Incest Taboo Found in Every

¶ … incest taboo found in every society?

The incest taboo is found in every society, with close relatives generally excluded as possible partners. However, given that there is tremendous variation between cultures about how to define incest, with some cultures permitting sexual relationships between relatives as close as brother and sister. Some suggest that incest taboos are cultural implementations of biological preferences to seek sexual partners that do not share genes because of the potential negative consequences of inbreeding. Another cultural suggestion is that intermarriage between groups promotes alliance-formation that is important for a culture; therefore, one would expect incest taboos to be stronger in societies where between-group alliances are less important.

Explain how the gay rights movement is a civil rights movement.

The gay rights movement is a civil rights movement in many ways. There is strong evidence that homosexuality is not a choice, but an inborn biological trait, so that people may choose to engage in homosexual behavior, but do not choose to be attracted to same-sex partners. As a result, homosexuality is an immutable characteristic over which a person has no control. Discriminating against a person on the basis of an immutable characteristic is widely considered to be a violation of human rights. However, the gay rights movement is a civil rights movement even if one does not consider homosexuality to be biologically determined. Looking specifically at the issue of gay marriage, this relationship becomes clear. If a man wants to marry another adult man, but cannot do so because he is a man, while a similarly situated woman would be permitted to do so, then he is facing discrimination on the basis of sex. Much like African-Americans were permitted to marry non-whites prior to the court decision in Loving v. Virginia, the issue is not that homosexuals are being denied the right to marry, at all, but whether homosexuals have the same marriage rights as all other similarly situated people.

3. What is the difference between sex and gender?

Many people use the terms sex and gender interchangeably, but there are actually differences between the two of them. Sex is considered to be based on biological sex; therefore the terms male and female describe sex. Gender is a broader-ranging concept that encompasses aspects of what is considered masculine and what is considered feminine in a particular society.

4. Why do you think the abortion controversy is often so bitter? Will we ever find a middle ground as a nation?

I think that the abortion controversy is often so bitter because it is, for many people, far more about the ability to control women's reproductive capacity than it is about the sanctity of life. I come to this conclusion because many people who are very vocally pro-life in the abortion context do very little in regards to respecting the sanctity of human life in other contexts, including the death penalty, war, or even the punishment of people who kill lives-in-being. Moreover, there appears to be such a significant amount of illogical thinking in many pro-life organizations that argue against the stated desire to reduce or eliminate abortions. For example, the majority of people who favor outlawing abortion believe that there should be a rape exception, but if a fetus is a human life, that fetus is a human life regardless of the circumstances of conception. Implementing better birth control and sex education would almost certainly reduce the number of abortions requested, and yet that is adamantly opposed by many people who consider themselves pro-life. Instead, the rhetoric, when it is explored, is often revealed to be virulently anti-woman, much like Rush Limbaugh's recent tirade against a student who testified about birth control coverage, suggesting that she had to be a slut to want access to preventative medicine. I think that there is a tremendous amount of power involved in creating and shaping women's reproductive capabilities, and, because of that, I do not feel that there will ever be a middle-ground on abortion, because the issue is not about abortion. Like many pro-choice people, I am personally opposed to abortion and think that the ideal would be to reduce or eliminate the need for any woman to ever seek an abortion, but I find the slippery slope of what it would mean to reduce women to brood mares very alarming. My position is as uncomfortable for those who are staunchly pro-choice and wish to equate fetuses to moles or other unwanted growths as it is to those who are staunchly pro-life and believe that a fetus who is unable to live outside of the womb should have as many rights as the woman forced to carry that fetus to term. However, it is a position that I feel captures the majority of moderate voices about the issue of abortion. I simply do not think the moderate position will ever prevail.

