Hidden America Children Of The Mountains Sociology

Would you want to be considered under the poverty line? For the people of Appalachia, Kentucky most do not have a choice when it comes to being under the poverty line. Most are unlucky and were born into the social class they are in today. Many theories pertain to poverty and social classes the Appalachian people face. They are also shown through the elements of structural functionalism, conflict theory, and symbolic interaction. The main point of the video is to show how others live in poverty and what other social classes are like. The implications of the film “Hidden America Children Of The Mountains” are to show the science of sociology and how they affected the Appalachian people. Through the study of sociology, different sociological

Relative poverty exists when people may be able to afford basic necessities but are still unable to maintain an average standard of living. In the film “Hidden America Children Of The Mountains” it displays that almost everyone in Appalachia falls under either absolute or relative poverty. Shawn Grim is a teenager in the hills of Kentucky, him and his family are considered under the poverty line. “The U.S. Social Security Administration has established an official poverty line, which is based on what the federal government considers to be the minimum amount of money required for living at a subsistence level” (Kendall). Shawn moved out of his home and lives in his truck and moves from place to place. This does not seem to hurt society but it does not benefit it either. One way Shawn benefits society is that he works at Burger King. This is considered as a structural functionalist approach. “A sociological approach to poverty that maintains that all parts of society (even poverty) contribute in some way or another to the larger system's stability” (Boundless). As it is shown in the video Shawn is trying to better himself which in ways helps larger system’s stability. This is also in some ways considered under the conflict theory. Shawn and his family members have gone on the side of

There are two sociologist that have taken a major interest on stratification and social class. Karl Marx and Max Weber have had a profound influence on how we view the United States class system today. “According to Karl Marx, class position and the extent of our income and wealth are determined by our work situation, or our relationship to the means of production” (Kendall). Marx’s theory states that capitalists society consists of two classes which are the workers and the capitalists. As for the Appalachian people, they would most likely fall under the workers. “Working class (proletariat) consists of those who must sell their labor to the owners in order to earn enough money to survive” (Kendall). A very few percentage of Appalachian people would be considered capitalist. The ones who would be classified as capitalist would be the coal miners. “Starting salary for coal miner is $60,000 a year” (Sawyer). The capitalists own and control the means of production. Other than working in the coal mines there is not a lot of jobs that would make the people of Appalachia capitalists. Max Weber’s theory is similar yet very different to Karl Marx’s theory on social stratification. “Weber developed a multidimensional approach to social stratification that reflects to the interplay among wealth, prestige, and power” (Kendall). With Weber’s approach it allows the Appalachian people to to be a high-level rank in one area