Gender

In our last class we talked about gender.  Gender is defined as how you associate yourself with being male or female.  It has two primary aspects, identity and performance.  Gender identity is based on individual self concept of their sex role.  The performance side of gender is based on perception.  Your gender identity is not tied to a person’s sex and can result in transgenderism, where gender performance is often a mix between masculine and feminine performances.  After we learned the difference between gender identity and gender performances, we were asked as a class if we were competitive.  Many of my classmates raised their hands, including girls.  We were told by our teacher that being competitive is a masculine trait.  It is common for females to have masculine traits and males to have feminine traits.  The difference is that we have these traits only for certain things such as competitiveness.   I found the gender learning in this class to be not only interesting, but familiar to me because I have learned about this in one of my other psychology classes.  Since I am working on getting my major in psychology, this is important for me to understand gender identity and performance.  I want to work with children so I definitely want to learn more about them.

Veronica Mars

In our last class we watched an episode of Veronica Mars.  We were able to take notes on certain items from the movie that seemed important such as race, class, and gender.  There were a few examples that stuck out to all of us.  When we went into our groups to compare what we had written down, my group had a lot of the same ideas about what we had watched.  We all talked about the school situation where Veronica said, “If you go there you’re a millionaire or your parents work for millionaires.” This was the first episode that I had ever watched of Veronica Mars, but it was easy to see the type of society of which she was a part.  It took no time to figure out that she was a member of the lower class.  It showed how Veronica tried to fit into the popular crowd by attending parties, but she learned that she should not try to push her way in since she was not popular.  Veronica went to another party, only to have “roofies” put in her drink, and then was raped.  I guess this was the popular group’s way of telling her that she wasn’t welcome in their group. Veronica moved on with her life by helping her father investigate.  Veronica was well known by her teachers and fellow students for trouble always following her.  I thought that watching Veronica Mars was another great way for our class to compare and think about what social class really means.

Upper Class, Middle Class, and Lower Class -- Which one are you?

In our class we have been discussing the three different social classes:  upper class, middle class, and lower class, plus defining the characteristics of each class.  In the upper class, people are secretive and concerned about legacies—preserving things from the past for the future.  In the middle social class, the members like to strive for the future.  Lower class members focus on survival and are not able to do much planning for the future.  To help everyone have a better understanding about the three social classes and their stereotypes, we did an activity within our groups.  I was in the middle class group.  We each had the opportunity to say what things from everyday life that would remind us of these social groups.  I was not surprised to see what people wrote.  It makes me sad to think we use words to define people.  Just because someone is in a certain class does not make them better or less than others who may be in a different social class.  I believe everyone is an individual and are deserving of the same rights as others.  But with the way our society is today, I do not think that will ever happen because we’re all judged by what we have and how we were able to get it.  Even though people try to prove themselves to others, who are we to judge?  We really do not know the actual circumstances or situations of others.  As we know, sometimes things are not really as they seem.  Also, I do not feel as if I am better than anyone else, but I do know that I am a hardworking individual with lots of goals for my life.  I think people need to be who they are and not strive to be something they are not! 

Social Class

The business dictionary defines social class as the status hierarchy in which individuals and groups are classified on the basis of esteem and prestige, acquired mainly through economic success and accumulation of wealth.  The four most common classes are upper class, middle class, working class, and lower class.  Class is composed of three elements: property, prestige, and power.  Property is what you own and how you get it.  Prestige is the level of respect you have within your community.  Power is the control that you have over others.  When there’s a combination of all three of these things, there is guaranteed to be a social class.  Most of us started out learning about social class through high school and a lot of it was learned the hard way.  If you didn’t have a lot of money or play a sport, you weren’t the most popular or even in the popular crowd.  This can have an effect on kids.  Some people will be friends when they are younger and then as they get older they start to “lose touch” because one becomes more successful than the other.  It can be a hard adjustment for the person who doesn’t have the social status.  I dealt with this with my transition through grade school to middle school.  My best friend, Cassie, and I were what you would call “attached at the hip” and when we went to middle school, she continued cheering and I didn’t.  I was left out because she always hung out with cheerleaders.  Being upset over losing my best friend, I approached my mom about the matter and she told me to make a list of the most popular girls and we would put away until I graduated.  On graduation day, we pulled out the list and I realized I was friends with every one of those girls.  I’ve learned not to judge people and just because you think someone is better than you, it doesn’t mean they really are.