Journal Collection: The Social Premise behind Theoretical Concepts - Research Paper Example

?Running Head: journal collection Journal Collection Teacher’s ID Normative Compliance: Usher, 14 Nov. UN helps eloped Saudi ‘Juliet’ Asylum Case, BBC.Co Normative compliance refers to following rules and standards provided by society or a group to which one belongs (Hatcher, Jaffery, Thebaud, & Bennett, 2000). Norms, traditions and values act as general criteria of one’s actions. From general mannerism to body language, everything is evaluated on the basis of pre-determined and pre-decided notions. Compliance to these rules prescribed by society, community and social groups is defined as an ideal behavior. Not abiding such social rules can not only lead to criticism from one’s social group but may also result in expulsion. A news article published in several newspapers and on electronic tabloid printed an example of Saudi woman not choosing to show compliance to norms of her society. The woman named Huda crossed border illegally to be with her Yemeni boyfriend whose proposal was rejected earlier by her family due to which she had to endure physical abuse as well. Analyzing Huda’s case indicates that sometimes non-compliance can lead to critical consequences as she is in jail right now while her trial is in progress. On the other hand, even if she is allowed to marry her desired partner or sent back to her family; life would not be the same for her. In the later case, a continuous social stigma awaits her where her family may disown her or made her to live in highly stressful living conditions. The given example illustrates how society views normative compliance to be an ideal behavior and considers its deviance to be punished or condemned. 2) Deterrence Theory: Joanna Moorehead, 19 October 2013, Life After Prison, The Guardian. The theory presents a notion that evaluation of risks and costs attached to committing a crime against the benefits offered by it. Current criminal justice system works on this premise and presents a rationale those stricter sentences, paroles and penalties may deter crimes (Ellis, 2003). However, had the theory been completely true, then there would have been decreasing number of prisons and lesser crime rates globally. These facts indicate that perhaps rewards and risks attached to a crime are not the same for everyone. Therefore, a uniform approach may not be helpful. However highlighting costs and modifying them according to segment being addressed may help. An article published in the guardian describes a story of two sisters who were convicted of drug trafficking can be used as an example of effectiveness of deterrence theory which highlights failure of justice system’s punishment and effects of society’s negative behavior as the major deterrent against crime. The article explained how Kemi and Tasha Ryan survived prison after being convicted. Since severity of their crime was known to them while committing it therefore one cannot consider jail sentence as a major deterrent. What made them suffer the most was aftermath of their crime which included lack of social support, unemployment and respect in society. Ryan sisters have established a non-profit organization which aims to educate youth about sufferings attached to committing a crime other than jail and probation itself. Hence, the theory does work however it needs to include a notion that altering punishment by individualizing it may act as a major deterrent instead of having a uniform approach. 3) Labeling Theory Howard Becker’s labeling theory (1963) presents the rationale for cognitive process working behind deviant behavior. According to this theory, distinction between deviant and non-deviant behaviors is provided by conforming members of the society who also specify rules and norms. People tend to witness such labeling attached to them or others as a deviant character and then demonstrate behavior that is label-appropriate. Hence, people will accept these labels and then exhibit a behavior which is appropriate. I witnessed the same thing in my younger cousin who is about thirteen years old. I have seen as being transformed from a simple girl to somebody who pays a lot of attention to her looks with an arrogant attitude. Where this can be the phase for many teenagers, Sara was specifically focusing on purchasing new clothes and accessories every now and then. When I asked her elder sister about Sara’s change in behavior, I was told that she has recently joined the group of ‘cool girls’ in her junior school. The reputations obviously needs up keeping with new fashion trends and also exhibiting a certain type of behavior. Though the incident was unpleasant for me since I saw a child giving up to peer pressure and changing her personality, the example did supported labeling theory for me. 4) Media Culture Media culture refers to the impact of media on audience’s choices, tastes and values. Where media surrounds TV, radio, internet, press and cinema, TV and social media tend to have a much more aggressive impact on recipients of information than any other medium. I have watched several