xmas music and sociology essay
Dec. 14th, 2002 12:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timepiececlockHansen's strawberry kiwi soda is very good.
The song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" makes me sad.
It always has, and I never know why, but it just does. It makes me ...melancholy.
This is the essay I turned in for my Sociology: Social Problems class. We had to pick a social problem in America and then define/explain it, explain its causes/origins/roots, explain its effects, talk about measures that have been taken to solve it, and make my own reccomendations as to how it should be solved, and answer the question if it is an issue that should be solved in the first place. And we were asked to use at least 5 quotes/references from the text.
I picked for my social problem: gender inequality & descrimination against women in America.
You know, this is my first quarter in college. So if it sucks or seems juvenile or sophomoric, that's why.
The United States population is comprised of fifty-two percent women, and yet in the two hundred and twenty-six years since the county was founded, no woman has held position in the highest executive office. Female politicians currently hold only thirteen and a half percent of all congressional seats, and ten percent of the state governorships. In a nation where women are the majority according to census, why are they regarded as a “minority”? Why is there such a staggering difference in the amount of personal power between men and women in the office, in politics, in higher education, and in the eyes of society? These are vital questions that illustrate one of America’s most pressing social problems: gender inequality and discrimination against women. It is not a new problem, but it is one that has come much more to light in the recent century, with the advent of jobs and technology that level the playing field of what careers or roles can, or cannot, be done by women.
The symbolic-interactionist perspective of social problems argues that “through the socialization process both males and females are taught the meanings associated with being feminine or masculine,” (Mooney, p.225), a process which begins as early as birth, when gender-specific names are given to a child. As children grow up, the various elements that affect their lives—school, family, peers, interaction with non-family adults, and the media’s presentation of the sexes—culminate and build to gradually impress upon each person a socially constructed idea of “gender” and its significance. With each year older humans become and the more they interact, this perception of “gender” changes and evolves in their minds. The gender concept, then, as the text Understanding Social Problems states, is “constructed as a societal expectations dictate what it means to be male, and what it means to be female.” (Mooney, p. 225)
The effects of this social problem permeate our society on nearly every level, from childhood to the work place to daily family life. It begins when people are very young children, with the toys their parents give them to play with. More technology- or learning-oriented toys are often marketed to boys, like building/construction sets, computers, and video games (ex: Nintendo’s Game Boy). Girls, however, are often expected to like more nurturing or “girly” toys, such as baby dolls, dress-up, Barbie dolls and dolls houses, pets, and art. As girls spend less time playing video or computer games, companies tend to create fewer games that appeal to girls or cast girls as the lead characters, thus creating a cycle of unintentional segregation. This experience continues throughout their education experience, as studies such as the United States Sadker and Sadker (1990, Mooney p. 235) found that “teachers talk to boys more, counsel them more, give them more extended directions, and criticize and reward them more frequently.” Boys are encouraged in the mathematics and sciences, while girls are encouraged in arts, literature, and languages. Standardized tests have shown that Boys and girls perform the same in math and science before the age of 9, but by the time they turn 13 boys excel in science, and soon after, math as well. When looking at the types of higher education degrees granted yearly, men earn far more doctorates than women in all fields except psychology.
The effects in education influence the later discrimination in jobs. The traditional and the media portrayals of women say that they must take certain jobs while men take others—usually higher ranking—such as the nurse to the doctor, or the secretary to the boss. Women have to work harder to advance, especially in male-dominated fields like technology, business and politics. The technology field in particular is one of the largest and fastest growing job markets in the world today, and yet women continue to be a minority there. A popular description of this is called “the glass ceiling” a unseen barrier to career advancement in the working world that women can reach, but no matter how much they out-perform their peers, are not allowed to surpass, because their superiors are all men. Recently however, a few businesswomen have been able to break past this invisible barrier; for example Carly Fiorina, the Chief Executive Officer of the multi-billion dollar computer company Hewlett Packcard and one of, if not the highest-paid women in America.
In addition to limitations in career advancement, women are also paid less for the same work performance as a man, and are in most cases expected to postpone or sacrifice personal success for children and family. If women choose to not have a family and pursue career success instead, they are often regarded as unfeminine, “spinsters” or even “dikes.” The many outlets of media, such as television, films, music, magazines & news, and books also support this idea, and emphasize other qualities as being more “desirable” in women. In television shows, how often are women the ones the most worried about their personal appearance, their relationships, while the male characters are seen as concerned most about their financial and work success, or if boys, success in sports and leadership roles? It is a common trend in media, when closely examined, and it is this type of seemingly “harmless” portrayals of gender roles, so widespread and deeply imbedded in American culture, that influence how people perceive gender in their daily human interactions and decisions. When marketing advertisers use the human image to market their product because “sex sells” it is more often a woman’s body, not a man’s that is presented in a provocative manner. Some people see this a degradation of women in to objects, whereas a different opinion is that it’s not the sexual objectifying of the human body to sell that’s the problem, it is the inequality in representation—the majority of women in such ads—that is an example of the social problem of gender inequality.
