12 Angry Men - Extra Credit

12 Angry Men is a film about a group of twelve jurors who have to make a decision on a murder case on young boy has been accused of stabbing his own father. The jury has to reach a unanimous decision of the teenage boy being guilty for him to receive a death sentence. (twelve to none vote) Just about the entire film is about the twelve jurors contemplating why the accused boy is guilty or innocent. The atmosphere of the plot is very intense and psychological having viewers of the movie consider what they would do if they were in the same situation as the main characters. Initially juror number 8 is the only one who believes the boy is innocent, as the story progresses the other eleven jurors begin to reconsider their vote on whether or not the boy is guilty. There are many aspects of sociology that are observable in this film such as social deviance, acceptable norms.

The film constructs social reality in the way of how all the jurors feel about the accused boy. The social reality was able to be constructed this way because several of the jurors had personal prejudices against children who were from slums or having issues with their own children.

A universal problem that is shown in several ways throughout the film is personal prejudice getting in the way of judgment. Juror number ten’s reason for saying the accused boy was guilty was because he felt people from slums should not be trusted and that they kill each other for fun. His prejudice lead him to discriminate against the boy initially by voting guilty early on in the film, before being convinced into voting not guilty.

Another form of prejudice came from juror number three. He had personal issues with his own, therefore making him prejudiced against a boy accused of stabbing his own father. For this reason he discriminates by simply wanting the defendant to be guilty, because of his own prejudice caused by problems with his own makes it feel justified for him before he is convinced to vote not guilty.

The sociological theory that tone of this film could easily fall under is the conflict perspective. At the very beginning, viewers can clearly see the tension is between the jurors whom most have a personal prejudice against the boy for certain reason. One of the main reasons is because the boy was from a slum. People who live in poor neighborhood are always disadvantaged compared to people who live in better neighborhoods. Since some jurors simply expected that a boy from the slums would commit an act like they were stereotyping that all people who come from slums are criminals. Even if a person is not personally prejudiced against an individual or group, stereotypes can have them make discriminatory actions such as voting guilty. The reason most of these men stereotyped the actions of the accused boy is because of socialization. The way of transmission was probably through media; crimes showed by television news or newspapers are frequently from neighborhood of low economics standing.

Deviance is another sociological aspect that can be examined in this film. Deviance is a very relative term where depending on the group and situation, it can vary. Juror number was the only juror in the beginning of the film that felt the boy was not guilty. When the first vote most of the other jurors were startled by the fact he could think the boy was innocent and even were upset at him for thinking that. The reason his action in voting not guilty was considered deviant, was because he literally deviated away from the norm of the other eleven jurors in believing that the boy was guilty. As the film went on the jurors began changing their votes, eventually the roles were reversed; juror number three was the only one who would vote guilty. The complete change in the situation made juror number three appear to be the one committing the deviant act since it is revealed that the main reason he wanted to vote guilty is because of issues with his own son.

One of the most important things I learned in observing the sociological aspects of this film is how easily norms can change. The norms of eleven out of the twelve men voting guilty, changed entirely to guilty as the film came to a close.

Response 5

Social Control

Social control has a big influence on how we as people are socialized in society. Social control is what stops people from performing deviant acts. The way social control can be imposed on a society is in two ways, informal and formal social control. Throughout my first semester here at Kean University I can observe how both of these forms of social control are evident and how they work to socialize me and other students. An important part of social control to take note of is deviance. Deviance is the behavior done that goes against what a society’s or group’s expectation with norms.

The syllabus a teacher puts out on students one very evident form a formal social control. The syllabus has very specific guidelines which could be seen a mores written out for the class. The reason I view the guidelines on a syllabus as mores is because it specifically tells students how their grade will be helped or harmed by following the formal norms the Professor expects to have in the classroom. Following the syllabus’s advice and warnings for the class or disregarding it would lead to a sanction of either getting a good or bad grade in the class. Possibly in a professors’ viewpoint, students who are not abiding by the syllabus to try and maintain a good grade are committing a deviant act.

Another mechanism of formal social control at Kean University is having your diploma withheld from you if there are outstanding fines you have not paid yet. If the fines have not been paid by the time you are ready to graduate, the sanction against you will be not receiving your diploma. This form of control insures for Kean University that no student will be able to leave without paying the money they owe.

Informal social control at Kean University is much harder to point out compared to formal social control. One example I was able to take note of is when a table at the library is occupied by few people where there is still room to seat more people. Unless you know them as friends or are acquainted with the people sitting at the table you probably would not go and sit down over there.

