The American Melting Pot

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The mantra of the United States advertises life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, as inalienable rights in the quest for the dream of living free to follow your aspirations. Our founding fathers could not have foreseen the greed of today’s capitalism, the challenges of individual identities not native of her people, nor the discord that would come from the ability to follow those individual dreams while following the entrenched Americanized social systems. The truth may be found in a mantra, which was never meant for all Americans. “Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”, a great ideal, but one which seems to apply only those born into privileged white families, and who are considered the elite within the social stratification. Social stratification is explained by Mona Scott (2012), as the position a person holds in the social hierarchy of society used by white dominant ideologies to ensure dominance over the non-white population (p. 175). Ethnic Stratification that is, the position, worth or wealth an individual is given within the social stratification and hierarchy based on perceived worth due to ethnicity or race (p. 37). Biased ideologies of an individual’s ethnic status, place unequal deviant labels upon minority individuals. The choice to define morality of societal norms based not on the individual rights of the person, rather the greater good of society, leads to biased, discriminatory treatment of minorities within the social stratification. Based on the work of our author Mona Scott (2012), Functional theorists express being unequal and having unequal access to education, work opportunities and socio-economic status is fundamentally necessary for society to function, it is in the equality of distribu... ... middle of paper ... ...t to oppress another’s individual rights based on that morality of a functioning social construct? Works Cited Bensman, J., & Gerver, I. (1963). CRIME AND PUNISHMENT IN THE FACTORY: THE FUNCTION OF DEVIANCY IN MAINTAINING THE SOCIAL SYSTEM. American Sociological Review, 28(4), 588-598. Hagan, J., Shedd, C., & Payne, M. R. (2005). Race, Ethnicity, and Youth Perceptions of Criminal Injustice. American Sociological Review, 70(3), 381-407 Olzak, S., & Shanahan, S. (2003). Racial policy and racial conflict in the urban united states, 1869-1924. 82(2), 482. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/229921128?accountid=8289 Scott, M. (2012). THINK Race and Ethnicity. Boston: MA, Pearson. William, H. R. (2006). CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF RIGHTS. Stanford Law Review, 58(6), 1997-2050. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/224067636?accountid=8289

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