I had to not only answer but ask 5 other people race related questions. Those questions were: 1 – What race are you? 2 – How do you know? How did you make that decision? 3 – How did you learn what race you are? Can you tell me about some of the early messages you first received about race in general or your race particularly? 4 – How do you decide what race other people are?Examples? 5 – How do other people decide what race you are? Examples? It wasn’t hard for me to answer these questions, but it was an eye opener. I didn’t really think about how I perceived others or how others perceived me. For question 1 I would say I am black and white. I am obviously mixed based on my skin ton, but my race changes. It depends on the situation like if I’m making a joke or filling out documents. For question 2 I would say I know from my parents. My father is black, while my mother is white. For question 3 I learned what my race was when I learned what race my parents generally were. Some of the early messages I received about my race was some of my features. Obviously my skin tone as well as my naturally curly hair and brown eyes told me what race I was. I also had my father talking about how blacks were slaves, and how the people at his work were racist against blacks. For question 4 I decide what race other people are based on their skin tone. If I want to get more specific I will ask what type of race they are. For the final question, people mistake me for being Mexican. Since I have a brownish tan skin tone, I am confused for being at least part Mexican. What was interesting were the answers from my poll. Generally speaking, people base race on skin tone. At times some may ask what specific race someone is, but normally would base it on skin tone. To say race is socially constructed is to say we determine race. The general answer about perceiving race was based on obviously appearance. This is a tradition normally inherited from the parents. At an early age you are taught about race, and the parents pass on what they know. In society, what determines a race is/are biological features deemed sufficient. That is why you don’t see a fat race or a bald race.

4/12/2019

A person going by the name Raphael Ezekiel studies the militant white movement. The militant white movement was a movement about white supremacy. It was at least a few decades ago or more, when it occurred. The movement was more noticeable in the south, but was all over. Ezekiel went to the south to study activities conducted under the movement. Will studying the movement he notice why someone might join the movement. The very least white people were losing their jobs to a changing economy. Their jobs started requiring higher skill levels, which non whites/immigrants got. This, with the most likely immigration increase, caused racism to be revived. Initially racism was still alive, but this made the racism even stronger. Groups formed like the KKK, and nazi regime was reviving. Not only were the newly found racists against blacks, but anything non white American from the south. At a parade like event Ezekiel was found out to be a Jew. Their treatment of him did a 180, ignoring his humanity. Well trying to find me to talk to he was called offensive names like “Jew” and “Jewboy”. People at the parade had confederate flags, nazi flags, and even robes. At one point, Ezekiel was called a niggerizer or a niggerizing jew. More or less his study concluded how racism had multiple causes. Their was losing their job, but also wanting to belong. In that area racism was very dominant among whites. Some racists seemed to have those types of views simply to fit in. I have experienced racism before. I lost a friend because of the racist jokes he was constantly making about blacks to me. What was interesting was how they pinned up a confederate flag in the garage. He wasn’t always like this, and I don’t know what happened. I eventually lost contact with him, and so did a friend of mine.

4/12/2019

This section talks about a journalists experience growing up in a white world while being black. When the journalist was a small child they saw there first experience of racial segregation. It was a drinking fountain labeled specifically for people of color. At the time, they didn’t know that, because they were of a young age. The journalist saw racial segregation the more the progressed in life. For example, one day there white friend asked if they have been to this one amusement place. The friend was surprised to find out that the journalist wasn’t allowed to go their. Before that conversation, the friend didn’t even realize that he didn’t see any people of color there. Fast forwarding to the journalist’s young adulthood, they heard the phrase “show my color”. That phrase means that a person almost acted like their race’s stereotype. For example, a black male saying that means they were almost violent or malicious. Those are negative stereotypes that make black people seem dangerous or thuggish. Eventually in the their life they saw the abolishment of segregation. There were still problems pertaining to race/ethnicity. In the schools students came up with the concept of “bad” and “good”. To be good you had to have a white skin tone like whites or Asians; the opposite was the same for being bad. The students who were normally seen as bad were the black and Latinx students. When trying to act like a “good” student, you would be seen as “trying to act white”. Segregation was still in practice in the retirement homes. The journalist put his dad in a nice mostly white retirement home that had their own black group. One night people put sheets of paper that said “KKK” on the member’s windshield. Some tried justifying it by saying that they just felt left out. What was most likely the case was old racism still being alive. The main problem with racism is the fact that it will only be apart of our society. I’ve been lucky to not have experience extreme acts of racism. One incident of racism happened to my older brother E. E lives in a state that is on the south east side of the country with his girlfriend J. One day E and J were grocery shopping when a man started following them around the store. To simply put it, he thought my brother was going to steal something. My brother is about average male height with a mostly non-threatening physique. He had no tattoos, no piercings, wasn’t lighting a cigarette, or anything of the sort. He thought that E was going to steal based on his brown skin color. Nothing much happened other than being followed around the store. Racism lives in our society and I think it will always be a part of our society.

