There are numerous generalizations about family, class, and race present in the world today. People are categorized whether it is by rich or poor, male or female, black or white. Whatever the circumstance, the human race is separated by these simple categories. The ideal question is, however, why? Why do we spend our time making such generalizations? If we are all our own person then why are we grouped based on the amount of money we make, the color of our skin, or our sex? Is there really a useful purpose or is it simply a waste of time? Sadly, the world has amounted to who has the most money or the prettiest toys. No matter how it is looked at, we are grouped based on the amount of income we make. People are sectioned off into the social classes, sometimes to the extent that the Jews were sectioned off in the Holocaust. Some examples of social classes are: upper-class, middle-class, working-class, and immigrants. Many of these social classes fall victimized to stereotypes. In each of the three main social classes there is a stereotype I disagree with. The upper-class stereotype is that upper-class children learn not to “spend down the capital”; the middle-class stereotype is extended family negligence; and the working-class stereotype is that work and family are separate. …show more content…
This basically means that they are taught to only spend the interest and not the principle. Even for the few who are taught that spending the income is not allowed, their abundant amount of interest is more than any modern family has to live as it is. More time is focused on maintaining the social class status by throwing parties in order to compare themselves to their equally rich friends and more money is spent in the process. In reality, many upper-class children, like their parents before them, never learn the value of a
In most societies there are variations in the levels of wealth, material possession, power, and authority amongst individuals. These variables are usually related to one’s occupation, race and the diversity of access to things like education and health care. All of these resources impact individual status in society, and take part in classifying people into social classes. Precise social class is difficult to identify, as it consists of two fundamental aspects. The objective aspect pertains to one’s occupation, race, age, and other solid facts; meanwhile the subjective aspect portrays one’s values, behaviorisms, and his/her way of life.
What is social class you ask? Social class is a system created to categorize people by education, wealth and heredity. What are the different class systems you ask? There are several class classifications and they’re Upper Class–Elite, Upper Middle Class, Lower Middle Class, Working Class and poor. In the united states and being a victim of “ social class categorizing” is an issue that must be addressed and people must be made aware, because it seems as if it’s not going anywhere anytime soon so the least we can do is try and make it fair as possible. Being defined unknowingly by a class system is one thing, but having no say so or fair opportunity at being placed in the best “class system” as those more fortunate than others needs to change because it’s not like we all came out of our mothers womb starting the race of life at the same starting and advantage point, and since we as Americans pride our-self on being the land of the free and equal opportunities I feel compelled to inform you of the unfairness of the issue and state ways to make it fair. In an article read while doing research this is how the author defined Social class “Classism is similar in many ways to racism, sexism, heterosexism and other forms of oppression. Classism appears individually through attitudes and behaviors, institutionally through policies and practices, and culturally through norms and values. Like other forms of oppression and prejudice, it is the tendency to make sweeping generalizations or stereotypes about people, such as “Poor people are lazy.”(Class Action) This essay will assess the determination of social classes in the United States and will seek to provide examples to demonstrate the inequalities and provide ways to improve them.
We are letting the dominant group remain in power and limit our will because we have a financial disadvantage to the rest of the world because of our style and taste. However, reading this book about social stratification is the basics of what controls our mind and how we accept that control. I recommend this book to anyone who is committed to understand the class system. After reviewing this book I have came to terms that no matter where I go I will always label people for what they may or may not
...social classes that the world tends to put us in, we can sure make a difference by changing our view on them and taking more into consideration when grouping people into a class or ranking.
While categorizing individuals by race, class, or occupation seem wrong, in reality it provide structure and organization to any society. The cultures of Hindu India, Medieval Europe, and Mesoamerica used social class for those exact reasons. Hindu India used race and occupation to divide their people into 4 main Varna’s. Medieval Europe relied on the church and the estates to provide a flexabile yet strong social pyramid. Finally, Mesoamerica and the Andean regions used religion, family ties, and the poor workforce to emphize the importance of their social structure. No matter what the civilization or culture, people have naturally or forcefully divided themselves into organized social structures and will continue to do so for future civilizations.
Do we all have equal opportunities? Do we all have the same chance to be successful? Does what class your in really effect the means of everything you do? Class does exist, each person you see walk by has a class. In fact, everyone is labeled by a class weather they associate themselves with one or not. It’s a piece of you that isn’t announced but is visible and effects you everyday. Class, a system of ordering society, is based on perceived social or economic status. However, is class solely based off your income, or does your income actually effect your opportunity in society all together?
