functionalism

I think functionalism is my favorite sociological perspective. maybe I would be a functionalist, if i educated myself more on each of them. i think a really great example of functionalism is that of social stratification. the way people are put in different social classes keeps society running smoothly the way it does. I don't mean that that cannot change, but our society would have to be very different for our social classes to work differently. I noticed this the other day driving through Waco. On one street, you have some very run down houses and unkempt lawns but then on the next street, the houses could be very nice and cute places to live. the social stratification here is very evident.

also, here's a picture about distributed wealth i thought was funny:

family

this weekend I went home for my grandfather's 80 birthday. my whole family was there to surprise him for his party and I had so much fun! but I really got a chance to see family interactions. it is interesting to see how we are all about the same social group as well. everyone the same race (white) and same social class and they used to all follow the gender stereotypes by having the men work while the women are stay-at-home moms. however lately that has been changing with my aunt who recently became a nurse so now both parents work and my sister, who is a nurse practitioner, so both she and her husband work also. it is interesting to see the way sociology plays out in my own family.

(note: i don't know who these families are)

cruisin'

So over spring break I went on a cruise to the Caribbean. Cruises are really good places to people watch. It's interesting to see how people group together and find their "in groups" for the week. Also you could tell that most of the people that go on cruises are well-off or wealthy, in the upper classes of social stratification. People had nice clothes and purses and shoes and everything that wealthy people buy to show off their wealth.

sororities

this might be a bit of a touchy subject for some, but it's just has to be analyzed. sororities are a girl's "in group". she feels closer to those girls, and even if she doesn't know another girl really well, if they are in the same sorority, they have a special bond and are friends...or at least smile and wave at each other. it's a very interesting thing, because I'm sure the girls in other sororities besides one's own are just as nice and friendly, yet we only specially acknowledge the girls in our own. what if we smiled and waved to anyone whom with we had eye contact? it might get tiresome and fake, but it is interesting the way we decide some people are worthy of a wave and others...well we just avert our eyes as we pass the rest.

kony 2012

http://vimeo.com/invisible/kony2012


this video is about these children in Uganda and now other parts of Northern Africa that are being forced to kill. they're taken from their home and forced to kill their families and then go on to do the same to other children. its a war just for the sake of keeping power started by a man named Joseph Kony. these children are forced into slavery, I suppose closest to chattel slavery. It is an awful thing that's happening and this slavery and war should be stopped.

KONY 2012. make him famous. so the world knows the terrible things he continues to do and has been doing for the last 26 years.