soc 101 1

1. I found the topic of of employment interesting in many ways as it pertains to problems in the work place. The very first topic that came to mind would be employment in the country of China. There have been many articles recently written about how the mass working populous is not happy in China. we all understand and can watch documentaries on sweat shops and how it is bad to buy things from walmart, but the people who are mad are the educated, well lived, working class who believe that they are worth much more in the economical market. We live in a world that is ever so conected by media, and the web that anyone can see exactly how much is being profited for such things as an iphone, or kindle. The Value that is placed upon these items world wide and the for the amount that is being paid to make such items has the Chinese government concerned. The working class has often threatened to uprise against the Government knowing that it would cause a huge financial concern for the whole country if not others involved in the trade of those such products. This workplace event would be a large working population problem.

       I thought about how the situation that was mentioned in the lecture about a place like Boeing and the one worker that had some social concerns. I thought about that situation, and it was very interesting to me how a place that is notorious for layoffs, when one person that is in a specified job gets let go, how it could affect the work of the rest of that shop or specified area. then it hit me. Those jobs are union! I would think that there would be shop stewarts that would be available in that case where it would be readily available information if that shop or group of workers is going to have a lay off or start the process of downsizing. It would protect the morale of the workplace and continue with great spirited workforce. One person that drinks too much would definitly be an isolated incident and it would not cause a large working area problem.

     An interesting thought came to me while reading the first chapter of The real world. I thought about my own place of employment and how something that Mills stated could cause both a isolated problem and cause a problem for the mass employment as well. It states on pg 13 ch. 1 ” We can discover radically different ways of experiencing life and interpreting reality. How this was interesting to me is I have always thought that my work environment always had a way of changing my own interpretation of what reality is. I work in prison. I am a Correctional Officer, and I see things that are very different from what a person that works for Union Pacific or say Macys, might see. I see the continuance of bad every single day. I try to enforce and adjust the good every single day, although its a daily battle. Now I thought about how a single person that delt with the same issues as myself day after day could cause a problem for my workplace and remain an isolated work problem. I could not find that it would exist. Every event that takes place in my workplace has a security risk tied to it, and every single person that is or around those events during or aftermath can be affected drasticly. I would see the same thing in such working environments as a firefighter, or police as well. 

     In finding a result to how workplace problems can be changed whether isolated or by group is almost always found in training and by the employer asking for options by the employee. I took a tour one time of Google. They have one of the happiest workplaces known to the planet. Not because they just pay well, or they have great benefit programs, its because they care about what the employee wants! they try to accomidate the employee to the best of what the company can do, because when the employee is happy a company does well!

 

2. A topic I chose and have a sense of passion for is the gun control and how they are trying to somewhat take away our right to bare arms. Our second amendment is being stripped away and I feel this is not appropriate. This will affect people personally by not being able to protect their families or just have that sense is security. People should not be so naive to think that banning guns will decrease killings. In a sense guns kill people but it is the person behind the trigger that actually makes the decision. By banning guns or even controlling the type one can possess doesn’t fully ensure safety on the society. To me I feel as though the people that kill either have a grudge or mental illness and they will find another way WTO murder or cause havoc on society without guns. The question I present is what’s next? Taking away a long standing amendment that our four father put in place, so what right of freedom will the leadership role of the nation take away next? Gun control has a huge effect on society alas a whole and individuals personally.

 

3. The issue I chose was scholarships. In WA state there are hundreds of scholarships and financial aid given to students each year to continue their education. there are many standards and guidelines as to whether someone will receive financial aid or scholarships from state assistance or through private companies/organizations. What personal troubles or social issues are in an individual being given assistance in their education? We’ll take a student, we’ll call him Patrick. Patrick is a full time student and part time worker delivering pizza. Patrick applies for financial aid and is denied, but not everyone who applies for financial aid is denied. Patrick may be a bad student, playing video games and seeing his friends rather then studying and getting better grades. This would be personal troubles, maybe Patrick needs to prioritize his troubles and try harder. He then might be able to get financial aid. However, maybe Patrick had a bad past. Maybe when he was younger he made a few mistakes and now he has a felony on his record. Even though it’s been many, many years since it happened and he hasn’t made a mistake since then he is still unable to get college assistance. I find this to be a social issue because even though people make mistakes they are rarely given a second chance in this case. College assistance and even loans are extremely hard if not impossible to get. This makes it difficult for someone with a felony to receive a higher education. This is also because it is harder to get a decent paying job to pay for college when you have a felony. Since Patrick can’t get state assistance he might not try hard as he could in his classes because he’s so busy working extra hours at a low paying job to pay for those classes that he doesn’t have much time or energy to study. Patrick might not even take classes at all because he feels that he doesn’t have the time or money to go to college. This is what I believe is social issues leading to personal troubles. I feel that there should be more options for felons to obtain higher levels of education trough scholarships and financial aid so they can better themselves. Of course I know that not everyone deserves a second chance, but those who have only committed one offense should be given the option to receive a better education if they want. They should be given the option just like everyone else. Just because you made a mistake in the past doesn’t mean you should be denied your future.

 

 

give a paragraph reply to each these answer!