Andrew Suk

SOC 115 Allen

Journal Analysis
Reflection on Dr. Robert Crosnoes Gender, Obesity, and Education
In the journal Gender, Obesity, and Education, Dr. Robert Crosnoe of University of Texas at Austin talks
about the correlations between gender, obesity, and education and the sociological factors involved. Crosnoe begins
the article by explaining various sociological concepts involved with obesity.
Crosnoe introduces two theories to explain what obesity does to ones self image. Cooleys looking glass
theory and Goffmans social stigma model are two theories that show the adverse effects of obesity to ones selfidentity. The looking glass theory is type of socialization that occurs when one is repeatedly bombarded with
messages that ultimately define and evaluate general worth (Crosnoe 242). This can be either internalized or
externalized in that degrading messages can be constantly in ones mind or avoid situations where they can get hurt.
The looking glass theory makes obese people think that because they are obese, they are worthless. This can come
from being picked last on the kick ball team or the only one in class in a XL shirt or any other event that could be
blamed on his or her weight. Looking glass theory states that the person makes assumptions that the reason why he
or she is treated badly is because of the obesity.
Goffmans social stigma model focuses on the negative feedback that is released by the general category
of physical, behavioral, or demographic characteristics that carry some widely agreed-upon low status (Crosnoe
243). This, in other words, means that obese people will get constant real, implied, or imagined negative criticism.
Some people will be very blunt and point out the obese persons obesity. Others will be over-polite and be overly
careful around the obese person. In some cases, the person will just imagine that people are criticizing him or her,
even though it may not be true. This in turn suppresses ones confidence and doesnt allow one to fulfill ones full
potential.
The importance of both of these theories is that the combination ultimately exists because of social media
and its view one beauty. Dr. Crosnoe does not mention that much about social media affecting peoples self-identity
but I believe that the reason why obesity is so harshly looked down upon is because of social medias view of the
ideal human. Therefore, Americans tend to view obese individuals in extremely negative terms causing obesity to
be unattractive, ugly, lazy, and dumb (Crosnoe 243). The media has so much control over the youth today that it
has the power to define what is attractive and what is not.

Another sociological concept related to obesity is status attainment which is what any human being strives
for; everyone is inclined to want more power and to gain that power, they must achieve high status. However, many
studies show that obese students often achieve lower grades than do their peers (Crosnoe 242). The reason for the
lower grades is because of the loss of confidence, resulting from the negative feedback from social media, peers, and
even ones imagination. Crosnoe then logically concludes that lower grades would eventually mean less earnings
and promotions, ultimately resulting in lower social status. Therefore, obesity can disrupt long-term status
attainment (Crosnoe 242). Having a low status often entails economic inequality and even health inequality. This is
a huge problem in that obesity often leads to severe health problems; these severe health problems such as diabities,
high cholesterol, or risk of heart attack, require an immense amount of money to treat these issues. However, as
mentioned before, obesity lowers the chance of achieving high status, resulting in the person to not have a lot of
finances. Is there a solution to this problem of obesity? Can we try to get obese people back on track?
Crosnoe continues to say that enrolling in college after high school is the first step in pushing through the
bottleneck (Crosnoe 242). Starting a college education right after graduating from high school is key in solving this
inequality between obese and non-obese people. However, obesity is a factor that makes one less likely to even
apply to college. According to research Dr. Crosnoe introduces, only 23% of the group of obese students enrolled to
college while 35% of non- obese peers decided to attend college. The role of gender was also studied and it was
found that girls who are obese have a harder time in the academic realm than boys who are obese. Why? Another
study was introduced showing that women are more prone to self-rejection and the media specifically targets women
more than men when advertising their ideal human. Therefore, females are more likely to feel worthless and
hopeless because of their obesity problem, causing them to fall behind their studies. Obese women are more prone to
become indifferent of academics, making them less likely to attend college.
The importance of these studies as a whole is that society stratifies many aspects of humans, such as race,
age, gender, class, and even weight. This social stratification discriminates against those who may be overweight or
obese, limiting the opportunities of these people who have these conditions. The looking glass self-theory and the
social stigma model contributes to the lack of confidence that people who are obese experience. However, I would
like to argue that the biggest problem behind this is social media and how it looks down upon obese people. These
people should have equal opportunities and the same rights as non-obese people have.

Reflection on A Changed America? The Effects of September 11th on Depressive Symptoms and Alcohol
Consumption

The article A Changed America? The Effects of September 11th on Depressive Symptoms and Alcohol
Consumption, by Hannah K. Knudsen, Paul M. Roman, J. Aaron Johnson, and Lori J. Ducharme, talks about the
United States well-being as a nation as a whole. This national tragedy shook the nation and many news and media
stations reported that the American people were changed because of this event. What type of change? The authors of
this article study the post- traumatic effects of this terrorist attack on the American people. They argue that the
general population experienced communal bereavement (Knudsen, Roman, Johnson& Ducharme 2005). This
general reaction of the population is indicated by increases in reports of depressive symptoms following the
attacks (Knudsen, Roman, Johnson& Ducharme 2005). The depressive symptoms and also increase/ decrease of
alcohol consumption after the 9/11 incident is studied by these authors in this article. Is there enough effective data
to prove that America was really changed by the 9/11 terrorist attacks?
Events like 9/11 are considered to be social deviance. Deviance in sociological terms is essentially anything
that happens in a society that is disruptive and destructive, causing the members of the society to feel injustice.
There is no justification for 9/11; there is no reason for any human being to take other innocent peoples lives
indiscriminately. American citizens have every right to feel like this was an unjust attack. However, not all
Americans are called to fight and try to achieve justice by killing those who were involved in this attack. As a result,
according to social media, Americans felt sympathy and even felt slight depression after this traumatizing event.
Therefore, Americans were generally more stressed during the post- 9/11 periods. Stress is often dealt with the
consumption of alcohol; according to popular belief, Americans dealt with this situation by getting slightly
depressed and consuming more alcohol.
However, according to the surveys and statistics found by the authors, alcohol consumption actually
decreased after this event. Although depressive symptoms were increasing as hypothesized, the consumption of
alcohol increasing was not true. Actually it was interesting to see that people felt that consuming alcohol may not
be appropriate for a major social disaster such as the September 11th terrorist attacks (Knudsen, Roman,
Johnson& Ducharme 2005). Why? Durkheim talked about how crisis actually enhances social integration. What this
means is that because of the disaster, people feel more obligated to volunteer and work to rebuild the society.

Alcohol makes a person run away from society and may be a source of stress relief for personal issues but when it
comes to societys issues, people ironically become more of a part of the broken society. Durkheim may be thought
of as a radical, but it is true that society need social deviance. Social deviance can point out what is wrong with the
current society or what needs to change. In this case, the social deviance of 9/11 made people realize that they are a
part of society and therefore obligated to take part in making society a better place.
This also brings up the faults of the media. Why does the media bring up claims that are false when data
and statistics are brought up? It seems like the media extracts stories that have easily accessible data; this is why the
media should always be questioned. The easiest accessible data is not always the most accurate. As shown by the
data in this article, the medias facts can be wrong and should be constantly tested. Social media is very powerful in
that it effectively spreads messages to a wide-spread audience in a very short period of time. Although the American
people were all affected by this catastrophe, the extent that the media took it was totally wrong in that alcohol
consumption did not increase, but actually decreased.