Caste System Oppression

There is much debate in America about how its society has fallen under the cowl of social stratification resulting in the unforgiving rise of class inequality. It is becoming more and more clear these days that these beliefs have seemed to turn into truth in the last couple decades. New York Times columnist and Nobel prize winning economic professor Paul Krugman discusses why and how upward mobility has become increasingly difficult in the past decades in his article “The Death of Horatio Alger,” which was first published on December 18th 2003 in New York City. His thorough explanation makes it easy to understand just how close the United States is to being a true caste society and the imposing danger of such an event. Harvard professor

From the chapter "The Rebirth of Caste" from “In her book “The new Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age of Colorblindness”, Michelle Alexander analysed that: "Thus in the late 1960s and early 1970s, two schools of thought were offered to the general public regarding race, poverty and the social order. Conservatives argued that poverty was caused not by structural factors related to race and class but rather

This research paper will outline the causes and traits of oppression in America. Dynamics such as the social, historical, and psychological systems that serve as vessels of oppression will be addressed. Using academic research, the goal for this essay will be to discuss the characteristics of oppression and how those characteristics are connected to its origin. The research will develop major themes that will serve to define agents, including classism, discrimination, and the intersectionality of different types of oppression. Discussions on strategies for addressing and ending the current oppression in America and recommendations for the future will be highlighted as well.

One component of this idea is a social mobility. Social mobility is the movement of individuals or families within layers of social stratification. For example, if some family of first generation of immigrants (who are usually considered as low-income families) will work hard and get some college education, they probably can improve their social-economic status and move upward direction to the lower-middle class or even to the middle class level. However, to move from the low-income class status upward to the upper class status will be very difficult or even impossible for this family. As was written above, only 1-3% of American population is in the upper or upper-upper classes and this is like “private club” for the rest of population. The membership of this “club” is difficult to earn; many members of this upper class group received their statuses from their parents or grandparents and this looks like a “cast” of privileged people. This privilege gives many advantages and influence in political, educational, religious and other institutions. These advantages make upper class as a dominate group and underprivileged lower classes as subordinate group; and this stratification is describing classism. Carol Brantley and her colleagues (2003) state that “Classism is the systematic oppression of subordinated groups (people without endowed or acquired economic power, social influence, and privilege) who work for wages for dominant group (those who have access to control of the necessary resources by which other people make their living).” Classism says that upper class members are more educated and smarter than low-income and working classes’ members because they and their children can afford very expensive or exclusive education worldwide. Whereas, oppressed groups are lacking this opportunity to get prestige

Here, in the United States, the “American Dream,” is a popular belief. There is a strong relationship between hard work and success. In this perfect scenario, those who put in multiple hours are on the road to success and can move up the social ladder. Thus stating, one could be thrust into the lowest of the social status, and with some hard work, one can elevate into the world of the social elite. As a demonstration to this global view of the United States, immigrants from all over the globe have made the excursion to the “land of opportunity” in beliefs of better education, employment, government, communities, religious freedom, and lives for not only themselves but the generations that come pursuing behind them. All of this survives based on a game of social stratification – a diagram on how to successfully obtain the American dream. This observation of social class is based on many mechanisms, some of which is bestowed to people at birth, and not rewarded for hard work and dedication. The class system at play in the United States has become incredibly complex – it no longer has the fundamental class values of our forefathers. Those trying to move up in the social ladder of America are often caught replication the actions of the rich and famous, but this alone cannot make them part of the higher social class. Some think that there are simple rules to follow to climb higher into another social class ladder, but there is more to being upper class than just talking the talk or having the right identity.One way to look at class is the model developed by Janny Scott and David Leonhardt's article, “Shadowy Lines That Still Divide,” in The New York Times. They assert that “one way to think of a person’s position in society is to imagine a hand of cards. Everyone is dealt four cards, one from each suit: education, income, occupation and wealth, the four commonly used criteria for gauging class” (Scott and Leonhardt 27). While being sure on these four criteria, a basic understanding of a person’s predicted class can be made. While this model works fine for providing an elementary level of perception, it must be recognized that a person could rate well on this scale and still be in a different class than those

To my family we always saw the inequality, it was a part of our daily lives and we had to deal with it as best as we could. The inequality was always an inconvenience, a part of my daily life that had less resources, stricter rules, less to no privileges, which made no sense to me where in the country we live in is supposedly free and equal for everyone. Growing up we always had to be careful around cops and made sure that we come fully prepared with papers to any meeting foe healthcare, or government benefits because weren’t given the benefit of the doubt. A prime example for the inequalities my family went through was extra processes for car insurance, dental care, and medical care. We always had to make sure to dot our I’s and cross our T’s or else it could be taken away in an instant. It just didn’t affect my family but my community as well. Having a community of Hispanics and African Americans we had to make sure not to make too much noise during parties or in an instant we would have cops on our blocks. These kinds of small things snowball into such a massive effect and influence our tremendously to the point where we think it’s “just another day” and not an attack against our

