Blog Assignment 3

Ghadir Abdulaziz

Professor Gager      

FCST 200

27 September, 2012

Blog Assignment 3

            Many people say that Arabs are known as whites or Asians. I think I’ve classified myself as being white for the past couple of years now since I never knew what we really were. Last semester, in my Sociology class I believe we mentioned that Arabs are classified as Asians.  I was born here in New Jersey in St. Joseph’s Hospital in South Paterson.  I was also raised here which makes me an Arab- American. An Arab American is a United States citizen or resident of Arab ethnic, cultural, heritage or identity, who identifies themselves as Arab. My parents were born overseas in Palestine in a small beautiful village called Tormusaya. As for my grandparents, all four were born in Tormusaya too.  My grandparents were all good friends which led my parents to get married.

 For me it doesn’t matter what race I am. I can be white, Asian or any other race and don’t care honestly.  When it comes to ethnicity, that’s what’s really important to me because I feel like not too any people take it seriously. When someone asks me “where are you from, how does it feel to be have that wrapped over your head all day, do they push you to wear that?” First of all, it’s called hijab and no we don’t live back in the days where people were forced to do things. I tell them I’m and Arab-American and they go right ahead and say “oh I thought you were born there and came here to better yourself”. I just look at people and laugh honestly because they don’t know what’s going on. They have the opportunity to get to learn about things but jump in and assume things. So ethnicity is a big thing for me.

Sociologically thinking, I think the children choose the dolls that they do because the society they grew up in and the knowledge they know from the past. Fifteen out of the twenty one children chose the white doll. What I think is a social factor that influences the children’s doll choice is maybe they always see white dolls when they go to toy stores. Maybe they hardly ever see any dark colored dolls. For instance, when they play in school they might always see that white doll with blue eyes. Also, I don’t think racism would be the issue. Companies should try making more dolls that are darker skin so people can actually see that there are not only white dolls out there.

           

Blog Post Assignment 2

Ghadir Abdulaiz

 Professor Gager

 FCST 200

 Assignment 2

1. According to the functionalist theory, the definition of the "instrumental leader" is one person who led the group discussion about how to accomplish the task they had been assigned.  The definition for "expressive leader" is a person who kept up the group's spirit with warm, supportive remarks and jokes. The family roles that were connected to each of these leader definitions were since family was a small group, it was functional for one adult member to specialize in instrumental leadership and for the other to specialize in expressive leadership. The husband was the instrumental leader because his labor provided the financial support for the family. The stay-at-home wife was the expressive leader because she provided emotional support to the husband and children.

2.  The main demographic that changed during the 1960s and 1970s was that married women poured into the work-force in the 1960s and 1970s, the breadwinner-homemaker family lost its dominant position. most of the writing about the family in those years was devoted to refusing Parsons implicit conclusion that this change in the family was for the worse.

3. In contrast to functionalist theorists, what I think the main theme of conflict theory is when studying the family, they see men stronger than women. They think men should be the man of the household. "Conflicts theorists have a much less favorable view of the 1950s family than did Parsons because of what they see as women's domination by men, due, in large part, to women's lack of economic resources."

 4. Social exchange theory is based on ideas from dependency. What exchange theorists say about husbands bargaining power versus that of wives is husbands are in a stronger bargaining position when they are the sole earners in their families because their wives have fewer alternative sources if income. So if the wife earns more money on her own, her dependence decreases and so the husbands power over them decreases also.

5. Gender/ Feminist theory has an important insight. It awares us that the experience of living in a family is different for women than it is for men. Women's interests in the family are not necessarily the same as men's interests. You have to view families through a prism that separates the experience of men and women rather than just considering what’s best for the family as a whole.

6. I think the power of wives versus husbands in families is changing especially in this era. It’s the years 2012 and I do not think nothing has stayed the same since the 1960s. In today’s society, the wife with kids is hardly ever a stay at home mom. Both wife and husband usually work. The kids are either in school during the day or being babysat. The husbands are always working. 

assignment 1: create your blog

Ghadir Abdulaziz

Professor Connie Gager

FCST200_03

8 September 2012

                My name is Ghadir Abdulaziz. I am a 19 year old Muslim American from Palestine. I was born and raised here in New Jersey. I have many big goals and dreams that I want to achieve in life. I love my family and friends. I love to shop and explore new things. I am an outgoing girl. Many people look at me in a weird way since I wear the hijab but when they get to know me they find me interesting by the things I tell them about my religion which is Islam. I love to travel. Unfortunately, I’ve been to only three places out of the states which are Canada, Jordan and my lovely homeland Palestine. I am currently a Family and Child Studies major with a concentration of Child Life Specialist. I think this major is just right for me because I love children and I know helping children and their families overcome life’s most challenging events will be a blessing for me. After four years of getting my Bachelor’s degree I want to further my education and become more knowledgeable in children’s lives. I of course would love to get married soon. Many people would want a rich person as a spouse but I truly would not want a rich person. Money does not buy happiness or love. My parents got married at a young age and I see their romance still going strong till this day. I have four sisters and two brothers and they raised us to be smart, intelligent kids. We love to have big picnics with the whole family, and one of the funniest things that ever happened to me was at a picnic at the park. I was playing basketball with a group of people that I actually didn’t know. So they asked me “do you know how to play?” and I was like “uhh yeah, I use to be in girl scouts”. So, they turned the ball to me and I was thinking “oh I got his” and all of a sudden after I jump to make a basket I fall flat on face and they started laughing at me. It was so embarrassing!

One topic that interests me is the Family Trend project assignment. I think it would be great to do research on families and analyzing family trend data. Another topic that also interested me is the Part 2: Diversity and Families. I do not know exactly what it will be about but I want to learn about the diversity in families, how it’s ok to take someone out of your religion, race, ethnicity or there social class. Lately, I’ve been seeing that and I think that it is great to see people not think they use to a few years ago. I think wikis is an awesome idea. It was really confusing at first but when I kept on going back and playing with it, I realized that it’s actually fun and exciting. Before I watched the video, I didn’t know how to use it. It taught me that you can just cut and paste your assignment in the edit box and it will put it in document form. Also, when working in a group, members can go back and edit anytime they want. Overall, I think I’ll get the hang of it and I’m looking forward to this semester.