Author: Austin Bednarz

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Catch-All/Student Discussion Questions Reading and Film Presentations and Discussion Short Essays and Responses

Cheap Sex_CH6_ERA

In reading the sixth chapter of Cheap Sex by Mark Regnerus discusses the longevity of the era in which we live in regarding the larger scope of sex in our country.  He talks about how the birth control pill and pornography have been an outlet of cheap sex and will continue to bring the human nature of needing sex from another person down significantly.  This make sense because back in the day if you needed sexual release there was only one way, finding a partner who was also in the need for sexual release.  But there were many consequences associated with having sex with another partner. Child birth being a large factor in the process, but now through modern science there are many alternatives that women and men can take in order to almost defiantly prevent the production of a child. Without the consequence of a child being brought into this world, sex and premarital sex has been much more accepted as the risks are so much lower.  Pornography as also played a large factor in the modern world because of its ability to simulate sex, allowing people to have their sexual release without actually having sex with another person and completely nulling the risk factor of the possibility of having a baby.

Another part of this chapter that I found to be particularly interesting was Mark’s Eight Predictions for 2030.  I will not touch on all of them but in particular I found the fact that Mark is predicting that women’s age of marriage will peak and the number of unmarried Americans will rise to be very interesting.  Mainly because I believe him to be correct.  Women will no longer need to be in a marrigial position with a man because the risk of having a child out of wed lock will be significantly lower than before.  The reason that there will be so many more unmarried Americans in our country is because if people decide to sleep around there is so much less of a chance that they get a woman pregnant, and they also have porn if they are in need of sexual release.

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Catch-All/Student Discussion Questions

We Wanted Workers CH3-4 Reflection

An argument that I found to be prevalent while reading George J. Borjas’ We Wanted Workers first few chapters was the crowd that is attracted to coming to America through immigration.  Over the entire history of America there have been many people who have come to America through the immigration process, whether it be through the rigorous current day immigration process or if it was on the initial colonies ships coming over from Europe, they all have one thing in common, they were all in a situation that forced them to leave their country.  Not many came over to America because they were well off in their previous country and wanted a change in scenery, they all left for a reason, could have been more wealth or more opportunities, but they all left because they were not contempt in their current situations in life. 

This is something that has been prevalent throughout all of the immigration past in our country and has always been attempted to be suppressed.  “In 1875, Congress prohibited the entry of prostitutes and convicts. In 1882, it suspended the immigration of Chinese laborers and added, idiots, lunatics, and persons likely to become public chargers to the list for good measure. By 1917, the list included persons with tuberculosis, polygamists, political radicals, and practically anyone born in Asia” (52). From this quote it is easy to see that there have been problems with the people that we allow into our country since the start.  It was only after a little amount of time that we passed laws and regulations that restricted the persons who could come into our country.  When we first became discriminatory to the persons that we allowed into our country we felt safer that we were not letting in criminals and bad people into our country so we were keeping our streets clean, but all you see in the news is the image of immigrants getting a bad rep and being forced to take under paid jobs that will not allow them to climb the socioeconomic ladder of our society. 

I feel that there will always be judgement on the people who are joining our society, whether they have a completely clean background and have never laid a negative hand on another.  I am also unsure of how this stereotype will be abolished over time.  Mainly because someone who was never apart of your group will always be starred at when the walk into the door for the first time.

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Catch-All/Student Discussion Questions Reading and Film Presentations and Discussion

ERA: We Wanted Workers CH7

In chapter seven of George J. Borjas’s We Wanted Workers, George talks about the impact of the labor markets impact with respect to immigrants.  In the introduction of this chapter George talks about how immigrants are doing jobs that the natives that live in the country do not want to do.  “Immigrants do jobs that natives will not do and have little impact on native job opportunities as a result.”  This quote intrigued me as it implied that immigrants would not have an impact on the labor markets if they were to enter our country.  But I believe that they would, as discussed in chapters 3 and 4, if immigrants were to enter our country and take the place of minimum wage jobs the minimum wage would drop drastically, because these immigrants would be willing to do the same job for less than the natives are getting paid to do the job.

In an example that involves a company called Cider Inc. in Georgia was found to have 75% of its workers illegal immigrants.  They then ran an add that said they would increase wages in order to get workers working for them.  This was a smart idea, but compared to what they were paying the immigrants it was not that much of a pay day. 

Once immigrants are in our country, there is really not that much leeway for them to move up to achieve the American Dream.  Once they enter the country, they usually do not have any education or previous working experience to excel and move up the ladder in society. 

