Required: 10 Items

T-shirt from Forever21 -  U.S
Nike Shoe - Indonesia
Pink sweater - Sri Lanka
Lance Camuto panties - China
Charlotte Russe skirt- Mexico
Aeropostale dress- China
Charlotte russe dress- China
BailyBlue  dress- Vietnam
Wet Seal dress- Mexico
Candies Outerwear- China

Out of all these items, only one was made from Forever 21. I remember talking about excessive labor and I believe that is what is going on when American companies take their work somewhere else. It is cheaper over there, the money currency in different countries are lesser than the U.S which means that the workers there get paid less than what they should earn. Companies don't have to worry about providing benefits and they don't have to worry about the rules that apply to them here in the U.S, which means that they can pollute the environment there all they want. I believe the reason why some shoes or clothes are supper uncomfortable is that the workers in the different country are alienating their jobs. They just don't care about the quality because they aren't getting paid enough.

Required: Fight for $15

The campaign fighting for fast foods to raise the minimum wage to $15 dollars leaves me dumbfounded. At first, I couldn't pick a side. Working in a fast food restaurant can take a lot of toll on your physical and mental health, and not only that they provide little to no benefits. I worked in a factory during the time of this campaign and my hourly wage was only $10.75 an hour. My friend who was working in a fast food restaurant was paid $11.50 an hour. With the little money that they earned working excessively, it wouldn't have covered for their insurance and monthly rent. I think that if fast food restaurants provided good benefits for their employees, then the employees wouldn't have started the campaign. I know some people who had ridiculed this campaign because they further their education to get a better paying job, but was paid under $15 an hour. They told me that their hourly pay started around $12 or $13 and wouldn't get a raise unless they earned it. When listening to my friend, it did make a lot of sense. If I can make that much an hour why would I waste money for an education to make less than a fast food worker?     

Required: Corporate Ideologies

My family and I try to stick to our culture as much as we can. There's no specific brand or said corporate that we stick to. To me and everyone around me we value our traditional clothes. Every time we need supplies to make our traditional clothes or want to buy traditional clothes, we tend to always purchase them from relatives or from markets. All the products will be made from overseas. The reason why is because we Hmong don't have a country, we are also known as 'hill people' by many and live in rural town villages. The traditional clothes and accessory we buy are majority hand made from them. The outfits not including the accessories range from 100 to 300 U.S dollars, including accessories would range from 500-700 dollars. A lot of the villagers still lives in wooden or straw houses.

 

Because they are village people, we are always looking to help and support each other, so there's very little hegemony. For example, if an outfit is sold for 300 the seller would profit about 10 to 20 percent and the rest would be sent back to the person who made the outfit. But, there can be sketchy people who would cheat off of those from overseas. News travels fast when something like this happens because we are always in connections with one another. 

(Left: Without accessories Right: with accessories)

       

(Left: without accessories Right: With accessories)

Our Traditional clothes designs are usually made with cross stitching or with folding fabrics. A more modern type usually consist of the embroidery made from machines. 

(Old fashion, more expensive)

(Modern: Cheaper)

Many Hmong people that was born and raised in the U.S had forgotten our traditions and our native tongue. We have been separated by wars and had migrated from places to places. We come together and celebrate Hmong New Year, this celebration happens in many countries other than the U.S. When we come together for the celebration a lot of us would dress in our traditional clothes and bond during those time. We can easily tell where their clothes are made from, just from the design of those attires. I believe that this is also the reason why we are willing to spend the extra money on our traditional clothes because it helps us remember who we are.    

Henslin: Caught Between the Ages

In this chapter, William Van Dusen Wishard highlights three trends that we experience when evolving into a new age. The first trend being globalization where "nations are incorporating planetary dimensions of life into the fabric of our economics, politics, culture, and international relations. Although this new culture is spreading worldwide, there is a fear of invasion. There is a noticeable contrast between the beliefs of the west and the east. The west believes in individuality and that humans can dominate the nature of this world. Whereas the east believes in relationships and that human is a part of nature. 

The second trend is the movement between two ages, technology development. Experts have a belief that the intelligence of an artificial robot would surpass those of humans in 16 years from now. The co-founder of MIT's artificial intelligence lab thinks that it is okay to devalue human if we can create something better, and more intelligent. What's even scarier is that they don't think it is wrong or aren't scared of the existence of humans, they believe it is the next stage of evolution. 

