-
Essay / Prejudice, Racism, and the American Dream in “Class in America” by Gregory Mantsios
Prejudice, racism, discrimination, and stereotypes play an important role in American society. Race influences how money is present in people's lives, affecting many things such as homes, cars, clothing, and the people around them. In America, not everyone has the same opportunities and the same lifestyles. The purpose of this essay is to inform people about prejudice, racism, money, humanity, economic division, opportunity, and the American dream. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayWhat is prejudice? Prejudice is a feeling toward a person or member of a group based solely on that person's group membership. A person is prejudiced when they have formed a certain type of feeling towards a specific group of people before they even have a chance to know them. There are negative and positive prejudices. Negative is when the attitude is hostile towards a person and positive is when the attitude is unduly favorable towards the person or group. However, prejudice runs much deeper than a person's color. There are many types of prejudice: prejudice lies between gender, religion, culture, origin and race. People have discriminated against others based on these attributes since the beginning of time. Prejudice has become a complex problem in our society and much of the history of our world is based on hatred. Prejudices exist at the individual level but also at the societal level. In the 1600s, white men used African Americans as slaves and treated them as if they were not humans. Until the mid-1900s, African Americans were not allowed to use the same water fountains as white people. The prejudice was against Jews, who endured mistreatment and persecution for thousands of years. People tempted this group of people, which happened during World War II. when millions of Jews were exterminated in German concentration camps according to Nazi ideals of racial purity. Our society is riddled with such hatred based on people's beliefs and backgrounds. To date, there is no solution to solve this problem in our society. Prejudice could be a hereditary or even genetic trait. This includes the idea that groups seek self-preservation, even though unprejudiced people may be prejudiced against their enemies. What is the difference between prejudice and racism? Prejudice is a feeling toward a person or member of a group based solely on that person's group membership, which can be positive or negative. Racism is a belief that race is equated with particular traits and the belief that certain faces are superior to others. Prejudice is unlikely to have as negative an impact as racism. What is the connection between money and prejudice and racism? Money has been and always will be a huge thing in everyone's life. Money defines a person and their way of life. “Class in America,” by Gregory Mantsios, states: “The differences are class differences, which have a profound impact on the way they live. More importantly, class difference determines where they live, who their friends are, how they were educated, what they do for a living, and what they want from life” (387). The wealthier classes will stick to hanging and surrounding themselves with someone in the same environment. They don'tThey're not going to surround themselves with someone lower than themselves. The same goes for the lower classes, they will surround themselves with people richer than them. There are many reasons to believe that wealth is a cause of prejudice. Most members of the wealthy classes have similar qualities such as work ethic, intelligence, etc. Rich people have abilities that other citizens do not have, namely the ability to make money. By grouping together a class of people with the same abilities and then treating them differently, we engage in class bias. In today's society, there are prejudices in all social classes. However, the connection between money and racism is a little different from prejudice. Money is linked to racism because not all races have the same equal rights and opportunities. People put others into categories that have taken precedence over humanity. For example, racism created economic division in the 1970s. While African Americans were separated from their families and worked hard to try to do what whites could have done for themselves, they did not received only cents and the whites received dollars. White people are seen as perfectly rich human beings and nothing they do is wrong and on the other side African Americans are seen as dangerous lower class human beings just because of color of their skin. “The Case For Reparations,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, states: “Black families, regardless of their income, are significantly less wealthy than white families” (580). If slavery and racism did not exist, African Americans would have had an equal opportunity to earn as much money as whites, but whites believe that they should be the only ones paid more than other races , but when another race makes more money than white people, they decide to make a big deal out of it by saying they are drug dealers or taking their jobs. What is the American dream? The American Dream is the ideal that every American citizen should have an equal opportunity to succeed and prosper through hard work, determination, and initiative. The American Dream has made people less responsible for their actions towards others because those who are trying to achieve the famous American Dream do not want others coming here to achieve it as well. Different races do not have the same opportunities to try to achieve the American dream. Even today, African Americans face discrimination solely because of the color of their skin. Hispanics are discriminated against because people, legal and illegal, judge them just by looking at them and think they can just tell them they don't belong here. They automatically think they are immigrants. Legal and illegal Hispanics do jobs that people don't want to do. Once a white person decides to do something and realizes they can't get a job easily, they start saying Hispanics are taking their jobs. White people are the only ones who enjoy fair opportunities compared to other races, such as: equal chances of being hired for a job, equal justice under the law, etc. Therefore, the country only seems to care when something happens to rich white people, because they are able to afford more things than other races. The country doesn't seem to care about the poor, because if they did, there wouldn't be as many of them. What's confusing is that most of the poor people who end up homeless are mostly white. “Framing Class, Vicarious Living and Conspicuous Consumption,” by Diana Kendall, states: “Au..