Chapter 13: Families and Religion

I chose to look into this chapter and to focus most specifically on religion. Personally, I have always been a very religious person, and have found that religion and faith have kept me grounded, made me the woman I am today and help me to be a better person because of those beliefs.

According to our text it states that "sociologists define religion as an institutionalized system of symbols, beliefs, values, and practices by which a group of people, interprets and responds to what they feel is sacred and that provides answers to questions of ultimate meaning." (Andersen & Taylor, 2011) In order for sociologists to study religion they first must define religion as we have just seen.

According to www.gallup.com, "more than 9 in 10 Americans still say 'yes' when asked the basic question, 'do you believe in God?', this is down slightly from the 1940's when Gallup first asked this question." (2011)

"Large, national religious organizations, such as the mainline Protestant denominations, have lost many members, whereas smaller, local congregations have increased membership." (Andersen & Taylor, 2011)

Although there are four parts to this video, I thought this was a good overview of a Christian view of the body. Society has told us how to eat, how to look, how to think or not to think. Some of us who are religious know that no matter what we look like, how we dress, how much money we have or don't have: God loves us no matter what.

"Durkheim believed that the cohesiveness of society depends on the organization of its belief system. Societies with a unified belief system are highly cohesive; those with a more diffuse or competing belief system are less cohesive." (Andersen & Taylor, 335). Weber argued that "the Protestant faith supported the development of capitalism in the Western world." (335) Karl Marx went on to argue that "religion was a tool for class oppression." (336) Marx saw religion as a form of "false consciousness" thus preventing people from rising up against oppression.

I feel that most people are "religious" not necessarily "christian"; even spiritual. According to Catholic Encyclopedia, Christianity is defined as, "Christianity is the name given to that definite system of religious belief and practice which was taught by Jesus Christ in the country of Palestine, during the reign of the Roman Emperor, Tiberius, and was promulgated, after its Founder's death, for the acceptance of the whole world, by certain chosen men among His followers." (www.newadvent.org, n.d.) It's interesting that 9 in 10 Americans believe in God. According to Wikipedia, "Religions by Country" most of the world's population is Christian; second in line is Islam; then Buddhism; and finally Hinduism. I don't want to come across as "Christianity is the only way", that's not how I feel at all. I find it interesting, that most of the world believes in a higher power; something bigger than ourselves. In a way we are the same but in another way we are totally different.

"Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be." Grandma Moses.
"Yesterday is History, Tomorrow a Mystery, Today is a Gift, That's why it's called the Present."

Live as though you'll be gone tomorrow, use the good china, kiss the one's you love, let them know you love them, have no regrets.

Chapter 11: Gender

I chose this chapter because I feel that domestic violence is such a specific type of abuse and that it can happen to anyone: gender, race, socioeconmics, religion, class, and so on. Watching the video, "Telling Amy's Story" really made me realize that life is fragile, short and to so many of these victims: scary. I cannot imagine the pain these victims go through every minute of everyday. Not only does the subject of domestic abuse interest me but the psychology behind both the victim and the perpertature. The victim is basically brainwashed and feels that this person who is conducting the abuse loves them and if they leave they won't love them anymore. "If I leave this person that I love will leave me; hurt me; either way I lose." On the other hand, how can the person performing the abuse think that it's okay to do this. For this critical insight blog I will just be focusing on the victim not the abuser.
According to domesticviolencestatistics.org, "every 9 seconds in the US a woman is assulted or beaten; nearly 1 in 5 teenage girls who have been in a relationship said a boyfriend threatened violence or self-harm if presented with a breakup" The two most staggering statistics to me were, "Based on reports from 10 countries, between 55 percent and 95 percent of women who had been physically abused by their parents had never contacted non-governmental organizations, shelters, or the police for help; and men who as children witnessed their parents' domestic violent were twice as liekely to abuse their own wives than sons of nonviolent parents." (2011)

In our text it states that The National Violence Against Women Office estimates that 25 percent of women will be raped, physically assaulted, or stalked by an intimate partner in their lifetime (Andersen & Taylor 2011, 327) When I read that I was shocked: 25 percent! That means if you are to get together with some girlfriends for coffee (say 4 of you) one of those friends has been in a physically violent relationship. I went on to read that "violence is usally accompanied by emotionally abusive and controlling behavior. Jealous and dominating partners are the most likely perpetarators of domestice violence." (Tjaden and Thoennes 2000; West 1998; Renzetti 1992)

