Wrldsyrs Women have a terrifying 36 negative thoughts each day about their bodies … here are mine; She's lost over three stone in a year, but Lucy Cavendish is still racked by insecurities like the rest of us Lucy Cavendish BNET 15 February 2010 http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/daily-mail-london-england-the/mi_8002/is_2010_Feb_15/women-terrifying-36-negative-thoughts/ai_n49582212/?tag=content;col1
Cooley – Charles Cooley’s looking glass self is the process of imagining how others view us, the perceived judgment of that appearance, and the reactions that result from such a perception. In Lucy’s case, she believes she looks old, ugly, and fat. A man knocks on Lucy’s door and she believes that she looks terrible. Lucy believes he is horrified at her appearance. Since she believes the man at the door is horrified at her appearance, she feels insecure and begins to obsess over her weight and appearance. Regardless of whether or not the man at the door actually thought Lucy looked horrible, her initial interpretation of how he perceived her appearance resulted in the real consequence of her to feel insecure about her appearance. Lucy looked at herself through the eyes of the man at the door and concluded that he thinks that she looks horrible, which, in turn, contributed to her poor body image, her feelings of inadequacy, and her insecurity. In another instance, Lucy feels that her teeth are not white enough. She believes that having white teeth is a sign of youth and beauty. She runs into a young mother with exceptionally white teeth and feels insecure about the color of her teeth and her appearance in general. Lucy believes that people will think she is younger and more attractive if she has whiter teeth. Lucy’s belief causes her to decide that she will get her teeth whitened, even though her best friend told her that the procedure was painful. Lucy has perceived that people look at her teeth and think her teeth are not white enough. Since she believes that others believe her teeth are not white enough, she believes they think she is old and unattractive. Since Lucy has this perception of other people’s beliefs about her appearance, she is going through with a painful procedure. Despite the fact that Lucy might have white teeth, she perceives that others believe that her teeth are not white enough, which causes her to feel old and unattractive. Lucy’s perceptions of other people’s beliefs about the color of her teeth, regardless of the truth in the belief, are resulting in Lucy to decide to have a teeth whitening procedure. Lucy looks at herself through the eyes of others and makes conclusions about her perceived appearance. Regardless of whether or not these perceptions are correct, they have real consequences and outcomes in Lucy’s life and the way she feels about herself.
Sasha What to Do if You Suspect Learning Disability By LESLEY ALDERMAN The New York Times Published: February 19, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/health/20patient.html?ref=health
Mead:
The other day, while sitting at the breakfast table, I noticed my son squinting at the box of cereal while trying to read it. I asked, “Charles, what is the matter? Are you having trouble with your eyesight?” He shrugged and began to blush. Without question, I knew what was wrong. He can’t read. (Impulse) My mind began racing and suddenly I was worrying about bills from his doctor and him being made fun of in school. I immediately started to think about what could possibly be wrong with my boy. (Perception) The teacher had mentioned a while back that he had been moving along slower than the other children, but she said not to worry because many children at his age do not seem to apply their full potential. Regardless of her opinion, I began to worry. “What if he has a learning disability? What if he is mentally retarded? Maybe I am over-reacting and he simply needs to be held back a year. Is it just his vision? Am I under-reacting?” I began going crazy. If I would have let myself manipulate the situation any more, I would have had a stroke; so I decided to research about disabilities online and come to a rational conclusion rather than driving myself crazy at home. After much research, I decided to have him tested. “The cost of getting a thorough assessment by a trained professional can be steep, often as much as $5,000”, but that was worth my boy’s health to me any day. The professional explained to me that “If [he] has trouble reading…more than one issue could be at play.] He went on to explain how “people often think of reading as one thing…but it takes a cascade of skills to read. You have to be able to integrate imagery and language.” After the longest hour and a half of my life, (Consummation) we were lucky enough to find out that if he were held back a year he would fit in perfectly. After much worrying, relaxation set in and life was back to normal.
Hoopa For Women in America, Equality is Still an Illusion Jessica Valenti The Washington Post February 21, 2010 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/19/AR2010021902049.html
Valenti is drawing attention to gender inequality, an issue of critical importance. Still today, a significant number of people are choosing to ignore it. Or, perhaps, they are simply in denial of its existence. Many believe that gender inequality is of the past and furthermore, something that has been successfully overcome. Others recognize that it still exists but suggest that cases of gender inequality are ubiquitous in developing, or war-torn countries, rather than developed countries. However, I, like Valenti, would argue that it still persists today, even in the United States. Just as Valenti claims, we must all become more cognizant of it and stop “suffering under the mass delusion that women in America have achieved equality”.
Women continue to be oppressed in many realms. Valenti focuses on women and violence, claiming that women suffer from victimization. They are victims of assault, rape and other violent acts. Fortunately, she also draws attention to the economic gender disparity, which I argue, is responsible for the vast inequality between men and women. In fact, I wish more of her article would have been dedicated to the gender gap in wages and economic opportunities. Even when women work outside the home, according to Valenti, they make about 76 cents to a man’s dollar. This makes women financially dependent on men, inhibiting their ability to be “free” from the patriarchal nature of our society.
Society has duped us into believing in a “mirage of equality”. Just as Valenti suggested, we must stop fooling ourselves. We must all be willing to see and face the misogyny in America. It is imperative that we view it as “systematic oppression”, as alluded to by Valenti, rather than individualistic. We cannot and should not deny that existence and pervasiveness of gender inequality in America. The notion of equality will continue to be a mirage for as long as women remain economically dependent on men.
Chichen A Bus System Reopens Rifts in South Africa Celia W. Dugger New York Times Feb 21, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/world/africa/22bus.html?scp=8&sq=racial&st=cse
Dubois: I have spent a great amount of time explaining the double consciousness felt during my time, due to a racial divide. It is clear that, although times are said to have changed, the double consciousness is still experienced around the world. This article emphasizes an attempted improvement to the transportation system of a city in South Africa to help eliminate a racial divide and the discriminations that come along with it. The article emphasizes how blacks still live physically separated from whites and employment, and frequently experience racial discrimination while using the taxi system. Therefore the city has attempted to implement a bus system in predominantly black areas to reduce this discrimination. However, even with the news system, the color divide and discrimination still exist, emphasizing the challenge South Africa faces to transcend its history of apartheid.
This situation exemplifies the social, political, economic, and intellectual divisions between whites and blacks that hinder the ability for South Africa to develop into an inclusive culture, similar to the color line that I have described in American culture. For example, the physical proximity of blacks that remain segregated in townships far from centers of commerce and employment is clearly a major problem that has led to the need to implement change. There is also clear economic reliance as the jobs center around where the white South Africans live and attempt to limit social contact by ensuring that black members of the community are unable to live in the same area. Also, due to the issue of public transportation, political issues have arisen as the city attempts to get involved in the problems, and as the article states, the white constituents are also discriminating against the city officials that are proposing these new bus routes, thus affecting their chances of being re-elected by those that have more prestige in the community.
Zapheros Toyota president says recall-hit firm 'grew too fast' Adam Brookes BBC 2/23/2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8529950.stm Mead All of the people involved within the Toyota recall controversy, politicians, disgruntled owners, Toyota employee's and owners, all act as if they are motivated by internal emotions such as regret and outrage . In actuality they are all only responding to to the perceptions and constraints of their society. Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota, is apologizing not out of any sense of regret or shame, there is evidence that these problems have been known to at least to his company, if not to Mr. Toyota himself, for a long time. Rather he is apologizing because the problems are now public knowledge leading to his manipulation of his I based of his reflection upon the generalized other's expectations. Modern society and Japanese society in particular expects their leaders, in response to a public scandal, to accept responsibility and make a public apology, which the real reason behind Mr. Toyota's actions. In a similar vein the actions by the politicians' actions are motivated by their surrounding society. They desire for their I to be viewed as staunch defenders of the people, the generalized other, and so evaluate their me so as to portray that persona. Their primary concern is not for the actual lives and well-being of their constituents but only that they are perceived as being concerned for their constituents. All of the pretense of emotional motivations is again part of the generalized other's expectations, Mr. Toyota and the politicians are not supposed be motivated by pleasing the generalized other. Rather the generalized other expects them to be motivated by these emotions and so they attempt to act out these emotions as the I.
AMEMYLUV Come on, get happy. It may help your heart. by Nadja Popovich NPR Health Blog 2/19/10 www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come on get happy it may prote.html
Cooley: upon seeing this article one must come to think that if happiness has such a positive effect on our health, what are the things that affect our disposition so that we can actively do things that will make us happier. Seeing that a happier person is less at risk for developong some sort of heart disease, we need to recognize what are the things that influnce whether or not we are happy and what are the things that remove our happiness. One major basis for our happiness is what we think other people see us as. If we think that other people have a good view about us we feel better about ourselves and are thusly happier. We judge ourselves by what we think other people think about us. For example if we believe that other people see as as failures we are more likely to believe that we are failures in life. With that being said what we can do to imporve our happiness in life is to not take as seriously what we think other people see us as. Also if we believe that someone has a bad opinion about us we should ask the person, the majority of the time the opinion that we think they have may not be real.
MissMD Teacher contracts support reforms in worst schools Kathy Matheson Yahoo News February 23, 2010 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100223/ap_on_re_us/us_fixing_failing_schools;_ylt=Ahh8AuHi3pCUFa4C0lmlfWBvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTJ1Mjg2Mm12BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMjIzL3VzX2ZpeGluZ19mYWlsaW5nX3NjaG9vbHMEcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNmdWxsbmJzcHN0b3I-
Cooper:
How clueless and unaware are Washington and the American public education system. Restructuring has instantly become the new “it” thing in our public education system. In Philadelphia, the school board system will be restructuring a number of schools to reform the educational system of 13 of the worst schools there. In this process teachers must reapply for their jobs; it eliminates seniority rights when it comes to rehiring; extends the school day by up to an hour, with a possibility of class up to two Saturdays a month and 22 days in July. As amazing as this may sound in Washington and to school boards around the nation, this nation has turned a blind eye to the issues of race, class, the location of these schools that affect the individual students enrolled in these schools; the factors that continually keeps them oppressed through this educational system where “more than 90 percent of 11th-graders tested last year could not read or do math at grade level.” We ignore the other variables that add to the failings of these schools and students. If one were to examine the location of these schools that are expected to be reformed, it would be apparent that these schools are located in low-income neighborhoods. If one were to examine the racial composition of these schools, specifically Vaux Roberts High School which is mentioned in the article, one would realize that the majority of students attending this school are of African American descent. According to supportive information gathered through research, it also appears that 95 percent of the students at this particular high school receive free and/or reduced lunch. Add all of these factors up and it should be noted that beneath this article are greater issues that the rehiring of teachers and remodeling the system cannot do; structural macro changes need to take place. Schools located in low-income neighborhoods typically have low amounts of funding and resources because of the class system in that neighborhood since local property taxes help with the funding of schools. Overall there is a cumulative disadvantage for these students that we can realize once the nation realizes how poverty deeply oppresses children especially those in African American neighborhoods. Education is very detrimental in a child's development but issues of race, gender and class cannot be ignored as they may inhibit or promote the child's development.
House Young girls need tools to avoid 'perfect body' pitfalls Jessica Fehrenbacher CourierPress.com February 23, 2010 http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/feb/23/young-girls-need-tools-to-avoid-perfect-body/ Cooley- Young women are exposed to the images of the “ideal woman” everyday. This woman is a size 0, tall, and seems to have no flaws to her. Every day, teens around the world strive to reach this “perfect” look. In this article the author talks about girls not eating the right food to stay healthy. Only 7 percent of girls eat their five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Every day more and more girls are turning to plastic surgery to better themselves. When the average teenager looks in the mirror they see at least one flaw to themselves and in some cases numerous flaws. When walking down the street a girl can feel self conscious. Cooley’s Looking Glass is being witnessed almost every moment of the day. “I am what I think you think I am”. Sadly according to this article these teens are flawed in every way. They seem to not have a single attractive attribute to them. If one of these young girls have ever received a negative look from anyone then they are putting Cooley’s notion to use. These girls are viewing themselves through, what they believe to be, the eyes of others. They only see the bad, and something needs to be done to change it.
Penny Textbooks That Professors can Rewrite Digitally Motoko Rich The New York Times February 21, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/media/22textbook.html?ref=technology
The increasing rationalization of the modern life continues. A textbook company has opened up that is allowing professors to digitally rewrite their textbooks. The spirit of capitalism in our profit oriented world has shown up once again. This is just yet another technology allowing the large bureaucratic organization that is the textbook company to fulfill the ethos of earning more and more money. The company that has started this venture, Macmilan, is one of the largest publishers of textbooks. They are very likely attempting to increase their efficiency. Allowing professors to edit their textbooks through the internet is faster and more efficient than republishing and reprinting paper copies of these books. It requires less time and resources meeting all the requirements of maximum efficiency. What’s more, the companies of our modernized rational world put a great emphasis on calculability. Quality is not nearly as important as is quantity. Although printed textbooks may be considered to be of a higher quality, quantity increases when textbooks are online and the amount that can be produced is basically infinite. The professors that write the books may also upload their syllabus online, as well as class notes and other relevant materials. This allows their students to find everything for their class in a predictable place. This is yet another illustration of the increasing rationalization of modern society. Students will probably appreciate the cheaper price of textbooks which will come about because of this. And they may appreciate the fact that they can order books online and read them on their computers, their iphones and the like. But one has to wonder, if they will feel trapped in this world of technology. Will they miss the simpler days of paper textbooks? Some publishers are concerned about professors being able to edit individual paragraphs and even sentences. This is probably because of the fact that in our rationalized world, people like to have a level of control over certainties and if professors can change textbooks once they have already been published, this control is gone. Modern Civilization and the everlasting search for greater wealth has no doubt inspired this company and this venture.
1. Gecko 2. Trans Figure: Should Sex-change Surgery Be Tax-deductible? 3. William Saletan 4. Slate.com 5. February 16, 2010 6. http://www.slate.com/id/2244817?obref=obinsite
Cooley
Rhiannon O’Donnabhain is the perfect example of the impact of the looking-glass self. Born a male, she imagined people viewed her as a male and her self-feeling to this was one that initiated a drastic change. She underwent sexual reassignment surgery to alter her physical appearance to be more in tune with her sense of self. Perhaps a more significant change, relevant to the looking-glass self, is that she also engaged in hormone therapy and cosmetic surgery to further feminize herself. These procedures were done so that she could “pass” as a female and no longer be judged as a transsexual. Cooley’s concept of sympathetic introspection was demonstrated by the tax court that tried her case against the IRS. Rhiannon tried to write off her surgery and other procedures on her taxes as medical expenses and the IRS took her to court. The IRS argued that the procedures were not medical and therefore should not be written off. Rhiannon and her lawyers argued that the need to have a coherent social and personal identity represents a significant medical disorder, in this case Gender Identity Disorder (GID). The tax court considered the situation and mentally put themselves in her position. Taking this sympathetic approach led to their decision that the procedures could be written off as medical expenses. Although this is a somewhat controversial decision, because it opens the door to people trying to write off nose jobs and Botox as medical procedures, the willingness of the court to use sympathetic introspection led to a just decision about a sensitive issue.
