Who Am I #2

My American year is almost over. It is so weird to talk about it right now. Feels like i have been living this way forever, and now, saying goodbye to this all... It feels like taking an essential part of me away. But my experience is going to stay with me forever. Yes, I have definitely changed during this past year, and I realize that I am going home, to Ukraine, as a totally different person, with different views, attitude, and character itself.

This year gave me great understanding of where i belong to and what my goals are. I know that my Motherland - is Ukraine - and it is the dearest country for me. It is the place where my parents and family are from, it is the place where my first home is, it is the place where the people are the ones who understand you best of all. Just because you share the same problems, the same language, same culture and way of living - you understand each other really well. Ukrainian flag - is my flag, it shines like the beautiful landscape of the wheat field with the deep-blue sky above. I love my country, and I am proud to call myself Ukrainian, I am proud of my culture and my roots. Ukraine is something that cannot be replaced for me, I am with Ukraine in my heart.

America made me a stronger person. This whole year I have been learning how to find a compromise in any situation, how to cooperate with any person, and how to solve the problems on my own. Yes, I did face some hardships on my way to this, last day in the United States. I faced them and I went over them. All the hardships only made me better and gave me an opportunity to improve. I have become a more independent person, more prepared for life in the real world. And I know that everything I've got during this year, I will carry it throughout my whole road of life.

What I can say is that being an exchange student is some kind of experience you can only get this way, going away from your usual life, getting out of your comfort zone and facing the real life. Your exchange is more like a life in just a year, than a year in your life. Once you leave your home to reach out and see the world, trust me, you will never be the same. Our life experiences is something that directly shapes our personalities. I know that now, and it makes me a more confident person. I know now for sure that our tomorrow, our future is in our own hands. Remember that, and it will lead you to happiness and success. Success I am looking for, and I hope, I am on the right route.

A loser or a winner?

Dear Reader,

we all are looking for big achievements but we cannot always win. Our life is full of ups and downs, and to survive in this world we need to learn how to cooperate with it. People are really stereotypical about winning. We all have some model of success which is widely thought to be right and accepted in the society. I do not know, why a lot of people connect the term "success" with money and materialistic issues. If you are rich, you are successful. If you have fame - you are successful. If you have a great career - you are successful. No, maybe you are not, but you are SUPPOSED to be like that.

The whole culture of the XXI century is built on looking for a special way to success and recognition. However, let us face the truth. We do not need that many winners in the world. Our living and the economy of the world is based on the people, who are often called "the losers". The blue-collar workers, people who do the dirtiest work, people who do not get that much money - we all depend on them. You see, once the winners of ]life disappear, we may know about it, we may be sad, but we may not suffer. However, once the people we call losers disappear, we may feel it. The economy may die in a short time, as far as who may grow and pick up the basic, food, for all of us. Who may work on the plantations? Who may keep us going?

Yes, the truth is that we may not survive. We won't be able to succeed without the people who may be under us, who may become those losers. Everything is based on the comparing. This way, there would be no success in the existence, if there was no losing. We cannot always win, too. This is life and  we all depend on the people who surround us, we depend on the conditions which anyways influence us. Success is not only money. It consists of different parts. Money is only a part of it. And money does not necessarily means happiness.

There always were and always will be winners and losers, and the percentage of the last ones in the nature may be way bigger, comparing to the first ones. This is how it has been forever. Everyone will become the winners in some field and, at the same time, the biggest losers in another field of living. You should just remember, dear reader, that every single losing is only a reason to become a better person. So, whenever you lose, you become a stronger person. We all will one day face the loss, and our main goal is to face it with readiness and belief in the better tomorrow.

Sincerely Yours,

I.D.

Boys N the Hood



1 in 21 black male may be killed during his teen age. The hood life. What is it like? Full of danger and fear. Shootings every single night wake you up and you cannot get back to bed. You are afraid, what if the next person to be shot may be you?


We have just finished watching the movie Boys N the Hood which is a great example of the hood movies, a special genre in the cinema culture which appeared in the United States. The movie has a number of sociological issues within it and, personally, I enjoyed it. It is a great dramatic story, based on the real life of the hoods in Los Angeles and, this way, in any hood either. The film brings up the questions of violence, relationships, drugs, education, family life and responsibility.


