Social Class and Inequality - Essay Example

Social and Inequality In the article by Herbet (N.d.)T “he War Against the poor ,instead of programs to end poverty’’,Brink Lindsey ‘culture of success” Mary and William, 2012 are appreciated for their outstanding work ‘Writing in the Disciplines.” Carefully focusing on the Chapter 13:Social Class and Inequality, they have described the aspect of discrepancy between the living standards of individuals in the articles highlighted therein Angela Locke’s article ‘Born Poor and Smart focuses on the aspect of poverty and intelligence. She appreciates the fact that people’s unguided and unexamined thoughts are that in case one is smart he or she cannot by any means be poor and still that the poor are not smart, but she presents to us a very striking and unexpected thought through the experiences she has had with her mother who has dwindled in poverty, however, smart she is. We are faced with the same challenge of the stereotypes we have about the poor as we tend to think that the causes of poverty in America is just that which we believe rather there are several other indicators of social mobility including focusing on persistence and perseverance as well hard work avoiding the attitudes of the middle and upper class as echoed in (Lindsey, 2008). In her article “Born Smart and Poor” Angela Locke critically examines the misguided thinking of people that the poor are not clever enough to free themselves of this menace of poverty and still those that are smart cannot be poor (Lindsey, 2008). However, she views it differently on the account of the experiences she has gone through having seen her mother languish in poverty yet she was smart. She narrates the ordeals her mother has to pass through despite the knowledge she acquired from the several number of books she used to read. Her mother is contrasted greatly with other workers she finds in various other workplaces plus and including some her bosses whom she simply cannot just share the knowledge she has acquired from the books she reads. Angela asserts that her mother did not deserve to do the works she did. She deserved more that but the question of whom to help her climb or get into that better job arises. Through this hard work and unfailing efforts of her mother, perseverance in these unskilled works she wakes up to every morning; Locke is enrolled into a college. This is where her mother’s intelligence was to pay, having seen two of her four children complete college. She had to bear with her mother’s advice of not showing off she has gone to college but her determination to keep up with the class of other women finally takes up with her (Lindsey, 2008). Having come from a less advantaged background, Locke had to take longer in school than those who were economically endowed. She managed to get close to other ladies of class during her studies in college. She, however, became disillusioned. She belonged nowhere due to change of class since success automatically belonged to those of upper class. She indicates that even today she suffers what she had to go through those days. Lack of identity or in other words she had no class to be identified with. This is the moment when the reality of what her mother always insisted about struck her. She worked hard to attain success and change of class since she knew that the relationship between successes came with the tag of money but little to do with wealth and all to do with class. Locke states that having success and values recognizable in society is worth much more fighting for than just being identified with a certain class and equipping oneself with skills combined with talents helpful in pushing one up the social ladder. Being born poor and smart should be treated as a rare opportunity and great advantage towards success and social mobility (Lindsey, 2008). In “The War Against the Poor, Instead of Programs to End poverty’’, Herbert focuses on the issues facing the poor whom he states are discriminated against due to race. He has owns a different view from that of Locke such that he sees poverty as driven by forces beyond the means of the poor. The middle and upper class persons see the poor as merely criminals and people that does not deserve to escape poverty since they assume that the homeless are basically lazy which is opposite of the observations made by Angela Locke. He further asserts that these misguided misconceptions about poverty contribute to the lugging behind of a countries economy (Lindsey, 2008). The poor especially the African Americans are faced with lack of job opportunities hence their poor living standards. Herbert too blames the government for having a hand in the state of the poor in the country by restricting the welfare to the class advantaged citizens leaving the poor to languish in poverty yet the government can enforce high taxes on the upper class to benefit the less advantaged. He, however, recommends that the quality of living can be improved if the government addresses the issue of poverty and establish programs for the same. Herbert also indicates that the media and the politicians have created the mental picture of the aspect of comparing the upper class and referring to the others as undeserving. This in itself amounts to the psychological torture of the less disadvantaged (Lindsey, 2008). The argument that is always bound to ensue about the gap between the middle, upper class and the poor will remain to be as long as the Americans are not ready to accept the truth of the matter and begin viewing things at a different angle. However, it is worth noting that that government is doing its best to bridge the gap between the social classes these days by avoiding discrimination compared to the olden days (Lindsey, 2008). The other article outstanding in this chapter 13; social class and inequality is, culture of success by Brink Lindsey who looks at success not as a result of riches nor lack of it for enrolling in colleges or performing well or completing nor in securing better jobs and incomes. Rather as Locke observes in her article that success is all about determination, perseverance and good skills earnings. This provides a better chance in moving up the social ladder. Lindsey also observes that the number of African Americans and other immigrants into American for example the Hispanics is very low compared to their White American counterparts not because they originate from income families nor lack of finances. Nevertheless, that is always the reason given by people that a college education is expensive and of course inflation having gone high then the school fees automatically goes up. Research conducted however shows that money is not always the problem but most of the parents who are from the low income earning families fail to give proper guidance to their children who only join college since they doesn’t have skill to do work (Lindsey, 2008). In the recent past, Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama made a proposal to higher the tuition subsidies and incentives to cater for the disadvantaged or those not from well up families. Even with this, still fewer blacks got to college. That it all depend on the child’s upbringing, where the child is brought up since communication matters when it comes to interaction. It was found that children from well up backgrounds had higher chances of communicating better compared to these others due to practice and also the nurture of their parents who are well versed with these systems (Lindsey, 2008). Therefore in a nutshell ,all the articles by Herbert, Locke and Lindsey it is all about doing our best to adapt to the circumstances and issues at hand as quickly as we can in order to establish ourselves in this competitive environment and better equip ourselves with current systems and trends so as to be of benefit to the society as well as boosting the economy of the nation by being relevant and equipping the generations to come appropriately in order for them to stand a better chance in living a life worthy living (Lindsey, 2008). Reference List Lindsey, B. (2008) “Culture of Success”, Writing in the Disciplines: A Reader and Rhetoric for Academic Writers, (7th ed.): 453-480. Read More