I can remember back in sixth grade in where there was a change in where the materialistic things we wore and had meant more than who we were. I was never a very fashionable girl, but rather I liked involving myself in sports and being a tomboy. However, there comes a time in where every girl wants to fit in and be a girls-girl. Because I always hung out with guys and played sports with them, I never really found a connection with the girls around me. To me they seemed superficial and not very good friends. Nevertheless, I came to realize I wanted to have more girl-friends. At the time, it seemed like every girl at my school owned a super cute leather handbag in where they kept their Victoria secret lotions and perfumes, stylish wallets, lip glosses. I never owned a Victoria secret perfume or lotion and definitely not any lip glosses. I took this chance of seeing myself as a growing pre-teen to go out and find myself a bag just like theirs. I went out with my mom to find the perfect bag and pack it with girly things just like everyone else. When I went back to school, I took my new bag with me and tried to act like every other girl in my class. My façade of being a girls-girl worked, but I never really felt like I completely fit in. At school I was one person but outside of school I went back to being a tomboy who loved sports. In the end I realized that I didn’t have to go through all that I did just to fit in. In a couple weeks the style changed yet again and something new became popular and demanded and everyone rushed to go get it. However, this time I refrained, knowing it would only serve its purpose for a small amount of time before something else came into the picture. 

Obedience has is a factor that many humans already have a good understanding sense of. Since we were babies, we became aware of the concept of obedience. We were told when we could eat, when to play or not to play, when to go to sleep. In society today, we are told what we can and can’t do as far as the law goes. In society, we see how people act in a normal setting and we adjust and only act certain ways to fit in and be acceptable to others. Milgram’s experiment shows how humans have the innate characteristic to obey what they are being told by a person or people in a higher position than them. Even when we are put in a position when we can potentially cause discomfort and or harm to another person, we connect to our mission because it is what we are told to do. Without any question for the purpose, outcome, significance of the experiment many of the people did exactly what they were told to do. This brings up questions about oneself and what we would do if we were put in a position like that. The concept of obedience has been repeatedly been engrained into our brains that we find it difficult to stray away from what were told to do, especially from a person of higher power than ourselves. To see closer into the concept of obedience, it doesn’t matter which background or ethnicity or race a person comes from, obedience is something hard to derive from and instead of disobeying we see through what we are told to do. While there is no punishment to us if we walk away, many people chose to instead make someone else be in discomfort because we didn’t want to disobey orders. The form in which we look to being obedient stems from what is expected of us rather than free will. 

Shopping has recently, in the last couple decades, taken a social standing in the power structure. Shopping has been molded into an enterprise for benefit of the capitalistic point of view. When it first became a popular past time, many of the products that were put into the shopping spectrum were directed for women. Women became an easily controlled manipulation for shopping stores. Not only did shopping take lead in many people lives, it also grew into a business in which cut off and killed many already standing businesses. While most people discovered how good shopping made them feel, big stores continued to grow and general stores began to close business. The creation of big stores gave people access of all economic background to be able to purchase the same products as everyone else. Nevertheless, society came up with a new power structure to divide the poor from the wealthy. New high-end stores began to rise, typically with higher prices and directed to those with more money. While many people couldn’t bring themselves to buy the pricey goods, many others fell into the stigma of having to have the latest and fashion end thing that came out. The process of shopping could have gone from a relaxing trip to the stores to walk around and see what’s new, to the pressure of having to fit in with society. Stores that have risen in the power and popularity dynamic are the ones that are most in demand because that’s what society tells them they have to buy. If they can scrape enough money to buy the latest designer clothes, then they fit into society and aren’t seen as poor. Shopping has not only taken the distribution of goods to a different level, but it has brought stigma to the want and need people feel for what is new and popular. 