For example, at the very beginning of the movie, the main character Tre, being a boy back in 1984, appears to live with his single mother, far from his dad, and to be a bully at the school. Then his Mom sends him to his Dad, saying to his father that only a man can bring up a real man, and that is why Tre should live and grow up with him. So, now Tre gets into the real life of the hood, Crenshaw . He meets his old fellow friends here,  Darrin "Doughboy" Baker, hated by his own mother for some reasons, and his "spoiled" brother Ricky, who is treated well. As a result, 7 years later we can see how the lives of the heroes have changed. Darrin is tough and street-smart and just got out of jail for some deal again, while Ricky, being a successful football player in HS, has a family already and a child, and is going to enter a college and win a scholarship. He needs to get the SAT score of 700, so they take the test with Tre.


Tre has become a responsible man. He is mature, and knows what the life in a hood means: looking in the eyes of the death. No one is secure here: the war between the 2 major gang always goes on, Crips and Bloods never stop it. So, once Ricky gets into a conflict with the guys from the other gang and starts shooting in the air. The enemy runs away, being kind of ashamed and embarrassed, and preparing for the revenge. All in all, one day he finds Ricky, on the day he gets his test results. Ricky goes to a store with Tre and gets shot by his old enemy. He dies right on the arms of Tre, Darrin doesn't get enough time to come and save his brother, so they decide to take a blood revenge. Tre is angry, he goes together with his bros, though even his dad doesn't let him. However, on the way to the place of destination, Tre asks Darrin to let him out. I guess, he is thinking of his life, his love, plans for the future, and his dad. About the responsibility. So, he quits, but Darrin with his friends goes and kills the murderers of his own brother. By the way, Ricky got enough SAT scores to pass, 710... The next day, Darrin talks to Tre and Tre tells Darrin that he lost his brother, but  he has another one, and here he is, Tre. 14 days later, Darrin gets shot.


All in all, this story is based on the real life. The hoods still exist, and they are the same hazardous. People in there have to live in fear and are still brought up in the rules and "laws" of the hood. So, this seems to be an endless circle. But, who knows...

 

The Catfish

So, we finished watching a movie "Catfish". What kind of a life lesson did it give to us? Trust and the Internet are far from each other. People receive the "friend requests" on the social networks online daily. Sometimes we know who they are, sometimes - we don't. A lot of people just add the strangers to their online "friend lists" and start communicating right on. Is it right? Well, sometimes it turns out to be awkward and even dangerous at the moments. However, the main point is to control the situation and not let texting become your main source of getting knowledge about a person. Don't let a catfish manipulate or influence you and your attitude.


Is there a catfish in my life? Well, probably, not in the sense it is usually used. I guess, there is the catfish in the lives of every of us. People who are trying to be someone they are really not. Showing off, pretending, making different stories up. Such catfish is everywhere, it is around us. Very often we just do not realize it. However, this catfish makes our living, probably, some ways more interesting. It makes us feel alive somehow, letting us show our emotions, feelings.


Catfish. We meet such people pretty often. First time we see a person and he or she tries to make an impression on you. They pretend to be "cooler", higher in the status, not showing their real personality. For me, personally, this is something that can even possibly keep me away from such a person. I appreciate when people show their real faces, without hiding them behind some masks. Sincerity is something that attracts people, I think. Any friendship cannot be built on the lies. Any relationship, built on lies, may not last for a long time. The truth may be found one day, and the earlier it happens - the less pain it brings.


So, be yourself. Catfish may not bring happiness to you. When you are who you are you may get something real. Friend, respect, love.

Stereotyping

We live in the world where quite often people judge others just by having some wrong images of them. For example, a lot of Ukrainian people have the wrong images about USA. How cool it is to live here, how easy it is to study at an American high-school, and how many parties the teenagers throw every week. The same is about Americans who talk about Ukraine. The comments about my home country when I first came to the United States: your state is a part of Russia, right; it is really cold there, isn't it; you have a lot of bears and drink much vodka. Well, now with time and because of some particular events people can say to me something like that only on purpose to joke around. But anyways, stereotyping is still there, and people often say something about the things they are not even sure about, but which are created like the legends within a society.


