Sociologists have ingrained tendencies to make observations, attempting to eliminate bias and to control the personal filters that result in skewed or missing perceptions of human behavior. In this speculative article, some of the tools of observing and managing information in the social sciences could be applied to the reality singing competition called “American Idol”.
First of all is identification and classification during the “auditions” stage. The singing quality, personality, appearance, and behavior of the contestants is examined. The classifications could then become whether the contestant is serious or not, whether the contestant is self deluded or mentally ill, and whether the contestant is a viable entity who could go to the next level. The sociologist knows that standards for certain skills, appearance and behavior have been established over the years in who gets selected during the initial stages and will make predictions based on who gets to the next stage, which is Hollywood.
The sociologist knows that the mini-documentaries, where an individual is given special attention, and even a visit to their home, is not an indicator that the contestant will be selected to go to Hollywood. Some of the attention getters will fail miserably and others will not be up to par, depending on what it is that the judges are looking for. The sociologist is aware that American Idol will ultimately select a certain number of individuals for the categories of: country, rock, soul or R&B, and standards singers.
The observer will evaluate the behavior of the judges, looking for biases, preferences, and standard comments that have developed over the years, such as Randy’s constant references to “pitch”, and Simon’s leanings toward insult or faint praise. Otherwise, the observer will hypothesize that there are unknown and unstated pre agreements, selection criterion and other production, legal and business decisions that are not made known to the public.
At this stage, social scientists are analyzing results and are preparing marketing and other studies that will determine which advertising is bought and sold and which products and services will have a focus during the season of the show.
At the “Hollywood” stage, the behavioral and group behavioral aspects of the contestants is brought to light. Groups are formed and they must prepare and present a group performance. In this process the individuals personal characteristics, maturity, work ethic, ability to work with, lead and follow others, as well as their ability to prepare a performance under pressure is tested.
Various interpersonal and personality clashes, control issues, and a host of problems that arise from disagreements as to how much work a person has to do are exhibited in a highly edited fashion. Also at this time, some of the personal and background facts about the participants are revealed. This is a time when the sociologist can inquire as to the perceived audience favorites and to make estimates of who will move on or be ejected from the competition.
After the “Hollywood” stage, the observer can begin to gauge the general public perception of the finalists, note that, not the best of all singers have been selected, but that the most likely to get audience votes, views, and publicity have been selected.
The final stage is the “Final 12” stage, where the general population responds to the performances by voting for those who will stay or leave. There are many social dynamics that go on during this stage, from racism to cheating the voting system with multiple or automated voting, and with surprises that are based on whether a contestant has a good or a bad performance day. In some cases, sheer charisma will cause the general audience to disagree with the judges and to keep a person who may not be the best technician, but who has a certain indefinable quality.
At this stage, even more product marketing has been going on, but the competition for advertising space is tighter, making it a competitive market for selling related products on the show. Record producers and industry casting agents are observing the performances to see who might be worth signing to contracts or casting in theatrical or touring shows.
The demographics of the music loving public can be examined to see where various age groups, genre groups, economic layers, racial and ethnic groups and other social strata apply their votes to eliminate or to keep contestants until the final three or four remain. At that stage, it is sheer competition from the voting public, based on the ever changing factors of public preference, performance, behavior, charisma, and quality. The expectations are that each of these individuals will have successful careers, even if they are as minor favorites and touring performers.
At the height of the competition, when the public attention is at maximum, a social program is the subject of a mini telethon, providing a form of social engineering that collects funds and raises awareness of a humanitarian cause.
Finally, the sociologist will have a playing field of observations that can be taken in the areas of how celebrity waxes and wanes, how public perceptions form and change on a mass scale, and how individuals and groups identify their favorite musical genres and performers.
