Occupy Wall Street-- There is Still Hope

After being demoralized for thirteen chapters, Newman's Chapter Fourteen titled "Reconstructing Society" was just what I needed. Truly the icing on the cake-- If your icing prevents a feeling of utter hopelessness in society, that is. As I read about social movements, I couldn't help but think of Occupy Wall Street.

I learned that Occupy Wall Street is a reform movement, as it "attempts to change limited aspects of a society but does not seek to alter or replace major social institutions." Social movements, according to Newman, arise when people feel that resources like power, education, wealth, or justice, are not being distributed equally (Newman 2010). In Occupy's case, the resources are predominantly wealth. In fact, their slogan, "We Are the 99%," refers to the difference in wealth between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the country.

A social movement must have an ideology. This refers to the group's values, which allow people to view the movement as morally "good" and become more likely to take risks for the cause-- arrest or financial setbacks, for example (Newman 2010). I've heard news commentators say that the Occupy movement doesn't have a message.  The issue seems to be, however, that the message isn't one simple demand. The protesters believe that Wall Street was reckless and caused the 2008 recession. They believe that the government was wrong to bail out irresponsible corporations. They are also protesting the collapsing environment, corruption in government, housing policies, and labor standards. I found an article by Douglas Rushkoff for CNN that explains another aspect while addressing the opinion that Occupy has no message:

"Anyone who says he has no idea what these folks are protesting about is not being truthful. Whether we agree with them or not, we all know what they are upset about, and we all know that there are investment bankers working on Wall Street getting richer while things for most of the rest of us are getting tougher. What upsets banking's defenders and politicians alike is the refusal of this movement to state its terms or set its goals in the traditional language of campaigns. They mean that there is an inappropriate and correctable disconnect between the abundance America produces and the scarcity its markets manufacture."

(Here's the rest of the article, if you're interested: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/opinion/rushkoff-occupy-wall-street/index.html)

According to Newman, the movements that are successful are very organized. I couldn't find an article that spelled out the structure of the movement, but this is what I gathered:  Occupy Wall Street's decision-making group is the mainly The New York City General Assembly.  It is lead by a committee, and there is no single leader. About seventy smaller organizations contribute to the movement's operation.  They have nightly meetings that are open to the public. I'm not sure that this type of organization is like the successful model Newman talks about, but it seems to be working.

The future of Occupy Wall Street remains to be seen, but I can't imagine it will be going away any time soon. The movement is encouraging to me-- I'm glad that people still believe that change for the better can be accomplished, even when the situation seems dismal.

Newman, David. Sociology. Ed 8. 2010.

Rushkoff, David. "You Think Occupy Wall St. is a Phase? You Don't Get It." 5 October 2011. Online. http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/opinion/rushkoff-occupy-wall-street/index.html

Impression Management, THE SEQUEL (Assignment 14)

When flipping through the text to decide which sociological concept had the biggest impact on me, I kept coming back to impression management. Then I re-read my October 14 blog post titled "Impression Management" and realized that I sounded like a total nut job. Who on earth would put so much effort into projecting a specific image? Well, pretty much everyone, I think. I've been looking for people managing their images, and I haven't had to look far.

The place that I've noticed it the most is customer service... Oh my goodness, customer service, the perfect example. There is no way that the girl behind the counter at Starbucks is really that excited to see me. She's even more excited when her manager is standing next to her, it seems. I get it, though. I worked at Old Navy for two years (worst job EVER, and I worked in corn fields for two summers). This might be a special kind of impression management: the required kind. When I was behind the counter, I didn't want to smile and make small talk; I wanted to smash my head against a wall repeatedly, but I talked and smiled like I meant it.

Impression management is alive and well in fashion around campus. The guy who walks through Bush Library like it's the catwalk comes to mind, but every jacket, shirt, hat, and pair of pants is projecting an image, some harder than others. My goal when I get ready for the day in the morning is to look natural, like I'm not trying too hard; but some days it takes me an hour to achieve this look (Yikes, I hate admitting that). But this type of projection is obviously not limited to clothing. I spent ten bucks on a wreath for my front door today so the yuppies in my neighborhood wouldn't think I was a scrooge.

