Conclusions

The semester is just about over! This process of learning to blog has been very interesting. I didn't think I would ever make a blog or write in one, but it was pretty cool being able to publicly share what information I learned over the semester on various topics of my choosing. Here are some things I've learned from this process:

• Blogging takes a lot of time
• But it's fun! (for the most part)
• Most of the time taken is citing sources
• Sociology is sometimes difficult to study
• Sociologists will probably never run out of things to study
• There are so many topics a sociologist would love to study
• A LOT more than before about Deviance, Family Violence, and Religious Disaffiliation, such as:
• Family Violence is one of the most frequently occurring crimes but one of the least reported ones
• More and more people are becoming disaffiliated with any religion

(Source: Tarleton State University)

Current Event: Religious Disaffiliation

Topic: Why more and more people are becoming disaffiliated with religion

1. Why I Chose This Topic

I chose this topic because:
a. I think any sociologist would love to study this and find reasons why more and more people are choosing to not be affiliated with any religion.
b. It's interesting and relevant to me since I, personally, used to be religious but am getting away from that the older I get. I would also like to know what reasons are pushing people away from religion since I know many people who have been also.

2. Link to a Scholarly Journal

http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/2/200.short
I chose this article because it is from the Sociology of Religion in the Oxford Journals so I thought it was a very credible source. There are many statistics and relevant info to my post as well. For example, this article states that between 15 and 18 percent of Americans are now religiously unaffiliated, up 7 percent from 1991.

3. Visual Illustration



(Source: My America)
I chose this chart just to show the comparison of religions in the US. It's interesting that the Unaffiliated portion is almost as large as the Mainland Protestants portion.


4. Video Clip

http://youtu.be/YS38PaO-cHw
This video tells many statistics of religious disaffiliation between now and the past and why people have been becoming disaffiliated with religion. I like the fact that she mentioned serious issues being a reason that makes people become disaffiliated, such as gay marriage. I also enjoy at the end how she mentioned that there is a link to different religious facts in case a person watching is confused on what they believe  The girl hosting is fun and upbeat and puts things in a way that's easy to understand. I really enjoyed this clip and thought it was extremely relevant to this post.

5. Links to Scholarly Websites

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/disbelief/
This article I chose because it was very long and has a lot of statistics and reliable information on this topic. For example, the article states that in the last five years alone, those who claim they are unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all US adults. More than 13 million claim to be atheists and agnostics, which is nearly 6% of the US public, and 33 million say they have no particular religious affiliation, which is 14% of the US public. It is crazy how drastically these numbers are rising, especially recently. It makes me wonder how many people will be religious in another five, ten, or 15 years from now. This article also has many charts and graphs that show the statistics really easily.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-07-19/no-religion-affiliation/56344976/1
This is the article I fount that inspired me to do this entry on this topic. It is from USA Today so I knew it was credible information and a recent topic that has been discussed and studied. The article states that 19% of Americans, nearly 1 in 5, have no religious affiliation. This includes atheists, agnostics, and people who state they believe in "nothing in particular." Barry Kosmin states that he believes this is because young people are resistant to the authority of institutional religion and older people are turned off by the politicization of religion and people are simply less into theology than ever before. I think Barry's reason's are accurate, but I'm sure there is a lot more to it that sociologists would love to study. The article also says that 99% of Americans used to believe in God and now only about 90% do.

6. Quote

"Truth will always be truth, regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief, or ignorance." -W. Clement Stone

I chose this quote because people will still believe what they want to believe is the truth and what anyone else believes shouldn't affect their choices, whether they are religious or not.




References:
Grossman, Cathy Lynn. (20 July 2012) Survey Finds 19% Without Religious Affiliation. Retrieved on April 24, 2013 from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-07-19/no-religion-affiliation/56344976/1.

"None's" on the Rise. (October 9, 2012) Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://www.pewforum.org/Unaffiliated/nones-on-the-rise.aspx.

Religious Affiliation in the United States. [figure] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://www.1website.be/myamerica/php/americain.php?aID=21.

Stone, Clement W. [quotation] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/disbelief/.

U.S. Religion Statistics: We Of Little Faith. [Video] Retrieved April 28 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS38PaO-cHw.
Vargas, Nicholas. Retrospective Accounts of Religious Disaffiliation in the United States: Stressors, Skepticism, and Political Factors. Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/2/200.short.

Family Violence

Topic: Family Violence

1. Why I Chose This Topic

I chose this topic because it is a very common occurrence in families today and is something that should be recognized and worked towards stopped. It's terrifying thinking about not being safe in your own household and it's sad to think that so many people don't feel safe whether it's because they are being physically, sexually, or emotionally abused or have to witness another family member being abused. It's not something that should be tolerated ever and I definitely think people should gain more awareness for this problem and do whatever possible to stop it. I know it is a global problem, but I am choosing to narrow it down to just family violence in the United States.

