Race, Class and Inequality: How have racial differences influenced the inequality of wealth and income between specific nonwhite groups and whites
Introduction
Right from the early beginning, we have often noticed huge differences between the whites and the non-white groups. The whites have dominated the world right from the beginning in each and every parts of the world. This has led to unequal distribution of wealth, income and healthcare services between the two communities. The whites have progressed a lot in this world. But, due to racial and ethnic differences the non-white groups have suffered a lot. As a result, they have not been able to succeed similar to that of whites.
The whites have formed their government, have framed their laws and have dominated the non-white groups in order to rule over this world. During the olden times, the whites had been treating these non-white groups as their slaves. They made them work day and night and did not even provided compensation for that. As a result, there was a huge difference seen in the distribution of resources, in the distribution of incomes and wealth and in the accessing of healthcare services. The thesis of this paper shall focus upon the racial differences and other such aspects, due to which there is huge inequality observed between the whites and the non-white groups.
As per the definition of United Nations, World Health Organization and World Trade Organization, the non-white groups are those that exhibit lesser growth in comparison to that of the white people. The non-white groups are lagging behind in the socio-economic development. In addition, the Human Development Index Rating of these people is far behind to that of the white people. The United Nations has discovered that, the non-white groups are facing with the issues of poverty, education, unemployment, resource distribution and income inequality.
They are not even earing an income of $1,190 on yearly basis. In addition, they are even facing the economic and socio-cultural barriers (Raphael 7-18). Due to under-development of the healthcare facilities and due to less number of healthcare service providers, these people are not even able to access the primary healthcare faculties.
Economic Development – A key to success for solving income inequality
Economic growth is of key importance for the development of the non-whites in the given nation. This will help in raising the overall incomes of the families residing in those nations. In addition, it will reduce the poverty levels, increase the literacy rates, create more job opportunities for the people of these groups, and thereby help them to secure their future in a better way.
With increasing economic development, people will find more stability in their lives. The development of the non-white groups from the economic and social perspective is vital for the given society. It will help in the development of appropriate infrastructure facilities, eradicating unemployment, providing more financial services, framing appropriate legal laws and regulations, and thereby increase their overall weightage in this world. People of these groups will find their lives happier and safer after implementing the developmental policies in this direction.
Poverty
As per one of the researches, it has been found that the non-white groups are facing severe poverty issues in the given nation. They are not even able to earn enough that will sustain their livelihood. In addition, there are very less opportunities available with these people to earn enough money and to deal with their financial conditions. Their conditions are so worse that, they are not even able to earn money that will help them to buy their meal on any given day.
Education and Healthcare
Besides, due to poverty, it is difficult for them to provide educational facilities to their children. And, hence, it results into increase of illiteracy amongst them. The costs of healthcare have also risen, due to which, it is difficult for these people to access insurance and basic healthcare services. They are not in the proper financial state to serve several needs related to health and nutrition. This also results into spread of diseases related to nutrition deficiency and other health disorders (Callan, Nolan, & Whelan 141-172).
The government and the developed nations thereby need to take proper steps in order to curb poverty and healthcare issues. They need to pour in money for the development of infrastructure, education facilities, and modes of trade for the non-white groups. This will help these people in getting sufficient opportunities for employment, through which they would be able to sustain their living. It is very much important to motivate and encourage people for engaging into one or the other employment activities.
Government needs to frame special policies that will help them in providing employment opportunities to the adults, education facilities to the children, mid-day meal programs for all those who live below the poverty line, and, providing basic provisional items at a very reasonable cost. This would at least provide some relief in solving the given issues for this community.
Lack of Business Opportunities
The next major issue for the non-white groups is the lack of appropriate business opportunities. The white groups in U.S. have developed business policies that will favor their business activities. They have started business operations, due to which they are able to receive funds from the other nations of the world. But, they have not developed any business policy that would encourage the business of the non-white groups. Hence, due to lack of resources and appropriate government policies regarding trading & investment, people belonging to the non-white groups are suffering a lot. In addition, due to lack of desired skill-set and expertise people from the non-white groups are not able to succeed in establishing business ventures.
