Throughout the countless wars of human history, rape and other forms of sexual violence have been perpetrated against citizens by advancing soldiers and occupational military forces. While in the past, rapes and other sexual aggressions have been considered as random occurrences taking place in the "fog of war", increasing evidence may prove to debunk this social myth, especially in cases of ethnic cleansing and genocide. The opportunistic rape and pillage of previous centuries has been replaced in modern conflict by rape used as an orchestrated combat tool, (Smith-Spark, 2008) used to humiliate and demoralize individuals and cause ruinous rifts between spouses, extended family members and whole communities.

I chose this topic because there does not seem to be a week that goes by that I hear some comment from a friend, family member, the media, or just someone in passing that seems to falsely explain the poverty situation. It has become obvious to me that American's in general really buy the "pull yourself up by bootstraps" theory, hook, line and sinker. My mother, who raised me, came from a poor family of twelve brothers and sisters and sometimes around mealtime, it was survival of the fittest. Needless to say, I have also been socialized to think that the homeless and poor create their own problems and if they wanted to do better, they could, just like my mom and her siblings. That the lower class and poor are lazy and that they do nothing but drain the money out of the hard working pockets of people who have pulled themselves up by their boot straps. Through much observation, life experience, a decent amount of reading, and some informative classes I have concluded that this issue is far more complex then the general public understands.

Today, roughly149,000 women are incarcerated throughout the United States. (TIME Magazine Tammerlin/ Drummmond, Miami 2000) What has contributed to women being sent to jail, and how are they treated in prisons that were designed and structured for men? When a new methodology was introduced called the feminist scholarship (Belknap in 2001) there was more information brought to light on why women committed crimes, and how gender plays a large part in the type of crimes.

Through reading Daniel Quinn's Ishmael, the reader is introduced to two very different societies that live on Earth together, but not so harmoniously or cooperatively. These two societies are the Takers and the Leavers. The Takers can be seen as the people of "civilized" cultures and the Leavers as those of "primitive" cultures (Quinn, 39). In other words, the Takers are you and I and culture of Ishmael's pupil, while the Leavers are those people of all the other cultures besides our own lumped together (Quinn, 39). Also, according to Ishmael, a story is a scenario interrelating man, the world, and the gods, while culture can be seen as a people enacting a story (Quinn, 41). To enact a story is "to live so as to make the story a reality" (Quinn, 41). It is here where we dissect the stories that the Takers and the Leavers are enacting, as well as the effects of having the Takers and the Leavers co-inhabit our planet.

Social Stratification by age is the most fundamental of stratification systems. One could argue that the way a society structures itself and its cultural ideology around age is indicative of how it constructs other forms of stratification. For example, one of the primary ways of "putting people in their place" is tone of voice. Higher status groups are generally talked to in a "respectful" tone of voice. Those with lower status are often "talked down" to - or talked to as if they were children. This early socialization into age status rules and roles are often reflected in the way other status group rules operate.

Mom forced to live in car with her dogs.

Interestingly, Santa Barbara has designated 12 parking lots as places where homeless with vehicles may safely (and legally) park their cars.

What is the perfect body? Who gets to decide such a thing? Most importantly, why does a person care so much about their image? These are all legitimate questions I would love to ask to our so called "mother culture". You can see these body image "standards" all across our country everyday. They are strewn across our televisions and magazines daily. " The perfect body" consisting of a 6'2 girl that has tan skin and weighs 110 pounds. Women in our culture strain and strive in unhealthy ways to achieve such a body.

Advertisers work as social agents, a social agent is defined as "those who pass on social expectations"(Andersen, m & Taylor, F "Sociology in Everyday Life; chapter 4 2008) we know that Family, Religion, Peers and Media are all strong influences in the socialization process, but how do advertisements fit into the picture. We view them all over the world, there are studies to prove you can not ignore adds, even when turning off the sound, the visual picture alone can influence us. Even on a subconscious level we still absorb the message. It has been said that "People are most influenced, when they are not paying attention at all" ("The Ad and the Ego" Boihem, H. 1997") "Advertising monopolizes our space by reaching the culture by which we live"(The Ad and the Ego" Boihem, H. 1997")

The AMDRO Ant Block commercial is one. Go to AMDRO home page and listen to their commercial. (Ironically, the background music is "With You I am Born Again.")

