We often hear the phrase that going to college is the only option to change your status. Behind this statement is actually a reflection of growing social inequality.
Consider the economics perspective. Wealthier households have a faster rate of wealth growth, but the bottom class will have even lower levels of wealth. The reason behind this growing difference is actually the difference in the amount of capital owned by the upper class and the lower class. The upper class has more capital, which is the equipment of the factory, the number of employees they have, the equity and debt in their hands. This capital gives them the ability to acquire more capital. But the lower class, as the human capital of the upper class, can only get the wages corresponding to the amount of their labor and cannot make money with money. Also we have the stock and housing markets. The lower class mostly holds cash and has no assets in the stock and housing markets, which leaves the lower class without the benefits of rising financial asset prices. However, the upper class will have very high incomes in the financial markets, they hold stocks and property and lots of liabilities, and will increase their equity significantly when the financial markets rise. They will also make money together through manipulation. This causes the lower class to almost never catch up with the wealth of the upper class. There is no shortage of people who have the ability but are in the lower class, and there is no shortage of people who do not have the ability but are in the upper class, which leads to great injustice because people do not acquire wealth according to their ability to contribute to society.
From a sociological point of view, the communities where the lower classes live are mostly chaotic communities. The quality of education provided by the schools near these communities is bad. Also, because of the chaos and low quality, crime occurs frequently. Crime is often seen by lower class communities as a way to make money. This is the wrong value and these factors lead to their inability to learn professional skills and work hard enough to become a workforce. In the long run, they will experience a decline in their wealth levels. Second is taxation. The upper class evades taxes through various means and the tax rate is even lower than the lower class, which seriously hinders the social equality brought by transfer payments. We all know that the upper class will appear to squeeze the labor force, which means higher income for the upper class and lower labor force for the lower class.
It is useful to think about Beauvoir’s theory of the Other. The upper class defines the lower class as the other, and they increase social inequality by keeping the lower class stranded by labor squeezing, promoting financial markets, and not making transfer payments. Meanwhile, Spivak’s subaltern theory provides an explanation for the marginalization of the lower class. They are unable to fight for their interests in transfer payments, do not have the ability to promote financial markets, and do not have access to market resources and capital, even to the extent that their lives are controlled by the not-so-much upper class.
Social inequality is definitely a systemic injustice that needs to be progressively addressed.
Link to articles:
https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/05/5-reasons-income-inequality-has-become-a-major-political-issue.html
Work Cited:
“The gaps in incomes”, Juliana Menasce Horowitz, Ruth Igielnik, Rakesh Kochhar, Jan 9 .2020, retrieved from: https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/01/09/trends-in-income-and-wealth-inequality/
“The Difference Between Rich And Poor Communities”, Aniqa Ajmal, Aug 18. 2018, retrieved from: https://wonderfulengineering.com/this-drone-photo-series-shows-the-difference-between-rich-and-poor-communities/
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYxspCbwZVs”, khanacademymedicine, Mar 27. 2015, retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYxspCbwZVs
Diary Of Injustice #5
In this diary I will be talking about the death of Kevin Desir. He was 43 years old. He died inside Broward jail in 2021. He was arrested twice. He was first arrested in January for destroying a neighbors car. Then again, in mid January for possession of marijuana. Desir had permission to use marijuana. Although it wasn’t ruled through before his arrest. Kevin Desir had reasons for destroying property. With mental illness you tend to have episodes. Those episodes can include arguing with loved ones, drug usage, destroying things, etc. There is no excuse for it, but it should be known. “Obviously, he’s dealt with mental illness for 21-22 years…” (Shepard) He was a father, a husband, worked full time, and was an entrepreneur. He fought with his mental illness really hard. In the facility, Desir cut himself. Cutting is a form of self harm. Self harm is common with those with mental illness. A deputy put him in a restraint chair. He became unresponsive and CPR was done. He was rushed to the hospital. He died 10 days later. Let’s be honest, police know nothing about mental health. They panic, they do not know how to comfort one with mental illness. This is why we need mental health professionals to work in the field as well. This case is systemic injustice because the police broke a law. They violated a federal court agreement. BSO jail is supposed to protect those with mental illness. The scary thing is that the police didn’t want this case shared to the public. They knew they did something wrong. This is police brutality. I hope those with similar stories like Kevin don’t have to go through this. The system needs change.
This diary entry is probably my favorite one I did research on. Police brutality is horrible. It is sad that police are so racist that they hurt others with a different skin color with no remorse. This diary entry stood out even more to me because it deals with more than one issue. Police brutality, mental health, publicity failure, etc. Police are not meant to help the mentally ill. They do not know how to comfort, talk to a person who is harming themselves. In most situations they make the matters worse. I deal with mental health myself and so does my family and friends. It is tough. We need a system to go on board with the police to team together to help those that are mentally ill. If we had a system like this, Desir may still be alive.
Source: https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/family-of-man-who-died-after-altercation-with-broward-jail-staff-wants-answers/2372059/
This is an excellent case of diary of injustice, and I feel the same as you wrote, “It is sad that police are so racist that they hurt others with a different skin color with no remorse.” There are so many cases that the police excessive enforcement just because of people’s races, which is wrong and unfair to them. On the other hand, people with mental health are all dealing with a tough situation; our society and the government should have more measurement to take care of them.
Btw you are so brave to fight mental illness! Good luck and you are the best!!