Everyday Sociology Blog

Harry's Law, The Girls, and the Media Marketplace

By Sally Raskoff

How well does the entertainment media represent society? With the debut of a new show on HBO – Girls – and the cancellation of a popular show on NBC – Harry’s Law – there is a lot of discussion about what shows depict and who watches them.

The new show Girls on HBO depicts a foursome of friends, all white, upper or upper middle class, college educated, and finding their way through their twenties. The show has gotten a lot of attention for its depiction of “hipster racism” and for the writers’ responses to such criticisms.

Rethinking Goffman's Front Stage/Back Stage

By Karen Sternheimer

Over the years, many posts on this site have referenced sociologist Erving Goffman’s concept of “front stage” and “back stage” behaviors. Stemming from his book The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959), the twin concepts suggest that we have two different modes of presenting our selves: one when we are “on” for others (front stage) and another when we let down our guard (back stage).

But does this dichotomy hold up in the internet age?

Notes and Images from Las Vegas

By Janis Prince Inniss

Las Vegas—or at least “The Strip”—reminds me of a movie studio. A massive one. There is so much fakery there. This is not a criticism necessarily, simply an observation. Who thought of creating monumental replicas of some of the world’s most recognizable landmarks in Las Vegas? And why? There is New York in Las Vegas. There is Paris in Las Vegas. Egypt in Las Vegas. Is that Chicago too? I saw a building with the Coca Cola bottle with the glass elevator, right next door to a Coca Cola store and that looks like the World of Coca-Cola I saw in Atlanta years ago.

Collective Memories

By Karen Sternheimer

Memories seem like one of the most personal aspects of who we are. What we remember, what triggers memories, and how we remember things help define our identities. But memories are more than just personal. They can be something we share collectively too.

Sociologists who study collective memory focus on how groups share information about the past and construct meanings about the past together. This can be done through the creation of monuments and storytelling, which serves not only to remind members of events but also defines the group in the process.

The recent centennial anniversary of the Titanic’s sinking brought this issue to mind. While many ships sank over the centuries, and many passengers were killed, the Titanic has taken on a role in our collective memory for a number of reasons. The Titanic story continues to lurk in our collective memory because the ship was meant to be unsinkable, a feat of modern technology in the industrial age. That it sunk, and took the lives of people across class lines down with it, serves as a reminder of the limits of conquering nature.

Challenging Gendered Beauty Norms: Ashley Judd's Conversation

By Sally Raskoff

Did you read Ashley Judd’s essay regarding the media attention to her appearance?

It is a rare day that an actor calls attention to the disparities and inequalities in our societal structure. Ms. Judd’s essay is a great example of sociology and social science in action. Her argument has direct connections to feminist theory and uses a sociological perspective.

She describes beautifully how the societal surveillance of women’s appearances and bodies may humiliate women as individuals and also objectifies them at a more macro level of culture and society. Objectifying women encourages them to live their lives focused on their appearance and their relation to men, which reinforces the patriarchal power structure in society. One gender group (women) is made passive and submissive so that the other gender group (men) retains their dominance and power.

Culture (a)Drift

By Sally Raskoff

Some exciting studies have been making the news lately. Human society will be better understood once the data from such studies are analyzed.

Based on what we’ve been learning from life lived on the International Space Station, plans are continuing for sending a carefully chosen group of men and women out into space to reproduce. How will the biological and psychological processes work when not on the planet? This study should yield important information.

If we are to send humans out into space for missions to other planets or to establish colonies on the moon or elsewhere, we need to know if humans can reproduce and parent their offspring in such environments. While the Biosphere 2 and similar projects did not have tremendous success in establishing a self-contained sustainable ecosystem and social system, research continues into whether or not we could sustain and generate human life off the planet.

Hidden Headlines: Is Your News Censored?

By Peter Kaufman

More U. S. Soldiers Committed Suicide than Died in Combat

Obama Authorizes International Assassination Campaign

Great Pacific Garbage Patch Bigger than Continental U. S.

U. S. Schools More Segregated Today than in 1950s

U. S. Department of Defense Worst Polluter on Planet

Have you seen any of these headlines recently? Probably not. Most of these stories went unreported in the mainstream media. Unless you read alternative news sites or you subscribe to non-mainstream magazines or newsletters it is unlikely that you would have heard about any of these stories. And yet, just by their titles they seem to be the kind of stories that should garner more widespread attention.

Language and Culture

By Karen Sternheimer

Language both reflects and reproduces culture. Think about the words you use and how you use them on a daily basis: you learned those words from people around you, but the very fact that those words exist is linked with culture. It’s telling when we have multiple words for a similar concept or very few to describe something.

In American English, we have a seemingly endless supply of superlatives that we use even in mundane circumstances: awesome, incredible, fantastic, amazing, and many others. What does this tell us about American culture?

Subcultures among Us: The Amish

By Karen Sternheimer

Many people navigate living within both the broader society and a subculture that connects people together within a smaller group.The Amish are a unique subculture living in the U.S., in that they generally do not adopt the norms, customs, and lifestyle of the broader society.

As a recently aired PBS documentary detailed, the Amish live much as many other Americans did before the Industrial Revolution, in rural areas typically without electricity or most modern conveniences that many of us take for granted. They wear simple clothing and believe that too great a focus on individuality distracts from the devotion to God; likewise, technology interferes with this devotion as well as family connections. As one member told filmmakers, working the land is the best way to be closest to God, and many of the Amish today as in the past are farmers. (Click here to see a clip from another documentary, The Amish and Us.)

Individuality, Conformity, and Your Home

By Karen Sternheimer

I recently discovered the HGTV network, and for some reason have really gotten into watching people go house hunting. It’s a fascinating peek into a process that millions of people have experienced, albeit usually in private.

A home is typically the largest purchase consumers will ever make, so it can be instructive to learn the ins and outs of buying real estate by watching others. HGTV’s house-hunting shows are also an interesting study of the contrast between individuality and conformity.