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Marxist view of the American dream
Inequality in classes in america
Inequality in classes in america
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Recommended: Marxist view of the American dream
There is undoubtedly division along socioeconomic lines, just as there is along racial lines. Class status can marginalize a person just as race can. Thusly, much like race, class differences bring inequality into focus. With that said, persons of every race and ethnicity are represented in the different societal classes. Still, for many persons of color a rise in class status does not shield them from experiencing discrimination and racial bias (Graham, 2016). In this respect, it appears that one’s racial identity can actually trump one’s class identity.
Class status can have its advantages and disadvantages, just like race can. Speaking both economically and racially, those with privilege have power. I believe that America’s economic system encourages Americans to take advantage of any privileges whether we realize it or not. Case in point, we have created the concept of the American dream. Our society believes that we can achieve anything we want if we work hard enough. Thus, we focus on individual efforts while professing our democratic
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Moreover, my white identity has afforded me privileges that undoubtedly played a role in how I was raised. Case in point, I have spent most of life never considering my whiteness and when I did it was only to elevate myself. I was raised in an economically challenged household. I knew we were poor, it was evident not only by the lack of food, but by the lack of material possessions. Yet, much like the account of DiAngelo (2016), I used my racial identity to trick myself into believing I had more in common with middle class white kids than I did with persons of color in the same economic position I was in. Once we moved to the suburbs I entered a school system that was white dominated and once again that meant I did not have to think about race. Our shared skin toned aligned us despite any other
Paul Krugman, in his article “The Death of Horatio Alger” suggests that social mobility among classes in the United States is becoming more difficult by the day. Krugman explains that the idea of the American Dream and moving from class to class was once semi easily attainable; but is now seemingly impossible. Although America is thought of as a classless society, the country has a whole is moving into a caste society run by the rich.
Social and economic class is something we as Americans like to push into the back of our minds. Sometimes recognizing our class either socially or economically can almost be crippling. When individuals recognize class, limitations and judgment confront us. Instead, we should know it is important to recognize our class, but not let it define and limit us. In the essay, “Class in America”, Gregory Mantsios, founder and director of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education at the School of Professional Studies, brings to light the fact that Americans don’t talk about class and class mobility. He describes the classes in extremes, mainly focusing on the very sharp divide between the extremely wealthy and extremely poor. In contrast, George
According to Gregory Mantsios many American people believed that the classes in the United States were irrelevant, that we equally reside(ed) in a middle class nation, that we were all getting richer, and that everyone has an opportunity to succeed in life. But what many believed, was far from the truth. In reality the middle class of the United States receives a very small amount of the nation's wealth, and sixty percent of America's population receives less than 6 percent of the nation's wealth, while the top 1 percent of the American population receives 34 percent of the total national wealth. In the article Class in America ( 2009), written by Gregory Mantsios informs us that there are some huge differences that exist between the classes of America, especially the wealthy and the poor. After
In the United States, class-avoidance has become culture norms. For example, when people sneeze we are socially programmed to say “bless you” or “gesundheit”. When the topic on social class or classism comes up we have to avoid the topic by changing the subject. Class-avoidance is like a put a bandage on cancer or one of the big elephants in the nation. Gregory Mantsios, talks about four common or myths that contradict, beliefs about United States. According Mantsios (2013) myth 1 says “rich or poor, we all equal in the eyes of the law, and such basic needs as health care and education are provided to all regardless of economic standing” (p.150). If are rich, you can afford the best lawyer or a team of lawyers and avoid prison time or get community service. If you are rich, you can live long because you have access to the best doctors and medicine. If rich or a legacy, you do not look for look best education, but rather education knocks on your door. Only the rich are equal in the eyes of the rich. If you are poor, you are highly likely to do jail time, die early, and going to college is just a
If you have ever read the book 1984 by George Orwell, then an interesting topic may have crossed your mind. The way the classes of people break down can be quite similar, and very different at times. In the United States, we have classes like the lower class, the working class, and the middle class. In 1984, there were such classes as the Proles, the Outer Party, and the Inner Party. The way the classes are broken down in 1984 reminds me a little bit of my old history class. When I studied medieval times and the classes back then were broken down into the nobles, the bourgeois, and the serfs.
Growing up in The United States, people are given this idea of an American Dream. Almost every child is raised to believe they can become and do anything they want to do, if one works hard enough. However, a majority of people believe that there is a separation of class in American society. Gregory Mantsios author of “Class in America-2009” believes that Americans do not exchange thoughts about class division, although most of people are placed in their own set cluster of wealth. Also political officials are trying to get followers by trying to try to appeal to the bulk of the population, or the middle class, in order to get more supporters. An interesting myth that Mantsios makes in his essay is how Americans don’t have equal opportunities.
