Low Income Inequality Sociology

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Page. 179 #4 Over the years the income of certain social groups change more than others. For adults, the amount of people in the upper income slowly decrees while the those in the lower income increases. This is probably because as people get older it becomes harder for people to work and keep up a steady income. Between 1971 and 2011 there has been shown to have a slight decrease in the number of adults who fall into poverty as they get older, this is probably because social welfare and retirement plans have gotten slightly better over time. The only exception is the 18-29-year-old group, which has shown a large increase in those that qualify for lower income. I believe this large increase of young adults that are in poverty from 1971 to …show more content…

Between 1991 and 2011 there has been little change for the Hispanic ethnicity, with only a little under the majority earning a lower income. This is probably because most Hispanic immigrants come to the United States untrained, and can only take on low paying labor jobs to try and support themselves and their families. African Americans have also seen little change between 1991 and 2011, with only a slight increase in earning better wages. While most African Americans have not newly immigrated to America, the years of oppression and segregation have severely impacted the amount of opportunities they can receive for financial growth. The two races that are most similar, who have lower low-income rates, and higher upper income rates, are Asian Americans and Caucasians. The main difference between the two is that Caucasians show to have a steady increase of people who receive an upper income, while Asian Americans have been staying mostly stagnate. A likely explanation is that Caucasians in the United State tend to have better opportunities for job growth and hiring options, while Asian Americans hold the stereotype for being intelligent, which makes them more appealing to employers. Gender also plays a big role in what income statues you are in, with figure 7-6 showing that men tend to be in more favorable income statuses then women. Differences between the income statues between the genders can most likely be attributed to the stereotype that men are better workers then women, allowing men to get more well-paying jobs, as well as getting better pay. In the end, there are many different attributing factors to income statues, with each factor having its own reasoning behind

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