Or this SUV commercial that was banned in Australia:

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It is the sound pounding in peoples' heads that is so loud, most people have become accustomed or even deaf to it. Culture is the essence of mainstream. It is the dominant system of language, norms, folkways, mores, beliefs and values of a given society. It is imbued in children from the time they are able to be instructed. Its presence is overlooked simply because it is everywhere one looks. It is not necessarily a sinister bunch of ideas lurking in the shadows, but to realize the effects, both positive and negative, it has on the thoughts and actions of people, it deserves a closer examination. Mother Culture, which will be explored more after an understanding of culture is established, is a term used in Daniel Quinn's novel, Ishmael, to describe a peoples' early culture, their perception of this culture, and its relevance to the offspring culture they are presently a part of.

While various systems of trade and currency exchanges have spanned the globe for thousands of years, the late 20th century and early 21st century has been witness to the advent of a bona fide global economy. Rapid advancements in industry, technology and the birth of the "information age" have had dramatic effects upon business's ability to produce and market goods and services the world over. The West, most notably the United States, has been at the forefront of the commercialized global economy, exerting an incredible influence upon fellow industrialized states and developing nations. The fashion icons, franchise logos, foods, and film industry of the United States have radically impacted the material cultures of other parts of the world. Yet the affects of the globalized commercial economy and world wide information network extend beyond the absorption of US products and services. The nonmaterial aspects of world cultures are being vastly influenced by globalization. This phenomena is being embraced and celebrated by many people the world over but is met with opposition by others who view our cultural influence to be detrimental and dangerous to their societies. My intent is to briefly explore how nonmaterial aspects of culture in nations such as those in the Middle East have been influenced by the inclusion of material culture from the West.

Monday/Wednesday 9:00-10:50 - Wednesday 5/21/08
Tuesday/Thursday 9:00-10:50 - Thursday, 5/22/08

If you miss the performance which the class attends, or wish to see an additional performance, the full schedule is in the extended entry.

Hong Nuong was born and grew up in a poor farmer family in Southern Dong Thap in the Mekong Delta Region. When Nuong was a high school junior, she left school to help her mother with the farming and take care of her sick father and younger siblings. Although Nuong and her mother worked hard in the field from sunrise to sunset, they couldn't earn enough money to support the family. Gradually, Nuong's family was in heavy debt. Nuong moved to Cao Lanh and worked at a restaurant in town to earn more money. After a few months, the restaurant's owner gave Nuong the phone number of a matchmaker in Saigon who promised to find girls rich husbands from Taiwan. Nuong thought so much about it. Nuong knew it would be difficult to live with a strange husband, who didn't speak the same language, in a strange country, but it was Nuong's only way to escape from poverty. Through a matchmaker in Saigon, Nuong married Wang Liang, the thirty-seven year old Taiwanese man, and received $5,000 from him. For Nuong, the dollars from her Taiwanese husband was significantly important to her family in paying off family's debts and going to support her four younger siblings in school. But was it really better when she put her happiness in the hands of fortune and marriage decided by dollars?

Rewrites if you received below an A (44 points or below)
Rewrites have the possibility of improving up to full points for the paper.
Due on Monday 04/28 for M/W and Tuesday 04/29 for T/R classes. You may also drop the rewrite off in my office in SS217.
You must attach the paper I graded to the rewrite.

Paper 1 is a "test" of your understanding of concepts and paradigms from Weeks 1 & 2 of the course. Regardless what topic or question you wrote on, the paper should significantly feature, and clearly use those concepts as they apply to your paper.