One mechanic of informal control at Kean University is underage drinking. At fraternity parties it is the norm there to have alcoholic drinks served to the people attending. The informal norm of the acceptance that underage drinking will occur at fraternity party conflicts with the formal norm of underage drinking which is a written law saying it is illegal. When arriving to the party students who do not normally drink will likely be more inclined to drink when seeing their peers have alcohol. In this case students decide to violate the formal norm for an informal norm. From the viewpoint of professors, other faculty, and parents, underage drinking is a deviant act. Since they are not within the same circumstances of the students and deviance is a very subjective matter, not many older adults would be pleased to learn about students underage drinking.

Formal methods of social control at Kean University are much more effective than informal methods. This may not be the case everywhere but in the facility of a school everyone has the same objective: Earn their degree. In order to earn our degree we must perform well enough in our professors’ classes. The school and the faculty (professors) are aware of this and impose necessary means of formal social control such as mores like a syllabus or rules not allowing us to earn our degree. In other places informal methods of social control would be more useful.

Mass Media Perspectives

Tara Estrella and myself both met up in the library to discuss our views on mass media.

Nancy Thompson Library

10/7/2011 – 2:00 PM

The sociological perspective on the media that I agree with the most is the interactionist view because I often find myself making friends with people because of similar interests in different media such as television, movies, and games.

The sociological perspective on the media that Tara agrees with the most is the feminist view because she frequently sees women portrayed as weak, unintelligent, and too sexual on television. (e.g. Two and Half Men)

Response 3

Ralph Papillon

Intro to Sociology – Response 3

Socialization is a process taught in sociology that helps explain the formation of our own personalities. Attitudes, behaviors, values, and norms are all part of the process in which we are socialized. Ultimately socialization is how different aspects of society ends up forming our individual personalities. The aspects of society that help do this are: families, schools, peer groups, workplaces, religion, government, mass media, and technology.

In the last two days I have been exposed to a plethora of media that has attempted to socialize me. The first media that I was able to take note of were several insurance commercials I have seen such as State Farm, Geico, and Progressive. All of them socialized the norm of the importance of finding cheap insurance to me. Although I myself do not pay for car insurance yet, seeing these commercials makes the experience of viewing auto insurance commercials as anticipatory socialization. A sanction that can be observed with Progressive Auto Insurance is their accident forgiveness policy. The formal norm that would be performed for this sanction is having avoided accidents for a period of time. The positive sanction for this formal norm of driving safely would be getting much lower insurance rates. Since Auto insurance commercials are found so frequently on televisions across most channels, I consider owning auto insurance to be an informal norm, it is simply expected that everyone would have it.

Another way media socialized me was a cell phone advertisement through a best buy commercial. The commercial was advertising the use of 4G enabled phones and the many uses it could have when you are on the go. Some of the additional uses that the advertisement mentioned were watching sports, browsing the internet, and using a GPS. Even if I did not plan on owning one of those phones, I would simply accept it as a norm to see someone using one of those phones. If I never saw advertisements socializing the idea of 4G enabled phones, I would find it strange to meet people who were using those phones, maybe even feel a bit culture shocked because the idea would be so strange to me. The rapid growth of smartphones can be viewed as a subculture since the devices affect the lives of the owners in some ways. Right now 4G phones are not owned by many people but slowly the phones will be diffused over to all phone users as it becomes more popular.

Another interesting advertisement I observed from a sociological stand point was a new exercise machine called The Rack. The commercial emphasized the importance of helping the consumer get the body they want, abs and more muscle throughout their body. This ad shows that a lot of people probably put a lot of value on their own physique and the creators of The Rack are targeting that mindset.

Direct TV, Sunday ticket promotion is an advertisement that shows an obvious subculture. The promotion allowed customers to have access to Sunday games that are not even playing in their region. The subculture that can be observed from the commercial is the religion-like fanaticism of Sunday football. The norm within this subculture is the big hype of Sunday football games. The norm of watching football every Sunday falls under the category of a folkway. It is simply expected that all football enthusiasts will be watching a game on Sunday.

Response 2

Ralph Papillon

Chapter 3 – Response Paper 2

Visiting another country can be a very interesting experience. Something that can happen when visiting a foreign country or being surrounded around a different culture from your own is the experience of culture shock. Culture shock is the disorientation one can feel from being around an unfamiliar culture. During the summer before this semester I visited relatives in Quebec, Canada. Although a lot of aspects of culture there were similar to my life here in New Jersey, some aspects of it were confusing me and I was in culturally shocked.

