In my analysis, I will describe the cultural background and deviant tendencies of the fictional character "Dwight Schrute" from the television series "The Office". In this series, Dwight Schrute is a tense character who grew up in a very strict and conservative German family, where since birth he was forced to respect strict rules in a perfectionist family. His character has been strongly shaped by the anecdotes he tells from his childhood, which led him to be a severe, hard-working and socially awkward man, as well as misogynistic, rude and condescending. 'The Office' is a series that is primarily aimed at younger generations (born between 1990 and 2000), as well as those who are slightly older and hold an office position so they can relate to the events that happen . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Over the course of the series, Dwight's character becomes increasingly strengthened by the addition of information describing his past and upbringing. As previously stated, Dwight grew up in a large, conservative German family in northeastern Pennsylvania. In many cases, whether through actual descriptions through speeches or observations made about his role, it is clear that Dwight has been subjected to strict enforcement of rules from an early age and has therefore been molded into a "practical" character who has a strong sense of pride in following the rules in the workplace and the need to warn the boss of the misdeeds of other workers or to correct them himself (Brandon Saxton, Katie Gordon 2016). This often makes Dwight seem immature in his role, because even for the slightest fault of his colleagues, he does not hesitate to inform his boss. In addition to his rule-abiding tendencies, Dwight is seen as a hard worker in his office. This is most likely due to the fact that Dwight grew up on a farm, where he grew up performing laborious tasks required of a farm, and Dwight currently continues to live on the farm. This importance of the idea of hard work on the farm carries over to his position on the farm, where Dwight often takes pride in his hard work and has very high standards of himself. As mentioned by Dwight, he is very aware of his tendencies when he works: “How would I describe myself? Three words. Hard worker, alpha male. Jackhammer. Ruthless. Insatiable” (“The Return” 2007). Additionally, Dwight's inner beliefs become apparent throughout the series. For example, it becomes clear that, due to his conservative upbringing, Dwight has a slight sense of misogyny. This is prevalent in many instances throughout the show, but one example is when Dwight responds, “Aw, man! Am I a woman? Aww! Dunno!" to a question about a stereotype foreign to women ("Diversity Day" 2005). Furthermore, due to his immense fascination with fantasy and science fiction, Dwight is known to believe in products of these genres, such as vampires, androids , etc. This is probably rooted in his childhood, when he was conditioned to follow the rules, do hard work and not behave stupidly, causing him to feel isolated from other children. This isolation was full of stories, movies and video games that allowed Dwight to escape to another world to avoid the hardships he had faced. This shows that his harsh upbringing led him to become so immersed in the stories he had taken refuge in that it had a profound underlying effect on the. his sense of reasoning. Putting Dwight's story in a sociological perspective, it is clear that his circumstances would apply to control theoryproposed by Travis Hirschi. Control theory applies to Dwight's situation on two levels: his childhood and his adulthood. In his childhood, his family's norms were, for the most part, different from those of the rest of society. Because his family was based in Germany, very conservative and agricultural, what was normal for Dwight was not normal for others who didn't fit into this demographic. For example, Dwight learned from a young age that he had to follow the rules or there would be harsh consequences, that he had to work hard and not mess around or waste time, and that he was expected to be a worthy contender to the family name. This severity is not quite the same as the standard American family, where while children are expected to do well in school and stay out of trouble, they typically do not work on a farm and typically do not receive harsh punishments. This put Dwight in a situation where he could not relate well to other people in society, due to how the social control of his family and household differed from that of others. In his adulthood, the age we observe in the series, we can see how this feeling of isolation from his childhood has developed into the character Dwight is today. As previously implied, Dwight tended to use fantasy and science fiction media as an escape from the harshness of his daily life, and thus from his past sense of isolation. This created a man who has seemingly low social skills due to his inability to relate to the things he likes. In the series, he often references these shows, movies, or games to the other workers, but they never understand the references, leading to an awkward moment between them, as well as a sense of frustration in Dwight, because he believes that these media are fantastic things which everyone should enjoy, but only he seems to like them, and others think his passion for them is unusual. These two time periods in his life clearly describe Control Theory and how it affects his life, because at both ages he experiences a feeling of loneliness compared to the rest of society. This isolation of his socialization with the rest of society has led to the deviances that we observe in the series, such as deliberately starting a fire in the office to raise awareness of fire safety procedures (“Stress Relief” 2009), or using a diary because he doesn't want to writing personal things on the computer because he doesn't trust it (“Golden Ticket” 2009). To him these things seem perfectly normal because it's the way he was raised, like always knowing safety procedures or not using technology. Therefore, in his mind, his actions may seem healthy, but to others they may seem extremely erratic and even crazy. In terms of Dwight's situation regarding his cultural background and deviant tendencies, I have come to the conclusion that, while it may be a problem that appears throughout society, it is a problem so tied to the individual that it cannot be labeled as a social". "There are certainly many cases in society where a child is raised under social control other than what is seen as 'normal', leading to problems such as feelings of isolation and the inability to socialize easily, but it is more a question personal that needs to be addressed personally. I believe it should be the responsibility of parents to recognize society's current social control and apply it to their children's education, even if it goes against what they were raised with. Keep in mind: this is just a sample Get a custom article from our expert writers now.
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