Celebrity vs Fashion, Tourism and Roots Of Suicide

Write a paper that answers three  sets of questions from the following list of four sets of questions (Your Choice!):

1.Fashion and celebrity have a close connection to each other.  Compare and contrast Simmel’s theory of fashion with Kurzman and colleagues’ theory of celebrity.  

• What are the major components of Simmel’s theory? 

• What are the similarities between Georg Simmel’s theory of fashion and Kurzman and colleagues’ analysis of celebrity?  

• Pick a major institution in society – e.g., the economy, political system / government, religion, education – and explain the ways in which celebrity status increasingly permeates this institution.  

2.Types of tourists reflect types of tourism.  Choose two types of tourists described in Types of Tourists Around the World (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1ffob-25tg) that we watched in class.  How do these types of tourists reflect the concepts and theories of tourism described in the articles by MacCannell (1973) and Cohen and Cohen (2019)?

3. Debates have been occurring for almost a century over whether variations in residence – city, suburb, small town, rural area – are associated with different patterns of behavior and ways of life.  These debates concern whether place matters in the determination of lifestyle choices and ways of thinking, acting, and behaving.  Critically evaluate the subcultural theory of urbanism put forth by Claude Fisher in his 1995 article we read for class. Answer the following questions:

• What are the advantages of the subcultural theory of urbanism? Is the theory persuasive?  

• What are the limitations or weaknesses of the theory?  

• Identify a deviant subculture in the city that you reside in or call home. Do you think that the subcultural theory of urbanism offers a convincing explanation for the unconventionality of this subcultural group?If so, then explain and justify. If not, then explain why not.  

4. On March 26, 1997, all 39 members of UFO cult known as Heaven’s Gate committed mass suicide in their Rancho Santa Fe mansion in San Diego, CA.  Led by Marshall Applewhite (aka Do), the Heaven’s Gate cult believed that a flying saucer was traveling behind the comet Hale-Bopp and would take them to the Kingdom of Heaven.  Members of the Heaven’s Gate group carefully planned and executed their deaths and to date itis the largest mass suicide in the history of the United States.  

Watch the following short videos: 

• 

• 

• 

Answer the following questions: 

• How does Emile Durkheim’s theory of suicide as described in the readings by Mueller and colleagues (“The Social Roots of Suicide”) and Abrutyn and Mueller (“Toward a Cultural-Structural Theory of the Suicide”) help explain how and why this mass suicide happened?  

• What other sociological concepts and theories of suicide described in these two readings help explain how and why this mass suicide happened?  

• (Optional): You are welcome to consider the following points and questions,but you are not required to address or answer them in the paper: different documentaries of the Heaven’s Gate suicide emphasize some themes and issues rather than others in their interpretations.  In the ABC News 2020 Special “The Cult Next Door: The Mystery and Madness of Heaven’s Gate” (March 2022), Diane Sawyer invites viewers to ask whether the followers were “ensnarled” in a cult, “twisted” by a “deranged” charismatic leader, devoid of agency and free will, vulnerable and surrendering. Did they have real freedom and choice or were they blindly seduced and coerced intocommitting suicide?  Were they simply searching for community, identity, and meaning in life?  Or were they indoctrinated and brainwashed by a malevolent leader? You are welcome to critically evaluate these interpretations and provide your assessment using the insights from the readings.