Living In Poverty Class Analysis

Improved Essays
Being in this class this spring semester has given me a much more broad perspective on the lives of people who are living in poverty. Before this class I had not known many of the statistics that we have been learning in class, about not only poverty, but also of the ethnic minorities and or caucasian people living in it. This class taught me about the different kinds of poverty, the different people in it, and how we as the people can do something about it.

Before I had this class I had already known that many americans were living in poverty. I have friends who are living in it and I even have family living in poverty, so I knew it was real I just never knew why it was like this. This class taught me that so many americans are in poverty
…show more content…
Maybe not. America has always perpetuated itself as a country where you have no limits, no matter who you are you can do anything if you put your mind to it. This is just false, this is propaganda, and it is a lie that our country has been telling society for years in order to make our country seem so great. While America most definitely has many more chances and opportunities for a better life than many other countries, when it comes to being fair and equal that just isn’t always the reality. So many african americans in our country do not get the same jobs and wages as white americans, if we had an equal society then this statistic wouldn’t be true. When a typical black household has accumulated less than one-tenth of the wealth of a typical white one, you can clearly see their is some sort of unequal opportunities still going on even in the year 2016. If we had equal opportunity in this country then there would be the same amount of people getting higher education and higher paying jobs and there isn’t. White people have continuously had a higher percentage of higher education and higher paying jobs since forever, this statistic has still not changed and we have had completely equal rights and opportunity in this country since the 1970’s. Learning about these facts in class has made me realize that even though there are laws in place to ensure we all have an equal opportunity in life, it doesn’t always play out like that. White privilege is a very real thing and should be addressed more in society so more people can understand the realities of equal

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Recognizing white privilege can be beneficial in the long run, but if one is not careful, it can result into a lot of problems. White people should be intelligent enough to make decisions that won’t lead up to the issues of racism, discrimination, and white privilege. However, not everyone uses sound judgment when it comes to recognizing white privilege. Action needs to be taken now to prevent these catastrophes from happening in the future before it becomes almost impossible once racism and discrimination advances beyond…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    In an article, “White Privilege: Made in the USA,” Brandon Camhi talks about how white privilege is accepted in America and is not prosecuted because the government overlooks it. In addition, he continues by revealing that the government system legally segregates minority children from whites using school zoning laws. This connects with theory of how white elites hinders minorities to segregate themselves from lower class citizens. Also, Ana L. Olivera, author of “Closing New York’s Gender and Racial Wage Gap,” illustrates the inequality between women and men based on income. She also explains how women surpass men in education which led to the pay rates of female workers to increase in certain states.…

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Arnisha Jones University of Michigan-Flint While reading the book “Fire in the Ashes: The twenty-five years among the poorest children in America”, I gained understanding of why the book was chosen to be read within my sociology class. The author, Johnathan Kozol, gave a very good detail and needed story about the issue of poverty and children and families living in it. In today’s generation everyone has a chance to be blessed in a variety of ways, but yet poverty is still a huge issue. I think that many have gained this attitude of “do better for yourself and leave to a better environment”, and forgot about those that are left behind; Instead of staying and helping change for the better.…

    • 487 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Reading Response #7 and #8 A Framework for Understanding Poverty by Ruby K. Payne, PhD. file:///C:/Users/kfein486/Downloads/10003622.pdf Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty by Paul C. Gorski Chp. The Trouble with the Culture of Poverty file:///C:/Users/kfein486/Downloads/Gorski,+P.+Chapter+The+Trouble+with+the+Culture+of+Poverty.pdf Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty by Paul C. Gorski Chp. Imagining Equitable Classrooms file:///C:/Users/kfein486/Downloads/Gorski,%20P.%20Chapter%20Imagining%20Equitable%20Classrooms.pdf 1. Define and give an example of equity. Equity is a commitment to fairness, to equal opportunity, and to a fair distribution of resources.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “White” Like Me At the heart of American culture is the concept of racism; a continuous cycle perpetuated through years of injustice by slavery, violence, segregation, and hatred. Much like the symbolic “tree of life”, racism’s roots extend deep into the earth, drawing sustenance from each member of society. Yet in that survival tactic, it unconsciously steals a little more from one side—this is white privilege. “White privilege” is a mere social construction by which the dominant white group justifies their advantages and higher quality of life through diminution of people of color. To be a member of the white race, it is easy to overlook subtle inequalities—such as the wealth gap, career opportunities, education, etc.…

    • 1432 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Comparative Ethnic Studies focuses on the construction and issues of race that consist throughout the world. These issues can range from the generation of media propaganda during the civil war to the rise of concerns relating to Syrian refugees. However, within the United States one racial group often receives much more hatred and criticism than others, blacks. Society focuses on the idea of hip-hop music promoting violence between gangs or the large population of African Americans incarcerated. However the thoughts and concerns of these individuals and their struggles often can be traced to their lives within the poverty cycle: an endless cycle of the poorest individuals continue to stay poor.…