This is the type of thing I'm up against around here. Honestly...

I know that some of my examples aren't strictly projection tools. It's definitely possible that the girl at Starbucks was, in fact, a really nice person who loves her job. And the people projecting with their clothing around campus are probably also using their clothing as a form of self expression. But noticing the impression management all over has made me have a better sense of humor about the things I do to project a mature, stylish, or even a "Christmas-y" image:  After all, everybody's doing it.

Baby Boomers Change Advertising

About 76 million people were born between the years of 1946 and 1964. They are referred to as baby boomers, and they're changing marketing in a big way.

Traditionally, advertising has been aimed at people between the ages of 18 and 49. People 50 and older were literally called "the undesirables," according to a 2005 Businessweek article titled "Love Those Boomers."  But with most baby boomers 50 or older, attitudes are changing.

"The boomers are particularly attractive because they tend to have free time. They're less likely to be raising young children and their careers are established and stable," says Paolo Timoni, CEO of Piaggio U.S.A., parent company of Vespa Motor Scooters in the same Businessweek article. When Vespa began marketing in the United States in 2000 after a 15-year absence, they thought the people buying their scooters would be people in their mid 20's, looking for a cheap way to get around. What they found, though, was that their best customers were baby boomers, who remembered Vespas from when they were young.

With boomers living and working longer, they will have even more money to spend.  According to Matt Thornhill, president of the Boomer Project, a Richmond Virginia consulting firm, "If you're going to expand your business, you will have to market to the aging boomer."

Businessweek. "Love Those Boomers." 24 October 2005. Online. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_43/b3956201.htm.


Image: http://www.thebabyboomershealth.com/why-ba-boomers-need-long-term-care-insurance/

My (Very Limited) Immigration Story (Assignment 13)

When trying to find out facts about my family's history, I found that nobody really knows the details. A few random facts are known, but I had a hard time getting the answers I was looking for.

My mother informed me that her mother's father came from Sweden when he was eighteen and started farming here. When I asked her why he left Sweden she said that she'd been told he was "looking for a better life." My mother didn't know the details about the other side of her family.

When I talked to my father about his side of the family, he said that both his parents' families came from England. His side of the family seems to have come a generation earlier than my mother's side of the family, as it was my father's great grandparents who first came to the U.S. My father didn't know many details except that his great grandfather on his dad's side had been a professional boxer. As far as a reason for leaving England, my dad said that they were "looking for opportunities."

This is not my family, but I imagine they looked something like this...?

If my family were to come to the United States today, entry would be much more difficult.  When immigrants arrived on Ellis Island, the process of becoming a citizen took only 3-5 hours. If people were healthy and had no criminal record, they were usually allowed entry. Today, my family members would probably need the sponsorship of a family member or potential employer already living in the United States. They would have to prove that they have skills that would be valuable to the country. Still, the process could take decades, which would likely be too long if they were facing extreme hardship in their countries.

I think immigration is such a volatile topic today because it's easy to forget that almost all of us are descendants of immigrants.  Newman explains it very well, saying, "Immigration creates a variety of cultural fears:  fear that a nation can't control its own boarders, fear that an ethnically homogeneous population will be altered through intermarriage, fear of the influx of a 'strange' way of life, and fear that newcomers will encroach on property, clog the educational system, and suck up social benefits owned and largely paid for by 'natives.'"

According to Newman, however, immigration offsets "the problems of negative population growth and an aging workforce in developed destination countries." Immigrants also fill many of the jobs that people already in the United States simply won't do:  picking crops or driving a taxi, for example. The United States has never had a completely homogeneous population; the "face" of the U.S. is always changing.

Image: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/nyregion/05bookshelf.html
Newman, David. Sociology. Ed 8. 2010.

Assault Prevention

When it comes to sexual assault, victim blaming is common. According to Newman, this places nearly all the responsibility to prevent sexual assault on potential victims: women. We always see the prevention tips to avoid being assaulted, but this poster flips the responsibility to a potential assaulter.

