"What's it like to live in America?"

This week we talked not only about other cultures, but what it means to be an American as well. This was a difficult question for many of us because we are immersed in American culture everyday and we feel like everything we do is "normal" and the other cultures do weird things. I was asked this question once before and I struggled to answer it then too. About 5 years ago I was in Israel and I met these Australian.twins at one of our hotels we were staying at. When they found out I was American, they immediately said "You are sooo lucky!". I didn't really understand. I mean I liked my country and all, but I didn't think it was anything to be jealous of, I thought Australia sounded pretty cool. They proceeded to ask me questions like, "What is it like to live in America?". At this point  I really didn't know what to say. I think my response was something like "I don't know, it's normal I guess". They were so fascinated with my culture, but I didn't have any cultural information to give them. In class this week, I discovered why I couldn't answer their questions. It's very easy to see the differences in other cultures, such as the squating toilets in Japan and leaving your baby outside cafes in Denmark. But when we think about our own culture, it is very hard to see the little nuances because we experience them everyday.

Fish Bowl or Toilet Bowl?

This week we talked a lot about how we react when we come in contact with other cultures. Many times we find the norms in other cultures funny or weird because its not something we are not used to. Sal shared a story with us about discovering the Japanese style toilet, which he first thought was weird, but then realized there was a lot of practicality in it. I, too, have a toilet story. Last summer I went on vacation to Tanzania, Africa. As you can imagine, there are many things that are different about Tanzanian culture, but for me, it was their bathrooms. They were western-style at the airports and hotels, so at first I thought I was safe. But I was wrong. On our first safari trip, we made a bathroom stop in an African National Park. I opened the door to the stall and saw nothing. I couldn't figure out what they had done with the toilet until I looked down. In the middle of the awful-smelling room there was a hole in the ground surrounded by 2 spaces to put your feet. You had to go to the bathroom standing up! I certainly had never done that before and I was not too pleased about the idea. During my ten days there, I encountered several of these and I got somewhat used to them except I didn't particulary like the lack of toilet paper. But when I thought about it, I realized this was not gross, uncomfortable or weird to the Africans. They come from a culture where they don't have a lot and something so basic as a toilet is a big deal to them, even if its not designed like ours.

The Many Groups of C

In the movie, A Bronx Tale, the main character Collogero is a part of many different groups. The largest group is Italian-Americans. This is a big part of his identity, everyone who knows him, knows he is Italian. First, there is his clearly Italian name and until Jane comes along, almost every person he knows is also Italian. We also see how he favors this ingroup because when his dad asks him why Joe DiMaggio is the best baseball player, C replies"Because he's Italian?". Then there is his neighborhood, a huge part of his life. He spends a large majority of his time there, he's friends with his neighbors and he understand the dynamics of his neighborhood. Then we move on to his family, his friends and Sonny's group. I do consider C to be part of Sonny's group because he spends a lot of time with them and he is clearly accepted there. At the beginning of the movie, I think his master status was son because his relationship with his dad was the most important thing to him. He would love to ride on the bus with him and he just wanted his father's approval. But I think his master status definitely changes after he lies and says Sonny is innocent.  Once Sonny "adopts" him as "his boy", that becomes the most important thing to him and that continues through his teenage years.

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Data

The excerpt we read from the book Gang Leader For a Day was author Sudhir Venkatesh's account of his sociological study of how life was to be black and poor. Vanketesh, who had never really had an experience with impoverished blacks, naively started asking gang members multiple choice questions from generic surveys. But he was just laughed at when he asked the question "How does it feel to be young and black" with answer choices of very good, very bad, etc. After being forced to stay overnight with junior members of the gang, Vanketesh learned from their leader, J.T., that if he wanted to know anything about them he needed to just hang out. He went back for years to hang out and learn more about these people's lives. It is obvious that he learned a lot through his method because he went on to publish Gang Leader as well as other books concerning this topic.




This excerpt demonstrates the two types of data sociologists use in their studies. The first type, quantitative, can be found using surveys that one can compile to create statstics. The other type is called qualitative which comes from talking to people and observing situations. When I moved to this area, we decided we would pick our house depending on which school I chose to go to. So, my mom researched all the quantitative data she could find on the high schools in the north suburban area. She created a list of about ten schools with the best ACT scores, amount of advanced classes and activities I could get involved in. But once we had this list, it was impossible to choose a school just from that; we needed more information - qualitative data. So I came up to Chicago and for each school I shadowed a student from throughout her school day. I was able to experience the classes, talk to the people and really feel like I was a student at each school. Ultimately, this qualitative data helped me choose which school I would go to.

What do saliva and weddings have in common?

When Mr. Salituro asked for a volunteer today and everyone pretty much just sat there, I thought "what the heck I'll take one for the team". What I didn't expect was to be asked to spit in a little dixie cup. Would I be known the rest of the year as the gross girl who spit during sociology class? I was even a little disgusted when he started offering it to other students in the class and then pouring it out into a trash can, and it was my own spit! But why? We all have saliva  so why is it unacceptable for it to leave our mouths? Because the social construction of reality tells us this. Everything we do or feel is unconsciously based off of social norms in our own cultures.

For example, 5 years ago I was at a cousin's wedding in Israel. Before the ceremony started, there was a spread of food and drinks in the general area that the ceremony would be held. People were talking, eating and having a good time. It all seemed pretty normal. But then the ceremony started and the guests continued to socialize, eat and not even turn their heads toward the bride proceeding down the aisle! I was shocked. My first thought was these guests are totally rude and have no respect for the bride and groom. I looked around and no one else seemed alarmed. The families of the couple were smiling and happy. I didn't get this, could this possibly be normal? In turns out the answer is yes. The social contruction of reality has taught us as Americans that this is disrespectful, but doing the same thing in Israel is completely normal.