As I made my way several miles down College Avenue, I knew it was going to hit home. This driving tour really opened up to me to be sociologically mindful of what is happening around us. The infrastructures and houses on College Avenue really distinguished from 75th Street neighborhood. As I drove past 16th street, some houses were very well-kept from exterior observations whilst others were not so much in good shape. During the driving tour, I did record the whole duration of the tour. Recalling back to my video, I saw a billboard that read “WE BUY UGLY HOUSES.COM”. The meaning behind this billboard really stood out because technically it is defining that whatever so-called company is willing to buy “ugly” houses in Martindale – Brightwood neighborhood area. It could mean something else, but from someone who isn’t from this area it is apparent that the meaning is pointed toward houses within those areas. Now obviously you wouldn’t see a billboard like this in suburban areas around Carmel, Fishers or Zionsville, not to ignore the fact that I am sure there are a few poor neighborhoods. Still continuing on College Avenue, I saw real estate signs that stood vertically. This made me wonder if families who lived in those houses either didn’t have enough money to pay for rent/mortgage or was fortunate enough to leave the area to upgrade for a better house. In some boarded houses, there were no Century 21 real estate sign, this meant that the house was foreclosed which could draw assumptions. Mortgage flippers that buy houses can get it appraised at a higher rate. Eventually, they are able to persuade buyers to purchase the house at an inflated price and walk away with a hefty difference. While the buyer is left paying substantial amount of money, they aren’t able to afford the rent thus having to foreclosure. The value of the house starts to decline and the mortgage holder lists it for a high price. The repetition of this process among many houses in a neighborhood essentially becomes ruined. According to Indy Vitals, near Northside neighborhood area has a 35 percent poverty rate and the vacancy rate is at 23 percent. The pie chart in this area showed 40 percent of Blacks and as high as 51 percent of Non-Hispanic Caucasians. The statistics aren’t very shocking because it is a mixture of the poor and lower/mid middle class in the areas. In the corner of College Avenue and 37th Street, I saw a couple of poor buildings and garnished picture posters plastered against the windows. Perhaps it is an African-American salon, hence a small business that is set up in this area to attract customers of the same race in hopes to raise economic prosperity in an impoverished area. In addition to analyzing the infrastructures of buildings, the Church of Christ and many others that stood on College Avenue showed a pattern of similarities. The impoverished building now turned into church was ultimately to bring in Christ followers within that area. Such apartment style building meant for church is very unlikely to be found in rich neighborhoods. Small businesses ranging from salons to auto care shops and restaurants were very penurious looking. I say this because I had a fair share of an experience about five years ago when my mother opened up a small grocery store. The area in which she opened the store was in a not-so-good neighborhood. Why? The building that was bought was sold at a low price and her targeted customers were that of the Burmese community. She had in mind that opening up a small business in an area comparable to stores on College Avenue would raise the supply and demand. How does this occur? The location in which the store was opened targeted people with poor transportations and the need of goods offered to customers. Just as the local stores on College Avenue, it is easier to attract middle to lower class whilst the building is in a poor condition. Turning into the Town of Meridian Hills neighborhood, I saw several nice houses. The neighborhood looked organized in a way that each house was gated or fenced. According to Zillow, the listing price on Meridian Hills peaked up to 200k which obviously is very expensive. Assuming that only the upper middle class are able to afford to live in Meridian Hills, and not to ignore the fact that I saw several White people than Black. The neighborhood on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and 29th Street has vacant and abandoned homes attracting criminals and drug addicts. Upon reviewing statistics from Indy Vital, it has high violent crimes among various offenses and 66.8 violent crimes per 1,000 population. The unemployment rate is at 21 percent consequently reckoning common violence and shootings reported on a frequent basis. The visual evidence as discussed earlier aligns with the discussion on Economic Stratification and Social Mobility. Many areas of neighborhoods lack wealth and income this is evident due to the crime rates and destitute conditions of infrastructures. Cities across America are filled with pockets of hardship and widespread rural poverty, and the impoverishment within metropolitan areas are extremely congested near downtown. Did the rich flee or the poor converge? A study says that transit was the reason. Before public transportation became a modern invention, most people lived within a walking distance to their jobs. Take a look in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Back then proximity to employment dictated where people lived. The most successful hedge fund’s offices were maintained by janitors that made a little above the minimum wage. When mass transit hit, people started buying automobiles because it defined their status symbol. The rich were able to afford cars and found comfort in traveling from home to work with privacy. In the other hand, the poor were stuck in the city. It was beyond their reach to own and operate a car, thus paving their way to live in close proximity to work, typically in the city. In sociology, the perspective of a functionalist seeks to understand how divisions of society operates. A functionalist believes that a society’s structures and processes exist because they serve as a needed purpose for society to function. The functionalist view of explaining economic stratification based upon my observations would assume that people move up the economic ladder by a person’s abilities, knowledge, skills and perhaps their merit. This view stems from lack of opportunity which brings in race, ethnicity, gender, class and much more. Additionally, another view of a functionalist is that poverty exists because it serves an important purpose for society to thrive. Such functions that are positive include the following: (1) Work done by poor people were avoided by others; (2) programs that benefit the poor employ people that work for the programs; (3) the poor will purchase cheap goods thus increasing in the value of the economy (Gans, 1972). Conflict theorist focuses critically on social stratification stemming from Karl Marx’s view of class societies. A conflict theorist would describe the observations based upon the tour as the rich living in a wealthy neighborhood will remain at the top, even if it oppresses the poor that are at the bottom of the ladder. Although nowadays working conditions have flourished, the strained relationship between employers and employees exists. This results in class conflict according to a conflict theorist.