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Melissa Martinez
Professor Filbeck
English 113A
November 18, 2014

Social Division
Social division has been around years in America. This issue is seen in our world and in
the movies that nowadays we watch in movie theaters. In the film Divergent, directed by Neil
Burger in 2014 focuses on demonstrating the way people are put into different classes depending
on their career and skills. In our society the way we are organized into group is by either
belonging in the lower, middle, or upper class. In the movie Divergent the way people are
organized into faction is the same as in our world because people are organized base on the type
of career and skill they have.
In the film Divergent 100 years ago the founders created a system that they believe will
prevent future complex. The founders created a system of five groups to separate people from
each other. This groups are called Amity, Abnegation, Dauntless, Candor, and Erudite. The
founders in the movie decided to make this system so people would not have control of
everything and what they choose to be. This is compare to our world because in our society we
are divided into 3 social classes which are upper, middle, and lower class. Although in our world
the founders did not make a system to separate people from each other. What separates people
from each other is by the type of careers we have. As the movie starts it explains what each
faction as they are call in the movie do as a job. Each faction contains its own symbol that let
us understand the type of jobs they do. The symbol helps difference which faction a person
belongs to. The way our social classes are presented in our society is by having a social structure

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pyramid. This pyramid is divided into three different which represent the three different classes.
In our society the way a person knows where they belong is by the type of career and job skill
they have. The way this social structure works is the same way the factions work on the film
Divergent.
The social structure pyramid is divided into three, at the bottom being the lower class.
According to a website call Boundless it points that the determine lower class describes
individuals working easily-filled employment positions. In society the lower class job consists
of people filling up the easy jobs. To other people they think that the their jobs are easy when in
reality they are not easy. This class can be compare to two faction from the movie Divergent
which are Abnegation and Dauntless. In the movie Abnegation are made up of people who are
workers and help other out. As for Dauntless this group is made up people who are brave to do
any job. In our world people are not afraid to do any because what matter to them is having
where they will make money. They way they help each other out is by helping those who do not
have a job. In addition in the article The Class Structure in the U.S is talks about how people
from the lower class are refer to those who do not have a college degree, who works as a sale
clerks or housekeeper, and who incomes is low. Is compare more to Dauntless because as seem
in the movie the people have jobs that do not require to dress professional and they work really
hard to in order to survive. All the time they are working , doing danger jobs in order to have
food in their home and to give to others.
The class that is on top of the lower class or working class is the middle class which it
can be compare to Amity and Erudite. This class falls into these two factions because according
to the website call The Class Structure in the U.S it talks about how the middle includes people
in mid-level managerial positions or relatively low status professional positions, such as high

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school teachers and small business owners. In our society the middle class are people who have
a career in which they do not make a great or less amount money. They are the same as Amity
people because they are not aggressive towards other people of different social class. They
respect any person and they do not look for violence. It also makes them Erudite because this
people have careers in which they have to suffer less than the lower class.
The last class in the social pyramid is the upper class in which it can be compare to
Erudite and Candor. In the movie these two factions are seen as the wealthier factions because
they work as lawyers, they have the technology, and are the ones who control how each factions
work . According to an article call Where Do You Fall Into in the American Economic Class
System? it infers that the upper class are the one who contain a higher degree and work at a
white-collar position. These two groups are similar because they have higher jobs that require
knowledge and professional skills. In our society the higher education a person has the better the
higher they get pay.They are people who knows the way technology is advancing and are able to
keep up with it. In the movie Erudite are seen powerful because they are people who tell the truth
and their position are as lawyers and jobs require a knowledge. In the article call The Class
Structure in the U.S it implies that the upper class are those whose occupations are held esteem,
such as lawyers, engineers, and professors. People who work in this kind of jobs who earn more
money than others it categorize them as upper class. The way a person is categorize is by
knowing the type of job they have and the amount of money they make. Social division in
movies is the same as in our world because we are separating each other by the type of jobs we
have.
In conclusion in the film divergent social division is shown as a warning sign because we
are become a little more like them. One thing that makes it different from our real world is that

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we are not put into one category, what categorize us is how successful we become in life. By
successful meaning the type of career we choose to study and work as. The type of jobs we have
and the amount of money a person makes is what categorize a person either as a lower, middle,
or upper class.

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Work Cited
"The Class Structure in the U.S. Source: Boundless. The Class Structure in the U.S..
Boundless Sociology. Boundless, 03 Jul. 2014. Retrieved 19 Nov. 2014 from
Https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociologytextbook/stratification-inequality-and-social-class-in-the-u-s-9/the-class-structure-inthe-u-s-75/the-class-structure-in-the-u-s-442-10206/." Boundless. Boundless, n.d.
Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Francis, Davis. "Where Do You Fall in the American Economic Class System?" U.S News. N.p.,
12 Sept. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
"The Lower Class." Boundless. Boundless, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2014.
Williams, Geoff. "What It Means to Be Middle Class Today." U.S News. N.p., 24 Apr. 2014.
Web. 18 Nov. 2014.