Game Theory Reflection blog

So what started out as "Watching a Beautiful Mind" in relation to John Nash and our psychology unit on Intelligence has turned into one of the more interesting units I have put together this year.  My experience with Game Theory, Prisoner Dilemma, Nash equilibrium, and John Nash himself had been very limited.  Realizing just how often and important the above play in our current lives politically, socially, economically, and historically has gave me a whole new perspective that I hadn't considered before.  I am interested to learn if you can apply the above theories to your lives and the world around you.  I am hoping you learned and now can consider how history and your daily life has been and will continue to be shaped by what we have learned in the last few weeks.  It would be great if at sometime in your life you can use the information and lessons learned to help you out in your quest for greatness-whatever the definition of that is.  On a separate blog answer/write the following:

Please describe the following in your own words in two sentences.(look them up if you don't know)

A Beautiful Mind and Prisoner's Dilemma blog-may help you

Nash equilibrium-


Game theory-


Prisoner dilemma-


Go to the following link Serendip online interactive prisoner's dilemma

Describe your experience and thoughts after you have played the game a few times.(50 words)




Read the following blog on Game Theory and answer the questions below:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/sfeature/sf_dixit.html

Give an example of Game Theory/prisoner dilemma:

In history:

In Government:

In economics:

related to sociology:

related to psychology:

In your everyday life:

Gary Webb: Journalism hero or zero?

So after watching the movie "Kill the Messenger" I figure we might as well write a blog about it.  So your assignment is to blog on the movie and in your blog I want you to focus on the question "Was Gary Webb a journalism hero or zero."  To help you with the thought process I included a link to and article published in the Washington Post.  Click here to see article

I would like your opinion to my question and a basic response to how you felt about the movie and anything else.  I think 400 words is enough.

A Loss of Innocence

Part I
I want you to read the following article located here.  My question is "Did a nation really lose it's innocence after the JFK assassination?"  What effect did the assassination have psychologically and sociologically on the American people?  World?  Future of the United States?

Part II
Do you think 9/11 had a similar effect on America and it's people?  Do you think people blamed themselves for 9/11? 

Part III
Who killed JFK in your opinion?  Why was JFK killed in your opinion.  Is it a coincidence that RFK and MLK were killed with in a few years of JFK?

I would like a 800-1000 word or more response to the above questions along with any thing else you want to include.

Rape Culture

So we have been studying socialization and one of the agents we concentrated on is media.  As we have discussed, media as a socializing agent can have many negative aspects and side effects.  These undesirable effects of media can definitely influence the culture of a society or even a country.  Maybe even several countries.  When I looked at the lyrics of  the song "Blurred Lines" I could not help but think that this song would be controversial.  Let's take a closer look at a widely unknown culture that is heavily influenced through media and its effect on our culture.

 "A rape culture is a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women." Robine Thicke's huge summer hit, Blurred Lines (it reached #1 in 14 countries), has been widely discussed as an example of rape culture. It is so controversial that at least 5 universities in the United Kingdom have banned the song.  Many of the bans were led by student union groups of the universities.  It is suggested that the song objectifies women-that there "are ‘blurred lines’ when it comes to sexual consent." The problem many people have with the song is that the lyrics are similar to phrases that are used by attackers on potential rape victims.  Check out project unbreakable to see what I mean

For example, the main lyrics  "I know you want it" is a line given to many victims, and implies that women really want sex when they say they do not. There is also a line  "Nothing like your last guy, he too square for you."  A person may dissect that to mean a woman doesn't want the nice, down to earth, sensitive, thoughtful guy who will treat her with respect.  Women would prefer the guy to be forceful, disrespectful, "the bad boy type."

So  Robin Thicke's response to this is that it is a song about his wife and this is an appropriate way some couples  talk  and act within a marriage.  Which many people say that they understand, but then the video he made is meant to be construed how?

 As this video from Dreamworlds 3 illustrates, music videos socialize us into prescribed gender roles regarding sexuality. And in a video where the women are all barely dressed (or nude in the unedited version of the video), and never speak, it is easy to see why women will continue the need to fight the stereotypes and gender bias towards them.  And as far as young boys and men are concerned, the temptation to see women as sex objects who are not gender equals will continue a culture that has made great strides but is far from reaching its goals of gender equality.

