someone who had very different opinions than you do in an effective way? Why should we strive for this?

(Joint answer)

When talking about difficult subjects in sociology, for example gender or race, it's important to be aware of another person's point of view and instead of attacking them for their beliefs learn how to respectfully disagree and use more neutral words to describe why you hold your position. When having a difficult conversation about value systems or politics today it's important to go into the conversation with a goal of wanting to inform the other person not change their point of view because often these are beliefs they've held for years and a conversation framed around changing their view they most likely won't be as receptive too. But, if you are able to learn the reasons behind someone having a specific opinion and share yours as well, it helps give new perspectives and education that someone may not have heard before. Constructive conversations can be hard to have in today's political climate but if respectable conversations are able to be held it is productive for all of society because it will ultimately lead to greater acceptance of being different and greater societal acceptance to have these tough conversations.

Concept Reflection 6

1. To me, the most problematic aspect of race relations today is the disproportionate amount of black people (specifically men) in prisons around the country. Especially when a lot of them are sentenced for non-violent offenses, like minor drug possession. I think there being so many black people being put in prison only reinforces stereotypes for people who don’t understand that some of the main reasons (but “unofficial”reasons) a lot of these people are in jail, or are in jail for longer periods of time, are just because they are black. You could see all these people sentenced to tens of years in prison and think, wow they must have done something really bad, but it’s just inequality they are facing, and their crime could have been minor and nonviolent. 

2. Race based critical theory uses racial ideologies, identities, and ways of thinking to look at the social world. It starts its analysis with the presupposition that our world is based and structured on race, which explains the unequal distribution of resources and power. 

3. The color-blind racism framework makes the most sense to me because I think a lot of people think that by ignoring race as a way to be inclusive and see everyone as equal, takes away the injustices done to people of color, and thus can never be included in policy to right the wrongs of the past that are still being expressed today. It also covers the casual racism a lot of people express, so they don’t see they are doing wrong and continue to progress the ideologies that hold people of color back in our society. 

4. Color blindness is refusing to see race, and focusing on people as individuals instead of groups. This is problematic because you are ignoring the inequality these groups face because of their color. Injustices or inequalities these people face are then seen to be as a result of the disadvantaged people themselves. 

5. White normativity is the assumption that acting in the dominant group is normal and acceptable, and everyone should aspire to be like that. This is problematic because it can create an expectation of cultural assimilation, that everyone should be assimilating to the dominant group’s culture. Also, it makes it seem as though minorities are just guests in this country where white people are the hosts, where the hosts feel they should share the privileges they have with their guests, but no American should be treated as a guest in America... 

6. If you are “color blind” in the sense we are talking about, this could perpetrate inequality in 1. where I discuss black people being incarcerated. If you ignore their race, you are failing to see that a lot of times black people’s sentences will be longer than a white person’s for the same offense for example. And for white normativity, people might say black people in prison should try to assimilate to the dominant culture to not be in the position they are in....which makes 0 sense. 

Concept Reflection 4

What I did for my breaching experiment was a form of line-cutting, but more specific to my neighborhood. The bus stop at the front of my neighborhood has a staircase down the hill that leads to the bus stop covered-structure-thing. People who get there first will go all the way down the stairs, usually standing under the structure. As more people get there, a line basically forms up the stairs and fans out at the top. So if you get there closer to when the bus comes, you’ll be at the top of the hill (this is at peak morning bus times). This matters because since so many people are at this stop at peak times, the people in the front will most likely get a seat on the bus, while the people up the hill will have to stand and get squished in with all the other people from the next bus stops. I decided to go down the stairs to the bottom, even though I got there late. I decided to go down the stairs instead on the hill to make it more obvious as I’d have to move past a significant amount of people. I didn't get any crazy obvious responses, as most people are looking at their phones or talking to their friends, really just worried about when the bus will come and not whether someone is cutting the line. I looked back up the stairs once I got down and did notice a couple odd glances in my direction, which I understand, as I felt like a bad person for doing this. From now on I will definitely be abiding by the first-come-first-sit scenario that happens at my bus stop, I think it’s only fair.

Concept Reflection 3: Nature or Nurture?

I believe that the problem with Robbie is purely nature, and even though there are examples to be made that could potentially explain a nurture argument, I don’t think it was the parents fault at all. One of these examples is the backpack-ring incident. If the mother hadn't grabbed for the backpack like she did, maybe she wouldn't have accidentally cut her sons face with her ring. But it WAS an accident, and people can lose their temper sometimes, we are humans. I also think that stealing his sisters money was something important that needed to be addressed, even if things got out of hand. Another thing that maybe could have been done differently was sending him away to a facility to receive psychiatric help, as opposed to having him still live at home and go to appointments regularly. Honestly, he was probably a risk enough to really need to be sent off, and even if Robbie resented this, it was for his own good and others’ safety. I don't think it makes the parents look bad because it had to be done. Overall, Robbie was clearly very psychologically “messed up,” and nothing his parents could have done differently would have made a difference in how he turned out since that's just his brain chemistry. 

CONCEPT REFLECTION 1

Hi! My name is Olivia Rogers, and I just go by Olivia. I am from Annandale Virginia, which is a part of the NOVA area. I am a sophomore Philosophy major here at Virginia Tech. I am obsessed with cats, and have two at home (I hope to get my own that I can bring with me to school…). I am also passionate about music, and I’ve been writing my own songs since middle school (I play guitar, piano, and I sing). I am also a singer in the local band Speakeasy (gig coming up this Sunday the 26th!). I took this class because I think it’s important to learn about the relationships between all kinds of people, and what factors drive humans to do what we do. I think being knowledgable on these topics could potentially help me in my Philosophy studies, which a lot of times focuses on humans, what we should or shouldn’t be doing, our brains/minds, and other things.