Culture

This week in class we talked about the different aspects of culture.  One of the things that we talked about is the way that people use their hands when speaking.  In different cultures, hand gestures mean different things.  When experiencing a new culture you need to be aware that certain cultural differences do exist and that you shouldn't get offended because something that is rude in our culture may be perfectly normal in theirs.  Sometimes when we go to new countries we experience culture shock and we aren't able to adjust to the different ways that they have.  We need to remember to be respectful and to not always be defensive and think that somebody is being rude because to them that might be a perfectly normal gesture.

-Liv

Ingroups and Outgroups

This week in class we talked about ingroups and outgroups.  Ingroups are the groups that you are a part of and outgroups are the groups that you aren't a part of.  In the movie "A Bronx Tale" C is a part of many different ingroups.  He is a part of the gang, his family, the other italians and also his friends from when he was little.  One outgroup that C isn't a part of is the black people from the other neighborhood.  These different groups clash because they don't have any common ground.  The father of C didn't like his gang ingroup.  In my life I have many different ingroups.  I am part of a soccer team, a basketball team, a family, a church and a group of friends.  Ingroups and outgroups are an important part of who you are because they help to shape you based on the influence they have over you.  I think that "A Bronx Tale" was a great movie to watch in order to learn about ingroups and outgroups.

~Liv

Odyssey

On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week we all participated in an event called Odyssey.  It is a program that helps students fill their requirements for fine arts classes by brining in a lot of people to teach us new and exciting things!  During Odyssey you are given your schedule the day of and you are put into classes with people you don't know from all different grade levels.  Personally, this experience makes me nervous because I like to be surrounded by people that I am familiar with and teachers that I am familiar with.  This week in class we talked about macro and micro sociology.  Macro sociology is the study of the different groups that people are a part of that influence them and Micro sociology is the study of how the different groups interact face-to-face.  Also in micro sociology you study who the leader is, who talks loud and who talks soft, and which people participate.  This can be seen through the classes at Odyssey because we are all put into new situations which forces a leader to emerge.  Micro sociology can be studied very easily through things like Odyssey or anywhere that people don't know each other because you can see how new people interact with each other.  Throughout my Odyssey experience I was laid back and quiet most of the time and I wasn't a leader.  Now thinking back on my experience, it was interesting to remember how the people in my groups interacted.   

-Liv

Freaks and Geeks

In class this week we watched an episode of Freaks and Geeks.  I really enjoyed watching this because I could see how different groups of people were affecting each other.  I was asked to identify some of the groups that were present in the movie and also to see what function each group serves.  One of the characters that I think was influenced the most was Lindsey.  The freaks were and bad influence on her because they smoked and cut class a lot and before she met them she used to be on the math team.  It was interesting for me to see sociological imagination come in to play throughout the episode.  We were able to see how the society affected all of the different characters.

-Liv