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How social class affects educational attainment
How social class affects educational attainment
Intersectionality
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America claims to be a post-racial society as the people elect the first black president in 2009. The supreme court ruled gay marriages to be legal in all 50 states in 2015. Today, it is normal to talk about race and gender. Many schools even offer courses on subjects of race and gender. The subject that is often left out is class. In her novel Where We Stand: Class Matters, Bell Hooks notes that many citizens, including herself, avoid talking about class. “Our nation is fast becoming a class-segregated society where the plight of the poor is forgotten and the greed of the rich is morally tolerated and condoned” (p vii). This shows that the ever-widening gap of class between the poor and rich continues to expand because the subject is invisible, which makes it tolerable and gives more power to the rich. Amongst all race and …show more content…
In Dr. Greene’s lecture slide from unit five, she supports this theory by saying, “People who are poor and White are doubly-blamed and stereotyped as being lazy, uneducated, immoral criminals, etc. and this often is viewed as being located in specific geographic areas, like the South, or as living in rural places.” The media almost always shows poor people as any race but White. In the article Media Images of the Poor by Bullock, Wyche, and Williams, the authors recognize that when the poor, or working class people, are visible in the media, they are often represented in a negative manner. In many instances, their stories consist of a dysfunctional relationship, drug use and alcoholism, or engagement in crime. This is often negotiated with people of color, more often with Black men. When thinking about how Black men are portrayed in the media, people usually associate them with low-class families and living in the streets of violence and drugs. Black men suffer oppression from both White and higher-class people because of how they are portrayed in the
Class is a “relational social categorization based on economic, cultural, and social characteristics” (Barnes 2016) this includes a person’s: income and wealth, networks and connections, cultural knowledge, and social status. When a person has a high social status, that often means that they have more power in society compared to a person who is in a lower social class than they. A good example of class and how it separates the lower classes from the higher classes are private schools. Private schools are often very expensive and people who are in lower class systems often cannot afford to send their kids their, causing an even larger gap between classes. In Conley’s memoir, with him switching schools from a public, working class school to a private, middle class school shows how the schools that people go to can greatly effect their
Since the election of President Barrack Obama in 2008, many people have started to believe that America is beyond racial inequalities - this is not the reality. Rather, we, as a society, chose to see only what we want to see. Discrimination is still rampant in our nation. Michelle Alexander explains that since the Jim Crow laws were abolished, new forms of racial caste systems have taken their place. Our society and criminal justice system claim to be colorblind, but this is not the actuality. Michelle Alexander explains:
Besides, in cultivation theory, George Gerbner proposes that heavy users of media treat the content of media as a primary source to perceive the world and assert what they see in media is very similar to the reality (Bryant, Thompson and Finklea, 2013), so there is a high possibility that audience will bring the perception of stereotyped portrayals of African-American from media into the real world. Based on the above unhealthy situations, this paper is going to illustrate how the racial stereotypes in media negatively affect people’s perception, attitude and behavior toward African American in the reality....
In the United States black Americans are disproportionately affected by the perils of poverty, such as frequent acts of violence, drugs, failing school districts, and numerous other crimes against person and property. Consequently, in order to address poverty, and the dangers associated, one has to understand the root of poverty. Mos Def examines the way American business intentionally denigrates the working class to demonstrate the exploitation and social control that continuously decimates the working poor’s hope.
In The Marrow of Tradition, author Charles W. Chesnutt illustrates examples that signify the thoughts that whites had of and used against blacks, which are still very much prevalent in public opinion and contemporary media. Chesnutt writes, “Confine the negro to that inferior condition for which nature had evidently designed for him (Chesnutt, 533).” Although significant strides have been made toward equality, the media, in many instances, continues to project blacks as inferior to whites through examples observed in television shows, music videos, films and newscasts. According to Poverty & Prejudice: Media and Race, co-authored by Yurii Horton, Raagen Price, and Eric Brown, the media sets the tone for the morals, values, and images of our culture. Many whites in American society, some of whom have never encountered black people, believe that the degrading stereotypes of blacks are based on reality and not fiction....
In our current society, it is acceptable to talk about race or gender. However, when it comes to the subject of class, people tend to tense, and are uncertain as to where they stand. At one time in history money afforded prestige and power, however now, money is a large part of our society and tends to rule many peoples lives. In the book Where We Stand: Class Matters, by bell hooks, she describes a life growing up in a family who had nothing, to now becoming one of America’s most admired writers. She wrote this book because she wanted to write about her journey from a working class world to class-consciousness, and how we are challenged everyday with the widening gap between the rich and the poor. In her book, hook’s describes a life dominated by the haunting issues of money, race, and class.
