American Caste System: An Analysis

To a great extent, Trump’s rise to power can be attributed to numerous historical factors. These historical factors have led to demobilization of class interests in favor of voting along racial lines. In their analysis, Piven and Cloward argue that democratic rights are not evenly distributed among the population. One main area of focus in their research is the election of 1896. During this election, there was a coalition of poor farmers, white working class, and racial/ethnic minorities that revolted against the elite. This coalition was very nearly successful in winning the election, which struck fear among the elite that they would soon lose power. Thus, to counter such a possibility, they instituted various electoral reforms. These included …show more content…
This backlash caused the U.S. to shift to the right on the ideological spectrum. To a great extent, this accounts for American views on issues including welfare. In other words, because of this shift toward hyper-conservative ideology, the U.S. has stingy need-based welfare compared to other …show more content…
Such a caste system was built to further separate different races so that, as Haney Lopez terms, people would see other races as individuals who “are not like us”. Although slavery was ended after the Civil War, a new era was ushered in under Jim Crow under which blacks continued to be subordinated and disenfranchised. Finally, the era we are currently in is one of mass incarceration. Compared to white men, African American men are 20-50 times more likely to be incarcerated. Yet, even this staggering statistic would not be able to sway the public’s opinion. As Lopez argues, individuals would use this data to show that “natural differences” between people is “greater than” they realized (37). In other words, because of American exceptionalism and emphasis on the individual, the problems in society are blamed on individuals rather than on social institutions. Lopez also terms the idea of “dog whistle politics”. This details how politicians use coded language in order to rile a segment of the population – usually white individuals. Trump is a perfect example of this, as he rose to power by using terms including “law and order”. More interestingly, though, Lopez talks about how if racial discrimination is mentioned as a problem among whites, “they will reject this information and compound their support for the discrimination” (37). This can, once again, be