1. Enfinity 2. Toyota president says recall-hit firm “grew too fast” 3. BBC 4. BBC News 5. February 23, 2010 6.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8529950.stm
Weber:
It is true that we live in a society dominated by the rational and hierarchical authority of large bureaucracies and profit oriented capitalism. The Toyota car company proves this with the many car recalls and tragic accidents that were caused by faulty parts in the cars. The company relied too heavily on efficiency. They found an optimal method that required the least amount of time and maybe even resources for creating as many cars as there were demands for them. In rushing to produce many cars very quickly the workers/company overlooked their control over uncertainties. The cars may not have been tested for safety issues thoroughly which may have caused the overlooked faulty accelerator pedals, accelerator pedals getting stuck in floor mats, and problems with brakes. Measures weren’t taken to ensure that things happened as prescribed. Toyota’s cars are known for being dependable and safe and this is because their older models last a long time with minimal problems. Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda stated that the firm's growth "may have been too quick". He added that "priorities became confused" as the carmaker grew. The company was too concerned with calculability. They wanted to produce a lot of cars so that the company would continue to thrive and make more money at the expense of the safety of their customers.
Buckley “March of the Robo Chief-Mechanized Cooks Invade the Kitchen” Ian Daly New York Times 2/23/10 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/dining/24robots.html?pagewanted=1&ref=technology Weber- Robots have become the prime example of the ever-increasing levels of the rationalization of society. Robots increase efficiency, predictability, and calculability. Any product manufactured by robotics can be produced at a much faster pace than humans. We have seen the evidence of this in our history, over and over again. There is less room for error when using robotics, and exact numbers of products can be easier to calculate. But, for the most part, robots and robotic machines have been confined to assembly-line work. Though this has obviously taken jobs away from humans, it has become an accepted fact, and does not seem to create too much of an outcry. But, with this new approach to robotics, robots will not be confined to assembly line work. At Carnegie Mellon University, professors and students are working on a robot called the ‘Snackbot.’ The Snackbot is an example of a new kind of robot that cook. While they cook, researchers study the interaction between human beings and machines. Scientists believe that through this new function, robots will become more ‘humanized,’ making humans more comfortable with the idea of robots in every day life. Researchers believe that this new approach is moving away from the idea that robots are just a way to do everything efficiently, and that they are taking human’s places. But, this only proves our inability to escape from this iron cage of rationality. They can mask the increasing rationalization and disenchantment behind the fact that they are trying to make robots act more ‘human,’ but that will never change the fact they are not human. If they are not there to take a human’s job or place in the kitchen, why do they exist?
HalfPint To Impress, Tufts Applicants Turn to YouTube New York Times Tamar Lewin February 22,2010 www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/education/23tufts.html
Cooley:
As part of their new application process, Tufts University is now allowing prospective students to submit YouTube videos to supplement their applications. The YouTube videos give students the opportunity to express themselves in a creative way and to impress admissions officers. In creating the videos, the students will have to consider how to impress the admissions officers. They will deliberate over what they think the officers want to see, what will make them stand out in the eyes of the officers, and what will show their ability to succeed at Tufts University. Less important in deciding what the content of the video should contain will be the desire to express their true selves. The applicants will be considering what they will look like in the videos they make from the eyes of the admissions officers. They are therefore what others perceive them to be. Over the years, they have modified themselves according to how they thought they were being perceived by others, and their selves are a product of these accumulated perceptions. This looking-glass self will determine the contents of the Tufts applicants' YouTube videos because they have learned throughout the years what is expected of them and what college admissions officers want from an applicant.
woohoo Evidence that little touches do mean so much Benedict Carey NY times Fed. 22 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html
Mead, Non verbal communication is a very significant part of society. it is basically communicating with using words. It seems that it would be rater hard to du such a thing, but if one thinks about it a bit further, one will realize that this is the first way we learn how to communicate. We have a "conversation of gestures". We, as infants converse, not by using words, but practically everything else. We will cry to get the food we want, we will smile when we are happy, or someone is just making "significant gestures" at us; meaning making the baby noises back to us, attemping to communicate with the infants. In this artical the game of basketball is looked observed to see if the insignificant touches are actually a big part in winning the game. Ofcourse it would be absurd to say that all wone need to be good at basket ball is a pat on the back and a high five evernow and then, but it does prove that touch, as well as gestures releave the stress involved in playing in an nba game. And since the stress is reduced by the encouraging gestures and touches, the player is now able to focus much more on the game at hand. This leads me to think about what it is that the basketball players get stressed about. I would have to say that it is the "generalized other". Each member on the team is assigned a position they are to play. The player want to do the best at his position he possibly can. The "me" of each player is looking at himself as an object. An object in the game that want to impress the generalized other. The generalized other includes the team members, coach, fans, referees, critics, culture, family, community. the list could go on and on. My theories about gestures as well as generalized other were proven in this artical, eventhought it may not have been the intention the this artical. And i would have to agree that touch and gestures do mean alot.
1. Apple 2. King Tut Felled By Injury And Malaria, Not Murder 3. Neal Conan and Dr. Howard Markel 4. NPR 5. February 16, 2010 6. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123775555&ft=1&f=1007
It has recently been discovered that the most infamous ancient Egyptian pharaoh suffered from a great list of ailments, as discussed in this news interview. King Tutankhamun, known as King Tut to many, was not only a royal king in his society, but also a very sick man. As described by Dr. Markel in this National Public Radio interview, King Tut suffer from a bone disorder (most probably influenced by inbreeding), which result in a cleft pallet and distorted clubbed foot. King Tut most certainly experienced what I call “double consciousness.” His identity was separated into the very sick, pitied sick man and the outstanding pharaoh.
His physical appearance and health would be considered less than normal. Imagine a man looking physically in pain with unusual mouth with cleft pallet, dragging his bummed leg while he walks across the room with the aid of a cane. There is no doubt that his identity was defined by his health.
In stark contrast to a pitied, ill man, King Tut was worshiped as pharaoh of his society. He was the most prestigious and important people in his society according to his royal title. As one might imagine, it must have been hard for him to reconcile these two identities in his day-to-day life; he must be respected as king, yet was almost always in pain as an extremely ill person. He lived his life with this double consciousness; a less-than, sick man and the great pharaoh.
Muffin Evidence that Little Touches Do Mean So Much Benedict Carey New York Times February 22, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html
“The most primitive form of interaction involves gestures.” (Ritzer, p 58) Each gesture performed by one person to another usually contains some kind of specific meaning. Touch can now be included in the list of gestures a person can perform. One can figure out what another person means simply by looking into the little touches they give that person. A touch can show love, it can show support, or it can show hostility. Touch, along with gestures, are what separates humans from lower animals, because the touch and gestures normally have a hidden meaning associated with it. In this article, it says that people build relationships with others specifically to help with problem solving. People create relationships with the generalized other to gain acceptance in order to be able to help solve problems together. Now, not only do gestures and significant symbols help create these relationships between people, so do touches, no matter how little or insignificant they may be. Little touched do, in fact, carry big meaning and can lead to its own form of nonverbal communication.
1. CKES 2. To Impress, Tufts Prospects Turn to YouTube 3. Tamar Lewin 4. New York Times 5. February 23rd, 2010 6. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/education/23tufts.html
Cooley
The college application essay is used as a means to gain insight into the persona of an applicant. As a result, applicants put forth their best effort to present themselves in the best way possible that will gain them admission to the university that they applied to. TUFTS University is adding a new dimension to their application, allowing applicants to submit videos of them selves. The applicants that submit these videos are not simply putting themselves on display for the admissions officers, but are instead selling themselves to be worthy of admission into the university. To these applicants, the way the admissions officers perceive their video is of the upmost importance because it is this perception that will determine whether or not they get accepted.
Every action, thought, and word in the videos is constructed with the admissions officers in mind. As a result, the videos are most likely to be that of what they think the officers want to see rather than a true presentation of their selves. For example, an applicant that sees them selves as very shy and socially mal adjusted would try to hide these characteristics in their video. Instead, they will try to portray themselves in a manner that they believe the officers will perceive as attractive. Ultimately, the applicants will either be proud or disappointed in their videos dependant upon their decision letters. Those who get accepted will be proud of themselves because their acceptance is proof of a positive receptivity of their video. Those who get rejected may be disappointed in themselves whether or not their video was good. If an applicant were to submit the most impressive video in the world, it would mean nothing to that applicant if the admissions officers at TUFTS didn’t agree.
1. Loveme 2. To Impress, Tufts Prospects Turn to YouTube 3. Tamar Lewin 4. The New York Times 5. February 22, 2010 6. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/education/23tufts.html
Mead, Around the same time ever year millions of high school seniors are putting their best foot forward, and selling themselves to the colleges of their choice. Usually this is done by essays, transcripts, applications, and letters of recommendation. This year, one particular university decided to add a little twist to the formal application process. Tufts University, decided to allow students to express themselves through one minute videos uploaded onto YouTube. Writing is one way to express yourself, but being able to see an applicant through video allows you to connect with the applicant by putting a face with a name, and a way to get to know the applicant. The only way to get to know a person and see what goes on inside their brain and mind, is by observing the social act. The way a person communicates socially can tell an observer a lot about that person. The applicants to Tufts University use these YouTube videos to communicate with the admissions committee, and show the admissions committee how they interact on a daily basis. Who a person is, emerges through social experience, activity, and communication, and these applicants are allowed to actually express this other than on a piece of paper. Who you are is more than just a psychological entity; it is a matter of communication and social activity. Mr. Coffin an admissions officer stated that these YouTube videos are "all about a conversation between a kid and an admissions officer," these videos are "transparent" of who the applicant is.
Sting Come On, Get Happy. It May Help Your Heart. Nadja Popovich NPR. Research News February 19, 2010 http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come_on_get_happy_it_may_prote.html
Mead: This article about the possioble relation between happiness and the risk of heart disease made me think of Mead and his thought on “the self.” The article explains hypotheses and studies done with connectiong illness and positivity, meaning, that the more positive a person lives his/her daily life, the less prone they are to illness, high bloodpressure, and heart disease. I thought of Mead’s “self” components; the “I” and “me.” When the generalized other diagnoses a person with some sort of illness, the first response of that person is a “I” thought. “Woe is me.” The second response is through the “me.” “What did I do wrong,” ‘how could I have prevented this,” “how can I fix it?” The studies mentioned in the article explain that at risk people for heart disease were studied for a 10 year period, and positivity was measured by point levels. Some participants did indeed have heart attacks or other cardiac episodes, but those with higher recorded levels of positivity had a higher record of no attacks. If humans could be more positive in our daily “me” and “I” internal conversations, making the likely hood of good health more attainable, it should be done. No one wants to be around a gouchy, sickly ball of bad energy, which is what the generalized other will see and judge. The happiness of our “selves” should emanate from the many identies we claim throughout the day and week, which in turn influences the generalized other and passes on the good energy which may ultimately improve all of our self health's; mental and physical.
casper The Olympics Sap-o-Meter: Mothers and daughters on Ice Authors: Josh Levin, Jenny Rogers, Jeremy Singer-Vine, and Chris Wilson Source: Slate February 24, 2010 http://www.slate.com/id/2245653/?from=rss
Mead:
This article discusses the personal tragedies surrounding Olympic competitors, specifically that of Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette. Joannie's mother passed away suddenly this past weekend days before her daughter was set to take the ice. Through her grief Joannie managed to give an outstanding performance landing herself in the top three. Joannie was able to overcome her emotion by using the idea of reflexivity. Reflexivity is the ability for one to put themselves in others places, to think as they think, and to act as they act (Ritzer 60). The ability of reflexivity allowed Joannie to think of what her mother would have wanted her to do by adopting the standpoint of her mother's view. Despite the heavy grief Joannie faced she knew in her heart that her mother would have wanted her to skate and not give up on the opportunity. It is clear that Joannie has mastered the I and was completely in the present, in the moment, while giving her performance. Immediately following her performance Joannie was practicing the me when she let the emotions and tears flow thinking about the incredible performance she had just given while her mother's passing weighed heavy on her mind. The generalized other, the audience in the arena, as well as the entire Canadian community would have been just as proud of Joannie had she not given a miraculous performance. This article shows the true character of Olympians as being more than amazing athletes, but also having the power to control their thoughts and channel their emotions even in the toughest of times.
1.Theriff 2. “Come on, get happy. It may help your health 3. Nadja Popovich 4. NPR 5. 2/19/2010 6. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come_on_get_happy_it_may_prote.html The NPR article “Come On now, get happy …” says that having a positive outlook on life and being a happy person in general will reduce your chance of a heart attack. Reducing your stress in life and learning how to ignore those hurdles will help your overall health. After you get past the quick fix possibility that looking on the bright side of things makes you live longer, this article is indirectly biased and not saying much. Not all but most people’s outlook on life is, in the end, related to socioeconomic status. Yeah, maybe you’ve about the lonely rich man or the poor man who is just fine with life, but this article makes happiness sound like a choice. To an extent it is, but for minorities living in poverty and especially the average black man trying to survive and deal with racism this is not true. Also, this article openly admits that the research completed didn’t test/study any variables related with stress or anxiety, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore these things. You can go a different direction with a study, but don’t exclude obvious, important factors. Despite the illusion that everybody has equal access and everybody is equal, the majority of people living in the crowded, noisy, ghetto trying to make ends meet are unfortunately, black people. With these facts at hand, one smart sociological thinker should realize that a higher proportion of black people are going to be living with higher amounts of stress while a lower proportion of white people are going to be living with high stress. Not only do a high proportion of black people live in the ghetto, but also the double consciousness of looking through the eyes of the average white men creates more stress because you can’t be as individualistic as you want to be. This is article is an example of how a black person must practice this double consciousness. If looking through the eyes of the white person one would think that this article encourages having a positive outlook on life, but with double consciousness for a black man you can look deep and see how it excludes them in this article indirectly. -WC Dubois
SongBird Olive Garden, Red Lobster Lead Darden's Push to Green Restaurants By GreenerBuildings Staff Published February 23, 2010 http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/02/23/olive-garden-red-lobster-lead-dardens-push-greenrestaurants?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Greenbuzz+%28GreenBiz+Feed%29
Weber:
This article talked about how Darden Restaurants which includes the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and LongHorn Steakhouse dining facilities are in an initiative to go “Green”. They are going by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, also known as LEED standards to develop restaurants that will essentially be eco-friendly. The buildings will contain things like recycled building materials, more natural light usage, and new heating system techniques. When examining this social phenomenon of everyone intentionally trying to go “Green” we see how society is moving from a traditional rationality, where things were done based on the ways things have been done habitually to a more formal rationality approach. Before and even as we speak we have restaurants competing do be the best and make the most revenues by being more extravagant and in many ways a lot more wasteful and destructive to not just the environment but to people as well. In the four characteristics of formal rationality that I describe we see each one clearly in this current move of Darden Restaurants initiative to be eco-friendly. We see calculability in the eco-friendly elements of the restaurant’s design and construction. In the article it mentioned how new LED light bulbs would be installed which uses only 7 watts of energy and could last possibly 50,000 hours in comparison to other bulbs. When it comes to efficiency the new system will have a new method of expelling heat around the restaurants. The predictability will be in the everyday use of each of these operations and the control over uncertainties will come from the LEED standards. I think this new move will be interesting.
