Speech On Materialism

This is considered unworthy poor in modern times. The general public is influenced against the poor and says they are poor because they are lazy or helpless (Martin, 2014, p.35). It seems like view on this matter haven’t changed in the last 100 years (Martin, 2014, p. 36). The Christian Right and The Tea Party movement did impact views of the development of the welfare reform because they added punishing measures that are made for guiding the actions of someone receiving benefits. The worthy poor are still considered disabled or older people Martin, 2014 p.

Living in a society that does not help its people to live comfortably and provide facilities for them to achieve their demands, is harmful. One of these harmful affections is “social inequality” in each diverse society. Social inequality occurs when resources in each society are distributed unevenly, typically through norms of allocation, that engender specific patterns along lines of socially defined categories of persons. The United States contains one of the most common social inequalities for its population and that is “social stratification and mobility” and the government should strictly investigate this social inequality for people who are living in the United States.

Those people who live in poverty are eligible for public services that are provided to them to help them survive. It is often a misconception these people take advantage of the public system to receive benefits and welfare that they do not need. While it is true that there many be some people who do not need these benefits and still take advantage of them, there are also many families, who do in fact need the help of public assistance, and do not use it. Many families, who qualify for public assistance such as food stamps, do not receive them. A startling two-thirds of people who qualify for public assistance, such as food stamps, do not use these benefits . One reason for this may be that these families do not truly feel they are as impoverished as they really are. Another reason could be the possibility that these families do not know they will qualify for these programs .

Poverty and homelessness are serious issues in the U.S. today, especially because of the current recession, with levels of poverty and unemployment higher than at any time since the 1930s. Blacks and Hispanics are being affected disproportionately by homelessness, as well as poverty and unemployment in American society. This is just another example of the racial caste system and institutional racism that goes far beyond that of social class, and has always been the case in recessions and indeed with every other social and economic problem in American history. Even though the country elected a black president in 2008, wealth and incomes for minority groups, which were already far lower than whites, have been in severe decline for the past few years (Baumann 2001). Compared to the trillions of dollars in federal assistance that has been extended to the large financial institutions from TARP and the Federal Reserve, programs to aid the poor and homeless have been very inadequate, and are even being cut back on the local, state and federal levels.

To some, being poor is embarrassing and shameful, but to a select group of people; being poor is something they’re grateful to be. They embrace it and use it to their advantage to achieve better lives

In the first article titled “Class in America” by Gregory Mantsios the discussion on class affecting the United States negatively is brought up. Gregory talks about the fact that people do not choose to be poor but they are put into situations where they cannot move up in class. Due to the fact that class creates an immense gap in communities, there are many issues linked to being categorized as the lower class. In the article Gregory states that “class affects more than lifestyle and material well being. It has a significant impact on our physical and mental well-being as well.” CITE) The author connects the idea that if you are in the lower class than you will also deal with other issues include your mental and physical health declining. Alongside this idea, the author also states “All Americans do not have an equal opportunity to succeed, and class mobility in the United States is lower than that of the rest of the industrialized world. (CITE) This goes along with the idea that once your born into a class, breaking out of it is virtually impossible. The author is also making the point that in the United States class is more problematic than other developed nations and because of this not everyone is given the chance to break free from a poor lifestyle.

We create this society in which every individual starts off at different points in life due to these social categories based on race and ethnicity, which in turn affects education, social class and our overall lifestyle. After we create these categories and put people there unwillingly, we act as though it is there fault and not ours, so our society is reluctant to help; in this way it would be a “helping hand” rather than a dependency people often associate it with. “Education is a significant factor in poverty” (Wong, Chapter 6); like stated above, different individuals get different starting points in life, therefore affecting where one ends up in life. “A national survey conducted in 1975, found that those living in poverty attributed it to personal failures, such as having a poor work ethic, poor money management skills and low personal moral values” (Martin

