Societal Factors

7/28/2019 Societal Factors

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Societal Factors

Human Communication in Perception and Societal Factors of people includes three areas

which I will discuss in this assignment. They are the following; The Role of Power, Culture, and

Social Comparison in today's World. As part of my assignment I am to select a TV show to

discuss and apply the Human Communication factors as presented in class and in our textbook.

To begin, I think the role of power can be seen in a "Power Hierarchy" where some people

are perceived to have more power than others. Too often it's a racial, or money earning status

hierarchy that makes us think others who aren't normally more powerful are seen as being

powerful.

I believe we can see an example of this in the network cartoon comedy known as,

Family Guy. In this show we see a number ofcharacters who exhibit some unique and even

controversial traits. All of which represent people of all walks of life. Rich or poor, big or small,

theyre all there for everyone to see. But we will take it one step further and look at how they

interact, as well as how the style of the show affect viewers. Peter Griffin is the strange, and self

assured Father. Lois Griffin is his wife of servant-hood and acceptance. Chris, Meg, and Stewie

are their three children of vast differences. Their strangely enough talking pet dog, Brian is

added as intelligent comic relief. Their next door neighbor, Glenn Quagmire provides shock value

to each episode. Joe Swanson, another friend of Peters, serves as a local police officer. But what

sets up a lot of humor with him is hes crippled!

Wow, I think we have already a few issues to address after only hearing of the cast. Should

Joe be considered less of a Cop just because hes in a wheel chair?

How do we all perceive people who are handicapped? Hes someone who enforces the law,

and yet we could push him off a cliff if we wanted to. In the show Joe survives all kinds of danger,

and always gets his man. Joe is someone they should all respect as an authoritative figure, and

yet even Joe himself bends under Peters misguided virtue and charm.


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Quagmire is another problem for viewers all together. He brings up subject matters that

can be highly offensive. All of which are sexual by nature. Perhaps he alone causes the most

problems. I share all this with you because the way they communicate and interact with each other

is actually Modern at the least, if not just childish. People in the real world have all changed!

I think we should all ask the question, Can I watch a show like this and accept the message for

what it is? Or do I reject this ever changing world we live in and pretend that our culture isnt

progressing. I personally think that if someone stumbles over the content of Family Guy, they just

need to get over it and get a life. People who are stuck in old traditions of shaming the least little

things, are just making it hard on everyone, especially themselves.

Hidden deep inside these episodes are various examples of human interaction that are more

true to life than the reality that we all tend to recognize. These characters show that factors of

power, and perceptions of Society are all relative to the situation they exist in and should not be

judged or thrown out simply by the surface that they are seen by. I believe we are too diverse a

people to all be dismissed as wrong just because were different. I think such an action is

motivated byprejudgist feelings that many times lead to unbridled bigotry.Give people the benefit of the doubt. Peter might be an idiot and prone to mistakes, putting

virtually the whole town in jeopardy, but he loves his family, even when he strangely seems to

shun them away.

People who have taken the show for what its worth have adapted their viewpoint on how

they now perceive other people and as a result, our culture has changed. And I think for the better.

Cultural norms, values, and expectations provide a backdrop of familiarity. When we travel or

meet people from other cultures, we can learn from exposure to our differences. However, these

differences are sometimes upsetting, frustrating or even baffling. The perceptions that we develop


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tend to be tied to stereotypes and prejudice, which both flow from ethnocentrism, the perceptual

concept at the core of social comparison.

This Ethnocentrism I speak ofis defined as the tendency to view one's own group as the

standard against which all others are judged. The problem with this is it can lead to Polarization

in our thinking. To conclude, I think that the Family Guy TV show brings hope to an otherwise

stagnate style of society.

Source: The Evolution of Ethnocentric Behavior by Robert Axelrod and Ross A. Hammond

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~axe/research/AxHamm_Ethno

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Societal Factors