Social class divisions have always played a prominent role in America. These class differences create inequalities among Americans.

by songdang03 (student)

Long Tran

Eng111-03B

Professor Comeau

19 Sept., 2012

Social Class

Social class divisions have always played a prominent role in America. These class differences create inequalities among Americans. The idea of social class has been a central concept in determining the opportunities a person has. People from different socioeconomic backgrounds live different lifestyles as well as have different opportunities available to them. In the other words, people with a higher social class ranking have advantages over those in lower class rankings. These advantages include the education, health and overall lifestyle. Class distinctions have limited and prevented lower class Americans to have an equal opportunity. Thus, the government should have the new policies for equaling the social class.

Social class also plays a part in families, especially in the development of children. Youth are often taught to fit in with their social class. Educational systems can help or hinder the prospect of social mobility. Although many teachers work hard to ensure against favoritism, this is not always possible, partly because of the discrimination of social class. Teachers may give special opportunities to certain groups. They may also wrongly anticipate the knowledge or potential of specific classes of children. For example, children from high-class families are sometimes viewed as being more intelligent than those from lower social classes. Sometimes more attention will be invested in the children who have more knowledge attributed to them. The lack of money for tuition in lower social classes may contribute to the problem. Many working class students left school at an early age because their parents could no longer afford to support them. Conversely most students in high income families have the ability to pay for “exclusive private schools where teachers and administrators have a reputation for nurturing student creativity and for providing the finest educational preparation” (Mantsios, 703). Thus it is vital to study how the effects of social class are entering into classrooms and helping to determine the future of children.

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Social class often drives a person’s lifestyle. Whether it is the car he drives, the house he lives in, or even the restaurants he chooses to eat at. Social class also affects one’s lifestyle. Born in a high-class seems is a privilege; the people live in high range have more opportunity to control their own life and a better standard of living with quality housing. They live in the luxurious houses which are in secure, quiet areas. They do not worry too much about earning money. Therefore, they can focus on their studies in college to complete a college degree and attain to their goals. In the article, named “College access and social class: The A.J. Soprano Factor”, the authors gave information that: “Students from the wealthiest families are far more likely than their similar-scoring peers to attend the kind of high-status college or university that often serves as a gateway to personal and professional success”. After graduation, they can get a good job with their high education. They might get the high position in a company due to inheritance assets. On other hand, the people from lower-class family are not so privileged. They live in the rent houses or old houses which are in the ghettos and unsafe areas. They have to worry a lot of things such as jobs, earning money, finding the child-rearer to take care their children. They play many roles in their life to take care themselves and their family. Those affect their abilities to attend college; they often feel discouraged and more easily drop out college.

There has always been an association between health and social class, and despite the welfare state and the improvement in health in all sections of societies over the years, this discrepancy remains. Social class is a complex issue that may involve status, wealth, culture, background and employment. The relationship between class and ill health is not simple. There are a number of different influences on health, some of which include social class. The greatest influences on the improvement in health with longer expectancy of life, lower infant mortality, etc. have been not so much medical discoveries as improved social conditions. The poor people are often the manual workers who work in the factory with the hard work. Those works can affect to them the disease such as arthritis, physical disability, diabetes, nutritional deficiency, respiratory disease, mental illness, and heart disease. Social class status for health care is characterized by income, literacy and is closely related to race. For the lower class they have a more difficult situation, they spend hours in crowded clinics, more likely to take care of their bodies incorrectly, abuse drugs and alcohol and have little to no exercise. The lower class cannot afford a personal physician or receive proper care in hospitals; they are generally waiting for hours in clinics to receive checkups. At the hospitals they are the last ones taken care of or have a small staff looking over them because they cannot afford the best care. Because of this treatment, people from the lower class have a higher rate of death expectancy compared to the class who can afford proper care. According to Scott’s study, he said that: “Class is a potent force in health and longevity in the United State. The more education and income people have, the less likely they are to have and die of heart disease, strokes, diabetes and many types of cancer.”

In conclusion, social class refers to the distinctions between groups and individual which differ from one society to another society or even within a particular. It can make the people come down and also be able to come up. Class in America refers more to personal education, lifestyle, and health. Normally, people who live in the upper-class family have many chances to attain their higher education. They also get more privileges in their life; their lifestyles always are the dream of the lower class. They take care better of their health than people living in the lowest social classes, not simply because of a lack of money, but because of their lack of money compared to others and because of their lack of access to resources that can help them, including education and health issues. Poverty in this nation is at the root of many of social issues, and it seems that efforts to recognize the vast gaps in resources between groups must be increased and efforts to improve the access to resources for well-being should be a priority.

Word Cited

Carey, Kevin, and Erin Dillon. "College Access and Social Class: The A.J. Soprano Factor." Education Sector. N.p., 15 Feb. 2008. Web. 19 Sept. 2012.

Mantsios, Gregory. “Class in America.” The Norton Field Guide To Writing. Ed. Richard Bullock and Maureen D. Goggin. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010. 697-717. Print.

Scott, Janny. “Life at the Top in America Isn’t Just Better, It’s Longer.” New York Times. New York Times, 16 May 2005. Web. 19 Sept. 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/national/class/HEALTH-FINAL.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all