Social Injustice of Classism in the United States Essay

There is much debate about the issue of social class in the United States. There are arguments about whether social classes are distinctly separate or fluid, dependent upon one’s community or society as a whole, and if they are subjective or objective (Hughes and Jenkins). However, despite the debate surrounding social classes, it is still important to try to define them and analyze their effects, as they are such an important part of our identity and our opportunities in society. Although our society has tried to appear as though we have no classes, and it is becoming harder to tell what class someone is in by material goods, classes do still exist today (Scott and Leonhardt). The trend has been to divide the U.S. into four major

The readings examined how classism has negatively affected economics in the United States, how oppression manifests in taking financial advantage of groups of people who cannot advance financially, and systemic issues contributing to low wage and inability to move out of one’s social class. I was struck by the idea that most people in the United States are disadvantaged financially based on the way the country has set up its economic policies. From the beginning, black people have been oppressed by the inability to attain wealth, which continued through the end of WWII. I unnecessarily read a chapter speaking about financial companies targeting poor people, particularly people of color, with money schemes so they are losing their hard-earned money to fees and interest rates. This scheme continues to keep people in debt and living paycheck to paycheck. I related to the reading about college loans creating a paradox that students with degrees enter the workforce unable to find a job in their their field of study. Then the added paradox of not being able to find work making

Charles Murray’s essay proposes that American colleges are being flooded with individuals who are either unprepared for higher education or who are simply forced into attending college and can’t succeed because of the lack of certain innate abilities. Murray’s essay goes on to take issue with the idea that the pursuit of a traditional college education is somehow strategically creating a separation of the American class system. While Murray makes many salient points with regards to America’s obsession with college education as a standard into a class of the intellectual elite, the essay fails to take into consideration the various motivators that can lead to student success, despite

The US has always been recognized as the one place where there is no divide among people, hence from its founding days it had been based on the fact of classless society of equals (Angus 55), where it focused on getting rid of such culture that was forced upon by the United Kingdom. A famous sociologist by the name of Alexis Tocqueville, at that time described the US as the most democratic nation in the world. But that soon has changed today in modern times, where there is a greater perceptible of classes in the country, only because of vast wealth accumulation by the higher class or as you may rich class. Americans today have a huge disadvantage of opportunities in all fields such as politics, or health care, justice security even in education and income.

For generations African Americans have been disadvantaged in America and effects of these injustices have made a lasting impression. Education is one of the leading problems in the black community. Though there have many reforms in education over the years, racial injustices still exist because no attention in placed on how legislature affects people of color. I was raised in a middle-class family of educators. My entire life I’ve been told to “stay in school, get an education, and work hard so that you can beat the system.” Recognizing the structural forces in my life has helped me understand my place in society. Being able to “understand everyday life, not through personal circumstances but through the broader historical forces that

In America being a member of a class is comparable to being an animal confined to an enclosure at the Zoo. Even the high-class Lion is limited in his freedom and mobility. The low class and slow moving turtle will have difficulty ever climbing a social ladder. All the animals at the Zoo are like all the people in society that are separated by class. I have chosen to escape my cage and fly in any direction I see fit. Paul Fussell’s Class can clearly illustrate what it means to be labeled in a class society. I don’t feel that I am restricted to fall into those categories or labels that Fussell dictates in his book for class status codes. Frankly, I could care less what society thinks of me and my matriculation through college is solely based on the fact that I want to do more with my life. On a personal level, I want to achieve all of my goals and dreams and I feel that the only person preventing me from doing so is myself. I

Another possible explanation for the low cross-class interaction is the lack of understanding and sympathy between the different social classes. Elizabeth Aries and Maynard Seider discussed in their research how students from private universities, which were dominated by upper class people, were taunted to explore more of the backgrounds of different social classes whereas students from state universities, where there was a significantly greater presence of working class families, were way less interested in taking classes on these subjects (Aries and Seider 151-52). Though Aries and Seider’s research focused on university students, it is reasonable to assume that these differences persist throughout society as these same students grow up to

Social class refers to the system of stratification of the different groups of people in a society. These different forms of classification are, in most instances, based on gender ethnicity and age. Social class makes everyone’s lives extremely different. For example: How long one can expect to live. In a wide range of ways, from success, to one’s health class, social class influences people’s lives (Grusky,2003).

For as long as I can remember, class has been something I have been physically conscious of, almost like it was a sentient being in the room with me. Into my adolescence, I often felt like an outsider looking into the upper class lifestyle, uninvited but somehow present—like Cinderella at the ball, if you will. As a white, private school girl, I passed as much as I could; appearance-wise, nothing was really out of the ordinary, and no one suspected that anything was amiss. I was living a strange double life, it seemed, just another presumably wealthy student in a predominantly wealthy school, interacting with (and competing with) the children of millionaires by day, going home to my average, one-story home on the “wrong side of town” by night. I was not always aware of this visible disconnect, however, and it took me a while to come to terms with what that meant for me and my future, both as a privilege and as a disadvantage. I only recently began exploring myself in this light, and discovered things I had never noticed before about my own and others’ experiences.

Classes separate people in more ways than one. We all come from different backgrounds, cultures, and socioeconomic statuses. Many of us hope to become great people. We want to have these wonderful careers and awesome families. We want to be able to provide for them and give them everything their hearts desire. As great as it sounds to have these wonderful things, my people do not get to have everything they want. Sometimes you cannot help the kind of family and background you’re are born into so you must work very hard to get to where you want to be, but others may not have to work as hard because they were born into a better background then yourself. Sometimes the class you are in can cause to be treated a certain way by society. People in higher classes look down upon others because they see them as incompetent and incapable of reaching their level. Although it is harder for someone of a lower-class level to get out of that class and get into a higher class, it is after all possible.

In the article of '' Outcomes of social class and classism in first- and continuing-generation college students.'' written by Blake, Allan, explained the goal of this study was to check perceptions of classism which may illustrate the relationship between social class, first-generation college student status, and academic and academic and well-being outcomes. in general, with a sample of 1,225 college students from a public university. According to, (Stephens, Fryberg, Markus, Johnson, & Covarrubias, 2012) Research investigating pedagogical disparities through first-and continuing-generation college students has shown that middle-class norms prevalent in U.S. Classism has been cited as a specific environmental barrier that FGCS face in higher

Social justice is one of the fundamental factors that can make a community, society, or the entire country thrive. Counties that have any sort of social justice system even if it is not perfect are more stable than one who lack all forms of social justice system. It is very difficult to see social justice in most countries of the world due to the greediness of those who are in the upper class. This kind of behavior makes the others who are below the the upper class revolt against the regimes and their allies from the upper class who control almost everything within the country. Those who control almost everything describe the lower class as unpatriotic and the enemies who want to destroy the country. In Fact, the lower class are those who work hard to keep the life of the entire society move on forward, but they do not get what they deserve as hard workers due to injustice.

There is a high degree of social inequality within the United States. Of most modern industrial countries, the United Stated has some of the richest and some of the poorest people to be found. That fact is very disturbing, however, explains why much of the inequality exists in the US. In the following essay I will explain to you about the inequality in our country and why it occurs, based on the theoretical perspectives of a functionalist, conflict theorist, and social interationist.

Social class has been always been in our society since its establishment. Back then, white,

I found this video, and the results from the studies performed, very interesting and educational. The video showed an clear link between social class and behavior.