The Ohio State University - Mansfield

Sociology is shown to us throughout our entire lives, before we even realize the meaning of sociology itself. Sociology is the study of how we as humans develop and how society shapes us into who we are. Sociology shapes us daily, it is not something that just stops; we are changing when we do not even realize it. Auguste Comte, “The Father of Sociology” referred to sociology as the study of society and he wanted to reform society through observation. Sociologists study social and societies behavior to help gain knowledge about why something happens, help learn about why certain things happen to a certain social group, and to predict what could come in the future, such as actions and behavior. ** In our childhood, the shows and movies we were watching then even had sociology throughout it all. With that being said, it has been shown to us in our childhood, juvenile age, teenage years, early adult and so on.

Sociology shapes us daily, it is not something that just stops; we are changing when we do not even realize it. When I was younger, before I even knew was sociology was, when I watched “The Breakfast Club”; I knew that society had shaped the opinions that the five kids had of each other. I watched it again when I decided that was the movie I wanted to use that shows a good amount of sociological concepts. Seeing it now with what I have learned so far in this class, I saw many concepts and things I would not have before. “The Breakfast Club” is a movie about an eight hour Saturday detention, encountering five kids. Their principle asked them to eat write a paper no short of one thousand words to describe who they are. He added that they in fact, “get to know something about themselves. ” These five kids were all within different social groups, which is an example of status, where that person may fall on societies scale. The “scale” which would be labeled as ascribed, achieved or master status. They were each labeled something different, “the brains, the basket case, the princess, the criminal and the athlete”. In the beginning I noticed a lot of stereotyping, from what clothes one another was wearing to what they brought to eat for lunch. Two of the people in detention recognized the fact that they has the same social status and sat at the same table. While the other three students were each at their own table not acknowledging one another.

They of course would never of wanted to admit this, but they were all in fact, the same. I realized this as time went on throughout their detention together. None of the students (besides the two in the same social class) had any intention of socializing with one another, nor were they pleased by each other's company, in the beginning. This is an example of Class Conflict, this is one of three main theories,that Karl Marx had. Marx believed that class conflict was the root for all of the bad things that occur in society. Class conflict is seen as capitalist vs. the working class. Throughout the movie there are many different examples of class conflict being involved, these are because of the different social groups, and labels that they have assumed of one another. Being that the detention was five hours, the high schoolers had no choice but to listen to everyone's stories, and enjoy eachothers company. These kids were all different and had their own ways of fitting out and (sometimes) in. They were able to look past their differences and actually open up with one another. The high schoolers talked about why one another was in the eight hour detention. There is a boy, who was seen in the beginning as more of a nerd. His reasoning as to why he was in detention, was because he brought a gun to school to commit suicide. This is an example of another of one of the three theories, which is by Emile Durkheim. He studied about suicide and his study showed that social integration plays a big role into someone having suicidal thoughts, or even worse actually committing suicide. My thought on this is that the boy was mad and/or upset as to why he did not fit in, or was not accepted in school. This is a perfect example of social integration and also idealism. Social integration can make someone or a group feel united by each others shared values (; which in this case this boy felt the opposite.

This is an example of idealism also because he has this image that he needs to get good grades, for maybe his parents or even peers. When he got a bad grade on a test he felt it was so bad he was going to commit suicide. By the end I feel as if they all did come to the conclusion that they were in fact the same. They realized that all though they were considered to be in different social groups; they were all still facing the same problems, that most high schoolers do face. In this movie it looks at these characters as a group, the narrator took different aspects of each student and shows connections between all five students. This movie really makes me wonder what I have in common with the people around me in everyday life. It also is a good example to never judge someone because we have not walked in anyone's shoes but our own.