James Galbraith Inequality Summary

566 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sociological explorations of education inequality

Inequality is a term that most people define along the lines of something that is not equal or has an imbalance. In “Inequality” by James K. Galbraith, Galbraith goes on to point out the different types of inequality. The issues Galbraith addresses in the book about inequality are addressed through other viewpoints but not political, apolitical. Galbraith touches on the issues just to bring awareness and stays away from involving the political side. If the issue of inequality was addressed and explained rather than just an example given, the issue of inequality would be addressed by being political. The word political can be defined as a relationship to the government that involves citizens and their rights, best interest and power. I am not suggesting the inequality of this topic is good or bad just simply …show more content…

One type of inequality Galbraith mentions in the book is inequality in education. Galbraith first mentions how education plays a role in inequality, Galbraith mentions how “skills are a commodity supplied by education, then it is good thing for the skilled if they are scarce and a bad thing if they are common.” (Galbraith 74). As Galbraith talks about education he mentions that it is a game of supply and demand, but if and individual receives an education they are raising their individual skill level. By individuals raising their skill level they are opening up a chance to have better opportunities such as a better pay in jobs. With an opportunity at a better paying job it is an incentive for people to want to increase their skill lever or receive a higher education. Galbraith then goes on to focus on the high number of computer science graduates and how companies compete with one another to receive the best worker possible for their company. Companies are willing to pay top dollar for the best which creates serious competition for certain types of jobs. Those

Show More
Related

  • Inequality In The Invention Of Wings By Sue Monk Kidd

    1440 Words  | 3 Pages

    Inequality is defined as: a symbolic expression of the fact that two quantities are not equal. In “The Invention Of Wings”, a historical fiction novel written by Sue Monk Kidd, we see how the characters are affected by inequality. The book revolves around Sarah Grimke, and her hand slave Handful, and reveals to the readers of their hardships that they both face together and separately growing up in Charleston, Virginia in the 1800s. In this book, we see various forms of inequality, such as race, gender, and age, and how they affect the main characters of the book: Sarah, Handful, and Charlotte.

    Read More

  • Poor People And Economic Injustice By Barbara Ehrenreich

    732 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Wealth Inequality in the US with Sociological Viewpoints

    1100 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is wealth inequality? “It is the difference between individuals or populations in the distribution of assets, wealth or income.” [1] In sociology, the term is social stratification and refers to “a system of structured social inequality” [2] where the inequality might be in power, resources, social standing/class or perceived worth. In the US, where a class system exists (as opposed to a caste or estate system), your place in the class system can be determined by your personal achievements. However, the economic and social class that an individual is born into is a big indicator of the class they will end up in as an adult.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Class In America By Gregory Mantsios

    580 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gregory Mantsios presents himself as an expert in this essay because he states a lot of facts. The author uses stats, his own opinion, and my favorite thing that brought me in was the myths that he told the reality’s for later in the essay. Mantsios believes that no matter what social or economic class that you fall into, you have a fair chance at succeeding in life. I feel that the intended audience is the citizens of America or people in the workforce since they are the ones that have to deal with this situation. The thesis of this essay is “Perhaps, most importantly, the point that is missed is that inequality is persistent and structural-

    Read More

  • Economic Inequality - Taking Sides Article

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Briefly state the main idea of this article: The main idea of this article is that economic inequality has steadily risen in the United States between the richest people and the poorest people. And this inequality affects the people in more ways than buying power; it also affects education, life expectancy, living conditions and possibly happiness. Another idea that he brought up was that the American government tends to give less help to the unemployed than other rich countries.

    Read More

  • Women and Political Representation in Canada: Equality, Fairness, and Capabilities

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social equality is the concept in which all individuals possess the same fundamental basic liberties, opportunities, moral value/respect, and social benefits. The concept of ‘equality’ has a multiplicity of meanings and definitions, and with the rise of liberalization and democratization around the world ‘social equality’ has become the most predominant. As economic openness creates greater wealth disparities, the parallel rise of democratization has enabled citizens to demand more accountability measures and public welfare services from their governments in order to manage such disparities. Although the movement towards greater social equality has made significant strides with the establishment of equal rights (especially in the 1960s following the civil rights and women rights movement), inequality is still widespread in society among different ethnicities, social classes, and even religions. Inequality is not, however, a characteristic that only encompasses/embodies developing countries, but also embodies developed countries as well.

    Read More

  • What are the Causes of Inequality?

