Reflective Essay

Walking into my Introduction to Sociology class, I had hopes of learning and broadening my understanding of race, society, and lives of Canadians and also other cultures of the world. Reflecting back on the term, this class not only allowed me to understand more about my life, from my relationships with people I care about, to school and my future goals. It also helped me understand my impact on others and how I look and understand local and global events, as well as how every action has a reaction from a local and global stand point. A key concept from the course that allowed me to further understand these things was the tool of debunking. Defined as “looking at both the obvious and surface-level explanations for social behavior and the less obvious and deeper explanations.” Reflecting on past events, I feel as if I was satisfied with a surface level answer to a question that deserved further investigation and without this course I do not believe I would be able to go beyond the initial appearance, because at times I believe people are blissfully ignorant when it comes to a topic that may be difficult to deal with, a surface level response is easier to cope with then finding and tackling the root of the problem. This class has offered me the tools to be able to go beyond the façade and see the truth.  Discussing a topic in which I felt I had an understanding about but the class furthered my understanding is the concept of “race”. During the semester we discussed the concept of race multiple times, at first I felt as if race was just a social creation everyone lives by each day, fitting into our categories of Caucasian, African-American, Chinese, Punjabi, or Sikh, every person on the planet fits into a category, easy as that. But it wasn’t that easy, race as I learned is “a figment of a collective imagination” a social construct made of by humans. A shadow hanging above the heads of everyone, should our so called “race” limit our success in life? Should we be bound to marry within our “race”? Biologically, each person has only a small difference in genes resulting in different skin colors, hair textures, and shape of eyes. Aside from the small physical differences, we are all the same so why is it that we kill over the idea of “race”? From being in this class I have been exposed to a deeper understanding of race, and the consequences this concept holds. Social inequality affects hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, being restricted to limitations in life because they are a different skin color, and I begin to think, “The more I learn, the less I know.” Reflecting on Sociology I feel that I not only have walked out with a greater understanding of social constructs, and concepts but because I have a better understanding of those concepts I now know I have found a greater understanding of my life, which is the most rewarding feeling you can take away from a class.

The Zimbardo Prison Experiment by Dr. Phillip Zimbardo at Stanford University film review

What question did the film raise? The intriguing aspect of the Zimbardo Prison Experiment is the fact that ordinary students participated in the experiment, separated into prisoners and guards, the personalities of each person soon fit perfectly to its name – either prisoner or guard. The question this experiment probed was whether or not people will begin to act like the title they hold, and whether or not others will follow those who take the identity of the role.

How did the film answer these questions? The film displayed how easy it is to be taken over by a role, ordinary people began to take on the roles of prisoners and guards and soon began assigning punishment and acting out, almost barbaric. The people who participated in the study stated that they felt a loss of personality. Therefore, the film depicts to the audience that there is some form of power in a role and can influence a person’s behavior.

How does the answer match our own ideas/ experiences? It was shocking to see the effect a role can have over a person, before seeing this viewed I did believe that roles can effect a persons behavior, but not to this extent, that said the experiment was an extreme circumstance but it was shocking to see people act in such a manner by simply being given a role.

Dialectic Reading

The Danger of a Single Story by Chimamanda Adichie video review

What question did the film raise? “Danger of a single story” questions the public and how many people believe a single story and will not go out and search for other forms of that story to ensure they have the truth. Chimamanda Adichie discusses how people view Africa as simply “Africa” and not a collection of individuals in 52 different countries, all from many different walks of life. She raises the question to people, why should we all just believe a single story?

How did the film answer these questions? The film answered the question by explaining to the audience the importance of understanding more than just one side to a story – and that all sides of a story is what makes it complete. It is important to go beyond what we already know and seek what we do not to further our knowledge.

How does the answer match our own ideas/ experiences? I believe that the ideas of Chimamanda Adichie are right, and that people do need to look into other sides of a story before making a conclusion. I believe that it is important to understand all aspects, because without proper information people will not know the truth.

