A cross-cultural qualitative study of Babies

Today, we watched the 2010 documentary, Babies.  Here is the guide that I handed out.


Building off our last lesson, we saw that:

• Culture is made up of material and non-material culture.
• The components of non-material culture include: norms, language, symbols and values.
• These components shape individuals in ways they don’t notice, especially their opportunities and obstacles (life chances).
• Cultural components that remain steady over time can create stability and continuity within a culture.

As you watch the documentary Babies, use your sociological imagination to think about how individuals might be shaped by the culture they are born into. To explore this, we will do a qualitative study of sorts by exploring the culture that babies are born into and how culture shapes a baby from the moment they are born. Fortunately, the data has been collected for us already. We will use the data gathered from the 2010 documentary Babies as an existing source to do a cross-cultural study of how babies are affected by their nurture.




About the documentary Babies (2010):
From the producer,

The adventure of a lifetime begins...Directed by award-winning filmmaker Thomas Balm`es, from an original idea by producer Alain Chabat, Babies simultaneously follows four babies around the world - from birth to first steps. The children are, respectively, in order of on-screen introduction: Ponijao, who lives with her family near Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia, near Bayanchandmani; Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, who resides with her family in the United States, in San Francisco.  Re-defining the nonfiction art form, Babies joyfully captures on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all. 

The movie is rated PG, however, there are scenes of babies breastfeeding. If you have an issue with this, please let me know.
Babies and their birth country:
Ponijao Namibia
Bayarjargal Mongolia
Mari Japan
Hattie United States

As you watch, look for:
Cultural universals (cultural components found all over the world). If all humans exhibit these, they might be considered human nature.

Cultural differences. What are the ways that these babies are influenced differently by their culture (socialization)? These differences if they are external and socially constructed by society, they are considered human nurture.

TEST DAY - Unit 2

Let's get some 4s!

• Please use Test to cover scantrons.
• Use your Just Mercy book for the short answer.  You do not have to cite specific pages, but you must use details from the text to support your answer.
• Do not use electronic devices until after the period is over.

Just Mercy Chapters 2-3; Research

How does the lesson of Bryan’s grandma in “getting close” make him a more sociologically mindful person?

Getting close as research?

Page 37- a real issue similar to Sandra Bland

Here is a video from an Ohio Walmart where John Crawford III was holding a bb gun that he picked up off the shelf at Walmart.  It should be noted that Ohio allows citizens to walk around with firearms.  It should also be noted that this was a toy bb gun.  Someone in the store called police and they arrived on the scene and shot the man in less than 30 seconds.  There was no indictment.  See the story from the Washington Post here.



Also:
Here is another incident from South Carolina where an officer tells a man to get his driver's license and when the man reaches into his car to get it, the officer shoots him.  The man then asks, "why did you shoot me?"

Tamir Rice was a 12-year old boy who was killed by police.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2014/nov/26/cleveland-video-tamir-rice-shooting-police

Charles Kinsey, a social worker was trying to help his autistic patient when he was shot by police. 
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jury-hung-north-miami-officer-who-shot-unarmed-caretaker-autistic-n983926
These events are all examples of events similar to the one Stevenson describes on page 37.  How can you relate these events to status and group membership?

How does Bryan’s status and group membership affect his treatment?

How are Bryan’s thoughts about the incident an example of microsociology?

How are Bryan’s concerns about policing an example of macrosociology?

How can the policing be analyzed from a micro and macrosociological perspective?

What are the qualitative and quantitative ways that you can analyze the death row?

What are the macro and microsociological evidence that capital punishment is unjust? 

How is this chapter an example of ingroup-outgroup dynamics?

How is this chapter an example of stereotypes and categories?

Here is Bryan Stevenson describing these dynamics:

For more sociological info. and additional research on police stops and race, three sociology professors published about this in Contexts magazine.  Rory Kramer and Brianna Remster are in the department of sociology and criminology Villanova University. Kramer studies the physical and social boundaries between races in the U.S., and Remster studies inequality, crime, and formal social control and Camille Z. Charles is in the departments of sociology and Africana studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She studies U.S. racial attitudes.  SHS students can click here to access the article.

The authors use NYPD data that was ordered by a judge to be made public.  The data show that even when controlling for crime rates and other info like age and behavior, blacks are more likely to be stopped by police and more likely to experience force.