Sociology

Private preparatory academies are symbols of tradition, wealth, social status, and academic excellence. Parents send their children to private schools to carry on family traditions, to help ensure collegiate futures for their children, and to keep their children away from drugs, gangs, violence and other problems common to public school systems. But many of the same social pressures and changing relationships still exist at private schools, and these schools with their insulated environmental structure often serve as a place where students define their relationships with each other, their families and the world around them. The film, Dead Poets Society reflects upon these changing relationships through the experiences of a group of young boys who, when faced with the challenge of defining themselves, meet with both tragic and brilliant results.

The social constructs that are maintained at the fictitious Welton Academy are introduced in the movies first scene as the schools headmaster instructs the students to recite the four pillars upon which the school was founded tradition, honor, discipline and excellence. These four words can be viewed as the impact of society and culture on the mesosystems of the students. The four aspects of the schools tradition are drilled into the at every school assembly, but outside of reciting the words repetitively its unclear what else is done to instill the values and meanings of the four traditions in the students. Their adapted version of the four pillars that they recite behind closed doors of their dorm rooms  travesty, horror, decadence, and excrement  indicate that while they obey the pillars within the structure of the institution because theyre expected to, they dont place a lot of meaning or respect in them.

Conformity is another construct that is maintained by the institution, and this is the social and cultural construct the boys challenge both individually and as a group. Together, they challenge the rigid conformity of the academy. At the same time, they each have elements of their own ecological systems that they question and fight. Professor Keating begins teaching them about nonconformity by teaching them outside the classroom to give them new perspectives, instructing them to interpret poetry for themselves instead of adhering to the restrictions of definitions in a textbook, and helping them realize individual goals. The boys challenge the construct of conformity by reestablishing the Dead Poets Society and beginning to utilize the self-expression they discover in the meetings in their own lives. Todd Anderson throws his fathers birthday gift to him off a bridge instead of pretending to enjoy it as he has in years past, Knox Overstreet dares to pursue the girlfriend of his fathers business colleagues son, and Neil Perry defies his father to realize his acting dream. The boys are forced to act against the elements of their microsystem and macrosystem structures. Obeying parents, upholding family traditions, carrying on the family name in business, following set structure and order  these are all the principles of the students ecological constructs that they must confront and challenge, determining the worth of each on their own.

The interaction between Professor Keating and Neil Perry represents the struggle against constructs and the difficulty in determining which constructs to rebel against. When Neil tells Keating that he feels trapped by the expectations and restrictions of both the school and his father, Keating tells him to hold on until hes eighteen and then he can escape them both and be whatever he wants to be. Keating repeatedly encourages Neil to stand up to his father and try to make him understand why the play is important to him, but Neil views his father as a structural element from which he cant break free. Both Keating and Neils father are strong connecting elements in Neils mesosystem structure, and his struggle is in choosing whether to follow the teaching of Keating to be true to himself or to stay in the system hes familiar with and adhere to his fathers rigid rules. The relationship between Keating and Neil also exemplifies the concept of bi-directional influences. Neils actions to defy his father and stay in the play are clearly the influence of Keatings instruction and tutelage. Neils decision to take his own life clearly impacts Keatings behavior also, as evidenced by his lack of resistance to the schools demand for his resignation.

The academys response to Neils suicide is a demand for a return to conformity and control. The headmaster addresses the student body in an impersonal assembly, offering no emotional counsel or support. He treats the death of their classmate as a disciplinary infraction and tells them that an investigation will be held to find out who is responsible. He seems completely detached from the emotional delicacy of the situation and unconcerned with how the suicide could be affecting the students mentally and emotionally, and instead places his focus on finding a scapegoat to blame so that the school suffers no negative ramifications. The structure of the macrosystem and adherence to the belief that suicide is wrong and abnormal must be upheld. Instead of caring for the emotional systems of the students, the headmaster and disciplinary committee focus on upholding the social and cultural image and reputation of the academy.

In the end, the boys are forced to confront their feelings over Neils death and Keatings involvement. The boys are brought before the headmaster individually and asked about their involvement in the Dead Poets Society and about Keatings unorthodox teaching methods. Each must choose for himself whether to side with conformity and sign the paper blaming Keating, or refuse to sign it and risk expulsion for staying true to what they believe, deciding whats truly important to them and upholding the Dead Poets beliefs of self-truth and expression. The boys, ultimately, choose how to react to the ecological structures around them and what they believe in for themselves.