Social Perspective Paper on the “Good Times” Comedy Coursework

Introduction

The paper will focus on a situation comedy known as ‘Good Times’. Some parts of the show will be analyzed through a social conflict lens and examples given on how this comedy reflects the latter principles.

How ‘Good times’ depicts social conflicts

The ‘Good Times’ show is a classic comedy performed in 1975. The sitcom is based on the lives of a typical seventies African American family. It largely revolves around the daily hustles and struggles of such a low income household in an ever challenging economic, social and political landscape. The family consists of a mum and dad, three children – two boys and a girl and a close family friend. Every episode highlights a challenge facing the household and how they try to overcome it through family unity and companionship. Almost always, their challenges centre on their social status and the fact that they are “keeping their heads above water” as stated in the comedy’s theme song.

A social conflict theorist always argues that there are converse classes existing in society today and that one of those classes holds and controls the means of production. This is brought on by the amount of resources they possess and hence their ability to manipulate political and social status to maintain these positions. (Thio, 2009) Usually, the process of manipulation leads to oppression of one class (the proletariat) by the other (the bourgeoisie).

In the end, there is an endless cycle in which one group of people requires the services of the other yet the interests of either party can never be fully met. In other words, the working class are always looking for a means of survival but the owners of capital cannot provide this fairly or competently. On the other hand, the elite need to maintain their economic and social position but because they are always expanding, then they have to pay their workers much less than they deserve so as to keep their profits. Ultimately, there arises a social conflict in which the oppressed are unhappy with the status quo while the elite want to maintain it. (Thio, 2009)

In the comedy ‘Good Times’, there are several situations that epitomize the latter assertions. For instance, in one episode, the head of the household – James attempts to start a business in order to be financial independent and to support his family. Since he has a lot of experience in the electronics industry, he attempts to set up shop in his own house. His plan was to repair people’s kettles, television sets, stereos, etc and get paid for the service. However, his buildings’ caretaker finds out and tells him that tenants are not allowed to start businesses in a residential area. Consequently, the caretaker uses blackmail to ensure that his message is received.

Here, he assures James that he will not inform the landlord about his ‘little enterprise’ if James can repair some of his broken down electronics for him for free. The problem with that arrangement was that the caretaker got all of his relatives’, friends’, neighbors’ and associate’s electronics and brought them to James. James was so busy trying to repair his caretaker’s electronics for free that he could not even spare time to work on paying customers’ goods. He eventually gave up, returned the caretaker’s property and went back to his meager wages as a paid employee.

The latter scenario has numerous instances in which social conflicts emerge. First, the building’s owner has set up rules that ensure his tenants remain in their dependant situations. This is because he does not allow any of them to do business within his property. The caretaker asserts that these are all rules perpetuated by the City council but upon further analysis, one can argue that land owners are the ones who have set up such rules and proposed them to the Council. If they let their tenants look for ways to empower themselves (such as through business), then those tenants can become financially stable and thus have no need to rent houses. Such a scenario would destroy the elite’s means of survival.

Another scenario in which this comedy depicts class conflicts is when James was trying to get a job that required a written application. James could not read and write properly and was therefore denied the opportunity to work for the organization. A social conflict theorist would argue that the elite always look for ways to ensure that the best jobs remain with them. In fact, one only has to examine the history of education in America to understand this. (Stark, 2008)

According to social conflict adherents, when fewer Americans had high school degrees, then a number of middle class jobs required these very qualifications but as more Americans got educated, then job requirements were upgraded to a college degree. In the end, mostly the elite are able to secure well paying jobs and thus perpetuate the cycle of oppressing the working class. Similarly, James had no high school education and was unable to climb up the social ladder because of his educational status. This indicates how the upper class in society utilized a social structural aspect such as education to keep their positions in the economic strata.

Conclusion

The ‘good times’ comedy indicates how the elite oppress the poor through certain mechanisms or structures. One such example is through the education system or job requirements as was seen by James’ failed attempts at getting a job. Another scenario was illustrated when James attempted to start a business in his home. Bourgeoisie rules and regulations frustrated such efforts and only kept him in his subjugated state.

References

Stark, R. (2008). Sociology. Oxford: Oxford University Publishers.

Thio, A. (2009). A brief introduction to Sociology. New York: Pearson publishers.