Bridgett Howell
Skadi Snook
Sociology 101
9 May 2011
Land of the Free
Everyone wants to live the American Dream. Everyone is told that they can if
they work hard enough. The idea of America being the land of equal opportunity tends to
mask the inequalities that persist in the American society. I have been told my whole life
that if I work hard enough, I will succeed, which is partly true, because of the many
privileges working towards my advantage as the average white, middle class female. I
went to good schools and was raised by parents who had time to harass me about my
grades instead of working three jobs just to support our family; however, not everyone
was raised in the areas I was raised in, attended the schools I attended, or could even
dream of affording college. When some students do not succeed, though, society tends to
overlook the advantages that those like me have and the disadvantages that those of color
or low class have, leaving the blame on the individual, when maybe it should be the
system that needs criticizing. When one is put in the position to think about it in the terms
of class and race, not everyone actually has equal opportunity.
Social class is one of the most important aspects of succeeding in the American
society. As Wildman states, “The economic power system is not invisible… but the myth
persists that all have access to that power through individual resourcefulness” (Wildman
97). Arguing that we all have equal opportunity to succeed in life is saying that a child
from a rich family that goes to the best private schools, gets the best private tutors, and
whose parents can afford college has no more opportunity than a child from a poor family
who goes to a bad inner-city school and whose parents cannot afford college. To start
with, for true equal opportunity to exist, everyone would have to get the same education.
Some people think that the poor black kids or the rednecks who drop out of school do so
because of the “issues” they have due to their social class or that because of their social
class they are just too dumb or lazy to make it in life; however, no one looks deeper into
these issues enough to discover that “rich children benefit from suburban schools that
spend two to three times as much money per student as school in inner cities or
impoverished rural areas… differences such as these help account for the higher schooldropout rate among poor children” (Lowen 310). Maybe if the middle to upper class,
white male who had nothing to do but study was put in the same situation as the lower
class, black female who has to work to help support her siblings, he would drop out too. I
find it hard to believe that every poor black student who works at McDonalds is lazy and
unmotivated but that every middle to upper class white male who works in a law firm is
brilliant and hard working. Schwalbe states that the definition of inequality is “when a
difference between people or between groups benefits one person or one group relative to
another” (Schwalbe 215). After considering the differences of benefits for the different
social classes, I would not say America is exactly equal. As Americans, we tend to not
think of it in this way; we justify the fact that the wealthy are wealthy because they
worked for it and the poor are poor because they deserve what they got, which is
obviously not always the case.
Along with class, race definitely affects the system of privilege and hierarchy.
The systemic racism in America closes many doors for those of color that are wide open
for whites. Whiteness is an invisible resource that works for whites and against those of
color. The men who have always been in power have always been white; these men get to
choose who stays in power, and they usually choose whites. This leaves the blacks with
the worst jobs which lead to the worst housing and the worst schools which then leads
back to the worst jobs (Faegin). Most whites who are in power, see the powerless, poor
blacks living in these neighborhoods and just automatically assume that they have done
nothing to try to get out of the situation they are in, then when a black does try to get a
decent job from this same powerful white man, the white refuses to give it to him because
all of the black he can think of are some of the same ones who have already been refused
a decent job, but are still viewed as the “lazy” ones that lay around in the “ghettos” and
do not care about anything. In reality, the white men are the ones who put them there. I
believe that if blacks had as many opportunities as whites do, there would be just as many
that was successful. According to Schwalbe, “This is not true in every case,” but “on the
average, the pattern holds, as it must, in a society that is run by and privileges whites,
males and those with wealth… those who are born with more visible resources have
better chances of acquiring the inner resources that lead to further advantages” and since
“more power tends to bring even more privilege; more privilege brings even more
power,” it is almost impossible for the once powerless to acquire any power, and in turn
privileges, then again power (Schwalbe 222, Charon 85).
Americans cannot get around this system of inequality because “after college,
most affluent children get white-collar jobs, most working-class children get blue-collar
jobs, and the class differences continue” (Lowen 311). The ones that have the power are
the affluent with white-collar jobs, and since they already have everyway of getting what
they want, they have no reason to care and change the system. We as privileged
Americans ignore the privileges that we have because “the invisibility of privilege
strengthens the power it creates and maintains… the invisible cannot be combated and as
a result privilege is allowed to perpetuate, regenerate, and re-create itself” (Wildman 95).
The powerful that lead America are the ones that choose what is recognized, and
recognizing these issues might take away some of that power that these men have, so they
choose to act as if they do not exist. As Schwalbe argues, Powerful people and
organizations do sometimes act in heavyhanded ways to control the flow of information
to the public” (Schwalbe 199). The privileges are made invisible, but the results of these
privileges are definitely not.
As one can obviously see, race and social class strongly affect the “equality” of
America and make it not so much the “Land of the Free”. These inequalities start very
early in life, because “if you are white, male and upper-middle class, you will probably
have more experiences that nurture your talents, affirm your sense of worth as a person,
and give you confidence that you can do whatever you set your mind to” (Schwalbe 222).
This inequality still exists because “this myth of potential economic equality supports the
invisibility of the other power systems that prevent fulfillment of that ideal” (Wildman
97). Until these power systems are no longer invisible resources and become obvious and
clear in the American society, the inequalities will persist.
Work Cited
Charon, Joel M. Ten Questions: A Sociological Perspective. 7th ed. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
Davis, Adrienne D. Wildman, Stephanie M. "Making Systems of Privilege
Visible." Whiteness: The Power of Privilege. 95-101. Print.
Faegin, Joe. "Excluding Blacks and Others From Housing: The Foundation of
White Racism." Cityscape: A Journal of Policy Development and Research. 3rd ed. Vol.
4. US Department of Housing and Urban Development. 79-91. Print. Ser. 1999.
Loewen, James. "The Land of Oppurtunity." Lies My Teacher Told Me:
Everything Your American History Book Got Wrong. New, 1995. 308-17. Print.
Schwalbe, Michael. The Sociologically Examined Life: Pieces of the
Conversation. 4th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2008. Print.