Part 2

1. What is social control? Give at least 4 examples of how social control has affected you today (18-year-old).

Social control theory refers to how social constraints restrain people from engaging in antisocial behavior. These social constraints are generally so imbedded in regular life that one does not even realize how pervasive they are. They involve all levels of antisocial behavior, from criminal behavior to basic social norms. Moreover, for much of the behavior there are no dramatic negative consequences, yet people still refrain from engaging in antisocial behaviors. I went to breakfast this morning at a restaurant. There was a line of people waiting to give their names at the hostess stand, and I stood in line because that was the social norm, which would have been enforced by ugly looks, whispers, and maybe even comments by other people waiting for their turn in the line. I drove to the restaurant, where I stopped at a red light. There was no oncoming traffic in any direction, no other cars, and no red-light camera at the light, but I waited until the light turned green until I went, because I have been conditioned to expect negative social consequences from running a red light. I was in an elevator with a child and a woman who appeared to be her grandmother and I refrained from cursing, though it was not illegal to do so, because the social norm in my cultural group is to refrain from cursing in front of children or elderly people, and the consequences of doing so would be social punishments. Finally, I jaywalked, even though it is a crime. That is probably because there are no real social constraints on jaywalking behavior.

2. Talk about Stanley Milgram's shock experiment; what were the overall conclusions in relation to obedience and social control?

The overall conclusions about Milgram's shock experiment were that much of what people refrain from because of it is considered antisocial is not due to it being inherently negative, but because people have been conditioned to think of it as negative. In the shock experiment, all of the participants indicated a desire to stop in some manner and questioned the experiment. However, about 65% of the subjects administered the final shocks, despite showing obvious discomfort. The result was that it seemed that people were very subject to social control and would engage in behavior that they found uncomfortable if they were told to engage in that behavior. It certainly helps explain phenomena like the Holocaust, which seems unimaginable to people outside of that social scenario.

3. Describe informal and formal social control.

Informal social control is those societal rules that are not explicit, but are considered social norms and customs. Individuals are not specifically punished for violating those norms, but they may be subject to societal punishments such as ridicule, ostracism, or other sanctions. Shame plays a huge role in informal methods of social control. In contrast, formal social control generally involves government or other official organizations, and the imposition of official sanctions including fines, imprisonment, or other deprivation of the rights.

4. What is deviance and who decides what is deviant and what is not? Have you taken part in an act of deviance? How did you know it was deviant?

Deviance is action or behavior that violates social norms. The most powerful people in society help determine which behaviors are deviant, though who is the most powerful varies depending on the theorist. In many ways, the majority of society is who determines whether behavior is deviant or acceptable. I have taken part in an act of deviance; I have texted on my cell phone during a movie. I know it was deviant because the behavior is one that is generally criticized by people who discuss the norms of acceptable behavior; it is prohibited by the movie theater and highly criticized by other theater-goers. However, among my own social group, which is not the group in power, it is an accepted, non-deviant behavior.

5. Talk about the war on drugs; what is deviant, what is not, who decides, and how can the war itself be seen as deviant?

In the war on drugs, deviant behavior includes the use, abuse, and distribution of illegal drugs. Moreover, in the war on drugs, the criminality associated with specific drugs is not necessarily linked to the physical threat to health posed by that drug, but by the socioeconomic groups that are more highly associated with those drugs. For example, crack cocaine offenses are subject to greater punishments than powder cocaine offenses, despite there being no logical distinction between the two different types of drugs. However, powder cocaine is more expensive and is considered an affluent drug, while crack cocaine is considered a lower-class drug. The war on drugs is deviant because it punishes some people for addiction, while there is no punishment for tobacco or alcohol addicts.

6. Does the death penalty serve as a deterrent to crime? If so, why are crime rates still so high in the U.S.

The death penalty, as applied in the United States, does not serve as a deterrent to crime. The U.S. has higher murder rates than many comparable nations with no death penalty, and death penalty states have comparable or higher murder rates than most states that do not have the death penalty. However, that does not mean that the death penalty cannot be a deterrent to crime. For the death penalty to deter crime, it would have to be an automatic penalty for a specific crime, there would have to be no exceptions, and the punishment would have to be applied immediately. None of those conditions applies to the death penalty as practiced in the United States. Moreover, it is important to understand how most murders occur when examining whether there is a deterrence effect; life in prison or even substantial jail terms and their deprivation of liberty are going to serve as deterrents for people who are thinking about their behavior rationally. The reality is that most murderers are not engaging in rational thought at the time of their crimes, therefore deterrents, including the death penalty, will not be effective.

