Reference no: EM13774837

Can you write a social discussion in at least 350 words?

Question:

What are some examples of class inequality in your everyday life? Have you ever noticed gender inequality in your life?

Define the Elite class in American society. What are some specific characteristics of their lives and in what ways are they different than you and me?

What are some examples of class inequality OR gender inequality? Applying the theories and concepts learned in this unit, analyze the underlying factors and effects.

This is an example: Social inequality places a huge roll on everyday life. Many people in the U.S. often forget that we are better off than most other people in the world. That being said, poverty also impacts millions of people in the U.S. There are a few explanations of poverty that most americans see as the problem in the social class groupings. Blaming the poor and blaming society is often what us humans do because it is the easy way to look at it and this is why the social classes go unchanged and most likely won't be changed anytime in the near future.

One approach to explain poverty is to blame the poor that the poor are responsible for their own poverty. The reason to why some people are poor is because they are born into it, starting your life in a lower class family could lead to poverty for a lifetime. According to this view, society has plenty of opportunities for people to realize the American dream and people are poor because they lack the motivation, skills, or schooling to find work.

Another approach to explain poverty is to blame society that society is responsible for poverty and it is something we just cant fix. While it is true that unemployment is a main contributor to poverty, the reasons people don't work are more in line with this approach. Loss of jobs is a major contributor to poverty which creates the social gap between families. There simply isn't enough work to support families. To make matters worse the economy just hasn't been working the right way in order to fix this inequality social gap. Things like high taxes on more fortunate families, such as the middle class and the higher class. Being grouped by three different levels of class is a controversially topic. Grouping society like this doesn't put us in any situation to fix this in the future. Not allowing all families to live in an equal class and all have equal opportunities for work is the reason to why inequality still plays a role into our society and the social gaps continues to grow.

Example 2: Wealth is unequally shared within the members of a society. Around 70 percent of American wealth is shared between just 10 percent of American families. The amount of wealth that belongs to a social class is outlined in Figure 10.5, and it can be clearly shown that only 16 percent of the American population belongs in a social class that makes more than $125,000 dollars annually. While in America social mobility exists, it is limited by factors that include race, gender, and location. Racial differences contribute to the uneven distribution of wealth. As seen in Figure 10.6, African Americans almost always belong to the poorer group within any age range. These African Americans are stuck in a culture of poverty, which makes it very difficult for members of this race move into a higher social class. Culture of poverty suggests that the poor continue to stay poor because of their beliefs and behaviors, when it is influenced by more than just the individual but also by their society. Gender differences also contribute to uneven sharing of wealth in America. Women are paid less than men for doing the same work. Women average only about 70 percent of what men earn, which makes it difficult for women-headed families to escape poverty. This leads to what is known as the feminization of poverty, which creates an association with poverty and women. Geography plays a huge role in inhibiting social mobility and retaining uneven sharing of wealth. According to the book, "the poor are not distributed evenly among the states. Notice the clustering of poverty in the South, a pattern that has prevailed for more than 150 years." Along with this, rural poverty is higher than national poverty because of lower education levels and inability to acquire the same jobs. Gender, race, and geography as well as education all contribute to the uneven sharing of wealth in America between social classes.