Three movements to watch out for in 2019

There were several social movements that were expected to strengthen and grow in the year of 2019. One of these movements is the Women’s March. The Women’s March has become a worldwide movement ever since they took part in what was the biggest protest in the history of America for a single day after the 2016 Presidential election. The Presidential Election, along with the #MeToo movement gaining popularity, among other things have all contributed to women standing up for themselves and their deserved rights. The Women’s March on London(WML) has been at the core of the Women’s March. WML is based on the notion that the oppression of women is tied to oppression based on any and all types of inequality. Another social movement that expected to popularize in 2019 is the movement to address climate change issues by taking direct action. The United Nations has stated that it is essential that action be taken within the next decade to combat global warming and keep it below a certain level, because if it were to go above the specified point, it would be too late reverse it. In a global context, native peoples and groups of color are the most impacted by climate change. Taking direct action has seemingly been the only viable option for people who are largely ignored and unrepresented in society. It seems that direct action in efforts to combat global warming is going to become a conventional and established movement. Leaders in the developing world have committed to making protests more serious in order to coerce governments into doing something about climate change. A third movement is simply a push for a better economy. People have gotten fed up in recent years with businesses exploitative practices that maximize profits at the expense of their workers. The movement to improve the economy is essential in fixing this problem. As economic stability continues on a downward spiral, the urge to try to create independent economies will grow.

From reading this website, I learned about different social movements that were expected to become more mainstream in the year of 2019. The social movements I learned about after reading this were the Women’s March, Climate change, and improving the economy. I learned about how important these movements are and how impactful they have become and are continuing to become. These social movements all have a common end goal in mind. That goal is to improve the society in which we live and making our world a place where we can thrive and live peacefully among one another.

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https://water.org/our-impact/water-crisis/

Water ties together every facet of human life. The ability to use safe water and to have access to proper sanitation can give people more time and energy to focus on other important things such as their education and careers. It also helps to better the health of people all over the world. There are over 800 million people worldwide who do not have the ability to use clean water; there are also over 2 billion people in the world who do not have any way of accessing a toilet. Women are inordinately affected by the global water crisis due to the fact that they are the ones expected to collect water. This gives women less time to focus on other important aspects of their lives, including education, their jobs, and raising and taking care of their children. This keeps women stuck in a position of poverty. Liberating women is an essential component in fixing the water crisis we are facing. When women are able to obtain clean water in their homes, they have more time to work and make money, as well as pursue any other interests they may have. “The water crisis is a health crisis”(water.org). Close to a million people die every year from diseases pertaining to unsafe water and poor sanitation conditions. A child dies from a water-related illness approximately every two minutes. The ability to access clean water and quality sanitation helps to enhance health and to keep diseases from spreading; it also contributes to lower death rates in children and mothers. At times children may also be expected to gather water for their families. This means less time for school and for playing, which is necessary for children. Spending less time collecting water has been shown to boost school attendance, even more so in girls than boys. There is over 200 billion dollars lost worldwide every year because of poor access to proper water and sanitation. This is because of the large amount of time that is spent collecting water and trying to find quality sanitation; it is important to realize how essential time is when considering these things. Having clean water and sanitation gives people and families extra time to go to school and to work, which in turn can contribute to helping them get out of poverty.

I learned a lot about the global water crisis from this website. It really helped to put this issue in perspective and it illustrated how big of a problem the water crisis really is. One thing I learned from this website that stood out to me was the fact that women are very disproportionately impacted by water crisis, due to the fact they they are the ones most often expected to seek out clean water and collect it for their families. This takes up a lot of time that they could be spending on other important things and interests. The website also states how the water crisis affects children. When children are the ones relied upon to collect water for their families, they don’t get the time they need for school and to do things kids should be able to do. The website also makes it clear how much of an economic problem the water crisis is; there is a massive lack in economic opportunities due to the water crisis, and billions upon billions of dollars are lost annually across the world because of poor access to clean water and sanitation.