Like all social problems, however, the question must be asked: is this problem one that needs to be confronted, and solved, or could more damage to society be done in trying? The answer is yes, it needs to be confronted and it solved, and it must be done soon. As was said at a Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, “Only a radical transformation in the relationship between women and men to one of full and equal partnership will enable the world to meet the challenges of the 21st century.” (Mooney, p. 221) The oppression of half of a society is not only grossly inhumane, but also counter-productive to the advancement of human society on the whole, as half of a population’s human resources are not being allowed to fully flourish and affect their environment.
There have been numerous actions taken over time, and the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, the goal of having equal rights between women and men in all things, has been fighting the battle since the United States was founded, but the most lasting and effective actions have been taken in the last century. The most prominent breakthrough occurred in1920, when the 19th Amendment to the constitution was passed, according women the civil right to vote. This amendment came about as a result of the Industrial Revolution and labor movement of the turn of the century and early 1900s, after which women had forged themselves a place in the labor fore, and wished to extend their new-found power into politics and self-governing as well. An currently ongoing effort is being made to ratify another amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, proposed in 1972, which states that “Equality of rights under the law shall no be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on account of sex.” (Mooney, p. 241) This state failed to be ratified by three of the needed thirty-eight states, and it “is presently in several state legislatures awaiting action.” (Mooney, p. 242) This amendment was driven by the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.), the “largest feminist organization in the United States,” which encourages women to be active in politics and run for offices.
Other political measures have been taken in the last half-century to help end discrimination against women, such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Both acts made it illegal to discriminate against women in pay or employment. There have also been the Educational Amendment of 1972 and the Violence Against Women act of 1994. Affirmative Action is another program that is meant to help women gain a foothold in jobs and universities, but it has come under a lot of public scrutiny for fear that it promotes reverse-discrimination. One of the smaller, but equality important way in which discrimination has been fought is court cases, and small battles by individuals. Lawsuits against discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace are being brought to attention more than ever, with women having their rights defended by the legal system.
However, even though society has become increasingly aware of gender inequality as a problem in America, there are still many ways in which the fight for equality is far from won. In some states women still cannot get lawful protection against being raped by their husbands unless they are legally separated, and women who are discriminated again or sexually harassed are often pressured, directly or indirectly, into keeping silent. There are ways, however, in which discrimination can still be fought. Women can be more actively involved in local and national politics. Organizations like N.O.W. are helpful in this process, but schools, educational tools, and the general media can also be utilized more effectively to this end. Tighter enforcement of laws that prohibit discrimination is also a solution. The more cases of inequality or discrimination are cracked down upon, the stronger the message will be that women and men deserve equality.
Perhaps the best solution that can be recommended is also the simplest: confront discrimination when you see it. Individual men and women must stand up and make an argument when they observe discrimination, sexual harassment, or inequality being played out around them or when they experience it themselves. Be it something in the media, something at work, or something in one’s own home, having people set a stance against it is the best, and most lasting, solution. As America’s opinion changes, so does its society and laws reflect that change. Gender inequality starts in the little things, and so it is in the small things in American lives that must change, if Americans want the larger things to change as well, and equality to be part of social life, and not a social problem.
-------
As a side note, "The Scientist" by Coldplay is such a bitchin' song. I adore it. I'm not even listening to the words, all I hear is the sound of it, the words and the msuic blending together. I have no idea what its lyrics are about. I just wanna hear.
The song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" makes me sad.
It always has, and I never know why, but it just does. It makes me ...melancholy.
This is the essay I turned in for my Sociology: Social Problems class. We had to pick a social problem in America and then define/explain it, explain its causes/origins/roots, explain its effects, talk about measures that have been taken to solve it, and make my own reccomendations as to how it should be solved, and answer the question if it is an issue that should be solved in the first place. And we were asked to use at least 5 quotes/references from the text.
I picked for my social problem: gender inequality & descrimination against women in America.
You know, this is my first quarter in college. So if it sucks or seems juvenile or sophomoric, that's why.
