Response Paper 9

Chelsea Billek

November 17, 2011

SOC 1000-15

Response Paper 9

            Secularization is when a society begins to stray away from connection with religious values or places of worship and migrates towards values that lack religious meaning.  This is commonly seen when a society begins to progress to a more modernized lifestyle. In doing so, the focus lies on more rational ideas or the abandonment of religion all together. This can be seen among many different social groups through out the United States due to higher prioritized thoughts that do not include religion. Speaking on behalf of my own social group, I believe this trend is very common.

            Being that I am from a small town, I have known most of the people in my graduating class since preschool or kindergarten. Roselle Park, the town I reside in, is predominantly Christian in religion. I attended CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine) classes with a majority of these kids throughout our childhood and saw most of them at church. As years progressed and we grew older, we had all celebrated the first four of the seven Catholic sacraments. These include Baptism, Eucharist or Communion, Reconciliation, and finally Confirmation. Confirmation is basically the celebration of becoming a mature adult who regularly practices and worships the religion. After this fourth sacrament, I noticed many people begin to stray away from the Christian faith. Most of my friends had stopped attending church and did not seem invested in the religion at all, including myself.

            I believe many factors contribute to this decline in worship and religious practices. Personally, I attribute my loss of faith to three main things.  My family’s lack of worship definitely had a large impact on mine. The fact that they seemed to lose interest in it after my confirmation led me to wonder why I should do differently. Other then fulfilling the requirements for my brother to celebrate the same four sacraments I did, our worship really went no further. The second component that led me away from my faith was the loss of free time I normally had. As I grew older, similar to most other adolescents, I gained many new responsibilities. Being a student, three-sport athlete, and holding a job did not leave much time for me to do anything otherwise. Therefore, any time I had to myself was spent with friends or family doing other activities. Finally, the awareness of other religions definitely put a hinder on my religious affiliation. Once I learned about the numerous different religions in this world, it was hard to determine why Christianity was the proper one for me. It is a free choice as to what religion you would like to practice and until now Christianity had ultimately been forced upon me after birth. Also, the number of religions that exist causes one to think which is actually viable. Religions put reasoning behind many questions asked regularly such as where did the human race come from? Most religions answer this differently, so it is unclear which one is right in their assumptions.

            On the other hand, religion can be considered growing as well. Given there are many people losing faith due to one reason or another, there are also people finding it. In this modernized society, there are just as many downfalls as there are uprisings. Problems such as the economy, crime-rate, and illnesses can all contribute to some people’s discovery of faith. When hard times hit, many will look for inspiration or guidance wherever they can find it. This is easily found in many religions. Being that religion answers many questions pertaining to the past and provides hopefulness for the future, it is common for people in search of optimism to begin finding it through faith. This way, they can prey about their problems and for the strength and patience to overcome them. Not everyone can find an easy remedy to their problems, but religion provides comfort for these few.

Response Paper 8

Chelsea Billek

November 11, 2011

SOC 1000(15)

Response Paper 8

            Though the functionalist and conflict perspectives on gender stratification differ, both have sensible arguments. A dominant example of correlating elements in the two theories is the inevitability of stratification. On one side, functionalists believe that stratification is imperative for a society to operate well. Yet, opposing conflict theorists believe it to cause tension and conflict. From only these basic summaries of both theories’ view, I feel that one could find some sensibility behind each of them.

            When considering the functionalist view, I agree that some sort of gender stratification is important to society. In certain aspects of life, there are times where a man is more qualified for the job as opposed to a woman. That is the undeniable truth, although it does not mean some woman could not do the job just as well. Depending on the job, the same principle could apply for women too.  When hiring a construction worker, it would be more sensible to choose someone physically fit. In general, men are usually stronger than woman so a man might be more suitable for that position. On the other hand, a position for a child sitter might be something geared more towards women. This is because women tend to be better with kids then men because of their motherly instincts.

            With that being said, the conflict theory can also apply as well. When society directs a position towards one sex as opposed to the other, conflict usually follows. There will always be people that believe they are being treated unfairly. Whether this is true or not, someone will always argue decisions as such. They think they are well qualified for the job regardless of what society thinks is best. Given we tends to avoid conflict, it could be beneficial. If someone argues the decision of society, they are not always necessarily wrong. Debate and argument helps us in seeing multiple views of the matter at hand and enables us to address each accordingly. Therefore, everyone’s voice is heard and everybody’s concerns are met.

