CREATIVE VISUALIZATION IN SOCIOLOGY - 1

O, SAVE THE KING!
Chess and Social Conflict
by Trisha Sanico, SA21, Section I

Black and white. Chess, seen as a fight between two opposing kingdoms, reflects the clash between groups in society. The photo above showing a white king standing on top of two black rooks emphasizes how one race in society can be more favored than another race. Ever wonder why the white pieces always get the first move? The same photo also illustrates gender conflict. The white queen, for instance, seems to bow down to the white king – a situation that depicts a patriarchal structure. The strategy in chess of protecting the king further deepens the patriarchal image. The queen, for example, may be the most versatile chess piece but it will go to the death, so to speak, to save the king from being captured by the opposing force. Like slaves to men, women subordinate and even sacrifice themselves to men. Thus, using the social conflict approach, then, one can see that the old-time favorite game is more than just a battle of wits but a symbolic struggle for dominance where one group, using whatever resources it can muster, seeks to overpower the other and show, again and again, that the more powerful reigns supreme.

Note: After a session on the Sociological Perspective, I asked my class in the introductory course to visualize a concept or theoretical approach using readily available materials. (We earlier practiced on Lego-like blocks.) Students were to take a photograph of their work and write a paragraph discussing their creation. Here are two submissions, shown in two separate blogs. This is the first, the other one follows.

Ricky Abad

CREATIVE VISUALIZATION IN SOCIOLOGY - 2

OBJECTIVITY VISUALIZED
by Karen Ann Labsan, SA21, Section I

Objectivity in social science research means conducting research with personal neutrality or with minimal or no influence from one's opinions and groundless ideas. The table tennis racket represents the sociologist as if s/he is wrapped in a white sheet to cover or eliminate biased thoughts and be colored only by different hues and shades that represent the facts and the theory(-ies) used to interpret those facts. The racket is not entirely plain and white for it is nearly impossible to be precisely a hundred percent objective. But it goes with saying that these colors represent data and theory both of which should be least affected by unjustifiable and/or irrelevant common-sense assumptions.

Note: After a session on the Sociological Perspective in the introductory course, I asked students to visualize a concept or theoretical approach using readily available materials. (We had earlier practiced with Lego-like blocks.) Students are to take a photograph of their work and write a paragraph discussing their creation. Here are two submissions, shown in two separate blogs. This is the second.

Ricky Abad