Opie's Hobo Friend Summary

Question #1

Introduction

This essay defines, discusses, and applies three sociological key terms. The three applied sociological terms are folkways, innovation, and sanction. The three sociological concepts are discussed relative to the video, “Opie’s Hobo Friend”.

Key Term #1: Folkways

The concept of folkways in Sociology is defined as “a norm governing everyday behavior whose violation raises comparatively little concern” (Schaefer). Folkways is an important sociological concept because it applied to a type of social norm that may consist of small demeanors, educated by observation and copied, but they are by no means unimportant. However, folkways mark the discrepancy between discourteous and well-mannered behavior, so it exercises a form

of social pressure on people to act and interact in certain ways, but do not have moral significance, and there are rarely serious consequences or sanctions for violating one
Folkways is evident in the video, “Opie’s Hobo Friend folkways, innovation, and sanction” in the scenes every day that Barney brought Opie’s hobo friend in, Barney always portrayed the same attitude him that never changed. Barney bought Opie’s friend in multiple times on different charges, but Sherriff Andy with a calm attitude at all times lets him go because the charges were not never serious enough to hold him.
Key Term #2:
The concept of innovation in Sociology is defined as “the process of introducing a new idea or object to a culture through discovery or invention.”(Schaefer).

Innovation is an important sociological concept because it applied to the development and the expansion of the human culture around the world through discoveries or inventions. Furthermore, innovations can vary in the degree to which they perceive expenses and benefits associated with prevailing ideas and practices.

Innovation is evident in the video, “Opie’s Hobo Friend (Bullock)” in the scene where Opie’s hobo friend first met Andy and Opie when they were about to go fishing at the beginning of the show. He was new to the area and Andy invited him to take a tour around town. Next, he introduced a new trick to Opie using a coin and making it disappear then reappear. Then, in the scene when Opie was at the gumball machine his hobo friend showed him a trick to get a gumball out the machine, but Opie thought it was cheating although his hobo friend convinced him that the gumball machine didn’t want his

money.
Key Term #3:
The concept of sanction in Sociology is defined as “a penalty or reward for conduct concerning a social norm.” (Schaefer).

Sanction is an important sociological concept because it applied to a social control that can be positive or negative and can ascend from either formal or informal control. In other words, sanctions provide an effective utensil for controlling conduct in conformity with social usage. Furthermore, a sanction can be any reaction from others to the comportment of an individual or group.

Sanction is evident in the video, “Opie’s Hobo Friend (Bullock)” in the scene where Barney brought Opie’s hobo friend in on a bag charge at the beginning of the show, but Andy let him go because the charge wasn’t serious enough. Next, when Barney brought Opie’s hobo friend on a loitering charge, but Andy let him go again because it wasn’t to serious. Then in the scene when Barney bought Opie’s hobo friend in for stealing Aunt B’s purse, and it made Opie very sad that his friend did something so bad but Andy knew that Aunt B had thrown the purse in the trash so he released him.

Conclusion

This essay defined, discussed, and applied three sociological key terms. The three applied terms were folkways, innovation, and sanction. The three sociological terms were discussed relative to the video, “Opie’s Hobo Friend

(Bullock).”