Sociology Questions (US)

[Cpand671]

Hey, I'm taking a sociology course and am doing a, "field experience," assignment. I've got a couple of questions to ask if any of you would like to answer them. Answer as many as you like, in no way should you feel obligated to answer them all.

1. What concerns you the most in respect to the direction this country seems to be taking?

2. What concerns you most about race relations in America?

3. What concerns you most about the economy today? The State/Federal Budget? The Deficit? The growing gap in wealth and income as well as the poverty level?

4. What concerns do you have about current and future employment opportunities?

5. Are you concerned about global warming and climate change?

6. What do you think about the Health Care Reform Act passed in 2010? How has the reform impacted you and family members directly? What are your thoughts on the Supreme Court's Decision that ruled on the constitutionality of the individual mandates?

7. What are your thoughts on the on-going war in Afghanistan?

8. What are your thoughts on other happenings in the Middle East and Northern Africa (Egypt, Libya, and Syria)?

9. How do you balance work and family?

10. What are your concerns regarding the cost of a college education?

11. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about our future as a nation?

**ONLY ANSWER QUESTIONS BELOW IF YOU ABSOLUTELY FEEL COMFORTABLE**

12. How old are you?

13. What state are you from?

14. Do you plan on voting in the upcoming election?

15. Who are you voting for? Why?


Thank you.

[Rukentuts]

1. Education. Seems like with each passing year the general populace is getting more and more stupid.
2. The fact that people still bring it up on either side. Get passed the damn skin color already, it's immature as shit.
3. Trickle down economics and income disparity.
4. Jobs are becoming more and more exclusive to skilled workers, but workers don't want (or cannot) get skills.
5. Fuck. Yes. We haven't had a real winter in years.
6. It let me stay on my parents health plan in college and until I got employment of my own. I think the SCOTUS' ruling was a stretch, but wouldn't have been if the government had argued tax law from the get-go.
7. I think it's time to pull out, limit our intervention to small targeted strikes of terrorists.
8. It's their own damn business. Freedom earned is a lot sweeter than freedom given.
9. I don't have a family.
10. It's going through the fucking roof, and many low income but educationally qualified students are limited to a future of menial jobs simply because they cannot afford college. It's fucked up and needs serious repair.
11. Pessimistic
12. 24
13. MN
14. Yes
15. Obama: As I feel Romney plans for continuing trickle-down economics is bullshit. Giving income to high end individuals does nothing, as they effectively hoard the money and it is removed from the economy.

[Adam Jensen]

1. Education. Too many people fall for false assumptions and propaganda, as seen by the millions who equate universal healthcare to the fall of the USSR. If we had better educated people, we'd be able to make better decisions
2. It's better than it use to be, but people really need to get the fuck over it. Race is a social constructed, lets deconstruct it.
3. What concerns me is Congress. Will they do the same crap in the last term, obstructing rather than compromising and thus hurting the economy rather than helping?
4. I'm concerned I'll be sitting on this chair until I'm 40.
5. Yes, but more because reducing pollution and cleaning the earth is never a bad thing. Whether anthropomorphic global warming is true or false, either way, we all benefit from cleaning our planet.
6. It's not universal healthcare. It's a step in that direction, but not what we need. We need a universal healthcare system. The rest of the civilized world has it, why can't we?
7. It's time to pull out.
8. I wish them the best but we should take care of ourselves and not get involved. Send food and medicine perhaps, but otherwise not get involved.
9. N/A
10. It's a conundrum. Employers want to see degrees. But colleges cost an arm and a leg and it puts kids in debt. Worse, even after they get their degree, getting a job is still a pain in the ass sometimes.
11. Optimistic

12. 25
13. Maine
14. Yes
15. Obama. Romney is a complete moron. Obama's not perfect, he's not even my top ten, but I think he's an alright president, if you can get past the propaganda and look at the actual facts. Romney on the other hand just wants what the Republican party wants: all the wealth to go to the 1% and more debt increasing tax cuts.

[someotherguy]

Hey, I'm taking a sociology course and am doing a, "field experience," assignment. I've got a couple of questions to ask if any of you would like to answer them. Answer as many as you like, in no way should you feel obligated to answer them all.

