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Racial inequality in society introduction essay
Inequality in modern society
Inequality in modern society
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I have learned a great deal about the American Political System, my classmates, and my own believes on race, class, and inequality. I believe society has changed from the horrible racist past. I believe things are getting better, but society still needs to improve. Racism is still an issue, but it is no longer supported by government law. We are no longer living in a world of Jim Crow or slavery. African Americans no longer have to ride in the back of buses or sitting in certain areas. I am naïve to the fact that just because racism is no longer accepted there are some people who are still racist. Also there are some people who do not know they are racist as Dr. Russell liked to say.
When it comes to class and inequality The Spirit Level really opened my eyes to how important inequality is. Inequality is the cause to a lot of society’s problem. Inequality causes a higher number of teenage pregnancy and crime. One of my classmates believed inequality was the root of the problem since the beginning of class, while others believed it was racism. When it comes to inequality I believe society has not changed as much. We still have a great deal of people living in poverty. It is true society cares more about the poor and has social welfare programs to help them. However, society still wants to blame the
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poor for their unfortunate situation. The Spirit Level taught me that it is hard for someone who is born in poverty to move up to a high class. I still believe there are some people who can move out of poverty, but choice not to, but I also feel some cannot due to inequality. I believe as a society we should still work to end racism, and improve inequality.
I believe the way to end racism is changing people’s attitude towards members of a different race. Society has to learn to accept people for who they are. Also some members of society have to learn how to let go of the pass. I am mostly speaking about African Americans. When it comes to proving inequality I believe we should do more than just throw money at the poor. We have to change the attitude of the rich and the poor. The rich have to learn that it is not fair to blame all the poor for their situation. Also the poor have to change their attitude that they cannot get out of
poverty. In the end, Senior Seminar has taught me a great deal about society. It reassures me that I want to go in politics to help society continue to improve. I want to make a difference one day and now I have a bigger view of the world.
The book Class matter shows the importance of how much people should value and appreciate the importance of a classroom education. How much you dedicate yourself to school can help you gain enough knowledge to be successful in the future. Having good quality education in America seems to be the closest thing to a ticket to class mobility. The book was very interesting in explaining what social class really is in America, and the way it affects people's lives on how they live day to day. The different types of social class is what shapes our society. But I think this book is more for those people who aren’t that aware of social class, or for the ones who feel that we live in a society that is classless rather then the actually people who have realized the consequence that class really has on someone’s life. Many people can relate to what stories are told in the book if not, they know of a person that can relate to these stories. As a person that grew up in the lower class, I can definitely relate to most of the stories told in this book. From experience, there is a big difference in this country between the rich, middle class, and who are the poorest that we see daily. Even those in the so called working class have to make continuous sacrifices and live very differently from those positioned firmly in the middle class. Some people may have decent jobs but the bills and other expenses people may have make it harder on people than those who are in the same class but don’t have to necessarily go through the same thing as others. The chapters that I read in this book broaden what I said to a better more clear understanding.
Since the election of President Barrack Obama in 2008, many people have started to believe that America is beyond racial inequalities - this is not the reality. Rather, we, as a society, chose to see only what we want to see. Discrimination is still rampant in our nation. Michelle Alexander explains that since the Jim Crow laws were abolished, new forms of racial caste systems have taken their place. Our society and criminal justice system claim to be colorblind, but this is not the actuality. Michelle Alexander explains:
Though racism seems to be a thing of the past, there is still room for progression in the United States. Having been a country that was widely accepting of the enslavement of African Americans over a century ago, many Americans have not evolved nor turned the page on the subject. Despite the many movements, trials, and acts developed by our society to ensure civil rights to all African Americans, America remains a principally racist country. The only effective way to defeat racism is to not practice or teach what was once taught one hundred years ago. Author Alex Haley is quoted, “Racism is taught in our society, it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics.” If we do not teach our youth of prejudice or hatred towards human beings for something as trivial as differing skin color I believe racism, not only concentrated in the United States, but globally, will diminish.
...at are being fed to us by the media. This is definitely the harder way of doing things but there is power in numbers and even more power when those numbers are the people of the United States. We could leave the media powerless so that nothing they write even matters because we already know who we are and we refuse to fall into any kinds of racial stereotypes. One last thing that I’d like to mention is that it’s important to know that even if you are white and you think that racial injustice doesn’t affect you, it does. It’s also very important that you are aware of what is going on in your society since as a majority of the people it is your duty to help the minority of the people. Everybody, regardless of race, should be an advocate for social and racial justice because that is what being a decent and good human being is. So don’t be ignorant or encourage ignorance.