teenage shows like Gossip Girl and One Tree Hill that have shown inappropriate behavior for teenagers like eating disorders in pursuit of staying skinny, excessive shopping, multiple sexual partners etc. such exposure and over-familiarity coupled with emotional complications tend to have a negative impact on the underage audience. The recent example of such shows is ABC’s The Fosters. The story surrounds a family of lesbians with three children and a foster child with increasing intimation between children. The other day I found one of my cousins saying to my little sister (they are under 7 years) that they will get married to each other. I told them that cousins cannot marry each other since we are Christians. In response to that, they gave reference of some scene that they watched in these series on TV. Where the incident itself was disturbing for me, I realized that media especially TV has a potential of creating new views and altering old values. Where such shows do have an age limit mentioned before telecast, it is difficult to keep such controls in domestic settings. Secondly, children are especially impressionable demographic segment and are susceptible to all kinds of influences through media. Therefore, it is important that authorities of different media need to have suitable regulations that ensure reinstatement of fundamental values. 5) Coercion: Danny Postel, 15 October 2013, The crisis in Egypt Today: An Interview with Mohammad Fadel Coercion refers to use of threat or force to alter or affect others’ decisions, actions and views or achieving an objective by force by intimidation (Rhodes, 2000). Use of coercion has many ethical implications as it negates other’s freedom. Also, use of force by one party can lead to a reciprocated action. Recently I read an interview of Mohammad Fadel in Huffington Post regarding current situation of Egypt. The interview mentioned several factors to be responsible for this civil crisis with government, army and public fighting against each other. The interview made it clear that abuse of power from one party not only violates legitimacy of their power but also questions the social stability within the state. Furthermore, such abuse also gives rise to other forces that create social disturbance in the society. In this case, Muslim brotherhood, influence of other states like Israel, Iran and Saudi Arabia and army actively taking over Egypt’s reins are some of the known outcomes of use of power by Egypt’s former government. Hence, coercion is not only unethical on moral, legal and social grounds but also bears serious long-term repercussions for parties being stakeholders in the situation. In the given case, its Egypt’s public that is suffering. 6) Credentialism: Sean Coughlan, 2 September, 2013, Teenagers have to keep studying English and Maths, BBC UK It refers to over emphasis on academic achievements in the pursuit of gaining a prominent social status and desired kinds of employments. Since credentials play a vital role designing recruitment and career development policies, most people tend acquire academic qualification that may ensure such progression. An article published online on BBC’s website stated that students have to acquire at least C in GCSE in order to progress further in academics. Furthermore, they will be required to take retests till they achieve desired grade. Rationale given for such decisions is employers complaining that young professionals lack necessary skills in English and Maths. Although the justification is sound enough as one need to have certain professional proficiencies for further career development. However, such over-emphasis on certain type of education undermines the value of other subjects. There is ample information available on web and in print media regarding famous personalities who were either school or college drop outs (“10 Wildly Successful”, n.d). Question arises that where education system and society demands a certain qualification in order to be successful, how will it promote creativity and pursuing for one’s own passion. There are many theories available that indicate human motivation to be a prime factor behind efficient performance. Such strict educational policies and stigma reflected in social behavior will only create individuals with bookish knowledge instead of a creative and passionate generation. Lastly, credentialism is used a tool by employers for gaining access to most proficient pool of employees. They also have an ability of raising this bar and creating difficulties for new incumbents. 