Wealth Disparity

Great Essays
This paper provides an insight reasoning on the wealth disparity in the United States. After all the social movements that have upraised over the years for equality. The wealth disparity remain the same. It continues to be intertwine with politically and racially. Corporation increases the wealth disparity with their political agenda in mind. According to Shapiro, Thomas in the article, "Race, Homeownership, and wealth" he defines the two as followed; Wealth is defined as " the total value of a family’s financial resources minus all debts” (Shapiro, 2006); Income “represent the follow resources earned in a particular time” (Shapiro, 2006). The two definition have two very meaning but there often misused. Thomas also explains how “Income and …show more content…
The common belief believe the wealthiest people earn their wages. That is a common misconception because they never earn their wages they inherited it. The truth is that thought racism, white supremacy, and oppressive actions the wealth grew over the years. In the article, I will argue how the wealth gap increases through social institutional and systemic racism. In the article, "Race, Homeownership, and wealth" Thomas explains how systemic racism correlates with the wealth gap. For instance, mention early how wealth is what you owned. Thomas explains how “Wealth, then, is a particular kind of money utilized to launch social mobility, create opportunities, and status, or pass along advantages to one’s children” (Shapiro, 2006). This allows for saving in retirement, safer neighborhood and supporting their children’s college. Wealth is a tool for social mobility. This explains and demonstrates that you are born into becoming rich. This also mean that they have a financial cushion when a finical crisis happen like the great recession. This stems from white privilege only certain individuals were give opportunities just how wealth gives opportunity. The wealth gap starts on which individuals are privileged enough to …show more content…
In the article, Double Divide, by Meizhu Lui explains how the government has taken land from the Native Americans. Native Americans like African Americans have been groups subjected to crucial harmful acts by the government. For instance the Homestead Act. This Act allowed for land to be transferred to whites from Native Americans. It gave 160 acres of land to farms from Native Americans for free. Native Americans were kicked out their land and forced to move cruelly by the government. After the Homestead Act of 1862 came the dawns Act of 1887. This act not only transfer acres of land to whites but it forces Native Americans to assimilate to western culture. This erases their identity and culture by forcing them to acclimate. In conclusion, the land has been transferring over white from Native Americans in a span of 200 years. Native Americans remain on the poorest minority in the United States and it no thanks to the U.S government. The systemic racism that Native Americans have faced over the years has not only taken their wealth but, their identity as well. Native American did not have a chance in building wealth their land was always given away by the U.S government. Lui also explains how the racial wealth divides increase as with the government policies that benefited white families. The homeowner loan corporation in 1933 was created so that people will

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    Summary: The article of research is “The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality by Thomas M. Shapiro. Shapiro, a Pokross Professor of Law and Social Policy at Brandeis University, was interested in social class and racial-ethnic differences in the indicators of socioeconomic status. Shapiro wanted to examine a data that shows persistent wealth discrepancies between whites and African Americans with similar achievements and credentials and how their lives differ because of racial inequality. Shapiro conducted his studies in 2004 by analyzing the differences in assets and wealth in four families, one which consisted of an African American, while the others are White.…

    • 1420 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    American Promise is a documentary film that captures the experiences of Idris Brewster and Seun Summers two middle-class African American boys from Brooklyn. Recorded over the span of thirteen years, this film chronicles their journeys at the Dalton School, one of the most prestigious private schools in the US. While this documentary raises serious concerns and challenges to the widely held American Dream, it presents us with a much needed insight on the realities of class, race, and opportunity in America. Filmed by Idris’ parents, Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, the documentary begins with Idris and Seun entering the Dalton School, a prestigious, historically white private school located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan (alumni include…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the United States money is a representation of the amount of power that a specific individual possesses. In today’s society people are striving to live an average life opposed to living the “American Dream”. Recent studies have shown that there are more people living in America who believe that the idea of going from rags to riches is simply unachievable. The new representation of the “American Dream” is obtaining economic stability for the future. As a result of the rise of income and social inequality over the past few decades, many economists and scholars believe that the gap separating the wealthiest Americans from everyone else will continue to widen unless the United States government puts forth effort to reverse it.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hollister Research Paper

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The recent housing developments in Hollister illustrates how an individual’s race and gender can allow them to gain an unfair advantage or privilege over others. Only individuals with access to a significant amount of wealth would be able to purchase these houses due to the incredibly high prices. More often than not, these individuals would be white males. As a result of their skin color and sex, they are able to have high skilled jobs and receive a higher paycheck than their colleagues. A recent article by CNN substantiates this assertion by revealing that African Americans and Hispanics are experiencing lower wages, household wealth, home ownership and higher unemployment in comparison to white Americans.…

