Class in America Free Essays

Mantsios Class in America In Mantsios article â€Å"Class in America† he states that Americans hold beliefs that blind them to social classes, citizens in America have four myths they use to ensure talk about the classes never take place. America has the largest gap between rich and poor in the world, and the lower class has no means to an end they can’t afford health care or quality education. The upper class avoids talk about social class the most; wealthy people don’t want to admit that they are better off than others. We will write a custom essay sample on Class in America or any similar topic only for you Order Now While the lower class sees how much better off others are than them, but they still don’t like to label themselves. I agree with Mantsios that most Americans avoid talk about classes although I am not one of them. Also I would agree there are myths that this country was founded on that may have at one point been true, but not anymore. As for Mantsios’s opinion on health care and education I would have to disagree, although many lower class Americans do not get the education and health care they need to survive I was not one of them. Mantsios States Americans avoid talk about classes. Americans avoid phrases like upper class, middle class and lower class because it’s an ugly truth about American society. Those terms are not in Americans vocabulary, unlike the rest of the world. Both the lower class and upper class avoid using class distinctions. When I was in high school I had a friend whose parents were very well off. I have tried to talk to my friend about the wealth of his parents. My friend won’t admit his parents are wealthy and he thinks that everyone is as well off as his family. His father owns a landscaping company where my friend works in the summers when he isn’t in college. I’ve worked for my friend’s father before for about six months and then I was laid off when the economy hit the peak of the recession. My friend, his brother and I were the only white people his father had working for him the rest were Mexican and barely spoke English. I felt like my friend’s mother looked down on me because her husband’s employee and instead of being in college I was working for him. This feeling I got from my friends mom wasn’t just from working for their company. The entire time I’ve been their son’s friend which has been since first grade, I’ve felt small in their eyes like I wasn’t good enough to be friends with him. In Mantsios’s article he says there are four myths that Americans believe to ake sure talks about class never take place. These myths are that our country is classless, that we are mostly middle class, America is slowly becoming better off and everyone has an equal chance to succeed. If someone pays attention they can see the classes all around them. Each state has a minimum wage that the country’s lower class usually i s stuck barely making a living, and barely surviving because of the low wage. The upper class consists of business owners and huge company executives. These people are very well off and have everything they want and need while the lower class suffers. With an economy like Americas, the poor is getting worse off every year. The fact is America has the largest gap between rich and poor in the world. This gap is the largest it’s ever been and shows no sign of improving its steadily getting worse. The lower class is the biggest contributor to the nation’s unemployment rate, because their jobs depend on the economy to keep working. The lower class has to work extremely hard to work up the class ladder. Working class citizens have nothing they need to succeed while the upper class has everything they want in life. Another one of Mantsios’s main points is that the lower class has a high chance of health issues and a low chance of quality education. In this Article Mantsios sites Richard De Lone, He states that SAT scores strongly depend on the wealth of the students’ parents. The more wealthy the parents the better score the student got on the SATs. If the income of a family was over a hundred thousand then the students averaged a score of 1130 on their SAT. I would have to say I was not one of these Students my family was poor, but I got a good education and feel that I have a wealth of knowledge. Growing up in a lower class family my mother was barely able to pay the bills. My father left my mother when I was fourteen. So she was forced to provide for my siblings and me on her school bus driver salary. My mother had the best health benefits a job provides, her children never went without healthcare. I will say the majority of lower class family’s do not have this luxury, it depends on the job. My siblings and I have also had a quality education because my mother researched the school districts in our area before deciding where to enroll her kids. The lower class can get a quality education we just have to be determined to work hard. In order to get a college education as a lower class citizen I have to work a full time job while going to school full time. I have a wonderful role model my mother got her bachelor’s degree while working to full time jobs one graveyard and one during the day while going to school full time. If she can do that then I can’t disappoint her all she’s ever wanted for her children was a better life. The government provides financial aid, but it isn’t enough to live on while going to school. I have to utilize every free moment I have to complete my assignments, because of that I don’t have any free time. College is my only shot at moving up the class ladder of America. Americans Don’t want to believe the US is a class based society because of the myths that this country was founded on. The upper class gets everything they need, top of the line health care and education. America is not a middle class country the gap between upper class and lower class is getting bigger with each year. With an economy in the toilet the poor are getting worse off and the rich are getting better off. Success in America isn’t equal in America it’s not what you know it’s how much money you’ve got and who you know that matters. The gap between rich and poor in America is eleven to one the largest in the world, japans gap is only four to one. The reality is the poor have a higher chance of health issues and low chance of a quality education because they have no means to help themselves. Mantsios, Gregory. â€Å"Class in America. †Ã‚  Ã‚  The Norton Field Guide to Writing with Readings. 