Final Reflection.

Final Reflective Essay

Using the core concept obvious I will reflect on what I learned and unlearned in the course and how the concept obvious enhanced my understanding of the sociological issues covered in the course. I will relate what my preconceived notions about terrorism were and how this course as a whole helped me to shatter those preconceived notions.

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I would like to look at the course materials of my semester through the lens of the concept, OBVIOUS. According to Charles Quist-Adade, this term is generally taken in a “commonsense way to mean ‘easy to see or understand’, ‘plain’ or ‘self-evident’ or ‘it seems to need no further questioning” (Social Justice in Local and Global Contexts, 2011, p. 14). One can take this plain meaning of the term/concept at face value or like a good sociologist, dig deeper and find a richer meaning. Quist-Adade points out that the term can “also mean ‘being in the way’ or that which hides/conceals/distorts something else” (2011, p. 14). The most important thing that I took from our course lecture and discussion about the term obvious was that by distorting or hiding you take for granted the surface realities of our world. You can forget that there can be a much richer or complex meaning behind the layers. This goes along very well with what Quist-Adade says is the analogous concept called the tip of the iceberg theory which states that there is more to the iceberg than what is visible. “To fully understand the nature of the iceberg, we must be able to see both the jutting part above the sea and the larger part covered by the sea” (Quist-Adade, 2011, p. 14). Peter Berger also reinforces the importance of looking out for the obvious because he said that “What ‘seems’ to be ‘obvious’ is only the first step in examining/analyzing any given social phenomenon (as cited in Quist-Adade, 2001, p. 14).

The discovery of the sociological importance of the concept obvious enriched my understanding of the core issues of globalization and terrorism greatly. We learned to look at the issues on the surface, in the obvious ways, but then to go deeper below the surface and find richer meanings, below the surface. Because of this I was able to bring new meaning to my interpretation of what a terrorist attack is. For example, my previous notion of a terrorist attack really only had one frame of reference: the attacks of September 11, 2011. When we looked at the issue of terrorism we found that, as Gus Martin puts it, “terrorism, however defined, has always challenged the stability of societies and the peace of mind of everyday people” (Essentials of Terrorism, 2011, p. 2). Looking deeper, past the obvious, we saw that terrorism can be a political tool and that the phrase “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” has meaning. The attacks of 9/11 had an impact on security and relationships between the United States and Canada, and consequently an impact on my own life and thus my experience led me to the conclusion that this was the defining terrorist attack. However, now I know that there are a variety of politics and views that can be discussed surrounding this attack.

Activity

In Class Activity:

Discussion Question – In regards to the Fire alarm and Pepper spray incident (November 30, 2011) involving the vote against the KSA, could this be defined as an act of terrorism?

Affective

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I enjoyed this discussion very much because it had such personal relevance for me and I hope the rest of my classmates. I think it was very interesting to hear the different perspectives of people who had been there and the people who were hearing about the event for the first time. The definition of a terrorist act is debatable but most would agree that it involves an act or the threat of an act that attempts to cause fear to achieve some goals. It was important to think about what a terrorist act is and then try to apply it to a situation that happened on our own campus. I hope that it made people consider the motivations of the perpetrator because I certainly did. If the pepper sprayer did intend it as an assault, or to put it another way, intended to scare or terrorize people into not voting than that would certainly be up for debate and consideration as a terrorist act. However, if it was merely an attempt to physically prevent people from voting and not to scare them then it might be a different debate.

I also felt a little bit saddened by this discussion because it brought to discussion the alleged misdeeds of the KSA, a truly disturbing topic.

In Class Activity

In Class Activity:

Discussion Question – What was the role of the U.S. in the rise of the Taliban?

Affective

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This question was very interesting. I thought the group had a very robust conversation around this topic. The question pulled out a lot of what we discussed over the semester. It was well thought up because it encouraged us to discuss many key topics. For example, the United States was committing covert international sponsored terrorism by supplying groups in Afghanistan with weapons and training to defeat the soviets. Similarly this discussion/activity made me question my own beliefs about government, both at home and abroad. The United States government’s actions clearly had an unintended but significant role in the Taliban and consequently the attacks on the United States by the Taliban. Not only that, but their actions lead to an invasion and war.

This discussion made me feel more interested to learn the history of the Taliban. Similarly, I was interested to hear what everyone else had to say about the subject. Some students felt very passionately that the US was a major catalyst for the current conflicts in the middle east and I was further educated by listening to them speak.