The third trend is a long-term spiritual and psychological reorientation. It is the content and quality of our culture that indicates what's going on in the inner life. "For example, we used to talk about 'heaven', which denoted the transcendent realm, eternity, the dwelling place of gods", Willam continues which has no spiritual connotation" (546). The words and topics we talked about had a link to our unconscious self, our inner self. Now we just speak of matters, vocabulary of technology, which is a sign of us devaluing our inner self.              

Henslin: Over the Counter at Mcdonald's

Working at fast foods we were trained to know what do and how to act properly wherever we were stationed at. Fast foods provide little benefits or none at all. When we were closing the store (Arby's) I had to wash all the dishes and equipment while the others had to clean their section of the store. I remember hearing an employee yelled exceptionally loud because he had sliced a small piece of meat off his index finger from the slicer that was used to slice roast beef. He didn't let the store manager know for he didn't have any benefits from Arby's; moreover, he was afraid that he was going to get fired. When the manager and our boss found out about the situation they let it slide. He was alienated from work itself, I believe the reason he wasn't fire was that he was always working and whenever he was called in on his days off he would almost always come into work. The town we lived in was also very small which means that there weren't many applicants so they need him to fill in those empty schedules. 

I can easily relate this chapter to my Fast Food/Work and Economy blog. "... These groups are willing to accept jobs that provide less than subsistence wages" stated by Leidner, on why Mcdonald's higher more teens than any other age range. I was always overworking on a pay rate of $7.50 and I didn't once complain to my manager about my work hours. When we moved to Iowa I thought it was only right for me to work just as hard as my mother. I was naive and easily went along with whatever schedule was given to me. I only wish I had known better.            

Henslin: Nickeled and Dimed

This chapter is about Barbara Ehrenreich, a political activist who decided to live her life as a divorced woman. Barbara first started with one job but she soon realized that she couldn't live off of one paycheck. She found a second job which helps her a lot more financially; however, taking on two jobs was harder than she had thought. She lived from paychecks to paychecks and had very little cash to spare.

Barbara mentions that "...the camaraderie of people who are, in almost all cases, far too smart and funny and caring for the work they do and the wages they're paid" (424). Many of these people didn't choose to live in poverty, but because of circumstances, they had no choice. My mother had just divorced my father for he was abusive and had an affair. She had to raise 7 of us siblings all on her own in a two bedroom apartment. We were all 1 or 2 years apart from each other with the oldest being in his early teens. There were times where my mother had difficulties going to work and she would carpool with the friends she made from work. They were happy to help each other for they knew it is another way to survive to live in poverty. I don't know how she did it, but we all survived the most difficult part of our lives.           

JBC: Fast Food/Work and Economy

People only think about the convenience of fast food and not much on what is behind the counter. There had been occasions where workers had voiced out their frustrations about the poor working conditions. Protestors protested for a higher wage because they felt like their pay wasn't enough for what they are going through when working in this field. I believe that many of those who work in a fast food restaurant; is working in excessive labor. Excessive labor is when someone is getting paid less than what they should earn, or when they are working more than they should have to. 

During my senior year in high school, I worked in a fast food restaurant called Arby's. I was a part-timer working 6 hours a day, but as time went on my work schedule became packed. I worked 6 days a week nearly every week. Every Sunday, I would work double shift with no lunch break. The only way I would be able to eat was to get a sandwich, and eat it at the back where no customer can see me. I was surprised when I got my check because my hourly pay was $7.50 an hour. My check that came in every other Wednesday ranged from $645 to $740. I made almost the same amount as our full-time employees. After I graduated high school, I decided to leave my job because I couldn't handle the working condition there anymore.    

 

Required: Presentation of Self

The way I am at school, and at home are a bit different. I'm pretty quiet on campus, I only go to my classes and to the lounge, I've yet explored all of Delta. I talk quite often in class because I like to get my opinion across and share stories. I haven't even made any friends at school, and I only have some classmates number for it is convenient. At home, I'm more talkative, relaxed, I raise my voice at the kids, and laugh more often. Besides at school and home, I'm also completely different at the club and bars. I enjoy drinking, dancing, and making conversation with people. I prefer meeting and talking to people at bars because I don't have to worry about what they will think about me, and I love listening to stories strangers have to tell. I feel completely content with being able to present myself differently depending on the atmosphere and location. It allows me to express every bit of myself in an appropriate time and place.

Required: Good Teaching Leads to Better Learning?

