QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Summary of Film
 The film depicts several characters living in Los
Angeles, California during a 36-hour period and brings
them together through car collisions, shootings, and
carjacking. Through these characters' interactions, the
film seeks to depict and examine not only racial
tension, but also the distance between strangers in
general.
Film Trailer:
http://mfile3.akamai.com/26419/rm/screenplay1.download.akamai.com/26417/streaming/250/e2506530.ram?eclipi
d=e25065&bitrateid=6&vendorid=691&affiliateId=movies&sp_ubid=746-5916787-1173752
Conflict Perspective







Groups in Society are engaged in a
continuous power struggle for scarce
resources.
Examples of conflict can include
economic, political, legal, family
issues, and racial tensions.
Focuses on opposed interest
groups/social groups and their attempts
to gain power and use it to their
advantage at the expense of others
Dominant groups impose their views
through force.
Conflict between classes leads to social
change.
Social consensus is limited and
inequality is widespread. Conflict is
seen as universal, inevitable.
Change is viewed as inevitable and
positive although it can be violent.
Georg Simmel
 German Sociologist
 Society as a web of patterned interactions
among people.
 Main purpose of sociology should be to
examine these social interaction processes
within groups. (Ethnic?)
 Forms of social interaction (such as
cooperation and conflict) and the context of
social interactions in different contexts.
 Interest in Crash. . .
Hypothesis
“ People with different ethnic
backgrounds have more similarities
than differences.”
Research Method(s)
Observation
-Useful for studying
attitudes and behaviour in
natural settings.
- Comparative studies are
possible.
- Documentation of
important societal
problems of excluded
groups.
What would Simmel look for?
Why?
Interviews:
•Simmel would conduct interviews with
the characters from the film. (What
questions would he ask?)
(Backgrounds?)
•He would try to determine what
common factors there are in the lives
of people with different ethnic
backgrounds. (Looking for striking
similarities).
•Compare findings with research done
in other urban centers similar to Los
Angeles. (Does place play a role in
people’s attitudes towards others?)
Research Conclusions…
 Observations and interview responses would show
that miscommunication and lack of education were
the main sources of racial tension in this particular
situation.
 Ignorance leads to ethnocentrism?
 Hustle and bustle of a large city…
“It's the sense of touch. In any real city,
you walk, you know? You brush past
people, people bump into you. In L.A.,
nobody touches you. We're always
behind this metal and glass. I think we
miss that touch so much, that we crash
into each other, just so we can feel
something.”
General Conclusions
 Simmel would conclude that despite
language and cultural barriers, people of
different ethnic backgrounds, generally are
more similar to one anther than they realize.
Bibliography
List any source that you take information
from and include in your presentation
other than your class notes.
BE CREATIVE!!