Violinist Joshua Bell performing in a subway station. Tags: art/music, class, goffman, methodology/statistics, theory, defining the situation, pierre bourdieu, social experiment, taste, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2007 Length: 2:52 Access: YouTube Summary: This video footage depicts a young man playing a violin in a Washington, DC Metro station during the heart of the morning rush hour. Unbeknownst to passersby, the musician is the world renowned Joshua Bell, playing one of the most difficult pieces ever written, on a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. In total, Bell played for about 45 minutes to about 1,100 people moving through the station. During this time, only a handful stopped to listen; he collected $32. Organized by the Washington Post, this social experiment was designed to broach questions around perception, beauty, and priorities; however, it can also be used to teach sociological concepts, such as Erving Goffman's theory of defining the situation and Pierre Bourdieu's theory of taste. Goffman argues that when individuals encounter one another, they (consciously or not) seek out information about the other so as to define the nature of the interaction. Morning commuters use the information around them to define the interaction between themselves and the violinist, including the fact that the musician is playing in a subway station, wearing everyday street clothes, standing beside an open violin case occupied by loose bills and change. Despite Bell's talent and professional status, given this information, the majority of commuters define the situation as an amateur musician playing for money, and they ignore him. Had the situation been defined with a sign that identified the world famous violinist playing an impromptu public concert, presumably more commuters would have stopped to listen. This latter point also speaks to Bourdieu's theory of taste, in which Bourdieu rejects a pure or genuine conception of aesthetics and instead argues that "good taste" is simply a reflection of the taste of the ruling class, demarcated by ruling class signifiers. Given that Bell is in a non-elite space, wearing non-elite clothing, playing for a non-elite audience, commuters are unable to recognize the highly skilled nature of the art. This demonstrates how good taste can be understood as a social (and Bourdieu would say classed) phenomenon, rather than an objective truth. This clip is one of several featured on The Sociological Cinema that illustrates social experiments, including experiments on racial bias, the Milgram experiment, and breaching experiments at Grand Central Station and on a college campus. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp
3 Comments
Tags: demography/population, environment, food/agriculture, globalization, inequality, rural/urban, anthropocene, great acceleration, subtitles/CC, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2012 Length: 3:29 Access: YouTube Summary: In sparkling electric blue, this narrated visualization illustrates the impact humans have had on the Earth's ecosystems from the time of the industrial revolution to the present. Referring to a new geological epoch, the narrator boldly announces, "Welcome to the anthropocene." The anthropocene is marked by the decisive role humans now play in shaping the state, dynamics and future of the Earth system. Among other indicators, scientists point out that anthropogenic processes now account for more sediment transport than natural processes, such as the erosion from rivers. Humans have also measurably altered the composition of the atmosphere, oceans, and soils, as well as the cycles associated with elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The more than seven billion of us who currently reside on the planet now breath a chemically altered atmosphere of our own making, and we are witnessing the spread of oceanic dead zones. From a sociological standpoint, the adjective "anthropogenic," which simply denotes something that is produced by humans, is imprecise. It is not the mere presence of billions of homo sapiens which has altered the Earth's systems; rather, it is the way homo sapiens interact with the Earth's systems—our social processes. The clip works well as a way to enter into a discussion about environmental sociology. Specifically, one could easily draw on it to highlight the tension between understanding how changes in the environment get framed as problems by scientists, media, and other social actors, and how certain environmental changes have a real ontological status, irrespective of that framing. Submitted By: Lester Andrist Tags: aging/life course, biology, health/medicine, gender, marketing/brands, science/technology, social construction, bourdieu, comedy, market control, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2010 Length: 1:16 Access: Hulu Summary: This SNL commercial parodies one of many actual TV ads in which products that may or may not improve appearance and "health" are targeted towards women of all ages. Sally Field, a spokeswoman for the prescription medication Boniva, is the subject of this specific parody (see original commercial and additional video critique). This spot highlights the important issue of age in gender. The aging and elderly are commonly marginalized in discussions of sexuality and gender, as their age excludes them from being considered "sexual," "desirable," or in some cases, even "able bodied." Viewers interested in discussions of aging and gender may be interested in using this clip to discuss how bodies are subject to economic and social control, regardless of age. Commercialized forms of control, such as the consumption of goods intended to "solve" problems which may not actually exist as "problems," is just one kind of controlling behavior. Women's bodies are especially susceptible to this kind of control, and are regularly used as the site for cultural production (Bourdieu). Fear is another important component in the process of regulating bodies. Fear of