Social Theories In The Breakfast Club

The labeling theory, an example of constructivist perspective is the theory put forth to define how deviance is experienced and why people continue to be deviant. The labeling theory was developed by a group of sociologists in the 1960’s. It is a version of symbolic interactionism defining deviance as a collective action involving the acts of more than one person, and the

“If I didn’t know better, I would say you were jealous. But yes, honestly thank you. At least he didn’t try to pretend it was some wild coincidence. I really hate that.”

Social control is techniques and strategies used for preventing deviant human behavior in any society. All levels of society such as family, school, bureaucratic and government has some form of social control. Examples of family social control include obeying your parents rules, doing your homework and chores. School includes standards they expect of students such as being on time, completing assignments and following school ground rules. The bureaucratic organization emphasizes the rules and procedures among their workers. The government expresses social control through law

Rebellion is an unavoidable yet beneficial aspect of any teenager’s life, and is often used as a theme in literature and films. The Novel A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews explores the constricting Mennonite lifestyle imposed upon Nomi Nickel and her rebellious tendencies resulting from it. The film “The Breakfast Club” directed by John Hughes illustrates the complicated lives of five teenagers, most notably John Bender and his constant rebellion against his school and principal. Both of these works use rebellion as their respective protagonist’s outlet for the frustration they feel towards their environments. Nomi and John both engage in recreational drug use in their unaccepting environments. They disrespect their authority figures through

Breakfast Club film contained a wide variety of behavior and stereotypes. Each person had their on personality and taste at the beginning of the film. I believe that communication played the biggest part in the movie. It shows the way that people from totally different backgrounds can communicate and even agree on issues. The various types of communication and behaviors within the film will be discussed. Key terms will be pointed out and highlighted, as well as described in relation to the examples extracted from the film. To begin with the film started out with a communication climate that was both tense and without verbal communication. This was mainly due to the variance in membership constructs of the characters involved. The

Have you ever been judged by your looks or how you act? Has anyone ever put you in a specific category ? In The breakfast Club a group of high school students get an 8 hour detention where they learn more about each other and find their inner Self. The breakfast club was created after a group of kids got a Saturday detention in a cafeteria. Each character has their own stereotype, Allison is the weird one that doesn't care what anyone thinks, John is the big bully or the jock, he seems like he's been through a lot and doesn't care much, Claire is the popular cool girl in school that wants everyone to like her, Brian's the nerd that is smart and in a bunch of clubs, and lastly Andrews the athlete that is relying on a scholarship.

The nineteen eighties were the most important and remembered decades; Ronald Reagan, MTV, cliques, fashion icons and Blockbuster. High school was different than today. “The Breakfast Club” (1985) by John Hughes was the most iconic movie to sum up the eighties; a movie delving into the different stereotypes and stigma of mental illness and bullying, in high school. Adolescence was the time of transition between childhood and adulthood; it is a time for sense of identity. (Chronological Description) For example, there were many labels used on the students by others. (Exemplification) There was the jock, rich girl, geek, outcast, and the rebel. (Objective Description) In the end it had also showed that perspective stereotypes do not matter. The clothing was represented on what was worn in the eighties, in which the trend is slowly coming back into style. “The Breakfast Club” best describes this era because of how the students labeled each other, disrespected one another, and by the way they dressed.

Social control assumes that people act on the basis of free will, similar to that of Classical theory (which is a version of social control); this was an idea that popularized with the rise of the Enlightenment. There are many variations of this theory, as there are many variations of reasoning people come up with to explain criminal activity. Durkheim theorized that individuals had desires that needed to be regulated by society, Reiss believed that a failure of self control along with the failure of a group to enforce social norms were the two main causes of delinquent activity (Crutchfield, 2008). Travis Hirschi was someone who developed social control theory even further, pointing out flaws in other theories while simultaneously introducing the idea of social bonds. These bonds consist of four basic elements: attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief. Attachment is the bond between an individual and someone they respect or want to be valued by. Commitment is the bond between and individual and an institution, object, etc. Involvement consists of the opportunities someone has to commit and delinquency, and belief involves an individual’s moral beliefs (Hirschi,

In the famous movie, “The Breakfast Club, we see how five teenagers, each members of different high school cliques, who spend a Saturday in detention together and come to realize that they are all more than their respective stereotypes. High school cliques determine who, what and where they belong. Most of the high schools have "cliques"; which are groups of students with similar interests that hang out together. When looking at what really goes on in the average high school, and how friendships are formed, it is amazing. When observing the jock, nerd and the popular kids, one must wonder where they fit in.

Nina Barrett Film Analysis Paper AP English P2 Rushmore, The Graduate, and The Breakfast Club: How Existentialist Jumps Lead to the Breaking of Stereotypes and Categorization It is no question that from the time we are born, we are placed into categories based on stereotypes defined by our gender, our race, and our social class. As we grow up, these categories come with a specific list of rules and expectations. These rules and expectations are forced upon us, and sometimes, this leads to unhappiness and loneliness. As shown through popular movies such as Wes Anderson’s Rushmore, Mike Nichols’ The Graduate, and John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club, to achieve happiness and meaning in one’s life, an existentialist revelation and, subsequently, an existentialist jump is needed to break free from these confining categories.

The Outsiders, written by S.E Hinton and The Breakfast Club directed by John Hughes are good examples of texts which contain stories of human experience that influence society and the way people understand themselves. Both of these stories are about dissimilar types of people who come together. Historically literature played an essential role in sharing these experiences. With the production of different media, popular, relevant themes conveyed in these texts are being renewed through popular culture. A good example of this is The Outsiders where the story is based around two rival gangs that have very different point of views, values and beliefs.

Film is one of the most distinct expressions of a culture and is simultaneously a medium of great cultural impact. From the fashion presented on screen (i.e. clothes worn by characters in The Breakfast Club (1985) that serve as an example of clothes worn in 1980’s America), to the featured artists used for their soundtracks (i.e. Kendrick Lamar’s contributions to the Black Panther (2017) soundtrack), film can influence the same culture from which it itself was influenced.

The film, “The Breakfast Club”, demonstrates the sociological topics such as socialization, culture, stereotypes, education, family, deviance, socio-economic status, and cliques. Five students have somehow ended up in Saturday detention for a total of nine hours. These individuals have nothing in common. As high school students, they are each stereotyped differently and placed into cliques. Claire is the princess, Andrew is the athlete, Brian is the brain, John is the criminal, and Allison is the basket case.

The social control theory was discovered by Travis Hirschi in his 1969 book Causes of Delinquency. The social control theory states “that everyone has the potential to become a criminal, but most people are controlled by their bonds to society” (Siegel 196). This theory explores why people obey the rules of society and explains the onset of youthful misbehavior. Social control theorists have come to the conclusion that self-control and having a commitment to conformity are what allow people to obey the law. Without strong bonds to society, people are more likely to commit crimes. Hirschi said that four elements in society control people: attachment, commitment, belief, and involvement. To test his theory, Hirschi administered a self-report survey to 4,000 junior and senior high school students in Contra Costa County. With regards to attachment, Hirschi found compelling evidence that attachment is an important element regardless of gender or family structure.

The sociological definition of social control is “the means of promoting societal norms” (Shepard, 2013, p.172). Social control is experienced by an individual in two ways; internally and externally. The internalization of social control is self-imposed during the socialization process and becomes a part of the person, meaning that they do not commit crime because they believe it to be wrong (Shepard, 2013, p.172). Social control that is experienced externally is control that is based on a system of sanctions designed to encourage a desired behavior, meaning that a person does