 So in retaliation, parodies of the video have come out, including the Law Revue Girls' "Defined Lines" where they respond “Yeah we don’t want it/ It’s chauvinistic/ You’re such a bigot ... You can't just grab me/ That's a sex crime.”  Unfortunately, it will do little to change the damage that a song like "Blurred Lines" has done to women and gender stereotypes.

Game Theory Reflection blog

So what started out as "Watching a Beautiful Mind" in relation to John Nash and our psychology unit on Intelligence has turned into one of the more interesting units I have put together this year.  My experience with Game Theory, Prisoner Dilemma, Nash equilibrium, and John Nash himself had been very limited.  Realizing just how often and important the above play in our current lives politically, socially, economically, and historically has gave me a whole new perspective that I hadn't considered before.  I am interested to learn if you can apply the above theories to your lives and the world around you.  I am hoping you learned and now can consider how history and your daily life has been and will continue to be shaped by what we have learned in the last few weeks.  It would be great if at sometime in your life you can use the information and lessons learned to help you out in your quest for greatness-whatever the definition of that is.  On a separate blog answer/write the following:

Please describe the following in your own words in two sentences.(look them up if you don't know)

Nash equilibrium-


Game theory-


Prisoner dilemma-


Go to the following link Serendip online interactive prisoner's dilemma

Describe your experience and thoughts after you have played the game a few times.(50 words)




Read the following blog on Game Theory and answer the questions below:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/sfeature/sf_dixit.html

Give an example of Game Theory/prisoner dilemma:

In history:

In Government:

In economics:

related to sociology:

related to psychology:

In your everyday life:


Tell me your thoughts on the oil pricing activity and the other group activities we did in class. 





On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being great rate the activities we have done in class with the unit.  What are some things that can be done to improve the overall unit?

Rorschach Inkblot test

So we have been studying Intelligence and Intelligence testing recently in Psychology.  I thought it would be fun to end the unit with another test.  It is called the Rorschach Inkblot test.  We will take a look at the plates that are used with the test.  We will then self diagnose ourselves using the criteria on the corresponding blog.  After you self evaluate your answers you will write a reflection blog on test and what you learned about the history of the test.  Is it valid or invalid and how should the results be used.  I think 200 words is enough to do this in.  You can even compare it to Wikipedia.

Also the one time I will use Wikipedia-you can scroll down and see some common answers

A Beautiful Mind and a Prisoner's Dilemma

So in class we have been studying Intelligence. 

John Nash:  A Brilliant Madness documentary

 

Four patients with schizophrenia

 

A Beautiful Mind movie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8tD9eJBn7k-Deleted scene about the game HEX

A Beautiful Mind and Prisoner's Dilemma blog

Go to the below link and under the "Exercise your Mind" tab do the four activities and record your results.  A Beautiful Mind webpage
Extra credit if you can crack the code on the website-so far I haven't had time to crack it either so it might be worth quite a bit of extra credit.

Article on Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia on 20/20

A Brilliant Madness-website on John Nash
-Game Theory/Prisoner Dilemma/Catch 22

Some activities we may use

Game Theory/Nash equilibrium/prisoner dilemma explained in video

Game Show Theory in "Golden Balls

A prisoner's dilemma explained on youtube

Soccer shootout
Christian Laetner game winner
Russell Wilson interception in superbowl

Prisoner Dilemma activity
Prisoner theory-game simulation class activity

Serendip online interactive prisoner's dilemma

Intelligence and Sociology?

Intelligence activities

I hope you will enjoy these activities and experiments.
 

BRAIN STORIES-20pts

Please summarize one story about the brain in 150 words.  I prefer you deal with mind, brain, intelligence or find an article dealing with autism and it's link to intelligence.  You will present your summary in class orally also.
       

  Complete the various intelligence tests located below.         Present a written summary of the following for each test:

1. Your score on the test.  Does this score have any meaning?
2. Your impression of the validity and reliability of the test. Is the score an accurate measurement of intelligence?  Use the psychological definition of validity and reliability found in your textbook.  Be specific.

