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.…
How did you relate to the readings, videos and forum discussions? I related to the readings about cultural and linguistic competence as a future health care provider. I saw how my knowledge of these topics could affect the care and well being of real people. One hypothetical that struck me was about a nurse practitioner choosing a cheaper and less effective medication for a black patient. The nurse had done this with the well-meaning intention of saving a poor person from the bills that come with a higher level of health care, not realizing that the patient was of a high socioeconomic status (Hall and Fields).…
In our current society in the United States, wealth inequality has grown by leaps and bounds. As time is passing, we are seeing that the rich individuals in our communities are getting richer and the poor individuals are getting poorer. This is to be expected with capitalism at the base stage, but one would think that there would be measures in place to prevent the poor from getting too much poorer. However, in the United States at least, some of the wealthiest members of society are, unfortunately, also lawmakers. Many politicians write laws that only make them wealthier, while putting the financial burden on the lower income individuals and families of the population.…
After reading the “The Income Inequality Debate”, I started to think more about the financial situations that I am currently in and how I am preparing myself for the future. The videos were very informing on the topic and helped me actually visualize what was going on. The video “Wealth Inequality in America”, seemed like a more detailed version of “Is America Dreaming?: Understanding Social Mobility” so I got more from it while watching it. What stuck out most to me were the aspects of education and how it really influences those percentages.…
The continuing rise of economic inequality and wealth inequality in America is one of the biggest issues in the country. Currently the top five percent in America hold seventy-four percent of the country’s wealth, leaving the other ninety-five percent of Americans are struggling financially to survive. In this article, How Experts Would End Inequality if They Ran America, written by Stein, there are several different explanations on how to address the rising income inequality in the U.S., the four suggestions that I chose were written by Boushey, Azzerad, Tedeschi and Kelton. Boushey argues that universal access to child care will drive down the inequality within our country. Azzerad states that in order to combat the current rise in income…
Whether it is between men and women or different races, we live in a world where inequality exists in every corner. The type of inequality I will be focusing on is not between the sexes or races, but between the rich and the poor. As Plutarch once said, “An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics.” Between the two essays, they provide many similarities and differences in opinion regarding the importance of economic inequality, the access of education to all Americans, the role of education in economic inequality, and the importance of the breakdown of the American family in economic inequality.…
The United States is a country founded on ideals and unfulfilled aspirations of a perfect nation in which all are equal and no one group of people has too much power. Our history is filled with the constant struggle between fulfilling those ideals and maintaining status quo and allowing the nation to stagnate or regress allowing inequality to reign and certain groups to control the country. While our nation has struggled on this point it bears to ask whether real political and social change is actually possible in the United States, or if throughout our history and in our future we simply continue as we have since our nation was founded? While change has never come quietly and it often feels as though the journey is a constant one step forward…
America is experiencing a large gap in income inequality between the working class and the wealthy class. According to Derek Thompson, the new wealthy class, which is the top 1% of America population, holds nearly 40% of America’s wealth; while the new working and social class holds significantly less than 7%. There are opinions thinking that this gap is caused by the rich, who only think about their profits and don’t even care that America is having job a shortage or people are working low wage for several years. On the other hand, some blame the working and social class for their “immobility”, saying that they are not trying hard enough to climb out of the bottom while depending too much on the government subsidizes. Both opinions are true…
Inequality in income distribution is a visible trend in countries worldwide. Many variables factor into what causes the disproportion such as countries’ taxes and minimum wages. The state of income distribution in the United States of America has changed over time and is currently experiencing heightening inequality. Additionally, there are many debates between the conservatives and liberals about why this trend is happening and how it should be addressed. The conservatives feel as though it will fix itself once the economy begins to grow again, while the liberals believe that increasing taxes and implementing new policies will help aid its reduction.…
Income inequality has been a progressively growing issue in the United States, even today. The problem dates back all the way to the Great Depression, although some researchers tend to think that it is older than that. The difference between the wealth of higher-income families and lower-income families has become a great issue. Many people, including our government, think that they know how they can fix it. They have tried time and time again to come up with solutions, yet we are still facing the same obstacle that we were almost one hundred years ago.…
Every American dreams of finding a job that pays well, to build a comfortable life for their families. Some succeed in their quest for a better life, but unfortunately, many do not have the same result. 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 emerges. There is no question that there is a disparity between the haves and the have-nots. There is a gap between the rich and the poor.…
Income and Wealth Inequality It is without a doubt that income and wealth inequality is the largest corrosive force toward a decent economy in the United States. The effect of the rich getting dramastically richer while the poor have lost what little they had has lead to some economists labeling the last 20 years as the “Age of Greed.” Income & wealth inequality in America has placed many people below the poverty line and squeezed middle class families; the implementation of a living wage, a higher tax rate on the rich, as well as the formation of impartial community institutions, will create a fair economy. The Age of Greed has been brought on by what Social Trends and Indicators USA calls "Trickle down" theories, that took hold and were…
“It is a fixed American belief that people who work hard, make good choices, and do right by their families can buy themselves permanent membership in the middle class.” The middle class Americans all know too well is an essential part of the famous American dream. The ability for any American regardless of gender, race, or socioeconomic status can pursue the ascension of the economic ladder and make a larger impact on society than just themselves. Now, the baby boomers reminisce on days where that climb was possible and millennials learn they cannot always do everything they aspire to.…
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).…
Chapter nine Global Stratification, in our text book Sociology in Our Times by Diana Kendall gives us a deep insight on the perspectives and theory’s that help us to view wealth, poverty, and global inequalities from different sides. Having a global perspective on wealth and poverty allows members of society to think about a situation as it relates to the rest of the world. With this we also look into global inequality through two different theories, the world systems theory and the new international division of labor theory. Wealth can be defined in our society as having a lot money, disposable income, or just being able to live that high level of standards, poverty however is the complete opposite. Poverty is defined as the state of being…