New Recording 3

The speaker discusses the social issue of social mobility in the film "Boys in the Hood" and how preconceived notions, biases, and sociological theories can influence our understanding of this issue. They analyze film reviews and note that the reviewers' demographics and experiences can shape their opinions. The reviews highlight the film's emotional and realistic portrayal of issues like violence, poverty, and unequal education in black communities. The speaker also emphasizes the importance of sociological theories in approaching research objectively and understanding social problems from different perspectives. Different theories, such as functionalism and conflict theory, offer different insights into issues like poverty and power distribution. Applying sociological theories can help expand a researcher's understanding and career goals. Preconceived notions, biases, and sociological theories. The social issue I chose is social mobility in the film, Boys in the Hood. My assumptions concerning the topic are that many of the issues that hinder social mobility such as crime, poverty, and a lack of quality education are systemic and a part of a larger plan to keep top tier positions in a social hierarchy. I chose to look at Boys in the Hood's film reviews to understand societal assumptions of the social issues presented in the film. It is important to note that the audience's demographics could influence their opinion of the film because their biases depend on factors like upbringing and experiences. For example, someone who grew up in an impoverished neighborhood or a sociologist who specializes in intergenerational poverty would have a better understanding of the factors that influence social mobility compared to a wealthy socialite or a teenager. After analyzing three reviews of the film, I have discovered they share similar takeaways. They describe the film as emotional, eye-opening, and realistic. These reviews reveal much about each reviewer's point of view like the assumption that violence, poverty, and unequal education are significant problems in many black communities. The positive reviews commending the film's realism demonstrate that their initial expectations believe the film would contain a dramatic or inaccurate depiction of reality and that their initial assumptions concerning the social issues were adequately depicted. Sociological theories have the potential to inform people of their research interest by allowing them to look at their topic from various perspectives instead of through a biased lens. They help researchers disregard their initial biases and assumptions concerning an issue to look at it more objectively. This is because different social theories start with a fundamental assumption of society and look at all social phenomena and change through that lens. For example, I would not see an issue if I looked at poverty from a functionalist perspective. Instead, poverty would be seen as a critical part of a functioning society. However, if I looked at the same issue through a conflict theory lens, I would be more concerned with the structural inequality and unfair power distribution. As stated by the American Sociological Association, sociology challenges you to see the world through the lens of different cultures and communities. The best way we can do this is by applying sociological theories to address complex questions because they narrow the lens through which we see social problems by starting with fundamental assumptions about reality. This allows a sociologist to expand on their research interest and help with their career goals by assisting them with many perspectives to work with. For example, the perspective of Karl Marx differs from that of William James, but both provide the researcher with a guide to understanding social issues and possible outcomes.