4/10/2019

This section talks about social norms, laws, and race and their correlation with sports. Social norms are social rules created by our society. For example, leaving a tip is not legally demanding, but the staff may come to dislike you. Tipping in the U.S has become a social rule. In sports, a social norm would be an athlete never crying, even enduring intense pain. The clear rules in sports can to be considered as sport laws. Laws in general can be informal or formal; ambiguous or clear. An example of a formal law/rule would be the NBA’s rule against traveling. They state traveling has moving the pivot foot and/or taking three steps or more. An example of an informal rule would the rule against excessive celebrations. Most of if not all sporting leagues has a similar rule to it. The questions is “What celebrations are acceptable?” This ties in with race since races normally have their own culture. Depending on that culture, some things may seem accept. For example, a famous MLB player did a celebratory bat flip after hitting a three-run home run. Some MLB players and some commentators saw his celebration as an inappropriate act that isn’t fitting for the major leagues. Baseball players outside The North American see this as an acceptable celebratory act. The player in question said that it’s the media’s bad faith in Latino athletes. I feel that to be true seeing how those sport leagues were all whites. Rules and laws in sports can be influenced by social norm; which was in this case. Socially in The North American continent, they see bat flipping as something flashy. Most likely that was decided by white folk who didn’t care about other cultures. Baseball is very diverse in race, but not in culture. The sport used to be seen as a white man’s game, which propelled social norms.

3/27/2019

I was always told by my parents how the rich have most of the money, I didn’t know how bad it was. Before I watched the video I thought it was going to be bad. My expectation was the wealth have a ton of money while the lower classes were in terrible shape. That view was completely changed during the video. Apparently the wealthy own practically all the wealth in the U.S. The ideal model was the most ideal, and what people that was reality was still good. The problem was that the poorest didn’t even register on the graph. The rich on the other hand went past it. The 1% had to be placed in a separate category just to fit the amount of wealth they had. What makes it worse is that they most likely didn’t work for it. Normally really rich families had past families do something great that built up the fortune. This would be called old money, since it was built up. Normally that’s how rich people have so much money. At times they can even build upon this, getting richer. The rich will keep getting richer, because they have the poorest working for them. When you are poor you can’t be choosy with your job. The rich most likely use the poor to generate huge capital at cheap costs. I believe they also can use the poor to get tax brakes of some kind since they are employing them. Either way the rich seem to be keeping the poorest poor so they can become richer.

3/22/2019

This chapter was about the upper class and what they do. For children of upper class they have to go to boarding schools. Boarding schools are places where the parents could control their kid’s social and educational life. The children were instilled with values, principles, civility, etc of the upper class. You can see it has a school we’re young children go to be molded into people who can be upper class. Another purpose of the school was to protect kids from old money families from kids from new money families. New money families were normally saw as people who didn’t know how to be upper class or who didn’t belong. There did come a time where they had to start letting some socialization with new money families to happen for social class reasons. After the school, the kids were sent to some big college like Harvard. The parents would normally pay for a new library or a new classroom building to be made for admission fees. Since the kids of upper classes had to be with others of lower standing clubs were formed. Clubs are secret societies/groups where the upper class are together with others like them. Those type of groups normally have power over others and extend outside of school. The daughters of upper class families have to deal with debutante balls. This ball is where upper class men show off their daughter and scan for potential candidates for their daughter. I feel like being upper class is boring/restricting. You have to specifically act a way, if you are female your husband is chosen for you, have to keep your prestige up,etc. I feel like it would just be a boring way to live, having to act a certain way. If I was upper class I would prefer to not do the normal upper class things. They do have nice stuff but have to go through annoying objectives. Judging going to a boarding school sounds like a drag. I would be better off in the class I am in right now then middle class.

3/22/2019

This chapter was about how parents social class impacts their kids. The chapter talked about parents who were working class. One of the things that working class can’t do is pass down stuff to their kids. Be it a family heirloom, land power, etc. it is expected seeing how they might not be able to get such a luxurious item. They also don’t have enough money or power to give their children. The children often don’t experience certain things like museums, music instruments, and other activities that middle class do. Working class parents also try to instill a certain mind set into their children. Working class parents normally believe that higher class workers aren’t as knowledgeable or as hard working as them. They believe that they leave all the actual work for the lower workers like themselves. Working parents also prioritize family above all else. There was an instance in the book where someone’s cousins were forced to turn down athletic scholarships because it was too for. In their family, being 2 hours away was considered very far.

