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In today’s society, we focus so deeply on moving up in a social class that some of the real issues at hand blind us. A social class defining a person’s education, medical care, or acceptance in society is unacceptable. As Americans, we have struggled throughout history to overcome segregation between races, fought for gender equality, and we are making a stride to prevent biases towards sexual orientation. Yet, we still are separated by social class more now than ever before. The “Upper class” which is considered the elite, receives a more productive education along with higher education because they can afford schools that are more prestigious. A person’s life is valued higher if they have money and power. Money and power ensures the capabilities of obtaining an abundant amount of assets, while enjoying a luxurious life. Does being a part of the elite class, come with a racial identification card? Race, ethnicity, and gender seem to be obsolete when considered part of the elite class. This paper will show the research of a person’s social class, and how it has become an identifier in everyday descriptor around the world, as well as discrimination being less if belonging to the …show more content…
Discrimination may only be prevalent depending on your social classification. If a lower class has fewer opportunities in the societies to provide a chance to flourish, how can one start the process to strive for success? In communities around the globe, there is government and private funded programs to help and assist the underprivileged. Places like “Urban League of Hampton Roads” located here in Virginia, will provide information for programs as well as monetary assistance, which can act as a temporary supplemental income. Other organizations like “Equality Virginia” can provide assistance for discriminatory
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
Those two axes of inequality mask the social classes within culture, because if there had been no distinctions between race and gender in class structures, “class or socioeconomic differences would have been more obvious” as Robert Dahl explains in Who Governs?: Democracy and Power in an American City (Dahl 54). This paper will mainly focus on the class aspect of inequality within government, keeping race and gender in mind while continuing forward. Social class, as George Domhoff introduces in Who Rules America?, started in the colonial and revolutionary times, and therefore contains deep roots in the foundation and history of the United States. Leaders “who did not fight for equality accepted it in order to win” not taking into account slaves and native Americans, but the class inequality of white men (Domhoff 15). Americans took pride in a smaller class distinction than Europe, and thus ignored the great class distinction that was present, further allowing those class inequalities to permeate throughout American culture and discretely form an aristocracy model of government under the democratic illusion. Dennis Gilbert in The American Class Structure In an Age of Growing Inequality expands on this theme
Allen supports her claims about hierarchies and power dynamics in her chapter “Social Class Matters.” She dives into the structures of society by examining power and social class in various contexts. In this chapter, she explains that people are categorized according to themes of class difference and struggle. Social class is associated with the relationship between power and the distribution of resources. Because this stratification system of social class is one of the biggest predictors of school achievement, social identity plays a large role in the social reproduction of inequality in the education system.
...rceived to have more wealth received special treatment in the weekend event I chose to attend, which is a clear indication of the disparities existing in terms of wealth distribution nationally and globally. The level of interaction for those present was based on perception of individual social status. People were more inclined to freely interact with individuals from a similar social status rather than a person from a different social status. While some had ascribed status, other presented achieved stratification status. However, the difference emerging from this scenario is that a small number of individuals are given opportunities to amass wealth within a short time while the rest linger in their glory. In return, the cultural response to this difference is to elevate those who have amassed wealth at the expense of those in middle and low-class income bracket.
Diversity is part of the American lifestyle. America is a country built on capitalistic principles, where a countries’ economy is controlled by a small number of people. People who tend to have power in the society tend to separate themselves from the rest. Looking back at different time period of American history diversity has shaped up the lives we live as Americans, whether it is because of gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, socioeconomic background, and capabilities/ disabilities, there is always diversity in society. Although, diversity is increasingly being viewed positively, and as much as people are proud of their differences. There will always be a way for human beings to diversify themselves into groups in which share similar interests.
Class for the purpose of this paper is the concept that those who are better off are of what can be considered to be upper class and those that lack financial means are of the lower class. Mantsios says that there is an absence of discussion in reference to the distinctions of classes (697). In a study performed by Susan Ostrander, in regards to the term “upper class” one woman responded “‘I hate to use the word ‘class.’ We are responsible, fortunate people, old families, the people who have something’” (697). Yet it appears to be opposite that those who are in this lower class realize the plight they suffer. As one student from Fremont High School noted, “‘The owners of the sewing factories need laborers. Correct…It’s not going be their own kids… You’re ghetto,’ said Fortino unrelentingly to her. ‘So Sew!’”(Kozol 645). The student who knew that he was more than likely to be stuff in his place was willing to point out this fault of the system. This topic which more than likely the well-off woman would stray from rather because she had life easier than Fortino will in his lifetime.
