If you can't tell, I have been replacing my writing time with school assignments and that is no way to maintain a healthy relationship with a blog. So let's catch up. (Numerical style as usual--no specific order):
1. I decided to try lent this year which equals lent poetry minus liberty desert
2. Interesting life complications
3. 1 beautiful prom dress for my sister
4. A happy visit to lifegroup
5. An email that may change my life
6. A dorm prayer group with friends
7. One Intervarsity meeting on an off day
10. An interesting church with interesting people
11. Oh, and poetry night with a friend (let's begin here)
Tonight was pretty cool. I talked a friend into going to open mic night with me at this museum. We enjoyed the eclectic performances, and then... a real poet took the stage (ok not really, but it took him some guts to get up there and I approve of that) This moment just really stood out to me and I wanted to record it. ( :
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Hons 392 How society permits criminal deviance with the use of prisons
As seen in Dentler and Erickson's Functions of Deviance in Groups, society does not always eliminate deviants, but instead allows it. This can be seen in the accommodation of prisons and jails worldwide. The norm and accepted behavior of almost all societies is to follow the rules and laws set out by their governments, but yet they make room for deviance by providing a place for intended offenders. Countries do this to maintain equilibrium as opposed to eliminating all deviants. The deviance allowed because of these institutions include: murder, theft, drugs, and many other arbitrary and even minor crimes.
The perks of allowing deviant norm offenders to have their on little home in society include maintenance of group performance, a reward system, and boundaries. In this way, having prisons establish equilibrium in an environment. With criminals a society is able to establish a heirarchy of behavior. Without offenders there would be no differentiation from the normal law abiding citizen and a lowly criminal. By showing society that there is a consequence for being deviant against the law, a social latter is started. Those that offend the law the least (conform to norms the best) are at the top with offenders at the bottom. By emphasizing this social latter society influences others to strive to be the best law conformers they know how to. This keeps one end of society striving for the optimum levels while the deviants keep these motives recharged by existing as a lower spectrum.
While society allows the existence of criminals, they make sure the social ranks stay clear through the use of the reward system. In many cases, the award is the privilege of government protection and programs. In most countries, the criminal looses the freedom to go where ever he/she wants. They also don't have the option of obtaining better selective jobs with benefits. Hostility is something that they also face not only from each other, but from the law enforcement whose job is to protect law abiding citizens. In November, two inmates died from brutal beating they received from Italian law enforcers. The fact that prison deaths are not as publicized as military ones or other types of deaths shows the distinction between the rewarded individuals of society and the deviant ones. Normally when a criminal first realizes their demotion in society they are overwhelmed and depressed. Some cannot handle the harsh condition under which they are forced to live. Around 150 inmates die each year in Italian prisons, while around 60 of those deaths are suicides.
Yet, many countries struggle with overpopulation in prisons. Some countries have to deal with more criminal deviance than others like the United States and the Republic of China who have the highest number of inmates. One reason this could be is that both countries are strong powers that want to be seen as dominate and in control, and one of the ways a group is distinguished is in part by the norms it creates for handling deviance and the forms of it that it is able to observe (Dentler and Erickson). Because these countries want to be seen as in control when it comes to protecting their citizens, they will have a more rigid law enforcement to deal with crime in their larger populated countries. While there is some absorption for "minor crimes" like traffic offenses, littering, and contract breeches, for the most part these countries crack down on more little crimes than others where certain laws don't even exist. This is seen with underage drinking and drug usage in America. Because the drink age is higher someone is more like to get in trouble with the law for distribution to a minor, public endangerment, or other fancy terms that can be used to convict someone for the same crime. In a way these stricter boundaries that the citizens have to live under shapes the nation's cultural identity. This is seen in the way America is viewed as more conservative than European countries when it comes to the laws and restrictions like these.
Although prisons and jail funding take up time and money, most societies see them as a necessity in not only controlling criminal deviance, but also allowing it to maintain equilibrium and give its citizens a social law abiding latter that they can strive for optimum levels on. In this way, prisons and law enforcement help establish a nation's identity by showing how they deal with deviance and what is considered deviant by their law, culture, and standards. With the allowance of criminal deviance, countries would not have distinguished systems to keep equilibrium on the law latter. They also would lose some control over their citizen's behavior without the motivation of rewards and the punishment system for not conforming to the law.
