The Middle Class Myth Analysis

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McClelland, Edward. “The “Middle Class” Myth: Here 's Why Wages Are Really So Low Today.” Pg. 92-94 in Focus on Social Problems: A Contemporary Reader, edited by M. Stombler and A.M. Jungels. New York: Oxford University Press.
Edward argues that wages are low because technology and immigrants are willing to do jobs that should require higher pay to be done at lower wages. He talks about how Americans would do certain jobs and that people from Mexico would because they do the same thing from where they are from and the pay they are being offered is considered a lot to them. It also states that there is no one fighting for the workers rights. Many people do not speak about their pay ir go on strike because of the possibility of them losing their
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“Rethinking American Poverty” Pg. 112-116 in Focus on Social Problems: A Contemporary Reader, edited by M. Stombler and A.M. Jungels. New York: Oxford University Press. In this article, it really explains on why poverty exists. It states that when we think about people in poverty, we tend it think of it as an individual problem. That people do not have the motivation to work and get an education to make a higher working wages. When in reality it isn 't a one person problem and that it 's everyone 's problem. One of the things the writer talked about was how poverty affects everyone. At some point in our life, we will experience poverty and they even if we aren’t we 're still supporting people that are in poverty. The taxes we pay are going to government assistance programs and our taxes could be raised in order to have the finds to support them. One amazing thing the author states is that it 's a structural thing in our society. More part time jobs and lower wages are being created which is making it harder for people to make a …show more content…
In order to be near poor your family has to fall between a certain amount. The amount they gave was what most of are earning, that does not consider themselves near poor. It then goes on to give examples of 4 individuals that are considered “near poor” that have are having difficulties in their life trying to make a living. Many of the people expressed how that they cannot give government assistance because they make too much money, but how is that when they are labeled near poor? It talks about how they cannot afford to pay for certain material and how they do make enough money to support themselves, but the have unexpected bills and other expenses that are not thought about that lowers the amount of money they actually

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