Stratification of US Society

Stratification of United States Society
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Stratification of United states society
The United States is stratified to the “Haves” and the “have nots.” Like any other society across the world, American society is unfair – with very few people possessing way too much and the rest owning too little. This is profusely clear from media platforms that report the super-rich who own luxurious possessions like private jets, big mansions in New York, and London worth millions of dollars. While on the extreme end, the gap is evident when we encounter homeless individuals begging on the street corners and lanes. While most people consider social stratification only in terms of economic positions, it involves other hierarchal differences, including social honor, status, and power (Clark, 2018). In reality, social stratification has profound effects on how financial and nonmonetary resources are distributed in the United States and the world.
Social stratification has been a controversial subject among sociologists. Americans have significant variations in wealth, status, income, education, and power. Social stratification is the primary reason for relational sets of inequalities (Irby-Shasanmi, Oberlin & Saunders, 2012). It is a system where individual groups and evaluate each other, and based on such evaluation, a person is rewarded with power, prestige, and wealth. In the United States, social classes are organized into the upper level, middle class, and lower class based on wealth and power.
In the United States, social stratification is the primary cause of many social disparities and social problems. It affects life chances, lifestyle, prestige, and standard of living. Basically, it causes despair and emotional pressure on people in the lower classes as they have unequal access to power and wealth. For instance, while the upper class can access prestigious schools in the United States, the lower level is left to struggle for limited opportunities in community schools (Laidley, Vinneau & Boardman, 2019). Actually, it creates gaps between people based on their income, health, education, and psychological well-being. Consequently, such disparities create chaos that hampers progress and development in a country.
Over the years, only a small portion of Americans has the highest standard of living. Over 30% of the United States' wealth is only held by a mere 1% of the people (Laidley, Vinneau & Boardman, 2019). In reality, the wealthy have the best access to better education, quality health, and a broad portfolio of goods and services –needless to mention, decision-making power. While many perceive that the United States as a middle-class society with high levels of equality and democracy, the reality is that there is no even distribution of resources and only small percentage of the community enjoys these benefits (Clark, 2018). For instance, millions of Americans lack access to safe, affordable housing, particularly the low-income families who have been forced t...