Social Class In America Research Paper

An inequality in society, economy, wealth distribution, and political corruption and the influence in cooperation of government led to

The ideal concept of American society is one in which all of the citizens are treated equal in all every realm and situation. Class, race or gender does not divide the utopian America; everyone is afforded the same opportunities and chances for success. In this chimerical state Americans are able to go as far as their dreams allow and with hard work and perseverance any thing is possible. Many Americans subscribe to this pluralist view of the Country, believing that within our democratic system it is the majority who maintains control and sets policy. Unfortunately this idyllic country does not exist nor has it ever existed. America is made up of distinct social classes and the movement within those classes is for the most part,

The point that James Loewen is trying to make about the social class in the united states is, a lot of history books do not talk about social class, so a lot of high school graduates do not understand why they are in the social class that thy are in. Social Darwinism is the success and failure of people to advance in society where the strong survive and the weak do not. An example of blaming the victim would be blaming the poor people for being poor, and not making their way up the social ladder.

Class is a topic seldom discussed amongst citizens of the U.S. As a country that is based on equality, it is not hard to see why people may be reluctant to define their social status. Topics distinguishing the upper and lower class are avoided by politicians and trivialized by the media. By maintaining the illusion of a classless America, important issues such as social inequalities are overlooked. Such avoidance of social inequalities work in favor of the wealthy, but do damage to the lower classes. Only by accurately defining our social class can we address the problem of social inequality (Mantsios 379).

Society today has developed the concept of social class, to categorize citizens into different groups based on their economic status. These social classes are divided into three groups: upper, middle and low. Unfortunately, social class has become the backbone of American society, where being upperclass gives citizens an advantage and controlling position in the United States. Society in America thinks that what ever social class a person falls in defines them as an individual.

Social class is an important part of how the United States functions. Because the United States tries to run on a laissez-faire based marketing system, there are social classes that differ based on economic prosperity. The people who work hard and are smart rise to the top and usually become part of the upper or middle class. People who don 't work hard or are lacking an intellectual capabilities fall to the lower class. Social class stratification is important to understand because social class can affect who we are and how we interact with others. People in different social classes tend not to interact because a poor person can not afford to eat out at a place where wealthy person would eat. Also, wealthy people tend to form their own social groups because they have a large amount of money to go places and do things with. These differences between social classes and the separation that occurs is vital to understanding the way society functions.

Society has developed the concept of social class to categorize people into different groups based on economic, political, and educational status. The three primary social classes in the United States include; the upper class, middle class, and lower class. There are several subgroups within these extensive sections. This system of social ranking contributes to the difficulties that the middle and lower classes have to experience in order to succeed in the United States; always trying to obtain the success and respect that the upper class receives. America is a place where all people are supposed to be equal, but social class has created divisions in our society.

Social class is a division of a society based on social and economic status. Why do we have social class in our societies? For what purpose does social class, even exist? From India, to the United States, many different societies have different social classes and systems. So why does social class and system differ from place to place? These are some essential questions that need to be answered.

As social workers, oppression and privilege are subjects that we will face every day in our work with clients. It is our role to help our clients cope with their experiences and well as empower them to fight against oppression. However when working with clients in communities different then our own it is important to examine our own bias so that we can keep them in check when working with clients. One way we can understand and recognize our biases more is by looking back on our life.

Social Class is a division of a society based on social and economic status. In today’s society there are three main social groups in America: upper, middle, and lower class; these rankings are contributed by mass amounts of factors, but one of the

Social class largely affects the ways of life of all Americans These divisions of social class are characterized by viewpoints, for example, lifestyle and income but education is a huge part of deciding one's social class. That does not imply that it will decide a person's achievements but with many individuals with higher education normally have better jobs with benefits and higher wages too. Those of the privileged have higher education rather than those of middle and lower class. Around 14% of mortgage holders are either behind on their home payments or are putting up for foreclosure. The economic crash and foreclosure crisis that occurred in 2008 was not made by one issue but rather a blend of issues. People obtained more than they could bear the cost of however they were permitted, and now and again empowered, to do this by bankers which institutions that should be helping the people to finance. The conviction that material belonging enhances people's lives and social prosperity pervades in America. As opposed to this belief different studies demonstrate that materialists contrasted with non-materialists have individual and social prosperity. Compulsive and impulsive shopping, debt, diminished savings overall decrease the well-being of people and other undesirable results have all been connected with materialistic behavior. American materialism has found its ways to millions in America. Success is measured in the materials and the social class a person is in. This does

America’s income poorly distributed across its citizens. The one percent dominates the remaining 99% and the distance continues to grow. According to Emmanuel Saez at UC Berkeley, the bottom 99% incomes grew 3.9% from 2014 to 2015, but the top one percent incomes grew 7.7% (Saez, n.d.). Average wages of the bottom 90% have stayed relatively the same since 1986, however, the top 1% have tripled between 1980 and 2012 (Monaghan, 2014). This shows the continuous progression of income inequality. Not only is the inequality between the 1% and 99%, but also the 0.1%. They receive nearly 198 times the income of the bottom 80% (Income Inequality. N.d.).

Class plays a major role in how the society is built upon today. Class is still around today even when people do not like to admit it. People are automatically put in a class based off their parents social status. Therefore not giving people a fair ground, because the more wealthy a kid is grown up upon the more access to a better education. There are most people born into a considerably poor establishment given hardly education at all. When a person is growing up into a lower class type of lifestyle they are considered to be given a poor education besides some exceptions of the rags to riches type of mentality that is expressed more frequently to those in harder positions in life. This expression is exemplified by people like Oprah where she came up from very little wealth to having an abundance amount of wealth. We are born into classes whether it is the lower income class, middle class, or even the top 1%. Whether we like it or not we as humans have this tendency to categorize people into different groups. Based off simply appearance or any other meaning that should not have a role in to tell a person what “class” they are in. Americans do not have any choice in the class they go into.

Social classes are categories individuals are put into based on income, lifestyles, opportunities, job occupations, behaviors, and attitudes. Virtually all societies have a class system, and America is no exception. To prevent mixing of class systems “Class boundaries are maintained by limiting social interaction, intermarriage, and mobility into another class” (Tischler, 2014, P.181). How many social classes exist in American society is debatable, however many believe that there is only five. The five American social classes are upper class, upper-middle class, middle-middle class, lower-middle class, and lower class.

Society has created the concept of social class to classify people into different groups based on political, economic, and socio-economic status. This system of social stratification contributes to the problems that the middle and lower classes have to experience in order to achieve success in the United States. America is a place where all people are supposed to be equal, but social class has generated divisions in our society. Unfortunately, social class has become the backbone of American society, where being upper-class gives people an advantage and a controlling position in the United States. In order for some people to feel content with their lifestyle they feel that they need to move up in the socio-economic ladder which is guaranteed through social mobility and the idea that everyone can achieve in life. It’s obvious that America was constructed under these difficulties relating to social class that obstruct anyone who tries to reach the higher levels of our society. “The American Dream,” is what America is most known for;  however achieving it is definitely not an easy task, for people in the lower and middle class this is especially true.