Third Reflection Paper Social Stratification, Race/Ethnicity, and Sex/Gender Why, in a country of such wealth and prosperity, do we have such high amounts of misery? The class system in America is based on what type of work done, ownership, and the control of resources. There are mainly two classes which include: capitalist class and the working class. The capitalist class is the class that has most of the wealth and owns most of the production to stay wealthy. The working class consists of the people who work everyday for the capitalist and never they never make enough money to reach the next level on the totem pole because they don’t get the opportunity. Alienation: The feeling of hopelessness and lack of power from yourself and from Men and women are created differently as you see if you compare them. Women have breasts which are used for breastfeeding their children, they have wider hips and a uterus which helps house the fetus until he or she is ready to come into the real world, and they have extra adipose tissue throughout their body. Men on the other hand have enlarged genitals, like a penis and testes which houses the sperm for the female to get pregnant, they develop a deeper voice, more body and facial hair, and a more muscular build. Women should dominate the men over infant care. They do not produce the milk for the child nor do they know why the baby is crying or how to stop the baby from crying. They don’t understand how to take care of a baby because most of them can’t even take care of themselves. Yes, the baby is still the fathers but they have no idea how to take care of it so it is definitely the mothers job because we have to make sure the baby is safe and being watched all the time and not just for a couple minutes. I say this because my dad fell asleep while he was babysitting me when I was little. My mom came home from a shopping day with her sister and I was playing in the middle of the road because I crawled out of the doggy door. My mom and dad definitely had some words when she found me in the America is very wealthy, but most of the wealth is held by a small group of people which is about one percent of the population, the rest of the American’s are working day after day to survive in this expensive world. The working class and everyone lower than the working class are struggling swimming up stream trying to climb the ladder to successfulness when we will never get there because we don’t get an opportunity. It is a constant battle and the working class and poor people, like me, will always fail. We are constantly in misery because we never get anywhere and we do they same thing
Growing up in The United States, people are given this idea of an American Dream. Almost every child is raised to believe they can become and do anything they want to do, if one works hard enough. However, a majority of people believe that there is a separation of class in American society. Gregory Mantsios author of “Class in America-2009” believes that Americans do not exchange thoughts about class division, although most of people are placed in their own set cluster of wealth. Also political officials are trying to get followers by trying to try to appeal to the bulk of the population, or the middle class, in order to get more supporters. An interesting myth that Mantsios makes in his essay is how Americans don’t have equal opportunities.
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
There are eight classes in America consisting of the rich elite, very rich-upper class, lower-upper class, upper-middle class, middle class, working class, working poor and the underclass. The percentages of families in the various classes as established by Gilbert are thought to be 1.4 percent in the upper top class, 1.6 percent in the lower top class. 1...
The connection of race and race relations in the United States was an ongoing issue, and while much progress was made, there are still people who revert back to old and ignorant takes on different races as the white man. This clearly relates to my own history based on the fact that various races are still being discriminated and treated unfairly and looked at as unequal. I can only hope that one day the whole population of the world can do the right thing and look at everyone as equals.
Our daily lives are affected by race whether we are aware of it or not. How we live different aspects of our lives depend on the colour of our skin. From the types of jobs we have, the income we earn, where we live etc. In societies fundamentally structured by race, it is important that we do not abandon the notion of race, but instead pioneer a revolution in the way that races are understood. In this paper, I will examine how the dominant groups in society define race in terms of biology, which leads to the notion of white privilege, which is their advantaged position in society, at the expense of other racial groups.
