We the (selfish) people...

So today we talked about what we think makes up American culture.  I was part of the last group to go, and it really surprised me what people ahead of me said what America's culture is based off of.  Some of these things were liberty, or freedom, or opportunity.  Others said that America doesn't have a culture of it's own, because we're a big "melting pot."

I disagree with many of these claims.  Sure, many Americas value freedom and opportunity... as along as it's for them.  It'd be nice to think that the American paper values are the same ones that make up our culture today, but in reality, I think American culture is individualistic and focused mainly on the "now."  Most Americans don't care how their actions will effect the future- this applies to politicians who spend more time trying to get reelected than passing legislature, celebrates who are famous for the sake of being famous, and athletes focused more on their pay checks than anything else.  These are the people we value in America.

Culture is easiet to see when you look at how people (aka, Americans in general,) react to other events.  If Americans wanted to have liberty for all, shouldn't there be more uproar that Don't Ask Don't Tell didn't get repealed?  If America was truely a "melting pot," wouldn't there be more acceptence for the growing Hispanic community?  Instead, many (I hesitate to say most, but probably so,) Americans don't even realize that other citizens don't have the same equal rights, and others call out for an "English Only" country.

I hate that we only touched the surface of this in class, and spent more time talking about food and accents than current events.  I thought the class was about creating sociological mindsets, not finding our safezones. But unfortunately, I guess that only proves my point, right?

Culture Shock

Monday in class we played a card game that turned out to be multiple card games. Confused? So were we.  Each table had a different set of rules, which we had to memorize, then play silently for a few minutes. Then the winner and the loser of a couple of rounds rotated groups to begin playing again. But as we soon found out, each table had a different set of rules, and it was really difficult to communicate and play the game. This is culture shock.

I've only been a couple of places overseas, and everytime I've gone, I've made sure to learn things about the cultures to lessen the culture shock.  But that's never possible to do. The first time I went to Israel, my family did a lot of shopping in Jerusalem, where there are many little stores in old walls and on the street.  I was shocked to see my parents, who had lived there before, arguing with the shopkeepers about price. I couldn't believe how rude they were; in America, I'd never dare haggle down a price!  But my parents explained to me that "bargening" was a custom in the Middle East, and in some places, to accept the price at face value was an insult!

Five trips later, I can haggle anyone down to at least a third of a price, smiling with the shopkeepers.

A Bronx Tale

There are so many different interacting groups in the movie, A Bronx Tale.  The main character, Collogero, or "C" is a part of most of them, and he struggles to figure out what "master status" he wants to have.  There's his family, and his strained relationship with his father.  And then there's Sonny's crew, and the smaller circle in that, where Sonny is a father figure to him.  So in both of those, he's the "Son," and Collogero goes back and forth having his master status in each of those.

He also has his neighborhood friends, who Sonny doesn't like. Collogero's also just a teenager, one who might be falling in love with a African American girl. At the point were at right now, Collogero is trying to figure out if he wants to be defined by his neighborhood, or if he wants to break out of that and jsut be with the girl, Jane.

Besides "Italian," I don't think Collogero sees himself with a perminant master status, because it switches depending on which group he's in.  I think a lot of teenagers do this as well, because different people expect different things from us, and then see us in that light. I hope, by the end of the movie, Collogero realizes, maybe not what group he wants to be in, but at least the ones he doesn't want to be in.

Women and children (to their deaths) first!

In class we did an activity where some students pretended to be different characters on a boat, and then had to vote some off to save the rest.  I wasn't one of the people on the boat, which I'm glad of, because some of the people I thought would be safe weren't.

Two of these were the pregnant cheerleader, and the poet.  Killing a pregnant woman is just cruel, under any circumstances, but the poet had great sailing skills that kept being overlooked.  The last vote came down between these two people, and although the poet was saved, the pregnant cheerleader was not.  Our teacher told us that this was only the third time in all the years he's been teaching that this has happened. Yay feminism?

But that's the difference between macro and micro sociology. Maybe from the sidelines, I wouldn't think of getting rid of a pregnant woman.  But stuck on a (pretend) boat in the middle of the ocean? I may think otherwise.  I'm just glad I didn't have to choose.

Sociology of Teddy Bears

Do you still sleep with a stuffed animal?  If the answer is yes, you're not alone. According to a recent study by Travelodge hotel chain, 35% of 6000 adult surveying still sleep with a teddy bear. Also, 25% of men have one when they travel because it reminds them of home.

"One in ten single men surveyed admitted they hide their teddy bear when their girlfriend stays over and 14 percent of married men reported they hide their teddy bear in the wardrobe or under the bed when any family and friends come to visit." --ABC article

Besides for these facts being awesome, what does it mean sociologically?

The survey showed that a large factor for the soft sleep companions was stress, and that having the bear to hug lowered stress levels.

So are we all too stressed? This teenager is saying yes.  I'm just curious to know if this is a common thing, or if more people are using teddy bears these past couple of years. And with the study being sent around, are more closet teddy lovers going to come out?

Whatever this leads to, I think it's awesome. Yay teddy bears!