Gregory Mantsios debunks four myths about American class status: it is a classless structure, is essentially a middle-class nation, gets richer yearly, and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. He further proceeds to explain why each of these myths contradict each other and have no real credibility. He particularly focuses on how the middle class is not growing bigger, but is in fact declining, along with the income that they are receiving. He also brings up that race, class, and gender are closely interrelated.…
In Gregory Mantsios’s essay, “Class in America” he discusses his point of view on social classes in America and the impact it has on people. Mantsios pulls information from a number of different sources. He looks at differences in wealth distribution. He discusses the health concerns. He then looks at educational success, and the correlation between social class and better economic success. He claims that, “we mistakenly hold a set of beliefs that obscure the reality of class differences and their impact on people’s lives.” (698). Gregory Mantsios succeeds at proving his claim because of the amount of evidence he presents.…
Today in society as many people know there are many ways to categorize people into different “social classes.” There has been many people who have tried and had labels for people in each “social class.” However, Karl Marx and Max Weber are well known in sociology classes for having certain criteria to classify people into their classes. We see that Both Marx and Weber has offered theoretical descriptions of how people are stratified into “social classes.”…
In Gregory Mantsios’s article, Class in America he says, "The lower one's class standing, the more difficult it is to secure appropriate housing, the more time is spent on the routine tasks of everyday life, the greater is the percentage of income that goes to pay for food and other basic necessities, and the greater is the likelihood of crime victimization. Class can accurately predict chances for both survival and success. " Mantsios also argues that while most Americans, both rich and poor, are keenly aware of class differences, "Class is not discussed or debated in public because class identity has been stripped from popular culture. The institutions that shape mass culture and define the parameters of public debate have avoided class issues.…
If you were asked what class you are in today's society, you most likely wouldn’t be able to answer. Human genetics give you a chance to use your instincts and personal characteristics to do what you want with your life. You can choose what job you do and also who you end up with. Class distinction in today’s society isn’t as different than in Brave New World as it would seem. Depending on the level of intelligence you have and what types of careers you pursue, you are classed into a certain category. For example you are either rich, middle class or poor. Rich people have jobs like doctors and lawyers. Most of them believe they are better than most people because of their job qualifications and their salary per-year. "We're finding that the super wealthy tell a story about why they have what they have. In essence, they believe they're a different kind of person, with genes more suitable to success." (DeAngelis, Tori. "Class Differences." American Psychological Association. N.p., Feb. 2015. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. http://www.apa.org/monitor/2015/02/class-differences.aspx) Just like in Brave New World, Alpha’s believe they have more quality of a gene, which they do but they take that to an advantage just like the rich in todays society. The richer take advantage of their money and power and spoil themselves rather than help others in need. The middle class and poor…
Topics regarding class were debated during this time. Foner says that “Talk of ‘better classes,’ ‘respectable classes,’ and ‘dangerous classes’ dominated public discussion, and bitter labor strife seemed to have become the rule,” (2016). As highs come with their lows, so does the subject of class in the United States. A term known as “Social Darwinism” became popular at this time in America. According to the notion of Social Darwinism, “Evolution is as natural a process in human society as in nature, and government must not interfere,” (2016).…
James W. Loewen, essay “The Land of Opportunity,” discusses how many times Americans don’t know about social classes and the effects they have on society. Loewen argues that the common American people aren’t given equal opportunity in this day in age. He says that American history books have great influenced what we see about the class system because a great deal of history is often left out.…
In the book Money and Class in America, Lewis Lapham claims that American culture idolizes the wealthy, believing that wealth is necessarily belied by quality of character and wisdom. He gives both cross-cultural and cross-historical examples to show that other cultures and at other times the highest esteem was given not only to the wealthy, but also to the intellectual, the powerful, and the artistic individuals of those societies. In contrast Lapham discusses Americans’ idolization of the wealthy, as well as their conflation of wealth and individual merit and worth. He then questions if Americans -- a supposedly egalitarian people who are all created equal. Nonetheless, this cult of wealth still pervades, though seemingly there is nothing to cause it, as similar nations are not afflicted by such an absurd ardor.…
Classism is the prejudice against or in favor of people belonging to a particular social class. In Maycomb County, it is known, according to Jem, that “There’s four kinds of folks in the world. There’s the ordinary kind like us and the neighbors, there’s the kind like the…
Aware that money or capital also has a large role in the distribution of power, Weber discusses how economic status relates to class. To determine class he used the following three principles: "when (1) a number of people have in common a specific causal component of their life chances, in so far as (2) this component is represented exclusively by economic interests in the possession of goods and opportunities for income, and (3) is represented under the conditions of the commodity or labour markets"(p. 104). Simply put, a person's class is determined by what choices that person or community has in order to sustain comfortable means of living and property is the basic category that Weber believes defines class situation. Class is created through the economic situation of different portions of society, but for Weber, it is an abstraction and can perform no actions of its own; this is where status and party groups come into play.…
Although, one’s gender or race is not taken in count, social class has always part of America. One of biggest factors where one is placed in the social status is how wealthy or poor one is. For example, many rich people do not want to pay taxes so that their money goes to the poor who they think are poor because they are lazy and do not work. But, the truth is that the rich in America easily have access to opportunities and rights that the poor do not have. It is an ongoing battle the rich blame the poor and the poor blame the rich. However, in America the rich have the most power so the rich win the…
In today standards, society has developed into the concept of social classification by placing people into different social standards by using economic, political, and socio-economic status. This system of social classification contributes to the problems that develop in the lower and middle classes because how much they have to handle to keep up with today standards in the United States. America is supposed to be a place where all people are equal, but the way social classes work divide this country up by multiple conditions. Sadly, everyone today talks about the social class being a “social norm” in American society, where the upper class has more advantage and a controlling place in today society. What the upper social class society does…
Social class in America is a subject which always has and always will continue to affect our daily lives. The video "People like us: Social Class in America" offered several depictions of class in the U.S.. The video's depictions ranged in accuracy in terms of its definition of social classes. However the video itself caused me to realize the great affect social class has on my life as well as the lives of those around me. Classism in the United States is a very big, yet silent prejudice that is continually causing many problems in our society.…
Classism, an issue of oppression which exposes the ever-increasing differences and inequality between social classes in our society, and primarily measured by the wealth possessed and the amount of income a family or an individual earn, is every day more evident. For the last, few years we have witnessed the financial gap between wealthier and middle-class Americans widen as the years go by, but never as rapidly than after experiencing the last financial crisis of 2008. The effects of that financial crisis were disastrous, especially in the middle class. Americans lost millions of jobs, and wealth evaporated by the loss in value of real estate properties…
Being Labeled as rich or poor is probably the worst thing in society because it shows people if you’re worth something or not. You get put down because of what people see you as, a rich person who is selfish, or a poor person who is worthless. Classism affects one's identity the most because it brings down their self-esteem, gratitude, and it makes people not be high-minded of them self.…