Lost Boys of Sudan

This week we watched Lost Boys of Sudan, which is a documentary about two Sudanese refugees on a mission to negotiate with people in America to help put an end to the pour conditions and violence that’s occurring in Africa, and learn how to adapt to a whole new culture. The way people go about life in Africa is so much different than it is here, and it was neat seeing Peter and Santino come to America and familiarize themselves to a whole new way of living.

In my opinion, I feel people in America take the resources we have available to us for granted sometimes since we've grown up in a country where it’s always been there for us and we don’t really know how else to live. When the boys first pictured how their life would be like living in America, they imagined it to be easy and they would be able to get whatever they wanted when they wanted it, but what they discovered was that living in America was just as hard as it was living back in Africa. Peter and Santino were able to do things they’ve only dreamt about doing like getting an education, eating as much food as they wanted, sleep in a bed, live in a house with a roof over their heads, and make money, but learned pretty fast that just because they have access to those things doesn’t mean it isn’t a struggle to survive. All the money they would make from working would go towards all the things that they used to think was just “handed” to them. Even though it was challenging for the boys to get use too the American culture, they never took anything for granted, they worked their butts off, and they appreciated being an American citizen more than anything, no matter what the situation may be.

Watching Lost Boys of Sudan, I noticed how the boys would do as much as they could to seem like a normal U.S. citizen and to try and fit in since people would instantly judge them from the color of their skin.  This documentary shows many ways how Santino and Peter did as much as they could to seem like a normal American teenager by going to school and getting an education, going to work to make money, driving a car, making friends, playing sports, etc. One of the major things I saw the boys change to fit in more was stopping the way they would interact with one another because if they touched a “man” in America like they would back in Africa, people would think that they’re homosexuals.

When Peter was talking on the phone with his sister, I noticed how pressured he felt when she asked him to send money to his family back in Africa because whatever money he would make went straight to the things he needs to survive. After seeing Peter and Santino realize that nothing was handed to them like they originally thought, made me think that people in Africa must assume that we can get money whenever we want because all they hear is how great America is and how it’s the best country to live in.  

Freaks and Geeks

This week we focused our attention on a humans desire to understand the world around them through social sciences. One of the main topics we covered was the three sociological perspectives and how each one relates to everyday life.  Watching Freaks and Geeks in class allowed me to get a better understanding of what functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionism is and it was cool to see how well this show tied into what we are learning about in class.

 I learned that functionalism is like a structure of society that maintains order and does its job. In order for this sociological perspective to function properly, it has manifest function which is an intended consequence, latent function which is an unintended consequence, and a dysfunction which is a negative consequence. The show Freaks and Geeks does a good job presenting its manifest function by showing the importance of going to school and getting an education, the latent function which represented school dances and learning how to socialize, and the dysfunction by relating it to the bullying that occurs between the different social groups. Without having an intended consequences, an unintended consequences, and negative consequence, this sociological perspective wouldn’t function the way it should because there would be no rules or no boundaries for people to follow, no place for individuals to interact or get to know one another, and no consequences that anyone would have to face.

By dictionary definition, conflict is defined as a fight, battle, struggle, or controversy. This definition resembles how the sociological perspective of conflict theory is a social living contest of who can attain the most power and is a never ending battle between all members of society. Freaks and Geeks does an excellent job displaying this theory by showing how much power the parents have over Lindsay and her brother, how the councilor makes Lindsay work at the homecoming dance, how the upperclassmen have more power over the underclassmen in school, and how the social standing in school, such as the cheerleader bringing the boy his jacket, makes the boys friends instantly assume she’s in love with him and that he should ask her to the homecoming dance. The conflict perspective is going to be present and never ending in everyone’s lives no matter if they want it or not. If someone wants something, they’ll do what they want to get it and when other people who don’t have what they have, then they will do whatever they can to attain it.

In my opinion, symbolic interactionism is one of the easiest social perspectives to understand because it’s based on how people change their understandings about the meanings of things. For example, in Freaks and Geeks the gym teacher puts the freaks and geeks on one team, and the jocks and bullies on another. This type of interaction symbolizes how the coach views the meaning of a simple game of dodge ball as a game where it’s the popular group going head to head against the non-popular group. Everyone plays a role in social interactionism so what you wear, what you eat, who you hang out with, where you come from, and so on, is how people gain an understanding about who you are and if your someone they would want to interact with.