3/22/2019

This chapter was about poverty being essential to society. Poverty allows for goods not wanted by middle class and above to be sold. They also consume unwanted products such as houses, cars, and items from a thrift store. People in poverty will also do the dirty work that others are unwilling. They get underpaid, but they do not have a choice. They also serve as a measure rod for people who aren’t poor to determine their class. The elites will use them to show how they are better than other elites. This doesn’t mean that poverty should or must exist, there are ways to replace poverty. For workers, they could pay them more or automate them. With housing they would have to tear them down using tax payers money. Elites could use criminals/troubled teens to show that they are better than the poor. I’ve never personally been poverty stricken or poor, but I was told I was. My dad would always say how we are poor and don’t have any money when he makes about a six figure salary. He has the money to go out and get fast food, and buy weed for him and my mom. Last year he took a trip to Texas and paid for all his meals with his family. The rest of my family don’t believe him when he says we have no money. It wouldn’t surprise me that he had a good amount of money when lying. I never thought I was poor, I always thought I was middle class. To this day I just look at my dad when he claims we are poor. I am not able to say anything, but I know he’s lying.

3/22/2019

This chapter is about consumption and it’s correlation to class. Consumption of good ih higher quantity/quality normally showed what class you belonged to. For example, back in the 19 century families would buy ostentatious clothes, furniture, and tableware. Tableware become more elaborate, increasing dining etiquette. The high status families had to know what utensil to use. If someone used the wrong utensil they would be seen as uncivil, and be ostracized. What creates a gap between the classes is upscale emulation or emulating social elites. Upscale emulation is when someone buys goods to emulate social elites like models, actors, musicians, etc. Normally people’ social class is predetermined by their parent’s: you can be an elite in three ways. There are three different kinds of capital, you can be wealthy in one capital, but be lacking in another. The three capitals are economic, social, and cultural capitals. Economic capital is having a considerable amount of wealth in the form of money. Social capital is the value that originated from social relationships/networks. Cultural capital is key skills and knowledge that is particularly valued in a specific cultural. The chapter further talks about the correlation between social class and consumption using coffee. Coffee is a drink that has become a normalized morning routine for most. Coffee is so much more, with the help of Starbucks, coffee expresses social class and cultural capital. When Starbucks first came out, it was a place for connoisseurs to buy coffee and people to learn about it. When Starbucks went for expansion in the late 80’s it specifically went in area where higher education and/or higher wages were. It further it’s express of social class and cultural capital; becoming a luxurious item that is cheap. More generally, coffee shows hierarchies in tastes, and how that don’t occur naturally or are universal. When it comes to taste and classes, it may depend on what social class you have. When I did the coffee shop Ethnography I saw multiple classes, and something set them apart. What set them apart was lower classes normally staying inside, while higher classes went in then out. While I was observing the customers in the coffee shop I chose I mostly saw what seemed to be working class to middle class costumers. There were 5-6 who seemed of a higher class, only one stayed inside. For the higher classes it was simply to get their order and leave to go back to their busy schedule. The drive m-thru was also busy, which could have been more higher class people ima rush. This chapter made me realize the majority and minority of classes I saw in that coffee shop. For me personally, I don’t see that as a place to socialize. I never been to a real coffee shop; I was very nervous. The coffee shop I went to was a local Starbucks. I felt like not knowing what to order was seen as socially unacceptable, so I looked up a menu online. I didn’t want to pay for an expensive coffee so I got a cheap short “small” green tea. What I see that expresses social class is entertainment devices, I.e electronic devices. A see someone as high class if they can afford high priced gaming console, phones, and computer parts. A price of a decent to good gaming pc could cost at least $1,000.00. I would saw that the relationship between social class and consumption is more individual perception. Some might see expensive Electronics as high class, some might see cultural richness as high class. It could be the opposite, some might see expensive electronics like today’s smart phones as kid toys. I know there are different capitals, but I still feel as if class is more perceptional if anything.

3/18/2019

This chapter is about the changes happening. Some believe that people born after the 20th century won’t know what it’s like to see two different ages. Ages is being used as nation/global change, for example, 911. Before that, airports were not as strict, and buildings didn’t have secret staircases for firefighters. This national tragedy causes multitude of changes in America. We are still living between ages to this day. Current globalization is happening. Globalization is western ideas spreading to other countries. There are problems with globalization like American wrongfully using it’s influence.

3/10/2019