Michael Jackson and Sociology

Many superlatives are routinely attached to Michael Jackson. Many controversial issues are raised around the personality of him. His music, his dances, his racial identity and health, his philosophy of life and private life has always been on top of public discussion. Jackson put the question of racial identity very sharp and divided the public opinion on this issue like practically no one else before. Jackson’s skin has been white, his lips where ultimately thin and his music was totally black (Erlmann). Michael Eric Dyson asserts that one of the black decodings of Jackson’s music is the revealation of postmodern spirituality in it. Dyson presents it as “a festive choreography of religious reality” that “communicates powerful religious truths and moral themes” (Erlmann). The African-American richest traditions, which Michael Jackson enacted, contain rituals of religious ecstasy, moral courage and spiritual passion and probably this gives the power to his music and performance. The uniqueness of Jackson is definitely in him being a pioneer as an African-American artist, who worked in the industry, deeply infected by stereotyping and little presentation. But Michael just wanted to be the best. His famous the best-selling album ever of a black artist – Off the Wall (1981) – presented Jackson with the hope that he could be the best. The next album – Thriller – appeared to be the best-selling album of any race in the music history. Seven Grammy Awards, extending the popular music’s possibilities internationally and breaking of color barriers were the outcomes of the album’s release (2). Quite a lot of tasks fulfilled!The present sociologic investigation aims at discovering the influences of Michael Jackson’s music and charity activity on public’s shaping of the personality of the artist and the artist’s influence on society. The methodological instruments, used in the study will be: statistical method, and analysis. The purpose of the study is to reveal the most vivid influences of Michael Jackson activity on the society and to analyze the possible reasons for such influences. The monumental influence of Michael Jackson on society is undeniable. First of all, Jackson contributed much to globalization via pop music. His impact is deniable not only on the American society, but on other societies as well. For example, the dance routine from the video Thriller became the most replicated around the Central Europe as well as in Asia and Africa. Globalization speeds up and world cultures become more and close. Much of this effect is created by the individuals, who win the general acclaim. Individuals influence cultures via forming institutions, practices and symbols that embody some definite cultural system of meaning. Such individuals are called icons. Betsky calls icons “the magnets of meaning”, underlying the glue function of icon personalities for different elements of cultural aspects (3). The influence of an icon overcomes the borders of race, nationality, ethnicity, class and gender, creating the effect of globalization and unification. Michael Jackson by his music, dances, appearance and global live tours popularized the USA as a multicultural …