StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Exemplifying Sociological Social Psychology Perspectives - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
In the field of sociological social psychology, there are many perspectives that help explain the behavior of individuals, mainly by analyzing the elements that influence individual thoughts, actions and feelings. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER93.3% of users find it useful
Exemplifying Sociological Social Psychology Perspectives
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Exemplifying Sociological Social Psychology Perspectives"

no. Exemplifying Sociological Social Psychology Perspectives In the field of sociological social psychology, there are many perspectives that help explain the behavior of individuals, mainly by analyzing the elements that influence individual thoughts, actions and feelings. This essay uses five examples of “real” life scenarios from movies and literature to explicate the ideas proposed in the perspectives of symbolic interactionism, social structure and personality (SSP), and group processes.

In symbolic interactionism, people attach meanings to social life, during their interaction with others. According to Rohall et al., individuals are able to derive meanings from interacting with and forming complex relationships with others (26). As a result, these acquired meanings determine the behavior of individuals. This idea is well elucidated in “Carmen,” a short novel by Merimee who tells of the love story between Jose Navarro, a bandit, and Carmen, a gypsy. Before ever meeting Carmen, Navarro was a good soldier loyal to his country and safeguarding it against evils such as banditry.

However, as Merimee writes, after breaking the law and allowing Carmen, who is charged with murder to escape, Navarro starts on a road towards self-destruction (23). According to Rohall et al., the way people interpret interactions is different, but these interpretations are the ones that guide their behavior. Rohall et al. state that according to the Thomas theorem, interpreting a situation as real makes it becomes real (33). Accordingly, Navarro’s relationship with Carmen causes him to commit treason, murder, and robbery, among other vices, all in the name of love.

Merimee states that Navarro ends up killing Carmen for refusing to elope with him, and surrenders to the authorities to answer for his many criminal charges (51–53). The SSP perspective, according to Rohall et al., states that the connection to social life is between the individual and larger societal conditions (37). Harvest Time is a film that portrays the life of a family destroyed by World War II. Antonina is a woman forced to work extra hard to provide for her family after her husband returns from the war without legs.

The war is the societal element that affects Antonina, and in an effort to feed her family and continue impressing her bosses, Antonina ends up not giving her family the attention it requires. This, according to Rohall et al., is the proximity principle that affects someone in their immediate environment (38). The psychology principle comes into play when Gennady, Antonina’s husband, turns to alcohol to drown away the apparent desertion by his wife. Although Antonina tries her best to cure her husband of his drinking problem, even going as far as performing a ritual in which she slaughters the family’s only goose, the family is totally ruined.

“‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman” also serves to exemplify the SSP perspective. Harlan Ellison writes about a society in which people are controlled by a clock’s ticking. The state apparatus, according to Ellison, forcefully ensures that the citizens obey the clock, or risk having their cardioplates stopped (163). Rohall et al. state that in this perspective, people have the ability to act independently and resist societal impositions (42). In this novel, Ellison writes that the harlequin chooses to be defiant and goes out into the streets dressed as a clown and starts telling people not allow the authorities to enslave them (220).

In another film Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, the ideas proposed in SSP are also explicated. Here, Kremer Stanley, the director, shows Joanna, a white woman who goes home with her African-American fiance, John. Joanna’s father and John’s parents are opposed to the inter-racial relationship. At some point, Joanna is ready to defy their parents and get married without their approval. John, however, insists on getting the support of all parents and after a lengthy process of convincing, all parents agree to support the relationship.

Group processes, according to Rohall et al., involve the study of how group contexts are influenced by social processes (44). The West Side of the Story is a film about two rival gangs, the American “Jets” and the Puerto Rican “Sharks.” The leader of the Sharks is Bernado, a brother of a girl named Maria. Interestingly, Maria is in love with Tony, one of the members of the Jets, making theirs a complicated relationship. During one of their frequent battles, Bernado kills the leader of the Jets by accident, an action which infuriates Tony who, in turn, kills Bernado.

On seeing this, Chino, a Puerto Rican who had been rejected by Maria, kills Tony and in the end, Maria loses both a brother and a lover. Essentially, the group processes perspective analyzes how the processes involved in a group impact individual members, because membership in a group can influence personal feelings and behavior. All the deaths at the end of the film are caused by the influences that each group has had on its members, for example Tony kills Bernado, the group’s status, as stated by Rohall et al. (46). Works Cited Ellison, Harlan.

“‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman.” ENGL 200: Composition and Literature. McGraw-Hill Create, 2012. Print. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. Dir. Kramer Stanley. Perf. Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn. Columbia Pictures, 1967. Film. Harvest Time. Dir. Marina Razbezhkina. Perf. Lyudmila Motornaya, Vyacheslav Batrakov, Dmitri Yakovlev, and Dmitri Yermakov. Risk Film and Video Studio, 2004. Film. Merimee, Prosper. Carmen and Other Stories. Trans. Nicholas Jotcham. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. Print. Rohall, David et al.

Social Psychology: Social Perspectives. Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. Pdf. West Side Story. Dir. Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. Perf. Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, and Russ Tamblyn. Seven Arts Productions, 1961. Film.

Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Exemplifying Sociological Social Psychology Perspectives Essay”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/sociology/1478179-3-main-sociological-social-psychology-perspectives-5-examples-that-show-individuals-or-groups-interacting-your-examples-can-com
(Exemplifying Sociological Social Psychology Perspectives Essay)
https://studentshare.org/sociology/1478179-3-main-sociological-social-psychology-perspectives-5-examples-that-show-individuals-or-groups-interacting-your-examples-can-com.
“Exemplifying Sociological Social Psychology Perspectives Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/sociology/1478179-3-main-sociological-social-psychology-perspectives-5-examples-that-show-individuals-or-groups-interacting-your-examples-can-com.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Exemplifying Sociological Social Psychology Perspectives

How Societal Views Shape the Way We Dress

Another one is to fulfill social expectations and impact people's standards of living (Corrigan, 2008).... In this perspective, clothes play a huge role in terms of discipline and social uprightness.... The essay "How Societal Views Shape the Way We Dress" critically analyzes the factors of comfort, age, gender and status, and how these affect the way we dress....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Sociological social psychological perspectives

The three main sociological social psychological perspectives are symbolic interaction, social structure,personality and finally group processesThey influence an individual's general behavior … sociological social psychological perspectives The three main sociological social psychological perspectives discussed in its broadly are symbolic interaction, social structure and personality and finally group processes.... Therefore, sociological social interaction contributes mainly to the psychological perspectives of symbolic interaction, social structure and personality together with group processes in coming up with social mixing and development (Delemater, 67)....
3 Pages (750 words) Essay

Sociological Perspectives: Social Work

The paper “Sociological perspectives: Social Work” describes a case that primarily based upon the social activities and the life of Margaret Anderson.... Consideration and Discussion of Sociological perspectives Sociological perspectives are regarded as those factors that concern different viewpoints of an individual relating to the social world.... In accordance with the case provided, two sociological perspectives like conflict theory and symbolic interactionist aspect can be executed as the tools for understanding, analyzing, and explaining the situation linked with the case scenario....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Significance of Effective Leadership

Business and Management Research PART I - Evaluating Published Research In today's increasingly globalized professional arena, business houses are transiting through extreme uncertainties and hesitancies (Furnham, 2009; Drucker, 2012; Kasunic, 2009).... In light of this extreme turbulence, the significance of effective leadership is growing at a rapid rate (Moyles, 2006; Panega, 2006; John, 2002)....
13 Pages (3250 words) Coursework

Planning for Change in Organisation: The Case of NHS of UK

he UK had a conventional mix:90% of the workforce had social insurance, covering the GP service and sick pay, the other 10% and all dependants either had private insurance or made full out-of-pocket payments.... An important issue facing governments in the UK, and elsewhere is the improvement in the performance of public service organisations (Boyne 2003, Ingraham and Lynn 2004)....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

Sociological Perspective

The paper "Sociological Perspective" discusses how it examines human behavior employs sociological perspectives to explain the social problems that exist in the society.... Sociological perspective Sociology being a scientific study that examines human behaviour employs sociological perspectives to explain the social problems that exist in the society.... In conclusion, the sociological perspectives help individuals understand the human behaviour and some social issues....
2 Pages (500 words) Essay

Sociological Perspectives

The writer of the paper “Sociological perspectives” states that the sociological concept on the inevitability of conflict is another interesting subject that needs further study.... The significance of this perspective lies in the fact that it has produced ideas related to “much-common sense thinking about social issues (Willis 117).... Society tends to influence this thinking by making the social order firm, logical, and pleasant, thus preventing the so-called “Hobbesian war of each against all” (Willis 117)....
5 Pages (1250 words) Report

Theory Building as an Important Component of Social Science Research

… Doctorate of social ScienceUnit 4: Qualitative Methods and Analysis – Assignment4.... Theory building is a more important component of social science research than theory testing.... he terms theory building is a more important component of social Doctorate of social ScienceUnit 4: Qualitative Methods and Analysis – Assignment4.... Theory building is a more important component of social science research than theory testing....
16 Pages (4000 words) Essay
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us