Social Discrimination Is A Form Of Classism And The Lower Class?

In the article, "Class in America", Gregory Mantsios (Myths and Realities 2000) shows us how what class a person is in affects his or hers life more than they think. This article is written sufficiently well however, it does have some weak spots. I will prove my thesis by examining his use of examples and showing factual data and statistics, but also show how this article could have been better.

Writer Gregory Mantsios in his article “Class in America”, talks about these things, and how wide the gap is between the rich and the poor and also discusses how the rich continue to get richer, while the poor continue to get poorer. Mantsios gives his readers the profiles and backgrounds of three hard-working Americans, two of them are white males, whose family background as well as education played a role in their success, while the other person is a black woman who is just above the poverty line despite her work as a nurse’s aide. Through these profiles, Mantsios article shows exactly how sex, race and shows how your parental and educational background of a person can play a role in the things that you achieve. Mantsios also talks about one’s performance in school and the level of school completed can suggest whether or not class that person may belong in.

There has always been a class system since the beginning of civilization and it was extremely difficult to get to a higher class. A person could not choose what class they were born in and the majority were lower class-man. As before the only way to become wealthy is by education and it was hard for lower class-man to get one. One way was for girls to get married like Johnny’s mom did or Mrs. Lapham marring Mr. Tweedie. For boys to become a higher class they need to be educated or have great skill at a craft which is usually only born with like Johnny. As these kids have little to no money they are picked on by arrogant adults, an example is Dove as the horseman for the British. These lower class-man children were given brute and labor intensive jobs. The children’s jobs are unimportant so they are given the least money for their work. Some children with low pay would be accused of theft if they had a valuable object. When court action is taken the upper class-man are listened to, unless undeniable evidence, like in Johnny vs Mr. Lytes case. A common stereotype for these children is that they are sick and thieves. The class system has created rough jobs for the lower class children and most jobs are extremely

In Class Matters, Bill Keller examines the meaning of the word class and how it plays on the life of the US citizens.According to Class Matters, a class is represented as four cards, one from each suit: education, income, occupation, and wealth. Based on your cards you are put into a class. Most people end up with the same cards as their parents. Keller explains how a class can be predetermined by a person’s upbringing or how they were raised. In this book, Bill Keller suggests that it is quite difficult to move into other social classes than the one we were born in, or a class we have been associated with for a long time. Based on the reading of this book along with other resources, moving into other social classes is exceptionally

Class can restrict someone from taking a path they want to pursue either because they are being discouraged from trying it or because they don’t have the means to get themselves there. The article in the Washington Post titled “Why are working class kids less likely to get elite jobs? They study too hard at college,” outlines why kids from higher classes are more likely to get elite jobs. They say “Basically, if we think of economic inequality as a sporting competition, elite parents give their kids a leg up, not only by being able to afford the equipment necessary to play but also by teaching them the rules of the game and giving them insider tips on how to win.” I believe that this is a good illustration of ways that members of the working class are at a disadvantage.

It seems to most that those who have money have it all. They should buy all the unnecessary “junk” that one might find pleasure in owning, take everything for granted and view lower-class individuals as a group of wanna-bes. Think again. S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders, very important propositions are portrayed through the writing techniques which link to another piece of writing “Poverty and Wealth” written by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Just because you have everything, doesn’t mean you understand it's worth. Different classes have different experiences, allowing elaboration on the different characters.

Last class we watched an informative documentary named “People like Us, Social Class in America”. America is known to be a country defined by class. Throughout the movie it showed different opinions on what class was based on by different people and the answers varied from looks, house size, career choice, race, manners, upbringing, and education. As we move through life, most times we remove ourselves from different people not in our class to then live amongst those who share similar backgrounds and who we are most comfortable with. As stated, “if there is class, there is an inequality one cannot explain and it perpetuates itself”. Revealing class can expose hope, fears, prejudice and a myriad of different emotions that we may not all be comfortable speaking about. I feel as if part two and part three were most applicable to myself because they are something that I have experienced both directly and indirectly.

On May 26, 1965, in the U.S. Senate the voting rights bill developed the U.S. Senate by a 77-19 vote.On July 9, the U.S. House of Representatives finally developed the bill, after questioning it for over a month, by a tally of 333-85.On August 6, Johnson, as along with Martin Luther King Jr. and some other civil rights commanders at the ceremony.

