Gilmore Girls
Symbolic- Interaction: a framework for building theory that sees society as the product
of the everyday interactions of individuals.
 In Gilmore Girls the mother daughter relationship between Lorelei and Rory is a
central part of the show. Throughout the seasons there are relationships involving
a complex web of a variety of characters.
Structural Functional: a framework for building theory that sees society as a complex
system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability.
 Taylor is the town Selectman and wants to run the town a certain way. Lorelei and
Sookie buy an inn and have a certain way to run it. The mother daughter
relationships shown in the show display the many differences in ways to set rules
of a home.
Social-conflict approach: a framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of
inequality that generates conflict and change.
 Lorelei and Rory are faced with many issues involving money throughout the
series. Lorelei’s parents are filthy rich and until Rory was in her mid teens they
shunned Emily and Richard and made their own way. Relationships were altered
and affected when money came into the equation.
Chapter 1:
1. Social dysfunction: any social pattern that may disrupt the operation of society.
a) Lorelei was not a fan of her life growing up. At 16 she ended up getting pregnant
and left her high class parents and life and made her own way in the world.
2. Gender: the personal traits and social positions that members of a society attach
to being female or male.
a) The Gilmore girls are members of the D.A.R. Logan is told he has to take over
the family business, not his older sister.
3. Manifest functions: the recognized and intended consequences of any social
pattern.
a) Rory was enrolled in the esteemed private school Chilton so she would have a
better chance in being accepted at Harvard. She did indeed end up attending an Ivy
League school.
Chapter 2:
1. Symbol: anything that carries a particular meaning recognized by people who
share a culture
a) Rory’s best friend Lane is oriental and her mother has different things
representing their culture all around their house and when Lane gets married they have a
special ceremony just for the grandma in the traditional way.
2. Culture shock: personal disorientation when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life
a) When Rory is first re-introduced to her grandparents she is thrown into
situations involving extremely wealthy people. She is not used to this and it takes her
time to become comfortable with it.
3. Folkways: norms for routine or casual interaction
a) Every day at least once Lorelei and Rory eat at Luke’s Diner.
Chapter 3:
1. Personality: a person’s fairly consistent patterns of acting, thinking, and feeling
a) Lorelei is extremely sarcastic and has a great personality. It draws people to
her and allows her to form a situation into how she wants it. She and her daughter
often make tons of junk food for supper and eat it while watching one of their
numerous favorite movies.
2. Looking-glass self: Charles Horton Cooley’s term for a self-image based on how
we think others see us
a) Rory is often seen as an extreme goody-goody. She isn’t completely but
because that’s how people view her it affects her actions.
3. Significant others: people, such as parents, who have special importance for
socialization
a) Lorelei and Rory have an extremely close mother daughter relationship. As
time goes on Rory’s grandparents and father also become really important parts of their
lives.
Chapter 4:
1. Status set: all the statuses a person holds at a given time
a) Lorelei is a mother, daughter, friend, girlfriend, and business owner.
2. Role: behavior expected of someone who holds a particular status
a) As a business owner Lorelei is expected to run the Inn, hire people, and keep
guests happy.
3. Role conflict: conflict among the roles connected to two or more statuses
a) Rory has some difficulty balancing her roles as friend to Lane and her role as
a student at Chilton.
Chapter 5:
1. Out-group: a social group toward which a person feels a sense of competition or
opposition
a) Lorelei often feels it necessary to compete with the stuffy rich people she is
forced to interact with because of her parents.
2. Dyad: a social group with two members
a) Rory and Jess were a dyad when they dated.
3. Reference group: a social group that serves as a point of reference in making
evaluations and decisions
a) Emily and Richard often make decisions depending on what their peers will
think.
Chapter 6:
1. Sexual orientation: a person’s romantic and emotional attraction to another
person
a) Throughout this show there are many couples and sexual tensions. (Lorelei and
Luke, Lorelei and Christopher, Rory and Dean, Rory and Jess, Rory and Logan,
Sookie and Jackson, Richard and Emily, Lane and Zach)
2. Heterosexuality: sexual attraction to someone of the other sex
a) The relationships in this show involve a man and a woman.
3. Homosexuality: sexual attraction to someone of the same sex
a) Lorelei and Sookie’s concierge at their inn a little iffy in the sexual orientation
department. He acts gay but it never says he is and a same-sex relationship is never
shown.
Chapter 7:
1. Crime: the violation of a society’s formally enacted criminal law
a) Rory is upset and decides to be daring and she and her boyfriend Logan steal a
yacht and are put in jail.
2. Community-based corrections: correctional programs operating within society at
large rather than behind prison walls
a) As a punishment for stealing the yacht Rory is sentenced to community service.
3. Deviance: the recognized violation of cultural norms
a) Rory’s first boyfriend, Dean, marries a few years after high school and they
discover they still have feelings for each other and end up sleeping together.
Chapter 8:
1. Conspicuous consumption: buying and using products because of the “statement”
they make about social position
a) While Rory is attending Yale her grandmother, Emily, sneaks into her dorm and
takes measurements and outfits the entire room in new furniture and spiffy
appliances so the “right” impression is given to people about Rory.