After you have summarized each test, answer the following questions:

A.  What is intelligence?
B.  Which is more important:  emotional intelligence or intellectual intelligence?  Present reasons to support your answer.  Choose one side.
C.  Is intelligence learned or inherited?
D.  What did you learn about yourself after completing these tests?

THE INTELLIGENCE TESTS

Please note that these are informal tests - do not take them too seriously.  We are using these tests as a learning experience and to help guide you with discovering the meaning of intelligence.

1. Emotional Intelligence Test 
2. Intelligence Testing:  Mensa Workout
3. The Online IQ Test-note you must finish before you close the browser

N.W.A.

N.W.A.

For those of you who haven’t seen it, Straight Outta Compton is a biopic on how rappers turned political music from counterculture into a subculture that we know as hip-hop.  It argues that N.W.A. was driven, through racism and excessive police force and abuse, to create music to make the public aware of the young black man’s plight in south central Los Angeles in the 1980’s.  A viewer gets a very good idea of what it was like to be young, black, and terrorized.  Events like the Rodney King beating and the L.A. riots reinforce this to the viewer.

Nowadays there are two groups of rappers in the hip-hop industry.  There is the group that generally shies away from political messages because they feel they won’t be able to sell their music if they come off as N.W.A. did (Drake).  And then there is the group that challenges the authority and lines of freedom of speech like N.W.A. (Lamar who criticizes the prison system and who also grew up in Compton.)  Like Shaun King, the author known for his stories on police brutality and political activism and who recently brought up the Peyton Manning sexual misconduct scandal from the 1990’s says:

“All artists have to make a decision: Do I make music that might have the chance of helping me pay the bills or do I make music that represents my heart, my community, and how the country is going?”

So what I want you to do is to write an essay off of a quote from the movie.  In the movie O’Shea Jackson, who plays Ice Cube (and by the way is his real life son), says “Our art is a reflection of our reality.” Ice Cube even refers to himself as a journalist who’s “reporting on his community” more honestly than the media itself. 

Now this is kind of a broad writing assignment but you will get no help from me.  I am interested to see where your thoughts and writing take you on this assignment.  How many words you might be thinking?  1000 J

Even though as individuals we might work consciously to not be racist, we live in a racist society with a racist history. From the moment we are born we are influenced in an around about way to think of white as good and black as bad. Look at these examples from various media. They are not trying to be racist, but the message they send reinforces racist ideology.

These pictures though very similar, are different in two important areas: the race of the people and the caption.

LeBron James is one of the few men to be on the cover of Vogue and yet, he is portrayed as an angry gorilla.




Read this article that is full of implicit bias and then checkout this post showing that Jewish players were dominant in basketball in the first half of the 20th century.  And another example of implicit bias is how people react in a split second when they confront someone with a weapon.  See here for that. 

Big White Ghetto

 

So I remember reading an article a couple years ago (2014) dealing with poverty and the economic situation in Appalachia.  So of course I went and found the article.  This article will lead us into a documentary that we will be watching next week.

The article deals with poverty and class standing that fits in well with what we are studying.  It seems like there's a lot of focus on minorities and their socio-economical problems (even I talk about it a lot) but what about white Caucasians and their socio-economic problems?  So to pay tribute to both the majority and minority I want you to read the article and answer the following questions.

Click to go to article.  "The Big White Ghetto"

And an article when RFK visited 

What does the average coal miner make (wages per hour)?

Who are some types of people a person might find in the big, “White Ghetto.”

Why do you think the author calls it the “Big White Ghetto.”

What does the author suggests “keeps the underclass in place?”

The author suggests that “poverty is the natural condition ____  _______  ________ _______.”

How does Pepsi play into this?

List five things/facts you took away from this article.

