response 4 pictures

response 3

Brandin Reggio

Response 3

            I chose to monitor my use of media on this past Saturday and Sunday. I selected these two days in particular because I did not have work or school on Saturday and I have more time for media related activities. The technique in which I used to record and monitor my media intact could be called characterized as observation. As discussed in chapter two, observation is a key component in sociological research. So, on Saturday and Sunday I went on my computer and checked and updated my Facebook. I also replied to my Kean e-mails. The use of technology has greatly increased as a norm for American and world culture, and they have certainly become a norm for me. I constantly hear stories told to me by my dad about when he was a kid and no one used to be on cellphones or Ipads. There were also no computers in individual houses. He would tell me that everything was face to face and when he was a kid he was always out playing at the park. Now, he said, everyone is on their phone twenty four seven and they are constantly updating their facebook status every hour on the hour. To even do anything for school you have to do it online! For example, every assignment for this class has to be posted on three different websites. However, 30 years ago this was not the case. This fact is one way that our culture has evolved and how the norm of “face to face contact” was replaced by “internet and computer contact”. I believe that is socialization at its core, because our society over a gradual period of time deemed this behavior as acceptable.  I must say that computer use is the biggest way that I was socialized over the past two years. I was never a “big computer person” and never even had an e-mail up until senior year of high school. Now, all I do is go on the computer. I believe that is exactly what socialization is.

            Another media outlet that I used was the television. The wide usage of television has definitely been around for longer than the computer. Yet, the frequency of which it is being used has gone up. I am basing these statements on what I have heard from older members of my family and friends. It almost seems as if people do not even leave their home anymore. When I was a young boy, I used to go to blockbuster and rent movies. But now a lot of blockbusters are going out of business. All you have to do to rent a movie is order it online and it is mailed straight to your house through Netflix. I, taking the role of a sociologist, see that again human to human contact has been given up as a norm for computers and television. Another norm that has changed is the content that is being watched. On Saturday night, I watched HBO re-runs of Boardwalk Empire, one of my favorite shows along with True Blood. Both of these shows are filled with violence, nudity, sexual content, and offensive language. However, this has become the norm for much of America’s television. I am not saying that there was not offensive material on television thirty years ago, but from the information that I have been given, it was not at the extent it is now. To be perfectly honest, the crude and vulgar material does not even bother me because I have been socialized to believe that it is entertaining. Coming from the culture that I am, my very conservative Portuguese Catholic grandmother showed me that these types of things are not norms to her generation. But as different as our entertainment norms are, I still live in the same world and home as her. This, as a sociologist, leads me to believe that culture is ever changing and evolving. C Wright Mills stated that the society around us has an immediate effect on us. And, this can be seen through the fact that each generation has different norms even though they are living in the same world. This is an example of sub-culture.

            On Sunday, I had work. I work at the deli department in Stop and Shop, so one may not think I am exposed to media here. Working for a big company like Stop and Shop, I see bureaucracy at its worst, and sometimes I understand where Karl Marx was coming from.  On the ride to work, I listened to music like I always do. I listened to songs from The Carter 4, which is Lil Wayne’s new cd. Again, just like television, the music is full of violence and sex. But, because it is the norm to me, it does not bother me. I do not really even listen to the messages sent out; it is more like mindless music with clever verses. If I were to put this music on in an Amish community, I bet you their “ears would bleed”. Or, better yet, if I was to put this on around my grandmother, she would grab her rosary beads and start praying. I feel as if I have been socialized into thinking that sex and violence are entertaining, I have been desensitized by media and the world around me. There is not much media at work around me, except the intercom blasting advertising products to buy at the store. This constant advertising of these products tries to show us that we “need” them to better our lives. I cannot flip through the channels on my television without seeing ten commercials for “this amazing product” or “that special thing”. And, it is another part of our culture telling us to be consumers and buy these things. This is a part of our Capitalist world’s socialization program.

            Throughout this whole social experiment, I came to one solid conclusion. This is that socialization is all around us and it is ever growing and changing. Today’s norms may be tomorrow’s awkward occurrences. Culture is not “set in stone” and just because your parents acted a certain way does not mean you will too. Nevertheless, I do believe that it is intelligent to keep in mind that there is much to be learned from the past. As a sociologist, a student, and a member of a society, my deduction is that media has immensely affected my life and the way I have lived it.

Response 2

Brandin Reggio

Response 2

            Born and raised in Newark, I am no stranger to different cultures. I am proud to say that I am half Portuguese, a quarter Uruguayan, and a quarter Italian. Both sets of my grandparents came over to the USA from another country and brought many cultural customs and traditions. Both my mother’s and father’s sides of my family have native languages other than English. Unfortunately, I can only speak English fluently. But I can certainly understand Portuguese and Spanish fairly well. In my city, culture is very important and there are many subcultures as well. Just from walking down the block you can notice the diversity of cultures. There are various Portuguese and Italian social clubs and businesses everywhere. The streets are also blooming with stores and shops which are ran by individuals who were not born in this country or “society”, but now they have blended into the USA and have become a part of it. My point here is that the cultural atmosphere in Newark is much more diverse than a town like Westfield or Clark, where the people living there are predominately what one could call “standard Americans”. In my neighborhood of Newark, the nationalities of the inhabitants vary greatly from block to block. On one block the residents might all be African American and another block might be all Portuguese and Brazilian. Because of this, growing up around different cultures and customs became a normal occurrence. However, I can definitely recall a few times in my life when I did experience culture shock, or in other words, felt out of place by another culture.

