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Sociology 1
The video I chose for this project is a representation of the life of an average
middle class person versus people living in poverty and their everyday struggles.
Throughout the video a series of pictures are shown where it compares what poor
individuals consider a struggle versus the average person. The video provides a few
examples, such as a middle/high class person complains about getting tired of their home
while others dont have a place to sleep, while people participate in massive food fight
festivals and waste food, many are dying because they have nothing to eat. This videos
purpose is to create awareness of the real struggles that people in developing countries go
through and how average middle/high class citizens tend to complain at the smallest and
insignificant things. It also portrays the division of humanity into different social classes
One of the oldest founders of sociology Karl Marx would view this video from his
proposed conflict theory. Since the video depicts the differences between two social
classes and what each have, he would assume that those who are in power do anything to
stay at the top ignoring a vast majority of the population, even if it means leaving some
with nothing at all. He would refer these differences as uneven distribution causing
tension and creating conflict for resources. Those who are financially stable are never
fully satisfied with what they have due to the advancements in technology and the need to
keep up with the latest tech that they often take for granted their life while others are truly
positivism would propose that sociologists should use their senses to observe, understand
and learn from the world so that the knowledge obtained can be used for change and
improvements in the lives of everyone. He would suggest that in order to fully prove they
way that social class affects what one considers a struggle; this would have to be
scientifically tested for validity. He also developed the three stages of social evolution,
which are the theological stage, the metaphysical stage and the scientific stage that serve
as an aid in depicting meaning of the video discussed in this essay. In the theological
stage he would describe that a high being among as such as a God, is the reason of why
things happen in the world either good or bad, in this stage meant that individuals would
use Gods will as an explanation for why people are poor and suffering while others are
not. The metaphysical stage would view this video as the differences between societies
due to the faults of society itself rather than a God. In this assumption, it is not Gods will
that poverty exists but only humanity is the one to blame for the social class differences.
And the third stage of Comtes social evolution known as the scientific stage, this would
suggest that there is not God or superstitions on why the world is set up the way it is,
every single fact of a humans behavior, struggles and social position comes merely from
Furthermore, another sociology founder Emile Durkheim would propose that the
video analyzed can be seen from his perspective of the division of society due to its
complexity. He believe that ancient societies were held together because its members
would preform related tasks and shared similar values/beliefs. However, as the times
have changed and society has expanded, people have had the need to preform different
tasks from one another in order to keep advancing. He would suggest there is a need for
some people to preform higher tasks than others in an economic sense causing others to
stay behind and live with limited resources. This would be called equilibrium.
Finally, after researching further into the meaning of this video and finding its
paradigm representation I would suggest it follows conflict. The constant fight between
humans to have power among society causes this social class division and the struggles
that every individual has. As opposed to a functionalist theory, whereas conformity plays
a big role and only encourages people to accept their place in society rather than making
their way out of it. The conflict paradigm as best portrayed in the video would suggest
that people who are at the bottom would need to rise up and combat against those who