Genius Hour Reflection

 I am questioning what social factors drove the need for a Federal Reserve and how has it impacted our culture. On Thursday, I read the modern Federal Reserve Act -- how it functions and what we are told about it -- and reports about the Act from the era -- the public response at the time. There was a crash prior to the Act that scared the public around their banking system. But the only reason it crashed was because of rumors. Subsequently, the rich eight families purchased heavily after the crash before regular values were resumed. The Act was supposedly a response to prevent these types of crashes again -- which history has shone it did not. As I've continued to research the Federal Reserve, I've realized that this information is clouded to avoid the public's understanding -- which is likely the biggest factor in a cultural acceptance. The best solution I could do would be to make a way for this information to be accessible and understandable: like an interactive, graphics-focused website that conveys the necessary details. I want my project to be solution driven, rather than just query driven, because I value social change.

Zimbardo Analysis

Perspective 1: Symbolic Interaction Approach

Questions:
How did individuals experience the community?
How did the individual impact their conditions?
How did the meaning of their actions change in the circumstances?
What symbols were defining their perspective?


Answers:
Individuals began to think that the prison community was legitimate because of a unified interpretation of symbols. This was most apparent when the priest visited, and the prisoners introduced themselves by number and explained their ‘crime.’ In typical circumstances, lying to a priest is wrong because of their symbolic role, but the prisoners were so effectively convinced by the symbols around them: jumpsuits, prisoner numbers, bars on cells, visiting priest, etc. 819 felt so connected to the community that he did not want to leave early as a bad prisoner. Prisoner 416 entered the community later, and therefore missed the conditioning period. Upon entering, he did not respond to the guards brutality, because he did not experience the same conditioning as his counterparts. His interpretation of his environment and the validity of its symbols was vastly different than the other prisoners, and that is why he was so separated from them, as shown that no one supported his hunger strike or would even give up their blanket. The prisoners tried to impact their conditions by making them better with striking and collective action. The guards were not trying to make conditions better for themselves, but focused on worsening conditions for the prisoners. Because they symbolically must punish them, they found it their personal goal to dismantle the prisoner’s sense of self with various symbols: arbitrary commands, counts, etc.

Perspective 2: Social Conflict Approach

Questions:
How was the community divided?
How did the guards preserve their power?
How did the prisoners fight for themselves?

Answers:
The community was arbitrarily divided, yet the separation was defining in their experiences. Each group immediately tried to strengthen their own group. The experiment was not innately prisoners vs guards, but the groups made it that way. The prisoners united together initially -- including rejecting the nicer dinner of the privilege cell. The guards united with increasingly brutal treatment. The guards preserved power by maintaining that each prisoner had no right to refuse them. They realized the most effective method was to punish everyone except the trouble-maker to remove the unity the prisoners once had. Ultimately the prisoners had no reason to stay united, so this tactic removed their collective strength, and therefore the prisoners had to decide their own individual course of action -- whether it be rebellion or following every rule. Moreover even the model inmates were punished, which seems counterintuitive, but demonstrates that guards’ regime was based on constant terror.


A sociological imagination would have greatly aided the participants’ sanity, but would have made the results much less gruesome and compelling. The participants completely redefined their biography because of the history of their prison community. The prisoners demonstrated that when they introduced themselves to the priest as a their prison number and accounted the fake crime they committed to come here. Their new and adapting identities were formed because of their environment. If the participants used their sociological imaginations, they could identify, and possibly fix, the thinking patterns that were slowly being conditioned into them.

This experiment supports the fundamental idea behind the sociological imagination: the individual is affecting their society and vice versa. The experiment’s brutality is likely the result of some guards becoming aggressive and setting standards for the rest. Watching the video, I could see that every event -- caused by an individual or group -- would drastically impact the entire environment. Even once 8612 left, his presence remained in their community because of his impact, and that is why they started the rumors about him returning. Every individual was crucial in shaping the community, but that doesn’t mean one person can dictate. When 416 tried to do a hunger strike alone, he failed because he was only an individual protesting, and that is why he failed. I see that an individual can make a change if (some of) the community is supportive. This experiment built my sociological imagination because I could see the direct cause and effect of individual actions in the community and the community upon individual actions. When we study the sociological imagination on a macro-level, we can’t see the clear connection -- especially in between individuals.

Genius Hour Ideas

Of all social constructs, I am most baffled by the American creation of the Federal Reserve. The British not allowing the Colonialists to print their own currency, instead made them use British currency that immediately called for a debt in stamps. The Federal Reserve is doing the exact same thing, except the debt is paid in the Federal Income tax, which I believe was not constitutionally passed. I want to study why American culture has allowed the Federal Reserve to take power and how it has impacted our financial system and larger culture. It is against the fundamental morality of the nation. I'm interested in this topic because it affects everyone. Most of my activist efforts are focused on one identity or issue. All people should see that the American government should take back the central bank. Still, since the removal of the gold standard, that money, as "legal tender," is technically meaningless. I believe in crypto-currencies. Block chain programs, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, assign value to server space in the larger super computer. All of the currency has value in their crowd-sourced, massive, and still growing super computers. Currency has been digitized to such a degree already that converting to a crypto-currency solution would be simple. I'm torn between this idea and studying sex work. Why do people pay for sex? My work with the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation has shown me that the way to end exploitation is to end the high demand for it. Moreover I want to be able to help the problem I choose. I cannot end the Federal Reserve, but I can have open and constructive conversations with soon to be college-aged men.

Who am I?

I am a senior at an urban high school. I'm interested in computer science and design. This summer I built a website, as a part of Girls Who Code. The site is designed to rate relative campus safety using FBI crime reports. Outside of computer science, my passion lies in social justice, not because of a self-defined moral necessity, but because people can be a force of innovation, when we are connected. When we let false identities like gender, sex, race, sexual orientation, etc., divide us, we are defined by separation. Society can function best for all people if we treat everyone with an understanding of their human rights, and then unite as an effective force. Social justice is the fight against these oppressions that prevent our ability to function optimally. I’ve joined and become a leader of many social justice groups: my school's Environmental Club and Alternative Political Groups, and a council of activists for a charity fighting sexual assault. This past year, I joined a LGBTQIA-identifying, youth ensemble dedicated to writing and producing a show from a queer, and art-activist perspective.
In all of my groups, we believed in a cause, which was essentially fighting for certain people’s basic rights. In Environmental club, we are fundraising for our next cause. In Alternative Political Groups, we publish a zine with our own essays, articles, poems, and political cartoons in an effort to educate young members of democracy about the political process, who is controlling the political system, and how they can participate in democracy. The council of activists works to promote awareness around sexual assault and raise money for the legislative and victim care systems of the charity. I volunteered at an exhibit at a community arts gallery with a youth-built series, Girls for Sale, about sex trafficking in their community. In the theatre, we work to communicate with others how we feel to be queer – in a fashion that is engaging, expressive, and honest. In my theatre work I have found more satisfaction in any other of my social justice efforts. I found the beauty of speaking with others through the fantasy of art – conveying an emotion in a show: the dialogue itself, the performance, and the design elements. Although any actor is inherently lying when they play a character, they are on stage with one of the few opportunities in this society to be fully honest. Utilizing technology like lighting, sound, set, etc. pulls that brutal honesty into a language more complex than words: design.
These passions -- to understand logic and consciousness in technology, to create art that is interactive and connecting, and helping society -- are my pursuit in life.