Legal Weed: Big Profits, Slow Progress

Despite the DEA’s current classification of marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, a label determining the drug more dangerous than cocaine and meth, the majority of americans now support the federal legalization of marijuana (Jones). With marijuana now legal recreationally in 4 U.S. states and medically in 23 states, and a major presidential candidate’s plan to legalize federally legalize the plant, the prospect of nationwide legalization is increasingly picking up steam.

The legalization of marijuana is primarily positive. In states where pot is legal, there is, in some respects, less criminal injustice. Residents in Oregon, Colorado, Alaska, and Washington no longer have to worry about receiving mandatory minimum sentences for petty possession of a substance that by most measurable means, is harmless. In addition, U.S. weed legalization has considerably decreased the power of Mexican cartels that use marijuana profits to fund distribution of harder drugs and sex trafficking (Time). Throughout the history of this country, prohibition has been exclusively unsuccessful. Federally imposing negative sanctions on inevitable, not to mention, benign behaviors, does not benefit individual citizens that the government claims to speak for. It furthers socioeconomic and racial stratification.

However, the controversy of marijuana legalization is not as cut and dry as 420-culture advocates or tea party members paint it to be. For instance, in states where marijuana has become legalized, sentences for marijuana charges are not being waived, records are not being expunged. At the same time, business owners and state governments are collecting whopping sums from legal pot. What’s more? The key beneficiaries of legalized marijuana are almost all white men, while many of the current prisoners are young black men. Michelle Alexander, author of “The New Jim Crow”, states, “after 40 years of impoverished black kids getting prison time for selling weed, and their families and futures destroyed- Now, white men are planning to get rich doing precisely the same thing?” (Alexander, Short). In short, young black men have previously been negatively sanctioned for selling small amounts of the same plant that white men are now being positively sanctioned for selling. This racial discrepancy cannot be overlooked.

So why not pardon the prisoners? Politicians have remained silent on the issue- The discussion has likely been overshadowed by the controversy of legalization itself, however, I believe this is also an intentional silence. As we learned in Masse’s “Categorically Unequal”, mass incarceration has functioned for over 40 years as a deliberate tool of racial control. Pardoning offenders in prison for marijuana charges could drastically change the economic makeup in the U.S., allowing former prisoners to receive opportunities they previously could not have due to marijuana possession and distribution charges. This would dramatically affect the country’s political makeup as well, a scary thought to republicans whose support demographic is almost entirely white. According to a 2012 Gallup poll, non-hispanic blacks make up about 2% of the registered republican population, and around 22% of the democratic population, which seems to be continuously diversifying (Newport). Giving once-prisoners a greater political voice due to socioeconomic (increased job opportunities) and physical standing (physically ability to vote due to not being imprisoned) has the potential to push decrease racial stratification in the U.S.

Private prisons are some of the most powerful and profitable institutions in the United States. I believe the rise of private prisons to be a key factor in the unwillingness to waive sentences of those in jail for marijuana. Private prisons, in order to receive state funding must fill a quota, ranging from 80% to 100% occupancy.Since marijuana arrests account for a substantial portion of imprisonments, prisons would have to find new ways to meet their quotas in order to receive funding.  In addition, since 1989, private prison companies have spent about 25 million dollars on lobbying efforts (Cohen). In attempt to boost profits, prison-profit company Corrections Corporation of America have directly donated to politicians who support putting more people in prisons. Some of these politicians include Marco Rubio and Hillary Clinton, who just two months ago cut ties with private prison lobbyists amidst pressure from the Black Lives Matter movement. Politicians have been overwhelming silent in proposing legislation that could benefit those locked up for crimes that no have no legal standing. The laws that house these prisoners still exist in places with legal weed, because they benefit actors in the prison-industrial complex, including billion dollar corporations and presidential candidates (Ollisten).

However, some policies appear to be heading towards justice. The U.S. Justice department released 6,000 non-violent offenders of the 206,000 inmates currently in federal prison. Former attorney justice Eric Holder noted that the release was an effort to ease tensions in overcrowded federal prisons. Was this decision made with just intentions? There was no mention in any release statement that this was a step in reforming the criminal justice system, so the act, although seemingly powerful, is simply detracting the actual issue at hand, mass incarceration. It is disguised as a symbol of hope for victims of unjust conviction, but it is doing nothing to benefit the over 1 million non-violent offenders currently in prison.

And furthermore, who’s to say given the U.S.’s absurd recidivism rates (estimated at abuot 67% within three years) that most of those non-violent criminals won’t be thrown into private prison to combat the overcrowding of federal prisons?

