Tags: class, economic sociology, emotion/desire, gender, globalization, immigration/citizenship, inequality, organizations/occupations/work, care deficit, motherhood, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2006 Length: 4:50 Access: YouTube Summary: The anthology film Paris, je t'aime (2006) features 18 short films set in different neighborhoods—or, "arrondissements"—across Paris. The fifth segment, entitled Loin du 16e (which translates into "Far from the 16th"), takes place in the 16th arrondissement; it was written and directed by Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas, and stars Catalina Sandino Moreno. The film tells the story of a young immigrant mother who leaves her baby in daycare so she can travel far across town to care for the baby of her wealthy employer; she sings the same Spanish lullaby ("Qué Linda Manita") to stop both babies from crying. Despite being short in length and dialogue, the film offers multiple avenues of inquiry for teaching about many core sociological concepts, including gender, motherhood, immigration, class, globalization, and transnational labor markets. In their edited anthology Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy, Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Hochschild highlight the various dimensions—both positive and negative—of immigrant women's entry into "First World" labor markets, which include immigrant women's ability to send money back to home countries, First World women's ability to pursue upwardly mobile paid careers, and emotional hardships and physical strains associated with leaving family and loved ones behind. Ehrenreich and Hochschild argue that this transnational economic process results in a care deficit, in which transnational women's labor supplies much needed care in rich countries, at the expense of creating a deficit of care in home countries. Instructors can focus on the following features of the film to facilitate discussion and analysis: (1) The significance of distance and space. What are the different environments the woman must travel through for her commute to work? Have students read about the 16th arrondissement and then ask: What is the meaning of the film's title, "Far from the 16th"? (2) The significance of power relations. What do we know about the relationship between the woman and her employer (whose face we never see)? What is the significance of the employer's request that the woman work late? Should the woman receive overtime pay for this extra work? Do you think she'll receive it? Why or why not? (3) The significance of the lullaby. Although she sings the same lullaby with the same purpose (to calm a crying baby), how do the two scenes differ? Focus on the environment in which the lullaby is sung, the recipient of the lullaby, the woman's relationship to each of these recipients, and how these factors shape the emotions attached to the lullaby. To view Loin du 16e in French, click here; to view it with Spanish subtitles, click here. For another clip that examines social inequality by interrogating ideas about distance, space, and lullaby, click here. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp
2 Comments
Diablo Steve panhandles at a busy intersection
Tags: class, crime/law/deviance, marriage/family, methodology/statistics, drugs, ethnography, homelessness, visual ethnography, substance abuse, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2013 Length: 8:23 Access: YouTube; Vimeo Summary: This observational film from filmmaker Greg Scott and a crew of sociologists chronicles the daily lives of Diablo Steve and Sapphire Pam, a homeless and heroin-addicted married couple. Beginning with a brief wedding anniversary celebration, the camera follows Steve and Pam as they go about their daily routine, which includes a visit to a "shooting gallery," where they inject their "medicine," and a visit to a busy intersection, where they carry out their panhandling "hustle." The film sticks with Steve and Pam as they navigate various modes of transportation throughout the day, until finally setting up camp at a homeless shelter, where they attempt to get some relief in a momentary and fleeting setting of “home.” Although the film neither expresses judgement nor engages in the kind of overt analyses one typically finds in films that include interviews and narration, assistant videographer Thom Fredericks notes that "Ultimately the film represents an effort to analyze marriage and the ways in which the meaning of marriage has changed in society." In the context of a sociology class, instructors can easily draw on the film as a basis for contemplating a range of other topics, including homelessness, substance abuse, and deviance. The film is also an excellent example of visual ethnography, which is a form of ethnographic research that incorporates photography, video, or hypermedia. Submitted By: Thom Fredericks Tags: crime/law/deviance, knowledge, media, psychology/social psychology, violence, cultivation theory, terrorism, tsa, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2013 Length: 4:45 Access: The Colbert Report Summary: Neuroscientist Steven Pinker shares his book, The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. This video explains (without mentioning it) cultivation theory, which is the idea that the more you watch the news, the more you have a tendency to overestimate the crime rate. Specifically, the video discusses terrorism, and Americans' fixation on it as a source of danger, when more mundane sources like flammable pajamas and peanut allergies cause far more deaths. This video works well as a means of introducing cultivation theory, but it is also a good starting point for a more general conversation about how the media misleads the public about how dangerous the world is and from where dangers come. Note that The Sociological Cinema has previously explored the way media is used as a tool for dispersing propaganda in a democratic political system (here), and also as a supplicant to the demands of corporate power (here). Submitted By: Nickie Michaud Wild