Cloud 123 Evidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much Benedict Carey nytimes.com February 22, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html
Mead:
The author of this article stipulates that recent research shows the importance of physical contact as a more telling form of communication, even over language and gestures. A psychology professor was quoted as saying that this physical contact is the first language humans learn, and it will remain throughout human life as the most expressive form of communication. A study conducted on touch concluded that when someone is touched, hormones are release which reduce stress; in turn, the brain relaxes and relieves the stress of problem solving. The researchers took this as an indication that relationships are built on the basis of distributing problem solving, so that when people touch they share the load of solving daily issues.
Among my prominent theories of action, play and game stage theory, and my theory of the self, I also strongly believe in the importance of gestures and significant symbols in the maturation of the self. Gestures serve as a basic form of interaction between people, and conversation of gestures are mindless reactors to a gesture by another person. This form of gesture is instinctual in us as human beings, and it may be that some sort of human contact, such as physical proximity and a touch of a loved one, may illicit this innate response to allow our brain to release stress and espouse happiness and trust. Although I do place great importance on significant gestures, as these are the type that are vocal and strictly done by humans, gestures, whether vocal or nonvocal, are extremely important in understanding the human race and the way our minds work. Nonverbal communication, such as body language and conversation of gestures, are very telling for all living beings. It is only humans however, that can engage in significant gestures in which thought is required before a response can be made on behalf of the self. These concepts of gestures and significant symbols, and even the mind, help make the self complete.
1. Scribe 2. US school district spied on students through webcams, court told 3. Daniel Nasaw 4.The Guardian (UK) 5. 2/19/10 6. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/19/schools-spied-on-students-webcams
Weber
It certainly would seem irrational for a school district to remotely activate webcams in computers to "spy" on their students, especially considering that the entire program was a secret known only to the district, but upon close inspect we can see that it is in fact rationality to the extreme. I hesitate to use the term "distasteful extreme," for I would rather not betray my own values in my analysis. How can we see this school district's actions as the result of rationality? It is simple. Rationality is of course composed of four main components: calculability, efficiency, predictability, and control over uncertainties. Let us take into consideration the words of self-defense from the school district itself before proceeding with our analysis: "In a letter posted on the school district's website, McGinley said the district had installed on the laptops a security feature that allowed the webcam to photograph the computer operator in the event the laptop is lost or stolen." So what we have is an innovative idea - if a thief steals a laptop, the property owners (the district) will use the technology itself against him. In practice, though, this was the result: "The ruse was revealed when Blake Robbins, a student at Harriton high school, was hauled into the assistant principal Lindy Matsko's office, shown a photograph taken on the laptop in his home and disciplined for "improper behaviour"." Rather than reacting to criminal theft of computers, the technology was being used to enforce school regulation while the students were on their own time. How do the district's actions stem from rationality? First is predictability. The laptops represent quite the investment of the part of the school, and if there is uncertainty as to where the computer is, or who is in possession of it, then their program soles that problem. Secondly we see the control over this uncertainty. Not only can the school predict where the computer is / who has it, they can use this technology to control that uncertainty by bringing a litany of charges against any potential thief, with electronic proof. Finally, we come to efficiency; we must simply ask ourselves what is more efficient - filing a police report of a stolen laptop and hope to one day see it again, or access the laptop's info to see exactly who has it and where. The answer should be obvious to any thinking adult. Now these ideas, while innovative and possibly even noble on their own, were clearly perverted for different uses by the school district, They become swept up in the terrible efficiency of their system, and threw up the bars of the iron cage of rationality. This is the type of choice that faces us in so many places in our society.
1. Aaron 2. Lack of black academics lamented 3. Cajphus Kgosana 4. IOL: News for South Africa and the World 5. February 24, 2010 6. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=105&art_id=vn20100224073336621C333254
As a Black, Southern woman, I can understand the situation that is occurring within the educational system of South Africa. Even though the demographics of South Africa’s institutions of higher education have shifted dramatically from being predominantly White to predominantly Black, students are still feeling discriminated against and feel as if they are in an unwelcoming environment. There is also an effect of gender occurring, such that women are not feeling as welcomed in institutions of higher education either. As a Black woman, I can understand both perspectives and am in a unique position to comment on these events. In order for the climate to change in South African schools, women of color must help their peers to rise up and succeed. Those women of color who have been successful and have endured such an unwelcoming atmosphere need to help other black women who are trying to be just as successful. As a woman, I understand how men force us to take on roles that do not promote our education. This has been the traditional thought of men in America, and I believe it is a thought that occurs in countries and continents across the globe. As an African-American, I understand how White elitists try to prevent Black people from succeeding and gaining power. This was true in America, and is especially true in today’s South Africa. As a holder of a doctorate, I understand that academia can place limits on Black women. But Black women must continue to support each other in the pursuit of education. As Black women gain higher education, the entire population of Black people will benefit.
sweetmay NAACP chooses successor to Chairman Julian Bond Samira J. Simone CNN February 19, 2010 http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/19/naacp.leadership/index.html
Cooper:
An African-American woman, Roslyn Brock was selected to be the NAACP Vice Chair that seat has been left by Julian Bond. She has already made a bright history before, because she was the youngest and first women to get the job as vice chair of the NAACP National Board of Directors at the age of 35. She said that NAACP is most concerned about individuals who are vulnerable in American society and they will be a strong advocate for them.
Around my age, it was extremely difficult for black women to get any higher positions like chairman as Roslyn Brock succeed. We suffered for both racial and sexual discrimination all the time. However, I believed that black women possessed immense moral power and they sought to wield throughout their history. We, black women are in quite unique position that sometimes being as blacks and women to white Americans, sometimes being as women to black men, and some other times being as just individuals for our self.
I am sure she is a right person to listen to the voice of people what they really need. I believed that it is important duty for successful and educated black women to support other underprivileged people and lead them success. As a president Obama said in his speech, "the pain of discrimination is still felt in America," there are still great numbers of people suffering for lots of different types of discrimination. I hope that she will not revolt from looking at the matrix of domination and make a great progress to remove those barriers to become a better society.
Babydoll Psychiatrists call for end to 'glamorising' of eating disorders Nick Collins Telegraph Media Group: telegraph.co.uk 2/22/10 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7291425/Psychiatrists-call-for-end-to-glamorising-of-eating-disorders.html
Cooley: Decades ago, Americans would have never dreamed of a generation that would aspire an eating disorder to increase their self-image or self-esteem. Now-a-days, the unthinkable has become a reality. One of the many factors that are believed to be held partially responsible for this relatively new epidemic is the fascination young adults have with celebrities. Young women have become obsessed with celebrity lives which can affect their ability to make their own decisions, to view themselves with a healthy mindset and lead a healthy lifestyle. The influence of intense admiration or focus on celebrities can drastically affect young females self-esteem and body image. The media flaunts celebrity lifestyles in a positive light, rarely showing the negative side, which is still hidden with a somehow flawless sugar coating. As a result, young female’s perception of beauty is skewed, especially when they are judging their own body. Their reaction to this can be very dangerous to their health. Social norms for these young females change for the worse and drift away from what is usually more socially acceptable. Young females will go to great lengths to fit in with ways they feel is acceptable. This will greatly affect their views and opinions on self-image which will destroy their self-esteem. Young females also tend to compare their facial features to ones of celebrities. Most of these girls do not know that these celebrities have professional makeup artists and “photoshop” for their every need. Girls who are affected by this illusion do not realize that perfection is unattainable and they end up hurting themselves in the process of trying to achieve it.
Wolverine “Fearing Obama Agenda, States Push to Loosen Gun Laws By: Ina Urbina The New York Times February 24, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/us/24guns.html
:Weber:
I always knew it would be a good idea for me to conduct intensive research pertaining to the sociology of politics and government. Many people do not believe but I honestly believe that there are three pure types of political leadership, domination and authority. The three types of leadership are traditional, charismatic, and legal domination. From my research, I discovered that charismatic domination is leadership that rests upon the exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained solely by that individual. The traditional style of leadership is expressed by the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely tied to tradition or custom. And legal domination is a form of leadership in where the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely ted to legal rationality, legal legitimacy and bureaucracy.
From years of observation, I have concluded that the leadership of the United States of America consists of a mixture of the three types of leadership. In an article titled, “Fearing Obama Agenda, States Push to Loosen Gun Laws”, the author explains how gun rights advocates believed that once Barack Obama was elected into the presidential office, they would be stripped of their guns and ammunition. But in fact, President Obama took a different approach to their assumptions. In fact, President Obama has not spoken of any related issues and has allowed the states to engage in a new and largely successful push for expanded gun rights. State representatives are even passing measures that have been rejected in the past.
This article clearly exemplifies all three types of leadership. Although President Obama is our nation’s president and an individual, there is a possibility that he could use a charismatic form of leadership because the overall decision is solely dependent upon him. If he has credibility upon his fellow state representatives, he could possible have the power to take full authority. The article also exudes traditional leadership when the author explains that in the past gun rights advocates were not granted such rights as President Obama are granting them. The rights that President Obama is granting appear to deviate from the norm, so this means that there is a traditional or custom style of ruling. Legal domination is presented in this article when the author explains how the states representations have to make the decisions for their jurisdiction due to high shooting rates and national massacres that have occurred on our nation’s college campuses.
1- Cronus 2- Health Insurance Executive Defends Higher Premiums 3- By ROBERT PEAR 4- New York Times 5- February 24, 2010 6- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/health/policy/25health.html?hp
Weber..
I woke this morning like any other day and did my regular morning routine. As I read this morning online column from the New York Times, I sat down and had breakfast. While I was eating my delicious biscuits, I found this one article that was very amusing. The article is titled, Health Insurance Executive Defends Higher Premiums, and it is by a writer named Robert Pear. Before I give you my thoughts on the matter, let me tell you a little bit about the article.
It would appear that there is an ongoing issue pertaining to our current healthcare system, its providers and customers. The problem is going as far as to needing government regulation. It seems that the health insurance executives met with a Congressional committee earlier today and had a debate over high insurance premiums. The executives feel that it is necessary to raise the insurance premium because of the increase in the healthcare cost, which makes sense to me because it is the rational thing to do.
The Congressional committee feels that the cost of insurance premiums will be too high and people will not be able to afford it. One circling solution that the Congressional committee announced was providing government regulation for the people to be able to afford quality insurance.
My issue with this article is that each side is proposing a rational decision. However, they seem to be missing the bigger picture. We live in a society full of rational people. We must be practical. The current reactive healthcare system seems to be failing. Instead of just throwing more money into the issue, which might just make things worse in the long run, why not just change the system. Other countries emphasizes on a preventive healthcare system which seems to be working out. I feel that if they really wanted to save money they should consider changing the system.
StudentA Come On, Get Happy. It May Help Your Heart Nadja Popovich NPR February 19, 2010 http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come_on_get_happy_it_may_prote.html
Mead:
Mead:
Heart Disease is a major health issue in today’s society. After reading this article, I immediately started thinking about my ideas of self and developmental stages. Aligning with my theory, during the play stages researchers predicted that humans are less likely to be susceptible to heart disease if they refrain from stress and stay happy. Researchers speculate that happiness reduces anxiety and stress which perpetuate health problems. Moving to my game stage theory, researchers announce their beliefs on happiness and heart disease to public. Then researchers conduct a study on middle age (46yr old age range) for ten years to prove their assumptions of how happiness affects others. This article dicusses ways in which the self can minimize their health problems by first recognizing the problem through the play stage, then taking preventative steps through the play stage. It is important that the self recognize how this research affects them.
october Study: Costly Health Care Not Necessarily Best Robert Siegal NPR February 22, 2010 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123979339&ft=1&f=1024
Weber:
Health care has become a very intense topic in discussion. Many people believe that hospitals have a form of rationality that gets patients in, fix whatever the problem(s) may be, and get them out the doors as soon as possible. Room numbers become the patients’ identification, making it easier for doctors and nurses to follow and keep track of. Though a hospital is considered a place to treat injuries and the like, it constantly has people coming in, making it harder to find room for everyone. Efficiency to help the patients needs to be done in order for them to leave while making more room for others that come in. This is a constant process that happens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The waiting rooms have become pretty much a hassle, a standard procedure that patients must go through in order to see someone if not coming straight from a gurney on an ambulance. The waiting rooms can also be considered a control over uncertainty. A person must wait their turn in line and fill out forms before being able to see someone, whether it be a nurse or even a doctor. While hospitals do try their best to help the sick and injured, they can be viewed as part of an institution that has rational qualities.
However, it has been thought that the less money a person has to pay for hospital care, the lower quality care they receive because of it. That may not necessarily be the whole truth according to Dr. Lena Chen, a clinical lecturer at the University of Michigan Health System. It all depends on the situation. 2 people having the same surgery may end up getting two very different bills. The cost of staying there along with other procedures may be one of the reasons for price difference. While going along with efficiency, if a person goes through the procedure and everything goes well, the hospital will be able to dismiss them, exchanging out for a new patient, as opposed to another that may need additional things done. A hospital should be a place where patients can go to get treated because of their sickness or injuries, and not based how much they have in their pockets.
tweak "Celebrate Valentine's Day by helping men stop violence." Alex Knight The End of Capitalism February 14, 2010 http://endofcapitalism.com/2010/02/14/celebrate-valentines-day-by-helping-men-become-less-violent/
Cooley:
This article reviews a book entitled "Men's Work: How to stop the violence that tears our lives apart." In this book, the author Paul Kiev attempts to expose the self-perpetuating system of violence created by men and their need to act in certain ways because they feel that society has prescribed the male role. The author provides an "Act like a man box", which ultimately displays the idea of 'I am what I think you think I am'. This box equates the societal expectations for men with the interpretation that men understand that societal expectation to be. For example, the left column says 'men: a) have no emotions and b) don't cry. For men, they understand these actions to display many emotional qualities, such as a) being responsible and b)being tough, respectively. The author of this book uses the 'act like a man box' to show that what men think people think of them actually perpetuates their seemingly violent, disconnected, and unemotional disposition in the world. All men are 'trained' to act a certain way, and they know that if they step outside the boundaries of the 'man box' that they will ultimately be punished by some form of ridicule, scorn, or homosexual accusations, which is the reason that men hardly stray from the prescribed form of action. This self perpetuation can also be described by the idea of the looking-glass self. This concept, in application to this situation, would begin when a man imagines his appearance to other persons, and secondly, whether or not the other persons' reactions to his appearance are positive or negative. For example, if a man was crying in public and saw that other people were looking at him in a way that challenged his masculinity, he would stop crying in order to alter their perception of him, as well as to alter how he is feeling about himself. This man would go through all of the stages of the looking glass self while keeping in mind the rules of the 'act like a man box' in order to appease his feelings about his own appearance by altering his appearance to others.
