Social Justice in Local and Global Contexts.

Social Justice in Local and GlobalContexts
Chapter Four: The Sociology of Human
Rights and Social Justice

Dr. Charles Quist-Adade

Dialectic Reading Method

What questions did the text raise?	How did the text answer this?	How does the answer match my own ideas?
What does socialization teach us?	Socialization is how we learn who we are, what we will become, and is the foundation for all learning regarding human growth and development.	Growing up in such different worlds with different limitations and opportunities, everyone goes through the process of socialization differently. We are all capable of good, and bad.
What are Human Rights?	Our human rights revolve around basic moral principles which every individual is entitled to by virtue of being a human being.	It is interesting, because there are many places in the world, where sadly, a great number of people’s human rights are violated. Throughout time and space people have had challenges against being treated fairly, and I believe it will continue that way for a while.
Back to chapter one, however, as the most important question, what is social justice?	Social Justice is the “relative distribution of rights, opportunities, and resources within a given society, and whether it deserves to be regarded as fair and just”.	An important term to be aware of, social justice is hopefully attainable for everyone one day, however much needs to be done. Although many people are exploited and disregarded, everyone deserves a happy, just life.

Social Justice in Local and Global Contexts.

Social Justice in Local and GlobalContexts
Chapter Three: Social Justice and the Social
Construction of Inequality

Dr. Charles Quist-Adade

Dialectic Reading Method

What questions did the text raise?	How did the text answer this?	How does the answer match my own ideas?
What is prejudice?	The textbook teaches us that prejudice is a negative belief or feeling about a particular group of individuals”. A lot of the time these prejudices are taught and passed down from generation to generation.	We see this in the world almost on a daily basis, whether it be on the news or something you witness, and although it may be done in a more subtle manner, it is still present and is both extremely damaging and destructive.
What is the “other” and how does society construct this idea?	The “other” can be any type of person who has a distinct characteristic or status that may be different. Society creates this through two processes, aggregation = putting together. In this form, people are lumped together by a certain status, and are ignored when it comes to the multiple other status the individual may have. Second is dichtomization = splitting. This leads to many things, including and “us” vs “them”mentality.	When I take a look at the world it is hard for me to see people in just one way. It must be very hard, as Charles explained, being a certain skin color, or being handicapped, as those statuses are the ones that will ultimately follow you for your entire life.
What happens to individuals who then associate with the “other”?	In many instances, there can be harsh consequences for people. The main examples would be, in today’s world, being gay, marrying outside one’s race or culture, tomboys, etc.	I personally have not experienced anything such as this, I mean, where someone has been ostracised for either being the “other” or associating with someone who is, however I’m sure it happens every single day.

Social Justice in Local and Global Contexts.

Social Justice in Local and GlobalContexts
Chapter Two: Social Reality
Construction and Global Social Justice

Dr. Charles Quist-Adade

Dialectic Reading Method

What questions did the text raise?	How did the text answer this?	How does the answer match my own ideas?
What is social constructionism and what does it teach us?	Social constructionism teaches us that the world is full of social constructs, things that we create and, in turn, that society internalizes. It revolves around the assumption that there is nothing normal or natural in this world.	A good example was the video that we watched in class on social reality. People take things very differently. When we assign meanings and value to certain objects, things or ideas, everyone in the world sees it differently.
What is hegemony?	Hegemony is basically the competing ideas of the subordinate & the superordinate, when in the end, it is the ideas of the superordinate that dominate.	What comes to mind first-off, would be the idea that Charles, in the classroom, is the power elite, and we, the students are the subordinate, since Charles’ thoughts will always win.
How does critical constructionism tie in to all of this?	Critical constructionism is “the way social reality is constructed, perceived, and presented, usually reflects the interests of society’s elite more than those of the mainstream”.	Just like hegemony, critical constructionism emphasizes the role of superordinate/elite interests when creating constructions.

Social Justice in Local and Global Contexts

Social Justice in Local and Global Contexts
Chapter One: Key Concepts and Recurring Themes

Dr. Charles Quist-Adade

Dialectic Method

What questions did the text raise?	How did the text answer this?	How does the answer match my own ideas?
What is social justice?	From our discussions and textbook, we learnt that social justice is “the process of working toward, and the condition of, everyone’s basic needs being met and everyone’s potential being fulfilled”. Basically, it revolves around principles of true justice and true democracy.	Before our first class, I had a basic idea of what social justice was, but was unable to grasp words that could define it properly. It was important to discuss what social justice is, and it also has opened my eyes so that now when I read the paper or watch the news I focus more on worldly injustices.
Who is Peter Berger and what did he state?	Our textbook states a few important scholars, including Peter Berger, who stated that what seems to be “obvious” is just the first step in examining what is really there. The world, society, individuals and reality all have many layers, and through exploring the “obvious”, we learn more.	It is interesting to think about the obvious, because it is true that you never really are certain of what is real. A quote that I think best describes this is “all that glitters is not gold”, which can help us remember to always look deeper than the surface.
What exactly is the Sociological Imagination and what does it teach us?	The definition we learnt of the SI is “a quality of mind that allows an individual to understand and connect his or her life with the forces and dynamics that impact it”.	I cannot exactly think of how my actions have impacted the world, however since learning about the SI I now look to see how I can help and affect people around me.
What is ethnocentrism?	We learnt that ethnocentrism is the view of things in which one’s own group is the center of everything”, leaving other groups to be judged and scaled against it.	The only experience that I can think of relating to my life is when I lived in Belgium for a year in high school and in the beginning, I constantly compared BC and my new home.