Ghettos, low-riders, hip-hop, rap, drugs and crime, it has got to be a Black man right? Saggy pants, unintelligible language, lazy, and the lists continue to both stereotype and describe Blacks. Do Black Americans perpetuate their own discrimination? Are Black Americans creating their own low status in society? Black people around the world have been hypnotized into believing all their failures in life are due to discrimination, but are they correct? Blacks are often their own worst enemies, often the cause of their own disasters, and many don’t see that until it’s too late, if ever. Discrimination and prejudice are imposed upon Blacks, often because the culture they live in is not “acceptable” to the dominant society. On the other hand, an understandable reason for Blacks actions is often due to unattainable opportunities towards the American Dream.
People Like Us: Social Class in America. Dir. Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker. Center for
In an interview I composed with my mother, I asked her “What were some challenges you had to face being a black woman in the south” which she replied “As a black woman, it was hard because you would be considered last on the totem pole, and we were seen as stereotypes such as barefoot and pregnant.” It hard to challenge these thoughts which Collins described as “controlling images” that society puts on you because of your race or sexuality (pg.1). The author Rhoda Jeffries touches on some black women struggles in her article Editor’s Introduction: Fortitudinous Femininity: Black Women’s Resilience in the Face of Struggle when she says “Jeffries and Jeffries further explore the role of mentoring among Black women and challenge mass media to carefully craft images that positively depict African American women in the various roles they play in “Mentoring and mothering Black femininity in the academy: An exploration of body, voice and image through Black female characters.” (p.82) Media has a huge impact on society, which is because of what people see on television or read on social media, since people aren’t use to or don’t understand something they tend to place it on a certain race or
Images in media, television especially, are a direct projection of the people who control and project them, which often tends to be white people. “‘We face the problems of images projected by people not of us,’ she said. ‘The media is the most powerful mind-manipulating tool on the earth.’”(Ruby, 18) The perception of black women in the media today can be damaging to the self-image of the young black women of today. During the Black Arts Movement, many artists and poets spoke of how white influence in our lives has created skewed beauty ideals in the African-American community. This white influence tends to harm black women’s images of themselves. Most female images seen in mainstream media are white, thin, tall and just plain gorgeous, making it hard for the average African American woman to relate to. Black television has done well with having different shapes and sizes for women of color to relate to, but that only includes one or two channels on all of television. For example, even though BET was founded by Robert Johnson, a black man, BET is now predominantly owned by white people. “"Day after day, in all forms of media -- print, radio, and television -- we see, hear, and read the perspectives of non-Black women and women of color who are not actively involved in the struggles of Black women -- especially on so-called 'women's issues'.”(Women’s Health Weekly, 546) Large television networks must choose to show things that will not only keep ratings up but also keep people interested in watching their shows. Unfortunately in today’s age and day drama and negativity is what most Americans look to watch. Even though many people feel that these negative things are wrong, we still find ourselves watching and reading about it. The...
People Like Us: Social Class in America. Dir. Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker. Center for
It can be argued that there is no way a person can develop positive self-expectations and self-mastery if they are daily being feed negative views of how society sees them. Societal expectations play a role in this development. Negative images of African American males are constantly being viewed in the media creating a source of negative stereotypes (Jackson and Moore 2008). Along with the negative images there is poverty. Among African Americans, poverty can be seen in the neighborhoods that they grow up in. The neighborhoods are frequently characterized by high rates of crime, joblessness, social isolation and few resources for child development (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan, Klebanov, & Sealand 1993). Incarceration is factor that also affects African American males more than their white counterparts. In a study by Bruce Western and Christopher Wildeman it was found that “around one in five African American men exp...
People Like Us: Social Class in America. Dir. Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker. Center for
The media does not stand in isolation from the separation in society when they report. It is a group wonder, which translates into everyday reality through the actions of individuals. But it is not confined to individuals. It is present in the institutional and cultural matrix of a society. According to Jennifer Pierce, stories about discrimination against people of color and the problems the economy posed for them receive little attention in the news media, while accounts of “reverse discrimination,” “angry white males,” and “white male victims” took center stage—narratives that helped turns the majority of California voters against affirmative action. For example the media have separated the working class and stereotyping class young African-American and Hispanics as gangsters or drug dealers. The media has crushed the younger generation for future education, employment, and other advancements. The media has focused more on the negative aspects of the Hispanic and black than the
Every day black, white, and Hispanic men and women face many different stereotypes. Whether it is appearance based or his or her behavior. Brent Staples tells about a time in his life when he was viewed as a threat, and what he does to avoid coming across as a threat to the people around him. Throughout Staples’ work, “Just Walk On By: A Black Man Ponders to Alter Public Space,” we were able to see how people perceive others, based on how he or she looks or acts. “Black men have a firm place in New York mugging literature” (Staples 239).