A Summary On The Workplace Of The United States

We live in a culture where success is increasingly defined by a paycheck and is seemingly as important to the parent as the child. Raising children to be “successful” is increasingly becoming an obsession for upper-middle-class-parents, who encourage certain activities and scores to provide their child with the best chances of attending elite schools. The article focuses on the inherent advantage upper-middle-class parents provide but fails to mention those who the parent’s action affects: their children.

Brittany LamberthProfessor Wells English 102June 15, 2018Paul Krugman, agrees that the country is becoming economically diverse bit by bit. The middle ground amongthe richest and poorest is vanishing, and inequality is`widespread. His essay, “Confronting inequality” revealsonly how inequalityaffects us, but, as McClelland opposes, how recurringinequality can be. He references a study performed by the National Center for Education informationfrom the 1988 to 2003, in which eighth grade students were arrangedboth by academic skilland the socioeconomic rankof their parents, and the college graduation percentage. If our educational system truly gave all students equivalentopportunities, then we would expect the graduation rates to depend onlyon

Writer Gregory Mantsios in his article “Class in America”, talks about these things, and how wide the gap is between the rich and the poor and also discusses how the rich continue to get richer, while the poor continue to get poorer. Mantsios gives his readers the profiles and backgrounds of three hard-working Americans, two of them are white males, whose family background as well as education played a role in their success, while the other person is a black woman who is just above the poverty line despite her work as a nurse’s aide. Through these profiles, Mantsios article shows exactly how sex, race and shows how your parental and educational background of a person can play a role in the things that you achieve. Mantsios also talks about one’s performance in school and the level of school completed can suggest whether or not class that person may belong in.

As a first generation child whose parents immigrated from another country, I was fortunate enough to receive excellent education and opportunities that was not offered to them. During that era, those privileges may have been difficult to obtain due to racial segregation, poor living circumstances, and/or lack of time and commitment due to work. As of today, these issues are no longer a major problem. Although, education has never been better and opportunities have been even more achievable, David Brooks argues that the upper/middle classes are preventing the lower class from “joining their ranks” because of the egocentric methods that modern day families now utilize to their advantage. In his New York Times editorial “How We Are Ruining America,” Brooks explains how we (as the upper/middle class) have been ruining America by preventing the lower class from receiving the same privileges. Brooks then elaborates his argument by giving several examples like: improved parent supervision and planning, zoning restrictions, cultural codes, and even gives a personal experience. Even though Brooks provided a substantial amount of evidence, he mostly utilizes his powerful tone and writing skills to support his argument.

Lareau, in Unequal Childhoods, focuses on socioeconomic status and how that affects outcomes in the education system and the workplace. While examining middle-class, working-class and poor families, Lareau witnessed differing logics of parenting, which could greatly determine a child’s future success. Working-class and poor families allow their children an accomplishment of natural growth, whereas middle-class parents prepare their children through concerted cultivation. The latter provides children with a sense of entitlement, as parents encourage them to negotiate and challenge those in authority. Parents almost overwhelm their children with organized activities, as we witnessed in the life of Garrett Tallinger. Due to his parents and their economic and cultural capital, Garrett was not only able to learn in an educational setting, but through differing activities, equipping him with several skills to be successful in the world. Lareau suggests these extra skills allow children to “think of themselves as special and as entitled to receive certain kinds of services from adults” (39). Adults in the school system are in favor of these skills through concerted cultivation, and Bourdieu seems to suggest that schools can often misrecognize these skills as natural talent/abilities when it’s merely cultivated through capital. This then leads to inequalities in the education system and academic attainments.

Jay MacLeod in his ethnographic study “Ain’t No Makin’ It” indicates how education can play a pivotal role in reproducing class inequality over generations. He does so through analysis and observation of two groups of young men. The first group self-titled the “Hallway Hangers” are mostly made up of white youth, while the second group labeled the “Brothers” are chiefly comprised of young black men. The Hallway Hangers defy American Achievement Ideology, which suggests that success can be achieved through hard work, and do not believe that their schools could provide opportunities for success. In contrast, the Brothers seemed to really care about the education they receive.

Ever since a young age, the youth of the United States are taught that they must strive to be the best they can be. This would ultimately result in one possessing a competitive edge, once one enters the selection process of joining one of many higher institutions of education or the job market. In the essays “Project Classroom Makeover,” “Biographies of Hegemony,” and “Rent Seeking and the Making of an Unequal Society,” respectfully by, Cathy Davidson, Karen Ho, and Joseph Stiglitz, the topic of competitive behaviors and practices is widely addressed and heavily criticized. Education is competitive, yet bias. Institutions of higher education value students based irrelevant factors, something which is unacceptable in the modern, digital age. This heavily impacts the selection process of candidates, leading the system to favor unqualified individuals. Prevalent business superpowers, many residing in Wall Street, pick low hanging fruit. In other words, these firms take very minimal effort to choose candidates in positions that are extremely competitive and valuable. They recruit individuals who graduate from top schools and have no other realistic edge for the company, aside from namesake. Woven into these practices, many examples of uncompetitive behavior arise as well from other factors of the system. In this essay, I argue that competitive and uncompetitive behaviors have molded modern America, with massive organizations and authorities playing into these behaviors from all