The perks of allowing deviant norm offenders to have their on little home in society include maintenance of group performance, a reward system, and boundaries. In this way, having prisons establish equilibrium in an environment. With criminals a society is able to establish a heirarchy of behavior. Without offenders there would be no differentiation from the normal law abiding citizen and a lowly criminal. By showing society that there is a consequence for being deviant against the law, a social latter is started. Those that offend the law the least (conform to norms the best) are at the top with offenders at the bottom. By emphasizing this social latter society influences others to strive to be the best law conformers they know how to. This keeps one end of society striving for the optimum levels while the deviants keep these motives recharged by existing as a lower spectrum.
While society allows the existence of criminals, they make sure the social ranks stay clear through the use of the reward system. In many cases, the award is the privilege of government protection and programs. In most countries, the criminal looses the freedom to go where ever he/she wants. They also don't have the option of obtaining better selective jobs with benefits. Hostility is something that they also face not only from each other, but from the law enforcement whose job is to protect law abiding citizens. In November, two inmates died from brutal beating they received from Italian law enforcers. The fact that prison deaths are not as publicized as military ones or other types of deaths shows the distinction between the rewarded individuals of society and the deviant ones. Normally when a criminal first realizes their demotion in society they are overwhelmed and depressed. Some cannot handle the harsh condition under which they are forced to live. Around 150 inmates die each year in Italian prisons, while around 60 of those deaths are suicides.
Yet, many countries struggle with overpopulation in prisons. Some countries have to deal with more criminal deviance than others like the United States and the Republic of China who have the highest number of inmates. One reason this could be is that both countries are strong powers that want to be seen as dominate and in control, and one of the ways a group is distinguished is in part by the norms it creates for handling deviance and the forms of it that it is able to observe (Dentler and Erickson). Because these countries want to be seen as in control when it comes to protecting their citizens, they will have a more rigid law enforcement to deal with crime in their larger populated countries. While there is some absorption for "minor crimes" like traffic offenses, littering, and contract breeches, for the most part these countries crack down on more little crimes than others where certain laws don't even exist. This is seen with underage drinking and drug usage in America. Because the drink age is higher someone is more like to get in trouble with the law for distribution to a minor, public endangerment, or other fancy terms that can be used to convict someone for the same crime. In a way these stricter boundaries that the citizens have to live under shapes the nation's cultural identity. This is seen in the way America is viewed as more conservative than European countries when it comes to the laws and restrictions like these.
Although prisons and jail funding take up time and money, most societies see them as a necessity in not only controlling criminal deviance, but also allowing it to maintain equilibrium and give its citizens a social law abiding latter that they can strive for optimum levels on. In this way, prisons and law enforcement help establish a nation's identity by showing how they deal with deviance and what is considered deviant by their law, culture, and standards. With the allowance of criminal deviance, countries would not have distinguished systems to keep equilibrium on the law latter. They also would lose some control over their citizen's behavior without the motivation of rewards and the punishment system for not conforming to the law.
sources used:
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/node/12368
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/node/12368
Monday, March 1, 2010
Hons 392 The Deviance in Polygamous Relationships in American Culture
While polygamy is accepted in other cultures like tribes and clans in Africa and Middle Eastern countries, for the audience in America it is unacceptable. Even the law forbids it when it comes to marriage. For those that violate the norm of monogamy within the States harsh judgment and queer looks are the consequences. As said by Howard Becker, deviance is determined by society's reaction to an act not the act itself. Unfortunately polygamists have been subjects of this labeling theory. Their act is seen as deviant by the conformist of the American culture when in fact under certain conditions their actions would be seen as logical and acceptable.