Poverty, Lunch and Test Scores

So one of my more favorite online websites to read is Huffington Post.  Take a look at this article written awhile back.  The article contains 4 graphs that link school-reduced lunches to test proficiency.  It is quite interesting.  And below the graphs you will find slideshow that list the top countries for an education.  Also sort of interesting.  What are your thoughts on both topics?  Poverty-Test scores

Conflict TheoryConflict theory is especially useful in understanding war, wealth and poverty, the haves and the have-nots, revolutions, political strife, exploitation, divorce, ghettos, discrimination and prejudice, domestic violence, rape, child abuse, slavery, and other conflict-related social phenomena.  Conflict Theory claims that society is in a state of perpetual conflict and competition for limited resources. Marx and Weber, were they alive today, would likely use Conflict Theory to study the unprecedented bailouts by the U.S. government, which have proven to be a rich-to-rich wealth transfer.
Conflict Theory assumes that those who have wealth perpetually try to increase their wealth at the expense and suffering of those who do not have wealth. It is a power struggle that is most often won by the wealthy elite and lost by the common person of common means. Power is the ability to get what one wants even in the presence of opposition. Authority is the institutionalized legitimate power. By far the Bourgeoisie, or wealthy elite (royalty, political, and corporate leaders), have the most power. Bourgeoisie are the “Goliaths” in society who often bully their wishes into outcomes. The Proletariat are the common working class, lower class, and poor members of society. According to Marx (see diagram below) the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat cannot both have it their way, and in order to offset the wealth and power of the Bourgeoisie the Proletariat often rise up and revolt against their oppressors (the French, Bolshevik, United States, Mexican, and other revolutions are examples).

Figure 2. The Core Issues in the Conflict Theory

© 2009 Ron J. Hammond, Ph.D.

In fact, Marx and Weber realized long ago that society does have different classes and a similar pattern of relatively few rich persons in comparison to the majority who are poor -- and the rich call the shots. Look below at the photographic montage of homes in one U.S. neighborhood that were run down, poor, trashy, and worth very little. They were on the west side of this gully and frustrated many who lived on the east side, who were forced to drive through these “slums” to reach their own mansions.

Photo Montage of Haves and Have Nots in a US Neighborhood

© 2009 Ron J. Hammond, Ph.D.

The Conflict Theory has been repeatedly tested against scientifically derived data, and it repeatedly proves to have a wide application among many different levels of sociological study. That is not to say that all sociological phenomena are conflict-based. But, most Conflict Theorists would argue that more often than not Conflict assumptions do apply.

Functionalist theory

This theory assumes that certain roles in society must be carried out for society to function.  The higher rewards for performance ensure that these roles will be filled.  So I guess I am saying the higher or more important the role and the more skill needed for the role, the higher the reward should be.   So there should be a ratio that's appropriate between the job or skill and the reward.  For example, why spend the money and effort on education to be a brain doctor if one won't be rewarded handsomely.  What if a burger flipper was paid the same as a nurse.  Would a high school kid flip a burger or clean sewers if the pay was the same.  A weakness of the theory is that not everyone has equal access to resources such as education.  And also they cant explain why rewards don't always fit the social value of the role.  Why should movie stars get paid millions when a teacher is paid less.  Why do professional athletes get paid more than a member of the armed forces (military)?

 But Functionalists also look at two types of functions: manifest and latent functions. Manifest Functions is are the apparent and intended functions of institutions in society. Latent Functions are the less apparent, unintended, and often unrecognized functions in social institutions and processes.


As you can already tell, Functionalism is more positive and optimistic that Conflict Theory (the basis for much criticism by many Conflict Theorists). Functionalists realize that just like the body, societies get “sick,” or dysfunction. By studying society's parts and processes, Functionalists can better understand how society remains stable or adjust to destabilizing forces when unwanted change is threatened. According to this theory, most societies find that healthy balance and maintain it (and others collapse, as many have in the history of the world).

The Line

"THE LINE"

In class we have watched the documentary "The Line"
For millions  the poverty line is always above their heads – and in our current economic meltdown many more will fall below that line.  The statistics are staggering-but how do should the issue of poverty be addressed.  With our class system in America, can anything be done?

 

Below is the poverty guidelines for 2013. 

 

2013 POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR THE 48 CONTIGUOUS STATES
AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Persons in family/household	Poverty guideline
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,020 for each additional person.