women's bodies, or the fear of our own bodies (male or female), can be produced in a culture that misinforms or denies readily available and reliable information on the subject. Submitted By: Aimee Koon Barak Obama speaks at a rally to promote diversity Tags: discourse/language, knowledge, media, politics/election/voting, race/ethnicity, theory, derrick bell, critical race theory, fear, 11 to 20 mins Year: 2012 Length: 13:10 Access: YouTube Summary: In the Academy Award-winning documentary Bowling for Columbine, filmmaker Michael Moore highlights, among other things, the ways in which fear—and specifically white fear of black men—is manufactured through the American media (e.g., here). Moore places the history of American gun policy and gun violence within this context. This American tendency to invent fear using racial justifications is also a useful framework for contextualizing the "controversy" over the video footage released in March 2012 that depicted then-law student Barak Obama introducing law professor Derrick Bell at a rally to promote diversity among Harvard faculty (Professor Bell was the first tenured African-American Professor of Law at Harvard Law School). The conservative group Breitbart.com used the video as evidence of Obama's support of critical race theory (CRT), an intellectual project developed by Bell and others to illustrate the intersection of race, law, and power, and the ways in which American institutions are fundamentally organized by racialized power structures that disadvantage people of color. CRT is rooted in a tradition of social justice. While much buzz surrounded the story, this particular video clip is useful for highlighting how the racialized politics of fear gets used to shape American discourse and ideology (as well as discredit knowledge). Viewers can watch the invention of fear unfolding before their very eyes, bearing witness to the myriad of ways the more-or-less innocuous footage is described as a "bombshell," the likening of Bell to Rev. Jeremiah Wright (another black man who was successfully deemed radical and worthy of fear), and how Obama "forced" his students to read Bell at the University of Chicago. The racial politics of fear is explicitly evoked at the 6:27 minute mark. As the November elections draw near, viewers can be encouraged to look out for similar projects around the invention of fear unfold, particularly around Obama's race. Submitted By: Valerie Chepp Tags: psychology/social psychology, theory, althusser, interpellation, hailing, 00 to 05 mins Year: 1993 Length: 0:37 Access: YouTube (start 4:23; end 5:00) Summary: In this short clip from the movie, The Fugitive, police officer Samuel Gerard (played by actor Tommy Lee Jones) chases after Dr. Richard Kimble, (played by actor Harrison Ford) a man on the run from the law, and wrongfully accused for the murder of his wife. Jones is unsure if the man he is chasing is in fact who he thinks it is, the fugitive he's been chasing. This clip is a great example to use when teaching the Althusserian concept of interpellation, or "hailing". When an individual is interpolated, the individual becomes the (addressed) subject. (Subjective) identity is established by the hailer at the moment a response in affirmation is made by the hailed. When the detective (Jones) leans his head over the stair's railing and yells "Richard" the unknown man (individual) becomes Kimble/Fugitive/Deviant (the subject) the moment he (Ford) looks up in response. Submitted By: Aimee Koon Tags: discourse/language, gender, inequality, media, prejudice/discrimination, decentering, eve teasing, india, sexual harassment, sexism, street harassment, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2012 Length: 3:32 Access: YouTube Summary: It is often the case that when incisive critiques are leveled against an oppressive system, such as patriarchy, there will be efforts to derail or decenter that conversation. For example, one might critique patriarchy in India by pointing out that there is a marked tendency to blame the victim in cases of harassment. Defying all probability, time and again the original critique of power slips from the conversation, and those who were instrumental in exposing the problem suddenly find themselves defending whether their critique is in fact proof of their own prejudice against men. Or, even more befuddling, the focus of the conversation shifts from the problem of sexual harassment to the hurt feelings of a few men who claim they have never harassed women. As explored elsewhere on The Sociological Cinema, YouTube videos can be understood as social activism, and in that context, any single clip can be seen as a discrete contribution to an unfolding public conversation about a particular social issue. In the above video, one finds a young man catching a ride on a not-so-crowded Delhi bus. In the course of the ride the driver abruptly presses on the brake, and the young man accidentally falls on the woman standing next to him. On the mistaken assumption that the man was attempting to physically harass her, the woman slaps him across the face (a perfect Indian response!), and the woman's friend chides the man for “not having any manners.” Later in the ride, the driver again abruptly presses the brake, but in this instance, it is the woman who falls on the man, and it is now his turn to slap her. The video encourages the viewer to see the man's response as entirely valid and even legally justified (The video's caption references Article 15 of the Indian constitution, which prohibits gender based discrimination). It is a cautionary tale, which promotes the absurd idea that men must frequently bear the burden of being unjustly accused of street harassment, or what is euphemistically referred to as eve teasing in India. The conversation no longer contemplates the tendency to blame the victim, and it no longer dwells on why violence against women is now the fastest-growing crime in India. Instead, this video and others like it attempt to reorient the discussion so that people