Juice2135 “The Watchers: Did Poindexter Really Believe the Total Information Awareness Program Would Have Protected Our Privacy?” Patrick Radden Keefe Slate February 23, 2010 http://www.slate.com/id/2244908/entry/2244911/?from=rss
Summary: In what amounts to a book review of Shane Harris’s The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State,” Keefe focuses on the philosophical questions raised by the ambitions and work of John Poindexter and, “other scientists, spy bosses, and entrepreneurs who share his fixation with technical solutions to national security problems. Poindexter proposes the implementation of his Total Information Awareness (TIA) program as a form of preemptive and precautionary national security. TIA was designed to compile mass amounts of data and scan it for, “suspicious patterns of activity.” However, Poindexter acknowledges the possibility of invasion of citizens’ privacy and incorporates a system of self-policing that would not only require a judge-issued warrant, but that also tracks the activity of the analysts that operate TIA. Ultimately, however, Poindexter’s TIA proposal is deemed a “perfect storm for civil liberties,” and is denied.
Weber: As is evident in Keefe’s analysis of The Watchers, society is constantly moving towards the inevitable iron cage of rationality. Already working within the confines of a bureaucratic system guided by rational-legal authority, our society will be constantly tempted to move towards an ever tightening grip of the iron cage, as industrial technology advances in leaps and bounds, resulting in the possibility for an increased control over uncertainties, efficiency, and, to some degree, predictability (note that calculability is beyond the scope of this article). Applying verstehen to Keefe’s analyses of Poindexter and his like-minded colleagues, we will readily observe that they are not guided by the substantive rationality that opposes them, but, rather, that they apply a rigorous means-ends calculation to arrive at the proposal for TIA approval; that is, theirs is a formal rationality. As such, national security can be identified as their first priority, with citizens’ rights to privacy a close second, and while this does not mean that the right to privacy holds no significance to them, the basic values and emotions that would serve to switch these priorities (as occurs with the opposition) are deemed less deserving. The reasons for this are quite clear, as explained by my concept of means-ends rational action: Poindexter considers the threat to privacy less harmful than the threat to national security both because of the inherent utilitarian values involved and the (perhaps subconscious) view that of those who would pose such threats, it is the latter that are more malicious and demand immediate action (assessment of his environment). Keefe summarizes his arguments, asserting that, “At heart, this issue always boils down to the clash between what technology enables and what our laws allow, and most of the watchers in The Watchers push the technical envelope and chafe at any statutory or constitutional constraint,” and I must say that this is a quite accurate assessment of society as it is influenced by the ever-tightening grip of formal rationality. Eventually, our society will be one in which Poindexter would see his TIA program go through debate and on to application.
1. JSCODE 2. Come On, Get Happy. It May Help Your Heart 3. Nadja Popovich 4. SHOTS: NPR’s News Blog 5. 02/24/10 6. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come_on_get_happy_it_may_prote.html
In the article, “Come On, Get Happy. It May Help Your Heart,” researchers determined participants’ positive attitude and coded it on a five-point scale, compared the results with an original analysis, and determined the happiness level of each participant. According to the article, it is determined that “happiness” decreases blood pressure which potentially reduces the risk of heart attack. According to multiple theorists, James, Mead, and Cooley in particular, we play multiple roles that can be so automatic that we forget we are playing roles. James believed that the self is divided into four parts (social self); Cooley believed that people were more concerned with others’ opinions of themselves instead of placing concern upon what one might feel regarding self-feeling; Mead believed the self was a matter of communication and not psychology. This article simply assesses the behavior displayed toward the researchers and is potentially not very reliable or accurate. All researchers managed to gather were reactions that participants wanted researchers to see. Mead, James, and Cooley would argue that these researchers could not possibly determine the risk of heart attack based upon sporadic behaviors. Also, researchers did not factor life situations or struggles into the determination of future health. Davidson, the lead researcher of the studies, assessed “happiness – or positivity—“and coded evaluations for comparison later. These assessments are simply the perspective of the researcher and are biased. If Davidson saw a potential spark of positivity, Davidson might have evaluated a participant based on mere hope instead of accuracy. Cooley might ask Davidson how participants could properly be analyzed if these participants are secretly considering the researcher’s personal opinion while responding to inquiries. Mead might ask how a researcher would quantify results when considering the respondents’ communication instead of behavior or by psychological factors. James would most likely question which part of the observed “self” was analyzed and whether the results are then one-dimensional and therefore inaccurate. Ultimately, the question to be asked is, “How accurate are results such as these and can someone’s happiness really be quantified?”
1. StudentB 2. Decoding Limbaugh 3. Hendrik Hertzberg 4. The New Yorker 5. February 23, 2010 6. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/hendrikhertzberg/2010/02/decoding-limbaugh.html
Rush Limbaugh exudes racist white stereotypes of African-Americans by referring to President Barack Obama's pronunciation of the word "ask" (seemingly pronounced as "ax") as "black dialect." Though, it was literally a slip of the tongue (as he actually pronounced it as "aksk" not "ax"), as Hertzberg points out, Limbaugh goes on to mock Obama's pronunciation, suggest the incorrect pronunciation was purposefully spelled that way, and speculate whether the President was trying to reach out to Reverend Jackson. Limbaugh intentionally perpetuates black stereotypes, ensuring a double consciousness for African-Amerians, even those at the forefront of mainstream American society.
For American society, the election of the first black president had a tremendous significance to many African-Americans, and Limbaugh's comments attempt to undermine the strides which the racial divide in society have taken, especially as a result of the election. Though Obama is economically, politically, and intellectually superior to the majority of the world (and those criticizing him), he still has stereotypes based arbitrarily on the color of his skin placed on him. Obama is a graduate of an Ivy League school and President of the United States, but double consciousness is even more unavoidable for him because of place in the media.
Private1 Come On, Get Happy. It May Help Your Heart Nadja Popovich NPR 2/19/2010 http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come_on_get_happy_it_may_prote.html
According to a recent study by the European Heart Journal, the more positive your outlook on life the less likely you are to have a heart attack. The logic resides in positivity's ability to resist cold and flu as well as decrease blood pressure. This experiment claims to have looked at 'happy' or 'positivity' levels as opposed to stress and anxiety. Yet this experiment was clearly carried out by someone with good health and standing. For starters, as the article even makes note of, the study didn't assess positivity's influence on health. Rather it just noted the correlation. In other words, an overall healthy individual will naturally have a more positive outlook as well as low chance of suffering from a heart attack because they lack the awareness of having an actual illness. Furthermore, the notion that we can improve our outlooks and get better health results is a ridiculous one if I have a serious health problem to begin with. How does one become happy at the idea of illness? That's like asking to be delighted by death. Similarly, this article must have been written by a white. The white man is free to be as he wishes, free of another consciousness--blackness, free of internal conflict and therefore at peace to be positive. Positivity is inclined to those favored by fortune, whether healthy or white. This double consciousness follows everywhere that there is stereotyping. How are we to mask and feign ourselves from what we are not? The favored don't have this worries. But the rest of us are conscious of pain and illness. We live with this sense of double-consciousness where our identity is divided into several facets. This sense of always looking at ourselves through the eyes of another. The twoness resides in being cheerful and fortunate, all the while suffering silently. -WEB Dubois
Kristi Yamaguchi during the winter Olympics of 1992 was a name that many people knew. She was a young girl living in America that was working her way to the top. She was one of the best figure skaters in the world. But who is she really. She is a mother, and daughter, a wife, a figure skater, and Olympian, a hard worker. But she really is just a mixture of all of these things. She changes over time and she changes in the different situation she is part of. Other people influence she is and she influences who other people are. But she just that that a sum of all of her experiences. There is no one true Kristi Yamaguchi . She has had some sort of internal drive sense she has been very young and it has transformed her throughout her life. That drive is no longer there pushing her to be the best skater she could. She has a different kind of drive that now let her be a mother and wife. She toured for 10 years but this was not what she had wanted and who she was while training for the Olympics this has changed. She now was skating for the love of the sport. She is proof there is no one true self just how we interact with out circumstances!
JH1988 SeaWorld trainer dies in killer whale attack in Orlando BBC News February 25, 2010 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8535618.stm Mead A trainer in Orlando was killed by an orca whale. The impulse is to be shocked and disgusted and feel like orca's are brutal man slaughtering mammals. The perception is to think that the trainer might have upset or offended the orca, or that the orca was some how agitated or angered, maybe even just hungry. With further manipulation spectators and eye witnesses are asked what they saw. Did perhaps the trainer appear to antagonize the killer whale? Did perhaps the whale demonstrate some sort of warning or signs of his strike? With even more internal reflection and external manipulation some other questions might arise such as: do orca whales play in this manner? was the orca frustrated with its surroundings? Was the orca just behaving in the manner in which it is naturally inclined to do? These questions do not necessarily lend themselves to consummation because they are difficult to answer, and would require knowledge of orca whale emotions and behaviors.
1. Smlongbb 2. “Presentation to discuss stereotypes about black women.” 3. David Ugarte 4. The University Daily Kansan 5. February 19, 2010 6. http://www.kansan.com/news/2009/feb/19/womens_basketball/?news
WHO WANTS TO BE A SOCIAL THEORIST?
I see that in these times Black women still carry the weight of the world. The more education many of them are receiving, the more they are being degraded and exploited within the media. No one knows the fight that a black woman has to face, not only are we fighting ideas of inferiority and racism, but we are fighting people and stereotypes. The article made a great point that the main portrayal of the black women as being loud and vulgar. I agree with the ideology of the writer. As a black women and individual one should never substitute pretty accomplishments or the looking “pretty” for sound “common”sense and earnest purpose. One should and carry themselves always with respect and work hard, or in our case twice as hard. We can be heard in so many ways, in ways where we have to be heard and harkened to, and that is with our words in writings. But, often times to silence me I see media outlets portraying these negated images to shape and mold a concoction of who I should be. If I speak up and defend myself, I am seen as loud, obnoxious, and ruled unladylike. If I am curved like a winding road with full hips and lips, I am seen as unfit and unhealthy. If I have a child while not married, I am the presumed a deviant and a future welfare case. I guess, I should sit thin, pretty, and silent. Well, this I cannot do! As a Negro, I am irrepressible and will not to succumb to superficiality and stereotypes that negate me from common sense and earnest purpose.
Casper The Olympics Sap-O-Meter: Mothers and Daughters on Ice Josh Levin, Jenny Rogers, Jeremy Singer-Vine, and Chris Wilson Slate Magazine February 24, 2010 http://www.slate.com/id/2245653/
Mead: Joannie Rochette is a Canadian Olympic figure skater whose mother unexpectedly passed away days before Rochette was to take to the ice for her competition in the women's short program during the recent Winter Olympics in Toreno. Joannie ended up giving an outstanding performance through her grief because she has learned the concept of self, the ability to take oneself as an object. Rochette demonstrated the basis of the self, reflexivity. Reflexivity allows ourselves to examine ourselves and what we do the same way that others would examine us. Joannie adopted her mother's standpoint and realized that her mother would not allow Joannie to give up on her Olympics dreams and would want her to skate for a medal. Another concept of the self is the generalized other in which the individual is able to take the role and attitude of the entire community. This allows ourselves to evaluate ourselves from the point of view of an entire group, not just those of individuals. Joannie understood that the entire world watching those Olympics and knowing the circumstances surrounding her, would not be upset if she decided to forgo her skating and take time to grieve. However, Joannie's reflexivity of knowing that her mother would wish for her to stay and compete is ultimately what led Joannie to continue the competition despite her heavy grief. During the time Joannie was giving her performance Joannie was doing the I, actively engaged in her skating. Most likely, Joannie was also doing the me at the same time and thinking of how she wished her mother was there to see one of her best performances of her life. At the end of her emotional performance Joannie said in french, "ceci etait pour vous ma mere". Meaning, "this was for you mother".
1. MickeyDOG 2. GMA seeks pay hike for state workers. Manila Standard 3. Joyce Pangco Panares 4. GooGLE aDS 5. December 28, 2006 6. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-156435188/gma-seeks-pay-hike.html
From a Weber perspective we can see that the state workers are being rationalized by the social insitution that employees them. This rationalization takes place in the form a wages cut from the workers who rightly deserve them. By not recieveing their due amount these workers become alienated from themselves, from each other, and from work. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has asked Congress to enact a law increasing the base pay of some 1.2 million state workers by 10 percent and to implement the third phase of the Salary Standardization Law. He is the person who is fighting against this rationalization taking place because he knows the value of these worker's labor.
At the top of each post you must list the following information: 1. Your Codeword 2. Title of the news article you choose (see suggestions below) 3. Author of the news article 4. Source of the news article 5. Date of the news article 6. Link (url) to the news article
Those six lines should be followed by your reflection from the perspective of the social theorist you choose from the list of options for each due date. A reflection is not a summary. Instead, what you are expected to do is to thoroughly read the news article of your choice and reflect on it from the perspective of one of the assigned Social Theorists. Note that your reflection may include a bit of summary, but it must not consist entirely of summarizing the article. Good reflections will analyze the issue discussed in the article from the perspective of one of the assigned Social Theorists; outstanding posts will even take the voice (write in the tone and style of) the Social Theorist. Reflections should be a minimum of one paragraph. They must be posted no later than 4pm on the due date below and the article you choose must have been published within two weeks of the due date. There are 3 points possible of Extra Credit for each post.
