Preview

Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime?

Best Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2459 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Does Capital Punishment Deter Crime?
Literature Review Analysis Response Paper

by Tashi Martin

to _______________

Course ____________

School ____________

April 1, 2013

In the article Inequality: Causes and Consequences, Kathryn M. Neckerman and Florencia Torche discuss the existing patterns, causes and consequences of economic inequality in the United States, including inequality of earnings, wealth, and opportunity. Their research refers to the social and political causes and consequences of inequality in such areas as “health, education, crime, social capital, and political power” (Neckerman & Torche, 2007, p. 335). In addition, they discuss world inequality, exploring the major inequality trends across different nations. The researchers of this article have the major goal – to help readers to better understand the roots of this social problem and its effects on people, organizations and labor markets.

In fact, economic inequality in the United States constitutes a social problem which required the appropriate solutions. According to George Ritzer (2004), “problems associated with economic inequality are closely linked to the level of development, with inequality being a far greater problem in developed nations than in less developed countries” (p. 10). Undoubtedly, such social problem as economic inequality can be found both in developed and developing countries. In the United Sates, this issue is of great importance as the American nation is based on the principle: all people are created equal and should be treated equally. Most Americans believe that they are a part of the middle class that command a large part of American society. However, today there is an evidence of certain economic differences between the rich and the poor, although the United States provides equal opportunities for personal development. According to Neckerman and Torche (2007), in the United States, the obvious economic disparities started to rise in the1970s, while the



References: Becker, G. S. (2009). Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Brinkerhoff, D. B., White, L. K. & Ortega, S. T. (2007). Essentials of Sociology. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Carbaugh, R. J. (2011). International Economics. Mason: Cengage Learning. Jain, T. R. & Khanna, O. P. (2007). Development Problems and Policies. FK Publications. Kawachi, I. (2000). “Income Inequality and Health” in the book Social Epidemiology ed. by Lisa F. Berkman & Ichiro Kawachi. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Neckerman, K. M. & Torche, F. (2007). “Inequality: Causes and Consequences.” The Annual Review of Sociology, 33: 335–57. Pare, P. (2006).Income Inequality and Crime Across Nations Reexamined. Diss. The Pennsylvania State University. Ritzer, G. (2004). Handbook of Social Problems: A Comparative International Perspective. London: Sage Publications. Thompson, G. F. (2007). “Global Inequality, the Great Divergence and Supranational Regionalization” in the book Global Inequality: Patterns and Explanations ed. by David Held and Ayse Kaya. Cambridge: Polity Press. Tracy, M. (2010). Kalecki’s Principle of Increasing Risk and Keynesian Economics. Oxon & New York: Routledge.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Moreover, Mrs. Jill Lepore addresses that "Income inequality is greater in the United States than in any other democracy in the developed world"(Lepore 1)…

    • 727 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Is America becoming more and more unequal? Our founders foresaw America to become unequal because society would naturally divide itself, Alexander Hamilton wrote in The Federalist about “the very few and the many.” James Madison blamed this condition on the Unequal faculties of acquiring property in every society. Consequently, it is useless to control the rich since affluence is an inner potential. The effect of Unequal societies is not only the diseases of poverty, but also diseases of affluence such as obesity and cancer and many more.…

    • 1574 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Social inequality has been evident for many years as the growing inequality between poor and rich teens has only grown worse throughout countries in North America and Europe. America has the second largest population of people in poverty from a survey of 34 different developed countries.The poor should be made a priority of the government because…

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The rich, the middle class and the poor. These so-called "titles" are defining Americans today. What is income inequality and why is it a problem? Income inequality is the extent to which income is distributed in a population. In the United States, that gap between the poor and the rich has expanded immensely over the past ten years. Income inequality is a constantly debated topic today with different opinions and solutions; economists, writers, and politicians all have different views. For example, Paul Krugman and Robert Reich have different opinions than Maura Pennington. As people of different social status, religion, and political preferences view inequality differently, the solution is vastly different amongst these…

    • 1617 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    References: Anderson, M. L. & Taylor, H. F. (2009). Sociology: The essentials. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.…

    • 1152 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Great Divergence In America

    • 2351 Words
    • 10 Pages

    With unreliable data and few resources to gain evidence of a faulty system; American politicians sometimes turn a blind eye or demean the importance of the issue. Obviously unemployment and economic deterioration are serious problems, but they are problems that would be further eased by addressing the current, historic, and growing imbalance in income inequality. The avoidance of such a current dilemma, such as the enormous gap of income, is an issue itself. For the problem to start resolving itself, we must bring the issue into the spotlight to be addressed by the officials who run our country. Income inequality, by contrast, is getting worse over time. Doesn’t it make more sense to focus attention on the problem that’s getting worse rather than all the problems—unemployment, the deficit, limited opportunity—that are not? But in turn, they could be resolved with addressing the prevalent income gap. (Noah 368)…

