Wealth Inequality Essay

1861 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Income and wealth inequality sociology

According to the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson stated that, “all men are created equal.” It signifies that all men are equally endowed with rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, every human being’s life is equal in value. It does not matter how old, young, poor, or weak a person may be. No one should be excluded from the opportunities to contribute to society and live life freely. Every human being’s life is just as worthy of respect as any other, but our equal worth as human beings does not convey that we are treated equally in every sense or situation. An example of inequality that exemplifies that Americans are not all treated equally is wealth disparity because it discriminates against the poor, while it privileges the rich.
Throughout history, gender and racial discrimination have been considered in parallel as extremely power forces, which unfortunately harm the economy. An example that exemplifies wealth disparity discriminating against the poor, while it privileges the rich is race and gender disparities. Since the 1970s, the increase of women’s labor force participation was initially believed to lower income inequality, but “the increase in female-headed households tend to have lower incomes” (McLaughlin par.9). Women have faced intense discrimination by being on the lower end of the income spectrum. Women are more likely to work in demanding jobs with low-wages, such as teaching, childcare, or waitressing, which is not as highly compensated as male-dominated jobs. In fact, a common idea that people firmly believe is that women are not suitable for upper division positions because they do not have the characteristics that are suitable for those positions. As a matter of fact, w...

... middle of paper ...

...tribute to society and live life freely. As a solution to wealth disparity, taxes can be used to redistribute income to the poor and use the tax money to fund many different programs, such as some that target poverty and inequality. Improving public schools by unifying them is another solution to wealth disparity. By closing private schools and fully invest in public schools, everyone can receive an education that is equally distributed. By providing equal opportunities for education and taxes being used to redistribute income to the poor will decrease income inequality. In the long run, helping the poor will be beneficial and has a big possibility to end poverty as well. In conclusion, wealth disparity makes inequality a big problem to the fullest extent to social stability in American society because it discriminates against the poor, while it privileges the rich.

Show More
Related

  • Rosie The Riveter Research Paper

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    Despite the manifestation of Rosie the Riveter propaganda and the continuous push to recruit women, they still were not granted equal pay for their services. This was true in the 1940’s and it’s still a relevant issue today. Then, it was rare for women to earn even slightly more than fifty cents to every man’s dollar. Now, the average woman earns anywhere from sixty to eighty percent of a man’s salary for the exact same job. Ranges vary depending on the specific career field. However, women of minorities remain stuck in injustice systematic trends. The pay rate for a female minority is still approximately fifty percent.

    Read More

  • Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

    943 Words  | 2 Pages

    “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” (“Declaration of Independence: A Transcription”). This statement from the Declaration of Independence, is very significant to many Americans. But how many Americans really believe that everyone is truly equal or if every American is actually considered equal? Jonathan Kozol’s article, “Still Separate, Still Unequal,” is an effective argument because of his brilliant use of pathos, successful usage of logos, and his notable use of his underscoring sympathetic tone.

    Read More

  • Wealth Inequality In America Essay

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    Why are so a large number of people that beg for money, sitting on the streets, looking for food 's some sort? It is not day-to-day that we consider situations like this, but it is out there constantly without all of us realizing it. A number of states have poverty 's more issues than others, but it is sad to think about how plenty of people are actually considered to be in poverty. This is an inequality concerning me a lot, and is getting worse daily. Poverty in the United States relates to people whose annual household earnings are less than a poverty line set by the United States government. Poverty is common, resulted in by numerous different factors such as failing markets, structural problems, unfortunate mishaps, and poor individual

    Read More

  • Wage Inequality And The Texas State Government

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    The reality of wage differences between men and women is that above all changes women continue to earn less than men. Countless arguments have promoted that wage inequality has changed and that everyone finally receives an equal amount of pay. “For women of color, the gap is largest of all: In 2006, black and Hispanic women earned 86 and 87 cents on the white man’s dollar, respectively,” (Mcswane 2). If a woman is lucky enough she will get an equal pay compared to a man doing the same job. But it is challenging for a woman of a minority background to achieve this. Not only are women paid less because of their sex, but also because of their race. There seems to be a mentality that because someone is a woman and a minority that they cannot do the same job as men or that women do not have the same education as the men, so employers do not have to pay them the same. “When the numbers are broken down by district, they 're pretty hard to ignore. Women in Texas are being utterly screwed financially, according to the data compiled by AAWU, with women earning anywhere from 66 percent of what men do in some districts, to the top end of things, which is about 89 percent,” (Leicht 4). The proof cannot be ignored. It i...

