Class in America Essay Example for Free

Class in America Essay fabrication 1 The United States is fundamentally a social class slight society. Class distinctions atomic number 18 largely irrelevant today, and whatever differences do exist in stinting standing, they are for the most part- insignificant Myth 2 We are, essentially, a centerfield-class nationMyth 3 We are all getting richer. The American public as a whole is steadily moving up the economic ladder, and each generation propels itself to greater economic well-being Myth 4 Everyone has an equal chance to succeed man 1 There are enormous differences in the economic standing of American citizens. A sizable proportion of the U.S. population occupies inverse ends of the economic spectrum. In the middle ranger of the economic spectrum Sixty percent of the American population holds less than 6 percent of the nations wealth. Between 1979 and 2000, the offer in household income amongst the top fifth and middle fifth of the population by 31 percent. During the economic boom of the 19990s, four out of five Americans aphorism their share of net worth decline, while the top fifth saw their share growing from 59 percent to 63 percent. Reality 2 The middle class in the United States hold a very small share of the nations wealth and that share is declining steadily.The gap between rich and poor and between rich and the middle class is larger than it has even been. Reality 3 Class affects more than modus vivendi and material well-being. It has significant impact on our physical and mental well-being as well. Researchers have prove an inverse relationship between social class and health. Lower-class standing is correlated to higher rank of infant mortality, eye and ear disease, arthritis, physical disability, diabetes, nutritional deficiency, respiratory disease, mental illness, and heart disease Reality 4 From cradle to grave, the class standing has a significant impact on our chances for survival.Reality 5 Class standing has a significant impact on chances for educational achievement. Class standing, and consequently carriage chances, are largely determined at birth One study scaned that fewer than one in five men surpass the economic status of their fathers. For those whose annual income is in six figures, economic achievement is due in large part tothe wealth and privileges bestowed on them at birth. (Mantsios, Class in America- 2003)This article, the myths and realities Mantsios addresses show that in fact people in the United States do not have the simple, easy, freedom of exactly becoming rich and it is not just a matter of working hard to get there. The class system and the power of oppression keep citizens in the classes they are born into. One who is born into a lower class in the U.S. is at a constant disadvantage from birth.The statistics Mantsios uses illustrate the economic gap between the rich and the middle class and the rich and the poor in the United States- showing an increase in the gap the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The fact that laws and the class systems are performing as traps to keep the people in poverty, or at least keep them from becoming affluent, is a violent act. And as an even more literal act of violence, even though it isnt much of an act, the correlation between poverty and disease is outrageous. And so again, poverty is violence