1. What concerns you the most in respect to the direction this country seems to be taking?

Religion in republican party

2. What concerns you most about race relations in America?

nothing, I believe it's pretty good comparatively to other countries, and is improving

3. What concerns you most about the economy today? The State/Federal Budget? The Deficit? The growing gap in wealth and income as well as the poverty level?

deficit concerns me. I believe democrats are working on a way to fix it, and republicans are working on a way to cover our eyes (war off budget for example; or lowering taxes by 20% - a very specific number, without having a specific number how to pay for it)

4. What concerns do you have about current and future employment opportunities?

I'm in technology, so I think it will be ok. I believe that a lot of low-skill jobs are leaving US forever, and holding on to them holds US back. Each time someone says 'we need to bring manufacturing back', I cringe a little. We need to work on future, and need to train current workforce for future. We don't need to assemble iphones.

5. Are you concerned about global warming and climate change?

yes, and more so that it's a non-issue for both major parties - at least not worth a mention in 4 debates.

6. What do you think about the Health Care Reform Act passed in 2010? How has the reform impacted you and family members directly? What are your thoughts on the Supreme Court's Decision that ruled on the constitutionality of the individual mandates?

Just call it 'Obamacare' . Democrats failed to come up with a good name for it, and I almost said 'I don't know what it is'. By the way, I think you're using the short naming for it, the real name is like 5 or 6 words. It doesn't impact me, and I do like that now everyone has to pay into the system - instead of just those of us who choose to do so, and the rest of us getting free service at emergency rooms.

7. What are your thoughts on the on-going war in Afghanistan?

good

8. What are your thoughts on other happenings in the Middle East and Northern Africa (Egypt, Libya, and Syria)?

good that they have uprisings, but US should work on promoting US-friendly governments. By very least giving money to candidate that is pro-US.

9. How do you balance work and family?

that's what my wife is for. Just kidding, but I'm no good at it.

10. What are your concerns regarding the cost of a college education?

should be accessible to all. should be cheaper, but probably not free (to those who can afford to pay for it)

11. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about our future as a nation?

optimistic absolutely

**ONLY ANSWER QUESTIONS BELOW IF YOU ABSOLUTELY FEEL COMFORTABLE**

12. How old are you?

35 next week

13. What state are you from?

nj

14. Do you plan on voting in the upcoming election?

yes

15. Who are you voting for? Why?

Obama

Thank you.

[Porcell]

1. What concerns you the most in respect to the direction this country seems to be taking?
I'm not really overly concerned about anything. I don't generally fall for the scare tactics that politicos throw around. If anything, I'm concerned that no -real- change ever happens, that the Republicans and Democrats are so insanely similar no matter their insistence that they are a distinct choice. I think a third party is the only way to really change policy.

2. What concerns you most about race relations in America?
The only thing the concerns me about race in the US is that I feel a LOT of the crime and poverty still comes as a result of the 1) The Drug War and 2) Perpetuated abuse of the legal system against minorities. In order for the US to improve in those areas, the justice system needs to change when it comes to jailing large amounts of minorities. (What happens when the males of a community are put behind bars? What effect does that have on the family and the children in those communities? How does this cycle therefore perpetuate itself? Honestly answer those questions and think about it for a second and you'll see what a problem it is.)

3. What concerns you most about the economy today? The State/Federal Budget? The Deficit? The growing gap in wealth and income as well as the poverty level?
First I'll say I'm not really concerned with income inequality. You can not artificially fix that, so there's no use focusing on the difference. You can't try and "Bring down the rich man" in order to fix the poverty problem, so it doesn't help to look at the difference. Focus on poverty on its own. As for the overall economy, I think a real hard look needs to be taken at the spending side of things. Do we need 10 aircraft carriers and 26 submarines? Military spending is out of control, and I think cutting back by even 50% will by no means put us in a vulnerable position, but it will put us in a much stronger position economically.

4. What concerns do you have about current and future employment opportunities?
None. The economy goes in cycles. Ride the waves.

5. Are you concerned about global warming and climate change?
Not at all, not in the slightest. I don't believe that humans contribute a significant or noticeable amount to whatever climate change happens to be occurring at the moment. Whatever the climate is doing the eco-systems will adapts. The Earth isn't the same now as it was 500 years ago, and it won't be the same in 500 years. Of course we should be concerned with pollution in general, but Global Warming and Climate Change is not important. (Oh noes, the glaciers. Michigan used to be covered in a glacier, I'm glad that one melted... change does not necessarily equal bad. Why do people love glaciers so much?)