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.
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.
Social class is more than a word, more than a label, it is a description of the norms and values of a social group in society. It is powerful description, a description so powerful that many people live their lives around it. With all groups, there are stigmas that surround it. A stigma is a negative social label that not only changes others’ behavior toward a person but also alters that person’s own self-concept and social identity. In order to show that social class is not just an economic label of groups but a social construction, Robert Granfield uses the idea of stigma to discuss the experience of working-class students in prestigious universities of law. He does so in his article ‘Making it by Faking it’.
“The class position affects the politics of individuals in the sense that the way women, racial or ethnic etc behave is determined not by their gender, racial, cultural Identity alone but by their overall position within the ensemble of social groups.”(Fotopoulos 1) Labeling someone as a certain class of individual creates a
In Anderson and Collins’, chapter on “Why race, class, and gender still maters” encourage readers to think about the world in their framework of race, class, and gender. They argued that even though society has change and there is a wide range of diversity; race, class and gender still matters. Anderson and Collins stated, “Race, class, and gender matter because they remain the foundation for system of power and inequality that, despite our nation’s diversity, continue to be among the most significant social facts of peoples lives.” (Anderson and Collins, 2010) When I was a little girl, I never knew that people were classified in to groups such as race, class, gender. I knew there were people that had a different color of skin than my color of skin. I knew that there were rich people and poor people, and that there were girls and boys. I saw everyone as being human beings, as being the same and not classified as something. As I was growing up, I started to see the differences in classifications in groups. It was not because I just woke up knowing that there were different classifications, but because I was taught about them in school and society. Anderson and Collins stated, “Race, class and gender shape the experiences of all people in the United States. (2010) This means that experiences that we have gone through in life are formed from a race, class, and gender view.
Privilege is a concept oftentimes over looked. There is the tendency for people to refuse the notion there are advantages for people of certain race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality enabling them to access of basic needs, such as food, water and shelter, but also opportunities to education and careers. However, despite people’s ignorance to privileges, in today’s society these advantages have become natural. White, heterosexual, males are the norm within culture, they contain the most power and opportunity. However, it has been that way since their birth. Their privilege does not merely signify no hard work has been put into their success; rather their experience is different from those not belonging to conformity. People of the norm are enabled
Since the country’s beginning, race, gender, and class have been very important factors in a person’s experience in the United States of America. The meaning of race, gender differences, and the separation of class have changed over United States history. For many Americans, their perceptions of class and race and the degree to which gender affect people’s lives, often depends on what their race, gender, and class are, too. There are differences between the reality of America, what is represented as American reality in media, and the perceived reality of America. Americans as well as those looking at America from an outside perspective may have questions and confusions regarding what the real connections are to race, class, and gender are in America. The paper tries to clarify and explore how these issues connect and play out in real life.
It is perpetuated by the way wealth, power, and prestige are distributed and passed on from one generation to the next
Social status is defined as an individual’s position, often relative to others, in a group or society as characterized by certain benefits and responsibilities as determined by an individual’s rank and role. Social status is everywhere in society and in your everyday life, most of the things you have experienced are because of either your social status or your parent’s social status. Many of the people you meet and make connections with throughout your life tend to be in the same social status as you. Throughout your life you may or may not experience the external influences that often shape our society and are unnoticed. Social stratification is what brings our society together as a whole, without this our society, people would live their lives as individuals. During my interviews, I asked the people bundle of types of questions. I asked them about childhood and their family’s social status during their childhood. I also asked them about their perception of social status, and if they fit in as a family and if they were considered an influential family. Another question I asked my interviewees was about their life since childhood, about the various jobs they have had and I asked if there was a pattern of mobility. The last question I asked them was about their life now. This