xxxvii micro-sociology is concerned with how individuals behave in social situations
ibid., p. 8.
2. Society and Culture
The term culture means different things to different people. In the minds of some people, culture is associated with such activities referred to elite culture
such as the opera, classical music and art museums. Yet in the contrast of the upper classes, there were popular culture for common persons to involve soap
operas, wrestling matches and baseball games, Playboy and Playgirl magazines, etc. Basically, a culture is viewed as a system of ideas, values, beliefs, knowledge,
norms, customs, and technology shared by almost everyone in a particular society. While society is a group of interacting persons who live in a specific geographical
area, who are organized in a cooperative manner, and who share a common culture. A culture is a society’s system of common heritage. In general terms, a
culture can be said to include all the human phenomena in a society that are not the product of biological inheritance. Culture includes all learned behavior, it
consists of both the nonmaterial language, ideas, values, and material aspects of society houses, clothes, tools. Both the skills needed to make a product and the
product itself are parts of culture. Sociology does not judge culture on the basis of the taste or refinement of the society of which it is only a part of culture
Eshleman, et.al.. 1993: 92. In most discussion of culture, it is assumed that the various groups of
people within a society share some expectations about how it works and how its members should behave. Behaviors vary from one group or society to another,
they are viewed as products of culture rather that as basic aspects of human
xxxviii nature. These behaviors are not programmed genetically like animal life but they
are determined by the various culture learned by human. There are several elements of culture such as symbol, language, values, norms, cultural lag,
technology and material culture Eshleman, et.al.. 1993: 92-101.
3. Sociology and Popular Culture Study
People widely assume that research findings tend to support what they already know. They have some idea as to why they act the way they do and how
they work. As social beings, most people were raised in families and communities. Everyone has learned from book, television, radio or perhaps from
the direct experience in daily life which influence both idea or research findings. Nevertheless not all of the obviously true idea has similar results with research
findings. Although some popular observations may be true, many others are not supported by empirical data. Without social research, it is extremely difficult to
distinguish what is actually true from what people’s common sense tells what should be true. Many researchers have not been satisfied with their research
because they run on the basis of what they considered common sense about what they believed was the truth. Thus by employing sociology, it will improve the
quality of understanding people, society, and human behavior as well as increasing the ability to question many of the popular observations widely
accepted as truth by the press and by others Eshleman, et.al.. 1993: 10. Popular culture study is a social study like sociology or other social
sciences: psychology, anthropology, economics, political science, etc. Each social science focuses on selected aspects of social relationships or social systems.
Scientist in each field generally devotes their attention to “what is” rather than
xxxix “what should be”. The social sciences are also likely to have as a goal the
acquisition of knowledge rather than the direct utilization of that knowledge. Thus they differ little in their focus on social phenomena, in their methods, and in their
goals, but they do differ in their particular focus of attention. Also, it is not unusual for the social sciences to overlap somewhat. Popular culture study is a
reflective study to reveal out the beliefs and values of cultural elements based on its popularity. Therefore, the focus of the study is on the beliefs and values
reflected on that cultural element. Concerning both themes, the sociology or sociological approach will approach them proportionally from the context of
society and social life.
D. American Society between 2004 and 2005 2004 was the year in which the film National Treasure was released. It
was four years goes by in the twenty first century. While the years between 2004 and 2005 were the important years in which the film National Treasure became
popular in American theatres. The film reflects and alters beliefs and values in society means that the beliefs and values of film National Treasure influenced the
beliefs and values in society. It was the beliefs and values which already exist in America since long time ago and were preserved from time to time by the
American people. In other words, the American society between 2004 and 2005 was the society in relevance to the beliefs and values they kept at that time, which
may refer also to the previous American fundamental or traditional beliefs myth and values.
xl Nachbar and Lause stated that the evaluation of beliefs and values from
their stability and significance results in two categories of beliefs and values. The first ones are the most stable and significant beliefs and values, and the second
ones are the less stable and important. The beliefs and values become unstable and less important when they have weak relation to the myth. They are popular for
only several decades short-lived. For instance are the beliefs and values about “Communist Bloc” as an evil empire, and also the political discrimination toward
women and Afro-Americans Nachbar and Lause, 1992: 83. In the first type, beliefs and values become stable, important, and
significant when they are closely associated with the myth. It can also be representative enough in defining the cultural mindset ibid.. In this case, the
beliefs and values mentioned by Nachbar and Lause are such as the family values, the values of America as a democratic country, individual freedom, technology,
material success, romantic love, etc. They existed as American beliefs and values since the early age of American society in 18
th
century until nowadays in 21
st
century. Those are the “American Dreams” which are believed by American people to be realized and preserved. Therefore American values today or
tomorrow need to be very similar to those in the past times centuries. Besides the categorization of American society’s beliefs and values related
to myth above, there are also other beliefs and values of American society between 2004 and 2005 from other sources which may have connection or
relation with the beliefs and values of film National Treasure. They are:
xli
1. Adulthood is an essential period between childhood and parenthood
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