Positivist or Interactionist?

     Sociologists spend their time doing experiments and asking questions so that they get solve sociological issues. The question is which approach helps to get more reliable answers: positivist or interactionist? It is difficult to decide because they both contribute to helping sociologists. The positivist approach is based on statistics and limited questionnaires. This approach seems to be more reliable but what if the statistics aren't accurate? The interactionist approach goes more in-depth because of unstructured interviews. This approach can be seen as biased and unreliable because what if the person that you are interviewing isn't telling the truth? It is hard to decide which approach would be most helpful. They can both lead to false information. However, they are both helpful to sociologists. Which one do you think is most helpful? 

The Culture of Poverty

    Poverty is a common thing in this society. It is difficult to move up in society without the correct resources to do so. While doing some research on the culture of poverty, I came upon a statistic which stated that it is estimated that more than 35 million Americans live in poverty today (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Causes-and-Effects-of-Poverty.topicArticleId-26957,articleId-26882.html). It then came to my mind that America isn't the only victim of poverty.
     In sociology, the word poverty is based on those who lack what is needed by most Americans to live decently because they earn less than half of the nation's median income (http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/Causes-and-Effects-of-Poverty.topicArticleId-26957,articleId-26882.html). Culture of poverty is when nothing can be done to change someones economic outcomes. The people who have experienced this type of poverty tend to feel powerless and hopeless. As a result of this, people could end up homeless and stressed.

Popular Culture

       What do we think about when someone says "popular culture"? Some might say, "hmmm how did that come about?" Some would say that we are being controlled by the elite. Even though we might not see it, they have a strong power over us. An example would be like the mass looking up to the celebritiy figures. If a certain celebrity was to do a certain hairstyle or wear a certain type of clothing, we would try to do the same hairstyle or wear the same clothes as that celebrity. We almost look up to them as a role model and as a leader.
      The mass media also control our popular culture. Mass media influences our population through music, television, movies, magazines, etc. The mass media gives us a sense of what is important and what isnt. It also has an influence on gender roles. This means that it determines how a male/female should  act as in how they speak and the roles they have in society. It is evident that the media has control over our culture. They influence many things that helps to shape our society.

Symbolic Interactionism

    Symbolic interactionism is a social psychological theory developed by Herbert Blumer. According to Blumer, the three important priniciples of this theory revolves around meaning, language, and thought. Symbolic interactionism is saying that society gives you a role and you decide whether or not to accept it. Charles Cooley looks at symbolic interactionism as a “looking glass self” which means that we see ourselves to be a reflection of other peoples judgement and that our self-concepts are created in “primary groups”. George Mead on the other hand, believes that humans act to situations based on their meaning of the situation. It is said that by interacting with others, we develop a sense of self.

Function in society

Sorry, my blog is really late but I think that the functionalism theory does a better job at explaining how society continues to operate. I think that we all do have a function in society and with everyone having a certain function,society is able to function and meet the needs/goals that society needs to survive. Mrs. Basi gave us the example that her function in
society is being a teacher and a mother. By being a teacher, she is able to teach us and by being a mother, she is able to take care of her son. Without this order in society, there would not be as much order as we have with everyone having their specific function.

ONLINE CLASS!!!!!

     Online classes can have its ups and downs. First of all, online class teachers require that by the end of the week, we should’ve already handed in three assignments. This might be a good way to finish the class faster but we have other homework from school to do. It is hard to spend two hours on each of the assignments that we need to do for our online class with the extra homework we get from school. It is also hard to communicate with the teachers because sometimes they take forever to respond to our calls and/or e-mails. Honestly, when I am doing my online class I get distracted by facebook and twitter. Maybe they should make online classes more interesting. However, there are positive things that come with taking an online class. You can take a class online if you really wanted to take a specific class but you can’t take it in school because you probably need to take a class that is required for graduation. Another thing is that with an online class, you can take extra classes that can help you get your high school credits faster. You also have the advantage of working on your own time even though it takes forever to finish an online class. It is hard to juggle online classes and your school work but if you have that push in you, you can do the online classes without a problem. If you are lazy or just a busy person, it can be hard to keep up with the online class. Another problem is that with online classes we have to teach ourselves. Not a lot of people have the ability to learn new information on their own. Yes, the online teachers are there to help but it’s hard to get a hold of them when you need them.

Republican Primary Election

     So I honestly do not know much about politics. I personally think it’s boring. But, the blog topic for this week is about the Republican primary. From my research, a primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for an election. I found out that Mitt Romney won the election. Some members of the Republican Party stated that if this was the general election, Romney would have defeated President Obama (www.usatoday.com). He claims that under Obama’s presidency, a lot of people lost their jobs and that there was more foreclosure.  Romney declared that he will get America to a balanced budget without raising taxes. Romney sounds like a determined person but actions speak louder than words.