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Our opinions and perceptions about gender continuously change over time. Throughout an individual’s life, the various things about a person that pertain to either one gender or the other change in smaller ways and also bigger, more profound ways. Research has shown that the younger people of this generation have much different views about gender than the previous generations. We are all flooded with information about gender from birth, but we don’t work hard enough to ensure that children have a genuine understanding about what gender is. Understanding gender and the concepts around it is necessary “for children to understand their own gender, engage in healthy relationships, identify and place media and social messages in context, and have agency in determining aspects of their gender now and in the future”(genderspectrum). Society’s views regarding gender has a significant impact on children’s lives as they grow up. It affects many different areas of life including their academic affairs, their vocational life, money related issues, relationships, etc.

I learned about gender from reading this website. I felt that it was informative and presented the information well and in a way that was easy enough to understand. The website states that people use the words gender and sex synonymously. Most of the time we give a newborn infant either the male or female assigned sex based on the genitalia they have. Once the sex of the baby is determined, we assume the gender of the child. The main thing I learned from this website was about the three dimensions of sex. The three dimensions are body, identity, and expression. The body dimension entails the body itself, the way in which we experience it, the way society assigns genders to certain bodies, as well as the ways that other people engage with us on the basis of our body. Our identity is our personal sense of self as either masculine, feminine, both mixed together, neither of the two, or something completely different. Identity includes the term individuals use to represent their gender. Gender identity can be the same as or different than the sex they were given at birth. Expression is the way that we show off our gender to the public and the ways in which society, culture, community, and family understands, behaves toward, and tries to mold our gender. Gender identity is connected to gender roles and the way society uses those roles to try to get people to abide by modern standards related to gender norms. Something interesting that the textbook mentions about gender that website doesn’t is the concept of intersex. Intersex means an individual has “a variant chromosomal makeup and mixed or indeterminate male or female sex characteristics”(Ferris & Stein, 2018, pg. 253). There are approximately 17 in 1,000 babies that are born intersex(Ferris & Stein, 2018, pg. 253).

http://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/understanding-gender/

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Expensive housing options and an inadequate amount of housing assistance programs have both played a major role in the problem of homelessness(NationalHomeless.Org). Foreclosures have also caused an increasingly large number of people to have to live homeless(NationalHomeless.Org). Homelessness and poverty are connected inseparably(NationalHomeless.Org). People with low income are often incapable of affording a lot of the resources and life necessities(NationalHomeless.Org). Housing takes up a large amount of a person’s annual earnings, and being poor basically entails that you are potentially only one unfortunate circumstance away from being homeless(NationalHomeless.Org). Over approximately the last five years, the poverty rate has been on a slow and steady downward trend, though homelessness and poverty remain significant problems(NationalHomeless.Org). The site then goes onto explain and define the three variations of homelessness. Their titles are chronic homelessness, transitional homelessness, and episodic homelessness(NationalHomeless.Org). People in poverty are at the greatest risk of dealing with homelessness, and in turn the demographics that are more likely than others to be impoverished are also more likely to live homeless(NationalHomeless.Org). Although homelessness is thought by many to be primarily a city/urban issue, people in smaller or more rural towns deal with the same issues regarding homelessness(NationalHomeless.Org).