My personal story of coming to the USA started with stereotypes, actually. How, you may ask? Well, I came to America to break any kinds of stereotypes, and even mutually: telling the truth about my country and culture, and exploring Your, real American life, with all the exact aspects. And I am really glad I got such a kind of opportunity. To my mind, people should not think of the whole nation as of one which has to be some kind of even. We should remember that every person is unique, and it is the same everywhere. Moreover, something that makes the difference - is something that makes this world the way it is. For instance, let us look at the world of basketball. People have a not really right idea about the best players of this game are black people. The opposite can be proven by the historic facts: the old school basketball was led by the Jewish players, and nowadays there are a lot of great and outstanding white people in basketball. But even with all of this, the stereotypes are still there.


I would say, that stereotyping is something that may always be around. Judgment by race, gender or social class - this has always taken place in our world. And our main task is to be open-minded and be able to open the eyes to see the reality once You face it, just the same as when I faced American culture - no pre-judgment which leads to success in understanding and accepting.

Animal Farm Quiz

Well, so I finished reading the book Animal Farm, and I would like to write the reaction to it. How is this book connected to sociology as the science and what parts of it can be found in the plot of the creation?


So, the book actually shows the life in the Soviet Union and under the communism. First, the animals on the Manor Farm overthrow the people's authority, and make their own "state" there. With their own rules, regulations and ideas. The ideology starts with the brilliant speech of the Old Major, after whose death the overthrow takes place. The pigs, been considered the smartest animals on the farm, take the power and create the main principles by which the new, Animal Farm, may live. They also continue singing the hymn of the revolution - "Beasts of England" - and work for their future. The 3 leaders, Snowball, Napoleon, and Squeale create and spread the 7 commandments of the new life on the farm. Among them the main claims that all the animals are equal in their rights. By the end of the story, though, the pigs looked just the same as the people and the main commandment was changed to: "All the animals are equal, but some are more equal." So, the main rules were broken, the equality was only an illusion, and all the animals on the farm who lived under the pigs power lived under the total lies of their government.


So, how is the story of the Animal Farm connected with sociology? Conflict theory - the conflict in the society between the upper and the lower class. First - between the animals of the farm and the people. The conflict critical point led to the overthrow of authority of the humans and revolution took place. Later on, the same conflict repeated in the new animals' society: the conflict between the proletariat - who were all the common animals of the farm, - and the bourgeoisie - who the pigs as "the smartest" became. So, there are two stages of the conflict within the society. And it shows that there cannot be the unlimited power which belongs to someone because it might be occasionally overthrown or, even been hidden under the right ideas - as it became under the authority of the pigs - may be found out by the people. So, the book shows the ideas and realities of communism, the system which can show in the best way the conflict theory.


At the same time, the book has the ties to the functionalist theory. It can be seen by the existence of the different roles in the society. Napoleon and, at the beginning, - Snowball - the two pigs who became the rulers and took the authority. The dogs of Napoleon - the ones who became the executors of those who were against the system - played their own role, helping the ideology to keep going. Another helper of Napoleon - Squearal - having the great abilities to the brilliant oratory, became the image of the USSR minister of propaganda, Molotov. Among the other animals I would mention Boxer - a hard-working horse who became the motion power for the communistic ideology, having the strong beliefs in it, inspired the common animals to work on the system, however, once he became unnecessary for Napoleon (who is the image of Stalin), the pig sold him to the glue factory to get profit for the alcohol. This, in fact, is what really happened in history of the Soviets. And this is what the story of the Animal Farm tells about. How once seems like a good ideology became a killing machine, and how the different roles of the different subjects in the society supported it or, on the contrary, fought against it.


Did the animals reach the healthy balance by the end of the story? No, the things even got worse with the new system. The lying of the Farm's government was found out. The goal to get to the full equality in the society became impossible, some of the animals turned out to get more privileges than the others, which proves that the perfectly equal social division cannot take place in the real life. Power is evil, and uncontrollable power is uncontrollable evil. Society can be built on the liable ideology, but it will never prove its ideas. The truth becomes visible one day anyways. And the conflict, I guess, cannot be prevented. The book "Animal Farm" is a very good creation in the world of sociology, and it makes you understand a lot of things better. So, go for it and read it!

Alien Commuters

Hard work every day. No rest and crossing the state border back and forward just to get to the place of labor and get back home. Thousands of Mexican people do this procedure daily just to survive, spending hours in the fields in USA just to earn some coins, to make at least some money for existence.


