Introduction:
What could greed for power push you and your family to do? In 2014 Fox premiered a television series titled Empire where the Lyon family compete for their family music label.
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Application:
In order to help us better understand the conflict within Empire we are going to be using Karl Marx's, a 19th century German philosopher and sociologist, conflict theory. Marx's theory seeks to explain the social change in society by claiming that all historical change is rooted in class conflict between groups. Throughout the blog we will be analyzing Empire using the conflict theory to explain the struggle for power within the show.
Karl Marx use the concept of class to explain the social inequality he saw in Germany during the 19th century. According to Marx class is a group of people that are separated into different social ranks. In Empire we can see how class plays out within the Lyon family. The Lyon family is considered the upper class post the founding of Empire while their old associates and friends can be seen as the lower class within the show.
Brainstorm Class:
- Def: Groups of people that are separated into different ranks
- Example: The different classes within the family (Family: upper class, Other people: lower class)
Topic: Music, power, and money
Source: Empire (Fox TV show)
Theory: Conflict Theory
Theorist: Karl Marx
Terms: Class, Alienation, Capitalism, Capital
Topic: Dystopia
Source: The Hunger Games
Theory: Conflict Theory
Theorist: Karl Marx
Terms: Proletariats, Bourgeoisie, Social Inequalities, Capitalism
Introduction
Karl Marx volunteered as tribute in the Hunger Games, and is stuck analyzing the conflict and making sense of it. What does he find out? In 2008 Suzanne Collins wrote a book titled the Hunger Games in which the main character, Katniss Everdeen volunteers as tribute in order to save her sister from the Hunger games.
Application:
In order to more fully understand the social inequality within the Hunger Games we will be using Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher's perspective. Karl Marx is considered the founder of the conflict theory which explains social change through class conflict. This theory offers sociologist an explanation into social phenomenon such as the Hunger Games.
Karl Marx explained that the factory workers during 19th century Germany were considered the lower class. Which he called the proletariats. In the Hunger Games we see that the citizens of all twelve districts are considered the proletariats of Panem. The citizens are viewed as the workers and a labor source for the capital's citizens. We can see an example of this when Katniss' father goes to the mine to extract coal in order for the Capitol to have this resource. We see how workers are exploited and treated as lower class citizens.
Examples from Source:
Proletariats: Citizens of the 12th Districts
Bourgeoisie: Citizens from the Capital, President Snow, the Government
Social Inequality: Food access (resources), lead to poverty
Capitalism: Economic system after the "Dark Days" aka the rebellion
