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.

Social Construction of Gender

At first glance I am torn between the socialization approach where biology provides a framework and the social construction of gender where society completely builds the identities and differences. But after reading "Gender identities emerge, ....., in relation to perceived sex differences in society and in turn help shape those differences", it is not as hard to totally discount biology as having any effect on individual identities. Is it a boy or is it a girl is the first question asked of new parents. We then treat the child according to long standing traditions. If that child was left to their own devices how would they be? To take it a step further we look at body types and steer the boy with the muscular frame towards football and the boy with the slighter frame toward band or baseball so he doesn't get hurt. We are constantly adjusting the socialization of the child to make up for perceived inadequacies or differences in physical appearance. Society does shape and cultivate the body image and mannerisms based on it's perceptions and long standing cultural values otherwise gender roles would not vary across different cultures. My personal experiences definitely support the sociological perspective of social construction of gender. We treat boys and girls differently because of the gender label society puts on them.