Expanding my knowledge through the experiences in which I participated in during this last semester has opened my eyes to more than just the panhandler on the corner or the limousine pulling up to a five star hotel. I have not had much trouble perceiving the lower class or the o upper class in the past. However, I never really understood the classes in between. The discovery in what makes someone fit or strive to be in a particular social class, or be satisfied with their current situation allows me to perceive the world differently. This allows me to process the perception more thoroughly before making assumptions about a specific social class. Most of us go about our day to day routines without recognizing where we are in the social class system. We all have our moments in which we realize that we are constantly hearing about the rich and famous and we see the panhandlers at the off ramp of every freeway. I clearly understood before this class that I was not rich nor poor. The majority of us see ourselves as middle class and I believe I would be in that same class. Most of us dream of moving up with education, hard work or hopefully winning the lottery. We find ourselves occasionally living the lifestyle of the social class right above us and we slip into the class below us occasionally as well, although we might not want to admit it. One of my experiences that I wrote about was the difference between Nordstrom’s and Wal-Mart’s customers. In the past I have never been a faithful shopper of Wal-Mart. I will go to Wal-Mart on occasion to purchase something that I know they carry cheaper than their competitors. However, every time I go into Wal-Mart a thought always goes through my head about the preconceived ideas I ha... ... middle of paper ... ...earn this at a young age. The difference that this class has made was the way that I saw the inequality and the reasons behind the inequality in our society. There will always be inequality in our society and most people believe that there should be. The world functions around inequality, it keeps people striving to become better by education, and it weeds those out who do not have the drive behind them to succeed. There are the unfortunate individuals that may be brought into this world as the unlucky few, born into the wrong family, but I still believe they can overcome their own personal obstacles and still have vertical mobility in a positive direction. America is known for a land of opportunity and I still believe that to this day. There are not many rags to riches stories out there but I still believe in the Horatio Alger myth, because I am an optimist.
According to Gregory Mantsios many American people believed that the classes in the United States were irrelevant, that we equally reside(ed) in a middle class nation, that we were all getting richer, and that everyone has an opportunity to succeed in life. But what many believed, was far from the truth. In reality the middle class of the United States receives a very small amount of the nation's wealth, and sixty percent of America's population receives less than 6 percent of the nation's wealth, while the top 1 percent of the American population receives 34 percent of the total national wealth. In the article Class in America ( 2009), written by Gregory Mantsios informs us that there are some huge differences that exist between the classes of America, especially the wealthy and the poor. After
...social classes that the world tends to put us in, we can sure make a difference by changing our view on them and taking more into consideration when grouping people into a class or ranking.
The book Class matter shows the importance of how much people should value and appreciate the importance of a classroom education. How much you dedicate yourself to school can help you gain enough knowledge to be successful in the future. Having good quality education in America seems to be the closest thing to a ticket to class mobility. The book was very interesting in explaining what social class really is in America, and the way it affects people's lives on how they live day to day. The different types of social class is what shapes our society. But I think this book is more for those people who aren’t that aware of social class, or for the ones who feel that we live in a society that is classless rather then the actually people who have realized the consequence that class really has on someone’s life. Many people can relate to what stories are told in the book if not, they know of a person that can relate to these stories. As a person that grew up in the lower class, I can definitely relate to most of the stories told in this book. From experience, there is a big difference in this country between the rich, middle class, and who are the poorest that we see daily. Even those in the so called working class have to make continuous sacrifices and live very differently from those positioned firmly in the middle class. Some people may have decent jobs but the bills and other expenses people may have make it harder on people than those who are in the same class but don’t have to necessarily go through the same thing as others. The chapters that I read in this book broaden what I said to a better more clear understanding.
I will be analyzing the essay “Class in America --2012”. The topic of this essay is talking about does it matter what your social and economical standings are, and do they play a role in if you succeed in life. I personally agree with this. If someone is hard working and willing to do the job then I feel that they can be successful. Their background, race, and social and economical standings don’t justify everything that they are. Mantsios effectively communicates the phenomenon of stereotyping certain races, genders, and social classes will be more successful than others in America.
