Immigration

From the years that I have lived in the U.S. and growing up with the struggles to be an immigrant is tough because not many people who live in the U.S. would understand our obstacles that we have to go through every day. Being known as a person of color, limited many of our privileges to living here. For example, the language and written barrier created a gap between my ethnicity to communicating with others and to not be able to speak or read in English would decrease our chances in living a normal life. I would define normal as not having to worry about how to buy food because of food labels that is not written in our own language or even the thought of not understanding someone when they speak to you who is different from your ethnicity when you need help with resources in the U.S. I believe this plays a major role in my society because many older folks would have a hard life trying to adjust to an environment and feel worthless. Feeling worthless can greatly and easily impact someone's life by making them feel discouraged to find food/shelter for themselves and/or families.
In addition, being viewed as an immigrant from others can be objectified at times if they label you as dirty or a person who they believe will pass a nasty disease to them. However, like many of my friends and family has discussed about, being an immigrant also has many advantages such as resources of medicine by using plants. Not only that but also the knowledge an individual can pass on to others that are different from them. Moreover, genetic variation from different ethnicity's can create beautiful and /or healthy babies.

Learning throughout the Course

I believe throughout this course, learning about Sociology has truly changed my perception of how people communicate with others. Although it is a bit hard to choose only one issue/concept or idea, I believe Demographic Dynamics was one of the main concept that really drew my attention. It focused on the age factor and how it plays such a big role in divorce rates, single home families and etc. The topic was interesting because after reading the chapter, I noticed that there are less divorce rates in the year of 2011 because of how the parents were raised and through the environment and society they grew up in. For example, I started to notice that there was a decrease of divorce rates with those who were born in the mid 80s. From observing families, I became more aware of how old the parents were and when they got divorced.

From the chart above, I believe as families became more aware of their resources, they were able work out their problems more. In addition, as our society increased in a better way, it started to become a "norm" that woman can become more independent so they know better to choose who their spouse would be. Furthermore, there were more marriages in the 80s was because there could have been a decrease in education and independence of man and woman. As quoted from the New York Times, "Families with highly educated mothers and families with less educated mothers are clearly moving in opposite directions." 

Sex and Gender Inequality Part 2

The video above is a video that I found on Youtube. It goes more in-depth about objectification in women through the media and how it goes far enough that men's don't even respect some women's anymore. Rather than respecting them, society drives men to think that its okay to treat women as an object. From the few topics shown on the video, it not only shows that women don't have a voice but is also helpless to asking for help from others around them. In addition, they make it seem as though the women needs to be skinny or has to take off their clothes just to attract people's eyes. I believe the video is short but proves many points to how being a women feels like. Adding on, it shows that in today's society, the idea's of women has not changed much, "despite recent advances worldwide, women still tend to suffer physically, psychologically, economically, and politically in most societies."

Demographic Dynamics

Although I was born in the U.S., my parents were both born in Lao's. I am a bit unsure of which was born where but one of my parent was born in Ban Vinai. My father was very young when he first came to the U.S., he would tell me stories about how his father, my grandfather, was a middle class farmer who didn't have as much trouble coming into the U.S. compared to other family members was because he had money. Talking to both my parents, they didn't go very in depth about how they came to the U.S. or the obstacles they faced, however, my father did talk a lot about the obstacles they faced once they got here. Adding on, he would talk about how the language created a big barrier from getting a job to learning how to drive since everything revolved around the American language, even the writing. Since my parents got married at such a young age, my father didn't graduate high school but instead got a job as a janitor at a school to try to support my mother and I. On the other hand, my mother was able to finish up high school and get her high school diploma. They both were able to manage to get jobs and learn the different culture here in America and adapt to it. The photo below shows some of my siblings and my mother.

If my immigrant family were to arrive today, it would be harder for them to get into the U.S. because I believe that today in the U.S., there are many immigrants coming into the country that the government we are in now would be more strict about who can stay and who can't. In addition, the economic is very bad around this time which would only cause the employment rate to increase if more people was unable to find a job. However, in today's society, the U.S. has also gotten better with helping new immigrants in their transition and even in providing a home or place for new members to live in. Moreover, family can also help their immigrant family through their own experiences in the U.S. Not only that, there are many programs helping those in need and wanting to learn English as a second language. From mastering English, the language barrier would be less of a problem for them and it would be easier to communicate and even create connections to finding a better living, home, job, and etc.