#1 - W. 9/29 - Marx, Engels, Durkheim #2 - W. 10/13 - Weber, Gilman, Dubois, Cooper, James, Cooley, Mead #3 - W. 10/20 - Popper, Parsons #4 - W. 11/10 - Mills, Habermas #5 - W. 11/17 - Berger & Luckman, Garfinkel, Goffman
Wrldsyrs
ReplyDeleteWomen have a terrifying 36 negative thoughts each day about their bodies … here are mine; She's lost over three stone in a year, but Lucy Cavendish is still racked by insecurities like the rest of us
Lucy Cavendish
BNET
15 February 2010
http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/daily-mail-london-england-the/mi_8002/is_2010_Feb_15/women-terrifying-36-negative-thoughts/ai_n49582212/?tag=content;col1
Cooley –
Charles Cooley’s looking glass self is the process of imagining how others view us, the perceived judgment of that appearance, and the reactions that result from such a perception. In Lucy’s case, she believes she looks old, ugly, and fat. A man knocks on Lucy’s door and she believes that she looks terrible. Lucy believes he is horrified at her appearance. Since she believes the man at the door is horrified at her appearance, she feels insecure and begins to obsess over her weight and appearance. Regardless of whether or not the man at the door actually thought Lucy looked horrible, her initial interpretation of how he perceived her appearance resulted in the real consequence of her to feel insecure about her appearance. Lucy looked at herself through the eyes of the man at the door and concluded that he thinks that she looks horrible, which, in turn, contributed to her poor body image, her feelings of inadequacy, and her insecurity.
In another instance, Lucy feels that her teeth are not white enough. She believes that having white teeth is a sign of youth and beauty. She runs into a young mother with exceptionally white teeth and feels insecure about the color of her teeth and her appearance in general. Lucy believes that people will think she is younger and more attractive if she has whiter teeth. Lucy’s belief causes her to decide that she will get her teeth whitened, even though her best friend told her that the procedure was painful. Lucy has perceived that people look at her teeth and think her teeth are not white enough. Since she believes that others believe her teeth are not white enough, she believes they think she is old and unattractive. Since Lucy has this perception of other people’s beliefs about her appearance, she is going through with a painful procedure. Despite the fact that Lucy might have white teeth, she perceives that others believe that her teeth are not white enough, which causes her to feel old and unattractive. Lucy’s perceptions of other people’s beliefs about the color of her teeth, regardless of the truth in the belief, are resulting in Lucy to decide to have a teeth whitening procedure.
Lucy looks at herself through the eyes of others and makes conclusions about her perceived appearance. Regardless of whether or not these perceptions are correct, they have real consequences and outcomes in Lucy’s life and the way she feels about herself.
Sasha
ReplyDeleteWhat to Do if You Suspect Learning Disability
By LESLEY ALDERMAN
The New York Times
Published: February 19, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/13/health/20patient.html?ref=health
Mead:
The other day, while sitting at the breakfast table, I noticed my son squinting at the box of cereal while trying to read it. I asked, “Charles, what is the matter? Are you having trouble with your eyesight?” He shrugged and began to blush. Without question, I knew what was wrong. He can’t read. (Impulse) My mind began racing and suddenly I was worrying about bills from his doctor and him being made fun of in school. I immediately started to think about what could possibly be wrong with my boy. (Perception)
The teacher had mentioned a while back that he had been moving along slower than the other children, but she said not to worry because many children at his age do not seem to apply their full potential. Regardless of her opinion, I began to worry. “What if he has a learning disability? What if he is mentally retarded? Maybe I am over-reacting and he simply needs to be held back a year. Is it just his vision? Am I under-reacting?” I began going crazy. If I would have let myself manipulate the situation any more, I would have had a stroke; so I decided to research about disabilities online and come to a rational conclusion rather than driving myself crazy at home.
After much research, I decided to have him tested. “The cost of getting a thorough assessment by a trained professional can be steep, often as much as $5,000”, but that was worth my boy’s health to me any day. The professional explained to me that “If [he] has trouble reading…more than one issue could be at play.] He went on to explain how “people often think of reading as one thing…but it takes a cascade of skills to read. You have to be able to integrate imagery and language.”
After the longest hour and a half of my life, (Consummation) we were lucky enough to find out that if he were held back a year he would fit in perfectly. After much worrying, relaxation set in and life was back to normal.
Hoopa
ReplyDeleteFor Women in America, Equality is Still an Illusion
Jessica Valenti
The Washington Post
February 21, 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/19/AR2010021902049.html
Valenti is drawing attention to gender inequality, an issue of critical importance. Still today, a significant number of people are choosing to ignore it. Or, perhaps, they are simply in denial of its existence. Many believe that gender inequality is of the past and furthermore, something that has been successfully overcome. Others recognize that it still exists but suggest that cases of gender inequality are ubiquitous in developing, or war-torn countries, rather than developed countries. However, I, like Valenti, would argue that it still persists today, even in the United States. Just as Valenti claims, we must all become more cognizant of it and stop “suffering under the mass delusion that women in America have achieved equality”.
Women continue to be oppressed in many realms. Valenti focuses on women and violence, claiming that women suffer from victimization. They are victims of assault, rape and other violent acts. Fortunately, she also draws attention to the economic gender disparity, which I argue, is responsible for the vast inequality between men and women. In fact, I wish more of her article would have been dedicated to the gender gap in wages and economic opportunities. Even when women work outside the home, according to Valenti, they make about 76 cents to a man’s dollar. This makes women financially dependent on men, inhibiting their ability to be “free” from the patriarchal nature of our society.
Society has duped us into believing in a “mirage of equality”. Just as Valenti suggested, we must stop fooling ourselves. We must all be willing to see and face the misogyny in America. It is imperative that we view it as “systematic oppression”, as alluded to by Valenti, rather than individualistic. We cannot and should not deny that existence and pervasiveness of gender inequality in America. The notion of equality will continue to be a mirage for as long as women remain economically dependent on men.
Chichen
ReplyDeleteA Bus System Reopens Rifts in South Africa
Celia W. Dugger
New York Times
Feb 21, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/world/africa/22bus.html?scp=8&sq=racial&st=cse
Dubois:
I have spent a great amount of time explaining the double consciousness felt during my time, due to a racial divide. It is clear that, although times are said to have changed, the double consciousness is still experienced around the world. This article emphasizes an attempted improvement to the transportation system of a city in South Africa to help eliminate a racial divide and the discriminations that come along with it. The article emphasizes how blacks still live physically separated from whites and employment, and frequently experience racial discrimination while using the taxi system. Therefore the city has attempted to implement a bus system in predominantly black areas to reduce this discrimination. However, even with the news system, the color divide and discrimination still exist, emphasizing the challenge South Africa faces to transcend its history of apartheid.
This situation exemplifies the social, political, economic, and intellectual divisions between whites and blacks that hinder the ability for South Africa to develop into an inclusive culture, similar to the color line that I have described in American culture. For example, the physical proximity of blacks that remain segregated in townships far from centers of commerce and employment is clearly a major problem that has led to the need to implement change. There is also clear economic reliance as the jobs center around where the white South Africans live and attempt to limit social contact by ensuring that black members of the community are unable to live in the same area. Also, due to the issue of public transportation, political issues have arisen as the city attempts to get involved in the problems, and as the article states, the white constituents are also discriminating against the city officials that are proposing these new bus routes, thus affecting their chances of being re-elected by those that have more prestige in the community.
Zapheros
ReplyDeleteToyota president says recall-hit firm 'grew too fast'
Adam Brookes
BBC
2/23/2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8529950.stm
Mead
All of the people involved within the Toyota recall controversy, politicians, disgruntled owners, Toyota employee's and owners, all act as if they are motivated by internal emotions such as regret and outrage . In actuality they are all only responding to to the perceptions and constraints of their society. Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota, is apologizing not out of any sense of regret or shame, there is evidence that these problems have been known to at least to his company, if not to Mr. Toyota himself, for a long time. Rather he is apologizing because the problems are now public knowledge leading to his manipulation of his I based of his reflection upon the generalized other's expectations. Modern society and Japanese society in particular expects their leaders, in response to a public scandal, to accept responsibility and make a public apology, which the real reason behind Mr. Toyota's actions. In a similar vein the actions by the politicians' actions are motivated by their surrounding society. They desire for their I to be viewed as staunch defenders of the people, the generalized other, and so evaluate their me so as to portray that persona. Their primary concern is not for the actual lives and well-being of their constituents but only that they are perceived as being concerned for their constituents. All of the pretense of emotional motivations is again part of the generalized other's expectations, Mr. Toyota and the politicians are not supposed be motivated by pleasing the generalized other. Rather the generalized other expects them to be motivated by these emotions and so they attempt to act out these emotions as the I.
AMEMYLUV
ReplyDeleteCome on, get happy. It may help your heart.
by Nadja Popovich
NPR Health Blog
2/19/10
www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come on get happy it may prote.html
Cooley:
upon seeing this article one must come to think that if happiness has such a positive effect on our health, what are the things that affect our disposition so that we can actively do things that will make us happier. Seeing that a happier person is less at risk for developong some sort of heart disease, we need to recognize what are the things that influnce whether or not we are happy and what are the things that remove our happiness. One major basis for our happiness is what we think other people see us as. If we think that other people have a good view about us we feel better about ourselves and are thusly happier. We judge ourselves by what we think other people think about us. For example if we believe that other people see as as failures we are more likely to believe that we are failures in life. With that being said what we can do to imporve our happiness in life is to not take as seriously what we think other people see us as. Also if we believe that someone has a bad opinion about us we should ask the person, the majority of the time the opinion that we think they have may not be real.
MissMD
ReplyDeleteTeacher contracts support reforms in worst schools
Kathy Matheson
Yahoo News
February 23, 2010
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100223/ap_on_re_us/us_fixing_failing_schools;_ylt=Ahh8AuHi3pCUFa4C0lmlfWBvzwcF;_ylu=X3oDMTJ1Mjg2Mm12BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMjIzL3VzX2ZpeGluZ19mYWlsaW5nX3NjaG9vbHMEcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX2FydGljbGVfc3VtbWFyeV9saXN0BHNsawNmdWxsbmJzcHN0b3I-
Cooper:
How clueless and unaware are Washington and the American public education system. Restructuring has instantly become the new “it” thing in our public education system. In Philadelphia, the school board system will be restructuring a number of schools to reform the educational system of 13 of the worst schools there. In this process teachers must reapply for their jobs; it eliminates seniority rights when it comes to rehiring; extends the school day by up to an hour, with a possibility of class up to two Saturdays a month and 22 days in July. As amazing as this may sound in Washington and to school boards around the nation, this nation has turned a blind eye to the issues of race, class, the location of these schools that affect the individual students enrolled in these schools; the factors that continually keeps them oppressed through this educational system where “more than 90 percent of 11th-graders tested last year could not read or do math at grade level.” We ignore the other variables that add to the failings of these schools and students. If one were to examine the location of these schools that are expected to be reformed, it would be apparent that these schools are located in low-income neighborhoods. If one were to examine the racial composition of these schools, specifically Vaux Roberts High School which is mentioned in the article, one would realize that the majority of students attending this school are of African American descent. According to supportive information gathered through research, it also appears that 95 percent of the students at this particular high school receive free and/or reduced lunch. Add all of these factors up and it should be noted that beneath this article are greater issues that the rehiring of teachers and remodeling the system cannot do; structural macro changes need to take place. Schools located in low-income neighborhoods typically have low amounts of funding and resources because of the class system in that neighborhood since local property taxes help with the funding of schools. Overall there is a cumulative disadvantage for these students that we can realize once the nation realizes how poverty deeply oppresses children especially those in African American neighborhoods. Education is very detrimental in a child's development but issues of race, gender and class cannot be ignored as they may inhibit or promote the child's development.
House
ReplyDeleteYoung girls need tools to avoid 'perfect body' pitfalls
Jessica Fehrenbacher
CourierPress.com
February 23, 2010
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/feb/23/young-girls-need-tools-to-avoid-perfect-body/
Cooley-
Young women are exposed to the images of the “ideal woman” everyday. This woman is a size 0, tall, and seems to have no flaws to her. Every day, teens around the world strive to reach this “perfect” look. In this article the author talks about girls not eating the right food to stay healthy. Only 7 percent of girls eat their five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. Every day more and more girls are turning to plastic surgery to better themselves. When the average teenager looks in the mirror they see at least one flaw to themselves and in some cases numerous flaws. When walking down the street a girl can feel self conscious. Cooley’s Looking Glass is being witnessed almost every moment of the day. “I am what I think you think I am”. Sadly according to this article these teens are flawed in every way. They seem to not have a single attractive attribute to them. If one of these young girls have ever received a negative look from anyone then they are putting Cooley’s notion to use. These girls are viewing themselves through, what they believe to be, the eyes of others. They only see the bad, and something needs to be done to change it.
Penny
ReplyDeleteTextbooks That Professors can Rewrite Digitally
Motoko Rich
The New York Times
February 21, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/media/22textbook.html?ref=technology
The increasing rationalization of the modern life continues. A textbook company has opened up that is allowing professors to digitally rewrite their textbooks. The spirit of capitalism in our profit oriented world has shown up once again. This is just yet another technology allowing the large bureaucratic organization that is the textbook company to fulfill the ethos of earning more and more money.
The company that has started this venture, Macmilan, is one of the largest publishers of textbooks. They are very likely attempting to increase their efficiency. Allowing professors to edit their textbooks through the internet is faster and more efficient than republishing and reprinting paper copies of these books. It requires less time and resources meeting all the requirements of maximum efficiency. What’s more, the companies of our modernized rational world put a great emphasis on calculability. Quality is not nearly as important as is quantity. Although printed textbooks may be considered to be of a higher quality, quantity increases when textbooks are online and the amount that can be produced is basically infinite.
The professors that write the books may also upload their syllabus online, as well as class notes and other relevant materials. This allows their students to find everything for their class in a predictable place. This is yet another illustration of the increasing rationalization of modern society.
Students will probably appreciate the cheaper price of textbooks which will come about because of this. And they may appreciate the fact that they can order books online and read them on their computers, their iphones and the like. But one has to wonder, if they will feel trapped in this world of technology. Will they miss the simpler days of paper textbooks?
Some publishers are concerned about professors being able to edit individual paragraphs and even sentences. This is probably because of the fact that in our rationalized world, people like to have a level of control over certainties and if professors can change textbooks once they have already been published, this control is gone. Modern Civilization and the everlasting search for greater wealth has no doubt inspired this company and this venture.
1. Gecko
ReplyDelete2. Trans Figure: Should Sex-change Surgery Be Tax-deductible?
3. William Saletan
4. Slate.com
5. February 16, 2010
6. http://www.slate.com/id/2244817?obref=obinsite
Cooley
Rhiannon O’Donnabhain is the perfect example of the impact of the looking-glass self. Born a male, she imagined people viewed her as a male and her self-feeling to this was one that initiated a drastic change. She underwent sexual reassignment surgery to alter her physical appearance to be more in tune with her sense of self. Perhaps a more significant change, relevant to the looking-glass self, is that she also engaged in hormone therapy and cosmetic surgery to further feminize herself. These procedures were done so that she could “pass” as a female and no longer be judged as a transsexual.
