Introduction to Sociology/Sociological Videos

The following are videos - including fiction movies, non-fiction documentaries and recorded lectures - examining topics in the field of sociology.

Title	Description	Year	Type	Topic	Online
A Class Divided	documents Jane Elliott's classroom experiment illustrating discrimination using eye colors	1985	non-Fiction	Discrimination	Yes
A Dry White Season	South African apartheid	1989	Fiction	Race
A map of social theories, 1000-2000 by Alan Macfarlane	recorded lecture on social theories. Lecture 1 in a series of 9.	2007	Lecture	Theory	Yes
A Passage to India	Indian independence from Great Britain and ethnic relations	1984	Fiction	Ethnicity
A Raisin in the Sun	depicts a black family trying to move out of their run-down tenement apartment and into a white neighborhood	1961	Fiction	Race
A World Apart	South African apartheid	1988	Fiction	Race
Adam Smith (1733-1790), by Alan Macfarlane	recorded lecture on Smith. Lecture 3 in a series of 9.	2007	Lecture	Theory	Yes
Alamo Bay	a despondent Vietnam veteran in danger of losing his livelihood is pushed to the edge when he sees Vietnamese immigrants moving into the fishing industry in a Texas bay town	1985	Fiction	Ethnicity
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1850), by Alan Macfarlane	recorded lecture on de Tocqueville. Lecture 4 in a series of 9.	2007	Lecture	Theory	Yes
Al Qaeda's new front	FRONTLINE documentary on Al Qaeda's evolution: Madrid bombings, ideological base, transatlantic differences. Divided into 4 sections; approx. 1h total	?	non-Fiction	terrorism, Al Qaeda	Yes
Amar Te Duele	a variation of the Romeo and Juliet theme with the twist of social class differences between the families	2002	Fiction	Economic Stratification
American History X	racism in the U.S.	1998	Fiction	Race
An Inconvenient Truth	an American documentary film about global warming by Al Gore.	2006	Non-Fiction	Ecology
Angels & Insects	movie about incest and the incest taboo	1996	Fiction	Sexuality
Avalon (1990 film)	tells the story of a family of Eastern European Jews who immigrate to the United States	1990	Fiction	Migration
Bad Day at Black Rock	illustrates racism and discrimination in a small town in the U.S. post WWII	1954	Fiction	Race
The Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), by Alan Macfarlane	recorded lecture on de Montesquieu. Lecture 2 in a series of 9.	2007	Lecture	Theory	Yes
Black Like Me	describes Griffin's a six-week experience of a white man disguised as a black man traveling throughout the racially segregated states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia in the 1950s	1964	Fiction	Race
The Blonde and I	a short film illustrating the basic concepts of Durkheim's "Suicide"	2009	Fiction	Theory	Yes & Yes
Blue Eyed	documents Jane Elliott's classroom experiment illustrating discrimination using eye colors	1996	non-Fiction	Discrimination
Bopha!	depicts the life of a black police officer in South Africa during the apartheid era	1994	Fiction	Race
Born Yesterday	tells the story of a corrupt tycoon with a underclass girlfriend who requires re-education to be a member of the upper class	1958	Fiction	Economic Stratification
Boys Don’t Cry	based on the true story of a young transman who was raped and murdered in 1993 by his male friends after they found out he had female genitalia	1999	Fiction	Sexuality
Braveheart	ethnic discrimination and stratification	1995	Fiction	Ethnicity
Bread and Roses	deals with the struggle of poorly paid janitorial workers in Los Angeles and their fight for better working conditions and the right to unionize	2000	Fiction	Unionizing
Brokeback Mountain	tells the story of two gay cowboys who hide their relationship because it is not accepted by those around them	2005	Fiction	Sexuality
Come Back, Africa	tells the story of a migrant worker in apartheid South Africa who does not have a work permit and as such is open to exploitation, arbitrary dismissal and sudden arrest	1959	Fiction	Race
Come See the Paradise	depicts the treatment of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent following the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the subsequent loss of civil liberties within the framework of a love story	1990	Fiction	Ethnicity
