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Wealth poverty and social class
Wealth poverty and social class
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According to Gregory Mantsios many American people believed that the classes in the United States were irrelevant, that we equally reside(ed) in a middle class nation, that we were all getting richer, and that everyone has an opportunity to succeed in life. But what many believed, was far from the truth. In reality the middle class of the United States receives a very small amount of the nation's wealth, and sixty percent of America's population receives less than 6 percent of the nation's wealth, while the top 1 percent of the American population receives 34 percent of the total national wealth. In the article Class in America ( 2009), written by Gregory Mantsios informs us that there are some huge differences that exist between the classes of America, especially the wealthy and the poor. After …show more content…
reading the article, I must say that there are some noticeable differences when it comes to social class. These differences are quite noticeable when it comes to the education that is given, healthcare that many receive, and the lifestyles that many live. Which in turn, affects the wellbeing of all, in a negative or a positive manner. One of the realities that exist, is that class has a huge impact on the education of achievement amongst children.
In the article, Gregory Mantsio reveals a chart based on the test results of 1,465,744 SAT takers in the year of 2006. The chart given, displays the amount of the family income and how it affects the scores of those who had taken the SAT. The facts given, indicates that the more money the family has, income that the family receives, the higher the scores are. For example, if you had a job or career that allowed you to be able to bring in more than $100,000, then your child is more likely to receive a median score of approximately 1,100. But the question is, how can this be so? One reason is quite simple: The children born into a higher class has much more access to educational resources, are exposed to vocabulary and spoken language in their early childhood, and experience less stress than those who are in a lower class. Which in the long run, gives the children in the higher class a better chance when it comes to succeeding in life. Compared to those in a lower class whose scores are below the approximated amount of 1,100 due to their family
income. Another difference within the classes of the United States that is healthcare. The more income that a family receives, the better their health is due to the care that they receive. Meaning that they are more able to receive preventive care, and services for many health conditions and chronic diseases. While those with less income, can barely afford health-care. Another difference between the classes of the american people, are the lifestyles that they live.h Those that receive more, or were born into it, lead different lives than those who do not. For example, in Gregory Mantsios article, we are given three people from different classes, which I will only be using two. Harold S. Browning was a son of an industrialist and a manufacturer, and a prominent social figure in the community. This enabled him to be able to go to a private school on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The private school located on Manhattan's Upper East Side, was a primary school that small and well respected, and that was known for nurturing student creativity, while providing the best educational preparation for the children. Harold had supplementary tutoring when it came to learning the french language and culture, and mathematics.
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.
He points out the differences between upper class and lower class family life; upper class have more successful marriages and are better prepared the bear children, and so their children are better off than the lower class children (61-79). But his assumptions of the upper class are broad and could be easily disproven by many families across America, and simply having less money does not make lower class families worse than upper class. Putnam then goes into parenting differences across the classes. He states that higher class parents are more likely to spend more money, time, and energy on their children, and thusly are being parented more positively than the lower class who are likely to spend less (109-134). Again, Putnam’s assumptions, while seemingly proven by data, can still be thought of as too broad to that just because upper class have more to spend on their children, that they provide better parenting. Many lower class parents who might be doing an excellent job parenting, even better than some upper class parents, seem to be discredited or overlooked. Putnam’s last few points about the opportunity gap are reflected in the schools (160-190) and communities (206-226). Simply put, due to where they can afford to live and go to school, upper class kids have far more social support and more
America has always seen as the symbolic ideal country of prosperity and equality. This is the reason why people come to America hoping to become successful, but in matter of fact we all have an equal plan field to be successful is not entirely true. For there are social boundaries that keep use limited based upon our own status. Whether we are born of a low class or of a high class the possibility of economic mobility in a sense are predetermined by two factors of social class and success together they both affecting one’s another opportunity of success. In order to achieve success, we must know that it is made up of two main concepts and they are fortune and position. But when a person is limited by their class prohibiting them to achieve success, the point of trying is meaningless. However, there is a way to break the construct that keep groups stuck in the lower-class and is through education. Education gives more opportunities for success to the individuals and since education is very important, culture and the government should focus more directly upon this to reach economic stability. Class standing directly affects economic success in America by limiting a person’s chance of success however; one can overcome by focusing more upon education and culture.
In "Class in America", Gregory Mantsios says that "when politicians and social commentators draw attention to the plight of the poor, they do so in a manner that obscures the class structure and denies any sense of exploitation." Based off our readings, class discussion and films, income inequality is known to be erased or ignore. Our society frowns upon the expression of income in our daily conversations, as it could be seen braggy or a complaint depending on your status of income. Because it's frowned upon to talk about, the topic of income inequality becomes erased or ignored. In addition, income inequality in America's class structure can affect people's ability to reach their American Dream.
