Final Draft!

Kyra Brooks June 6, 2008
Star-String

How Does Social Norms, Government Policies & Capitalism affect us at different stages in life (Babies, Teenagers, Adults, Elders)?

Capitalism! Are you aware of capitalism? In a capitalist world, you are free to do what you want. Capitalism can be broken down into two worlds, money vs. solidarity. In the money world, everyone is worried about the “dollar”. Many people compete against others to make more money. Capitalism can be defined as “survival of the fittest” only those who strive and work hard to do what they have to do to live are the only ones to survive in the capitalist world. As in contrast to the world of “solidarity” people are more concerned about others and work to support their families as well as live with happiness.
Capitalism also affects people based off social classes. For example, in a class discussion someone brought up the idea of how people of different social classes are affected by capitalism different. It was said that someone of middle class would be scared to become working class, not wanting to be owned by the rich people, so they fear moving a step higher, which this is called middle class fear. The idea of frustration also plays a role in capitalism. Working to make someone rich is a “shitty job” and many people often suffer with this being affected in a capitalist society. Unfortunately, capitalism affects everyone at different stages in lives, children’s, teens, adults, and elders in many different ways. 

Capitalism affects children, more than we can believe. I never believed a child could be affected by capitalism until I begin to learn more about capitalism. Recently, I had a conversation with a six year old, first grade girl. She helped me relate to in class discussions on how children are affected by capitalism. During the conversation, I asked her, “Why do you go to school?” and “Do you like school?” She responded, “I go to school because my parents make me and to learn new things.” She also begins to talk about what she had in mind as a profession, she said, “I like going to school because I want to become a teacher.” My non-understanding of how children could be affected by capitalism with a conversation from a six year old was answered. This shows how parents promote capitalism, which affects young children to make them believe how good it is to attend school. This influences them to feel like they are only there to learn, although they are there to build a future for themselves so that they are beyond the majority of the working class.
From the movie 7 up, that we watched in class, many kids of higher, middle class and lower classes were affected by capitalism. A young boy, of a lower class family was interviewed to see how he was affected by capitalism. The interviewer asked him, what would he like to do when he gets older and where would he like to go? The boy felt embarrassed and didn’t want to answer because growing up in a lower class family you were looked down upon. As compared to those children who were rich, they were happy and cheerful to speak about the future because being wealthy and having authority was all they needed to be successful. The affects of capitalism on children become the affects of capitalism on teens but in different ways. 

