The Sociological Analysis Of Alienation In The Office

A socially stratified reality is constructed by the belief that inferiority or superiority is based on an individual’s class, race, and/or gender. In Tim Wise’s film White Like Me, he discusses the widely held preconception that most welfare recipients are undeserving black people. In actuality, most welfare recipients are white, but the media creates this unfair depiction. Far too many black faces are shown in news coverage of poverty that correspond to the actual proportion of poor blacks in the U.S. This kind of interaction and experience strengthen the belief system that black people are inferior to white people, justifying the negativity and prejudice welfare recipients and blacks receive.

     In many ways today's society, even though women have come a long way, we still live in a patriarchal world. There are many examples of this in everyday life, whether it be that there aren't very many women CEO's or the mere fact that we've yet to have a woman president. No matter where you live, there is the presence of a male dominated world. It especially extends into the working fields. There are professions that are categorically 'women's' jobs like nursing, school teacher, or secretarial jobs. The rest of the professional world is mainly male dominated, i.e. engineering, CEO's of major companies, and Law Firms. Which brings us to the movie I picked to watch, Legally Blonde.

Gender stereotypes are one of the most common encountered on a daily basis. The infamous ‘Glass Ceiling’ still exists in many areas of the professional world, restricting valid promotions simply based on gender. This type of concept can be verified by looking at comparative weekly wages of other professionals in a variety of industries. Most people will generally see female dominated occupations, such as nurse, teacher and secretary as requiring feminine personality traits and physical attributes for success; whereas male dominated occupations such as doctor, lawyer, and business executive are seen to require male personality traits for success (Sanderson, 2010, p. 344).

The Office is an award winning sitcom about a humorous outtake on modern day office life. (NBC) Each documentary style episode portrays different situations in the workplace. In episode fifteen of season two called “Boys and Girls” focuses on a common problem in the workplace, gender gaps. Gender and different minority’s issues have been a problem in the business industry for many years.

People all over the world have different view on moralism. Some think things are moral, while others think it is immoral. A lot of these different viewpoints come from things we say, hear, and watch. If one was to look for a moral show to watch, The Office, by Greg Daniels, would not be the right show. Season four, episode nine, titled “Dinner Party”, is a show that many find humorous and are unable to put down. On the contrary, it has many immoral scenes and thoughts that some would not enjoy to watch. Although, under these immoral ideas, there is an important hidden lesson that can be taken away from watching this show that is relevant in society today.

In many ways today's society, even though women have come a long way, we still live in a patriarchal world. There are many examples of this in everyday life, whether it be that there aren't very many women CEO's or the mere fact that we've yet to have a woman president. No matter where you live, there is the presence of a male dominated world. It especially extends into the working fields. There are professions that are categorically ‘women's' jobs like nursing, school teacher, or secretarial jobs. The rest of the professional world is mainly male dominated, i.e. engineering, CEO's of major companies, and Law Firms. Which brings us to the movie I picked to watch, Legally Blonde?

Do you have a boss that can sometimes drive you up a wall? Or how about a co worker that always seems to have something to say? If so, then The Office is just the right show for you. The Office, first airing in 2005, is a comedy about employees at Dunder Mifflin, the local paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This TV show is meant to mock a reality TV show about the daily lives of those who work in an office selling “high-quality” paper.

As alienation has been illustrated thus far, we have come to know it as the mechanism which thwarts the worker’s efforts to express himself. Alienation robs the worker of his common humanity. Marx felt the effects of alienation were specifically nefarious, and linked its origin to a unique aspect of capitalist society: the commoditization of forced labour.

Comedy, especially satirical comedy, plays an interesting and unique role in our popular culture, as it not only pokes fun at ridiculous and, often, hypocritical aspects within our society, but also helps open up conversations on matters that are often too sensitive and/or controversial to talk about in “normal,” non-comedic settings. In my opinion, there is no better example of this satirical comedic approach within our popular culture than the highly successful mockumentary sitcom, “The Office.” Within this show, the rather satirical approach to sensitive topics, such as race, gender, and sexuality (just to name a few), are consistently and creatively explored, especially within the episode, “Body Language.” However, while many may argue that the jokes made in comedic shows shouldn’t be taken seriously, as they are done so for comedic purposes, I argue that we must still critically analyze the jokes made, especially when referring to sensitive social identities, since these jokes still have immense cultural power capable of not only reinforcing certain stereotypes, but also normalizing them, which can prove to be detrimental to the social progress that we have made as a country thus far.

