Pluralic Story Of Kitty Genovese

In the early morning hours of March 13, 1964, twenty-eight year old barmaid Catherine "Kitty" Genovese was murdered and raped on the street in Kew Gardens, New York. The incident did not initially receive much attention until Martin Gansberg's infamous article, "Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder, Didn't Call the Police", was published in the New York Times two weeks later. In reality, only twelve people witnessed the event yet each did nothing to significantly help Genovese until it was too late. The Genovese murder has become the definitive example of the "bystander effect", the social phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to help someone in distress if there are other people present. The bystander effect occurs wherever there is

“Something happens to individuals when they collect in a group. They think and act differently than they would on their own. (17)” States Carol Tavris in her article, “In Groups We Shrink From Loner’s Heroics”. Tavris believes people who are in groups tend to act in a more sluggish manor than those alone. She states many examples of this theory in her article, including the story of Kitty Genovese which is stated in the first paragraph. Kitty was stabbed repeatedly and killed in front of her New York apartment. No one did anything to stop this heinous action from taking place. Within her essay she obtains rhetorical appeals to prove that her

This article explained the key details of Kitty’s life before the murder took place through stories from her childhood. Catherine Susan Genovese whom everyone referred to as Kitty was born on July 7, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York to parents Vincent and Rachel Genovese. Kitty was known as a chatterbox with energy and zest for life was well-known among her classmates who elected her “Class Cut-Up”. After graduating high school her parents and siblings moved to Canaan, Connecticut. Kitty’s independence and love for New York kept her behind where she began working a few odd jobs until

The study by Darley and Latane leaves society with the knowledge that everyone who is witnessing an emergency is most likely thinking the same thing “someone else will call for help or has already” so “Always act as if you are the only person there” (Darely & Latane, 1968). The concept of situationism is the driving force behind bystander effect. Situationism is “social behavior is, to a larger extent than people commonly realize, a response to people’s social context, not a function of individual personality” (Fiske, 2010, p. 7). Individuals first have to decide if they are witnessing an emergency. Then they need to decide if they have a responsibility to act which is when situationism comes in. If there are hundreds of witnesses each individual see the situation from a different perspective and responsibility to act is diffused among the crowd. On the other hand if one individual sees an emergency and believes there is no one else to help the responsibility rests on him or her. The context of the situation will determine how an individual will react, but people should consider the reality of everyone believing someone else will react and no one reacting. Kitty Genovese would still be alive if even one person would have called the cops when the first attack started.

Kitty Genovese’s murder became a very famous murder, but not because of the horrific nature of the crime. It became famous because of the unbelievable stories heard from the people that lived in the apartment complex. It is believed that there were 37 bystanders at the scene of the crime that did not call the police. This was a very awful crime that changed how people in our society think about each other. How did the two passages “The Kitty Genovese Murder: What Really Happened?”

1. After the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese, John Darley and Bibb Latane were in shock as the rest of the city/world that a 28 year old lady could be stabbed in a neighborhood with about 38 by standers or more and say or do nothing. Why didn’t anyone try and help her? How could people stand by and watch this go on? People speculated that the failure of people to get involved might be due more to the influence (socially) that bystanders have on each other. To test this theory, Darley and Latane, two psychologists, decided to conduct a study. “Diffusion of Responsibility” Everyone hopes that someone else will be the first to step up

First ‘The Bystander Effect’, states ‘that individuals are less likely to intervene in emergency situations when other people are present’. Latne & Darley, (1970) cited in Byford J.( 2014 pp 232). Simply put, where emergency situations arise, if more than one person is present the likelihood of someone in distress being helped reduces. This is the ‘diffusion of responsibility’ effect were each bystander feels less obliged to help because the responsibility seems to be divided with others present’. (Byford J., 2014 pp233) An example of Bystander Apathy shown within a video (The Open University 2016).

“It got to be easy to look at New Yorkers as animals, especially looking down from some place like a balcony at Grand Central at the rush hour Friday afternoon.” (Tom Wolfe). “O Rotten Gotham” argues that New Yorkers are in a state of behavioral sink. It would not be long before a “population collapse” or a “massive die off”.

