Durkheim-Economic Inequality in the American Society - Essay Example

Module Durkheim-Economic Inequality in the American Society INTRODUCTION Emile Durkheim’s theory of social function seeks to portray the society as being arranged by layers that have different structures. According to Durkheim, each of these social structures has practical uses. For society to function properly, the roles of each of the structures have to be fulfilled. Durkheim also stated that in the theory of functionalism, social inequality is descriptive of a condition in which society’s members have varying quantities of prestige, wealth, or power. Even though there are many international organizations that seek to control economic inequality, there are still varying level of social inequality in all nations around the world. DURKHEIM’S THEORY Sociologists often refer to stratification as the process through which social inequalities are based on a hierarchy of different groups. Such hierarchies bring about unequal financial rewards in a society, as well as biased power structures. Ascribed status is descriptive of a situation where elevated social positions are accorded to people without any consideration about their characteristics. For instance, being male or female is an ascribed status. In contrast, an achieved status can only be attained by an individual through individual effort. In his views of societal structures, Emile Durkheim espoused the positivist tradition in that his examination of society was scientific and dispassionate. According to Durkheim’s functionalist theory, economic inequality actually has different functions in modern society. The functionalist scholars Davis and Moore stated that the existence of different levels of expertise, ability, and knowledge are actually beneficial. This is because the resulting unequal financial reward system contributes towards ensuring that the people chosen to fulfill different responsibilities are the ones that are most qualified. According to functionalism, this system also stimulates people to desire to realize even greater academic achievements- which, in the end, benefits the entire society. If medical surgeons were not the recipients of big salaries, for instance, they would not be adequately inspired to forgo social activities for years of seemingly endless medical training and subsequent long hours in hospitals. Durkheim’s functionalist view of inequality in terms of financial wealth contributes some positive factors to any society. Even though the underprivileged classes in most societies are viewed negatively, functionalism suggests that having a group of low-paid employees means that there will always be a workforce that is ready and able to carry out tasks that the other classes in society refuse to do. The institution of poverty also ensures that there is employment for others in all offices that have to do with welfare. The poor class, which is mostly made up of women and minorities, also consumes inferior products like old and used vehicles, as well as dilapidated homes. Functionalism would also seek to state that unequal pay also benefits the larger society by ensuring that talented and skilled workers are discouraged from pursuing mundane jobs. Their seeking of more well-paying jobs ensures that there is increased efficiency and productivity within the society. A social functionalist will perceive the economic discrimination experienced by minorities as an unavoidable result of a society that trains people to make a distinction between wealthy or middle class people and the poor. Prejudice naturally results in discrimination, and if this becomes evident, a functioning society will seek to encourage social cohesion by encouraging debates on the issue or by employing institutionalized reform to address the issue in a way that highlights the greater good. For instance, in the sixties, when social revolt was inspired by the civil rights movement, a type of social cohesion was born out of the chaos by individuals who sought to use the society’s angst in positive ways. Figures on Income Disparity. In the United States, low-income status differs according to race and gender (Blau, Brummund and Yung-Hsu Liu). Among the more than 13.5 million nuclear families that can be said to be of the underprivileged class, 22% are African American, 30% are of Hispanic ethnicity, and 6% are other non-whites such as Asians (Race, Ethnicity, and the American Labor Market: What’s at Work?). Even though there are more poor people of Caucasian ethnicity who are poor than all other ethnic groups, the minorities still have more poor people among them when the figures are compared. For instance, African Americans only make up 13% of the American population but 22% of the population can be certified as being poor (Race, Ethnicity, and the American Labor Market: What’s at Work?). There are also other factors, such as the absence of two earning adults in minority families that contribute towards the poverty. For instance, only 18% of African American families are likely to include married-family households; compared to forty-two percent of White families (Race, Ethnicity, and the American Labor Market: What’s at Work? 6). It has been estimated that 83% of African American families are headed by a single parent- who is usually female. This makes it very hard for the responsible parents to balance family responsibilities and working in multiple jobs so as to sustain the family. Hispanic families are more likely to have other adults from the extended family in their households. This helps in the effort to improve from being in the lower class as responsibilities can be shared with other adults even if there is only one parent. Single mothers, who make the bigger percentage of single parents in the United States, make up a larger percentage of the poor. For instance, White low-income nuclear families are three times as likely as their counterparts in the higher and middle-classes to be headed by single parents. It has been established that the wages of low-income families in America are, for the most part, similar among all racial groups. Two parent families may draw $26,000 on an annual basis; however, single parent families can draw as low as $10,000 annually (Race, Ethnicity, and the American Labor Market: What’s at Work? 4). Due to the distinction of female-headed single-parent families in the lower class, African American families have continuously registered the lowest median income over the years at figures of lower than $12,500; while families that include many adults who can contribute to the family kitty, as is common among the Hispanics, constantly register medium incomes that often