Inequal Divide In Society

“It’s not what you own its what people think you own” (Ewen 183). Consumerism is fueling today’s “middle class”. Stewart Ewen’s “Chosen People” goes into detail about the rise of the materialistic middle class.

This chapter focuses on the topics of race and ethnicity. It discusses the difference between race versus ethnicity and prejudice versus discrimination, and how race is a social construct. Race is defined by the racial makeup you were born with; i.e. Mexican, Asian, Caucasian, Native American, African American, etc. This is based on physical attributes like hair type, color of skin, shape of eyes and other attributes. Ethnicity is the shared characteristics people register with, such as religion, language and culture. For example, when people live in less fortunate neighborhoods, they would be more likely to register as “hood” than someone living in a higher end neighborhood.

Race and ethnicity are terms that are commonly mistaken for one another every day. According to sociologists and authors, Markus and Moya, race is a “dynamic set of historically derived and institutionalized ideas and practices that group certain people according to physical and behavioral human characteristics that are negative and shared.” Race was developed on a social context due to the fact that the dominant cultures labeled people with darker skin tones as different and inferior. Ethnicity is a “group of ideas and practices that allows people to identify with groups of people on the basis of presumed, and usually claimed commonalities” (Markus and Moya 2010: p.22) Country of origin, language, and physical characteristics are some

What is ethnicity and why does it matter? Ethnicity is; “the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.” Our dreams and opinions create meaning about race and ethnicity, and plays an important role in shaping the way we understand race and ethnicity as part of our identity, our social institutions, our history, and our everyday lives. Often used mutually, race is a way of classifying individuals and groups on the analysis of physical characteristics, mainly one’s skin color. Ethnicity lays out one’s place of origin or nationality, one’s ancestry or cultural background``, one’s language and by extension, one’s belief system. Nevertheless, how does this affect how the authors ethical impacted

The futuristic world envisaged by Aldous Huxley, in his accredited and celebrated masterpiece Brave New World, was indeed as horrifying as it was compelling. Nevertheless, Huxley’s intentions have since then been up for interpretation. Some of its audiences are infatuated by the technological and scientific advancements exhibited by the World State, some are mesmerised by the mere thought of a world free from sickness and poverty, while others just see a fictional tale that is worth a good read. However I myself, think nothing of this. In our unforgiving contemporary world, suffering is not nearly a thing from the past – inequality, deprivation and mistreatment are far from history. So when Huxley described the World State, I was shocked and

Times have since changed. Gender roles and expectations have evolved just as the societal lines dividing the social classes. Where populations were once divided in two broad groups, aristocracy and commoners, social stratification has deepened and expanded. The Industrial Revolution, Post World War Two technological advances, the Civil Rights Movement and the Feminist Movement have each played a significant role in the development of the class system of modern society. The widespread use of credit has done the most to blur the lines of social status distinction, but has not stopped advertisers from relying on the conventional standards of using luxury items to offer the appearance of elevated social status. Even with the blurring of class lines, advertisers continue to reinforce the preconceived notions that social position is related

We spend more money on things we ‘are in to’ than groceries in a week. If you are poorer than the average person in the UK, then it would be very difficult to fit into a society that revolves around consuming when you cannot. *2* Zygmunt Bauman depicts this division between poor and rich in his concept of the seduced and the repressed (Bauman, cited in Hetherington, 2009, p25+26). According to him, people that live in contemporary western society can be roughly put into two categories. The seduced being those who are able to ‘consume effectively’; they are employed, or young and good looking or have a particular skill that is valued financially within society. The repressed might be those that are old without a good pension, or the homeless. These people are repressed as they, more often than not, do not have the means to consume effectively and are therefore valued less in society. This causes a division as they are likely to not feel accepted by the majority who are able to consume.

Sociologically, race and ethnicity, are used to define how "a human group"¦defines itself and/or is defined by other groups as different" and how "cultural practices and outlooks of a given community of people that set them apart from others" (Basic Concepts from Sociology and Anthropology, n.d., p. 4). The

Race and Ethnicity are integral parts of America. They are often used interchangeably. Race is associated with biology. It is a socially and politically constructed category of individuals who are assumed to share common inborn biological traits, such as bone structure, hair type, skin, or eye color. These distinctions have been used to the detriment or advantage of American groups over time. Whereas ethnicity is associated with culture factors. It is often tied to nationality of origin and characterized by a person’s ethnic traits, customs, and/or associations. Race and ethnicity in some ways go hand in hand and in other ways differ. Although the similarities are not quite the same they still have the same concept. Today’s society plays a huge role in defining these terms.

Society plays a major role in classifying people race, ethnicity, and social treatment. The definition of race can be put into two categories biological and sociological factors. Race is an ideology that people use to describe the physical and genetic makeup of an individual. A person racial construction greatly impacts an individual’s identity. This is look as the person skin color, facial bone structure, eyes, and hair color.

This is an microeconomic issue because it affects each individual by limiting their total welfare and opportunity for life improvement. Inequality in itself isn’t the problem it is the overwhelming level of inequality that is limiting the potential well being of the average American citizen. However, there is an argument that inequality isn’t all bad because it is just a byproduct of a thriving free market which naturally improves living standards for the general population. There is also an argument that when equity is forced upon society it limits the right to pursue happiness by limiting the potential spoils of our endeavors. This is thought to limit economic growth by discourages entrepreneurship. Very valid points if we were discussing

People are usually categorized in terms of race and/or ethnicity. Race is a term typically used to classify people according to similar and specific physical characteristics. Ethnicity is a term more broadly used that connects people according to an inherited status such as: a shared ancestry, language, history, religion, cuisine, art, clothing style, and/or physical appearance, etc.

In contrast to the idea of race, Ethnicity refers to ethnic affiliation, or the “cultural practices and outlooks of a given community of people that set them apart from others” (Giddens, 1997:210). Members of a particular ethnic group see themselves as culturally distinct from other groups of people in a society or culture. There are different characteristics which serve as a way of

They are seen to be valued in society and are socially included and have a valued identity. The opposite to which is they repressed whom consume less are often socially excluded and have devalued identities. People can move in an out of these groups depending on their income and circumstances. Advertising and social norms put pressure on people to become part of the seduced group whom consume more. Women entering the work place, households having dual incomes, the rise in the supermarket whom have low cost items allows people to consume more on smaller incomes and the decline in repair services are all factors in the rise of consumption and therefore more rubbish is produced.

There are different ways of interpreting social class inequality in education and Pierre Bourdieu offers one such interpretation. Discuss his particular perspective and reflect on how it makes you think about your work as a primary school teacher. Ensure you reference readings in your answer. In the ‘Forms of Capital’ Pierre Bourdieu develops the idea of capital, with a focus on the economic component. He discusses the main types of capitals, economic, cultural and social. Bourdieu states how the various types of capital may be attained, converted or exchanged into other forms. Cultural Capital (CC) is heavily linked to concepts of habitus. Perhaps one’s cultural capital can be acquired from an individual’s habitus. Bourdieu explains that this form of capital ‘explains the unequal scholastic achievement of children