must now contemplate the indignity suffered by a minority of men who have been unjustly accused. Submitted By: Manjistha Banerji Image by Blank Noise Willam Belli, Detox Icunt, and Vicki Vox sing "Hold On" Tags: consumption/consumerism, corporations, economic sociology, gender, lgbtq, prejudice/discrimination, sex/sexuality, social mvmts/social change/resistance, consumer boycott, homosexuality, protest, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2012 Length: 4:05 Access: YouTube Summary: There is a long history of consumers boycotting businesses that practice socially irresponsible, unsustainable, or discriminatory practices. For example, Equality Matters (which promotes LGBTQ equality) has documented that Chick-fil-A has donated millions of dollars to promote anti-gay groups in 2009 and beyond. While the company claims they are "not anti-anybody," their donations have sparked a variety of protests and boycotts against the company. Recently, Los Angeles-based drag queens Willam Belli, Detox Icunt, and Vicki Vox have entered the debate with this parody of Wilson Phillips' "Hold On" (and with a small rap homage to TLC's "Waterfalls"). Singing "Someday somebody's gonna make you wanna gobble up a waffle fry", they praise the chain's food, but note the issue with the company's discriminatory practices. They assert "We just want a little meat without your Bible" and "With the fact they hate gays but the food is so dope", but they ultimately encourage viewers to "chow down at Chick-fil-A, even if you're gay." Viewers interested in this debate may consider how businesses like Chick-fil-A promote an anti-gay agenda and the role of public protest and parody in resisting or promoting the social activities of business. More generally, viewers can consider how our consumption practices may support or resist certain types of business practices, and reflect upon how consumption (e.g. consumer boycotts) may or may not be used as an effective tool to promote social change by attacking corporate brands. Submitted By: Christine Moore Tags: gender, inequality, marketing/brands, marriage/family, media, social construction, commercial, culture, domestic labor, gender socialization, motherhood, stereotypes, unpaid work, women's work, 00 to 05 mins Year: 2012 Length: 2:02 Access: YouTube Summary: In this advertisement for P&G (Proctor and Gamble) products the claim is made that a mother's job is the hardest job in the world, but also the best job. The short clip constructs a very narrow representation of motherhood throughout the world as it takes viewers through a dramatization of several Olympic athlete's upbringing. In each case, and in the various cultures, the mother is responsible for things such as: waking the child, getting the child off to school, feeding and clothing the child, dressing injuries, and taking them to extra-curricular (sporting) activities. Men are excluded from any form of domestic labor, and they are only present for the viewing of the sporting events. Throughout the dramatization, the assumption is that these are the tasks that mothers perform, and if the job is done well the child will reach success. The last few seconds of the clip show the mothers reaping the reward of their efforts while celebrating their grown child's Olympic success. This clip could would fit nicely with discussions of the social construction of familial/gender roles. This depiction is a narrow and stereotypical construction of a woman's role in the family. The media is a major socializing force in society, and they have the power to create and uphold these ideal types through the images and stories they produce. Viewing of this video could also lead to an in-depth discussion of gender inequality within the family with regard to unpaid, domestic labor. Why are women the only ones performing these duties? Do men contribute to the birth of an Olympic athlete (maybe they're saving this for Father's Day)? Furthermore, it could result in a discussion about the appropriation of holidays and other cultures to market and sell products. Submitted By: Tracy DeHaan, University of Oregon Tags: art/music, bodies, discourse/language, gender, inequality, lgbtq, sex/sexuality, social mvmts/social change/resistance, gender expression, gender identity, identity politics, riki wilchins, queer, queer theory, transgender, subtitles/CC, 06 to 10 mins Year: 2012 Length: 6:35 Access: YouTube Summary: What better way to learn about the multiplicity of genders than to talk openly about gender identities and expressions, especially those which appear to challenge the prevailing myth of a tidy binary? The director of this short film asks eighteen trans activists, "How do you describe your gender identity?" and one by one, they respond. "Being a woman has got nothing to do with having a vagina," one activist remarks, then adds, "being a man has got nothing to do with having a penis." The clip is useful for underscoring the analytical distinction between gender identity, which refers to one's inner sense of being a man or a woman, and gender expression, which refers to one's fundamental sense of being masculine or feminine through performance (see Riki Wilchins, Queer Theory, Gender Theory). The impulse to police the gender binary, to ostracize and assault those whose gender identity and expression appear incongruent or fall outside the gender binary is an oppressive project, and as the activists featured in this clip suggest, there is both conformity and resistance to this project. To some extent, the activists who identify as transsexual women, work within the schema that posits "woman" as an identity which is meaningfully distinct from "man." In contrast, one activist appears to reject the binary altogether (1:04 to 2:38) and identifies only as a "trans person." To my mind, the collection of interviews begs a central and important question: Is it possible to move beyond gender as a fundamental basis of one's identity? Submitted By: Lester Andrist |
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!
|