The primary deviance in this act is that the sexual restrictions of the society are being violated. Law and religion play a key role in shaping this standard that the majority conforms to. This oligarchy surprisingly has a great affect on the love lives of its citizens. This is seen in how a few Middle Eastern nations that are of another religion and allow polygamy embrace this behavior and turn it into a cultural norm. This shows the relativity of deviance. Many polygamists in America deviate from monogamy for religious reasons, or personal desires. They see themselves as the outgroup for being accepting to this idea and go ahead and join their own subculture. A specific example of this is the LDS Restorationist Movement with a certain group of Mormons. While legally unable to be bigamist, they find ways around the law to be considered religiously married. The HBO show Big Love depicts this subculture to many viewers, who are given an exaggerated perspective of how differently these people live. This causes stronger emotions to arise against this deviant nature, insuring that public display of this love will be culturally deviant for some years to come.
The secondary deviance seen in this act is breaking the norm of simple group relationships. The most natural and simplest type of group is a dyad. Anything after that gets more complex socially. The break from this simple structure has prompt society to label these people "polygamists", which has a negative connotation like "pedophile", "anorexic", and other deviant behavior. Polygamists are willing to deal with the complexities of larger groups to satisfy their love, desires, or religion. In his article on Polygamy, Alex Deane describes that one of the major cons in these relationships is the competition it causes amongst its partners, which can be confusing for children born into these structures. It also causes jealousy when a dominant partner arises. This is the chance that this group is willing to take.
While the reactions and discriminatory behavior towards this group may be seen as their own personal and social trouble, it is not impossible for this view to change in America. As seen with natural disasters morals and values can change quickly. Under the circumstance that there is an extreme death rate or imbalance of gender do to a tragic event like war, terrorism, or an epic natural disaster. Polygamy can easily become the norm for building up a nation or a races population. For America, which is a powerful and dominate nation, accepting a loss of power from this imbalance would be unacceptable up against its competitors. When it comes down to it polygamy could very well be used to build up the population to regain power. It could even be stamped with the stigma as patriotic, as seen with working women during the World Wars. It was against the norm during that time for women to take on male jobs, but that quickly changed due to the militant events. In an instant, women in the work force became patriotic. The government could even go so far as to legalize marriage for these groups just to retain the American values of marriage and commitment. While the chances of this occurring naturally are extremely low, given a dramatic event these outcasts can easily become an ingroup.
The primary deviance in this act is that the sexual restrictions of the society are being violated. Law and religion play a key role in shaping this standard that the majority conforms to. This oligarchy surprisingly has a great affect on the love lives of its citizens. This is seen in how a few Middle Eastern nations that are of another religion and allow polygamy embrace this behavior and turn it into a cultural norm. This shows the relativity of deviance. Many polygamists in America deviate from monogamy for religious reasons, or personal desires. They see themselves as the outgroup for being accepting to this idea and go ahead and join their own subculture. A specific example of this is the LDS Restorationist Movement with a certain group of Mormons. While legally unable to be bigamist, they find ways around the law to be considered religiously married. The HBO show Big Love depicts this subculture to many viewers, who are given an exaggerated perspective of how differently these people live. This causes stronger emotions to arise against this deviant nature, insuring that public display of this love will be culturally deviant for some years to come.
The secondary deviance seen in this act is breaking the norm of simple group relationships. The most natural and simplest type of group is a dyad. Anything after that gets more complex socially. The break from this simple structure has prompt society to label these people "polygamists", which has a negative connotation like "pedophile", "anorexic", and other deviant behavior. Polygamists are willing to deal with the complexities of larger groups to satisfy their love, desires, or religion. In his article on Polygamy, Alex Deane describes that one of the major cons in these relationships is the competition it causes amongst its partners, which can be confusing for children born into these structures. It also causes jealousy when a dominant partner arises. This is the chance that this group is willing to take.
While the reactions and discriminatory behavior towards this group may be seen as their own personal and social trouble, it is not impossible for this view to change in America. As seen with natural disasters morals and values can change quickly. Under the circumstance that there is an extreme death rate or imbalance of gender do to a tragic event like war, terrorism, or an epic natural disaster. Polygamy can easily become the norm for building up a nation or a races population. For America, which is a powerful and dominate nation, accepting a loss of power from this imbalance would be unacceptable up against its competitors. When it comes down to it polygamy could very well be used to build up the population to regain power. It could even be stamped with the stigma as patriotic, as seen with working women during the World Wars. It was against the norm during that time for women to take on male jobs, but that quickly changed due to the militant events. In an instant, women in the work force became patriotic. The government could even go so far as to legalize marriage for these groups just to retain the American values of marriage and commitment. While the chances of this occurring naturally are extremely low, given a dramatic event these outcasts can easily become an ingroup.
