The Sociology of "Without You I'm Nothing"

This film resonates many aspects of the conversation on the Schechner piece we had as a class last Wednesday, specifically the ideas of gender and race as a social construct. For example, when she discusses the scene with the mother trying to convince her children that everything is fine within her marriage, she is displaying a model of gender. This model has been socially constructed, but it is familiar to us because this kind of behavior is socially encoded for us. The role of a mom putting on a happy face for her kids is one commonly seen in our society. As Schechner states, "one's biological sex... is raw material to be shaped through practice into the socially constructed performance that is gender." In the opening scene, Sandra sings about being a woman of different races. This scene could be used to demonstrate the idea that race is socially constructed. Although Sandra is visually a white woman, she sings about being 4 different women with different skin colors. As Schechner states, "visible marks of race are unreliable," meaning that one's race is not solely determined by their outer appearances. Instead, race is shaped through a variety of factors, including a group's social customs and norms.