Marx’sTheory

Communist Manifesto – written in 1849 by Marx and Engels

            -Written in response to the horrendous conditions in factories

-Blamed the system of industrial capitalism for the terrible conditions.

-Solution to problem was a new social system- eventually known as communism

                        Marx’s beliefs

                                    -All of history was a “history of class struggles”

                                    -Oppressors vs. oppressed is a constant throughout history

-Oppressors own means to production (land, raw materials and money)

            -Controlled government and society

-Oppressed- dependent on the owners of the means of production

-“Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into tow great classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat”.

-Bourgeoisie- the middle/upper class- also known as the oppressors

                        -Proletariat-working class –also known as the oppressed.

-Struggle between proletariat and Bourgeoisie will eventually lead to a revolution.

            -Proletariat would overthrow bourgeoisie

-Abolish economic differences that create separate social classes

-End up with a classless society

Tammy, Appalachia and poverty

Preschool Privilege

One of the final points that the People Like Us movie made was that we are separated by class from a young age.  For example, when the wealthy take steps to ensure their child be accepted into the upper-upper class, they begin early. A few recent articles and a documentary highlight this subculture. Wealthy parents in New York City hire consultants and special tutors to get their child into a handful of elite preschools and then they pay costly tuition ($15,000+) to send the child there. This article from Bloomberg News highlights the competition to get in,

...An average of 15 applicants vie for every spot in about 200 preschools, Uhry said. According to its Web site, Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received 22,754 applications for the freshman class entering in last fall and admitted 2,124 -- 11 applications per admission.

From the New York Daily News,

Consultants charge $10,000 a pop to share their secrets of success. A nose-picking habit is considered special needs.
As the mother of an 11-month-old already bemused by Manhattan's hypercompetitive baby-rearing culture, I watched the film with amusement and dread.
If, like Moon, I want my child to attend one of these nurseries - popularly perceived as "Ivy League feeder schools" - finding the annual $20,000 tuition would apparently be the least of my worries.

 

Tammy, Appalachia and poverty

The movie People Like Us introduces us to Tammy and her sons from Pike County, Ohio. (Watch the videoon youtube here or watch it on mediacast here.) They live in poverty. Tammy was from a family of 22 kids and she grew up in poverty. She wants to be a teacher. Her son wants to be an architect or a lawyer. Will they be able to achieve these goals? What are the factors that will hold them back? What will their life chances be? One of the ways that Tammy’s son copes with his situation is by trying to dress preppy and act preppy. He cleans the house so it looks better and he tries in school, winning awards and succeeding in sports. Can these actions move him up to a higher class or is he kidding himself? What are the chances he succeeds in the "American Dream"?

Update:  So we watched the update to Tammy's story.  So you can still answer the questions above-you will just have to base your answers off of your initial thoughts before we watched the updated parts.


 

High School and Social Class

"Well, your CD collection looks shiny and costly.
How much did you pay for your bad Moto Guzi?
And how much did you spend on your black leather jacket?
Is it you or your parents in this income tax bracket?"
- Cake

How does class play itself out at our high school, or in high school in general? Does high school reinforce or prepare you for fitting into a social class? If so, how? Give some examples from our high school. Additionally, how do you think moving up or down would affect you? Which would be tougher? What if you married/dated someone who was very low income or someone rich? What difficulty would this cause in your family and friends? One last question I have is what group do you think you would have ended up in based in the high school "People Like Us"-Anderson High in Austin Texas?

 

Social class and your possessions

In the movie People Like Us, they show many different things that people buy that represent their social class such as a Tuscan style kitchen, a 4 foot Mitsubishi TV, a Volvo. What possessions do you or your family own that represent your social class? Do you think that class is related to the things we own? Think about a possession that you own that could be much cheaper or much more expensive - why do you have the one that you have and not a cheaper/ more expensive one? You can go to the following website and take a quiz about how the things you prefer represent your class:
Chintz or shag

Then We see Karen Hess (bread expert) who says the bread we eat reflects our class. We develop tastes that reflect our class. What stores do you shop at and what types of bread do you eat? How do your possessions reflect your own social class? You can visit the following website and take the quiz "Identify this" or "Name that class" and see if your values represent a class:
Identify this

 

Also, This graph displays the inequality by occupation.

