Sociology 119 is definitely one of the greatest classes I have ever taken and probably ever will take. What I like most about this class is that I will be able to use the lessons that I have learned for my whole life. In most classes you learn information that you only need to retain until the exams, but in this class you learn information that you can use your whole life. Sam knew how to make the class really enjoyable, and the way he thinks is just completely different than anyone else. It was always really awesome to hear his thoughts and views about a subject.
What I really liked about this class was learning about “taboo” subjects. So many questions were answered that I always wanted to ask but was too afraid to do it. I really liked Sam’s idea that we need to actually see the differences in people in order to actually get over them. Sam explained that that is the problem in this world. People don’t talk about race or disabilities, because they are afraid of offending someone, so they never become close with that person. This was probably one of my favorite lessons that I learned from this class. It made me realize that in order to grow, and become a better person you need to address the differences between people. Not in an ignorant or rude way, but actually have a conversation about them. It’s important to learn about races, cultures, and anything that is different from you. I believe that this is the way to become a better and more knowledgeable person. Since people are afraid to talk about different races we are just stuck in this weird, uncomfortable area of trying to be politically correct all the time. Maybe if people just understood that we need to talk about race there would not be as much racism in the world. This lesson, I believe, is the most valuable lesson Sam taught in the class.
Another lesson that sticks out in my mind was the lesson about free will and determinism. This lesson was not as profound as the lesson that I just talked about, but I still found it really interesting. It was just interesting to see how it’s combination of free will and determinism that leads people’s lives. It’s never one or the other.
The last thing that I really enjoyed about this class was the discussion groups. Since the actual class was so large, it was hard to actually to put in your input. The discussion group offered a safe place to ask your questions, and really learn about others. It was nice to have a place to talk about things that you normally wouldn’t talk about. Overall this class was really awesome, and one that I will not forget.

First off I just want to say that I really enjoyed Thursday’s lecture. Everything that Sam and Lori said about the world being male-centered is so true. I never have thought of it like that before but it definitely is. Not just only when it comes to sex, but I believe that the whole world is male-centered.
Going off of that thought, I do believe that women definitely dress for men. Not consciously, but it is definitely always in the back their minds. In our discussion on Wednesday we talked a little bit about this, and some people say that girls dress for other girls, and this may be somewhat true, but ultimately it leads back to men. Girls will ask other girls what they are wearing, because they don’t want to be the only girl wearing jeans at the party. So this may lead some people to believe that girls just dress to impress other girls. Actually I think no one wants to be the only one wearing jeans, because they don’t want men not to be attracted to them. So the underlying thought is that girls still want to look attractive for men. I think that some girls don’t even realize that they are dressing for men, but when you actually think about the whole situation, being attractive to men is the underlying reason.
I also definitely believe that the different clothes you wear attract different types of people. For example I have realized that on days when I dress nicer for class I definitely talk to more people. I think that people treat people differently based on what they are wearing, and people act differently based on what they are wearing. I have realized that when people dress nicely they seem to be more happy and confident, and that will draw people to them. Normally when people have sweats and a hoodie on they may not be in a good mood so they may not be giving off that same happiness or confidence. To add to this, I can definitely see a difference in the type of guys that talk to me based on what I’m wearing out on the weekend. If you wear a skirt and heels out the type of guys that will talk to you aren’t really quality guys. If you have jeans on the guys always seem to be a little nicer, and they are just a different type of person than the guys who talk to you if you wear a skirt.