I believe the subject of immigration is volatile is because there are so many immigrants coming that it became part of society's norm to see different people of color.

Sex and Gender Inequality

Throughout my life growing up as a Hmong woman and within my society, it taught me that woman's were the ones staying at home and learning how to be a better house wife rather than going out into the world and exploring it. To have a discussion about the Traditional Hmong culture compared to the American Hmong culture, from past experiences and now I can tell that it is hard for some of my grandparents to understand what it means to be sexist. For example, my grandmother recently told me that when she got married to my grandfather and even though he was unfaithful to her, she did nothing but stayed home and kept everything she felt inside for the sake of her kids. She said there was nothing she could do or say since back then in her society, man had power and woman were just their followers. Hearing this from her and comparing it to the American Hmong culture I was in shock and furious! I couldn't believe that it was such a norm for the woman's that they couldn't do anything about it besides just talk about it to their family members and feel pity for themselves. From my perspective, all I knew about the Traditional culture was learning how to become a better house wife but I never really heard of stories about woman having no say in anything they wanted. Its also sad to know that they don't know how to change the situation besides putting up with everything since their society is controlled by men's making them feel useless. I believe one major down fall for the woman's is because of the disadvantages they had from migrating from Laos/Thailand to the U.S. They felt helpless for not being able to help themselves so they had to rely on their husbands. In addition, they had no idea about the resources around them that could've helped them. They didn't know the language, how to write in English, how to drive, or even how to find a stable job. Language was a great down fall because communication was one of the main keys to success. Compared to the American Hmong culture, many Hmong woman are going to college and most are even the first in their generation to go. Its just interesting to see the change that my generation of Hmong woman are going through now compared to the past. However, I am glad to be able to see and be the change of our Hmong circle because our society now is more educated to be better!

The Architecture of Inequality Part II

The photo above is famously known as Gulliver's Travels. During my Catalyst trip to Chicago, we visited the famous murals in the Latino neighborhood and came across this one. Our guide, Jose, explained to us with pride why the artist decided to do what he did. For example, in the mural you can see that the man is being held down by wires like they were being treated as prisoners and not having the freedom to do what they want. The wires not only symbolizes their freedom but also the laws that they had to abide by. Jose added on and said that when they first came into the U.S., they felt like how the Jews did back in the Holocaust due to the Star of David that they had to wear. He said their situation was similar in ways that when the Latino's wanted to go somewhere they had to carry an ID with them just to prove that they were a citizen in the U.S. Although you can't see the feet, at the end of the feet were footprints that the artist painted to show that wherever they went they had to prove their identity by stamping their finger prints onto paper as their signature, why he emphasized the prints at the feet? A question I wouldn't be able to answer myself. Moreover, the mask represented how the Latino's were as a human being, hidden. In my opinion, they felt closed out and hidden to their society, like no one heard them or cared to listen about how they felt as a citizen. Also, the pants that the man is wearing is not neat and clean but dirty and torn because of their hard work and effort to support their loved ones. Adding on, the picture was very interesting because no matter where you are or where you walked the eyes of the man would follow you. I'm not sure if the Latino's felt like they were always being watched but the eyes had a look of not pity but sadness and worries.

In addition, he explained to our group in great detail how the Latino's felt coming into the U.S. and their perspective as being the "outsiders." It was really interesting because their neighborhood was small enough that mostly everyone knew one another. When we walked the streets, Jose told us to also greet those who walked pass us so they wouldn't feel scared that we were Realtor's who were trying to buy their homes. Since our group was so big and we looked so different from them, people from all over that walked passed us would turn and look our way. There was a time when Jose was explaining to us about a mural of the neighbors and he stopped to see that some people in the neighborhood was eyeing us, I personally felt uncomfortable and thought to myself hoping that they didn't think we were Realtor's. Jose said to them in Spanish that we were students there because we wanted to learn about their culture and murals, after that they gave us reassuring smiles and welcomed us with their hello's and hand waves which made me felt more at ease and I smiled back exchanging hello's. Below are more pictures of some murals we saw.

