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SOCIOECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN U.S.
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Applies concept of creation of false consciousness (Marx) to maintenance of staus quo in socially-stratified capitalist society of U.S.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
Applies concept of creation of false consciousness (Marx) to maintenance of staus quo in socially-stratified capitalist society of U.S.

Paper Introduction:
The United States has become the classic case of a socially-stratified capitalist society of the type that Marx's analysis of the problems of income inequality, wealth distribution, and the hardening of class differences predicted would be subject to socialist revolution. While revolution seems unlikely, the rest of his critique was predictive and there is no reason the present state of affairs might not lead, at least, to widespread social unrest. As income distribution continues to reach new heights of inequity, however, the dominant class has at its disposal forms of mass communication that go far beyond what Marx saw in nineteenth century Britain. The construction of false consciousness among the American people, especially in such an ethnically and racially diversified nation of immigrants (new and old), has been so effective as to make the real problems of the

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Works CitedFederman, Maya, Thesia I. Marx predicted that once the pressure of theexploitation of the working class by the dominant class became bad enough,revolution would follow. In fairness, of course, there is"a bipartisan preference for regressive over progressive taxation" (Lind38). The United States has become the classic case of a socially-stratified capitalist society of the type that Marx's analysis of theproblems of income inequality, wealth distribution, and the hardening ofclass differences predicted would be subject to socialist revolution.While revolution seems unlikely, the rest of his critique was predictiveand there is no reason the present state of affairs might not lead, atleast, to widespread social unrest. Graner, Kathleen Short, W. Sociology. As it begins to dawn on more and more Americans thatsomeone is benefiting form the growth of the economy they may have to beginto ask why it is not them. Beneath them are thenew permanent American underclass. "To Have and Have Not: Notes on the Progress of the American Class War." Harper's Jun. "With Economic Inequality for All." Nation 7 Sep. Over 36 million people live in poverty, yet there are also millionsof millionaires. One primary aspect of the creation offalse consciousness is the old technique of 'divide and conquer.' The heart of the American problem is located by Lind who quotes aWashington Post Op-ed article in which James K. When combined, the prevailing American myth of equalopportunity and freedom, the power of elite-owned mass communications, andthe inherent corruption of the political system have caused the enormousgrowth of the country's underclass and the increasing desperation ofworking- and middle-class citizens to become a non-topic in America. S.Census first reported the distribution of income" 3 years earlier (Shepard189). Butthe implication that accompanies this notion is that, since no one couldpossibly want to be poor, there must be something wrong with those who arepoor. Forthe richest 5 percent of the nation, however, incomes "rose by 58 percent"at the same time--resulting in a gap that is "the largest since the U. 7th ed. Thus, while the American media and politicians distract theirconstituencies with non-issues such as a constitutional amendment toprevent flag-burning, the problem of gay people in the military, orsupposed attacks on 'family values,' they simultaneously enable the blamingof the worst-off victims of America's social stratification. workers are now 'contingent' workers--temporaries, parttimers, sub-contractors or independent consultants," which means that theyhave none or little of the benefits--insurance, job security, retirementplans--that have long been seen as part of the wages of labor in the UnitedStates (Heath 53). This lowrate of early prenatal care is the result of numerous factors--such as thelack of insurance, unavailability of transportation, and the lack ofinformation about the importance of such procedures. As Federman and others report, in their analysis of numerousmeasures of poverty, poor mothers have twice the number of live births withlow birth weight, twice the number of preterm births, and nearly twice thenumber of infant deaths as nonpoor mothers. Taxation thus becomes a major issue on which the larger part ofthe population is distracted from social inequities by being convinced thatthey are being asked to pay for people who will not help themselves. As Heath notes, there arechanges in the workforce that, in times of low unemployment and apparentprosperity, will gradually make it clear to many more Americans that theyare being ruthlessly exploited. .Government can help a bit through tax breaks for education, but ultimatelythe cure for low working wages may be nothing more mysterious than highpersonal diligence" (quoted in Lind 39). A truly free society wouldhave truly representative government and equality of opportunity but, sincethe rigid stratification of American society works against such things, itis necessary that people believe that they live in a classless society inwhich some people fail merely because they are, somehow, intrinsicallyinferior. "What Does It Mean To Be Poor in America?" Monthly Labor Review 119.5 (1996): 3- 17.Galbraith, James K. Considered in terms ofnet worth (assets minus debts) American households in the bottom 25 percenthave net worths below $5, , while 43 percent of the total of Americanhouseholds have a net worth below $25, . Among poor mothers, 43 percentreport no physician visits in the first trimester of pregnancy--"comparedwith only 16 percent of nonpoor mothers" (Federman and others 8). The results of elections often show how successful this falseconsciousness ploy really is. But, awareness of the problemmay increase as the exploitation worsens. 1995: 35-45.Shepard, Jon M. This suggests the intrinsic connection between the falseconsciousness raised by the American elite and the plight of the poor.Among the industrialized nations the United States is second to last inrate of taxation and it is "dead last in terms of income inequality" (Lind38). Glassman argued againstraising the minimum wage, saying that this move would do very little forthe average American worker faced with declining real wages. At the top 3.4 percent have anet worth of over half a million dollars while another 25 percent have networths ranging from $1 , to $5 , . According toGlassman, "the ultimate answer lies with workers themselves . Classes in the United States are defined in various ways. The construction of false consciousness amongthe American people, especially in such an ethnically and raciallydiversified nation of immigrants (new and old), has been so effective as tomake the real problems of the society nearly disappear in a cloud ofdistractions. These factors are, ofcourse, built into the living situations of the poor and, whether they workor not, these mothers face numerous obstacles that simply do not exist forthe nonpoor--of whom 78 percent "have private medical insurance" (Federmanand others 9). Health care is an excellentexample. Thesociologist Gunnar Myrdal said 5 years ago that in societies with broadsocial classes and many distinctions within the lower classes, "the lowerclass groups will to a great extent take care of keeping each othersubdued, thus relieving to that extent the higher classes of this otherwisepainful task necessary to the monopolization of its power and advantages"(quoted in Lind 42). But Lind'sview may be the most convincing. 