Cooley’s concept of sympathetic introspection was demonstrated by the tax court that tried her case against the IRS. Rhiannon tried to write off her surgery and other procedures on her taxes as medical expenses and the IRS took her to court. The IRS argued that the procedures were not medical and therefore should not be written off. Rhiannon and her lawyers argued that the need to have a coherent social and personal identity represents a significant medical disorder, in this case Gender Identity Disorder (GID). The tax court considered the situation and mentally put themselves in her position. Taking this sympathetic approach led to their decision that the procedures could be written off as medical expenses. Although this is a somewhat controversial decision, because it opens the door to people trying to write off nose jobs and Botox as medical procedures, the willingness of the court to use sympathetic introspection led to a just decision about a sensitive issue.
1. Enfinity
ReplyDelete2. Toyota president says recall-hit firm “grew too fast”
3. BBC
4. BBC News
5. February 23, 2010
6.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8529950.stm
Weber:
It is true that we live in a society dominated by the rational and hierarchical authority of large bureaucracies and profit oriented capitalism. The Toyota car company proves this with the many car recalls and tragic accidents that were caused by faulty parts in the cars. The company relied too heavily on efficiency. They found an optimal method that required the least amount of time and maybe even resources for creating as many cars as there were demands for them. In rushing to produce many cars very quickly the workers/company overlooked their control over uncertainties. The cars may not have been tested for safety issues thoroughly which may have caused the overlooked faulty accelerator pedals, accelerator pedals getting stuck in floor mats, and problems with brakes. Measures weren’t taken to ensure that things happened as prescribed. Toyota’s cars are known for being dependable and safe and this is because their older models last a long time with minimal problems. Toyota’s president Akio Toyoda stated that the firm's growth "may have been too quick". He added that "priorities became confused" as the carmaker grew. The company was too concerned with calculability. They wanted to produce a lot of cars so that the company would continue to thrive and make more money at the expense of the safety of their customers.
Buckley
ReplyDelete“March of the Robo Chief-Mechanized Cooks Invade the Kitchen”
Ian Daly
New York Times
2/23/10
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/dining/24robots.html?pagewanted=1&ref=technology
Weber-
Robots have become the prime example of the ever-increasing levels of the rationalization of society. Robots increase efficiency, predictability, and calculability. Any product manufactured by robotics can be produced at a much faster pace than humans. We have seen the evidence of this in our history, over and over again. There is less room for error when using robotics, and exact numbers of products can be easier to calculate. But, for the most part, robots and robotic machines have been confined to assembly-line work. Though this has obviously taken jobs away from humans, it has become an accepted fact, and does not seem to create too much of an outcry.
But, with this new approach to robotics, robots will not be confined to assembly line work. At Carnegie Mellon University, professors and students are working on a robot called the ‘Snackbot.’ The Snackbot is an example of a new kind of robot that cook. While they cook, researchers study the interaction between human beings and machines. Scientists believe that through this new function, robots will become more ‘humanized,’ making humans more comfortable with the idea of robots in every day life.
Researchers believe that this new approach is moving away from the idea that robots are just a way to do everything efficiently, and that they are taking human’s places. But, this only proves our inability to escape from this iron cage of rationality. They can mask the increasing rationalization and disenchantment behind the fact that they are trying to make robots act more ‘human,’ but that will never change the fact they are not human. If they are not there to take a human’s job or place in the kitchen, why do they exist?
HalfPint
ReplyDeleteTo Impress, Tufts Applicants Turn to YouTube
New York Times
Tamar Lewin
February 22,2010
www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/education/23tufts.html
Cooley:
As part of their new application process, Tufts University is now allowing prospective students to submit YouTube videos to supplement their applications. The YouTube videos give students the opportunity to express themselves in a creative way and to impress admissions officers. In creating the videos, the students will have to consider how to impress the admissions officers. They will deliberate over what they think the officers want to see, what will make them stand out in the eyes of the officers, and what will show their ability to succeed at Tufts University. Less important in deciding what the content of the video should contain will be the desire to express their true selves. The applicants will be considering what they will look like in the videos they make from the eyes of the admissions officers. They are therefore what others perceive them to be. Over the years, they have modified themselves according to how they thought they were being perceived by others, and their selves are a product of these accumulated perceptions. This looking-glass self will determine the contents of the Tufts applicants' YouTube videos because they have learned throughout the years what is expected of them and what college admissions officers want from an applicant.
woohoo
ReplyDeleteEvidence that little touches do mean so much
Benedict Carey
NY times
Fed. 22 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html
Mead,
Non verbal communication is a very significant part of society. it is basically communicating with using words. It seems that it would be rater hard to du such a thing, but if one thinks about it a bit further, one will realize that this is the first way we learn how to communicate. We have a "conversation of gestures". We, as infants converse, not by using words, but practically everything else. We will cry to get the food we want, we will smile when we are happy, or someone is just making "significant gestures" at us; meaning making the baby noises back to us, attemping to communicate with the infants. In this artical the game of basketball is looked observed to see if the insignificant touches are actually a big part in winning the game. Ofcourse it would be absurd to say that all wone need to be good at basket ball is a pat on the back and a high five evernow and then, but it does prove that touch, as well as gestures releave the stress involved in playing in an nba game. And since the stress is reduced by the encouraging gestures and touches, the player is now able to focus much more on the game at hand. This leads me to think about what it is that the basketball players get stressed about. I would have to say that it is the "generalized other". Each member on the team is assigned a position they are to play. The player want to do the best at his position he possibly can. The "me" of each player is looking at himself as an object. An object in the game that want to impress the generalized other. The generalized other includes the team members, coach, fans, referees, critics, culture, family, community. the list could go on and on. My theories about gestures as well as generalized other were proven in this artical, eventhought it may not have been the intention the this artical. And i would have to agree that touch and gestures do mean alot.
1. Apple
ReplyDelete2. King Tut Felled By Injury And Malaria, Not Murder
3. Neal Conan and Dr. Howard Markel
4. NPR
5. February 16, 2010
6. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123775555&ft=1&f=1007
It has recently been discovered that the most infamous ancient Egyptian pharaoh suffered from a great list of ailments, as discussed in this news interview. King Tutankhamun, known as King Tut to many, was not only a royal king in his society, but also a very sick man. As described by Dr. Markel in this National Public Radio interview, King Tut suffer from a bone disorder (most probably influenced by inbreeding), which result in a cleft pallet and distorted clubbed foot. King Tut most certainly experienced what I call “double consciousness.” His identity was separated into the very sick, pitied sick man and the outstanding pharaoh.
His physical appearance and health would be considered less than normal. Imagine a man looking physically in pain with unusual mouth with cleft pallet, dragging his bummed leg while he walks across the room with the aid of a cane. There is no doubt that his identity was defined by his health.
In stark contrast to a pitied, ill man, King Tut was worshiped as pharaoh of his society. He was the most prestigious and important people in his society according to his royal title. As one might imagine, it must have been hard for him to reconcile these two identities in his day-to-day life; he must be respected as king, yet was almost always in pain as an extremely ill person. He lived his life with this double consciousness; a less-than, sick man and the great pharaoh.
-W.E.B. DuBois
Muffin
ReplyDeleteEvidence that Little Touches Do Mean So Much
Benedict Carey
New York Times
February 22, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html
“The most primitive form of interaction involves gestures.” (Ritzer, p 58) Each gesture performed by one person to another usually contains some kind of specific meaning. Touch can now be included in the list of gestures a person can perform. One can figure out what another person means simply by looking into the little touches they give that person. A touch can show love, it can show support, or it can show hostility. Touch, along with gestures, are what separates humans from lower animals, because the touch and gestures normally have a hidden meaning associated with it. In this article, it says that people build relationships with others specifically to help with problem solving. People create relationships with the generalized other to gain acceptance in order to be able to help solve problems together. Now, not only do gestures and significant symbols help create these relationships between people, so do touches, no matter how little or insignificant they may be. Little touched do, in fact, carry big meaning and can lead to its own form of nonverbal communication.
1. CKES
ReplyDelete2. To Impress, Tufts Prospects Turn to YouTube
3. Tamar Lewin
4. New York Times
5. February 23rd, 2010
6. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/education/23tufts.html
Cooley
The college application essay is used as a means to gain insight into the persona of an applicant. As a result, applicants put forth their best effort to present themselves in the best way possible that will gain them admission to the university that they applied to. TUFTS University is adding a new dimension to their application, allowing applicants to submit videos of them selves. The applicants that submit these videos are not simply putting themselves on display for the admissions officers, but are instead selling themselves to be worthy of admission into the university. To these applicants, the way the admissions officers perceive their video is of the upmost importance because it is this perception that will determine whether or not they get accepted.
Every action, thought, and word in the videos is constructed with the admissions officers in mind. As a result, the videos are most likely to be that of what they think the officers want to see rather than a true presentation of their selves. For example, an applicant that sees them selves as very shy and socially mal adjusted would try to hide these characteristics in their video. Instead, they will try to portray themselves in a manner that they believe the officers will perceive as attractive. Ultimately, the applicants will either be proud or disappointed in their videos dependant upon their decision letters. Those who get accepted will be proud of themselves because their acceptance is proof of a positive receptivity of their video. Those who get rejected may be disappointed in themselves whether or not their video was good. If an applicant were to submit the most impressive video in the world, it would mean nothing to that applicant if the admissions officers at TUFTS didn’t agree.
1. Loveme
ReplyDelete2. To Impress, Tufts Prospects Turn to YouTube
3. Tamar Lewin
4. The New York Times
5. February 22, 2010
6. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/education/23tufts.html
Mead,
Around the same time ever year millions of high school seniors are putting their best foot forward, and selling themselves to the colleges of their choice. Usually this is done by essays, transcripts, applications, and letters of recommendation. This year, one particular university decided to add a little twist to the formal application process. Tufts University, decided to allow students to express themselves through one minute videos uploaded onto YouTube.
Writing is one way to express yourself, but being able to see an applicant through video allows you to connect with the applicant by putting a face with a name, and a way to get to know the applicant. The only way to get to know a person and see what goes on inside their brain and mind, is by observing the social act. The way a person communicates socially can tell an observer a lot about that person. The applicants to Tufts University use these YouTube videos to communicate with the admissions committee, and show the admissions committee how they interact on a daily basis. Who a person is, emerges through social experience, activity, and communication, and these applicants are allowed to actually express this other than on a piece of paper. Who you are is more than just a psychological entity; it is a matter of communication and social activity. Mr. Coffin an admissions officer stated that these YouTube videos are "all about a conversation between a kid and an admissions officer," these videos are "transparent" of who the applicant is.
Sting
ReplyDeleteCome On, Get Happy. It May Help Your Heart.
Nadja Popovich
NPR. Research News
February 19, 2010
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come_on_get_happy_it_may_prote.html
Mead:
This article about the possioble relation between happiness and the risk of heart disease made me think of Mead and his thought on “the self.” The article explains hypotheses and studies done with connectiong illness and positivity, meaning, that the more positive a person lives his/her daily life, the less prone they are to illness, high bloodpressure, and heart disease. I thought of Mead’s “self” components; the “I” and “me.” When the generalized other diagnoses a person with some sort of illness, the first response of that person is a “I” thought. “Woe is me.” The second response is through the “me.” “What did I do wrong,” ‘how could I have prevented this,” “how can I fix it?” The studies mentioned in the article explain that at risk people for heart disease were studied for a 10 year period, and positivity was measured by point levels. Some participants did indeed have heart attacks or other cardiac episodes, but those with higher recorded levels of positivity had a higher record of no attacks. If humans could be more positive in our daily “me” and “I” internal conversations, making the likely hood of good health more attainable, it should be done. No one wants to be around a gouchy, sickly ball of bad energy, which is what the generalized other will see and judge. The happiness of our “selves” should emanate from the many identies we claim throughout the day and week, which in turn influences the generalized other and passes on the good energy which may ultimately improve all of our self health's; mental and physical.
casper
ReplyDeleteThe Olympics Sap-o-Meter: Mothers and daughters on Ice
Authors: Josh Levin, Jenny Rogers, Jeremy Singer-Vine, and Chris Wilson
Source: Slate
February 24, 2010
http://www.slate.com/id/2245653/?from=rss
Mead:
This article discusses the personal tragedies surrounding Olympic competitors, specifically that of Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette. Joannie's mother passed away suddenly this past weekend days before her daughter was set to take the ice. Through her grief Joannie managed to give an outstanding performance landing herself in the top three. Joannie was able to overcome her emotion by using the idea of reflexivity. Reflexivity is the ability for one to put themselves in others places, to think as they think, and to act as they act (Ritzer 60). The ability of reflexivity allowed Joannie to think of what her mother would have wanted her to do by adopting the standpoint of her mother's view. Despite the heavy grief Joannie faced she knew in her heart that her mother would have wanted her to skate and not give up on the opportunity. It is clear that Joannie has mastered the I and was completely in the present, in the moment, while giving her performance. Immediately following her performance Joannie was practicing the me when she let the emotions and tears flow thinking about the incredible performance she had just given while her mother's passing weighed heavy on her mind. The generalized other, the audience in the arena, as well as the entire Canadian community would have been just as proud of Joannie had she not given a miraculous performance. This article shows the true character of Olympians as being more than amazing athletes, but also having the power to control their thoughts and channel their emotions even in the toughest of times.
1.Theriff
ReplyDelete2. “Come on, get happy. It may help your health
3. Nadja Popovich
4. NPR
5. 2/19/2010
6. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come_on_get_happy_it_may_prote.html
The NPR article “Come On now, get happy …” says that having a positive outlook on life and being a happy person in general will reduce your chance of a heart attack. Reducing your stress in life and learning how to ignore those hurdles will help your overall health. After you get past the quick fix possibility that looking on the bright side of things makes you live longer, this article is indirectly biased and not saying much. Not all but most people’s outlook on life is, in the end, related to socioeconomic status. Yeah, maybe you’ve about the lonely rich man or the poor man who is just fine with life, but this article makes happiness sound like a choice. To an extent it is, but for minorities living in poverty and especially the average black man trying to survive and deal with racism this is not true.
Also, this article openly admits that the research completed didn’t test/study any variables related with stress or anxiety, but that doesn’t mean you can ignore these things. You can go a different direction with a study, but don’t exclude obvious, important factors. Despite the illusion that everybody has equal access and everybody is equal, the majority of people living in the crowded, noisy, ghetto trying to make ends meet are unfortunately, black people. With these facts at hand, one smart sociological thinker should realize that a higher proportion of black people are going to be living with higher amounts of stress while a lower proportion of white people are going to be living with high stress.
Not only do a high proportion of black people live in the ghetto, but also the double consciousness of looking through the eyes of the average white men creates more stress because you can’t be as individualistic as you want to be. This is article is an example of how a black person must practice this double consciousness. If looking through the eyes of the white person one would think that this article encourages having a positive outlook on life, but with double consciousness for a black man you can look deep and see how it excludes them in this article indirectly.
