This essay explores personal interpretation of the reading “Savage Inequality” encompassing its distasteful quality and sociological perspectives while identifying my individual experience through commonality. The opening statement in the article Savage Inequalities referenced obvious signs of social inequalities losing its energy as society now view its origin as an everyday norm. Explaining it away as a reflection of the individual’s character is a faultless example of societies reacting to their definition of the situation relatively than the objective situation itself, as Symbolic Interactionism advocates. Contrasting the US educational system reflective in schools found in poor, middle and rich communities appears to be the focal point. A better education is often offered to a select group of privileged children against those with gaps, a problem greater than what is to be expected, however, we are not entirely unaware of its effects.
The theme examined East St. Louis and its non-favorable living conditions, a black community profoundly in lack observably beneath the poverty line breakable due to dangers of non- stability with few jobs and meager pay as a result of a fiscal deficit. City hall, the administration building of a municipal government, a representation of power appearing to be powerless without wealth. Constitutes an area of emergency as it becomes clearer the reality of this adversity is regarded within the social problem perspective on a macro level. According to Kozal (1999) “The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development describes it as “the most distressed small city in America” (Pp. 343-35). By far, this illustrates social problems are not necessarily self-inflicted”. Certainly this tragedy is a c...
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... it or amount to anything. He now travels from state to state as a Medical Assistant preparing to further his education. We never really knew how deprived they were until visiting another school to participate in a wrestling tournament where the white ratio was indeed higher. We were amazed with the facility and all it had to offer. It was apparent money was invested abundantly as they were still adding on to its structure. My children had to return to an old decrepit school whose football field was just a field with wooden benches, and tattered books for learning materials. The school was a reflection of its population status whose only hope was selling candy bars with no investors in sight.
Reference
Kozol, J. (1999). “Savage Inequalities.” In J. Henslin (Ed.) Down to Earth Sociology Introductory Readings. (10th ed., Pp. 343-351). New York: Free Press.
Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol is an account of his travels to East St. Louis, Illinois; North Lawndale and the south side of Chicago; New York, New York; Camden, New Jersey; Washington, D.C.; San Antonio, Texas; and Cincinnati, Ohio, researching their school systems. Kozol’s book exposes the glaring inequalities present in these cities. Kozol devotes a chapter to each of these cities—with the exception of San Antonio and Cincinnati—identifying the inequalities children there face. His statistics expose these shocking injustices perpetrated by the powerful. The truths Kozol uncovers in Savage Inequalities challenge anyone’s misconceptions about equality in the United States.
...ll. The inner city has many complications the fact that most are African American is a mere coincidence. If we as a nation are capable of fixing all institutions and structural issues we could bring the slums out of poverty. The cycle of unemployment and poverty is a terrible cycle that cannot only be judged by race and cultural values. When reading this book keep in mind the difficulties, any family or person could go through these tribulations. There are many arguments and sides to each problem; this is another one of those. The battle for inner city poverty, and the factors that go along with it, has not been finished. Wilson brings out a different aspect which could help people expand horizons and come up with better solutions.
Inequality, itself, may seem like an aspect that is surrounding the academic subject of history. An American economist, Paul Krugman, substantiates that inequality exists within our society through connections to several important historical movements. “One of the best arguments I’ve ever seen for the social costs came from a movement [...].” (Page 562) He implies how inferior inequality could be, and discusses why he along with a wide array of an American audience, may give some attention to its rising. Krugman makes “Confronting Inequality,” interesting, challenging, and enjoyable. This author approaches the audience by giving a powerful inception, and appealing to the senses of ethos and pathos.
A three generation African American family of five living in a small, substandard apartment in the city of Chicago faced many obstacles in order to thrive. Blacks often felt that they could “be somebody” when they saw the growing shopping districts, parks and lake side beaches as well as theaters, ballrooms and fancy hotels (Mays). While great strides had been taken in ...
Sudhir Venkatesh’s ethnography Gang Leader for a Day is a summary of his research through the University of Chicago in the 1990s. Venkatesh chose to do research on poor African-Americans in Chicago, and their experiences in public housing developments. He concentrated his study on the Robert Taylor Housing to better understand how residents lived and differentiated from those in other parts of the city. Venkatesh’s target population was those living in harsh living conditions, primarily black and poor. Throughout this paper, I will be addressing Venkatesh’s research and its limitations. I will also share my opinion on Venkatesh’s analysis and understanding of his findings about the residents, and how his experiences mesh with my own. In
Rowlingson, K. ( 2011). Does inequality cause Health and Social Problems? Birmingham: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
"The Poverty Of Equality." American Spectator 45.3 (2012): 26-30. Academic Search Complete. Web. 16 Dec. 2013.
