Social Characteristics of the Races in the US - Essay Example

Social characteristic of the different races in the US: Introduction: This paper is based on findings regarding the social characteristics of the different ethnic groups in the United States. These groups include whites, blacks, Asians and Hispanic. Some of the characteristics of interest include poverty levels, income levels and health insurance cover. Other characteristics include education level of attained and the data was retrieved from www.census.gov . The US population 2006: The US population according to 2006 was estimated to amount to 299,398,484 which is a 6.4% population growth compared to the 2000 population. 50.70% of the 2006 estimated were female and 49.30% were male. Further 12.70% of the populations in the US are poor and this is according to the US census website, this paper discusses the social characteristics of the ethnic groups living in the US. The following diagram summarizes the components of the US population The US population which amounts to 299,398,484, of this number 66.40% are white, 14.80% Hispanic, 12.60% are black and only 4.40% are Asians. Therefore whites are the majority and only a few Asians are in the US. Poverty: From the 2006 report 12.70% of the US population in 2006 was poor, for the 12.70% 595 were white, 21% Hispanic, and 16% black and only 4% were Asians, the following chart summarizes the findings from the 2006 report regarding the US population. Poverty 2006 total percentage Asian 2,956 4% black 11,315 16% Hispanic 15,147 21% white 42,212 59% 71,630 From the above table it is evident that the majority of those living in poverty are white while Asians have the least number of individuals, who are poor, the above figures are summarized in the chart below: The level of poverty among the ethnic groups can be attributed to various factors which include level of education, economic opportunities and cultural differences and these factors are discussed below. Income: The level of income is also an important social characteristic of the ethnic groups, the level of income for 2006 is given for each fifth dollar, the table below summarizes the values for each ethnic group. lowest 2 3 4 lower limit of top 5% black 14,354 12,000 25,000 40,150 67,200 122,489 white 82,675 22,928 41,502 65,300 102,714 184,338 Asian 4,454 26,300 50,000 80,202 126,000 222,429 Hispanic 12,973 17,000 30,000 46,040 73,220 130,600 From the above table it is evident that the Asians have higher income compared to the other groups, whites have the second largest income, the Blacks have the lowest income followed the Hispanics, this data regarding the lower limit of the top five percent is summarized below: Asians therefore are high income earners while blacks are the lowest income earners, this can explain the reason why Asians have the low percentage of those that are poor. Insurance: Insurance coverage is also an important factor when analyzing these groups, the table below summarizes those who are insured, from the table below it is evident that for those that are insured only 5% are Asians, 13% are black, 15% are Hispanic and 67% are white. insured percentage Asian 14,348 5% black 39,083 13% Hispanic 44,854 15% white 196,252 67% 294,537 The following diagram summarizes the percentage of each ethnic group that is insured: Majority of those insured are white while only 5% of those insured are Asians. 67% of those insured are white, 15% of those insured are Hispanic, 13% of those insured are black and for those insured only 5% are Asians. Education attainment: We retrieved data on education attainment 2003 report; the following table summarizes the findings regarding high school and college education attainment: high school college graduate Hispanic 57.0 11.1 black 80.0 17.0 white 85.1 27.2 Asian 87.6 47.2 From the table above 57% of Hispanics have attained high school education and only 11% have attained college education, 80% of blacks have also attained high school education but only 17% have attained college education. 85.1% of white have attained high school education while 27.2% have attained college education, 87.6% have attained high school education while 47.2% have attained college education. The chart below summarizes the attainment of education by the groups: High school education; From the above diagram Asians have the highest number of those who have attained high school education, 57% of Hispanic which is the lowest have attained high school education, the table below summarizes the college education attainment: College education: Asians have the highest number of college graduates which is 47.2%, college graduates amount to 27.2% of whites, 17% of blacks and 11.1 % of Hispanics. From the analysis on education attainment it is evident that Asians have the percentage of those that attained both college and high school education. Summary: From the above discussion it is evident that the US population comprises of 66.4% of whites, 12.6% blacks, 14.8% Hispanic and only 4.4% Asians, the total population according to 2006 estimates was 299,398,484, this shows that the whites are more than the minority groups, the other groups are immigrants and therefore have less economic opportunities. Majority of this population in the United States originated from Europe and the minority groups include the blacks, Hispanics, blacks and Asians. Native Americans only comprise 0.9% of the population and they include the Indians and Eskimos. From the above discussion t is evident that some of the minority groups are marginalized, blacks and Hispanics have less income compared to the whites and this is attributed to economic opportunities they have in the society, according to the US Census quick facts findings on these minority groups show that Asians own 4.8% of commercial firms, Blacks own 5.2% of the firms and 6.8% of firms are owned by Hispanics. The other reason why poverty is high among these groups is education, less blacks complete their high school and college education and for this reason have less opportunities in the economy, for these reason therefore the blacks income is less compared to the other minority groups and this has led to wide spread poverty among the blacks. Capital is also an important factor when analyzing these groups, because the US society is a capitalist society, the rich get rich and the poor get poorer, capital is an important factor in economic growth and it is evident that whites hold more capital than the other minority groups and therefore will tend to have higher income and better standards of living. The other minority groups have less capital and for this reason will have lower standards of living and less income. Culture is also a major factor that has contributed to the difference in wealth and social status of the minority groups, the whites have a culture of enterprising and searching for economic opportunities while the other groups which include Asians and Hispanics migrated to the US for better opportunities created the whites, for this reason therefore the culture of these groups have contributed to inequality. In conclusion it is evident that despite the US being the wealthiest nation in the world there is a large number of its population that live in poverty, the minority groups are marginalized and this is attributed to the number, culture, education and economic opportunities among the groups. References: Charles Menifield (2001) Representation of Minority Groups in the U.S, Austin and Winfield publishers, New York Donald Bogue (1996) The Population of the United States, McGraw Hill publishers, New York Jaime Rodriguez (1997) Common Border, Uncommon Paths: Race, Culture, and National Identity in U.S, University of California, California Maris Vinovskis (1995) Education Society and Economic Opportunity, Yale University Press, New Haven US census (2008) the US population, retrieved on 8th October, available at www.census.gov Read More