Media Images And Self Concepts

This explains why things have different meanings according to the situations. Finally, as meaning emerges trough interactions, it is also maintained trough them. As we acquire ways to feel, behave and think through our interactions culture is socially constructed. This explains why for symbolic interactionists, there is no Society, no greater body that controls and determines social norms, we are the ones who trough our interactions, create them. Since our responses to symbols, signs, events and situation are public, we are free to redefine to a certain extent meanings and as new things and objects emerge, we come up with new meanings. It is when we do not use a meaning associated with a symbol, for abstract ideas such as beliefs of values, that they disappear or are modified. This is how symbolic interactionists explain the change in ‘’societies’’ mentalities over time. All of these choices and these interactions implicate a Self, a reflexive process that enables us to formulate, monitor, control and react to our own behaviour, which formation we’ll explain through Meade, Cooley and Goffman.

In this paper I will be introducing three key themes in this course that we have covered throughout the year that specifically tie into the film “Sound and Fury” These themes include the self, experiencing emotionality, and symbolization. This paper will furnish a comprehensive analysis of the film in relation to the themes outlined. Society uses symbolic interactionism through interacting on an everyday basis by understanding the workings of the world. There are different paradigms that we use through our sociological thought process. Through these paradigms they help us conceptualize what is taking place in life.

This can help the wider community understand their own moral obligations and behaviour within society. As noted by ‘….Smolej (2010), portrayals of crime and deviance in the media are often seen as essential parts of social control since the media has a central role in defining what is deviant and condemnable.’

Symbolic interactionism can be easily described as the “interactions of individuals with the larger institutions of social structure” (Ainbinder, 2015 p. 20). It can also be explained as focusing on ways, which meanings emerge through human life (symbolic interactionism, 2003 para. 2). In everyday life, it represents that people are repeatedly observing and understanding through their social interactions (Ainbinder, 2015 p. 20). Symbolic Interactionism can be defined in many ways, simply it means that everyday we are observing our surroundings.

That is displayed when actions in society that should not be acceptable are perceived as common norms. For instance, the media often illustrates African Americans as criminals to justify any racially inflected crimes. After Grants murder media portrayed Grant as an unjust citizen, saying Grant was a criminal, cheater and could not hold a job. ()

Throughout the film, many sociological concepts were seen in the movie. Symbolic interactionism, values, mores, coercion, gender socialization, and total institutions were apparent in the film. Symbolic interactionism is defined as “a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that people use to establish meaning,

The power of these media highly influences a person’s perception of reality whether it's based of their own experiences or not. The more and more that a certain concept is exposed in media the more it impacts society, we see that when people are constantly exposed to an idea with themes and images, they begin to to internalize it and believe that this is how reality functions. This can be backed up by the way we perceive individuals without any past knowledge of their background. In class there was a test where you were to write down your first thought when the picture was shown, their background was shown later. This helps prove that through media certain traits of person or situation can translate into a certain

Mass media representations of crime, deviance, and disorder have been a returning cause of concern. Two competing anxieties can be discerned in public debate, and both are reflected in a large research literature. On one hand the media are often seen as fundamentally subversive, on the other as a more or less subtle form of social control. Those who see the media as subversive see media representation or crime themselves as a significant cause of offending.

Symbolic interaction theory address this sociological problem by addressing the subjective meanings imposed to people. This theory suggests that people behave according to what the society believes and what is

Radio, television, film, and the other products of media culture provide materials out of which we forge our very identities; our sense of selfhood; our notion of what it means to be male or female; our sense of class, of ethnicity and race, of nationality, of sexuality; and of "us" and "them." These products of media help shape our view of the world and our deepest values: what we consider good or bad, positive or negative, moral or evil. They contribute to educating us how to behave and what to think, feel, believe, fear, and desire -- and what not too. The media teach us how to be men and women, how to dress,

In sociology, there are three major theories. These theories are Structural Functionalism, Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interaction. There are many people who have influenced all three of these theories. Although not all of these theories are still used much now, the thoughts and views that emerged from these theories are still referenced to this day. Ideas used in these theories helped shape new theories and teach us a lot about understanding society and what shapes it.

​Over the many years media has had a tremendous impact on society. Media has been responsible for shaping the culture for generations through music, movies and television. It seems logical that since the media has an influence on society’s norms when the media promotes violence and crime the audiences become more likely to imitate those behaviors. The media has been known to contribute to the violent culture through music, art, television and movies (action, suspense and horror); Movies and music where the dominant violent roles were occupied by men and when they involved women they were often accomplices or accessories to the crime. Although they may be amusing they are also exposing the

Mead’s theory states the civilization we live in today is only here because of symbolic interactionism. Rather, without the different forms of communication human life would not be as advanced or intellectual. According to Mead, humans react towards others based on the perception we create of that individual in our head. Furthermore, humans cannot do this independently, but rely heavily on other’s perceptions to justify their own. Mead discusses how meaning is not pre-determined, but it is brought to light through symbolic interactionism. Mead proposes that there is an individualistic approach to the meanings of different symbols. The shortage

Symbolic Interactionism attaches significant meaning to the value of communication. According to symbolic interactionism, people attach meanings to symbols based on their understanding of the symbols. For example, if marriage is important in a society,

When individuals contemplate the term deviance, they often think of it as behavior that is inherently bad. Contrary to that belief, deviance is described as a behavior that departs from the social constructs of a society(Thio 2010). Deviance, criminal or not, is commonly used amongst mass media to entertain their viewers. The media relies on their audience’s inherent social constructs to make a profit. Without the meanings attached to these deviant behaviors, there wouldn’t be any motive behind showing them.