One aspect of culture in Canada that was part of the culture shock for me was the attitude towards recycling. Everywhere I went in Canada, disposal containers were not limited to just garbage like you would find in most stores, restaurants and facilities in the United States, there would also be containers for plastic and aluminum products. During one trip to a grocery store I noticed a man carrying several bottles with him and putting them inside a machine. I was confused and looked closer and could see it was a machine for recycling that gave back money in return for recycling the bottles. Seeing this was such a surprise to me. Another big way I learned about Canadians recycling was milk in a bag. The plastic bag they used to contain milk uses less plastic compared to regular milk jugs, which is better for the environment. Since Canadians are “greener” than American I could say that is a folkway for them to care so much about recycling, meaning that it is a norm which is considered appropriate behavior but it can not be punished if it isn’t followed.

A formal norm in Quebec, Montreal that was part of my culture shock was a specific law. When arriving to the island of Quebec via bridge, there are signs that warn you, no turns on red lights are allowed. Fortunately I was not driving at all when I was there and would not have to worry about this law. If I was it would be very hard to adjust to this traffic law and I might of just found myself getting a ticket since I am so used to turning on red here in New Jersey, unless a sign says not to.

All over America obesity is a huge issue. Obese people can be found everywhere in America. In the province of Quebec there is no problem with being overweight, however. It was shocking to see very few people who were obese on my visit. The main reason for this is that Canadians generally have a much healthiest diet than their American counterparts.

Fortunately for me nonverbal communication was able to lessen some of the culture shock on my trip. One of my cousins only knows how to speak French and I only know how to speak English. Even though I could barely grasp the meaning of most of the words he would be saying to me, a lot of times gestures and emotional expressions on his face could help me understand him despite the language barrier between us.

Personally for me ethnocentrism did not play a big role in my culture shock experience in Canada. I do not consider myself to be a very ethnocentric person, with regard to the life I have lived in the United States. Although I did find some aspects of Canadian culture strange, some parts of it I actually found better. The mindset that I had when observing these new aspects of society was the exact opposite of using sociological imagination. Instead of viewing the society as an outsider (American), which would cause me to have a personal bias (ethnocentrism), I tried my best to simply understand the new aspects of society.

Intro to Sociology response paper 1

Ralph Papillon

Response Paper 1 – Chapter 1 and 2

Sociology is a social science just like my choice of major, Psychology. Although they may be two different social sciences, I think what I will learn from sociology will keep me more open minded on society as a whole. It will also give me more practice with collecting and analyzing information. Sociology is defined as the study of behavior and human groups. During the course this year I expect for our Professor to have us view specific groups/societies and look at them in depth, regarding relationships and influences within them.

Sociology can be observed in just about any situation. This means that situations I go through from day to day can be viewed in different sense from what I learn in this course. Sociological imagination will probably be a very important concept to keep in mind throughout the course. Looking at a situation through one perspective can often lead to bias because of personal experience. In my major, psychology I know that being open minded and being able to view something from a different perspective would be important. I expect that we will look at the sociologist perspective in more depth throughout the course, such as

Just like most other sciences, sociology uses the scientific method approach to gather information and analyze it. Some examples would be learning how to conduct surveys that would be both reliable and valid. Another important way would be conducting experiments to gather information and analyze it. The same approach is also used in my major psychology. Hopefully this course will give me more practice for future psychology and other science classes. It would help not only for the future of my education but possibly for my career in psychology where I would most likely need to know how to competently collect and interpret data.

Another important way I see this course helping me for the future of my education the disregard of common sense. Sociologists do not accept that “everyone knows it” when it comes to specific ideas. The method of sociologists is to rely on gathering scientific data to study environments and communities’ societies. This way of thinking is how a successful scholar should have their mindset. Ideas and information cannot always be simply assumed. In many assignments for classes you have to elaborate on why you are taking a side on something. Learning about the mindset needed for sociology, can make the approach to writing a paper much easier. Backing up a proposed idea through gathering information the proper way is a skill any college student would need.

I think sociology is a very important course to take personally as a freshman starting college. At the moment I am approaching the “real world” and will that the relationships I have with people are becoming very important and that they all relate to one another. If sociologists are able to guide the government through natural disasters, I bet learning some sociology myself would be very beneficial to my life. The relationships that I find myself in at this time of life will likely have a big impact on my future. The skills I learn from this sociology class can be an aid on deciding the path that I want to be on for my future. Being more aware of who I am, who I am with, and what I do. Without learning sociology I probably would not be able to go in life more open minded in the way that situations in my life are more than just personal. Learning sociology will also help me understand the people linked to me much better. (friends, family, classmates, etc)