Social Class and Inequality

Social Class and Inequality

Our group chose to analyze three different areas that were and are affected by the specific social class that one is raised in. Our group talked about the distinctions in regards to each individual class, but I would like to focus in on the High class, as I believe it has the biggest distinction and, it being the most desirable class, I find it the most interesting as well. The first and most obvious distinction between the three major classes, to me, is in the access to education. The High class has a better opportunity to get into a higher level of learning, such as a University, because they have access to private high schools. Also, being in high class it is highly likely, and assumed, that the parents went to a University also, leaving a better chance for higher education to the child via legacy status. Also, with the parents of the child having higher learning it is also much more likely that the parents can aid in the students studies and comply with the teachers requests much more easily. Our group also talked about job opportunities which are affected accordingly by class. Being in the high class social class, you are introduced into a "network" or "community" of other high class individuals. This "network" of successful people allows for virtually any door to be opened due to so many powerful connections. The last topic our group focused on was in regards to health and safety. The high class has distinct perks here as they may receive concierge health care, including special access to physicians. The benefits of the high class are purely based off of the fact that they can afford them or which are given to them through their "power", which I believe creates a major social problem.

Our group discussed many possible social problems and possible solutions, but it is my belief, as previously stated, that the access to higher education and education as a whole reigns supreme and is of the upmost importance. My reasoning behind this is that I believe education is the root of all success and can determine a lot of the aspects pertaining to your life. Looking at this from the Structural-Functional view point of which you must climb the ladder to success, and if you don't it is your own fault is ridiculous to me. My thoughts lie much more in line with that of the Conflict theory where things are not presented as an equal opportunity given to all, but rather that the people in power (high class) make the decisions.

It is my proposal that somehow access to education should be equal to all. I do not mean to say that such private high schools or Universities are shut off to those of the lower class, but instead, I am proposing that these institutions need to be cost affordable, allowing access to every social class. I am proposing that these institutions lower costs or that some sort of grant or bond of sort be easily available. This is a tough proposition in many regards as many limitations to the solution are immediately evident. Some of the first questions asked would be where the funding would come from. Obviously nobody wants to fund this because most of America has a Structural-Functional point of view. However if we could make them realize the benefits I believe the cost aspect would become mute, well...at least substantially less important. Also there are pre-existing forces in society which prevent social change and are the cause of much difficulty in accomplishing my proposed change. The first of which involves social norms of the lower class, including the social norm of not graduating or pursuing school. Many lower class students' parents did not graduate or obtain a GED thus making it much easier for the child to drop out without reprimanding consequences. This social norm is the first thing that would have to be changed to alleviate the difficulty in my proposed change. The next would be to alter the social dynamic of many people. Specifically in the lower class, through interaction with other similar individuals and observed through group level behavior, many lower class individuals chose not to pursue school because they have the idea of why should they incur debt and wait to make money when they can be making it now. With lowering the cost of further schooling this would reduce debt and change the social dynamic of the lower class. No longer would they be stuck in the low paying labor job but instead they would have a better opportunity of getting a high paying job. It all has to start somewhere and if the children of low class parents could attend college it could change the entire social dynamic of the lower class by these individuals influencing one another to act similarly. Finally, the last obstacle to overcome would be in changing the cultural intelligence and the way some people view life. Much of the United States has a view of "you earn what you work for". Due to this it would be hard to convince the high class society to react positively to the outer change occurring around them. In the high class' inner circle there very much exists a mantra that they are rich, powerful, and successful because they earned it. It is because of this that they would question why should these opportunities to become rich, powerful, and successful be offered to others who, according to them, haven't worked their way up the ladder like the high class has. My response to that is that our culture could become much more efficient and dominant. The reason being is that there are many doctors, chemists, and brilliant thinkers awaiting to be discovered and with everyone having an equal opportunity to pursue school, we open up our talent pool to a whole other level. We need to change our cultural intelligence so that we may realize a specific goal of catching other nations in standardized testing and regain our ultimate dominance in the world. That should be an easier sell because every American likes power and strives to be the best.

The 7 C's are a sociological Social Change Model that we were taught throughout this course. Previously, I had never heard of this model or acronym, but quickly realized its real life application. I find it ironic how I often had subconsciously engaged in almost every single one of these C's and although we learned about