Stereotyping, discrimination and prejudice are phenomena that motivate animated debate amid the scholars as well as the public. Many ponder on which acts should be deemed discriminatory, when they can come to a conclusion that a decision or a social guideline preference is actually founded on prejudice and the role played by prejudice in creating gender and racial disparities. Also of immense interest are queries regarding how the society should react to these problems and whether they have been dealt with in a pleasing manner. Social psychologists lunge into this dispute equipped with scientific method, hoping to gather evidence that can shed the much needed light on these continuing worries. In particular, this paper seeks to shed some light as to why stereotypes and prejudices occur in the mind of perceivers, as well as the manner and under which circumstances they are most likely to manipulate perceivers’ explicit behavior.
The world of today is a relatively primitive one, even with every advancement that humanity has accomplished we remain primitive in this aspect. There has been progress, even as slow in comparison to that of todays, it is progress.The ignorances and other human flaws are still very existent within every society, regardless of the boundaries between them be it geographical or cultural. Stereotypes and misconceptions exist in the modern society. Stereotypes arise when there is a single radical group who are accepted as the representation of their apparent subculture. Then the ignorant and misinformed take these “representatives’” behavior as a generalization of the entire group. While the less common misconception is made by some incomprehensible anomaly where an entire assumption is based around a single social group, that has never even proved to be true. There is a stereotype that is attached with the College educated community, they are believed to be almost guaranteed success. The fact that they have a degree in their respective field has built a stereotype of the “successful ones.”
Stereotyping is something that occurs on a regular basis in every culture in which I have been privileged to encounter. Sometimes it can be neutral in a preliminary assessment of someone, and at other times can be very harmful to the person being stereotyped. To stereotype people often demonstrates ones’ own ignorance and foolishness.
Have you ever stopped to think how stereotyping affects other people? People have been affected by stereotyping over most of their lives. It normally starts with preschool and works its way up past the age of eighteen. Children learn to stereotype at a young age. College students and professors continue this horrible pattern. But to top it off people still stereotype others way into their late ages. Stereotyping is found in everyday events and in the work place. Stereotyping should be put to a stop. It’s affecting people’s lives in a negative manner.
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.
One of the well known classes in American is the ‘rich.’ The rich are people that can typically afford or buy the most, in order to outdo someone, and to be the best. This is where people are definitely not created equally, comes in to play. The American ‘upper class’ usually looks down upon any other class other than themselves, in the movie “People Like Us” Thomas Langhorne Phipps says; “We tend to dress better, act better, and look better.” (Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker, People Like Us,) To me this is demeaning, because I’m not rich, and I’m not poor, but it offends me because it seems like they’re looking down upon anyone and everyone other then themselves. In the movie it also talked about are different levels of the ‘rich’ way, and how they can tell who was born rich and who became rich. And even then they tend to look down on any...
Stereotypes are everywhere and can be about anyone. Generalized remarks about gender, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity or age are common forms of stereotyping. Any time someone makes hasty groupings whether by race, gender or an individual and makes a blanket judgment about them is stereotyping. Military members are no different than society. One of the military's greatest assets is its diverse workforce but with diversity comes stereotypes. As a woman in the military, I frequently encounter stereotypes and have made hasty conclusions about others. This paper will discuss a few stereotypes that I have faced in the military.
In traditional societies, people were highly divided in social class. For instance, individuals that were born in rich families were classified as top class citizens. This made it possible for these individuals to enjoy privileges that other lower class citizens could enjoy. For instance, the schools these children born in rich families attended defined the kind of friends they would keep. There were strict doctrines in behavior mode and training to behave in line with a child’s social class was strongly upheld. The middle class and the rich would interact in rare occasions. On the other hand, the middle class and the lower class citizens would also interact in rare occasions. Current societal setting still lingers in this challenge.
With the modern day fad of being politically correct, stereotyping is seen with a negative view. Oversimplifying people can spawn many different reactions, but many aspects of the world are built upon the foundation of stereotyping. It can not only be a useful thing, but it can also be a very effective way of deciding how to react to someone. While stereotypes may seem rash and uneducated, many of them have been created for a reason.