2. Link to Scholarly Journal

http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/2083298
I chose this article because I felt like it was very relevant and informative. The article views family violence as a social and sociological problem. This short excerpt discussed things we've talked about in class this semester as well as a whole section on the Sociologist Perspective of family violence.

3. Visual Illustration



















(Source: Vantage Pro Ed)
This chart is similar to the one that was in the Chapter 12 PowerPoint. It shows the potential negative effects on children who live in violent homes. Obviously none of these are good things and a child who lives in a negative home is definitely more likely to develop problems like these.

4. Video Clip

http://youtu.be/HxfN5iN6lj8
I chose this clip because I felt like it was a well made video that shows how tragic it is that women usually don't report being domestically abused. I realize this video only focuses on women,  but I still thought it was well made and brought the situation to reality more.

5. Links to scholarly websites

https://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/family_violence/summary.html
This link is to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service so it seemed like a reliable source for a lot of the information. This site informed me that 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. That statistic is so much higher than I originally thought and made this issue seem much more important in my head. I also chose this website because it has many links at the bottom of the page to explore more information about family violence such as facts and figures, legislation, publications, programs, etc.

http://www.nacoa.net/famviol.htm
This link is to the National Association for Children of Alcoholics which also seemed like a reliable/scholarly site since this association would know a lot of information about family violence. I liked this site also because it has a section titled "How to help woman and children coping with violence" which I thought is a great thing to put on the site just in case someone who is being abused needs to know how to cope or deal with what is happening. One statistic from this section said that Divorced and separated women, who compose only 10% of all women, account for 75% of all battered women and report being battered 14 times as often as women still living with their partners. This is so shocking that even woman who leave their partners who abuse them still experience the violence. Another section is titled "Family Violence Always Leaves the Home" which explains that children who were raised in violent homes are much more likely to become violent with others in life. This shows yet another reason why this is such a big issue. The pattern will keep on continuing until it is stopped at the root. If a child who was raised in a violent home grows up to be violent with his/her spouse, then their child will be likely to be violent when he grows up to. It really seems like a vicious/never-ending cycle that needs to be stopped or else it will keep on continuing.

6. Quote

"If the numbers we see in domestic violence were applied to terrorism or gang violence, the entire country would be up in arms, and it would be the lead story on the news every night." -Rep. Mark Green


References:

Domestic Violence. [figure] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://vantageproed.com/viol/viol.htm.
Domestic Violence Awareness Video (Best Video). [video] Retrieved April 28, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxfN5iN6lj8.
Gelles, Richard J. Family Violence. Retrieved April 28, 2013 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2083298?seq=3.
Green, Mark. [quotation] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://thelaststraw.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/quotes-about-domestic-violence/.
Reddin, Geri. Violence in the Family. Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://www.nacoa.net/famviol.htm.

References

Deviance and Social Control. Retrieved March 3, 2013 from
http://www.people.vcu.edu/~jmahoney/deviance.htm.

Domestic Violence. [figure] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://vantageproed.com/viol/viol.htm.

Domestic Violence Awareness Video (Best Video). [video] Retrieved April 28, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxfN5iN6lj8.

Erikson, Kai Theodor. [quotation] Retrieved March 2013 from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/deviance.

Family Violence. Retrieved April 24, 2013 from https://www.ncjrs.gov/spotlight/family_violence/summary.html.

Gelles, Richard J. Family Violence. Retrieved April 28, 2013 from http://www.jstor.org/stable/2083298?seq=3.

Green, Mark. [quotation] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://thelaststraw.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/quotes-about-domestic-violence/.

Grossman, Cathy Lynn. (20 July 2012) Survey Finds 19% Without Religious Affiliation. Retrieved on April 24, 2013 from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-07-19/no-religion-affiliation/56344976/1.

Hand-Holding. [figure] Retrieved January 27, 2013 from http://www.ukessays.co.uk/essays/sociology/.

Manstead, Antony S. R. (1997). Predicting road traffic accidents: The role of
social deviance and violations. Retrieved March 3, 2013 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1997.tb02633.x/pdf.

Ms. Bean Gave My Legs Temporary Paralysis. [video] Retrieved February 23, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hZIobwWuZdM.

"None's" on the Rise. (October 9, 2012) Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://www.pewforum.org/Unaffiliated/nones-on-the-rise.aspx.

Nose-Picking. [figure] Retrieved March 3, 2013 from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Social_Deviance.

Reddin, Geri. Violence in the Family. Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://www.nacoa.net/famviol.htm.

Religion Graph. [figure] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://allendowney.blogspot.com/2012/07/secularization-in-america-part-seven.html.

Religious Affiliation in the United States. [figure] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://www.1website.be/myamerica/php/americain.php?aID=21.

Sociology. [figure] Retrieved April 28, 2013 from http://www.tarleton.edu/sociology/image/Sociology.jpg.

Stone, Clement W. [quotation] Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://thinkexist.com/quotes/with/keyword/disbelief/.

