Institutionalization SB 7

                Social institutions exist around us in an infinite number of ways.  Take for instance the media.  Cable news programs will teach viewers all about what is occurring in society.  They cover a number of topics in which they hope that the viewer’s find them interesting.  Some of the formal rules that these media news outlook follow are federal laws and the companies own policies.  Federal laws such as censoring disturbing language and disturbing pictures are put in place to protect the viewer’s mindsets.  The company may also enact their own policies (formal rules) as to how the TV anchors are to dress, what to report, and what stance to take when reporting a topic. 

                Informal norms are also highly considered when the news programs are planning on what to report.  These include the social norms of reporting.  You don’t want to be reporting things that the viewer’s will disagree with so much that they stop tuning into your news program.  Some informal norms include reporting the obvious—like political campaigns.  Everybody needs to feel like they know something about a political candidate before they go and vote so you better make sure you include an interview or two on your program. 

                The enforcement of the norms and rules can get costly for the news companies.  For instance the major consequence of the loss of viewers can create havoc on TV ratings.  Without those precious viewers, the news companies wouldn't last long on the air.  Another enforcement technique the government uses are fines.  If companies are showing inappropriate footage, they could be slapped with a fine and a bad rap from Uncle Sam.  Enforcement is a way in which to control institutions such as news companies.  Whether or not the institutions follow the rules, they will see consequences.  They may see positives such endorsements from celebrities or negatives such as a decrease in popularity.

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This image demonstrates the globalization of the news media outlets and that the whole world is impacted by what’s reported.  A majority of people receive their news from these outlets and the whole world is affected by their responses to the news.  Due to the rules and informal norms that are enacted on the media, news stories are carefully picked to receive a positive response from the community.  The institution of the news media outlets affect everyone worldwide.     

Aliens from the City SB 6

                Jimmy has devoted his life to his job of factory work.  Jimmy puts bolts on engines all day, five days a week.  Jimmy devotes a third of his day to installing these bolts.  What Jimmy is doing is alienating his labor from himself.  Jimmy has to take time out of his personal life in order to work at the factory.  He works there because he needs money to pay his bills.  Jimmy has other hobbies that he enjoys doing like making furniture.  Furniture making requires work, however since Jimmy enjoys making it and he owns the final product, it isn’t considered alienation.  Alienation is where a person creates or help creates something and doesn’t own the final product.  Alienation also refers to separating people from other people.  While working, Jimmy isn’t allowed to talk to his co-workers as his production time would slow down.  While making furniture however, Jimmy may invite a friend over to talk about life.  You can see the difference in engine making and the furniture making.  Jimmy doesn’t have the freedom to do what he desires at the factory but while at home, he is free to make his own decisions.        

                While helping to create this engine, Jimmy has no ownership of it once it’s completed.  Instead he receives a paycheck as a substitute to the engine.  Jimmy is also being exploited in the fact that the owner of the company is making a profit off the engine.  The owner has never put a hand on the engine, let alone sees it, but he still owns it.  Exploitation occurs when people take and own things that they haven’t created and trade it for something.  The owner here didn’t do any of the work, however he is still considered the owner because he controls the money of the company.  Jimmy is just a worker there who gets paid to add to the owner’s wealth.

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Here's a picture of Jimmy's closest friends.  Here you can see that they are working in a different factory and working all by themselves, however their co-workers are nearby.  These people aren't interacting and instead have a heavy focus on their work, otherwise know as alienation.

Aggressions- SB 5

                “If we hire an East Coast person, that means were going to make them do all the office work because that’s what they do over there.  Sound familiar?  Probably not, but anyway, this is a type of, what sociology majors call—micro-aggression.  Micro-aggression is similar to discrimination, however, it is different.  It deals with committing settle attempts of discrimination and prejudice.  Micro-aggression usually consists of non-physical actions taken against another person in an attempt to discriminate them from something.

                Going back to the example of that “East Coast” person, we can see that there is a prejudice out there stating that East Coast people are good at doing just business work and aren’t able to do field work well.  If the job on the line involves working at a police department, the East Coast person is going to be sitting in front of a computer all day instead of being on the road.  This is a micro-aggression because the East Coast person will be forced to work in the office instead of doing other work outside of the office.  This person is also facing discrimination. 

                A strength of the micro-aggression concept is that it combines, in a way, prejudice and discrimination.  The term assumes that you have an untested stereotype against another person which can lead to discrimination.  A weakness of this term is that it can be easily seen as another form of discrimination.  Micro-aggression requires actions based off of prejudices like giving someone an office only job because they grew up on the east coast where office work thrives.  An example of discrimination would be giving an east coast person an office only job solely on the fact that they grew up on the east coast.  Micro-aggression is better used to define attempts of discrimination based on prejudice.

 

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I chose this picture because it shows how one person’s words can impact another person.  The big person could be using a micro-aggression requiring the other person to do extra work because the little person is a minority.  The big person is also causing the little person more problems than they should have and that is represented by the rain storm.