Social class is a system of stratification whereby groups of people share a similar social position in terms of occupation, income, ownership and wealth. Social class is also closely related to levels of education, status and lifestyle (including housing, car ownership and leisure activities) as well as power and influence. Class inequalities can arise due to social class. Class inequality is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social classes, in particular working class disadvantage and upper class privilege. Marxism is a theoretical perspective based on the ideas of Marx (1818 - 1883) who identified two key groups in capitalist society - the Bourgeoisie who own and control the means of production and the Proletariat
All the while innocent people around the world pay the highest of price as they watch loved ones and possessions be destroyed by record breaking weather phenomenon. Again all in pursuit of making some of the wealthiest people in the world even more wealthy. Even after atrocities are committed in pursuit of ever increasing wealth for a small number of people, the American people never care enough to do something about it. Instead they continually vote for politicians who will continue to let atrocities be committed in the name of profit. They do this because secretly and even overtly the American people envy these captain of industries as success stories that the wish to become just like. The most recent example of the culture of greed in America ruining the lives of millions of innocent human beings was the 2008 financial crisis. Bankers, hedge fund managers will the help of friendly politicians, single handedly destroyed the world economy. The did this by first removing regulation of derivatives and the bank 's ability to use leverage. Then the bankers risked their own firms as well as millions of homeowners livelihoods, simply to get a larger bonus for themselves. Then after the
In the land of the “American dream,” it is the common belief that there is a direct relationship between hard work and success and that those who put in long hours are bound for success and move up the social ladder. In the united states we have four major classes. The four major classes are upper class, middle class, working class and lower class. Social class in the United States can be looked at purely from economic factors such as income and also using educational, wealth and job related factors then you are placed into one of these classes. Ever since man has existed there have been issues with class it is something that has existed and divided citizens in almost every nation. America is known for its “american dream” however achieving it is far from an easy task .Although moving up the social ladder is very rare in today's society it still can be done.
Social and economic class is something we as Americans like to push into the back of our minds. Sometimes recognizing our class either socially or economically can almost be crippling. When individuals recognize class, limitations and judgment confront us. Instead, we should know it is important to recognize our class, but not let it define and limit us. In the essay, “Class in America”, Gregory Mantsios, founder and director of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education at the School of Professional Studies, brings to light the fact that Americans don’t talk about class and class mobility. He describes the classes in extremes, mainly focusing on the very sharp divide between the extremely wealthy and extremely poor. In contrast, George
The American dream can be achieved by education, opportunity, and hard work, but is this is not a reality, but just merely a dream. Opportunity in American feels as if everyone has a fair chance of being successful. In America, it seems that the idea of everyone has a fair chance to opportunity. But this is not the case, in Gregory Mantsios essay “Class In America-2012” he talks about how there are many myths that are wide spread about the differing classes in America. Then he further goes on disproving the widely proclaim myths with stats that show in real world the gap between the wealthy one percent of the population owning 36 percent of the capital in comparison to the 99 percent of Americans in the U.S. For the purpose of this essay, the
People Like Us: Social Class in America. Dir. Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker. Center for
Over the last couple of weeks, all of the readings, lectures, discussions and videos have been very informative. A lot of the information in the readings are what people experience daily or witness with their own eyes. The issues going on with class, gender, and race can be upsetting and hard to grasp because the reality of the matter is we live in a very segregated and divided society. Topics in the lecture that stood out were racial inequality and social movement. When it comes to racial inequality, I witnessed a similar situation while in undergraduate school. A professor at my school displayed hidden racial misconduct towards a black female student in a course.
This essay explored one 's experience of race/ethnicity and gender. It really made you think about your personal experiences based on your race/ethnicity and gender. For me it actually made me think deeply about how my race/ethnicity and how my gender has affected my life. There were a series of seven questions split into two parts, one based on race and ethnicity and the other part based on gender.They were the following : " What were the expectations and influences of parents, peers, schooling, religious training, mass media, and other agents of socialization on race/ethnicity?" Have you ever felt that you were treated differently than others because of your race or ethnicity. How did this make you feel?" What effect does your gender, class, age,
Our increased mobility has given us greater access to the world and the diverse people that inhabit it. With that mobility comes the shared responsibility to negotiate with people who may initially seem unfamiliar and learn to express the experience. The word “ethnicity” is used to describe a specific population’s characteristics of fundamental aspects that all humans share. When applied loosely, ethnicity becomes a blanket term to define large populations, undermining the worth and the diversity within that group and emphasizing the differences between cultures. Yet those differences come down to matters of preference and socialization within each culture. The dominant themes that rule human nature persist in every society – wondering where we came from and why we exist, social mores to guide how we relate to people or situations, and primal motivations such as hunger, fear, and a need to be loved and accepted.
These classes are based upon the amount of money that the people in those classes make each year. The amount of money people earn each year is strongly determined by the job that they have, and the type of job that someone has is strongly determined by the amount of education they obtain. People in the lower class make about less than $9,000 each year, generally with a part-time job and a high school education. People in the working class make about $15,000- $25,000 in a year with a service job and some college experience, but no college degree. As the salary, education level, and occupation increase, so does the individuals social class. The highest class, the upper class, make more than $200,000 a year are in high corporate jobs, and have a graduate degree. Each of these classes, also comes with a different lifestyle because of how much money they