Thursday, May 24, 2012

Human Trafficking

Many people don't realize that human trafficking or modern-day slavery is still an issue that affects tens of thousands of people. And it is much closer to home than you might imagine. The United States is the leading country of the importation of humans against their will. This is briefly touched on in the movie Crash. Here is an article written by Daniel Smith, an author and speaker. The article is called Punishing the Perps.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Dynamics of Social Class and the 99%

The 99% and Sociological Imagination….. WI Thomas, an early sociologist, wrote that each person has 4 needs or "wishes" in 4 Wishes of Man. According to Thomas, all men have four core wishes: 1) The desire for response. (love and friendship) 2) The desire for security. (economic, social, emotional, etc.) 3) The desire for recognition. (respect, position) 4) The desire for new experience. This is an interesting point of entry for a sociological analysis of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Clearly, the protesters feel their needs are not being met. While one might argue that all four wishes apply, I am going to ask you to focus on the desire for economic security. Go to http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/ Click on archives. Go to the month that your birthday is in. Select any 3 of these photos. Paste them into a new post on your blog, and below the photo explain why their desire for economic security is not being met. Use your sociological imagination to write about how the US social class system is creating obstacles to their economic security.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Service Oppportunity - May 12th Habitat for Humanity

A message from our friends at Spring of Life Habitat for Humanity: we would love to have some teen volunteers out at the Habitat renovation next weekend, Saturday May 12th. We plan to do landscaping work if we have enough teens to help. Just have them email me if they're interested. Work starts at 8am but usually are all finished up by 2pm. Lunch is provided. The house is right behind Elgin Larkin High School and pretty easy to get to. If interested please email Laureen at LREIDELB@comcast.net and please cc me if possible