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 of characters 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.

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 by prejudgist 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

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 of is 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