Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
How socioeconomic affect child development essay
How does socioeconomic status affect child development
How does socioeconomic status affect child development
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: How socioeconomic affect child development essay
Growing up, I noticed everything; like the name brands shoes my parents couldn’t afford. They would make an effort of buying me similar ones. My dad would see how I would try to hide the shoes in shame. Kids would judge and stare at the type of clothes others had on. Social class mattered then, and it matters even more now. People judge others by how much they have, what they wear, and what they own. Those are the things that are used to label a person’s social class. Social class has become a controversial issue when it comes to whether or not it can be changed. Mobility is possible within social classes. It takes hard work and dedication to be able to move up into a different class. My dad is a great example of someone who has worked hard …show more content…
In the essay, “New Directions” by Maya Angelou, Annie, a hard-working woman, says, “I looked up the road I was going and back the way I come, and since I wasn’t satisfied, I decided to step off the road and cut me a new path” (123). Just as Annie; my dad decided enough was enough. My parents used to only buy necessary things mainly because they couldn’t afford the expensive material things. Throughout the years, he would wake up everyday at different hours; tiredness could be seen in just one glance. My dad was a part of the blue collar, or the “working” class for a lot of my childhood. My mother was also a part of the same class. Both of my parents come from a lower class families. Both being from Mexico; it was harder for them to get a job to save up for their future family. This is where my dad 's desire to provide for me grew enormously. My dad has worked effortlessly to be a part of a middle class rather than what he was used to. My dad had to work not one, but 2 jobs plus a little side job to change our lives. Of course, the transition between classes was a difficult process, but it is possible to achieve. It might taken him years, but it was worth the sleepless nights to provide for his family. He has made this middle class lifestyle …show more content…
Social classes, now-a-days, seem to be a big talk within certain people. Social classes does not determine a person 's actual class; it shows how hard a person works for what they have in their life. The transition between classes might be difficult, but people have done it. Many have pushed beyond their limits to succeed. People, like my dad, prove the mobility. Society judges others by sight, but never really learn their true values. Everyone struggles, but the award at the end is worth every sweat and tear. Being a part of a middle class lifestyle is setting a goal and making sure it is accomplished. It is possible to change one’s social class, regardless of what others might say. I know someone who is living breathing proof, and he is my
Mantsios defends his claim by sharing the four myths and opposing seven realities of the American dream of equal opportunity. Then comparing three profiles of people from upper, middle, and lower classes, then by proving the correlation between educational attainment and classes. In a country with democratic principles, the general public makes an impact on the country, but it’s truly governed by politicians and the incredible power of wealth. Mantsios gives up the economic spectrum break down by giving the facts on the differences between the one who have very little, a lot and not enough money. One myth that Mantsios makes in his essay is how “all Americans do not have an equal opportunities to succeed. Inheritance laws ensure a greater likelihood of success of the offspring of the wealthy” (295). The huge gap between the upper and lower classes shows the social struggle. Higher income classes have a more likely chance for successful inheritance which allows the wealth to get passed on to the offspring. However, Davidson contradicts the theory’s that were presented by Mantsios by stating “Maddie represents a large population: people who, for whatever reason, are not going to be able to leave the workforce long enough to get the skills they need”(349). However, if Maddie works hard enough she can prove Mantsios wrong. That doesn’t mean she has to go to college or get a higher education, of course, that would make everything simpler. All she has today is work her way up in the company to make something of herself to show that she can still reach her full
This quote from Freidman’s book agrees that people are trying to move up in the social class, “I once heard Jerry Yang, the cofounder of Yahoo!, quote a senior Chinese government official as saying, "Where people have hope, you have a middle class." I think this is a very useful insight. The existence of large, stable middle classes around the world is crucial to geopolitical stability… "Middle class" is another way of describing people who believe that they have a pathway out of poverty or lower-income status toward a higher standard of living and a better future for their kids” (537). This quote is trying to say that the people in the middle class do have hope in moving up because it will provide a better. life for their families. They are not just staying in the lower class but with the opportunity they are willing and motivated to do it. Having a college degree will give people more options. In the book, Class Matters, it has short anecdotes and Jeff in the story is a great example of someone who was stuck because he did not have a college education. Egan writes, “For a guy like me, with no college degree, it’s becoming pretty bleak out there” (106). In making this comment he knows that nowadays an entry level job is not a good stable job and that
Social class should not be used to define a person. Every person has the ability to overcome the roadblocks that society has placed in their path, so long as they have the determination and motivation. In Gerald Graff’s article, “Hidden Intellectualism” , he explains how social class is irrelevant when it comes to education, despite what society will lead you to believe. He displays how everyone is intelligent in his or her own way.Lynda Barry during her article, “ The Sanctuary of School” spoke about the importance of education to her and many other students like her.Another writer, Mike Rose shows how despite the thoughts that society puts in our heads we can still be successful in his article “Blue Collar Brilliance”.Regardless of social
difficult it is it move up socially and economically in today's society because of the widening gap between the rich and the poor (Aspects of Class in the US: An Introduction).
Being born into a social class is something that every person should be proud of. You see it in all types of classes. People take pride in who they are and where they come from. Nobody is normal, because their is a uniqueness in all of us that separates ourselves from each other. Although a lot of times we look at the middle-class as being normal, the same can be said for the lower and upper classes. In our own eyes we are normal, but to others, we are always going to look somewhat different. As long as TV continues to run programs depicting "all-American" families, and the majority of our nations population remains in the middle-class, we will always look at the hard-working man, his wife, kids, dog, and cozy house as being the definition of normal in this country.