            I have experienced gender stratification at my place of employment. I work at a jewelry store as a sales associate. Although I sell merchandise, I also take care of many other things including the store’s website and the photography of the jewelry. I have held this position for a little over a year and consider myself a very hard worker. Recently, my manager informed me that for the holidays, our busiest time of year, he would like me to revert to selling silver. Usually, new associates work with the silver being that it is the most inexpensive section of our store. This took me back because there are two new employees, both of which are male, who have started working there since. According to the store’s policy, they should be the ones designated to the silver pieces. My manager noticed I looked rightfully concerned by his decision, and consoled me by explaining why this was so. He said that people in my age group would be buying the most silver, and males my age would be willing to spend more money if I was waiting on them.

            Even though I understand my manager’s motives in designating me to the silver, I do not agree with the way he is going about it. I do not think he should limit me to only selling silver. I have much more experience with all of the jewelry then either of the new people. If anything, he should designate them to only silver and ask me to focus more on silver than other items. This way, I will still be allowed to sell other things, but will mainly be by the silver as he wants me to be. I feel this is gender stratification because if either of the new employees were female, my boss would have asked them to sell silver. But since I was the most recent employee hired who was female, I was asked to do it. I know my concern is supposed to lie in the business’ best interest, but not at the expense of my own justice.

Response Paper 7

Chelsea Billek

November 3, 2011

SOC 1000-15

Response Paper 7

My first recollection of race was probably around the age of three or four when my grandmother would baby-sit me.  I would go over her house and while doing so, met a young boy who lived next door that was African American.  I remember one day after playing with him, I asked my grandmother how come the boy next door had darker skin then I did.  She explained to me that he was from a different race, but the same inside and ultimately no different from me.  I do not remember thinking much of it and as I grew up in a mostly white dominate community; I did not have much interaction with other races.  Around 5^th grade was when I started noticing other ethnicities: Hispanic, African American and Asian.  Although the large number of new people moving to my town had a lot to do with this, that alone was not the only factor. This was also around the same time I started watching television that often times showcased different stereotypes of different races.  One show I remember seeing as a child flipping through channels was “The Dave Chapelle Show.” The sitcom had several characters that would often times exaggerate different stereotypes for different races.  This along with other social media outlets was where I started to learn and develop my own opinions about race and ethnicity. 

            Society today seems to use race and or ethnicity in almost every facet that is possible.  Unfortunately race is often times used as a crutch to explain how someone is treated unfairly.  Although this may or may not be true, many people are often too quick to pull the race card as a reason they did not get something they thought they deserved. These vary among things such as a raise, a job opportunity, or a certain way they are treated. Whether society wants to acknowledge race or not, it is still a huge issue in modern America.  I feel this is often times based off of perception, which is something we cannot help.  As a whole, the country has made great strides in becoming a nation of equality.  However, the ignorance of a few can spoil it for all.  To this day, college applications and job applications still ask for your race.  There are special grants and funding for certain races and most colleges are still trying to keep the ethnic playing field even when they admit students. 

            My perception of race has changed a great deal since my first recollection, or better yet in my early childhood.  As a child I did not have or understand prejudice, I only noticed that the boy I was playing with was darker then me. It was not until I entered elementary school that I began to view people by their race. Again this was based on perception, something that is hard to change.  After the weeks I have spent in this class and the new friendships I have made here at Kean I have changed my views of race and ethnicity.  I realize that although some of the stereotypes may be true it does not define the person nor does their gender, race, or religion.  The person and the values they have been raised on and how they treat people are the only attributes that should matter.   So in a sense, I have become more understanding and welcoming of friendships with people of other races. Not that I was against them prior to this experience, I just had very limited exposure growing up in a predominantly Caucasian town.  Now I am proud to say that the darker-skinned boy who led me to my first question of race, has been one of my best friends up until this day. I believe people’s opinions on different races and ethnicities is largely based on the perceptions instilled in them at an early age. Although some people come to develop their own understanding through time, some cannot get past these prior notions. Everyone should be able to see past someone’s ethnic background, and appreciate individuals for who they really are.