-WC Dubois
SongBird
ReplyDeleteOlive Garden, Red Lobster Lead Darden's Push to Green Restaurants
By GreenerBuildings Staff
Published February 23, 2010
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2010/02/23/olive-garden-red-lobster-lead-dardens-push-greenrestaurants?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Greenbuzz+%28GreenBiz+Feed%29
Weber:
This article talked about how Darden Restaurants which includes the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and LongHorn Steakhouse dining facilities are in an initiative to go “Green”. They are going by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, also known as LEED standards to develop restaurants that will essentially be eco-friendly. The buildings will contain things like recycled building materials, more natural light usage, and new heating system techniques. When examining this social phenomenon of everyone intentionally trying to go “Green” we see how society is moving from a traditional rationality, where things were done based on the ways things have been done habitually to a more formal rationality approach. Before and even as we speak we have restaurants competing do be the best and make the most revenues by being more extravagant and in many ways a lot more wasteful and destructive to not just the environment but to people as well. In the four characteristics of formal rationality that I describe we see each one clearly in this current move of Darden Restaurants initiative to be eco-friendly. We see calculability in the eco-friendly elements of the restaurant’s design and construction. In the article it mentioned how new LED light bulbs would be installed which uses only 7 watts of energy and could last possibly 50,000 hours in comparison to other bulbs. When it comes to efficiency the new system will have a new method of expelling heat around the restaurants. The predictability will be in the everyday use of each of these operations and the control over uncertainties will come from the LEED standards. I think this new move will be interesting.
Cloud 123
ReplyDeleteEvidence That Little Touches Do Mean So Much
Benedict Carey
nytimes.com
February 22, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/23/health/23mind.html
Mead:
The author of this article stipulates that recent research shows the importance of physical contact as a more telling form of communication, even over language and gestures. A psychology professor was quoted as saying that this physical contact is the first language humans learn, and it will remain throughout human life as the most expressive form of communication. A study conducted on touch concluded that when someone is touched, hormones are release which reduce stress; in turn, the brain relaxes and relieves the stress of problem solving. The researchers took this as an indication that relationships are built on the basis of distributing problem solving, so that when people touch they share the load of solving daily issues.
Among my prominent theories of action, play and game stage theory, and my theory of the self, I also strongly believe in the importance of gestures and significant symbols in the maturation of the self. Gestures serve as a basic form of interaction between people, and conversation of gestures are mindless reactors to a gesture by another person. This form of gesture is instinctual in us as human beings, and it may be that some sort of human contact, such as physical proximity and a touch of a loved one, may illicit this innate response to allow our brain to release stress and espouse happiness and trust. Although I do place great importance on significant gestures, as these are the type that are vocal and strictly done by humans, gestures, whether vocal or nonvocal, are extremely important in understanding the human race and the way our minds work. Nonverbal communication, such as body language and conversation of gestures, are very telling for all living beings. It is only humans however, that can engage in significant gestures in which thought is required before a response can be made on behalf of the self. These concepts of gestures and significant symbols, and even the mind, help make the self complete.
1. Scribe
ReplyDelete2. US school district spied on students through webcams, court told
3. Daniel Nasaw
4.The Guardian (UK)
5. 2/19/10
6. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/19/schools-spied-on-students-webcams
Weber
It certainly would seem irrational for a school district to remotely activate webcams in computers to "spy" on their students, especially considering that the entire program was a secret known only to the district, but upon close inspect we can see that it is in fact rationality to the extreme. I hesitate to use the term "distasteful extreme," for I would rather not betray my own values in my analysis. How can we see this school district's actions as the result of rationality? It is simple. Rationality is of course composed of four main components: calculability, efficiency, predictability, and control over uncertainties. Let us take into consideration the words of self-defense from the school district itself before proceeding with our analysis: "In a letter posted on the school district's website, McGinley said the district had installed on the laptops a security feature that allowed the webcam to photograph the computer operator in the event the laptop is lost or stolen." So what we have is an innovative idea - if a thief steals a laptop, the property owners (the district) will use the technology itself against him. In practice, though, this was the result: "The ruse was revealed when Blake Robbins, a student at Harriton high school, was hauled into the assistant principal Lindy Matsko's office, shown a photograph taken on the laptop in his home and disciplined for "improper behaviour"." Rather than reacting to criminal theft of computers, the technology was being used to enforce school regulation while the students were on their own time. How do the district's actions stem from rationality? First is predictability. The laptops represent quite the investment of the part of the school, and if there is uncertainty as to where the computer is, or who is in possession of it, then their program soles that problem. Secondly we see the control over this uncertainty. Not only can the school predict where the computer is / who has it, they can use this technology to control that uncertainty by bringing a litany of charges against any potential thief, with electronic proof. Finally, we come to efficiency; we must simply ask ourselves what is more efficient - filing a police report of a stolen laptop and hope to one day see it again, or access the laptop's info to see exactly who has it and where. The answer should be obvious to any thinking adult. Now these ideas, while innovative and possibly even noble on their own, were clearly perverted for different uses by the school district, They become swept up in the terrible efficiency of their system, and threw up the bars of the iron cage of rationality. This is the type of choice that faces us in so many places in our society.
1. Aaron
ReplyDelete2. Lack of black academics lamented
3. Cajphus Kgosana
4. IOL: News for South Africa and the World
5. February 24, 2010
6. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=105&art_id=vn20100224073336621C333254
As a Black, Southern woman, I can understand the situation that is occurring within the educational system of South Africa. Even though the demographics of South Africa’s institutions of higher education have shifted dramatically from being predominantly White to predominantly Black, students are still feeling discriminated against and feel as if they are in an unwelcoming environment. There is also an effect of gender occurring, such that women are not feeling as welcomed in institutions of higher education either.
As a Black woman, I can understand both perspectives and am in a unique position to comment on these events. In order for the climate to change in South African schools, women of color must help their peers to rise up and succeed. Those women of color who have been successful and have endured such an unwelcoming atmosphere need to help other black women who are trying to be just as successful.
As a woman, I understand how men force us to take on roles that do not promote our education. This has been the traditional thought of men in America, and I believe it is a thought that occurs in countries and continents across the globe. As an African-American, I understand how White elitists try to prevent Black people from succeeding and gaining power. This was true in America, and is especially true in today’s South Africa. As a holder of a doctorate, I understand that academia can place limits on Black women. But Black women must continue to support each other in the pursuit of education. As Black women gain higher education, the entire population of Black people will benefit.
Anna Cooper
sweetmay
ReplyDeleteNAACP chooses successor to Chairman Julian Bond
Samira J. Simone
CNN
February 19, 2010
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/02/19/naacp.leadership/index.html
Cooper:
An African-American woman, Roslyn Brock was selected to be the NAACP Vice Chair that seat has been left by Julian Bond. She has already made a bright history before, because she was the youngest and first women to get the job as vice chair of the NAACP National Board of Directors at the age of 35. She said that NAACP is most concerned about individuals who are vulnerable in American society and they will be a strong advocate for them.
Around my age, it was extremely difficult for black women to get any higher positions like chairman as Roslyn Brock succeed. We suffered for both racial and sexual discrimination all the time. However, I believed that black women possessed immense moral power and they sought to wield throughout their history. We, black women are in quite unique position that sometimes being as blacks and women to white Americans, sometimes being as women to black men, and some other times being as just individuals for our self.
I am sure she is a right person to listen to the voice of people what they really need. I believed that it is important duty for successful and educated black women to support other underprivileged people and lead them success. As a president Obama said in his speech, "the pain of discrimination is still felt in America," there are still great numbers of people suffering for lots of different types of discrimination. I hope that she will not revolt from looking at the matrix of domination and make a great progress to remove those barriers to become a better society.
Babydoll
ReplyDeletePsychiatrists call for end to 'glamorising' of eating disorders
Nick Collins
Telegraph Media Group: telegraph.co.uk
2/22/10
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7291425/Psychiatrists-call-for-end-to-glamorising-of-eating-disorders.html
Cooley:
Decades ago, Americans would have never dreamed of a generation that would aspire an eating disorder to increase their self-image or self-esteem. Now-a-days, the unthinkable has become a reality. One of the many factors that are believed to be held partially responsible for this relatively new epidemic is the fascination young adults have with celebrities. Young women have become obsessed with celebrity lives which can affect their ability to make their own decisions, to view themselves with a healthy mindset and lead a healthy lifestyle. The influence of intense admiration or focus on celebrities can drastically affect young females self-esteem and body image. The media flaunts celebrity lifestyles in a positive light, rarely showing the negative side, which is still hidden with a somehow flawless sugar coating. As a result, young female’s perception of beauty is skewed, especially when they are judging their own body. Their reaction to this can be very dangerous to their health. Social norms for these young females change for the worse and drift away from what is usually more socially acceptable. Young females will go to great lengths to fit in with ways they feel is acceptable. This will greatly affect their views and opinions on self-image which will destroy their self-esteem. Young females also tend to compare their facial features to ones of celebrities. Most of these girls do not know that these celebrities have professional makeup artists and “photoshop” for their every need. Girls who are affected by this illusion do not realize that perfection is unattainable and they end up hurting themselves in the process of trying to achieve it.
Wolverine
ReplyDelete“Fearing Obama Agenda, States Push to Loosen Gun Laws
By: Ina Urbina
The New York Times
February 24, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/us/24guns.html
:Weber:
I always knew it would be a good idea for me to conduct intensive research pertaining to the sociology of politics and government. Many people do not believe but I honestly believe that there are three pure types of political leadership, domination and authority. The three types of leadership are traditional, charismatic, and legal domination. From my research, I discovered that charismatic domination is leadership that rests upon the exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained solely by that individual. The traditional style of leadership is expressed by the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely tied to tradition or custom. And legal domination is a form of leadership in where the authority of an organization or a ruling regime is largely ted to legal rationality, legal legitimacy and bureaucracy.
From years of observation, I have concluded that the leadership of the United States of America consists of a mixture of the three types of leadership. In an article titled, “Fearing Obama Agenda, States Push to Loosen Gun Laws”, the author explains how gun rights advocates believed that once Barack Obama was elected into the presidential office, they would be stripped of their guns and ammunition. But in fact, President Obama took a different approach to their assumptions. In fact, President Obama has not spoken of any related issues and has allowed the states to engage in a new and largely successful push for expanded gun rights. State representatives are even passing measures that have been rejected in the past.
This article clearly exemplifies all three types of leadership. Although President Obama is our nation’s president and an individual, there is a possibility that he could use a charismatic form of leadership because the overall decision is solely dependent upon him. If he has credibility upon his fellow state representatives, he could possible have the power to take full authority. The article also exudes traditional leadership when the author explains that in the past gun rights advocates were not granted such rights as President Obama are granting them. The rights that President Obama is granting appear to deviate from the norm, so this means that there is a traditional or custom style of ruling. Legal domination is presented in this article when the author explains how the states representations have to make the decisions for their jurisdiction due to high shooting rates and national massacres that have occurred on our nation’s college campuses.
1- Cronus
ReplyDelete2- Health Insurance Executive Defends Higher Premiums
3- By ROBERT PEAR
4- New York Times
5- February 24, 2010
6- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/health/policy/25health.html?hp
Weber..
I woke this morning like any other day and did my regular morning routine. As I read this morning online column from the New York Times, I sat down and had breakfast. While I was eating my delicious biscuits, I found this one article that was very amusing. The article is titled, Health Insurance Executive Defends Higher Premiums, and it is by a writer named Robert Pear. Before I give you my thoughts on the matter, let me tell you a little bit about the article.
It would appear that there is an ongoing issue pertaining to our current healthcare system, its providers and customers. The problem is going as far as to needing government regulation. It seems that the health insurance executives met with a Congressional committee earlier today and had a debate over high insurance premiums. The executives feel that it is necessary to raise the insurance premium because of the increase in the healthcare cost, which makes sense to me because it is the rational thing to do.
The Congressional committee feels that the cost of insurance premiums will be too high and people will not be able to afford it. One circling solution that the Congressional committee announced was providing government regulation for the people to be able to afford quality insurance.
My issue with this article is that each side is proposing a rational decision. However, they seem to be missing the bigger picture. We live in a society full of rational people. We must be practical. The current reactive healthcare system seems to be failing. Instead of just throwing more money into the issue, which might just make things worse in the long run, why not just change the system. Other countries emphasizes on a preventive healthcare system which seems to be working out. I feel that if they really wanted to save money they should consider changing the system.
It is a clear logic.
StudentA
ReplyDeleteCome On, Get Happy. It May Help Your Heart
Nadja Popovich
NPR
February 19, 2010
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come_on_get_happy_it_may_prote.html
Mead:
Mead:
Heart Disease is a major health issue in today’s society. After reading this article, I immediately started thinking about my ideas of self and developmental stages. Aligning with my theory, during the play stages researchers predicted that humans are less likely to be susceptible to heart disease if they refrain from stress and stay happy. Researchers speculate that happiness reduces anxiety and stress which perpetuate health problems. Moving to my game stage theory, researchers announce their beliefs on happiness and heart disease to public. Then researchers conduct a study on middle age (46yr old age range) for ten years to prove their assumptions of how happiness affects others. This article dicusses ways in which the self can minimize their health problems by first recognizing the problem through the play stage, then taking preventative steps through the play stage. It is important that the self recognize how this research affects them.
october
ReplyDeleteStudy: Costly Health Care Not Necessarily Best
Robert Siegal
NPR
February 22, 2010
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123979339&ft=1&f=1024
Weber:
Health care has become a very intense topic in discussion. Many people believe that hospitals have a form of rationality that gets patients in, fix whatever the problem(s) may be, and get them out the doors as soon as possible. Room numbers become the patients’ identification, making it easier for doctors and nurses to follow and keep track of. Though a hospital is considered a place to treat injuries and the like, it constantly has people coming in, making it harder to find room for everyone. Efficiency to help the patients needs to be done in order for them to leave while making more room for others that come in. This is a constant process that happens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The waiting rooms have become pretty much a hassle, a standard procedure that patients must go through in order to see someone if not coming straight from a gurney on an ambulance. The waiting rooms can also be considered a control over uncertainty. A person must wait their turn in line and fill out forms before being able to see someone, whether it be a nurse or even a doctor. While hospitals do try their best to help the sick and injured, they can be viewed as part of an institution that has rational qualities.
However, it has been thought that the less money a person has to pay for hospital care, the lower quality care they receive because of it. That may not necessarily be the whole truth according to Dr. Lena Chen, a clinical lecturer at the University of Michigan Health System. It all depends on the situation. 2 people having the same surgery may end up getting two very different bills. The cost of staying there along with other procedures may be one of the reasons for price difference. While going along with efficiency, if a person goes through the procedure and everything goes well, the hospital will be able to dismiss them, exchanging out for a new patient, as opposed to another that may need additional things done. A hospital should be a place where patients can go to get treated because of their sickness or injuries, and not based how much they have in their pockets.
tweak
ReplyDelete"Celebrate Valentine's Day by helping men stop violence."