Dialectic Reading

A Canadian Culture YouTube Video Review

What question did the video raise? The question raised in the video watched in class was whether or not Canadians act in a manor that is uniquely identified with Canada. Do all Canadians act a certain way? Are we affected by our environment and outside stimuli that results in a global behavior we all share as Canadians? Is that possible?	How did the video answer the question? The video answered the question by pointing out certain over lapping traits all Canadians share, or groups of Canadians share, from teenagers, to parents, to elders there have been studies that show an overwhelming likeness between the different groups.	How does the answer match our own ideas and experiences? I believe that there is not a “Canadian culture” but there certainly is a similarity in the way we lead our lives that is linked to Canada, where we live in the world affect our personalities and our culture, it would be impossible not to be affected by our environment we live in every day.
		Dialectic Reading

The Phantom of the Race: The myth of Race and the reality of racism. By Charles Quist-Adade text review

Dialectic Reading

What question did the text/chapter raise?While reading the text, many questions were raised regarding the idea of “race” and racism, “What is Race?” “How do we define it?” Many years ago, due to a person’s classification of humans based on solely physical differences of skin color began the battle with race and racism, harming many different ethnicities to this day. The text raises a key concept, if race does not exist, why must we be blind to the fact that it affects millions of people and continue to use “race” and a separating idea between people?

How did the text answer this question?Though the concept of “race” is difficult to decipher, the text answered the question in the following ways: Quist-Adade, began by explaining that “race does not exist” and it is simply a “figment of the collective imagination.” When you step back and think about that, about what “race” really does come down to it, it is hard to form words. Race can be defined as “a grouping of human population characterized by socially selected physical traits.” A generic understanding of what race is, but going further it is merely a social construct. Race is a hard concept to fully understand, simply the best answer to the question of “race” is, “Race? What’s that?”.

How does the answer match our own ideas and experiences?Looking back on past experiences, I can recall thinking why my skin was so much lighter than a classmate back in Elementary school, she was a girl, two eyes, nose and a mouth – we were the same; weren’t were? This confused me, and I began to wonder if there was something wrong with me? But as I scanned the classroom there were more kids with my skin tone then the darker skin tone she had, so did that mean something was wrong with her? While I sat coloring pondering such a deep question in my third grade class I came to the conclusion that as long as we could play Barbies together, and play jump rope there was nothing different between us. As children our minds are so exposed to so many things that we aren’t affected by social concepts; yet. Unfortunately it is impossible to avoid “race.” I look at race the same way I did ten years ago, who cares about the color of a persons skin tone? Physical differences should not indicate a person’s success in life “where we live should not determine whether we live.”

Who will liberate Liberia? By Charles Quist-Adade text review

Paraphrastic Reading:

In the reading of “Who will liberate Liberia?” by Charles Quist-Adade, I decided to choose the following passage from the text that highlights the main theme, “It makes perfect sense for billions of dollars to be thrown at the “axis of  evil” while millions of children perish every day around the world for lack of food and medicine.” I chose this segment because it highlights the pure atrocity of the Bush administration, the millions of dollars the country invested into the weapons would have fed every single starving child for a year, when we think of all that money put to a cause, that only causes harm, its shameful that a person with such priorities was elected to guide the country. Bush believed that the “cost of war is higher than the price of peace” which is an astonishing statement considering how many people are suffering in the world and how awful it is to think that peace is not a priority to the former President of the United States. I believe that the country with the highest amount of power should be able to do more for the women, the children, the men who fear for their lives every day who are withering away with no glimpse at a better life. I believe that defending your country; your homeland is important, and should not be ignored. But does that mean that to have a successful war force we need to neglect the cries from the innocent who are affected by the brutality of the United States?

September 11: Forgiveness is not part of the lessons learned. By Charles Quist-Adade text review

What question did the text/chapter raise?The text raised a question about the Bush administration stating “That in order to face the future, we must turn back to look at our past” The united states holds a double standard when comparing past disgraces the country has made specifically towards the Balkanization, and pillaging of the continents human and natural resources and asks everyone to turn a cheek towards that, but the USA itself won’t turn a cheek towards other countries mishaps, they will not turn a cheek when it affects the country negatively. The chapter asks whether or not the united states is acting appropriately or if they are simply placing a higher importance on war than everything else.

How did the text answer this question?The text answered the question by addressing the fact that the States will not turn a cheek for other countries if they are the ones negatively affected by actions, but expect countries to turn a cheek on their past mistakes. “Eye for an eye” is the moto the Bush administration seemed to follow. Being accused of not acting Christian, it seems like the most important thing the the government is declaring dominance over every country. Addressed in the text, the USA gives no forgiveness, which in result causes un-necessary world violence.

How does the answer match our own ideas and experiences?I understand the importance of standing up for your country, and not being submissive to the other countries threats, at times I do believe if the situation is severe enough war is the only way to demonstrate to other countries that it is not okay to act in such an aggressive manner. That being said, the government under the direction of George Bush did need to also consider other options other than retaliation. Similarly to the text, that highlighted the fact that there are other options other than violence that should have been considered.

Dialectic Reading