*photo from HBO's Big Love
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Hon 392: College Identity Crisis
One thing that one notices when entering the college world is that their identity changes. The student not only takes on a new identity, but many identities. It is no wonder that around 80% of college students go through high levels of stress daily according to Pavel Gurnik's article The Truth Behind an Average College Student. It isn't just the school work that gets the students stressing through this transformation, but the transformation itself.
When one is adopted into the college atmosphere they not only hold the ascribed statuses of male, female, 20 years old, or African American, but they also acquire the achieved status as high school graduate, the situational status of freshman, and the transitional status of degree seeker. These are only some of the titles they hold under these statuses. The variety of who they need to be becomes broader at this stage in their lives. As a result, they are overwhelmed with stress. While this analysis may seem surprising considering that people deal with identity and role changes every day, college is an agent of socialization that gives one the opportunity to take on more of these identity and roles than they would have in their average limited environment.
As a socializing mechanism, college's intent is to diversify and broaden its students. Because students on average have only 4 years, they are flooded with many identities to presume at once to undergo this educational experience. This can be overwhelming if one already assumes the titles daughter, sister, employee, friend, female, and tutor. On top of these titles college adds the titles student, researcher, workshop attendee, socialite, adult, writer, resource, and many others. This is especially hard to juggle when under standards of a higher achieving reference group. This can cause the student to view themselves more harshly against the scholars and doctors of the areas of their study. That is overwhelming enough to stir up a good percentage of the stress that they experience daily.
As a whole, humans don't experience stress because the amount of things they have to do, but because of the amount of identities they have to assume. The only reason humans commit the actions they do is because of the psychological and sociological roles they try to fulfill. Because a student has been socialized in the school structure they perform the academic tasks given to them when in the frame of the class. This behavior is also seen in parenting when a mother rushes to mend the wound of her bleeding child. The use of reference sources in society is the essential of how socialization occurs. People presume the titles that those around them assume when placed in a similiar circumstance, and once the majority of a culture agrees on the norms that when it becomes acceptable to presume many of these statuses outside of the ascribed ones. For college students, skipping a lecture or refusing a research project that occurs the same time as a family vacation may seem like a leeway in their new academic environment. When trying to balance being a student, family member, friend, and employee they experience identity overload, which lead to the amount of stress they experience, like many others that significant transitions that require taking on more identities.
In the end, stress is a factor that occurs because of the many identities humans have and the way they view themselves. This view of how one sees themselves in society influences the actions they commit to go along with that perception. Without the worries of a boss' expectations or the hours of studying to pass a test to remain an A student there would be nothing to stress about. Stress is all about maintaining one's image in their society, and college students know all to well about trying too balance their many faces.
When one is adopted into the college atmosphere they not only hold the ascribed statuses of male, female, 20 years old, or African American, but they also acquire the achieved status as high school graduate, the situational status of freshman, and the transitional status of degree seeker. These are only some of the titles they hold under these statuses. The variety of who they need to be becomes broader at this stage in their lives. As a result, they are overwhelmed with stress. While this analysis may seem surprising considering that people deal with identity and role changes every day, college is an agent of socialization that gives one the opportunity to take on more of these identity and roles than they would have in their average limited environment.
As a socializing mechanism, college's intent is to diversify and broaden its students. Because students on average have only 4 years, they are flooded with many identities to presume at once to undergo this educational experience. This can be overwhelming if one already assumes the titles daughter, sister, employee, friend, female, and tutor. On top of these titles college adds the titles student, researcher, workshop attendee, socialite, adult, writer, resource, and many others. This is especially hard to juggle when under standards of a higher achieving reference group. This can cause the student to view themselves more harshly against the scholars and doctors of the areas of their study. That is overwhelming enough to stir up a good percentage of the stress that they experience daily.
