The Movie Crash and the Concepts of Sociology

The movie Crash is chock full of sociological concepts, examining issues of race, social class, and gender, as well as many others. In this movie, we can see the theories of Durkheim and Marx for sure as well as many other concepts. Crash is one of those movies that make us rethink even what we think we know about the world we live in.

The first sociological concept that Crash demonstrates is the Thomas Theorem. Basically, this theorem tells us that if we believe situations to be real, they become real to us. Our own subjective reality becomes our objective reality. It follows then that if we believe certain things about an individual, he/she begins acting in exactly that way. It also follows that certain crimes or problems do not have an objective realities. Using drugs would be one example of that sort of victimless crime. The best example of this in the movie might be when Jean Cabot grips her purse when passing by Anthony (Ludicris) and Peter on the street. She believes black people to be a threat.

Her subjective reality becomes real in the next minute when the two young black men carjack them. Another example would be our expectations of Arabs to be violent terrorists. Farhad is not even Arab. Technically, he is Persian, but what the shop owner expects from him, he eventually gets when Farhad "shoots" the little Hispanic girl. Farhad believes the Hispanic man is ripping him off so when his shop is looted, the Hispanic man is blamed although he had nothing to do with the destruction. What the characters believe about others has become real in these instances.

Another sociological term demonstrated in Crash is the theory of micro-aggression. Microaggressions would be defined as "Microaggressions are subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) directed toward people of color, often automatically or unconsciously." While the individual effects of these particular instances may be small, the cumulative effects can be devastating. In Crash, I believe the character that most exemplifies this is the film director. Examples of these subtle