The issue of class is a predominant topic in the world’s social discourse because in every society, there must be the rich and the poor. It is estimated that in this country, there are 38 million people living in absolute poverty. This has created a very huge disparity in the manner in which people live in the society; their lifestyles and general well being. To compound the situation further, the general norm regarding class is that the rich often get richer as days go by while the poor consistently become poorer (Mathews 13). Bell Hooks in her book “Where we stand: Class Matters,” sought to give an insight on the general concept of class as it is today. In this book, the author propagates three main ideas. To start with, Bell argues that the question of class cuts across all other dimensions of life including gender, race, religion and sexuality. Secondly, she posits that religion is has been a very instrumental tool in bridging the gap between classes. Finally, Bell observes that the proclamation that we live in a classless society is flawed in every sense of the world. This paper seeks to make an incisive elucidation of the three observations that Bell makes in her book.

Race still predominantly plays a role in everyday classism. Discriminatory housing practices traps minorities in the lower class for generations. Moreover, America’s healthcare system unfair to people who have low income. Also, Public transportation does not properly serve the needs of those who use it; as well as, it makes it formidable to secure, and maintain a stable job. Additionally, education for the poor unequal in graduation rates; along with, a social polarization against lower class students. Classism in America is an old, yet consistent problem that, creates an unfair economic divide of

The axis of inequality that will be focused throughout this paper is the social class. Social class is defined as a group of individuals who are categorized according to class (i.e. poor, middle, and upper) due to their income, wealth, power, and occupation. Social class is socially constructed by the way we view how much income and wealth a person possess (Ore, 20011a, 10). In reality it is much more than that. According to the text, poverty is not only the shortage of income, but it is the rejection of opportunities and choices that leads a person to a standard way of living (Ore, 2011a, 10). Stereotyping also contributes to it being socially constructed. These stereotypes influence us by defining who is who based on their principles in each class category. This can cause some to feel worthless.

As research is begun which has classism as a foundation, William Ming Lui’s (2006), well recognized class and classism researcher, precautions must be taken into consideration. In a stringent article critique of Laura Smith’s "Psychotherapy, classism, and the poor: Conspicuous by their absence," Liu points out that the study of classism and those areas that it impacts is much more complex than most researchers realize or expect. He calls for the need for a theory based and operationlized use of terms such as social class, class, social status, the poor/low-income, and poverty rather than use of these concepts simply as constructs. He also caution against the tendency to category low-income subjects by a dispositional attribute (i.e., "poor people"). In conceptualizing classism, he stresses that

In return, this creates different perceptions for different people depending on what one has or does not have. Therefore, social classes are divided into sectors of society and economic inequality is preserved. Because people compare one another through what they have or do not have, people divide and create social classes. Those that do have, meaning those that have money and are wealthy, want to maintain and keep it that way, therefore they separate themselves from those that do not have the same luxuries and, so the poor are left out in the cold to fight for their own lifes. Many of the lower class begin to lower their societal status in comparison to others, because many disengage themselves from politics, as they feel that the government and the society they live in ignores their daily economic struggles. The political system as well ignores conditions of poverty and instead focuses on only one kind of injustice, racial discrimination. Many people, thus focus on race instead of trying to focus on feeding and helping those in need. This leads to the difficulty of striving for upward class mobility, because social class is viewed and understood by personal perceptions. Thus one’s own judgements assess the decision for promotions, hiring, and the feeling of ‘fitting in’. Because many of those that are perceived as ‘poor’, ‘lower class’ or ‘uneducated’ are not treated the way

For many year, the death penalty has been widely debated throughout the United States. We as a country are divided on this topic; half believing it is unjust, unconstitutional, inhumane, and cruel. The other half believing it is morally just and constitutional. Those thinking it is cruel want capital punishment abolished. The others want to see it revised and maintained.

In recent decades, gun rights and gun control have been high on the list of issues in the cultural war sharply dividing Americans. Gun control's passionate proponents and opponents clash in the media, city council chambers, state legislatures, Congress, and the courts. What one side perceives as necessary to stem out-of-control violence in urban centers, the other fears as the road to unlawful confiscation and abridgement of constitutional liberties. Fundamentally disagreeing on most of the essentials, the two sides concur that a tremendous amount is at stake. "Guns are lightning rods of American culture," observes law professor Adam Winkler in his "Gunfight: The Battle over the Right to Bear Arms in America."