Jennifer Phan Essay - Grade: A PDF

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This essay is on a true and popular news story about a girl named Jennifer Phan who orchestrated the murder of her parents. It is told in third person. ...

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Eterniti Claggett 8 March 2019 SOC 101

In 2010 in Toronto, Canada, a mid-20-year-old woman named Jennifer Pan that did not agree with the treatment of her ‘Tiger’ mom and father towards her. This was even after she started having more freedom as an adult. As a result, she concluded that they must be killed in order for her to continue to live the double life that she was living. In one life she was the esteemed daughter of a rich immigrant family. In another, she sought the help of the older boyfriend her parents despised, Daniel Wong, to put her into contact with h the hitman that would eventually shoot her mother dead and fail to kill her father. “In-Groups are social groups which you belong to. It provides a sense of identity as “us.” and “Out-groups are complementary and are referred to as “them”; you are not a member of that group.” (Anderson & Taylor 2016, chap. 6). In the case of this news story let’s consider the perspective of Jennifer Phan. Jennifer Phan and her boyfriend Daniel Wong will represent the in-group for this discussion. Within this group they shared the common goal to remain a couple and do so by getting rid of Jennifer’s parents. They also had the goal of being free from the Phans’ controlling hand in her life, which then effected the relationship she could have with Daniel. Being in the same age range they also shared the norms of a young adult. Considering this, they fit the definition of a group, and therefore hold the qualifications of being consider the in-Group.

Jennifer and her boyfriend’s ‘common goal to get rid of her parents for good suggests that her parents are the out-group which they were not a part of. They were fact not complementary. “And so, with Daniel’s help, she plotted to kill the two people who had made her life like “house arrest.” (Yanan Wang, 2015), further emphasized the fact that they were not complementary and also very much a them to Jennifer and Daniel. What

makes Jennifer's parents a group is that they consist of two members, share the same parenting style coined as ‘Tiger’ parenting because they were strict and demanding. They also shared the norm ‘Tiger’ parents do which was to push academics, whether the child wants to move forward in that direction or not. In this way, in and out groups can be analyzed in this news story. In keeping with the story of Jennifer Pan and the murder of her parents, I can also analyze that reference groups may have played a role in the actions she took against her parents. Reference groups are “those to which you may or may not belong but use as a standard for evaluating your values, attitudes, and behaviors.” (Merton and Rossi 1950). In the case of Jennifer Pan I can come to the reasonable conclusion that Jennifer's reference group most likely her parents, those she associated with to help her murder her parents, and those she knew at school. After further analyzation Jennifer's boyfriend and his friends are the group that she referenced as far as her values, attitude and behavior. This conclusion based on the fact that Jennifer had her parents killed so that she could be in the presence of her boyfriend and her double life more. The way Jennifer went about murdering her parents, and the fact that she did it at all implies that she looked up to and valued most the attitudes and beliefs of those within her double life.

To continue, I analyzed the presence of overgeneralization. In keeping with the definition, “assuming one size fits all.” (Anderson & Taylor 2016, chap. 3), as soon as Jennifer's story made headlines in Toronto, the media immediately began generalizing Asian culture. According to Yanan Wang’s article on this story in 2015, individuals took Jennifer's situation and began to question Asian parenting and its effects on Asian children that grew up dealing with “Tiger Parenting”. They began comparing their stories to hers and concluding that the parenting they deal with is wrong because it led to Jennifer's behavior. Hanna Wang notes the book "The Asian American Achievement Paradox” specifically

the part where it mentions “The danger of highlighting cases like Jennifer’s is that they contribute to a misconception that all Asian American kids experience this extreme pressure and are mentally unstable.” The book explains that those who hear Jennifer's story overgeneralize and assume that all Asian children had to go through what Jennifer did. To continue, the second observation is one that I made myself after the event happened. On November 26, 2018 I went with my father to get a used tire near a convenience store called Diamond Dot in Mesa, Arizona. When I drove us in the first thing my father noticed was a set of tires with beautiful gleaming rims. As we got out of the car, he didn't hesitate to ask how much the rims cost and excitedly chat with the workers about how amazing they were. He then turned to me and began planning out all the great things he could do to alter my car. New rims add in a sound system. As per his suggestion, I would pay half a thousand, he would pay the other half. All the while, I just stared back him, nodding in the right places, added in a small smile when necessary, and other actions to demonstrate that I was listening.

When time came to repeat the story to my mother, I allowed my father to take the reins to see how he would approach telling her the story. My father is known for over embellishing when it comes to storytelling. He did not disappoint. Through his selective observation “only remembering what one wants to remember” (Anderson & Taylor 2016, chap. 3), I overheard him tell my mother “Babe, the rims were tight and Eterniti was so excited! We talked about getting her new rims and a bumpin’ system all during tax time! She said she's down.” As I stated previously, when my father was telling me all this all I did was nod and stare blankly. I never actually said anything. Any onlooker would have been able to deduce that this man was far more excited and gleeful about tires and a sound system than his daughter. Due to my father's excitement, he remembered only what he wanted to remember. In this memory I was just as gleeful as he was.

From this experience with my father I did some deductive reasoning to come to a conclusion. This means that I arose “at general conclusions from specific observations” (Anderson & Taylor 2016, chap. 6). These observations were that despite my lack of enthusiasm, my father retold the story as if i were just as excited as he was. I observed that in his selective observation, he remembered me saying things I definitely didn't. Taking into consideration all of these observations, I concluded that my father's warped recollection of our trip to the tire shop was due to the overshadowing of his own glee and excitement. His own glee and intense want for new rims, tires, and a sound system caused him to remember that I felt the same way. Him believing that I believed the same was done so that in his mind his want for these things would be justified and validated. The final sociological concept I observed in this situation was the Hawthorne effect. To continue the story of my father retelling our trip to the tire shop to my mother, she called him out. She told him that whenever he tells stories he tends to over embellish them and miss key details. Every time he tells a story it gets more extravagant than the previous retelling. To prove he does not in fact do this, he retold the story of how they met. Knowing that my mother was challenging, and testing this theory against her, he gave the most mundane retelling of my parents’ first encounter. Usually when he describes how they met it's exciting and thorough. This time it wasn't. This is due to the Hawthorne Effect “a phenomenon in research where participants change their actions when they know they are being studied” (Anderson & Taylor 2016, chap. 3). Knowing my mother was challenging his story telling tendencies, my father left out the embellishments he usually adds so she wouldn't be correct. Sociological concepts can be analyzed all around us, as it is the study of human beings as a whole.

References Anderson, M.L. (2011). Thinking About Women: Sociological Perspectives on Sex and Gender.9th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Lazarsfeld, Paul Felix., and Robert King Merton. Proposal to Establish an Institute for Training in Social Research. Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University, 1950. Lee, J., & Zhou, M. (2015). The Asian American achievement paradox. Russell Sage Foundation. The Washington Post. (2015). Tragedy of 'golden' daughter's fall resonates with Asian immigrant children....