Theories of Deviance. Retrieved March 3, 2013 from http://fasnafan.tripod.com/theoriesofdeviance.pdf.

U.S. Religion Statistics: We Of Little Faith. [Video] Retrieved April 28 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS38PaO-cHw.

Vargas, Nicholas. Retrospective Accounts of Religious Disaffiliation in the United States: Stressors, Skepticism, and Political Factors. Retrieved April 24, 2013 from http://socrel.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/2/200.short.

Deviance

Topic: Deviance

1. Why I Chose This Topic

The topic I chose for this post was deviance which we covered in chapter 6. Deviance interests me because it is the act of breaking social norms or rules which is usually frowned upon in society. It is interesting to research how these norms were created and how they change over time. Deviance is also relatable because we are all deviant in one way or another. There is definitely not one person who could say that they haven't done one deviant act in their life because their are acts one can do that won't have terrible consequences but are still deviant. Also, as one grows up, we learn more and more what is deviant and what isn't, so before we realize what is considered frowned upon in society, we all did some things because we didn't know any better. When asked on one of the discussions we did a few weeks ago whether or not I consider myself a deviant, it got me thinking and that is why I chose this topic. I think I am a deviant, as is everyone a little bit, but I try not to do anything that will make people look down upon me or directly harm someone else. 

2. Scholarly Journal Link

 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1997.tb02633.x/pdf

This is a link to a PDF of a study I found very interesting. It is an excerpt from the British Journal of Psychology titled "Predicting Road Traffic Accidents: The Role of Social Deviance and Violations." A study by West, Elander, and French examined the relationship between mild social deviance and accident rates on the road was due to fast driving speed. It is an interesting thing to study and their results are somewhat surprising.

3. Visual Aid

 

(Source: Wikibooks)

Sorry, I know this is gross, but it represents deviance well because picking your nose is considered deviant pretty much anywhere and by anyone.  

4. Video Clip

Here is a video clip that shows an example of deviance in terms of breaking social norms. For my sociology class in high school, we were told to make a video of us breaking a social norm and show it to the class. This is a link to my group's video. We decided to have one group member pretend to be in a wheelchair and have the other group member push him awkwardly close to people in Wal-Mart to see how they react. 

Obviously, it's not a professionally made video. I was filming and having a hard time not laughing. But, it shows an example of deviance because doing what we did is not widely acceptable in society. Personal space is something we studied a little bit this past unit also and breaking other people's personal space is considered deviant behavior. 

5. Links to two internet sites

http://fasnafan.tripod.com/theoriesofdeviance.pdf

This link will take you to a PDF that describes the different theories of deviance. They describe the Structural Perspective, Cultural Perspective, and Interactionist perspective. I chose this site because I thought they broke down each perspective in a way that is easy to understand. 

http://www.people.vcu.edu/~jmahoney/deviance.htm

This link will take you to a site that explains many different topics within deviance including types of deviance, deviance and crime, deviance and social control, and more. I chose this site because someone who knew nothing of deviance would be able to learn more than they needed to just with this website because it covers a variety of topics relating to deviance. They do a good job explaining things well and breaking down each topic. 

6. Quote

"The deviant and the conformist...are creatures of the same culture, inventions of the same imagination."

-Kai Theodor Erikson

Citations:
Deviance and Social Control. Retrieved March 3, 2013 from
http://www.people.vcu.edu/~jmahoney/deviance.htm.
Erikson, Kai Theodor. [quotation] Retrieved March 2013 from http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/deviance.
Manstead, Antony S. R. (1997). Predicting road traffic accidents: The role of
social deviance and violations. Retrieved March 3, 2013 from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1997.tb02633.x/pdf.
Ms. Bean Gave My Legs Temporary Paralysis. [video] Retrieved February 23, 2013 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hZIobwWuZdM.
Nose-Picking. [figure] Retrieved March 3, 2013 from http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Social_Deviance.
Theories of Deviance. Retrieved March 3, 2013 from http://fasnafan.tripod.com/theoriesofdeviance.pdf.

Homepage

Hello! My name is Taylor Jacobs and I am a Freshman at the University of Idaho. I have lived in Moscow since elementary school and chose U of I because I wasn't ready to leave my hometown and it was the most convenient and affordable school for me. I am an Art major working towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in photography. I am also a member of Kappa Alpha Theta and love being a part of the Greek system.
Although art is my passion, I am considering adding a minor in either sociology or psychology. I am taking both classes this semester to see what interests me more. I took a sociology class in high school and really enjoyed the information we learned and the topics we got to discuss. I have always been interested in other humans and how we think, behave, interact, etc. I feel that I have a lot of insight when it comes to understanding people and why they act or think in a certain way. Also, I just consider myself a people person in general. I love being around others, hence since I joined a sorority and am constantly getting involved with social events. Overall, I am excited about what new information I am going to learn this semester!