On Tuesday’s class, Sam tried to explain that being homosexual is not the only sin in the bible. If you look through the bible there are actually many “sins” that will send you to hell, and many of these sins we commit every day. Some of the sins that Sam brought up were premarital sex, alcohol consumption, lying, and many other sins that most college students partake in. When these topics were brought up most of the class laughed, and brushed it off as a humorous topic. We all thought about it as something that was made up two thousand years ago, and it could not possibly be relevant in today’s world. When the topic of homosexuality was classified as a sin there was no more laughing, and suddenly everyone was more opinionated and serious.
I am not a person who believes that homosexual people are going to hell, but I think that I can see why it differs from the other sins that we talked about in class. Most of these other sins go along with social norms. Drinking alcohol, having premarital sex, and telling a white lie, are all actions that most of the people in America have done. These actions, I believe, have actually become social norms and because of this reason people do not believe that they are wrong. Unlike the other so-called sins, homosexuality is not a norm. Although in the past few decades more and more people have been coming out, and more and more people have become accepting of homosexuals, unfortunately it is still not the norm. So, like most differences, people are uncomfortable with homosexuality. I believe that this issue goes all the way back to our upbringing. As a child most of us are taught that girls play with dolls, boys play sports, boys like girls, and girls like boys. This is what we saw on TV and in all our books, so as a child we knew no different, and for some people they were teenagers before they met a homosexual person. And as unfortunate as it is, when some people come across something different, they find it strange and wrong. I believe that the scenario I just described is truer for our parents’ generation, rather than our own. Even though there are still some homophobes in this generation, I believe that more people are accepting of homosexuals than not. It more likely to see gay characters on television now, and most people I meet my age are very accepting of homosexuality. So maybe being homosexual is not seen as the norm now, but eventually I believe that it will be. If this is true, then hopefully one day homosexuality being called a sin will be as funny as the other assumed sins.

In class last week, Sam brought up the really heavy subject that is abortion. Many people around the country have made themselves seem like complete idiots when they talk about their beliefs about these issues. This issue is so touchy, and I believe that in order to have a reasonable stance on this subject one needs to think about it long and hard. I believe that most politicians, and people of that sort, have not ever given a real thought to it, so they end up giving ignorant answers when asked about abortion. Most of these politicians were probably never in a situation where one of their family members had to ever consider abortion. People who are pro-life always say they would never get an abortion, but I bet most them do not actually know what they would do if they were ever put in that situation, or what they would do if one of the women in their life was put in that position. This was the point that Sam was trying to stress during class. In order to have a reasonable idea about abortion, one needs to be empathetic about the situation. You really need to think about what you would do if you were in that situation.

People always tell you to never judge a book by its cover, and that judging a person on a first impression is wrong. I understand that you should not judge people. I believe it’s impossible to not judge a person the instant you see him. I believe that it is just human nature to have an initial thought of a person after a first reaction, and this reaction influences the way you interact with the person. What matters is that you try to get to know the person, and to not continue to judge the person on the initial reaction.
With that being said, my beliefs of the people in this video are brief, but they do exist. First off, the only people in the video who looked approachable were the women. The two women in the video were the only people who were smiling. Each of the women looked directly at the camera and smiled. My beliefs about these two people would be that they would be easy to talk to, and accepting. Most of the men in the video looked like they were trying to be tough, and some even looked mean. I would initially feel less comfortable having a conversation with these people. They just do not look as approachable. I’m sure that these initial reactions are not correct, but this is only my first impression. The second guy did not even look at the camera, which made me think that he is uncomfortable or shy. When a person does not make eye contact it always seems that they are uninterested, or uncomfortable. Since he looked uncomfortable I felt uncomfortable. The one boy simply just stared at the camera with a vacant look, although he did not look as “tough” as the others, it was still a bit awkward. So, my first impression of that person is that he is awkward. Although the initial first impression of these people may not be correct, they do matter at first. I believe the right thing to do is to take the time to get to know the person, and get past the first impression.