In today’s society systematic oppression has really been a factor regarding on the issues of minority groups. In our opinion, we feel like if Bill Cosby wasn’t a colored man suppose he was a white man this case would have been a lot more lenient because people of color have them labeled as bad people. People who kill, rape, sell drugs etc. and white people that sometimes are the worst, always they treat white people with like more finesse of have more them respect. At this time the colored people not only suffer from racism, but also immigrants from different countries are suffering a lot of racism. Another example of systematic oppression is about Bill Cosby accused of raping women was harshly accused and especially for being black.

Oppression has change in history in the following ways: lower class people are treated different than higher class, people are discriminated by their race, and minorities knows how each class behave. People should not be obligated to change their lifestyle only because they are oppressing them to change for good. Each one of us should have freedom of what they want to do and enjoy life by not being forced to or feeling less than others

It has been a repetitive and shameful practice of the United States, and other countries, to shy away from or oppress those who are different. This form of inequality is shared with immigrants, African Americans, the physically ill, and the mentally ill. In particular, the discrimination against the mentally ill becomes an interesting and unique history that has evolved due to Western medicine, and now effects the whole world. In many instances, it has become apparent that the symptoms and stigma surrounding the mentally ill stems from Western ideals as well. This paper explores this stigma, the ways oppressions are carried out, and how they are being dealt with.

In “Is Class the New Race?” John Sutter explores the growing “income inequality” in the United States, which is “now on par with many sub-Saharan African countries” (Sutter). By utilizing the 50th anniversary of "The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom" the author demonstrates how class has become the new race, marginalizing a large portion of citizens. These individuals are not only denied the American dream of "work hard and you'll get ahead,” but they are also deprived of an equal education, which compounds the issue (Sutter).

America is a country of great diversity. There are individuals of numerous colors, creeds, religions and ethnic backgrounds. Although these groups have rich histories and prideful backgrounds, they are seen by many as of a lower class. A lot of those abhorrent folks maintain powerful seats in the United States Government, carrying their disdain for non-white males. They don’t believe any other demographic should keep a voice in the country, where oppression begins to occur. The systematic mistreatment and exploitation of one group or category of people by another (Prof. Butler-Sweet, 1/19 IDP Lecture) affects myriads of people to this day. The powerful assembly of oppressors will often be to define the targets as inferior. For example, Bill

Everybody of every nationality who is living in poverty need to come together and unite to fight a battle everyone struggles with; cost of living. In the grand scheme of our world and society, color of one's skin does not matter in any circumstance. We are all the same, but yet we still manage to let our status and the money we make dictate how we act and live. The prejudices and attitudes that stem off of classism cause havoc amongst our population. In order to become part of the solution, the majority and minority must take a stand and advocate for equality. The wealthy cannot control the direction of where this country we'll go because they have a great influence in our society. The rich keep getting richer while the poor keep getting poorer. While it may not be evident by the clothes people wear, the outcry of wealth distribution speaks for itself when people are being degraded causing our society to be divided in terms of class, race, gender, etc. Through personal experiences, friends, family members, and the readings, classism is an issue that needs to be tackled. If we as people are not fighting for a wider distribution of wealth and more security in everyone’s lives, then we are not fighting for equality. Classism enables other issues such as racism and sexism. Perhaps if we can get rid of classism and truly become a “classless” society, then maybe we can defeat prejudices, stereotypes, and most importantly

“There are forms of oppression and domination which become invisible - the new normal,” Michel Foucault. This quote by Michel Foucault is the definition of today’s society due to the many incidents that have happened. To start off, oppression is the state of being subject to unjust treatment or control. In recent times, people have been told they were being repressive or ruthless to the minorities. This was the case with slavery, with the Holocaust, and with many other events in the past involving oppression. These events can instill fear in the people to make them realize the past can repeat itself one way or another whether we realize it or not.

I found not having exposure to your own culture interesting as it leads them not to show their true reflection. Some deaf children are denied information about their own history, language and culture and some may be forbidden to acknowledge it.

What is it like to be discriminated against? What would it be like to have almost all equal rights and liberties taken away just because one is born among a certain race, or there is a different way of living within a specific group of people? This feeling of discrimination is one that no individual wants to feel. For the Hindu people, formerly known as “The Untouchables,” this was what they had to live with. The Untouchables, now called the Dalits, are the most oppressed community in India and have been denied civic and human rights throughout the decades.