Currently, Jordan’s middle class which is defined as making two to four times the annual income of the poverty line, makes up about 50% of its population. However, over the last few decades, the middle class has slowly been shrinking due to multiple factors, and even more troublesome is the fact that social mobility has essentially reach a stand still. As outlined by a 2010 study led by the University of Jordan, the main reasons for Jordan’s middle class drop off has to do with the increase in cost of living as well as the introduction of heftier taxes, which have not been counteracted by increasing wages. Additionally, the study points out that due to the increase in investment of upper class citizens in private education, the middle and
With each class comes a certain level in financial standing, the lower class having the lowest income and the upper class having the highest income. According to Mantsios’ “Class in America” the wealthiest one percent of the American population hold thirty-four percent of the total national wealth and while this is going on nearly thirty-seven million Americans across the nation live in unrelenting poverty (Mantsios 284-6). There is a clear difference in the way that these two groups of people live, one is extreme poverty and the other extremely
Adely suggests that family’s reputation and geography can affects young women’s path in the modern Jordan. She points out the best private schools provided better education but majority of the poor couldn’t afford such luxury. Education is a big part of the development in Jordan since the very foundation of the nation but being educated will not automatically means successful as she writes, “with unemployment for Jordanians under the age of twenty-five over 60 percent in 2003, the return on education are not guaranteed.” However, families continue to hope education
The major demographic changes in the Middle East and North Africa have been the massive increase in population, and urbanization which has seen the emergence of many large cities throughout the region. The reasons for this have been because of better health care, greater mobility of the population, economic opportunities in the cities and political changes.
In order to assess the myths, Mantsios provides statistical evidence about class differences. He then provides some realities about classes in order to combat the myths people have. These realities consist of the enormous gap in economic statuses that exists, the middle class holding a small share of the nation’s wealth, and the middle class shrinking in size, creating a bigger gap.
The ever-growing fear of the shrinking of Americas middle class has become incredibly relevant in our society because of the inevitable rising of an obvious gap between the middle class and the one percent which unfortunately will continue to grow at an alarming rate if action is not taken in some way. This makes the target audience towards a generation to fix this. This concept is covered proficiently in a variety of essays in the “They Say I Say” text by authors such as Leonhardt, McCllenhand, Krugmen and Becker and Murphy.
Incomes have largely been stagnant, while prices for crucial items, such as education, health care, and housing, have risen rapidly. Consequently, the middle class is increasingly anxious about its economic future” (Weller 2006:37).
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...
Clawson, Patrick. "Arab Human Development Report 2004: Towards Freedom in the Arab World." Middle East Quarterly 13.1 (2006): 85. Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 2 Jan. 2010. .
In these articles “Inequality Has Been Going on Forever… but That Doesn’t Mean It’s Inevitable” and “Confronting Inequality” writers David Leonhardt and Paul Krugman both agree that higher education and higher taxation on the wealthy will put an end to inequality. Leonhardt argues that Americans have been dealing with income inequality for a long time but have not been dealt yet making the middle-class question why taxation and educational systems benefit the wealthy. Krugman argues that Americans should confront and find solutions to end inequality. Krugman argument is more effective than Leonhardt, because his argument is concise, many data and information are given, lists the middle-class problems and gives possible solutions to end inequality.
Before entering into defense of the argument, it is important to communicate that the current situation is one which demands reform. It must be understood that the state of the public school system is not simply confined to the domain of education but is instead very much interrelated with the distribution of wealth. The current opportunity gap-which affords those who are middle and upper class greater access to higher quality education-is the cause of the inequality seen in the distribution of income. “Children born into the top fifth of the income distribution have about twice as much of a chance of becoming middle class or better in their adult years as those born into the bottom fifth (Isaacs, Sawhill, & Haskins, 2008)”.
In the Peck’s article “Can be Middle Class be Saved”, social and political contents are explained in the context of neoliberalism. This means that the rich are becoming richer, while the poor are becoming poorer. There is a wildly culture divide between the college graduates and high school graduates. It specified that being wealthy might need to be inherited, instead of the traditional hard-working skills. The recession has further expanded the difference be...
Jordan’s demographic balance is made up of ethnic Jordanians, non-Arab immigrants who came before Jordan’s independence (i.e Circassians, Chechens, and Armenians), several waves of Palestinians, Lebanese, Iraqis, African refugees from primarily Sudan and Somalia and recently refugees from Syria. The integration of these ethnic groups generally depend on the time of their arrival with those arriving the earliest having integrated the most and therefore are the least vulnerable. The further integration of certain refugee groups namely Palestinians remain hampered by political considerations namely the Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that would foresee the establishment of a new Palestinian state. Despite Palestinians being short of full political citizens, the general situation of Palestinians is considerably better off than those from la...
Income inequality has been growing for decades. Over the last thirty years, the wages of the top one percent have increased by one hundred and fifty-four percent, while the bottom ninety percent has seen increase of only seventeen percent. “As the rungs of the economic ladder move further and further apart, conventional wisdom says that it will be much more difficult to climb them” (Roberts). As problems and situations build up against the middle class and the poor, the chances for upward mobility, the American Dream, will
Karshenas, Massoud. 2001. “Economic Liberalization, Competitiveness and Women’s Employment in the Middle East and North Africa,” in Djavad Salehi-Isfahani (ed.), Labor and Human Capital in the Middle East: Studies of Labor Markets and Household Behavior. Reading, UK: Ithaca Press.
Rosenbaum, E. (2013, August 8). A new species? The elusive nature of the global middle class. Retrieved from http://www.cnbc.com/id/100949800