Analysis Of The Movie Crash In Terms Of Psychology, Sociology, And Feminism
Generally, the ideas of prejudice, stereotype, and discrimination are used interchangeably to name different acts of judgement and characterize an individual or certain groups in society. Standpoint theory synthesizes the process of people to take personal positions as a definitive argument to categorize people and justify ideas. In this paper, it will be analyzed the movie “Crash” (2004) using theoretical framework of standpoint theory, having in consideration different points of view, from psychology, sociology, and feminism.
In this analysis, it will be explained how perceptions from both privileged and unprivileged groups can generate negative impacts on discrimination and unequal treat among people. The first part is a brief overview of Standpoint Theory and description of emotions, behaviors, and thoughts observed in individuals and groups. Also, it describes the history of the last 90 years of how standpoint have been seen from different global aspects related to colonialism, global warfare, and technological and cultural changes. The second part describes from a psychology point of view how people construct standpoint from other individuals and groups and factors for construction of standpoint based on affection and competition. The third part explains from sociologists how groups construct standpoint for external groups and validate them as a requirement for identification and acceptation into a group. The fourth part analyses the critics from feminism way to understand the world from Standpoint theory and the last part summarizes essay with conclusions of work.
Standpoint theory generates guidance for people about the expected behavior of people, creating a typical image that comes to the mind of an individual when he thinks and perceives of a particular social group. Harding (2004) states the popularity of theory during 70 and 80 as epistemology, philosophy of science and methodology basis for feminism. Grebowicz (2007) also defines it as a political and social epistemology for explaining power relations among people. It has been used as a simplified tool for explaining complex environments and at the same time allow to process information from others. The construction of points of view is generated by individual’s experiences but also can be created by natural or quasi natural forces or the relativism of identity politics for groups (Grebowicz, 2007, p. 17). The outcome for combining personal experiences and social confrontation of ideas and thoughts is what Willie (2012) calls an insider-outsider perspective where a person who has no choice, given her social status an understanding of how the world works.
At the movie, Anthony`s character went to restaurant with his friend, claiming discrimination and rejection just for the fact of being black man. The arguments used to consider that he was discriminated was the fact of waiting to much for a table and he did not receive a cup of coffee regardless of the fact he does not like coffee. Also it claims that waitresses reacts with a discriminatory behavior just for the fact that she holds up a stereotype of black people as a condition to maintain her job and behave properly under standards of restaurant. From that point of view, from unprivileged group, Anthony maintain a standpoint of systematic discrimination against black people. His friend argues saying that it is not factual the arguments that he said, however he maintains his point.
The predefined concepts based on personal or group experiences not only reflect beliefs about the characteristic features of the members of a group but also contain information about other qualities such as social roles and the degree to which their members share specific characteristics, influencing the emergence of emotional reactions towards those they belong to that group. It is, in this manner, how individuals infer the characteristics of the groups based on what a group may perceive of them but also on the social roles they occupy depending on household income, education and labor opportunities. Taking back to movie, Jean`s perspective of standpoint on second 55 of video, she lays a predisposing black people as dangerous for the perception that they are poor and they do not have money, they need and they look for it in rich people, as she is. At the moment when Jean sees Anthony and his friend, she takes her husband’s hand as a posture of protection against a potential threat. The reaction of Antony reinforces the argument of standpoint from the unprivileged and privileged groups, where prejudices from both parts increases discrimination and negative emotions such as hate and anger.
In recent human history, there have been multiple standpoints between groups based on ethnicity, social class, gender, and cultural features, being one important thematic of the social sciences since the decade of 1920. Before that decade, racism was the most common standpoint between privileged groups justify racial superiority based on intellectual limitation and evolutionary delay among oppressed groups.
Slavery of black and indigenous people. Duckitt (1992) explains after 1920 until 1960 the construction of standpoint is projected towards minority groups based on hostility and protection from foreign people vs. local people, as a mechanism of structural defense of the authoritative personality, behaviors that occurred during the great depression and then World War 2.
