How does Great Expectations highlight sociological problems in relation to an individual ambitions?

What an interesting question! Thinking about it, the best
way to tackle this question would be to consider how Pip is changed by his "great
expectations," and in particular, how his relations with Joe are changed for the worst.
A great chapter to analyse closely with regard to this would be Chapter 27, when Joe
comes to visit Pip in London. This visit is full of humorous events, which at the same
time are deeply tragic. Now that Pip has started living as a "gentleman," it is clear
that the social distance between himself and Joe has increased exponentially. Even
before Joe arrives, Pip reflects that if he could have kept Joe away by paying him, he
would have.

Joe is clearly overwhelmed by the opulence in
Pip's living conditions. As the meeting goes from worse to worse, the elder Pip,
reflecting on his youthful follies, says:

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I had neither the good sense
nor the good feeling to know that this was all  my fault, and that if I had been easier
with Joe, Joe would have been easier with me. I felt impatient of him and out of temper
with him; in which condition he heaped coals of fire upon my
head.

However, the message is
completely clear. The wealth that has been responsible for allowing Pip to rise socially
has separated him from those that love him best and his home. Joe's words in parting,
which bestow upon him particular dignity and nobility, make the sociological
implications of one man's rise to power clear:

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"Pip, dear old chap, life is made of ever so
many partings welded together, as I may say, and one man's a blacksmith, and one's a
whitesmith, and one's a goldsmith, and one's a coppersmith. Diwisions among such must
come, and must be met as they
come."

Unfortunately, it
seems, to rise socially creates divisions that are extremely difficult, if not
impossible, to surmount. Social class, which is so closely intertwined with the
possession of wealth, is shown to create different groups of individuals that have
little, if anything to do with each other. This was, and is today, a profound
sociological problem. However, it is great testament to Pip's maturity that he is able
to bridge the gap between himself and Joe and Biddy by the end of the novel. However,
interestingly, this is only achieved after the loss of his "great expectations." Money
is not all it is promised to be.