Robb Chana English Miller When people arrive to America they expect to start a new life and pursue happiness. However, most of them will only find their lives to be harder as an individual living in America. America is made up to be a land that immigrants built a land of equal opportunity freedom and the pursuit for happiness. At least this is every immigrant’s perspective on America and American life. There is still a lot of unequal freedom for minorities and immigrants.
Establishing an annual Buy Nothing Day punishes everyone for the few idiots’ problems. Not everyone has a problem with consumerism. Creating a day that ‘helps’ people tackle their overconsumption problems only helps a minority of the population. And overall, it is not the governments’ job to monitor citizens’ personal problems.
Between 1945-1968 the occupational structure is different from that in 1968-2012. People don’t get ahead in their class structures so easily. This connects with the Utchille chapter on the Steady Job decrease, Zweig shows now it’s a decrease in downward mobility. All you have to do is work hard to come up (American Dream) is the myth behind upward mobility. However it doesn’t guarantee a jump in the upper social class.
These factors that many think that could be adversarial are race, gender, sexual orientation, and pedigree. Those people believe that all those components will be a problem to some who think that just working hard is enough to become successful. Although many people such as Horatio Alger, the author of “Ragged Dick”, have different opinions on how an individual can accomplish something in life, everyone achieves success differently. For most citizens of America, they believe that they must work hard to achieve what they want in life. Some do not think that any other factors such as race or social economic status can affect the outcome of an individual’s life.
Americans today have much concern about the concept of outsourcing. Ron Hira and Anil Hira in there book Outsourcing America, pose the question “Who is right and why is there difference in opinion whether this is good for America?” Critics continue to argue that outsourcing has a negative impact on American jobs, the economy, national security and pose that should this be allowed to continue, a prosperous future for all Americans is dim. However, it is also profitable for all to view their complaints as objectively as possible because they would never mention the vast benefits that come with outsourcing, especially here in America. Yes, the subject does bring a lot of insecurity and confrontation, but there are those who see it differently. While outsourcing has negative and positive implications, in the long run the future for American will lean towards the positive side of the scale.
According to Marx, a capitalist society will eventually be replaced by communism, a classless society. In a communist society there is no private property and everyone is equal. The guiding principle that everyone will live by is "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs." This form of government may sound fair, but when it is put into use it does not work as well as it appears. Most of the problems with communism arise from the second part of the guiding principle, "to each according to his needs."
The Declaration of Independence clearly states that, “all men are created equal,” but by these percentages, they are not proving that all men are created equal. If we were created equal, it would not matter what race you are or what you look like- some people think otherwise when it really should not matter at all. “The rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other.” Meaning that the rich and poor aren’t any different from each other, they’re basically all the same- there’s not really a difference between them. Now days, the similarities between the rich and poor are increasing. The difference between the rich and the poor is quite simple.
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).
Throughout history America has been seen as the land of opportunities and freedom. Its society is structure so that everyone has the same opportunities and the same chance to achieve the American dream, but as we all know that’s really the idealistic theory. In reality how our society is truly structured is that people with abundance in social capital and economical capital get better opportunities; as oppose to the less gifted. When looking at who gets what in society we tend to focus on race, there is where we see the gaps that separate our social classes. The majority who belong to the lower class, are ethnics groups that have a history of immigrating to the US and having trouble conforming to society.
The participation of the American public has been a defining feature of our countries politics and the backbone of its political system. The American way of life will only be preserved if government and the general public continue to work together for the common good, not their own individual benefit. It is easy to become isolated from one another, and in doing so, the conditions for freedom can be lost. “Our national myths often exaggerate the role of the individual heroes and understate the importance of collective effort.” (Robert D Putnam, 1995) Civic engagement, as a whole, is on the decline according to Putnam. Informal activities in particular have seen a downturn.