Susana Almanza recounts her work for environmental justice
Tags: environment, health/medicine, inequality, race/ethnicity, social mvmts/social change/resistance, environmental justice, environmental racism, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2012 Length: 4:03 Access: YouTube Summary: In this video Susana Almanza explains how, historically, communities of color, Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans and Native-Americans, have been disproportionately affected by industrial pollution. At the same time, these communities have not benefited equitably from these industries. She describes East Austin, Texas, where a power plant, fuel storage tank farms, refineries, lumber companies, and high tech industries regularly emit their pollutants into the air and water. In the video she goes on to describe the efforts of social movement activists, which led to the relocation of a gas tank farm that had been emitting toxic chemicals in the community for over 35 years and causing chronic illnesses for neighborhood residents. This short video could be used as an example of a successful social movement. The video might also serve as a platform for launching into much deeper discussions about environmental justice and environmental racism. Submitted By: Erika Giesen
Mike Rugnetta explains the three waves of feminism
Tags: gender, inequality, media, social mvmts/social change/resistance, sex/sexuality, adventure time, bmo, feminism, first wave feminism, gender binary, popular culture, pronouns, second wave feminism, third wave feminism, subtitles/CC, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2013 Length: 8:10 Access: YouTube Summary: This quirky little clip comes from the Idea Channel, which describes itself as "a weekly web series that examines the evolving relationship between modern technology and art." In it, bearded host Mike Rugnetta explores a connection between feminist theory and the animated television show Adventure Time. Fans of the animated series will recall that one of the minor characters is a sentient video console named BMO. Rugnetta argues that since this walking and talking gadget generally skirts the strictures of the gender binary system in a number of creative ways, the character can be read as expressive of Third Wave Feminism. On that point, Rugnetta breaks into a useful discussion of the three waves of feminism. The first wave emerged from the 19th century, and as Rugnetta surmises, it was concerned with "institutionalized inequalities, like women gaining the right to vote, executing contracts, or owning property." Another way of thinking about the first wave is that it sought to remove obstacles that prevented women from fully participating in public life and spheres of formal power. The right to vote is one such obstacle, but first wavers were also concerned with securing the right to attend such organizations as medical schools and labor unions. The second wave, by contrast, is most associated with the 1960s and 1970s. Rugnetta explains that the second wave "broadened its focus to cultural inequalities." It should also be noted that the second wave expanded the struggle for equality back into the private sphere, and cast a spotlight on such issues as domestic violence. Finally, the third wave, which is typically associated with the present moment, has broadened its focus even more by recognizing the way people are intersected by such dimensions as gender, race, class, and sexuality. As the BMO character exemplifies, Third Wave Feminism is also critical of the gender binary, or the cultural and social structures that divide people, roles, behaviors, occupations, and objects of consumption into strictly masculine and feminine spheres. Submitted By: Lester Andrist
Jose Antonio Vargas talks about immigration reform
Tags: community, discourse/language, immigration/citizenship, marriage/family, assimilation, intermarriage, spatial concentration, 11 to 20 mins Year: 2013 Length: 18:56 Access: The Washington Post (Part 1 - Part 4) Summary: At a post office, I recently overheard a Ghanaian child translate the prices for his parents. This was all happening while the Chinese cashier repeatedly yelled out that they needed to pay extra for something or other. The little kid struggled to string together phrases in English, and both the parents and employees seemed relieved when the whole ordeal was over, somehow vaguely proud of the child’s budding communication skills. I see so much of my childhood in that Ghanaian family. Doing the language limbo hits close to home for me, having grown up first generation Latino in California. Translating menu options for my parents and answering the phone when they didn’t recognize the number on our caller ID became standard protocol. Weaving in and out of English and maneuvering through this dizzying dialectical maze is something I still encounter today; and I know I am not alone. In June of this year the US Senate passed an immigration reform bill that promises to provide a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S. The bill's passage also brings up questions of assimilation, which refers to the process of immigrants adapting to their new society. Contrary to an opinion held by many, it is possible to quantify how well immigrants make the transition to their new homes. For instance, sociologists sometimes measure spatial concentration, or the degree to which immigrants live apart from the native-born population. Sociologists also look at the degree to which immigrants socially integrate with native-born folks, irrespective of geographic distance. One way to do this is by examining rates of intermarriage between immigrants and natives. Another way is to examine the degree to which immigrants have access to natives or naturalized citizens. Drawing from The New Immigrant Survey (2003), sociologist Guillermina Jasso and her