Week Thirteen Blog Entry: Is Walmart Good For America?

After watching this documentary, I do not think that Walmart is good for America. One reason for this is that Walmart is forcing smaller grocery stores and convenience stores to close. The prices are so low at Walmart that these other stores cannot compete against it, so they eventually go out of business. This is slowly leading to Walmart monopolizing the industry. This is also having a negative effect on the employees that work at the smaller businesses. The hourly wage that they made at the now closed stores is almost double what they would be paid to work at Walmart. A second reason that Walmart is not good for America is that it encourages production in other countries, such as China, rather than in America. The documentary talked about how China is selling their goods to America at a lower cost than it actually takes to make them. This then means that American production companies cannot compete with the Chinese ones because there is no way to make their prices that low. When one company filed a lawsuit against a Chinese company for doing this, Walmart actually supported the Chinese company instead of supporting the American business. A third reason that I believe Walmart is not good for America is the lack of ethics in the way that they conduct their business. Some of the entrepreneurs interviewed talked about the process that Walmart goes through when they decide which vendor to buy from. They bring a representative from each company into a room, and have them reverse auction to see who can offer the lowest price. This causes a great deal of stress to the representatives and is only done so that the Walmart Corporation can make more money. After everything I have learned about Walmart, I do not believe it is good for America.

Week Twelve Blog Entry: Domestic Division of Labor

When filling out the chart on who does what tasks in our household, I was not very surprised to find out that results.  My mom has always been in charge of the daily tasks in our household. She does the cleaning around the house, such as vacuuming and cleaning the bathrooms. My dad has always been in charge of the housework duties, such as shoveling snow and mowing the lawn. In those regards, they both hold traditional roles as were outlined by the textbook. However, my parents have worked hard so that they share some of the more burdensome roles in our house. Making dinner is a chore that both of my parents do. My mom is in charge of making dinner about 4 nights a week, while my dad will make dinner about 3 nights a week. They also split this duty in the sense that the person who did not make dinner has to wash the dishes that night. Another particularly stressful task that both of my parents share is monitoring the family’s finances and paying bills. It used to be my mom that was more in charge of this, but my dad has recently taken on more of a responsibility with this so that all the stress does not fall on my mom. I think that they have set a very good example for me growing up. They have broken some of the traditional family roles and shown me that a marriage can be more of a partnership.

Week Eleven Blog Entry: Role of Religion in Our Government

I do not think that religion should have any role in government today. When our country was founded, it was on the principle that there should be separation of church and state. Directly following the Bill of Rights, there was a disestablishment of religion in the US. However, I believe that our government has become increasingly religious since this time. I think that it is very important to keep separation of church and state in our country. One reason this is so important is because it allows us to practice whatever religions we believe in. If there was a large role of religion in the government, then members of government might be biased against some citizens who believed differently to them. Separation of church and state allows everyone to have their own beliefs and not fear the effects that this will have on their daily lives.  A second reason that this is so important is because I believe that religion should not have an effect on the policies of the government. One problem that we have today is the ongoing debate as to what forms of birth control and abortion should be legal. This is an ethical issue, but legislators are making decisions on the matter based on teachings of their religion. I do not think that this is the way that our country’s decisions should be made.

Week Ten Blog Entry: Racism and the Internment of Japanese Americans

While learning about the internment of Japanese Americans during this week’s lesson, I was very surprised to find out how little I know about this subject. I remember learning about World War II in school and the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor, but I really cannot remember being taught much about the discrimination against those of Japanese descent in American. I’m sure that part of this is due to my horrible memory, but I also think that part of the blame can be put on the American school system and what they decide is going to be taught in the curriculum. They put so much emphasis on teaching us about the Civil Rights movement in America, but I don’t think that there was enough emphasis put on the Internment of Japanese Americans.  To me, this shows a certain level of embarrassment and unwillingness to admit that we made a mistake as a nation. As I learned with Rwanda, the US has a history of knowing what we did wrong but not actually being able to say the simple words “I’m sorry.”

