Sociological Analysis of “Clockwork Orange”
Clockwork Orange is a film that explicitly portrays behavior and their motivations in society. It illuminates how individual behavior potentially becomes societal concerns. By viewing the different groups that belong to the society represented in the film, an individual would understand the motivation to belong to a group and associated criterion. The film addresses rewards to behavior in the short and long terms. In the beginning, Alex beats and assaults defenseless people, including an activist. After the prison term, he is defenseless and consequently has to suffer the rewards of the violence of his early days. The film is informative for sociologists as it enhances the understanding of social relationships and societal institutions.
Synopsis
The movie is set in a violent society where Alex and his vicious teen gang take narcotics and sadistically unleash brutality against defenseless people. One case is when they break into a cottage and beat a young writer and gang-rape his wife, and she later dies. After murdering an elderly woman, Alex gets a 14-year prison sentence, where again, he beats a new prisoner to death. Alex is selected to undergo an aversion therapy experiment, which turns him harmless. He is released from prison and now faces retribution from his former gang members and later the writer whom he beat his wife to death. He is hurt as he escapes from the writer, hospitalized, and the doctors undo the conditioning of the aversion therapy. Alex reverts to his violent behavior.
Sociological Concepts
Sociological Imagination
The concept states that understanding self should first begin by understanding society. It helps in understanding the link between a person’s struggles and public issues (Fraser & Hagedorn, 2018). A personal problem shifts to become a public issue. Alex’s involvement in violence and crime is likely associated with his low economic class. His gang beats and robs people of a higher social class, such as the elderly woman. The personal economic challenges morph to a public issue of crime and lawlessness. Violence draws the attention of the minister for interior who comes up with the violence aversion therapy. A demonstration of the economic effect on crime is when the minister promises Alex a good job with an attractive salary to influence him to participate in the aversion therapy. Thus, the cause of violence is primarily a lack of economic opportunities.
Deviance and Social Control
Deviance is a behavior that violates accepted social standards. Societies have unwritten rules that help maintain peace and coexistence, and deviance is a deviation from these rules (Giddens et al., 1991). Alex and his gang beat an old homeless man, attack a writer and rape his wife. After release from prison, his previous friends and gang mates who are now police officers beat him to near death. The set of behavior violates the norms of living at peace with all people.
Socialization
Socialization is the process of learning to behave in a manner acceptable to society. In the film, the prison takes the role of socializing apprehended and convicted criminals. Alex and other prisoners take religious lessons where the chaplain teaches them that they are sinners, and they can save themselves through accepting the ways of the ‘Big Book”. The Ludovico aversion experiment implemented by the minister for interior also seeks to instill distaste for violence among convicts of violence like Alex. The socialization efforts seek to return the criminals to the ways that can make them live well in the society.
Social Stratification
Social stratification is a system that society uses to categorize people in a hierarchy. The primary system is access to resources and power (Giddens et al., 1991). The society in the film has the upper class composed of the writer and activist who Alex and his gang attack. He lives in a leafy suburb outside the city in a big house with nice furniture. The older lady that Alex and gang attack to rob is described to live in a healthy, isolated farm out of town. She possesses gold, silver, and other jewels. Conversely, Alex and his family belong to the low-middle class. Alex lives with his family in government municipality flats, and his mother works in a factory. The government gives the municipality flats to low-economy people, and they are surrounded by garbage. There is also the lowest social class of homeless people like the man Alex and his gang beats. The social strata are unavoidable in any society.
Gender
The film has several images presenting women as a sexual figure to satisfy the bodily desires of men. The milk bar has its interiors shaped like a woman’s body. Alex and his gang attack a female and rape her on the sight of her husband. The targeting of women for sexual violence crimes indicates that they are given a low social role, and they are portrayed as a weak and discriminated gender.
Groups
People belong to various groups in society based on shared interests and motivations. A change in these interests gets one expunged from the group (Giddens et al., 1991). Alex initially belongs to a violent gang of young people who mainly attack and rob people. When he is imprisoned, he joins a group of prisoners. He temporary reforms from violence after the eversion therapy and thus no longer harbors the interests of prisoners. Consequently, he is released. He is integrated into the community, but the interests of his former gang friends changed after joining the police service. They can no longer socialize, but instead, the old friends attack him. The groups in society are motivated by common interests.
Conclusion
After watching the film, I have a better understanding of human social relationships and societal institutions. I now know that an individual problem, if not addressed, can potentially become a significant challenge to society. Alex’s lack of economic opportunity stimulated a behavior of violence that caused discomfort to the lowest social class to the upper social class and even the government. Individual behavior and deviance to social norms also have a reward. The written and unwritten norms set by the societal institutions equally protect an individual and the societal members. The violation of these norms may seem attractive to an individual in the short term, but they hit back in equal measure in the long term.
References
Fraser, A., & Hagedorn, J. M. (2018). Gangs and global sociological imagination. Theoretical Criminology, 22(1), 42-62.
Giddens, A., Duneier, M., Appelbaum, R. P., & Carr, D. S. (1991). Introduction to sociology. New York: Norton.