This has been one of the main issues in our country from the very beginning. People in the United States, black or white, are and were divided by how economically they are financed. During the Civil Rights Movement, most African Americans didn’t receive a great variety of job choices where they received much money. Most African Americans worked as farmers, factory workers, domestics, and servants. This caused African Americans to not make as much money as whites did in the past (“Civil Right Movement”). Today, people don’t understand that people all over the United States are judged based on the amount of money they have, what their house looks like, and what cars they drive. Blacks and whites are mostly separated into three groups lower class, middle class, and upper class based on the life they live (Yeskel 11). Based on the different classes people believe that the idea of people who make a living teaching other the importance of valuing diversity and how they eliminate policies and discrimination (Yeskel 12). Some people that study in classism say, “We begin this journey with the belief that we had to talk to each other across our differences if we wanted to really understand one another. We believed we must know each other if we are to allow compassion, rather than fear, guilt, anger, and resentment, to determine our strategy for social changes.” These people believe that if different

The final chapter of Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, “Evaluation”, states about low income families being almost invisible to the mid to high income families. This observation is valid because walking around places, Walmart, Kmart, etc., a person cannot distinguish what class the person is in. Poorer families are also rarely portrayed on television or other forms of entertainment, unless the show is about people getting arrested, since most people only find higher class, comfortable people interesting.

" We are living in a material world." This famous line in one of Madonna's songs entitled "Material Girl" will never outgrow itself. Ever since the beginnings of monetary means, the main focus of living is getting more money and to be as successful as possible. This became a huge issue during the 1920's. In this era, people made money from the stock market, illegal bootlegging and so forth. With these people hitting the jackpot, this then created a new rank called `new money'. This rank, however, never overpowered `old money' the most wealthiest, well-known and respected class. The possession of material wealth however, can't bring true happiness. Love is an important factor in this equation; when you don't have love, it is hard to say

This is a good example of how poverty is constructed as a social problem as if one is living in relative poverty, and cannot seek employment and is welfare dependent living off benefits, then the individual will be socially excluded in that they may not be able to afford to join certain social clubs, or get to remote public services and in general the issue of discrimination will stop people from joining certain activities and entering certain areas. ‘Social exclusion is a problem for society if there are those who are unable to take part in social relations, including in a democracy, political participation and involvement’ (Ridge, 2008:47).

Race still predominantly plays a role in everyday classism. Discriminatory housing practices traps minorities in the lower class for generations. Moreover, America’s healthcare system unfair to people who have low income. Also, Public transportation does not properly serve the needs of those who use it; as well as, it makes it formidable to secure, and maintain a stable job. Additionally, education for the poor unequal in graduation rates; along with, a social polarization against lower class students. Classism in America is an old, yet consistent problem that, creates an unfair economic divide of

This is an equity issue that has constantly concerned society and would go some way to redistribution of income. It is a social belief that if every one is 'well off' and lives above the poverty line, there will be positive social externalities for all. For example, those living in

According to Barnes (2005), social exclusion is defined as the condition by which individuals in a given society are disadvantaged than others depending on who they are. The various reasons to why some individuals are disadvantaged than others include race, ethnicity, where they live or migrant status, sexual orientation, descent, caste, age, gender, HIV status, disability (Barnes, 2005). Discrimination takes place in public institutions, for instance, in health and educational services and social institutions such as the household. Particular groups experience poverty due to social exclusion and this reduces the rate at which poverty is declines in a given society as a whole. Social exclusion can result in social conflict

I would like to begin by welcoming everybody and thanking you all for taking time out of your busy schedules in order to be here. Today our lives are better than in the past. Do you know why? It is because of science and technology. The topic of today’s speech is the magnifigance of technology and science and the huge difference that they have made in the lives of everybody alive today. My main points of focus for today will be medical technology, the many gadgets and accessories that are beneficial and useful to us in this day and age, transport and the link between science and technology and the future of the generations to come after us.