They are failing both from the technological and managerial front. It will be important for the people of the non-white groups to get the necessary expertise and infrastructure facilities, with the help of which they would be able to carry out a successful business venture in the given nation.
Lack of Infrastructure Facilities
Further, the people from the non-white groups in U.S. do not have proper services for transport, water supplies, electricity, and other services. In such a scenario, the white people as well as the government of U.S. can take initiatives for assisting these people in building proper infrastructure, and thereby boosting the overall economic growth.
The World Bank can sponsor several projectsthat would help these people to get the necessary infrastructure facilities (Maniet al. 976-980). As per one of the researches, it has been found that people from non-white groups need to focus their business activities into various sectors in order to boost their economic growth in the given nation.
It is now high time that, the government can take different initiatives in order to allow these people to have access of different financial services. The growth of small- and medium-scale enterprise is dependent upon the availability of financial resources and on the productivity of the given nation. These people need to have savings accounts in different banks, need to have access to credit cards and other banking products, and finally should have access to the insurance. This would make these people feel good in today’s modern world. They will no longer be avoided for any kind of products and services in today’s world.
The history shows several evidences, wherein they were deprived of even the basic products and necessities of our lives. Through such development, people will be more educated and will improve their focus on savings and health protection schemes. The insurance companies will also in turn protect the property and lives of these people, which in turn would safeguard their future.
There are about 1.8 billion people belonging to the non-white groups in U.S., who still face the issues of drinking water. It is important to note that each year nearly 2,000 people get poisoned by the pesticides and some of them even die in such incidents. The whites on the other hand use nearly 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat, whereas the non-white groups utilize much lesser amount of water for producing the same quantity of wheat. Thus, the amount of usage of the resources by the whites is far high than the utilization of resources by the non-white groups.
Developing Strategies to solve the inequality challenges
It is important to deploy techniques that would help in balancing the allocation and the utilization of these resources. Many of the world governing councils need to plan the strategies for the resources allocation, so that they could help the non-white groups to build their economy. The non-white groups need to implement aggressive strategies that would help them to get sufficient amount of resources. Getting the necessary resources will help these people to solve their issues of poverty and hunger. They might even overcome the challenges of illness and other healthcare issues. With the increase in the employment opportunities they will be able to solve the economic and financial issues. This might even remove their dependency on the white people. The government of U.S. needs to play an important role in implementing policies that would boost the growth and development of the non-white groups in the given society.
The modernization of agriculture, the industrialization of the industries, and the incorporation of new technologies has resulted into generation of more outputs. People are now able to get meal twice a day at cheaper costs, or within their limited income sources. However, there are still several issues of corruption, debt, tax avoidance, government irresponsibleness toward solving the poverty issues, and other socio-cultural issues that are acting as major hurdles in distributing of these resources equally amongst the whites and the non-white groups. Due to racial differences, the whites have been challenging the non-white groups for several centuries and have been exploiting them.
United Nations has defined poverty to be a violation of human dignity. A person of a non-white group suffering from poverty is deprived of getting choices and opportunities, and hence he lacks the basic capacity to participate in the given social society. He is deprived of food and clothing, is not able to get the services of education and medicine, and thus is separated altogether from today’s society. He is not even having access to any kind of income sources, due to which even his family suffers a lot in such situations. In addition, he suffers from issues such as powerlessness, insecurity, and exclusion due to lower status in the given society. They are exposed to violent and fragile environments, and are deprived of clean water and sanitation facilities (Gerber et al. 233-236). Thus, overall if we observe they are deprived of each and every thing, which in turn might even lead to suicide cases for them.The government is failing in responding to such situations, and hence, the resulting output is, the whites are turning richer, and the non-whites areturning poorer.