Society prides itself on being a flourishing capitalistic enterprise. However, when taken into consideration, certain jobs are look down on because of the social stigma it holds. Morticians are a simple example of what society demands but ignores. Mortician are commonly disregarded as a lesser profession because of what other people see. Death is directly connected to morticians and funeral home operators. Often many people see this profession as sickening or disgraceful. However, they fail to acknowledge that without morticians, funerals wouldn’t be held at the level of grace and respect that they are now. People tend to relate morticians as being a person that likes to be around death and surround themselves around darkness. Morticians are constantly battling with the social stigma that is thrown their way. They often find themselves having to shelter others from their profession. In most cases, they have to withhold certain aspects of their jobs and instead say they are business men or women or say they work with insurance. People tend to react negatively when they meet a person that works around death. They see a stereotypical view of morticians being cold and disconnected from everyone else. Because of this, morticians and funeral directors have to act accordingly depending on who and where they are. When they have to interact with a family of a person that has died, they act in an appropriate manner and talk respectively with them. Nevertheless, when out in public, they tend to always be seen acting in a warm and upbeat manner to dissolve any prejudiced thoughts about them and their personality. The manner in which morticians and funeral directors have to conceal their professional to accommodate others has become a social expectancy because others don’t wish to be made uncomfortable and simply wish to further ignore the inevitable truth.

The way people portray themselves to other people comes from the concept of first impressions. Humans have been trained to be seen proper and formal to others when meeting for the first time. We see first impressions as making or breaking future relationships. We take the meaning behind first impressions to create a persona that each person meets for the first time. We can learn to control how others come to react to us and establish a set understanding between the two. Reactions are what stops us from doing certain things or motivates us to continue in a certain path. As soon as a person establishes his presence and what he or she represents, the other person’s view of them is set on what they receive from their first impression. Society has created certain levels of power between people. A person of power does not simply meet someone new and present themselves as a laid back uncaring type of person. They take the opportunity of a first impression to establish their dominance and power of the other person. This creates a clear understanding of what is expected from them both. People tend to react in certain aspects to get a reaction out of the other person. For example, in a coffee shop, to establish a sense of welcome and acceptance, a worker might greet the person coming in with an enthusiastic hello and a warm smile. This gives positive feelings towards that person which in return, they give back positivity. People who now how to receive certain reactions from people tend to use their abilities to control the situation and end with the best results possible. Without the intent of creating a positive atmosphere most people wouldn’t bother in giving a good first impression. People who act in a well manner tend to stand out and receive positive reactions from others.

Brands have recently become an image of what is in style at the moment and what is socially acceptable to wear. Many people define themselves around brands to far extents. We tend to focus on our uniqueness and individualization to how we present ourselves and act around others. The manner in which we distinguish ourselves can seem as original and/or different, but in reality, we all tend to follow trends and cliques of what is already set in society. Who each person is is different than anyone else. There are no two same people. The way we dress tends to reflect how we feel inside and how we wish to express ourselves to the public. In doing so, we surround ourselves with those who feel similar to us and that are relatable in certain aspects. With this form or categorization, cliques are formed for society to distinguish how people tend to act depending on their stereotypical categorization. Branding has also become of way to publicly say what we stand for. For example, generally basketball players look for Nike brands, soccer players look for Adidas, swimmers look for TYR, and tennis players look for PENN. These are just some general stereotyping of athletes. This way of branding not only conforms with society, but it circles in to how others begin to see what brands other people wear and they now want to fit in. An athlete might feel like they fit in more with their team if they buy the same brands they do and make themselves known for a brand as well. In reality, branding has helped society individualize in a sense of categorizing people for what they value and stand for. 

As I sit in a local Starbucks I see the different types of people coming in and how the workers and customers interact with one another. When I first come in, I’m greeted and I walk up to order my drink. The workers are welcoming and attentive. I go to sit down and I see people around me already going about their day. Some look up and give me a half smile as I approach the chairs. I look around me and come to realize the most people sitting down are busy at work either on their laptops or reading a book. Its a Sunday afternoon so there’s not many people coming in but I mostly see around me young adults probably in college. Most people don’t care to come inside to order and sit down instead, the drive thru stays busy at all times. I notice the few people that come in are mostly teenagers and some adults. The majority of those coming in appear caucasian and hispanic for the most part. When they come in they’re greeted same as me. This creates a welcoming environment for them and everyone else who’s already there. Those who come in order their drink and stand aside waiting while they scroll through their phones and talk with their friends. The teenagers that come inside are usually ones who seem too young to drive and they come in groups of girls. It’s rare to see a group of boys come in or singular boys. Those who do come in are older and in college and they take the time to sit down and prop open their laptop to do some work. During the time that I’m there everyone seems friendly and welcoming, however, no one seems to talk to anyone they don’t know. Mostly, people just come in order sit down or leave and just keep to themselves and their phones the whole time. It’s become normal not to socialize with others in person or to go past a greeting and an order.

