...Americans strive to be the best, but our nation is one of the highest to discriminate both racially and economically. One issue within the American Dream is the wealth gap that exists based on race. According to “Nine Charts about Wealth Inequality in America” families of color will soon “make up a majority of the population, but most continue to fall behind whites in building wealth,” recent statistics prove that “the average wealth of white families was over $500,000 higher than the average wealth of African American families” compared to the past where the wealth gap between races were lower and the “average wealth of while families was $117,000 higher than the average wealth of nonwhite families”. This racial and economic discrimination...
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...problem of our society. Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior of inferior to another because of skin color, language, customs and place of birth. Racial discrimination has always been a major talk in the U.S. society, and it is an ongoing concern in today’s society. Race is still a powerful social idea that gives people different access to opportunities and resources. The problem of racial discrimination has been in existence for centuries and will exist if we together do not work with mutual understanding and co-operation; unless there is the feeling of global fraternity. I believe we are the ones to create this problem and it would be a mystery unless we work out together. I, myself am a victim of racism and I have friends who are victims of racism not only in their workplace but in their daily life. We are called upon as “Hey you” instead of our names, only because I am not white. I loose many opportunities in my life though I had the equal potentials as other whites. I am always judge by my color not by my talents. It is we ourselves who made this discrimination. So, we should work together to stop this discrimination. It’s been years that people got freedom from slavery, but racial discrimination is still practiced in the society. Our nation is the most developed nation in the world, but racial discrimination still rules our society. We think that there are only two races of people in our society ‘whites’ and ‘blacks’. And whites always get more privilege...
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...This article points out the disparity in wealth and inequality of incarceration between whites and blacks with similar family characteristics and education. It also points out that poor white kids are less likely to go to prison than rich black kids. I feel that the whites started out with an enormous advantage over blacks because whites had a longer history of prosperity so a large percentage of whites tend to get more of their family inheritances. For instance, assets like houses are passed down from parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and they appreciate throughout the year. The blacks on the other hand had generations of discrimination, mass incarceration, and voracious finance. This have prevented the blacks from succeeding and disallowed them from building wealth for themselves and their families. They are treated unfairly when dealing with police officers, in the court system, applying for a house loan of any sort and in workplaces. For example, a white man receives a job offer over a black man with more qualification and educational background....
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...This is linked to the high school dropout rate and college enrollment rate. High-school dropout rates are least among Whites and highest among Hispanics, and college enrollment rates are least among black and highest among whites. Racial gaps in education are supported by the concepts of concerted cultivation and the accomplishment of natural growth. In the text, Unequal Childhoods: Class Race, and family Life, Annette Lareau illustrates how parenting styles differ by social class position and the effects of these different parenting styles on children’s growth. Parents living in the middle/upper-middle class follow concerted cultivation, which includes parents cultivating the talents of their children with questions and discussions and having children be involved in organized activities to provide wide range of experiences. Students are exposed to more resources and opportunities that allow them to be prepared for college applications. Accomplishment of Natural Growth is a...
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...Closing the Gap in Homeownership Rates: How Fannie Mae and Lender-Partners Can Close the Gap Sullivan University MGT 510 Executive Summary This proposal addresses the gap in homeownership rates between whites and minorities. According to the United States Census Bureau, 67.9 percent of the population in the United States are homeowners. However, while 71.8% of Whites are homeowners, only 47.3% of African Americans and 48.2% of Hispanics are homeowners. This large gap in homeownership rates can be contributed to discrimination by lenders and minorities’ misconceptions about the lending process. To overcome these issues, lenders need to eliminate discrimination and reach out to minorities. Ultimately, lenders who discriminate are going to hurt their own bottom lines since minorities represent a large market that has the high potential for growth. Introduction: Homeownership is the “American Dream” Housing has often been referred to as the #1 creator of wealth in the United States. It has been called, (1) the leading consumer product, (2) the leading consumer investment, and (3) a leading economic driver. Homeownership, in short, is the “American Dream.” It creates wealth. If you purchase a home today, with appreciation and through upkeep, it will be more valuable in the future. That appreciation provides homeowners with opportunities to create wealth. According...