Now, I am not arguing that marijuana legalization as an ideological solution is the wrong approach to countering the War on Drugs. I’m simply arguing that the legal measures put forth in states such as Oregon and Colorado are an important step, but by no means and end-all solution.

Bibliography

Jones, Jeffery M. "In U.S., 58% Back Legal Marijuana Use." Gallup.com. Gallup, 21 Oct. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Yackowicz, Will. "Why the Marijuana Industry Is Happy That Ohio Didn't Legalize Weed." Inc.com. Inc, 04 Nov. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Grilla, Iona. "U.S. Legalization of Marijuana Has Hit Mexican Cartels' Cross-Border Trade." Time. Time, 8 Apr. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Short, April M. "Michelle Alexander: White Men Get Rich from Legal Pot, Black Men Stay in Prison." Alternet. Alternet, 16 Mar. 2014. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

ewport, Frank. "Democrats Racially Diverse; Republicans Mostly White." Gallup.com. Gallup, 8 Feb. 2013. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Ollisten, Alice. "Clinton To Cut Ties With Private Prison Industry." ThinkProgress RSS. Think Progress, 23 Oct. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Simpson, Ian. "America Is Releasing 6,000 Federal Inmates in an Unprecedented Action." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 06 Oct. 2015. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

"Recidivism." National Institute of Justice. US Government, 17 June 2014. Web. 08 Dec. 2015.

Let's Start a Riot Grrrl!

What does it mean to be an all girl rock band in a gendered genre?

Bands: Sleater Kinney, Bikini Kill, Warpaint

Who doesn’t want to watch a ‘kick-ass’ all girl rock band, right? At least, that was the thought that lead me to wonder, what does it mean to be someone who identifies as a ‘girl’ in an often overwhelming world of male representation? First I want to acknowledge my own bias and experience with this scene as a musician, vocalist and avid listener of rock, punk, metal and grunge. I see the viscerality of rock music as an outlet to express frustration, anger, grief, sorrow  and by writing music as a way to deal with my own personal stress and create art as a method for social change. Often rock and metal deal with subject content relating to real issues such as climate change, intimate partner violence and rape, suicide, homophobia and white privilege; I have been exposed to questioning discourse in  intellectually appropriate ways because of my exposure to rock music and yes I am inspired by the likes of women in rock and groups in the riot grrrl movement then and now; such as Carrie Brownstein(Of Sleater-Kinney) and Warpaint.  Thus, I decided to investigate further how exactly rock is gendered and what it means to be a feminist movement using a genre generally outnumbered with men musicians and listeners.

It is easy to see the disparities exist in the rock world between the ways in which female musicians are represented. In 2001, the UK magazine Q, took it upon themselves to write an article called “Sirens”, distinguishing 100 different female artists; however, in this same issue was a critiques guide to the best album of the year and of the 50 featured groups, only 8 had at least one female member. In fact, compiling a series of publications between 1997 and 2001 shows that between only 9-22% of the articles featured female musicians that means that over 78% of these complied articles are all male musicians. That is a staggeringly low number of representation of females which brings me to now address the question, how is it that rock is male gendered genre?

It isn’t because the genre is inherently male, it is highly influenced by the music industry and how they produce their “canons,” their rock canon has been decidedly male and they create a world where women are outsiders. A music canon is the way in which something is portrayed and sold through the media and through consumerism. Rock being a male practice is in turn perpetuated by the hegemonic socialization of the genre through the music industry. Rock is then portrayed ‘as a man’s world,’ it is too brutal, too angry for women; the discourse is dominant and aggressive, and women only succeed, in this view, only through proving their “worth” through utilizing these masculine values. It is easier for the industry to let women rock if they pass as, “one of the boys’ or are sexualized enough that they become objects and are seen only as popular because of their looks and not their talents. To be a women in rock is to encounter a sort of marginalization, where one is seen as less competent or a faddish commodity.

Yet with the Riot Grrrl movement of the early 90’s in the Pacific Northwest and the UK women bring feminist discourse into the scene, creating a wholly different idea of what it means. Bands like Bikini Kill and Sleater Kinney are creating a world in which they combat hegemonic masculinity through a means in which hegemonic masculinity is enforced. When asking a female female drummer of the band 7 Year Bitch whether or not they are a feminist group (outside of the established feminist movement of the Riot Grrrl) she said that they didn’t come together to be a feminist band, they’re just making music but she recognizes that their practice of writing and producing their own music is a feminist critique, although  their group doesn’t have very many explicitly feminist lyrics. Reminding us that feminism are the actions you take and through reclaiming your own power in a scene that brings your value down is a feminist action. The gaining popularity and critical success of the Riot Grrrl! movement implies that rock is not as ‘manly’ as it seems.Showing that the genre does not have to be gendered, it only is because our societal values and the music’s industries place representing music media made it that way.

Here are some links to fuller books about these concepts:

https://books.google.com/books?id=D8hKTzRbepEC&pg=PA192&lpg=PA192&dq=women+in+rock+sociology&source=bl&ots=fzAhWL-bjj&sig=ybAEsf0spc5TrBCf0ecZ9T1soJQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwin-IWCm87JAhUT0WMKHeNrBYcQ6AEILDAD#v=onepage&q=women%20in%20rock%20sociology&f=false

https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/aca-a0034493.pdf

https://books.google.com/books?id=eMtDpy85IC4C&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=all+girl+rock+bands+critique&source=bl&ots=bRJqLC6p-H&sig=_6oJTWsfFFutH1v460UySLntCcs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiM5Znwlc7JAhVB0mMKHZm1CyAQ6AEIVDAJ#v=onepage&q=all%20girl%20rock%20bands%20critique&f=false

Skin Complexions in Chile

A few years ago there was a study in Chile that consisted on presenting ten images of people with different skin colors and asking people to identify the subjects as Chileans or not. There was a tendency on identifying light skinned subjects as Chileans and darker skinned ones as Mapuches (a Chilean indigenous group), Peruvians, or “foreigners”. This study caught my attention because I perceived this as a wrong image of self-identification. This is because I came from an ethnically mixed family and I still identify myself as Chilean.

In May 2015 the artist Angelica Dass presented the photographic project called “Humanae”, which consisted of taking pictures of various Chileans and identifying their skin color on the Pantone Scale. Her research revealed that 90% of the population was located between the phenotype 3 and 4, which meant that their skin color was translated as “matt” or “light brown”. Her study reveals that most Chileans are of a variety of skin colors. The reason for this mixing of ethnicity is the aftermath of colonization and miscegenation, and the various currents of immigration in the 20^th century to Chile. According to a study made by Francisco Lizcano from the UNAM, in 2014 the Chilean population was composed of a genetic contribution of 44.43% Native American/Indigenous, 51.85% European, and 5.44% African. These results are very interesting as they complicate the definition of a Chilean ethnicity and question the tendency of a white self-identification discovered in the first study.

In order to understand the results of the studies, it is important to understand the history of immigration behind this mixed composition of ethnicities. Before Spain colonized Chile, more than sixteen indigenous groups originally inhabited Chile. During the 19^th and 20^th century mainly Spanish, German, British, French, Italian and Southern Slavs immigrated to Chile. The Chilean government in 1824 enacted a law to encourage Europeans to establish factories in urban centers. Consequently this increased the percentage of European immigrants. However, this law changed after the First World War, but Europeans continued immigrating to Chile. Even Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese arrived in the 1920s. In fact, in 1952 Arabs accounted for more than the 20% of Chile’s foreign-born population. The main question now is: Why do Chileans prefer to identify themselves as white or of light skinned color, if in reality the majority is of darker complexion?

         Being European descendent gives people status within the Chilean society. This mainly comes from the social construction of reality formed during colonization – where white Spaniards had power over the indigenous population. Furthermore, this stayed within society as Europeans immigrated to Chile for economic prosperity in industry and succeeded in acquiring power in Chile’s economy. This perpetuated the socially constructed label that being European descendent equals a higher status in society. Indeed, being of darker skin or indigenous descent gives individuals a stigmatized label and situates them automatically in a lower socioeconomic class. Thus, Chileans prefer to be identified as white European descendent.

This is especially interesting because the majority of the population is not purely white, but a mixture of various skin colors. And still the little percent of “whiteness” has taken over the holistic self-identity of individuals. In other words, Chileans attempt to reframe their ethnical composition and favour the European percentage of their heritage due to the stigmatized label to darker skin although they are a result of miscegenation.

Furthermore, although the first study revealed that Chileans want to be identified of lighter skin, in society there is a difference between being of darker skin complexion and being tanned. They both carry different types of status in society. There is an aspect of beauty and higher socioeconomic status if an individual is tanned. There various labels attached to this, such as money, beach, solarium, tanning products, etc. Therefore, this type of darker skin does not fall under a stigmatized label.