Class in the American Culture is based on economic and social differences, and it remains a powerful force in American life and has come to play a greater role in today’s society. American culture classified social classes as three different levels, the higher class which is classified as the wealthier and have the most money and a certain lifestyles and clothes. The middle class more like the businesses, people who have a reasonable income. And the last class is the low class which are the working class people. Those in the upper middle classes enjoy better health and live longer than those in the middle classes, who live longer and better than those at the bottom. That 's because money, good jobs and connections help the better-off get the best medical care. People in the upper class also maintain a certain lifestyle and sometimes different clothing lifestyle than the ones in the lower classes.
Social class has existed in our society since its foundation. Working class, middle class, upper middle class, or upper class, whatever your standing, social class can affect your place in society. Social class can be defined by where you live, who you talk to, where you get an education, even by the clothes you wear. These may not be definite determinants of social class, but categorization of people becomes easier when looking at these factors. In previous papers, I have claimed that social class is a result of capitalism. Though, I still believe this to be true, there are many factors that can affect social class and vice versa. Theorists have looked at different aspects of how these can affect social class. In my paper I am going to explore capitalism, stratification, racism, segregation, and education and their relationship with social class and how this can cause social conflict; I will have a primary focus of how Weber, DuBois, and Marx views this relationship.
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)
Class is often seen as the income or lifestyle that people fit into; but by creating such a vague definition for class, we lose sight of the reasons that the different classes exist. Even more than that, the general population has been led to believe that classes are a thing of the past-something that used to be important, but is now just a term economists use that has no effect our lives.
Social class has always been influential in America even though many people put forth that someone’s social class is insignificant when building friendships or any other relationship. But the reality is that those thoughts are mistaken because the truth is social class has become a larger concept than what it’s thought to be. Due to the class difference all the social classes have been drifting apart from each other and avoid interacting with each other (Bartlett 1).
What is social class you ask? Social class is a system created to categorize people by education, wealth and heredity. What are the different class systems you ask? There are several class classifications and they’re Upper Class–Elite, Upper Middle Class, Lower Middle Class, Working Class and poor. In the united states and being a victim of “ social class categorizing” is an issue that must be addressed and people must be made aware, because it seems as if it’s not going anywhere anytime soon so the least we can do is try and make it fair as possible. Being defined unknowingly by a class system is one thing, but having no say so or fair opportunity at being placed in the best “class system” as those more fortunate than others needs to change because it’s not like we all came out of our mothers womb starting the race of life at the same starting and advantage point, and since we as Americans pride our-self on being the land of the free and equal opportunities I feel compelled to inform you of the unfairness of the issue and state ways to make it fair. In an article read while doing research this is how the author defined Social class “Classism is similar in many ways to racism, sexism, heterosexism and other forms of oppression. Classism appears individually through attitudes and behaviors, institutionally through policies and practices, and culturally through norms and values. Like other forms of oppression and prejudice, it is the tendency to make sweeping generalizations or stereotypes about people, such as “Poor people are lazy.”(Class Action) This essay will assess the determination of social classes in the United States and will seek to provide examples to demonstrate the inequalities and provide ways to improve them.
Participants in the middle class are not necessarily living the American Dream but a lot of them are living comfortably. In some studies almost 90 percent of Americans have self-identified to be in the middle class stratum. (Conley 2015) Unfortunately, the average American believes that they are better off than they actually are. Many of the people who self-identify as middle class actually fall into the working class. How would one separate the two classes? The white-collar office worker usually describes the middle class while the working class is described as the manual labor worker. However, in the recent years the working class has as a whole sort of gained a new stratification and become an expanded part of the middle class.
Social class has a large effect on the lifestyles of all Americans. But what does it really mean to be a part of the lower, middle or upper class? These divisions of social class are defined by aspects such as family income and lifestyle; however, education plays a large role in determining ones social class. That does not mean that it will determine success in ones life but to interpret, many people with a further education usually have a higher income as well. Those of the upper class have higher standards for education and career aspirations in contrast to those of the lower and middle class. Besides the differentiation of aspirations of the individuals of each social class, it is also used to determine who will go to college, depending on who can afford it or have no other priorities that can get in the way.
The class system ranks people by their economic position (Larkin, 2015). In America, we use the class system. There are many things that influence what class you are in. These include family, job, education, race, and gender. While family does play a role in which class you are in, it is not the most significant influence. The most significant things are education and job. If someone was born into a lower class, they have a greater change of moving to a higher position in a society and in some of the other social stratification systems. This system allows for the greatest amount of social mobility (Larkin, 2015). A person can move up in this system, as well as down. Someone might move down in the class system because they lost their job and no longer make the same amount of money they did before. There are negatives to this stratification system as well. The class system can be marked by unequal access to goods, services, and life options for its
The class system allows an individual to move up in rank despite their economic, social, or family history. This is also the system that is mostly found in the United States of America (Larkin, 2015). The class system focuses on the economic prosperity of people. The other two systems, slavery and caste, don’t get the chance to move up on the stratification levels. The individuals are ranked in society by their family and what they’re born into. In today’s generation we can see college students that were born in poverty come up from nothing and make something of them self. They were able to achieve a college degree and obtain a higher level of social status. Not only will this help the individual but the family as well, they have the opportunity to move up in the stratification chain. A real life example of the kids upholding a higher status is the Kardashian family. The sister’s father, Robert Kardashian, was a famous criminal justice lawyer but it wasn’t until the middle child, Kim Kardashian, started dating a famous singer Ray Jay. Ever since then they exploded in Hollywood and obtained their very own television show, known as Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Because of the relationship the family’s social status changed forever. Now that I have gone through the similarities and differences, I have concluded that each system makes an impact in