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.…
However, America has for years been showing a different type of what they call equality. For many years class has been around starting with colonial settlers were either enterprising business man or that they were devout Christians fleeing from religious prosecution. Turns out that the majority were economically out casted or they were social burdens that the English were happy to get rid of them. The ones who became indentured servants were the criminals, beggars, and orphans who had no land-owning rights. This shows that people like politicians, landowners, or wealthy families have always occupied a higher stat than a servant who owed no land or no power.…
In the article, "Class in America", Gregory Mantsios (Myths and Realities 2000) shows us how what class a person is in affects his or hers life more than they think. This article is written sufficiently well however, it does have some weak spots. I will prove my thesis by examining his use of examples and showing factual data and statistics, but also show how this article could have been better.…
My president is Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known by his initials, FDR; Roosevelt was born January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, New York. Franklin D. Roosevelt was our 32nd president of the United States from (1933–1945), serving for 12 years and four terms until his death in April 12, 1945 in Warm Springs, Georgia. Eleanor Roosevelt was his beloved wife with the start of five children: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, James Roosevelt II, Franklin Roosevelt, Elliott Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., John Aspin wall Roosevelt II…
Jean Anyon in the source “From Social Class and The Hidden Curriculum of Work,” tries to explain first class education is only made obtainable to kids in a wealthier class. In her piece, Anyon claims “…knowledge and skills leading to social power and regard are made available to the advantage social groups but are withheld from the working classes...” She also makes an assertion that because schools in the wealthier areas are better behaved they get a better education. For example Anyon implies this when she says, “…students in different social class backgrounds are rewarded for classroom behavior.” She does not make it direct but as you read her essay on the matter it proves to be what she is suggesting. Her analysis and argument…
Since the beginning everything has been a power struggle, the ones who possesses the most resources dominated over those with the lesser amount. In this day and age, money reigns over the social class and those without it are struggling against the government who controls the majority of it all.As stated by Dee Dee Myers in her article, “What Class Warfare Really Means,” “the same folks who have seen their incomes and wealth skyrocket in recent decades – would take the biggest hit.” (Myers) With this issue, UTA students are directly affected because the problem of the current financial difficulties is tied to their friends, family, and themselves. The levels of taxes cripples the middle and lower class, keeping them within their social class, and gives them no hope of further succession Here, Myers explains how the higher and lower classes are virtually unaffected, while the working top brackets of the middle class are taxed to no end.Though many say there is not any difference between classes, I believe that the middle class is treated unequally in terms of taxation versus the other class’s because the government’s inability to distribute tax equally amongst the three classes,the boundaries being the gap in income which keep one classing from rising to another, and the nation’s obliviousness in realizing the unevenly distributed money.…
This question goes through mostly all the people’s mind in the United States now. Paul Krugman, in his article “Confronting Inequality”, explains why that differences are a problem. America's middle class is overreaching themselves in an effort to give their kids more opportunities. Many middle class are buying homes that they can't afford, so that their children will be attending a good school so that their children can have more opportunities, but on the other hand the rich society are creating their own world away from the middle class and of course That shows the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor which leads to the growing difference in social equality. In this article the author used lots of comparison methods to show the difference between the poor and the wealthy society. He also used some facts and diagrams to convince his audience with his case (Krugman…
The video “A Class Divided” was about an exercise in discrimination. Jane Elliot, a 3rd grade teacher in an all-white town in Iowa, decided to teach her students about discrimination and the effects that it has on people. She started the exercise by asking her class about national brotherhood week, what it means to them, and if there are people in America who are not treated like brothers. Her students told her yes, that black and Indians were not treated as brothers.…