However, this general knowledge is not apparent to White people. Similar to microaggressions, John F. Dovidio discusses the concept of aversion racism, “a subtle, often unintentional form of bias that characterizes many White Americans who possess strong egalitarian values and who believe that they are nonprejudiced” (90). Eduardo Bonilla-Silva and Sue both demonstrate from their research that Whites do not comprehend the impact of their unconscious biases. These biases towards students of colour in a white-based post-secondary school environment can result in stress and weak interracial relationships. This is an issue since the significance of these everyday actions are not fully recognized and acknowledged. I will elaborate on a variety of examples, specifically the influence of the peers, and
In Mantsios’ “Class in America” he provides us with four myths about the United States. In one of these myths the idea is brought up that the United States is, at its core, a classless society. It is also states that whether rich or poor, everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. The myth also states that health care and education are provided to everyone regardless of their financial stability. This idea about a classless society is exactly what Mantsios claims it to be, a myth. It is untrue to state that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, and to believe that whatever differences exist in financial standing are insignificant. There are clear distinctions between different groups of people depending on their economic and social standing.
Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks” (71). All these objects listed by McIntosh are things I have access to and certainly take for granted. Due to a history of non-white racial oppression, which transformed into decades of racial discrimination that still lingers today, the white race has dominated our society in terms of resources and prosperity. The ideas of wealth, higher-level education and ambition to succeed are all traits commonly linked to people of the white race that collectively define privilege. The aspect of privilege can also produce disadvantages for people of the white race as well. In the book Promoting Diversity and Justice, the author D. Goodman notes that people of advantage groups develop a sense of superiority, which will sometimes lead them to wonder if, “their achievements were based on privilege or merit” (107). Along with a diminished sense of accomplishment, the cost ...
In learning about different ways that we as a society categorize and divide people, it is essential to understand what about people it is that we feel the need to label and differentiate between. When a person is born into this world, there are certain statuses that they automatically obtain, called ascribed statuses (Henslin 98). These statuses determine each person’s social location in society. This includes gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, and ability. Each person has their own unique social location, and is affected in a different way than the next person may be. As a white, queer, cisgender, middle class, female, in relatively good health, I have always been relatively privileged.
The ideal concept of American society is one in which all of the citizens are treated equal in all every realm and situation. Class, race or gender does not divide the utopian America; everyone is afforded the same opportunities and chances for success. In this chimerical state Americans are able to go as far as their dreams allow and with hard work and perseverance any thing is possible. Many Americans subscribe to this pluralist view of the Country, believing that within our democratic system it is the majority who maintains control and sets policy. Unfortunately this idyllic country does not exist nor has it ever existed. America is made up of distinct social classes and the movement within those classes is for the most part, limited to the various classes in the middle where the lines of demarcation are blurred. Although the majority of the Country's population would attest to the myth that America is a classless society, the distinctions definitely exist and influence the entire life scope of most Americans. Housing, health care, education, career prospects and social status are all dependent on the amount of wealth one has and their class standing. Our system needs the built in inequities of the class system in order to perpetuate itself and the upper class needs to have their interests as the dominant determiner of corporate and governmental power and policy.
In his essay “Land of Opportunity” James W. Loewen details the ignorance that most American students have towards class structure. He bemoans the fact that most textbooks completely ignore the issue of class, and when it does it is usually only mentions middle class in order to make the point that America is a “middle class country. This is particularly grievous to Loewen because he believes, “Social class is probably the single most important variable in society. From womb to tomb, it correlates with almost all other social characteristics of people that we can measure.” Loewen simply believes that social class usually determine the paths that a person will take in life. (Loewen 203)
This builds upon the previous pieces by McIntosh and DiAngelo because these papers mostly rely on race as the primary category and Hills-Collins highlights that gender and class area also salient categories when describing systems of oppression. Dichotomous thinking in relies on categories and schemas and reduces the complexity of the systems of oppression and people’s true experiences. Therefore, Hills-Collins recommends considering how our race, class, and gender are interlocking to contribute to our positions as oppressors and the oppressed, to build coalitions around common causes, and to build empathy for both our oppressors and those we
I think the U.S. society does have classes. The current pay disparities do indicate classes. The opposition might retort with how much easier it is in the US to quickly rise or fall in wealth. However, classes have less bias in America. In today’s society, wealth, gender, and race have no large say to who we love which supports the idea that there’s less class bias than ever before. People who disagree could argue the fact that there’s been an increase of violence against minorities across the board which supports the idea of class biasness in
The issue most pressing to America is not President Trump, but instead is an issue of the values and ideals that are commonly associated with him, such as classism and the perpetuation of socioeconomic statuses; the repression of ‘minority’, no immediate power or control, opinions and populations are being pushed by the ‘majority’ therefore widening socioeconomic gaps between classes. To resolve this problem, a dialogue must be created, and maintained, between repressed groups and their government representatives directly resulting in the improvement of those groups’ conditions, and with the goal of raising their standard of living and improving on the national standard of living.