As a teenager in high school, I often realize how capitalism affects me and many other teens the same way around the country. Before learning about how capitalism affected teenagers, I spoke with teenagers my age and they told me how capitalism didn’t affect them and they had no worries. Everyday of our lives we are told “go to school, get good grades, go to college, to prepare yourself for a career and get a good paying job.” This shows how teens are affected by capitalism, we are forced to go to school, not to benefit from our learning but to work to be better than the working class and get a good paying job to support ourselves. This connects to myself because I always live up to getting “what’s hot” or the latest sneakers or clothes. The fashion world is capitalism because everyone is competing to look good. This affects me because I compete against others to stay up to date with the hottest styles to look “proper.”
Although teens have an opportunity to attend higher learning schools of their choice, many other teens live in poverty and attend schools that are below standards. For example, most African American teens with parents who make less money than the average Americans suffer with financial support. This then leaves many teenagers to not have a good education and most importantly many teens drop out because they cant afford to pay for higher learning schools as rich kids are. As compared to rich kids, they attend higher learning schools that are expensive, where they have the money to pay for tutoring so that they can increase their education levels.
As a continuation of 7 up, 14 up, the kids explain how capitalism affects them. One boy explained how he would go to one of the top colleges because he was brought up in a rich family so he had the rights to go wherever he wanted. This shows how he was affected by capitalism because knowing that he was wealthy he used that to prove that he could get anywhere jus because rich people were looked up to. 
Social norms are highly valued in the American culture. A social norm is doing something that is “normal” to society. Social norms can be a number of things for example; teenage girls shaving their legs, babies being potty trained, walking down the street the correct way, etc. These things prove that you are apart of the American society or “way of living.”
Capitalism affects teenagers which than transitions into capitalism affecting adults. Growing up in a household with a single parent takes place within many families, therefore it is hard to raise your child on your own while trying to work and live, eat and sleep. The only way to do this is by paying someone also known as a “nanny” or baby sitter” who watches your child while you work eight hours a day, everyday. Therefore leading to the idea of “Get Rich or Die Trying.” In this case, Americans work a nine to five job everyday to keep a roof over their heads to live and to support their children. This means that they a person could be a boss and give orders to people which help them become rich or they can be a employee in which they are told what to do and are less paid. These less paying jobs, are jobs where people work in a box all day by themselves, while the good paying jobs are jobs where people work in a spaced office with people who are friendly and caring to one another but still get work done.
Capitalism affects elderly in many ways. One example of how capitalism affects elderly people is by social security. Social security is government-funded programs that provide people who are unable to work with compensation so that they are able to live. Elderly people are affected by capitalism with the use of social security because after a certain age many elderly people become disabled therefore leaving them not being able to work. Social security is a way to provide for the needy elderly people so that they can live as other people would.
Social norms are rules that rank our interactions with others. In society today, given a rule that is established, we subject to these rules because we are living to those expectations of how other people act. Although social norms are powerful they can be broken by creating a “sub culture”, in which this means that you do what you believe is right for you which breaks the rules of social norms. From a class experience, we went outside of the School of The Future building and paraded around the block doing unusual things that people wouldn’t normally do in “social norm” based society. Some things that I noticed was that many people looked at us like we were crazy, many other people were laughing or smiling at what we were doing, and a working class man in a pizza shop begin dancing when he saw us. This showed me that although many people are affected by social norms, there are other ways to come off those social norms. Social norms affect everyone at different life stages, children, teens, adults and elders.
The first way social norms affect people at different stages of life is as young as a child. Children begin to learn social norms when they are aware of their surroundings, which may be at the age of one year old. They begin to pick up habits such as learning language. This usually happens when they are around an adult or older sibling. They usually tend to pick up inappropriate language; the most common is “shit” or “fuck.”
This is considered a social norm because language is passed down through generations. When children start communicating with others it then becomes easier for them to be drawn onto other social norms such as obedience.
Once children can communicate with higher authority they aren’t able to behave the way they want nor do what might please them but instead do what pleases the society. They learn the way of the community, they end up going to school and learn what other children are learning, being taught to become the idle child. The idle child who goes to school comes home and doesn’t disrespect their parents. They tend to learn the idle way of behaving at home, when once doing something considered wrong they might get yelled at, or hit. They get some type of punishment that teaches them not to behave a certain way because it is considered wrong. By doing that the parent is also demonstrating that it I okay to use violence and aggression to achieve power, sounds familiar? That’s how most governments in the world are created. These children are raised to live a certain ways and to go through different stages which bring on different social norms. From idle child they then go on to become the idle adult. It is all just one big social norm, one giant routine.
Social norms affect children which than transitions to social norms affecting teenagers. At first a child usually gets their cloths picked out by their parents. Once they are older they usually pick out their own cloths to what they consider is more authentic. However it is not authentic at all. Many people dress to what society thinks is cool, to what’s in fashion. Many people dress to what’s in style, or what’s in for the season. This is a social norm because people dress to what society thinks is right. Although there are different styles, it still applies to different parts of society.
Pure pressure is a social norm that also affects teenagers, one of which is drugs. New York City teens are forced to do drugs while hanging out with friends so that they are able to fit in. This is a social norm because if one teen does drugs and are around his or her friends the rest of the teens will than want to follow behind and attempt to do drugs to. The same way drugs are a social norm plays a role in how teens becoming sexual play a role. For example, many teens are forced to have sex with one another or rather wish to have sex because they are open to sexual orientation and it is the idea of fitting in. Although many teens rather fit in, many others rather stand out which believe it or not both are social norms. Standing out is a social norm also because to fit in you have to stand out first and fit in with others. This connects to me because as a teenager living in New York City I try to stand out by wearing what I like to wear and doing thing I like to do but it is also me trying to fit in with others.
