Friday, March 18, 2011

Yes? No? Maybe so?

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I saw culture clash occurring in the store.  I was with my grandma and she was trying to get the price of an item, but at that moment I was somewhere else and when I came back she was standing with the employee and she was smiling and the employee was looking very confused.  Apparently my grandma was trying to ask him for the price and he was trying to understand her so every guess he would do she would just say yes and smile.  He was very confused and did not know what she wanted.  I had to end up translating and the employee told me he was very confused because she kept saying yes to everything and he did not know what to exactly do.  My grandma thought he was understanding her and that's why she kept saying yes.  They both found it kind of frustrating the fact that they weren't understanding each other.  This showed a very good example of culture clash were the two cultures could not interact because of the language barrier.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Media influences American society

I saw sociology when I was in my lunch table and we were talking about tv shows and teen mom came up. This reminded me of how media is one thing that plays a big role in American society. We were talking about how many teens specially girls watch it and feel guided by them in good and bad ways. One of my friends was talking about how she feels it's a good show because it helps guide teen moms in the sense that they share the same feelings and have an idea of what to do and how to solve some of their problems. On the other hand I think that it's bad because it misguides teens into thinking that being pregnant is okay because you might be famous or you might have the same life as everyone else. This is an example of how media is a big part in American society because it changes the way people think and influences their actions.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Symbols that represent American society

Facebook represents american society because this is one way a lot of people especially teenagers communicate.  Facebook is a social network used by many age groups of people and it has become so big that its basically used around the world.  I personally have found it somewhat useful in the sense that instead of wasting money on calling cards to call to mexico I can simply just go on facebook and talk to my relatives being either on chat or messaging. It is now used as a part of communication that many people around the world know what it is and more and more people are opening accounts just to have more communication with each other. Facebook has become a huge part of american society.




Fast food also represent american society because America is known for having a lot of greasy, unhealthy, yet good fast food.  Fast food is also a symbol of obesity in America, a problem that american society has been facing for the past years.  There are probably a lot of fast food chains in the US that encourage us to change our diet and eat unhealthy because of the taste and affordable price.  American society is also known from many outsiders to have the most amount of fast food and fast food chains.  This is one factor that plays a big role on american society because it is a big part to identify americans.


Hygiene is a big part in american society.  There are many cultures that dont see hygiene as americans and dont have it to the same extent as we do.  One example of how hygiene is a big part of american society is when the swine flu was around.  It was just a regular flu, but everyone took extreme precautions and all of them were based on hygiene.  People washed their hands all the times, used mouth protectors, and had hand sanitizers everywhere.  This shows how hygiene is a part of american society.


Technology is a part of american society in many ways. One way is that technology is always advancing at fast rate in the US and most people seem to catch on it really quick because of entertainment, communication, or sometimes necessity.  Another way technology is that american society always wants to update and have the newest thing they always want more and more and do not conform with what they have.  American society never conforms with what they have and always want the latest things and newest things and I think technology is one way to prove it.

MTV or Media is a big part of American society.  Many people in America are influenced by media in comparison to other countries.  Media has influenced many people especially teens and that is one thing that makes up American society the way it is things seen on TV are sometimes things you might see anywhere or things that you might want to happen. I believe that media is one of the things that most influences American society.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Circus!!

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I remembered the time I went to the circus to take my little cousins.  I remember that when we got there there was a lot of people with signs and posters, at first I thought they were promoting the circus being there because we were in the car so I did not get too close to read.  Later, I found out they were people against circuses because of the treatment of animals and when I remembered this I noticed how this was a great example of two out of the four different types of crowds.  The first one would be conventional and that is because everyone gathered in a specific place to see the performance of people and animals while following appropriate behavior even the protesters that were outside they just did their thing without fighting with anyone.  The second one would be acting and this will be the protesters that were outside.  They were taking action toward a specific target and that target was to get more people to stop going to the circus because animals are not for show.  Looking back at it now I realize that if I was part of the protesters my actions would be the opposite as they were when I was watching all the performances.