AP Government Book Assignment By Tristan P. Myers “Our Kids, The American Dream In Crisis” By Robert D. Putnam “Our Kids, The American Dream in Crisis,” is an interesting piece of text that compares past and present day life stories of multiple teenage children along with their families’ outlooks of the American Dream. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, author Robert D. Putnam provides an analysis that we could all relate to. Robert D. Putnam immediately informs the reader the prime reason for writing this book. Putnam writes, “...in modern America one barrier would loom much larger than it did back then: class origins.…
The Dangerous Consequences of Growing Inequality by Chuck Collins argues that the burgeoning gap between the upper and lower classes has strenuous personal and economic ramifications. He summarizes the pressures facing households and the economic inequalities that undermine the security of families, threaten our democratic institutions and economy, deteriorate our public health as well as breaking down our social cohesion. The ever so important middle class has been vanishing right before our eyes, there is a strain on relationships between ourselves and our neighbors, families and co-workers which prevents our society from uniting and striving for greatness. As a greedy and power hungry society we completely forgot what is most important, our fellow citizens and their well-being. Collins’ essay is an effective argument for social justice because he shows that even though our economy has thrived throughout the decades those profits have not trickled down to the working class…
Society is divided into three major categories of people; poor, middle class, and wealthy or rich. These categories asses the population of the United States based on their income. Many benefits, such as food or heat assistance, taxes, loans, etc. are based on these categories. These categories also allow for criticism from others around us, whom may or may not be categorized similarly. In the book Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America, the author, Linda Tirado discusses her experiences as a part of the poor America and also her thoughts and opinions on the rich, upper class.…
Social class is a major determining factor of accomplishment in most educational, employment and social arenas. Social class is currently still one of the best predictors of who will achieve success, prosperity and social status, yet class is difficult to define and discern/distinguish. We examine it empirically only through its consequences our outcome. Education closely influences personal and social development in the technical, economic spheres, and wider political arenas of emancipation and democracy.…
Coming from my position in life, I often find challenge in analyzing, interpreting, and discussing social class. It weighs on me that I likely bring unfair biases and predispositions to this topic. I am a white, American, educated, athletic male from a family with both parents still together and without many financial troubles. Aside from perhaps a degree from a prestigious University or boat loads of cash, I do not think that I could be more privileged. Although my privilege might sway my ideas on the matter of social class, I am working to remove these biases in order to truly recognize the ways in which the social construct of social class influences the individuals, communities, and institutions that I come in contact with in everyday life.…
7.1 How do societies rank people in social hierarchies? The ranking of people into various “classes” is a common practice in many of the world’s cultures. While these social rankings are practiced throughout the world, they can vary widely depending on each society’s cultural values. The text provides a familiar example in the form of the American social class system.…
Throughout U.S history, socio-economic classes have been established to categorize our place in society. The lower, middle, and upper class, make up the socio-economic structure of the American people. The social system groups people according to wealth, income, education, social network and other factors. Many different models have been proposed to characterize people’s social class, though the U.S most commonly uses the simple three class structure. The middle class, the social group between the upper and working classes, including professional workers, small business owners, and low-level managers; is essential to a thriving economy and successful democracy (Social Class, n.d).…
Social class still matters to America Social class refers to divisions in society based on the money you make, the economy and social status. People who in the same social class typically have the same level of wealth, education, achievement, type of job and income. The American is an open society and social class is still a matter to American today. Social class matters in almost every type of social situation today because it defines who you are in life, how other people treat you, and it also determines whom you hang out with, which school you go to, the type of health condition you are in, and the type of environment you are growing up in. Overall, social class is everything about you.…
Paul Fussell wrote, Class a Guide through the American Status System in 1983. Fussell introduces interesting points that perceives how we, as Americans are viewed through social class. This book will have you contemplate about where you fall in line in terms of the social hierarchy system. As I read, the Class guide I analyzed how our social status reveals itself and not just in terms of money, but other significant contributions that defines us as humans. We have socially categorized as humans, our commonality extinction is to make assumptions about the people around us or label them.…
In Gregory Mantsios’s “Class in America” he discusses the myths and realities of class differentiation. One thing he jumps into in the beginning of his essay is that Americans don’t prefer to talk about social class. Some people have even stated that they dislike using the word ‘class’ or ‘upper-class’ due to the reason that they believe it mows down their fortune and responsibility. Even though some Americans are concentrated on class identification Mantsios writes that most people aren’t aware of their actions to avoid this subject, this may be because of the fact that “…Class identity has been stripped from popular culture” (Mantsios, 282). It is now deemed ‘un-American’ to even compare certain issues with classes.…
In Stephen Marche’s article “We are Not All Created Equal: The Truth about the American Class System” Marche tells us about how the American social class changed not only in general but in people’s lives. America, once the land of opportunities and dreams, has slowly changed over time. As mentioned in this article by Marche, the American dream does not exist in society today. If a person today grew up in a wealthy family, then they most likely will inherit the fortune their parents made. If someone had poor parents, then they would always be poor because the cycle would just keep repeating itself over the years.…
Janny Scott and David Leonhardt’s article “Shadowy Lines That Still Divide” tells us society has changed a lot from decades ago and class differences are getting blurry rapidly. It is possible and credible to change our positions and futures regardless of what kind of class we are. Class difference is existing, but it is not significant and necessary for people to success. Our future is determined by ourselves.…
Social class in America is an uncomfortable subject for many Americans; most believe that America is an essentially middle-class nation, however, author Gregory Mantsios argues otherwise. In this article, I will break apart “Class in America-2012” and explain how it creates a persuasive effect on readers. Mantsios accomplishes this effect by debunking popular myths through statistical evidence and providing real-life examples. This analysis will only provide the author’s opinions, and not my own, as to remain objective and fair throughout. Is the social class divide in America as large as most Americans think?…
When it comes to classism, or how people fall into various categories within our society, there seems to be an emphasis on who belongs where. The discussion in class, or at least my interpretation, was focused on the top one percent of the wealthiest and how much money they possess. For myself, I feel that I cannot worry about that because this has gone on for several decades and will continue to do so. My focus will be on how I can make sure that myself and my family, as well as those that I will serve as a social worker, can best be assisted. Recently, before I moved to Boise, I had a client that bought a van from another homeless couple that was titled in Idaho.…
The literary works Medea, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Male Desire Female Disgust; The reading of Hustler, all include several reoccurring themes. One of these themes is social class. Social class is a division of a society based on social and economic status. Social classes have been common practice for centuries. Social class is in a nut shell the pecking order of society based on finance.…