Majority of the female characters on The Office have a very distinct negative personality trait. Angela is a strict, Kelly is a so called “damsel in distress”, Meredith is promiscuous, and Erin is not very smart. These characteristics seem even worse when compared to the hilarious Jim, charming Ryan, Stoic Dwight, and Loving Michael. “ Ultimately, the female characters represent our culture’s most stereotypical caricatures of women, in the workplace and otherwise: the shrew, the ball buster, the damsel in distress, the valley girl, the hot mess.” (Thats What She Said P.76). For as long as The Office and other comedies continue to give females “negative” characteristics, viewers of The office will continue to have negative stereotypes associated

The gender inequality exists in the show; men and women work for different reasonings. Men like Don Draper and his fellow co-workers are there for power, money, and status. Women like Joan likes to be the queen bee; she acts as the head honcho of all the women in the workplace. Joan is a very strong female character for time of sexism. Though she gives direction to people like Peggy to work and keep themselves busy and really to find a husband in the long as she says to Peggy that if you work hard enough, you do not need to work another day and you will be in another country referring to finding a wealthy man to marry. As Joan shows Peggy around on her first day, she lets Peggy know that Don is not necessarily looking for a secretary but rather a mix of a mother and a waitress.

How is it in the year 2017, we are still considering there isn’t a class structure in Australia? There are so many examples occurring in our everyday life such as, where one person is living geographically could justify their wealth or where someone went to school could justify how intelligent this person is. But with these examples, it seems like it is an invisible factor that we have become accustomed or prone to these types of justifications. Verity Archer a writer in the book “Sociologic: Analysing Everything life and culture” said “we all think were in the middle-class wise, this belief is a core part of our national identity” . This is similar to what I am trying to explain, that we all think we’re on the same level, however, we’re all on an imaginary level of various class-structures . Two sociologists Karl Max (1818-1883) and Erik Olin Wright (1947) had two similar but different views on the way our society is classed and how their theories are adapting in our everyday lives, with the privileged minority of Australia to reinforce ongoing inequality to the working-class. The aim of this essay is to see how in today’s reality, the theories of Max and Wright are adapted into our workforce, education and family structures. We get an insight in what the theories are trying to explain? And the differences between the two theories

Organizational Behavior is “a field of study devoted to understanding, explaining, and ultimately improving the attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups in organizations” (Colquitt, LePine, & Wesson, 2013, p. 7). One way in which we can understand an individual’s behaviour in an organization is by researching why workers may feel alienated on the job. Kai Erickson, an American sociologist who studied workers in the workplace, once said “Alienation, then, is disconnection, separation---the process by which human

If Charlie thus represents the human condition in modern times, we see him basically as a helpless and handcuffed individual being--locked into and dominated by a world of machines, lead around by management authorities and bureaucratic institutions, victimized by an economy over which he does not have the slightest control, and deprived of any coherent understanding of the world in which he and everyone else is trying to secure some sort of happiness. As imaginative and endearing as he is as a battered and struggling individual, he lacks what should be the essence of an authentic existence: informed deliberation and active self-determination. In light of the Enlightenment idea of active, strong, and self-determined individuals, The Tramp in “Modern Times” represents a failure, a defeat. The enormous popularity of Chaplin’s figure may well find its explanation in the deep truth expressed in the laughable adventures of Charlie: the longing to live a life worthy of human beings, and the apparent impossibility of finding such contentment in work, life, happiness under modern conditions of control and

Campus: The Confluence of Authority Relations, Sexual Interest and Gender Stratification” that “Female workers have always been vulnerable to sexual abuse by male employees...In non-random surveys as many as 70 percent of respondents report harassment on the job” (236). This is an unfortunate statistic and through comedy, the television series The Office (U.S.), created by NBC, and directed by Benjamin Novak reveals how inappropriate harassment is. The Office (U.S.) is a comedy based around Dunder Mifflin Paper company’s Scranton branch manager, Michael Scott. Michael is a comedic and belligerent character who is unaware of his socially unacceptable humor, which shows the audience how unacceptable sexual harassment is. Throughout the second episode of season two, Michael Scott negatively depicts males through his humor. In addition, the way his female employees react to his nonsense is similar to the way Jessica Valenti combats sexual harassment. Lastly, through the use of comedy, the producers of The Office reveal to its audience how sexual harassment is unacceptable. In Season two, episode two of The Office (U.S.), Michael Scott negatively depicts males due to his inappropriate sexual harassment. In addition, the way his female employees react to his harassment parallels with Jessica Valenti’s strategy