The Different Income Groups - Essay Example

It is one of the biggest challenges for Americans to get along with each other. Among the many problems and issues, income inequality is one of the biggest hurdles for people belonging to different social classes to get along.

Analyze the different income groups and how they do not get along.
Analyze the reasons why certain groups and communities like blacks and Hispanics remain in the low-income category.
Analyze the opportunities denied to people belonging to lower income groups and how it reflects their hatred towards the higher income group.

Analyze the level of discrimination by the higher income groups shown towards lower income groups.
Analyze what needs to be done to reduce the chasm produced due to income inequality in America.
Income equality and health
Income equality and education
Income inequality and race
Income equality and crime rate
Urban polarization

The crime rate, urbanization
“One should bear in mind that larger cities offer very different kinds of opportunities that allow the poor to better their lot. However, there is compelling evidence that these cities have much higher crime rates than small cities. (Glaeser and Sacerdote, 1999). In addition, urban polarization is strengthened by “spatial segregation” in education and access to the job market, which in turn fosters criminality.” (Delacorte, 92)

“... the widening of income and wealth inequality in the United States has placed great financial pressure on lower-income families. This pressure has encouraged legislatures and governing boards to accommodate easier college entry and to subsidize poorer applicants, relying primarily on the tuition revenue of students who can pay.” (Policano and Fethke, 16)

“While African-Americans and whites at higher income and higher educational levels were more likely to desire fewer hours than their lower-income, less-educated counterparts, African-Americans are still more likely than whites to desire more hours at all income and educational levels. This racial difference most likely is due to greater wage inequality among African-Americans than among whites. (Negrey, 94)


The disparity between different income groups gives birth to the question: Can we get along? America must be America again, to reduce the crime rate, and agonistic feelings that people belonging to lower-income groups harbor for the higher-income group.

The disparaging income inequality in the United States prohibits many young men and women from entering colleges, thus denying them the opportunity of earning a decent living.

“The burgeoning inequality threatens the integrity and moral authority of the social order. Those locked out of the world of economic opportunity are locked into a perpetual underclass, and often exhibit anti-social behaviors such as drug use, alcoholism, and crime.” (Stone, 258) Read More