What the Social Classes Owe Each Other an Article by William Graham Sumner

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William Graham Sumner is a social Darwinist who claimed that people who work hard are rich, while people who do not work as hard are poor. In his article of “What the Social Classes Owe Each Other,” he discusses the distinction between the lower and upper class. The upper class consists of all the determined hard workers, while the lower class consists of lazy workers. He believed that every man is given a chance to work for their success, but not everyone is able to grasp their opportunity and most end up in the lower class. In this sense, we should not help the poor. If the rich were to help the poor, it would discourage them from working harder and therefore they would not be working to their full potential. The poor would also become dependent on the rich, which can lead to plutocracy. In a plutocracy, the rich would rule over the poor. However, there is a point when you should help the poor. When they are ready to help themselves and require assistance; they should be helped, but only to a certain degree. Afterwards, they should start to help themselves and try to improve their lives independently. There is a difference between someone trying to help themselves and someone who lives at the expense of a higher class. This demonstrates that a person who has not done their part cannot be compared to a person who has their part in this world. We should help one another by giving each other chances so that we can all reach a higher class. In Barbara Ehrenreich’s, “Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America,” she emphasizes how difficult it is for the lower class to earn a living. As a middle class worker, she wondered what it was like to work as a lower class. Would she be able to get by? She decided to create a social expe... ... middle of paper ... ...cannot succeed. This can be the difference between someone rich and someone poor. That one class may be holding the student back, which can make all the difference. For Piven, I believe that what she said is true. There are times when you realize that you can’t beat the strong. There are also times when you can beat the strong. When black civil activists fought for freedom, they succeeded after many years of trying. There are also times when you can’t win. If you start work at mcdonalds and suddenly demand higher pay, chances are no one is going to follow you. They will probably just fire you and get another person willing to do the job. Barbara’s story about her experience was truly shocking. I thought that people who work hard can succeed, but she showed that even if you work hard, sometimes you still need help from the government.

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