Blog 5

This last week we talked about an important women social thinker for the first time and her name was Harriet Martineau. I was excited about getting the chance to read some theories from a woman, since we have focused on men thus far in the semester.

One of the aspects that I find most interesting with Martineau’s thoughts and concepts is her idea of happiness and how it should operate in a society. She said, “the most important law of social life is that “the great ends of human association” aim above all “to the grand one, - the only general one, - … human happiness” (Classical Sociological Theory 296). This to me means that Martineau was very focused on the fact that if people were happy, their lives would be “good.” One thing that she failed to define, however, is her definition of happiness. As people brought up many great points in class, happiness is totally different from person to person and country to country. What makes me happy could make another person depressed and vice versa. If Martineau defined what she thought happiness is, I think that her theory on the social law of people being happy would become a lot clearer but I think that her overall message is valid. If one is happy, it is typical that they will lead a good life and some would say that leading a good life may lead to living out the American dream.

The video that I picked for this blog sheds very positive light onto what the American Dream is. I like the fact that the video gave examples in the beginning that the American Dream is different for every single person in America. The speaker says that “for some, the American dream is to achieve prosperity” and for others, “it is to provide for their children.” He goes on to say that no matter what your American dream is the very core of every dream is the belief in freedom. I agree with this statement because without freedom, many opportunities would be taken away from people. Things like education, freedom of speech, and the practice of religion would be compromised without our freedom.

I believe that Martineau’s views on human happiness apply in today’s world because I would say that living a happy life is a lot more enjoyable than living a life that is unhappy. The American dream ties into many people’s definition of happiness and I think that with one’s own definition of their dream, being happy and achieving that dream is very possible.  

Blog 4

Weber talked about three different types of authority including rational, traditional and charismatic. Rational authority is authority that is ruled by laws that people must obey; they are written that dictate how we behave. Traditional authority is something that is rules that we have grown up with. Something such as religion, gender roles and marriage are things that traditional authority is. An example is following something that your mom does, because her mom did it and her mom did it and so on. The last type of authority that Weber defines is charismatic authority. This is something that is common with figures in society such as President Obama or even the Beatles; generally this type of authority is able to gain a large following.

I think that these types of authorities still exist in today’s society. Weber developed these theories because he felt that society generally followed one type of authority then changed to another type. I think that to some extent that is true today also. For me personally, all three types of authority are prevalent in my life. Rational authority runs my life in the way that I must obey laws that the government has in place. Tradition authority shines through in my life by the gender roles that have been displayed in my family throughout the years. My dad cooked and cleaned while also going to work and my mom did the laundry and went to work. I think when I get married, those rules will apply to my relationship, since it is what I have grown up with. Finally, charismatic authority is in my life because of my advisor. I was sent to her because I was in transition of majors and she helped me more than I could have ever asked for. She inspired me, guided me and helped me with any and every question that I had.

I chose a short video of John F. Kennedy’s speech given on September 12, 1962. It is a very inspirational speech about America’s dream of going to the moon. My favorite quote from this short video is when he says, “We do things not because they’re easy, but because they are hard…” He inspires the people of NASA to not give up on something just because it is hard; he encourages them that the rewards will be well worth it. I think he is a great example of someone who holds a great amount of charismatic authority simply because he had a huge following and he was a very inspirational and charismatic public figure.

Blog 3

Durkheim’s views on religion were very interesting to say the least. I believe that some of his ideas hold true today, but others have fallen through the cracks. He defined religion as the belief in one God. While this is true for some religions such as Christianity and Islam, it is not true for a lot of other like Hinduism or Greek mythology. Today, there are so many different religions that are practiced around the world and they are all so different that it would be impossible for anyone to put just 1 basic definition to what religion is. This is where I think Durkheim could have gone wrong, since he left out so many religions in the definition, he was only thinking of religions that were the most predominant at the time.

Durkheim also puts out this idea of sacred versus profane. He says that something sacred, “is something added to and above the real (73).” Profane, on the contrary, is something that doesn’t have any special or spiritual magical power to it. He says that something becomes sacred through interactions between individuals within a church or other place of worship. We can attach meaning to anything to make it sacred. An example given in class was the cross. Someone could look at it as just two pieces of wood put together while others may see it as something that stands for the taking away of our sins. In the picture that I chose for this blog, there is a bunch of crosses that all look different. I thought that this stood for how, even though, they are all crosses, they look very different, and each person interprets the meaning of a cross in a different way.

I believe that Durkheim had some good ideas about what religion is and why people practice the way that they do. He did leave some religions out but I think this is mainly because of the time period that he was in. The world was not as diverse back then, so the majority of people did practice religions in which the belief in one God was common. 

Blog 2

Karl Marx developed many theories concerning humans and their behaviors. As we studied Marx’s ideas last week, the theory that stood out to me the most was his theory of the fetishism of commodities. He points out that humans as a whole used to make every single thing that they needed or desired. If they needed clothes, they sewed them, food, they grew it. The world was just starting to become more and more industrialized and things like this became less necessary because of factories starting to make anything from chairs to cars to food. He points out an exchange value and a use value. An exchange value is how much money can one get for a product and a use value is how useful it is to the person who is purchasing it. If there is a surplus of something, such as winter jackets, the exchange value will be low because it is not in high demand. However, if there is only one winter jacket in the whole town, everyone will want it, causing the exchange value to be very high. He says that humans are wanting more and more without knowing why they want more and more. Marx wraps up with saying that now-a-days, people have no idea what goes into making the things that they buy, causing them to lose the connection with the items.

I believe that this theory very much still holds true today, and it is actually a lot like materialism. If I had to make everything that I need or want, I would have barely anything. While this is a sad statement from how things used to be, I think that many people (myself included) don’t appreciate how much work, time and effort goes into making the things that we own.

The short video that I chose to go with this blog is just a bunch of pictures of stores and how many items there are for sale. It also shows tons of people shopping and in the middle it shows workers in factories making all of these products. I picked this video because I think it gives a good idea of really how many options are out there for us in terms of things to buy. I like how in the middle of the video it shows a little bit of how these things are made, also showing that the working conditions do not look enjoyable. I think that was put in the video to remind all of us what others have to go through just so we can have something as simple as a shirt, or as complex as a smart phone. 

Blog 1

Materialism. What do you think of when you hear this word? Do you consider yourself to be materialistic? These are questions that every American should be able to answer quite easily. I would answer by saying that materialism is when someone thinks that they need to have the newest and best things anywhere from the latest iPhone to a luxury sports car. As for the latter question, I would say that to some degree I am materialistic, as I believe everyone is to some extent. At the same time, however, all of the material things that I do own, I have worked hard for and saved up to get them. As we learned in class last week, Tocqueville believed that materialism was a real issue in the U.S. When he came to America he basically blamed our problem with materialism on the fact that we were (and still are) a democratic society. I’m not sure if I agree that materialism is only a problem in democratic societies, however, I do think that it is a huge problem in the United States. An example of this would be the shopper’s favorite day of the year: Black Friday. Although I do participate in Black Friday every year, I think some of the things that people go through to get some deals are ridiculous. Our country has become so wrapped up in the need for “stuff” that stores have played into that and they have great deals for only a couple of hours in the middle of the night. Sadly, many people actually wait outside in line for hours to try and get their hands on the newest laptop or designer hand bag. This video (link is provided below) that I stumbled upon while on YouTube describes perfectly how crazy our society has gotten in the last couple of years over simply buying material things that aren’t necessarily needed. The worst part about all of this is that many people think that these material things can make you happy, but I think that that is something that cannot come from a material good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MW4d8_LLYp8