Down to Earth Sociology: The sounds of Silence

We have verbal, nonverbal, and preverbal languages. There are many forms of languages out there that helps us communicate with one another. There's a form of communicating called the whistle language. I remember bringing this up in class and talking about it to my professor. In my culture, we use leaf blowing as a way to communicate with each other as it was loud and clear.  Learning the tune of leaf blowing is learning the leaf blowing language.

This is a video of a man name Neng demonstrating leaf blowing.

Introducing Sociology: Contrasting Durkheimian and Marxist Perspective

My favorite food to eat is Kapiak. It is a thick, clear broth noodle soup. The noodles are always handmade from gluten rice flour and tapioca flour. The base is a broth made from boiled chickens. You can also add spices and herbs to enhance the taste. I love making this dish when a family member is sick and when it's chilly outside. This noodle soup is a Laotian food, it is usually made in a large batch and eaten with a group of people like families and friends. 

Mandatory Blog Post

A family in the S.U did not know that their mother is always meeting up with someone once a week. They will always meet up in a private room that no one is allowed to enter. Every time the mother gets home from meeting that person she always feels better, happier, and more lively. No one in her family suspects her of adultery even though they know that she's always meeting that person every week. Ever since meeting that person everyone in her family feels like it had strengthened their family bond.

Down to Earth Sociology: Body Ritual Among the Nacirema

Many cultural norms can seem strange to us because of our little knowledge about their culture. The American culture can put others off too. Let's use shoes as an example, in Asain culture, shoes are to be taken off by the door before even passing the entrance. To them, American culture is strange because the majority of  Americans wear their shoes inside the house. To the Asian culture, it's dirty. Bringing in dirt and germs inside the house ruins the carpet; also, it leaves scratches to wooden or tile floors.

Introducing Sociology: Food/Culture

Food differs around the world. Why is that? People in different culture, region has different food staples. Cultural ceremonies are circled around varieties of food, especially during new years. However, ethnocentrism still exists. Although we try to believe that everyone has become more accepting of other's culture, we still judge many of them for the food they consume. We judge them so harshly that sometimes we don't even realize that many of them eat way healthier than we do. We judge them for eating grasshoppers, scorpion, spiders, larva when in reality they have a good percentage of proteins. I was so skeptical on trying frog soup made by my own mother because I have never thought about eating frogs before. My mother who lived in Thailand before becoming a U.S citizen was content on making me try it. So without me knowing she made frog soup on a different day. Not knowing what it was I ate it, surprisingly the meat was white and it tasted just like quails. Don't judge a book by its cover, perfectly labeled for ethnocentric people.

(Frog Soup)

  

Introducing Sociology: The First Thing I bought was...

Back in 2007, I got into my very first relationship. My boyfriend at the time was a cousin of my childhood friend. We first met at the loud street of my old neighborhood, where my friend also used to live. My friend's family had a traditional ceremony where my boyfriend attended. At the time, I held no romantic feelings for him, I was too young to even understand what love is, I was only 12. It took many errand and chores to finally save up money to buy him a half a year anniversary gift. What I bought for us were two jade couple rings. Several months after we separated on good terms. Till this day I still think that the jade rings were a good purchase for it was very beautiful. I believed at the time I just wanted to give him a gift for being with someone as boring as I was. I never thought about the back story of this product, but with little research, I found that jade rings have a beautiful meaning. Jade rings are a symbol of love and eternity. The process to carve a jade ring takes lots of patience and efforts. Jades were highly priced thousands of years back which makes them of the most valuable rock in China at the time. It's value still holds to those who keep them as antiques. I definitely do not regret purchasing this product.

Resource: https://www.leaf.tv/articles/jade-ring-symbolism/    

Down to Earth Sociology: The Promise

C. Wright Mills mentions that "an issue is a public matter..." and "a trouble is a private matter" (24). When knowing these two terms problem solving will become either easier or more difficult. When reading this section of the book, it reminds me of how many private matters became a public issue. For example, back in 2009, my mother was laid off from her 5 years long job. It was heavily a personal problem for she was a single mother. This personal matter became a public issue because this was during The Great Recession when our economy was going downhill. During that time many people, including my mother had lost their jobs. As Mill stated, "these are structural issues..." they need our full attention to investigate its cause. 

   

Introducing Sociology: Using Our Stuff to discover Sociology

This chapter talks about consumer culture and social status regarding the things we purchases. Jeans were used as an example in this chapter. Sociologist covered the topic of jeans, from where they are made to why some are more affordable than others, and how it impacts human society. It is said that the higher the price the better the quality, the more affordable it is the cheaper the quality. That is not only the case, sociologist also discovered that cheaper quality jeans are made in terrible, low wage working conditions. 

This chapter mentions "...jeans are a way for people to feel included and excluded in social life" (4). Let's say that this child and her family are not well off, she wears hand me down and low-quality clothing from discounted stores. She is not ashamed of her clothes or her family background, but she didn't understand why some children look at her a different way and why they don't want to play with her. This private trouble can be a public issue as this can be an example of social status in many people's social life.   

Down to Earth Sociology: What is Sociology?

James M. Henslin, author of Down to Earth: Introductory Reading, States "sociology is the study of society" (8). He also mentions that "sociologist has many similarities to other social sciences" (12). Which means that even though sociology is related to psychology, anthropology, and economics, they still have many differences that set them apart. 

 

Sociologists focus on social structure, and issues among society. Sociologists will investigate how issues occur and how social norms impact human society.  

"Sociology offers a framework that provides a penetrating perspective on almost everything that we do in life" (19)

Down to Earth Sociology: Invitation to Sociology?

Understanding the differences in many cultures, values, race, and behaviors of individuals are what sociologists always strive to do. Sociologists are able to look into a different culture with no bias opinions and observe it. Peter L. Berger, an American Sociologist, states "he will know reverence, but this reverence will not prevent him from wanting to see and to understand" (3). Why is it so important? In our world, there are discriminations towards every culture: yours, mine, theirs. Although many people still hold judgments towards other culture, Sociologists help us understand the differences and help us to slowly bypass ethnocentrism