If you are interested in how your community's income looks, click on the American Factfinder and search by zipcode. Then scroll down to "Economic Characteristics" and look next to median family income. It is in 1999 dollars in most cases, but that is still an accurate portrayal for comparison's sake.

Wealth: Wealth in tricky to understand.  It is everything that a household owns, such as the home, vacation home, cars, 401K, savings, stocks, jewelry, etc...But, you must subtract what the household owes.  So, if my house is $200,000 but I owe $160,000 then my wealth is only $40,000 on the house.







Education:
In the US, here are the percentages of adults over the age of 23 who have attained each degree in 2012:

High school graduate	87.65%
Some college	57.28%
Associate's and/or Bachelor's degree	40.58%
Bachelor's degree	30.94%
Master's degree	8.05%
Doctorate or professional degree	3.07%

  This link shows that on average, the higher a family's income, the higher the ACT score. 

And this link shows the higher one's educational level, the more he or she earns.

This graph shows that the less education that parents have, the less education their children obtain.





Prestige: People view different occupations with different levels of prestige.  This prestige can translate to real power such as being appointed to boards or committees.  It can also simply give you credibility or respect in social situations.  Here is a chart of prestige ratings.

All of these combine to form a rough picture of social class. Here is one representation of how all of those components might work together:

Marx's Social Theory on Class Structure

1.  What is the function of social class structure?
2.  What conflict naturally exists between social class structures?
3.  What symbols do we associate with the various social class structures in our society?
4.  How would you change the social class structure?

Social Class in the United States of America (1957) 

For each of the following social classes, list at least three characteristics mentioned in the video.  Explain in your own words whether or not those characteristics define those same social classes today.

1.  What is the difference between ascribed and achieved status as discussed in this video?
2.  For each of the following class distinctions, give examples from the video that define each class.  Then remark if those characteristics are still true for 2013.
a. Upper Class
b.  Middle Class
c.  Lower Class

POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES

POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES

Growing up in poverty can have serious and long-lasting effects on children’s health, development, and overall well-being. The effects of poverty have a well-documented impact on young children’s developing brains. And children who grow up in poverty are more likely to experience harmful levels of stress, more likely to struggle in school, and more likely to have behavioral, social, and emotional problems than their peers. Below is a video (The Line) documenting some of the struggles people living at poverty level.  Also, there are some articles I have included detailing the serious and long-lasting effects of poverty on children.  You are all young adults now so the path you choose from here on out is mostly on you, but someday you will be moms or dads and your social stratifications as a parent will have a direct bearing on your children. 

The Line is a documentary about people living at the poverty line.  It highlights the difficulties of different people who share a common struggle: life in poverty.

What I want you to see are the effects of poverty on individuals:

Physical Health (Here is a comprehensive list of research on health effects of poverty):
- a lower class person has a higher chance of dying at any age than a wealthy person!  Some other health outcomes for those in poverty:

From the American Journal of Pediatrics; Poverty and lack of nurturing in early life may have a direct effect on a child’s brain development, according to a study that found smaller brain volumes in poor, neglected children.

 Impoverished black children, for example, are twice as likely as poor Hispanic or white children to have levels of lead in their blood that is at least 2.5 micrograms per deciliter. Some researchers have found that even that small amount of lead is enough to cause cognitive impairment in children — especially the kind that impacts their reading ability.

Environment: the poor are more likely to experience asthma and other health issues;

...poor black children are more likely than poor white or Hispanic children to be diagnosed with asthma — another ailment that plagues poor children in Jacksonville and one that is linked to living in older, more industrialized areas.Poor white children, though, are more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke, or to be born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy than poor black or Hispanic children.And poor Hispanic children, it found, are twice as likely to have no place to go for health care, as compared to poor white or black children.