    Read More

  • Declaration of Independence Impact in American Society

    1865 Words  | 4 Pages

    In 1776, five members assembled to draw up the Declaration of Independence, a document that clearly stated independence from Britain, and listed the colonists’ grievances and natural rights. One of the most controversial components was the following statement: “We hold these truth to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The concept of equality debated and understood in a variety of ways throughout American history. Equality, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, can be defined as “the quality or state of having the same rights, social status, etc.” Consequently, changes have been sought to obtain rights that were not easily granted. Marginalized members of society have fought to acquire rights, whether human or civil, since they believe that, as citizens, they deserve equality. The trend of change in the name of equality has brought about numerous fundamental and eternal transformations in American society.

    Read More

  • Gender Pay Gap Analysis

    1036 Words  | 3 Pages

    Additionally, we believed men deserved to have higher power by getting more money than women. After some research, we think it’s not fair that women make less than men who have the same education and the same job. In the long run, it can make it hard for women to support their families. We found out that the gender pay gap is a “complex issue with many causes”, which are often inter-related. It seems that the direct cause of this issue is discrimination. We also found out that inequality starts early; just one year out of college, college-educated women working full-time earned $32,000 compared to $42,000 for college-educated men working

    Read More

  • Inequality And Wealth Inequality

    713 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wealth inequality is a real issue that needs to be fixed. The imbalanced growth of the upper class compared to the middle class is a danger to American society as a whole. The rich becoming richer while the middle class remains the same leads to a power imbalance, with the rich using their money to run the country the way they see fit while the middle class speaks to ears that do not listen. The issue of wealth inequality needs to be fixed by raising taxes on the rich.

    Read More

  • Income Inequality In The United States Essay

    1035 Words  | 3 Pages

    The United States has a pervasive issue of income inequality (Volscho & Kelly, 2012). While the wealthy few live in absurd abundance, poor hardworking individuals often cannot afford basic necessities. Such a dynamic is not only an affront to the ideals of equality of opportunity, but also may increase crime as a result of relative deprivation and lack of legitimate opportunities to achieve (Thio, 2010). This essay describes the magnitude of income inequality in the United States, reveals barriers that obscures its magnitude, and suggests a starting point from which corrective measures might develop.

    Read More

  • Wealth Inequality

    1446 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Income Inequality

    939 Words  | 2 Pages

    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...

    Read More

  • pay equity

    366 Words  | 1 Pages

    Wage inequalities are not a result of women’s qualifications or choices. Wage discrimination persists despite women’s increased educational attainment, greater level of experience in the workforce, and decreased amount of time spent out of the workforce raising children. •      Education. Although the number of women attaining baccalaureate and advanced degrees now surpasses the number of men, in 1999 the median wages of female college graduates were $14,665 less than those of male graduates. College-educated African American women earn only $1,500 more than white male high school graduates.

    Read More

  • The Feminization of Poverty

    1792 Words  | 4 Pages

    Racism and discrimination along the lines of ability and age also contribute to poverty in women. Women of colour are underemployed and paid less than white women (Gaszo, 2010). They are also more likely to be employed ...

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Wealth Inequality

    1189 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wealth inequality is the uneven distribution of resources in a given state or population, which can also be called the wealth gap. The sum of one’s total assets excluding the liabilities equates the person’s wealth also known as the net worth. Investments, residents, cash, real estates and everything owned by an individual are their assets.In reality, the United States is among the richest countries in the world, though a few people creating a major gap between the richest, the middle class and the poor control most of its wealth. For more than a quarter of a century, only the rich American families have shown an increase to their net worth.Thisis a worrying fact for the less fortunate in the country and calls for assessment (Baranoff, 2015).

    Read More

  • Essay On Income Inequality

    1524 Words  | 4 Pages

    Income inequality is a big problem in the United States because the top, wealthiest American saw huge increases in their incomes, which the rest had their incomes go down. Bottom people do not have the same amount of money and the opportunity to move up the social ladder as the rich people do. In order to reduce income inequality, the government needs to tax the rich people more, and give poor people more money and more social services - education, food subsidies, health care.

    Read More

  • Political Inequality Essay

    576 Words  | 2 Pages

    POSC 100 Paper #1 Joshua Han j0shh4nxd@gmail.com. Over the past few years, a number of occurrences have displayed the growing economic and political inequality of the United States. The currently dissipated Occupy Movement did draw the general public’s attention to the ridiculous strides made by the rich, whose incomes have skyrocketed within the past four decades. Those pertaining to the middle-income and poor have sadly had their incomes stagnate.

    Read More

More about Wealth Inequality Essay

Open Document