Essay On Social Mobility

After retirement many elderly people reflect on their lives, they consider their social status, job, income and current health. Most would say they had a good life but none would ever question whether or not they deserved the life they had. The reason is that Americans have a meritocratic society in place that rewards for effort and ability. In other words, a person will get what they deserve as long as they work hard for it. According to Narmit Arora “we are the authors of our own destiny and whoever wins the race is morally deserving of the rewards they obtain- and on its flip side, that we morally deserve our failure, too”(Arora 88). This economic model advocates hardwork and justifies failures by having a person blame themselves for their
It keeps people hope that they will succeed later in life as long as they work hard and that their current socioeconomic status does not play a role in their future success. According to the New York Times “Mobility is the promise that lies at the heart of the American dream”. This rags-to-riches idea has caused working and middle class Americans to have false hope, they do not realize the likelihood of having the rich and famous lifestyle is 1 in a 100. While a kid from a rich family has a 22 in a 100 chance of making it. In order to keep the American dream alive “they beguile us into thinking that the lifestyles of the rich and famous are within reach of all, and uphold rags to riches stories as exemplary”(91). The government in a meritocracy society never tells us all the factors it takes to become the one percent but instead sells Americans these success stories about a slumdog becoming rich against all odds. Giving people false hope is bad for this kind of economic society, instead we must tell different stories. We must develop a new American dream, a realistic one that even the least fortunate has a higher chance of