Sociology Analysis over Concrete Angel
Zachary Gosnell
Southeast Missouri State University
SO 102 – October 12, 2017
Abstract
The lyrics of “Concrete Angel” has meaning to it. The lyrics focus on child abuse. Child abuse is a problem that may children all over the world face. Child abuse can be in the form of verbal and/or physical abuse, bullying, and so on. The lyrics shows us how the obvious signs of abuse can be seen but bystanders choose to ignore what is going on. The lyrics of “Concrete Angel” relates to sociology in many ways. The lyrics relate to three perspectives of sociology. Those perspectives are conflict, interactionism, and functionalism. The main focus of this paper is the characterization portraying the societal issue of child abuse.
Introduction
The song I chose to do my analysis on is “Concrete Angel” written by Stephanie Kay Bentley and Rob Crosby and sung by Martina McBride. I felt the song has meaning and I would be able to analysis it. The message of the song exudes to it listener to child abuse, or any relating form of abuse. The lyrics talk about how victims of abuse show obvious signs of physical or mental harm that bystanders choose to ignore. “Concrete Angel” is about a little girl who is trapped in a life of turmoil. The song describes her short innocent life. Her life is lived in vein as neglect and abuse plagues her. The adults around her seem to be aware of her anguish but like most people they chose to not get
The authors help to inform reader as to why child abuse is such an important issue that needs to be taken care of. Funk and Wagnall list the forms of child abuse and the impacts they have a children’s lives. The article is organized in a straightforward style with little to no opinion involved. Although the article is solely based on facts, the authors stray away from making the article monotonous.
The chorus goes as following, “Through the wind and the rain/She stands hard as a stone/In a world that she can't rise above/But her dreams give her wings/And she flies to a place where she's loved/Concrete angel”. The first two lines are a simile and represent logos because wind is normally interpreted as something sad that moves things. Rain is also interpreted as sad and depressing because when it rains it is normally gloomy and the sky is grey and simply makes people feel down. The simile is saying that Angela is acting like a hard stone, one that doesn’t move and is up fighting against the harsh wind and rain that is pouring down on her. Also, the last four lines demonstrate that in the abusive situation that Angela is in and can’t seem to get out, affects her want of receiving love and admiration by someone and causes her to rise above and go to heaven where she will receive the love that she
In Martina McBride’s Concrete Angel, we have the story of a young girl who is being abused by her mother. According to McBride, this is a true story based on her niece who was abused by her mother (McBride’s sister) and killed at the young age of 7. Child Abuse in recent years has been overshadowed by minor issues in today’s society. But the issue still exists; the sad thing is that these abusers are admitting they hurt children or even their own child and they have no remorse for it. It appears child abuse has gotten worse over the years but it is being ignored and no one talks about it anymore. In 2008 when the song Concrete Angel was released the writers of the song Rob Crosby and Stephanie Bently wanted to really go in depth with the lyrics of the song because at the time child abuse had been spreading all over the world. McBride, the producer, and performer also had a connection to this song because it tells of a personal experience she’s had with her family.
Child exposure to domestic violence has become the modern trend, which is happening way too often in many homes throughout the world today. Child exposure to domestic violence makes the exposed child to physiological indent to violence. Domestic violence is treated with consequences for violating the law. The crime can be considered a personal crime with traumatic psychological anxiety for the viewers of the crime. The content of the video capitalized on the effect of children who are exposed to domestic violence. The children are very much aware of the events that are happening within their home, some children view domestic violence as a normal
The aim of this assignment is to enable learners to understand the theoretical models of child abuse and consider the implications of each model. There are many theories about why people abuse children and who are more likely to abuse. These models aren’t rules or laws and they may have flaws. I will be comparing and writing about these flaws and also where the models have a point and backing these up with cases of child abuse which have been in the media. The models that I will be describing, comparing and evaluating are the Feminist Model, the Social learning theory,
The Sociological Perspective was a concept argued by C. Wright Mills was and still is a valuable tool to help people look at, understand and interpret their everyday lives and social world around them (in which they live). The argued perspective will be discussed through the use of the Sociological Imagination with the Personal Problem of Depression and the Social Issue of Child Abuse with what can be done to solve both of these ‘Dilemmas of Youth’.
