Martha Hernandez

Sociology 1

January 21, 2017

Video Project 1 Analysis

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

causing their life struggles to vary based on their social status.

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

fighting for their life.

Additionally, Auguste Comte the founder of sociology and his ideology of

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

science and has been tested and proven.

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

suppress them or there wont be any change within that society.