Social norms also affect adults in many ways. As an adult under social norms they tend to have many friends. This means that they go to clubs together and party together so that they keep a friendly relationship under control, which is something that many adults do for fun or in other words they call it “Party and Bullshit.” Many of the adults I have conversations with are happy with their lives because they either have no kids or can do whatever they want with their friends or they have kids and go on family vacations as others families would. Social norms within adults connect to social norms within elderly.
Nursing homes play an important role in many elderly lives. For example when an old person is put in to a nursing home they usually don’t see their family for a long amount of time, while many others don’t have families to see because they were abandoned and forced to be in the nursing home. This causes an elderly person to become lonely as a lot of elderly people are. After retirement some of the elderly generations spend their time jogging around parks, or traveling to keep their lives going. This is considered a social norm because the usual elderly people spend time in their houses not being able to do anything because they are disabled.
Government Policy affects children, teenagers, adults and elderly as well. A government controls the actions of people in a society. The government has the final use of violence as well as a system of police, which we consider them violent and forcing us human beings to do things we don’t want to do. There are many different types of government, monarchy, dictator, republic, direct democracy, oligarchy, kleptocracy etc. where there are different rules to each.
In a monarchy government, its hereditary and only one person rules as compared to a dictatorship government, only one person rules and it is non hereditary. In a republic government, the people elect those who make the decisions, which are the people in control. In a direct democracy government, you and other people make the decisions on your own. The rich rule an oligarchy government. While a kleptocracy government is when the government steals from the people.
Though there are three braches of government there are three levels. The first of which is the federal government. Here foreign policies are made, national laws, inter-state laws, rights, incomes taxes are composed, this involves the FBI, CIA, DEA, etc. This includes interstate crimes, crossing state lines, social security, police funding and national parks. The second is the state government. This involved the education system, state laws, income/ sales tax, and state police. As well as, state highways, crimes in state, welfare programs, and state parks. The third is local government. This is the same three branches as well; it involved everything with local schools, sales taxes, as well as city police. This includes zoning, smoking ban, and city parks. Government policy affects us at different life stages of our lives, children, teens, adults and elders.
As a child, many kids are offered childcare while many other kids are being kidnapped of childcare. In society the government is supposed to provide childcare for children. A fucked up government takes away from a child’s health therefore leaving them with nothing to live off. How can a child survive without healthcare? Something we all wonder but when will they ever change if the government keeps taking away from those who need childcare? As opposed to many other situations where the government assist parents in getting child care for their children so they can be able to go to the doctor and not pay the government back for a health issue.
Government policy also affects teens. All around the world it is mandatory that all teenagers attend school each and everyday. Most teenagers cut school and many get away with it while truancy officers catch many other. These are school police that wonder the streets during school hours to catch all kids who are not attending school. If they find a teenager not in school, they call the school and take them back to school or to the precinct where they will then have their parents called.
Another way government policy affects teenagers is causing their parents to get in trouble because they don’t attend school on a regular basis. This involves ACS, a child service that gets involved when a parent is acting violently toward a child or causes harm to a child. Here the parent will be faced a number of court dates and other activities if the charges become out of hand.
Government policy doesn’t only affect teenagers it also affects adults. Adults are forced to pay taxes. Taxes are supposed to be something that you get back at the end of the year but are you getting back what you put out? This means that you are contributing to the government to pay all of your expenses. Here if you don’t pay your taxes the government have the rights to arrest you and although this happens you still will have to pay the money you owe. It isn’t fair that we have to pay taxes to support other people’s needs, will this continue to happen or will us the people overthrow paying taxes?
Lastly government policy affects elderly as well. Elderly are given social security and welfare by the government. What is social security and where it begins? Social Security begins in the 1930’s by FDR. He thought it would help democrats run the government and help old people but also create more spending. When the idea of social security was created, he called it a social security trust fund. In this care more than 40 percent of American elderly lived in poverty. It was thought up as a pay as you go but they used the money to pay for wars. There was another scam by LBJ in which he created a unified federal government. This boosted the war in Vietnam and caused a good budget.
So how are the elderly affected by government policy with social security? They are given social security for time they worked for in the past. This is given to them on a monthly basis to help provide their needs.
The second way government policy affects elders is by providing them with welfare. What is Welfare? Welfare is money that the government gives to the poor. There are two arguments that involve government policy. The pragmatic problem is if you give to the people than everyone would be satisfied. The second argument is how its peoples right. For example, there are people starving to death or homeless people than why wouldn’t the government provide for them. Welfare is a number of different programs such as, food stamps, section 8, Medicare, healthy kids, child assistance, etc. So how do government provide welfare to elders? They give them affordable places to live where they pay some sort of their rent, which is section 8. They also provide them food stamps so that they can have food in their house so they wont starve.
Overall, Such things as capitalism, social norms and government policy have affected us at different stages of our lives. After researching these topics I realize that all three affect me. I also noticed that different are affected in different ways, from rich to poor. As stated earlier, rich people have a better opportunity of being affected by these but poor people have to struggle for what they want through capitalism, social norms and government policy. After researching, I still have questions about government policy, one is how long does it take for a law to be passed? And are everyone equal when these laws are made or if they already exist?