In Class Activity

In Class Activity – Class Discussion

Affective

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We were asked what images/ideas conjure up in our minds when we hear the words social justice. Then we were asked to join a group and share our ideas.

This activity was interesting because it made me think about what I understand social justice to be. I had trouble coming up with a definition and images on my own. When I think of justice I traditionally think of the formal criminal justice system. This is probably because I am a criminology student and that is something we talk about a lot. However, when I tried to think of what social justice looked like I had a hard time coming up with any specific images. When we got together in a group i felt validated because our group commented on having similar difficulties putting images together. We talked about what social justice is, and came up with the idea that has to do with the principles of equality and solidarity for all people and that it focuses on human rights. When also discussed how human rights relates to all sorts of issues like civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights etc. and thought of all the defining images we could think of like rosa parks on a bus, the gay pride parade etc. I enjoyed this activity because it challenged me to really put thought and imagination into a concept that I thought I previously understood. It made be reconsider my assumptions.

Video

Video: Burka Woman

Affective

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“Burka Woman” is a video parody of the song “Pretty Woman”. It has been reworked into a serenade to an Islamic woman hidden beneath a black burka/niqab. She has only her eyes visible and he refers to her in a variety of ways including as a “sexy ninja” and a “mystery prize”. In between scenes of the comedian performing the tune with a band, the comedian dances with a pair of burka-wearing women. Some of the lyrics include:

“Burka woman, in your black sheet
Burka woman, with your sexy feet
Burka woman”

I enjoyed this video. It made me think about stereotypes and it made me think about the role of satire. I also enjoyed how it stimulated a vigorous class discussion. People were pretty divided on whether this was offensive, because it seemed so stereotypical, or whether it was an appropriate parody, with a purpose. I am a fan of all types of comedy and I think that it plays a very important role in society. Especially in places like Pakistan, where this was aired originally, because they are going through turbulent times. In times of difficulty or war or poverty or whatever situation you have going on, i think it is healthy to be able to laugh and to have a sense of lightness and joy. Similarly, when fundamentalism is taking root it is refreshing to see a person look humorously at their own religion and culture.

Video

Video: Nickel and Dimed, The American Story

Paraphrast

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In this 1998 video Lewis Lapham and a young associate go to an Ihop restaurant and are greeted by a waitress who seats them. The young associate wonders how Lewis knows the women and from there Lapham goes on to explain that Barbara Ehrenreich is a noted essayist and reporter. Barbara has been working in the low wage workforce to find out how people survive on low wages over the past year. She worked as a walmart associate, a domestic maid, and other low wage paying jobs. She explains how its pretty impossible to live on low wages even during the height of the economic boom. Management does everything to not raise wages. The jobs that were created in the boom of the 90s were not ones that can’t be lived on. People are living at a state of emergency.

Paraphrase:

One of the very humbling things for me has been to learn that there are no unskilled jobs. All jobs take skill and intelligence and experience. They’re hard.

I particularly liked this statement, made by Barbara, because it is in response to the question by the smug young man “being a waitress can’t be that hard”. It is a reflection of how she also may have seen the stereotype of the low wage workforce and in particular, being a waitress, as a job that would not be difficult to do. However Barbara learned what everyone who does a job like waitressing learns, that it is very hard work.

Video

Video: The Danger of a Single Story

Affective

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This video was a TED speech in which novelist Chimamanda Adichie described her experiences growing up in Nigeria and then moving to the United States. Chimamanda explains how she was faced with bringing down stereotypes when her roommate at college was shocked to find out she came from Africa and listened to Mariah Carey. Chimamanda then went on to explain how she came to understand that she too was guilty of holding stereotypes while growing up. She recounted how she was very informed by English literature as a child and would write stories that had no relevance in her own life; stories about children who played in the snow and rain.

I enjoyed this video very much because it opened my eyes to the danger of what Chimamanda called a “single story”.  As children we don’t realize how vulnerable we are of becoming influenced. I think her metaphor of a single story really helps to explain how if we have a single view we really limit or perspective. I also think she was very effective in communicating that if you show a people as one thing that is what they will become.

It was especially interesting to hear how power plays a role in this single story view. I think that the person who tells the story or who has the definitive story is the most powerful and that speaks to the saying he who writes history has the last laugh.

