Social Inequality and Minorities in Thesis

In the 1830s-1850s, Irish-Americans, simply because they were Catholic and "peasants," were discriminated against at every turn and in every way. They were always placed in the lowest skilled jobs, lived in the worst areas, and were paid less than any other worker. This went on for all of the middle 19th century until attention was turned to the Italians, or Greeks, or Polish immigrants (Doran, 2005, p. 3).

And the key to this social inequality is that the "discrimination" is always based on something the minority can't change. Think about it. Blacks have been discriminated against because of the color of their skin, not because they are less intelligent, less educated, less skillful, or less talented. Native American Indians felt social inequality due also to the color of their skin, but as well to the fact that they fought back against those who were invading their land. Could they have changed those things? Catholics have been discriminated against as recently as the 1960s simply because the Pope is head of their church -- not because of what they believe, but simply because of the fear that a Pope in Rome could control a President in Washington D.C.

And on and on it goes.

Jonathon Kozol (1996) wrote a book called Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation. For three years, he visited New York's South Bronx focusing on the poor neighborhood of Mott Haven populated by 2/3 Hispanic and 1/3 Black.

He interviewed teachers, ministers, drug pushers, children, parents and many others. He takes us into rat-infested homes, dirty and overcrowded schools, medical clinics with no doctors, and the main source of nutrition -- soup kitchens.

The point, for purposes of this paper, is that Kozol points specifically to "systemic discrimination," hopelessness, and purposely limited economic opportunities for this "ascribed status" community in the U.S. In the 20th century. Manhattan is the seventh richest congressional district in the nation.The outlying area is Mott Haven. His point, and ours, is the same as Doran's -- that the social inequality against minorities will never change because we accept that it exists. Luxury grocers just south of Mott Haven advertise their willingness to make deliveries anywhere except Mott Haven, and even McDonalds announces home delivery -- with the exception of Mott Haven, according to Kozol.

He likens the ghetto to a form of quarantine supported by "all the strategies and agencies and institutions needed to contain, control, and normalize a social plague" (Kozol, 1996, p. 135).

He echoes others who accuse society of merely accepting the social inequity of discrimination against minorities:

"One wants instead to know...how human beings devalue other people's lives, how numbness and destructiveness are universalized, how human pity

is at length extinguished and the shunning of the vulnerable can come in time to be perceived as natural behavior (p. 186)."

Conclusion

That last quote is the epitome of "ascribed status" and the essence of discrimination and social inequality. Society's behavior has come to be accepted as "natural behavior" because we devalue others' lives and become numb to it. It is there. It is accepted. There is nothing "I" can do about it. The "why" of social inequality truly lies in the extinguished pity, and the shunning of the vulnerable. If "ascribed status" is a synonym for "that's just the way it is," we have arrived at that point.

Reference List

Arrighi, B. (2001). Understanding inequality: the intersection of race/ethnicity, class, and gender. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Doran, a. (2005, December 20). The self-perpetuation of social inequality in America. Retrieved September 9, 2009, from Associated Content: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/16712/the_selfperpetuation_of_social_inequality.html

Kozol, J. (1996). Amazing Grace; the lives of children and conscience of a nation. New York: Harper Perennial.

Office of Diversity and Inclusion. (2009, September 11). Glossary: Minority. Retrieved September 11, 2009, from U.S. Dept. Of….....