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Social class and inequality
Fairness and equality
Social class and inequality
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Has our society made peace with all our racial issues but yet ignored the fact that we still have social classes? Walter Michael feels as if we have and he discusses the reasons why in this article. He reveals an eye-opening conversation that happened between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Earnest Hemingway, “The rich are different from you and me.” Hemingway’s response, “Yes they have more money” (447). This introduces his main point throughout the article of how people categorize wealth and poor but consider themselves “diverse.” Michaels had three goals for writing this article; to show how integrating diversity made us completely ignore inequality, to inform the audience how diversity has been masked into more of a culture standpoint, and
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, “On Being Black and Middle Class” (1988), writer and middle-class black American, Shelby Steele adopts a concerned tone in order to argue that because of the social conflicts that arise pertaining to black heritage and middle class wealth, individuals that fit under both of these statuses are ostracized. Steele proposes that the solution to this ostracization is for people to individualize themselves, and to ‘“move beyond the victim-focused black identity” (611). Steele supports his assertion by using evidence from his own life and incorporating social patterns to his text. To reach his intended audience of middle-class, black people, Steele’s utilizes casual yet, imperative diction.
Sumner, William Graham. What Social Classes Owe to Each Other. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1883.
In our current society, it is acceptable to talk about race or gender. However, when it comes to the subject of class, people tend to tense, and are uncertain as to where they stand. At one time in history money afforded prestige and power, however now, money is a large part of our society and tends to rule many peoples lives. In the book Where We Stand: Class Matters, by bell hooks, she describes a life growing up in a family who had nothing, to now becoming one of America’s most admired writers. She wrote this book because she wanted to write about her journey from a working class world to class-consciousness, and how we are challenged everyday with the widening gap between the rich and the poor. In her book, hook’s describes a life dominated by the haunting issues of money, race, and class.
Gregory Mantsios provides an integrated study on how race and gender relate to class, and in turn how class relates to well being. He moves on to discussing the myths that people have about the class system in America. These misconceptions consist of America being a classless society, health care and education opportunities being equal, and everyone getting richer.
Racial diversity is not always accepted and in some cases has resulted in violence. “The most highly publicized racial incidents, ranging from verbal harassment to beatings, occurred at some of the most elite institutions in the country.”(Hurtado, Sylvia) Violence toward racial diversity has made it hard to promote diversity but despite the violence and rejection toward diversity there are still those who support and defend diversity. “In many cases student organize protest as a direct response to these problems, or to express solidarity with students suffering similar problems at other institutions.”(Hurtado, Sylvia) Because there are still those who believe in and support diversity proves that people can and will eventually come around to accepting it.
Being in the field and seeing the solutions take place in front of you demonstrates the importance of being a solution to the problems that are taught in a lecture hall. “Living a Feminist Life” outlines the very real solutions that occur in the workplace in order to better many issues. Sara Ahmed illustrates the important work of a diversity worker. While the job comes with many challenges and not enough solutions, some solutions are still made. Solving issues of diversity never occurs all at once; rather, the process of becoming diverse occurs over a longer period of time. With patience, these diversity workers see some good results. It is interesting how Ahmed writes about the conflict one such diversity worker has. The worker explains that even when her place of occupation received a letter detailing how “good” they are at “race equality”, the feel-good moment was cut short because of the reality of inequality. While this particular workplace compares better to others, it is still in no ways “good” at race equality. Moreover, Supplement 39 describes the importance Priscilla Settee, a professor at University of Saskatchewan, places on praxis. She explains that her students learn to be the solutions while being out and experiencing experiential learning. Firsthand, the students are provided the opportunity to see how they can be the solution to
People Like Us: Social Class in America. Dir. Louis Alvarez and Andy Kolker. Center for
In today’s society there are many diverse cultures, different types of people and mindsets. Diversity is defined as different people coming together to diffuse their cultures. Diversity brings humanity together, it teaches you different things about why people do certain things and act a different way. Diversity promotes personal growth and a healthy society because it challenges stereotyped preconceptions. Nathan states, “there is no doubt that active racism also plays a part in the lack of diversity on college campuses” (Nathan 325) Racism affects diversity it is an invisible issue. No one wants to talk about race because people are not comfortable with it, especially in public, because it is such a controversial topic. In order for their to be diversity people need to talk about the real issues limiting diversity such as race and discrimination amongst people. Diversity strengthens communities and the work place. Lack of diversity through discrimination has lead to an environment of sexism and racism that affects the workplace and daily lives thus affecting personal development and
Public discourses about race and gender did create new ways of thinking and knowing. Talking about class and the various ways class differences separate groups has been much harder. Class standing and status tend frequently to link us more intimately to the dominant economic and its concomitant hierarchies. For example: it is much more likely that a white person will bond with a black person when the row shares a common class lifestyle. It is less likely that a materially prosperous person will establish a mutual bond with someone who is poor and indigent. (2)
In the same way that societies create diversity, the power structures of societies also create stratified disparities (Kottak & Kozaitis, 2012). Classism works in conjunction with existing prejudices toward minority ethnicities. While only half of the entire white population is considered to be poor, the majority of the poor population is comprised of black, latino, and Native American individuals (Yeskel, 2007). Therefore, the structure of the American economy works consistently to conceal classism behind a facade of racial and culture differences, convincing its citizenry that the differences in wealth are ascribed to differences in ability and work ethic. According t...
Today, when talking about social class, people tend to get upset about the subject. They tend to “first straighten their ties and sneak a glance at their cuffs to see how far fraying has advanced there.” In R.H. Tawney’s book Equality, The word “class is fraught with unpleasing associations, so that to linger upon it is apt to be interpreted as the symptom of a perverted mind and a jaundiced spirit.” However, some go as far as calling the thought of social classes “America’s forbidden thought.” Since the Industrial Revolution, social classes have been fixed in with names that distinguish one social class to another. For example, the names that have stayed with American’s today, are the lower class, middle class, upper class, working class, and so on. Yet, when the “touchy subject” is brought about, the way a person acts by the amount of wrath, or aggravation says a lot about their social class.
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.
People are aware of the distinctions of class as poor being lower class and rich being in the upper class however, both poor and rich people do not like to use the term “class” instead “they refer to their race, ethnic group, or geographic location”. (189) The reason that people do not talk about class and class distinctions is the same as why people deny accepting the white privilege and sex privilege. It is OK to talk about the middle class which is very broad and acceptable and it is not OK to utter the word such lower class because it is proof of the injustice. Privilege people do not want to accept the inequality and unequal distribution of wealth. Mantsiois gives the example of Susan Ostrander’s study where she asked wealthy women if they considered themselves members of the upper class.
Now that we have explored my past, present, and future experiences with diversity, it is time to see how they are present within and effect each other. Firstly, let’s look into how my future is present in my past. The most obvious portion of my future that is in my past is my willingness and efforts to love and include everyone and to spread this world view. It took a fellow classmate of mine to demonstrate to my third grade self that we are all human beings and we all deserve to be treated as such. In my future, I aspire to demonstrate this world view to my students and inspire them to treat each other accordingly. This aspiration directly reflects my world view struggles I went through in third grade, for I want to help my students come to