This was a very informative and educational website to read. I learned a lot about poverty and homelessness; something significant that stuck out to me were the six main causes of homelessness discussed on the website. One main cause, simply put, is that there isn’t enough job opportunities; another cause is that there is a lot of difficulty receiving public aid due to low availability; a third cause is expensive healthcare(NationalHomeless.Org). For people who are already struggling and cannot afford healthcare, a serious injury or illness can lead homelessness because of the inability to work and having to pay for their medical bills out of pocket(NationalHomeless.Org). Domestic violence has also been shown to be a significant factor in leading to homelessness; this is because women leave home to escape their abusive partners and have to try to find somewhere else to live(NationalHomeless.Org). Mental illness is also a contributing factor to homelessness; around 16% of single homeless Americans have some variation of serious mental illness(NationalHomeless.Org).Addiction is the sixth cause of homelessness that the website mentions. It is disagreed upon whether or not there is a real and serious correlation between solely addiction and homelessness; however, for those who suffer from an addiction and who are also low-income, there is definitely a greater chance of homelessness(NationalHomeless.Org). The textbook and this website both make mention of the poverty rate. Ferris and Stein(2018) say that we don’t know the number of homeless people in the U.S.(Ferris & Stein, 2018). They explain that the Census Bureau isn’t fully reliable because it counts households and leaves out those living on the streets(Ferris & Stein, 2018). The website does give a specific poverty rate percentage and approximate number of impoverished Americans, though the statistics are from the Census Bureau. The site claims that three years ago the poverty rate was at 12.7%, with approximately 40.6 million Americans below the poverty line(National Homeless.Org).

http://nationalhomeless.org/about-homelessness/

There are four different kinds of what are called agents of socialization. These are different ways in which socialization occurs. Family is considered to be the most essential component of socialization. The family is comprised of the first emotional connection that a young person has in their life. Babies are dependent on others to live and be healthy, and parents naturally take over the job of teaching children how to be independent and satisfy their own needs. Parents supply their kids with their first set of beliefs and values; the first structure that is put on kids by their parents usually affects their lives in big ways. It has been determined that class is an important part of socialization as well. The second agent of socialization is school. The majority of kids are in school to get an education. There are several respects in which schools socialize kids. One way is that students must follow a curriculum. Also, teachers are in positions of authority over students and they must regularly ensure that students are being compliant and following rules and guidelines for the school and classroom. The ways that children are socialized by schools varies depending on the culture. The third agent of socialization is peer groups. Peer groups involve people of similar age and social status. Peer groups make it possible for kids to have friendships and social lives based on their own standards and rules without adults micro-managing or regulating activity. As kids start to get older and become teenagers, their friend groups are going to be made up of kids who enjoy doing similar things and have similar statuses. The fourth agent of socialization is mass media. Mass media is comprised of television, magazines, radio, internet, music, and cinema. All of these things affect people’s opinions regarding popular culture. Most sociologists feel that it is hard to determine exactly how far mass media’s impact stretches. “Mass media relays impersonal information in a one-way direction to a passive audience”(Sawe, 2019). Commercials play a big role in determining what different kinds of things that people choose to purchase. People scrutinize the media for enabling children to see content that is not age-appropriate or that is obscene.

In this article i learned about the agents of socialization. The website taught me about each of them and some interesting things about them as well as why they are each unique and significant; there are four agents of socialization. They are family, peers, school, and mass media. The article showed that family seemed to be the most important part of socialization, and this is due mainly to the overall impact that parents have on their children’s lives. There is something sociologists call the hidden curriculum that is used in schools. It is a way of making sure that children are able to live up to society’s values as adults and be able to succeed as adults. Peer groups allow young kids to spend time around each other without adult supervision and to learn and pick up habits from each other. A person’s peer group has a large impact on the decisions that they make in their personal lives. The influence that peers have on an individual’s behavior decreases as the person gets older. Regarding mass media, I learned that it is really hard to grasp or understand how impactful it really is in determining whether people like or dislike certain things in popular culture. There have been many reports that have shown a connection between violent media and the commission of violent acts, though this kind of media does not always lead to real life violence. Ferris and Stein talk about the four agents of socialization as well in the textbook. Something the book mentions that the article also mentioned is the hidden curriculum. The hidden curriculum is “a set of behavioral traits such as punctuality, neatness, discipline, hard work, competition, and obedience, and even ideologies like racial and gender hegemony”(Ferris & Stein, 2018, pg. 110).