Conrack	follows a young teacher assigned to an isolated island off the coast of South Carolina populated mostly by poor black families who have been isolated from the rest of the world	1974	Fiction	Race
Country Boys	follows two young men in rural Kentucky in the early 2000s growing up with serious disadvantages, both educationally and financially	2002	Non-Fiction	Economic Stratification	Yes
Cry, the Beloved Country	South African apartheid and race relations	1951	Fiction	Race
Cry, the Beloved Country	South African apartheid and race relations	1995	Fiction	Race
Cry Freedom	depicts a charismatic South African Black Consciousness Movement leader in apartheid South Africa and the liberal white editor of a newspaper who exposes police complicity in the death of the movement leader	1987	Fiction	Race
Darwin's Nightmare	documents the exploitation of fishing resources in Africa by European businesses and consumers	2004	non-Fiction	Globalization
Defiant Ones, The	tells the story of two escaped prisoners who are shackled together, one white and one black, who must co-operate in order to survive	1958	Fiction	Race
Diary of Anne Frank, The	a motion picture based on the book The Diary of a Young Girl describing the life of Anne Frank while in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands	1959	Fiction	Ethnicity
Digital Nomads	The results of an experiment to share the experiences of people devoted to endless digital communication are presented as online videos by The Economist. Two vidoes: Jonathan Schwartz - 05:25; Jan Chipchase - 09:18	2008	Non-Fiction	Communication, Internet	Yes
Dirty Pretty Things	depicts the lives of two illegal immigrants in the U.K.	2003	Fiction	Migration
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The	The film is about a group of upper middle-class people attempting to dine together	1973	Fiction	Economic Stratification
Do the Right Thing	The film tells a tale of bigotry and racial conflict in a multi-ethnic community in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, on the hottest day of the year	1989	Fiction	Race
Double Happiness	tells the story of an artistic young woman struggling to assert her independence from the expectations of her Chinese Canadian family	1994	Fiction	Gender
Educating Rita	an English working-class girl wants to better herself by studying literature	1983	Fiction	Economic Stratification
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), by Alan Macfarlane	recorded lecture on Durkheim. Lecture 6 in a series of 9.	2007	Lecture	Theory	Yes
El Norte	depicts Guatemalan peasants and migrants	1983	Fiction	Migration
El Super	looks at life in the U.S. from the perspective of frustrated Cuban exiles	1978	Fiction	Migration
Emigrants, The	tells the story of a Swedish group who emigrate to the U.S. in the 19th century	1971	Fiction	Migration
Ernest Gellner (1925-1995), by Alan Macfarlane	recorded lecture on Gellner. Lecture 8 in a series of 9.	2007	Lecture	Theory	Yes
Ethnic Notions	traces deep-rooted stereotypes which have fueled anti-black prejudice	1988	non-Fiction	Race
Europa Europa	Antisemitism in Germany	1990	Fiction	Ethnicity
Far From Heaven	tells the story of a 1950s housewife living in suburban Hartford as she sees her seemingly perfect life begin to fall apart; deals with complex contemporary issues such as race, sexuality, and class	2002	Fiction	Sexuality
F.W. Maitland (1850-1906), by Alan Macfarlane	recorded lecture on Maitland. Lecture 9 in a series of 9.	2007	Lecture	Theory	Yes
Gaijin - Os Caminhos da Liberdade	depicts the struggles of Japanese immigrants who traveled to and settled in Brazil looking for a better life	1980	Fiction	Migration
Gandhi	non-violent social activism, religion, ethnic relations	1982	non-Fiction	Social Movements
Garden of the Finzi-Continis, The	chronicles the relationships between the narrator, an Italian Jew, and the children of the Finzi-Contini family from the rise of Mussolini until the start of World War II	1970	Fiction	Ethnicity