7) Nuclear Family: Steven Levitan and Lloyd Christopher, 2013, Modern Family Season 5 Nuclear family refers to a family structure comprising of a couple and their children. Where older definitions consider biological children to be a major component of this family structure; others accept adopted, child of one partner and surrogate children to be part of this family structure (Widmer & Jallinoja, 2008). The concept of nuclear family although being a common concept in media, is reflected in different forms in this TV series i.e. regular married couple of same age bracket (Clair and Phil), a gay couple (Mitchell and Cameron) and another married couple with husband being 25 years older than wife (Jay and Gloria). The fifth season of this TV series was aired in September 2013. The story surrounds three nuclear families related to each other and it reflects on how families belonging to different generations and family setups vary from each other. An interesting part of this series is definition of characters. All the feminine characters even gay partner with feminity stays at home and indulges themselves in gender-specific activities i.e. cooking, groceries shopping, raising children and performing chores. The show also indicates that nuclear family has a better financial viability and extended family is a costly family model with Jay Pritchett often complaining about expenses of family dinners. The show helps in understanding the pros and cons and other peripheral concepts related to family model. 8) Racism: Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, Wellesley Wild, Mike Scully, 2013, Dads. Racism refers to society’s treatment of individuals belonging to different ethnic backgrounds on the basis of a notion that these individuals possess unequal rights (Conley, 2013). Racism itself has been seen a source of discrimination and has been widely argued upon by many sociologists. It is also considered as one of the most condemned social behaviors that are even prohibited legally. Despite these constitutional and legal protections, stereotypes related to different races are still active in our social construct. TV is one the major media showing racism at varied levels. One of the major TV showed that aired in 2013 with the name ‘Dads’ has been heavily criticized for being racist. The show surrounds two individuals pioneering an enterprise where one of them belongs to Chinese ancestry. Other than the general plot of the series, major comedy is constructed on a premise related to Chinese stereotypes. Lead character Brenda has been portrayed as Asian schoolgirl (a highly criticized image related to sexuality) who has been beaten by her Chinese parents and pushed to get better academic scores. Many sexual and culture-based jokes are part of its dialogues. Racism is a social menace that exists in all forms of society in different forms whereas TV is the most powerful medium that reaches millions all across the globe every second. It is more likely to leave impressions on its audience and airing such shows is more likely to further instigate racism which would prove efforts of political, social and economic lobbies related to curtailing racism, futile. 9) Feminism: Katy Perry, 2013, Roar, Capitol Feminism is a social concept that supports women being provided with same roles and opportunities as men. It is important to note that defining one’s gender as feminine or masculine explains the set of social arrangements prescribed for that sex (Conley, 2013). It also governs social relations. However, there are still sexual stereotypes that indicate women to be more emotional gender. The notion of equal opportunity is mainly projected by postmodernism. An interesting example of strong feminine personality is reflected in Katty Perry’s new song, “Roar”. The song shows how a girl overcomes aftermath of a bad relationship. Other than dialogues, the video also shows a woman taking over the animal kingdom. She is also shown as fighting with tigers, nail painting elephants and sitting down as a female Tarzan. It is important to note that western society has progressed greatly in the past century. With regimes like equal employment opportunity etc, women are almost made an equal part in every aspect of society. Of course, women had to overcome obstacles to reach this status however there is still room for improvement in equality of genders. One cannot ignore underlying phenomenon like roles in family model and characteristics specified and stereotypes with gender and they are expected to remain prevalent despite having equality in economic terms. 10) Elite-Mass Dichotomy System: Block, Kinberg, (producers), & Blomkamp, (director), 2013. Elysium. Media Rights Capital. The given theory refers to a social model in which few influential elites tend to have control of society including its resources. There are various reasons behind such stratification of society which include economic, social, cultural and competence-based factors. Although this theory is evident in our current society as well however its extreme form is shown in the movie ‘Elysium’. The movie shows the world of 2154 which has exhausted all its resources and poverty is at its extreme height. These people are controlled by a group of elites living in an artificial habitat called Elysium with all the facilities. Watching this movie reminded me of our American history especially slavery and how African Americans had to fight centuries’ long battle for their rights. Where slavery has been abolished, such extreme stratification still exists in different parts of the world especially developing countries. Although such stratification is beneficial if its favors the society by giving more