SOC 112 Module Four Worksheet: Wealth Inequality in America
Table of Contents
Watch the video Wealth Inequality in America,(the captioned video is available at Wealth Inequality in America-captioned). Then, answer the following questions in complete sentences (1–3 sentences per question).You will need to support your answers with one scholarly source. Your responses will be graded using the Module Four Worksheet Rubric.
| 1. Describe your initial reaction to the concepts in this video.
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Through my class in statistics and cultural anthropology, I had some awareness of wealth distribution in the United States, so the true distribution of wealth did not surprise me. |
| 2. Did any of the information in the video surprise you? Why or why not?
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What did surprise me, was the poorest of the people in the United States did not even register on the scale. I was also surprised to learn that the top 1% have more than 40% of the overall wealth in the United States. |
| 3. Discuss how a person’s social class (also referred to as socioeconomic status) can affect his or her chances of success.
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According to the APA, “Socioeconomic status (SES) encompasses not just income but also educational attainment, financial security, and subjective perceptions of social status and social class.” (APA, 2017). As our textbook states, “social stratification is present in all societies” (pg. 182), and you can be both “born-into” a status or you can attain status. This is mostly true in Capitalist countries such as the United States.
In reading our textbook and learning more about SES, I must say that education is a common link to success in moving into a higher social class. There are many different variables, such as education, health, and the family dynamics that should be considered in how a person is to obtain success. A person in a lower SES will have more obstacles to overcome in trying to move up the social ladder of success. Again, I refer to the APA when they state, “Diemer and Blustein (2007) found that racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic barriers generally hinder individuals’ vocational development. Career barriers are significantly higher for those from poor backgrounds, people of color, women, those who are disabled, and LGBTIQ-identified individuals (Blustein, 2013). Whereas a person in a higher SES does not suffer from the many inequalities as those in a lower SES. |
References:
American Psychological Association (2017). Retrieved from the web:http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education.aspx
Ferris, K. (20160201). The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology (Fifth Edition), 5th Edition. [Bookshelf Online]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780393289374/
