Media Analysis

Symbolic Integrationist Perspective Media Analysis

Symbolic Integrationist Perspective Media Analysis

Introduction

Symbol Integrationist Perspective is one of the major perspectives in Sociology. It deals with the meanings of symbols in everyday life and how people interact with each other. Symbols are given significant importance because research confined over many years showed that people attach meanings with the symbols, and act in accordance with the extracted meanings (Cliffs Notes, 2012). This extract of meanings becomes especially evident while considering the verbal communication in which the predominant symbols are the spoken words. The words spoken by the sender have some definite meanings and the person speaking them wants the same meanings to be delivered to the receiver. Thus, the words require interpretation for effective communication to take place between the individuals. This essay presents the analysis of TV show Sanford and Son that contained social inequality, due to lower classman ship.

Discussion

Symbolic Integrationist Perspective is the perspective of sociology where, the people compare their behaviors with the others. One of the major reasons of the popularity of reality and other TV shows lies in, the theory of symbolic integrationist perspective; while watching reality shows, people compare their actions and behaviors with those of the reality TV stars (Kevinkao, 2012). People become satisfied with their behaviors by comparing with the positive or negative characteristics of the reality stars, as shown on TV. The people also attempt to modify their behaviors, based on the positive perception from such TV shows.

The show, which we selected for analysis in this essay, was used to be on air during the period 1972-1977. Comedy, racial slurs and various ethnic groups were the main focus of this show. The show always depicted the racism of the main lead of the show, Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx). Fred along with his son Lamont (Demond Wilson) was junkman by profession. The father and son used to live in Los Angeles, in the neighborhood of Watts's neighborhood (ghetto). Fred was widowed, aged about 65 years; he was friendly only to the African Americans ethnic group, but was quite antisocial and racist against all the other ethnicities, while his son Lamont was about 34 years of age and did most of the work for supporting their junk business. Fred and his son worked together as a time and were successful in developing their unique business relationship which was actually based on their family values.

In an episode, Lamont joined “Feelings” group, as a business relation. The highlighted feature of the group was that they exhibited love and respect for each other. Besides this, the team members also involved in mutual discussions while making any business decision; they honor the personal feelings of all the members in the team. Lamont told his father that he was about to arrange a meeting so that the two partner teams may get to know each other and the working environments and conditions. Fred was however quite angry, as the son had taken the steps of team formation and then arrangement ...