2nd  ed. Ed. R. Bullock M. D. Goggin. New York, NY:   Norton, 2010. 697-717. Print. How to cite Class in America, Essay examples Class in America Free Essays Avoidance of speaking about classes is something that most Americans practice. Most people refer to race, ethnic group, or geographic location. Sometimes people refer to identifying themselves through their employer. We will write a custom essay sample on Class in America or any similar topic only for you Order Now Americans are aware of class differences but the terminology seems to have been removed from popular culture. Our society is intrigued by the rich and famous. They are not rich, because we seem to be poor. Social commentators try to obscure the class structure and deny exploitation. What influences from class differences impact people’s lives? There are four myths in the United States. The first myth is that the United States is a classless society. Classes mean nothing in today’s society. We are equal in the eyes of the law, and health care and education is provided regardless of economic standing or classes. The second myth is that we are a middle-class nation. We are a consumer society. The third myth is that we are all becoming richer. The global economy has brought previous prosperity to most Americans. The fourth myth is that everyone has an equal chance to succeed. In America, anyone can become a millionaire; it is just being in the right place at the right time. These myths bring up many questions of class differences and their changes. The wealthiest one percent of Americans own over one-third of all consumer durables. Three-quarters of one percent of the adult population earn more than $1 million dollars annually. Prosperity is alive but this abundance is in contrast to poverty that is prevalent in the U. S. One in eight Americans live below the poverty line. Among the poor, there are over 2. million homeless. One in every five children under the age of six lives in poverty. One third of the American population lives at one extreme or the other. The level of inequality in the U. S. is getting higher. According to the census data, the gap between the rich and the poor in the U. S. is the highest since 1947 when the government began collecting data. Four out of five households saw their net worth fall between 1992 and the year 2000. The U. S. population occupy opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to wealth. Government tax olicies and the weakening of labor unions have led to these inequalities between the rich and the poor. The dress-down environment has made it harder and harder to tell the difference in income levels. Life style is another factor to consider. Differences in class is also determined by whether you live in the same city, how motivated you are, how hard you work, and whether you are black or white. Lower-class standing is related to higher rates of infant mortality, arthritis, disabilities mental illness and heart disease, just to name a few. It is also a fact that the lower one’s class standing the higher the death rate. The lower your class standing, the more difficult it is to secure housing for yourself. It is also known that the higher the standard of living for children, the higher grade probability. Test scores still correlate with family income. It is also known that there is a positive correlation between class and educational achievement. Students with families from the upper-class are twice as likely to get training beyond high school. The odds of getting into college have improved for the bottom quarter of the population in the U. S. But, the chances of completing the education have deteriorated. Leaps from rags to riches are extremely rare. Equal opportunities are not a norm for all Americans. Inheritance laws ensure a larger portion of success in the offspring of the wealthy in the U. S. People do not choose to be poor. They are found to have limited opportunities due to being denied through our social and economic system. Gender and racial domination is another factor to consider. Women are affected by sexism no matter what profession they choose. Women face discrimination and male domination. Women and minority races are dealing with institutional forces that hold them down because of gender and the color of their skin. Women and minorities are differentiated along class lines. Men, whether they are black or white, have privileges because they are men in our sexist society. Poverty varies between race and gender. Female and nonwhite increase chances of poverty in our society. There are many determining factors that cross class boundaries in the U. S. Race, ethnic groups, or geographic locations are just a few factors that affect classes in our society. There seems to be a decreasing number of middle-class Americans. More and more people are either rich or poor. Do these class differences have an impact on the way we live? Does every American have an equal opportunity to succeed? The contrast between rich and poor is becoming sharper and sharper. One third of the American population lives at one spectrum or the other. Net worth is falling in our American economy. Enormous differences are occurring in our economic standings of our citizens. With all this being said, America has the best dressed poverty in the world. This is due to mass marketing and shifts in the nation’s economy. Dress-down environments also contribute to this fact. Life style, motivation, skin color, and education have big factors in how we Americans live. Sexism has a great impact on women in our society. Where is it all going to end? There was a time in my lifetime that between my husband and me we didn’t make $20,000. People can change their situations if they have the motivation and education to do so. Doing the same thing day to day and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity. I have worked all my life and have come across many different sexism situations. This includes sexual harassment. The middle-class my family once was has deteriorated due to our government. Housing levels have fallen yet prices seem to increase every year. Jobs have been sent overseas. Jobs have been lost and more people are out of work now than ever before. American lives are constantly changing but these changes have not been good changes over the past decade. Jobs need to be brought back to America and foreign trade needs to be addressed. We need to bring back our middle America. How to cite Class in America, Papers