colleagues recently reported that 72% of immigrants in the United States with legal permanent resident status have ready access to natives or naturalized citizens of the United States. Thinking again about the Ghanian child, one of course can also look at language as a measure of assimilation, but it's important to keep in mind that language is a two-way street. To foster a sense of community, some have argued we must press for assimilation by demanding that new immigrants speak English. What is often lost in these discussions is that native English-speaking Americans can also foster a strong sense of community by embracing the rich immigrant history of the United States and learning a second or third language. It is useful to consider assimilation and the ability of Americans to build community in light of the turbulent history of formal immigration policy. This four-part series from The Washington Post provides a nice discussion of the past 30 years of policy changes. Submitted By: Sal Ramirez
"Alive in Joburg" depicts an alien encounter to explore prejudice
Tags: crime/law/deviance, discourse/language, immigration/citizenship, prejudice/discrimination, race/ethnicity, science fiction, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2006 Length: 6:23 Access: YouTube Summary: One of the most important and poignant components in a discussion of immigration issues is necessarily the processes of othering that occur when the legal and social legitimacy of a particular immigrant group is called into question. Xenophobia, anxieties about assimilation or the lack thereof, beliefs that a group of immigrants are hopelessly different, assumptions about immigrants causing rising crime rates and an overall lower quality of life for their neighbors, and discursive aspects such as the use of the words "illegal" and "alien" all come into play. In this short science fiction film, Neill Blomkamp (director of the movie District 9, which was based on this same film) juxtaposes a story about extraterrestrial refugees in Johannesburg under the apartheid government with real interviews with Johannesburg residents about refugees from Zimbabwe. This film can be used to open a discussion about the deeper meanings and connotations of words like "alien" when applied to human beings. What are the fears that such words represent and reproduce? What images and ideas do these forms of discourse call up in people's minds? What are the practical consequences of immigration threat discourses? And what real-life equivalents can students think of in terms of immigrant groups defined by others by their race, ethnicity, religion, etc.? Submitted By: Sarah Wanenchak
The 1991 Tailhook scandal exposed the U.S. military's rape culture.
Tags: crime/law/deviance, culture, gender, organizations/occupations/work, prejudice/discrimination, violence, war/military, masculinity, rape, rape culture, sexual assault, sexual harassment, 11 to 20 mins Year: 2013 Length: 12:45 Access: Retro Report Summary: Long before two boys from Steubenville High School in Ohio raped a young woman and bragged about it on social media, the U.S. had a rape problem. A recent Centers for Disease Control survey now estimates that in the United States about 1 in 5 women are the victims of rape or attempted rape at some point in their lives, but such national statistics mask what happens within particular institutions. In the U.S. military, 1 in 3 servicewomen are sexually assaulted, and in 2011, 22,800 violent sex crimes were reported. What this means is that military women in combat are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire, and adding insult to injury, the soldiers who commit rape have an estimated 86.5% chance of keeping their crime a secret. They have an even better chance— 92%—of avoiding a court-martial. From the Tailhook scandal in 1991 to the recent arrest of Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski—the chief of the Air Force's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office—the above video from The New York Times tracks the history of sexual assault in the U.S. military. In order to make sense of the prevalence and persistence of such assaults, sociologists argue that we need to face the fact that the problem is entrenched and systemic; the assaults need to be examined as manifestations of rape culture, which refers to "a complex of beliefs that encourages male sexual aggression and supports violence against women" (Buchwald, et. al). Thus, as reported in the video, when a senior officer dismisses reports of sexual assault at the Tailhook Convention by expressing the belief that, "That's what you get when you go down the hall with a bunch of drunk aviators" (at the 3:20 mark), the officer can be understood as drawing from a repertoire of myths that collectively characterize a rape culture—namely that such assaults are inevitable and perhaps natural. Similarly, when the officer leading the Tailhook investigation remarks that "some of these women were kind of bringing it on themselves" (at 4:30 mark), he is effectively blaming the victims for their assaults. The fact that these remarks were spoken by men with formal and legitimate power is added evidence that the sentiments run deep within the military, but it is also significant that these remarks are somewhat compatible, and taken together, formulate a relatively coherent logic. The video can be used to illustrate a pernicious thread of thinking from the military's rape-cultural repetoire: First, servicewomen who do not learn their places in male-dominated spaces will inevitably be raped, and second, their rape will be no one's fault but their own. On this score, Germaine Greer's famous observation has a certain resonance: "Women have very little idea how much men hate them." (Note that The Sociological Cinema also takes up the concept of a rape culture here, here, here, here, and here) Submitted By: Lester Andrist
This iconic image is from China's Tiananmen Square protests.
