Post 4

In sociology, we have been learning about the socialization process. We have studied closely the distinction between nature and nurture, and how each are an significant part in a child's social development. Nature refers to how you are influenced biologically, such as how your genes that you acquire from your parents influence your personality. For example, if you are born with a mental health condition such as bipolar disorder, this would show how nurture influences your personality and identity. On the other hand, nurture, is how your environment and how you were raised influences you. In class, the video we watched, "Danielle, Consuming Kids" is a great example of how nurture affects children. Since children are constantly exposed to adversisements and are being exposed to the market non stop, it's going to have a huge influence on who they are. If a child is exposed every day to a SpongeBob commercial, sooner or later they will start to like SpongeBob. Another example of nurture are agents of socialization. Agents of socialization are outside factors that influence how you act and who you are. For example, family. How your parents raise you and how your siblings influence you can and will effect your personality. If your parents put a lot of pressure on you about school, school will be a priority for you, and vice versa. We have also talked about manifest lessons and latent lessons. Manifest lessons are lessons that you are specifically taught and told, while latent lessons are hidden lessons and things your aquire without you being aware that you are learning them. For example, school. A manifest lesson that school has taught me is how to solve an algebra problem. I was taught specifically the steps I need to take to do so. While on the other hand, a latent lesson that school has taught me is time management. Nobody ever specifically taught me how to manage my time, I have just acquired it over time because it is necessary in order to be organized. Overall, all of the concepts that we have recently learned revolve around the socialization process.

Post 3

During the second half of Unit 1, we examined a lot of new vocabulary and ideas. Some of these ideas incude Macro/Micro Sociology, Groups, Ingroups/Outgroups, and Categories/Sterotypes. We examined Macro/Micro Sociology through the Abandon Ship activity. Macro Sociology is how we are influenced by the big groups we are in; the big picture. The fact that we are all Americans and had the same strategy of how to kick people off of the ship illustrated Macro Sociology. The smaller groups we are a part of and how we are influenced by them or the "small picture" illustrate Micro Sociology. Groups are defined as all of the groups you are a part of. We examined Ingroups/Outgroups within the gym shoe activity in class. The groups you are a part of are your "Ingroups" and the groups you are not a part of are your "Outgroups". Similarly, the people wearing gym shoes felt as if the group wearing gym shoes were in their Ingroup, and the people not wearing gym shoes were an Outgroup, and vice versa.