    • 1464 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This weekend, November 20th-22nd I worked a poverty simulation through Mission Waco. I first went through the poverty simulation during my first semester at Baylor with my Poverty in Developing Countries class taught by Janet Dorrell. I have been learning about the causes and effects of poverty for about a year now, but for the first time I was able to look at poverty through a different perspective as I looked for ways in which it affects education. The first portion of the poverty simulation begins on Friday night; everyone is allowed to keep four of their items and is given forty-one dollars of fake money for the weekend expenses, which include, food, clothing, and potentially shelter inside. On Saturday morning, those who paid for breakfast get to eat from an assortment of chips and some coffee.…

    • 768 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    When I think of poverty in America, I typically think of minorities, single mother households, and the “bad” neighborhoods in big cities. The film “Poor Kids of America” shows a different aspect of poverty in America that I did not expect. Two out of the three families were white, and only one had a single mother heading the household. These were also families that used to be middle class until hard economic times hit. The kids commented on that fact over and over.…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To acknowledge a superior advantage is the first step to changing the world. Majority of white people seem surprised at the fact that there is still a divide between races in modern times. They’ve taken the pretentious viewpoint of claiming that they don’t ‘see race’ that they just ‘the person’ and while that might be what most activists are striving towards in modern times, all that really means is that they are benefiting from the privileges of being white. It is almost impossible to relate to someone who is struggling because of their skin color when the privileged have never had to face such unfair and unjust effects because of the way they look. I am white, I am female, and those are facts.…

    • 1582 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    I read from McIntosh in the Unpacking the invisible Knapsack, “Silence and denial surrounding privilege are the key political tool here... Equality or equity incomplete, protecting unearned advantages and conferred dominance by making these subjects taboo. Most talk by whites about equal opportunity seems to me now to be about equal opportunity to try to get into a position of dominance while denying that system of dominance exists” (Rothenberg-McIntosh, 2016). In today’s society being white and being classified as superior is kind of a norm. Like its normal to believe that white people may be “better” than other races because history has portrayed it that way countless of times.…

    • 1322 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Poverty exists between all citizens, including white citizens. While white privilege exists for white citizens, wealth privilege exists for certain people across all races and genders. “The gap between aspiration and reality could hardly be wider” (Stiglitz, 159). Classism is very real in our country and it is extremely evident for the poor. Poor white Americans often have difficulty accepting or understanding the concept of white privilege because they themselves certainly are not reaping the benefits of it.…

    • 1654 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Poverty in America is a real issue, and the way we portray it is all wrong. The essay "Changing the Face of Poverty" written by Diana George talks about the problems of how nonprofits misrepresent the face of poverty in America. Most organizations put out flyers and adds that make the needy look like there from the depression era with rags and dirt smudges covering their faces. This is not a true representation of what poverty looks like in America. Most people think that the poor are easy to point out because of what they have seen in advertisements.…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Privilege is a right, advantage, favor, or immunity specially granted to a specific individual, group, or class, and withheld from certain or all others. White privilege is a form of social privileges that solely benefits white people and excludes people of color. For some apparent reason many people become blinded, ignorant, and oblivious when white privilege becomes the topic of conversation. “White Privilege is the other side of racism” (Rothenberg, 53). Although we live in a country where we are constantly told all men are created equal, there is an overt contradiction to the ideology simply because of conspicuous white privileges.…

    • 828 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Additionally, it is not just for white people to get paid more than minorities for the same job who perform the same quality of work. As of 2013, according to the U.S. Current Population Survey and the National Committee on Pay Equity, white men earn twenty five percent more money than black men, and thirty three percent more money than Hispanic men. This is a gross miscarriage of justice, and clearly documents wage inequality due to race. The color of one’s skin should not reflect the amount that one has the ability to earn, and certainly should not support another’s ability to make superior earnings because they are Caucasian. Despite the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, which prohibits discrimination in the workplace, this act is seldom enforced…

    • 1292 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Importance Of White Privilege In Society

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited

    White privilege exists in almost every function of daily life from education, housing, finances, and even healthcare. Education, no child left behind, a right for all American youth, none of these things advertise that the best educators are saved for the white students. Mortgage lenders request that the “race” box be checked, only to discriminate, offering higher interest rates to minorities, and approving loans only in “minority” neighborhoods, usually those with lower property values consisting of low quality education, high crime and poor environmental awareness. In these lower class neighborhoods, quality healthcare is unavailable or severely inconvenient, while the white neighborhoods enjoy highly educated doctors, hospitals and clinics at every corner. Somewhere in our cultural unconscious lies the image of the brutal, animalistic, sexual savage.…

    • 1560 Words
    • 7 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited
    Great Essays