Social and Economic Analysis of America

There were approximately 45.3 million people in poverty in 2013. This number went up 37.3 million since 2007. (DeNavas-Walt 2014, p. 12). The number of poor individuals is the largest it has been in the 52 years. In Ruth Sidel essay “Women and Children Last: The Plight of Poor Women in Affluent America”, she talks about the public misunderstandings about America's poor society. Women should be helped equally, but Sidel does not focus enough on women helping themselves. Sidel assumes that being poor just unexpectedly happens to the female population. In the reading she uses real life stories of women. One reoccurring theme is that the men in their life left them or fail to help them out with the children. Poverty includes more than single women with children. People that are elderly and can’t work is included, disabled and handicapped veterans or people in the army are included. Women make up some of the poverty population, but men makes up the other part. In 2013, there were 14,704,900 poor women and 10,990,100 poor men according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Poverty isn’t just surrounded around women; men and children are included.

The documentary America the Story of Us: Bust summarizes the transition from the prosperous and roaring 20s to the struggling Depression. Focusing on events and causes leading to the Depression as well as its effect on the American population during the time, the film gives an overlook of one of the most unfortunate times in American history. Beginning with the public’s distress during the stock market crash the depression began to spiral as people lost jobs from layoffs, lost homes due to foreclosure, and lost many of life’s basic necessities. The prosperous 1920’s was behind them and the publics high consumerism and production rates of the time reached an all-time low. After summarizing the causes of the Depression the documentary continues bringing attention to the building of the Hoover Dam and how its completion boosted American moral and started the slow and hard fight out of the Depression.

The reality is that historic, legal efforts long restricted the economic lives of minorities. Restricted the kind of work they could do. Restricted their membership in unions. Restricted their access to education and training. Restricted their opportunity in the private sector world of product sales and client services. Restrictions which most white Americans, if they are even aware of them, do not seem to understand the extent of, the persistence of, or the long-standing consequences of -- at all. And, of course, the economic

The United States exhibits the trend of the “feminization of poverty”, a powerful phrase coined by Diana Pierce to exhibit the increasing number of women and children in poverty. Among the causes of this problem is a “dual labor market that actively discriminates against female workers” (Leventman 1988: 197). The average American woman is only paid 77 cents to every working man’s dollar (Alter 2014). Men today make more than women, despite women having the same amount of educational achievement. In fact, in 2011, men with only a bachelor’s degree made more than women with graduate degrees (Alter 2014). In 2013, full-time working men made $50,033 compared to just $39,157 for full-time working women (Cook 2014). In America today, the problem of poverty in the lives of women and children is attributed to different aspects of gender stratification as well as gender inequality. Poverty will continue until women are equal to men in terms of power, wealth, and other

Along with its economic classes, American is known for its freedom, its liberty, and the melting pot of ethnicity. This ethnic diversity comes form the immigrant population in the country. However this perfect country is a major falsehood. These untrue ideals of harmony, freedom, success, and equality are deceptive and do not show the struggles that immigrants face when coming to this class dominated country. The immigrants of today do not come from just Europe, but overwhelmingly from Asia and Latin America. “They are driving a demographic shift so rapid that within the lifetimes of today 's teenagers, no one ethnic group – including whites of European descent – will comprise a majority of the nation 's population’ (Colombo, Cullen, Lisle). These immigrants challenge the social myth that everyone has an equal chance in life. They

Even though Barbara Ehrenreich does not specifically talk about the feminization of poverty, her experience in Nickeled and Dimed teaches us about the feminization of poverty in that she offers compelling evidence that women tend to be more likely than their male counterparts to be poor in the United States, mainly due to oppression and discrimination of women in the workplace as a result of stereotypical belief that they cannot handle some tasks. Barbara’s experience also teaches us about gender stereotypes within the

) The United Sates is a democracy which means it is run by the people for the people. “For a country to be considered democratic, the views of the public must affect the course of government” (Greer 206). This means that if the government wants to change something we must all vote on it, or are at least all be given the chance to vote on it. When asked what it means that the government must have the publics support in order to get their decisions implemented it means just that. In order for anything to change in the laws for the United Sates the citizens must vote on it. Also for the people wanting to pass the law to have a better fighting chance they will need to show the public what this law will do for them and how it will help.

Three main factors contribute to the feminization of poverty in the United States. Firstly, women are paid less than men at jobs that provide fewer benefits. Women make only 77% of a man’s salary, (Eitzen et al, 2007). This unequal treatment is due to the discrimination against women in the job market. Secondly, women are more likely to work part-time or not work at all in order to take care of their children. The cost of pregnancy and caring for a family is often the responsibility of the mother; these high costs can drive a woman and her family into poverty. Thirdly, victims of domestic violence are more likely to be female. These traumatic experiences can lead to developing a mental illness, which can then lead to losing a job and even becoming homeless. Women need and deserve access to high paying “male-dominated” jobs. “Poverty and low earnings are more common among certain types of workers. Single women head nearly one-half of all working poor families with children” (Iceland 255).

