Social Inequality In America - 1075 Words

Michael Sandel, an esteemed professor of government at Harvard, says, â€Å"We live in a time when almost anything can be bought and sold† (42). This quote explains his thinking on an American societal problem; he believes that the society has become intertwined with its market. In â€Å"Markets and Morals,† Sandel explains that lower- and middle-class Americans are faced with inequality because they are unable to afford the prices set for higher-end necessities like political influence and safe neighborhoods; he also states that the corrosive nature of a price tag and the lack of morals in political arguments devalue our society. Sande believes that, as a result of the disintegration of differentiation between the American society and market, the†¦show more content†¦My family, like many other middle-class families, do not have $20,000 of expendable resources to pay for college for my sister and I. The only way I will be able to afford college is if I receive enough scholarships to cover nearly all the tuition. Our education system and the amount of money necessary to pay for a bachelor’s degree has put financial stress on my parents and have caused me to overextend myself in school and community involvement in hopes of attracting scholarship committees to decide I am deserving of the money they are giving. Education is important because it allows college graduates to obtain stable jobs. The American society has where a CEO is able to pay a worker to give up eight hours of their day and wills himself to the whims of the CEO. Jobs allow people to afford goods and necessities, making them necessary in American society. Even at an early age, people are pressured to have jobs like babysitting and mowing. I remember being pressured to have a job at an early age. When I was in seventh grade, Mr. Jones came to my history classroom and showed a video of the annual eighth-grade trip to Washington D.C. and I knew as soon as I saw that video that I had to go; The only problem was that it cost $2,500 and convincing my parents that the money was worth investing in this trip would be tricky. I brought home the pamphlet given to eachShow MoreRelatedInequality And Prosperity : Social Europe Vs. Liberal America1820 Words   |  8 PagesWithin his acclaimed novel â€Å"Inequality and Prosperity: Social Europe vs. Liberal America, Princeton University professor Jonas Pontusson (2005) underlines that due to their direct influence on the livelihoods of individuals, social issues associated with the welfare of society have not only always attracted attention from academics, but have also consistently been under careful scrutiny of policymakers (p. xiii). 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Symbolic interaction works on communication and social change as a consequence. The three paradigms are completely different from each other in a social point of view. The macro-sociological paradigms view America as an inequality state. The social conflict paradigm fits today’s society. The functionalist paradigm focuses on the integrationRead MoreThe Three Paradigms in Society840 Words   |  4 Pagesmicro-sociological paradigm. Functionalist paradigm focuses on the integration of society, while social conflict focuses on the issue of division among society. Symbolic interaction works on communication and social change as a consequence. The three paradigms are completely different from each other in a social point of view. The macro-sociological paradigms view America as an inequality state. The social conflict paradigm fits todays society. The functionalist paradigm focuses on the integrationRead MoreThe Inequality Of Latin America1673 Words   |  7 PagesSpanish and Portuguese colonizers imposed their language, their religion, and their social institutions on the indigenous Americans and enslaved Africans, people who labored for them in mines and fields and who served them, too, at table and in bed† (Chasteen 5). Many people would say this is where inequality in Latin America began, with colonization. However, colonization is just a small piece of the roots of inequality of the region, which actually started with the natives of the lands such as the