Alex Knight
The End of Capitalism
February 14, 2010
http://endofcapitalism.com/2010/02/14/celebrate-valentines-day-by-helping-men-become-less-violent/
Cooley:
This article reviews a book entitled "Men's Work: How to stop the violence that tears our lives apart." In this book, the author Paul Kiev attempts to expose the self-perpetuating system of violence created by men and their need to act in certain ways because they feel that society has prescribed the male role. The author provides an "Act like a man box", which ultimately displays the idea of 'I am what I think you think I am'. This box equates the societal expectations for men with the interpretation that men understand that societal expectation to be. For example, the left column says 'men: a) have no emotions and b) don't cry. For men, they understand these actions to display many emotional qualities, such as a) being responsible and b)being tough, respectively. The author of this book uses the 'act like a man box' to show that what men think people think of them actually perpetuates their seemingly violent, disconnected, and unemotional disposition in the world. All men are 'trained' to act a certain way, and they know that if they step outside the boundaries of the 'man box' that they will ultimately be punished by some form of ridicule, scorn, or homosexual accusations, which is the reason that men hardly stray from the prescribed form of action. This self perpetuation can also be described by the idea of the looking-glass self. This concept, in application to this situation, would begin when a man imagines his appearance to other persons, and secondly, whether or not the other persons' reactions to his appearance are positive or negative. For example, if a man was crying in public and saw that other people were looking at him in a way that challenged his masculinity, he would stop crying in order to alter their perception of him, as well as to alter how he is feeling about himself. This man would go through all of the stages of the looking glass self while keeping in mind the rules of the 'act like a man box' in order to appease his feelings about his own appearance by altering his appearance to others.
Juice2135
ReplyDelete“The Watchers: Did Poindexter Really Believe the Total Information Awareness Program Would Have Protected Our Privacy?”
Patrick Radden Keefe
Slate
February 23, 2010
http://www.slate.com/id/2244908/entry/2244911/?from=rss
Summary:
In what amounts to a book review of Shane Harris’s The Watchers: The Rise of America’s Surveillance State,” Keefe focuses on the philosophical questions raised by the ambitions and work of John Poindexter and, “other scientists, spy bosses, and entrepreneurs who share his fixation with technical solutions to national security problems. Poindexter proposes the implementation of his Total Information Awareness (TIA) program as a form of preemptive and precautionary national security. TIA was designed to compile mass amounts of data and scan it for, “suspicious patterns of activity.” However, Poindexter acknowledges the possibility of invasion of citizens’ privacy and incorporates a system of self-policing that would not only require a judge-issued warrant, but that also tracks the activity of the analysts that operate TIA. Ultimately, however, Poindexter’s TIA proposal is deemed a “perfect storm for civil liberties,” and is denied.
Weber:
As is evident in Keefe’s analysis of The Watchers, society is constantly moving towards the inevitable iron cage of rationality. Already working within the confines of a bureaucratic system guided by rational-legal authority, our society will be constantly tempted to move towards an ever tightening grip of the iron cage, as industrial technology advances in leaps and bounds, resulting in the possibility for an increased control over uncertainties, efficiency, and, to some degree, predictability (note that calculability is beyond the scope of this article).
Applying verstehen to Keefe’s analyses of Poindexter and his like-minded colleagues, we will readily observe that they are not guided by the substantive rationality that opposes them, but, rather, that they apply a rigorous means-ends calculation to arrive at the proposal for TIA approval; that is, theirs is a formal rationality. As such, national security can be identified as their first priority, with citizens’ rights to privacy a close second, and while this does not mean that the right to privacy holds no significance to them, the basic values and emotions that would serve to switch these priorities (as occurs with the opposition) are deemed less deserving. The reasons for this are quite clear, as explained by my concept of means-ends rational action: Poindexter considers the threat to privacy less harmful than the threat to national security both because of the inherent utilitarian values involved and the (perhaps subconscious) view that of those who would pose such threats, it is the latter that are more malicious and demand immediate action (assessment of his environment).
Keefe summarizes his arguments, asserting that, “At heart, this issue always boils down to the clash between what technology enables and what our laws allow, and most of the watchers in The Watchers push the technical envelope and chafe at any statutory or constitutional constraint,” and I must say that this is a quite accurate assessment of society as it is influenced by the ever-tightening grip of formal rationality. Eventually, our society will be one in which Poindexter would see his TIA program go through debate and on to application.
1. JSCODE
ReplyDelete2. Come On, Get Happy. It May Help Your Heart
3. Nadja Popovich
4. SHOTS: NPR’s News Blog
5. 02/24/10
6. http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come_on_get_happy_it_may_prote.html
In the article, “Come On, Get Happy. It May Help Your Heart,” researchers determined participants’ positive attitude and coded it on a five-point scale, compared the results with an original analysis, and determined the happiness level of each participant. According to the article, it is determined that “happiness” decreases blood pressure which potentially reduces the risk of heart attack.
According to multiple theorists, James, Mead, and Cooley in particular, we play multiple roles that can be so automatic that we forget we are playing roles. James believed that the self is divided into four parts (social self); Cooley believed that people were more concerned with others’ opinions of themselves instead of placing concern upon what one might feel regarding self-feeling; Mead believed the self was a matter of communication and not psychology.
This article simply assesses the behavior displayed toward the researchers and is potentially not very reliable or accurate. All researchers managed to gather were reactions that participants wanted researchers to see. Mead, James, and Cooley would argue that these researchers could not possibly determine the risk of heart attack based upon sporadic behaviors. Also, researchers did not factor life situations or struggles into the determination of future health.
Davidson, the lead researcher of the studies, assessed “happiness – or positivity—“and coded evaluations for comparison later. These assessments are simply the perspective of the researcher and are biased. If Davidson saw a potential spark of positivity, Davidson might have evaluated a participant based on mere hope instead of accuracy. Cooley might ask Davidson how participants could properly be analyzed if these participants are secretly considering the researcher’s personal opinion while responding to inquiries. Mead might ask how a researcher would quantify results when considering the respondents’ communication instead of behavior or by psychological factors. James would most likely question which part of the observed “self” was analyzed and whether the results are then one-dimensional and therefore inaccurate.
Ultimately, the question to be asked is, “How accurate are results such as these and can someone’s happiness really be quantified?”
1. StudentB
ReplyDelete2. Decoding Limbaugh
3. Hendrik Hertzberg
4. The New Yorker
5. February 23, 2010
6. http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/hendrikhertzberg/2010/02/decoding-limbaugh.html
Rush Limbaugh exudes racist white stereotypes of African-Americans by referring to President Barack Obama's pronunciation of the word "ask" (seemingly pronounced as "ax") as "black dialect." Though, it was literally a slip of the tongue (as he actually pronounced it as "aksk" not "ax"), as Hertzberg points out, Limbaugh goes on to mock Obama's pronunciation, suggest the incorrect pronunciation was purposefully spelled that way, and speculate whether the President was trying to reach out to Reverend Jackson. Limbaugh intentionally perpetuates black stereotypes, ensuring a double consciousness for African-Amerians, even those at the forefront of mainstream American society.
For American society, the election of the first black president had a tremendous significance to many African-Americans, and Limbaugh's comments attempt to undermine the strides which the racial divide in society have taken, especially as a result of the election. Though Obama is economically, politically, and intellectually superior to the majority of the world (and those criticizing him), he still has stereotypes based arbitrarily on the color of his skin placed on him. Obama is a graduate of an Ivy League school and President of the United States, but double consciousness is even more unavoidable for him because of place in the media.
Private1
ReplyDeleteCome On, Get Happy. It May Help Your Heart
Nadja Popovich
NPR
2/19/2010
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/02/come_on_get_happy_it_may_prote.html
According to a recent study by the European Heart Journal, the more positive your outlook on life the less likely you are to have a heart attack. The logic resides in positivity's ability to resist cold and flu as well as decrease blood pressure. This experiment claims to have looked at 'happy' or 'positivity' levels as opposed to stress and anxiety. Yet this experiment was clearly carried out by someone with good health and standing. For starters, as the article even makes note of, the study didn't assess positivity's influence on health. Rather it just noted the correlation. In other words, an overall healthy individual will naturally have a more positive outlook as well as low chance of suffering from a heart attack because they lack the awareness of having an actual illness. Furthermore, the notion that we can improve our outlooks and get better health results is a ridiculous one if I have a serious health problem to begin with. How does one become happy at the idea of illness? That's like asking to be delighted by death. Similarly, this article must have been written by a white. The white man is free to be as he wishes, free of another consciousness--blackness, free of internal conflict and therefore at peace to be positive. Positivity is inclined to those favored by fortune, whether healthy or white. This double consciousness follows everywhere that there is stereotyping. How are we to mask and feign ourselves from what we are not? The favored don't have this worries. But the rest of us are conscious of pain and illness. We live with this sense of double-consciousness where our identity is divided into several facets. This sense of always looking at ourselves through the eyes of another. The twoness resides in being cheerful and fortunate, all the while suffering silently.
-WEB Dubois
Elephant
ReplyDelete'92 Olympian Yamaguchi balances road, family
Suzanne Riss
CNN.COM
2/23/2010
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/worklife/02/23/working.mother.olympics.yamaguchi/index.html?hpt=Sbin
Kristi Yamaguchi during the winter Olympics of 1992 was a name that many people knew. She was a young girl living in America that was working her way to the top. She was one of the best figure skaters in the world. But who is she really. She is a mother, and daughter, a wife, a figure skater, and Olympian, a hard worker. But she really is just a mixture of all of these things. She changes over time and she changes in the different situation she is part of. Other people influence she is and she influences who other people are. But she just that that a sum of all of her experiences. There is no one true Kristi Yamaguchi . She has had some sort of internal drive sense she has been very young and it has transformed her throughout her life. That drive is no longer there pushing her to be the best skater she could. She has a different kind of drive that now let her be a mother and wife. She toured for 10 years but this was not what she had wanted and who she was while training for the Olympics this has changed. She now was skating for the love of the sport. She is proof there is no one true self just how we interact with out circumstances!
JH1988
ReplyDeleteSeaWorld trainer dies in killer whale attack in Orlando
BBC News
February 25, 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8535618.stm
Mead
A trainer in Orlando was killed by an orca whale. The impulse is to be shocked and disgusted and feel like orca's are brutal man slaughtering mammals. The perception is to think that the trainer might have upset or offended the orca, or that the orca was some how agitated or angered, maybe even just hungry. With further manipulation spectators and eye witnesses are asked what they saw. Did perhaps the trainer appear to antagonize the killer whale? Did perhaps the whale demonstrate some sort of warning or signs of his strike? With even more internal reflection and external manipulation some other questions might arise such as: do orca whales play in this manner? was the orca frustrated with its surroundings? Was the orca just behaving in the manner in which it is naturally inclined to do? These questions do not necessarily lend themselves to consummation because they are difficult to answer, and would require knowledge of orca whale emotions and behaviors.
1. Smlongbb
ReplyDelete2. “Presentation to discuss stereotypes about black women.”
3. David Ugarte
4. The University Daily Kansan
5. February 19, 2010
6. http://www.kansan.com/news/2009/feb/19/womens_basketball/?news
WHO WANTS TO BE A SOCIAL THEORIST?
I see that in these times Black women still carry the weight of the world. The more education many of them are receiving, the more they are being degraded and exploited within the media. No one knows the fight that a black woman has to face, not only are we fighting ideas of inferiority and racism, but we are fighting people and stereotypes. The article made a great point that the main portrayal of the black women as being loud and vulgar. I agree with the ideology of the writer. As a black women and individual one should never substitute pretty accomplishments or the looking “pretty” for sound “common”sense and earnest purpose. One should and carry themselves always with respect and work hard, or in our case twice as hard. We can be heard in so many ways, in ways where we have to be heard and harkened to, and that is with our words in writings. But, often times to silence me I see media outlets portraying these negated images to shape and mold a concoction of who I should be. If I speak up and defend myself, I am seen as loud, obnoxious, and ruled unladylike. If I am curved like a winding road with full hips and lips, I am seen as unfit and unhealthy. If I have a child while not married, I am the presumed a deviant and a future welfare case. I guess, I should sit thin, pretty, and silent. Well, this I cannot do! As a Negro, I am irrepressible and will not to succumb to superficiality and stereotypes that negate me from common sense and earnest purpose.
- Anna Julia Cooper
Casper
ReplyDeleteThe Olympics Sap-O-Meter: Mothers and Daughters on Ice
Josh Levin, Jenny Rogers, Jeremy Singer-Vine, and Chris Wilson
Slate Magazine
February 24, 2010
http://www.slate.com/id/2245653/
Mead:
Joannie Rochette is a Canadian Olympic figure skater whose mother unexpectedly passed away days before Rochette was to take to the ice for her competition in the women's short program during the recent Winter Olympics in Toreno.
Joannie ended up giving an outstanding performance through her grief because she has learned the concept of self, the ability to take oneself as an object. Rochette demonstrated the basis of the self, reflexivity. Reflexivity allows ourselves to examine ourselves and what we do the same way that others would examine us. Joannie adopted her mother's standpoint and realized that her mother would not allow Joannie to give up on her Olympics dreams and would want her to skate for a medal.
Another concept of the self is the generalized other in which the individual is able to take the role and attitude of the entire community. This allows ourselves to evaluate ourselves from the point of view of an entire group, not just those of individuals. Joannie understood that the entire world watching those Olympics and knowing the circumstances surrounding her, would not be upset if she decided to forgo her skating and take time to grieve. However, Joannie's reflexivity of knowing that her mother would wish for her to stay and compete is ultimately what led Joannie to continue the competition despite her heavy grief.
During the time Joannie was giving her performance Joannie was doing the I, actively engaged in her skating. Most likely, Joannie was also doing the me at the same time and thinking of how she wished her mother was there to see one of her best performances of her life. At the end of her emotional performance Joannie said in french, "ceci etait pour vous ma mere". Meaning, "this was for you mother".
1. MickeyDOG
ReplyDelete2. GMA seeks pay hike for state workers.
Manila Standard
3. Joyce Pangco Panares
4. GooGLE aDS
5. December 28, 2006
6. http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-156435188/gma-seeks-pay-hike.html
From a Weber perspective we can see that the state workers are being rationalized by the social insitution that employees them. This rationalization takes place in the form a wages cut from the workers who rightly deserve them. By not recieveing their due amount these workers become alienated from themselves, from each other, and from work. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has asked Congress to enact a law increasing the base pay of some 1.2 million state workers by 10 percent and to implement the third phase of the Salary Standardization Law. He is the person who is fighting against this rationalization taking place because he knows the value of these worker's labor.