    2446 Words  | 5 Pages

    Nevertheless, as income inequality as well as gender inequality are the two outstanding types of inequality equippe...

    Read More

  • Inequality in America

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    has generally lowered, further showing the inequality that exists in our nation. It is usually difficult for the lower classes to achieve financial success because a high income job requires good education which the lower classes lacks because they cannot afford it.

    Read More

  • The Growth of Wealth Inequality

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the United States, the gap between the rich and the poor has been substantially increasing over the years. This growth between the rich and poor illustrates the wealth inequality between the social classes in our nation. Although it is impractical to precisely measure the morality of wealth inequality, we can use philosophical thought to determine what makes a political and economic system just. By analyzing the theories of political philosophers, Robert Nozick and John Rawls, it is clear that wealth inequality is morally justified, as long as equal opportunity and concern for justice among a society is provided under certain conditions.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Confronting Inequality

    1832 Words  | 4 Pages

    Where would you consider yourself with your ranking in America 's social classes, are you upper class, middle class or even lower class? This is actually very important when it come to you receiving opportunities and in a sense special treatment. I’m referring to of course social inequality which is still very much alive in America and still affects a lot of families mostly in a negative way. This problem in America has grabbed the attention of two authors, Paul Krugman who wrote “Confronting Inequality” and Gary S. Becker and Kevin M. Murphy who wrote “The Upside of Income Inequality”. However, they both have different views on inequality Krugman believes that social inequality is only negative while on the other hand, Becker and Murphy believe

    Read More

  • The Cycle of Poverty

    1204 Words  | 3 Pages

    Inequality exist and is high in America because the amount of income and wealth that is distributed through power. In America the income distribution is very inequality and the value of a person wealth is based on their income with their debts subtracted. “As of 2007, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 34.6% of all privately held wealth, and the 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 50.5%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 85%, leaving only 15% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers)” (Domhoff, 2011). In contrary the poor do not get ahead and the rich get more. Americans are judged and placed in class categories through their home ownership which translates to wealth. Americans social class is often associated with their assets and wealth. “People seek to own property, to have high incomes, to have interesting and safe jobs, to enjoy the finest in travel and leisure, and to live long and healthy lives” (Domhoff, 2011). Power indicates how these “values” are not distributed equally in American society. Huge gains for the rich include cuts in capital gains and dividends and when tax rates decrease for the tiny percent of Americans income is redistributed. Taxes directly affect the wealth and income of Americans every year.

    Read More

  • Income Inequality

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came into 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.

    Read More

  • The Issue of Gender Inequality in the United States

    520 Words  | 2 Pages

    The issue of gender inequality will never truly be solved in the United States. This arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles as well as biologically through hormonal differences, chromosomes, and brain structures. Gender inequality is defined as unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on gender. One of the reasons for gender inequality is income disparities. Another reason is because of the positions in the workplace. Thirdly, the reason is because of beliefs that one another has. For these reasons is why these situations should be examined to get to the root of the problem.

    Read More

  • The Affluent Society by John Kenneth Galbraith

    1796 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Affluent Society was written in 1958. A little information about Professor Galbraith, he was a Harvard economics professor. Served on many US president’s staffs as well as he were great writer. A lot of his theory is based on Keynesian economics. This book, The Affluent Society, is part of a trilogy. The book tackles the status of the US post World War II. It gives great insight into the political, economical as well as pop culture during the time. Each one of those areas is linked together to show the wealth gap that was beginning, that is now a huge problem in our society today. Instead of breaking down the book chapter by chapter, I would like to break down the book into vital areas that make the book what it is. It is extremely interesting how genius Prof. Galbraith is. To be able to research and connect the dots of these extreme and what seems “non relatable” subjects and make them relate in order convey a problem for us to see. Unfortunately, our country did not look at this serious enough. The book also shows a great deal of progress our country made in such little time. In the matter of a decade, the technical, social and political ups and downs of our society started this snowball effect that has now turned into modern day America.

    Read More

  • Essay On Income Inequality

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    Income inequality is a big problem in the United States because the top, wealthiest American saw huge increases in their incomes, which the rest had their incomes go down. Bottom people do not have the same amount of money and the opportunity to move up the social ladder as the rich people do. In order to reduce income inequality, the government needs to tax the rich people more, and give poor people more money and more social services - education, food subsidies, health care.

    Read More

More about James Galbraith Inequality Summary

Open Document