Brief Summary In this paper, Gregory Mantsios compares and contrasts class in America. He uses facts to support his point that things are getting better for the upper class, while things are increasingly getting worse for the middle and lower classes. Throughout the paper, he demonstrates comparing and contrasting by using “myth” versus “reality”. For instance, myth one talks about the belief that America is primarily classless. People believe that no matter what someone does, whether they’re rich or not, everyone is given equal care in the United States. Mantsios goes on to debunk this myth with his first reality: America is not classless. America has classes, and which class one is in makes an enormous difference on how one is treated. …show more content…
According to Mantsios’ sources, less than four percent of America’s wealth is held by sixty percent of its people. The top one percent is continuously flourishing while everyone who is not included in there does worse and worse as time goes by. Nothing gets better for the other classes, as the data shows. Gregory explains that society is aware of the ongoing economic problems in the U.S.. The fact of the matter is that no one likes to talk about unpleasantries. People do not feel an overwhelming desire to discuss things that make them unhappy. Response To Content Every person belongs to an economic class, whether they want to believe it or not.
What they choose to believe doesn’t change the fact that they are categorized as part of a certain group of people depending on how much money they make. Many people decide to ignore this because it is rather unpleasant to think about how bad things are for some people. America is divided into two main groups, rich or poor. There is some grey area among these groups which is referred to as the middle class. The problem with the middle class is that most people think they belong in the middle class because they do not want to associate themselves with neither rich nor poor; there are stigmas attached to each side of the spectrum. The main problem, when talking about either class, is that society tends to attach stigmas to each one. If someone is rich, they are a selfish person. If someone is poor, they have no ambition. People want to blame the rich for being rich and the poor for being poor. If one is deemed rich, they are usually labeled as a snob or arrogant. Not every rich person is mean, selfish or cruel; it’s just the way they are portrayed nowadays. Just because one is rich does not mean that one does not care for
others. For example, many rich people donate their money to charities, help the poor, and start funding to help those in need. Not every rich person in the world only thinks about themselves. Of course, there are numerous amounts that do, but not everyone is as bad as they are made out to be. If a person is poor in America, that person is seen as a beggar or lazy. This is the main reason why people do not like to admit to being poor, because they are belittled. People are degraded for not being able to make ends meet; however, the ones who are degrading them fail to ask why they aren’t. For instance, when someone sees a homeless person on the street, they probably think to themselves that that person deserves to be there. That is the way society has conditioned people to think. If someone is in need of help, it’s because they didn’t try to help themselves, but that just isn’t the case for most folks. There are so many amazing, wonderful people in the world living in poverty simply because they didn’t hit a streak of luck throughout their lives. In America, it’s all about who people know and what connections they have. America’s economy, capitalism, has too much to do with luck and not enough to do with true hard work and dedication. Someone who knows the boss could be promoted over someone who has been working their job for thirty years. How The Piece Might Be Useful Mantsios was right when he said that people do not like to mention class statuses. Everyone wants to live in the illusion that there is no such a thing as class, or that class does not affect people in a great way. However, the reality is that class does exist in America. It does affect people’s lives. This essay helps anyone who reads it to better see and understand what’s truly going on. For those who aren’t aware, this paper helps to bring awareness with facts. Another thing that this essay communicates well is that more people are poorer than we think. It targets important points about differences in the way each class is treated. Nobody wants to admit to being poor. This essay just helps people to understand that it’s completely normal to be poor, and that people have it worse than they present. The most important thing this paper does is that it gets one to think of the underlying problems in America. It’s easy for someone to say that there aren’t real problems, until that someone reads about the problems and checks to see that there are credible sources for the facts. Mantsios gets people to think about their nation’s problems, and see it from a new perspective.
Growing up in The United States, people are given this idea of an American Dream. Almost every child is raised to believe they can become and do anything they want to do, if one works hard enough. However, a majority of people believe that there is a separation of class in American society. Gregory Mantsios author of “Class in America-2009” believes that Americans do not exchange thoughts about class division, although most of people are placed in their own set cluster of wealth. Also political officials are trying to get followers by trying to try to appeal to the bulk of the population, or the middle class, in order to get more supporters. An interesting myth that Mantsios makes in his essay is how Americans don’t have equal opportunities.
According to Gregory Mantsios many American people believed that the classes in the United States were irrelevant, that we equally reside(ed) in a middle class nation, that we were all getting richer, and that everyone has an opportunity to succeed in life. But what many believed, was far from the truth. In reality the middle class of the United States receives a very small amount of the nation's wealth, and sixty percent of America's population receives less than 6 percent of the nation's wealth, while the top 1 percent of the American population receives 34 percent of the total national wealth. In the article Class in America ( 2009), written by Gregory Mantsios informs us that there are some huge differences that exist between the classes of America, especially the wealthy and the poor. After
In his essay “Land of Opportunity” James W. Loewen details the ignorance that most American students have towards class structure. He bemoans the fact that most textbooks completely ignore the issue of class, and when it does it is usually only mentions middle class in order to make the point that America is a “middle class country. This is particularly grievous to Loewen because he believes, “Social class is probably the single most important variable in society. From womb to tomb, it correlates with almost all other social characteristics of people that we can measure.” Loewen simply believes that social class usually determine the paths that a person will take in life. (Loewen 203)
... that they affect one another. A person who lives by a lower income will not have that mines and chances of become wealthy. A person in the other spectrum, which is born into a higher class, will most likely stay wealth. This leads to an endless cycle of generations staying within the working class realm. The likely hood of a person moving up a class is rare but it does exist. People need to be pushed and have a drive to keep going and to keep trying. That is why we are told we have an equal chance in life so we can all strive for better even though in reality we do not all have an equal chance. But nonetheless people should try to become successful even if they never make it in life because a life without purpose, goals, or ambitions is a meaningless life. As humans we need a reason to live, another day for people to take advantage and make the best of it.
