Pop Culture: Unifying Agent in Socialization - Essay Sample

Introduction

In sociology, pop culture entails various cultural products, including art, fashion, television, radio, film, music, dance, and cyber-culture, among others (Crossman, 2019). The society associates with pop culture through the use of various types of media accessible to populations. According to Ratha (2017), pop culture impacts on society by building and strengthening interactions among people in similar settings or background. For young people, pop culture is a unifying agent in socialization. For instance, pop culture helps people to make new friends and also get ideas of discussion when in social settings. The essay discusses the subject of pop culture and its relationship with a society based on the ideas in the "Pop Culture Freaks" text by Kidd (2014). It will use the sociological concepts in the book to critically analyze the Orange is the Black TV series Season 1.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Orange Is the New Black TV

Season one of the Orange is the Black TV series is an American comedy and drama consisting of thirteen episodes. The main focus of the series is the experiences and memoir of Piper Chapman in the federal prison of FCI Danbury. The experiences of female prisoners in the minimum-security federal prison of women are depicted in the life of Piper Kerman. Piper is sentenced for fifteen months due to transporting money made from drug smuggling by Alex Vause. While behind bars in the Litchfield Correctional Facility in Danbury, Piper contends with prison life. She could not maintain a long-distance relationship with fiance, Larry. The violations in prison life could leave one stalked, starved, or even lead to death.

Pop Culture Freaks

Pop Culture Freaks is a book written by Kidd (2014) to show how pop culture permeates every aspect of modern society. In his book, the various chapters provide a reader with tools useful in thinking critically regarding the cultural elements incorporated in television, print, film, and music media as well as the internet. Kidd (2014) presents a tension between individuality as well as inclusion in the society, as depicted in the commercial culture and mass media. The author uses the dimensions of race, sexuality, disability, class, and gender to provide a perspective of classical and contemporary theory. The representations of identity are depicted in the cultural objects used by the author in explaining the use of mass media in describing the pop culture in the daily lives of people in society.

Chapter two of the text talks about racial perspectives evident in pop culture. Kidd (2014) reveals that race in modern commercial pop culture is invisible and permeating. "The revolution will be available on iTunes" is a topic that creates the essence of hidden pop culture that is spreading in media. Pop culture is presenting racial labels in society. These racial labels generate controversy of race in American society, as shown in the current media such as television, digital culture, books, film, and music. Even though the Revolution was not televised, it was available in other media such as YouTube. It shows that social media evolution is changing how people are presenting information in society. The social media has influenced and continues to influence, create, and expose many of the pivotal moments of the 21st Century (Lightning Guides, 2015). Technology is shaping the life of people and changing their identity. As social media evolves, society also evolves. Racial Revolution is evident in Chapter two of Pop Culture Freaks, with the rap and hip-hop of the 1980s and 1990s not televised. The controversy of race in pop culture is also presented in the film of Freedom Writers in 2007. Race and ethnic minorities in America are misrepresented in Kidd's text. Misrepresentation of the whites was also not left out.

Chapter three of Pop Culture Freaks talks about class perspectives. On the subject of 'Movin' on Up,' the author acknowledges the rich and the poor (Kidd, 2014). George Jefferson is a character used to represent class perspectives in chapter three of the text. George is a rich man owning a dry-cleaning business and has moved to his apartment in New-York City. Kidd (2014) presents the Jeffersons with a theme song that demonstrates the attainment of the American dream in a city. "Well, we're Movin on up" is a song with a message of achievement for The Jeffersons. Things are no longer difficult for the family as they used to be earlier because they have made it. Hong (2014) stated that songs had been used by countries such as South Korea in their effort to become a superpower in the world of pop culture. Americans are also using songs to create an environment of success in their lives. Kidd (2014) shows the modern family as much celebrated, and the members find it is g to be together. The author demonstrates the elements of class identify as well as a difference in the modern family. Types of class in the society are evident with the definition of high, low, and middle classes. There are also class types, including the poor, middle, working, and wealthy class, demonstrated in cultural differences. Class implied in Kidd's text is a clear depiction of definite differences that exist between and among groups in the society.

Chapter four of Kidd's text explains the element of gender perspectives. Kidd (2014) denotes that men are from Marlboro country, and women are from Wisteria Lane. By referring to modern sociologists such as Judith Lorber, the author explains the role of culture in shaping gender paradoxes. Culture is demonstrated as a powerful and persisting component that shapes gender in society. Therefore, a reader understands that gender is socially constructed depending on the cultural aspects associated with men and women in a given community. Kidd (2014) also references the views of Stanford Lyman regarding gender interpretation in American films. When advertising images, the aspect of gender comes in to allow the users of the content to interpret based on their views. Men and women are represented in media based on popular culture.