In the Crash movie, after Jean and her husband suffered a robbery in their house, the husband hired a Latino locksmith to change door`s locks. However, Jane considered dangerous for the fact that he was a Latino man, his tattoos, haircut and culture origins, being a foreign person that works with foreign peers, calling him a gang man (as refereeing a gangster, a criminal). In spite of she has no record of past actions of locksmith, people who work with or education, she maintained a dominant standpoint of hate, disgust and fear among foreign people that comes from poor countries from South America.
After 1960 until 1980, the new way of people thinks and create bias perception of social reality start from social rules, where central concepts from that way of thinking are accordance, obedience, and socialization. At that moment in the United States and Western Europe arise anti-discrimination social movements as a cultural response to inequality and claim of rights from the excluded groups. After 1980, the standpoints are the result of a cognitive bias in the construction of social identity, where self-esteem, attribution, and categorization were the central concepts for building new perspectives and the globalization of human rights as evidence to support it.
From a psychology perspective, standpoint has been conceptualized as an attitude, constructed by a cognitive component based on beliefs about a specific group, an affective component that may be good as pride and admiration or negative emotions such as hate or contempt. The second component is related to predisposed behaviors negatively towards a group; life experiences of people may enforce these standpoint concepts and apply them as a valid argument despite data and checkable evidence. Allport (1957) defines this concept as: 'antipathy based on a generalization inflexible and erroneous, which can be felt or expressed, directed towards a group as a whole or to an individual for being a member of a group”.
Two relevant factors at the moment for explained standpoints for groups depend on affection where it is associated with intergroup cooperativity and denial of individualism; and competition associated with groups perceived as high status of success and power, denying those with low status. This evokes multiple results depending on levels of affection and competition. When there are high levels of affection but low levels of competition, this can create standpoints and stereotypes of sympathy and pity. Low levels of affection and high levels of competition generate a predisposition of envy and jealousy, while low levels of affection and competition arise in resentment, anger, and disgust. The process in which people understand and internalize stereotypes and standpoints is transmitted during the process of socialization through family, school, peers, mass media and social networks. At the movie, Jean claims to the husband the catastrophic situation of robbery of being point gunned from black robbers. In that moment, she expressed low levels of affection and competition towards black people, regardless of fact that one of co-workers of her husband is black, well-educated and dressed, receiving all that sample of hate and disgust to black race.
However, while psychologists have addressed the phenomenon of standpoint as an intrapsychic process since sociology has been done emphasis on the functions that this phenomenon works at the group level. Bobo (1999) explains the social dynamics of intergroup relations have emphasized economic aspects, in terms of social classes, removing individual influences of standpoint. Social structures have influenced at the moment to build stereotypes. These not only promote discrimination based on influence systematic perception, interpretation and judgments but also arise and they are reinforced by perceived social discrimination, justifying the disparity between the groups. It is, in this way, how individuals infer the characteristics of the groups based on the social roles they occupy.
As what happens with the phenomenon of prejudice, standpoint from certain minority groups has also socialized an ideology of justification of the system, which includes beliefs stereotypical about themselves rationalizing their social position. The favoritism in groups plays a fundamental role in intergroup relationships because we live in them and sometimes for them. The bias appears when an exogenous group is associated with strong emotions as disgust, fear or hate, which are one of the main causes of overreaction against other groups. It is there that, when a different group violates a norm established by the group, disgust and avoidance appear; when an external group is perceived as unfairly benefited as a result of territorial or economical provision of economic resources, resentments and actions aimed at reducing those benefits appear.
In the movie, after the discussion between Jane and her husband for changing locks by a Latino locksmith, the husband discussed the impacts of robbery with his peers as a district attorney, considering that the consequences of robbery would impact in his actions over black community and it will create a situation of conflict between his job and prosecuted black people. From one hand, the privileged group represented by him and his team consider that minority would judge him negatively as retaliation from robbery made by black robbers, being a standpoint of prejudice over an oppressed group.
This conception serves to an individual for maintaining status and a role for a certain group and be differentiated for the groups that prejudices. As consequence, individuals who deviate from their traditional group role and change the original conception created by the group may arouse in negative reactions in other group members, while those who exhibit behaviors that reinforce the status quo get positive responses; such as self-esteem and social outcomes as material advantages provided by the group. However, because standpoint conceptions represent an individual level of psychological bias, members of a historically disadvantaged group can also maintain prejudiced attitudes towards groups with greater advantages and towards their members. An alternative result for people at the moment of maintaining a standpoint is not only reinforcing the differences between the groups but a reaction for avoiding to be discriminated against.
