Sociological Analysis of Media - Essay Example

Unit Sociological Analysis of Media The video of choice in this paper that I chose for analysis is the Re-socialization after Swimming? Michael Phelps retrieved from the YouTube website. The video focuses on the life career of Michael Phelps, swimming, and showcases the ups and downs of his career. This particular short video documentary takes us through the expected comeback of Michael Phelps to the perform in the London Olympics, while keeping us posted on the experience he had in the prior years of after the Beijing Olympics. The social life that Michael Phelps experienced after winning the various medals in the Beijing Olympics changed his life, since it shot him to fame and new experience in life. He suddenly realized there are other things in life he wanted to do apart from swimming, which had been the major activity in his life. In one snapshot from the video, the coach tells us there was this one time Michael Phelps had missed a swimming training session since he had gone to Vegas to have fun. The social norms in the society giver the expectation and value certain individuals as perfect given their social status in the society. The social theme of perfection is seen in this social media presented in the short documentary. The cultural expectation of the society towards this video entails the fan base of the individual in focus in the video. The theme in this case explains the idea that a general public has towards a well-known person in the society. Let’s, say for example, the president of a country is never expected to be at certain places or even do certain things, for instance, swim in a public pool or use a public lavatory. That is the last thing the public domain would expect view from a famous person. Secondly, the other sociological theme highlighted form this social media is the issue regarding equity. The sociology lessons offer diverse concepts for what may be considered to make a perfect society. Some individuals have confidence that the society ought to focus on the creation or making of an assured system for controlling people, whereby every Tom, Dick, and Harry is treated equally. This also includes the treating of an individual equally from an economic viewpoint. In this social media documentary, applying the idea of equality by representation is showcased in the event where Michael Phelps goes to Vegas and misses out on an important a very vital section of his swimming lessons training. Well, just like any other or most of other people, it is normal for someone to want to have fun, since, all work but no play, makes Jack a dull boy. However, other individuals have faith that an ideal culture comprises of different societal classes, that is, social stratification, since the need or want an individual has of wanting to be wealthy encourages individuals to originate things and ways of working harder in order to achieve their dreams. The pegging queries comprise of the study of how finances, culture and politics relate in different ways. Further, the questions in sociological aspect that are pondered on is, How is culture shaped, and how is it conveyed down through one generation to the next? For instance, what foodstuffs originate from your nation state? Well, if you re from the United States of America, the food culture comprises of hot dogs and hamburgers. These foodstuff substances are assimilated into other features of the American culture, like, for instance, when an individual eats a piece of hot dog at a basketball game. Consequently, one would question how children are affected or influenced by these particular cultural images over long generations, and also question ourselves how do diverse cultures have an effect on different kinds of individuals and beliefs? Relating his to the social media documentary is that in our current society, superstars, like professional swimmer Michael Phelps are expected to usually have a clean slate on their profile. An example of this particular situation is when there was a widespread print of Michael Phelps smoking pot. This picture definitively tarnished his image in the public domain. Additionally, it saddened the people who were looking up to him as a role model and disappointed the people close to him, like his mother. The other theme emphasized in the case is the issue regarding relevance. In other words, it can be referred to as the Functionalist theory. This philosophical concept helps explain how an individual or an action tends to stay relevant in society. The character, Michael Phelps stays relevant to the cause of his social life and living standards. As a well-known celebrity, and the country’s (fans) expectation on him to participate in the 2012 Olympics, he had to perform. He was training with his peers and was cooperative with the coach. Further, sociology also educates one on the similar relationships and dissimilarities amid diverse kinds of individuals. One instance to ponder on is the initial reasoning on whether men and women are certainly unalike. How about rich people versus poor people? How is a grandmother different from a granddaughter? What about people of different races or ethnicities? But, agreeably, women and men both form an essential part of this world and therefore need to coexist peacefully. The feminist theory portrayed in this case documentary is shown via the character’s mother and her caring nature towards the son’s livelihood. From time to time that one can ponder on how social media became so widespread and why numerous individuals have presented such attentiveness in it. At first, it is important to appreciate that human relations are at the center of social media’s achievement. Well, by no means does this reduce how significant the technical aspect is. Probably without technology, there would be no social media to begin with. One of the main motives for the accomplishment of social media is approachability to individuals at farfetched swiftness and promptness. The end user interactivity of social media is what relays to human behavior and nature. The sociological individualities of social media can be attributed with its specific advancement. Human beings impact on each other is a portion of the singularity that is unavoidable. Folks make choices in a lifetime (and the equivalent relates to their communication via social media) in a big part in line for what other individuals say and do. No matter what type of commerce or trade you deal in, without associations and interactions with other individuals, then the section of your occupation that comprises interaction would be nothing short of average at the greatest. The technique that any individual utilizes to get to a part where they successfully manage to offer their services is via structuring credibility and trust. Fascinatingly, in several techniques or methods, social media has taken individuals as one and put them together at a position nothing like as it was before. Sociological media on the other hand offers the communications or contributions that individuals have via it lets various diverse feelings to be articulated and interactions to progress due to the simplicity of relations. An instance in the video is the social status of the main character, Michael Phelps, puts him in a state where he has to stay relevant to the public eye via marketing and creating awareness. For, example, the photo shoot with a model for a magazine cover o promotes swimming. Conclusively, with the vast amount of individuals who are being highly interactive in this day and age with social systems, it is quite motivating to note how they are predisposed by everyone in numerous and diverse methods. Notably, human beings essentially have to network. It is one of the central bases of bliss and contentment, and the more they interrelate (on several diverse intensities), the more contented they are probably going to feel. When individuals participate in social interaction, there is no uncertainty that they begin to have an incredible influence on every single person and the dialogues that are a result the networking involvements very frequently influence the choices an individual might make in their life and in probably also in their career or business. It is rightfully significant for folks to identify and appreciate how other individuals impact their lives and how considerably that improves on their own involvement. It has been established that subconscious and conscious activities intensely upsurge when individuals are mentioned via the social networking. Since individuals are expressively reliant on each other, numerous individuals will share merits, both negative and positive. References Ferrante-Wallace, Joan, and Chris Caldeira. Seeing Sociology: An Introduction. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Read More