Game Of Thrones: How Characters Fall Into Social Classes

With the broad spectrum of shows that are on TV today, the viwers get to see many types of stratification. In this paper I will be talking about 3 specific shows and which forms of stratification they demonstrate. The first will be Game of Thrones and how the Estates System is shown. Next will be The Ranch and how the characters fall into Social Classes. The last show I will use will be Bates Motel, which also uses Social Classes. While watching Game of Thrones it was clear to see that the type of stratification being used was the Estates System. This was demonstrated by the ranking of the characters, from the Nobles all the way down to the peasants. The first example would be the Stark family; during the show it is very rare to see interaction with non-nobles or peasants. This is shown very clearly many times during the show, but one scene that stands out the most is when a baker’s boy was killed for play fighting with a noble kid. If I were to watch this show without any idea of social class I would easily see that being Noble or born into a powerful family would be what is wanted. …show more content…
Sociologist Daniel Rossides breaks the classes into five groups, upper class, upper-middle class, lower-middle class, working class, and the lower class. The show does a good job showing which charters fit into which group. A few examples would be Beau Bennett, the corporate Ranch, and Jerry. Beau Bennett would fall into the working group of social class being an entrepreneur in owning a small business, his farm. Although the show doesn’t name the owner of the corporate ranch, it is clear to tell that he is an entrepreneur like Beau, but he falls into the upper-class due to the accumulation of assets and amount of goods he produces. As for Jerry, since he is a lawyer he would be placed into the middle class according to