Part 3

1. What is slavery and in what ways and where does it still exist today?

Slavery is when a person is considered the property of another and subject to the total direction and control of another person. Slavery exists everywhere today. It is illegal in most countries, where human trafficking is prosecuted as a crime. However, in other countries, even those where slavery is illegal, it is still practiced openly and with little social condemnation. For example, child slavery is a tremendous problem in modern-day Haiti, where child slaves are called restaveks and are given by biological parents to a family so that the child can do housework in exchange for school, food, and housing, but with no guarantee that these children will be treated appropriately. However, most modern slavery is both underground and out-in-the-open. The international sex trade is largely composed of women, girls, and boys who have been forced into the sex-trade and are unable to leave it.

2. Talk about the class system in the United States, what class do you perceive you belong to, why, what kind of chances of mobility do you have in this system?

It is difficult to discuss the class system in the United States, because that class system appears to be disappearing. The United States has been known for its middle class and most people in America where somewhere between lower class and upper class, occupying the middle class position that many people linked to overall American prosperity. However, the percentage of people in the lower class has gotten larger while the upper class controls a larger percentage of wealth in the United States. There is some evidence that the middle class is disappearing, with greater separation between those who would have once been considered upper middle class and those who would have been considered lower middle class, with the true middle class disappearing. I perceive that I belong to the true middle class; I come from a family that has sufficient funds to buy housing, transportation, food, utilities, and other necessities without any difficulties, I have never known hunger, I have never been homeless or in danger of being homeless, yet I do not have consistent access to discretionary funds for purchases beyond necessities. I feel like I have limited mobility in this system; I may be able to achieve the upper middle class, but the probability of me entering the actual upper class is almost nonexistent. Likewise, because I come from a middle class family, I will probably never be in the lower socioeconomic class, because I have a safety net including health insurance and family savings that would be available to me in the event of an emergency.

3. Discuss Karl Marx and his views of class differentiation.

Marx believed that class differentiation was the key way that society was divided into subgroups. Marx believed that differences in socioeconomic classes were more important than other distinctions in society, but did not suggest that those other distinctions (like race) might not be used to distract people from socioeconomic class-based distinctions. Marx basically took a two class view of class distinctions and focused on the bourgeoisie, which would be the upper class, and owned the means of production, and the proletariat, which is the working class.

4. Is stratification universal; use examples from functionalist and conflict views.

Stratification appears to be universal; there are no societies that do not have differing social classes. According to functionalists, society has to be composed of a variety of social positions, meaning the social inequality is necessary to ensure that all roles in a society are filled. For example, if everyone were wealthy, then no one would be willing to do the demeaning jobs in society, like garbage removal. The conflict view of stratification is that people engage in conflict over scarce resources, which is one of the sources of social class stratification. Conflict theorists believe that social stratification leads to instability and social change; however, they do not describe any societies, whether existing or historical, that have not had different social classes.

5. Talk about poverty and its impact in our culture; also discuss how our current economic situation benefits some while depriving others.

The impact of poverty in our culture is almost impossible to describe. Poverty is so linked to the idea of the intentional stripping of human potential from people that it seems almost impossible to conclude that poverty is anything but an intentional means of keeping a group of people in a subservient position. For example, it is widely recognized that childhood poverty is linked to poor performance in school; students enter school behind wealthier peers and the gap widens as children grow older. The theoretically equal educational opportunities that children of all social classes have grow more and more disparate as children age, because, even high performing children in poorer schools are going to be negatively impacted by low-performing classmates, and might experience pressure to leave school in order to help support the family. Without an education, those children have no real chance at escaping poverty. The result is that poverty can be described as cyclical, and the whole idea that one cannot escape from poverty becomes something that even young children in many impoverished communities embrace. To them, poverty becomes the norm.