Gentleman’s Agreement	describes the efforts of a journalist who falsely represents himself as a Jew to research antisemitism in New York City in the 1940s	1947	Fiction	Ethnicity
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner	tells the story of an upper class white woman who becomes engaged to a black doctor then brings him home to meet her parents	1967	Fiction	Race
Hester Street	Hester Street tells the story of Jewish immigrants who come to the Lower East side of New York City in 1896 from Europe	1975	Fiction	Migration
High Hopes	pro-socialism in the U.K.	1988	Fiction	Economic Systems
Hollywood Shuffle	depicts the stereotyping of African Americans in both film and television	1987	Fiction	Race
Home of the Brave	A paralyzed African-American war veteran begins to walk again only when he confronts his fear of being an "outsider" and minority	1949	Fiction	Race
Holy Innocents	poverty in Spain in the 1960s	1984	Fiction	Economic Stratification
How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman	tells the story of a Frenchman captured by Brazilian natives who adopt him but constantly threaten to eat him	1971	Fiction	Culture
Intruder in the Dust	deals with the trial of a black farmer accused of murdering a white man in the 1940s; he is cleared through the efforts of black and white teenagers and a spinster from a long-established southern family	1949	Fiction	Race
Is Wal-Mart Good for America?	Documentary on Wal-Mart	2005	Non-Fiction	Economy	Yes
Jungle Fever	centers on the interracial romance between a successful married African American architect and an Italian-American woman	1991	Fiction	Race
Karl Marx (1818-1883), by Alan Macfarlane	recorded lecture on Marx. Lecture 5 in a series of 9.	2007	Lecture	Theory	Yes
Killing Us Softly 3, by Jean Kilbourne	A documentary about advertising's image of women. Studyguide. 35m	1999	Non-fiction	Gender	Yes
Live Nude Girls Unite!	documents the efforts of strippers in San Francisco to unionize	2000	non-Fiction	Unionizing	Yes
Losing Isaiah	black motherhood, custody issues, and drug addiction	1995	Fiction	Race
Mandela	documentary of the life of Nelson Mandela	1987	non-Fiction	Race
Max Weber (1864-1920), by Alan Macfarlane	recorded lecture on Weber. Lecture 7 in a series of 9.	2007	Lecture	Theory	Yes
McLibel	documents the McDonald's Restaurants v Morris & Steel case in the U.K.	2005	non-Fiction	Corporations
Metropolitan	haute bourgeoisie culture of New York City	1990	Fiction	Economic Stratification
Mission, The	depicts the Jesuit Reductions, a programme by which Jesuit missionaries set up missions independent of the Spanish state to teach Christianity to the natives	1986	Fiction	Culture
Mississippi Burning	racism in the U.S.	1988	Fiction	Race
Mississippi Masala	inter-racial and inter-ethnic marriage as well as cultural diversity	1991	Fiction	Race
Moscow on the Hudson	depicts a Russian circus musician who defects from the Soviet Union while on a visit to the United States and finds that living in America isn't as easy as he thought	1984	Fiction	Politics
My Beautiful Laundrette	ethnic relations in London	1985	Fiction	Ethnicity
My Family/Mi Familia	tracks three generations of a Mexican-American family that emigrated from Mexico and settled in East Los Angeles	1995	Fiction	Migration
No Way Out	depicts an African American doctor tending to slum residents whose ethics are put to the test when confronted with blind racism in patients and community members	1950	Fiction	Race
Nothing But a Man	race relations in the U.S. in the 1960s	1964	Fiction	Race
Panther	Black Panthers in the U.S.	1995	Fiction	Race
Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, The	Barry Schwartz is a sociology professor at Swarthmore College and author of The Paradox of Choice. In this talk, he explains how and why the abundance of choice in modern society is actually making us miserable (20m)	2008	lecture		Yes
Philadelphia	tells the story of a Senior Associate at a large corporate law firm in Philadelphia who attempts to hides his homosexuality and his status as an AIDS patient from the other members of the law firm	1993	Fiction	Sexuality