“Present at least two different sociological approaches to social inequality and discuss these approaches with reference to a concrete problem area of contemporary relevance”
The United States is the land of opportunity but we will most likely never reach social equality, which will always be a problem for people in the lower classes. I do think it is harder for children in the lower classes to succeed in school since they have to learn how to blend in with the middle class and the social norms of the middle class on top of getting their diploma or degree. I believe Jay MacLeod did a great job in explaining his theories with his research findings. My views on reaching success in life are very traditional, but
People from lower classes try to achieve success but tend to struggle depending upon their foundation. The problem that people don’t want see is that we all want to become successful, and have the capability to do so but are just restricted by the lack of income.
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And poof-he was gone" (Usual Suspects). Today's devil is not a physicla being, but a metaphorical one. That of inequality on a worldwide scale. Although people would like to think that social inequality has been all, but destroyed in modern society it is still featured heavily within our media. Social inequality is the process of society limiting or harming a group’s social status. Prejudice can be based on class, race, and gender. It exists in all levels of media and reality. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Hunger Games show classism while The Little Mermaid and Antigone display sexism. Racism can be seen in The Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Black Like Me.
Missing of class identification (Upper, middle, working/lower, underclass); how to identify and categorize them? To what extent do individuals know that a certain class/category is best fit with this/that person?. Experience shows that rich people have normal/plain life style notwithstanding they are wealthy. Conversely, those who might be categorized in the third or fourth class have luxurious performance or life
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 Krugman believes that the only way to get into a good school is to be living in a higher economic area.
In his essay “Land of Opportunity” James W. Loewen details the ignorance that most American students have towards class structure. He bemoans the fact that most textbooks completely ignore the issue of class, and when it does it is usually only mentions middle class in order to make the point that America is a “middle class country. This is particularly grievous to Loewen because he believes, “Social class is probably the single most important variable in society. From womb to tomb, it correlates with almost all other social characteristics of people that we can measure.” Loewen simply believes that social class usually determine the paths that a person will take in life. (Loewen 203)
The goal for my ethnographic study is subjected to the study of the people of Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is a place that varies from city to city, but still attracts many of the same people. Everyone knows the weird people that wear ridiculous things to do their normal routine of shopping. That is why I have chosen to do my mini ethnography one day while shopping as an insider at the local Wal-Mart in Auburn, Alabama. Wal-Mart is a large center for shopping that attracts many different types of people, while creating an environment within itself.
In today’s society people are viewed as being in different classes depending on how much money they bring in. The categorization of people is known as classism. Classism is simply the prejudice or in favor of people belonging to a particular social class. Classism is known as one of the largest social problems plaguing the world today. Classes are formed according to how the rules of the following institutions; government regulations and economic status. It is held in place by a system of beliefs and cultural attitudes that ranks people according to their; economic status, family lineage, job status, and level of education. There are three major classifications to which people are titled. They include upper or high class which includes the people with the most money. The middle class who includes the people that brings home the average income. Finally, the class titled the lower class that includes the people who have only one income coming in or none at all (“What Is Classism.”). In the classrooms these classes still remain and the students within each class have different ways in which they learn, and view schooling. We as educators have to look passed their ways and address each class the same.
People uses it to indicate your economic status and power level. Class has been an essential object of analysis for many scholars. Sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, and historians have all further extend their theory with the concept of class. However, there isn't a consensus on its best definition. While the 'perfect definition' is yet to be decided, many scholars tend to agree that the term has different contextual meanings. Generally, public understand it as a model of social stratification in which individuals are placed into a group based on their social categories: upper, middle, and lower classes, with upper class controls majority of the wealth and lower class having less accessibility to resources. This ties in well with Marxian as Marx focused mainly on economic attributions.
Social inequality can be easily defined as, “an unequal distribution of resources” (Symbaluk & Bereska, 2013, p. 93). Although it is easy to define, being aware of it in everyday life is a more difficult task. Social inequality can take many forms based on race, ethnicity, and gender and can be seen everywhere in society from school, the workplace, to government. It can be difficult to notice social inequality because stereotypes are ingrained into society and often affect the subconscious. Class stratification also enables people to scapegoat minorities by saying they have no merit to society rather than society has put up barriers to stop them from achieving merit. One easily observable effect of social inequality is the income gap between