Thought-Provoking Question #4
Due: Wednesday, October 17th
Please answer the question below:
Question: Chapter 4 discusses the major components of social structure, which include; culture, social class, social status, roles and groups. While it is important to identify each of these components, it is critical to understand how a person’s social location in the social structure underlie his or her perceptions, attitudes, beliefs and actions. Please use a character in a movie, television show, book or other appropriate medium as an example to illustrate the importance of social location.
posted by Danelle @ 11:03 PM
9 Comments:
Detective Charlie Crews, the main character in NBC's LIFE , is an excellent example of how one's social location impacts his or her morals, beliefs perceptions. Crews was a cop who was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he did not commit. After twelve years behind bars, he was exhonerated, given millions of dollars in settlement money, and recieved his old job back. Before being falsely accused, Crews was a blue collared worker making middle class wages. He did not fully appreciate life and went about his daily routines. Now that his social location has changed from always being free to do whatever he wanted to being an "ex-con" who got his life back, he understands for the first time many new concepts. His attitude has drastically changed. He's learned to indulge in each moment and take life one step at a time. He also percieves people differently. Whereas he once was a cop who misunderstood and did not care to understand the lives of the people who he arrested, he can now empathize with them. His belief structure has went from " I need to get ahead in life and there isn't time to slow down" to "well, let's just take things one step at a time and see how things work out." Whereas the people around him are constantly on the move, he likes to now extract himself from that hectic situation and think before he acts. His actions, like everything else, also differ from his old ways. He used to be easily angered and somewhat vengeful. He now has a cool, calm demeanor and does not let insignicant comments or actions of others offend him. He simply brushes them off. The only time he would resort to violence now is in self defense. Overall, Crews' social location as a former prisoner has deeply impacted his life. Without this social location, he would act, think, and perceive differently.
In the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding Toula Portokarlos is the oldest child of family of restaurant owners. As a kid Toula always felt bad, because she wanted to eat sandwiches as her classmates did but instead she ate uncommon foods, so she was teased by her classmates about the way her family acted, the things she ate, and even the way she looked. She had already past her 30th birthday , so she was considered an old maid by her parents. Toula's father expected her to married a Greek man and have large Greek family, but Toula had been influenced by US culture she did not want to play her role as the member of a big Greek family. instead she wanted to have only two kids, she went to college, and began working in travel agency. where she finally got the courage to talk to the men of her dreams, an American schoolteacher. Toula was in the middle of a war between her social status and the culture around her.
In this movie we can see the impact that social location can have in a person's life, and how hard it can be to play the role you have to play in your social status. Specially when culture and social institutions around you interfere with it.
In the recently released movie, Across the Universe, the Character Lucy is a small town girl who dreams nightly about her true love who has just been drafted into the Vietnam war. Her perception of life, just as her parents, was to go to school, meet a boy, get married, have children and live happily ever after. She grew up in an upper middle class family who’s values centered around education, family, and social standing. It wasn’t until Lucy is met with the unexpected loss of the love of her life that she spends the summer in NYC with her brother and his friend Jude. Lucy’s values changed and she began to see that life was more than falling in love and getting married. She became a rebel, protesting against the war and not entering college. Social standing, creature comforts, and social conformity were no longer important to her. Had Lucy not been met with the death of her intended, she would have most likely lived a different life. Culture and social standing play a huge role in the formation of our perceptions and beliefs as Lucy demonstrates in this role. We grow up and learn to form our own opinions and our perceptions of the world can change.
In the recently released movie, Across the Universe, the Character Lucy is a small town girl who dreams nightly about her true love who has just been drafted into the Vietnam war. Her perception of life, just as her parents, was to go to school, meet a boy, get married, have children and live happily ever after. She grew up in an upper middle class family who’s values centered around education, family, and social standing. It wasn’t until Lucy is met with the unexpected loss of the love of her life that she spends the summer in NYC with her brother and his friend Jude. Lucy’s values changed and she began to see that life was more than falling in love and getting married. She became a rebel, protesting against the war and not entering college. Social standing, creature comforts, and social conformity were no longer important to her. Had Lucy not been met with the death of her intended, she would have most likely lived a different life. Culture and social standing play a huge role in the formation of our perceptions and beliefs as Lucy demonstrates in this role. We grow up and learn to form our own opinions and our perceptions of the world can change.
In the movie, Dirty Dancing, the main character, Baby, is faced with social class differences. She is from a family made of money. Her dad always told her that she should make a difference in the world and when she tries she realizes that her dad's views were a little off. Baby is stuck in a social class that makes her realize that there are different groups of different classes out there. Her perceptions on life are influenced by the environment that she lives in. She puts her social status aside and starts interacting with those who are not in her social class.
In the movie Anna and the King, Anna Leonowens is a lady of high class from England. A widow and a mother of one son, Anna travels to Siam to teach the kings children academics. With her very strong opinions, Anna causes quite a stir in Siam when she not only disagrees with their norms of culture, but also offers her beliefs on what those norms should be. Anna has a hard time accepting all the culture norms of Siam. Influenced by the norms in England, Anna desire is to introduce those norms to the people of Siam. When Anna arrives, her social class means nothing in Siam. She was once a lady of high class, respected by everyone for her intelligence and social standings. But in Siam, the roles of women are much different. They are merely men’s possession and have no other worth. But Anna does not accept this as she insists that she will gain the respect of the king and others around her. She finally does win their respect as an intelligent person but more importantly, as a woman. Anna has a hard time of keeping quiet and agreeing with all the Kings decisions, just as everyone else in the palace seems to do. One example is when Anna argues with the king about the political choices he makes. She insists that he must make a change to do what’s best for the people. In reply, the King says, “Now is not the time to change the way that things are done.”
Anna replies with confidence, saying, “Well, if not now, then when? How many more people must die so that you might save face?”
Anna takes on the ability to go against the norms in her social location and do something, like argue with the king, which is against everything Siam holds as a norm. Along with doing this, Anna defies the status symbol and the social status of the King, who is thought to be all powerful and revered as a God. She knows that he is just a man and treats him as one, which goes against his social status that has been set and followed by the people in the land.
Throughout this movie, Anna Leonowens defies the idea of women’s roles and their social class, argues the rules of the culture, and also ignores the idea of the king’s social status.
In the movie Antwone Fisher, based on a true story, the main character is a black young man born to a mother, who is currently an inmate in woman's correctional facility in Cleveland, OH. Despite the hardships he faced being abused verbally and sexually abused while in foster care,and being forced to leave his foster home at 18 and forced to live on the streets. He rose above his environment and joined the navy at 19 years of age. He faced several difficulties while he was there. Mostly interactions with others because of his background social interaction was very difficult and because of the way he had been treated his only demonstration of his feelings was through violence.
With the help of a very caring Navy appointed Doctor he was able to over come the obstacles he faced, by really looking into his past and realizing despite his background he had the chance to make changes instead of other deciding what would happen around him and to him, which was the case for all of his life, up until this point. He rose above the typical stereotype of "expectations" of a young black urban male with a missing father figure and in this place both parents. While watching the other youths turn to crime, he made a choice to live a positive life and accomplish something. It's an incredible true story of not allowing your past or the lack of a nurturing environment to prevent you from taking some positive steps in your life. He went on educate himself learning several languages including Japanese and become a decorated officer.
In the tv show "The Beverly Hillbillies" a low-class, backwoods southern family discovers oil while out hunting one day. Before they can say "Texas Tea" the Clampetts pack up the wagon and head off to California. Unfortunately for the Clampett family, or maybe more unfortunately for their friends and neighbors, the Clampett's just don't quite know how to adjust. All their lives their social location was very low-class. They hunted for their food, lived in a little cottage in the middle of the woods, and because this was their social location, they knew nothing of the world around them. Obviously, the social location of people in Beverly Hills, California, is EXTREMELY different than that where the Clampetts came from. However, no matter how much money they acquired, they just couldn't match the California high society social location. Once settled in California, the Clampetts were millionaires, but they still acted like their social location was the same as it was when they were a low-class backwoods family. The Clampett family just proves that social class has an enormous affect on people. Sometimes it doesn't matter who you become, you still maintain the social class that you are used to and comfortable with.
Back in the Philipines, my wife was the secretary of the vice president of the 2nd largest bank in their country. In fact all her brothers and her 2 sisters have very important positions in their jobs. When all of them were in school all the kids knew not to mess with their family because each one of them was in different grade because if you messed with one you messed with the entire family. Also there is a General in the Philipines that is related to them. So if one of them had a misunderstanding with someone and that person wanted to press charges against them all they had to do was call the General and he would take of it for them. Their family had 3 maids. Also they had 2 cars. So you could definitley say they were an upper middle class family. My family was definitley straight middle class family. At the time i met my wife i was just a teller for Sovereign Bank. My dad was a welder for some company and my mom was a secretary for a sewing mill.
My wife's mother taught her to respect people, but my wife was not prepared to be sort of disrespected by other people here in America.
Even after 6 yrs of marriage my wife and i are still a lower middle class family.
After 2yrs of marriage my wife finally came down from her power pestile half way.
After 6 yrs of marriage she's finally come 3/4 of the way down.
She still thinks the majority of Americans are jerks.
Back in the Philipines, she was always complimented by how good her english was. Here in America, it's usually the other way especially where she works. She even gets mad at me when i try to correct her prouncation of some words, but she knows it's for her best.
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