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Essay On Social Mobility

1000 Words4 Pages

Social mobility is considered the ability to change one’s social status. It is an admirable transformation that most people aspire to attain in their lifetime, and American citizens are no exception to this dream. Perhaps any story of how our ancestors were able to “attain the American Dream” is a classical representation of this desired social change, but the question remains: how many people in the United States are able to move up the ladder of class? The United States used to be one of the world’s leaders for social mobility; however, Americans are less mobile now than they’ve ever been before. The possibility of attaining the “American Dream” is decreasing significantly because of the decreasing social mobility in the United States. If …show more content…

In fact, they many up about half of the modern day labor force; however, women are on the lower end of the income spectrum compared to men, being mostly minimum-wage or low-wage workers (Chetty et al., p. 350). Despite women’s strides toward occupational equality, there is still a skewed view of women in the workforce in the United States. In fact, it is still expected that women will take care of the children in the event that they are unable to find adequate child care, making it increasingly hard for them to maintain a career (Chetty et al., p. …show more content…

While the United States was a world leader for social mobility in the past, it now has a significantly decreased social mobility, especially compared to other developed countries in the world. In fact, the possibility of social mobility has greatly decreased in the United States in regards to class, race, gender, and even age. So, how many people in the United States are able to move up the ladder of class? Not nearly as many in previous years, that’s for sure. Will social mobility increase, giving the American people the ability to hope for the American Dream again? One can only hope for that time to

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Author Robert McKinnon in his work, “Moving Up: The Truth about Getting Ahead in America” has discussed factors that affect our chances of achieving the American Dream. In the article, "Moving Up: The Truth about Getting Ahead in America" Robert McKinnon argues that “it is easier to stay at the top then it is to rise from the bottom.” Throughout the article McKinnon illustrates the three most important factors when it comes to moving up in the social class to achieve the American Dream this includes: mobility, hard work, and the fate of our birth. Although McKinnon proved all these factors to be vital when it comes to living the American Dream, I believe that hard work is the most important when it comes to achieving the American Dream.

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Within social mobility, many people fail to have a sense of the realization of the American Dream because of the fewer advantages and more problems minorities have to struggle through. Therefore, our social class affects our ability to realize the American Dream because we face challenges to make ends meet, intersectionality and education because of high status.

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Annotated Bibliography Cohen, M. (2014, April 26). The American Dream is now just that for its middle classes – a dream. The Guardian, p. 00. “The American Dream is now just that for its middle classes – a dream” by Michael Cohen explains the perception of Americans towards the decline of the middle class. The article details how the middle class was viewed before the elections of President Obama, and how it’s viewed after the creation of the Affordable Care Act.

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Yes, but the degree to which this is probable varies significantly from society to society. Social mobility refers to the upward or downward movement between higher or low social classes. (Barber, 1993) In other words, it’s a person’s movement over time from one class to another.

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