‘reality television’ and alienation

[bob]

I have to write a sociology paper for friday about the attraction or rejection by audiences to reality tv (survivor, big brother, fear factor, etc.) relating it to the concept of alienation or anomie

alienation – the experience of isolation resulting from powerlessness

anomie – a condition in which society provides little moral guidance to individuals

more precisisely it has to be 1 of 3 views on alienation

1. Marx views on the sources of alienation
– alienation is caused by class conflict
– workers are dehumanized by their jobs
– they’re powerless to imprve their situation
– workers become a commodity
– workers are competitive rather than cooperative
– worker does not fulfill himself

2. Weber’s views on the source of alienation
– stifling regulations and dehumanization that comes with bureaucracy
– people are series of cases rather than individulas
– a person has become a cog in a machine

3. Durkhiem’s source of anomie
– more freedom, less restirctions in modern society as compared to traditional societies

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you don’t need to know anything about this stuff I just need some help coming up with a thesis (an idea to support). Anyone have any ideas as to what alienation has to do with the appeal of reality TV?

[Robert]

I’m not sure whether this would help or not, probably not, or that I’m answering your question with my reply -but here it is.

i’ve written a similar thesis where I among other things wrote something like this:

reality tv’s popularity is based(or due to) on the the "fact" that people are finding their own lives(or reality) so boring and uninteresting(and that their attention span is so short,) that they prefer to get their dose of the "real world" summed up in 30 minutes of "jampacked action" rather than living it themselves. we’re living in a society where the only things that matter are the things that are documented by the media. and so people will go to great lengths to get their existence confirmed by being in the publics view.

reading this now, I see that it didn’t make any sense at all. I’m too tired, been working too many hours,and I’ll probably have to continue all night, to get things done before my editor starts spanking my ass with a starved rotweiler. I think I used a mix om Durkheim and Weber in my thesis. I’ll see if I can dig it up from it’s hiding place and translate some of it to give you a better answer.

[wireland]

bob, i had to choke down a good bit of emile durkheim as an anthro. undergrad, and i have a pretty firm grip on his concept of anomie (and can see how it would present itself in a modern cultural/industrial flux like we are experiencing right now). but i’m not sure i really understand how your prof. wants you to relate it to reality tv. could you clarify the assignment a little more? specifically, i could see how a state of anomie could lead audiences to watch ‘survivor’, but i’ve never seen any of the other shows you mention. if you can just focus on ‘survivor’ and anomie, i may be able to help you out a little.

[bob]

here’s the actual description for the assignment

Topic: Reality television (i.e. Survivor, Big Brother, Fear Factor, etc.) is a feature of popular culture that is receiving both postive and negative evaluation from television audiences. In this assignment your goal is to demonstrate your understanding of a particular sociology concept by elaborating and using it to contribute to an understanding of the attraction or rejection of television audiences to reality television in contemporary society. Specifically your task is to

– Elaborate and use Marx’s views on the sources of alienation in modern society to explain the apparent attraction or rejection of reality television in contemporary society; OR

– Elaborate and use Weber’s views on the sources of alienation in modern society to explain the apparent attraction or rejection of reality television in contemporary society; OR

– Elaborate and use Durkheim’s views on the sources of anomie in modern society to explain the apparent attraction or rejection of reality television in contemporary society.

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‘your goal is to demonstrate your understanding of a particular sociology concept’

this is the key part, the most important part is that I show understanding of one of the concepts. My prof said that she could have chosen anything but went with ‘reality tv’.

wireland >> just let me know what your idea is in regards to survivor and anomie. Anything will help.

robert >> thanks it’s a start. I had a similar idea about people living vicariosly.

Using Durkheim seems like it would be the most interesting. I can think of some ideas but it seems like everything is a bit of a stretch and I don’t know how I can back them up.

-Reality tv lets us view people’s lives as a neat little package (we actually become sort of like the capatalist) it’s like: "Here is this person from here, he/she has 3 kids and he’s lazy" the people become characictures[sp?].

I think the same idea could be used to explain people who follow the lives of movie star, musicians, or the royal family, or whoever.

I dunno it’s hard to put it together. How can being alienated make people love or hate reality tv? hard to make a connection for sure. Maybe I’m not understanding alienation as good as I should. I think the appeal is about escapism but it’ll take some bending to fit that in.

Thanks for your help guys, keep it coming.

[wireland]

okay robert, i think i can help, but i gotta run to work right now. i’ll be back around 4:00 EST.

[wireland]

alright bob, here goes. modern industrial societies, by nature tend to separate people not only physically, but emotionally as well. although modern technological advances may seem to bring folks closer together (i.e the web, cell phones, blah, blah) i think they actually are dehumanizing us in a way, by encouraging a culture of less and less human to human direct interaction (i.e those vile types who order their groceries etc. via the web, instead of going to the local farmers market and chatting with and smiling at the actual PEOPLE who produced the food they buy). durkheim believed anomie was impossible in traditional societies because of the egalitarian nature of them and the daily contact with the other members of said society. this contact leads (basically by repetition) to affirmation and strengthening of a particular cultures belief systems……which modern industrial societies like ours are completely lacking (that is, a cohevisive ideology of good/bad, etc.) this lack of a cohesive set of beliefs/myths/cosmologies, etc, or "normlessness" as i have heard it referred to, is basically anomie in a nut shell. so why the hell would this make people want to watch survivor? it may vicariously fulfill certain folks longing to get back to "simpler times", when ‘the way things are/have to be’ are much more clearly defined. the egalitarian nature of the tribes or whatever they’re called has a certain romantic appeal to alot of folks. subversive or anti social behavior by a member of a tribe is clearly looked at as detrimental to the social health of the whole tribe. i’m getting really tired of typing, and i need a shower really bad, if any of this makes any sense to you, just respond to it and i’ll try to elaborate a little more. if you think i’m just a rambling idiot……..well, i’ve been called worse, and it won’t hurt my feelings if you think i’m a crackpot.

[bob]

thanks man, yeah it makes sense to me.

it seems to me that anyway we try to connect alienation (or anomie) to reality tv viewing always depends on one thing: that people know they are being opressed and wish they could do something about it. Looking back at the definition of alienation above that seems to be just about it.

I came upon an article when looking for sources today and here are the three things that i highlighted

-one aspect that all of the reality tv shows had in common was their competitive nature
-…the attitude that best seperate regular viewers of reality televion from everyone else is the desire for status. Fans of the shows are much more likely to agree with statements such as "Prestige is important to me" and "I am impressed with designer clothes"
-Reality tv allows Americans to fantasize about gaining status through automatic fame

the second point there seems very Marxist. Rising from the proletariat to the borgeoise.

If you can fit some of this in to a Durkheim explanation that would be great.

[wireland]

bob, i think yer missing the boat a little bit. anomie and alienation are not interchangeable terms. i’ll try to think of a good way to explain it while at work, gotta run.

[bob]

yeah I know,
I’ll let you know what I come up with. I’m going to have to choose either one

[bob]

</font><blockquote><font>quote:</font><hr><font>Originally posted by wireland:
[QB] fulfill certain folks longing to get back to "simpler times", QB]</font><hr></blockquote><font>okay what I’m trying to say is that this is the main assumption. Is there anything in Durkheim that suggests that people don’t like being in the state of ‘anomie’ and they want to change?

I guess it’s pretty evident given that people seem to be forming alternative social groups outside the family.

I’ll get back to you once I do my research and know what I’m talking about.

[wireland]

bob, sorry i didn’t get back to you yesterday, got home from work and ate a few xanax, and well, just lost track of uh…..things. hope the paper went well. sorry again.

[Author]

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