Raekwon Thomas
Mr. Behan
Religion V
March 5, 2017
Income Inequality
What if everyone was to win the lottery? When defining what income inequality is, it refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population, Now it comes with no shock that more than half of the world lives with some form of financial debt. Furthermore, it would be wise to look at some of the key reasons as to why there is such a staggering number of people living in poverty. One’s day-to-day life is not only influenced by his or her own level of income, but also by the level of inequality surrounding the area in which he or she resides in. What has now become a global issue, income inequality be better defined using the three themes of
…show more content…
Shockingly, “it's not that recruiters themselves necessarily have a racial bias; instead, they fear some of their customers do (Arends)”. Recruiters feel the pressure to conform to the wants of society because society is the one who provides the business. Thus, they feel the need to only hire those who would fit the “look.” However, this creates an entirely new issue because the people who have been turned down are still looking for a job. “If you have been denied work or a promotion, harassed at work, or denied an accommodation at work because of your religious beliefs or practices, or because of your lack of certain religious beliefs you may have recourse (Midwest New Media)”. Recently, the issue of religion has gained a lot of attention because of the recent terrorist attacks. However, it is never okay to pin the fault of a tragedy on a certain religion because religion did not force the person. He or she choose out of free will. Oftentimes, “people who make use of the media are more likely to be informed of unequal opportunities for the poor and are more likely to be exposed to ways in which discrimination affects poverty (Finley)”. Especially in today’s world, people learn everything through social media. So, it does not come as a surprise that Americans are more vocal of the social injustices that we may encounter. However, this can get a …show more content…
“In countries with considerable media freedoms, people are more likely to perceive wealth as being unfair, but they are not more likely to perceive poverty as being unfair. Media freedoms’ effect on perceptions of inequality’s 5 fairness therefore depends on whether people associate inequality more with wealth or poverty (Finley)”. A lot of how society judges a person has to deal with what that person post online. People tend to choose those who are more socially acceptable because it helps keep up this image of perfection that we somehow have created over the years. “If people perceive inequality to be excessive and if these perceptions are connected to beliefs about the market or governing institutions, then inequality may become a source of political instability (Finley)”. When society finally realizes that the gap between the rich and everyone else is not healthy, then society can begin to move forward in efforts to change that issue. “It is therefore necessary to identify how people form opinions about the level and fairness of inequality to better understand the causes and consequences of inequality (Finley)”. If society just keeps avoiding the issue of income inequality, then there will never come a change, and there will forever be this gap between the rich and everyone
The Economist. “Inequality and the American Dream”. They Say I Say. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print.
Economic inequality and injustice come in the same hand. Poor people are more likely to experience inequality and injustice. The negative assumptions of poor people are created by the media and politicians. Promoting economic justice by offering people living in poverty some form of social support. Barbara Ehrenreich found in her experiment the workforce for low-wage was difficult. Conley talks about the different types of social inequalities and how they have been unsuccessful.
Wealth Inequality: Its Causes and Cures." CFED Inclusive Economy Blog. CFED, Mar. 19, 2018. 2013. The. Web.
The only type of media left out of Loewen’s article is social media and the younger generations are major consumers in the twenty first century. Watkins article uses the specific social media platforms Facebook and Myspace. Facebook typically had white users that were considered middle class. However, Myspace users were usually Black or Latino and came from the working class. People use social media to interact and trends of social stratification are apparent. TV is not interactive so the division of classes should not be as obvious, but “Poor people are more likely to watch TV.” (Loewen, 204). Hooks feels that “Television shows and films bring the message home that no one can truly feel good about themselves if they are poor.” (Hooks, 434). He uses Pretty Woman as evidence for this and says that the show portrays the ruling class or rich as “generous, eager to share, and as unattached to their wealth in their interactions with folks who are not materially privileged.” This sends a stronger message than interacting with others of a social media because it is not reality. TV can really send the wrong message to the poor or the rich. The privileged may get the idea that they have to take care of the poor, when the poor are hardworking people with values and morals just like the rich. From this the poor may see themselves as not as competent in society. Hooks mentions that self-esteem issues
With each class comes a certain level in financial standing, the lower class having the lowest income and the upper class having the highest income. According to Mantsios’ “Class in America” the wealthiest one percent of the American population hold thirty-four percent of the total national wealth and while this is going on nearly thirty-seven million Americans across the nation live in unrelenting poverty (Mantsios 284-6). There is a clear difference in the way that these two groups of people live, one is extreme poverty and the other extremely
Income inequality has been and will forever continue to be a highly discussed topic in society. As a social experiment, income equality has historically failed. The adage from the communist era “from each according to his ability; to each according to his needs,” ran counter to human nature and experience. On balance, there are positive aspects to unequal income which include; its success in creating a more educated work force, competition among people to succeed and more stimulated productivity, which do not always, but tend to balance out any negative impacts such as; concentration of wealth, social consequences and outsourcing, that it may have.