Lifestyle = less access to healthy food (i.e. fruits and vegetables); see this link for a TED talk about one man who is arrested for planting a vegetable garden in a poor neighborhood!, smoke, Drug use and abuse, exercise less,

One reason may be that violence tracks with poverty, thereby preventing people from being active out-of-doors. Similarly, parks and sports facilities are less available to people living in poor counties (5), and people who live in poverty-dense regions may be less able to afford gym membership, sports clothing, and/or exercise equipment. There are multiple individual and environmental reasons to explain why poverty-dense counties may be more sedentary and bear greater obesity burdens.

Medical Care = less access and poorer hospitals, lack of health insurance.
Mental Health = higher stress, children feel effects of stress for life.

Some sociologists will argue that there is a culture of poverty among those in the lowest income levels. This culture of poverty represents individuals making choices that create or worsen the impoverished situation they are in. So the theory goes that by spending your life deprived of money, opportunity, adequate food, etc., one will resort to learned helplessness.  Basically, I give up, there is no way out type of thinking.  And with lack of resources and help people in general feel they are "stuck."  So people see the future as the same or even worse.  So I guess I am saying that poverty influences attitude and behavior, therefore promoting the same attitude and behavior or even worse.
So I would call it a vicious spiral.

And it is important to note that 20% of the children in the US are growing up in poverty! That's 1 out of every 5 kids in the United States is living at the poverty level! Yes you read that correctly - 1 out of every 5 children in the United States is living in poverty right now!  That's a higher rate than 34 out of 35 Western countries.  So many of these children will not have the help or resources to improve their class mobility.  So what can be done? 

So I want you to create a blog titled "Poverty in the United States."  I want you to set it up just like I did above.  I want you to find articles or websites (not mine) for each of the five black boldfaced words (Mental Health, Medical Care, Lifestyle, Environment, Physical Health) that tie poverty to
children's health, development and overall well-being.  And don't forget to give a summary of each-(I did not do that).  Finally comment on the culture of poverty theory including your overall thoughts on all of this.

Freddie Gray

So I would like you to read the article about Freddie Gray's life and then answer the following question:  Did Freddie Gray let himself down or did society and government let him down?  I think a good response with examples can be written in 350 words.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/why-you-should-know-what-happened-in-freddie-gray%e2%80%99s-life-%e2%80%94-long-before-his-death/ar-BBnJiSp?li=BBnb7Kz

Why you should know what happened in Freddie Gray's life-long before his death

Ch8 test review

Ch. 8 Sociology Test Review

So you little (I mean mature) deviants want a test on Chapter 8.  (yes you do)  The podcast linked below will be of great aid to studying for the test.  I would not cram for this test.  The punishment will be of great consequence if you fail.  No senior privileges.  Anyway-enjoy.

Deviant Test Review

So one of the areas that I want to tie into migration, women, and globalization is human trafficking.  Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing epidemics in today's world.  I have been teaching about it for many years but I am always amazed that it has only been recently (the last 3 or 4 years) that a major worldwide effort has been made to combat this crisis.  So we are going to explore this topic in great depths this semester with the hope that not only can we create awareness to the problem but maybe become knowledgeable enough to help recognize problems in the future.  So to start with I would like to find out what you know about human trafficking.  Please take the online quizzes below and report your scores for each one.

Quiz 1 Write score down
Slavery footprint-tell me how many slaves work for you

Read the Article "The Face of Modern Slavery"-Understand that this case times a million is just one part of what Human Trafficking is.


Put yourself into a group-6 for each group-Answer the following in your group:

Group 1: Overview of Human Trafficking

Task: To investigate where human trafficking is occurring and in what forms, and how it has played out worldwide.

Questions:

• What forms do human trafficking and sexual servitude take around the world?
• Where in the world is human trafficking a serious issue? Highlight the countries on a world map.
• What forms does it take in the United States?
• Are there certain cities and towns where it is a serious problem? Highlight these places on a map of the nation.
• How are victims found and “trafficked”? What is the process?

Group 2: Causes of Human Trafficking

Task: To investigate the roots of human trafficking and the factors that play a large role in the industry.

