Shift Happens

I thought the video Shift Happens was interesting and pretty cool. It makes me excited for the future and amazed at how far technology has come in such a short amount of time. I think the world will adjust to all the changes that are coming in the future. There is always uncertainty with the unknown but the best advancements are made when you embrace the unknown. It will definitely be a challenge for the educational system to keep up with all the changes. The potential for new jobs not even known about yet are endless. There will be more untraditional jobs and the work experience needed by the future workforce will be very variable. I think this will make things more interesting and less mundane. The new ideas and inventions that will be developed to make life more globally interconnected and the changes in information processing and availability are improving lives today for the better. Technology sometimes takes away from the personal side of things - seeing someone in person is a lot better than on a video screen but that is better than nothing if it’s all you have. Globalization is a movement that won’t be stopped or slow down any time soon. As the video says: Shift Happens. We need to embrace change and the challenges it presents to not be left behind. Sometimes technology is good and sometimes it does not have the desired effect but you have to be excited about the possibilities and the applications because they are endless.

Urban/Suburban/Rural Life

After growing up in what sociologists consider the megalopolis, the “city of cities”, the area stretching between Boston and D.C., I always considered my area of the megalopolis much more rural.

Home to a pharmaceutical company and a major defense contractor, the cutbacks in manufacturing and changes in government spending have changed the requirements of the workforce from higher skilled technical and manual jobs to more service oriented jobs. Two separate gaming casinos within close proximity to each other were built. This huge growth of the service industry has caused a huge influx of Asian workers to the area. Some possibly just relocating from communities in New York or Massachusetts. With smaller cities located close by, hotels and new malls have also been built. More of the area is becoming urbanized. The small towns comprising this area were unequipped and have had a difficult time handling all the development that has drastically changed the area.

The area has been affected by general changes seen by sociologists in rural America, an increased population of retirees and a decrease in the numbers of young people due to limited sectors of business and job opportunities along with minimal cultural amenities. With a lot of land still available for new development and the rapid advancement of technology the possibilities of attracting and retaining new people and businesses to the area are endless.

Who wields the power?

Who wields the power? Special interest groups. From Freddie Mac trying to quash a regulatory bill that would have limited its operations to the health industry fighting against health care reform in the early 1990s to the pharmaceutical industry getting involved in medicare reform which extended prescription drug benefits, special interest groups attempt to influence government policy in their favor. In pluralist theories of democracy, individual citizens do not have a direct influence on the policy making process. Instead government policies are influenced by special interest groups. Pluralist theory also holds that while all interest groups have some affect on policy, no one group totally sways the direction of public policy. Special interest groups with more financial resources have more power and may be able to diminish the voices of other groups. Some interest groups such as the National Organization of Women strive to address inequalities. Others simply exacerbate current political divisions. Most do not limit their activities to simply influencing elected officials. They may also engage in public relations campaigns in an effort to manipulate public opinion against or in favor of specific legislation. They help elect candidates by providing funding which is another way to influence the outcomes of policy votes in Congress. In this way the government is not directly influenced by the people but reacts to pressures from and bargains with special interest groups, who wield the power.

Is Wal-Mart Good For America?

Wal-Mart is good for America. They have set a standard for businesses operating in the global economy. They are able to accurately interpret consumers needs and efficiently serve them. Wal-Mart is doing what any successful business should do - keeping their costs as low as possible, providing their customers with a value and still making a profit for their shareholders. The money consumers save at Wal-Mart can be spent else where and American consumers like shopping at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is competition for other businesses and an absence of competition can lead to higher prices, particularly in many smaller communities.

Today’s workers need to become more like portfolio workers, as defined in the text as, those with a number of different job skills and credentials, so they can compete in the changing economy and the changing job market. No longer can you learn a trade, get a job and stay with that company for your entire working career.

