Gender

Gender

Flashback to the 1950s: You have a normal suburban family, 2 kids, a husband, and a wife. The husband goes to work 9-5 Monday through Friday, and the wife stays home and cooks and cleans the house. The kids go to school and come back and the mom makes them do their homework.

Fast forward to our decade with the same family. The husband still works 9-5 and the kids still go to school. Now though the wife is able to go to work and provide for her family just as much as the husband is. Over time we have seen the opportunities for women grow exponentially. No they’re still not completely equal to men but they are much closer than before.

No woman still don’t make as much as men but a lot of the times it seems that women still run the house hold. Especially in the media. Think about the shows and movies that you see on TV. “Men might "wear the pants" but women are the ones who tell them which pair to put on (Hogg, 2007).”

Read more: http://digitaljournal.com/article/205447#ixzz1eYqig3Tf

Gender is defined by our book as the socially learned expectations and behaviors associated with members of each sex. Over the centuries the roles of genders have changed just like I mentioned above. But where do these expectations come from?

“The first and one of the strongest influences on a person's perceived gender role is his or her parents. Parents are our first teachers--not only of such basic skills as talking and walking, but also of attitudes and behavior. Some parents still hold traditional definitions of maleness and femaleness and what kind of activities are appropriate for each (Advameg, Inc, 2011).”

Another big one that I’ve noticed is from the media. Commercials are pictured in commercials to be super well girly. Men are pictured as the stereotype to like sports, drink beer, and go hunting/fishing. It makes us, the viewers, seem like that’s how we need to be so we fit our lives to make sure we fit into those stereotypes.

As our generation becomes older and more and more of us become parents there has been a change in the way we push our gender socialization onto our kids. The individualism that defines our generation is more or less letting our kids decide what they want to be. Whether or not a boy wants to be a “sissy” or a girl wants to be a “tom boy” is irrelevant  because of the fact that our generation is much more accepting of homosexual tendencies than that of our parents or even generations before them (Carlson, 2002). I’m not saying its everyday for the LGBT community is a walk in the park but it’s much better than it used to be.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/5341/acceptance-homosexuality-youth-movement.aspx

This article from the Gallop Poll helps back me up.

Overall, the gender roles will continue to change over time. Woman will take a bigger role in the workplace than they are now. Eventually I think woman will run the world equally in comparison to men. I don't think that the views of men and women will change necessarily but the world will be more open to "tomboys" and "sissies". It's another sign of our changing culture.

References

Read more: Gender roles, Information about Gender roles http://www.faqs.org/health/topics/8/Gender-roles.html#ixzz1eYjryWmZ

Gallup Poll

http://www.gallup.com/poll/5341/acceptance-homosexuality-youth-movement.aspx

Family and Religion

Familes And Religion

Throughout my years before college, when I went to school and actually lived at home, I never realized how important my family would be. Since I’ve moved away from home it seems like I just took them for granted. I love my family, or should I say families. My family isn’t like a traditional “Leave it to Beaver” family. To be perfectly honest we have the swagger of a Family Guy family. There’s drama, there’s ALWAYS craziness but at the end of the day we’re there for each other.

(Macfarlane, 1999)

Here’s a video of what many American’s say is a normal family.

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/defines-family-children-americans-survey/story?id=11644693#.Ts00Z2OVrUA

My definition of a family isn’t your traditional dictionary definition: the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children; also : any of various social units differing from but regarded as equivalent to the traditional family. My family is what some would call “broken” I’d consider it more like expanded. I come from a family where my parents were divorced and have now remarried. So I have double what the traditional family would have. So here’s my definition: Any group of people who will help you through your ups and downs in life and still love you at the end of the day. I love my families, all of them. My crazy Italian one, my family from the south, my family in Idaho, and my family at Phi Delta Theta.

I found it quite odd that family and religion were mixed together in one chapter. I felt like it was a big enough topic that it could have its own chapter. On the other hand, I’ve found that many families (for a lack of better word) transfer their religions on to their children. I’ve gotten my religious beliefs from my family and the culture of where I live. In the United States at least it’s starting to seem like religion is becoming less and less of a major factor in our lives (Hartford Institute for Religion Research, nd). Does the Modern American Family have enough time for Church?

http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/quick_question2.html

We’re teaching our generation to become individuals so they have chosen not to have a religion. Not having a religion is becoming the new culture.

http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

References

Family Guy video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdljoPda7R0&feature=related

ABC News article:

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/defines-family-children-americans-survey/story?id=11644693#.Ts00Z2OVrUA

Does the Modern American Family have enough time for Church?

http://hirr.hartsem.edu/research/quick_question2.html

Article about US citizens and Religion:

http://religions.pewforum.org/reports

Homepage

Hello everyone! My name is Ryan Sprta and I'm a sophomore at the University of Idaho. I'm an Air Force Cadet in the ROTC program here at the school. You may be asking yourself why the blog is called "Sociology from Flyby". Well that's the call sign that my peers in ROTC have given me. Being in the Air Force is one of my favorite things about being at this University and going to school. Something that I’ve learned as I’ve grown up is how important it is to thank those who have served in our military. Socialization is something that we’ve learned in our Soc 101 class and it’s pretty easy to see that my family has influenced me a lot in my life.

Coming into the year I wasn’t really interested in sociology and to be honest I’m still really not. I took the class to get the credits and graduate. What I didn’t realize though was how much goes into the subject itself. What the class has done is give me a new view of how people live their lives and act the ways that they do. I get to learn about different cultures while sitting right in front of my screen and read all of your posts.

At times I find myself questioning what I do. Is it right? Who determines whether or not it is? Why do you think it is and I don’t? And that’s just a few questions of what sociology has made me ask within the short span of half a semester. It’s crazy to see how many different beliefs there are in the world.