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Xiao Wen Yu
Professor Lookholder
Sociology 001
18 November 2016
Project 1: Video/DVD Analysis
Over recent years, the number of college graduates has skyrocketed. That should be of no
surprise as the competition within the existing job market is extremely arduous. Acquiring a
certificate or an Associates degree in the field relative to ones career choice is now insufficient
to employers, who are looking for individuals with higher degrees such as Baccalaureate
degrees, Masters degrees, or even Doctorate degrees. It is due to the rising specifications of
these employers that have prompted many working individuals to go back to school to earn their
degrees and even current college students to aim toward getting a Baccalaureate degree than an
Associates degree. However, acquiring these higher degrees comes with an extremely heavy
price tag, especially for individuals in the lower social class. In fact, in a video entitled, College
Graduation Rates for Rich and Poor Divided, published on Wall Street Journals website,
speakers Tanya Rivero and Melissa Korn reported that college completion rates are soaring
amongst students who belong to a wealthy social class. However, for students who are from
lower social classes, their success rates are at near standstills.
Melissa Korn also reported that college students who are from the top income bracket,
those whose families secure over $108,650 or more annually, have been statistically proven to
have a seventy-seven percent chance of graduating from college with bachelors degrees relative

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to the field in which they are interested in before they are twenty-four years olda thirty-seven
percent increase from the completion rates reported in the 1940s, which is indicative of the rise
of college students who belong to wealthy families. However, for students of families who earn
$34, 160 or less annually, their statistical percentage is only nine percentonly a three percent
increase from the 1940s. Korn then goes on to share that students who belong to higher social
groups are able to pay for their college tuition because their families are able to pay for it;
therefore; they are able to further their education and acquire jobs of higher pay. However, since
students and the families of those students who belong to lower social classes are unable to pay
to attend school to further their education, they are forced to work for minimum wage job
positions and continue to live on low income.
Karl Marx, a 19th century German philosopher who also explored different elements of
society, would ultimately view the students who are unable to afford to successfully complete
college as the proletariat, members of society who would later perform the hard labor for the
members of society with money, power, and status, or the bourgeoisie. The proletariats are
giving up their labor to markets and are receiving little to no profit or sense of accomplishment
from their provided labor. They are trapped in their social class with little to no control over their
conditions. Their cycles seem to repeat themselves as they are unable to dig themselves out of
their lower social classthey cannot obtain high power jobs with good pay and are overworking
themselves only to receive minimum wage. The proletariats perform the hard labor for the
bourgeoisie, who seem to scarcely work yet receive almost all the profits which are brought in by
their workers. Marx would exclaim that there is an unequal social order between the two vastly
different social classes which then creates conflict between them as their resources are
distributed amongst them unfairly.

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mile Durkheim, a well-known sociologist and the theorist of functionalism, would view
this video as an element of which demonstrates how society is an interdependent system that
works together in order to maintain a state of equilibrium and social equity for society as a
whole. Workers in the lower social classes are dependent upon those in the wealthier social
classes to provide them with the resources that they earn from their input of hard labor. Those in
the wealthier social classes, the managers or bosses or executives, are dependent upon their
workers to carry out the hard labor that they do not want to do. Each role is dependent upon each
other in to make a single business or corporation to operate smoothly. Without the hard labor of
the lower social classes, the wealthy are unable to financially prosper. Similarly, without being
paid by those in the wealthy classes, the workers are not paid at all; therefore, earning no
financial resources. Additionally, the workers in the lower classes are prone to the concept of
anomie, where a breakdown in social solidarity occurs due to lack of guidance and
disequilibrium occurs.
Auguste Comte, a French sociologist and philosopher, would view this video as an
element of social statics, which is a principle that societies hold together and social order is
maintained. Comtes principle of social statics can be comparable to mile Durkheims
functionalist paradigm since both of these theories focuses upon maintaining social order and
how each of the social classes interact with one another. The wealthier social classes tend to
exert their high power and dominance over those in the lower social classes. This interaction
typically oppresses those in the lower classesforcing them to stay in vulnerable positions. They
are unable to resist the power that is being wielded over. Ultimately, those in the lower social
classes are forced to accept the power that is being exerted over them as economic conditions
make finding other positions of labor difficult.

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This particular video evidently demonstrates Karl Marx's conflict theory or conflict
paradigm in which he states that social order is maintained through the power and dominance
that higher social classes exert over the lower social classes. The success rates of college
graduates, who belong to wealthy social classes, demonstrates that the education system is
almost shunning out those who are poor because they cannot afford to pay such a high price to
attend school for one yearlet alone four years. Since the poor are unable to pay such
abominable prices to attend school and further their education, they are forced to work for
minimum wage jobs, continue to live their lives on low income, and tend to occupy a status that
is vulnerable to oppression. Whereas for the wealthy, who can afford to attend college and
further their education, they are able to acquire a job position with relatively high authority that
pays them well and allows them to live comfortably. The wealthy are able to become managers
or bosses or executives and get all the profits that their workers, the lower classes, perform for
them.

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Works Cited
College Graduation Rates for Rich and Poor Divided. Perf. Tanya Rivero and Melissa Korn.
Wall Street Journal Video. WSJ, 4 Feb. 2015. Web. 18 Nov. 2016. <College Graduation
Rates for Rich and Poor Divided>.