Role of the whites toward the non-white groups
The whites in today’s contemporary world might be having sympathy toward them, but they are not taking any steps for the improvement of the conditions of the non-white people. Hence, it is equally important to make the whites realize that, the non-white groups should also get fair opportunities, status and place in between us. They are ready to work, but since they are not having any qualifications or are not trained, they are not able to perform as per the demands of the given situations. But, still with the efforts from government, several NGO organizations, and with a huge support of the local people, we can definitely uplift the weaker sections of the non-white groups in the given nation.
Negative Consequences
It has been also found that, these people are not able to get the desired sources of income and livelihood due to lack of access to information, healthcare, education, and political power. The ruling government does have programs and policies, but it is on paper. They are not implementing them from the practical approach, and hence, these people suffer till the end. There are certain factors due to which such inequality arises between the two given groups. These include – dis-empowering institutions, gender relationships, abuse by those in power, lack of security, excluded locations, physical limitations, limited capabilities, problems in social relationships, precarious livelihoods, and,weak community organizations. As a result they are not able to buy proper shelter for them as well as for their families. The children of these families are deprived of the schools and other education facilities, and hence they do not receive a safe and clean environment of education. As a result, they are not able to develop their careers, and they lack the necessary skills and qualifications for carrying out any basic jobs. In addition, the children of these families are able to get access to low resources, and hence the risk factors for other issues increase.
It has been observed that, in addition to the poverty issues, the children of these families face the issues of high levels of teenage pregnancy, juvenile delinquency rates, economic dependency on their parents and their families, and higher exposure to crime and other violent activities (Donner & Rodriguez 1089–1114). Hence, it is very much important for the government to take steps for not only solving the issues of inequality, but also solve the issues of negative consequences of inequality.
Cultural and Class factors
There have been certain cultural factors identified that could add fuel to the fire to the given class of people. These factors include stereotyping, age discrimination, racial discrimination, and gender discrimination. It is due to these factors that, Max Weber has suggested that cultural values can affect the economic success of the entire nation. It is therefore important to educate the society, and make them understand about the equal status of all the people. Women of the non-white families are becoming the victims of trafficking, and they are also getting into it, for their survival and for economic desperation. Children at an early age are told to work, for earning livelihood. Hence, they are not able to afford school and are deprived of basic education. Due to increasing income inequality and racial discrimination, each of the family members of the non-white groups is sacrificing several things, in one or the other way.
It is therefore important to take steps in the direction of accessing the basic needs, providing appropriate food and nutrition, providing necessary and required healthcare and education, controlling over-population, increasing the personal income of these families, and finally removing all the constraints that are turning out to be major hindrances in the progress of these people.
Conclusion
The government needs to implement policies that will first of all provide the basic necessities of food, water, shelter, sanitation facilities, and healthcare to these people. It is important to provide enough earning opportunities, so that they can at least earn their livelihood. The government can implement employment programs, specifically for this class of people. The government needs to provide free education to the children of these families. It can open government schools that will provide education free of costs to the children of these families. The government can also open up medical and healthcare centers, wherein people will be able to get medicines and other check-up services either at minimal costs or at free of costs. A joint and collaborative approach will be required from all the entities in order to improve the income inequality issues and solve the challenges of racial discrimination in the given nation.
References
Raphael, Dennis. Poverty, Human Development, and Health in Canada: Research, Practice, and Advocacy Dilemmas. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research (CJNR) 41.2 (2009): 7-18.
Callan, T., Brian, Nolan, and Christopher, Whelan."Resources, Deprivation and the Measurement of Poverty".Journal of Social Policy 22.2 (1993): 141-172.
Mani, Anandi, Sendhil, Mullainathan, Eldar, Shafir, and Jiaying, Zhao. "Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function". Science 341.6149 (2013): 976-980.
Gerber T, V. Olazabal, K. Brown, and A. Pablos-Mendez. 2010. An agenda for action on global E-health. Health Affairs Journal 29:233-236.
Donner, W., and Rodriguez, H. “Population composition, migration and inequality: The influence of demographic changes on disaster risk and vulnerability.” Social Forces87.12 (2008): 1089–1114.
