Professional Documents
Culture Documents
SOC 001
Trisha Cease
Whether we realize it or not, we as citizens of our society are exposed to the various aspects of
sociology since birth. We may not be able to label certain phenomena according to their sociological ter-
minology, but we have processed it in our own way. Our sociological imaginations have been developing
with each passing breath, and by taking a sociology course, we can connect these phenomena with their
proper terms.
A great example of a cesspool where we as individuals learn the norms and rules of our society is
our educational systems, especially high school. High school is a time where teenagers learn their places
in the social ladder and act accordingly. Cliques are formed, and every individual plays their social roles,
sticking to their groups. I have chosen to analyze the movie Mean Girls to explore and analyze this realm
from a sociological standpoint, using the three sociological perspectives to identify some interesting as-
The movie Mean Girls follows the sixteen-year-old protagonist Cady Heron, a homeschooled girl
who must acclimate to a life in the United States. Being born to zoologist parents, Cady was raised in Af-
rica for years as her parents pursued a scientific research project for the latter 12 years of Cadys life. At
the conclusion of the research project, Cady and her family move back to the States, a society in which
she is not used to. The movie focuses on the journey Cady faces as she is thrust into the world of cliques,
For this project, I will be analyzing the first ten minutes of this movie, found on YouTube in a
video entitled Mean Girls Full Movie - Part 1. This video clip introduces Cady to the audience and her
background story. It follows her first day at Northshore High, the high school her parents put her in so
that she may be socialized. Immediately she realizes the consequences of her ignorance to the social
norms. The other students there also immediately pick her out as an outlier not knowing the ways of the
high school. Cady doesn't know the unspoken rules of student-to-student socialization. She talks to the
wrong people, says the wrong things, and does what is considered against the rules. It isn't until she meets
Janice and Damian that she is given a basic introduction of the social groups of the high school. Her new
friends give her the rundown of the most basic socialization center, the cafeteria, where all students sit
according to their membership in certain social groups - for example the jocks, nerds, and the plastics.
Renown sociologists Comte, Marx, and Durkheim each would view and interpret these same ten
minutes differently. These three sociologists have formed the basis of what we now call the interactionist,
conflict, and functionalist perspectives respectively. Each perspective provides a means to dissect and an-
French sociologist Auguste Comte advocated for the importance of the basic laws of society. An
interactionist perspective towards the video would focus on the interactions between the students in the
high school and the certain symbols common high schoolers take for granted. An interactionist view
would notice how every clique sticks to themselves and know not to venture it to other cliques. The jocks
don't sit with the nerds at lunch, for example. The students have fallen into a rhythm where their interac-
tions with one another have become routine. When Cady comes into the picture, she disrupts the routine.
Cady, not knowing her position in the society, goes out to anybody and everybody, but does not notice the
mile Durkheim focused his work on how social order is integral and that all participants must
work together to face societys challenges as a whole and work towards its betterment - the core of the
functionalist perspective of sociology. The functionalist aspects of the video clip from Mean Girls can be
readily seen. Every student in the high school has a role to play. If any one student steps out of line with
their social role, disruption occurs and it may be disastrous. The motions of the student life and the vari-
ous groups are predictable, almost routine. The jocks play their part in the social hierarchy just as much as
the band members do. If a band member decides to play football, the rhythm of the high school would not
flow.
Karl Marx is known for his extensive work on inequality, the struggle between social classes, and
alienation - the core of the conflict paradigm of sociology. I believe this paradigm is most dominantly rep-
resented in the video. The moment Cady steps into her new high school as a stranger, conflict arises. The
veteran students and even the teachers are not welcoming of a newcomer, especially one who is oblivious
of the most basic behaviors in that setting. When Cady is introduced to the groups of Northshore High,
the tension between the groups is apparent through the visuals. As Cadys friend Janice narrates brief in-
troductions of each clique, the viewers can tell that she herself bears animosity to all other groups, espe-
cially the plastics. Not all groups are considered equal, depending on your standard. When it comes to
popularity, the plastics are royalty and reign supreme. They own the school and all other groups re-
vere and are wary of them. The most valuable resource in the high school is popularity, and the plastics
control a monopoly over it. Tension also arises from the various groups that compete for this resource.
In conclusion, with the use of the sociological imagination, anyone can analyze and dissect any in-
stance of life sociologically. Any one event can be studied differently using the lenses provided by the
three sociological perspectives. The excerpt from Mean Girls exhibits qualities that can be noted by all
three paradigms, but the paradigm most prevalent is the conflict theory supported by Marx. As Cady is
thrust into a typical American high school, she is faced with the pressures and tensions that are created
Source: https://youtu.be/LfSmRA6MBjs