Everyday Sociology Blog

Thinking Sociologically on Vacation

By Sally Raskoff

Don’t forget to keep using your sociological imagination and skills when you are on vacation! When you travel, using a sociological perspective can help enrich the experience and deepen your understanding of the places in which you have been visiting.

I recently came back from a trip to Hawai’i. I used to live in the islands and return often so I’ve not felt much like a tourist there. However, it’s hard to escape the tourism industry as luaus, surfing, snorkeling, diving, ziplines, and many other activities are advertised just about everywhere.

Tourism is a major part of the economy for the state of Hawai’i. Are the luaus and other activities part of what Hawaiian culture is all about? While surfing and certain forms of boating may have roots and an accurate historical base in the culture, I would guess that ziplines do not.

The Impact of Stereotyping

By Sally Raskoff

After reading my previous blog on stereotyping, a student recently asked, “Aren’t there some things that are true about stereotypes?” Many would agree that each stereotype has some “truth” to it.

The short sociological answer to this question is, of course, yes, there are people who live up to those stereotypes about different groups. There are probably some people who fit whatever stereotype you can think of, (e.g., blond women who are not so smart, Asian Americans who are smart).

The problem lies with how stereotypes over generalize about an entire group and blind us to those characteristics in others and other characteristics in the stereotyped groups.

Harry's Law, The Girls, and the Media Marketplace

By Sally Raskoff

How well does the entertainment media represent society? With the debut of a new show on HBO – Girls – and the cancellation of a popular show on NBC – Harry’s Law – there is a lot of discussion about what shows depict and who watches them.

The new show Girls on HBO depicts a foursome of friends, all white, upper or upper middle class, college educated, and finding their way through their twenties. The show has gotten a lot of attention for its depiction of “hipster racism” and for the writers’ responses to such criticisms.

Understanding Generalizations and Stereotypes

By Sally Raskoff

Max Weber wrote about the importance of verstehen, or understanding, for those investigating social reality. This means that we must understand what life is like for the individual or self before we can truly understand life at more macro levels of society such as groups, organizations, communities, and/or nation-states.

While we tend to teach this concept in relation to research methods, it can also be connected to many different aspects of social research.

How does the idea of a deep understanding of life in society connect to generalizations and stereotypes?

We make generalizations about objects in order to make sense of the world. When we see something, we want to know what it is and how to react to and interact with it. Thus seeing a flat horizontal surface held up by one or more legs, we would generalize that to be a table upon which we could put our stuff, eat a meal, or play a game.

Challenging Gendered Beauty Norms: Ashley Judd's Conversation

By Sally Raskoff

Did you read Ashley Judd’s essay regarding the media attention to her appearance?

It is a rare day that an actor calls attention to the disparities and inequalities in our societal structure. Ms. Judd’s essay is a great example of sociology and social science in action. Her argument has direct connections to feminist theory and uses a sociological perspective.

She describes beautifully how the societal surveillance of women’s appearances and bodies may humiliate women as individuals and also objectifies them at a more macro level of culture and society. Objectifying women encourages them to live their lives focused on their appearance and their relation to men, which reinforces the patriarchal power structure in society. One gender group (women) is made passive and submissive so that the other gender group (men) retains their dominance and power.

Correlation vs. Causation: Decoding Autism Research

By Sally Raskoff

Recent news reports cite a huge increase in autism rates. Autism, a disorder involving problems with social interaction and communication, is estimated at 1 in 88 children. The rates by gender are 1 in 54 boys and 1 in 252 girls, so it’s much more prevalent in boys.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website has a great discussion of these numbers and speculation about increase.

A large part of the reason for this increase may be because autism is more often reported and diagnosed now than it was in the past. The CDC also mentions that older parents, premature births or parental drug use are risk factors. Scientific studies continue to investigate genetic factors and other biological factors.

Culture (a)Drift

By Sally Raskoff

Some exciting studies have been making the news lately. Human society will be better understood once the data from such studies are analyzed.

Based on what we’ve been learning from life lived on the International Space Station, plans are continuing for sending a carefully chosen group of men and women out into space to reproduce. How will the biological and psychological processes work when not on the planet? This study should yield important information.

If we are to send humans out into space for missions to other planets or to establish colonies on the moon or elsewhere, we need to know if humans can reproduce and parent their offspring in such environments. While the Biosphere 2 and similar projects did not have tremendous success in establishing a self-contained sustainable ecosystem and social system, research continues into whether or not we could sustain and generate human life off the planet.

Science, Resistance and Cognitive Dissonance

By Sally Raskoff

Science is the tool we have to get the most accurate information possible. But do we believe what science tells us? Especially when that information may counter what we want to believe or when authority figures tell us not to believe it?

The current debate on climate change is an excellent example, as is the older environmental debate on evolution and, of course, the even older debate about heliocentrism, or how the earth revolves around the sun (instead of the reverse). Science clearly shows that evolution occurs and the climate is changing. Yet there are groups that do not accept such information or the supporting evidence for it.

Research Methods and Standardized Tests

By Sally Raskoff

This weekend I helped a young relative with her homework. She’s six and in first grade. Her spelling homework consisted of various words, most with the “ook” ending, for which there were sentences to be copied and pictures to be drawn.

We spent quite a few minutes learning about how we took ourselves to the brook, put a worm on a hook, and, well, you can see where this is going.

I was amazed to see some of the worksheet as it didn’t make much sense to me, much less to her. One phrase had to do with how the worm “shook the hook” which, of course, left it empty. I say “of course” sarcastically since I did not assume that was what it meant but that is what the last sentence said.

The Covert Curriculum of College

By Sally Raskoff

As each semester starts, continues, and ends, I’m reminded of what students learn both in and outside the classroom. At least two sociological concepts, hidden curriculum and latent function, could be used to explain what students are learning by taking college classes and moving towards earning a degree or certificate.

People come to college to take classes, creating their status as student. A particular set of expectations come with being a student; foremost among them is that of matriculation. Matriculation means to enter a college program, but it also means that students will have the intent of completing a program.