My first source, “The Rise of Consumption Equality” by Andy Kessler, published in The Wall Street Journal, discusses how the different social classes are becoming more alike and more different from each other. At the beginning of the article, Kessler’s talks about how wealth used to be popular, but now it is hard to be wealthy without being guilt-tripped by the lower classes. Kessler then moves on to say that most often the rich work themselves to death to make their fortune, and with the rise in new technology and equality, they only get to enjoy the same things as the middle class. He questions the fairness in that in the next sentence. In the following paragraphs of the article Kessler describes many of the dif...
Wealth inequality and income inequality are often mistaken as the same thing. Income inequality is the difference of yearly salary throughout the population.1 Wealth inequality is the difference of all assets within a population.2 The United States has a high degree of wealth distribution between rich and poor than any other majorly developed nation.3
The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.
Wealth inequality is a real issue that needs to be fixed. The imbalanced growth of the upper class compared to the middle class is a danger to American society as a whole. The rich becoming richer while the middle class remains the same leads to a power imbalance, with the rich using their money to run the country the way they see fit while the middle class speaks to ears that do not listen. The issue of wealth inequality needs to be fixed by raising taxes on the rich.
Income inequality not only harms us fiscally, but also affects our mental and physical wellbeing; therefore, it is important to identify the right ways to control wealth distribution among people.
Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The income gap in America has been increasing steadily since the late 1970’s, and has now reached historic highs not seen since the 1920’s (Desilver). UC Berkeley economics professor, Emmanuel Saez conducted extensive research on past and present income inequality statistics and published them in his report “Striking it Richer.” Saez claims that changes in technology, tax policies, labor unions, corporate benefits, and social norms have caused income inequality. He stands to advocate a change in American economic policies that will help close this inequality gap and considers institutional and tax reforms that should be developed to counter it. Although Saez’s provides legitimate causes of income inequality, I highly disagree with the thought of making changes to end income inequality. In any diverse economic environment, income inequality will exist due to the rise of some economically successful people and the further development of factors that push people into poverty. I believe income inequality e...
Inequality is presents in many communities and there some consequences attach with it. One of the reasons for inequality is income. Stone (2012) states the consequences of inequality in communities, especially when talking about income of individuals that are part of the community, “income inequality seems also to increases racial prejudice and discrimination against women and ethnic minorities,” (p. 59). Low-income individuals are forced to accept what the services provided by the government, even if those individuals who do want them. Stone (2012) give an example of the lack of choices low income individuals, when talking about food, “very poor people live under constant threat of starvation or homelessness and don’t experience most of their
Wealth inequality is the uneven distribution of resources in a given state or population, which can also be called the wealth gap. The sum of one’s total assets excluding the liabilities equates the person’s wealth also known as the net worth. Investments, residents, cash, real estates and everything owned by an individual are their assets.In reality, the United States is among the richest countries in the world, though a few people creating a major gap between the richest, the middle class and the poor control most of its wealth. For more than a quarter of a century, only the rich American families have shown an increase to their net worth.Thisis a worrying fact for the less fortunate in the country and calls for assessment (Baranoff, 2015).
Income inequality continues to increase in today’s world, especially in the United States. Income inequality means the unequal distribution between individuals’ assets, wealth, or income. In the Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes, a liberal journalist, states the inequality gap between the rich and the poor are increasing widening, and there need to have things done - tax the rich, provide better education - in order to shortening the inequality gap. America is a meritocratic country, which means that everybody has equal opportunity to be successful regardless of their class privileges or wealth. However, equality of opportunity does not equal equality of outcomes. People are having more opportunities to find a better job, but their incomes are a lot less compared to the top ten percent rich people. In this way, the poor people will never climb up the ladder to high status and become millionaires. Therefore, the government needs to increase all the tax rates on rich people in order to reduce income inequality.