Personally I will take with me the idea of how if you insist on negative experiences you will flatten a story and if you limit yourself to a single story you rob the person of dignity and equal humanity. I think these are important lessons to use in our everyday interactions.

chp 7

Chapter Seven: – Social Justice in Local and Global Contexts

Dialectic

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SourceURL:file:///Macintosh%20HD/Users/kelsey/Desktop/What%20did%20Emile%20Durkheim%20c.doc

What is economic justice?	According to the Centre for Economic Justice “social justice encompasses economic justice. The United Nations defines economic justice as the existence of opportunities for meaningful work and employment and the dispensation of fair rewards for the productive activities of individuals. It is a component or aspect of social justice and that the separation of economic justice from social justice only an academic one. Economic justice focuses on individual and collectives, as well as the social order, the moral principles that guide people in a given society in designing their economic institutions.
What is the purpose of Economic justice?	To create conditions amenable to the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services to meet the needs of all members of society in a fair, just, and impartial way. Economic justice also aims to free each person to engage creatively in the unlimited work beyond economics, that of the mind and the spirit.
What are the three principles that underpin economic justice?	1)    The Principle of Participation: describes how one makes “input” to the economic process in order to make a living2)    The Principle of Distribution: defines the “output” or “out-take” rights of an economic system matched to each person’s labor and capital inputs 3)    Principle of Harmony: encompasses the “feedback” or balancing principles required to detect distortions of either the input or output principles and to make whatever corrections are needed to restore a just and balanced economic order for all.
What is a critique of capitalism?	Ideal is based on people getting what they deserve. However capitalism fails to succeed in rewarding desert and promotes inequality. It is efficient in producing but not distributing. Capitalism is notorious for leaving the vulnerable in misery as it promotes the principle of “each for himself and the devil for the hindmost”.

chp 5

Chapter Five: Social Justice in Local and Global Contexts

Dialectical

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SourceURL:file:///Macintosh%20HD/Users/kelsey/Desktop/What%20did%20Emile%20Durkheim%20c.doc

What did Emile Durkheim contribute to the study of social justice?	Two themes:1)    Relationship between law, crime and social solidarity 2)    Transformation of society and corresponding transformation in types of law
What are his three postulates about crime and solidarity?	1)    Punishment and solidarity are functionally linked2)    Criminality is the product of punishment rather than a product of behavior 3)    Crime (and punishment) need have no correspondence with social harm
What is his central premise in his theory of distributive justice?	Justice reflects the form of society in which it emerges and operates. The type of justice also reflects the kind of contract in existence, which in turn reflects the general division of labour in a given society.
What is the difference between Repressive and Restitutive justice?	Repressive justice is justice driven by the natural passion for revenge while restitutive justice denotes justice driven by simple deterrence; a more humanistic and tolerant form of justice.
What are the central assumptions of Karl Marx’s views on social justice	1)    All phenomena, including law, ideology, and conceptions of social justice were ultimately connected with a particular mode of production in existence.2)    The second assumption is that notions of justice must be seen in terms of the mode of production of a given epoch 3)    What is seen as fair is specific to the existing mode of production
What types of legal systems did Max Weber identify?	Two dimensions:-       Rationality/irrationality (whether there are universal, calculable rules for deciding cases) -       Formal/Substantive (formal are those in which there is an autonomous system for deciding cases; substantive utilize laymen to make such decisions)
How did Max Weber explain the rise of rational capitalism in Europe?	He suggested that political, legal and religious institutions influenced rational capitalism. He argued that rational capitalism depended upon formal-rational law. For a business to make long-term cost-benefit analysis and profit planning, it depends on a formal rational system of law, which is predictable. Weber insisted that rationality preceded or led to the development of capitalism.

chp 3

Chapter Three: Social Justice in Local and Global Contexts

Pharaphrast

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Chapter three begins by discussing the issue of hypo-descent and the social construction of race to illustrate social construction of inequality and difference. The concept of privilege is defined as a system of advantage outside consciousness.Privilege can take the form of unearned advantage or conferred dominance. The chapter goes on to discuss cultural violence (systematic way in which a regime prevents people from achieving better) and power (the ability to control others, even if they object). Similarly other terms like race, racism, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation identity, heterosexism, gender and sexism are discussed. This develops into a discussion of essentialism which the is the perspective that reality exists independent of our perception. Next the chapter deals with the social construction of difference which is a social process that promotes inequalities or unequal access to resources or opportunities and can often be called othering. This can be done through aggregation, dichotomization, and stigmatizing.

Paraphrase: (paragraph 2, pg. 45)

An effective social control tool which perpetrated by both victims and victimizers, is called Otherizing. The victimizers achieve control through otherizing by open and subtle coercion like threats, hegemony, and punishments and the victims accept and succumb to victimization by being passive or paralyzed.

I particularly like this passage because it tries to explain how pervasive and complicated social control can be.