Sara Siens

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After taking this course, sociology is more than just the study of people, it is 

another way to understand how the world works. Psychology is more the study of the 

individual and the mind while sociology is more focused on the group and the “whole”. 

While it is more of an overview - a generalization of sorts - it still provides valuable 

insight upon the way humans think and understand and their tendencies.  

Two topics I have learned about that surprised me were the Lemon Grove 

incident and the relationship between economy and sociology. The Lemon Grove 

incident was local and not too long ago. It is shocking just how similar and yet different 

such a short amount of time can make. What also shocked me was that this was a part 

of the history of San Diego - albeit a more negative side to it - that we were never 

taught. My thought is this fuels the nationalist idea that America is perfect and can 

essentially do no wrong in the eyes of the public. This narrative is flawed and needs to 

be adjusted but it has yet to be. The relationship between the economy and how it 

relates to sociology really was just an interesting topic because one of my high school 

classes that I am currently taking is economy. Seeing the relationship between the two 

really was interesting especially since some of the topics were ones we had already 

brought up on my economy class or we were covering a little while later.  

The knowledge that I have taken away is that the “hoops” that certain 

individuals in society have to jump through just ot be considered normal or fitting in 

are ridiculous and unfair. These things are being changed and seen in a different light 

but at the same time, it is still the same lighting, just from a slightly different position. 

Looking at race in society was a really interesting things and how racism has been 
 Sara Siens
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present in San Diego in the past and even still today. In the video, there was an 

interesting thing - becoming a colorblind society - and I think that this is an ideal idea 

but at the same time, it is highly unrealistic and would not happen for a very long time 

just since the world and nation we live in is still so heavily color-aware that it be a 

stretch to consider it as possible. 

If we were to meet in five years, I honestly would not recall specifics from this 

class just as I am not the kind of person who typically remembers things. I would 

probably recall some of the general concepts such as global stratification and the class 

systems that are pretty commonly known. As previously stated, I would probably recall 

the Lemon Grove incident as it is something that I believe should be taught to everyone 

a piece of San Diego history, but it is not once mentioned in any curriculum - even in 

high school where the information is less likely to be censored and written to make 

America look its absolute best.  

Overall, this class has been an interesting one and one that caused me to think 

societal views in unique ways that I had not previously explored. This opened my eyes 

to issues that are commonly overlooked and passed off as typical.