Why? What makes the people come to the United States and still live in Mexico, getting the annual income which is lower than the poverty line, measuring by the US standards? A lot of workers say that this is the only way for their families to survive - getting some kind of money in the USA, all in all, doing some dirty work, and at the same time living in Mexico which is cheaper and gives some benefits to them. This life does not sound like fun, but people have to exist that way to keep living. With no good education, no certain level of any occupation - these are those factors which make the life turn out to be like that. Filthy tunnels on the way from one country to another, low level of life, and sometimes - no respect. Unfortunately, this does take place in the world, and there are still a lot of people who decide to live in one country, and sell their labor un the other for nothing. This is the real world.


So, the immigrants come to work to the US in the great amounts daily. And nothing can effectively stop this process. USA has the image of the country of opportunities for the foreigners. The country of American Dream. And as long as the United States keep this status, it should be ready to meet new and new "guests" from abroad who are up to work and may stay in the shade of the economic system with no taxing or anything.

GlobalPost

Street life. The kids who hang out in the yards in the big cities without business, skip school, do not care much about their education just because do not think that it is necessary. How do such kind of the stories usually end up? Drug dealership, gang participation, getting into some trouble and going to the jail. Some of the readers may say that this is the stereotyping, however, the statistics can prove it, which is unfortunately. But is not there an alternative to such a way of living?


Today there is another way to fix your life up even staying out off the school, spending time in the streets. There is a way to get over your negative emotions and aggression and this way is called the sport. An example for such a variant of the way to stay out of the trouble can be the story of the "Barcelona Fight Club." They started as the usual place for the street fighting kind of for fun. However, there turned out to be a lot of the teenagers who were eager to take part in this. So, the organizators decided to start a boxing club for all those who wanted to participate in it. Sport - it became something that could take away the kids' negativity, they became calmer, started to control their emotions better and got to know how to protect themselves in the troubles in the streets. Sport became a rescuer for those who came out of mostly poor families and had had all chances to spend half of their lives in prison at last. May this experience stay with them forever, even when they are 30 years old and cannot fight any more? I think so, because the skills to control yourself and never lose the temper in the dangerous or problematic situations may stay with them forever. This is something that becomes a part of your character and stays there. It is a part of the sportsman's discipline.


All in all, I think that the sport does give you some very important skills and traits of character. Being confident, cool-minded, persistent, responsible and able to analyze the situation - these are those benefits a person gets from being involved in the sport. Even such a kind of sport like boxing. Those benefits stay with you forever, and I believe that the kids from the streets who are the characters of our story may fix their lives forever.

People like us

We are all divided into different classes within a society. Our lifestyle, clothes, the way we behave, our possessions and what not influences our belonging to this or that social class. And even though I think that the existing of the different classes in a society is not so actual in the modern life, still they do have place in American social structure. So, how do the social classes influence one's life and status?


Tammy, Appalachia and poverty
Poverty. The story of Tammy is the great example to talk about when it comes to the question of social classes. She, had been growing up in the family with 21 other siblings, came into the adults' world. At the documentary she is shown as the mother of 2 kids, working at the fast-food restaurant which is placed 10,5 miles away from her home. And she has to get to her working place on foot as far as she doesn't have a driving license or even a car to drive! Her life is full of despair, and she doesn't see any chance to change something. However, her older son tries to fit in into the social class which is higher then his own. How? By wearing better clothes, through the behavior and the network of communication. He also tries to come to his goals by achieving some kind of success at studying and sports. Will he get upper on the steps of the social structure? To my mind, he can. I have a perspective that any person does have a chance to change his or her social statues. And, I think, that the way through education is one of the best ones. And there are a lot of proofs to it in the history, people who came from the lower classes did went to the higher ones. I think, everything depends only on your own desire and hard work.


High School and Social Class
Your social class usually plays a rather great role at high-schools. Depending on what class you belong to, the students hang out together, get split into the groups of interest. High school prepares you greatly to living in certain social class. You exchange your experiences and through the process of communication, you get involved and interested in something particular. The groups you belong to,  form and shape your future class belonging in a lot of cases. Moving up or down the class may be a tough change, and I am pretty sure that going higher may be a very tough way. Because going higher - means becoming better. And changing your class may create, first of all, the change in your circle of communication, which means, your friends, people you hang out with, even family - may be replaced, and not everyone can handle this. A person sometimes becomes much more isolated on their way to success. And, as far as one's belonging to the upper class is nowadays considered to be a part of success, this may require some isolation, too. Personally, I would call myself a part of the in-group at school, at least in the most of the cases.


