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Inequality of income distribution in American society
Discrimination based on class
Income inequality in the US
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TThere is an extremely high degree of social inequality in America compared to other modern industrialized countries and this inequality comes from the inequitable distribution of income and wealth in relation to occupational choice or necessity, racial/ethnic inequality, and gender inequality. “Any socially defined group may be subject to discrimination and exclusion” according to Douglas Massey and this is very evident in our country’s society. The rules of social stratification allocation that distributes income and wealth across various roles of occupations in the division of labor (e.g., homemaker, care giver, factory worker, doctor, or politician) limits the social mobility mechanisms that link individuals to these roles or occupations …show more content…
and thereby generate unequal control over valued goods. Gender inequality and stratification has always had history of women taking a lesser role than men which creates inequality among the men and women of society in terms of income, wealth and power.
Not until this century were women in the United States allowed to own property, vote, testify in court, or serve on a jury. The prevailing assumption has been that men are superior to women, which produced prejudice and discrimination of women because of their gender. Sexism has had negative consequences for women, causing women to avoid pursuing successful careers, making them feel inferior to men, and making it socially acceptable to be paid less than men doing comparable jobs which causes inequalities between the two genders. Sexism had brought gender inequalities to women in many areas of life and inequality has been a difficult problem for women in the areas of self-esteem, higher education, work, income, wealth, and politics. Recently, social media commentary regarding sexism has seen a growing number of successful women in the workforce; however, these women have a huge amount of ground to cover to catch up in regards to equality with men, which is unfortunate because women have a great deal to contribute to equality between the sexes and society
(Doob). Racial and ethnic inequalities exist in America because of discrimination that exists against minorities today in our modern society against race, sex, language, and region of origin. Discrimination takes many forms, which includes wide variations in both its forms and severity. According to Doob, a minority group is “a category of people with recognizable racial or ethnic traits that place them in a position of restricted power and inferior status so that its members suffer limited opportunities and rewards”. Accordingly, this category reflects African Americans, Native Americans, and foreign-born immigrants that face discrimination and exclusion in relation to their physical features that could be linked to their mental and moral abilities (Grusky and Weisshaar). My studies in criminal justice, as well as my knowledge experience have afforded me the individual fallacy that racism is assumed to belong to the realm of ideas and attitudes; however, being of Native American descent, the idea “that Native Americans are lazy drunkards is a matter of personal “prejudices” based upon faulty and inflexible generalizations and stereotypes” as psychologist Gordon Allport defined. Moreover, what I have found in the prison disproportionate incarceration rate of Native Americans in South Dakota prisons has increased the idea of the obvious biological reality of physical differences that racism leads to many of these arrests. In my opinion, sociology theory needs to focus more on the discrimination of sexual gender discrimination and racial/ethnic discrimination, with more focus on the exclusionary effects caused by the different forms of discrimination in the paradigm of inequality. Most importantly, the development of human rights approaches that emphasize freedom from discrimination and respect for the dignity of individuals and their ways of life and personal development to seek a more humanistic view that encompasses the needs and interests of minority citizens of the United States of America. I believe that both gender inequality and racial inequality are problematic, but I probably find the racial inequality question to be most intriguing to me because I am considered a minority.
There is a high degree of social inequality within the United States. Of most modern industrial countries, the United Stated has some of the richest and some of the poorest people to be found. That fact is very disturbing, however, explains why much of the inequality exists in the US. In the following essay I will explain to you about the inequality in our country and why it occurs, based on the theoretical perspectives of a functionalist, conflict theorist, and social interationist.
Social stratification refers to a society’s categorization of its people into rankings of socioeconomic tiers based on factors like wealth, income, race, education, and power (Conley ). In the United States, we use social classes as our social stratification system. Going back to the idea of equality of condition, starting in different social classes is not fair. The underclass doesn’t get a fair chance to move up in social class. An article written by Alana Semuels called Poor at 20, Poor for Life was published in the Atlantic. Semuels considered how social mobility has gone down in recent years. In her article, she states “It’s not an exaggeration: It really is getting harder to move up in America. Those who make very little money in their first jobs will probably still be making very little decades later, and those who start off making middle-class wages have similarly limited paths.” Proving the point that social mobility has become a pipe dream. Overall, social classes provide an invisible barrier that stop people from being able to move social
Traditional gender roles in the United States and other societies have always been dictated as where the man goes and works for a salary as women stay at home to take of house related work. However, many changes in the traditional family has made gender roles go through significant changes. Many women have gone through college and have obtained college education degrees, which has allowed women to advance their careers. The break down of rigid gender roles and the increase in participation of women in the workplace have granted women more choices in life. The choices many women now have in there career fields has made some controversial views on the intelligence of women achieving the status of their male counterparts The first view obtained in the workplace is the ability to make a even paying field for both men and women. Many constituents have pledge to achieve equality for women through laws forbidding the use of any sexist policies that may constitute discrimination against sex. The second is weather working women have been allowed to working women have the same opportunities rewarded to them as men do. Many political action committees have help perpetuate feminist movements which intended to build equal opportunity workplaces for both men and women however, many questionable issues still arise at weather working conditions have become better for women.