Pygmalion	tells the story of Cockney flower girl becoming a refined society lady as a result of a bet	1938	Fiction	Economic Stratification
Quilombo	depicts the conquest of a Brazilian tribe	1983	Fiction	Ethnicity
Rabbit-Proof Fence	tells the story of two young, mixed-race Aboriginal girls who run away from a white settlement in order to return to their Aboriginal families	2002	Fiction	Ethnicity
Race and Sex - What We Think But Can't Say	A documentary on stereotypes, particularly related to race and gender. ABCNews production?	2002	Non-Fiction	Gender and Race
Room at the Top	reflects social class issues in the U.K. in the 1950s	1958	Fiction	Economic Stratification
Roots	tells the story of a young African sold into slavery in the 1700s in the U.S.	1977	Fiction	Race
Roots: The Next Generation	continues the story of the African slave in Roots to his eventual descendant, Alex Haley	1979	Fiction	Race
Rules of the Game, The	satire of the French upper classes prior to WWII	1939	Fiction	Economic Stratification
Salaam Bombay!	kids in poverty in Mumbai	1988	Fiction	Economic Stratification
Sammy and Rosie Get Laid	poverty and homelessness in the U.K.; also deals with ethnicity and sexuality	1987	Fiction	Economic Stratification
Schindler’s List	tells the story of Oskar Schindler a German businessman who saved the lives of over one thousand Polish Jews during the Holocaust	1993	Fiction	Ethnicity
Secrets & Lies	race issues in the U.K.	1996	Fiction	Race
Shaka Zulu	tells the story of Shaka, king of the Zulu nation from 1816 to 1828	1986	Fiction	Culture
The Social Construction of Reality	a short film illustrating some of the ideas in Berger and Luckmann's "The Social Construction of Reality	2009	Fiction	Theory	Yes & Yes
Stand and Deliver	education in predominantly minority schools	1988	Fiction	Education
Swimmer, The	thematic exploration of suburban America, especially the relationship between wealth and happiness	1968	Fiction	Economic Stratification
The Way We Live: Introduction to Sociology	Advertised as "a comprehensive introduction to Sociology on 22 half-hour videos".	?	non-Fiction	Economy (and other offline)	Partial: Chapter 14 - 14. Working World: The Economy and Work
The Tank Man	FRONTLINE documentary on the Tiananmen Square Massacre, The Tankman, information control in China and so on. Divided into 6 sections; approx. 1h40m total	?	non-Fiction	China, repressions, resistance, information	Yes (RM stream may be broken, switch to WMP stream)
The Soldier's Heart	FRONTLINE documentary on the psychological impact of warfare, based on the modern War in Iraq. Divided into 4 sections; approx. 45m total	?	non-Fiction	psychological breakdown, impact of warfare, War in Iraq	Yes
To Kill a Mockingbird	tells the story of the trial of a black man on trial in the South for rape	1962	Fiction	Race
Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North	tells the story of filmmaker Katrina Browne and nine cousins who discover that their New England ancestors were the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. They retrace the Triangle Trade and gain a powerful new perspective on the black/white divide.	2008	non-Fiction	Race
Trading Places	social class in the U.S.	1983	Fiction	Economic Stratification
Up Series	documents the lives of a dozen or so children over the course of nearly 50 years in the U.K. to illustrate the effects of social class on life outcomes	1964-2000	non-Fiction	Economic Stratification
Wedding, The	interracial marriage in the U.S.	1998	Fiction	Race
Wedding Banquet, The	tells the story of a gay Taiwanese immigrant man who marries a mainland Chinese woman to placate his parents and get her a green card; his plan backfires when his parents arrive in America to plan his wedding banquet	1993	Fiction	Sexuality
White Man’s Burden	race in the U.S.	1995	Fiction	Race
Zebrahead	describes an interracial romance between a white man and a black woman and the resulting tensions among the characters	1992	Fiction	Race

A new website with video clips in Sociology, The Sociological Cinema, has some video clips available as well: http://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/index.html