The text explains how gender shapes the working-class people within the culture industries. The male gender is highly privileged when compared to females. Men are depicted as dominant in an advertisement such as the solitary whereby a Marlboro man wearing ragged clothes and smoking a cigarette is used. The men are presented as privileged in the society and especially in the music industry and other mass media segments. Based on Kidd's analysis, gender perspectives influence the community. Women and girls are symbolically overpowered by men when looking at their representations on the television, children's books, and film. Men are privileged in society, and this is a critical element of how gender operates in the social world as produced in popular culture mechanisms.

Analysis of the Orange Is the New Black TV Series Season 1

The Orange Is the New Black TV series season one can be analyzed based on the various sociological concepts evident in Kidd's text, 'Pop Culture Freaks.' Based on the discussions in the three given chapters of the book, the three sociological concepts of class, gender, and racial perspectives are demonstrated in the Orange Is the New Black TV series.

Class Perspectives

In chapter three of the 'Pop Culture Freaks' text, Kidd describes class perspectives in society as shaped by pop culture. The community has class categories such as the poor, rich, working, low, high, and medium (Kidd, 2014). These types of classes are demonstrated in the chosen TV series. For instance, in episode nine of the TV series, a viewer can see that there are class differences that define the rich in society. Alex and Piper are presented as incompatible since Alex is rich. Piper makes peace with Alex. However, Healy throws Piper into solitary confinement after finding her dancing with Alex. A scenario that reveals that the rich and poor in the society do not mix. In the solitary confinement, Piper reviews her life and concludes for a change in the future.

Episode eight of the Orange Is the New Black TV series presents the poor in the prison oppressed. Polly is a friend of Piper who gives birth in prison. The prison officers do not give her the chance to get hospital services. The condition of the poor in prison is terrible. Poly cannot afford to go to the hospital, and the officers do not help her in any way. It is a situation that creates class differences whereby the rich oppress the poor. Episode ten of the Orange Is the New Black TV series presents a condition of the working class in the society. Tricia is a prison employee who returns from detox and finds that she had been retrenched from working in the kitchen. Tricia is also mistreated by the police officer, Mendez, for not paying her drug debts. The workers in prison are oppressed, as revealed in the TV series. Even after getting sick, a prison employee should report to work. In episode eleven, the condition of the working class in society is getting worse. One of the workers has committed suicide, and the inmates are mourning. Their response to the situation is to trick the police officer into revealing his corrupt dealings. The experience in prison for the workers and the poor is terrible.

Gender Perspectives

The element of gender discussed in chapter four of Kidd's text is evident in the Orange Is the New Black TV series season one. The first five episodes of the TV series capture the aspect of gender to show how women are overpowered in society. In the first episode of the TV series, "I Wasn't Ready," Piper Chapman is sent behind bars due to helping a drug smuggler transport money. Piper is oppressed by the prison enemies and struggles to adjust to the federal penitentiary life. As a woman, Piper is convicted of a crime committed by another person. In prison, she encounters enemies who mistreat her more as a woman. Instead of imprisoning the drug smuggler, Piper Chapman pays for assisting the wrongdoer in carrying money. The real culprit is left to go free without punishment.

In the second episode of the Orange Is the New Black TV series, 'Tit Punch' Piper is refused food by the kitchen staff as a result of insulting the prison's chef. A similar case is evident in the third episode whereby Piper's request for the problem of lesbianism to be addressed in denied. While in prison, Piper had to cope with the romantic demands of Crazy Eyes, a fellow inmate. The fifth episode of the TV series demonstrates the woman as a gender that is considered weak in society. Piper saw a chicken that was roosting near the grass within the prison compound. Piper realizes that the chicken is a prison legend, and some of the inmates have been trying to catch it without success. The chicken helped Piper to understand the complex history of Aleida Diaz and her daughter. In episode seven, Healy is seen forcing Piper to fulfill various tasks that are dangerous before allowing her to reopen the outdoor track. Alex is also teasing Tiffany as a religious fanatic, and this creates a rivalry between them. In episode eight, Mendez is a male officer who is harassing Red after refusing to help him to continue smuggling drugs into the prison. These scenarios in the TV series create a perspective of gender, whereby women are oppressed in society. Women are overpowered and easily mistreated in the community when compared to men.

Racial Perspectives

Episode six, twelve, and thirteen of the Orange Is the New Black TV series explain the racial perspectives described in the 'Pop Culture Freaks' text. Chapter two of the 'Pop Culture Freaks' book by Kidd describes how the media is shaping society based on racial perspectives. Episode six of the TV series presents the inmates campaigning based on their r...