6. What do you think about the Health Care Reform Act passed in 2010? How has the reform impacted you and family members directly? What are your thoughts on the Supreme Court's Decision that ruled on the constitutionality of the individual mandates?
It's great, IMO. If you actually read through it, it's hard to disagree with. It has not impacted me directly, but the Medicare gap closure will have a positive impact on my grandmother. I feel like the mandate was necessary (due to the pre-existing conditions part; otherwise people would jump in when they needed care only). Is the healthcare system perfect? Not by any means. It's still royally fucked up and there's way to much money changing hands. But within the bounds of the current system, Obamacare is a good thing.

7. What are your thoughts on the on-going war in Afghanistan?
Should have pulled out a long time ago. I long for the days when Wars were declared, we would go, meet an objective, and come back. This ongoing War on Terror is not sustainable. What are we even still doing there? The terrorist networks have been pretty crippled for a while now. Pull back and address any future situations when they happen. Spending way too much time, money, and live on this.

8. What are your thoughts on other happenings in the Middle East and Northern Africa (Egypt, Libya, and Syria)?
As a global leader we need to have a presence (Embassy) in those areas, but that should be the limit of our involvement. There are a lot of governmental changes going on in that area and we honestly should not have a say in what happens. It's their country, let them be. We get involved, depose a dictator, and the following regime is not much better, so it gets us nowhere.

9. How do you balance work and family?
I am single. I work 40 hour a week as an engineer, see my mom/dad/brother a couple times per month.

10. What are your concerns regarding the cost of a college education?
I'm out of touch with it at the moment. I went to a private engineering college and had a LOT of scholarships. When I went it was about $20,000 per year for a 4.5 year program, so total bill was close to $100,000. When I graduated I had about $23,000 in debt. If I were to propose anything, I would want student loans to be at a guaranteed interest rate of 2-3%.

11. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about our future as a nation?
Generally optimistic. I'm not really concerned with how the nation runs; it just does. I'm way more excited about advancements in technology as we move forward.

**ONLY ANSWER QUESTIONS BELOW IF YOU ABSOLUTELY FEEL COMFORTABLE**

12. How old are you?
31

13. What state are you from?
Michigan

14. Do you plan on voting in the upcoming election?
Yeah, although I generally choose not to vote.

15. Who are you voting for? Why?
Gary Johnson. I agree with what he says and I feel it would be a good shake-up for the country. The two party system feels like it's on rails, so the money, politics, subsidies, spending, etc etc etc aren't really going to change as long as it's Rep v Dem. Also I'd like the third parties to get exposure in the national election, and that can only happen if they get a substantial portion of the vote.

Thank you.[/QUOTE]

[Auloria]

1. What concerns you the most in respect to the direction this country seems to be taking?
Extreme partisanship.
2. What concerns you most about race relations in America?
The strong correlation to class and social status are really what's holding back progress.
3. What concerns you most about the economy today? The State/Federal Budget? The Deficit? The growing gap in wealth and income as well as the poverty level?
The wealth gap. Ideally you would have almost all belong to the middle class.
4. What concerns do you have about current and future employment opportunities?
For me personally, the cuts to science research have really impacted my career options. I don't think exporting our scientists and engineers is a good thing.
5. Are you concerned about global warming and climate change?
Yes, and this should be a science issue, not a political one.
6. What do you think about the Health Care Reform Act passed in 2010? How has the reform impacted you and family members directly? What are your thoughts on the Supreme Court's Decision that ruled on the constitutionality of the individual mandates?
Removing the pre-existing conditions clause was a great step.
7. What are your thoughts on the on-going war in Afghanistan?
Wars are expensive. Debt is a threat to national security.
8. What are your thoughts on other happenings in the Middle East and Northern Africa (Egypt, Libya, and Syria)?
I would like to see bigger strides for gender equality.
9. How do you balance work and family?
... very carefully?
10. What are your concerns regarding the cost of a college education?
It's ridiculously overpriced. The social norm should be community college.
11. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about our future as a nation?
Optimistic.
**ONLY ANSWER QUESTIONS BELOW IF YOU ABSOLUTELY FEEL COMFORTABLE**

12. How old are you?
30
13. What state are you from?
North Carolina
14. Do you plan on voting in the upcoming election?
Yes
15. Who are you voting for? Why?
Obama. I think education and science will do better under him, and I think the new health care bill was in the right direction. He's a bit too partisan and finger-pointy, but I generally prefer his path forward. McCain-Obama was a tough decision for me (until Palin), but not this time. I have the sneaking suspicion that Romney is a sociopath.

Thank you.[/QUOTE]

[Todgruppe]

1. What concerns you the most in respect to the direction this country seems to be taking?

Fanaticism on both sides of political spectrum.

2. What concerns you most about race relations in America?

Reverse discrimination

3. What concerns you most about the economy today? The State/Federal Budget? The Deficit? The growing gap in wealth and income as well as the poverty level?

The Fed. Also, not moving towards a system that remove monetary values. In couple decades, as technology increases and population continues to explode, there won't be jobs left for "humans", as we are moving to a more automated workplace.

4. What concerns do you have about current and future employment opportunities?

See 3.

5. Are you concerned about global warming and climate change?

Not really.

6. What do you think about the Health Care Reform Act passed in 2010? How has the reform impacted you and family members directly? What are your thoughts on the Supreme Court's Decision that ruled on the constitutionality of the individual mandates?

Everyone will suffer. Doesn't effect my family, and the Supreme Court still has too much power.

7. What are your thoughts on the on-going war in Afghanistan?

Leave them be, they don't want "help".

8. What are your thoughts on other happenings in the Middle East and Northern Africa (Egypt, Libya, and Syria)?

Replacing one shithead government/leader for another.

9. How do you balance work and family?

Magic, one or the other, if you want both, both will suffer for it.

10. What are your concerns regarding the cost of a college education?

Entire education system is archaic and needs to be reworked. That said, cost is way to high unless the purpose is to keep people in debt.

11. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about our future as a nation?

Realistic?

**ONLY ANSWER QUESTIONS BELOW IF YOU ABSOLUTELY FEEL COMFORTABLE**

12. How old are you?

24

13. What state are you from?

VA

14. Do you plan on voting in the upcoming election?

Nope.

15. Who are you voting for? Why?

N/A

[ewhenn]

1. What concerns you the most in respect to the direction this country seems to be taking?
The erosion of personal privacy via legislation (ie. Patriot Act, etc.) as well as the attempts to limit personal freedom by religious groups.

2. What concerns you most about race relations in America?
Not a lot, personally. I don't hold any misconceived notions about people simply because of a skin color.

3. What concerns you most about the economy today? The State/Federal Budget? The Deficit? The growing gap in wealth and income as well as the poverty level?
The growing wealth gap as well as tax systems that now favor the wealthy.

4. What concerns do you have about current and future employment opportunities?
Personally, none. For the nation: Businesses used to want to be a positive force in the communities, after all, the CEOs, etc. lived there. They had a real stake in the community they were in. Today MNCs are solely beholden to profit above all else, with the leadership detached (both physically and emotionally) from the reality of the everyday person.

5. Are you concerned about global warming and climate change?
Yes.

6. What do you think about the Health Care Reform Act passed in 2010? How has the reform impacted you and family members directly? What are your thoughts on the Supreme Court's Decision that ruled on the constitutionality of the individual mandates?
I'm for and against it. I don't feel that you should be forced to pay out for health care directly, it should be provided to all from tax revenue. This hasn't impacted me or family.

7. What are your thoughts on the on-going war in Afghanistan?
Sure, that's where OBL and AQ was. It's Iraq that I don't get.

8. What are your thoughts on other happenings in the Middle East and Northern Africa (Egypt, Libya, and Syria)?
Overdue.

9. How do you balance work and family?
I put my 40 hrs in, then go home and separate my personal life from work. They have no place being mingled together.

10. What are your concerns regarding the cost of a college education?
Too high,.

11. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about our future as a nation?
Pessimistic, people don't give a crap. Instead of sitting down and thinking rationally, they "lemming" along and just take for granted what they hear from their preacher or on the news. No critical thought, and they don't care to see motives.

**ONLY ANSWER QUESTIONS BELOW IF YOU ABSOLUTELY FEEL COMFORTABLE**

12. How old are you?
early 30s

13. What state are you from?
MA

14. Do you plan on voting in the upcoming election?
Yes

15. Who are you voting for? Why?
Obama, even though I don't like him all that much. My vote is primarily revolved around Supreme Court justices. I don't want a right-wing religious f-stick getting appointed that wants to legislate his morality / personal beliefs, as if all other measures of decency are arbitrary.