Social class and your possessions
Everything you posses shapes your social class. According to the judgment of a society, the house you live in, your clothes, all the things you have - creates the picture of your status and class. Your prestige is something that is influenced by the stuff you have. Moreover, it depends on the quality of the products you buy and consume. For example, as the movie showed, even the bread we eat means something. The more white sliced bread you eat, the lower is your social class to be thought of. However, I do not really agree with this because this is the question of the personal tastes and preferences. However, for example, your car can tell way more about "who you are in a society". The more expensive it is, the higher your class "is supposed to be". My family back to Ukraine has a rather good car,  and even the fact that we do have one means that we belong to the middle class at least. So, comparing to American society and culture it differs. Here a family can have 3-4 cars, a car per every member, and they still may belong to the middle class. So, the social classes and judgment about them may differ from country to country, depending on the average level of life within it. And this way, something that may only make you a person of the lower-middle class in one society, may make you the person of the highest positions in some other society.


All things considered, social classes do exist in American society. They often influence the others' attitude to you and create certain image. To me personally, social classes do not really matter and do not change my communication with the people. You should know that it is actually possible to go higher or lower in the class. However, do not concentrate on your position in society. Just chase your dreams, and it will bring you higher in life anyways.

"A man makes his own luck"

Anyone can create their own lives the way they want to. We all have the power to change the way we are going throughout the whole being in this world. And everything pretty much depends on our decisions. We are the creators of our own future.




As the scientists claim, there are some main theories of the society network. Among them there are the conflict and the functionalism theories. I agree with both of them in some ways. But, all in all, I agree more with the functionalist theory. To my mind, any society is imaginary divided into different groups and each group has its own function within it. So, as a result, the groups are all interconnected and interdepending on each other. I think, that this is how a society built and created, and actually, how it works out as it is.


Throughout the sociology course, I got to take a look at the theory of Karl Marx. He is known in the history as one of the creators of the communism and its basic idea. Just a little bit before I came to the USA, I read some parts of the book which had once become the main work of his whole life. The book is called "The Capital" and it explains the main basics of the communism. Marx believed that there had always existed two social classes: oppressors and oppressed. The first are those who lead, own and have power; while the second are those who depend on the upper class. According to Marx theory, the fight between the classes constantly leads to revolution, and the dissatisfaction with their lives, the lower class - proletariat - comes to the conflict with the bourgeoisie who are the higher class. And I kind of agree on this. As an example, I could mention the same creation of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the last century, or even my own country right at these times, today. The people have been waiting for some changes for a long time, but nothing got moved from the place, maybe, even only got worse. The richest only became richer, and the life of common people - only got worse. The larger is the difference in the levels of life and the hole between the classes - the less is the understanding between them. And I do agree with this point.


I am pretty sure that anyone is able to create their own luck. I do agree with this point and this is, actually, as scientists say, one of the Americans' values - personal achievement. So, if You are still not sure about what You want to do to find Your own luck, go - and find it. Create You own future, because only You are the creator of it. And everything depends on Your own choice.

Requiem For a Dream

Yesterday we watched a movie in the class. It was Requiem For a Dream and it told a dramatic life-story of the guy who suffered from the drug addiction and who had to fight for his surviving. The movie showed how the drugs can change one's life.

 

The dream. This is, probably, what all of us are living for. We make some goals, priorities, and then we try to get closer to what we want day by day. The main characters of the movie also had the dreams. Harry wanted to become successful in life and feel independent. His Mom, Sarah Goldfarb, lived by a wish to get on the television one day, to get to be in the same goggle box she has always been in front of, and her goal was to get fit in her old dress back from her son's graduation, when she used to be happy and glad. Harry's girlfriend had a want to become a famous designer. And, all in all, everyone was eager to get to their points of desires.

 

However, all of us make decisions every day. The characters of the film tried to choose some easier ways. Drugs to forget everything, dope dealing on the streets, pills to lose weight easily and without problems. Some even had to forget about all the pride and feelings they had inside. Pain, depression, despair and all the worst inside. And the sad finish. Tragedy came with time. Harry got some kind of blood infection because of the instant shooting in the vein; Sarah lost control over her desire to lose more and more weight and ended in the mental house; Harry's girlfriend - with money but with the emptiness inside; his friend - in the jail, dope sick.