Last semester, in my English class I read an article about growth and fixed mindset written by a professor of psychology, Carol S. Dweck. A fixed mindset is of students who believed that their ability to learn and gain knowledge has a limit. A student with a growth mindset will keep trying to further their knowledge and they believe that there's no limit to their learning abilities. What's interesting is that the people around these students are the ones who influenced their mindset: teachers, parents, siblings, and tutors. A way to implant a student with a fixed mindset is with constant praising, telling them that they are good, smart, and that they did a great job, this will make them want to gain praises instead. Giving them rewards is also a way of influencing a fixed mindset because then they will only look forward to the rewards. To make a child or student gain a growth mindset would be when they solved a difficult problem and you tell them, "that's great you finally got this down, did you want to try a question that is a little bit more challenging?". When they're having difficulties trying to solve a problem, giving them courage like, "I know you can solve this problem, how about you try a different approach?" will encourage them to keep trying.

When a student is constantly given rewards and praises whenever they did well with classwork, tests, or homework, what will happen if they didn't do well? They wouldn't get the reward, and their pride would be hurt. This leads to them developing a fixed mindset. Whereas with encouragement, when a child fails their pride won't get hurt because they know that they can do it and they will try harder to achieve it. I believe that no matter how good someone teaches, it will make very little changes if they don't influence the students the right way.       

Required: JBC Shopping for "We-ness"

When I was in elementary school a lot of the cool kids my age wear brand name shoes. I was very conscious of how they viewed me because I was the only one who didn't own any brand name shoes. I remember attempting to buy a shoe that looks like a white Jordan sneaker, but that made me even more conscious because a couple classmate will ask me questions about them. The cool kids didn't take notice of me either and I thought it was a bummer that I was spending money just trying to fit in. I knew my family isn't well off so I never asked for anything more. What's important was that I discovered that I liked my cheaper glittery shoes better. When I got older I realized that the brand name didn't matter, the cost didn't matter. What matters was what I liked, they didn't have to be brand names or expensive as long as they fit my taste and are comfortable. Also, if I did get brand name shoes or items, they would fit my liking at a discounted price.  

Henslin: If Hitler Asked You....

The experiment that Stanely Milgram, a social psychologist, conducted shows that "...we Americans are an obedient people: not blindly, and not blissfully, just obedient" (270). The experiment consists of two people where one would electrocute the other from a range of 15-450 volt. The subject who does the electrocution was not the one who was strapped, so they had the decision to disobey the experimenter; however, more than 30 percent of the subject followed through with the experiment. After the experiment, he sent questionnaires to the subjects asking if they were happy or sorry about the experiment and the result was shocking. 83.7% expressed that they were happy, 15% said they are neither happy nor sorry, and only 1.3% was sorry about the experiment. "...People do what they are told to" Milgram continues "... so as long as they perceived that the command comes from a legitimate authority". Although it may not be to the extreme, we do obey those who we feel has the authority over us. For examples, we listen to our parents and do what we're told to most of the time: wash the dishes, takes out trashes, vacuum the house, and etc. We also obey many others which we may not even realize ourselves: our boss, work diligently; customers, help them with their needs; and professors, no phones in class. 

Required: Conformed to a Group, or Authority

When I was still in middle school, all my friends, we were influenced by our high school peers. We would do what they do because they were older, they had to know better, or so we thought. I learned to ditched school, skipped class and also took my first beer in middle school. We definitely weren't the brightest teens. One day my friends and I attempted to ditch class, sure enough, we were caught and was sent back to our classrooms. The looks from my teacher and classmates were piercing with judgments, a feeling I will never forget. Soon after, I was exposed to self-harm and took part in it for about a year until I realized how incredibly stupid I was. What made me come to my senses was that I never knew how far we took it until the school system checked one of them into a treatment center. I didn't have any hatred towards myself, and I didn't even remember why I did it. After freshmen year, I kept myself away from those situations. When I look back at myself, I couldn't believe how incredibly dumb I was, and now I can never imagine myself in those positions ever again.

My parents, grandparents, eldest siblings have authority over me at home; in addition, at school, there are my teachers, the principal, and the vice principal. I had to listen to them, obey their rules and try not to cause any troubles. Although I didn't cause any troubles at home I did cause a lot of troubles at school, hence my story in the first paragraph. 

