What Is Social Inequality?

Improved Essays
When we here social inequality we think of societies who 's beliefs mimic a time period where only a certain group can obtain a higher stature. In the United States social inequality still exist, while it isn 't blatant many people in the United States remain in the lower class. But why is this possible in the United States, is it due to the fact that we belong in a particular society where men make more than their female counterparts, or is due the fact that even after civil rights movement some minority 's still have not recovered from the injustice that were put upon them wrongfully. Whether these problems were caused by certain ideologies, the human condition, or life chances these issues must be sought out and addressed. In this paper I will try to discover the misconception of why the minority is …show more content…
Since they are the majority population this also means they are the majority when it comes to living in poverty. Now while this example only proves that the majority is more likely to be the one that also have finical struggles, let 's look at the state of New Jersey itself. The majority race that lives in New Jersey is white which is about 73% more than half of the minority races that live in the states, but the minorities are said to be the ones to live in poverty more. These examples prove to us how perceptions can change someone 's thought into to seeing negative aspect of a situation. Minorities are said to be the ones how remain soully on public assistance but although though the percentages are higher than the majority the amount of people actually on public assistance speaks volumes. So why haven 't these perceptions change, maybe it depends on who is said to be in charge of the system. The example proves that data favors the majority it gives of the image of dominance and stability of other races. The ideology that the this country is founded it based the beliefs of men who created a system to only benefit men of their stature which is we Anglo

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    I have lived my life as a white, heterosexual, upper middle-class male. The community I grew up in, Ann Arbor, openly embraced these representative markers, and usually allowed me to remain in the majority. The situations in which I was in the majority, with respect to class, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., have far outnumbered the situations in which I was in the minority. To put it simply, I have almost always been welcomed. Yet this seemed to magnify my perceptions for when I was in the minority.…

    • 1358 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In history, there has always been inequality; otherwise there wouldn’t be any pushes to make a change. A great portion of inequality has been evident among those identified as minorities. Specifically, the United States being such a melting pot has not always been the case, for many people have accounted for the challenges they faced while living in a society where race and culture defined where they stood on the social chain. A woman who became the first Navajo surgeon, Lori Arviso Alvord, wrote a piece on her experience of being in a college that was meant to promote Indians being on campus, and her story had power among the way she saw her situation. In her piece, she recounted that she “walked around the campus in awe, like a peasant visiting the castle of a great king” (Alvord, Lori Arviso, 303).…

    • 1833 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts is a theme that runs through Salisbury's The Pronoun “I” is Becoming Obsolete, Hurley's The Perils of Pollution in Steel City, and Turner's American Individualism and Structural Injustice. The individual parts are often not able to stand alone, but together they form a comprehensive whole. Some groups are exploited, but the gestalt group achieves more together than they would apart. The majority and minorities can achieve more together than they would separately.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The idea of social inequality as positive is that it is helping the society as a whole. But the idea of social inequality as negative is because the government is giving money and resources to people in need but it is not to everyone. This seems unfair to some people in society because they work hard to take care of their families. But, on the other hand there is families that have fallen on hard times and really do need the extra help to have a better chance of being in control of their…

    • 95 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When growing up in the United States many have heard throughout their childhood that “society here is equal”. This, however, is untrue in many ways. For one, America didn’t become close to equal until women achieved their rights a couple of decades back. The United States shows how unequal it actually is towards its people, the land of supposed freedom to obtain success. Malcolm Gladwell informs in his article, “Black Like Them”, how there is an aspiration for a better future due to the people looking past racism, however it can’t be achieved due to there always having to be a scapegoat in society.…

    • 1005 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In America on Film, Benshoff states, “In everyday conversation, less privileged groups are frequently referred to as minority groups” (Benshoff, pg. 7). He goes off to state that it may seem that minorities may seem to sound smaller than the dominant group, but in fact there are more. There are more women in the United States than there are men, yet men hold most of the social power. In some cases, there are some states…

    • 1041 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Over the past century, the United States has changed dramatically. In a social view, we have made changes such as abolishing slavery all the way to electing our first black president. However, we are still facing the issues of intergenerational class location and class mobility. Intergenerational class location can be defined as the social movement of family members from generation to generation. Class mobility can be defined as the upwards or downwards movement of one’s status in categories such as occupations, wealth, and education.…

    • 1123 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Minority Groups in America Introduction The 20th century has witnessed the transformation of the United States from a dominating white population to society rich with an array of religious, racial and ethnic minority groups. Historically, the country has been dominated by a settler group of ethically and religiously diverse whites. Traced back to the first settlements from the 1600s to the 19th century, most minority groups in the United States were as result of forced immigration to work in the American firms (Du Bois, 2014). The heaviest burdens of the minority groups have historically fallen upon the Africans, Native Americans and Women.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this memo I explain how privilege can cause large groups of people to receive unfair treatment due to their identity and background. It contains discussion how being part of a more privileged group in society gives me advantages while being part of a minority leaves people with significantly fewer resources. Areas in Which I am Privileged There are several reasons why I am privileged; being white, able-bodied, cisgender, receiving an education, and having a stable income are all examples.…

    • 671 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    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.…

    • 1533 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Title Have you ever been told that you can’t do something because you’re a girl, or heard someone say to stay away from black people, or even been told that you aren’t right for something just because of how much money you have? All of these things would be social inequality. A social inequality is is the existence of unequal opportunities and rewards for different social positions or statuses within a group or society. Social inequalities can be based off of anything you classify yourself with.…

    • 617 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A Minority is a subordinate group whose members have significantly less control or power over their lives than members of a dominant or majority group Not limited to mathematical minority for an example women, Blacks in South Africa, Blacks in Mississippi and South Carolina in the 1920's. Minorities must always be understood in relation to others in the social structure. A minority groups lacks power, prestige, and privilege in relation to others. They are unable to achieve their will. They lack resources to support their own interests effectively.…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Inequality In Sociology

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages

    September 11, 2001 and in its immediate aftermath, was probably the last time that the people in the United States were unconcerned about social inequality. The terrorist acts that occurred on that day brought the nation together against a perceived common enemy. However, in the few years following that short lived period of solidarity, the nation went into a tailspin, beginning with the Great Recession of 2008 and climaxing in the current period of social unrest, the underpinnings of which reside in racial inequality, wealth inequality, and gender discrimination. The implications of these various social inequalities are the repeated outbursts of racial violence, the continued destabilization of the economy, and political strife that paralyzes…

    • 1062 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Effects Of Racial Discrimination

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited

    People from different ethnic backgrounds go through the trouble and stress of being stereotyped everywhere they go and everyone they encounter; either involving jobs or finding a house. Increased inequality plays a major role in keeping poverty rates higher today than would otherwise be the case. Poverty rates can either increase or decrease depending on rising income inequality, income growth, and changes in the educational levels, family structure, and prejudice terms. The United States has one of the most unequal income distributions in the developed world; “even after taxes and social-welfare policies are taken into account” (Drew Desilver).…

    • 1076 Words
    • 5 Pages
    • 1 Works Cited
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The culture has been unfairly divided for centuries, including by race, social class and social status. Sociologist, Max Weber implied that individuals ought to be arranged in society by using certain factors. Not to mention there are a number of social classes, each of them consisting of distinctive characteristics. Family structures and neighborhoods are affected in both good and bad ways by these social classes. The social class inequality are perceived differently by the three theoretical paradigms.…

    • 811 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays