The Times of Harvey Milk connection to Sociology - Essay Example

The Times of Harvey Milk” connection to Sociology The 1984, documentary film “The Times of Harvey Milk” directed by Rob Epstein is describing the political career of Harvey Milk. He rose from the position of a neighborhood activist to become a symbol of gay political achievement. Harvey Milk became the first person to get elected to a public office in California. It was 1978, when Harvey Milk got elected to the San Francisco city council. After one year Milk was shot dead by his fellow council member.

The murderer, council member Dan White also was a former police officer. Several thousands of San Franciscans participated in the protest rally after the murder and they expressed their anger by indulging in violent activities including attack on police vehicles. People were more furious on the leniency shown to White, during the trial procedure. (Profile/milk, time.com). It is very interesting to view this movie in the context of sociological theories, and especially the hero Harvey Milk, due to the concepts of deviance and conflicts involved, through out his life.

All the deviant activities and conflicting events including his assassination and the resulting violence were illustrating the various aspects of different sociological theories of deviances and conflicts. Every conflicts and perceived deviances occurred as a result of the courageous life practiced by Harvey Milk, by questioning the conventional ideas and traditional social perceptions.Conflict theories suggest that society and culture influences individual behavior. Economic and social inequality in a society is cited as the most significant cause of conflict.

According to conflict theorists every society will be economically unequal. The most important and influential position are handled by powerful people in a society. (pathway2, sociology.org.uk). In this movie also it is evident that the Harvey Milk being a member of a gay community was discriminated by the general society, especially the governing class. The protagonist of the movie, Harvey Milk, is suffering mainly from the inner conflicts. The socio economic environment in which he was brought up was sufficient enough to create conflict in his own inner sense.

While dealing with other people his sociological background influenced him. Conflicts are created through out the structure of the society presented in the movie. Conflict in the society is instigated by competition. There are three assumptions related to conflict theory which are suggested by the traditionalists. Interests of various groups in the society are the one aspect of conflict. Another aspect is the power which is leading to coercion and unequal distribution of resources.The clash of ideologies and conflicting values among the various classes of a society is also an important aspect of conflict theory.

(pathway2, sociology.org.uk). The class struggle suggested by Karl Marx is very closely associated with conflict theory, but the Marxian conflict theory is not very much relevant in this case. Even then it is important to note that Harvey Milk always focused on the interest of the working class and he commanded maximum support from the grass root level. According to the approaches pointed out by the functionalists deviance is functional for society. According to Durkheim important functions are served to the society by crime deviance.

Irrespective of their seriousness, all violations of social rules are referred to as deviance in sociology. Deviance can be an individual or organizational behavior violating the norms of the society. Such violations will be attracting reactions from other sections of the society. Deviance is relative. An action considered as deviant by one society may not be deviant for another society. The societal approaches towards prostitution also differ from society to society. The labeling theory approaches are related to the social processes by which individuals are labeled as deviant.

A person is perceived as per the dominant nature of the deviant label. (Deviance, nd.edu). The social process of labeling a gay person as a deviant will influence the perception of other people towards the guy community.As a conclusion it can be said that all the social activates depicted in the movie The Times of Harvey Milk, its hero, Harvey Milk defied the ruling class of San Francisco to become a member of Sanfransisco city council. When the conventional social norms are broken by an individual, it was perceived by the society as deviance and the various interest groups have resisted it and thereby resulting in social conflicts.

The reaction of the society has resulted in the severe consequences of the assassination of Harvey Milk, and the related violence. The influences of various interest groups, especially the powerful ruling class depicted in the movie can be analyzed with the help of sociological theories related to deviance and conflict.References:1. (profile/milk, time.com) 24 November2008, http://www.time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/milk01.html> 2. (pathway2, sociology.org.uk)24 November2008, 3. (Deviance, nd.edu) 24 November2008, < http://www.nd.edu/~rwilliam/xsoc530/deviance.html>