Various Forms of Social Stratification (Essay Sample)

Social Stratification
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Social Stratification
The film Elysium can be described as a classic illustration of social stratification. The film is an American science fiction set in the mid-22nd century where the planet earth has become overpopulated and extremely polluted. Most people live in poverty but the rich live in a space station, Elysium, which has all the necessary medical equipment for all types of injuries. A conflict emerges between the rich and the poor and efforts to bridge the gap between the two classes are frustrated by those in power. Through several deaths and assassinations, Elysium is programmed to register everyone on earth and people start to access critical medications for their illnesses.
From the plot of the film, the main example of social stratification is wealth and income. Elysium is a film that depicts a classical capitalist system where a few individuals, called the bourgeoisie, own and control most of the wealth of a country (Doob, 2019). In the film set, the bourgeoisie is the extremely wealthy people on the planet who control the earth's resources. The rest of the population comprises the poor, known as the proletariats, who have limited means of accessing basic necessities. The second type of stratification is class, which implies that different parties have varied levels of access to power and resources. In Elysium, the upper class live in a separate location from the poor where they have fully-stocked facilities. The basic structure is that of two classes, one living on the planet and one in a spaceship. Some of the norms characterizing the two groups include that the poor dislike the rich and the rich keep the poor off the ship at all costs.
The theoretical perspective used to explain social inequalities is the conflict theory, which focuses on the competition between classes of people over limited resources. Class conflicts are a common phenomenon in a capitalist and industrialized society as explained by Grusky (2019). The conflict theory was first proposed by Karl Marx, who believed that social order is achieved through power and domination as opposed to conformity and consensus. In the film Elysium, the conflict theory is apparent between the two classes as they compete for limited resources. Additionally, the rich have the power to dominate the poor and prevent them from accessing the basic amenities aboard the spaceship. Such nature of stratification explains why the conflict theory is selected as the most appropriate one.
The connection between the film and socie