The United States population is comprised of fifty-two percent women, and yet in the two hundred and twenty-six years since the county was founded, no woman has held position in the highest executive office. Female politicians currently hold only thirteen and a half percent of all congressional seats, and ten percent of the state governorships. In a nation where women are the majority according to census, why are they regarded as a “minority”? Why is there such a staggering difference in the amount of personal power between men and women in the office, in politics, in higher education, and in the eyes of society? These are vital questions that illustrate one of America’s most pressing social problems: gender inequality and discrimination against women. It is not a new problem, but it is one that has come much more to light in the recent century, with the advent of jobs and technology that level the playing field of what careers or roles can, or cannot, be done by women.
The symbolic-interactionist perspective of social problems argues that “through the socialization process both males and females are taught the meanings associated with being feminine or masculine,” (Mooney, p.225), a process which begins as early as birth, when gender-specific names are given to a child. As children grow up, the various elements that affect their lives—school, family, peers, interaction with non-family adults, and the media’s presentation of the sexes—culminate and build to gradually impress upon each person a socially constructed idea of “gender” and its significance. With each year older humans become and the more they interact, this perception of “gender” changes and evolves in their minds. The gender concept, then, as the text Understanding Social Problems states, is “constructed as a societal expectations dictate what it means to be male, and what it means to be female.” (Mooney, p. 225)
The effects of this social problem permeate our society on nearly every level, from childhood to the work place to daily family life. It begins when people are very young children, with the toys their parents give them to play with. More technology- or learning-oriented toys are often marketed to boys, like building/construction sets, computers, and video games (ex: Nintendo’s Game Boy). Girls, however, are often expected to like more nurturing or “girly” toys, such as baby dolls, dress-up, Barbie dolls and dolls houses, pets, and art. As girls spend less time playing video or computer games, companies tend to create fewer games that appeal to girls or cast girls as the lead characters, thus creating a cycle of unintentional segregation. This experience continues throughout their education experience, as studies such as the United States Sadker and Sadker (1990, Mooney p. 235) found that “teachers talk to boys more, counsel them more, give them more extended directions, and criticize and reward them more frequently.” Boys are encouraged in the mathematics and sciences, while girls are encouraged in arts, literature, and languages. Standardized tests have shown that Boys and girls perform the same in math and science before the age of 9, but by the time they turn 13 boys excel in science, and soon after, math as well. When looking at the types of higher education degrees granted yearly, men earn far more doctorates than women in all fields except psychology.
The effects in education influence the later discrimination in jobs. The traditional and the media portrayals of women say that they must take certain jobs while men take others—usually higher ranking—such as the nurse to the doctor, or the secretary to the boss. Women have to work harder to advance, especially in male-dominated fields like technology, business and politics. The technology field in particular is one of the largest and fastest growing job markets in the world today, and yet women continue to be a minority there. A popular description of this is called “the glass ceiling” a unseen barrier to career advancement in the working world that women can reach, but no matter how much they out-perform their peers, are not allowed to surpass, because their superiors are all men. Recently however, a few businesswomen have been able to break past this invisible barrier; for example Carly Fiorina, the Chief Executive Officer of the multi-billion dollar computer company Hewlett Packcard and one of, if not the highest-paid women in America.
In addition to limitations in career advancement, women are also paid less for the same work performance as a man, and are in most cases expected to postpone or sacrifice personal success for children and family. If women choose to not have a family and pursue career success instead, they are often regarded as unfeminine, “spinsters” or even “dikes.” The many outlets of media, such as television, films, music, magazines & news, and books also support this idea, and emphasize other qualities as being more “desirable” in women. In television shows, how often are women the ones the most worried about their personal appearance, their relationships, while the male characters are seen as concerned most about their financial and work success, or if boys, success in sports and leadership roles? It is a common trend in media, when closely examined, and it is this type of seemingly “harmless” portrayals of gender roles, so widespread and deeply imbedded in American culture, that influence how people perceive gender in their daily human interactions and decisions. When marketing advertisers use the human image to market their product because “sex sells” it is more often a woman’s body, not a man’s that is presented in a provocative manner. Some people see this a degradation of women in to objects, whereas a different opinion is that it’s not the sexual objectifying of the human body to sell that’s the problem, it is the inequality in representation—the majority of women in such ads—that is an example of the social problem of gender inequality.
Like all social problems, however, the question must be asked: is this problem one that needs to be confronted, and solved, or could more damage to society be done in trying? The answer is yes, it needs to be confronted and it solved, and it must be done soon. As was said at a Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, “Only a radical transformation in the relationship between women and men to one of full and equal partnership will enable the world to meet the challenges of the 21st century.” (Mooney, p. 221) The oppression of half of a society is not only grossly inhumane, but also counter-productive to the advancement of human society on the whole, as half of a population’s human resources are not being allowed to fully flourish and affect their environment.