Returning to his old high school after having had graduate ten years ago, Shamus Rahman Khan came in with one goal: to study the inequality of a school that claims to be more “diverse.” St. Paul’s School located in Concord, New Hampshire claims to have become more diverse over the years, accepting people of different racial backgrounds and social classes to their prestigious boarding school. However, as described in his book, Khan found that this claim made by the school is false. He also found out that the elite that used to attend his school is not the same as the elite attending it now. Nonetheless, it was the elite that were succeeding because they were the ones who could afford the school, had family linages that already attended the school, and mastered “ease” which made them privileged in society. Separating his book into five different chapters, each focusing on a different topic that helps support his claim, Khan describes this change in elite and the inequality that still accompanies St. Paul’s. In the introduction to Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School, Khan states the three most important points he will refer to during the rest of the book: hierarchies are natural and can be used to one’s advantage, experiences matter more than inherited qualities, and the elite signal their status through ease and openness. These are discussed thoroughly in throughout Privilege.
When it comes to sociological research, Grusky and Weisshaar give specific layers or information about the four parameters of inequality and what they mean. These factors give common over views of the category in which the unfair distribution of goods and income are spread. The four parameters are listed as the amount of inequality, rigidity, ascriptive processes, and crystallization (Grusky and Weisshaar
The South Bronx, New York City: another northern portrait of racial divide that naturally occurred in the span of less than a century, or a gradual, but systematic reformation based on the mistaken ideology of white supremacy? A quick glance through contemporary articles on The Bronx borough convey a continuation of less-than-ideal conditions, though recently politicians and city planners have begun to take a renewed interest in revitalizing the Bronx. (HU, NYT) Some common conceptions of the Bronx remain less than satisfactory—indeed, some will still express fear or disgust, while some others have expressed the fundamentally incorrect racial ideas studied here—but others recall the Bronx with fondness, calling it a once “boring” and “secure” neighborhood.(BRONX HIST JOURNAL, p. 1) What are we to do with such radically different accounts between The Bronx of yesterday, and the impoverished borough of today? If we speak in known, contemporary cultural stereotypes, then segregation is strictly a Southern design, but natural otherwise—but to record this as a natural occurrence, no different than a seasonal change or day turning to night, would be to ignore the underlying problem. The changing role of white Americans from majority to population minority in the Bronx, coupled with the borough’s title of “poorest urban county in America” (as of 2012), is the result of careful orchestration and a repeating story of economic and political gain superseding civil rights. (GONZALES, BRONX) (BRONX HIST JOURN, HARD KNOCKS IN BRONX @ poorest note ) It is not coincidence.
There is a high degree of social inequality within the United States. Of most modern industrial countries, the United Stated has some of the richest and some of the poorest people to be found. That fact is very disturbing, however, explains why much of the inequality exists in the US. In the following essay I will explain to you about the inequality in our country and why it occurs, based on the theoretical perspectives of a functionalist, conflict theorist, and social interationist.
Austin, Michael. “Wealth, Poverty and Social Class” Reading the World 2nd Ed 5.7 (2010): 352-356. Print
The subject of equality and inequality are a sensitive and controversial topic. Both equality and inequality were portrayed in the short story, “The Lesson.” In this short story by Toni Cade Bambara, Miss Moore, a well known woman in the neighborhood, gives the children in her local area a lesson about the brutal inequalities that are in existence within the socioeconomic status system. This leads the children to ponder about the equality and inequality that exists within society. Toni Cade Bambara uses her short story, “The Lesson” in order to shed light on the injustices and racial inequalities in society. The goal of the story is to not only fight for racial equalities, but socioeconomic equalities as well.
The problems of race and urban poverty remain pressing challenges which the United States has yet to address. Changes in the global economy, technology, and race relations during the last 30 years have necessitated new and innovative analyses and policy responses. A common thread which weaves throughout many of the studies reviewed here is the dynamics of migration. In When Work Disappears, immigrants provide comparative data with which to highlight the problems of ghetto poverty affecting blacks. In No Shame in My Game, Puerto Rican and Dominican immigrants are part of the changing demographics in Harlem. In Canarsie, the possible migration of blacks into a working/middle-class neighborhood prompts conservative backlash from a traditionally liberal community. In Streetwise, the migration of yuppies as a result of gentrification, and the movement of nearby-ghetto blacks into these urban renewal sites also invoke fear of crime and neighborhood devaluation among the gentrifying community. Not only is migration a common thread, but the persistence of poverty, despite the current economic boom, is the cornerstone of all these works. Poverty, complicated by the dynamics of race in America, call for universalistic policy strategies, some of which are articulated in Poor Support and The War Against the Poor.
Kerbo, H. R. (2012). Social stratification and inequality: class conflict in historical, comparative, and global perspective (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.