Sociology Semester Project
Maggie McCloud
Gender Inequality
1. An example of gender inequality and discrimination against women in recent years is occupational sex discrimination. Although women are active in the labor community, it can be seen that when women are given a job, it is at a lower status than men in most cases. In fact, in 2010, less than 10% of engineer positions in the United States were held by women. When females do reach higher-status jobs, such as doctors and physicians, they are still concentrated in lower paying, less prestigious jobs, such as pediatrics.
2. Another example of gender inequality is the amount of pay women receive compared to men with the same amount of skill level. In 2010, every woman earned an average of 81 cents per every dollar a man made. This can be translated into the comparison that women work an average of 6 days to earn the same amount of wage that men make in 5 days.
3. There are numerous debates in the United States about legal codes that point to sexual bias. Some claim that this results in differences of power received by women and men in political situations. An example of legal bias was the U.S. supreme court's decision to refuse the grant for legal guarantee of health insurance benefits for pregnancy-related costs. This refusal affected many women in the United States.
4. Historically, state laws took away the right for women to keep their surnames after marriage. This was an unfair and sexist law that kept women from practicing their personal rights. This is only one of many sexist laws created just for women in history.
5. Another historical law that discriminated against women was the limit of hours women could work. This law stated that legally, women had to work fewer hours than men. Many laws followed the creation of this law, including more limitations for women in the work place. Restrictions were put into place that denied women permission to work under harsh conditions. This included toxic areas, because areas such as this were viewed as an open gate for birth defects of potential children. This affected women as it limited the amount of occupations available for them.
6. In 2012 it is recorded that only 16.8% of the U.S. House of Representatives were females. This is unfair and sexist against women. In my opinion, the government needs to be split equally between men and women. To have such an unfair number of women vs men creates less opportunity for women to have an input on decisions that affect our country.
Racial and Ethical Discrimination
1. Prejudice refers to widely held negative attitudes towards a certain group of people and its members. This is something many people practice towards African Americans or people of a different race or ethnicity.
2. Racism is an extreme version of prejudice. Racism is solely based on race. This not only involves unfair judgement, but it suggests that one group of ethnically related people is better than another. This is so wrong considering no one determines their race and ethnicity.
3. James Byrd, an African American from Texas, was chained by two white supremacists and dragged to death. The two white men did this simply because they were against African Americans, and James happened to fit their description. This is so disgusting and such an extreme form of racism.
4. stereotyping can be a form of discrimination as well. Some common stereotypes include the dumb blonde in many movies and the jock who just happens to be the biggest bully in the school. Stereotypes can also pertain to race and ethnicity. An example would be categorizing all black people into a category of non-working, trashy, and careless people. Obviously, a vast amount of African American people do not fit into this category.
5. A hate crime is a criminal act motivated by extreme prejudice. The very first federal anti-hate crime law was passed in 1969. This was the result of the wake of violence committed against African Americans during the civil rights movement. However, many hate crimes still occur to this day.
6. Symbolic interactionists point out that the English language itself can reflect prejudices. They argue that words such as blackeye, blackball, blacklist, and black mark show a negative slant toward the word "black".
Socialization
1. Socialization is the cultural process of learning to participate in group life. This is the basis for creating relationships and learning how to live with other people. This learning takes place through cultural transmission.
2. Socialization begins at birth and continues to progress throughout the adult life. Successful socialization enables people to fit into different types of social groups. This can be helpful in public school so students know who they get along best with and other social situations.
3. Harry Harlow executed an experiment to see the effects of isolation. He used rhesus monkeys in these experiments. Harlow isolated baby monkeys for different lengths of time before introducing adult monkeys to the infants. They all reacted differently. Through this, he learned that monkeys isolated for three months or less could get the hang of engaging themselves and were fully capable of participating in group life. Monkeys that had been isolated for six months or more never had to full potential to interact with other monkeys and were often found neglected by members of the group.
4. Anna's story is a strong example of the impact that isolation has on humans. Anna was found tied to a chair and studies later found she had been kept like this for five years. She was barely alive and didn't know how to walk or talk. This is due to the poor amount of human interaction. The only time she had any interaction with another human was when her mother brought her milk once or twice a day.
5. A child's first exposure to the outside world involves their family. This is normally the first relationship babies form with any other humans. Family is the primary agent of socialization. Within the family, a child learns how to speak, internalize norms, beliefs, and values, and form basic attitudes.
6. Total institutions are places where residents are separated from the rest of society. This is common within different cults, such as FLDS. This is very unhealthy for humans because people stuck in total institutions cannot manage their own lives. They are controlled and expected to follow orders without question. This doesn't allow for freedom of beliefs or values and can have a major impact on the socialization of these people.