Its a Wrap

Sociology was a class that challenged me yet at the same time opened my eyes to a lot of new ideas, terms, and ways of thinking. I started off the semester a little confused trying to learn and figure out the way you need to think in this class. When I say that I mean that starting off in this class I learned that the world is not "the world" we know. Our world is beyond ourself and our personal experiences. A lot of times people judge and base their opinions not only on facts but on the way they were raised, the way they grew up, or on any personal opinions on certain subjects. Learning that the world was far beyond just " You & I" there is a whole world out there was something I was getting used to. In this class you needed to use your sociological perspective and your sociological imagination because that was a key skill to have. I think for me that was the biggest lesson of all and I will carry that lesson for the rest of my life throughout my life.

Sociology was a class that made me feel like I was able to go around the world and learn about the way people live without actually having to do so.  I got a better understanding of why people act the way they do and I learned not to be so ignorant. Im not going to lie before this class I used to be just like many people we know, and I would judge others as much as I didn't like it, it came natural to me as a human. I remember asking myself why certain people would act, dress, or even raise their kids a certain way. After taking this class I realized that the social and cultural norms for one may be different for another. Norms were something that definitely differed from culture to culture and played a big role in sociology. What may be normal to people in America can totally differ in South Korea or Africa, so therefore sometimes we cannot judge because people were raised a certain way and that is why we need to use our sociological imagination.

My favorite part of all during this whole semester was when we talked about the video called "Killing Me Sofly"  I felt like I really connected to this video and thats what helped me really understand it because it is so relevant in todays society. The pressure for people to want to be socialized or to fit in is all of what todays society is about. Young girls trying to look like what is called "beauty" and boys trying to fit a certain image of being "manly" or "tough". Often times I find myself fall into this trap of trying to "fit in" by wearing the most modern clothes or doing my hair a certain way, buying the newest phone out. I really liked how this video made comparisons to how society views women a certain way and how men expect women to look. This video was a great example of how THE MEDIA SOCIALIZES US!! I think this video was a great lesson to men and women and everyone should watch it. That was one of the major ideas in Sociology because the media is everything! From depicting class to depicting beauty, the media is the biggest outlet for false interpretation of things and that is why people grow up to think things are a certain way or should be a certain way. The media socializes people to think these things.

One of the big ideas in sociology was Class and Life Chances. I always grew up thinking I was middle class just because of the fact that I felt that I wasn't poor and I always lived a pretty comfortable life. After being in this class I realized that I wasn't in fact middle class. It wasn't till my mother lost her job that I had realized we were working class and had always been working class. We always did survive based on the earnings my family earned from there jobs. We did not own any property, had no money invested in stocks or businesses, nobody had a college degree and so then I started to come to realize we were in fact working to lower class. I never knew so many things came into consideration when determining what class one is in.

This semester has been an extremely enjoyable semester for me. Although it was hard and challenging Professor Applewhite and the classmates in my class made everyday fun and interesting and there was never a day where I didn't learn something new. This goes to show you Professor. Applewhite did an excellent job teaching the class because I will take many things with me in my life, things I didn't know about before. Its a wrap, good luck in the future to all! :)