The “Who’s Land Is It” lecture was very eye opening for me, and it actually made me very emotional. I have always known that the Europeans drove the Native Americans off this land, but I never realized how bad their lives are now. The poverty, suicide, and drug statistics are just astonishing. When the guest speaker told the story about his 13-year-old cousin committing suicide I became so emotional. I cannot believe that all the horribleness and extreme poverty is happening right in my own country. It almost seems that the Native Americans are stuck in this horrible circle that they can’t escape. It’s one for the adults to be addicted to drugs and jobless, but it seems that the younger people are following this same path, which is just so sad to me. I used to think that it would be easy for the Native Americans to escape this life that they have, but from the lecture I have seen that it’s not that easy to do. The U.S. government has taken the land from them, and basically seems just to ignore the fact that the Native Americans are suffering. It seems so strange to me that we have all these charities and funds to help foreign third world countries, but there is nothing to help the reservations, which are basically a third world country. Not only do we not have anything to help them, but most people are completely unaware of the situation. The U.S. is seen as the country that will always be there to help, so how can we not even help the people in our own country.

During class on Tuesday, Sam continued the lectures about socioeconomic status by going over free will and determinism. He wanted us to discuss whether people can choose to work their way out of poverty, or is there no way for people to climb the socioeconomic ladder. By the end of the class I believe that Sam was trying to say that most of the time determinism will beat out free will.
Before coming to class on Tuesday, I would say that I wholeheartedly believed that most situations fall under the free will category, and if people work hard they can overcome poverty. The reason I believed this was similar to the reason many others in class believed it. My grandfather was the 11th of 12 children, and his family was definitely below the poverty line. My grandfather’s father died when he was about seven years old, and he, along with his siblings, was forced to start working. Most of his siblings dropped out of school, but my grandfather stayed in school, graduated, and paid his way through college. He worked two jobs, along with taking his college classes, and became a teacher, and later a guidance counselor. He pulled himself out of poverty and made a comfortable life for his wife and five children. And he and my grandmother are living a nice life today. Because I knew my grandfather’s story, I believed if anyone worked extremely hard, they could make a good life for himself.
After watching the video about Tammy and her sons, I realized that maybe not all people can change their lives. Because of this video determinism began to seem more real to me. Tammy’s older son aspired to go to Yale. Unfortunately, there are many reasons as to why he probably would not be able to go. First, Yale may not consider his grades to be up to standard, he may not be able to afford the application, and even if he did get in, would there be enough scholarships to put him through? Not going to Yale is not the only barricade that is holding this family back. Tammy may not know how to live any other life, because she was born into that life. According to her, her father would be proud of the life she made for herself and her children. Watching this video really opened my eyes to reality, and definitely made me question my thoughts about determinism.
By the end of the class I still was not sure if Sam was trying to say that determinism overrules free will, but I believe that he leans more toward determinism. This class definitely changed my thoughts about the subject, but I’m not totally counting out free will. Now I believe in most cases it is determinism, but there are chances when free will comes into play.

I really have been enjoying Sam’s lectures about America’s socioeconomic statuses. I’m not surprised that Asian’s and whites are at the top. During the lecture Sam tried to explain why this is the way it is, but there seemed to be no actual reason. The only reason being that Asian families were wealthy before they come to the U.S. Since it is very expensive to come to the United States, only wealthy Asian families will move here, therefore most of the Asian families in the U.S. are wealthy. In another lecture Sam talked about how this socioeconomic hierarchy will never change. The rich people will continue to run our country and continue to have more money than the poorer people. No matter how hard the poor people work, the rich people will not give up their money, and let others have some of the country’s wealth. The hierarchy will never change.
In this specific lecture Sam asked the rich people in the classroom to raise their hand if they were rich. Almost no one on the room would admit that they were rich. This is not surprising to me, because as Sam stated during the lecture, people with money do not admit it. People with money rarely talk about their wealth, and would never admit to a large group of people that they are rich. I believe there are a few reasons why people do not admit to being wealthy. The first reason people won’t admit to being rich may be that many people feel embarrassed when they talk about their success. When it comes to any type of success some, not only money, most people will not like to talk about it; it makes them uncomfortable. Another reason may be that people do not want to look like they are bragging about being wealthy. If someone admits to having money, they may feel that others will be judging them. This reason may be why most people in the room didn’t raise their hand. The wealthy people in the room probably thought the others would think they were flaunting their money, or acting like they are superior to the rest.
The next two reasons are a little more related to what Sam was talking about in the lecture. Some people may not have raised their hand, because they do not want people to think that they should help the less wealthy. Some wealthy people may feel guilty that they do not give money to the less fortunate, so they do not want people to tell them that they should help the poor. The last reason is that people may not think they are rich. As Sam said, we are constantly looking up, and never looking down when it comes to matters of wealth. Even though these people are wealthy compared to others, there are still people wealthier than they are, so they believe that they aren't wealthy.