It is so sad to think of what all these Japanese Americans had to go through at the time, solely based on their race. The part that amazes me the most is that 2/3 of those people who were put into the camps were American citizens. I am an immigrant from England, and I only received my American citizenship about 10 years ago. I can’t begin to imagine what it would feel like if the country that I am a citizen of suddenly decided that I deserved to be imprisoned because I am from a different country. Learning about this issue just gives me a whole new level of respect for those American citizens of Japanese descent who had to overcome prejudice and discrimination for years.

Week Nine Blog Entry: Social Construction of Gender

After reading about the social construction of gender, I have mixed feelings on this argument. The social construction of gender says that gender roles are learned through socialization, and that there is no biological reason for gender differences. I volunteer at a local fire department. Through this experience, I have seen some gender inequality. I am one of the few girls on my duty crew. When we are getting gear prepared for the engine or ambulance, there are some things that I tend not to do. For example, I am not always the one to carry the large bags full of gear. A sociologist who believes in the social construction of gender might say that this is because men have been socialized to carry out the physically demanding roles. However, I think that there is some biological basis to why this happens. I am much smaller than the men and do not have the physical strength to carry some of the gear. I think that this could have an effect on the differences in social roles between men and women in a fire department.

Week Eight Blog Entry: Global Inequality

One thing that was brought up in the podcast about why we should care about global inequality is its effect on the world environment. I think that this is an extremely important issue and we should be very concerned about it. I had never thought about how global stratification would affect the environment, but after considering the topic, I now see that it has a huge effect on it. A nation’s income has a large effect on the way that country treats the environment. One example of this is recycling goods. Because the US is a high-income country, we have the money to spend on recycling. We are able to implement a weekly recycling collection system in many areas of the nation. We are also able to build large recycling facilities that help us reduce waste. Low-income countries probably do not have the money to spend on recycling and therefore, many products will go to waste. Another environmental concern is how we get our energy. The reading talked about how many of the oil-rich countries in the Middle East and North Africa have become middle-income countries. However, in order to build up their economies to this point, they had to drill a lot of oil. Oil is not a renewable resource, and the usage of this form of energy pollutes the air. These countries will be less likely to focus on a cleaner, renewable form of energy because their economies depend on oil. We should all be concerned about global inequality due to its effect on the environment.

Week Seven Blog Entry: Social Class

I think that social class does still matter in the U.S. today. I saw first-hand how much class status mattered at the university I recently graduated from. Greek life was a very big deal there, and there was a social stratification that developed amongst the sororities. This stratification was not directly talked about usually, but it was very present and after spending four years there, I learned just how much it mattered to people. When I rushed to join a sorority in my first year, I thought that the only thing that mattered was how much you got along with the girls that you met throughout the process. I now know that there are other factors that are looked at, such as your social class and the place you grew up in. Certain sororities were known as being “top-tier” and the girls in these sororities came from wealthy families. They went to private schools growing up and had lots of money to spend on designer clothes. Then there were other sororities that were known as the lower-tier sororities. The types of girls in these sororities were usually typical middle class citizens. They did not grow up in poverty, they had enough money to buy things that were not necessities, but they did not attend private schools or come from families that were as wealthy. These lower tier sororities were often looked down upon. Prior to my time there, I did not think that class status was still a big deal today, but after this experience with sorority life, I now see that it is.

Another topic that was brought up in the “People Like Us” documentary site that I have noticed is the current competition between chain grocery stores and local healthy stores. Living in Northern VA, there are a lot of grocery stores to choose from. We have the chain grocery stores, such as Safeway, Giant, and Food Lion. We also have a lot of the healthier grocery stores, such as Whole Foods, Wegmans, and Trader Joes. These are still chain grocery stores, but they are more expensive and often carry organic food. I think that the type of people that shop at each grocery store shows the social stratification within our society. For example, at Trader Joes, there are usually upper-middle class people shopping there. This is more evidence that social class still does matter today in the U.S.