Weston Neal Review 2

1. Selection title, author(s) and page numbers
The International Sexual Trafficking of Women and Children, David Hodge and Cynthia Lietz, 449-454

2. Why did you choose this particular reading selection?
This reading selection seemed interesting to me because this topic is almost never heard of in today’s news media. It is rarely talked about and today’s pop culture has with movies like Taken that show a fictional account of these crimes. I was interested in seeing a nonfiction take on this topic.

3. Major insights or strengths of the reading?
A few of the major insights that this reading showed to me were the ways traffickers would go to lure victims to their business. I did not know the type of person they focused on, I thought from movies and such that they looked for the pretty American tourists, however, they seem to focus on victims that they can almost willingly bring into their business.

4. How, specifically, does this reading tie in to the related chapter in the Kimmel text (include page numbers)? How does the reading you selected from the Adler text enhance your understanding of the related Kimmel chapter?
This relates to the Kimmel reading in the fact of how class structure in countries can help determine where the origin and destination of sex slaves is located. The mini article in the Kimmel reading on page 213, titled “Prosituion and the World System” agrees with the authors statement that Asia countries can serve as origin points and then European or former Soviet Union states serve as destinations.

5. Gaps or weaknesses of the reading?
One gap I could point out is that they did not go into much detail on kidnapping of sex slaves. I always had thought that this aspect was much larger than it seems in this reading. But maybe I was incorrect in my opinion and that it is not as prominent as it may seem.

6. What is your overall assessment of this reading? Why?
Overall it shed a lot of light onto an industry I did not know anything about. I hesitate to call it an industry but the people who are the traffickers have turned it into that with the amount of globalization actually occurring. I took a lot from this and it opened my eyes to this topic.

1. Selection title, author(s) and page numbers
The U.S. Class Structure, Earl Wysong and Robert Perrucci, Pages 205-212

2. Why did you choose this particular reading selection?
I chose this reading because I was interested in seeing a modern take on class structure. When I think class structure I think Titanic and how different people had to stay on different decks of the boat. I wanted to know how this author thought of today’s structure and maybe how it has changed.

3. Major insights or strengths of the reading?
The breakdown from what I always assumed of Upper, Middle, and Lower class into more specific categories was insightful to me. It helped distinguish better than just three basic classes that most people think of. Showing numerical data was a strength of this reading piece; backing up statements with cold hard facts is a great way to stand behind your statements made throughout.

4. How, specifically, does this reading tie in to the related chapter in the Kimmel text (include page numbers)? How does the reading you selected from the Adler text enhance your understanding of the related Kimmel chapter?
The Kimmel reading also breaks down the classes into similar categories that Wysong and Perrucci do, this is on page 191. The similarities arise in the occupations that they each list the tiers of class having. I understand the Kimmel chapter better because this provided an insight into how different aspects of capital has a role in the class structure.

5. Gaps or weaknesses of the reading?
I honestly did not feel as if there gaps in this reading. I thought that the ideas presented by the authors were clear and precise and aided my understanding of the Kimmel reading.