            One specific time I can remember is recent and fresh in my memory. It all started when I went on a family trip with my girlfriend and her family last summer. The trip was to Kansas…..yes, I said it - Kansas. And this trip consisted of a week of driving across half of the United States, to places which were very different than what I was used to. And, as can be expected from six people being in close corners with others for a week, there was a lot of fighting and arguing. On our journey, we drove through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and then finally, Kansas. One huge difference that I noticed between New Jersey and the states that I mentioned is that the residents of these states mainly only speak English. The map on page 73 in the text book is proof of the fact that these states greatly differ from New Jersey in which 25% or more residents speak another language at home. In the states that we visited, I felt very much like an outsider. The way in which I dressed and talked were different than the people around me, and the amount of space and farmland was so different from  the cramped apartment buildings and one way streets that I was used to. I admit that I am a bit ethnocentric and I believe that my culture is more normal than others are. I do not intend for that statement to be offensive to other cultures, but it is just what I am used to, especially coming from a family that is so culturally oriented.

At one point on the trip, we made a stop at an Amish cheese market in Ohio. There was a young Amish girl selling fruit; she probably was no older than ten years old and she was dressed in a long dress and bonnet, similar to what the pilgrims wore. In the back of the market there were horses behind a barbed fence, extremely secluded. The people we came across at this cheese shop were very different than myself. They were much more well-mannered than the people I am used to dealing with in New Jersey. One thing I particularly noticed was that the each woman’s dress covered her whole body in order to not reveal anything. My girlfriend was in awe. I felt so different next to these people; I had tattoos and a Jersey accent. I felt like I did not  belong, and the crazy thing about this culture shock is that I did not even have to go outside of the United States or my society to experience it. Instead of traveling to another continent, I experienced culture shock from voyaging a few hundred miles west of where I lived. To be honest, I have more in common with the immigrants in my neighborhood then I did with these Americans from the mid-west. I was so used to different cultures around me, that all along this trip what others consider “American” was actually foreign to me.

            There were definitely many cultural differences that I experienced along my trip, but the Amish cheese shop is the one that stands out the most to me. In my opinion, ethnocentrism was a factor in the way that I looked at these people and the new environments that I encountered. Every time that we passed through another state, I still thought of my subculture and customs as the “norm”. However, I definitely did learn that the rest of America is not like New Jersey. But, I still must say that the ethnocentrism inside me is proud of that. When the word “American” is used, I do not just think of New Jersey, New York and California. Since my trip, I reflect on this term with a much broader meaning. One of the greatest things about this country is all of the thousands of subcultures and I am glad that I got to experience ones that I did not already know on my trip to Kansas.

Reponse 1

Brandin Reggio

Response 1

            After reading chapters 1 and 2, I have come to the conclusion that the study of sociology analyzes how people interact and engage with one another. As an individual living in a world full of people, this course strikes me as being relevant and vital for me to take.  I think that it is important for a person to understand how different people communicate and to explore other cultures. The material covered in sociology is of great importance to any person pursuing an education, but it is especially important to me because my major is criminal justice. After college, I plan to pursue a career in law enforcement. I believe that getting a better understanding of sociology is crucial for my success. With the hopes of one day becoming a law officer and eventually a detective, understanding how and why groups of people act differently is a critical skill.

            I hope that this course will better help me attain a better comprehension of how groups of people act a certain way, but more importantly why they act the way they do. Studying sociology can help me understand how to better read people and to analyze situations when I have to interact with them in my future work field. I believe that this course will help me become a better student as well. When an individual is in school, he or she is surrounded by various types of people and groups.  Learning how to communicate and interact with others can help a person go much further with every aspect of life and school. I think that this skill can even help someone to place his or herself in someone else’s shoes, so to speak. I am also hoping that studying sociology can help me with my various psychology and political science classes, which I also have to take with my major.

            As a potential future detective, a major task of mine will be finding out about the acts that people have committed - or will commit. In order to actually solve a crime, one must understand why people would commit it in the first place. I am hoping that sociology will better help me understand and analyze the minds of victims and criminals. Gaining a better understanding of people in general helps any education or career. In my line of work I will undoubtedly come across “deviant” groups such as gangs. Sociology can help me recognize the inner workers of these types or people and misunderstood individuals. Sociology can also help me understand individuals who are different then myself, and I believe to be a good law officer (and a person in general) this is an important trait. Being able to relate to others, even though you may not agree with how they act, is an important skill.

            During my life growing up in Newark, I have interacted with many different types of people on a daily basis. My neighborhood is extremely diverse and is composed of many different social and ethnic groups. So, in a way, I am no stranger to sociology. Both sets of my grandparents immigrated to the USA from different countries and speak different languages. Because of them, I was raised around cultures other than American. I also was raised in an environment that is a little harsher and more abrasive then others. I believe that this will help me understand and grasp some of the concepts in this course and is also one of the reasons that I want to pursue law enforcement as a career. I have seen how sinister and evil people in this world can become from being in a negative environment around harmful groups of people. Along with this course, I hope to expand on the knowledge I have already have from  my everyday life.

            I do not believe that this course is “just another class”, but I feel as if it is a crucial building block for my further education and future career. I honestly hope to learn from this course and incorporate the information which I have obtained into my daily life.  I hope by gaining a better understanding of the social world, different cultures, and deviants, there may be a chance that one day I can prevent and stop heinous acts from occurring. Since I was a young boy, I always dreamed of being a police officer. I believe that this sociology course will most definitely help me in obtaining my goal.