Terrorism

Sociology - The Essentials describes terrorism as 'the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimate...a government or population in furtherance of political or social objectives'. Terrorism is a very powerful issue in the modern United States and also exhibits a variety of themes from sociology ranging from deviance to taboo to revolution. Terrorism is a very ambiguous debate as one can question the morality of personal goals of groups and individuals.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1745-9133.2002.tb00092.x/abstract

This 2002 article is intriguing to view as a study of sociology and criminology shortly following one of the largest terrorist acts of the 21st century. While it is dated it still serves as an effective reminder of a nation at the height of the terrorist fear in the midst of an attack and how the psychology of terrorism affected groups.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/30026269?seq=2

Another article that focuses exclusively on modern terrorism in the world in relation to terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and how they have in a sense accomplished their goals of disrupting established governmental proceedings (example - United States air system etc)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb7ArmbIYIY
The video details the psychological aspects of terrorism and tactics that terrorists tend to use in order to have their needs met - despite them sociologically and ultimately being useless. This video serves as an effective crash course on terror research and how group behavior is studied through terror methods.

http://www.un.org/en/terrorism/
The first website is the national effort against terrorist efforts and demonstrates a sort of mob mentality, us versus them perspective to various social groups fighting over the means of obtaining social gratification of goals.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism
The second site is again a government run objective based perspective of terrorism in order to portray the intensity and severity of terrorism modernly. The measures actively taken and the dedication of bureaucratic social groups exhibits the class separation between those who align with deviant groups.

Race and Ethnicity (Chapter 10)

The concept of race and ethnicity within sociology is a very heavily debated subject and is often the focus of confusion. Defined in Chapter 10 an ethnic group is 'a social category of people who share a common culture' - people with a common religion, language, custom, practice, or history. This group may not be geographically or biologically close but they share a common cultural bond. However, race differs in the fact that it refers strictly to the biological sense - physical characteristics of those people. I chose this topic because race and ethnicity are often so controversially confused and are two sociological concepts that frequent impact daily life.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-954X.2010.01997_5.x/full
This collection of articles in the sociological review specifically focuses on ethnicity in relation to race, nation, and culture - attempting to differentiate ethnicity as something of its own. I feel this is a crucially important link to grasping how ethnicity affects sociology as it is often so confused with race when one does not necessarily connect to the other.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953614002457
The second article relates to my previously studied topic and connects issues of biological race characters with the social class and separation of women in China. I feel it effectively demonstrates the correlation and overall effect that race and/or ethnicity can have on social grouping and interaction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2aHvtgX-jY
While I feel this video is overall poorly put together it does create good reference and establish crucial distinction between race and ethnicity while simultaneously relating it to other social concepts such as grouping, inequality, and conflict perspective.

http://www.pbs.org/topics/culture-society/race-ethnicity/
The PBS website has an extensive section specifically discussing race and ethnicity. It not only covers the distinction between the two but relates it to overall themes of sociology, cultural interaction, and a general study of people.

http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/reic/definitions.asp
The last link and website does not serve as a necessarily overview of race and ethnicity but still can be utilized as an intriguing investigation into social separation, race, and ethnicity being explicitly described by a bureaucratic order.

Social Class and Stratification (Chapter 8)

Social stratification is defined in chapter 8 as being a 'system of structured social inequality' which essentially means that among societies people are often divided into social groups of value or worth such as caste systems. These groups and systems can be based around ascribed status (meaning by birth) or by estate logic (meaning by possession of certain values such as properties). This topic interests me as its intriguing to see how people attempt to assign worth and value to other people based on such trivial concepts that often are entirely materialistic or illogical.

http://search.proquest.com/docview/1030094511?accountid=14551
This recent 2012 article regarding social stratification in Mexico demonstrates some of the more perplexing elements to social separation that people devise - basing it on skin color. This has been exhibited in more situations then most can count but it is always interesting to see direct quantifiable data of such separation based on physical appearance and factors individuals can not control. The article also mentions socioeconomic elements of the class separation which is the most common form of social stratification generally. This link overall embodies how social class differences can create a rift among groups and make certain groups seem almost as if they're two entirely different societies.

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_quarterly/toc/aq.64.3.html
This second collection of 2012 articles in American Quarterly delves more into the economic aspect of social division, the form of social stratification most are more immediately familiar with. The common theme of the working class, middle class, and higher class is an issue that is very relevant in the United States modernly due to the economic condition. It is important to view social stratification in a modern sense and not isolated perspective such as the caste systems of older societies and apply it to something actively happening.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIm5AynAbx0
The attached link is a dated documentary style observation on social stratification in the United States and the types of groups within groups that occurs as a result of social grouping.

http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/socsci/rlong/intro/class.htm
This site is a lecturers notes on social class in relation to a multitude of variables ranging from race, wealth, status, birth, etc. The professor calls into a variety of sociological perspectives including Marxism, functionalist, and conflict.

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/research-in-social-stratification-and-mobility/
The second site covers an even wider range of observations on social stratification and observes the division of class throughout a variety of generations. The studies also include other variables such as gender in regards to equality and frequently utilizes quantifiable data to observe whether social stratification is still relevant in a modernized/westernized nation.

Homepage

Welcome to my Sociology Critical Insight Blog in which I shall detail various elements and concepts of sociology that interest me. My name is Zachariah Zerrade and I am currently a freshman studying Civil Engineering and Architecture at the University of Idaho. Sociology is a recommended course and previous studies of Anthropology and Sociology gave me an overall interest in the subject to study further. Sociology is very effective in understanding a major part of the world and life - people. The interactions and reasons for social connections, groupings, and movements are all very important to study in regards to daily life. The topics I will be discussing in this blog are Social Class and Stratification (Chapter 8) and Race & Ethnicity (Chapter 10). 

These two topics are chosen because of the reading covered so far Social Class was the most intriguing aspect of social interaction to me and it is a topic that has a multitude of perspectives and beliefs. Researching this topic could open up entirely new information to me and will establish a greater understanding of sociology for me. The selection of Race & Ethnicity as a topic is based in the common ground it shares with my other subject. There is a very strong correlation of Race and Ethnicity in regards to how social class functions and researching such a topic would provide an interesting outlook towards social organization historically, politically, and socially.  

Enjoy.