The song I chose is a song sung by Martina McBride, a country singer, called Concrete Angel. The song was written by Rob Crosby and Stephanie Bentley, later released on November 18, 2002. The song is about a young girl, Angela Carter, who doesn’t have the most stable and safest home. At home she is domestically abused by her drugged mother, neglected and forced to take care of herself; she packs her own school lunch, walks to school by herself, and is wearing the same dress showing her mom does not care to give her new clothes. When watching the music video, in the beginning children are laughing at her, which shows she is bullied, another main theme tackled in the song. The bruises are seen by her teacher and the neighbors hear her
Abuse, especially child abuse, is a widely condemned social problem that remains prevalent to this day. The abuse suffered at a young age can result in an individual having a disturbed self-concept, putting them at an increased likelihood of perpetuating abuse as opposed to others who have not had similar experiences. Individuals who are exposed to abuse early on in life are more likely to have difficult relationships with others, have difficulties in school, a lower socioeconomic status, and engage in criminal behavior (Finkelhor, 2015). Factors such as these may also contribute to an intergenerational perpetuation of abuse by an individual whom has experienced familial abuse as a child. The Symbolic Interactionist perspective is useful in understanding the dynamic of abuse (Holmes, Mooney, Knox, & Schacht, 2016, p. 149) and suggests that one’s identity or sense of self is shaped by social interaction (Holmes et al., 2016, p. 13). Furthermore, this micro-sociology focuses on the psychological dynamics of individuals interacting in small groups; relating, in this case, to the familial institution (Holmes et al 2016., p. 13). In applying this sociological lens to the issue of child abuse, certain policy recommendations can be ascertained, focusing on early familial intervention.
The author’s concerned about harms such as sexual abuse, children growing up in poverty, and children being psychologically abused at school. According to the statistics the number of the children in out-of home care has doubled in past few years due to child abuse. The author found that in 1960s deinstitutionalization of child welfare began by some of the churches. But child abuse was rediscovered during women’s radiology surveys that identified undetected fractures in young children.
According to Pecora, Sanders, Wilson, English, Puckett & Rudlang-Perman (2014), “Every year in the USA, about 695,000 unique children are confirmed as victims of child maltreatment (US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau 2011) (p. 321). Such startling statistics suggest that child abuse is not just a public health issue; it is an epidemic. However, research reveals that prevention is possible through a collaborative effort made by parents, schools, the government, social services, and the
Children advance through a series of life changing events while growing up. Plenty of them are cheerful milestones that are celebrated for instance a birthday or an accomplishment, and then there are those children who are neglected and abused by another family member. When a child is abused or neglected, it not only affects them when they are children, but also affects them when they become functioning adults in society. A sociological social psychology perspective that can be applied to explain why child abuse happens which is the social structure and personality perspective. This perspective can also find a way to solve child abuse in the home. Child abuse is a social problem that has been happening for plenty of decades in our society and with the social structure and personality perspective, one is able to help explain why it happens and how the problem can be solved.
Family situations in which both parents are under mass amounts of stress and must work tediously to make ends meet are often inclined to have victims of child abuse in the home. Often because of troubled times economically parents reach a breaking point and enforce their anger onto his or her child, beating them physically. In many cases, parents take “teaching their child a lesson” to very high extremes, using the act of discipline to mask an act of physical child abuse. While many parents abuse under stress and frustration, some are too young or immature to handle the responsibilities of a child; not containing the capacity or patience to care for a young one often ends in abuse. As seen there many cases in which guardians cannot handle the tasks of parenthood, leading to acts of abuse. Whereas, there are also many cases in which parents suffer from disorders, increasing the probability of child abuse in a home.
The current problem is the continued rise in child abuse and neglect today. Within the United States, the problem of child abuse and neglect is far much common than most people would like to admit. Sanchez (2012) stated that child maltreatment is a global epidemic and a major social problem in the United States resulting in at least 740, 000 visits to hospital emergency departments and more than $124 in child welfare, criminal justice, and health care. Norman, Byambaa, De, Butchart, Scott, and Vos (2012) also observed that child abuse and neglect is a global problem that is mostly perpetrated by parental guardians and parents. Sexual abuse is the infringement of a child’s
Violence against children is a phenomenon happening worldwide, in forms of physical, psychological violence. Children are deprived of care, basic social services, health care and education, child abuse, neglect, exploitation, forced to beg, trafficked. Children are still one of the social groups at risk, facing many problems that remain unresolved. Although the consequences may vary according to the type and severity of the violence, the short and long-term consequences for children are very often serious and destructive and are costly. The laws that protect children’s rights are often not effective.
When looking at the song Concrete Angel, it is apparent from the very first verse that this song addresses child abuse, however the song tells a story about child abuse, and that and the way it was lyrically written is why it was chosen as an example. When looking at this example, the lyrics speak to the child abuse by talking about a little girl going to school wearing the same clothes, and hiding her bruises. Then it speaks about neighbors ignoring the crying, and then it being too late the next morning. In the end the child that is being abused is with her angels, meaning that the abused turned out to be fatal. Therefore this song is almost in the middle in regards to sending a preventative message, because it explains what can happen when people ignore obvious signs of abuse, but then again the message that it should not have happened in the first place is not there. If they included a verse about what the outsiders seeing the abuse should have done then the song could have been seen as more preventative in regards to the child abuse. The second song which is similar to Concrete’s Angel is the song Alyssa Lies by Jason Carroll, this song was chosen because it shows that children who are friends with children are abused, will notice these things and want to help. This song once again conveys the message about child abuse that if you do not seek help, or ask for help from someone else in the beginning that it can be too late. The song addresses the fact