The Architecture of Inequality

As I grew up in the United States, I've experienced many stereotypes about who I am. Throughout my middle and high school years, a lot of people I didn't know, including my Caucasion friends would ask me if I was Chinese. Interesting how most would stereotype me to one race rather than asking me what race I was. Although I was offended the first few times about it, I felt annoyed and soon started to ask myself how I would approach someone who was of different race and came down to the conclusion that I would be as curious as they were, however, I would address the question in a different manner rather than stereotyping them. As I matured and looked back on the experiences I went through with stereotypes, I also started to understand more why people thought I was Chinese. The two races had common biological traits, such as skin color, texture of hair, and shape of eyes. As quoted from David M. Newman, I didn't take the steretypes as offensive anymore unless it was intentionally from someone and if I felt a sense of uncomfortableness, then I would call them out on it.



The two photo's above are pictures of Gao Kalia Yang who is Hmong (left) and Ruby Lin who is Chinese (right), they both may have different ethnicities which is a sense of community derived from the cultural heritage shared by a category of people with common ancestry, however they share the same race.

Furthermore, growing up with the stereotypes of my race and ethnicity, I am encouraged to stand up for who I am and proudly explain to those who are willing to learn what and who the Hmong people are when others ask. When I first moved in to my dorm at Hamline, one of my roommates first question to me was, "What ethnicity/race are you?" and I answered back saying that I was Hmong. Even up to today, I am still in the process of teaching/explaining to my roommates who I am and what kind of family I grew up from. She told me one day that she thought all Hmong people were Bboy's and Bgirl's who likes to break dance since she came from a society where her Hmong friends were really into break dancing. After hearing that, I laughed and told her "not all Hmong people likes to break dance just because they did." I told her that I did a lot of different things besides dancing, such as knitting/crocheting, playing sports, singing, reading a book, hanging out with my friends and etc. She soon came to realize that we both had a lot more in common than she realized, although we both may view it or go by a situation differently, we were both about the same.

Chapter 10: Family Expenses

Below is a list of what I believe a family of four would use their money on expenses:
Food: $1680 (about $140 a month)
Clothing: $350
Health Insurance: $2688 ($224 per family member with Health Partners)
Housing: $10,200 (around $850 a month in a one level, two bedroom town home in White Bear Lake)
Electricity Bills: $1440 ($120 per month)
Car Insurance: $1200 (roughly about $300 a month for two cars)
Gas: $1620 (about $135 per month for both cars)
Day Care: $1892.04 ($157.67 per month around the metro area)
Cell Phones: $960 ($80 per month for prepaid phones)
Entertainment/Miscellaneous: $900 (around $75 a month for family time)
TOTAL FOR ONE YEAR: $22,930.04

My ideal calculations for a family of four is a bit over the governments official poverty line by $817.04. The first thing I would decrease is the car insurance for both cars. Next, since gas isn't cheap, I would drive less and/or coupon for cheaper gas for the family. Going along with couponing, I would coupon for my family so other necessity's would last longer meaning I would get more for less. The two pictures below are photos from a friend I know who coupons and saves money from buying food and/or home necessities such as detergent, medicine, diapers for baby needs and etc.

Moreover, for cell phone bills, I would get a lower phone plan that has a certain amount of minutes and text so it would be cheaper for both phones. In addition, rather than taking the 3 year old to day care, I would ask family members to help baby sit or if both parents had different shifts for their jobs then they would be able to switch off watching the toddler.

I believe from this family, you know when you're not officially poor is when you're still able to afford having family time rather than working all day and night. Also, knowing that your family is still able to shop comfortably without having to budget too much money is good because it means that you have a little extra cash to buy little things for the family and even yourself. However, they're not able to sustain such a comfortable life when they're not able to buy their own home but having to live in a town homes. Although town homes aren't bad, it would be better to own your own home so your kids would be able to play freely in their backyard. In addition, not being able to stay in one place would be hard if you have to constantly move from one house to another due to the price increase of homes or even job transfers. Depending on where you live, the poverty line may affect your child's education and growth if the society they are around is not an appropriate place to learn from. Lastly, as the child grows older, if you live in a neighborhood where the stores/jobs are running out of business then it would be harder for them to find a job around home if they want to stay around where they grew up.