control to learned people with more knowledge however it is important to ensure that such privileges are met equal accountability as well. Conclusion The activity itself was a great learning experience. It helped me to investigate the social premise behind several theoretical concepts and seek their practical explanation in real life examples. Every day, we are receiving unlimited information from different media and they tend to have a certain impact on us. Simple things like watching TV, spending time with family, listening to music is altering our current views and installing new ones in our mentality. I carefully selected the topics that were interesting to me after thorough analysis and seek their application in everything that I encounter in my daily life. It can be seen that my selection of theoretical models discussed everything ranging from gender roles to family structure and social doctrines like equality, influence of media, racism, deterrence and coercion and collecting these specimen changed my perspective about how our society even my life functions. With the help of these theories, I examined what affects our decisions in terms of motivation and deterrence. Furthermore, applying these theoretical models also assisted me examining the efficacy of our social policies and procedures. There were several eye-opening pieces of information that altered my views about impacts of legislation and media in terms of sociology. Coming across story of two sisters facing difficulties after completing their jail sentence, made it clear to me that the choices we make today remain with us for the rest of our lives. They not only alter our living conditions but change us a person as well. However, everyone is a different individual and is motivated by unique factors. Therefore, it is important for sociologists to examine current model of criminal justice and devise appropriate mechanism which sheds light on effects of crime on life after jail instead of just focusing on punishment. In addition to that, I also saw various movies and videos that were helpful in understanding social concepts. Various theoretical concepts like gender-roles, racism, nuclear family and feminism were evident in these seemingly simple sources of entertainment. This personal reflection made it clear for me that whatever I am seeing and hearing has a certain impact and a specific meaning. Prior knowledge of these sociological concepts and now their practical application through this assignment would assist me in understanding whatever I come across in future in a better way. The collection itself will be a great tool for me as it showed me the effectiveness of self-reflection. It will also act as a guide for theories that I have learned during the semester and I am further planning to construct such study guides for me in future as well. Learning new concepts and applying them in real-time examples would help me in my academic as well as professional life. References ‘10Wildly Successful People Who Dropped Out of High School’. Retrieved 25 November 2013 from http://www.businessinsider.com/successful-people-who-dropped-out-of-high-school-2013-5#now-see-more-dropouts-11 Block, B., Kinberg, S. (producers), & Blomkamp, N. (director). (2013). Elysium [Motion Picture]. United States: Media Rights Capital. Becker, H. S. (1963). Outsiders: Studies in the sociology of deviance. New York: Free Press. Coughlan, S. (2 September 2013). Teenagers have to Keep Studying English and Maths. Retrieved 25 November 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23925033 Conley, D. (2013). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist, 3rd ed. W.W. Norton & Company Inc. Ellis, A. (2003). A deterrence theory of punishment. The Philosophical Quarterly, 53(212), 337-351. Hatcher, A., Jaffery, S., Thebaud, O., & Bennett, E. (2000). Normative and social influences affecting compliance with fishery regulations. Land Economics, 76(3), 448-461. Levitan, S., & Lloyd, C. (Producer). (2013). Modern Family Wiki [Television Series]. ABC Networks. MacFarlane, S., Sulkin, A., Wild, W., & Scully, M (producers) (September, 2013). Dads [Television Series]. Fox Network. Moorehead, J. (19 October, 2013). Life After Prison: The Sisters who Hope to Make a Difference. Retreieved 24 November 2013 from http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/oct/19/life-after-prison-sisters-drug-smuggling Perry, K., Gottwald, L., Martin, M., McKee, B., Walter Henry. (10 August, 2013). Roar [Katy Perry]. Prism [CD]. United States: Capitol. Postel, D. (10 October 2013). The Crisis in Egypt Today: An Interview With Mohammad Fadel. Retrieved 24 November 2013 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-postel/the-crisis-in-egypt-today_b_4098803.html Rhodes, M. R. (2000). The Nature of Coercion. Journal of Value Inquiry, 34 (2/3), 34-45. Usher, S. (24 Nov. 2013). UN helps eloped Saudi ‘Juliet’ Asylum Case. Retrieved 24 November 2013 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25082597 Widmer, E., & Jallinoja, R. (2008). Beyond the Nuclear Family: Families in a Configurational Perspective. Peter Lang. Read More