The tendency showed in the first study is a result of a socially constructed, stigmatized label created to people of darker skin, which has its origin and roots in colonization. Taking into account the variety and diversity of ethnicities that take place in Chile, there is no special definition of a Chilean ethnicity. And in my opinion that is the beauty of diversity and understanding. How can we categorize people by their skin colors and ethnicities if we ourselves are of complicated complexions?

Sources:

Dass, Angélica. "Humanae (work in Progress)." Angélica Dass. Angélica Dass, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2015.

Donoso, Fernando. "Identidad: El ADN Genético De Los Chilenos." Identidad: El ADN Genético De Los Chilenos. Ciencia I+D, 21 Sept. 2011. Web. 05 Dec. 2015.

Doña-Reveco, Cristián, and Amanda Levinson. "Chile: A Growing Destination Country in Search of a Coherent Approach to Migration." Migrationpolicy.org. Migration Policy, 06 June 2012. Web. 05 Dec. 2015.

Fuentes, Macarena et al . Gene geography of Chile: Regional distribution of American, European and African genetic contributions. Rev. méd. Chile,  Santiago ,  v. 142, n. 3, p. 281-289, Mar.  2014. Web 5^th   Dec.  2015.

Vera, Teresa, and Melissa Forno. "No Somos Blancuchos Ni Muy Morenos: Como Es El Color De Piel De Los Chilenos." Lun.com. Las Ultimas Noticias, 23 May 2015. Web. 5 Dec. 2015.

Gaming for Girls: Female (Mis)representation in Video Games

When people think of a typical 'gamer' most people imagine a teenage white boy sitting in their basement with a headset telling their mother to get out of their space. Yet according to recent surveys women make up roughly half of PC gamers and even a majority in the mobile gaming industry. Despite this, female representation in video games is lackluster both in quantity and quality. Most female characters fit into a few select tropes that often objectify, sexualize and dehumanize women.

Classic games like Mario and Zelda use a damseling trope that reduces female characters, Peach and Zelda, into a trapped and helpless damsel in need of rescuing. This trope essentially turns the female character into a plot device to keep the protagonist, who is usually male, going. She has no agency of her own, no skill set to increase her chances of survival and in some cases of damseling, like in Castle Crashers, it isn't even important who the damsel is.

In other games, more blatantly problematic tropes are used, such as "women as background decoration" and "women as reward" tropes. The first of which is basically what it sounds like, the women are functioning as a visually appealing prop piece to entertain and sexually arouse the assumed straight male gamer. This trope manifests both inside and out of the game itself, being seen in advertising through commercials, on the game box or in online trailers and previews. Then inside the game itself, games like Grand Theft Auto, Watchdogs, the Witcher, God of War and countless others, women are used to decorate various scenes with images of their almost, presumed or actual naked bodies for no purpose other than eye candy. As for the "women as reward" trope, this references a trend for games and gaming companies to use women, or more accurately, women's bodies as a reward system for players' in game achievements, monetary purchases or simply for completing the main storyline. A classic example is from the Metroid series where at the end of the game it is revealed that the main character, dressed in a full armor body suit, is actually a woman, Samus. But if you complete the game at faster times or using certain cheat codes, you can play as Samus in increasingly fewer articles of clothing depending on your skill as a player. This trope also manifests in other games in purchasable DLCs (downloadable content) in the form of costume packs where original characters' clothing is replaced with something else, often silly or costumey, but for female characters, such as Rebecca Chambers from the Resident Evil series who's original clothing can be replaced with a 'sexy nurse' outfit, these costumes often become a sexualized mockery of their gender.

These tropes represent an industry attempting to maintain an identity of a boys' club, where the players are assumed to be straight males and the characters in the games are either idealized versions of masculinity or a display of stereotypical feminine ideals and while there are definitely games that attempt to break this mold it can be difficult to see them amidst all the 'bad ass bombshells' or 'damsels in distress.'

References

"Tropes vs. Women in Video Games" web series, Anita Sarkeesian feministfrequency.com

"The Male Domain: Exclusion of Women in Video Games," Kayleigh Conner; http://www.digitalamerica.org/the-male-domain-exclusion-of-women-in-video-games-kayleigh-connor/

"Why does sexism persist in the video games industry?" Kim Gittleson; http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27824701

Downsizing- the tiny house movement

What is the tiny house movement?

Our society has a strong cultural norms about homes, usually people look to have as big a home as possible. In the 1990’s the “McMansion” trend as Mark Huffman and many more call it was a trend towards buying more house than you could really afford by taking out loans. Our society has grown more and more comfortable with paying for a home by the means of taking out loans. Debt has become socially acceptable. Previously the trend was to consume as much as possible and living off as much money as you possible could there is a new one popping up, the tiny house movement. The tiny house movement is a move away from loans and debt and towards simplicity and minimalism.

Tiny homes are exactly what their name describes. There are two main draws to living in a tiny homes the small simple space and the lower cost compared to a typical home. These small residences range from 100-400 square feet, basically the range from the size of a small camper that sits on the back of a truck to the relative size of a travel trailer. The small space forces people to downsize and remove excess items from their lives. Another advantage to living in a tiny home is the inexpensive cost. The cost of buying or building a tiny home is easily under $30,000. This means most tiny home owners don’t have home loans to pay off.

Economics

According to Constantine Von Hoffman from CBS MoneyWatch most Americans spend ⅓ to ½ of their income to pay for their homes. The tiny life points out that this stat equates to about 15 years worth of working. After knowing this stat I asked myself why I would ever join the current culture in America of buying a home on loan that you can’t afford to pay for if anything financially changes in your life. Tiny homes allow financial freedom, If you lose a job in theory you’re okay because you own a house instead of having to make payments each month so you also would have money saved up to survive. Many people use less and save more meaning they hover around $20,000 in the bank instead of $2000. Many millennials joined the tiny home trend because of college debt. It’s difficult to have kids in a tiny home because of such limited space. Many retirees also enjoy the lifestyle of living in a tiny home to save money and use less space. One man really embraced the idea behind downsizing and consuming less. His name is Daniel Norris.

Daniel Norris Downsizing

Daniel Norris is a pitcher for the Toronto blue Jays who makes millions for his baseball talent. He also lives in a 1978 Volkswagen camper. While Norris doesn’t live in a tiny homes he still is a very interesting example of the culturally deviant nature of downsizing.

Norris doesn’t feel a need to spend his millions, he prefers to live a simple and frugal life. He recalls a time when him and all of his teammates got their signing bonuses and went to the mall together, his teammates walked out with arm loads of electronics and shoes and other items that the could barely fit it all in their cars. Daniel Norris left the mall that day with a single T-shirt he found intriguing. Our society says “more more” and so many of us keep consuming but minimalists such as Norris don’t see the need to spend every dollar you can. Our idea of what a home should be is socially constructed. We should have as big a house as we can and try to get as much as we can because that’s what many people around us are doing. Many people look and Norris’ lifestyle and don’t understand why he is living like he is. Which a coffee brewer that doesn’t work very well and a van that doesn’t always start the first try. His unkempt beard and sleeping in his car is seen as deviant behavior.

I mean to say that I am not unbiased on this matter. I myself am about to buy a trailer to live in next year. Living minimally is an obvious interest of mine and hopefully I did it justice and showed you a little bit about the tiny house movement and its social relativity.

Here are the sources I mentioned in the reading as well as a few other articles to read if my blog post interests you:

http://espn.go.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/12420393/top-blue-jays-prospect-daniel-norris-lives-own-code

http://thetinylife.com/what-is-the-tiny-house-movement/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/more-working-class-families-spend-half-of-income-on-rent/

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/03/21/census-household-debt-report/2007195/

http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/24/pf/emergency-savings/index.html

http://www.thestreet.com/story/13336647/1/tiny-homes-are-gaining-in-popularity-due-to-affordability.html

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/tiny-house-movement-could-be-huge-082614.html

By: Zac Shomler

Invisible People. Invisible Voices.

      

 There are 5.2 million people that are often forgotten.  They are not dwindling, if anything they are growing, by 39% since 2000, twice as fast as the U.S population. We like to pretend that they don’t exist anymore, they are only in our textbooks. No way would they still be present, they probably all died by disease and guns. This is anything but true. However, it sure seems like it. Native Americans are continuously silenced and misrepresented. You don’t see them in your classrooms, you don’t hear their voices. Researchers have argued that Native Americans are an invisible minority (Native American Cultural Stereotypes). This is considered normal. It is normal to go throughout one’s life without questioning their view on natives. It is normal to accept what is taught and settle with that.  I hope that your previous views on native education will be challenged. That is what sociology is about, making the familiar strange, which is what I will do.

