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In societies, there are two different kinds of social systems. There is the caste system and there is the class system. Even though they’re two social systems, class system and caste system are two different systems. A caste system is a form of stratification in which your social and economic status is based on your birth. If you were born in a rich family, you were rich as well. If you were born in a poor family, you were poor as well. The caste system is intergenerational and reproductive form of stratification. It is a continuous trend that determines the status of many individuals. It is nearly impossible to escape social groups through a caste system. A class system is a form of stratification in which your social and economic status depends on individual achievement. Their achievements are usually obtained due to exceptional and hard work. The status is also based upon the status of the family. However, individuals can ascend and descend classes through a class system. The United States is known for being a nation that posses a social system. However, Michelle Alexander questions the social system of the United States. In her book, “The New Jim Crow”, Michelle Alexander believes the social system that exists in the United States is a caste system. In order for us to understand the social system that exists in the United States, …show more content…
She points out facts that: there are more African American mean being incarcerated today than being enslaved (compared to 1850), more African Americans are disenfranchised as ex-felons compared than 1870, a black child is less likely to be raised by both parents compared to a black child born in slavery, and a large percentage of African American men are labeled as felons for life (they are excluded from juries, legally discriminated in employment and education denied their right to vote, and . These
Alexander claims the caste system allows segregation to exist. The caste system is set up as slavery, Jim Crow, and mass incarceration. The author feels the black men are imprisoned because of continuing discrimination, poor city life, increased police force, and heavy education of the American people on the drug wars. I agree with Alexander’s perception of the caste system, because in particular African American men are discriminated against. I believe they grow up in tough cities and lack opportunities that whites have. Alexander states, “once again, vagrancy laws and other laws defining activities such as mischief and insulting gestures as crimes were enforced vigorously against blacks” (Alexander 31). Throughout history, many can notice African Americans are placed on the lower end of the spectrum. This is due to one factor only, skin color. Many people are prejudiced against the black men, as seen in recent issues cops are specifically tough on the black
The black women’s interaction with her oppressive environment during Revolutionary period or the antebellum America was the only way of her survival. Playing her role, and being part of her community that is not always pleasant takes a lot of courage, and optimism for better tomorrow. The autonomy of a slave women still existed even if most of her natural rights were taken. As opposed to her counterparts
The USA is a very big country with a lot of people and the social classes are very important. We can see that social class plays a big part of people’s life. Everyday people are working, studying, trying to be better. Even though right now it’s a time when everyone has many opportunities in his life, anyway there is a gap between classes and groups of people with the same features. Your background probably will build your future. The main idea is that Social Classes still exist. There are three reasons why line between groups still exist.
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.
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)
This piece of autobiographical works is one of the greatest pieces of literature and will continue to inspire young and old black Americans to this day be cause of her hard and racially tense background is what produced an eloquent piece of work that feels at times more fiction than non fiction
Deborah Gray White was one of the first persons to vigorously attempt to examine the abounding trials and tribulations that the slave women in the south were faced with. Mrs. White used her background skills acquired from participating in the Board of Governors Professor of History and Professor of Women 's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University to research the abundance of stories that she could gather insight from. It was during her studies that she pulled her title from the famous Ain’t I A Woman speech given by Sojourner Truth. In order to accurately report the discriminations that these women endured, White had to research whether the “stories” she was writing about were true or not.
Today, more African American adults are under correctional control than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began (Alexander 180). Throughout history, there have been multiple racial caste systems in the United States. In her book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, Michelle Alexander defines a “racial caste” as “a racial group locked into an inferior position by law and custom” (12). Alexander argues that both Jim Crow and slavery functioned as racial caste systems, and that our current system of mass incarceration functions as a similar caste system, which she labels “The New Jim Crow”. There is now a silent Jim Crow in our nation.
