People Like Us

I found the video to be very interesting and related to what we had discussed in class this week. The simple question on what Social Class we think we fall in to. I learned on how people view you and the class that they think you belong to based on so many different things. Something surprising was that your class can based so many different things including even what kind of food you eat, as it showed in the film, that the wealthier the family was, the less white bread they ate. Even the way people socialize is somehow connected to the class you fall into. The way you stand, the way you talk, the way you walk, so many different things that they showed that according to them, had to due with your class. Depending on what social class they came from, they all gave different answers on what having class meant to them. I found the single most important part in the film to show how people in higher classes often times view people they feel don't belong in their groups was when they were interviewing that "WASP" member. He mentions wondering who were these "short, fat, ugly people"(a couple dancing) and wondering how they got in, referring to the "WASP" society he belonged to. They felt that they were better than everyone else. And then at the end of the film they showed a boy who was poor and embarrassed to show where he lived because of being in a  "lower class" family and how he was even embarrassed to walk with his own brother and introduce his own mother to friends based on their appearance. I found that part to be shocking on how in order to fit in with a certain class that boy had to lie about his own class and reject his family.

I definitely felt that this film was very accurate on social class. I felt that something of self experience that I could relate to this film was when I went to the Hamptons in the summer and stopped by a deli to buy food. Not only was the deli organized so much better then deli's around here, but they had better selections of  foods and to make a long story short, I did not feel like I belonged there, not only were the people in the deli looking at me funny, but I can tell they were judging me as well. And I feel it was based on how I was dressed and looked. And to me, what happened there is all connected to what the film was talking about, on how people judge you based on many different things and what social class they feel you belong to.

Positive Functions Of The Undeserving Poor

In this article, Herbert J. Gans talks about the things that poor people living in poverty do, their effect on society, whether its in a positive and negative way and societies reaction to them. Gans talks about issues that poor people have and are often ignored, how they are treated unfairly and explains how poor people are a threat to society due to their behaviors that are often associated with them, things such as crimes to others (mugging, robbing, etc.). After all mugging only occurs with poor people. He also mentions how most poor people violate the norms of our society and how they are often looked down upon and the stereotypes that are associated with being poor (things like they are lazy and undeserving.) I found this article to be very interesting when it came to explaining certain points on how our society views these people.I have a strong belief after reading this that not only does our society rely and view poverty as beneficial to the rich and the middle class but also encourages this to continue by refusing to help/change this. I personally feel that we all benefit from poor people whether we want to believe it or not. And probably the most 'true" line in the article is the last one where Gans says is "the only certain way to eliminate both this notion and the functions is to eliminate poverty altogether".  Probably the most important thing in the article is Gans 5 set of functions, which include 13 specific functions. The five set functions include Two Micro-Social Functions, Three Economic Functions, Three Normative Functions, Three Political functions, and 2 Macro-Social Functions.  

Deviance

In every society including our own, being a Deviant individual is not something most people would want to be. But what exactly is Deviance? Deviance is when an individual/s break a social rule, or refuse to follow them.  But if you ask me being labeled Deviant varies in alot of ways. The reason it varies is because while reading ch.6 I found it interesting that sometimes an individual can be considered Deviant without doing anything, saying anything or believing in anything bad. So that has alot to say about how our society is very judgmental one and how one thing that one person might consider Deviant another may not. Another thing I found interesting was sometimes a person's master status can be all the things necessary to label an individual Deviant, not "normal' in other words. Many times people do Deviant acts without even noticing it like myself for example, when I drive in an open space on a highway I tend to drive very fast and exceed the speed limit. Or another example can be how people might view me and think of me because I wear earrings and have tattoos, but like I said earlier it varies with people on what they think is Deviant and not.Basically people's opinions on Deviance adapt over time as societies change.