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-agents-of-socialization.html

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The code of ethics that is adhered to by the American Sociological Association discusses the rules and standards that sociologists must live by in their research and work in general. The rules that are talked about in the code of ethics should be carefully considered when facing each individual task they come across in their work. In the code of ethics there is an intro, a Preamble, a short list of general principles, and some ethical “rules” that are specified. Sociologists are lead by the general principles and the preamble in order to live up to the highest possible standards of sociology. Both the Preamble and the general principles are unenforceable, however, sociologists should always think about them and reflect on them when making decisions in their work. The ethical standards is made up of conduct rules for sociologists that can be enforced. The majority of ethical standards are not laid out super specifically so that they can relate to the different kinds of sociologists and their particular jobs. The ethical standards are not extensive or all-encompassing. Actions or conduct that is left unspecified by the Code of Ethics cannot be considered necessarily right or wrong.

In this article I learned about the importance of ethics in the field of sociology. The website taught me that the Preamble and general principles in the Code of Conduct are essential for sociologists in their work. They should study them and make sure they have a good understanding of them so that they can use them in the various situations and tasks they have to do in their jobs. The Preamble and general principles, although not enforced, should be taken seriously by sociologists because they will help them to make the most ethically and morally sound choices. There are six general principles listed in the Code of Ethics. The first is professional competence which means that sociologists will do only what they are qualified to do and use the necessary resources they need to be successful. The second principle is integrity; this is applied by treating people right in all aspects of their work. The third is professional and scientific responsibility. This means that sociologists will abide by the stricter professional and scientific standards, as well as agree to be responsible for whatever work they do. The fourth is respecting people’s rights, dignity, and diversity which is pretty self explanatory. Fifth is social responsibility; this means that sociologists understand the responsibilities they have to the people and places with whom and in which they live and do business. Human rights is the fifth principle; this entails the idea that sociologists must always be trying to encourage and nurture human rights for every individual in their work and research. The textbook briefly explains this code of ethics. “The ASA Code of Ethics…sets out recommendations for how to avoid bias, adhere to professional standards, and protect respondents from harm(Ferris & Stein, 2018, pg. 65). The book also states that codes of ethics relating to sociology don’t entail strict rules but they are meant to help lead sociologists to making the best decisions(Ferris & Stein, 2018, pg. 63). This is something the website touched on as well.

http://www.asanet.org/code-ethics

There is such a thing as sociological knowledge. Sociology is not based on opinions like some people may suggest. It is factual and verifiable by research that was supported by statistics. A diversity of research methods that can be premised on the scientific method can be used in the work of sociologists to check whether hypotheses are true; however, they also use research methods that are based on how people perceive and think of their own social situation. There are standards that sociologists are expected to live up to in order to make sure that their behavior is ethical and that nobody in their research is harmed, and also that their research is done morally and fairly. There are two extensive points of view regarding research methods. They are called qualitative and quantitative. Research methods in sociology are associated with either of these viewpoints, and a lot of the time sociologists use research methods that include both qualitative and quantitative research together. Quantitative and qualitative research both involve their own unique techniques and systems of gathering data and information.

From this site I learned that it takes more than having opinions to be a sociologist. I learned that there are right and wrong answers in this field of study, and that in order to find the right answers sociologists must do extensive research that is supported by data and verifiable information. The scientific method is used a lot by sociologists to try to determine whether or not hypotheses about what they are studying are true. Other than the scientific method, sociologists also do research that is based on what people or groups of people think about their own social dynamics. Sociologists are expected to work ethically when studying and doing research. This site also talks about qualitative and quantitative viewpoints, which are discussed in the textbook as well. The research practices used by sociologists are connected to either one of or both of these views. According to the textbook, quantitative research has to do with information that is based on numbers and math, and qualitative research is all about information that is not related to numbers(Ferris & Stein, 2018). Some examples of qualitative research are “texts, written field notes, interview transcripts, videos, or photographs.”(Ferris & Stein, 2018, pg. 41).

http://www.asanet.org/topics/research-methods

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