Another aspect to consider while reading into the issue of wages for immigrants in America is the fact that when immigrants flood a specific skill area, the wages for that job drop significantly when there are a select people that are willing to do the job, usually under the table and for less benefits.

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Catch-All/Student Discussion Questions Short Essays and Responses

Short Essay RWR

In reflection from reading Amy L. Wax’s Race Wrongs and Remedies it is clear to me now that there are phycological effects that are taken into acount while someone is being discriminated based on their race.  This is shown in many examples in the text, “The image of blacks as psychically damaged by their oppressive treatment and lowly social position is longstanding…” (97)  This quote shows how judgment in their past and social norms have forced them into a hole that has been constructed by society.  This implies that a certain person should be in a certain class of society or a certain line of work.  This makes no sense to me as everyone should have the same opportunities and chances as anyone.  Any human should not be told that they cannot be in any line of work or live in any society as anyone else, except predetermined social constructs define people’s socioeconomic statuses.

A person‘s “American Identity” should be determined by what they believe in as an individual and not what someone else tells them.  “The truth is that blacks have been victimized by white racism, and this treatment is the cause of many present ills.” (99)  Introducing the thought that white people have been control of the black mans destiny even after the abolition of slavery, causing them to be cast into the same metaphorical hole that disallows them to progress and remain relevant in society.  The idea of having another race controlling you physically or mentally is still the same definition of slavery.  If white people are still oppressing blacks and not allowing them to progress in society by establishing social constructs that do not allow them to progress naturally then as a society as a whole we have not truly abolished slavery. 

The only solution to the problem of associating a race to a specific class of society is to socially appropriate their norms, in other words accepting who they are in our society.  People should rather embrace a persons identity rather than ignoring who they actually are. (77) This intrigues me because it means that one should look more in depth into someone’s history in order to learn more about it.  Because once your are aware and informed about where someone comes from you are innately more prone to be accepting of their past.  If we completely forget about how oppressed blacks have been in our society then we will be doomed to repeat our actions.  When we, as a society, are more informed about the turmoil and stress that someone has gone through then the less likely a person is to make fun of or insult them.  Because of the previously defined social constructs, that are still being enforced by some, clearly have an effect on how any previously oppressed cultures they are less likely to progress and achieve an identity that is truly theirs.  Learning and understanding ones past is the key to universal integration of all ways of life into our society.

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Catch-All/Student Discussion Questions Reading and Film Presentations and Discussion Short Essays and Responses

Race, Wrongs and Remedies (70-100)

Throughout this section of Race, Wrings, and Remedies by Amy L. Wax it was clear to me what she meant by discrimination.  She wants people to acknowledge people’s differences, it is when we ignore them completely then we are racist (77).  This makes complete sense to me as there is much to be learned about one’s race when we dive deeper and acknowledge who they are.  If we completely forget about a person’s past and all the turmoil and anguish, they have gone through to get to this point in their lives then we can not respect them or any of their successes.  This is something that I take pride in myself, as I do not glaze over diversity or racism, but rather am intrigued to learn more about their past and what their people have gone through.  This is why I feel that education is so important about the human race.  It is something that everyone should know, about themselves. 

Another aspect that Amy L. Wax touches on are the areas beyond family, school and work (87).  But rather she focuses on their careers and their public perception.  By evaluating where a person is in life to their race and setting standards to them based on their race.  This idea makes no sense to me because it implies that a certain race or class deserves to be in the position more than anyone else.  That the job or title should just be given to them based on their race or how much money they have.  If there is a white male that has had money all of his life and he going into budgeting for a major company, underqualified, there is no chance that he will be able to realize what he is doing and will probably allocate money to the wrong areas of the business or miss use his powers.  But if there is someone from a lower class who had very little money growing up, then they obviously know more about setting a budget and sticking to it, because it was the only way that they would survive while they were growing up. 

In the fourth chapter of the book, Amy L. Wax discusses the psychology of being the victim of discrimination (95). In this chapter she mentions the fact that when someone is and has been discriminated against in their life then they will eventually believe it.  Meaning that if everyone, from the day that you were born told you that there was no place for you in the world, that you would eventually believe them and recognize that your life is meaningless and there is nothing to progress towards.  This idea also hurts me because of the missed potential in so many people who have been told their whole life that they cannot amount to anything of meaning.  But it makes sense, if you hear or see something enough you eventually begin to believe it and act like it in your own life, that is just the psychological nature of it.