Article Review
"The Great Divergence" and "Class in America,” the authors discuss that the class system and social stratification have caused outstanding differences in life of people living in America. Regardless of the fact that people do not like to talk about economic inequality in America, social classes play a considerable role in their lifestyle. There exists a huge difference in the incomes of the top 1% of Americans and rest of other 99%. Contrary to the myth that America is a classless society, Mantsios explains through statistical data that the wealthiest 20% of Americans hold the 83% of total wealth and on the other hand, 12% Americans are living below the poverty line.
The article and the presentation mainly projects that economic inequality is increasing in America and they share many similarities regarding this main point. The statements which claim that every American is getting rich and every citizen has an equal chance to succeed are false. As per statistical evidences from both sources, rich have become richer as compared to middle and lower class since 1979. The top 1% has doubled their share of nation’s income within the last three decades.
“Little wonder that economist Edward Wolff refers to the distribution of wealth in the United States as “top heavy” (Page & Jacobs 9).
Just analyzing Mantsios essay we can find that that race, sex and ethnicity also affect the rate of success. But contrasting it with the Noah’s presentation, he believes that Americans can’t blame the great divergence on either race or sex.
After going through the article and presentation, an average reader can clearly understand that the poor are being oppressed in America by the Capitalism. Factual statistical data and case studies are given by the authors to provide the evidences. Social class affects lifestyle, occupation and educational background and sometimes it is a determining factor on academic achievements. Mantsios quoted a study in conducted in 1999 in his essay to explain that on an average there was a direct correlation portraying that higher the father’s income, the higher the chances that the student would get better scores in SAT. By chronicling the brief life stories of upper, middle and lower class Americans, Mantsios shows us that parent’s economic status have a significantly affect their children. Noah also examines the fact through various studies that Americans are not equal economically in the presentation through graphical representations.
References
Page, Benjamin I, and Lawrence R. Jacobs. Class War?: What Americans Really Think
About Economic Inequality. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. Print.
Paul R. Income inequality in America: an analysis of trends. Armonk, New York: M.E. Sharpe,
Inc, 1998. Print.
