This week in sociology we watched the first episode of Freaks and Geeks. This episode was supposed to explain how Durkheim, Marx and Weber contributed to new ideas about sociology. Durkheim thought of the functional theory where people are affected by where they live and which groups they belong to. In Freaks and Geeks, both the main characters are involved with social groups, like the "burn outs" and geeks, but they also were apart of a school and a family. Marx founded the conflict theory, which explains how different classes control others. In the episode, Sam, who is considered a geek, has a bully. The bully has power over Sam. Also, parents and teachers have power over the students. This power shapes who we are and who has power over others. Weber's perspective was the symbolic interaction theory where people interact based on symbols. One of the many symbols was Lindsay's army jacket. The jacket represented her tomboy and rebellious attitude in the beginning. However, at the Homecoming dance she takes off the jacket to symbolize that she is "good" again. These theories not only relate to just one episode of Freaks and Geeks, but they also relate to our everyday life. My life consists of my family, my school friends, and my team. The power aspect comes from teachers, parents and my coach (who is also my mom). When you sit and think about it finding symbols in your own life can be difficult. The symbols in my life I would say are my grips or a leotard to represent the gymnastics part of my life. Being a gymnast is such a huge part of me that any other symbol wouldn't be as strong. Anyway, I liked the first episode so much that I am watching the entire season now. Hopefully we can watch another episode in class though.