Comment on Everyday Sociology

For this post, I looked into the idea that women let men take credit for their work. This was a very interesting topic to look at both from a normal standpoint and also from a sociological perspective. They were pretty much the same ideas, with the exception of the examples used. They both followed the idea that if a man and a women are working in a group together or even if they are working at completely different time periods, the man is generally given the credit for the work done even if they were not the originally ones or the only ones to complete.

On the Everyday Sociology Blog, They talk about the idea of double consciousness. This is the idea that some people have more than one “person” that they are supposed to be. An example of this is an African American. They have the sense that they are an African, as well as having to act like an American. The two “people” sometime conflict in how they are supposed to act. From what we knew, W.E.B. DuBois was the first person to write about this topic. That is not the case however. Going back in time, we see that Anna Julia Cooper actually wrote about the same thing (but not calling it double consciousness) many years earlier and before that, Sojourner Truth also talked about that idea. This is also seen in other articles that are about sociology.

Looking into different articles, I found on the effects of men and women working in groups together at work. According to this article, Women are less likely to take credit for their work or contributions to the group if even one man is in it. They did a study on 34 men and 36 women. They had them work individually on a project but that their work would be combined with a partners work for a final group score. They were given their score and in survey after, women who thought they were working with a male tending to discredit themselves and make their “partner” sounds better. Going against this, the ones who thought they were working with a women tended to talk about their own work and accomplishments.

Both of these sources show that men are given more credit than women are. Why is it that both in a sociology blog and in a normal article, men are shown as receiving more credit than women? According to the Everyday Sociology Blog, this has to do with power. Historically men have been given more power than women and it shows in how much credit both genders receive. Men are seen as more influential than women so going off of that, it makes sense that their contributions are raised up higher than a woman’s.

 I can understand how they came to these conclusions, but as a woman myself; I can’t help think about the fairness of this idea.  I would to think that if I were to make a big impact on the world someday that it would stay under my name, unlike Anna Julia Cooper who lost it to W.E.B DuBois. This is important to society as a whole because as Americans we pride ourselves with the idea of equality. After reading these, it seems like women do not think of themselves as equals to men and are willing to step down to let the men have the spotlight. As a whole, this is something that we have to work on. It was very interesting to me to see that the same issue was discussed in two different locations using two different sets of examples, but still talking about the same thing basically.

 

Sources Used

Everyday Sociology Blog:

http://www.everydaysociologyblog.com/2013/09/when-men-get-all-the-credit-gender-and-the-construction-of-knowledge.html

 

Huffington Post Article:

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/08/women-take-less-credit-for-success-group-projects_n_3239673.html

My Culture: Education

When asked to think about the culture that I grew up in, the first value that comes to mind is education. My parents did not go as far in the education system as they could have. My father dropped out after middle school and joined the military and my mom made it through high school. They have always drilled it into me that a higher education is the way to go.

                That idea is becoming especially relevant in our society today. Many employers will not hire you if you do not have a college degree, making it almost a necessity. You are looked at as lazy, unmotivated, or rebellious if you choose not to attend. I remember back when I graduated high school. We had a graduation party for me with all my family. Every single one of them asked me where I was going to school next. When I told them that I was heading to Michigan Tech, they all got excited and were congratulating me and making a big deal out of it. Now, I can honestly tell you that most of them probably didn’t know much about Michigan Tech, or what it offered, or even where it was located, but none of that really mattered. It was just the fact that I had a school picked out and I was going out to further my education.

                That’s the thing. In recent times it doesn’t really matter where you go or what you even study. Just the simple fact that you are looking out for yourself and taking the next step makes you look good in the eyes of our society. Of course colleges are always trying to sway you in their direction because that in itself makes them look better. This college has a better job placement rate, or that one is more hands on. This one is bigger, that one is smaller. We hear all these comparisons everyday thanks to the media. The question is which one should we choose? That is based on our schemata, or world view. Each of us sees the world in a different way, which shines the spotlight on what we feel, is the best college.

                That brings us back to this idea of culture. Our world view is partially shaped by our culture. Because of my parents trust in me and constant pushing for me to make the most out of my life, I looked into Michigan Tech. With its high job placement rate, and excellent educational record, I know that this would be the place for me. I was told by my parents that money was not an issue and that whatever school I wanted to attend; we would find a way to fund it. If I lived in a different culture, however, I may not have been so lucky.

                A big part of how we see education is based on the culture that we were raised in. For instance, if I were born in a small village in Africa, as a girl I may not have even had the option to go to school. I would have been trained by my mother from a young age to do housework and how to raise a family, while any brothers that I may have had went. I would have looked down upon any schooling, let alone college because in my culture it would have been unusual for a girl to even think about school. In many cultures around the world, it is seen as a women’s job to raise the kids and clean the house. To cook, clean, and care for her husband while he goes to work and earns whatever little money they receive.

                Each culture has its own set of beliefs and it is because of how I was raised that I know how important education is. My high school never really had the best sports teams, but our academic teams were spot on. Although many people joked about the education we received upon graduation. I know for a fact our school put a high priority on it. That is the community that I was raised in. From a young age were trained to look highly upon education. As we started kindergarten, we were given small assignments and told to bring them back, we began counting and writing and learning in ways that we all thought were just fun and games. We had the framework for a good education drilled into our brains. We saw it as a “norm” to be a good student, to listen, and to turn in your homework. We were praised when we did well, and scolded when we messed up until we began to learn.

 It is from those cultures that we are shown what we should value and believe in and it is from living within those cultures that I can proudly say: I value my education. I believe that my education is going to take me wherever I want in life and beyond, and it is those values and beliefs that I want to show to my future children as well. That is what culture is all about.