Sociology of Tarzan of the Apes By Scottie Miller Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs is about socialisation and resocialization of the 2nd John Clayton, Lord of Greystoke. Having lost his parents while still a babe, he was adopted by a female ape and accepted partly by her folk. Not all members of the folk of apes gave him full rank into their group, which caused Tarzan heartache and hurting, but besides equipped him with the necessary tools for endurance. Beyond the immediate narrative of Tarzan there is an implicit in narrative of the socioeconomic advancement of adult male in an encapsulated span of clip, as it must hold really occurred over the eons since adult male foremost appeared. Within the text of the narrative are legion illustrations of sociological happenings covering with different races and so species of animate beings.
Some illustrations are:
- Achieved Status? A societal place that a individual assumes voluntarily as a consequence of personal pick, virtue, or direct attempt. Example: Tarzan achieved the position of King of the Apes by pick and direct attempt when he challenged Kerchak for leading of the group.
- Activity Theory? The propositions that people tend to switch cogwheels in late in-between age, and happen replacements for old positions, functions, and activities. Example: In the 1800s human life anticipation was non much beyond 40 or 50 old ages of age, hence a immature adult male by today’s criterions in his mid to late 20s would hold been considered in-between aged. Tarzan was in this age period when he became annoyed with life as the King of the Apes and decided to renounce his place and return to the cabin his male parent had built.
- Agents of Socialization? Those individuals, groups, or establishments that teach people what they need to cognize in order to take part in society. Example: Kala, the female ape that adopted Tarzan, and her group taught him the rudimentss for endurance and engagement in society.
- Assimilation? A procedure by which members of low-level racial and cultural groups become absorbed into the dominant civilization. Example: Entirely in the jungle, Tarzan and his parents were the subsidiary group. After the decease of his parents Tarzan was absorbed into the dominant civilization of the apes.
- Bilateral Descent? A system of following descent through both the female parent’s and male parent’s sides of the household. Example: Bilateral decent would hold been impossible to follow for Tarzan had he non played in the ink from the pen his male parent was utilizing to compose his diary, thereby making fingerprints.
- Body Consciousness? A term that describes how a individual perceives and feels about his or her organic structure. Example: As a immature male child Tarzan was ashamed of his organic structure because he was non haired like the other apes. As a adult male, he was sword lily he was non covered in hair, because Jane was non.
- Cultural Capital? A term for people’s societal assets, including values, beliefs, attitudes, and competences in linguistic communication and civilization. Example: Teaching himself to read and compose English, provided Tarzan with the cultural capital necessary to pass on with D’Arnot.
- Cultural relativism? The belief that the behaviours and imposts of a society must be viewed and analyzed within the context of its ain civilization. Example: A adult male even sing eating another adult male would hold been ostracized and even institutionalized from others of society, had they been cognizant of it. In the society in which Tarzan was portion, apes did non eat other apes, nevertheless they did eat work forces.
- Conformity? The procedure of keeping or altering behaviour to follow with the norms established by a society, subculture, or other group. Example: Tarzan conformed to social norms sing slaying by let go ofing the adult male who was trying to coerce Jane to get married him.
- Aberrance? Any behaviour, belief, or status that violates cultural norms. Example: Tarzan violated the cultural norms of Jane by snoging her abundantly in the natural amphitheatre in the jungle without a proper debut or acquaintanceship.
- Diffusion? The transmittal of cultural points or societal patterns from one group or society to another. Example: The runing knife belonging to John Clayton was found by Tarzan therefore spreading it into the group of apes.
- Discovery? The procedure of larning about something antecedently unknown or unrecognised. Example: Learning to utilize the hunting knife and to read and compose English was all by find to Tarzan.
