Jacob Riis In How The Other Half Life

The study of socio-economic classes originated during the latter half of the nineteenth-century. The success of this dominant analysis is frequently attributed to Karl Marx. In 1848, Marx composed The Communist Manifesto, a political criticism, analyzing capitalism through its investigation of both historical and present class struggles. Lois Tyson author of “Marxist criticism” advances the fundamental theories presented by Marx, entering the analytical study into its most ingenious phase. In the United States, approximately five socio-economic groups have been assigned to represent the class system. These five socio-economic groups are the underclass, lower class, middle class, upper class, and the aristocracy. This paper will analyze one

Riis began his career as an “energetic and ambitious New York City police reporter” (How the Other Half Lives 1). Riis sought “a more graphic way of capturing the disturbing presence of urban poverty.” Riis in How the Other Half Lives undertakes the challenge to “transform” the previously existing negative “American view of poverty” (1). In unanimity with my observations, How the Other Half Lives thoroughly represents the maltreatment and negative stereotypes upper classes impose upon the underclass. In February thirteenths class indicator journal I observed: “The underclass is stereotypically described as disengaged poor citizens, who have rejected the typical societal values. These values include a productive work ethic and social coherence.” Riis mirrors this observation in chapter seventeen, “The Street Arab.” In this chapter, Riis claims that the underclass severs all connections to the outside world and rejects the nineteenth-century societal values. Riis defines the underclass status in society as not only a burden to the rest of society, but also as an overwhelming and abundant number of citizens. This notion is expressed in the excerpt: “societies for the rescue and relief of its outcast waifs, can dam the stream of homelessness that issues from a source where the very name of home is a mockery” (Riis 195). Riis continues to describe the underclass as people who acknowledge no authority and “owe no allegiance to anybody or anything” (195). Here Riis is

Crane throughout the first four chapters of Maggie Girl of the Streets, illustrates the concepts of slums, drinking, environmental hazards, and the consequences these factors inflict. The status of the underclass is not parallel with the persistently poor. The lower class is composed of those “whose limited educational and career opportunities keep the struggling” (Tyson 55). While the underclass on top of being subjected to educational as well as financial hardships, “have few, if any, material possessions, and little hope of improvement” (Tyson 55). Crane describes Maggie’s homelessness as the seemingly direct indicator sending her on an inevitable path of destruction. In modern culture Maggie would represent the underclass as a whole; the underclass’s status in society is the outcome of their indiscretions. In an attempt to maintain some income, Maggie turns to prostitution becoming “a girl of the painted cohorts of the city” (Crane). This sentiment in contemporary American culture is expressed in April sixteenth class indicator journal: “the underclass along with the urgent need for shelter, require a way to better their skills in order to provide for themselves.” Today, homelessness is regarded as a problem that people try to “solve” or cure as if it was a disease.