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...SES Indicators There are 126 racial and ethnic categories in the US (Winker, 2004). It is a well-recognized fact that many racial and ethnic minorities face unique health challenges and suffer from poorer health outcomes (Dorsey, 2011). The importance of adequately reporting and collecting relevant SES parameters, including race and ethnicity is evident. However, the question of how to properly categorize, measure, and report some of these parameters has been in the center of discussion for some time. In accordance with the Affordable Care Act, The department of Health and Human Services (HHS) came up with the new data standards for the collection of race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, and disability status. It is required by law that these standards be used in all the national population health surveys (Dorsey, 2011). The new standards have been in use since November 2011, and their stated purpose is to “understand the causes of health disparities, design effective responses, and evaluate progress in decreasing health disparities” (Dorsey, 2011). With the deepening social disparities and the effect they have on the nation’s health, it is essential to have a well-established system of documentation. It is also important for the researchers to select and appropriately measure all the indicators relevant for their study. HHS’s new data standards include fourteen racial and five ethnic categories, with the option to include more than one category within each group. When...
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...economic gaps in society as well as any examples provided and your conclusions. After carefully reading the text and researching through bing.com, we have come to believe that crime is predominantly an intra racial event, because it’s not often that you hear on the news of blacks victimizing whites, Asians or any other race but their own. We all thought that intra racial happens within certain types of violent crimes such as rape. It is different when it comes to assaults or robberies, we have researched some terms that included a review of percentages suggested for robberies and assault. This finding suggested that the motives behind black assault and rape are different than the motives behind white assault and rape. Author of “Is Violent Crime Intraracial?” had stated that that white offenders chose black victims in 8.3% of robberies, 2.7% of assaults, and 5.5% of rapes. These percentages suggested that each of the three violent crimes is strongly intra-racial for white offenders but predominantly interracial for black offenders. This finding suggests that the motives behind black assault and rape are different than the motives behind white assault and rape. Which we find true because how often do we catch these kinds of events on the news, how often are reasoning to events ever released via national television? How did Author W. Wilbanks get these numbers are uncertain, but as a group we have come to believe that crime is predominantly an intra-racial event involving...
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...ideas and information. However, media is often misinterpreted, giving the reader a different understanding on the topic then is portrayed. Bias plays a significant part in this misconception, which is why it is important to recognize when reading articles that address problems such as discrimination based on unequal pay in the workplace. For instance, Shafi Musaddique is the author of, “We Need to Address Our Ethnic Pay Gap with Mandatory Reporting – Just as We're Doing with Gender”, an article in which they advocate that the racial pay gap should be equally as emphasized as the gender pay gap. This article can be seen as biased due to the...
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...Wealth Disparity: Is Wealth Distribution a Problem? Wealth disparity is a phenomenon between the wealthy and low-income that defines us by our net worth; assets minus liabilities. The accumulation of wealth of the top one percent, can account for nearly forty six percent of global household wealth. In countless articles, it has been proven that the disparities of wealth have affected not only your country, nation, or community, it is affecting everyone, everywhere. The effects of this wide ranged gap of wealth have not been without consequences. By studying families’ income, social backgrounds, age, sex, and racial/ethnic groups, it has been concluded that these consequences have a negative effect on low-income families. Some state that the...
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...vulnerable American society is once again putting up to a tough challenge. From Occupy Wall Street movement back in 2011, to Ferguson demonstration today, many similar event has been arose after the financial crisis and showing the hard truth of American society: increasing gap between rich and poor, unemployment rate is higher for people with color, “American Dream” for lower income people is becoming almost impossible. Racial and ethnic group’s problem is only the tip of the iceberg that’s being hidden in many of the troubles we are experiencing today....