In the first section of the first chapter of “The New Jim Crow”, Michelle Alexander talks about how “...racism is highly adaptable...” (Alexander 21) and how forms of it has been constantly repeating throughout history. She then goes on to say, “...similar political dynamics have produced another caste system in the years following the collapse of the Jim Crow-one that exists today.” (Alexander 21). The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t really accomplish much, so in an effort to make a change, the Civil War took place. After the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws emerged to restrict people of color. Accordingly, the valiant efforts to abolish slavery and get rid of the Jim Crow laws changed American society. After the collapse
Since the beginning, the United States` government, racial slavery had conquered various American identities. “Racism sprung early colonial times due the slavery riot incidence misinterpretations, leading full men, women, and children racial slavery of all different ethnic backgrounds” (Hooker 1). African-Americans held a life long work and Caribbean island shipment originating and affective progression to American colonies. “An importation of 4,000,000 Negroes were held in bondage by Southern planters” (Webstine).Advanced time went, and Northern states nurtured a rapid industrial revolution; Factory introduction, machines, and hired workers replaced any agricultural need of existing slaves. Southern states, however, maintained their original work, continuing the previous circular agricultural system. This suited the firm economic foundation of United States government. However, even continuing economic growth, some Americans still recognized moral rights. The moving disagreement era, America’s Antebellum period grew a deep internal struggle within the American society’s families. “Abolitionists, anti-racial discrimination groups, demanded an end to dehumanized labor treatment in the Southern states” (James 94). However, during this time, women discrimination was also another hot topic taking place. These movements pursued, and women joined numerous groups, and became more society perceived, standing with the thousands African-Americans, immigration workers, and women’s rights, demanding their societal rights. One particular woman advocating her own level in society, gender, race, and all, bringing her standing beliefs was Sojourner Truth. A former run away slave, Sojourner Truth, who originally contemplated no Ameri...
Inequality became instrumental in privileging white society early in the creation of American society. The white society disadvantaged American Indian by taking their land and established a system of rights fixed in the principle that equality in society depended on the inequality of the Indians. This means that for white society to become privileged they must deprive the American Indians of what was theirs to begin with. Different institutions such as the social institution, political, economical, and education have all been affected by race. Sociologists use Assimilation theory to examine race and institutions. The perceived deficiencies of minority immigrant groups by white society has resulted in a generalized characterization of these different racial groups that is demeaning and reinforces the negative stereotypes towards minorities in the United States. Knowles and Prewitt argue that the cause behind the racial tension is the historical roots of institutional racism, which has prevented the minority from attaining equality. Following structured social inequality in the United States, institutions have consistently denied the minority groups through discrimination in education, employment, health care and medicine, and politics. Some ways that this has been done is the use of Jim Crow Laws. These laws created inequality in the educational institution by conducting the black schools and whited schools separately; whites used different textbooks than blacks and they could not be interchanged, and promoting equality for the races was considered a misdemeanor offense resulting in fines or prison. Because of these institutions, we see that there is an American Ethnic Hierarchy. This is divided into a three tier system: first ...
Growing up during slavery times were hard on African American’s. Being treated the way they were they were treated was an injustice and something no one should ever go through. By analyzing Sojourner Truth’s early life of being born a slave, becoming a mother, having at least three of her children sold away from her, heading to freedom, fighting for abolition and women’s rights, advocacy during the civil war, her death and her legacy which lives on today. It is clear that Sojourner truth shaped her time.
She quotes the fifteenth amendment and its passage about voting rights, “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied ... on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (143). She then relates this passage to the Jim Crow laws, where the United States government did everything in their power to stop blacks from voting without violating the fifteenth amendment. They had poll taxes that blacks couldn’t afford, they had a literacy test where blacks couldn’t pass because they were denied education and they had a grandfather clause where if your previous generations could vote so could you. This all relates back to the idea of the white law makers and government officials creating legislature that does not clearly state discriminatory policies, but the way it affects the citizens is based on race. Currently the United States denies felons the right to vote. The problem with this is that the mass incarceration of African-Americans (specifically relating to the drug war) leads to an inaccurate representation of the African-American versus white vote. Because blacks are more likely to be arrested and suffer more severe punishments than whites for similar crimes leads to a larger percent of white people voting. With a disproportional amount of white people versus black people who have the right to vote it leads
... faced many daunting challenges in life. After cotton became easier to grow and more profitable, slavery became more widely used in some parts of the country, while it died out in others due to moral objections and the fight by blacks. For those that were freed, discrimination in a wholly racist society was still very prevalent, and it would be some time before their rights would be achieved. It can be certain, however, that slavery caused the majority of challenges that freed African Americans faced, and just as clear is that freed blacks greatly helped the cause of their enslaved counterparts. Although their lives may have been substantially different in principle, the lives of both free and slave African Americans mirrored each other greatly, and these two groups had to meet their incredible challenges with a number of methods to overcome the hurdles they faced.
and she "articulates her struggle to assert her womanhood" (497). Even with her lack of a higher education, she shows intelligence throughout her writing. She had her own way of getting her points across, one being that a person could not possibly fully understand the degradation of slavery if he/she did not go through it themselves. This is a point within itself because it further relays the fact that slavery was a very horrible, evil and degrading thing.