Social Structure of Education

As a student, there are many ways in which I am impacted by the structure of education. Growing up, I was taught that I did good or bad in a class was by the letter grade I've received, however, in recent years I've started to question the system of why I, as a student, must be evaluated on a grade scale. I would question "What if I put a lot of effort into this one project but still get a bad grade?" then the next question that would come along with that was, "Am I not smart enough?" and along comes many more unanswered questions. From this system, I believe some teachers can tell if a student had put effort into a class project, however, take art class as an example, what if one student was better in drawing than another student, but the student who wasn't as good put in more effort? I think it would be unfair of the teacher to grade both students without seeing each of the students effort.

From the video above, it proves a good point about effort and how it is used in the real world. If a student doesn't put in any effort but still get a good grade, in the long run they may have their mind set to not putting in any effort at all and if that was to happen then in the real world they may have a lot of complications. Furthermore, it leads back to the grading system that us as students are at times too use to that we forget to compare it to the bigger picture: jobs, careers, families, friends, life, and etc. In my opinion, I view the grading system as a "system that is not in-depth enough." 

I think there can be changes to the grading system or maybe not even having the grading system at all, because when students know that they are being graded, some can do the work only for the good grades and by getting the good grades some are willing to cheat just to pass a class. By cheating, the student wouldn't learn anything about the subject but rather to just finish the work. 

Although the grading system is very helpful in determining who is intelligent and who is not, and/or which class fits best for them, the mind set of students can cheat the system in many ways. Moreover, no system is perfect but I hope the structure of education can find a way to improve the grading system and how it is used.

An interesting article on the disadvantages of the Grading System:

 http://www.ehow.com/list_5935940_disadvantages-letter-grading-system.html

Social Deviance

In Chapter 8, I enjoyed the Deterrence Theory because I believe everyone goes through it. For example, the other night, I asked my friends if they have ever seen or heard about a fight happening in college and they told me that they had a friend who fought at a community college just because someone was bothering them. In the end, the friend got expelled for starting the fight. From this incident, the friend made a rational decision without calculating their potential costs and benefits. Its interesting because from this story, it contradicts the deterrence theory in the book, that "if the costs exceed the benefits, the theory predicts that we'll decide it's not worth the risk (van den Haag, 1975)." However, as the individual grows older, they mature and learn from their mistakes to not make the same mistakes for future.

In addition, when thinking about the deterrence theory, I think back to theft and why people steal. To rob anyone or anything in general can be very risky, yet if the offender/robber gets away with it then it would be a win situation, which in return they may do it more knowing that they won't get caught for it so they would risk their chances to steal again. For example, this year at Hamline University, robbery around campus have increased. Although I am unsure if it was caused by the same person, from what I heard, none were caught so far so from their perspective they believe they would benefit from stealing without getting caught. The link below gives some stories relating to theft and how it was resolved.
http://www.startribune.com/local/west/144168415.html
After reading a few stories, you start to see a pattern that when there are no arrests in return that theft would normally increase.

Family and Values

Family is a big word to unpack since the word "Family" is used so loosely, for example, I can be labeling my best friend as part of my family since we're so close. In comparison, how David M. Newman explains that in everyday usage, people may use the word family more loosely to describe those with whom they've achieved a significant degree of emotional closeness and sharing, even if they're not related. Although I may see it that way, I also believe that family is when you're blood related to one another. I think it's interesting when some people say that "Blood" is thicker than "Water," meaning that family is stronger than friends. However, from this example, I could agree and disagree with it.

Furthermore, a family are those who lives under the same roof together. However, it is a different story when you're living in the same roof with  roommates/friends since you're not blood related to them in any way. Adding on, in my opinion, a family is made up of family members who don't have to worry about who they are in front of each other. Society, such as local, state, and federal governments, also define family by managing many programs that provide certain benefits only to groups they officially define as "families." In addition, every family has their own values, depending on how your parents were raised, your family may have different values. On another note, I believe your culture and religion also plays a major role on how you are towards each other. For example, in my family, they value a daughter who studies hard in school and focuses on family. Rather than letting me explore the world and different cultures, my parents would prefer me to stay at home and explore my culture, such as, learning how to cook our traditional meals and learning more about my religion. Like I said, culture and religion plays a big role in my parents values is because in my culture, another man's family would be more willing to agree on marriage of a woman who know's how to cook and clean.

