DuPage County Courts and Jail- Not Your Ordinary Fieldtrip

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when our class took a field-trip to the DuPage County Jail and Courtrooms. When we first arrived at the courtrooms, we were explained what the court rooms would be holding what types of cases and of course everyone wanted to go to the double murder trial. So we headed to the double murder trial where Gary Schuning allegedly killed his mother Dorris and an escort service named Kristi. We immediately saw many sociological terms in the court room. They then started to show evidence and ask questions to the police that was at the crime scene. Although at the beginning the photos were not something shocking, the few photos shown of the victim's body were. This case was a post trial because there was an openning statement that was followed by evidence. This case was also a civil case because courts are being held for this trial and it does not involve legislative branch. This case was also a felony if he is found guilty of this crime becasue he will probably be sentenced to life in prison. The race of the alleged murderer was white. The type of crime, if found guilty, would be a violent crime because it included murder.

The strain theory connects with this because it seems that Gary has no morals or norms because he killed two people and only seems to regret it a little. also, if talking about no having no morals or norms, Gary could be categorized as being on stage 0 because during that stage a person does things according to pleasure or pain.  Gary's family would be part of informal social control because during trial, the family did not speak with Gary and so they showed rejections with their actions towards Gary and his actions. If Gary is found guilty he would be exposed to formal control that involves judges, courts and police because he broke a law.

We then headed to the jail which was a very interesting and quite uncomfortable feeling when we "visited" and saw the inmates in their cells. Fist the Sargent explained to us the whole jail system. We then went to see the inmates. When we first past the inmates we received some not so pleasant comments that kind of made me and some of my classmates uncomfortable. But when you start to think about it, the reason they were so "happy" to see people besides other cell mates was because they are in a total institution and had to be re-socialized.  The race of most of the inmates were either Black or Hispanic.

The inmates seem to have lived or be living in a strictly structured way of living. everything is controlled and is always organized. They are being re-socialized because they have to learn to adapt to a new way of life. I hope I nor any of my friends or family members ever have to be in a jail because it seems that it's hard enough to live with a charge that you are guilty of and I cannot imagine having to adapt to something way different and new. Let's hope none of us get in trouble with the Sargent... especially Jose! ;)

Teeter Totter

I all of a sudden found myself thinking sociologically when one day my sister and I were biking around the neighborhood. We live right by Gary Elementary School and the Preschool. So we always bike there and just play a little on the playground, mainly just the swings. But this particular day we felt like a two year old and went to the Preschool playground. We tried everything in the playground, or so we thought. I saw the teeter totter and was so excited! I haven't been on a teeter totter since grade school! I instantly when on the teeter totter and my sister and I played for a long time. Problem was that I didn't realize how afraid I was of heights until I got on it. So as soon as my sister went down and I went up, I screamed like a baby. People on the other playgrounds were staring at us and making rude faces at us. It was as if they thought that people of our age shouldn't be on the teeter totter or the Preschool playground.

This reminds me of the differential theory because even though my sister and I weren't breaking the law, we liked the fact that we were breaking a folkway. And others knew that we were breaking a folkway also. The usual thinking of a Preschool playground or a playground in general is that only little kids are to play there. My sister and I broke that stereotype by playing on the teeter totter. My sister and I were breaking a folkway and following the differential theory.

To Be Like Or Not To Be Like My Parents?

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I was meeting my grandpa's brother on Easter. He and his wife said that I look and acted like my mom, but on the other side, others have said that look and act like my dad. Although both my parents are agents of socialization, will I still end up being like both or just one of them? Another thing that always makes me think is when my friends always say that they will never end up like their parents but I sometimes think that's unavoidable since they are your significant others. Could other agents be more dominant than others?

This reminded em of the survey we did during class about who we were most like; mom or dad. What if you don't have several agents of socialization? Would that limit your socialization development? Is it possible for a son or daughter to not turn out like their parents when they grow up or does it matter how they were socialized? Could it affect our looking glass self?