Last Tuesday, Professor Jones was a guest speaker in our class, and gave really interesting lecture. At first, when he started the lecture I was not sure what sort of point he was trying to make. For the first fifteen minutes of class we debated which family member we would save from a sinking ship, and then we drew a house with a partner while sharing pen. Even though I was not entirely sure of the point of this lecture, I was very intrigued and I did enjoy having Dr. Jones in class.
Toward the end of the lecture I finally started to make sense of it all. Dr. Jones asked about 5 people to go in the next room while he read a very detailed to the rest of the class. When he was done reading he asked a student to explain the story to one of the students that was not listening. After the first student explained the story to the second student, the second student explained it to a third student, and so on so forth for about four other people. At first I really enjoyed this activity, because each time another person told the story it changed each time. It was like a big game of “whisper down the lane” that I used to play when I was a kid, but when Dr. Jones explained why the story changed, everything began to make sense.
The initial story that was told was very racial, and used the word “nigger”. Once the first person told the story he left out that word right from the beginning, and as the story went on it became simpler and simpler and not as brutally racist. I thought this was interesting that each person left the worst parts out. I believe that most people did this, because they did not feel comfortable using this language and talking about these subjects. I believe this concept relates back to Sam’s point about racial discussion, which is that people do not like to talk about these issues. Since the general does not feel comfortable speaking about race, no conclusion can actually ever be made. I believe in order to make any progress with these issues, we need to be able to actually address them, and not beat around the bush, or try to always be politically correct. The reason people are so uncomfortable with this issue is that they are afraid they will offend others. I feel that by playing the “whisper down the lane” game to prove this exact point. I think he was trying to insinuate that we should learn how to be comfortable with these terms and these issues. Only when we become comfortable will we actually be able to effectively talk about race.

I really enjoyed this lecture about how we group people based on ethnicities. Sam did a great job of showing us it is not always easy to recognize a person’s ethnicity just by their looks. I know for me personally, I chose the wrong answer for many of the clicker questions. I believe most of my choices were incorrect, because of where I am from. Since I’m from a mostly white community everyone around me looked like me. We did not have many black people, and even fewer people who identified as Hispanic or Latino. Because I was never around many people of other races, I believe I have become very naïve on how to identify people’s race. For example, before this class I never really thought about the difference between Hispanic and Latino. To me, if one person was from Spain and another person was from The Dominican Republic I would classify each as Latino and Hispanic. Going off of this it was really interesting to see the pictures of different people who classify themselves as African. Some people are white, and some people are black, but they both are still from Africa. This was interesting to me because I never thought about this before.
There are two reasons that I believe most of us answered these questions indirectly. The first reason is that I believe we all have an image in our mind of what a person of a certain ethnicity is. For example, I believe if you asked most Americans what they believe an African person looked like they would say an African person would have black skin. As we can see from class, this stereotype is certainly untrue. The second reason I believe we had trouble with these questions, is because different ethnicity terms have different meanings for each person. Sam sort of touched on this subject when he asked people to define the term “Jewish”. Some people believed the term only meant a religion, while others thought it was a race classification. So, since people do not always use the same terms to classify different races or ethnicities, it’s sometimes hard to classify people. One person may classify a person as Latino, but to other people that person is Hispanic.
Overall, I really enjoyed this lecture. This lecture, like all of the other lectures, is very interesting to me. I love this class, because it is opening my eyes to all of these issues that I never considered, and I believe it is making a better person.