Last Class W3PR

PEER RESPONSES: WEEK 3 - DISCUSSION 1 4

Distinguished - Contributes to classroom conversations with at least the minimum number of replies, all of which were thoughtful, relevant, and contributed meaningfully to the conversation. Fully engages in the conversation with appropriate topic-based responses.

Proficient - Contributes to classroom conversations with the minimum number of replies that are somewhat thoughtful, relevant, and contributed meaningfully to the conversation. Attempts to fully engage in the conversation with appropriate topic-based responses.

Peer Responses must be written as though you are speaking with the classmate, having a conversation that goes back and forth and expresses whether or not you agree or disagree with their point-of-view on the topic.

Week 3 - Discussion 1: Social Class

B Tribble: Peer # 1

Categorizing types of knowledge is a basic way to gauge social class by using a wide range of questions that mostly apply to one group. Gaining these types of knowledge is all based on how you were raised, who you work with, and other social interactions between people of your class. This knowledge is passed amongst people who share the same income. An example would be if I were to find the best restaurant in town within my budget I would ask someone who makes as much as I do. I believe all this is available to everyone but you don’t get the knowledge because of the example I gave.

            I had the most X marks next to the middle class. I had a couple of X marks next to the lower class and only one X mark next to the upper class. I was not surprised by the results as I have been functioning in the lower middle class my whole life. I do not have the access to the knowledge of the upper class due to my line of work and the economic status of my city.

            My conclusions to this would be that all this knowledge is accessible to people but why would they access it. In my situation, I would never go up to an upper-class person and ask about gardeners, maids or an interior designer as I could not afford that. Inequality sets people apart and drives a wedge between us. The wealth of knowledge is not shared most of the time between the classes and I believe this will keep the separation of classes intact.

W. Smallwood: Peer # 2

I would base the categorization of these types of knowledge based on their specific social class and how they were brought up. Individuals are equipped from the day they were born to fit in their specific social class. lower class individuals are taught how to get by and how to survive on the bare minimum knowing how to turn $100 into a meal for eight people for ten days if they have to and they learn this from experience and their elders. Middle class individuals are taught how to survive on what they are given but they aren't struggling to put food in their children's mouths it is a little easy to get by in the middle class and their knowledge can be accessed a little easier from libraries and other sources of knowledge. In the higher class, they are taught that they have everything that they could ever want so they will struggle with less important things they have the most access to sources of knowledge because they are given they are ever going to need or want. On the questionnaire i had the most marks in the middle class and least in the higher class, these results do not surprise me because at some point in my life we were struggling to get by so i do know how to survive with little, i transitioned to the middle class after a while so i had more "leg room" to navigate through life, I've never been considered in the higher class so i can not relate to the form of social class. I believe that the hidden knowledge isn't so hidden to those that are in that class, but it is for those that are looking from the outside in,those that are in the class, it is just the way they live but for example individuals in the higher class wouldn't feel comfortable being handed $100 and told survive off of this for a week and at the beginning of the next week you will be given another $100.

Week 3- Discussion 2-

T. Good: Peer # 1-

The functionalist perspective is based around everything in society having a purpose that when Social construction is the way in which society groups individuals and provides certain privileges for one group over another. Most people are unaware of social construction, as much of it takes place subconsciously. Points of differentiation in social construction include race, class and gender. An example of social construction is how people are identified as belonging to a specific race; they do not choose their race. Social construction begins from the moment a baby is born. Once a baby comes into the world, his gender is determined, and the gender process of social construction has begun. As that baby grows up to become a child and then later an adult, he is treated based on his gender.

I found “A Girl Like Me” to be the most interesting. These young girls who are beautiful in their own way, feel that you have to look a certain way to be beautiful! That you need blonde hair and blue eyes. These girls are a victim of social construction because they’re grouped by the color of their skin. They’re grouped with a label that says African Americans aren’t as beautiful as Caucasians. A lot of the kids who were part of the experiment chose the white baby doll and said the African American doll was bad because it was black. Unfortunately, this type of social construction is new. It’s been in the world for hundreds of years and it will be around until the end of time.

MT Remonte :Peer # 2-

What is social construction?

The term social construction can be defined as, “social construction of knowledge as a function of interaction, which is understood as reciprocal cognitive influence among individuals. (Gunawardena, Flor, Gómez, & Sánchez, 2016).” This definition can also lead to numerous shared assumptions or notions amongst ideas of what is or what is not acceptable to be in society and in reality.

Which example from the resources provided did you find most compelling in building your knowledge of social construction? Describe it and explain why you found it most useful.

The resource, “A Girl Like Me” I found most compelling in building my knowledge of social construction because it interviews young African American girls who are all going through an identity search of learning more about their heritage and who they are. Some feel lost because they are yet to learn about who they are but society seems to implement standards and ideas of who these young children are supposed to look like. An example in the video when she stated, “um you know you're pretty you're prettier if you're light-skinned”. This young lady is an African girl and yes she is darker then her siblings and mother and she even considered to start bleaching her skin as a form of beauty so she can lighter like everyone but her mother should be more supportive instead of changing her thoughts and telling her child to stop. I found this example most useful because it is a good example of defining social construction because the mother who is telling the African girl to stop doing that to her hair shows her beliefs and changes her thoughts on what she thinks of her hair later on because an assumption from the mother that her daughter will not be accepted in society if she does anything to change her hair or other things to herself so she tells her to stop it. Children look up to their parents and to have a parent who puts you down and doesn’t support you in everything you want to be can be destructive to a child’s well being because it will just lower their self-esteem, feel depressed, unaccepted and have thoughts of feeling ugly inside no one will accept them for who they are. Parents should be the first role models to protect and support whoever their children want to be because it is important the child knows that being who you are and not following the standards or social norms is okay because you are your own person and by creating that foundation with yourself with a good support system you can be who you want to be. But I do understand the culture part of this because some cultures are strict with following their standards of what they are supposed to look like and children have to follow them.

~Maria Thea

Reference:

Gunawardena, C. N., Flor, N. V., Gómez, D., & Sánchez, D. (2016). ANALYZING SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE ONLINE BY EMPLOYING INTERACTION ANALYSIS, LEARNING ANALYTICS, AND SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS. Quarterly Review Of Distance Education, 17(3), 35-60. Retrieved from: http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=4&sid=0369815d-e406-4e22-81d3-4f89428d20ca%40sessionmgr103&hid=117