Participation: Allport's contact theory and you!

In class, we discussed Allport's contact theory, which explains that there is typically less animosity when people in diverse groups are not socialized to believe there is a difference in status between group members and see themselves as equals oriented towards achieving the same goals. This theory is commonly referred to when discussing racial harmony within close-knit groups such as integrated units in the U.S. military.

Although the military has been integrated since 1948, many would argue that bills such as Don't Ask Don't Tell and military protocol restricting the combat roles of women have the same effect of creating divisions and inequality between members of the military. Others still that placing women and openly homosexual soldiers in combat units may naturally cause inequality based on the differences between them and their straight male fellow soliders.

How do you feel Allport's contact theory would regard these measures restricting combat roles of women and closeting homosexuals in the military? Does this ease tension or help create divisions and inequality?

For 5 points, submit your answer to us on this survey form:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHBaSWRPelppTnY5SnRUcXF0S19NVWc6MQ

For an additional 5 points, submit your answer to the reddit page for this topic, found here, and discuss answers with your classmates - BE RESPECTFUL:

http://www.reddit.com/r/OUSociology/comments/qco52/participation_allports_contact_theory_the/

CREDIT WILL BE GIVEN UNTIL THURSDAY MARCH 8th

Ethnicity, History & Globalization of Ancestry *Participation*

Ethnicity, History and Globalization
(PARTICIPATION NOT COUNTED AFTER THURSDAY, MARCH 8TH)

***Participation Opportunity (5 points submission/5 points comment)***
We all have a story, a biography shaped by our family's history, that makes us who we are and has allowed us to be in this sociology course together. Using two surnames (last names) with the link below, the Worldnames tool will track your family name(s) to a specific region of origin. Clicking on a region will show you where your names are most common. You can also zoom into specific regions for a more detailed location.

http://worldnames.publicprofiler.org

After you search your family name, tell us a little bit about what you found and how your position today is an outcome of your family's history. Use the concepts of the sociological imagination, ethnicity, assimilation, identity and migration to help us understand what you learned by mapping some of your family names.  Sometimes the map might reveal things about you; other times, the map might be missing important details or insights.  You are welcome to discuss both as long as you do a good job of connecting those ideas to concepts from sociology mentioned above.  
Submit your findings in the GoogleForm below (5 points):

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDJ0d3FPQk1YR2ZrMjBQanFjQ3JrZ3c6MQ

Place a comment about your finding on Reddit and comment on someone's post about what you found, what you thought was interesting, etc on the thread (5 points): 

http://www.reddit.com/r/OUSociology/comments/q7osd/world_names_locator_participation_ethnicity/