You wouldn't believe the debate set off by this poster at its website:
http://front.moveon.org/the-most-effective-sexual-assault-prevention-plan-ever/
One person writes: "Whew! That was a close one. Being a man, I am only inches away from anonymously raping every woman that I see. Thanks liberals and feminazis from saving female kind from me."  I was quite surprised to see responses like these, as it seems the only people who should be offended are assaulters.

Newman, David. Sociology. Ed 8. 2010.

Angry, but for Good Reason (Assignment 12)



When my boyfriend called me on Wednesday afternoon, I was in a great mood:  I had just finished my last class of the day and was almost all set to depart for my parents' house. The only thing I had left to do was read Newman's Chapter 12, "Sex and Gender."  When my boyfriend arrived home two hours later, though, my mood was a bit different. Okay, a lot different. What happened? Where do I even start?

The very first page of the chapter helped me realize how little things have changed for women in this country in the last 200 years. The Declaration of Independence, rewritten at a women's rights convention in 1848 reads, in part, "In view of their social degradation and in view of the unjust laws above mentioned, and because women do feel themselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of the most sacred rights, we insist that they have immediate admission to all the rights and privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United States." This statement could have been written yesterday.

I learned of a study performed by the American Association of University Women that approximately 83% of girls have been the victims of varying levels of sexual harassment in elementary, middle, and high school. In addition, 2 of 3 female college students has experienced sexual harassment during college, but only about 10% report it.

The passage on rape made me sick. I learned that often rape isn't even considered a crime against the woman but rather a crime against her husband or father whose property is violated. Also, the threat of rape is a constant reminder to women that men are more powerful. Women often don't report rape due to the fact that they are subjected to being required to prove their innocence rather than the guilt of the offender. Perhaps the most shocking statement, to me, was that in a study of high school students, "52% agreed that most women fantasize about being raped by a man..."

The "Gender Inequality in Families" segment made me annoyed to realize that I am conforming to gender roles by performing the tasks "essential to the daily functioning of the household" while my boyfriend's chores are "infrequent, irregular, or optional" (Newman 2010). And when my boyfriend does these chores, I'm very likely to show excessive appreciation, as if he went above and beyond; I don't get praised for doing laundry or dishes, though, and for some reason I don't expect to.

The section about gender and the economy made me feel hopeless. Women earn only 78% of what men earn, and the gap increases with age. In addition, occupations like physician, engineer, dentist, and lawyer, which are traditionally male occupations, are still extremely dominated by men.

These points are just a few of the angry-mood-inducers I came across in this chapter. No other chapter in Newman's Sociology has had quite this effect on me. I must admit that venting about the injustices in this blog has been quite therapeutic, and hopefully, after reading this, my boyfriend will understand why I hated him so much on that Wednesday.

Newman, David. Sociology. Ed 8. 2010.

Image: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1249&bih=615&tbm=isch&tbnid=STL1GwkJEValdM:&imgrefurl=http://www.angrybirds-online.info/tag/angry-birds-graphics/&docid=XXjKCLOzHEk5iM&imgurl=http://www.angrybirds-online.info/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/AngryRedBird.png&w=400&h=400&ei=NwzTTsuZEsfkiALxmZnpDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=982&vpy=273&dur=203&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=205&ty=128&sig=100147541499453716487&page=3&tbnh=120&tbnw=125&start=36&ndsp=21&ved=1t:429,r:20,s:36

Sorting by Race

While doing research on race and its origins, I came across a website called "Race:  The Power of an Illusion." It has a great activity in which you sort pictures of people into the racial categories American Indian, Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, and White. You can take the quiz through the link under the photo:

http://www.pbs.org/race/002_SortingPeople/002_00-home.htm

As you can probably imagine, it's extremely difficult to categorize the pictures into the groups provided. After taking the quiz, you can divide the photos into different color groups, light to dark, and, as expected, "light" and "dark" skin can be found in several racial categories. The text echos this point:  ". . . people who consider themselves 'white' may actually have darker skin and curlier hair than some people who consider themselves 'black'" (Newman 2010).

The activities on this website are, perhaps, geared toward a younger audience, but they are a good reminder that race is a social construct, and that how people are classified is completely arbitrary.

Newman, David. Sociology. Ed 8. 2010.