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Income and wealth inequality sociology
Income and wealth inequality sociology
Income and wealth inequality sociology
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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... ... middle of paper ... ...ment, income inequality will exist due to the rise of some economically successful people and the further development of factors that push people into poverty. Although it may not seem fair that there are rich people blowing money on impractical and meaningless things while people live in poverty, it’s a reality that the United States has experienced for centuries. Works Cited Desilver, Drew. “U.S. Income Inequality, On The Rise…” Pew Research Center. 5 Dec. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. Obama, Barack. “Obama’s Powerful Speech On Income Inequality.” THEARC. Washington, D.C. 04 December 2013. Pettinger, Tejvan. “Pros and Cons of Inequality.” Economics Help. 18 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2014. Saez, Emmanuel. “Striking It Richer.” Elsa.berkeley.edu. 3 Sep. 2013. Web. 12 Feb. 2014. Sutter, John. “What is income inequality, anyway?” CNN. 29 Oct. 2013. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
3. What are the effects of this wealth inequality in the US and what causes it, as well as some possible solutions and their ramifications, will all be discussed and answered below. There has always been a wealth gap between the richest and poorest in society. However, in the past decade, the wealth gap between the richest and poorest citizens in the US has been growing rapidly. In the 70s and 80s, the wealth and income growth rate for both poor and rich people were similar, however, between the years 2009 and 2012 the top 1% income increased 31% while for the bottom 20%, their income actually dropped and for the vast majority of Americans, the average yearly income only increased by 0.4% [4].
Throughout the years, “ U.S income inequality has been increasing steadily since the 1970s and now has reached levels not seen since 1928” (Source A).
America in today's society is burdened with many economic and political problems that have begun to plague the nation. Controversial topics are constantly being debated from sunrise to sunset across the country with supporters and those who oppose each bearing various levels of financial and political misfortune. With the numerous economic and political problems that affect the nation, the argument over the issue of income inequality is one of the most notable. Creating a political civil war, proponents from both sides have brought the issue into national view and debate has grown substantially within recent years.
There are many people that think there is economic and wealth equality in the United States , but with all the statistics I provided it can be clearly seen that inequality in America is a serious issue , and it's getting worse with every year. I do believe that there should be some income inequality because that drives people to succeed , but I also believe that too much inequality limits a lot of people from achieving financial success.
Frank, Robert H. Falling Behind: How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class. Berkeley: University of California, 2007. Print.
Between the end of World War II and the late 1970s, income inequality in the U.S. was reduced; but since 1970s, the situation with wealth distribution has changed. Data from tax returns in 1976 show that the top 1 percent of households received 8.9 percent of all pre-tax income. In 2008, the top 1 percent’s share had more than doubled to 21.0 percent.
“A Guide to Statistics on Historical Trends in Income Inequality.” cbpp.org. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2013. Web. 06 April. 2014. .
"Growing Income Inequality and the Education Gap." Economist's View. N.p., 8 May 2006. Web. 12 Dec. 2013.
Throughout American history, wealth inequality has taken many different forms, and has affected many people and groups in different ways. In the following analysis, two measures of 'wealth inequalities' will be used. First is a more traditional view, regarding the distribution of income and wealth among the upper to lower classes. The size of the gap has varied over time, widening and compressing throughout American history. While America has been thought of as a middle class nation, this is a fairly recent phenomena that began after World War II. In this context of today, this idea appears to be fading as wealth is becoming more concentrated towards the upper classes. Additionally, these effects of both the concentration and equalization of income distribution can differently affect groups of people.
America is one of the wealthiest nations on earth with having a high inequality than other industrialized country. Inequality exists in income, wealth, power and education. Persons who are legally and socially poor in the United states tend to stay in a cycle through life, not always by choice but because they are given fewer opportunities, education and tools to achieve success. Poverty class has a much larger income gap than the upper class, the American Dream is lessens through opportunity and is shown through statistics.
Inequality as previously mentioned is a subject that gets debated when brought up and in any debate there is two sides. In class we have discussed both side of the story of inequality, and it has give me a better perspectives of income inequality. When discussion income inequality, we brought up the concept of the economic pie in which states that the economic pie is a reference to the way income gets distributed among the lower, middle, and higher class of America. So the concept of the economic pie states that the rich is getting richer, so they are
Inequality today is one of the most significant problems that America faces. According to Inequality.org in 2015 Household income of the top 0.1% of the population gained $6,747,439 while bottom 90% of the population got $34,074 (Inequality.org). The gap between incomes only continues to grow every year, which requires a change in social and economic policies of the country. However, it should be remembered that economic indicators can tell about working conditions, living conditions, nutrition, education of representatives of various groups of the population, but they can not show a picture of the realizability and opportunities to be successful in life for different groups of the population. That is why at the end
The United States of America is one of the richest countries in the world. In fact, we rank 9th in gross domestic output (Atlas), yet this is also the same country where too many working parents have to go without meals so that their children can eat, and families are often left deciding which bill they can actually afford to pay this month. With that being said, as a country, we also have some of the highest rates of income inequality of comparable developed nations (Radius TWC). It’s not that people are working less, on the contrary, Americans are now working twice as hard as previous generations, yet they are getting nowhere (Kornbluth). Income inequality does not just harm one person; income inequality hurts the entire
However, the inequality gap in the United States is large. In recent decades, one of the economic trends in the United States is the growth in the centralization of economic power. According to the textbook, the bottom 90% of stock owners owned only 19% of all stock value and the real control of the American economy belongs to a small amount of people (Harper and Leicht 106). In addition, the economies have changed a lot and the number of labor-intensive companies is decreasing the the number of technology-intensive companies is increasing. Therefore, many people lose their jobs. The unemployment deprives people of the ability to buy enough food. The decreasing salary also makes it difficult for residents to buy adequate food. According to the documentary Inequality for All, the typical male work was making about $48,000 a year in 1978, but he earned less in 2010. The living cost is increasing, but the income of the workers is decreasing. It becomes more difficult for people to make ends
There has been a dramatic shift of inequality within the United States. This shift has favored the wealthy and left the middle class struggling to pay for simple items such as healthcare, childcare, and education. It has been argued that today’s middle now resembles the working poor. Due to this imbalance, the United States economy has suffered from wage decreases, child poverty, segregation, and minimal upward mobility. Inequality is bad for economic growth. Distribution of wealth, education, and health are contributing factors of inequality which affect economic growth.