       

      “The painful legacy of discrimination means that . . . Native Americans are far more likely to suffer from a lack of opportunity—higher unemployment, [and] higher poverty rates” (White House Office of the Press Secretary 2013) Even the President of the United States has recognized this as a real issue, a whole group of people are trying to recover from hundreds and hundreds of years of horrible discrimination. Even now, stereotypes run deep in American society, with many thinking that natives are lazy and alcoholics. This is a prime example of Labelling Theory, in which strong labels begin to apply to the marginalized group and they begin to accept the label as truth.  In a study by Hanson and Rouse, a group of white college students were asked to match labels with what they would think native people are, 78% of them labeled natives as rural and traditional (Cultural Stereotypes). This means that white people see natives as people of the past, which might explain why natives are common as high school mascots, accounting for 10.6% of all mascots.

Conflict theory is also present in relation to stereotypes .It was found that the endorsement of negative stereotypes about Native Americans tended to vary as a function of perceived competition for resources and the visibility of Native Americans in their geographic area (Cultural Stereotypes). Those in power (white people) want to oppress those who are perceived as lower in order to keep their own power, those with resources will do anything in order to keep it, even if that means enforcing negative and false stereotypes. These labels leak into native communities and contribute to crime through the labelling theory. These stereotypes have a strong impact on the community. It was reported that there were significantly lower levels of self-esteem in natives when they were asked about their community and assumptions people make (Cultural Stereotypes). Low self esteem can also be a barrier to students who want to go to college.

          There is a certain beauty in concrete numbers, they are evidence that cannot be contested. Higher education enrollment for native students is 1.2%. This is incredibly low, comparing to white student enrollment, which is 53%. Why is it that there are so little native students going to college? What kind of barriers keep them from higher education? Lets start with the high school environment of these potential college students. In 2011, greater percentages of AI/AN ( American Indian/American native) students (40%) and NHOPI (native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander) students (39%), than White, Black, or Asian students (23% each) reported that drugs were offered, sold, or given to them on school property. This is a startling statistic, natives encounter drugs almost twice as often as other students. Also, In 2011 42% of AI/AN and 43% of NHOPI students reported being in a physical fight anywhere during the previous 12 months, compared to 29% of White students. About one in four American Indians and Alaska Natives1 (26.4 percent) lived in poverty. In contrast, about one in 10 non-Hispanic whites (11 percent) lived in poverty (U.S. Census Bureau 2013). This is a perfect storm: drugs, violence and poverty. College is out of the question when one’s life is in danger. A reason for such unrest could be attributed to Social Disorganization Theory, which is also called Broken Windows theory, in which if one sees damage in property, they are much more likely to commit crime because of past crime that is visible. If crime is heavily prevalent in the native reservations, the youth will be more likely to commit crime and ignore the thought of college as a whole.  

         Along with unrest, comes higher unemployment, which can serve as discouragement to youth and can serve as a trap for them. Even if they do graduate college, they come back home and find it impossible to find a job, which makes going to college feel useless.

American Indian and white employment and unemployment rates, ages 25–54, 2009–2011

	American Indian	White	Difference (American Indian – white)	Number of jobs needed to make the American Indian rate equal the white rate
Employment rate	64.7%	78.1%	-13.4	233,901
Unemployment rate	14.6%	7.7%	6.9	90,977

          

Number of jobs needed to make the American Indian rate equal the white rate among the 25- to 54-year-old population, 2009–2011

	Using the unemployment rate	Using the employment rate
Number of jobs needed	90,977	233,901

 In conclusion, the main reasons for low representation in higher education is because of conflict theory, those in power want to keep power and do so by enforcing negative stereotypes. These stereotypes leak into the native community which causes them to accept and confine themselves to the labels, which is essentially what Labelling Theory is. When they see crime everywhere, they see it as normal to commit crimes as well, which consists of the Social Disorganization theory. Massive unemployment also plays a critical role by discouraging future students by making it appear that having a college degree means nothing and that unemployment is inevitable. 

Works Cited 

Austin, Algernon. "Native Americans and Jobs: The Challenge and the Promise." Economic Policy Institute. Economic Policy Institute, 17 Dec. 2013. Web. 05 Dec. 2015. <http://www.epi.org/publication/bp370-native-americans-jobs/>.

Erhart, Ryan S. "The Content of Native American Cultural Stereotypes in Comparison to Other Racial Groups." Arizona State University (2013): 1-71. June-July 2013. Web. 05 Dec. 2015. <https://repository.asu.edu/attachments/110701/content/Erhart_asu_0010N_13118.pdf>.

"NIEA Research." National Indian Education Association. National Indian Education Association, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2015. <http://www.niea.org/Research.aspx>.