Response to Ursula

 My hometown used to be in a rural Third World country accross the Pacific ocean until I plucked  my roots out  from this rural Third World country home town more than eight years ago. Since then, my home has been along the canyons of the northeast county of San Diego. I must be a fish in another life, I have always been in school. I am currently enrolled in an health occupations program at Grossmont College. I am taking this class because it was made available to me by an add code (thanks, Ursula!) and it is a bettter option for me, rather than taking ESL classes.  Among my interests are hiking and gardening. I have uploaded a picture of a grasshopper in my profile. Where I come from grasshoppers are pests, they can also be a delicacy.

Author: Access the profile card for user: Melissa Smith Melissa Smith
Date: Friday, August 30, 2013 2:28:03 PM PDT
Subject: RE: Post 2: Sociological Research

I did this experiment with ten different people. I wanted to keep it equal, so, five were strangers and the other five were friends. All of my friends helped me when I dropped my bag and the contents went everywhere. Four of my friends laughed at me but still helped me pick up my stuff without me asking. However, only three of the strangers helped and one of the strangers that did not help just stood there and gave me a lecture about how to properly carry a bag. I personally found it surprising that three strangers actually helped. I expected that only two people out of the five would help. In conclusion, because friends know the person in need, they are more willing to help than a stranger who one has never met.

Independent Variable	Dependent Variable
Co-worker 1	yes, instantly
Co-worker 2	no, with question why I dropped a binder on the floor, the floor is dirty
Housekeeping staff	yes, very friendly
Per Diem staff 1	no
Per Diem staff 2	yes
Stranger at the cafeteria	yes, asked if I was OK
Co-worker and friend	no, asked if I am losing "it"

I was at work when I checked the blackboard and saw  the instructions for the experiment. That was when I started dropping things: pens, binder, dirty linens, a book,  car keys. I work in an environment where anyone can be greeted with "How may I help you?" or "Have you been helped?" My workplace is culturally diverse by the way. Co-worker 1 is female, caucasian; co-worker 2 is male, Asian; housekeeping staff is female, Asian/Hispanic; per diem staff 1 is a male, Asian; per diem staff 2 is female, Middle Eastern; stranger from cafeteria is male, caucasian and  co-worker and  friend is female, orignally from Kenya.

 

 

Author: Access the profile card for user: Ursula Hines Ursula Hines
Date: Monday, August 26, 2013 5:37:42 PM PDT
Subject: Post 1: Sociological Theories

For this discussion, take a moment to go to Lesson 2, locate, and take the Theories Survey. Share your results here. What theory do you lean towards more? Were you surprised at your results? Why or why not?

The results of the survey seem to tell me that I am leaning more strongly  toward Functionalist  Theory, Symbolic Interaction Theory and and Development Theory. While I seem to have some reservations on the Confilict Theory, the theory  could come in handy in some situations. I have one NA answer in both Social Exchange Theory and Family Systems Theory.


I seem to be getting your point, Jessica. The article is the simply the dyslexic way of looking at how Americans deal with their bodies.  In the article, I feel like I am simply reading an American anthropologist' perspective on a foreign culture. I find the fascination of an outsider such that of the author more interesting than the practices of Nacirema (read backwards as American) people. While the practices described seem primitive and exotic to the author, to me, these practices have their own modern counterparts. The holy mouth men are now called dentists and hygienists; the latipso is the medical examination room; and  the listener would be the modern day clinical  psychologists. Long before the invention of dental floss, there were hog hairs.

I stopped reading the article when the author pointed out "the gleam in the eye of a holy mouth man as he jabs around into the exposed nerve". Finding the Nacirema tribal practices having sadistic and masochistic tendencies seem to me an easy and unfair judgement made by an outsider to a foreign culture. In the US people would have tattoos, piercings and would go under the knife for anything: self-expression, to enhance their image or just to belong or be cool. Limiting intercourse to the phase of the moon is also nothing new to devout Catholics who would not go for artificial birth control because of the dictates of the holy men in the Catholic church. Catholics practice the natural family planning method, nothing lunar but close.  
I thought of two old movies while I was reading the article. These are 1) Full Metal Jacket (1987) and, 2)  GI Jane (1997). Full Metal Jacket begins with the recruits of US Marines at Parris Island. GI Jane, on the other hand, revolves around a female soldier's undergoing training in US Navy Special Warfare group. Although I am thinking of movies with fictitious characters, the article of Gwynne Dyer which has a documentary film presentation is closer to reality in depicting how US Marines socialize their recruits.  I realized reading through my classmates' comments that there actually individuals in the class who have connections to the US Marines, being a wife or a veteran, a brother or a son perhaps. How do the US Marines socialize recruits?  I read from one of the comments about isolation techniques that recruits go through.

Growing up in the rural area, my socialization is not that rigid to that of a US Marine recruit. Perhaps if I grew in an urban area like a big city, I would probably be street smart and no different from a soldier protecting his territory.

I am not sure how the socialization of US Marine recruits could be so effective on anyone. Despite of the preparations for tough situations at the front lines, many still come home to their families a changed person.

I was reminded of GI Jane while reading the article because of how US Marine recruits were thought of to be anybody's son.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/regardingwar/conversations/women-and-war/introductions-on-not-being-a-nasty-female-in-the-marine-corps.php