Social inequality is a problematic phenomenon that occurs all around the world and affects both the developed and developing nations. It is defined as “the unequal distribution of social, political and economic resources within a social collective” (van Krieken et al. 2013, p. 205). Inequality is closely connected with social stratification, a system of social hierarchy that positions individuals and groups into categories according to social variables such as class or ethnicity (van Krieken et al. 2013, p. 485). This stratification has a significant impact on the opportunity that an individual may have to move up the hierarchy of inequality (Gill 2017a).
With inequality based on class status disregarded, racial discrimination seems to the root cause of workplace inequality. Subtle Yet Significant: The Existence and Impact of Everyday Racial Discrimination contains information that suggests that racism has not lessened, it has only been disguised. Blatant discrimination, like racial slurs and exclusion, has taken background to smaller, less obvious discrimination (Deitch, Barsky, Butz, Chan, Brief & Bradley, 2003).
Throughout the semester, we have discussed many different social justice issues. One issue that has stuck with me is gender and racial inequality. Gender inequality is very important to me because I was raised by a single mother and surrounded by women all the time. I do not believe that anyone should be payed or treated differently due to their gender. While growing up, I saw that women are capable for doing anything and often times have to work harder than men to prove themselves. Racial inequality is an issues that is important to me because I feel that all individuals should be equal. I think Dr. King’s idea of color blindness, not today’s definition, should be something that we as a society strive for. We need to move past the idea that
I’ve never taken into consideration how all of my experiences growing up has really formed the person that I am today. I’ve never really taken the time to think about my story of intersectionality until I took this class. I never realized how my inner, outer, experiential, relational, and developing identities have really constructed the person that I have become today. Many of my identities have influenced and changed my life especially my identities in social class, race and ethnicity, religion, citizenship and immigration status, first language I learned, my gender, and my gender expressions.
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.
Christopher Doob wrote the first edition of Social Inequality and Social stratification in US Society. The author structures this book in the direction towards a theoretical concept that attracts the reality of social inequality and stratification as a whole. Doob dissects this books into eleven chapters given that each chapter examines the inequality of stratification. Also during the readings of this book Doob used plenty of data to show the socioeconomic strata revolved around the history of America. In relation to this book the assigned four readings in class “Class A guide through the American Status System, Class
institutional racism, wage inequality, feminization of poverty, and generational poverty have posed the greatest barriers to overcoming urban poverty in the United States. Systemic racism negatively impacts equitable opportunity in education, housing, employment, debt, health care, political representation, and immigration, while at the same time supporting a justice system that disproportionately punishes and incarcerates persons of color. Wage inequality prevents workers from earning a livable wage (with insurance and sick leave), depriving families the stability to provide food, shelter, and a sense of financial security, requiring household earners to work multiple, low-paying jobs without set schedules and benefits, keeping families from
Before this era of fabled plenty began, it was widely assumed that prosperity would eliminate, or greatly reduce, class differences 4 The rank-and-file citizens of the nation have generally accepted this view of progress toward equality because it fits with what we would like to believe about ourselves. It coincides with the American Creed and the American Dream, and is deeply imbedded in our folklore. Such a notion unfortunately rests upon a notable lack of perception of the true situation that is developing.
Experiencing racial disparities can permit an increasing level of stress over the years, yet buffering mechanisms can be used to decrease the impact of adverse experiences. Based on Brody et al. (2006) study, results indicated that race-related stress from allostatic load was not significant for youth with high emotional support. Accessing emotional supportive networks of family and peers can help readjust behavior and counterbalance cognitive trajectories that reduce anxiety and stress.
An increase in employment has shown a positive effect on the increase of social status. More statistics show that in March of 2010 the unemployment rate for African Americans was at a high as 16.8%, but by December 2014 the rate fell to 10.4%. ( Wilson, “Imapact.. On African American.. Wages” ) Furthermore, there are also laws such as the Affirmative Action that have helped level the plane field so that everyone has an equal opportunity in the work field no matter their gender or race. Although there might still be a gap between the incomes of white and black Americans, the increase level of employment and the rise of the middle class show the improvements and efforts African Americans are trying to make in order to bridge the gap between racial
Social stratification involves various inequalities within a gender, race, class. When considering the role of gender, race, and class in the social stratification system, it affects the organization system which is known for disparity based on the families’ income statutes, lack of resources, organization activity, and systematic inadequate government law. In the following essay I will focus how social stratification inequality effect families and individuals in the United States based on a gender, race, and class. Society has lived over decades experiencing different types of inequality. For example, gender inequality has been around since our ancestors. Informing society and continuous advocating about inequality is vital for positives changes
Racial inequality is one of the acute issues faced by contemporary American society. In many academic sources, this social issue is discussed by sociologists as a serious national problem that requires the proper and prompt solutions (Hwang, J. & Sampson, 2014; McCarthy, 1991; Williams & Sternthal, 2010). It has been found that “race relations in America have undergone fundamental changes in recent years, so much so that now the life chances of individual blacks have more to do with their economic class position than with their day-to-day encounters with whites” (Wilson, 2012, p. 1). In the United States, the enduring racial inequality is caused by the preferential treatment of whites. In the works of the great sociologist W. E. B. Du
After reading through “Race, Ethnicity, Gender & Class” by Joseph Healy, I really became drawn and interested on the topic about visible and distinguished traits among different races and gender in regards to western traditions and theory; primarily African Americans and Europeans. According to Healy, Europeans had always been long aware of racial variation and had linked the notions of inferior and superior during their conquests. Europeans also used racist thinking as a form to rationalize unequal treatment on obvious differences in skin color and the level of importance, such as if the individual was educated and had an adequate form of language. These common insinuations at the time still play a current way of how other races are viewed
Social Stratification is a term used by sociologists to describe inequalities that exist between society and us as individuals and can also be described as a hierarchy with the less privileged people at the bottom and the more favoured people at the top. (Giddens, 2006)
In the article written by Karen Brodkin, Sandra Morgen and Janis Hutchinson discusses how we as people discriminate and need more equal opportunities for both white and people of color. In the summary I have written I have discussed how we need more equal opportunities in the work place. We as a people do not all have the same equal opportunities because of cultural indifferences and through the process of enculturation, or how we were raised to behave with different races in the workplace. In many surveys we see that higher paying jobs are dominated by the white workforce, while the lower paying jobs are dominated by the lower paying jobs that often involve longer working hours and more back breaking work. American workplaces need to have