In looking at some statistics from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, they have noted that "children who witness violence between one's parents of caretakers is the strongest risk factor of transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next." (Break the Cycle. (2006). Startling Statistics. http://www.breakthecycle.org/html%20files/I_4a_startstatis.htm) I can see that violent behavior pooring over to those poor children. They don't know any different and are therefore already thinking that this is how you treat someone you "love". According to a website about children and domestic violence, a study done in Michigan of" low-income preschoolers find that children who have been exposed to family violence suffer symptoms of post-tramatic stess disorder, such as bed-wetting or nightmares, and are at greater risk than their peers of having allergies, asthma, gastrointestinal problems, headaches and flu" (Graham-Bermann, SA, and Seng, J. 2005. Violence Exposure and Traumatic Stress Symptoms as Additional Predictors of Health Problems in High-Risk Children. Journal of Pediatrics. 146(3):309-10). These studies that have been done prove time and time again that violence does affect children and their whole life.

After researching this issue and talking with some other women about this issue, I feel that my job as a person in society is to say something. Whether that would be in this blog or to a woman in a grocery store, I feel that is my obligation to other women in my community. If you feel you you are in danger and you need help, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE. You are not alone!

One last thing to leae you with: "The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble." Psalms 9:9 He knows your pains, He knows your cries, seek Him and you will never be alone.

Chapter 7: Deviance

I chose this chapter on deviance because of the topic of "elite crime". We obviously live in a world where crime happens everyday and most of those people who commit those crimes get punished. However, why is it that when white, upper class, men commit crimes, they are able to get away? While reading the chapter on deviance I was particularly upset to find out that a one Mr. Bernard Madoff, conducted one of the biggest and most famous Ponzi scheme of all time. Because of his stupidity, some of his clients took their lives because they simply could not digest that they had lost all of their assets, including his own son.

An article I found interesting was in the New York Times. This link will take you to that article. One of the statements that the author wrote that struck me about Mr. Madoff was in regards to who really was Bernard Madoff, since he was so two-faced, "An easy answer is that Mr. Madoff was a charlatan of epic proportions, a greedy manipulator so hungry to accumulate wealth that he did not care whom he hurt to get what he wanted." (Creswell, 2009) This just hits the nail on the head for Bernard Madoff. He was so hungry for money, he hurt so many families in the process. And for what? Now he sits in jail for 150 years, owing his debt to society. In this same article Creswell goes on to talk about his employees, "Some employees are said to have given Mr. Madoff a large portion of their life savings - all of which now appears to be gone" (2009).

The most sick side of Mr. Madoff was his mind, "some forensic psychologists see some similarities between him and serial killers like Ted Bundy. They say that wheras Mr. Bundy murdered people, Mr. Madoff murdered wallets, bank account and people's sens of finiancial trust and security." (Creswell, 2009)

After watching this video, this is why I am so irrate and I can only imagine what the people who are most affected are feeling. This video, from ABC's 20/20, Brian Ross states, "while Mr. Madoff sits in his cozy Manahattan home, others that he took from have already had to sell their homes." How awful for those people! I find it bizarre as well, that not everyone in his family had no idea. One gentleman that Brian Ross interviewed said that it is just like an airplane pilot: "I am a passenger on an airplane, well no your not you are a passenger but you have a responsibility as well." (2009). In the second part of this video from 20/20, they interview very wealthy people who put their investments in with Bernard Madoff, they trusted him, they liked him. Many of his clients were friends of his from the Palm Beach area. After he was arrested, his Palm Beach home was vandalized. Since Mr. Madoff was Jewish, many of his clients were Jewish, and most of his clients had to be Jewish for Madoff to invest with him. On part three on this series on 20/20, they talk about how Ruth Madoff, Bernard's wife, wants money that she claims is her money and confesses she knows nothing about his scheme.

Even now people are starting to write books about how they lost everything. One of Bernard Madoff's sons, Mark, attempted to kill himself on the second anniversary of his father's arrest. His wife took their daughter to Disneyland to try to escape the nightmare they were living in, when she came home she was now a widow. She wrote a book, "The End of Normal: A Wife's Anguish, A Widow's New Life" by Stephanie Madoff. This website talks about that.