Above is a video that I think would be interesting to watch, although Hmong people don't have a particular food of their own, we like to combine foods from different Asian groups into our own. It is a video showing how to make Kapoon. This is one of our traditional dish that we would usually cook for celebrations, although there are many more meals to learn. To the right is a photo of my mom, me,  and my younger siblings on Christmas. Moreover, my family values privacy between one another but also to be there for one another when they're in need. Although it may be tough being family, and everyone has their up's and down's, we were taught to stick together through the end. If you think about it, it is like a chain reaction, once one goes down we all go down together but we support and rely on each other to get back up!

Supporting Identity

To manage the impressions that people have of us, I believe is a process depending on first impressions, or in other words, impression formation. Going off of the sociology textbook by David M. Newman, impression formation is when we form an immediate impression based on observable cues such as age, ascribed status characteristics such as race and gender, individual attributes such as physical appearance, and verbal and nonverbal expressions. For example, since I'm part of a football team, one way to manage our impressions of others is that we have to be able to uphold a strong and positive image so other teams wont look down on us. Although we have a disadvantage compared to other teams since we are younger and have less experience, when we are on the field competing with another team if we play fair with other teams and those older then us, then we would be more respected. This situation can be engaged to impression management since we present ourselves in a favorable way to the public so we can get more positive judgments. However, if we played with unsportsmanlike conduct then other teams would look down on us and disrespect us, in conclusion to negative judgments. Below are pictures of my team and another team. Between the two pictures, my group has younger girls who are still in high school with less experience compared to the other team who has older girls with more experience.

My Team and I

An opponent Team

In addition, when meeting a new guy or girl, if you ever go out on a date, you wouldn't randomly fart in front of your date because it would be rude and embarrassing. Although we all know that its natural, impression management would limit you to do such things if you wanted a positive feedback from that person, in other words, if you wanted a second date. Below is something I found a bit amusing and quite funny!

The Development of Role Taking

In chapter 5, I find the topic "The Development of Role Taking" very interesting because as you observe people around you growing up, you start to notice that everyone's identity is combined through their experiences which makes them who they are. For example, if a person was to be labeled or seen from other people's perspective that they aren't pretty, not good enough, or not smart enough, then the person being labeled would change their own behavior just to fit in, known as role taking. I find it interesting because it is obvious but not a lot of people realize who or what they are until they hear it from others and it can either be true or false.

Next, the "Play Stage" discusses young children's and how they develop taking the perspective of one person at a time. Then, the "Game Stage," when children's first begin to participate in organized activities such as school events and team sports. However, I think what makes a kid a kid is when they are in their play stage because they are not able to tell whats right from wrong in public places or just in front of other people. Furthermore, when a child is at the game stage, those around them starts to notice that the child is maturing when they start to take sports and other things serious. I believe these two stages are very important because they determine the child's growth from being a baby to a young teen.

Lastly, we have the "Generalized Other," the perspective of society and its constituent values and attitudes. This idea expands as the child grows to experience with others and help matures the child in their growth of experiencing with society. In addition, I believe the idea of generalized other relates to the societies expectations of you and what you should become. All of these ideas plays a big role in who you are because through these experiences, as you grow older, you may have good or bad experiences relating to family members and friends, or maybe worse, spiders! For example, if a child had a bad incident with spiders, they would grow up hating it or liking it if they overcome their fears of spiders. 