Issues in Social Justice…Chapter Four

Issues in Social Justice
Chapter Four: Driving Discontinuance and
Quality of Life Among the Elderly

Chapter four examines how driving retirement is viewed as a negative idea as it means that the elderly have to begin to depend on others in order to go out and live life, ending up in a “decreased quality of life”. They feel as though they have become a burden, and that their social status is being affected. Not only do the elderly depend on cars. Everyone, young or old, relies on cars to meet needs. Any relationship is based on interaction. Successful aging revolves around the elderly being involved and participating in meaningful activities. This is the healthiest way and helps them to continue to engage positively in life. Chapter four continues and goes on to examine mead’s view of the self, and how individuals are willful participants. Reading this chapter made me think back to an essay I wrote for a different sociology class on ageism and how the elderly need to feel useful in order to live happy and productive lives. Not being able to drive would definately lead to them feeling lonely, isolated, useless, and very increased dependence on others. When someone obtains a drivers license, it has a “profound influence on the participants lives including their relationships, social networks, experiences, productivity, and social status, to name a few”. So in essence, having a license gives someone a sense of pride. Having it taken away, is something that I cannot imagine.

Issues in Social Justice… Chapter Three.

Issues in Social Justice
Chapter Three: Human Trafficking

Paraphrased Method

 ”Profitable trade”, “bondage for profit”, and “human trafficking” are a few ways the authors begin to describe the next issue. They end the introduction with a realization of what these terms really mean, “modern slavery” (pg 53). There are four major aspects in exploring human trafficking: first, defining the problem, learning how these crimes are committed/who is committing them, focussing on how victims are affected, and addressing the problem. When it comes to defining the problem, it becomes clear that there are many types of human trafficking that do not come to mind at first. The authors explain that the first kind is called industrial forced labour – people who are sold for labour, in particular manufacturing and hard physical labour – which can result in injury, death, and more. There is also mining forced labour, which is basically the same, except for the fact that workers are exposed to toxic chemicals and many children are employed as well as men. Next is forced domestic labour. This type of human trafficking means that humans, normally women, are purchased to do labour in private homes. In this case, the risks with this type are that when the women reach a certain age they are either resold, or put to death. The next two are the most known types, prostitution, and child sex slavery. In reality, there could be more types of human trafficking that are not even talked about. A shocking fact, is that “it is estimated that there are currently anywhere from 12.3 to 27 million people either living in slavery, or who were trafficked, living around the world at any given time” (pg 58). This statistic was from 2008. It is frightening to imagine it now, as it may not necessarily be any better than it was three years ago. Another important question, is how these crimes are being committed. It is stated that traffickers use a scheme called the “bait and switch”, where people are promised a better quality of life yet are then victimized and transferred. On the other side, there is no particular type of people who committ these crimes, as it is a global operation. The individuals, or criminals, feel as though it is the most “lucrative form of criminal activity” (pg 63). In regards to the outcomes of trafficking, there is no good. Victims are often beaten, abused, health issues, lack of physical development, and the list goes on, sadly. One key response, is that of the United Nations, named the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. Through this, the world is informed and given both educational tools and resources which they can use to fight this sickening war against human trafficking. The United States has also responded with the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which created “sweeping changes in American policy and attitudes”. Although the creation of these organizations has made slight differences, there is a lot that needs to be done. A whole lot. Just as in chapters one and two, the world can do much better than this.

Issues in Social Justice… Chapter Two.

Issues in Social Justice
Chapter Two: Discrimination Faced by
Members of the LGBT Community

Paraphrased Method

 Chapter two elaborates more on the everyday problems that members of the LGBT community face, in almost every aspect of their lives. The introduction explains that the spark that ignited the gay rights movement was in 1969, at a bar that was popular to homosexuals. Basically, police officers raided the bar, however the patrons inside responded with violence and eventually the cops had to back away. Since then, there have been a few gains to the LGBT community, despite a huge amount of resistance from the government. First off, political resistance has been around the longest and has been the most persistant. The main problem has been same-sex marriage, and how it has been seen as a “threat to the definition of traditional marriage” (pg 28). As discussed in chapter one, organized religions can only be perceived as legitimate through conservative ideals and traditions, therefore same-sex marriage is definately a threat. The second example of political resistance to change is when the lobby to have sexual orientation included in the Hate Crimes Prevention Act was refused. In terms of legal challenges, the LGBT has not even been recognized in many laws. Together these two combine and create economical problems too, such as denying certain insurance benefits as well as housing and employment discrimination. Next, chapter two explores sexual identity, and the social construction of gender. It is interesting to think about gender, seeing as how many people would never see it as a social construct. To be honest, before this class, I did not quite see it that way either. The whole idea of gender roles is so interesting, as there are such concrete expectations of how one is supposed to act and behave. However, it is important to remember that “these gender role expectations are in essence, gender role ideals that society both creates and perpetuates both as a whole and on the individual level” (pg 30). We are influenced by society, and in turn, society influences us! Also the idea of sexuality being fluid and changing is not applicable for everyone. For a lot of people, it isn’t. Basically, society and people’s expectations have had quite a large impact on identity in terms of sexuality and gender. These standards that surround us affect gay men and lesbian women, and can ultimately lead to discrimination in many forms. Even though there has been more attention to this problem lately, there is much more needed to be done and a lot more information to be learned.

