“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.