Wal-Mart has adapted well to a modern economy. They are operating according to post-Fordism practices which, according to the text, “include the replacement of highly bureaucratic, vertically organized business structures with more flexible, horizontally organized networked approaches; the transition from mass production to global outsourcing....” Those who adapt stay in business and those who don’t, don’t.

Division of Labor

There are considerable variations in families and the division of labor within the family. After doing this exercise, I fall somewhere in the middle of my friends. I knew this exercise would point out a huge disparity in the “division” of labor and was not surprised to see an X in just about all the columns under my name, whether shared with another or not. There were some things I would not have considered family chores such as keeping connected with family and friends. Though, that definitely would slip away if it wasn’t for the women planning events and get togethers. In my house, everyone likes to participate in the fun but nobody likes to do the leg work such as planning the vacation/trip, making the reservations, etc. I’m up on the day to day when it comes to friends, activities and school related issues. I relay a “Reader’s Digest” version of important events and the level of participation is determined by the issues. There are some aspects of family life where women are much more actively involved today such as access to and control over household finances including involvement in financial planning, managing the household budget, completing a large purchase, and handling household moves, etc. These can be viewed as having a more equal role in the family relationship. Though everything comes with some limitations because the majority of domestic duties still fall to women. This includes finding reliable child care when you’re at work or need to travel as well as changing schedules for a sick child. A favorite phrase in our house: Well, if you didn’t do it, I would.

Is our society secularizing?

Even though there is little consensus on how to measure secularization and how to define religion, our society is secularizing. According to the text, "Secularization is typically accompanied by a decrease in religious belief and involvement, and it results in a weakening of the social and political power of religious organizations." Three objectives can be used to evaluate secularization. 1) Membership levels in organizations. Almost all industrialized countries have seen a decline in religious membership. People are moving away from the well defined religious traditions and are making their spiritual practice more individualized and making life choices that are right for them. While one might identify with the religion of their parents, they are not "practicing" and not attending services on a regular basis. 2) Religious leaders have lost much of their social and political influence. This is seen in the financial insecurity faced by many religious organizations. They are no longer supported financially as they have been in the past. Also, people are consciously choosing to "disobey" fundamental church teachings, such as Catholics choosing to use contraceptives even though the church has reaffirmed its ban on their use. Rapid social change and a tolerance for civil liberties, women's rights and alternative lifestyles has helped to weaken the influence of religious institutions and religious leaders. 3) The importance of religion in ones daily life - religiosity. The holding of religious ideals is weaker and no longer strongly influences family and personal life. One may only turn to religion when their belief system breaks down. With intermarriage between faiths, people choose to accept and incorporate parts of different religions into their lives and question the value of hanging on to 'well defined religious traditions.' Religion has become much more private and a matter of individual choice rather than an observed obligation. Even in places that have seen a rise in religious nationalism ("the linking of deep religious convictions with beliefs about a people's social and political destiny") and that claim to oppose secularization and "Western influence" do not "simply revive ancient religious beliefs." Instead, according to the text, "they partly 'invent" the past, drawing on different traditions and reinterpreting events to serve their current beliefs and interests." All these factors have contributed to a decrease in "traditional" religious beliefs and involvement leading our society to be more secularizing.

A Tale of Two Families

A Tale of Two Families briefly describes 'how government policies and past discrimination have made generating wealth easier for some Americans than others." Both Max and Byron took advantage of the opportunities that were open to them to build wealth and for Byron to help close the wealth gap. While Max definitely had an easier road, Byron has shown intergenerational mobility and has overcome a lot of the barriers associated with inequality - education (college graduate from an Ivy League school), employment and income (same company, same income as Max), and residential segregation (same neighborhood as Max). They both have the ability to continue to move forward in the future and try to give each successive generation a start that is a step ahead of where the last one started. It's what you do with the opportunities that have opened up for you that makes all the difference. Sometimes it means more when you have to work for it. You may be more likely to take a conservative financial approach (similar to Byron) and increase yours and the next generations chances of closing the wealth gap.