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The Depiction Of Today's Socioeconomic Divide

Decent Essays

Social Stratification in the Media:
The Depiction of Today’s Socioeconomic Divide According to author and professor of sociology Nijole V. Benokraitis (2016), “Social stratification is a society’s ranking of people based on their access to valued resources such as wealth, power, and prestige” (p. 138). Often times, the idea of social stratification is depicted in today’s media. This concept is presented in many various forms of broadcasting mediums, such as movies, television shows, songs, and internet videos and advertisements. A prime example of social stratification presented in today’s media is the adventure film The Hunger Games. The Hunger Games is a science fiction movie directed by Mr. Gary Ross whose contents provide an excellent …show more content…

Similar to the United States of America, Panem, the name of the land found within the film, is primarily made up of people who belong to the middle and working classes. Of the twelve regions, only one of the districts, district one, is considered to be extremely wealthy. District one produces luxury items and is considered to be the richest of all the districts; however other districts, such as two and four, may be classified as belonging to the upper-middle class. In America today, forty-four percent of people make up the middle class, and thirty-eight percent of Americans form the working class- tallying up to a total of eighty-two percent of the entire American population belonging to the middle and working classes (Benokraitis, 2016, p. 143). Besides district one, many of the other districts belong to these two classes. The various districts provide the Capitol with essential products and services needed to operate a nation, such as lumber, textiles, and power, through the performance of manual labor. In the film, the people who belong to these districts regularly appear to simply be scraping by; however, they make do with what they have. They are experts at bartering and crafting in order to acquire the things that they need and desire. Throughout the duration of the movie, the poorer districts are viewed as weak and pitiful; however, during one point in the …show more content…

The Capitol, the governing body in charge of Panem, established the Hunger Games in order to serve as a reminder for the districts to not rebel similar to that of the now nonexistent district thirteen. In the Hunger Games, two representatives from each district are forced to compete in this to-the-death battle. Social stratification plays a major role in the development of this practice- organization. Without social stratification, the games would not be possible because there would be no system present whose sole purpose is to organize the population in to districts. As a result, social stratification has a significant impact on serious crime in the film, such as murder. As for crime of lesser severity, such as street crime, poverty appears to be the greatest factor in the performance of these acts. A prime example of this idea is best illustrated when Katniss steals from the Capitol in the form of poaching. Katniss only commits these acts of crime in order to gather enough food for her family without having to put her name into the reaping bowl, the bowl used to draw names out of in order to determine the representatives selected for the games. In America, women only make up of twenty-six percent of all street crime (Benokraitis, 2016, p. 122). Given how low of a percentage this statistic provides, this shows just how large of a role poverty plays in the influence of Katniss’s actions (Ross,

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