Ever since the women’s suffrage movement of the 1920s, there has been a push for eliminating sexism and providing equality between men and women, especially in the workplace. The United States, along with most of the world, has made great strides in gender equality since then. Women can vote, and have careers, and men are able to stay home with the children if they choose to. But are the sexes really equal now? There are three common answers to this question. Some say yes, while the most common answer is no. The debate does not end there, however. It is typically assumed gender inequality is oppressing women and limiting their rights. Regardless, there are those who say the system is harming men instead. So, if gender inequality still exists,
Society has long since considered women the lessor gender and one of the most highly debated topics in society through the years has been that of women’s equality. The debates began over the meaning between a man and woman’s morality and a woman’s rights and obligations in society. After the 19th Amendment was sanctioned around 1920, the ball started rolling on women’s suffrage. Modern times have brought about the union of these causes, but due to the differences between the genetic makeup and socio demographics, the battle over women’s equality issue still continues to exist. While men have always held the covenant role of the dominant sex, it was only since the end of the 19th century that the movement for women’s equality and the entitlement of women have become more prevalent. “The general consensus at the time was that men were more capable of dealing with the competitive work world they now found themselves thrust into. Women, it was assumed, were unable to handle the pressures outside of the home. They couldn’t vote, were discourages from working, and were excluded from politics. Their duty to society was raising moral children, passing on the values that were unjustly thrust upon them as society began to modernize” (America’s Job Exchange, 2013). Although there have been many improvements in the changes of women’s equality towards the lives of women’s freedom and rights in society, some liberals believe that women have a journey to go before they receive total equality. After WWII, women continued to progress in there crusade towards receiving equality in many areas such as pay and education, discrimination in employment, reproductive rights and later was followed by not only white women but women from other nationalities ...
In the United States, women have historically been treated differently and unequally than men. Women have been discriminated against in education, labor, and rights to vote. In 1877, women began fighting for their rights to vote after the National Woman’s Suffrage was created. More specifically, “at the start of the twentieth century, pervasive, overt racial discrimination barred blacks from most jobs, denied them equal education, and disenfranchised them politically” (Katz, 2005).
Societies all through out time have had some form of stratification, but they varied in their degree of inequality. Social stratification is still in effect in today’s American society and creates social inequality. Newman states “Just as geologists talk about strata of rock, which are layered one on top of another, the “social strata” of people are arranged from low to high” (Newman 2014). Everyone is affected by social stratification and categorized based on their occupation and income.
Henry Tischler said, “In the United States, boys are three times as likely to be placed in special education classes, twice as likely to repeat a grade, and a third more likely to drop out of high school” (269). The gender inequality we see today are normal, which follow history before because we preserve in culture different role between genders. Back in history, women did not share the same privileges as men. For example, women were not allowed to vote or own property. In addition, the scholar such as Thomas Jefferson and scholar around the world believed and supported that women and men are not created equal and women shouldn’t have the same personal liberty as men. Even today, women are still lacking opportunity in many ways; and men dominate
It is no secret that in history women have been generally looked down upon, in the United States women were not allowed to own property (seeing as they were already considered such), vote, or sign legal contracts (Henslin 2011). Of course, over time women have gained more rights and have worked towards an equal footing with their opposite sex shown with the rise of feminism. This, of course, doesn 't mean that the footing is equal. Being a woman still comes with negative connotations seen in casual sexist sayings such as: "you throw like a girl", "she 's just PMSing", and "do not be such a drama queen" all meant to demean and portray females in a negative light. It 's these types of comments that illustrate why girls can typically be too "mean" to each other. Internalized misogyny perpetuated through negative female stereotypes creates a competitive attitude between females. The sociological concept that best fits this hypothesis is symbolic interactionism, the textbook definition being "a theoretical perspective in which society is viewed as composed of symbols that
The issue of gender inequality will never truly be solved in the United States. This arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles as well as biologically through hormonal differences, chromosomes, and brain structures. Gender inequality is defined as unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals based on gender. One of the reasons for gender inequality is income disparities. Another reason is because of the positions in the workplace. Thirdly, the reason is because of beliefs that one another has. For these reasons is why these situations should be examined to get to the root of the problem.
Throughout the twentieth century, American women fought for the right to vote, the right to make choices regarding their own bodies, and the right to be their own people. The disparities between men and women were often overlooked or blindly accepted, but as Gloria Steinem said, “history is herstory too.” After nearly 200 years of struggling, women made up only 10% of Congress, received wages less than 75% of their male counter parts, and are stigmatized based on their class and race. By the end of the century, female citizens were still treated unfairly in every aspect of American society. Women did not achieve equality in America in the 20th century, based on their roles in politics, the widespread views of female sexuality, and the race, class, and gender ideals for women at the time. Although women have made progress in each of these areas, and more, they still have so far to come.
It is only recently that sociology has begun to explore the topic of gender. Before this, inequalities within society were based primarily on factors such as social class and status. This paper will discuss gender itself: what makes us who we are and how we are represented. It will also explore discrimination towards women throughout history, focusing mainly on women and the right to vote, inequalities between males and females in the work place and how gender is represented in the media.
U.S. society is highly stratified, but many people underestimate the extent of structured inequality in U.S. society for the following reasons: In principle, the law gives equal standing to all. Our culture celebrates individual autonomy and achievement. We tend to interact with people like ourselves. (2006 Alan S. Berger)
Sexism was first widely recognized as a problem when the first wave of feminism came about in “the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.” (Rampton) Women often experience sexism of some form in the workplace, which is not only degrading and harmful, but also hinders women’s ability as a whole to advance further in society. Sexism not only haunts women in their personal lives, but it follows them into the professional world and prevents them from receiving the same opportunities, pay and treatment as men, impeding their ability to hold positions of power and be recognized for their hard work. The first problem with women’s rights in the workplace was that in many situations, women were not even supposed to work and were instead expected to be a housewife. The United States government was established in 1798 and yet we did not have a woman serving in the US House of Representatives until 1922, 124 years later.
Gender inequality is a very bad situation through the world that needs to be fixed. Throughout the world, many women live with an unfair lifestyle, many with only a smattering rights. Bringing awareness to the topic of gender inequality and persecution is the crux for modern America and the rest of the world. Aside from gender inequality impacting teenagers, authors can impact readers when writing about social inequality and many genres can be used as a proactive tool.