Structure- does it help or hurt?

Living the American Dream. That’s what it could be said that Philo T. Farnsworth was doing in his career of inventing. Starting out as a young man in a Mormon community in Utah, he rose to an inventor who was paid a certain amount for all electronic televisions sold. However this process was not simply about his ideas and genius, rather it was about the business and the politics.

When looked at through the context of our Minority/Majority class, I see several different themes that emerge. First, we see that Farnsworth’s ascribed status in terms of being a white male of appropriate height and weight would be to his advantage, especially in the time that he worked. In this way, he is clearly in the majority, and benefiting from white privilege. However, through his achieved status of being Mormon, relatively low on the economic scale, and without a true occupation, Philo was not taken very seriously by many.

When looking at Philo’s story, I could easily see how Symbolic Interactionism relates. In his line of work, Philo often had to convince skeptical people of his vision and its power. Those that truly new him on a personal level and would talk to him knew him to be a genius with promise as an inventor. This daily interaction built a group of people who worked together for the common goal. However, both the structure and economic power were working against him.

Who had the power here? It’s actually more important to look at who had the money. Unfortunately, money makes the commercial world run, and without it, Farnsworth’s company could not keep constructing the electronic television. Because David Sarnoff had the company and had the money, he could buy off as much as possible to beat out Farnsworth. Without funding, Farnsworth was weakened and disheartened.

Finally, and in my opinion, most important, it was really the social structure that stopped Farnsworth’s notoriety. With Structural Functionism, we see that because order runs society, the institutions and the roles they create are what contribute to how society behaves. Farnsworth was really one man with several supporters. Sarnoff was one large company with many connections. Although Farnsworth had a public demonstration of his television 5 years before RCA did, the presentation of the electric television at the World’s Fair was more famous. With FDR as the first person broadcasted, it was clear that the power was given because of the connections due in turn to the structure. Had Farnsworth been backed by a large company, the situation would have been gravely different. As it occurred, however, it was the story of the rich corporate giants vs. the intelligent little man.