Throughout the whole story, we can see, how the life can go from the very top of hope, expectations and foresees for the tomorrow day to the very miserable conditions. Drugs destroy you, and you cannot even control it, if you are addicted to them. Being a drug-consumer, you become a slave of your own physics. And yes, you cannot be the owner of the situation - your addiction becomes it, and all of your coming actions, whether rational or not, are not controlled by your mind, but only by your physical need of getting more to satisfy the pain inside.

 

That is all. Finale. And all the dreams are dead. The last thing to do is to play a requiem for them.

Heroin or How to meet Your death faster

Drugs. Drugs addiction is nowadays a problem all over the world. And it is a screaming problem. People get caught "on the needle" at any age, being the representatives of the most various social classes, from different families and with different life ways. Some come to the addiction in the very early childhood because of the stress, family problems and what not; others - come to the needle later on, but still for the same reason: problems at work, no perspective in life, no future.

Actually, addiction - is only your personal choice. If you have enough inner strength and courage to say: "Stop!", - to yourself, at the very beginning, you may not get addicted. However, we all have the weak points and the drug dealers, brokers, and even barons use them to keep calm and stay in their business. So, how does it work the way that the killing dealership of the drugs market still exists?

Well, talking about heroin, for example, we can see the strict scheme and network within the black market. The way of this "killer" from the field to someone's vein starts all the way down in Afghanistan. This murdering business is only growing day by day. And it is only spreading. Why? The answer is that there are billions of dollars standing behind someone's tragedies. Sometimes even police gets involved in the dirty drug business, giving the coverage to the criminals who widespread the epidemic of addiction throughout the cities to its very darkest corners. And this all - because money rules the world.

Can we stop the problem of the drug addiction? Let's face the truth: probably, no. However, we can reduce it by providing different kinds of social programs which would explain "what is good, and what is bad". If we get united against the problem, we can get over it.

Crime and Deviance

Crime is a very big issue in the American society today, and everyone knows it. The statistics can only prove this fact, unfortunately, and they are shocking. According to the latest researchers from all over the world, about one-fourth of all the imprisoned from all the corners of the Earth are the US imprisoned! Sounds scary, doesn't it?


First of all, as a Ukrainian, I would say that a lot of people from the places I am originally from say that the laws and regulations in the United States are kind of too much strict in the attitude to the jail sentences. For example, In Ukraine the maximum time to be spent in jail could be simply: for the rest of life. However, in America you add the years and make up the whole term in prison, even though it may sound unrealistic, like 250 years of jail. And, for instance, your punishments are stricter and even for some of the stuff which would be called a misdemeanor in UA is considered to be quite serious in the US. And, as the consequence, the jail sentence in the prison can be much longer here for the same action, comparing to the same action in my Motherland, Ukraine. This seems to make no sense to me, however, this is a very subjective position and You, my dear reader, can think differently.


Another point is that, I guess, the problem of crime and especially the organized one, starts from the childhood. Scientists claim that the more educated people are in the group of lower risk to get involved into some kind of criminal organizations or gangs, comparing to those who do not get enough experiences at school and what not. So, I think that to solve the problem of the people in prisons in the US, You need to change, probably, even something in the basic educational system. Probably, there should be more encouraging programs for the students which would help them to find the right place in a society, to find their way to go and occupation to choose for the future.


Finally, I think that those people who are in prisons should be working. This is so because their number increases with the every new year. This means: new prison buildings, new areas, more spending on keeping those who must be isolated. To my mind, they should be kept not just for the money from the tax, but from their own work, too.


All in all, I am sure that the issue with the prisons and its inhibitors can be  solved. It is only the question of time, laws and government decisions.

Xbox Effect or Why are the street crime rates going down

Crime has become an integral part of the life of today's society. It has been existing since probably the very first days of the society existence. However, talking about the street crime we can definitely say that there were times when it got increased in rate strongly. For example, the periods of 1930s, and starting with 1960s up to the end of 1990s can be called, I guess, the times of the "blooming" of the street crime and gangs life.


On the contrary, though it can even seem surprising, today the level of the street crime got decreased though even we would have thought something like well, living is getting faster, so the crime rates should go up. However, some of the factors of the modern being make it possible and logic as the consequence.