Another website, short and sweet, talks about what his company name was, when he began his career and when it ended. It states that he "plead guility to 11 felony counts on March 12,2009 and was sentenced on June 29, 2009, to the maximum sentence of 150 years behind bars." (The Wall Street Journal, n.d)

One of my favorite quotes was from the first video from ABC's 20/20: "He's at home, not in jail, in his multi-million dollar Manhattan apartment, in his designer decorated den. To the outrage of his victims who are on the verge of foreclosure, ruin and possibly suicide. Some of them have already have had to foreclose , while Mr. Madoff lives under luxury house arrest." (2009)

A quote that makes me think about this whole matter is from a song by Smashmouth: "Your brain gets smart, but your head gets dumb." Bernie Madoff is not a stupid man, but he is. He was dumb enough to do something that took advantage of people he cared about, he got caught because he was dumb and now he will be paying for it. People like Bernie Madoff are very smart, meticlous, obessive complusive people, if only he took that energy and used it to benefit others and not himself, he chose the opposite. Who can we trust?

References

Works Cited

Blog #1: Deviance

Picture of Bernard Madoff Retrieved from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/BernardMadoff.jpg

Julie Creswell and Landon Thomas Jr. (January 24, 2009) "The Talented Mr. Madoff" New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/business/25bernie.html?pagewanted=all

Brian Ross ABC News: Bernie Madoff Investigation part 1. ( 2009, February 22). [Video]Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLXmmnM0-to

Blog #2: Gender

"Amy's Story" Penn State College [Video] http://telling.psu.edu/

Domestic Statistics (n.d.) Domestic Violence Statistics. Retrieved from http://domesticviolencestatistics.org/domestic-violence-statistics/

Andersen, Margaret L.. and Taylor, Howard F. (2011). Sociology: The Essentials( 6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ncadv.org/files/DomesticViolenceFactSheet(National).pdf

Futures Without Violence. The Facts on Children and Domestic Violence. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.futureswithoutviolence.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/Children.pdf .

Blog #3: Religion

Andersen, Margaret L., and Taylor, Howard F. (2011). Sociology: The Essentials. (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Gallup.com (2011) More Than 9 in 10 Americans Continue to Believe in God. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/147887/Americans-Continue-Believe-God.aspx

Theology of the Body. Christopher West. (2010. November 30). [Video]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0-wXODqTsU

Catholic Encyclopedia: Christianity (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03712a.htm.

List of Religious Populations. (2011, 27, November). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_religious_populations

Emerging Issues

Some emerging issues in society as studied in sociology for elite crime are that people who have money or are in power will abuse that power for the benefit of themselves. This isn't to say they won't get caught, only to benefit themselves in the short term. Some emerging issues in society for domestic abuse would be that evil cycle that never is broken. Growing up in a house that is abusive, the child will no doubt grow up to be an abuser. Another issues in society would be religion or faith. Durkheim believed that the cohesiveness of society depends on the organization of its belief system. Societies with a unified belief system are highly cohesive; those with more diffuse or competing belief system are less cohesive.

Out of all three of these issues the one that makes me the most nervous is the elite crime. Although Bernard Madoff got caught, who knows how many others have tried or will try something similar to what he did. Our nation has suffered a lot through this recession, but it's a domino effect: our recession is the world's recession. Then people like Bernard Madoff come along and make matters even worse for some of the nation's citizens. This globalization of crime is nothing new, sadly, and I don't think it will be going away anytime soon. The picture above is of my boys and I, I wish the world for them, for them to be happy and to never lose their spark. Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you this semester, it has been awesome!

Welcome!!

Hello and welcome to my critical insight blog. This picture above is my whole life: the reason I live, my whole reason for being, and the reason why I am so exhausted. They are the light of my life and I would do anything for them. They bring me up when I am down, support me when I need it most and make me laugh all day long.

Some of my interests are vandal football, Notre Dame football, making cards, scrap booking. I absolutely love coffee, a good glass of wine on occasion, and being with my family.

The reason I am taking this class is because I've always been interested in people, how they interact with one another and why people do what they do within groups. Since I am a mother, it's good to shed some light on the way we operate as a society so that I can be better educated and thus making my kids more aware.

One of my favorite quotes is from a song by Chris Tomlin: "If our God is for us, then who could ever stop us, and if our God is with us, then what can stand against us". When my husband and I first found out we were pregnant with our third child, we were both a little nervous since we were undecided in having a third child. A few days went by and I was still very leary, I heard this song on the radio. No matter life's circumstances, God will always be on our side. To go along those lines, another bible verse that I came across was this: "God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it." (1 Cor 10:13) (God will never give you more than you can handle) I am a firm believer in this now! Thank you for visiting my blog, come back soon, ya here?!