The Sociology of Chris McCandless - Reflection

Quote that opens the movie Into the Wild:

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;

There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more
- Lord Byron

As you watch and after watching Into the Wild, reflect on what you know and see. Then answer the following
questions:

1. What did Chris McCandless think of society? Provide specific examples to defend your answer.

He thought that the society brings people both positive and negative things. The purpose of people to do
things are come from the effects of the society.

2. Why might Chris have this perspective of society? Was there an evolution in his thought over the
course of time? Defend.

Because he has a broken family and he feels that people are untruthful and unsincere toward each other.
He may grew his distrust from the family and finally grow to the problem of society. He finally tied his
thoughts to live in the world by himself without the connection between anyone.

3. If Chris were to be a sociologist, which of the three sociological paradigms would he choose?
Defend.

Symbolic-interaction paradigm. Because in the end, he is only thinking about himself to accomplish the
goal instead of seeing the macro picture of he consequence and how other people would feel.

4. Based on the movie, how might we answer the question, What holds society together? Take into
consideration what we learned from Lenski, Marx, Weber, and Durkheim.

The interaction between people hold the society together. One person could make their decision without
thinking about how other people think in the society but it will be happier for one to care about others
and share.

5. What should be our relationship to society? In your response, weave in what you have been
learning.
We are tied into the society and we are born in it. People think that they make all the choices and
decisions, but actually the society cause people to do things and think things in particular ways.
Therefore, people are tied into the society, born in the society and grow in it.