A Different Mirror By: Ronald T. Takaki

In my Opinion I believe that for many decades people have been using race as a way to classify humans into different social categories.  Lower, Middle, and Upper classes were created to divide humans into appropriate categories using their individual lifestyles, financial income, residence, and occupation. People decided to ignore this classifying system and classify one another, simply by the color of their skin. People's skin color says nothing as to what a person does, their beliefs, attitudes, or any of the ideas for creating a fair social classification system. Racial barriers were created that divided people into different groups at work and at home. Race differences in identity and social position were, and are, more important. 

In “A Different Mirror” by Ronald Takaki, he explains stereotypes and biases of white, Eurocentric attitudes that have been with us since the earliest days of the colonies and settlements here. Beginning with the early colonists and their treatment of the natives, there is a pattern of ruthless acquisition of land and goods. According to Takaki, the early settlers judged native americans as lacking everything identifiable in a civilized society. It never occurred to them that the natives had never been exposed to their european “civilized” ways and did not have knowledge of sophisticated weaponry as their culture did not need such devices of destruction. They did have tools and means of hunting and gathering food but it was all quite unsophisticated compared to European advancements. Shakespeare introduced the character Caliban in “The Tempest” This can be interpreted as an indirect depiction of what was then believed about native Americans. According to Takaki, the Caliban character could have just as easily represented Africans that had began migrating to the new land. Like the natives, African people had an unfamiliar color to their skin and were thought to be unintelligent and savage by the Europeans.

Racial Stratification and Education in the United States: Why Inequality Persists - By John U. Ogbu

I thought this article would be just another article about the effects of race on schools. I think that students are affected by economic conditions, not by racial factors. The articles thesis is that Minorities do poorly in school as a result of racial stratification, rather than as a result of economic stratification. Ogbu believes that "Class has not replaced race as the chief determinant of the life chances of black Americans". I have never read a article of this type, Ogbu argues that racial inequality persists because of barriers in opportunity structures and because black responses to racial stratification have not been targeted. Additionally, he introduces the idea that the racial stratification that was placed in schools many years ago continues to exist and maintain the gap between the races. Ogbu continues to explains the differences between social inequalities and social stratification. Social inequality is a universal phenomena while social stratification is not.

According to Ogbu's definition society is stratified when its individuals members from different social groups are ranked on the basis of their membership in specific groups that are also ranked. Ogbu claims that although the increasingly common belief is that economics play a role in the differences in school performance between students, it is truly racial differences that create this inconsistency in performance. He also explains that one major purpose of the school desecration movement was to improve black school performance. After reading this article i do believe that one of the greatest obstacles that needs to be overcome in US schools is the elimination of differences in performance in schools as a result of racial or economic differences.

People Like Us

"When the rich wage war its the poor who die" 

First of all the Video "People like us" was a very interesting video it made me reflect on the stratification system we live in. "People like us" describes how social class plays a role in the lives of Americans based on where they live such as park avenues penthouses, bayou houseboats or suburban gated communities. The video presents stories of family traditions, different lifestyle and class mobility. It explains how income family background, education, attitudes, aspirations and even appearance mark people as members of a social class. In the video they interview people from diverse socioeconomic groups, the film describes how social class in america has a much influence as race or ethnicity in determining what kind of opportunities a person has in life. 

"People Like Us" explains how the class system does exist and its based on looks, money, popularity, whether you live in a big house, and where people work. The video also describes that as you move through life we separate our selves from people who don't fit in our groups and social class and that America is a country divided by class and by what kind of neighborhood you live in, the type of food you eat, how far you got in school and the way you wear your hair. 

This week in class we dealt with the subject of varying types of social structures. To start there are open and closed systems. An open systems allows for an individual to move up or down in society where as the closed system allows for no mobility. In a closed social system you are born into your class and that is the same one you will grow up in. While discussing this subject it would be helpful to define class in the manner we did as a group class, in this context, is unequal access to economic resources, power, and prestige. 

Positive Functions of the Undeserving Poor: Uses of the Underclass in America

First of all the reading By: HERBERT J. GANS was very interesting,  it expand my knowledge on the importance of the functions of the undeserving poor. He discusses the strange alliance between the poor and the wealthy in American society. He states that the underprivileged in essence have kept several vocations in existence such as social work, criminology, and journalism. These vocations serve the double pretense of aiding the less fortunate and protecting society from these same individuals. He Mentions 13 important points of the ways that poor people have a positive contribute to society:

He applies this same logic to the existence of poverty in a society that had so much material wealth and concluded that poverty had 13 functions in society that was beneficial to nonpoor members. They include making sure that the menial work tasks of society will be taken care of, the creation of jobs that provide aid for the poor, and the existence of the poor keeps the aristocracy busy with charitable works, demonstrating charity to the less fortunate and superiority over the elites who chose to spend their free time making more money. He also give several alternatives to poverty such as redistribution of the wealth in society, putting everyone on a more even playing field, but ultimately concluded that poverty will continue to exist because disturbing the unequal balance between the poor and the wealthy in society would prove to be dysfunctional for the affluent and that will not happen.


13 Points:
1. Risk reduction
2. Scapegoating and displacement
3. Economic banshment and the reserve army of labor
4. Supplying illegal goods
5. Job creation
6. Moral legitimation
7. Norm reinforcement
8. Supplying popular culture villains
9. Institutional scapegoating
10. Conservative power shift
11. Spatial purification
12. Reproduction of stigma and the stigmatized
13. Extermination of the surplus

Deviant

Deviant are Differing from a norm or from the accepted standards of a society. One that differs from a norm, especially a person whose behavior and attitudes differ from accepted social standards.

Deviance is any behavior that violates social norms. Deviance can be criminal or non criminal. The sociological discipline that deals with crime the behavior that violates the laws. Today Americans consider such activities as alcoholism, excessive gambling, being nude in public places, playing with fire, stealing, lying, refusing to bathe, purchasing the services of prostitutes, and cross dressing to name only a few as deviant. People who engage in deviant behavior are referred to as deviants.


Whatever the term deviance creates , in general i believe it is popularly assumed that 'deviants' are individuals who are somehow less capable, less socially responsible, less adjusted, and consequently less useful to society than their more fortunate, upright and 'normal' fellows.