    • 422 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    White Americans desperately wanted Native American land. George Washington called this an “Indian Problem” and tried to “civilize” the Native Americans by forcing them to convert to Christianity and follow European practices. This did not deter White Americans from forcing the Native Americans out of the land they thought was rightfully theirs. In order to get them to leave, the abuse of Native Americans increased drastically. From stealing livestock and burning houses to the government passing laws that made them leave, White Americans were doing everything they could to steal their land (History.com “Trail of Tears”).…

    • 1414 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    With the nation in heavy debate over the passage of the new Republican tax plan, attention is drawn yet again to wealth inequality in America. Regardless of the most efficacious solution to balancing the American budget, members of all socioeconomic classes are under scrutiny. Tensions are as high now as ever with the upper one percent owning nearly forty percent of the nation’s wealth, and the bottom fifth owning zero or negative wealth. In times like these, the barbarity of human nature is revealed, and prejudices are thinly veiled.…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In my opinion I think the wealth gap in the united states is based on the individual and the individual needs. I feel like the waelthy9 people in the united states have worked hard to become rich. I feel like if you want something in life and what to become rich you have to work hard and become educated on how to make money. The reason why there is such a huge wealth gap in the united states is because we as American some of us are very lay and want things the easy way and want handouts and we all know that nothing in life is free or is given to you. You have to earn everything in life and people don’t understand that that is why the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer until that have a change of mind and get up and do something.…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    Annotated Bibliography MacEwan. " Black-White Income Differences: What's Happened?" From Opposing Viewpoints in Context. N.p., 2016. Web.…

    • 1816 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    The author tends to disagree with the post racial myth that has gripped many Americans. The racial wealth gap is actually caused by employer discrimination, racial income gap, and high unemployment levels held disproportionately by African Americans versus caucasians. Wealth inequality has not improved within the last fifty years. The average wealth has increased, but it has not increased equally among all races. Wealth is essentially a family’s liquid assets.…

    • 1599 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Income and Wealth Inequality of America As a capitalist nation, the United State of America is facing a serious problem, which is the inequality of wealth and income. In pace with the growth of the economy, the rich people are getting richer and the poor people are getting poorer. The gap between the rich and poor is widening unprecedentedly fast. Why is that happening?…

    • 1247 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In a capitalistic based economy such as the United States, it creates incomes that are small and large. Having an unequal amount of large or low incomes is called income inequality. Income inequality has become a major problem in the United States, increasing 24% from 1968 to 2012” (Cochran). The gap between the rich and the poor is growing at an ever increasing rate. In the United States the gap is measured by relative poverty, or “being below one-half the nations income” (Cochran).…

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Wealth inequality in today's society also known as the wealth gap, is growing. The top one percent makes twenty-five times more than the average family (Close 2016). This glaring inequality frequently brings up the question of what ought to be done with the distribution of wealth and resources. American Political Philosopher, John Rawls’, bases his argument on the premise that there should be an equal distribution of wealth in society. Robert Nozick, one of Rawls' main critics, demonstrates how distributive justice and an equal distribution of wealth conflicts with a person's individual liberty.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Reader response: A long way to achieve wealth equality In the article “How to Fix Wealth Inequality” (Hecht, 2014), the main thesis presented by author focuses on the causes of wealth inequality in the USA and the attempts to solve the problems. The gap of household wealth between the colored people and the white are large nowadays, the methods of changing the landscape are still in process. The author analyzed the current situation and raised people’s awareness towards wealth inequality. This essay will discuss the problem of institutional investors, who occupied household resources of low-income families; and provide an effective approach in China for solving the problems.…

    • 503 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Discriminatory housing policies, tax codes, and so forth have disadvantaged Black Americans, resulting in the differing assets Whites and Blacks in general hold now” (p.180-181). I found this fact to be disturbing, but it is the hard truth. Some people believe that discriminatory policies have ended, but it continues in our society. Race significantly influences the pattern of wealth distribution in the United States. In other words, class position is manifested differently depending on one’s race, as well as one’s gender.…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Is the popular saying “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” really true? In the America, also known as the land of opportunity, there are infinite ways for a person to become successful. Here, you can come into this world into poverty and leave with riches and vise versa. In America, people of any status have the same opportunities to make it big and live a life that has been always been dreamt of. This is what we are forced to believe and convince ourselves in order to keep society in order.…

    • 1484 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays