Income Inequality

Segregation of the labor force not only helped the wealthy whites maintain power and money, but it also helped lower income to middle-class white Americans. This is because segregation “prevented blacks from competing with them for better- paying jobs.” Due to the segregation of some jobs, lower class whites were often guaranteed employment because the demand for white workers was high. This high demand was caused by a number of employers searching for white employees, and would not settle for black

In Thomas Shapiro’s “The Hidden Cost of Being African American”, Shapiro goes in depth on how wealth in America is disproportionately dispersed between different nationalities. Mainly between Caucasians and African Americans. Shapiro has helped paint the image of wealth inequality and has shown how this is even more staggering than the wage gap between African Americans and Caucasians. Some of the theories he indirectly uses in his book and that I will be exemplifying are generational wealth and support systems, education, and the idea of how poverty only begets more poverty.

In 2008 black male workers only made 74 cents to every dollar made by a white worker with equal education. This is a significant issue because it creates a self reinforcing system that puts a large portion of the population at a disadvantage. Although the poor economic situation for African Americans in the U.S. may not be as prevalent as it was in the 1930’s, there still exists a significant gap between wages earned by white and black workers.

In Income Inequality: Too Big to Ignore, Robert H. Frank paints a picture to the reader about the struggles of pier pressure. For example: an upper-classmen chooses to buy a big house and fancy clothing. This acts as a “frame of reference” to the changes and norms of the society. If he spends money on something nice, a middle-classmen will then go and decide to do the same thing, and then a lower-classmen…all the way down the social hierarchy. This is what he calls an “expenditure cascade.” Robert relates this with a person’s downfalls, which can be traced due to lower income inequality. Income inequality basically means that in a given quantity, the dispersion of income is underlined by the gap between individuals and or households with

Racial discrimination is the main and ongoing problem in the social life of Americans. When we look at the gap of incomes between White and African Americans, we can see the inequality between these two groups. In general, whites have more annual earnings than their black counterparts in America. Lori Ann Campbell and Robert L. Kaufman emphasized that the wealth determinants, which are the indicators of socio-economic status, have effected more on Whites than Blacks. And even when society is organized, there is still some disparities on account of race and ethnicity. (Campbell and Kaufman, 2006). And income disparities between African and White Americans have definitely effected the peace of the social life. According to Campell and

In any given population, there is a difference between what people within the population earn. The uneven distribution of income in any given population is income inequality. In order for there to be income, there has to be several sources of income. These sources of income may be combinational or independent per person receiving the income. Income may result from wages, rent, bank account interests, salaries or even profits made in business transactions ( Stiglitz, 2012).

About 3.5 times more blacks are in poverty than whites (DBQ 7). As a result, blacks do not have the same income as whites and it is harder for African Americans to find a jobs. Since the civil rights movement occurred, about 15% of the whites that lived in Latino or black neighborhoods have moved out and into a neighborhood that are mostly white (DBQ 8). This continues to support that whites and even blacks are still showing a great example of the Civil Rights term “separate but equal”.

Another premise in this review focuses on the significant divergences of opinions about the plight of the African American’s situation here in America. Some scholars are asking, how has this new pattern of inequality for the African American emerged? Many scholars point to the decline of middle level jobs (Harrison & Bluestone 1988), the redistribution of manufacturing jobs away from large cities like Chicago and Detroit, where many jobless blacks live (Sassen 1988), and the rise of earnings inequality among workers of all races (Danziger & Gottschalk 1993) as causes. One manifestation of these changes may be that gains in earnings have been offset by a growing racial disparity in unemployment between black and white men (Moss & Tilly 1991).

The socioeconomic gap that exists between white and black Americans is a topic that no one seems to know how to solve. In previous years it was easy to collectively point to one factor that caused this gap but in more recent times it has became a point of discussion and disagreement in the black community. The debate rests in the question of whether or not the socioeconomic gap between blacks and their white counterparts is a result of blacks being lazy or it is because of structural discrimination that are embedded in the laws and policies of the United States. The general consensus is that it is a mixture of the two explanations. People differ on how many of each explanation contributes to the problem and in turn they disagree on what the solution should be.

The author touches on an important issue that affects the United States, which is income inequality between different sexes and occupations. The researcher asks an interesting research question that affects a high population in the United States. There have been several debates on income inequality, and it is essential to know the contribution of government and state policies to this problem. The increase in the disparity started in the mid-1970s. It is also important to know the reason for the inequalities between different states. This makes it easier to identify and change policies that contribute to income inequality. The research question is situated properly in the literature. The literature first explains the problem of income inequality,

Income inequality has been a major concern around the world, and it mainly links to how economic metrics are distributed among individuals in a country. Economists generally categorise these metrics in wealth, income and consumption. Wilkinson and Picket (2009) showed in their studies that inequality has drawbacks that lead to social problems. This is because income inequality and wealth concentration can hinder or delay long term growth. In 2011, International Monetary Fund economists showed that less income inequality increased the duration of countries’ economic growth spells more than free trade, low government corruption, foreign investment or low foreign debt (Berg and Ostry, 2011).

Another area of income inequality is between genders. The pay gap is tight between white and black women/men. For instance, white men will always earn more than black men even when white men are uneducated. Black families have a tougher economic future because of not always having a nest egg (savings, investments, etc.) to fall back on when times become hard.

One of the social issues concerning power, status, and class in American society today is income inequality. The income gap between the social classes has increased drastically throughout the last few decades, creating a significant gap between the wealthy and the poor. This gap has become so large that the middle class has nearly diminished, creating a social class comprised of the rich and the poor. The significant gap between the two social classes is unhealthy for the economy because it provides too much power in the hands of those with high social status.

Income inequality has been a major issue in American history. There are many different factors that contribute to inequality. These include education, wealth, discrimination, ability, and monopoly power.

A commonly discussed topic in modern day politics is the growing amount of wealth and income inequality. As more studies are published, it appears that there is a strong racial divide in regards to income. For example, a study found that the average African-American family would earn only 6% of the income that the average white family would (Shin). These studies continuously point towards a few key barriers that prevent ethnic minorities such as African-Americans and Latino-Americans from achieving at the same level as their white counterparts. Some of these specific barriers are a lack of access to education, and inability to purchase property as well as decreased pay in the workplace. Tocqueville appeared to notice this divide early on, commenting: “Almost insurmountable barriers had been raised between [the races] by education and law, as well as by their origin and outward characteristics, but fortune has brought them together on the same soil, where, although they are mixed, they do not amalgamate, and each race fulfills its destiny apart” (Volume I, Book II, Ch. X). Society forced Anglo-Americans, Indians and Negros live separate lives, wherein they had their own definitions of “success” and “achievement” (here referenced by Tocqueville as the fulfillment of “destiny”). In the United States today, differing races are able to coexist however the barriers to success aforementioned have forced minorities into having different “destinies”. This appears to deviate