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Inequality in social science
Inequality in social science
Inequality in social science
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The American dream is a dream of a land in which one can prosper with ambition and hard work. This idea has created many illusions for some because in reality the American dream is proven to be something that is rarely achieved. No individual is guaranteed success or destined for failure, but it is apparent that women, people of color, and those born into poverty will face greater obstacles than others, despite being a greater part of the American population. An author that tackles the issue of class in the United States is Gregory Mantsios. In his essay, “Class in America-2009”, Mantsios aims to prove that class affects people’s lives in drastic ways.
Have you ever wanted to chase the American dream? It might be more impossible than people realize. Gregory Mantsios writes “Class in America-2012” about the growing and obvious class divide in America, yet no one wants to talk about the situation and the effects on the people. I will be analyzing the text and explaining the effects it has on the reader. Throughout the article Mantsios stays consistent with his opinion by providing multiple charts and graphs to back his point.
William Domhoff’s investigation into America’s ruling class is an eye-opening and poignant reading experience, even for individuals enlightened on the intricacies of the US social class system. His book, Who Rules America, explains the fundamental failures in America’s governing bodies to provide adequate resources for class mobility and shared power amongst classes. He identifies history, corporate and social hierarchies, money-driven politics, a two-party system, and a policy-making process orchestrated by American elites as several causes leading to an ultimate effect of class-domination theory pervading American society. In articulating his thesis and supporting assertions, Domhoff appeals rhetorically toward an audience with prior knowledge
The economic structures and power are key variables in the outcomes produced by the American political system. The way a society organizes its system of production and distribution of material is an important factor in shaping politics, social life and culture. Power is a matter of class which is a social position by relationship to the means of production labeled as capital and labor. Those with higher education and advanced skills often have a higher advantage over those citizens who lack basic information about process and even more so with policy. The average citizen depends on whether or not a capitalist buys its skills.
Tasha, thanks for writing an informative post discussing the similarities and differences of Canada, Brazil and Mexico as compared to the USA. As I concur with your assessment of each country as it pertains to Trompenaars’ analysis indicate strong similarities between the US and Canada in every category. However, I have a few dissenting views as I see both the US and Canada having a strong propensity towards Sequential Time as opposed to Synchronous Time. Sequential Time is defined as one who puts high priority on punctuality, planning and schedules. In contrast, nations that operate by Synchronous Time exhibit a high degree of flexibility placed on plans, commitments and time (Satterlee, 2018).
In America after World War Two, citizens were split between classes based on their economic stability. Americans today still look at these classes and define these people as better off or worse off than the next person. Why do people judge others for having less money than them? Why do employers send lower class citizen away when they need the money the most? These are some question that citizens in the lower or middle class have when they are looking at their position in America’s economic system.
There is lower, middle, and upper class, but there are also subcategories that fill the gaps in between, like the impoverished and the top one percenters. “Class in America”, written by Gregory Mantsios, addresses the myths and realities about socioeconomic class in America and how they affect American lives. His article highlights the unequal divide that has persisted over the course of history and will continue to manifest in the future. To introduce the existence of this issue, Mantsios states that this country’s citizens “don’t like to talk about class...or class privileges, or class oppression, or the class nature of society” (Mantsios 378). This is the case in America today because people are neglecting to acknowledge the existence of these elusive
The Big Picture: Social Class in the U.S. Basically, this video talks about social class. In class systems, people are ranked by both birth and individual achievements. Also, people are born into certain social classes, but are able to move through individual effort in class systems. The divide between the rich and the poor is increasing. I believe that richer people have more opportunities.
Income Inequality Income Inequality or “wage gap” is a big topic for freedom fighters and liberals for the simple fact that it isn’t equal for everyone. Because the wage gap is so prominent it's one of the biggest “facts” that discrimination is still apart of everyday American society. The wage gap from these radical interest groups think the economy is get a dollar take a dollar instead of a free flow economy. This misguided idea of the economy is absolutely not true and isn’t at the fault of the Government, but the people.
Is The American Dream Just a Dream? The American Dream is notable to be an aspiration for a better, wealthier, and joyful life for everyone of every class. For most Americans, this requires going to college and getting a college degree, getting a good paying job, buying a house with the white picket fence and a dog, and starting a family. Although this seems wonderful, a large amount of the American population believes that the Dream has changed extremely or doesn’t believe in the dream because of increased prices in society, the price of tuition being unaffordable, as well as the unemployment rate skyrocketing and lower job growth.
America prides itself on being one of the most effective democratically governed counties. The idea of the American dream is that all people have equivalent political freedoms and a responsive government. However the effectiveness of social equality is being threatened by increasing inequality in the United States. Economic inequality in the US has expanded drastically. The wealth gap has had drastic changes over the past 35 years.
Among our closest counterparts are Russia with its oligarchs and Iran. While many of the old centers of inequality in Latin America, such as Brazil, have been striving in recent years, rather successfully, to improve the plight of the poor and reduce gaps in income, America has allowed inequality to grow.” (Stiglitz 2011) Inequality doesn’t give anyone an equal
In the wake of critical scrutiny from the polemic works of Bauman (2004), Beck (2000), and Giddens (1992), the relevance of class analysis in understanding the expression of inequalities in contemporary society has been called into question. The concept of class analysis postulates that “individuals’ interest, tastes, attitudes, and dispositions, are linked to their social economic class positions” (Eidlin, 2014, 1), and that this position in turn relegates conditions of social, cultural and political relations. The foremost criticism level at traditional disciplines of class analysis is its advocacy of the primacy of class over other forms of social structure (Wright, 2000, 115) thereby producing a rigid and inflexible framework of analysis.
In the today’s society, there is a big discussion in America about whether or not is the American dream exist. Today, often people who live in the United States prefer to think that we are a nation that no longer social classes, and all the people are much better than those who were a long time ago. When different social classes are acknowledged, people prefer to ignore the inequalities that accompany them. However, social class has always been historically, and continues to be a major predictor for a range of social inequalities, connected with educational opportunities, work, and success. Now, many people in the United States find themselves at a disadvantage due to their social class.
Therefore, in a stratified society, the individual’s opportunities are always determined by his or her social class. In this essay, I will be arguing that even though mobility exists in the social class system, the opportunity to change status is relatively open for everyone but the distribution of opportunities among the members of a social class is not relatively equal to all. I will demonstrate this point by showing how participation of an individual in a specific social class will decide the opportunities in terms of attaining education and achieving a well-paid job. Education has a significant role in promoting social mobility; it enables people to acquire knowledge and certain skills in order to promote their social status. Nowadays, people believe that societies are based on meritocratic