“Doing” Sociology: Socialization and Media Summary and Reflection Betsy Feulner I chose to observe Bob the Builder and Paw Patrol. Bob the Builder was a British animated children’s television show that ran from 1999 until 2011. Paw Patrol is also an animated television show intended for children ages five to eight; Paw Patrol first aired in 2013 and is still running today. I decided on these two TV series because they both focus on a male character solving problems in their community with the help of a team, thus they are easily comparable. Additionally, I believe these shows are good examples of media that portray certain socialization messages to children. Bob the Builder follows the daily adventures of Bob and his gang of anthropomorphized work vehicles (Scoop, Dizzy, Lofty, Roley, and Muck). The show also features Bob’s wife Wendy, she acts as Bob’s assistant, helper, or builder on occasion. Each episode is ten minutes in length. The first episode of Bob the Builder I watched was from series one, episode two titled “Muck gets Stuck.” In this episode, Bob goes with Muck and Scoop to lay bricks for the new tunnel while Lofty goes to the hill to help move logs. It turns out that Muck is afraid of the dark and Lofty is afraid of heights. Nothing seems to be helping Muck get out of the tunnel when all of a sudden, he hears a “ghost” which sends him zooming out of the tunnel. I also watched an episode from series five titled, “Clumsy Roley.” This episode shows Wendy going with Dizzy, Roley, and Lofty to build a deck in Mr. Beasley’s Garden while Bob goes to Mr. Fathergail’s to install his new kitchen. In the garden, Roley is acting very clumsy and ends up flattening Mr. Beasley’s watering can by accident; later he knocks a squirrel's nest out of a tree. However, Wendy does not make Roley feel bad about his accidents and instead focuses on using Roley's abilities for good. Roley helps Wendy lay the cement and flatten the boxes. The kid's television series, Paw Patrol, focuses on a young boy named Ryder who leads a team of search and rescue dogs who call themselves the PAW patrol. The team includes six pups: Chase a male german shepherd police dog, Marshall a male dalmatian fire dog, Rubble a male construction english bulldog, Skye a female cockapoo pilot, Zuma a male chocolate lab water-rescue pup, and Rocky a male mixed breed eco pup. The team goes on missions with Ryder working together to protect their community called Adventure Bay. I watched season eight, episode seventeen “Pups Save a Box Fort.” In this episode, the pups must save their team member Rocky and villain Mayor Humdinger of Foggy Bottom from a runaway box fort. The mayor’s assistant is driving recklessly through Adventure Bay while towing the box fort with Rocky and Mayor Humdinger trapped inside. Ryder, Chase, Rubble, and Zuma end up saving Rocky and Mayor Humdinger just as Rocky finishes solving the riddles to unlock the box fort. I also viewed episode twenty-four of season eight titled “Pups Save a Lonesome Walrus.” Captain Turbot is unable to use his boat since it needed repairs, so he decides to find peace and quiet and continue writing his story. Wally the Walrus misses his best friend and searches all over for the captain turning the town upside down in the process. Skye finds Captain Turbot on the mountain, using her helicopter she brings him back to Wally. At first glance, these shows just seem like normal children's series designed to keep kids entertained. However, when you take a deeper look, you can see the various socialization messages being portrayed. Both shows are focused on a lead male character, but I also noticed that both teams were mostly made up of male vehicles or pups. More specifically, Dizzy the orange cement mixer was the only girl on Bob’s team and Skye the pilot pup is the only female dog on Ryder’s team. However, in more recent seasons of Paw Patrol, I believe additional female pups have been created. Furthermore, the female character Wendy in Bob the Builder is portrayed simply as a wife and assistant in the first episode. Fortunately, in the second episode, Wendy had a tool kit and was also building like Bob. This shows how gender norms and roles are portrayed everywhere in society. When children are viewing these television shows they may get the idea that boys are the only ones who can be strong and build things. The role age plays in society can also be seen in Bob the Builder “Clumsy Roley.” Wendy did not want Mr. Beasley (an old man) to help complete the manual work and risk getting hurt so she asked him to make her tea. Later, when he comes back with her tea and Wendy tastes something funny Mr. Beasley realized he accidentally mixed pudding in her tea rather than sugar. This represents how older people often may forget things and should be treated as fragile. This is not necessarily a negative connotation of older individuals, instead, it could be presenting a socialization process of relationships between children and their elders. Specifically, how children should treat their elders with kindness, patience, and respect. Moreover, this episode also highlights the concept of individual differences. Roley was very clumsy and kept breaking things accidentally, however, Wendy did not get mad at Roley. Instead, she found ways for Roley to use his differences to help the team. This episode portrays individual differences in a positive light and could potentially affect the way children interact with one another. I noticed Paw Patrol included many more direct and understandable messages for kids related to current issues or social trends in today’s society. For example, having Rocky the recycling pup is important since it spreads awareness of the importance of recycling and gives recycling a positive connotation. The show also consistently highlights how stealing is bad and working as a team is good. Additionally, while each pup has a different job, the team would not be able to help Adventure Bay without the pups working as a team. One of my favorite shows growing up was Dora the Explorer. Since Dora was a little girl, she was a character I could relate to; often times I would pretend to be her. During the second stage of socialization, the play stage, my mom said I would not only imitate Dora but actually begin to make certain decisions because Dora would make those decisions and I knew Dora was good. I also knew Swiper was bad because he tried to steal things, therefore I did not want to be bad like Swiper. As I grew older, the values present in the character of Dora could still be seen in my actions and ways of thinking. I no longer associated these actions directly with Dora, but rather with being a good person. Aspects I did not seem to notice when watching these shows as a child really stuck out to me, especially because children seem to be watching a very large amount of television today.
