Social Inequalities And Symbolic Boundaries

Social inequality is the issue pertaining to the lack of housing, health care, education, employment opportunities, and status. It is the dismissal of people from participation in what we, the members of society distinguish as being valuable, important, socially desirable, and personally worthwhile. There are many different perspectives on social inequality within our society; the three areas I am going to focus on are those of the Functionalist, Conflict and Symbolic-Interactionist.

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

Accepting symbolic boundaries fosters what become social boundaries. Social boundaries are objective, socially constructed limitations or guidelines that direct people’s thoughts, actions and functions in society by telling people what is socially acceptable and what is not. In accordance with determining what is socially acceptable, symbolic boundaries reinforce social inequalities by determining what people do and do not have access to in terms of resources. Lamont and Molnar explain this transition from symbolic boundaries to social boundaries and vice-versa through the construction and deconstruction of the Berlin Wall. Germany symbolically split into two groups, treating each other as opposing, as “the disappearance of the territorial boundary left almost intact the deep divide between former East and Western Germans as differences continue to be reproduced through a myriad of symbolic boundaries” (2002:184). Here, symbolic boundaries are the classification of differences between East and West Germans through verbal treatment of one another, social expectations and classifications. Widely accepting the symbolic boundary created inequality by regulating what is socially acceptable and unacceptable for Eastern or Western Germans and determining the available resources for them. Symbolic

Racial and ethnic health disparities plays a significant role when it comes to those living in a what is considered a low- economic community because people are more susceptible to poor air quality, high blood pressure related to stress, and violence. Inaccessibility to healthy foods forces people to have to eat unhealthy and struggle with the risk that can lead to obesity or high cholesterol down the road (Noonan, A et al ,2016). Also social racism with having limited income, and education can cause people to act out in a negative way due to being frustrated and can cause one to act out in a violent way which can cause a spike in crime. So much can be done to strengthen low economic communities such as re-opening schools in the neighborhood,

There are many types of inequalities throughout the world, but the major ones throughout the United States would most likely involve one's gender, one's background and also one's financial status. According to the Merriam-Webster, inequality is defined as, an unfair situation in which some people have more rights or even better opportunities than others. Many of today's United States citizens came into this country for the many benefits and opportunities one tends to hear about, but the negative situations and outcomes are never discussed. Just like any other topic, inequality has both its positive and negative outcomes, whether it is necessary to give those who want to succeed a bit of a challenge to get to where they deserve to be, to even

In America, looking from the outside in, it is hard to fathom how the government runs with so many different people, religions, ethnicities, and cultures. Thomas Paine characterizes America as an amalgamate government that has no unfair treatment. This rendition is true to a certain extent, the poor have Social Security, the LGBTQ community finally has equal rights, and everyone has an equal educational opportunity. Conversely, there are many issues with America today, such as police brutality towards the black community, high prison populations, and a corrupt economic class system.

Even first world countries have some major problems, I believe the biggest problem is that inequalities of different groups are still around, the biggest one in America is salary equality. Although some jobs pay different prices the fact that there are so many homeless people in areas that have vacant houses is a problem. Another big equality problem in America is age equality, the “respect your elders” term is acceptable but when someone who is older than another individual bullies or demands something from an younger person is unfair. Disorders such as depression are very common, especially in teens and young adults, and schools have really acted upon these disorders. Equality is not being totally 100% equal, that impossible, but at least make it fair for everyone.

The social construction of race changed due to the great number of immigrants coming to the U.S. Once they arrived they must identify as a certain race which is based on phenotype or ancestry. This concept is seen in the reading What is Racial Domination? by Matthew Desmond and Mustafa Emirbayer explains the effect phenotype has on an individual such as the color of their skin, eyes and also ancestry too. The social construction of race is related to the racial inequality because it determined if a person had rights or not. This idea is seen through the two supreme cases Ozawa and Thind. For the case of Ozawa for example, he used his own skin color and the idea that race should not matter but the beliefs they hold. He was denied citizenship

Growing up in a diverse community being surrounded with people of different races, sexuality, gender, and socio-economic class has shown me that we all share different experiences. We all go through different events during our lives that add to our experience and shape us to who we become as people. I took a class about social inequalities in the United States, and it helped me realize that many of us are victims of social injustices, whether it is how someone treated because of their race, or being expected to act a certain way because of gender or sexuality, or even recognizing the lack of opportunities because of socio-economic class. Understanding not only my own, but other’s experiences as well is important to me because it has shaped

Poverty and income inequality is an enormous obstacle in which certain Americans may face daily. Poverty refers to economic or income deprivation (Iceland 2006). Some may refer to poverty as having material hardships, or having one’s income and assets compared against a standard. If an individual’s income falls below the standard, they’re considered “poor” (Newman and O’Brien 2011). Poverty may be currently measured in two common ways, either through an absolute measure or relative. The poverty measure I am proposing would be looking at “family/couple/household” as the unit of analysis, cost of food, childcare, housing, and transportation as scale of resources, and the threshold will be using a more relative dimensional perspective.

Pundits say that income inequality has been one of the greatest downturns of our country’s growth and development, however a puzzle exists where economics and politics meet that does not make the solution to income inequality easy to find. Political leaders, economists, and bankers all agree that policies have appealed more to the interests of the governing class than those of the ordinary people. The comments surrounding this topic mostly stem from the strong shift of wealth distribution over the last few decades. Figures from the Economic Policy Institute demonstrate that the share of income accumulating by the top 1 percent of the United States increased from 9 percent in 1978 to 26 percent in 2011.

Life is hard it consists of effort, work, and dedication, all of which make life a bit more livable, but nonetheless the struggle still exists. This struggle is due to the constant tension between acquiring wealth, which apparently makes life worthwhile, while disdaining one’s personal passions, which has become a social norm. This is interesting, because it shows how easily controlled the human mind can be. In reality this is the heart of the argument: do people wish to be controlled by their jobs and those in power, or do they want to be in control of their lives by doing what they please? Therefore, America being as modern and progressive as it may seem harbors and endorses a new kind of slavery that leaves people devoid of their ambitions

According to the OECD, the term inequality in the opposite of equity can be defined as evenness

According Social Inequality: Patterns and Processes by Martin Marger, life chances includes “education, physical and mental health, residence and justice;” which are opportunities that we must procure through social resources (18). Our position within society determines our life chances; for children, their parent’s positions within society determines the child’s social status within society. “Life chances are acquired, then, as a result of factors that are only partially in the control of individuals…people’s initial class position and, therefore, the dimensions of their opportunities and future prospects are essentially an “accident of birth.” Certainly, people may subsequently enhance their life chances through individual effort, but

In briefly evaluating the classical and modern explanations of social inequality, it is essential that we step outside the realm of our own lives, class position, and discard any assumptions we might have about the nature of inequality. This process of critical pedagogy allows us to view our world, not from our perspective, but from a wider, more critical analysis of inequality's nature. Also, it should be considered within this wider perspective that all theories of inequality have a class perspective, where the theorist, based on the position their theory takes, is making claims from (or for) a particular class (whether they want to or not). With this in mind, it seems that most of these theories come