The rich and the poor - class-conscious on income inequality Essay

Inequality exists around us. One of the inequalities is the income received by a person or member of a family. This income includes wages, salaries, pensions, and interest derived from assets. Income inequality refers to the various income within a given population. This inequality is especially high in the United States.

In an article concerning this author Hope Yen said, “Tensions between the rich and poor are increasing and at their most intense level in nearly a quarter-century, a new survey shows. Americans now see more social conflict over wealth inequality than over the hot-button topics of immigration, race relations and abortion.” (Yen).

"How Economic Inequality Harms Societies." Richard Wilkinson:. TED Talks, July 2011. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.

published by The New Yorker on March 16, 2015 Jill Lepore discuss strategics of logos, ethos,

Income Inequality in the United States has been a problem for decades. Since the year 1913 the gap in income inequality between the rich and poor in the U.S. has widened and has been a hot topic for debate. The rich keep getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Thomas Pogge a German philosopher and a professor at Yale University argue that we live in a world where income and wealth are very unevenly distributed throughout society, thus leading to widespread poverty. Amartya Sen an Indian economist and philosopher of Bengali ethnicity argues that really freedoms should be both the ends and means of human development. Robert Reich a professor at Berkeley University and former secretary of labor under Bill Clinton, makes an fluent and impassioned

The highest earning fifth of U.S. families earned 59.1% of all income, while the richest earned 88.9% of all wealth. A big gap between the rich and poor is often associated with low social mobility, which contradicts the American ideal of equal opportunity. Levels of income inequality are higher than they have been in almost a century, the top one percent has a share of the national income of over 20 percent (Wilhelm). There are a variety of factors that influence income inequality, a few of which will be discussed in this paper. Rising income inequality is caused by differences in life expectancy, rapidly increases in the incomes of the top 5 percent, social trends, and shifts in the global economy.

The report of Robert Reich: “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” is an eye opener and a warning for society regarding unemployment that it will be facing and is currently facing due to a lack of technology and education. It clearly articulates that the jobs of routine producers and in-person servers have vanished totally as modern techniques have replaced them. The author has stated that the only people whose jobs are on the rise are symbol analysts. As stated in the report, symbol analysts are the real problem solvers. Their skills are highly in demand worldwide because they are the ones who first analyze the problem and then solve it. The Hart Report, on the other hand, also states the same problem of unemployment

In today’s society, it is normal and expected for media outlets to provide information to society. Often times, these media outlets will adjust, edit, and modify these stories in an effort to make them more appealing to it’s audience. However, this misleads those who listen, and can manipulate those to share the same belief from which they receive their information. To ensure that the news is either biased or unbiased, it would be wise to find a credible source that presents all of the content, without any modifications, and further fact check the research from which this information originated from.  In this paper, I will be critically analyzing and comparing the similarities and differences between a news article of the wealth disparity

One of the social issues concerning power, status, and class in American society today is income inequality. The income gap between the social classes has increased drastically throughout the last few decades, creating a significant gap between the wealthy and the poor. This gap has become so large that the middle class has nearly diminished, creating a social class comprised of the rich and the poor. The significant gap between the two social classes is unhealthy for the economy because it provides too much power in the hands of those with high social status.

Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The

Currently there are many problems and flaws with the way the Canadian government’s policies deal with healthcare, income inequality and poverty. Time to time changes in policies have been made, perhaps to improve these issues, however, the gap between rich and poor keeps increasing and there is very little improvement in healthcare and the economy. In fact, healthcare keeps on becoming costly. Major issues like income inequality and poverty are not being taken care of by the government. According to Dr. Raphael (2002) poverty is caused by several reasons such as inequality in people’s income, weak social services and lack of other social supports (p.VI). He states, “Poverty directly harms the health of those with low incomes while income

From the perspective of middle and the wealthier classes of Americans, the United States society has a “Structural-Functional” (Macionis, p.12) approach of the current classes’ social structures that promotes solidarity and stability. This “sociological perspective” (Macionis, p.34) holds true for most of American social classes, except the lower middle class and lower class. These particular classes can provide evidence of a “Social-Conflict” (Macionis, p.13) perspective of an array of inequality of social and economic gain. Examples of these inequalities can be displayed in our society through social, educational, and economic standards.

Every American dreams of finding a job that pays well enough so that they may comfortably take care of their loved ones and themselves for years to come. Most Americans hope to find some way to make a living that they enjoy, something that they view as productive. Unfortunately, many do not have this luxury. In our society, a good portion of the population is forced to hold the base of our country in place while hardly being redeemed for their time and effort, and thus the problem of income inequality. Numbers of these people live from paycheck to paycheck, barely getting by, not because they manage their money poorly, but because the value of their time at work is negligible.

What 's interesting about arise and relationship to class and economic status or wealth amongst its members, arise benefits from middle and upper-class societies who for any number of reasons feel compelled to donate volunteer or financially fund through tax exempt donations to cover the gaps that occur as a result of financial limitations in the ongoing threat of state and federal financial cutbacks. Another economic situation that other nonprofit organizations like no one leaves does not combat is providing unbalanced services by placing homeless people into motels or other type of housing arrangements out of their pockets until families who can be placed in housing are able to have a roof over their heads officially. Such examples of this donation of skills resources and community wealth and efforts is someone like Ann Ferguson. Her role at arise has been demonstrated during an independent fundraiser herself and one other person organized in artists auction were local community members then made bids on the collected artwork. This event was completely orchestrated and executed by Ann Ferguson and the other person raising financial funds for arise through their personal access to previous relationships established throughout their lifetime.

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.