When I was younger, I thought money ruled everything but in reality it doesn’t. Working hard doesn’t apply anymore in today’s economy. Most of the people who are wealthy have grown into the money or inherited from their ancestor. People hold the wealthy to a higher standard/power therefore they think they are better than the middle/lower class. Even though money is a great asset to have, it can be a liability. As I read the essay about Tim Blixseth, he was an individual who was not impressed or got excited about how much money he and his family had. He wanted to be low key, an average middle class person who worked hard for what he got not just given. In the story “Living It” he tells us how he would wake up in different locations each night.…
A lot of times people think of money as a good thing, but really it corrupts. Jonathan Swift had said“A wise person should have money in their head, but not in their heart.” When people gain a lot of wealth most of the time the start to look down on people but in the end it doesn't matter because we all end up the same. Dead. “We all gonna die, we bleed from similar veins.” Tupac Shakur explains this perfectly, no matter who we are we’re going to die because we are the same, human beings. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald shows how wealth creates social class which can ruin relationships.…
Money is of major importance in today’s society. If you have an abundance of it, it could vault you into a life of friends, leisure, and fame. Contrarily, a lacking of it could leave you with absolutely nothing but shambles. Indeed, that is the point William Hazlitt attempts to make in “on the want of money.” By using appeal to prosperity, contrasting of ideas, and the idea of ethos, Hazlitt effectively persuades the reader that money is needed to achieve their desired goals.…
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.…
Money is power, which people want for themselves. The desire for money is a never ending trip and most individuals will do anything for this control. When people come in to some money, they feel superior, more powerful and above the rest of the other people that have less .they start hanging in crowds with the same level of income, so they feel better. I had a friend who once talk all the time, play together and hangout. When she got older, her family came in to money big time. Now she doesn’t talk to me, and never does anything with me. A…
Money and social class is such a touchy subject. Then again everyone loves it. People that don’t have it will do anything for it, and people that have it will do everything to keep it. Money is a drug in a way. People feign for it just like a drug attic feigns for whatever drug they are addicted to. Therefore the question of what is the difference between the rich, and middle class, and the poor? What are the causes of the increasing gap between the rich and the poor today? Why is money so important? There are so many other questions that come to mind. The interesting thing is they all have different answers but somehow they all seem to result in the same thing.…
We have all dreamed about being rich, what we would buy, how we would spend every penny. In these day dreams we never think about others much, especially not some homeless person begging on the corner for their dinner. Even if you weren’t a millionaire, but had a few thousand in the savings account, would you give a few dollars to someone in need? Most people would say yes, but those people don’t have thousands in their banks either. Being wealthy comes with a different mind-set than someone who is poor. In Lemieux article he expresses how the upper-class treated him as if he were less than a human his first time begging for money, whereas Eighner expresses in his article how the upper-class tend to be very beneficial for dumpster divers and…
The modern world and businesslike lifestyle have their features. One of the most typical is a competition between individuals and organizations. As described in the novel God Bless You by Kurt Vonnegut. When an employer pays big salary, employees are incredibly smart, in good shape and happy with their lives. Their primary occupation is undermining shares and assets of other corporations. Second priority engagements of partakers can become current affairs and privacy. Nevertheless, it can be clearly stated that even a poor man can achieve success in life and it can be supported by the content of the novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.…
Of course these people are envied by those who describe themselves as poor. A lot of these people may have the world in their hand but will never fulfill their hearts. Having everything you want does not mean you have everything you need. People always over look what should be the most important thing in their lives. As I stated in the paragraph above all these people appear to have the perfect life but really no one knows what they are hiding inside. It’s very easy to say or think, “I wish I had their fortune,” or “I wish I was just like them.” In the poem Robinson says, “And went without the meat, and cursed the bread,”(14pg189) Went on working hard for what they wanted and maybe still without the chance of getting what they wanted and at the same time complaining about what they already had. Without realizing that maybe if they learned to work with what they already have maybe they could have a lot…
The gap between the rich and the poor is widening ' this is a reality that many societies in our world are experiencing today. As a result, we are forced to wonder what is happening in each of these groups that is leading to the growing inequality. We can assume that those who are wealthy will do pretty much everything they can to remain in that category. Can we assume the same for the poor? Are those that are faced with poverty behaving in such ways that perpetuate their low status? The culture of poverty thesis, as defined by anthropologist Oscar Lewis, locates poverty within an individual or group’s values, beliefs, and behaviours. This essay will discuss and critically evaluate Lewis’ thesis. It has proven to be applicable in certain societies;…
On a chilly winter evening, my family and I strolled through Chicago gazing as we went at the beautiful snow and lights that lit the city. Although the adventure brought lasting memories, I remember that as we walked my subconscious thought that not everyone happily hustled and bustled that day fully revealed itself. In fact, some of these people may have lived on the streets. Softly, near a store front, change clanked from an old man's cup and I became aware had needs along with many other people in the city. When one class of society may appear superior to another, as the shoppers in Chicago in comparison with the pleading beggars on the street, ultimately both types of people share a common problem – they cling to their physical luxuries as what gives them a status. Consequently, in the long run, whether one lives among the poor or the rich, his soul yearns…
Society has taught you that the rich upbringing is the “better one”, though it’s not. Social class doesn’t determine how an individual is created. Author Jeannette Walls was raised in the poor environment described. Her experiences growing up helped her become the strong, independent woman she is today. Instead of running away from her problems she faced them and considered ways to improve her life. Her actions while growing up caused her to not become similar to her parents. When attending elementary school, girls would jump her because she was poor, she didn’t fight them back the first time to display her humbleness, but when they started to bully her young brother, she fought back because her family was all she ever…
In King Lear’s speech he describes what privilege really is, stating that the lower in social and economic class one is, the less they can hide their sins, but the higher in social class one is, the more they can get away with things because wealth has a way of helping people cover up. “Plate sin in gold, And in rags, a pigmy's straw does pierce it.” He claims that the rich are untouchable because of all the privileges that come along with being rich, but the poor are not untouchable because they can’t mask what they have done with expensive clothes and an expensive education. I agree with what King Lear has to say because of my own life experiences with this unjust system, but I would also have to broaden this to say,”Those with privilege and those without.”…
I found this chapter on the “hidden rules” of poverty to be very interesting and eye-opening. Before taking the three part quiz, I was unaware of some of the differences amongst the three economic classes. One hidden rule that really stood out to me was the way that people living in poverty, the middle class, and the wealthy view money. According to the text, those living in poverty view money as something to be used and those living in the middle class view it as something to be managed. Now that I have recently graduated…
The existence of poverty ensures that society's dirty work will be done. Every society has such work: physically dirty or dangerous, temporary, dead-end and underpaid, undignified and menial jobs. Society can fill these jobs by paying higher wages than for clean work, the poor will do what it takes to feed their family and themselves the don’t have the luxury of taking time off to find a better paying job like the wealthy have a chance to wait for a better job. The poor takes whatever they can and get underpaid and don’t complain due to the fact that they just need the money right away either to make rent pay bills or buy food for themselves or their families. They will do the dirty work that the higher class wouldn’t dare to do because its beneath them but without the poor taking jobs as garbage men, janitors, maids and such there would be garbage everywhere in every aspect of our lives there will be the less wealthy that have worked hard their entire life only to be not where they wants to be in life nobody wants to be poor but you got to play the cards your dealt and make the of best of a bad deal.…