In society, we look for an appropriate image of a person when we want to associate ourselves with them. In the area of job hunting, people are rejected because of their past involvement in illegal activities. Not only do we see denial of rebuilding character, there’s also rejection because of certain aspect of their race and ethnicity. As studies prove, black people are far more rejected than whites mainly because of their race. However, when experiments prove that jobs will most likely call back characters of white resemblance and that have been incarcerated more that blacks who have not been convicted there’s a clear issue. Black people have a staggering low chance to simply get called back with no previous record. Their call back rate drops to almost zero when they do have a past conviction. The difference in which white and black have is simply their skin color. Nevertheless, even when two different Paris of men, two black and two white, who in with the same background, same convictions, and same experience, the white men are mo likely to be called back. Society has come to disregard and prefer white men who have had history of conviction rather than an innocent black man. These clear differences prove that employers still hold discrimination to color over the fact they might feel threatened or hold some sort of resentment. When coming from the same background, it doesn’t seem fair to prefer one over the other because of race but it evidently happens in the day to day job hunt. The increasing discrimination rates seem to conflict more and more with what’s morally incorrect than what’s evidently there.

In order to take proper research, three main concepts are taken into consideration for the most accurate results. Researchers look to find what society holds meaning to. They look to find what is important to the public and they come to find an interpretation of what is happening. They come to find what people like and don’t like depending on their reaction. With this information over the public, researchers can try to control how society reacts to certain things by behaving in a more acceptable manner. The second concept is that functionalism is what controls society to work in a well-fashioned manner or completely fall apart. Functionalism is what holds society and its people together and unless it’s interfered with from an outside influence. the final theory is the conflict theory in which society is in a constant battle with competing for ultimate power. Each major capitalistic enterprise is fighting for dominance but with each fight the balance of society continues to diminish. When conducting research, sociologists rely on a simple format to obtain the information they need. They simply pick a topic that interests them and looks towards something like a research model that helps them formulate their hypothesis and standing on the subject. they begin to take in their data through their choosing of either, surveys, random samples, questionnaires, interviews, these are forms of data that include integration with other people in society. They can also choose to look toward secondary analysis like already recorded data by other researchers. Documents have also become a reliable source to further back their own research to add more depth and reliability. Sociologists also come to create their own experiments on a rare occasion. Because most of their research relies on how society thinks, they tend to rely more on interactive data collecting like the ones mentioned above. Sociologists find a reliable way to obtain their research to make their hypothesis all the more reliable and accurate.

The way many things gain attention is through advertising their products or ideas. Over the last couple of decades, advertising has become a social form of gaining popularity. These different methods to advertising have been designed to directly target the public in subconscious ways. Advertising has transcended from tv commercials to park benches to billboard signs. The method of posting out publicly has been an effective and widely used form of advertisement. However, advertising has gradually become more and more subtle. It’s now portrayed through quick ads on apps on phones to quick short and catchy radio commercials. The variety in which advertisements can be displayed has open new and more effective ways to work alongside how modern society works nowadays. Advertising has also come to rely on the public’s opinion for launch and creation of products. Different forms of surveys can be a way to gather information , such as focus groups and interviews. With being able to get one on one information from the consumers directly, products are designed and made more directly to target the adequate audiences. It can also take form through historical research and seeing how trends either continue or begin to disappear. This form of advertisement can go both ways in terms of discontinuing certain advertisement because of its lack of popularity. However, it can also be used to make an older trend come back to its original popularity. Nowadays, we’ve seen older brands and products made a big hit on the market through its new style of advertising and renewing demand from society. For example, the brand Champion has been around for various years but never quite blew up as a demanded brand however, in the past 5 years or so the brand has blown up especially among young adults and teenagers. This newly gained popularity came through its use of advertising its produced to the right areas in society. Advertising has come a long way in being able to voluntarily or not, influence its audiences to its benefit.