This country’s education system was built on the back of meritocracy and was created to function as an objective measure of a child’s performance and their intelligence. It was the gateway to the American Dream, and provided everyone with an equal chance of success in America. It was a place of not only intellectual, but also personal growth. In her essay “From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work,” Anyon argues that this is no longer the case. Anyon’s study concludes that from the fifth grade, students in poorer communities are groomed to succeed in low-class, blue collar jobs, while children in wealthy communities are prepared for more desirable careers. Anyon analyzes four different types of schools that all varied based on

Social tendency among monarchies exalt high amenities and luxurious lifestyle in favor of power. Traditionally in sovereign government, family lineage is prioritized in the succession of power, exemplifying aspects such as of heir, inheritance, and birthright. Evolved from past reigns, today’s generation of working class individuals pass down experience and networks to heritage in order to persevere wealth in the family. Ho vindicates the dependence of pedigree in education and employment saying, “For decades, general, ‘open’ recruiting was not standard practice for most businesses: Ivy League graduates relied on family wealth and networks, entered graduate school or approached, via the ‘old boys’ network’ for financial or industrial fast-track grooming” (182). Students with not only well established educational but also family background have better opportunity to succeed financially. Wall Street attract students with similar background as a tactic to fixate its recruitment as well as its income. Behaviorism justifies the popular demand of highly prodigious student recruitment because students in that position desire to continue being superior. This leads to ideology of elitism, where the mindset of self advancement overwhelms the individual to desire the highest position of power. Without pedigree, individuals often struggle to have an effective impact on the job

Robert Putnam’s argument in Our Kids is that family structure, parenting styles, quality of schooling, and the community all affect a person's upward mobility. He also argues that socioeconomic

Johnson, H. B. (2014). The American dream and the power of wealth: Choosing schools and inheriting inequality in the land of opportunity. Routledge.

According to Miles Corak, a professor of economics, America is only “a great nation if you’re born rich”. The myth of America as a “Land of Opportunity” lead many economists to theorize that a person’s inheritance accounts approximately 40-65% of their own wealth. When one’s inherited position accounts for so much, their parent’s social position not only gives that person an advantage or disadvantage, it also plays a determining role in their place in society. As long as America is perceived as a socially mobile society, which entrenches itself upon every US citizen, the realities of class will remain on the outside of consciousness. It’s time for America to disabuse itself of its myths. In addition, Michael C. Dawson, a professor at the University of Chicago, writes “The lack of Mexican-American economic assimilation is a result of ingrained racial exclusion, with similar results to the exclusion of Africans Americans… The lack of social mobility is not new for our Black and Mexican-American communities.” The majority of people within these communities work just as hard as their white counterparts, and some work even harder by taking on multiple jobs at once. However, no matter how hard these people work, they are restricted to and held at a different socio-economic

All families want their children to be happy, healthy, and grow. Social classes make a difference in how parents go about meeting this goal. In Annette Lareau book, Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life, she promotes middle class parents as concerted cultivation. Middle class parents encourage their children’s talents, opinions, and skills. For example, engaging their children in organized activities and closely monitoring children’s experiences in school. According to Lareau, middle class children gain an emerging sense of entitlement through this pattern of converted cultivation. This causes a focus on children’s individual development. There are signs that the middle class children gain advantages from the experience of concerted cultivation. However, the working class and poor children do not gain this advantage.

Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital has been extremely influential, and has garnered a great deal of literature, both theoretical and empirical. Like Marx, Bourdieu posited that capital was the foundation of social life and dictated people’s position within the social hierarchy (Bourdieu 1986). According to Bourdieu, the more capital one possesses, the more prestigious a position one occupies in social life (Bourdieu 1986). In addition to that, Bourdieu extended Marx’s idea of capital beyond the economic and into cultural symbolism (Bourdieu 1986). Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital that refers to the collection of symbolic elements (e.g. skills, tastes, clothing) one acquires through being part of a particular social niche and his concept of habitus that refers to the physical manifestation of cultural capital owned by individuals due to life experiences are his major influential concepts that are very useful in deconstructing power in development and social change processes. However it must be recognized that these concepts also propagate social inequalities at the same time. This essay will closely examine his concepts of capital that comes in three forms - embodied, objectified, and institutionalised, and habitus in the fields of education and stratification have made of it. Bourdieu’s work will be analysed in the context both of the debate on class inequalities in educational attainment and of class reproduction in advanced capitalist societies.

In the United States, sociologists research the implications of the modern economy and the workplace environment. Studying workplace industry and the effects on the economy allows sociologists to understand overall social structure and inequality. Studying work and work related problems, sociologists’ three major theoretical approaches each identify very unique issues and deductions. At the macro level, sociologists study the effects of the changes within the workforce which includes how the changes in technology and the fluctuating economy effect the workplace environment. At the micro level, sociologists are looking at the more personal effects of society in the workplace including identifying the difference between upper-level management versus the blue-collar worker. The micro level analysis is focused on the emotional component and the effects of work on feelings, self-esteem and family. The structural-functional theory, the symbolic-interaction analysis and the social-conflict theory related to work and workplace problems each provide a very different perspective and viewpoint.