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Social Inequality In The United States

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Enrolling in this class, I was extremely aware of the majority of the social stratification classifications as well as the social inequality present in the United States of America (USA) due to former classes that I have taken, large amounts of mass media reporting, and the fact that I am considered a minority. I am half Native American from one of the poorest reservations in South Dakota which lacks quality educational opportunities, quality healthcare options, quality housing, and quality employment opportunities. There is very little optimism among the Native American population on this reservation of ever reaching the American Dream.
My experience with social stratification classifications has been reinforced by being brought up in a single parent (white father) home where we have always considered ourselves as middle class, because my father has a BS in Math with a computer science minor and currently owns his own security camera and computer sales and repair small business company with three employees. However, my paternal great-grandparents were almost impoverished back in their early years as poor farmers with an eighth grade education, in the process of purchasing their first farm in …show more content…

When they have tried moving to city living from the reservation, they are met with racial discrimination, low paying, underappreciated menial jobs, and higher cost of living arrangements, and; consequently, they return to the socially accepted environment that they grew up in that is associated with reservation life. I believe that this falls under Doob’s social reproduction that refers to the structure and activities that transmit social inequality from one generation to the next, as well as the set of attitudes, behavior, and experiences maintained by people who share a distinct social

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