Antz Movie – Sociology

ANTZ 1. Define social class. Name at least two social classes depicted in the movie. ·Social class: a defined set by social stratification where people are grouped into a set of hierarchical social categories ·Social Classes in ANTZ i. Worker ants ii. Soldier ants iii. Royal ants 2. Who make up the underclass in the ant colony? ·The underclass in the ant colony is considered to be the worker ants. 3. Give one example of social mobility in the movie. An example of social mobility in the movie is when “Z” and his friend, Weaver the soldier, switch jobs before the royal review. This change can be though of as vertical mobility since “Z’s” rank is considered to be upward and Weaver’s downward. 4. What does the term “life chances” mean? What are the life chances of the ants in the movie? ·A life chance is the likeliness of obtaining and maintaining the material and nonmaterial things in life. According to the book, life chances decreased as social class level declines.

In the movie, the royal ants appeared to eat the good of the land, while the worker ants moved the good of the land or earth. 5. Define class consciousness. Give one example of class consciousness depicted in the movie. ·Class consciousness: Awareness of one’s place in a system of social classes as it relates to the class struggle. ·There are several instances where the ants become class conscious. The scene where “Z” is talking to Aztec shows that they understand what class they are in, but choose to take different outlooks on it.

The fighting scene in the bar where the worker ants fight against the soldiers is also another instance. 6. Define false consciousness. Give one example of false consciousness depicted in the movie. ·False consciousness is depicted in the movie when the worker ants accept what the General Mandible says when he break up the rallies that emerged after “Z” kidnaps the princess. Throughout the movie a dominant ant gave orders to worker ants and they accepted them, which is what false consciousness is; the acceptance of the dominant ideology. . Define lifestyle. What are the lifestyle differences of the ants in the movie? ·Lifestyle: the differences in the way people live among social classes ·In the movie the perspective of what other ants did weren’t always correct. In the movie “Z” believed that the princess had no real labor to do while he had tons of earth to move daily. The biggest lifestyle difference in the movie is probably behavior and an understanding of who one is. 8. Is the ant colony a caste system? If yes, explain how. In the movie ANTZ there is a scene where the antlings are assigned worker or soldier. Because of that scene it is safe to say yes, the ant colony is caste system. 9. Use one of the sociological perspectives to explain the stratification as depicted in the movie. ·The functionalist perspective seems to fit with the movie because each aspect of the ant’s colony is interdependent and contributes to their colony’s functioning as a whole. 10. How does the movie ANTZ relate to social stratification? In the movie we were introduced to ants as workers, soldiers, and royalty. They all had a meaningful purpose, but were viewed differently among the social classes. No matter who was upper or lower the ants couldn’t survive if everyone wasn’t accounted for and active. It is their acting like a colony that they survive in this movie. This is the same with social stratification. Social Stratification can be viewed as functional for the social order because it motivates people to undertake all the jobs necessary for the society to survive.