- Ego? Harmonizing to Sigmund Freud, the rational, reality-oriented constituent of personality that imposes limitations on the unconditioned pleasure-seeking thrusts of the Idaho. Example: As Tarzan was about to eat the black warrior, he discovered that both of them were of the same race. The race of adult male. He was hungry and gave no idea but to fulfill his hungriness until his self-importance took over. Recognizing that this was a adult male and he was a adult male caused him to retrieve that ape did non eat ape and hence adult male must non eat adult male.
- Endogamy? Cultural norms ordering that people marry inside their ain societal group or class. Example: Jane indulged in intermarriages while make up one’s minding whether she should get married Tarzan or his cousin. She decided that Tarzan would non be happy in her civilization and she would non be happy in his.
- Cultural group? A aggregation of people distinguished, by others or by themselves, chiefly on the footing of cultural or nationality features. Example: Tarzan distinguished the black warrior folk as liquidators and different than himself by virtuousness of the colour of their tegument and physical features.
- Ethnicity? The cultural heritage or individuality of a group based on factors such as linguistic communication or state of beginning. Example: Tarzan began to acknowledge his ain ethnicity by looking at and finally groking written English. Primarily through images was he able to place himself as a male child.
- Ethnocentrism? The premise that one’s ain civilization and manner of life are superior to all others. Example: Tarzan practiced ethnocentrism by being disgusted upon detecting the black warriors were man-eaters and since they were the lone other race he knew, they formed all other civilizations to him.
- False Consciousness? The term used by Karl Marx to bespeak that people hold beliefs they think promote their best involvements when those beliefs are really damaging to their involvements. Example: The black warriors had a false consciousness sing who Tarzan was and what his capablenesss were. They believed he was an evil spirit that could be appeased by nutrient and pointers, thereby forestalling farther deceases among their people.
- Family of Orientation? The household into which a individual is born and in which early socialisation normally takes topographic point. Example: His household of orientation did non socialise Tarzan as they died while he was still an baby.
- Family of Procreation? The household a individual signifiers by holding or following kids. Example: Kala procreated a household by following Tarzan as her ain kid.
- Functional Age? A term used to depict discernible single properties such as physical visual aspect, mobility, strength, coordination, and mental capacity that are used to delegate people to age classs. Example: Kala and her folk thought Tarzan might hold some unusual unwellness because at the age of two he was non functional, as were the other apes at that age.
- Gemeinschaft? A tra ditional society in which social relationships are based on personal bonds of friendship and kinship and on intergenerational stability. Example: The tribe of apes that Tarzan belonged to was a Gemeinschaft.
- Gender Socialization? The aspect of socialization that contains specific messages and practices concerning the nature of being female or male in a specific group or society. Example: While performing the duties as the king of the apes, Tarzan was often called upon to settle domestic disputes between mates. One brute had beaten his mate because she had refused to care for him properly which included grooming him and providing him with fresh fruit.
- Generalized Other? A term for a child’s awareness of the demands and expectations of the society as a whole or of the child’s subculture. Example: Tarzan became aware of the demands of his society and subculture much slower than his peers but soon surpassed them in intelligence and cunning.
- Homogamy? The pattern of individuals marrying those who have similar characteristics, such as race/ethnicity, religious background, age, education, and/or social class. Example: Jane ultimately participated in homogamy by marrying Tarzan’s cousin even though she knew she had made a mistake by accepting his proposal.
- Id? A term for the component of personality that includes all of the individual’s basic biological drives and needs that demand immediate gratification. Example: Tarzan was accustomed to gratifying without delay all of the needs of his id. He killed and ate when hungry whether or not the food was cooked as D’Arnot would have preferred was of no consequence.
- Individual Discrimination? Behavior consisting of one-on-one acts by members of the dominant group that harm members of the subordinate group or their property. Example: The actions of the great ape that killed John Clayton would be considered individual discrimination by Tarzan, because he believed he was descended from both groups.
- Informal Education? Learning that occurs in a spontaneous, unplanned way. Example: Discovering the usefulness of clothes was definitely unplanned as it occurred during and because of a tornado.
- Ingroup? A group to which a person belongs and with which the person feels a sense of identity. Example: The apes were the ingroup Tarzan claimed.
- Instrumental Leadership? Group leadership that is goal or task oriented. The kingship of the apes was task oriented. Example: The king provided food, and settled squabbles.
- Internal Colonialism? According to conflict theorists, a practice that occurs when members of a racial or ethnic group are conquered or colonized and forcibly placed under the economic and political control of the dominant group. Example: The black warriors in the story were refugees from the Congo that had been taken over by white settlers.
- Kinship? A social network of people based on common ancestry, marriage, or adoption. Example: The apes were the only kinship group that Tarzan knew.
- Language? A set of symbols that expresses ideas and enables people to think and communicate with one another. Example: Tarzan was able to communicate with the apes as well as the humans he encountered by means of language.
- Master Status? A term used to describe the most important status that a person occupies. Example: As a young man Tarzan’s master status was that of the king of the apes. As an adult his master status was that of a man and the master status he wanted was that of the husband of Jane.
- Material Culture? A component of culture that consists of the physical or tangible creations (such as clothing, shelter, and art) that members of a society make, use, and share. Example: The material left behind by John Clayton for his son was the cabin, books, and the diamond encrusted pendent.
- Matrilineal descent? A system of tracing descent through the mother’s side of the family. Example: Matrilineal descent was the only possible line to trace for Tarzan because he believed Kala was his mother and his father was dead.
- Migration? The movement of people from one geographic area to another for the purpose of changing residency. Example: When the black warriors moved their palisade too close to the lake where Tarzan’s group was living, he took them farther into the jungle.
- Mores? Strongly held norms with moral and ethical connotations that may not be violated without serious consequences in a particular culture. Example: In Jane’s culture the promise to marry was not taken any less lightly than the marriage. She could not break her promise to marry even though she wanted to desperately.
- Nonverbal Communication? The transfer of information between persons without the use of words. Example: Tarzan used sign language with the humans to communicate with them.
- Patriarchy? A hierarchical system of social organization in which cultural, political, and economic structures are controlled by men. Example: Both cultures that Tarzan ultimately recognized as his own were patriarchal.
- Patrilineal Descent? A system of tracing descent through the father’s side of the family. Example: Patrilineal descent was impossible to Tarzan, prior to meeting D’Arnot , due to the death of his father.
- Peer Group? A group of people who are linked by common interests, equal social position, and (usually) similar age. Example: The peer group of Kala showed interest in the human infant, but she would not allow them to touch him.
- Presentation of Self? A term for people’s efforts to present themselves to others in ways that are most favorable to their own interests or image. Example: Tarzan’s proposal of marriage to Jane was pure presentation of self, although the story would have us believe everything he promised to be true.
- Rationality? The process by which traditional methods of social organization, characterized by informality and spontaneity, are gradually replaced by efficiently administered formal rules and procedures (bureaucracy). Example: In Jane’s culture men and women often were not at liberty to marry whom they chose due to bureaucracy.
- Reference Group? A term used to describe a group that strongly influences a person’s behavior and social attitudes, regardless of whether that individual is an actual member. Example: The only reference group available to Tarzan was that of the apes.
- Resocialization? The process of learning a new and different set of attitudes, values, and behaviors from those in one’s previous background and experiences. Example: D’Arnot took Tarzan to Paris in order to resocialize him into his own culture.
- Rituals? Regularly repeated and carefully prescribed forms of behaviors that symbolize a cherished value or belief. Example: The rites of the Dum Dum marked important events in the life of the tribe –a victory, the capture of a prisoner, the killing of some large fierce denizen of the jungle, the death or accession of a king, and were conducted with set ceremonialism.
- Role Exit? A situation in which people disengage from social roles that have been central to their self-identity. Example: The abdication of the position of king on the part of Tarzan was a role exit.
- Role Performance? How a person actually plays a role. Example: Tarzan was not performing his role as king and the tribe was constantly squabbling amongst themselves.