There are many opportunities in America that can improve one’s wealth and power, thus leading to the mass amount of immigrants coming to American. Most immigrants that come to American usually are categorized as the lower class immigrants, but they take any opportunities to improve their economic status. In an article by Howard P. Chudacoff, it states “immigrants generally chose upward paths that led from manual labor into small proprietorships” (Chudacoff 1982: 104). This explains the reason why immigrants choose to come and stay in America. They start out small as laborers then over time they will work to own a small business. Even though immigrants gets to grow to move from the lower class to the middle class, the natives will be always
Wealth inequality is a real issue that needs to be fixed. The imbalanced growth of the upper class compared to the middle class is a danger to American society as a whole. The rich becoming richer while the middle class remains the same leads to a power imbalance, with the rich using their money to run the country the way they see fit while the middle class speaks to ears that do not listen. The issue of wealth inequality needs to be fixed by raising taxes on the rich.
Echoing the structural strain theory is the differential opportunity theory, which states that learning environments and opportunities are not equally distributed in the social system and gender, class and ethnicity affects conformity and deviance (Deutschmann, 2007). Taking both theories into account, those susceptible to joining gangs would be people that are deprived of opportunities and resources to succeed, mainly people of the lower class and racial minorities as exemplified by the high volume of emergence of racially exclusive gangs in the past. In the 1970’s, the United States of America lifted its quota on immigration based on nationality and this saw the influx of immigrants from Asia and the West Indies coming into the USA in hopes of getting rich or simply to flee from their war torn native lands. Instead of assimilating into the American culture, these immigrants brought along their own cultural practices and religions, which were rejected by the Americans and resulted in resentment between both parties. Racial discrimination was rampant and these once hopeful immigrants soon found themselves being isolated in the outskirts, jobless and helpless. Members of racial minority groups like the majority aspire to possess material success in life but are void of the means to achieve those (McNulty & Bellair, 2003). The same can be said of the lower class, whose low socio-economic status limit their opportunities for tertiary education which could potentially be imperative in securing lucrative jobs (Curry & Spergel, 1988). Therefore, to satisfy their appetite for success, these people adapt to strain by treading the path of innovators- using illegitimate means to actualise their positively valued goals. Moreover, with global...
In Rousseau’s book “A Discourse On Inequality”, he looks into the question of where the general inequality amongst men came from. Inequality exists economically, structurally, amongst different generations, genders, races, and in almost all other areas of society. However, Rousseau considers that there are really two categories of inequality. The first is called Natural/Physical, it occurs as an affect of nature. It includes inequalities of age,, health, bodily strength, and the qualities of the mind and soul. The second may be called Moral/Political inequality, this basically occurs through the consent of men. This consists of the privileges one group may have over another, such as the rich over the poor.
...mproved, especially as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, racial inequalities still remain; from income to IQ levels, to the number of the incarcerated and life expectancies. While Americans like to think of our country as the equal land of opportunity, clearly it is not. Racism continues to remain "our American Obsession" (Loewen 139).
"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And poof-he was gone" (Usual Suspects). Today's devil is not a physicla being, but a metaphorical one. That of inequality on a worldwide scale. Although people would like to think that social inequality has been all, but destroyed in modern society it is still featured heavily within our media. Social inequality is the process of society limiting or harming a group’s social status. Prejudice can be based on class, race, and gender. It exists in all levels of media and reality. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Hunger Games show classism while The Little Mermaid and Antigone display sexism. Racism can be seen in The Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet and Black Like Me.
To end racism, we need to teach our children how to respect themselves first. Then we should teach them how to love others, not for the color of their skin, or where they live, but for who the person is on the inside. If we live by these teachings racism would slowly cease. The world would be more peaceful with less fighting.
Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The income gap in America has been increasing steadily since the late 1970’s, and has now reached historic highs not seen since the 1920’s (Desilver). UC Berkeley economics professor, Emmanuel Saez conducted extensive research on past and present income inequality statistics and published them in his report “Striking it Richer.” Saez claims that changes in technology, tax policies, labor unions, corporate benefits, and social norms have caused income inequality. He stands to advocate a change in American economic policies that will help close this inequality gap and considers institutional and tax reforms that should be developed to counter it. Although Saez’s provides legitimate causes of income inequality, I highly disagree with the thought of making changes to end income inequality. In any diverse economic environment, income inequality will exist due to the rise of some economically successful people and the further development of factors that push people into poverty. I believe income inequality e...
All these types discrimination work to create an undeniable presumption everyone should make ,which has the power to destroy people and their social morale.All of these types of discrimination are in place because of people who differ from the apex heterosexual ,caucasian male, that has access to wealth and resources.Because the United states is ever changing and becoming more diverse by each decade discrimination becomes more and more common because the masses of the society diverges from the apex rich white male. Classism is in place to cause people of higher class to presume negativity about anyone that appears flower class including lesser intelligence and
Racism is a worldwide problem that will never be eradicated and there are no simple solutions to it.
My understanding of race has certainly changed over time. I spent first fourteen years of my life in a country that was predominantly white. I was not aware of racism simply because I did not encounter anyone who was not white. In fourteen years I saw one Black gentleman who was attending a Medical University in my town as an exchange student. My classmates and I saw him as someone exotic from the other side of the world. He was a matter of a conversation for about fifteen seconds before we went on about our daily lives.