[anveena]

1. We need to reform our education system badly. We're falling even further behind the rest of the first world.

2. Racism is still alive and is never going to go away and we need to get rid of affirmative action.

3. We don't need more conservatives and their trickle down economics. The wealth gap is at what it was back during the 20s which is fucking sad.... I can't see how some many people actually think letting the rich bank all that extra income they get actually generates jobs. They have 90%+ of the wealth in the country, so where are all these jobs they're going to create????

4. It's slowly improving and is probably going to get better over the next 4 years.

5. Nope, I think it's being blown out proportion just to scare people into switching over to green energy and buying green products.

6. I think its going about it the wrong way. I wish the government would just take over all the insurance companies and completely run the healthcare system by itself, and pay for all of it through tax money.

7. It's a waste of money and more importantly lives. The Taliban is just going take it back over a few years after we leave. We killed Bin Laden, so we're over there propping up a corrupt regime because?

8. Good for them. If they want to be free overthrow your dictator, just don't ask for the United States for help. We should stay out of other countries internal affairs, even if that means ignoring genocide.

9. Don't have a family

10. It keeps rising and poorer people can't afford to go to college/university. Something needs to be done about it.

11. Pessimistic. The nation has seen its glory days, its all down hill from here. We might be able to turn it around, but seeing how much partisanship that takes place DC, I have extreme doubts.

12. 23

13. Michigan

14. Yes

15. Probably Obama, he's the lesser of two evils.

[Darth Steve]

1. What concerns you the most in respect to the direction this country seems to be taking?
Probably education. The ridiculous partisan atmosphere and apparent inability for us as a society to hold conversations because of it would be a close second.

2. What concerns you most about race relations in America?
That people think that it exists more than it does. Look, there's always going to be people that are racist(and therefore ignorant). But not everything that happens is based on skin color.

3. What concerns you most about the economy today? The State/Federal Budget? The Deficit? The growing gap in wealth and income as well as the poverty level?
Income gap, followed closely by the deficit.

4. What concerns do you have about current and future employment opportunities?
Me personally, not much. Comp sci major ftw. Although there are too many people with useless degrees and an apparently insurmountable 1-5 years experience required for entry-level jobs nowadays. So that's a problem.

5. Are you concerned about global warming and climate change?
Not really. Not saying they don't exist, not having a conversation on weather cycles, not saying we shouldn't take better care of our environment. But as far as a day-to-day thing, it never crosses my mind.

6. What do you think about the Health Care Reform Act passed in 2010? How has the reform impacted you and family members directly? What are your thoughts on the Supreme Court's Decision that ruled on the constitutionality of the individual mandates?
I think it's a lot of fuss for something that could have been handled a lot better with a lot more impact. They could have just called it the "Make Medicare/Medicaid Not Suck Act" and probably had a lot less resistance and a lot more political goodwill. Personal/family member impact - none, really. Eh. I didn't read the rulings, so gonna stay silent on that one.

7. What are your thoughts on the on-going war in Afghanistan?
Fucking ridiculous. Play to win, or gtfo. If we're in a war, fight it like a war. If we're unwilling/unable to do so, then get out.

8. What are your thoughts on other happenings in the Middle East and Northern Africa (Egypt, Libya, and Syria)?
I support them in making positive changes in their countries(whether it lines up with our views of what they should be or not). Although one of my best friends just got shipped out to Egypt(National Guard), so I'm a little worried.

9. How do you balance work and family?
Work stays at work. No overtime, nights, or weekends. Work hard, play hard.

10. What are your concerns regarding the cost of a college education?
Again, fucking ridiculous. And it's not based on the quality of the degree, either. Feel soooo sorry for a lot of Humanities majors right now.

11. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic about our future as a nation?
Optimistic.

**ONLY ANSWER QUESTIONS BELOW IF YOU ABSOLUTELY FEEL COMFORTABLE**

12. How old are you?
30

13. What state are you from?
North Carolina

14. Do you plan on voting in the upcoming election?
Yes

15. Who are you voting for? Why?
Most likely Gary Johnson, unless I do a write-in. I'm not a birther or truther or whatever else it's socially acceptable to call people for not wanting to vote for President Obama, but I'm not going to. Same goes for Romney. Neither one of them really impresses me, and I don't bother doing the whole "Vote for the lesser of two evils" nonsense.