As a whole, humans don't experience stress because the amount of things they have to do, but because of the amount of identities they have to assume. The only reason humans commit the actions they do is because of the psychological and sociological roles they try to fulfill. Because a student has been socialized in the school structure they perform the academic tasks given to them when in the frame of the class. This behavior is also seen in parenting when a mother rushes to mend the wound of her bleeding child. The use of reference sources in society is the essential of how socialization occurs. People presume the titles that those around them assume when placed in a similiar circumstance, and once the majority of a culture agrees on the norms that when it becomes acceptable to presume many of these statuses outside of the ascribed ones. For college students, skipping a lecture or refusing a research project that occurs the same time as a family vacation may seem like a leeway in their new academic environment. When trying to balance being a student, family member, friend, and employee they experience identity overload, which lead to the amount of stress they experience, like many others that significant transitions that require taking on more identities.
In the end, stress is a factor that occurs because of the many identities humans have and the way they view themselves. This view of how one sees themselves in society influences the actions they commit to go along with that perception. Without the worries of a boss' expectations or the hours of studying to pass a test to remain an A student there would be nothing to stress about. Stress is all about maintaining one's image in their society, and college students know all to well about trying too balance their many faces.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Dear God,
I am happy to say that I love You. For the last ten years of my life that hasn't changed. I just thought it was important to let You know that today. It is funny what we humans find love in these days. And God knows those things are forever changing (no irony intended). I find a permant love in You. Unfortunately, this letter may be awkward because I am having trouble conveying myself to You, but I just wanted to thank you for loving me.
S.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Now for some horrible poetry...
This is what I feel like right now:
Feel the Burn
The sun burns brightly on the secluded body of a tree,
Showing its aged and exposed young layers.
Slits of creme color spill from the bark of gray.
They are no longer hidden in the shadows of the canopy.
Light reflects off of the vunerabilities of the sturdy piece of wood,
Tearing down its prestige.
Suddenly its elegant branches and leaves of charm
Are minimized by the markings down the heart of its structure.
It has been revealed to all by the fire of the sky.
The beams of the brilliant sun brings it great heat
And the power to grow at all at once.
Rain's comforting nurture is not
Enough to strech it beyond its limits.
Nor was the soil from which it sprung
Sufficient for teaching it humility it needs
To stand with all of the significant lives in the forest.
Lumberjacks trotting through the forest that afternoon
Came across the common tree.
Repulsed by the uneven scaring,
They traveled on selecting the life of a tree whose flaws were hidden
To burn in a fire less gracious.
Feel the Burn
The sun burns brightly on the secluded body of a tree,
Showing its aged and exposed young layers.
Slits of creme color spill from the bark of gray.
They are no longer hidden in the shadows of the canopy.
Light reflects off of the vunerabilities of the sturdy piece of wood,
Tearing down its prestige.
Suddenly its elegant branches and leaves of charm
Are minimized by the markings down the heart of its structure.
It has been revealed to all by the fire of the sky.
The beams of the brilliant sun brings it great heat
And the power to grow at all at once.
Rain's comforting nurture is not
Enough to strech it beyond its limits.
Nor was the soil from which it sprung
Sufficient for teaching it humility it needs
To stand with all of the significant lives in the forest.
Lumberjacks trotting through the forest that afternoon
Came across the common tree.
Repulsed by the uneven scaring,
They traveled on selecting the life of a tree whose flaws were hidden
To burn in a fire less gracious.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Kids in a lunch line
Today I realized that nothing has changed since elementary school. There is still yelling and giggling in the cafeteria. People are sharing food and spilling drinks, and unfortunately some of us still manage to get a stain in our favorite pair of pants. We still travel in flocks, and heaven forbid if we sat with anyone other than our friends. Standing in line to get our lunch is still the norm. And when it is all over and everyone gathers around to drop their tray off, there is still that weird kid that makes random noises for the fun of it. Yep, nothing has changed at all. We are "little kids" in "big kids" bodies. Then I ask myself the question:
Have I really grown up?
Well, I have gained more knowledge and a broader perspective. My body has even changed, but at the end of the day I do all of the things I did when I was younger just in different forms.
Have I really grown up?
Well, I have gained more knowledge and a broader perspective. My body has even changed, but at the end of the day I do all of the things I did when I was younger just in different forms.
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