Name: Phung Huynh

Sociology 1
Professor Mozzini
11 July 2016
Sociological Analysis of Would you stop if you saw this little girl on the street?
Summary of this video
The highlights of this video called "Would you stop if you saw this little girl on the street?" shows how
different it is in people's reactions toward a little girl based on her appearance. In this video, Anano, a
6-year-old actress will stand alone outside the street and in a restaurant with two opposite appearances.
The first appearance is clean, rich and nice yet the second one is poor and dirty. This video from
UNICEF gives us a sad truth of how millions of children who living in poverty are ignored and pushed
aside everyday. It is "a call to action for the world to treat its least fortunate children the way it treats its
luckier children (UNICEF)."
How sociologists Comte, Marx and Durkheim would view this video
August Comte When viewing this video, August Comte would study it in the light of positivism and
the use of observation, experimentation and other methods in order to understand the social interaction
based on classes. Comte would center his attention to people's reactions toward Anano in two
difference situations. He would observe that people base on the little girl's appearance and make
judgment to decide whether they will help her or not. We can see that when Anano is a rich girl, she
obviously gets more attention and help than when she is a poor girl, whom was pushed away and
treated as if she is a thief or a bad person that shouldn't be helped.
Karl Marx When viewing this video, Karl Marx would study it in the light of Conflict Theory. Not
only will he explain people's reactions toward Anano but also how inequalities are reproduced. He

would identify the inmates as being of a lower social class. They are denied certain rights and
privileges; whereas, Marx would claim that as a rich girl with higher social class, Anano has access to
more resources and has more controls of her situation: how people will interact and help her. He would
also observe the situation and explain how inequalities are reproduced. Those who are poor and lack of
resources are always neglected, pushed aside without the access to other resources; and those who are
rich will always get attentions as well as be treated better than others.
Emile Durkheim When viewing this video, Emile Durkheim would observe this type of social
interaction is acceptable in order to keep the equilibrium of the society. She would analyze social facts
such as: the morals, religious and culture beliefs. She would claim that this type of reactions is a part of
society since it will protect people from bad intentions or crimes. Modern society, in Durkheim views,
is more complex and even a bad behavior toward these groups of people can serve as a good one for
others.
Most represented sociological paradigm Symbolic Interactionist Theory
In my opinion, the most presented paradigm in this this video is Symbolic Interactionist theory in
relation to the girl's appearance, social classes and social interaction. People in this video have
judgment and react differently based on appearance and social class that they observed from the little
girl. It shows how beauty is attached to wellness and goodness that it becomes a stereotype in people's
mindset. Hence, all the things which is divided into the opposite category now represents for the bad
sides of society. In general, people labels others based on their appearances, and they use that to decide
how their behaviors and reactions will be. Symbolic interactionism in this video explains people's
interactions as a way for them to make sense of their world. They pushed the poor girl aside because
what they ascribe to her is she might have bad intentions as how they heard or seen on news. On the
other hand, the rich girl is ascribed with a higher social class which means she has all the resources that
she needs and there is no reasons for her to do bad things. Moreover, symbolic interactionism can be

seen in the meaning of human's behaviors in others. For example, in this video, even though the little
girl is an actress, she is still being upset by the way people treated her. She knew that she was
neglected, and people didn't like her based on how she looks like. It clearly shows the importance of
human interaction and how it affects on each person in a society.