Roger And Me Sociological Analysis

Roger and Me Essay
When General Motors left Flint, it put many people out of work and out of their homes. People became homeless and struggled to make ends meet. Businesses were forced to close and a lot of the money that was in Flint had left. Flint has tried rebuilding itself, but nothing seems to work. Throughout the film, many sociological ideas are seen like the conflict theory of deviance, the class dominance theory, and urban renewal. Because of General Motors, the city of Flint has never been able to get back to its old self and it has caused many of what is left of its residents to suffer in its ashes.
According to the conflict theory of deviance, people become deviant when groups with power attempt to impose their norms and values on less powerful goals. An easier way of explaining it would be that the one with the gold makes the rules. This idea is evident throughout the entire film. For example, when …show more content…
The power elite in this case would be Roger Smith and those assisting him in running General Motors. Roger Smith is in charge of shaping “the law” of General Motors. In this case, he shapes the law to benefit himself, like opening plants in Mexico because he can make cars for less money and pay the new employees less money. This puts the people in Flint and many other plants out of work because the power elite do things that work only in their favor and not in everyone’s favor. A specific scene this is prevalent in would be when the sheriff is evicting people from their homes and a young man looks across the street to the General Motor’s plant and tells the sheriff that he wanted to have something of his own for once, and now that won’t be able to happen. This is because he lost his job at General Motors, was unable to pay his rent, and now he is being put out on the streets like many others who worked for General Motors in the Flint