Disturbing/Contributing to the Norm

To a lot of people I am known as the talker who usually carries on the conversation and who can talk on and on about anything. Throughout the week and the weekend, I didn't do any major act to disturb the norm of people in my life.  However, last week, while my roommate was doing her homework and I was getting ready to go to my volunteer position, I asked her how she was doing, how her family was doing, how her classes and homework was coming along and many more questions relating only to her. As she talked, I just listened very closely and observed without talking back besides replying from here and there.
As our conversation was coming to an end, she stopped and asked me why I was asking her so many questions and why I wanted to know so much. By this time I was chuckling a little to myself because I was pretty convinced from the questions I asked her that I sounded like a total creep, so I told her that I wanted to ask not because I was stalking her but just because I felt that I wanted to catch up with her and how life was treating her.
My roommate and I are very close, however, I caught her off guard when I didn't talk as much and just listened patiently. It was really interesting to listen rather than talk because it showed me another side to being quiet. In addition, I was able to observe my roommate and learn more about the way she thinks and take things in. From this experience, I didn't disturb the norm of society but the norm of my life.
Because I didn't talk as much as I usually did, my roommate tried normalizing the situation by asking me why I'm asking so many questions about her and from this experience, I liked how it was something out of the unusual to do because I was able to catch her off guard. Furthermore, I don't think it was an uncomfortable task because I enjoy learning from different perspectives.

Personal Billboard

Above is my license plate, relating to my personal billboard, I believe Family plays a main role in my life because they push me to strive and to keep going when I feel like giving up. Also, from being the oldest in my family, I try my best to be a good role model by experiencing with as many things as I can so I can help give advice and tips to my younger siblings when they are in need. My family shapes me by expecting and relying on me, and from that, I am able to grow strong and independent. Moreover, I chose Florida as the state license plate was because my family and I's first vacation together was to Florida. Although I was only 9 years old then, I had a great time since it was my first time riding in an airplane to a different state. The vacation to Florida opened many opportunities for me to explore and made me dream bigger than I could imagine.

In addition, my Culture and Language has a lot to do with how I grew up and why I do the things I do. For example, being able to speak two languages can help me to communicate in many ways with others. It also helps me to relate with different people because it teaches me to think in many ways and to be open minded to those around me. The picture to the right illustrates me and my two younger sisters at the Hmong New Year. Each of us are wearing different Hmong clothes and are representing our culture. The Hmong New Year allows me to build connections and meet new people every year and because its part of a tradition to happen every year, society changes and improves year by year. 

Sports also shapes the way I think and makes me very competitive. I love and enjoy playing football because its a passion that I've grown attached to. I learned and made a lot of friends through football because its a way to network with others but at the same time, football and sports in general keeps me productive. Throughout my high school years, I grew up with football, the lessons I've learned can also relate to life in general so I would compare the two a lot. For example, I can compare football to school a lot because to be able to be perfect a play, you'd have to practice and study using your free time to ace a play, meaning if I studied as hard in school for a class or an exam, my chances of acing the exam or class would be higher. Furthermore, I enjoy the adrenaline rush I get when playing against another team because when the crowd cheers, they encourage me to keep running and striving to win! Due to football, I've grown closer to my teammates because they give me the confidence to play the position I do. Also, knowing that I can rely on them when I need back up builds up our relationship. I represent my football team and vise versa because I want my team to be known, it also shapes who I am and what my identity is.  

Assignment 1: Larger Social & Historical Events

Throughout chapter one, the author discusses about how the social forces can have an impact on our private lives, sociological imagination. He also described how to view suicide in a sociological perspective rather than attributing an individuals' achievements and failures to their personal qualities. Although, at the age of twelve, I was more interested in sports and eating rather than worrying about how I looked, many other younger girls were having a hard time trying to fit in with other clique's because of their size and fear of being made fun of. The question of being "thin" never really crossed my mind before, but it raised questions on why girls my age would worry so much. I soon realized that the media played a bigger influence than our parents, who would always say to us that we were "perfect just the way we are."

During the time I was twelve years old, society had already sculpted the picture of how women and girls should look like- Thin. Society influenced young adults and girls to look like many celebrities by photo shopping their photos and of models, from news articles to magazines, their audience starts to adore their figure and eventually  change themselves into something they're not. Sociologists tell us that these encounters have a great deal of social influence over our lives. I would wonder at times why girls my age had such an obsession with being  "skinny," never knowing that the image they had in mind was what the media made of them. Similar to the sociological claim that individual behavior was largely shaped by social forces.