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Social Inequality Regarding Class

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"What has happened in America is that achievement is so important that everyone wants everyone else to know what they have done. . . And in case you don't know, they want to tell you with a lethal combination of houses, cars and diamonds. (Fabrikant 2005))" Inequality in the United States is changing, and for the worse. People who are not wealthy are now competing to have the "status" of wealthy, which causes the wealthy to literally get wealthier while the middle class and upper middle class are going increasingly in debt trying to keep up with the wealthy. It has gotten somewhat easier for people who are not wealthy to keep up with the wealthy. Godiva, the chocolate company, used to only sell its product in upscale stores but now that …show more content…

. . It was frustrating to be driven away by two obs that we very much enjoyed, but a starter home for our family would have cost over 600,000 dollars. (Fabrikant 2005)". This family was obviously not poor, they both had two well paying jobs but still could not afford to live in this community. This gives an unfair advantage to the wealthy because this shows that they can have enough power to drive other people who are not as well off as them away; whether or not it is intentional or not does not matter. It is not just wealthy people who feel the pressure to buy expensive things; in a poll done by The New York Times, 81% of Americans feel social pressure to buy high priced goods (2005). This was not done to just wealthy or middle-class people, this poll was to people in all social classes. This shows how even people who barely have enough money to survive, still feel pressure to buy expensive things. This statistic is very concerning, because since 2005 the statistic I'm sure has gone up even more. The amount of importance society places on material goods in this country is disheartening; especially when it seems that having expensive material goods are what people think is the most important thing in life. Sometimes people even place more emphasis on material goods then their own family! "Shame has somehow gone out the window. . . There is no incentive to exercise self control. (Fabrikant 2005)". This statement is very true, one does not receive any reward or

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