Genius Hour Project Update

We worked for 45 minutes on the aforementioned project in Sociology Class on Thursday. This was an exploratory class period for me, as I was trying to find out as much as I could about my subject and its relations to Sociology. I read some of a book provided to me by my teacher, giving me more information about the plight of lower-class children. Then, I set up a way to catalogue my sources for my required bibliography. For the last 15 minutes of class, I read post on a well-known Sociological blog pertaining to my subject and how said subject related to my class and what we have done so far.

Examination of The Zimbardo Experiment

This is another sociology assignment.

Discussion of Sociological Perspectives: Conflict Perspective
Question: Why did the treatment of the prisoners by the guards get worse so quickly as the experiment progressed?
Answer: There was an abrupt changing of social class at the beginning of this experiment, when the group went from being comprised of white males from mostly the same social class to being split into two distinct classes: prisoners and guards. This social pattern gave guards all of the advantages and prisoners all the disadvantages, leading guards to feel empowered over prisoners because of their higher social standing, and causing them to lose Verstehen for their prisoners and to exert their newfound power.
Discussion of Sociological Perspectives: Symbolic-Interaction Perspective
Question: Why did the environment surrounding the Zimbardo Experiment become so much like that of a real prison?
Answer: Life inside of the Zimbardo Experiment became so similar to life inside of a real prison because it functioned as a real prison. Prisoners were allowed only minimal, controlled contact with the outside world, and guards were mostly shut off from the outside as well. Because of this disconnection from the rest of society, life in the micro became like life in the macro: with conditions similar to what real people in this scenario faced, fake prisoners started to act like real prisoners and fake guards started to act like real guards. They forgot what they had experienced in the outside world and let their day-to-day life define them.

Discussion of Sociological Imagination 
Sociological Imagination of Participants: A development of sociological imagination would have helped the participants because they would have been able to keep what was going on in their day-to-day lives in context with what they knew about society. With a sociological imagination, they would have been less involved with their daily life because they would have been able to keep the sociological perspective in mind and think about society as a whole, making their experience less intense.
Discussion of Sociological Imagination: This experiment going south so quickly showed me the things that society is capable of when isolated and how much regular society can change when put under a microscope. This widened my sociological imagination by presenting me with all of the different aspects of society, and also by showcasing how much societal norms and values can differ as a whole, especially when a couple of limits are changed.

Project Ideas

For the Sociology class that I spoke about in my first blog post, I have been assigned a project. I've been told to blog about my progress on my project, starting with my ideas for what I will do for said project. This project must be problem-solution based, and it must concern a sociological idea that we will talk about through this semester of school. These are some of the ideas I've come up with so far, each idea based on a problem I think needs solving and that I would enjoy trying to solve. My potential ideas revolve around the problem that is the massive gap in our society between the wealthy and the poor, and the issues that come with said gap. Children from poorer families typically have less access to sports, books, good schooling, and even things like television, which doesn't seem to make a difference but can be very helpful for impressionable children if used correctly. Right now, the focus for my project is trying to help poorer kids have access to these important facets of the lives of children. If anybody reading this has any ideas of ways I might help, I would welcome suggestions.

Signing off for now,
Noah

Hello, and welcome to my blog. I suppose I should tell you some stuff about me in my first blog post. First of all, my name is Noah. Names seem pretty important to me, as they define our every day interactions, so I decided not too keep myself totally anonymous. I've lived my entire life in Chicago, and I'm now a junior at an inner-city high school. I can't tell you which one, though, because there are some seriously freaky people out there on the internet. I'm a huge sports fan, and despite me being a White Sox fan, my dad being a Cubs fan, and my mom being a Red Sox fan, sports is one of the main things that binds us together. My two younger sisters play various sports as well, so it really runs in the family. I also enjoy reading and writing, which is as good a reason as any to write this blog. What do I want to be when I grow up? This is a question that I'm asked over and over agin by adults when I am meeting them for the first time, although now that I'm older they usually frame it differently: What careers are you looking into? What are you thinking about for a major in college? I figure that most of you are over the age of 18, so let's assume you want to know the answer too. Right now, I want to be a lawyer. I say right now because that answer has changed about 5 times since I was first asked the question. Why a lawyer? For two reasons; I love to argue and reason and try to prove myself right, and because I've always wanted to do something I will enjoy. Both of my parents love what they do. My dad writes, does a little bit of radio, and is the president of a youth baseball league. My mom is a consultant, which is a weird job to enjoy, but I really think she does like it. My parents inspire me to always do things that I will ultimately enjoy, which I suppose is another reason for me to write this blog. That's about all I've got for my first post, so I'm

Signing off for now,
Noah