Tags: government/the state, social mvmts/social change/resistance, china, political opportunity, repression, tiananmen square, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2009 Length: 3:13 Access: YouTube Summary: In this retrospective look at the Tiananmen Square protests, "CBS News correspondent Richard Roth provides a firsthand account of the massacre of pro-Democracy students in China's Tiananmen Square, 20 years after the tragedy." In 1989, Chinese students (illegally) assembled in, and occupied, Tiananmen Square to fight for political freedoms and government accountability. In the end, the Chinese government opened fire on protestors, and the estimated deaths vary from several hundred to thousands. To this day, China has banned any public discussion or remembrance of the event so many Chinese citizens still lack knowledge of the protest (which is known as the "June 4th Incident" in China). Beyond recounting this important historical event, the video illustrates several concepts in social movement theory. For example, political opportunity refers to the capacity for movements to pursue their interests publicly and be able to manipulate the system. While political systems vary in their openness to change, the degree to which opportunity exists is always a matter of debate and subject to interpretation by movement actors. In this case, student protestors marched to, and occupied Tiananmen Square (occupation is an example of a social movement tactic), but overestimated the system openness. The window for political opportunity was largely closed and the government used violence to oust the protestors. Such repression, or the forms of control (e.g. violent force) used to suppress social movements, is one of the many variables that shape the "structure of political opportunity" in social movements. As part of this repression, not only was protest outlawed, but the means to develop and communicate collective grievances continues to be suppressed (e.g. through limits on assembly and Internet usage). The short video is also a reminder of the often taken-for-granted role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in social movements. The news reporter's usage of a cell phone (which was very rare in 1989) was important for documenting and spreading knowledge of the event, which was impeded when the Chinese government cut satellite transmissions as the situation unfolded. While this example is from the mainstream media and not the protestors themselves, it echoes the important role of cell phones, the Internet, and social media in the Battle for Seattle, Arab Spring, and other contemporary protests. Submitted By: Paul Dean
MLK and Malcolm X differed on their attitudes toward violence.
Tags: social mvmts/social change/resistance, violence, civil rights, malcolm x, mlk, strategy, 06 to 10 mins Year: 1960s Length: 8:49 Access: YouTube Summary: One of the key debates within social movements is about the use of violence or nonviolence as a strategy to bring about social change. This video is an edited montage of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and Macolm X, respectively discussing the use of violence or nonviolence in the fight for civil rights. Thus, it juxtaposes key arguments in this debate by well-known activists (for better or worse, the clip also opens and closes with the Rocky theme song!). It also works well with readings that more systematically analyze this strategic question. One of the most famous positions (from a left perspective) advocating violence as one possible movement strategy is Ward Churchill's Pacifism as Pathology: Notes on an American Pseudopraxis. However, most movement activists and scholars support non-violent strategies. For one example of this, see George Lakey's (co-founder of the Pacifist organization, Movement for a New Society) response to Churchill, "Nonviolent Action as the Sword that Heals." Viewers are encouraged to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of nonviolent social protest and the role of violence in achieving social change in the past: should social movements always be nonviolent? Did the use of violence (or threat of violence) help or hinder the struggle for civil rights? What factors shape when violence is or is not a legitimate strategy for advocating social change? I would like to thank Alper Yalçinkaya for suggesting this clip. The image above is a charcoal and pastel drawing by Ylli Haruni. Submitted By: Paul Dean |
Tags
All
.
Got any videos?
Are you finding useful videos for your classes? Do you have good videos you use in your own classes? Please consider submitting your videos here and helping us build our database!
|