Project Topic Questions

My topic is based on the huge socioeconomic gap in South Africa, and the crime rates that follow the gap. I chose this topic because my trip to South Africa was really eye opening, and was the first time I ever really experienced the socioeconomic gap and blatant racism. I will be working alone. I will be focusing on what is the social construct of race and why does it happen? How is the social construct of race different in America vs South Africa? What incentives cause people to commit theft? How does the symbolic interactionist approach to sociology explain the gap, and how does that then lead to the conflict and functionalist approach? How does the social construct of race create socioeconomic gaps, and why is nothing done about it?

Obviously I still have more questions to ask, but so far this is what I have had on my mind and started doing research on. I definitely want to focus on race and the socioeconomic gap in South Africa, but my questions and primary focus and completely change as I continue doing research.

The Zimbardo Prison Experiment

The Zimbardo Prison experiment was focused around the changes in people as they assumed different roles in a societally structured environment. Looking at the experiment with a Symbolic Interaction approach can help explain why these changes in personality took place. By using the Symbolic Interaction approach, we can ask ourselves what symbols/characteristics were distinctive, and how this influenced the interactions between prisoners and guards, and how those interactions differed from interactions between inmates, or between guards. To help clearly separate the two groups, the guards were given batons and uniforms as symbols of power. The batons were never actually allowed to be used, but the helped strengthen the feeling of advantage among the guards. The prisoners were degraded to wearing flimsy dress-like clothing, that was exposing, and labeled with a number. They were also chained, which made them feel the powerlessness of their situation. The Symbolic Interaction perspective helps focus on the experiment in a micro level, looking at the small symbols and interactions that helped the prisoners feel disadvantaged while the guards were powerful.

Because of the symbols and characteristics that were applied to prisoners and guards, a conflict arose. Despite the fact that all the participants in the experiment were essentially equal, inequality and conflict began to rise. The chains and outfits had led to the prisoners feeling exposed and vulnerable, and made them feel obliged to listen to the guards despite them having any real power. The glasses, uniforms and batons of the guards made them feel in control, and their power got to their head which then resulted in their harsh treatment of the innocent prisoners. The conflict arose because the group of guards was advantaged, and the group of prisoners were disadvantaged. A few of the prisoners realized that this was unfair, and they were only prisoners because of a flip of a coin. but they could not escape the pressures of the advantaged guards, and had to leave the experiment. The conflict perspective better explains why there was a conflict between the two groups, whereas the symbolic interaction approach works to explain these fundamental differences, and what effect they had on the participants.

The sociological imagination works to show how your own biography works to contribute to society’s history, and how individuals contribute to societal phenomenons. If the participants of the experiment had looked at their situation through this lens, they would have better understood the factors that were working to place them in their situations. The guards would have better understood that their feelings of power are what lead to certain characteristics such as dominance, abuse, etc. The prisoners would have been able to understand that their role in the experiment was temporary, and the guards did not have real control over them. Many of them would have lasted longer, and not broken down because of the pressures they faced. A development of their sociological imagination would have made this experiment less effective because the two groups would not have assumed their roles as well as they did.

Looking at this experiment through a sociological lens helps me develop my sociological imagination because it allows me to see that people are not born with certain qualities, their position in society, level of power, and advantages over others are all factors that help construct their actions. This allows the biographies of individual people contribute to our society’s history because the actions of these people turn into habitual concepts that are associated with certain group, just as explained by the social construct of reality. This then contributes to many of the conflicts in our society such as race, gender, social class, etc.