Edited Version of paper

Capitalism! Are you aware of capitalism? In a capitalist world, you are free to do what you want. Capitalism can be broken down into two worlds, money vs. solidarity. In the money world, everyone is worried about the “dollar”. Many people compete against others to make more money. Capitalism can be defined as “survival of the fittest” only those who strive and work hard to do what they have to do to live are the only ones to survive in the capitalist world. As in contrast to the world of “solidarity” people are more concerned about others and work to support their families as well as live with happiness. Capitalism also affects people based off social classes. For example, in a class discussion someone brought up the idea of how people of different social classes are affected by capitalism different. It was said that someone of middle class would be scared to become working class, not wanting to be owned by the rich people, so they fear moving a step higher, which this is called middle class fear. The idea of frustration also plays a role in capitalism. Working to make someone rich is a “shitty job” and many people often suffer with this being affected in a capitalist society. Unfortunately, capitalism affects everyone at different stages in lives, children’s, teens, adults, and elders in many different ways. 
Capitalism affects children, more than we can believe. I never believed a child could be affected by capitalism until I begin to learn more about capitalism. Recently, I had a conversation with a six year old, first grade girl. She helped me relate to in class discussions on how children are affected by capitalism. During the conversation, I asked her, “Why do you go to school?” and “Do you like school?” She responded, “I go to school because my parents make me and to learn new things.” She also begins to talk about what she had in mind as a profession, she said, “I like going to school because I want to become a teacher.” My non-understanding of how children could be affected by capitalism with a conversation from a six year old was answered. This shows how parents promote capitalism, which affects young children to make them believe how good it is to attend school. This influences them to feel like they are only there to learn, although they are there to build a future for themselves so that they are beyond the majority of the working class.
From the movie 7 up, that we watched in class, many kids of higher, middle class and lower classes were affected by capitalism. A young boy, of a lower class family was interviewed to see how he was affected by capitalism. The interviewer asked him, what would he like to do when he gets older and where would he like to go? The boy felt embarrassed and didn’t want to answer because growing up in a lower class family you were looked down upon. As compared to those children who were rich, they were happy and cheerful to speak about the future because being wealthy and having authority was all they needed to be successful. The affects of capitalism on children become the affects of capitalism on teens but in different ways. 
As a teenager in high school, I often realize how capitalism affects me and many other teens the same way around the country. Before learning about how capitalism affected teenagers, I spoke with teenagers my age and they told me how capitalism didn’t affect them and they had no worries. Everyday of our lives we are told “go to school, get good grades, go to college, to prepare yourself for a career and get a good paying job.” This shows how teens are affected by capitalism, we are forced to go to school, not to benefit from our learning but to work to be better than the working class and get a good paying job to support ourselves. This connects to myself because I always live up to getting “what’s hot” or the latest sneakers or clothes. The fashion world is capitalism because everyone is competing to look good. This affects me because I compete against others to stay up to date with the hottest styles to look “proper.”
As a continuation, of 7 up, now that all the kids at 13, they explain how capitalism affects them. One boy explained how he would go to one of the top colleges because he was brought up in a rich family so he had the rights to go wherever he wanted. This shows how he was affected by capitalism because knowing that he was wealthy he used that to prove that he could get anywhere jus because rich people were looked up to. 
Social norms are highly valued in the American culture. A social norm is doing something that is “normal” to society. Social norms can be a number of things for example; teenage girls shaving their legs, babies being potty trained, walking down the street the correct way, etc. These things prove that you are apart of the American society or “way of living.”
Social norms are rules that rank our interactions with others. In society today, given a rule that is established, we subject to these rules because we are living to those expectations of how other people act. Although social norms are powerful they can be broken by creating a “sub culture”, in which this means that you do what you believe is right for you which breaks the rules of social norms. From a class experience, we went outside of the School of The Future building and paraded around the block doing unusual things that people wouldn’t normally do in “social norm” based society. Some things that I noticed was that many people looked at us like we were crazy, many other people were laughing or smiling at what we were doing, and a working class man in a pizza shop begin dancing when he saw us. This showed me that although many people are affected by social norms, there are other ways to come off those social norms.

More to Social Norm Intro

Social norms are rules that rank our interactions with others. In society today, given a rule that is established, we subject to these rules because we are living to those expectations of how other people act.

My Comment to Raimi && Anna

Raimi, I extremely liked how you wrote "code of conduct" in your paper to refer to social norms. This makes me connect myself to the outside world and peoples opinion about what makes a perfect "social norms." Keep up the good work...and im always on AIM if you need a refernce!

COOL COOL Anna!! "Lemonade Stand", was a interesting way to connect kids to capitalism. This makes me think back to my youngster days of selling candy or lemonade and never knew the price or actually meaning of this!! Interesting!!

