Cultural Differences

This week we spent most of the time talking about how different countries have difference traditions and norms. We talked about bathrooms and usage. Even though all bathrooms serve the same purpose different places have different bathrooms. Countries not as wealth as America have a hole that people do there business in but in Japan they have toilet rooms separate from where they shower unlike many tradition American homes. Also many of their toilets are in the ground so you have to crouch down like a catcher in baseball to use them. Also when I went to visit England I found out that many of the public bathrooms are "Bring Your Own Toilet Paper" which was very unusual to me.

Categorizing and Generalizations

Everyone and everyday people generalize or categorize different things. For example when some ask if you would like a drink you simply assume its not something like acid or deadly. By assuming this you are generalizing that no one's going to feed you death. Also we make generalizations to understand new environments or situations. The only problem is when some one takes a generalization and assumes that a single individual has to follow a generalization. Like since I'm Jewish people might assume that I must become a lawyer. We as people need to start making generalization that are supported by data so that we can make accurate generalizations.

Groups

In class this week we were asked to write down different groups of people that we associate ourselves. I thought about my religion, family, school, clubs, friends and then some. I ended up with a lot more groups than I thought I would. And when look at all the groups it really showed what makes me who I am. And when considering the groups a whole you realize how big some like one group Bears Fans or even liking a specific band there are so many people that feel the same and of all different ages. After the activity it really made me realize who I am and who has an influence on me.

Snow Days

Its insane the amount of snow we received over the past couple days. By examining the affect of the snow on our society we can see it created a panic. Our Social Constuction is different when there is an average amount of snow compared to the amount we received this week. Normally we tend to ignore the weather and go on about our day even with the extra risk because people feel they are under so much stress to preform and take the risk and go to work or do whatever is on the schedule . But this time there was so much snow that the choice to stay home and out of harms way was forced upon them. My father is his own boss and hasn't missed a day of work in about 7 years. By not being able to make it to work it put him a day behind and in doing so it affected his clients lives too.