1998: 24-26.Heath, Rebecca Piirto. And, although there has always been a gap between richand poor, that gap has widened enormously and at growing speed. These problems result, inlarge part, from the lack of prenatal care. Boman Cutter, John Kiely, David Levine, Duane McGough, and Marilyn McMillen. This is what is called blamingthe victim. By focusing the people's attention on ahuge array of social and economic factors that supposedly threaten theirway of life the overclass distracts their attention from the fact that thisway of life no longer exists--if it ever did. He sees the top 2 percent of Americansociety as an oligarchy which consists of the wealth owning upper strataand the "credentialed minority, making a living from fees or wagessupplemented by stock options," whose interests are truly identified withthose of the wealthiest group (Lind 36). It may seem contradictory to argue that the problems ofsocial stratification are repressed by most Americans yet say that they maycause social unrest. This "white overclass" is neither"a middle class nor a high bourgeoisie" but a large number of professionalguilds, "lawyers, bankers, publishers, anchorpersons," who serve their ownbest interests by serving those of the wealth-holding elite (Lind 36).Below them are the hourly workers who, always subject to being fired fromtheir jobs, make up the real American middle class, "accounting, as [they]do for three-quarters of the population" (Lind 36). Yet schemes for nationalized health insurance are viewed bythe majority of Americans as a method of taking their money in order tobenefit. That is the essence of the conflict theory ofstratification in which some people have the "power and willingness toexploit others" (Shepard 195). It calls on the prevailing belief that, in America, "anindividual with enough gumption can pull himself up by his bootstraps,especially with a little hard work and a good education" (Heath 51). In this situation the dominant class doeswhatever it takes to convince the dominated of the truth of an ideologythat will keep the subject classes content and--above all--keep them fromquestioning the power of the upper. But Marx's concept of false consciousness is the keyhere. The differences between the underclass and everyone else are not, ofcourse, limited to differences in income. In the198 s and 199 s pre-tax income of the poorest fifth of Americans declinedby 5 percent while that of the highest fifth increased by 31 percent. . The range of income and wealth inequity, the relationship of raceethnicity and gender to membership in the underclass, and the creation offalse consciousness are enormous subjects. False consciousness occurs when "the working class accepts thedominant ideology as true although this ideology contradicts its own classinterests" (Shepard 195). Yet the cry for lower taxes persisted and, following thatdisaster, they asked for more as under the promised tax reductions in thefamous Newt Gingrich "Contract with America" "individuals earning $35 , a year would receive a tax reduction of $13, , while families making$3 , a year would get only 5 cents a day" (Lind 37). "The New Working Class: In a Supposedly Classless Society, Nearly Half of Americans Consistently Identify Themselves as Working Class." American Demographics 2 .1 (1998): 51-55.Lind, Michael. Yet income inequity in the United States has grown so rapidly since197 that "it threatens, as it did in the Great Depression, the socialstability of the country" and, for the first time since the 193 s, hasbegun to "undermine our sense of ourselves as a nation of equals"(Galbraith 24). The fact, therefore, that African Americans and Hispanics constitutesuch a disproportionately large part of the American underclass "can onlybe explained," according to the dominant classes' logic, "not by [theirown] extrinsic advantages but by [the] intrinsic defects" of the underclass(Lind 37). In America today this is accomplished in part by "thebitter and unending struggle over the transfer state, the ugly battles overwelfare, affirmative action, healthcare, Social Security, and the even moreugly preoccupation in some circles with the alleged relationship betweenrace, intelligence and earnings" (Galbraith 24). Yet many of thoseAmericans who would be most adversely affected by the Gingrich proposalsflocked to the party that promoted them. By the end of the Reagan era's tax reforms,for example, that wealthiest 5 percent at the top were the only Americansto receive any positive benefit while 75 percent of Americans "owed moretaxes than they would have owed had the 1977 tax laws been left untouched(Lind 37). At the highest availableestimate almost 75 percent "of the country's privately held assets areestimated to be in the hands of only 1 percent of American families,"while, at the very pinnacle, the top .5 percent increased their ownershipfrom 25 percent to 35 percent of the nation's assets in the 196 s and 197 s--and the trends in income suggest that these percentages are even highertoday (Shepard 189). Educational facilities arepoor, transportation is inadequate, access to grocery stores, laundryfacilities, and other aspects of life taken for granted by most Americansmake daily living much more difficult. As Federman and others haveshown the effects of poverty include numerous access problems that arebuilt into the places where the poor reside. In today's booming economy, "up to 3 percent of all U.S. Yet the facts of social stratification in the United States are veryplain. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1999. These issues aremanipulated in such a way as to convince the 'average' American that s/heis being robbed by the lucky beneficiaries of the transfer state.Undeserving minorities want to take away their jobs in affirmative actionprograms, welfare mothers live well on the hard-earned tax dollars of themajority, nationalized health insurance is socialism that threatensAmerican democracy, and on and on. As income distribution continues toreach new heights of inequity, however, the dominant class has at itsdisposal forms of mass communication that go far beyond what Marx saw innineteenth century Britain. The facts on the inequitable ownership of wealth make thestratification of American society even clearer.

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