Does the sound of the city ring a bell as a place filled with violence and gruesome stories? That’s what I have always noticed with the reports involving the city of Oakland. To news media everything has to have just the right amount of darkness to it in order for that news channel to have a good amount of viewers. Like it or not we all have that little dark side within us that is more curious and interested to see something terrible happen in news reports; because for some reason it’s entertaining to us. During my critical thinking class with my professor Larry Salomon, I learned that this is why most news channels like to show gruesome and tragic stories more often, because we as human beings find some sort of interest and satisfaction hearing about these stories; and this makes work for news channels more easier to gain more viewers. Some people are more eager to learn about a tragic story unlike the other reports that have a more hopeful and cheerful description. How is this linked to violence in Oakland? News reporters know that Oakland is the place to go when you need a story that will help you get viewers. I have talked to some residents in my community of Oakland and they stated that they were tired of being the notebook of bad stories to be told on live television; the only reason why violence seems to continue in this community is because reporters always point the finger at the city as being a place filled with

They assured us, they would be among the first to help [in a real emergency]” (Darley and Latane 770). Then Darley and Latane explained why bystanders act the way they do, with their final example. [It involved an individual in a room and a tape recorder playing simulating an individual having major speech difficulties. More individuals, that thought they were alone, came out to help the person having difficulties (the tape recorder). Every time the individual listening to the tape recorder thought that there were more people with them, they were less likely to respond.]

The intensification of rapidly changing stimulations in the city requires the individual to “create a protective organ” manifesting itself in a “matter-of-fact attitude”. This attitude rather than concerning itself with emotions takes on a rational mentality and gives rise to intellectualism. In other words, instead of letting constant encounters with unexpected smells, objects, actions, noises, events, people agitate the nerves and react emotionally, the individual approaches everything in a logical manner. This rational mentality of a purely intellectual individual inevitably leads to a blasé mind set, an apathetic outlook to that which is happening around them. This blasé attitude is a necessary response against the threat of individuality.

When there are less people in a situation, the bystander effect often fails to take place. This could be an example of common knowledge. If one person is aware that they are the only person with the information, they are more likely to take action. Another way to break the bystander effect is to make the situation more personal. One can do this by calling someone by their name, to break them out of the conformity mold of the situation. By breaking the bystander effect intentionally, one may be able to alter the behavior of others in the situation. Allowing others to lead one to conform is not ideal in numerous situations, which is why it is important to break the mold of conformity in the bystander

This report will focus on the text ‘The Metropolis & Mental life’ by Georg Simmel and the key arguments of this primary text. It will start off with a key biography of himself and the influences which he had then will go onto explaining the contribution this key author makes to social theory.

Simmel's work overlaps with that of Louis Wirth. Most notably their work overlaps in the struggle to define the social relationships that are made in urban societies to those that are made in rural communities. Wirth conveys this message in his work called, "Urbanism as a Way of Life." Wirth writes, "The superficiality, the anonymity, and the transitory character of urban-social relations make intelligible, also, the sophistication and the rationality generally ascribed to city dwellers." (Metropolis, 68) Both Wirth and Simmel are aware that the social relationships of city dwellers are ones based on intelligence and rationality and are removed of emotion. However, with Wirth, I would like to focus on his idea that a city is not only high in population, but it is also high density and high heterogeneity and how these things play a role in the social relationships of rural and urban communities.

The article “The Ghetto Made Me Do It” comprises of context and analysis of the criminal case of Lisa Morgan. Lisa Morgan, a progenitor of the harsh ghetto is being convicted with six armed robberies and a murder, but this article questions if this happened because of her personal responsibility, or society’s responsibility, or lack thereof, to effectively handle young, black, and poor children. One particular attorney, Robin Shellow, goes into detail about exactly what Lisa had to go through. Her Mom shot her dad, her uncle was murdered, her sister’s boyfriend was shot and paralyzed from the neck down, she was raped at aged 12 (1). These are all things that Morgan had to face growing up. The author then introduces the idea of the “ghetto defense” The “ghetto defense” basically states that (in regards to Morgan’s case) “… violence is a norm, an occurrence so routine that Morgan’s 17 years of exposure to it have rendered her not responsible for her actions” (1).