In America, many people are divided by a class system. Within our society, many people find themselves not interacting much with people outside of their class and can rarely find something in common with people of different financial backgrounds. In Andre Dubus the Third’s writing “The Land of No: Love in A Class-Riven America, he speaks about his experience with his roommate who comes from an affluent background opposed to his less advantaged upbringing. In “The Land of No: Love in A Class-Riven America, Andre Dubus the Third displays that the experiences the people face from different classes can differ entirely and therefore it makes it difficult to identify with someone outside of your class. Dubus introduces his writing by describing
Mantsios believes that Americans do not like to talk about the different classes, whether it is about the upper, middles or lower class. He outlines four myths that are widely held about class in the United States. Myth one the united states is fundamentally a classless society, myth two we are, essentially a middle class nation. Most Americans have achieved relative affluence in what is widely recognized as a consumer society. Myth three we are all getting richer. Each generation propels itself to greater economic well-being. And myth four, everyone has an equal chance to succeed. Requires no more than hard work sacrifice and perseverance (Mantsios).
In Mantsios’ “Class in America” he provides us with four myths about the United States. In one of these myths the idea is brought up that the United States is, at its core, a classless society. It is also states that whether rich or poor, everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. The myth also states that health care and education are provided to everyone regardless of their financial stability. This idea about a classless society is exactly what Mantsios claims it to be, a myth. It is untrue to state that everyone is equal in the eyes of the law, and to believe that whatever differences exist in financial standing are insignificant. There are clear distinctions between different groups of people depending on their economic and social standing.
In the “Class Of America” article, the author Gregory Mantsios displays his point of view on what society says class individuals are in and how that affects their lives further than people in America think. Mantsios believes that citizens in the United States prefer not be put in different social categories like higher, middle, or lower class just because of the income value. Mantsios elaborates on his beliefs about class categories in America and disproves them by using statistics for evidence. In example, he claims that the class you are placed in will affect your lifestyle. Mantsios also debates that whatever class you fall under reflects on how well you will prosper in life, just like schools connecting test scores and the level of schooling the student receives. Whatever class a person is categorized in defining their future in life, even, if they choose to not see it that way that’s how it is.
There are many things that affect how people see each other. Judging others on their looks, personalities, and lifestyles is as natural as sleeping. A common subject of judgement has always been social class; each class has judged one another for centuries. Looking at another class is like looking into the window of another world that is shrouded in mystery; especially the upper class. The idea of being wealthy is surrounded by a stereotype that life is easy and everything is perfect. F. Scott Fitzgerald teaches in The Great Gatsby that this is not true through three different social classes in the 1920s: old money, new money, and no money. Although status makes life easier it can negatively affect the personalities of people with old money, new money, and no money.
Gregory Mantsios essay “Class in America”, explains what Americans believe the economy is like and it compares it to what it to what it actually is. He starts out with a list of the four myths that people believe are true when it comes to the opportunities everyone has. The first myth says that it does not matter whether you are poor or rich, everyone has access to basic needs when it comes to education and health care. Myth two says that the majority of Americans are middle class, myth three states that despite what everyone else thinks everyone is actually making more money, and myth four states that everyone has the same opportunity to succeed, it just comes down to how much work you put in. (
What comes into my mind when thinking on how to categorize those people that belong in the middle class, I look at such things as education, race, family, income, gender and how many people are in your household. I look at it as those people who are making between $40,000 and about $85,000 to be in the middle class while the next step would be the upper middle class and then to the upper class. Maybe I am wrong here, but like I said before, everyone wants to have that “I am middle class” attitude. The most recent Census Bureau survey data shows that the share of households with incomes of $75,000 or more has doubled in the past 24 years. Other studies, however, discover that more people who depart the middle class move down than up, at least temporarily.
Divisions within the social stratum is a characteristic of societies in various cultures and has been present throughout history. During the middle ages, the medieval feudal system prevailed, characterized by kings and queens reigning over the peasantry. Similarly, in today’s society, corporate feudalism, otherwise known as Capitalism, consists of wealthy elites dominating over the working poor. Class divisions became most evident during America’s Gilded Age and Progressive era, a period in time in which the rich became richer via exploitation of the fruits of labor that the poor persistently toiled to earn. As a result, many Americans grew compelled to ask the question on everyone’s mind: what do the rich owe the poor? According to wealthy
As a society, individuals often revert to the financial status of a person in order to judge their character and potential. However, looking solely at social class, the perception of the individual is primarily based on material possessions or lack thereof.
...le, there are two classification divisions and some people live normal and better lives. The people with more money live way better than the poor. There is never an in-between way of living, you either live well or bad and you are either rich or poor.
These classes are based upon the amount of money that the people in those classes make each year. The amount of money people earn each year is strongly determined by the job that they have, and the type of job that someone has is strongly determined by the amount of education they obtain. People in the lower class make about less than $9,000 each year, generally with a part-time job and a high school education. People in the working class make about $15,000- $25,000 in a year with a service job and some college experience, but no college degree. As the salary, education level, and occupation increase, so does the individuals social class. The highest class, the upper class, make more than $200,000 a year are in high corporate jobs, and have a graduate degree. Each of these classes, also comes with a different lifestyle because of how much money they