Reflective Essay

April/11/2012, Ryan Badgley, regarding sociology 1125 at Kwantlen Polytechnic University

I walked into this class at the start of the semester with low expectations, thinking to my self woo, the study of society is going to be as interesting as bingo night with grandma. However, within minutes of the first lecture I was already very interested when my professor stated that society is a “living entity”. I had never thought of it that way, and it made me think even deeper about society as a whole. After pondering to myself for some time, I agreed with the statement that society is an entity, because it evolves, continues to live, influences us, and controls our thought and actions. The main theme of the course to me was the Global Sociological Imagination, The quality and capacity of ones mind to link ones life, decisions, actions and life chances locally to the myriad of decisions, actions, and in-actions of other people in the world. My professor explained this to my class using his cocoa beans story, where the cocoa beans he planted were consumed by North Americans across the world in the form of chocolate. I have learned many things throughout the span of this course on ethnic groups and cultural customs. I remember in particular the term ethnocentrism, which simply means one individual believes that their country is superior to any other country in the world. I found this really interesting because you would think at first glance that almost everyone would wish they were a country like Canada or the United States, but in reality people who live in under-developed countries and poverty stricken Nations are more than content with their living conditions and are proud of their country. I was so surprised to hear about this. Before taking this class I imagined that almost everyone would rather live in a country like Canada over a country that disregards human rights such as North Korea. Another aspect of the course that caught a lot of my interest were the roles that society gives to people. My professor showed us a video that was a spotlight on the now infamous Stanford Prison Study, where it became more than apparent of how powerful roles are that society gives to you. Perhaps the most influential thing that I learned from taking this course was about the concept of “race”. Before taking this class i believed that the human race consisted of a number of “races” , such as caucasians, Black, and Orientals. I thought that these races were genetically and biologically different.  However, the reality is quite the opposite. The word “race” is nothing or than a social construct. Humans are all the same race and should be treated equally. There is no such thing as a superior or inferior race. On the biological level, humans, regardless f age or skin colour are all the same. I found this information to be very fascinating, and it makes me feel great that i decided to take this class. I have learned so many amazing things about society, social Justice issues and the Human race in general.

September 11: Forgiveness is Not Part of The Lessons Learned

April/10/2012 September 11: Forgiveness is Not Part of The Lessons Learned, Charles Quist-Adade (Dialectic)

-What questions did this text raise?

The question that was raised from this text is “was the war on terrorism really a war on terrorism? or was it simply a vain attempt at retribution or an eye for an eye for President Bush’s sake?”

-How did the text answer this question?

This question was answered within the text when it was stated that President Bush was claiming to be seeking justice, but in reality it was revenge that he was craving, he wanted to strike back at the source of the terrorist attack, just as the Americans had struck back against the Japanese following the Pearl Harbor attack.

-How does the answer match our own ideas?

The answer to the question from the text matched my ideas on The American war on terror because i feel that it was just an excuse to sap the natural resources from Iraq to feed the unsatisfied hunger of North American consumerism. The war itself has yet to yield and major results, so until a significant cause for the war is revealed, i do not support the American war on terror.

Who Will Liberate Liberia?

April/10/2012 Who Will Liberate Liberia? Charles Quist-Adade (Dialectic)

-What questions did this text raise?

The questions that were raised from the text were “is the American war on terrorism even worth it?” and “could the money that is invested on the American war on terror be put to better use globally?”

-How did the text answer this question?

The text answered this question by saying in a way that this excessive spending is not worth it, because the current spending on America’s war on terror ($4billion) is enough money to provide basic health care and nutrition to half of the worlds population.

-How does this answer match our own ideas/experiences?

This text is perfectly matched with my own viewpoints on the American war on terror because I feel that this war on terrorism is a huge waste of resources and lives that could be better spent on a viable cause, such as fixing poverty issues on withing North America.

Negotiation, Not Retribution.

April/10/2012 Negotiation, Not Retribution by Charles Quist-Adade (Dialectic)

-What question did the text raise?

The question the arose from this text was “Do Interventions from world powers such as the United States effective at all?” As well as “Do the interventions cause more harm than good?”

-Did the text answer this question?

The question was answered within the text, because withing the second paragraph it was stated that Within the Democratic Republic of Congo over 3 million people have died since 1996 with the interventions of western countries, Such as the United States.

-How does the answer match our own ideas/experiences?

The answer in this text matches my own ideas about foreign intervention because I personally believe that world powers (such as USA and Russia) should avoid from committing themselves into affairs overseas in order to enforce their modern ideology upon weaker nations.Take the American war in Vietnam as an example, is the USA had only stayed out of that affair, countless American and Vietnamese lives would have been spared from the flame. The only good things that came from the war were Academy award winning war films such as Platoon.

Nickels and Dimes

March/8/2012 Nickels and Dimes In Class Video#2 (Affective)

After watching this video in class, it made me realize how difficult it is to make a living in North America, despite the fact that we as North Americans consider ourselves to be among the most wealthy on the planet.The video was filmed in the 1990′s, and it is now 2012. It made me realize that if things were so bad back then, that means that now in our poor economic state things are even worse. In the video it was explained that the American government may have created thousands of new jobs to stimulate the economy, but in reality these jobs were minimum wage and were not able to support people on the pay they were currently receiving. I feel like I can relate to the people in this video because I personally work a minimum wage job. I think that there needs to be changes in order to make North America Function to its full potential. I believe that all this can be accomplished in the near future, and I know that  if things do not improve, the working class or proletariat will eventually rise up against the minority that is reaping in the full benefits of capitalism.

Just how Important is Your “Role” in A Society?

March/6/2012 The Stanford Prison Study In-class Video#1 (Affective)

-The video was about the infamous psychology experiment that took place at Stanford University in 1971 with the purpose as to find out how the roles we played in society affect our behavour. A number of students were chosen to participate in this study. the students were divided into two groups, the guards, and the prisoners. The experiment took lace in the Schools Psychology departments basement, where it was converted into a crude makeshift prison. The students were told to lay the roles they were given to the best of their abilities. after only a matter of hours, the students were behaving in horrendous ways and the experiment had to be shut down earlier than planned. The students became very attached to their roles and soon the fake prison resembled an actual prison in any forms.

-I feel shocked that people would behave in those ways simply because they have been assigned a role to play in a society.

-I think that this experiment is incredible and should be attempted again in modern times to see if it yields any new results.

-I believe that the role someone plays in a society dictates their behavour.

- I know that this experiment is infamous and will not soon be forgotten.

Discrimination Against The LGBT Community

March/5/2012, Issues In Social Justice Entry #3, Carrie Buist and Andrew Verheek (Paraphrastic)

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and the transgender groups have been slowly gaining support and acceptance among the general public, they still face discrimination of many forms. There is a constant struggle to legalize gay and lesbian in any regions primarily because religious groups and people with traditional values believe that this destroys the definition of marriage. As a result of this, the LGBT (lesbian gays bisexual transgender community) are commonly target for hate crime. hate crime is essentially a crime targeted toward a specific group that is motivated by hatred for that group. Modern society is ideologically heterosexual.

The most important section of this article is on page 36, where a paragraph explains that religious groups who believe that gay marriage is wrong and unjust because the Bible says it is so. However, they do not take other Biblical teachings into consideration because they claim that “times have changed’. it is very ironic, and I chose this section because I personally believe that it voids their arguments against gay marriage.

Human Trafficking

March/2/2012 Issues In Social Justice entry #2 Darrick Brake, (Paraphrastic)

Human Trafficking is modern slavery. it involves the buying/selling of humans for their labour, sex for means of prostitution, and other services they can provide for profit. Human trafficking is a multi-billion dollar trade. Imagine having no rights of any kind, being owned, and being treated as property. Areas with poor economic conditions are very prone to human trafficking in the for of prostitution and forced labour. Human trafficking is defined as the intentional movement of humans to places where they are bout or sold.

I found that te most important segment of the reading was on page 54, where it defined human trafficking, gave the most common methods of forcing people into he trade, and categorizes it away from slavery, despite their similarities. i chose to paraphrase this segment because i felt that it summarized human trafficking with great efficiently.

Public Space

March/1/2012 Issues In Social Justice: Entry #1 Charles E. Crawford, (Paraphrastic)

Public space is not easily defined, for it is a far more complex matter than one might think. Public space is needed for cultural and plays a vital role in the development of Democracy. The word “public” essentially means everyone, so all citizens have equal rights to use or enjoy something that is declared as “public”. this includes parks, shopping malls, ect. However, Many individual citizens are denied their rights to public space, typically the homeless. Many citizens see the homeless as a sort of vermin that needs to be removed fro public areas, and as a result many laws have been implemented against the homeless.

Public can mean “Everyone” and ‘Space” can mean anything from area to the great unknown. Thus, Public space is difficult to defined, despite the fact that it appears simple and straight forward.

I chose to paraphrase this because it made me think more deeply about the concept of public space than i would have normally. i never realized how many ways it could be defined.

Is Ethnocentrism a Thing of The Past?

January/28/2012 In-class Lecture #3, Dr. Charles Quist-Adade (Affective)

Ethnocentrism is defined as “One ethnic group is the center of everything, and believing that one ethnic group is superior than any other ethnic group”. (1) Ethnocentrism has both positive and negative functions. Some positive functions of ethnocentrism is Social Perception/Social Identity, essentially the way individuals think of themselves. Another positive function is Social Solidarity, the act of preserving ones own society. preserving societies is important especially in this modern age, as many cultures and societies are being assimilated into North American Culture. Of course, Ethnocentrism as many negative functions that go along with it. For obvious reasons, seeing other ethnic groups as inferior to your own will inevitably cause social conflicts, such as war, genocide, and so on. It is simply human nature to be ethnocentric, and this is not something that can simply be removed or forgotten. I personally feel that Ethnocentrism is something that needs to be eliminated, although I know that this is not possible simply because it is “cemented” into our minds from birth, and our “second birth” into society. You ask anyone anywhere in the world what country is the best one to live in, and there is a very good chance that the person you ask will say their home/native country, simply because of Ethnocentrism. I believe that at heart, i am also Ethnocentric simply because i would say that Canada is the best country in the world because of its universal health care, career/educational opportunities and so on. I believe that Ethnocentrism plays a positive role in societies because it makes people proud of their countries, and homelands.