Contemporary Theories of Deviance

I chose an article about repealing the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the military. I think this article relates to the Labeling Theory, because society has, in a way, labeled homosexual behavior as deviant. If this policy is repealed, it could make a big difference in whether or not society considers homosexuality deviant anymore. I think that the specific way that the people in this article reject labeling is by the condemnation of condemners, because gay people in the military don't think that the people who are against them have the right to tell them what to do or not do.
This article is relevant to everyday life because homosexuality-like almost any behavior-can be seen as deviant or not deviant, based on someone's opinion. The big struggle in this article is happening because some people are more accepting of certain behaviors, and others are not. The repealing of this policy in the Senate is kind of symbolic of everyday life, because what others consider out of the ordinary, others consider ordinary. In my personal life, I can relate to this article because I have some friends that think homosexuality is a deviant, abnormal behavior, and other friends that think it is an acceptable, normal behavior.
My personal example illustrates the labeling theory because the friends that view homosexuality as a deviant behavior probably just see it that way because society has labeled it that way. And the friends that don't view it as a deviant behavior probably use the condemnation of condemners to reject the deviant label, because they don't think that society has the right to approve or disapprove of it. I suppose that this also applies to the denial of injury, because homosexuality isn't hurting anyone.

Poverty in Green Bay

Green Bay has a higher percentage of people living below the poverty line than the rest of the state of Wisconsin on average. This is also true for the percentage of people living with an income below 50% of the poverty level, which tells us that Green Bay has a more condensed population of people living in poverty than the rest of Wisconsin.
The most populous type of family living below the poverty level is single mothers.
The age that is most affected by poverty is children, mainly under 11 years old. This is probably because the kids don't have a choice or much control over their situation-they are simply born into it.

Socialization...

Without society, we don't have much more subject to being molded into anything. We are impressionable, and whatever substitutes for social interaction in our surroundings has a huge influence on our behavior and who we become. Take, for example, Oxana. She had no social interaction with humans, so the dogs began to substitute for the companionship of human guardians, and she picked up the dogs' behavioral traits.
The basis of Charles Cooley's "Looking Glass Self" theory is that a person's interactions with other people and social experiences are what gives a person their sense of self. The theory states that we gain our identity based on other people's perceptions of us. Another similar theory is George Herbert Mead's "Role-Taking" theory. The basis of this theory is that children will imaginatively assume the roles of those important to them, like a mother, for instance. He thinks that your sense of self develops out of communication.
Genie's story complements both Cooley's and Mead's work, because due to her lack of interaction with others, Genie didn't take on the characteristics typical of a thirteen-year-old girl. Since she didn't have much social interaction, her mind and behavior was still like that of an infant. This supports these theories about sense of self. Genie's delayed development was largely caused by the absence of a family setting, which plays a crucial role in both the Role-Taking theory and the Looking Glass Self theory.
After viewing the videos, I have taken the nurture side in the nature versus nurture debate. I support this side of the argument because if heredity was the main contributor in development, the feral children would naturally have had more human behaviors. But it was their surroundings that appeared to play the biggest role in their development. They picked up on the habits of the animals they lived with, so it looks to me as if the nurture of these children overcame their human nature.

Assignment #1

Globalization has positive effects because it allows us to be at the same level and understand each other. It helps us relate and makes us more unified. However, globalization can also be a bad thing because it is important that we maintain our own unique culture and don't rub off too much on each other.
Cultural lag can be a good thing because we can use other parts of the world as examples, and learn from their customs and styles. It is helpful because we don't all have the same ideas, technologies, or styles at the same time, because that would be boring and make
us too similar.
An example of cultural lag in the school setting would be how we use netbooks, but most countries in the world aren't dependent on technology yet.