A young 12 year old african male lives in South Jamaica, New York City, New York with his hard-working single mother. He lives in a “not so good” neighborhood, where there is violence that happens everyday around him. He goes to school everyday, but is tempted by his peers to skip class, do drugs, and join the neighborhood gang. He declines their offers and continues to study hard everyday, so he can make something of himself. By the time he graduates, he is accepted to NYU to study business. He is now CEO of a big corporation and makes more money than he can even handle. This is what so many lower-class and middle-class Americans dream of happening to them. They are considered the “underdogs” and dream to one day work hard in order to succeed …show more content…
It has changed from an industrial materialism to a knowledge age materialism. Industrial materialism is when America was industrialized and were producing products to sell to their citizens and other countries. Today, it is Knowledge age materialism, which means that American citizens are now producing ideas. This creates problems for a materialistic society because we have to import so much more than we actually manufacture. This causes a disparity, which means a lot people in the country don’t have requisite income or a normal income level to give them access to professions (through education). Then they’ll fall through the cracks and will more likely lean towards crime because material goods cost money. Since they don’t have education (which includes professional and business connections made in school) to make money to have access of goods, so therefore, they will commit more …show more content…
Materialism is a phrase used to describe as a way of thinking that gives too much power and importance to money, material possessions, and physical comfort as more important that spiritual values. Many people value this more than anything in the world and it does not matter to them who they hurt to achieve it or the type of means that they go through in order to achieve materialistic success. This may be a new openly viewed value of the American Dream, but it has always secretly been there and has slowly progressed over time. When the colonists arrived to America, they wanted a land of their own and for them to be free and they fought hard for it in the American Revolution. However, as time continued, it was never enough. A man named Alexis de Tocqueville, studied American society and he compiled his information to write a novel called, Democracy in America. In this novel, he explained that Americans were not happy with their lives there. He writes, In America I saw the freest and most enlightened men placed in the happiest
This goes to show that with guts and determination, those who are desperate enough to bring about a change, are the ones who are able to utilize what they have to get what they desire. Poverty, addiction and abuse are major obstacles that individuals from rough background face on their way to success. Moreover, it is their education and their ability to utilize their talents, as well as having the audacity to chase their ambitions incessantly, that helps them utilize and exploit the opportunities that open up for them.
It is hard for elders, such as the current generation’s parents and grandparents, to give career advice to the youngest, “video-game and music-video” generation (Harper xii). The older generation tells the younger generation to pursuit wealth through legitimate, legal means because so many young black men end up incarcerated for going down the wrong path to money. There is a power struggle in that many poor, young men want to appear like they have money so they spend a lot of money on fancy gold watches or shoes. This power struggle leaves the poor with the appearance of money, when in reality they have nothing to show for it other than some material
Wilson, William J. More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City. New York: Norton & Company, 2009. Print.
Growing up in a more privileged environment things may come easier to one. But one should not be surprised of those that are in a less fortunate situation that are not able to reach certain heights, compared to someone from a more privileged back ground. Even if one is not in the best environment, they are able to make a choice to keep fighting for a better life. In the podcast “Three Miles” that is exactly the attitude described from a girl name Raquel, on the other hand Melanie froze her life doing what she thought she deserved. Though Raquel and Melanie had similar backgrounds in that they were raised in the same poor neighborhood and attended the same indigent high school, in the end Raquel was able to succeed in her life after getting denied a Posse scholarship, whereas Melanie worked in a supermarket for ten years, feeling that was as good as it was going to get.
The notorious and capable Al Capone once commented, “This American system of ours, call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you will, gives each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make the most of it.” “This American system,” as referred to by Capone, is not simply one idea alone but a conglomerate of all ideals held to represent the American culture: capitalism, freedom, and opportunity. These ideals go hand in hand with each other; freedom allows for capitalism to flourish and, in turn, allows equal opportunity for every citizen. However, the key to success in the American system is not simply available by going through the motions of life, but rather requires determination, will, and an urge to succeed and capitalize on every opportunity provided to us. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, Gatsby, the poverty-stricken army officer turned eccentric millionaire, proves that the American system is one that does not discriminate between the rich and the poor, or by creed, or even by race, but allows for equal opportunity for all, supporting those with ambition and drive, while punishing those who lack purpose and initiative, one where everyone has a chance for greatness if they have the drive and initiative to seize that opportunity and “make the most of it” and that the resulting success derived from that motivation erases the significance of one’s background.
Imagine you spend your whole life working and trying to make a living for yourself. The time that it took you to get to the point where you are stable and have a great life. Now take that and throw it all away, knowing that someone else has stolen it from you. This is how life for the United States used to be. With the help of the effective, present day law enforcement, the United States has lowered crime rates and provided much more safety for its citizens.
