Three Sociologists and a Moose

This morning I was on my way to my Sociology class to take my final exam. Since I'm kind of stupid, I took pictures while driving. These three guys are the three bearded men of sociology.

Karl Marx is my favorite sociologist. He was a conflict theorist so he believed society always had conflicting forces. You know, he emphasized the force of the bourgeoisie exploiting the proletariat. His ideas about Communism were way idealistic and he didn't predict the rise of the middle class at all, but I still admire what he wrote about the injustices the proletariat go through because it still rings true today.

Emile Durkheim looks kind of messed up as a finger puppet. I couldn't get his eyes and glasses right. -__- He's my professors favorite sociologist. He is a functionalist which means he focused on forces that hold society together. He worked on a variety of areas, like suicide, religion, crime and the workplace.

This angry leprechaun is Max Weber. I didn't mean to make his expression so evil. My brother thought the face looked like that of a Spartan. Unlike Marx, he thought that religion influences behavior more than capitalism. He's famous for his model of bureaucracy.

Sorry, am I boring you? Okay, here's a moose finger puppet.

I made it for my friend. I thought it was about time to make a moose because the very symbol of this blog used to be a moose.

I like making finger puppets and posting pictures about them, but at the same time it confuses me. I'm still trying to figure out the direction of this blog. The original concept(The Search for Awesome:A Girl on a Treasure Hunt) was vague enough so I could develop a central theme eventually. I started out just posting music videos, then some lame fashion posts. Now I am all over the place. Any suggestions?

High School Popularity

I've been taking this Sociology class during the summer and it's very interesting. Here is a chart straight out of my textbook. (Left click it and click open in new tab or window to see it in full size.)

This is from the section about socialization from peer groups. The textbook (Sociology: A Brief Introduction) says that "gender differences are noteworthy. The two groups named many of the same paths to popularity but gave them a different order of importance. While neither men nor women named sexual activity, drug use, or alcohol use as one of the top five paths, college men were much more likely than women to mention those behaviors as a means to becoming popular, for both boys and girls."

The point is that the way males are socialized makes men believe in different paths to popularity than women.

My brother pointed out physical attractiveness isn't present in the top five paths that college men think make high school boys popular.

Dumb Problems... Also, Happy Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow Americans!

So let me explain myself. My brother came back from good old Buenos Aires, Argentina, safe and sound. He came bearing gifts: a board game, a yerba mate gourd and a book of urban legends of Buenos Aires. I love urban legends! I would show you these except my brother LOST MY CAMERA in Iguazu Falls. He should have gotten me more presents.

To make things worse, I lost the memory card to my cellphone so now I can't even upload those pictures.

What is blogger without a camera? A writer. So I shall write.

I can't genuinely say I am happy that it is Independence Day. I don't feel the pitter patter of my patriotic heart causing me to tear up. It's like any other holiday. I don't feel especially happy that it is Christmas either. Happiest time of the year, my butt. I am never happy.

Despite the fact that I, Independence Day Scrooge, can't feel much patriotism today, I do love America. I have so much I take for granted here. I am a short walking distance away from a grocery store. I have diverse friends. I am entitled basic human rights as a U.S. resident.

So I believe we as a country need to come together to fend off and destroy our evil enemies.

That's right, aliens. We have overlooked them for too long and it is time we take action.

Everyone, I hope your day is fabulous!