Issues in Social Justice… Chapter One.

Issues in Social Justice
Chapter One: Religion and Homosexuality

Paraphrased Method

The beginning of this chapter focusses on how religion remains to be the oppressive force against homosexuality. In today’s world, we are learning to accept all types of people, whether they are homosexual, bisexual, transgendered, etc. However, religion has not been able to budge in the slightest – which is expected. As homosexuality is viewed as an assault, or a sin against God, and has been seen that way ever since religion was created, if it ever does change, it won’t be for a long preiod of time. Our textbook states that in order for change to occur, those in power must make the change. The entire discourse revolving gay movements really does circulate back to those with power. It is important to realize how religions function in order to understand them better. Religion gains legitimacy through the following processes: 1 – It’s relationship to a predecessor – example, a new religion familiarizing itself with another in order to maintain legitimacy and to attract followers. 2 – Numbers of adherents to the movement – simply meaning the more people the better. 3 – The strength of it’s organizational structure – sophisticated and hierarchially sturctured dynamics. 4 - Tenure of movement – how legitimacy is attained. 5 – Strength of ideology and opposition to dissent – adherents are rewarded for accepting certain ideologies. 6 – It’s relationship to the state – an alliance with the state preserves social order is an extremely useful ideological force. There has always been conflict between the two but if it ever appeared that the Church seemed to be a negative or poisionous force it was ultimately eliminated. This chapter then goes on to discuss organized religion, and its means of maintaining legitimacy and power. Page five states that “religions must promote and enforce conservative tenets to maintain order within its organization much like the State, and much of that control must be achieved through the voluntary adherence of its membership”, which explains why homosexuality has been resisted for so long. Organized religion, and the State, revolve around very conservative ideals and when something, someone, or a group threatens the legitimacy it is confronted immediately. Throughout time and space, religion has been present and has been a powerful force, influencing and shaping the world and it’s citizens. Dissent has led to many changes, including names of churches as well as changes in “the ideological framework of most”. I learned that the Roman Catholic Church grew over time and eventually dominated the majority of the world. Religion has embedded itself in every aspect of life, including politics – the Declaration of Independence is “imbued with themes of Christian ideology”. There have been harsh struggles for the gay rights movement. We can see this in legal, economic, political and social aspects. Certain moral traditions and viewpoints have made it extremely hard to make any real life-changing advances, however it has not been totally resisted, which is one positive factor.

The sociological imagination and I

When I take a look at myself from the outside, I would have to say that my ascribed status would be a twenty year-old female student, born in North America, Canada to be specific. I have been blessed with a privelaged life including a home, a family, friends and education throughout my entire childhood. Social structures that have helped shape me in many ways, apart from my family, would be a few special teachers in both elementary school and high school. Growing up, another important social structure was church. Although today I am not as devoted as I used to be, my Catholic school was a big part of my life for 9 years. That particularly helped shape who I am today. I would have to say that the only time where I was able to witness the sociological imagination in action, would be when I was sponsored to go on exchange across the world in Belgium, for a year during high school. The program Rotary gave me the chance to experience and live in a whole new world, where I was taught to understand and love different types of culture as well as people, and most importantly see the connection between my life back in Canada, and how people live across the world. Through Rotary I was able to volunteer and inform my new community about our wonderful country Canada, and that, brought us all together. However, aside from that, it is hard think of how my personal actions day to day have been effective globally. I would like to think that my hours of volunteering or perhaps working at a particular job, helping people, are positive actions in themselves, but I am not so sure they affect the world very much. Therefore, I am excited to take part in the group assignment as we will actually be changing the world. Although it will be a small change, it is better than none at all.

This link is for a video I found on youtube that I thought had a good message that related to our class!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZxpRc76M-4&feature=related

Social Justice

Hey there, I’m Emma and this is my third sociology related class so far at Kwantlen. I chose this class first and foremost because I had Charles for a religion class last year and I absolutely loved it. I also chose it because there couldn’t be anything much more interesting than a class focussed on studying all the injustices in the world and learning how we can help as individuals. Everything we do, our thoughts and our actions, our feelings and our dreams, affect others and in turn are shaped by interaction with others. Life is full of complexities, and it is so very important that we take the time to analyze and attempt to understand them. That is another reason why I chose this class. Anyway, I’m excited for the group assignments and for everything that’s to come in the next few months. It’s so important to know more about the world, as Charles explained, both locally and globally. I have always had a great interest for sociology, and this class will be both informative and interesting!