There have been numerous actions taken over time, and the Woman’s Suffrage Movement, the goal of having equal rights between women and men in all things, has been fighting the battle since the United States was founded, but the most lasting and effective actions have been taken in the last century. The most prominent breakthrough occurred in1920, when the 19th Amendment to the constitution was passed, according women the civil right to vote. This amendment came about as a result of the Industrial Revolution and labor movement of the turn of the century and early 1900s, after which women had forged themselves a place in the labor fore, and wished to extend their new-found power into politics and self-governing as well. An currently ongoing effort is being made to ratify another amendment, the Equal Rights Amendment, proposed in 1972, which states that “Equality of rights under the law shall no be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any state, on account of sex.” (Mooney, p. 241) This state failed to be ratified by three of the needed thirty-eight states, and it “is presently in several state legislatures awaiting action.” (Mooney, p. 242) This amendment was driven by the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.), the “largest feminist organization in the United States,” which encourages women to be active in politics and run for offices.
Other political measures have been taken in the last half-century to help end discrimination against women, such as the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Both acts made it illegal to discriminate against women in pay or employment. There have also been the Educational Amendment of 1972 and the Violence Against Women act of 1994. Affirmative Action is another program that is meant to help women gain a foothold in jobs and universities, but it has come under a lot of public scrutiny for fear that it promotes reverse-discrimination. One of the smaller, but equality important way in which discrimination has been fought is court cases, and small battles by individuals. Lawsuits against discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace are being brought to attention more than ever, with women having their rights defended by the legal system.
However, even though society has become increasingly aware of gender inequality as a problem in America, there are still many ways in which the fight for equality is far from won. In some states women still cannot get lawful protection against being raped by their husbands unless they are legally separated, and women who are discriminated again or sexually harassed are often pressured, directly or indirectly, into keeping silent. There are ways, however, in which discrimination can still be fought. Women can be more actively involved in local and national politics. Organizations like N.O.W. are helpful in this process, but schools, educational tools, and the general media can also be utilized more effectively to this end. Tighter enforcement of laws that prohibit discrimination is also a solution. The more cases of inequality or discrimination are cracked down upon, the stronger the message will be that women and men deserve equality.
Perhaps the best solution that can be recommended is also the simplest: confront discrimination when you see it. Individual men and women must stand up and make an argument when they observe discrimination, sexual harassment, or inequality being played out around them or when they experience it themselves. Be it something in the media, something at work, or something in one’s own home, having people set a stance against it is the best, and most lasting, solution. As America’s opinion changes, so does its society and laws reflect that change. Gender inequality starts in the little things, and so it is in the small things in American lives that must change, if Americans want the larger things to change as well, and equality to be part of social life, and not a social problem.
-------
As a side note, "The Scientist" by Coldplay is such a bitchin' song. I adore it. I'm not even listening to the words, all I hear is the sound of it, the words and the msuic blending together. I have no idea what its lyrics are about. I just wanna hear.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2002-12-14 12:44 am (UTC)Re:
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From:On the subject of the essay
Date: 2002-12-14 03:44 am (UTC)Two little caveats before I begin; I have only studied Socialogy to A-level (thats somewhere between high-school and degree level), and of course I have no experince of day to day living in America.
I like your style, although there is an argument to made that it was rather closer to a journalistic or article-esque (forgive my bad habbit of making up words...I have been up since 4am today), rather than accademic. But then again accademic style is dry, blaand and often a joyless read, which this certainly is not! Howver should there not be more socialogical theory in it?
By the by, a pointless fact about British gender equality, that while a Woman held the highest (elected) executive posistion is this country, the amount of women in other top jobs declined!. In fact some areas of employment in Britain have apparently now more male Dominated than they where when Margret THatcher came to power...I thinbk she might have put peope off Female leaders..
I am still going to campaign for you to run for President, Rashaka!
Re: On the subject of the essay
From:no subject
Date: 2002-12-14 05:53 am (UTC)Re:
From:no subject
Date: 2002-12-14 03:21 pm (UTC)Actually, I just dropped by to show you this e-mail I got today...Proof that we do live in each others heads...
"I surfed the bloody net for some days to find other fanfics from you, my favourite is "Leashing the Beast", but ive read "Darkness Falls", "To Suffocate in Sand and Blood" and the "One Minute in the Life of a Vampire Slayer" but then: NO MORE!
May i ask what are you doing in your free time? No, it doesn't matter... WRITE!!!"
That had me laughing for hours. I replied with a big old thank you, and long note on how 'One Minute' isn't mine, it's yours. I wonder when you'll get an email mistaking one of my fics for yours?
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