Sociological Perspective of the Blind Side

Dela Appeah

13 May 2014

Jonathan Cox

SOCY 105

Sociological Perspective of the Blind Side

        Social problems within our society continue to arise. In an ideal world, it is appropriate to say that as individuals we all wish to live life in peace. Unfortunately, getting a whole nation to come to a consensus is nearly impossible. Social problems are controversial societal or behavioral related issues, which can affect the environment, people and social institutions (Leon-Guerrero 2013). These social problems can range from global concerns to racial issues such as discrimination and through our sociological imagination we are able to differentiate problems using our own discretion (Leon-Guerrero 2013). Choosing a movie to analyze from a sociological perspective was an interesting experience because you become aware of the many social problems that were always there and never paid attention to.  The movie "The Blind Side" is a great example, which highlights the three main social problems that will be analyzed and interwoven in this paper: social class and poverty, education, and alcohol and drug abuse.

        "The Blind Side" is based on a true story, outlining Michael Oher’s life from an impoverished child to a successful athlete with the help of the Tuohy Family. The Tuohy family took Michael in and ended up adopting him. Michael came from a broken home, growing up in the inner city of Memphis, Tennessee with a mother who was a drug addict and an absentee father.  After running away from several foster homes, Michael was fortunate enough to be accepted into a Wingate Christian school (WCS), which was a private school. The football coach needed more players and saw Michael as an asset. While enrolled at this private school the Tuohy family saw Michael in need of help and his life began to progress from there (Hancock, The Blind Side 2009). Throughout Michael’s life he struggles with poverty, being homeless and being taken in by the Tuohy family who was fairly wealthy upper class family, which relates to social class and poverty. Prior to Michael attending WCS, he was attending schools that provided him with "a very poor quality of education," and this could have been due to him being of a lower class (Hancock, The Blind Side 2009). His mother was a drug addict unable to care for her kids leaving which left Michael homeless because he kept running away from the foster homes.

        When thinking of social problems many can agree that many problems arise because of inequality. Not only in the United States but globally people are ranked and categorized based on their wealth, which is "the assets owned by a household"  (Leon -Guerrero,2013, p.37). This goes beyond receiving a good education and having a good paying job. Though one may earn their income by having a successful career, wealth is sometimes passed down by generations. The individuals in this category live a fairly comfortable life "passing class status along to their children" (Leon-Guerrero,2013, p.39).  Sean Tuohy is a businessman who owns several taco bell companies; he has the ideal family, a wife and two children. They are upper class and their wealth is evident through their material possessions, the Tuohy family lives a lavish lifestyle apparent by the size of their house and the kind of cars they drive. Sociologically, this can be classified as a privilege, being that Sean Tuohy is a businessman it grants his children a better advantage over those with lower economic status because of their fathers ranking in society.  Comparing the Tuohy's household to that of Michaels, Michael was from a less fortunate neighborhood and one can notice by the appearance of the run down houses and it was a predominantly black neighborhood with a high crime rate. In Michael's circumstance, having an absent father and a mother addicted to drugs unable to care for him, makes him fall under absolute poverty.  This means that he was unable to provide for himself, he was homeless without a job and this was because he continuously ran away (Leon-Guerrero 2013).  

        The poor are commonly known as “racial and ethnic minorities in certain geographic locations with households ran by single mothers” (Leon-Guerrero,2013, p.39). Focusing on single mothers from a feminist perspective, women are portrayed differently in the media as abusing the help that they are receiving from the government. According to Gilens, in the book social problem, media is responsible for creating an image of minorities, more specifically black people, being in poverty. During the civil rights era there was a "racialization of poverty." This meant that when media wanted "heightened sympathy for the poor, it more than likely included those who were white and of a higher class. On the other hand blacks where depicted to be unproductive and abusive to their welfare, and they were mainly seen on topics that related to poverty (Gilens, p.52).  It is interesting to see how the media, more specifically the news outlets can skew information depending on what they want the viewers to know.  Michael's mother was a single mother who could not care for her children, though it does not seem that she was getting any help for herself or her family she was eligible to qualify for federal programs. Since they fall under the poverty they could have had health care under Medicaid as well as food stamps had Michaels mother been determined to make a living for them (Leon- Guerrero 2013). Many of the male characters in the movie who were living in the inner city along with Michael did not seem to have father figures in their lives. As single mothers and being in the inner city (lower class) makes it hard to find a job that can get these women out of poverty in order to support their families. Circumstances such as these can consequently lead to the use of drugs and alcohol, as it did for Michaels mother.

        Michael's biological mother was a drug addict, which means that she was "psychologically dependent on drugs or medication"(Leon-Guerrero, 2013, p. 317).  His mother was a single parent who had twelve children. She most likely was faced with a lot of pressure and had nobody to turn to. We must take into consideration where she lives; people doing the same thing surround her. This may be different if she was of higher social status and not living under the poverty line. The interactionist perspective suggests the theory of differential association, when you are constantly around someone you start to do some of the same actions as them (Leon-Guerrero 2013). I would have to agree with the interactionist perspective; if there are certain norms within a society people will end up conforming. In "The Blind Side" Michael explains that when he was younger his mother would tell him to close his eyes when all the bad things will happen, including her drug and alcohol intake (Hancock, The Blind Side 2009). This goes to show that she did not want to be a bad influence on her son, but she did not know how to stop herself at the same time. Michael's mother had many drug charges   The male figures that Michael grew up with all engaged in drinking which we see when Michael is offered a drink after stopping by one of his friends house. I wondered if he had ever consumed alcohol prior to going into his friends’ house, or if he just did it to fit in because everyone else was doing it.