Crazy Eights

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I was watching a movie called Crazy Eights. It was under the "Horror" genre so I thought it was going to be about just plain scary things. It turned out to be a movie about how eight (later on in the movie it turned out to be nine) children are put into a sort of total institution. It was for experimenting on the children to show them what guilt is and to repress the memory of them even being there. It worked and they never remembered what happened when they were younger but their memory came back when one of their friends passed away because of his re- occurring nightmares of his past childhood and his final wish is for all of them to go back to the "Total Institution".

This reminded me of what we were learning in class about socialization. The children had to re-socialize their life and adapt to the institute's new rules and procedures. They also were de- socialized because they had to unlearn on what they though guilt was. For the children, the institute was like a prison to them. Even though they tried to repress the memory of their childhood, it came back.

Buisness men but no buisness women?

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I was working on my gender role cartoon for sociology. I was trying to look for a female character with a business look attire. At first I couldn't find it. So then I searched it. I typed in business women but it didn't find any results. Then I typed in business in general but only in the female section. Still no results. I was really surprised and pissed off in knowing that there was only like five business women characters in that section. The men section had so many options of careers and many of them had ties and suits. On the other hand, women were mostly seen wearing skirts and aprons. There were men astronauts but no women astronauts.

This reminds me of what we were talking about in class about gender roles. It's amazing how society tries to really emphasize about how certain genders should act in society. When I was a little girl, I was given a play kitchen by "Santa" and I absolutely fell in love with it. After awhile, my sister played with it but my little brother and some little nephews of ours also wanted to play with the kitchen.Although they were always given the choice to play with other "boy" toys, sometimes they wanted to play with us in the kitchen. Some parents didn't seem to happy about it but it's not like they could explain to their child the reasons why he couldn't play with the girls in the kitchen. Society tries to categorize each person gender wise with colors and products such as a toy kitchen. They're usually pink and purple, girl toys, and boy toys are usually red and blue, more dark colors. I never noticed this when I was little but so many toys have tried to influence each gender to act ho they're supposed to act (girls and play kitchens and trucks and boys). But do we really need all of this gender categorizing... does it help keep things in balance?

Mamma- Maniac!

I all of a sudden found myself thinking sociologically when I was reading the article about the chineese mom. I honestly believe that she is going way too overboard. She is messing up her kids by being way too strict with them and not letting them do what they want to do. She is trying to teach them to be very good at something that they don't even like and she is not forming a very loving bond. Instead, it is going to end up as more of a fear bond instead of having trust and confidence towards her mother. I think that she needs to let her children relax a little bit and try to support her children in activities that they want to do, not in things that she wants them to do.

According to Mead, her children would not have a generalized other nor a symbolic other becasue the relationship the children have with their mother is so strict that they would not have the ability to form a close and healthy, happy bond. And according to both Cooley and Freud that all of the things happening during their childhoo, which the chineese mother is overcontroling, will affect their personality. And because all of these special bonds aren't forming, their stages of development aren't going to be able to develop. The mom may think she is helping her children but she is making them feel like they have to do things for their parents, not themselves. She needs to let her children do what they want while still having discipline on them. Balance is the key to everything.

My Name in Another Culture

All of a sudden I found myself thinking sociologically when I was remembering the first day I started volunteering at the hospital. I remembered I was talking to a boy and a girl who were training me about marriage. She said that in  her culture (in India), the girl would have her husband's name as her middle name. Then, her daughter would have her dad's name as her middle name also like her mother. It reminded me of how in Mexico, the bride would take both her husband's last name and her own. For example, if I got married with Tom Cruise ( just an example), my name would be Pamela Campos de Cruise.

This would be an example of culture shock and well kind of a culture similarity. It would be a culture shock because I did not know about this custom of another culture. It kind of amazed me but at the same time I made a connection with my own culture. Maybe there are other ways I can have my name. What would the connection be called?