2. Blue-collar occupations: lower-prestige jobs that involve mostly manual labor
a) Luke is the owner of a diner. His income depends on his cooking and order
skills.
3. Social stratification: a system by which a society ranks categories of people in a
hierarchy
a) The rich folk of this show, the Gilmore’s and Huntzbegers among numerous
others, look down upon the middle class, like Luke and Dean and don’t feel they are up to
the same standards. Logan’s parents even feel Rory isn’t good enough for Logan even
though she is extremely talented and smart and comes from a good family.
Chapter 9:
1. High-income nations: the nations with the highest overall standards of living
a) This show takes place in the U.S which is a high-income nation
2. Neocolonialism: a new form of global power relationships that involves not direct
political control but economic exploitation by multinational corporations
a) Mitchum Huntzberger owns a business and so does Richard Gilmore which deal
with multiple nations.
3. Modernization theory: a model of economic and social development that explains
global inequality in terms of technological and cultural differences between
nations
a) Logan’s father’s business works with many different nations. Logan is sent to
London to work for a few months for his father.
Chapter 10:
1. Minority: any category of people distinguished by physical or cultural difference
that society sets apart and subordinates
a) Lane is oriental. Her family is the only one of that decent in Stars Hollow.
2. Sexual harassment: comments, gestures, or physical contacts of a sexual nature
that is deliberate, repeated and unwelcome
a) When Rory first transfers to Chilton one of the male students, Tristan, always
calls her Virgin Mary.
3. Gender roles (sex roles): attitudes and activities that a society links to each sex
a) The upper class in this show believes that women should be home keepers and
party givers and always in a good mood. The men should be strong and be the
providers.
Chapter 11:
1. Assimilation: the process by which minorities gradually adopt patterns of the
dominant culture
a) Lane is Asian and her mother is extremely strict but as she grows up she takes
on more and more American cultural aspects.
2. Segregation: the physical and social separation of categories of people
a) The rich look down on the normal people and try their darndest to not associate
with them too often
3. Scapegoat: a person or category of people, typically with little power, whom other
people unfairly blame for their own troubles.
a) When Emily has a party and something goes wrong she blames the planner or
the workers when it’s rarely their fault
Chapter 12:
1. Tertiary sector: the part of the economy that involves services rather than goods
a) Luke provides food for the townspeople as a diner owner, Lorelei is the manager
of the town’s inn so she provides beds and comfort for vacationers, and Sookie is
the chef at the inn so she provides the food for the guests.
2. Profession: a prestigious white-collar occupation that requires extensive formal
education
a) Richard attended many years of school and now owns an insurance company.
3. Power: the ability to achieve desired ends despite resistance from others
a) The Gilmore’s and Huntzberger’s are able to manipulate people using money
and other means in order to get their way
Chapter 13:
1. Family: a social institution found in all societies that unites people in cooperative
groups to care for one another, including any children
a) Lorelei and Rory are a family.
2. Endogamy: marriage between people of the same social category
a) Lorelei and Christopher (Rory’s father) are both from higher class and
respected families and get married in season 7.
3. Family violence: emotional, physical, or sexual abuse of one family member by
another
a) The Gilmore’s used to not get along very well which caused a 16 year riff
between them. Lorelei moved out and raised her daughter alone at the age of 16
because her parents didn’t understand her.
Chapter 14:
1. Schooling: formal instruction under the direction of specially trained teachers
a) The kids of this show attend high school and many of them move on to college.
2. Functional illiteracy: a lack of the reading and writing skills needed for everyday
living.
a) Many of the people in this show are extremely smart and above average in the
reading/writing department as opposed to having a lack of it.
3. Sick role: patterns of behavior defined as appropriate for people who are ill
a) When someone is sick someone who is close to them will stay with them and
make them food and make them comfortable. Despite the fact that Paris is going
for a medical degree she is unable to deal with her sick boyfriend and calls in
her old nanny to care for him.
Chapter 15:
1. Fertility: the incidence of childbearing in a country’s population
a) Sookie and Jackson have two kids, Christopher has a daughter with Sherry and
Lane has twins with Zach.
2. Life expectancy: the average life span of a country’s population
a) Christopher’s dad dies at an old age, Richard and Emily are older and so are
their friends.
3. Migration: the movement of people into and out of a specified territory
a) The majority of the show takes place between Stars Hollow, a small town, and
Hartford. People are always moving from place to place.
Chapter 16:
1. Disaster: an event, generally unexpected, that causes extensive harm to people and
damage to property
a) The Dragonfly Inn started on fire and had to close down. Lorelei and Sookie
had to find a way to survive until they could open their Independence Inn.
2. Division of labor: specialized economic activity
a) In Sookie’s kitchen there are specific people to do specific jobs so it runs
smoothly and the food is excellent
3. Other-directedness: openness to the latest trends and fashions, often expressed by
imitating others.
a) The college life of Yale is always changing depending on the trends