Class Status In America's Economic System

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Recommended: Marxist view of the American dream

There is undoubtedly division along socioeconomic lines, just as there is along racial lines. Class status can marginalize a person just as race can. Thusly, much like race, class differences bring inequality into focus. With that said, persons of every race and ethnicity are represented in the different societal classes. Still, for many persons of color a rise in class status does not shield them from experiencing discrimination and racial bias (Graham, 2016). In this respect, it appears that one’s racial identity can actually trump one’s class identity.
Class status can have its advantages and disadvantages, just like race can. Speaking both economically and racially, those with privilege have power. I believe that America’s economic system encourages Americans to take advantage of any privileges whether we realize it or not. Case in point, we have created the concept of the American dream. Our society believes that we can achieve anything we want if we work hard enough. Thus, we focus on individual efforts while professing our democratic …show more content…

Moreover, my white identity has afforded me privileges that undoubtedly played a role in how I was raised. Case in point, I have spent most of life never considering my whiteness and when I did it was only to elevate myself. I was raised in an economically challenged household. I knew we were poor, it was evident not only by the lack of food, but by the lack of material possessions. Yet, much like the account of DiAngelo (2016), I used my racial identity to trick myself into believing I had more in common with middle class white kids than I did with persons of color in the same economic position I was in. Once we moved to the suburbs I entered a school system that was white dominated and once again that meant I did not have to think about race. Our shared skin toned aligned us despite any other

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