go past the $18,700 mark (Hertz 5). African American single mothers often have to deal with discrimination based on gender as well as ethnicity. This makes them particularly vulnerable. It has also been established that the level of education has a lot to do with the income earned in households. For all racial groups, the level of income increases with educational achievements. Families with married adults who have attained a high school education tend to be poorer than those with married adults who have attained college degrees in all racial groups (Isaacs, Sawhill and Hoskins 19). Moreover, the families with married adults who have high school educations as well as other contributing adults sometimes have incomes that supersede those of families with a single parent with a college degree (Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility across Generations). It has been established that Hispanic household adults with less than high school educations sometimes earn more Black families with high school diplomas due to having a different work ethic. Hispanic adults who have less than a high school diploma are usually illegal immigrants who have migrated to America to find any kind of work in order to support families in their native homes. Such adults may have been exposed to worse conditions in their native countries than they find in America. They are usually willing to work in the fields, or take on any form of employment that will give them some type of income. When comparing the wealth of families with similar educational attainments, as well as the general distribution of wealth across the races, there are huge disparities (Johnston, 254). According to a Pew Research Center study, the average wealth in white married-couple households, for instance, is approximately18 times that of married couple Hispanic households and 20 times that of black married-couple households (Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility across Generations). These uneven wealth ratios are twice what they were before the 2008 recession. The Pew Research investigation further established that the housing market debacle in 2006 and the subsequent recession took a bigger toll on the wealth of minority communities than Whites households (Housing Wealth and Higher Education: Building a Foundation for Economic Mobility). For instance, between 2005 and 2009, 66% of Hispanic married couple households and 53% of married couple African American households experienced an inflation-affected loss of wealth (Race, Ethnicity, and the American Labor Market: What’s at Work?, 6). Moreover, only 16% of married couple White households experienced the same levels of financial loss (Housing Wealth and Higher Education: Building a Foundation for Economic Mobility). Due to these drastic declines in financial wealth, by 2009, the typical married couple black household had approximately $5,677 while Hispanic married-couple households registered about $6,325 in total wealth. The typical married couple White household, however, still had assets worth approximately $113,149. In addition, about 31% of Hispanic households, 35% of African American households, and 14% of White households had zero net worth by 2009. How Income Disparity is understood through Functionalism. Functionalism is a theory that is dependent on long established social structures to support productivity within the society. The established social structures include religion, law, business regulations, and academic achievement. In the United States, it is the Whites who were first exposed to enlightenment and liberate from ignorance. The laws that existed at the birth of this nation only supported White males. These were the individuals who were allowed to attend established schools and make rules to protect the wealth they acquired. Conversely, the rulers more than three centuries ago instituted rules that crippled the efforts of women and minorities to better themselves. This was the inception of financial inequality among the races. The liberation of other races, particularly the African Americans, would come much later- when the rules governing in a system of inequality had already been accepted and used by multiple generations of Americans with great profit. The reality of the workings of the social system in America is evident even through the lives of present day migrants. It is a known factor that the poorest class is made up of Hispanic migrants who come to America looking for temporary work and have no families or relatives to sustain them in America. When they make money and accumulate it instead of sending it to relatives, they can then start moving upwards in society (Sullivan, 48). The system that was so successful in bringing profits to the mainstream society cannot be altered overnight. Neither can it be completely done away with because this will result in social chaos. Instead, the theory of functionalism holds that people should seek to come up with different ways of slowly changing the society by means of established social systems. The systems can actually serve as factors that contribute towards the eradication of human social inequities. CONCLUSION The sociologist, Emile Durkheim tried to demonstrate that society is basically structured along a moral system that seeks to provide sustenance for all classes that are formed. He also sought to prove that the system of capitalism, far from causing divisions that are detrimental to harmony in the society, merely supports the division of labor in a way that categorizes individuals according to different social groups that each has separate objectives. Works Cited “Housing Wealth and Higher Education: Building a Foundation for Economic Mobility.” The pew charitable trusts, 2011. “Pursuing the American Dream: Economic Mobility across Generations.” The pew charitable trusts, 2012. “Race, Ethnicity, and the American Labor Market: What’s at Work?” Sydney S. SPIVAC program in applied social research and social policy, ASA series on how race and ethnicity matter, 2005. Blau, Francine, Peter Brummund, Albert Yung-Hsu Liu. “Trends in Occupational Segregation by Gender 1970-2009: Adjusting for the Impact of Changes in the Occupational Coding System.” National Bureau of Economic Research. 2012. Hertz, Tom. “Understanding Mobility in America.” Center for American Progress. 2006. Isaacs, Julia, Isabel Sawhill, and Ron Hoskins. “Getting Ahead or Losing Ground: Economic Mobility in America.” The Brookings institution, 2008. Johnston, Cay, David. “United in our Delusion.” Commentary- Johnston’s Take, 2010. Sullivan, Thomas. Sociology: Concepts and Applications in a Diverse World. New York: Pearson, 2009. Read More