Language Shock

No matter where in the world someone is, there are ways of living that have become normal. One thing that has lasted since the beginning of humans is the use of language. This could be language in the form of speaking and grunts or language in the form of hand gestures. No matter how someone looks at it, language can and is most likely going to be interpreted in different ways all around the world. One of the most difficult things is learning how to speak it.

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The shock that someone gets when going to a different country on vacation can last for several days,weeks, or even months. It is important to deal with this when it happens. One of the biggest types of shock that someone will have is the language difference. In class this week, we split up into five groups and played card games. At each group, there would be five people. The winner in each group would move clockwise and the last place loser in each group would move counter clockwise to the next group. During this time, however, we were not allowed to talk or make any sort of hand movement, and what was not told to the class is that every table had different card game instructions. So, when the players would switch places and move to other tables, they had no idea what was going on; they had to adapt to the settings around them without any questions.

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Living like that is very difficult. To be in a place where you don't know the language and can't ask questions is scary. This, in turn, makes people become more sociologically mindful and helps them discover what is around them.

C and His Groups

In the movie "A Bronx Tale" there is a main character named Collogero, a.k.a. C. He can be classified into many different groups. Throughout the movie, the groups and his status and importance in each group change and sometimes it is for the better; however, sometimes, it is for the worse.

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In the beginning of the film, the group that takes up the majority of C's life is his family. He does what he is told, for the most part, and talks to his parents on a regular bases. Sure sometimes they argue during disagreements, but they always group up in the end to form a social bond. At a young age, the movie also shows that C is becoming part of the group at the bar located right next to his house. He was told by his parents to only hang out on the stoop in front of his house and to never enter into the bar, but he wanted to live dangerously and disobey somethings that his parents told him. This began to show the rebel side of C; he began to hang out with the powerful crowd and started looking up to everyone there. His father became very upset and tried doing all that he could to keep C out of trouble.

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At a young age, C can also be seen hanging out with his friends; that would be considered another group that he was in. Later on in the movie, the ties that he has with his friends conflict with the ties that he has with the man he had always looked up to, Sonny, because Sonny did not agree with the things that C's friends did. In the end, it was good that C listened to Sonny and didn't hang out with his friends because they ended up dying in a car crash. C's father saw this as Sonny looking out for C, and the anger between the two of them would eventually end. Unfortunately, the anger and tension between the two of them ended only after Sonny was shot and killed.

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Just those three groups, his family, friends, and "bar buds", were a major part of C's life. However, when it comes to his major status, it would come out of the group in the bar; everyone knew him because of the status the Sonny gave him. If Sonny liked someone, just about everyone liked that person. At first Sonny just called him C, but by the end of the movie, everyone, including his dad, was calling him C.

My "Who" Status

Just about everywhere that I go, I have a status that a lot of people know. Being the younger child in the family, I have an older brother. At the beginning of school years, I would always get from people, especially teacher's, "are you Brandon's brother?". Obviously my response is "yes." This would be considered my master status. Although there are many groups that I associate myself with, the master status that I have to many people is "younger brother".

Other groups that I associate myself with are my friends. These include friends from high school and friends from as far back as elementary school. From the friends in high school, I can be looked at as " the guy who knows directions". This being a status of mine, I believe that it fits me very well. I am the one that someone will go to if they need to get somewhere that is outside of their town or sometimes just a couple miles away; when it comes down to different directions, I am very responsible and helpful.

This topic has to do with Sociology because it discusses the way that different people see and perceive you. This view and sight that people all around see can be good in many cases, but it can also be negative. Do you think that having a one known "master status" is important?

Abandon Ship!

This week is Soc class we did an experiment. This experiment involved a life raft that was capable of holding nine (9) people in it safely; however, the one problem was that there were sixteen (16) people that needed to be rescued from the waters after their ocean liner sank. The people on board the life raft included everyone from sailors to poets to cheerleaders. The purpose of this exercise was the re-enact a true event that took place in the 1940's.

It all started when a large ship sank leaving sixteen people stranded. When this happened in the 1940's the Ships Officer took control and was deciding who would stay on and who would be thrown off to fend for themselves in the ocean; in other words, who would live and who would not. In the exercise that we did in the class, everyone was arguing about who was better and who deserved to stay; most tried to pity one another by saying that they were either rich or had families to return home to. In the end, seven (7) people were kicked off the boat. The people kicked off included the Quarter Master, the Self-Made Millionaire, the College Student, the Draft Evader, The Elderly Man and Woman, and the Travelling Poet. Making the decision on who would stay or not was very difficult and would be literally impossible to do under real circumstances. If I had to participate in this, I would have used the same routine but I would have kept on the College Student because she still had her whole life in front of her. In her place, I would have to say that the Peace Corp Volunteer would be the one to go because she would be remembered for doing good deeds throughout her life. If you were in this situation, what would you do? Who would you decide to throw off the boat and who would you keep on?