2 Literature Review: Theoretical Framework

To fully analyze my topic, I will be applying the concept of the sociological imagination, as well as the theories of symbolic interactionism, cultivation theory, and intersectionality.

The Sociological Imagination

The Sociological Imagination is a framework articulated by C Wright Mills which posits that the identifying feature of sociology as a discipline is how it articulates the relationship between large overarching structures and small/personal interactions; how they coexist & co-construct each-other.  It breaks down the binary of public and private issues, arguing that oftentimes that which we perceive as an individual matter often relates to a larger social issue, and vice versa. For example, when a man commits sexualized violence against a woman, it simultaneously is a product of and is creating rape culture. When an episode of CSI centers a narrative of a man of color murdering an innocent white woman, it is simultaneously a product of the way white supremacy justifies violence in the name of protecting white femininity, and is enacting such. Many researchers have applied their sociological imagination to works of literature, as they often allow us to look at larger social issues through the singular narrative of an individual character. While poetry lacks the continuous narrative of a piece of fiction, there is a way you are uniquely able to transfer emotional and physical experiences through poetic form, imagery, and otherwise manipulated language. In Life of the Party, Gatwood’s fear and experiences of sexualized violence become visceral for the reader. She explicitly created this project to “help us feel less alone in the dark” (Gatwood 2019:xv). Thus, this project intentionally engages the sociological imagination, urging us to see our personal experiences in relationship to not only hers but the public issue of sexualized violence at large.

Symbolic Interactionism

Symbolic interactionism is a sociological framework which originated in the early 20th century from the work of sociologists like George Herbert Mead and Georg Simmel and was greatly expanded by sociologists like Herbert Bloomer and Erving Goffman, among many others. Summed up by Scott Christopher, symbolic interactionism posits that:

• Individuals strive to create and maintain meaning in their environments
• That meaning is created and modified in interactions between people
• That individuals are self-directed in their behavior rather than simply reactive to their environments.
• That Individuals are self-reflective; they can examine their actions as an object separate from themselves.
• That Individuals’ behavior is motivated by how they view themselves

(Christopher 2000:6)

Symbolic interactionism began with theorizing the basic ways in which we come to understand the world and has over time moved to how we conceptualize the self in relation to others. It aims to understand how individuals organize behavioral acts into coherent, meaningful entities. Symbolic interactionists argue that social roles are created and negotiated through interaction; that it is through this process of developing and enacting roles that shared, symbolic meanings of gestures are created and the self is constructed. They argue that we act contextually based on our interpretation of situational norms and your perception of self play a key role in the behavioral choices you make. We can apply the lense of symbolic interactionism to understand how affective experiences of fear and safety are constructed by individual experiences of violence and rape culture at large.

Cultivation Theory

Cultivation theory is a framework originally forwarded by George Gerbner that posits that the media that people consume influences the way individuals perceive the world, which in turn affects their beliefs and actions. The relationship between violent narratives and fear of crime is a major focus of cultivation theory, as many researchers have shown that consumption of media that portrays crime increases people’s perceptions of crime risk victimization and fear of crime. As authors Kathleen Custers and Jan Van den Bulck articulate “cultivation theory posits that much socialization and enculturation in society takes the form of storytelling. Societies create stories to illustrate what their social order is and what their norms are with the purpose of making their members accept them as normal. Violence laden drama shows who gets away with what, when, why, how and against whom.” (Custers and Bulck 2012:98).  This is certainly applicable to the portrayal of sexualized violence in media, which perpetuates the narrative that the world is not safe for women, but particularly propagates the victimhood of beautiful cis, straight white women. Furthermore, the types of stories of sexual violence narratives that crime tv tends to re-enact (stranger in an alley way vs. person you already know, police/detectives coming along and solving the problem) fundamentally influence who is perceived to be a victim, who is taught to be afraid, and who the good guy and bad guy are (in a manner which does not mirror reality of who perpetrates and who is harmed). This is vital for understanding Life of the Party, and the cultural fear of sexualized violence at large.

Intersectionality

Intersectionality is a framework originally developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw to articulate the unique discrimination Black women face at the intersection of their Blackness and their womanhood. It has since been applied to examine the various ways intersecting identities overlap to create unique experiences of privilege and marginalization. An intersectional framework is vital for analyzing Life of the Party, as this book is explicitly digging into the complicated relationship between a queer, thin conventionally beautiful white woman and her experiences of girlhood/fear of sexualized violence. This book intentionally interrogates the relationship between white femininity and fear and how it is “a privilege to have your body looked for” (xiii). Gatwood writes “true crime, while being a genre that so many women rely on for contorted validation, is, simultaneously a perpetrator of misogyny, racism, and sexualized violence– all of which is centered around one, beloved dead girl” (xiii). She articulates how these shows and larger cultural discourse about violence against women rely on fear-mongering narratives of cisgender white women falling prey to men of color and completely disregard women of color & sex workers who experience the highest rates of homicide, and how this complicates her experience of fear as a queer cisgender thin white woman.