Social Class Inequalities

“The percentage of Americans who say they are in the lower-middle or lower class has risen from a quarter of the adult population to about a third in the past four years, according to a national survey of 2,508 adults by the Pew Research Center” (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/09/10/a-third-of-americans-now-say-they-are-in-the-lower-classes/). Today’s adults stating that they are in the lower class are most likely to have had a rough life growing up, and can now not escape the lower class. Social class is the idea of “a division of a society based on social and economic status” (http://www.dictionary.com/browse/social-class). Social class has the greatest impact on who a person turns out to be and what decisions they make because those

privileges that the lower classes do not have, such as more wealth. This means the lower class is

Individuals within a society are grouped into certain rankings that is based on their wealth, income, race and education known as the social stratification. Sociologist use this to determine the social standings of individuals within a society. Social stratification can also appear in much smaller groups. These groups such as the work place, schools, and businesses can “take the form of a distribution of power and authority down the ranks”. (Cole, 2017) The Caste system is also another form of stratification that one does not get a choice in. They are born into it and regardless of their talents will hold positions that are given to them their whole life. Social mobility is the ability for individuals to move about their social standings.

The concept of social class has been around for ages and is still a part of today’s society. Social class is not only based on the individual’s wealth but also on their social standing such as; monarchs, priests, nobles, merchants, and peasant class. The peasant class was practically ignored, which means that the higher classes would only pay attention to each other. This can be the case in society today, there are some people who feel that their career makes them higher than a janitor. Even though humans have been around for centuries, social class is still a big issue.

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

In modern the modern day United states, Americans face a problem that drastically affects the way we have to live life. Our healthcare system has become drastically irregular and unequal in the current system. After thorough analyzation of the provided CTSIP tables one can clearly see the gap between economic and social classes that exists in the current structure and can place the said data into both a functionalist and marxist perspective.

The different wage gap and social class is yet another aspect that will hinder the ability for good people be able to achieve what they want to do in life. Part of the reason that poverty is such a problem is the fact that it relates back to racism and the fact that only certain people and certain genders are able to hold jobs in business and communities. There is a huge pay gap between different races compared to the white income level. The mean black income is 60% less than the white pay. This causes a numerous amount of different problems that hold other races back. It makes it harder for them to raise a family and change their life. One of the ways that they could change their life is if they were to move to a different area and try to

Social class is a division of a society based on social and economic status which can include levels of wealth, success, power of authority, and influence. Status is can be defined or grouped having common economic, cultural, or political interests.

Before this class, I’d never had a real discussion about classism, and as I read about the subject it became clear as to why. As Mantsios states, “People in the United States don’t like to talk about class…Workers are more likely to identify with their employer, industry, or occupational group than with other workers, or with the working class” (150). Class has become a taboo subject in this country, and people have become unwilling to admit that they are working or lower middle class. I had no idea that this phenomenon was so wide spread, I just thought that my parents were weird about money. Now, my family doesn’t struggle to pay the bills or put food on the table, but we aren’t cruising through life either, despite that I’ve never heard my parents talk about our class standing. If I were to make an educated estimate

USA is a very big country with a lot of people and the social classes are very important. We can see that social class plays big part of people’s life. Everyday people are working, studying, trying to be better. Even though right now it’s time when everyone has many opportunities in his life, anyway there is a gap between classes and groups of people with same features. And your background probably will build your future. And we need to find what kind of class we have right now and look into these classes. The main idea is that Social Classes still exist and it’s most general part of U.S.A society. There are three reasons why gap between groups still exist.

Economic stratification is the different rankings in social class are separated in different economic ways. These differences can vary from clothing, cars, perfumes, cigarette brands, etc. There are many ways you can tell what a person stratification is just by the way they look or the things they have. Usually these ranking go from lower class to middle class then the upper class. Each of these classes have very different ways of living and what they do to maintain a certain status.

People can not put on the news without seeing at least one story about social inequality or injustice, if everyone knows about these inequities why are they not being solved? Inequities are not limited to America, social inequity is a global problem making it extremely important to raise awareness of the topic. Inequities such as racism and sexism impact teenagers in America, but to counteract this persecution authors can use various genres of literature to promote tolerance and reduce the effects of inequities. Racism and sexism violates people’s rights in schools, the workplace, and almost every place in the world. Through the words of authors, society can learn the harmful effects of these inequities, and learn how

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

Concept 1: I come to realize that classism is degree of difference based on social perceived class, which is all teetering on one paycheck. I also come to understand, from the movie American Winter, that middle class people are finding themselves, laid off, foreclosed, and unable to pay their utility bills causing so many people in our own community to be one paycheck from poverty, eviction and homelessness. The middle class is working hard one day and the next day going to homeless shelters, food banks and even selling their own plasma just to put food on the table (Gantz 2013). Homeless shelters are quickly

Class is the relative location of a person or group within a larger society based on wealth power, prestige, or other valued resources. In other words, class can be defined as a socioeconomic status in which one’s capital defines their class position thus giving us a ranking of financial status. This categorization of class position is based on economic status that can be determined through income, profession, or inherited wealth. Blue collar (working class), white collar, and upper class (professional services) are the three class categories based on economic status. This class structure is society’s way of determining between the haves and have-nots. One’s ability to be aware of the class system and one’s place within it is known as class consciousness or class standing.