Response 8

Response 8

The aspect of functionalist perspective that makes sense to me is that male and female do have different gender roles with in the family that complement each other to make the family work. Society sees females as supporters of the family emotionally and males as being the provider for the family. This is still true for some families today. This guy I know said in his house his dad worked and his mom stayed home cooking and cleaning. He said that how it’s going to be when he starts his family. In a way it is beneficial to the family because the man being at work frees him from thinking about what needs to be done at home. That would leave him to focus all his attention on work. The female being at home will take on the responsibilities at home, and she wouldn’t have to worry about work.  I can relate this view to how a watch works. If you open up the back of the watch there a lot of parts in there from gears to springs to a battery all working together to make the watch work. That’s mainly the point of the functionalist that the male does his part and the female does her part all together to make the family work. You have to have the right parts or people in order for this to work. There are some household that the females work and the male stays at home which goes agents the functionalist view.       

The aspect of the conflict perspective that makes sense to me is that one gender is being suppressed by the other. Society puts the males as the suppressor and the female as the suppressed. The conflict perspective believes that since there is an unbalance in power between males and females that it affects society in a negative way. In every culture and sub culture the biggest, strongest and smartest male is always look at as a leader someone that the people go to for answers, guidance, protection or they would be fearful of them. I can relate this to how slavery worked back in the day. The white males were superior over all people not only black people. The conflict theorists believe that we all should be equal no matter male or female or color. This would work out great within the family structure. Everything the male can do the female can do it too. It also takes off sum of the burden put on one person. For instance in some household the male works and the female works and when either is not working they take care of the house such as bill, kids, and grocery. Now a day’s its really uncommon to not be able to balance two or more things at once like work and school or work, school, and home.

Gender stratification takes a toll on the males in society weather they are aware of it or not. I have felt the impact of gender stratification thought out my life, in my house my dad has been making all the rules and no one can contest his rules or else we would be disobedient not even my mom. It like a dictatorship in my house whatever he says goes. As I child if I want to do anything my mom would tell me to go ask my dad first. When letters from school and report cards came home my mom would leave it until my dad came and opened it. A professional experience was when I was working overnight at Wal-Mart in Neptune. The supervisors a man and a woman wanted all the males to do all the heavy work while the women fold clothes and straighten up shelves. One cold night they told all the males to go outside and bring some carts inside. They only wanted the men because they thought we can handle cold better than the women. A personal experience I have is when I have a girlfriend they always expect me to do all things that men are supposed to do in relationships. Like pick her up, pay for food, open car door. I believe that we are all equal and whatever I can do you can do. There’s no need for me to open doors and pay for things.  A religious experience with gender stratification is every time we pray the males are always in front and the females in the back. The only reasoning for this is because if we were to mix it would be difficult for some men to focus their attention on praying to God. From the outside looking in it would seem like we are being suppressive towards females.

Response 7

Response 7

We live in a world today where people base their opinions form stereotypes and other preconceive notions they have. I am guilty of this myself. Being a young African American and an African in this day and age I deal with stereotypes every day. minor things like every time I enter an establishment I get watched a little closer than the other customers or they come up to me one after another asking me if I need help. I can tell the difference between when some is doing their job and when their keeping a close eye on someone. Major things like racial profiling by the cops and getting pulled over because I’m in the wrong neighborhood. A cop really asked me why am I in his town I said I’m taking a shortcut he says is there no other roads to make a shortcut that’s when I stop talking. It also doesn’t help that most African American youth are looked at as criminals by society. Most stereotypes of Africans are that we are dirty, live in huts, wear no clothes and chase animals.   
A most recent experience that I encountered dealing with race was a couple of weeks ago when I went to occupy Wall Street. It was me and three other guys we were all African American. We were sitting on the train ready to get off on the next stop when a big Italian family walked on the train. It was twelve of them a father, a mother, four adult girls with their husbands, and a two babies. I was sitting down not paying them any mind and the mother decided to sit next to me with her husband standing in front of her. Time goes by and the husband leans over to the wife and mumbles to her is he bothering you and she says no I'm fine. It’s pretty sad that people are still prejudice in 2011. I immediately realized why he asked her that I didn't take it personal because he doesn't know me. I just accepted it because that's what I would have done in the same situation. Things like this happen on a daily basis to a lot of people which usually causes a negative reaction out of them.  I’m not going to lie if a group of African American kids would have came on the train I would have been very nervous based on the fact that it Newark kids. With the knowledge I obtained in this class I think the guy asked his wife that question because he is probably in a higher social class than me and he doesn’t associate with people like me on a daily basis. The fact that most African Americans male young and old are in prison and the young ones in the streets are getting into crime he probably assumed that I was among them.

Response 6

Response 6

 As a child you are oblivious to the world around you. Growing up is when you start to take notice of things like social classes. For example I used what type of car my parents and my friend’s parents were driving to figure out what social class I fit into. I came to a conclusion that my friend parents had a better car than my parents because their parents were educated and mine, sad to say, were not. I think education plays a major role in determining your social class. It seems as if the higher your education is the more money you will make. The more money you make the higher you move up in the social class. It just so happens that most regular people that live in poverty have little education which makes them limited to succeeding in society, and most regular people that have a good income have masters which puts them ahead of society. You don’t have to have education to have good income. For example the people on reality shows like jersey shore and basketball wives just to name a few. I don’t think any of the cast members on jersey shore have their masters but they all have more money than me same for the basketball wives.When I was in elementary school it hit me what type of social class I was in. It was the end of fifth grade and I was about to be a sixth grader. When you were in sixth grade you ran the whole school. All the kids in the lower grades looked up to you and thought you were the coolest thing ever. So with that being said I said to myself I am going to be the most popular sixth grader ever. I made a pledge that I was going to get the coolest and hottest gear, not sure if the word gear is still in use to describe clothes, and I was going to get hottest shoes better than the other kids. Being that I was in fifth grade going to sixth I had no money or no job to support my dream. So I had to run this by my mom and she put me in my place. She said what about your old clothes wear that and I was like mom this is sixth grade we’re talking about here. She said well I can’t afford to buy you all those things you’re just going to have to wear your old clothes. Then she sat me down and showed me all the bills she had to pay plus she had to help out my dad with rent. That’s when reality hit me twice that I wasn’t in the social class that I thought I was, and that I wasn’t going to be the most popular sixth grader ever. Eventually I got over it. I understood that since my parents are not fortunate to have degrees and masters they can only provide us with the necessary things like food, shelter, and clothes.The social classes are determined by the people in society. Basically it is whoever has the most money or if their family has money. The only reason me and Lebron James are not in the same social class is because he makes more money than I will ever see in my lifetime, even though me and him are in the same age group. This and other reasons is why the occupy movement came about. I went there on Sunday because I had no idea what the movement was about. I learned that the lower class people are tired of living their life check to check, while the rich people are living their lives with no worries and getting richer. If you think about it logically it would make more sense if the rich people shared their wealth so we all can live on an even playing field. Then again if that were to happen some people would want more than the next guy and the current social class system would start all over again. I think the idea of social classes is the reason why crimes like robberies are committed so commonly. People see other people with nice things they want and they get jealous and take it. The things people steal range from cars, jewelry, clothes, and electronics.