Questions:

• What factors contribute to and exacerbate human trafficking and sex slavery?
• How are human trafficking and economics intertwined? Consider all parties involved: victims and their families, traffickers, customers, local law enforcement agencies and so on.
• How does this issue relate to social, cultural and gender-based factors, laws, politics and poverty?
• What initiatives have been undertaken to combat human trafficking? Do any of these target specific root causes, and if so, which ones and how? How effective do they seem to be?

And here are some links to videos we will watch that will help you understand what human trafficking is about.

What is it?
25 facts
Then and now
A survivor's story
The girl next door (special)
End it movement 1
End it movement 2

Caught By a Predator-article
Case Studies
Tribe takes proactive approach-from Mitchell Daily Republic

The Alicia Project

Slavery map-report cases in your town
Map of worst countries





And now I would like to hear your comments and review on the topic of human trafficking and slavery.  Feel free to include your thoughts on the video/videos we watched in class.  (200 words minimum

 

 

So here is a cult classic from the 1980's that has a lot of sociological topics.  Socialization, culture, stereotypes, education, family, deviance, socio-economic status, cliques are some of the main sociological topics studied.  Consider the sociological value of the film and connect the film to your own life.  Consider the writing assignment given to the students in detention by Mr. Vernon.  What sociological implications are present in this writing assignment?

I want you to create a 4-5 minute podcast reviewing the movie "The Breakfast Club."  Your review may take the form of an interview (at least 10 questions), a character analysis study or any other form you may think of.  You will create the podcast by using the program audacity.  A tutorial below is available.  You will then need to export it in a wav. file, change the format to mp3 through iTunes, and then create a free account on podomatic to feed your podcast.  You will then be able to link your podcast to your blog for all to hear. 

Creating a Basic Podcast Using Audacity

  To download the above video just right click on the movie reel to the left and select save target as or save link as

To read and/or print a tutorial that shows how to add music and sound effects using Audacity click the icon on the left

Audacity Tutorial for Podcasters (click the movie reel icon to the left) This link will take you to an external website that contains a free podcasting tutorial series using Audacity

Add Music and Sound Effects to Your Podcast: Optional 

You can also include music and sound effects on your podcast? However, there are some restrictions. You can only legally use the first 30 seconds of a song free or include music that has no copyright restrictions on it. There are several websites that provide this. However, the quality ranges from excellent to poor. Findsounds.com is a good website to use. For Jazz music try the Internet Archive.

How to Explain Deviance

-        Cultural- Transmission Theory-Deviance is a learned behavior.  Can be learned by interacting with others who commit deviant acts.  We all conform-just a matter of what we conform to.

-          Structural-Strain Theory-Deviance is a natural outgrowth of values and norms within a society.

                   o   Anomie
                             §  Lack of sufficient guidelines for behavior, causing confusion to society

o   React in one of five ways to achieve goals and means

1.       Conformity-Individuals accept goals and approved means of achievement

                              2.       Innovation-Devise new way to achieve goals – business men and criminals
                                 3.       Ritualism-Find it impossible to meet goals by acceptable so                                          a person chooses to give up the goal but still follow rules of behavior
                              4.       Retreatism-Reject both cultural goals and acceptable means-                                         drug addicts, hermits (retreat from norms of society)
                              5.       Rebellion-substitute your own set of goals and means of achieving.

-          Control Theory-close communities have less crime, weak ties to a community lead to the likelihood of becoming deviant

-          Conflict Theory-Competition and Social Inequality lead to deviance

                   Struggle between people with power and people without power
                        §  People with power want to keep the power
                        §  People without want to gain the power

o   People in power usually define deviant behavior

                            §  Usually works against lower class
          o   Lower class are more likely to be detected and punished
                            §  Don’t necessarily commit more crimes

-          Labeling Theory-Everybody commits deviant acts sometime in their lives

o   Two types of deviants

1.       Primary Deviant

                                           a.       Nonconformity that goes undetected by authority
                                           b.      People not considered deviants

2.       Secondary Deviant

                                          a.       Person labeled as deviant and accepts the label as true
                                      b.      a secondary deviant will deal with label the rest of their lives
                                      c.       becomes the master status