    • 2351 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Income inequality is a grand challenge and is at the base of many other grand challenges. For example, with income inequality some supplementary troubles may be inadequate health care, lack of quality education and homelessness. Furthermore, reports have shown that that the income inequality has widened since the recession. Income inequality affects everyone, especially minorities. One believes that this is part of the problem in society that fuels racism and classism. It creates an obvious difference between socioeconomic classes and minorities are usually in the lower earnings level of these classes. If we are to solve some of the other grand challenges one believes that income inequality is the best place to start.…

    • 417 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Quintile Income Inequality

    • 1654 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Income inequality is often associated with negative things such as decreased quality of life and a lack of social mobility. Yet, the lower classes are receiving less and less of the United States’ overall income while the top earners' share is increasing. Why? This paper will explore causes of the growing income inequality as well as possible solutions to slowing it down.…

    • 1654 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Economic Inequality

    • 155 Words
    • 1 Page

    Economic inequality in the United States has increased tremendously throughout the past decades and has consequently led to many social conditions that negatively impact the lower and middle class. The unequal distribution of income and wealth is primarily due to the capitalist government economy that deregulates markets as well as globalization and technological advances. Political inequality is similarly another consequence that results from the economic disparity that further affects democracy and political representation of many Americans. This likewise leads to the creation of social movements, in which many unprivileged Americans seek government attention to overcome the inequality that exists amongst the socioeconomic classes.…

    • 155 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    A crucial controversy of America today is the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor, and the discrepancy is caused by capitalism run wild and only the helping hand of the government can only fix the problem. A question that turns the tables is what if the growing wealth disparity in America is actually caused by the government? For years, the idea that inequality is economically neutral has been the prevailing view not just among traditionalists but also between most Americans outside the further reaches of a political audience. There could be ideological or moral reasons to object to a growing gap between the wealthy and the rest but for economic reasons, there are no such. Furthermore, there are many ways inequality places itself in America. In our society, a good amount of the population is forced to stand up and work for our country while hardly being redeemed for their time and effort, thus the problem of income inequality. An estimate of these people live from paycheck to another, barely coping with life itself, not because they cannot manage their money well, but the reason is that…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Income Inequality Essay

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Income inequality has been, and continues to be, an issue among the different genders and ethnicities in the United States. The gap continues to widen not only between men and women, but also among other women when age, ethnicity, appearance, and physical limitation biases are taken into account.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Inequality is the unequal distribution of valued goods and opportunities in a society. Over the past two decades, there has been an increase in economic inequality in the United States. Four major reasons for this increase is the changing relationship between technological expansion and education, deindustrialization and restructuring, government policies, and decline of unions. Technology in the United States has advanced immensely since the 1970s. This has led to peoples jobs being replaced by technology, for example bank tellers have been replaced by ATMs, and a higher level of education is now needed to use the technology for jobs.…

    • 912 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    America is known for many things, such as the wealthiest country in the world. However, America has also been known for the injustice and inequality that many people face. This chapter explains why America is so unequal. Florencia Torche, clarifies that the higher the income share of the wealthiest 10%, increases inequality. Not only does America face inequality, but other small countries had increased amounts of inequality. Due to this, there is a common factor that both country share, that can indicate the reason for an increase of inequality. A major reason why inequality increased is due to change between technology expansion and education. As technology involved, jobs for middle and lower levels of education decreased. However, it also increased new jobs. In addition, these new jobs required higher levels of education.…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    The current wealth inequality and continuing rise in poverty rates within the United States has troubling implications for a country that prides itself on being the “land of opportunity.” In recent years, wealth inequality has soared, reaching historic heights that are higher than any other developed Western country and rival those on the eve of The Great Depression (Fischer et al. 1996, Saez 2008). The top one percent of Americans owns 42 percent of the nation’s financial wealth while the bottom 80 percent of Americans own only five percent of the nation’s wealth (Domhoff 2010). The income of the top one percent has nearly tripled in the last 30 years while those at the bottom…

    • 2752 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Better Essays

    Wealth Inequality

    • 1395 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Life in present-day America is very unequal. There are wide gaps in income distribution which causes negative impacts on the everyday lives of most Americans. This income gap is wider than at any other time in the past century. The United States has the largest gap between rich and poor than any other democratic country in the world. Income inequality has negative effects on the entire society. American minority groups and women earn less money than their white counterparts. The educational system in the country is suffering ranking fourteenth among industrialized nations. Research shows that the wealthier a person is the longer their lifespan will be. Increased crime rates in the poorer inner cities…

    • 1395 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays