Seeing the contrast between how the poor and the rich were treated will give a clearer understanding of how much social class mattered. In chapter 27 when Joe comes to see Pip, he treats Joe in a different manner than before because Joe was now in a lower social class. His feelings about Joe's arrival were "Not with pleasure... I had the sharpest sensitiveness as to his being seen by Drummle." (p. 203).
Legislators attacked union organizers; people who held the idea that working class existed, conflicts with the capitalists, and believed that the working class should challenge the power of capitalists. The attacks began due to increase in living standards; the working class was able to buy homes, cars, and make more money. Upward mobility seemed natural in this time period since the working class earned more and had similar living standards to the middle class and capitalist. Unions had different perspectives on “class talk”. The American Federation of Labor (AFL) did not have interest in working class and focused on the prosperity of the members.
Sociologists explain poverty in a number of different ways. Some sociological explanations of poverty say that the problem is with the attitudes and values of the poor, while other explanations say that the problem is with society and the economy. One explanation of poverty is the culture of poverty, which refers to the attitudes and values that people in poverty have. Poor people think that they can't change their situation and will always be poor, so they tend not to aim high and don’t make sacrifices as they feel that they won't achieve much. They also live for the moment (present gratification).
Weber believed it was linked to the type of job people could get, Weber thought differently to Marx about this, as marx believed it was due to owning factories or other resources, and weber thought it was due to skills and qualifications. Weber’s idea of class influenced the ideas of other sociologists, such as goldthorpe (1980). Goldthorpe derived a stratification scale which includes the Weberian concept of market position. This was felt by sociologists to be a more accurate technique of studying stratification, as a pose to just studying peoples jobs. Weber was skeptical about the possibility of the working class bonding together for revolutionary purposes, for example becoming class-conscious because of differences in status would always undermine any common cause.
Shorris bluntly tells the poor they have been cheated. He tells them that the rich have learned the humanities and have the knowledge to use them in day-to-day life but the poor, do not. Shorris simply summarizes, “rich people know a more effective method for living in this society,” (Shorris 4). Rich people know how to successfully and politically fit into the gears of civilization. Since Shorris realizes that the rich have this unfair advantage over the poor, he decides to create a course designed for those that could not learn these humanities in private schools and expensive universities like the rich could.
For example, welfare benefits do it can help subsidy their family. By its very nature, the aspiration of this thesis toward Carol Stack and The Moynihan Report clashes with conflict with how black communities lived in poverty and how the only way to survive was through solidarity and exchange/ swapping within the African American communities (Stack) and how the black family structure was decrepit due to dysfunctional number of "matriarchal" family hierarchy or the diversity within and among black families. The lack of the economic mobility and social mobility of the people/workers are necessary for the upper and middle classes because it keeps the economy going. It helps a lot of policies like for example welfare. Welfare positions the current situations rather than the policies that would probably change the structure of our economics that forces our black urban poor people into the high poverty range.
However, because foreigners are willing to work for less money, it gives them a more adept position in the American economy and working force, regardless of their education. Therefore, the abundance of labor creates a shortage of jobs which in turn leads to a “rough estimate that suggested that as many as 42 million jobs, or nearly one-third of the nation's total, were susceptible to offshoring” (Gosselin, pg 2). In essence, it doesn’t matter how much you know, but rather how little you will work for. The Social Problems textbook states that “the globalization of the economy is not a neutral process. Decisions are based on what will maximize profits, thus serving the owners of capital, and not necessarily workers or the communities where factories are located” (Social Problems, pg 427).
Through East Egg and West Egg, Fitzgerald reveals that the American Dream is simply an illusion for most people in society. It is portrayed as though those in East Egg simply inherit their money (this is why they are considered ``old money``), while those in West Egg have somehow earned their money by working for it (this is why they are considered the ``nouveau riche``). When Fitzgerald writes ``Whenever you feel like criticizing anyone, just remember that people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.`` (7), he is trying to say that it is much better to be morally upright when you are trying to make an honest living. In saying this, Fitzgerald makes the immorality of the wealthy seem even more unforgivable. Another important piece of evidence that shows that the American Dream is not what it appears to be is the fact that Gatsby did not earn his wealth through hard work.
Marxists claimed that racism serves the interests of the capitalist or employer class by dividing workers according to their colours and ethnicity, reducing their potential unity and thus their bargaining power. More worker bargaining power means higher wages and lower profits, and less bargaining power means lower wages and higher profits. It also explains why black workers will not replace white workers, even if the latter can be paid lower wages. Although law has been enacted to prevent structural racism, but personal prejudice still goes on. Whites with a criminal record are more than 3 times more likely to get a call back than blacks with a criminal record.
5 December 2012 Social Class in the U.S Society in the United States can be divided into several different social class groups. A social class consists of those people in a community who are somewhat similar in their economic status, their attitudes and beliefs, and their educational attainments, their ways of living, the regard in which others hold them, and their power or lack of power to influence community affairs. In the United States, Americans try to avoid thinking in terms of “low class” and “high class”, but there is no escaping the fact that some people are economically and socially better off than some other people. (p.214) According to our textbook, stratification appears to be unavoidable. It is the grouping of people according to differences in income, occupation, power, privilege, manner of living and others.