Megan Dudley Soc 111

Megan Dudley, 563 words

  The article, "Re-thinking the decline in trust: A comparison of black and white Americans" focuses primarily on the levels of general trust among Americans particularly between whites and blacks. When talking about trust it is in the sense of whether or not you trust people in one's community,or whether they trust people in general. The study primarily focused on the changes in attitudes of trust by generations and what caused those changes, whether it be connected to things like social media and industrialization. This study was meant to look at overall ideas of trust, whether Americans are showing more or less trust than in previous years. A general survey that was already completed was used to collect data. In the past it has shown that whites generally do have more trust among others especially before the Civil Rights Movement, or at times when the country was prospering financially. While when looking at previous years of trust among the black population you cannot conclude clear results that there were general attitudes about trust generationally. 

Essentially this article finds that African Americans have differences yet again on their opinions of trust.The wide variety of variables included things like location, because that can impact one's opinions based on experience, as well as education which showed that the more education attained the higher trust one has. Of course income played a role where the individuals with lower income developed low trust and vice versa for the wealthier. Experiences with government whether that be good or bad also had an affect on attitudes of trust, however race was deemed the most influential or important factor that determined opinions of trust. The overall decline in trust is linked to race, on the average blacks have low trust among others, but it has shown that trust is also declining amongst the whit populations as well. This is most likely due to diversity as well as modernization and the Internet. In America we are faced with multiculturalism yet many do not understand this ideal, we also are always approaching new technologies, as well as spreading our information faster and faster through social media for example.

The article "Teens' social media use and collective action," discusses the effects or perhaps the links between teens use of social media and what that can do to their perception of belonging. Social media sites such as Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook allow for teens these days to communicate in ways that were simply just not around in previous generations. These sites created a new way for teenagers to communicate and it could be having impacts of those taking apart in them. For instance, when one posts a picture on Instagram, the more comments and likes or positive responses that person receives the more likely they are to feel as though they belong, or that they are "liked" by others. If this is possible for positive effects it could also be possible that negative effects could occur. For example, when someone posts something and gets a lot of hate, they will often feel isolated, or that the are not accepted by others. 

  Overall the study conducted a survey amongst Kansas City youth and looked at variables such as self- efficacy, self-esteem, and need to belong.The study also asked about social media use, perceptions of flash mobs, and common demographics such as age. The findings included that the more time spent on social media the more positive opinions on flash mobs, or collective action.