Blog Highlights - July 15th

Atlanta, being in the deep south of the United States, has severe racial issues.  The city itself used to be known as the exception of this problem but this title all came crashing down in 1962.  Segregationists showed massive amounts of resistance to the idea of being desegregated, the level of resistance shown here was much more than in Trenton.  After studying the “White Flight” that occurred in Trenton, it seems as if there was much less resistance than in Atlanta.  The white population just simply left the city and began their lives in the suburbs. -USA 101

The field site we are at (currently the MLK middle school) with the incoming Trenton Central High School students fits the structural functionalist paradigm. As stated in McIntyre’s book The Practical Skeptic: Core Concepts in Biology, the structural functionalist paradigm is partly defined by a society having a consensus/understanding of which values and norms are important in society. This part of the definition fits with the field site and the students because there is a general agreement about what is right and what is wrong. The students have different norms in their own environment/social class than I have in my own, but these different norms are what make the two environments completely different while at the same time allowing both ways to be socially acceptable. -SOC 101

Each day I spend with the children and adults from the Trenton community, it becomes clearer as to how their society came about. From what I’ve observed, the paradigm of Structural Functionalism explains the structure of Trenton relatively well. The values and norms that I have come to know and accept are much different from those of the residents in Trenton. Not only are these children born into a social structure which is historically surrounded by poverty, but the collective conscience of Trenton's residents feeds the norms that they see every day; such as, drug dealing, misbehavior, and dropping out of school. Of course people such as the parents and teachers don't want negative outcomes flowing from the community; as told by an Officer De Heart today, "These people don't want their kids takin' after them and sellin' drugs. Those aren't  the values they promote, but sometimes to make a livin' they do what they got to do."- SOC 101

Masculinity and femininity are prominent aspects identified at the field site by both the counselors and the children.  While dealing with the older members of the camp a majority of them are men and they assert their masculine traits through their authority and power. They have no problem being tough with the kids even if that means yelling at them for little things that don’t necessary demand reprimanding; for example sometimes Greg the head counselor will decide that the kids have to eat lunch in silence just because a few kids may be acting out. In this case, he is asserting his authority position of being in charge and having power, which is a very masculine trait of him. Femininity is also practiced, especially when it comes to the children. The girls do simple things like always wearing girly colors like pink but they also present their femininity in the games they play. You never see any of them playing basketball but instead the girls are always jumping rope. -IDS 100

At the field site, there definitely appear to be gender-defined roles that can be observed every day, even at the students’ young ages. For instance, during recess, the boys will play sports like basketball and football, while the girls will talk to each other or jump rope. Based on my observations, it seems that these kids are being brought up to believe that boys are meant to engage in predominantly masculine activities, like playing sports, while girls are meant to do more feminine activities. -IDS 100