My Lovely Comment to Raimi

Raimi, I extremely liked how you wrote "code of conduct" in your paper to refer to social norms. This makes me connect myself to the outside world and peoples opinion about what makes a perfect "social norms." Keep up the good work...and im always on AIM if you need a refernce!

Capitalism,Social Norms

Capitalism! Are you aware of capitalism? In a capitalist world, you are free to do what you want. Capitalism can be broken down into two worlds, money vs. solidarity. In the money world, everyone is worried about the “dollar”. Many people compete against others to make more money. Merriam Webster definition of capitalism is “an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.”Capitalism can be defined as “survival of the fittest” only those who strive and work hard to do what they have to do to live are the only ones to survive in the capitalist world. As in contrast to the world of “solidarity” people are more concerned about others and work to support their families as well as live with happiness. Capitalism also affects people based off social classes. For example, in a class discussion someone brought up the idea of how people of different social classes are affected by capitalism different. It was said that someone of middle class would be scared to become working class, not wanting to be owned by the rich people, so they fear moving a step higher, which this is called middle class fear. The idea of frustration also plays a role in capitalism. Working to make someone rich is a “shitty job” and many people often suffer with this being affected in a capitalist society. Unfortunately, capitalism affects everyone at different stages in lives, children’s, teens, adults, and elders in many different ways.
Capitalism affects children, more than we can believe. I never believed a child could be affected by capitalism until I begin to learn more about capitalism. Recently, I had a conversation with a six year old, first grade girl. She helped me relate to in class discussions on how children are affected by capitalism. During the conversation, I asked her, “why do you go to school?” and “Do you like school?” She responded, “I go to school because my parents make me and to learn new things.” She also begin to talk about what she had in mind as a profession, she said “I like going to school because I want to become a teacher.” My non understanding of how children could be affected by capitalism with a conversation from a six year old was answered. This shows how parents promote capitalism which affects young children to make them believe how good it is to attend school. This influences them to feel like they are only there to learn, although they are there to build a future for themselves so that they are beyond the majority of the working class. From the movie 7 up, that we watched in class, many kids of higher, middle class and lower class were affected by capitalism. A young boy, of a lower class family was interviewed to see how he was affected by capitalism. The interviewer asked him, what would he liked to do when he get older and where would he like to go. The boy felt embarrassed and didn’t want to answer because growing up in a lower class family you were looked down upon. As compared to those children who were rich, they were happy and cheerful to speak about the future because being wealthy and having authority was all they needed to be successful. The affects of capitalism on children becomes the affects of capitalism on teens but in different ways.
As a teenager in high school, I often realize how capitalism affects me and many other teens the same way around the country. Before learning about how capitalism affected teenagers, I spoke with teenagers my age and they told me how capitalism didn’t affect them and they had no worries. Everyday of our lives we are told “go to school, get good grades, go to college, to prepare yourself for a career and get a good paying job.” This shows how teens are affected by capitalism, we are forced to go to school, not to benefit from our learning but to work to be better than the working class and get a good paying job to support ourselves. This connects to myself because I always live up to getting “what’s hot” or the latest sneakers or clothes. The fashion world is capitalism because everyone is competing to look good. This affects me because I compete against others to stay up to date with the hottest styles to look “proper.” As a continuation, of 7 up, now that all the kids at 13, they explain how capitalism affects them. One boy explained how he would go to one of the top colleges because he was brought up in a rich family so he had the rights to go where ever he wanted. This shows how he was affected by capitalism because knowing that he was wealthy he used that to prove that he could get anywhere jus because rich people were looked up to.
Social norms are highly valued in the American culture. A social norm is doing something that is “normal” to society. Social norms can be a number of things for example; teenage girls shaving their legs, babies being potty trained, walking down the street the correct way, etc. These things prove that you are apart of the American society or “way of living.” Social Norms are powerful in many ways but I also feel that they are not necessary in all cases. It’s powerful in my opinion because living in a society where everyone live up to doing what others do is drastic. Although social norms are powerful they can be broken by creating a “sub culture”, in which this means that you do what you believe is right for you which breaks the rules of social norms. From a class experience, we went outside of the School of The Future building and paraded around the block doing unusual things that people wouldn’t normally do in “social norm” based society. Some things that I noticed was that many people looked at us like we were crazy, many other people were laughing or smiling at what we were doing, and a working class man in a pizza shop begin dancing when he saw us. This showed me that although social norms affect people the same way there are other ways to get around living under that title.

First Draft of Essay On Social Norms, Gov't Policy, & Capitalism...

How Does Social Norms, Government Policies & Capitalism affect us at different stages in life (Babies, Teenagers, Adults)?