Name John M. Comeau 06/12/12 ENGL 111 - 04B Social Class in America In today’s society, discussing class and where you stand within the class structure is considered a taboo subject. Most Americans prefer not to use words that classify themselves as the working class, upper class, or the ruling class. Unlike other countries, we shrink away from such terms because it is easier to believe that all Americans are equal and fall into the ‘working class’ category. I find that this belief gives a false representation of today’s economic situation and leaves most of the population living in denial. It gives a false sense of comfort to those who may struggle thus causing issues in everyday life.
Compare/Contrast Class and race are important demarcation factors in America in determining educational and job opportunities, as well as income level. In his essay “Class In America”, Gregory Mantsios outlines the widely held beliefs about class in the United States. In more recent times The New York times released a series of articles “Shadowy Lines that divide” by Jenny Scott That talks about class in modern society. Both articles analyze the gap between the poor class and the upper class, but both have different opinios on In “Class In America” Mantsios talks about how American people hardly talk about class, or they don’t like too. “If someone were to ask a person to describe himself or herself, he or she would most likely not mention his or her class, such as upper class or lower class” (Mantsios, Class In America, 308) He or she would be more likely to tell their race, geographic location, or industry.
Many illegal immigrants leave their country in hope to find something better in America, they want a better education and lifestyle. Immigrants believe America can change their lives. There are so many opinions, debates, and approaches about illegal immigrants that live in the United States of America. However despite of all of it, illegal immigrants have been generally discriminated against and somehow put aside in our society, put aside in our society as outcasts. In order to fight for their rights, illegal students who were brought to the U.S by their parents have been trying to change their illegal status and became part of this nation.
for my teachers have put it, "If everyone were the same, the world would be pretty boring. Think, if everyone were just like you, then you would not be unique at all." Sometimes this could be good. The rest of the time though, it would be very boring. There is only one world and whether we have dark or light skin, we are all humans.
Predominantly, college is for those with money, so therefore we cannot attend. It's already saddening being told "you will never amount to anything," by your peers, teachers, and family members, and to carry that on your shoulders, along with proving them right is even more complicated. It's sad to say that it all boils down to the fact that it has everything to do with the color of your skin. Society has categorized all African Americans to be known as "lower class," and with that being stamped on our skin, some of us tend to live up to the stereotype, which makes it even more difficult to expect more out of yourself, when you're already being told how far you can go and that's to your senior year of high school. College tuition is very expensive and isn't given a fair share for everyone to have the opening and adventure to take on, due to the lack of finance.
What is ethnocentrism? It’s a way of looking at other cultures as if it is less than your own culture, For example when Columba’s came to discover the America’s he ran into the American Indians treating them as if they were second to them because the culture was different. They tried to change the Indians and indoctrinate them into their ways of living rather than the ways the Indians were used to of course that backfired causing a lot of unnecessary death. A. In what ways can ethnocentrism be detrimental to a society?
After centuries of giving value to the color of a person’s skin, attempting to push race aside now also pushes aside the struggles that many people have gone through because of the value placed on their skin. The need for colorblindness also implies there is something shameful about the way God made us and the culture we were born into, that we are to timid to speak about. Colorblindness has helped make race a taboo topic that people no longer want to discuss. And if you can’t talk about it, you can’t understand it, much less fix the racial problems that plague our society. We should explore our society and what we mean by race because if we do not know what we mean by race we cannot tackle institutional racism.
If we choose not to do what we are told, then most of the time there are consequences. Most people are afraid to disobey authority because they are afraid of the outcome and embarrassment. If we didn’t have authority figures in our lives then we probably would not know right from wrong, and the world would be absolute chaos. Stanley Milgram did a study in 1961 at Yale University to see just how obedient most people are and the results scared just about everyone. He wanted to see the affect authority figures had on ordinary people.
Have you ever heard of don't judge a book by the cover? What about don't judge a book by its title? In the essay written by Manuel Munoz, “Leave Your Name at the Border,” Antonio had to change his name to Tony so people will hire him. He feels that society associates his traditional Mexican name with illegal immigration. America is known as the “melting pot.” The melting pot refers to people changing their own cultures to fit American culture.
A time to kill Prejudice is an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed without knowledge, thought, or reason. America is still prejudice today because we not fully accept other cultures, beliefs, backgrounds and upbringings We live in a society where if you do not conform you are not socially accepted amongst your peers I believe America is still prejudice till this day because not only do we judge others by their skin color, we judge By the clothes they wear, the way they talk and the crowd they associate with. There are many reasons why we are prejudice it could be because we want to be liked and will reject others if necessary to gain acceptance. We also hold certain prejudices because we are trying to express the aspects