JBC: Shopping/consumers Social Order

The difference between shopping and consumption really caught my attention because I never really paid any attention to the meaning behind them. Shopping is acquiring good from the marketplace, whereas consumption can be acquiring goods without the market place. An example of shopping from my personal experience would be buying clothes and personal necessities. Many of my traditional clothes are made and given to me by my mother, which is an example of acquiring goods. 

As a girl who enjoys using make-ups, I do believe that shopping can lead to social solidarity. I can bond with other girls about make-ups, we give each other advice about which product is good for us. We also talk about which brand we enjoy using, the conversation can advance to skin and hair care routine. Many men believe that we ladies stare at each other in a negative way but majority of the time it is because we admire something about what they had on (from clothes to make-ups).   

JBC: Coffee Shop Ethnography

In Starbucks located on Morada Lane off of highway 99, there's a little girl who seems to be of Hispanic descendent was dancing happily to 'Girl on Fire' by Alicia key. With this little girl, there's her young mother and a boy who seem to be her little brother. The mother is highly focused on her laptop tapping away while the brother is trying to finish his homework. At the end of that long table sits a woman who seems to be in her 50's, with her Michael Kors bag hanging off her chair she sat quietly reading her magazines. 

As the music track in Starbucks changes, a new person enters the cafe and while another person leaves. This coffee shop is surrounded by houses and the people who come and goes the feeling of a neighbor. The younger customers are dressed comfortably and the middle-aged adult looks like they just got off work. After the little family left the shop, everyone who entered the cafe by themselves sat by themselves and those who came in pair sat together at the tables for two. The staff, on the other hand, is enjoying themselves. I can hear them chatting behind the counter, and when there are no customers at the cash register, I would see them dancing along with the upbeat, groovy music. 

Because of the location and the little rain today, I assume that this Starbucks has more of a relaxing feel to it. There are no more than 10 customers sitting in this shop and if one comes to sit another seems to leave, which makes the cafe surprising quieter than I thought it would be. I prefer the vibe of this cafe right now, but I would definitely have to come to this Starbucks again during a different time and weather to see if there's any difference.      

Henslin: Thompson, Handling the Stigma of Handling the Dead

Morticians are aware that many people view them as profiting from the dead and from people's grief, but really they are providing a service desired from the living. We, as human, use to clean and cloth our beloved that is deceased and made their coffin because it was cheaper. As time went on we desired to hold a well-put ceremony for our loved ones that have passed and that's where morticians come in play. Morticians have a high salary and felt like they have to be far out of the community to be able to enjoy themselves because of how people view them. Those who give an odd eye at morticians are also those who would spend the money to hold a loving service for their loved ones. 

Henslin: Goffman, The presentation of the Self in Everyday Life

Our everyday life is a play and we are a fragment of this play. We're always wearing costumes, adding and taking away props to make ourselves look better. The props we use would be fit for the occasion we're heading to like, school, work, interview, or a party. When we're in a play the person we are is influenced by the stage and the people involved in the play. Let's say I went to an interview and I want to make a good impression. I would dress properly for an interview, carry props that are appropriate for the occasion, change my tone of talking, and sit straight without slouching. This is because I want to make a good impression, so they can 'act' according to what I want by giving me the job position I desire. In reality, who we are as an individual is developed by the people around us, by society. 

When we meet someone for the first time we would examine them carefully by looking into the way they dress, walk, and talk. Following along the way we predict their personality, we will act accordingly to what we believe they would prefer. Goffman believes that we should be our own distinct character and have moral rights to expect that others will treat and value us in an appropriate way; however, if we came to lie about our true self we deserve what ought to come upon us.       

JBC: Branding/The self and Social Interactions

"I" represents an impulsive part of ourselves. It's how we see ourselves, and it's also who we really are as a person. "Me" represents our social self, it is what we think others view us as. It is developed through socialization. When I'm by myself I love listening to music genres that my friends and family don't normally listen to, or the type that they find very annoying. In my head I picture myself dancing in the rain, in the house with the music on blast, even in reality sometimes I am completely focused on myself. When I'm around people who are the complete opposite of me, I tend to hold myself back and tone down my personality in-case it throws them off. I'm more cautious about what type of person I would be in the eyes of others. 

Branding is also a way of how people would like to identify themselves. Many people think highly of a brand and would like to have the newest release or the hottest item from that specific brand. There are those who don't put clothing brands as priorities and will settle for what would cost less and sometime they would be made fun of by those who wear branded clothes. Some brands hold values and have so many emotional connections with people that people use them to compete against one another. Let's take iPhones and Samsung Galaxy for an example. By far iPhones and Samsung are the two most well-known phone brands. People who had purchased these two products are always arguing and competing to see which phone brand is better. 

Henslin: Would You Hire an Ex-Convict?

Decades after decades the number of prison inmates had increased over 600%, and the thought of hiring someone with a criminal record had peaked Devah Pager, a sociologist professor's interest. She conducted an experiment where two white and two black male testers applied for a job position. They all had the same age, educational background, and work experience. One pair was assigned to have a criminal record. It was then that the result became clear between white and black males with and without criminal records. There a 34% callback for whites with no criminal records and only 14% callback for blacks with no criminal records. Those of whites with criminal records received 17% callback and blacks with only 5%. Even whites with criminal records received more callbacks than blacks without any criminal records. From these results, this displays a prevail in racial inequality.        

Henslin: Doing Sociological Research

In the world of sociological research, there are two major activities. One is conducting empirical research, and two is constructing a theoretical base. Empirical research is based on objective observation, which means that "sociologist must gather information that represents people's attitudes and behaviors accurately" (29-30). Because sociologist feels like one method of collecting empirical data is not enough, they start to combine methods to accomplish their goals. It includes conducting experiments, interviews, and using secondary sources or documents. The second activity is constructing theory. Sociologist must plant their data into visionary structures. These structures; in addition, will explain how facts are related to one another. Sociologist uses empirical research to match a theory; afterward, they would perfect the theory to match the real world. There are three prevailing theories in sociology are symbolic interactionism, functionalism, and conflict theory.    

The first theory, symbolic interactionism focuses on the study of how we communicate with one another through the use of symbols. Symbols, to us, is a representation of objects. One; human beings have a self; two, people construct meanings and act on the basis of meanings; and three, people take into account the possible reactions of others; these are the three main themes under symbolic interactionism. We as human beings use others as an example to reflect on ourselves and uses that reflection to see how others view us as a person. Functionalism, the second theory, believes that our society is a unified structure that is formed by many components. Each part of the structure supply a balance to society; if however, a component becomes unstable/dysfunctional it would affect other parts of the structure. The third theory, conflict theory, see's the component in society as always challenging one another. Racism, sexism, social class conflict and etc. is the outcome of the constant competition between social groups. 

When doing a research sociologist follows an eight steps research model.

1. Selecting a topic - What are you curious about?
2. Defining the problem - Develop a researchable question
3. Reviewing the literature - Make sure what you are curious about hasn't already been discovered
4. Formulating a hypothesis - A statement that you expect to find based on a theory
5. Choosing a research method - A way for you to collect data
6. Collecting data - Collect valid and reliable data, which may involve
• surveys
• secondary analysis
• documents
• experiments
• unobtrusive measures
• participant observations 
7. Analyze the results - From statistical test to content analysis analyze your data
8. Sharing the result - Write a report to share your discovery, and explain your procedures. Repeat your study.

Each method can deliver better results depending on the questions or topics of your research.            

JBC: Advertisement/Society

This chapter highlights the importance of not only advertisement, but it's production, content, and its reception through the method of sociology. Advertisements are everywhere around us, televisions, bus signs, outdoor benches, billboards, and on product packagings. Some sociologist thinks about the normative part of the world; however, many tend to make more connections with empirical observations. What are normative and empirical you may ask. Normative is a term describing a specific idea of how the world should be, and empirical describes an approach that uses data collections about the world as it is. 

Many believe that marijuana is good for us and uses them on a daily basis. It is true that marijuana is good for us on certain aspect but the truth of its side effect is that "... marijuana use has been shown to impair functions such as attention, memory, learning, and decision-making. Those effects can last for days after the high wears off. Heavy marijuana use in adolescence or early adulthood has been associated with a dismal set of life outcomes including poor school performance, higher dropout rates, increased welfare dependence, greater unemployment, and lower life satisfaction", explained in the article "Marijuana and the Developing Brain" by Kirsten Weir. This is an example of 'tradition', where many people have a thought towards certain things.

There's a difference between quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data are information presented through measures, and qualitative data are information introduced through words. Collecting these quantitative data may involve in surveys or questionnaires that can easily be turned into numbers. Although surveys have many advantages like having a great number of participants, it also has its disadvantages; answering questions dishonestly, for example. Qualitative data can be collected through Interviews or ethnography. The qualitative researcher may go and participate or choose to observe and collect data. From a small number of cases to wide social trends, there are many methods to collect data.