Sociology and Education Journal Entry example

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Sociology and Education Journal Entry

Chapter 2 Asking and Answering Sociological Questions 23 / Video Analysis “A Class Divided”

The video “A Class Divided” presents a stereotyping experiment. A teacher said to a class that blue-eyed people were smarter, better, more educated, etc. than brown-eyed people. The teacher wanted to show the children how it felt to be discriminated. Since the children of this teacher were only third-graders it was difficult to explain the concept of discrimination theoretically. So, the teacher (Mrs. Elliot) intentionally told that brown-eyed people are worse in every aspect than blue-eyed people. Therefore, brown-eyed children, as the teacher explained, were not allowed to drink from the water fountains but had to use paper cups instead. Also, she said that the brown-eyed children had five minutes shorter breaks.

Soon, the teacher noted how quickly the children were transforming according to their characterizations. The blue-eyed began to feel and behave as superior children. In addition, the teacher noticed new sings of bullying from the blue-eyed part of her third-graders. However, the next day teacher reversed the roles of her young students. Then, the brown-eyed children got the chance to feel superior to their blue-eyed classmates. Similar experiments were carried out on adults and surprisingly their behavior was similar to that of children. The group of people who were told they were better, cleverer, and quicker was turning into discriminating individuals. Hence, often people start to behave the way they are told they are. If people are told they are very good and proficient, they start doing things better to correspond to such characterization and vice versa. The power of the spoken word is evident as it has great influence on people’s mind and behavior.

Chapter 3 Culture and Society

The concept of culture is a very important in the understanding and analysis in various aspects of sociological studies. It is culture that can best describe or represent a certain nation or ethnicity. The components of a culture are described as "the values the members of a group hold, the norms they follow, the material goods they create, and the languages and symbols they use to construct their understanding of the world" (Giddens et al 45).

Likewise, a sotiety is a system of different repaltionships that exist between different members of society. Every society has one or even several cultures and vice versa every culture belongs to certain social system. Besides, every society and/or culture has specific values and norms which may be similar or maybe very different in different nations.

Furthermore, other aspects which distinguish people from different societies can be material culture and language. Material culture is represented through material objects which are considered to be very valuable for a certain group of people. Some people value money, while others think that real estate, cars, or lands are the most important to equire as wealth. Still another distinguishable feature of the people is their language which includes both speech and writing.

The sociologists have only recently understood the importance of the culture in …

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