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...A Sociological Perspective on Racism and Wealth Disparities Amongst African-Americans and Caucasians Introduction The consequence of racial discrimination has a clear relationship with wealth amongst racial groups. In the last 50 years, although the high school completion rate gap between blacks and whites has narrowed, blacks still only have one-tenth of the wealth of whites and according to Economic Policy Institute blacks make 17.5% less an hour than their white counterparts3. In light of these data, I will use quantitative and qualitative analysis to illustrate both the existence of racial inequality as it pertains to wealth and identify its origins within a sociological context. History of racism and wealth disparities To understand the...
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...Wealth determines the quality of family life because it can be used as a tool to secure a status and enables individuals who possess it to pass their class status to their children. The United States has now switched to a new form of inequality referred to as color blind racism, which flourishes on the idea that race is no longer an issue in this country and that there are non-racial explanations for the state of inequality. In order for inequality to cease to exist it must be broken down into its truest forms so that it can be addressed at each level and stage. Income inequality, health inequality, racial inequality, gender inequality, wag gap inequality, wealth inequality and housing inequality are just a few categories that can be addressed. Structural changes must be made that create and sustain jobs that are adequately remunerated and accessible to all, regardless of income or class status, gender, ethnicity or location. Comprehensive social policies that are grounded in universal rights and that are supportive of structural change, social cohesion and democratic...
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...has to be several sources of income. These sources of income may be combinational or independent per person receiving the income. Income may result from wages, rent, bank account interests, salaries or even profits made in business transactions ( Stiglitz, 2012). In his hypothesis, Karl Marx foresaw income inequality in a capitalistic as a major problem that would lead to an economic evolution. The main reason he foresaw an evolution was due to the recurrent nature of income inequality. In an income inequality situation, the richer keep getting richer due to a better income, while the poor keep getting poorer. The gap between the top earners and the low-income earners keeps widening in an income inequality situation. In America, almost 95% of the national wealth is under 5% ownership; this situation leaves 95% of the population to scrounge for the limited 5% wealth (DeNavas et. Al, 2005). Introduction In order to understand the complexities of economic inequality, the best specimen to use for the study is a family. In the study, the family’s income is under analysis, and then the family members ranked from the lowest income earner to the highest income earner. After the ranking, the incomes aid in establishing a Lorenz curve that is important in analysis of income. In order for a Lorenz curve to be correct, the incomes of the family members have to be divided into fifths (Lorenz, 1905). A Lorenz curve enables analysis of data by adding the percentage value of the lowest fifth...
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...Opportunities” offering equal rights and prospects to all, yet there are still signs of inequality within the social construct of the nation. If one were to take a look at the American work field, they would notice the differences in positions acquired by African-Americans and Caucasians. African-Americans typically work minimum-wage jobs, living paycheck to paycheck and if they are fortunate enough to acquire an adequate paying job; their employers are Caucasians who usually own the major businesses and corporations. This inevitable conflict has emerged from America’s past history of unfair and unequal treatment of people of color. The American society has not completely eradicated the problem with racial discrimination and inequality within the workforce which has created the growing wealth gap. In the United States, issues of race and class are tied to together like a chain of DNA; one cannot address the issue of class without referring to the demographics of race. The methodology of determining the variations in social class was established in the mid-1960s and has not changed in the most latter years. Within the time span, there have been many studies conducted that reveals the bases of how the American society classifies people into social groups with race being a significant determinant for their results. Figures suggest that the United States has a problem with the intersection of race and class being that U.S. social classes are more segregated than it is integrated which...
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...Incarceration has a negative impact socially as well as economically. In The Social Science Research journal, the article Incarceration and Black-White inequality in Homeownership: A state-level analysis discusses the impact of incarceration on the possibility of house wealth. This study evaluated data between incarceration and home ownership for a period over two decades. In addition, what was found is that not only does incarceration decrease the opportunity for home ownership for the majority population but especially for the Black population. Moreover, incarceration affects the inmate and their significant others financial outlook as well. This is another strong factor in the widening the Black-White home ownership gap. This is especially...
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