Example blog post

THIS IS YOUR SOCIETY ON DRUGS. Any questions?

Remember the good old days? When if you needed clean needles for morphine injections you could just order 'em out of the Sears Roebuck catalog? Before Bayer was all about aspirin, and they branded Heroin for your common cold? When Coca Cola wasn't just a clever name--because there was actually coca (cocaine) in it? Things were simpler then...of course, alcohol was clearly off limits for Americans; without any customs to guide its use, we couldn't handle our booze. Still, back then we waged war on things like communism and nazis--not potheads and poor people. 

 
Truth be told, sociologists are not out to judge any given zeitgeist as good or bad, better or worse. Sure, the 1950s had a nuclear family still intact; they also had segregated schools and tuberculosis. Today modern science has made leaps and bounds to extend mortality, produce on an incredibly mass scale, and has made sometimes successful attempts at killing our pain. We tend to think we have it figured out. Heroin for a cough?! Preposterous! We know better now.
What are we legitimately "on" today that we may decide we shouldn't be in the future? Who decides what a drug is? What makes a drug legal or illegal? To this date, there are no known cases of marijuana overdose (illicit drug), while cigarettes continue to be just about the worst thing you can do for your health (perfectly legal). What gives?
                                                                                                                         
Pharmacologically, a drug is any substance other than food that alters the functioning of a living organism when it enters the bloodstream. Sociologically, a drug is a chemical substance that has a direct effect on the user's physical, psychological or intellectual functioning, has the potential to be abused, and has adverse consequences to society.
Social theories are tools that help us reflect on where our society stands today when it comes to drugs, and can help us understand what makes one drug a solution one day, and a deadly danger the next....

Structural functionalists see functions and dysfunctions of drugs in society. On the one hand, alcohol is a social lubricant, helping us to relax and interact with people (sometimes people we might not interact with in the first place, but that's another story...). On the other hand, booze can seriously disrupt households, relationships, and personal lives...not to mention bang-up finances and lead to bodily injuries. The manifest function of Ritalin is to help kids focus...the latent functions are addiction, recreational use by people of all ages, and high accessibility of a legitimized form of speed.
Conflict theorists always wondered why the penalty for 5g of crack is equal to the penalty for 500g of cocaine. Isn't crack diluted cocaine? Statistically, lower income minorities are smoking crack while rich white execs are sniffing cocaine. Who does society want locked up?
Opium was outlawed as the "Chinese Menace"...prohibition outlawed all that German beer, Italian wine, and Irish whisky..outlawing marijuana came at a time of increased immigration from Mexico...
Symbolic Interactionists note that if the initial drug experience is good, you might do it again. If you are labeled a "drug user"--a "criminal"--you might use for a long time. Drugs are social constructions, like illneses. Why are some drugs legal in some places and illegal in others? Who is right? And how long will those distinctions hold?
                                                    
Drugs have been a part of society for a very long time and will continue to be. What are the consequences for legitimizing, delegitimizing, criminalizing and decriminalizing certain substances?
What are you "on"? Are you legit? Can you quit? Think about it.References:
Brownstein, Henry. "Legend of the Drug Crazed Killer". Allyn and Bacon. 2000.
Mooney, Knox and Schadt. Understanding Social Problems. 2006.
Musto, D. 1997. "Opium, Cocaine and Marijuana in American History" in L.K. Gaines and P.B. Kraska (eds). Drugs, Crime, and Justice--Contemporary Perspectives. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland
NCHS Press Room. "Historical Causes of Death" 2006. Recommended Reading:
Doors of Perception by A. Huxley
Selling Crack in El Barrio by Philippe BourgoisRecommended Viewing:
American Drug War: The Last White Hope (2007)
Happy Valley (2008) 

First Blog Post

Your first Blog post (optional but encouraged) is due Thursday January 20th. 
Here are a few prompts to get you started, and a guide for posts…

Prompts:
1. The Sociological Perspective. Discuss the difference between “common sense” and the sociological perspective. Choose a “common sense” assumption and suggest a way to “test” that assumption. 
2. Personal Trouble vs. Public Issue. Find a news article of an event and classify it as “personal trouble” or a “public issue”; back up your claims with available statistics if possible. 
3. Sociological factors. Explain the difference between individual and structural factors. Choose an example of a social phenomena and cite the individual and structural influences on that behavior. 
4. Culture. Choose a concept that is a component of culture. Cite examples from our culture (this can be U.S., Utah, your home country) and a different one. 
5. Theories. Choose a theoretical perspective and discuss what “parts” of society a sociologist from that perspective would examine. 

Guide for Blog Posts:
1. Choose a theory, concept or idea that we have discussed in class, or that closely relates to class material. 
2. Select an example to illustrate the concept, or support/refute the theory. This may be a research article, video, song, news piece, book, personal experience, local story, interview, etc. 
3. Provide at least one “discussion question” to provoke classmate’s responses

Rubric for Blog Posts:
1. Mentions a relevant theory, concept or idea
2. Gives a coherent explanation/example that shows comprehension of chosen topic
3. Free of major grammatical errors and offensive remarks

Sociology: How Can Human Behavior be Understood?

Sociology is the study of human behavior and societal structure. The sociological perspective, or what C. W. Mills refers to as the “sociological imagination”, is essentially a way of viewing the world. When you use the sociological imagination, you no longer see individual people behaving according to their personality, experiences and chemical make up. Instead, you see the social contexts that influence the person’s behavior. The norms, culture, and institutions of a society can affect a human’s behavior. The social location of a person—the groups they belong to, the time and place they live—also exert influences on humans.

Is there a method to the madness of human behavior? Do humans act in a rational way, based on given criteria? Can we “figure out” humans, run statistical models, and predict social events in the way we can predict scientific phenomena? To ponder this question, I watched the award winning music video for “Human Behavior” preformed by Bjork.  Inspired by the tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and directed by Michel Gondry, Bjork answers my question:

“If you ever get close to a human…and human behavior…be ready be ready to get confused….

…there’s definitely definitely no logic.”

Darn! So how are we supposed to study something without any logic to it?

Herbert Spencer and other “positivists” of the time, would have begged to differ. His idea of social Darwinism suggested there was a definite logic to human behavior: as societies experience natural evolution, the most able individuals survive, and the least able die out. Ergo—society improves over time.

Unfortunately most sociology texts will note that Spencer’s ideas have been discredited, so we’re back to square one with Bjork:

“There’s no map…and a compass wouldn’t help at all”

Here’s where I’d argue with her—social theories provide our “compass” as a guide to studying human behavior. As for the map—we have a lot of uncharted territory but the map is ours to make.

The music video looks at human behavior from the perspective of non-human animals. Many sociologists have encouraged students to “examine human behavior as if you were an alien”. This perspective suggests we attempt to shrug off our personal opinions and assumptions and shift the focus to how social structure influences our behavior.

 This week we will delve into the very sociological frameworks that will help us make sense of it all and begin to watch human behavior using the sociological imagination.

After all…

“to get involved in the exchange ....is ever so satisfying…so irresistible”

And that’s human behavior!