The lives of the lower class people as depicted by Apuleius are different in a multitude of ways. There is a "lower class" status as many people are correctly labeled throughout the story, but there are many different types of lower class citizens. There are slaves, freed ex-slaves, farmers, and just really poor people who are forced to fight for survival. All of these types of people can be correctly identified as "lower class." Some lower class people are treated much more relentlessly by masters, the law, and everyone else in general. By no means does the lower class have a vague and colloquial lifestyle, and Apuleius continuously proves this theory throughout the story. The lives of the lower class during antiquity were a lot more physically demanding and problematic compared to the rest of society. Farmers often had a lot of "down time" and slaves were not often over-worked, but they easily exceeded the rest of society in work accomplished throughout a day. A lower class citizen fought for everything they received and they were rarely acknowledged for their accomplishments. A prime example of working to stay alive comes in the case of the priests that bought Lucius. Wretchedly beating each other with whips and such, one of the priests being whipped "scourged himself with lashes from this heavily knotted weapon, withstanding the pain of the blows in remarkable fashion by gritting his teeth. You could see the ground getting soaked with the filthy blood of the catamites as a result of the incisions of the swords and the blows of the whips" (Apuleius 157). Beating the life out of yourself for some "coppers" (Apuleius 157), a "cask of wine, milk, cheeses, and a quantity of spelt and fine flour" (... ... middle of paper ... ...are a few circumstances that may prove different such as how the priests may have it better off than possibly Photis, but it is hard to compare and decided who actually leads the better life. For the most part though, the poor free man struggles through life more than a slave did during Roman antiquity. The lives of the lower class people are different everywhere you look. Many have it easy, many have it tough. One thing can be concluded, the life of a lower class person can be defined as a life of work. Whether a person is a slave, a farmer, or a free poor individual, they are going to live a hard life in which they are forced to earn everything they get. The lives' of the lower class as depicted by Apuleius were lifestyles full of hardship, drudgery, drawbacks, and embarrassment. Apuleius, The Golden Ass, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, Copyright 1994.
The socioeconomic structure of ancient Sparta was unbalanced and disproportioned, and because of the social unrest between the citizens of Sparta economic reforms were desperately needed. Plutarch highlights this issue when he says:
Class is a key idea related to inequality, prejudice and discrimination in Australian society. It has been considered out of fashion, because some Australian people think that there is no class difference between people in Australia, everyone enjoys equality in society. In fact, the recent de-regulation of the workplace, and the widening gap in access to hospitals, schools and employment opportunities between the rich and poor, have made class more visible in Australian than ever before. Class is "a category of people who have generally similar educational histories, job opportunities, and social standing and who are conscious of their membership in a social group that is ranked in relation to others and is replicated over generations" (Kent, 1998:87). This essay argues that class cause continues to inequality in Australian society. Firstly, class structures labor market inequality. Secondly, class shapes the quality of a person's life. Thirdly, class inequality produces continuing class differences into the next generation. Finally, class has becoming a debate in Australian society, because class inequality encourages the `right' people to work more efficiently in the workforce and helps people to identify themselves in society, but continuing relevance of the concept of class is a matter in contemporary Australia.
The Rich vs. the Poor Robert B. Reich wrote The Work of Nations in 1991. In one of his chapters “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” he talked about three different economic boats in society. One of the boats is filled with routine workers. He observes that this boat was declining because of improvements in production facilities. The second boat was filled with in-person servers, and Reich mentioned that this boat was declining as well, but more slowly.
Although not everyone benefited, as women and slaves were left out during this particularly “masculine age” (Robinson 91), Pericles did try to attend to the rights of men as equally as he could. It was thus that he narrowed the gap in representation of wealthy and poor citizens: paying the ...