Consequences for maintaining a bias standpoint create discrimination, where maintains and reinforces the advantages of a group and its members over others. This not only means a pejorative distinction between groups and individuals; but also refers to inappropriate and potentially unequal treatment of people for belonging from a certain group. Now, that discrimination not only construct actions that harm other groups but also actions that tend to favor unfair members of the group itself based on a bias conception and hostile behavior to others but not by performance or results. At the movie, the Jean`s husband reconsidered the chance of improving his image to black community delivering a medal to firefighter that he considered black. However, his co-worker confirmed that he is an Iraqi person with dark skin, but not a black person. In that case, taking a standpoint just for the color of skin, creates a categorization of race based on perception and not by evidence.
The standpoint theory may be considered also from politics and cultural perspective that has change over last 50 years. Harding (2004) argues that standpoint theory may be accepted as some kind of social location and political struggle can lead to social changes and growth of knowledge. Also, it is a good approximation for understanding the western civilization's current discussion of cultural wars in several issues related to anticlass, antiracist, multicultural and anti-imperialist initiatives. However, it is considered contentious not just to its critics outside feminism but also from feminist itself (at least the second wave feminism), based on argument where unprivileged groups develop perspectives less partial and less distorted compared with privileged groups, in this case, patriarchy and its institutions. The objectivity of standpoint may be evaluated at least in some way depending on the success of a person`s critical, reflexive relationship to its partiality and interest. The determination of how one idea or perception should be weighed against others is a negotiation process between groups or individuals.
Rolin (2009) complements standpoint theory helps to identify the existing relations of power as a distinctive kind of obstacle to the production of scientific knowledge, being necessary a process of empowerment of unprivileged groups, in this case, women. This occurs when a privileged group suppresses relevant evidence from arguments by intimidating informants, by invoking uncomfortable emotions. This can occur at an entrepreneurial level when corporative culture reflects intimidation over people who rejects business model and possible questionable management practices. The second case applies appealing disgust, shame, anger or other uncomfortable emotions to invalidate arguments posing as incorrect.
The movie Crash presented multiple cases of prejudice, hate and discrimination, based Standpoint theory, as a controversial epistemological and social science approach, it is an explanation of how people build perspective from others based on personal experiences, social confrontation of perspectives and acceptation of prejudice to maintain a position in a privileged or marginalized group. This important to understand because notions created by individuals or groups are not constitutive of objectivity or context-independent but virtues we maximize for specific purposes and construction of reality. From psychological and sociological points of view, the movie show how individuals behave and think about unprivileged groups and also how particular cases of struggle can be understood as a systematic case of discrimination among both type of groups.
The evolution of theory has been presented since 70, however, it has been studied early since 1920 with the multiple forms of prejudice during economic crisis, global wars and cultural changes among worldwide with extension of communication and exchange, moving from racial superiority to construction of new social identities based on standpoint perceptions of reality constructed by a few. The movie presented a particular case of standpoint if take in consideration of discrimination in foreign people as potentially dangerous based on a personal experience or biased point of view.
Standpoint outcomes from oppressed and privileged groups can be understood as bias prejudice that produces discrimination and social segregation behaviors based on social norms influenced by individuals and groups to have prejudiced attitudes. The movie showed discriminatory acts over Anthony by Jean at the moment she saw him and took a defensive position without any presence of violence or threat. For the case of Latino Locksmith, she treated as a robber and an accomplice for other thieves.
Standpoint theory has been used as a scientific basis to justify feminism, arguing scientific research should pay more relevance from the perspective of unprivileged groups to gain more objective knowledge of social reality.
However, this is also applied for understanding from psychology and sociology behavior of privileged groups seen in other groups and can lead to discrimination and a bias observation of reality. This implies that not only marginal groups into society can create bias perceptions from others but privileged groups can end creating perspectives that create division and struggle among social classes and ethnicities. During the movie crash, this type of situations are at risk when the district attorney claimed retaliation of black community as result of his job`s actions and its effort to smooth situation using smokescreen with a medal to a person who is really an iraqui firefighter.