After reading an article(from the teacher's blog) which was telling directly about the decrease of the street crime in the last couple decades and the reasons to it, I figured out that actually the improvement of technology, communications and even laws in the United States in just last 20 years, could and did influence the crime situation in the cities of the country.


For example, popularity of the Xbox as a device and cult of the video-gaming as for today even logically made the crime levels go down. How? More people nowadays are spending their time in front of their gadgets like TV, laptops, cell-phones and what not, rather than hanging around in the yards together with the friends without knowing what to do and getting into troubles always because of that. Yes, of course, there are both pros and cons in the question of the video games, for instance, sitting on the sofa in front of the screen all days round instead of going out in the fresh air makes some difference. But this difference doesn't worry sociologists and those who are interested in the issue of criminal world existence.


Another interesting point in the article was connected with the legalization of abortions. The scientists claim that this step could also help to decrease the level of the street crime. In which way? Well, by avoiding the birth of the unwanted babies, though even I am personally against abortion as it is, criminalists say that we avoid growing up of the children who are literally left by their parents. And I would say that there is a point in this logic. The less children appear to be in the yards for the whole days round in their teen age, the better for the criminal situation in the state. As far as right because of lack of understanding, support and leading from the side of the parents, a lot of children get involved into bad companies with the bad life attitudes. This way, the more kids get to be under loving and care of their parents. the better for the society in general.


All in all, I would recommend you to read the article which describes in details the 7 main reasons, according to the modern researchers, to decreasing of the street crime and violence. And remember: being a citizen of the United States means being free. However, it does not mean unlimited freedom, but only the freedom of choice, whether good or bad. But you are still responsible for what you choose and how you live.

The Breakfast Club

The famous movie of the 80s of the XXth century. The Breakfast Club - and here is my podcast about it. Breakfast Club Podcast - you can listen to it yourself, and don't forget to watch the movie itself, if you are interested in sociology and people's interaction.

Deviant behavior in a society

Deviance. What does that term stand for? According to the sociology as the studying, deviance "describes actions or behaviors that violate social norms". There exists both positive and negative deviant behavior. And nowadays you can observe a lot of the examples of the deviance on the everyday basis. The Internet makes it easier to find out, how many facts of the deviant behavior take place in the daily routine.

One of the examples can be the story of the "snack-man", the video of whose deviant behavior on the subway was uploaded on the YouTube and got a lot of the views. The situation was about the next: a woman and a guy were quarreling on the train right in front of all the passengers. The main character in the story was just a bystander in the conflict, but he decided to change it. He, while eating his chips, just came and stopped between the two mad people. Their following reaction was the state of surprise. They got calmer because of that and even ended screaming at each other. The "snack-man's" behavior, weird at some point, had the positive effect on the situation which made his actions to be a great example of the positive deviance.

Another example of the deviant behavior is the story about a very weird robbery. When a teenage criminal was about to run away with the wallet of his victim, the last stopped him and told to take also his jacket, saying: "If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm." The young robber suddenly stopped and turned around in a great surprise. He asked the victim: "Why are you doing this?" But think about this kind of situation. What would your reaction be like on such an unusual respond of the victim? Would not you be surprised by such a kind of actions? I am pretty sure that you would, too. And this is what the deviant behavior is mostly all about.

Well, sometimes we show the deviance ourselves without even paying attention to it. However, it is weird from time to time to just stop and think over it. For example, last week we got a class assignment in sociology to create a situation and show our own positive deviance. My positive deviant behavior demonstration took place in just a regular for the everyday routine event and a regular place. It was just during an usual school lunch. When everyone was standing in line and I was standing one of the first among my junior classmates. And I suddenly for all the guys who were standing behind turned around and said to Brent and Connard that they can just go ahead of me. They were pretty surprised, like why would I do that. They started to reject, like no, ladies go first and so on... Just because this is the way how the society and culture accepts it. But anyways, after all the argument, they went ahead. Yes, this was a kind of a positive deviant behavior. And this is what kind of goes against the norms and rule. You break the whole system down. And very often, when we are talking about the deviance, you can make something positive, though even it may seem weird. You should just remember, that it is better to share your kindness, no matter what the other people expect from you. If you know somewhere inside that you can be better than their expectations, then just be better. Surprise those who are around you. Surprise the world. Be a surprise for yourself, sometimes it can be useful. YOLO.