According to the book, Looking Out, Looking In, self-concept is the relatively stable set of perceptions that we hold of ourselves. Quite simply, it is who we think we are and how we view ourselves as a whole; physically and emotionally, as well as the values, roles, talents, likes, dislikes, etc. that give us a sense of who we are. Our age, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, physical abilities/disabilities, culture, ethnicity, and gender are the factors that form the foundation of who we are, and they therefore establish the base of our self-concept. As stated by Looking Out, Looking In, our self-concept is also largely shaped by others through reflected appraisal; which is how we believe others see us, and through social comparison; which is how we compare with others. Reflected appraisal forms our views of ourselves and provides evidence that these views are correct, while social comparison does this by allowing us to measure ourselves compared to others. These are essential to building our self-concept because a person, for instance, cannot consider himself to be smart unless people have told him either directly or indirectly that he is smart (reflected appraisal), or unless he is comparatively smarter than the people around him (social comparison). Through these two processes of reflected appraisal and social comparison, this person will then have a self-concept of his intelligence; this is a key way of how we form a self-concept of all of our attributes and characteristics.…
The social structure of Britain has been highly influenced by the concept of social class. In sociology, the term ‘social class’ is most often used to refer to the primary system of social stratification found in modern capitalist societies. Social stratification refers to ‘the presence [in society] of distinct social groups which are ranked one above the other in terms of factors such as prestige and wealth’.…
For years, the United States has been selling the idea of what is known as “the American Dream”. This means that in America, anyone can recreate him or herself and climb up the ladder of social class. The standard way of thinking about class has it that the only factor that separates the classes is money. I’ve always believed that social class is determined by upbringing, education, and money, and that all three need to be good in order to become a member of the upper class.…
As time has passed, the middle class population in America is beginning to diminish due to the decrease of jobs. One of the most appalling things in society is that “more than half of families in the United States earn $60,000 or less per year” (Harris, 1). Because more than half of American families are earning less income than they should, Americans living in poverty has escalated. A majority of Americans strives to acquire a sufficient amount of money on part-time and temp jobs while prices and massive taxes placed on the the middle class accumulates. The middle class incomes are declining, slowly dragging the middle class down to poverty and as a result, the middle class is rapidly dwindling. For the sake of resolving this complication, society must be obliged to provide more good paying jobs to ensure that every American has enough income to support their families.…
The United States is split into three major parts, lower class, middle class, and upper-class. There is the lower class which consists of a yearly salary of twenty three thousand dollars for a household of four, the middle class which consists of a salary between thirty two thousand and sixty thousand dollars a year, and the upper class which earns a salary of more than two hundred fifty thousand dollars yearly. There are thirteen percent in the category of lower class living in the United States today. The wealthy should help the poor families get back on their feet by providing them with an education. If low-income families have the opportunity to receive an education, a lower class would no longer exist. Everybody would benefit by this change that education would make. The wealthy stay wealthy, and the poor better equipped to get a job and earn a salary to support their family. The rich should help the poor by providing them with the opportunity to have an education.…
Society is made up of hierarchy and social classes. The roles of social class in our current social is based upon income. There are the upper class (high income), upper-middle class, middle class (average income), lower-middle class, and underclass (no income). Depending on your education, career and skills, you are ranked by these classes. Wealth is a term meaning the amount of net worth on income, property, and other valuables. Wealth is depicted through our social class in our current society. We rate each other by the amount of money you have or make. Social mobility is the ability to move from one class to another. In the U.S., people are easily able to between classes. For example, if an individual claims bankrupt, they may be changed into a lower class. Another example is if a lower class citizen is determined to enhance their education to earn a well-paid job, they will be able to change their class for the better. Social classes constructs a society.…
You can not put on the news without seeing at least one story about social inequality or injustice. This issue is not limited to America, it is a problem facing the entire world. Social inequity is a global problem making it extremely important to raise awareness of the topic. Inequities such as racism and sexism impact teenagers in America, but authors effects on readers using various genres of literature can be used as a tool to promote tolerance and reduce the effects of inequities. Racism and sexism affect people in schools, the workplace, and almost everywhere. Through the words of authors, society can learn the various perspectives of people affected by social inequities.…