Sociology
Baal was the sort of musician who plays in smokey, uncrowded bars,where only half the people there had come for the music and the rest aretalking over it with loud and drunken abandon. Still, he was sufficientlywell known that certain facts of his life were public knowledge -- at leastin his hometown of Memphis. Things were changing for him. Baal had gotten arecord deal with Metropolis, and free booze for a year at several localbars, and consequently his rent had been paid ahead of time for months. Allthis is relevant to the story, the audience must understand, because Baalkilled Erik in a club venue where he was performing that night. Erik washis best friend -- he may have been his only close friend. Erik was asongwriter specializing in synthesizers. They had toured together (that wasthe official story, though Erik described it more as an extended bout ofmigrant homelessness), and they had lived together. Some had said they werelovers, though Baal had a reputation for womanizing and Erik had agirlfriend. Tonight, Baal had become very drunk and was refusing to play arequested Johnny Cash cover for the management. Erik, with his girlfriendon his arm, were trying to convince him otherw
A final theory that may adequately explain Baal's behavior is theidea of symbolic interactionism and labeling as a contributor to deviance. Socialdisorder increased his feelings of deviance; low self control allowed thatdeviance to take over his life. In fact, the relationships within gangs arenotoriously fractious and unstable because gang members have commonselfish, impulsive, and insensitive traits. One assumes from the description that he does not have a verylarge group of associates or a strong sense of the social order, and issomething of an outsider figure. The nature of his crime, however, was suchthat symbolic interactionism is certainly the best explanation. Mead, the founder ofsymbolism, once wrote "Woe to any nation whose moral teachers are artcritics. Though all of these explanations contribute to Baal's crime. The thrill-seekingpersonality it describes is certainly something which appears to be evidentin his case, and for the majority of his life it appears to be a sort ofmodus operandi. It seems possible to suggest that his crime was symptomatic of alarger social issue, and that his literal back-stabbing of a friend may besomething of a metaphor for the relationships between classes andindividuals which serves to create the completed and segregated city. Art has no activeconnection with the useful or true. It was obviously the murderous rage which caused the murder -- but whatcaused the murderous rage which enabled his low self-control to killsomeone. In the South after the civil war, there was a certain instabilitythat led to many individuals fleeing the region in hopes of finding abetter life up North. This tendency is likely even more profound in artists such as Baal. Unlike the social theories, Positivism suggests that gangs are not somuch a reaction of groups to social pressure (in which new illegal moresare suggested to replace absent legally-based mores), but that they onlyattract the selfish and impulsive who want buddies in their crime.
Common topics in this essay:
Class Notes,
Notes Symbolic,
Suddenly Baal,
Nonetheless Baal's,
Memphis Baal,
Baal Erik,
Scenario Baal,
Brecht Mead,
Barbara Lal,
Baal Killing,
symbolic interactionism,
social disorder,
brannigan 1997,
relevant baal's,
class notes,
transitional zone,
low self control,
criminal behavior,
contributing factors,
social upheaval,
traveling country,
baal kill friend,
social disorder theory,
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Acceptance Essays