Let's take it back to the past in regards to wealth distribution in this country. The fact is that the economy boomed from the end of WWII into the 1970's. “Incomes grew rapidly and at roughly the same rate up and down the income ladder, roughly doubling in inflation-adjusted terms between the late 1940s and early 1970s” (CBPP). Through the 70's economic growth slowed, and the wealth gap widened. Middle-class families were now considered lower class. People relied on the government to help them out with welfare programs. The middle-class class was weakened and the gap grew and grew. There were periods of positive fluctuation, however the middle-class simply never regained it's status that was held in more prosperous times in the past.
I feel the author is attempting to convey that class means everything when it comes to education. Mantsios lists several references and charts that show what the odds would be if you were low, middle, or high class to attend a university and what level of education you might obtain.
Mantsios believes that Americans do not like to talk about the different classes, whether it is about the upper, middles or lower class. He outlines four myths that are widely held about class in the United States. Myth one the united states is fundamentally a classless society, myth two we are, essentially a middle class nation. Most Americans have achieved relative affluence in what is widely recognized as a consumer society. Myth three we are all getting richer. Each generation propels itself to greater economic well-being. And myth four, everyone has an equal chance to succeed. Requires no more than hard work sacrifice and perseverance (Mantsios).
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
Krugman 's even go about saying that this is why there is such a huge economic gap between social class. According to Krugman “Instead the rise in debt mainly reflected increased spending on housing, largely driven by the competition to get into good school districts. Middle- class Americans have been caught up in a rat race, not because they’re greedy or foolish but because they’re trying to give their children a chance in an increasingly unequal society”(564-565). All in all Krugman is saying that the only way for children in this day in age to receive a good education is by either being from an upper class family or making the public believe that your upper class, even though you can not afford that lifestyle. Which is not necessarily true because if you are willing to work hard enough you can go as far as you want in education.
Paul Krugman, in his article “The Death of Horatio Alger” suggests that social mobility among classes in the United States is becoming more difficult by the day. Krugman explains that the idea of the American Dream and moving from class to class was once semi easily attainable; but is now seemingly impossible. Although America is thought of as a classless society, the country has a whole is moving into a caste society run by the rich.
Some people may think that class may have a great importance in our lives, while many people think it is of no importance, but class does have some importance in certain aspects of our lives. Overall, people of a higher class do get the best of everything while people in the low class have to fight for the little bit they have. In the article, "Shadowy Lines That Still Divide", it states "Being born in the elite in the U.S gives you a constellation of privileges that very few people in the world have ever experienced" this may be true to an extent because although there are privileges in the U.S for lower class people, they 're not the same types of privileges that people of a higher class are offered. Yes may things are offered to the lower class people but its not as good as the things that are
However, some of the people in the country wanted to go on with their life freely by being a part of a welfare, and some of them strived and worked hard to get job without bothering which class they belong. Furthermore, distribution of wealth is a huge demand of every citizen of America. Everyone nowadays are trying to look down for every lower class as they did not give any benefit for the country, that they are just there living waiting for the benefits they will receive from the government. That benefit comes from the middle class that is trying to level with what the higher class can have and give a positive reputation for the country’s economy. Because money is seen as the very important thing today to survive and to do anything. On the other side, some people in America, mostly for those who are in the lower class have gone through a financial crisis due to overspending, insufficient fund or pay from their work to support himself/herself and/or his/her family.
According to officials, standardized tests such as the SAT and ACT are supposed to predict how well students will do in college. Students are tested on these standardized tests to know how much knowledge they know, such as to determine and know the students reading, math, writing, and science skills. Researcher shows a similar relationship between SAT scores and high school grades. Data from the College Board shows that SAT is strongly correlated to family income. Students with wealthy families seem to outscore the students that are living in poverty. This is because wealthy students have access to better school supplies, better teachers, and a greater education than those students living in poverty that can’t afford a better teacher
Income inequality continues to increase in today’s world, especially in the United States. Income inequality means the unequal distribution between individuals’ assets, wealth, or income. In the Twilight of the Elites, Christopher Hayes, a liberal journalist, states the inequality gap between the rich and the poor are increasing widening, and there need to have things done - tax the rich, provide better education - in order to shortening the inequality gap. America is a meritocratic country, which means that everybody has equal opportunity to be successful regardless of their class privileges or wealth. However, equality of opportunity does not equal equality of outcomes. People are having more opportunities to find a better job, but their incomes are a lot less compared to the top ten percent rich people. In this way, the poor people will never climb up the ladder to high status and become millionaires. Therefore, the government needs to increase all the tax rates on rich people in order to reduce income inequality.
In an education journal, Anyon (“Social”) provides the reader with the concept that there are four different types of schools, working class schools, middle-class schools, affluent professional schools, and executive elite schools, after observing five schools. The working class schools are made up of parents with blue-collar jobs, with less than a third of the fathers being skilled, and the majority of them being semiskilled or unskilled. “Approximately 15 percent of the fathers were unemployed… approximately 15 percent of the families in each school are at or below the federal ‘poverty’ level…the incomes of the majority of the families…are typical of 38.6 percent of the families in the United States” (Anyon, “Social”). In a more recent study conducted by Anyon (“What”, 69), she states that,