Stories about life 's struggle to survive in everyday America can make one think twice of the American dream. In David Shipler’s book The Working Poor, David tells many different tales of people living in poverty and also analyzes what 's wrong and why. The book’s portrayal of the poor is not for the meek however, as one reviewer exclaims, “Through a series of sensitive, sometimes heart-rending portraits”, (Lenkowsky). In the book a lot of American ideologies are turned on its head as The Red Phoenix explains how our poor are viewed as, “Wealth and decadence are the tell-tale signs of hard work and brilliance paying off, while poverty is a sign of laziness, irresponsibility and a disposition or work-ethic undeserving of the
Diversity is part of the American lifestyle. America is a country built on capitalistic principles, where a countries’ economy is controlled by a small number of people. People who tend to have power in the society tend to separate themselves from the rest. Looking back at different time period of American history diversity has shaped up the lives we live as Americans, whether it is because of gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, socioeconomic background, and capabilities/ disabilities, there is always diversity in society. Although, diversity is increasingly being viewed positively, and as much as people are proud of their differences. There will always be a way for human beings to diversify themselves into groups in which share similar interests.
What do you think of when you hear “working-class?” One perhaps might think of a
The concept of the "working poor" has gained prominence in the post-welfare reform era. As welfare rolls shrunk, the focus shifted from the dependent poor to the working poor. It was obvious that without substantial outside support, even families with full-time low-wage workers were still earning less than the official poverty line. And while American society purports that anyone can prosper if they work hard enough, it became apparent that with inadequate opportunity or bad luck, a growing number of families could not attain the American dream, or even break the cycle of poverty. The new challenge for American social policy is to help the working poor lift themselves out of poverty. That's why progressives who supported ending welfare as we know it have set a new goal -- the government should "make work pay" so that no one who works full time is poor.
The United States, a place where anyone can “pick themselves up by the bootstraps” and realize the American dream of a comfortable lifestyle. Well, for over 30 million Americans this is no longer possible. Though we live in the richest and most powerful country in the world there are many who are living under or at the precipice of the poverty level, “While the United States has enjoyed unprecedented affluence, low-wage employees have been testing the American doctrine that hard work cures poverty” (The Working Poor, 4). This translates to families of four making around 18,850$ a year. And as soon as they find work or move just slightly above that 18,850$ a year (which is still a meager and deprived way to live) they are cut off from welfare checks and other “benefits”, “they [working poor] lose other supports designed to help them such as food stamps and health insurance, leaving them no better off-and sometimes worse off-than when they were not working” (The Working Poor, 40). The working poor find themselves in a trap of dead-end, minimum wage jobs, and complicated, under funded government programs.
Mantsios states that, “Class standing has a significant impact on our chances for survival. The lower one’s class standing, the more difficult it is to secure appropriate housing, the more time is spent on the routine tasks of everyday life, the greater is the percentage of income that goes to pay for food and other basic necessities.” (293). Mantsios is correct in the nature that lower classes are less fortunate than the upper class also that it is difficult to pick up yourself when you are in a lower class due to certain obligations like providing for your family and taxes. However, he never mentions the fact that it is possible to overcome your class standing and to move up the economic ladder.
society that is similar to the society depicted in Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. The poor
At first glance, sixteenth century Shakespearian drama and the nineteenth century dialectic philosophy expressed by Marx and Engels share no probable relationship to one another. Upon closer examination, however, developments in contemporary Shakespearian England illustrate that the social and economic centralization that generate the necessary characteristics of a proto-modern nation state were emerging in sixteenth century England. The unprecedented urbanized demographic shift created by the Enclosure Acts, which enabled the systematic destruction of the feudalistic relationship between the peasantry and the nobility; the emergence of a state sponsored market economy; the destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and the resulting ascendancy of English navel power; and the galvanizing image of English nationalism contained in the figure of Queen Elizabeth I all provided a compelling backdrop for the existence of modern class based antagonisms within Shakespearian dramatic themes.
Dr. Theodore Dalrymle wrote “Life at the bottom” as a way to express his views of the English underclass. He believes their impaired ways of life, are the cause of poverty in England, “not the economy”. Those who pledged to serve and protect, on many levels, are neglecting their responsibilities, either in fear of being judged themselves or by simply turning a blind eye to continuous problems within England. No one wants to accept the reality of England’s horrendous situation. Therefore their endless battle with poverty, suffering and misery will continue in a vicious, endless, cycle.
The ancient Romans were notorious for their keeping of slaves and everyone, including the people of the lower classes, had at least one slave.
The Following essay will examine how class is represented in the novel Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. Both in this novel and many others, which are based around the time of the 1800’s, class is a major part of life which in turn made your life’s path completely dependent on what class or background you were brought up in. This was majorly the case in Great Expectations and especially in the life of Pip. After reading Great Expectations there are many arguments