Now, just as the topics of race or ethnicity play a role in the quality of education a person receives or the amount of income a person earns, it also has affected the outlook on issues such as immigration. First off, it is crucial to understand what immigration is and why people migrate, in this case, more specifically to the United States. One of the reasons why people migrate to the United States is labor migration, which in the book Social Problems: Community, Policy, and Social Action, it is defined as “the movement of people from one country to another for employment” (Leon-Guerrero, p.76). This takes place because there are individuals who are clearly not surviving, or do not find the money that they are making to be enough. Through the exasperation of not being able to financially support themselves or their families, individuals seek to escape to a place where they will have more success than they currently do. The United States is viewed by many as a country with a lot of economic opportunity, yet many do not realize the amount of scrutiny that they will face because of their race or ethnicity. After many years of constant immigration from many countries, and the passing of laws to regulate not only the immigration, but the discrimination many faced when entering the country, there continues to be criticism and prejudice over this topic. In the article “The History of Racial Exclusion in the U.S. Immigration Laws,” Randall states that there is an eminent danger of not only anti-immigration laws, but racial discrimination within the laws themselves (Randall, 2012). This means that while even more laws are being made, they are laws that are not very accepting of immigration. Furthermore, they may also contain clauses that involve discrimination towards some races. In “Immigration and Its Relation to Race and Ethnicity in the United States” by Bean and Bell-Rose, this idea is also brought up. Racial and ethnic relations will hold various implications in the new immigration laws (Bean and Bell-Rose, n.d.). Now, through the current presidency, this is a topic that has been highly scrutinized as well, but these type of laws, or bans in this case, have taken place. Moreover, Randall states that

Since the start of American history, immigrants came here and brought their traditions and cultures with them. The United States is a country of immigrants. It is a place where people from all over the world come to build a better life. Some immigrants bring their families. Others come alone with nothing but determination. Racial discrimination against minorities and immigrants is an underlying problem here in America today. Racism is seen in our daily lives when people are discriminated against because of their race and ethnicity. Racism attacks the right to a person’s well-being on the basis of something they have no control over. They cannot change nor should want to change who they are. Racial discrimination is not as bad as it was fifty years ago, but it still a problem here in our country today. Our country has advanced tremendously as far as modernization and technology, but has not improved on the way we treat minorities and immigrants. From African-Americans, Asians, Hispanics, and Arabs there is a form of discrimination against these group of minorities.

Joe R. Feagin and Clairece Booher Feagin use their piece “Theoretical Perspectives in Race Relations” to talk about the common misconception of the assimilation of ethnic minorities to the core white culture. As I gradually worked through the reading, I realized that the process of assimilation was much more rigid and tedious for some rather than others as time went on. Feagin and Feagin pointed towards how European immigrant groups were able to assimilate with ease into White American culture. Non-European immigrants such as African-Americans and Latinos were subject to discrimination within a rigid class system that the US economy benefitted off of cheap labor and poor housing markets. Through the use of historical examples, the allocation of class, and race in American society, I was able to realize how intricate of a problem ethnic minorities face to achieve equality. The idea that if blacks and latinos simply started to take after white people, then the wealth, education, and success would soon follow soon diminished, as I realized much of the European immigrant groups have made huge progress over decades, while non-European immigrant groups haven’t made the progress in quality of life. Making the conversation of equality in America not simply about race, or income, or legacy, but rather a culmination of factors that feed into a group’s ascension in society. The old examples of immigrants having difficulty of assimilating to American society transcends today to many

In the 35 years between 1865 and 1900, more social and economic change took place in American then in all of its history prior. The Civil War brought about a huge amount of change in politics and ushered in the Industrial Age. With this boom in industry also came the socioeconomic transfiguration in America from rural dwelling to city living. Population boomed and residency in cities like Chicago increased fifty-fold. This city boom came with the invention of the elevator and new building techniques for building taller buildings. Also, expanding public transportation and super stores like Macy’s and Marshall Field’s provided the means for inhabitants to function.

Meanwhile, Arlie Hochschild explained why the male-breadwinning family is less feasible for most families due to the economic and social policy changes in the society. First, as the US economy changed, males’ earnings dropped remarkably by the mid 1970s. By the 1980s, unemployment rates increased notably due to the closing of the public works and factories. By the 1990s, the value of houses is increased. By the 2000s, federal and state aid on higher education decreased. As a result, male-breadwinning is not feasible because two employed adults are necessary in order to maintain or improve upon the standard of living. Eventually, women’s earnings have contributed to economic stability in many cases as women have started to work in the labor

Poverty has increasingly become a noticeable issue worldwide over the past couple of decades. With the middle class steadily decreasing, considerable amounts of people are becoming part of the lower class, and even more of our world’s population are beginning to live in poverty. It is important to understand there are different definitions of poverty, and that is largely determined by what each country’s government determines as the cut off of poverty, otherwise known as the ‘poverty line’. Although some people could live above the poverty line, and still be struggling financially, it goes unrecognized by most research collection. However, what was initially noticed around the 1970’s is that there was a significant rise in women’s poverty statistics. More female-headed households were living in poverty, and a majority of those women belonged to a minority. This recognizable trend has been deemed the ‘feminization of poverty’, which according research is not only a growing problem in North America, but several other countries around the world. Information gathered about this issue in the United States shows that female-headed households is by far the fastest growing type of family structure, and due to the fact there is a growing poverty level amongst this group, it now means that approximately half of the all the poor in the United States live in a women-headed family and household. (Gimenez, 1999, p. 336) The biggest question when is comes to this particular topic is why?

Feminization of poverty is defined as, “A societal-level process over time in which the poor are increasingly made up of women and children” (Eshleman, 2010, p. 588). According to Lauren Abbate of Mount Holyoke College, “Feminization of poverty is the phenomenon in which women experience poverty at rates that are disproportionately high in comparison to men” (Abbate, 2010). It appears that,