So much relief comes with choosing a thesis topic. I had been thinking about thesis for so long. It started near the end of last year, continued over the summer and trickled on down into my senior year. Unfortunately, I could never seem to come up with something I was completely satisfied with- until now. If you know me, or have read any of these posts, you know that I enjoy journalism and media and that I want to continue a career in media, either doing magazine journalism, or something related after college ends. Well, I figured out a way to tie that into my Sociology thesis, even if its not the most direct connection you would think of. I’m not sure what took me so long to realize I wanted to incorporate media into my thesis, but I finally came to this conclusion the other night, in one of those moments of self-realization.
For my thesis, I will be looking at status symbols in our society. When I say status symbols I mean things like BMW cars, Chanel clothing and Rolex watches- those kinds of status symbols. I have always been curious how a product becomes a status symbol in our society. For the most part, people would say a BMW is a superior car company to Fiat- but how did that process happen? I’m hoping to look at the culture of consumption and how people give meaning to different status symbols. Status symbols are often perpetuated by the media, which will provide a good link back into this area that I’m so interested in. For Sociology, I will look at aspects such as social constructions, as well as looking at how different groups of people interpret status symbols. For example, I might look at differences in gender and race.
For my research, I will conduct focus groups where I will show respondents a selection of images- images of status symbols, or people with status symbols, and ask them for their reactions to these images. I have already come up with some sample questions to ask, which I think is a useful skill related to journalism. In the real world of journalism, I would have to come up with sample questions (although not nearly as extensive) if I wanted to get some public opinions on a particular issue for an article I might be writing.
Gilda Ochoa, my Sociology advisor has already started a very helpful process for me and other Sociology seniors who have her as their thesis reader. Each week, me and several other students will meet with Professor Ochoa to discuss our progress, difficulties and any questions we might have. We had our first groups meeting right before Fall Break and it was very helpful to get the perspective of other students on my thesis topic and how I should go about it. It’s great to have support from students who are going through the same thing, as well as having people that you can bounce ideas off of. Hopefully with the support of this group, individual meetings with my advisor, and the help of my Scripps reader, my thesis will come along quite well. I’m looking forward to this research and the interesting results it will provide.