In Tony Hoagland’s poem “America”, greed and its negative implications on society are addressed. The “American Dream” revolves around this idea of consumerism, this kind of dream is blind because it prohibits someone from finding the simple things in life that truly make them happy. People in the USA are living their life based on this dream, they want the fancy car and home so they strive throughout their lifetime to achieve those goals while neglecting core values. Hoagland’s use of implied metaphors and commentary tone conveys the theme that dreams based on materialistic items causes unhappiness, greed and corruption.
In addition with the poor pay that african american male face, they also are discriminated in jobs. As mentioned in chapter ten, “young black men applying for entry-level jobs were rejected three times more often than were their white peers” (pg 310). This statement supports the previous quote through a wide variety of ways. By not being accepted into entry level jobs, it makes their lives very challenging by the lack of jobs that pay much a significant amount. As a result, black males who can’t get the jobs they would like turn to jobs where they know they can work. Typically, young black men turn to where they can get jobs. Some places that were they are accepted into are the minimum wage jobs. Although they can get jobs, the jobs they can get don’t get paid as much as the entry level jobs where they get declined at. With the jobs near minimum wage, it makes it very challenging for african americans to escape poverty. Our society needs to focus on viewing everyone with equality and not to be racist towards different ethnic
Materialism sets the stage for society by comparing society with the highest values in life. With materialism, newer objects tend to represent success and levels of achievement in a person’s life. Just like human nature, humans are attracted to better things in life, which gives materialism such a strong grip on us. People become young and restless in these quests for better objects. Just like clothing, people tend to care more about what others think about them than how they think about themselves.
For years society has believed the words Thomas Jefferson wrote stating “All men are created equal”, however, this is an unattainable ideal in our nation. Generation after generation, people have advocated that every man and woman is born into the world with the same abilities and chances to succeed in life. In spite of that, a large population of the country is denied and restricted from reaching their full potential. Each and every person is born with different financial situations, as well as different ethnic backgrounds that affect their path in life. These factors shape and impact the options people are granted in life, as well as the hardships they face, causing for people to have higher success rates than others. Racial injustices combined
The concept of materiality provides a topic for continuing educational discussion that many firms across the country find essential to the development of their audit staff. Measuring and using materiality to obtain desired results during an audit becomes the responsibility of the staff member of a CPA firm. Partners and managers of a firm typically allow the staff member to use his/her judgment when applying this concept during the fieldwork of an audit. The overall success of an audit relies at least in part on the materiality concept; therefore, staff members’ continuing education on the concept becomes important and necessary. This report will define the term materiality, determine how to measure materiality, and explain the importance of the concept to the field of auditing.
In the United States of America, the general path to becoming a successful adult begins at an early stage in life and continues, typically, until the age of 18 when one is able to positively contribute to society. During this period, we are constantly molding our future through the cultural influences of the environment surrounding us, obtaining an education provided through grade school, and expanding upon our socialization skills. Therefore, a productive culture, adequate education, and the ability to adapt socially are all vital building blocks needed to finish our path to success. Raised in a community that harbors an isolative culture unconducive to success, those born in “The Hood”, a community of low income and impoverished African-Americans
Although we live in a democratic nation, many job opportunities are offered mostly based on race, nationality, and social class. The Lesson by Toni Cade Bambara illustrates how the society limits lower class citizens, mostly African Americans in New York, from career prosperity. The undemocratic economy system in America positions the values of money and limits career opportunity based on social class difference. Bambara demonstrates the harsh realization of reality for the financially unfortunate kids after they went to “F.A.O. Schwarz”, an expensive toy store in New York. Miss Moore took the children on a field trip to Fifth Avenue to show them the important economic issues many Americans currently faced. Miss Moore’s effort is to teach the children about how much ...
Everything in America is constantly changing except Americans themselves. The reality is that materialism has overcome the nation and has taken over the American people. The lives and minds of the American people are so consumed with materialism that they are losing their self-identity and self-concept in the process. Their desire for acquisition has eroded their innate sense of human value and has transferred it to material goods. Almost everything Americans touch or use has been the by-product of an intense and complex industrial system. Yet Americans are oblivious to the story-line behind everything they use because they are too focused on satisfying their individual wants now. This fixation on material goods has created manufactures and
According to the worldwide statistics American crime rates is on the rise than any other continent. During the 1980s-1990s the rise of crime and murder was going up than any other time period. The social problem then was lack of jobs, fathers neglecting their children and kids non even caring about school. Today, the sociological imagination is that the rise of crime is due to our local government giving up on us.