Free Essay Example - Wealth Gap in the US

Since the end of the slavery era in the early 1800s, wealth distribution in the United States has remained one of the highly contested debates that have affected many minorities in the nation. Even though the government has tried to close the wealth gap, by all means, little impact has been attained, with the whites remaining at the top of the wealth hierarchy. Blacks, Hispanics, Mexicans, Japanese, and Chinese, among others, are the minority groups in the US, which constitute the American population.

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While the US has undergone numerous economic reforms, economic recessions, and growth, the wealth gap has tremendously increased, leaving minorities with no chance but to sail in the low-income-sea. Thus, financial challenges, and higher dependency on Capitalism, have forced the wealth gap to stretch further, as more economic challenges affect the minorities in the US. Despite the rapid economic development in the US, more than 39% of the wealth gap has been recorded during 2016.

With over 328.2 million population, the US remains to be one of the nations with higher levels of the wealth gap, affecting most of the minority groups (Hamidi, & Joseph, 2019). Therefore, the research will critically elucidate on the wealth gap in American society and how the government has contributed to the growth of these inequalities.

Research Findings

The American workforce is comprised of more than 155 million working employees, who help rebuild the nation, with more than 12 million employees being anticipated to join the working population by 2021 (Hamidi, & Joseph, 2019). The small number of working populations rejoining the population is highly comprised of the increased number of higher unemployment based on racial discrimination.

Every year, the US workforce population is anticipated to grow by 2 million working employees, where the entire population is unevenly distributed across different ethnicities. 54% of the US workforce is comprised of the whites, while blacks occupy only 21%, while Hispania’s 10%, Mexicans, and other minorities holding 20% of the workforce population (Hamidi, & Joseph, 2019).

As Hamilton & Darity, (2017) outlined, nearly over 70% of the whites in the workforce population occupy professional jobs, with the largest community of whites holding decent education qualifications (College degree, Bachelors, Masters, and PhD). Higher education in the workforce has increased the chances of employment for the whites in the US.

Wealth distribution in the upper class is not only associated with education but also social status, and political organization. The blacks are among the least in this category. While education level remains a critical variable that causes the fluctuation and improper distribution of wealth, the working population with less than high school qualification remains at a higher level of being unemployed. Moreover, other variables such as ethnicity come into play, making it difficult for minorities even to secure jobs.

According to Hamidi, & Joseph, (2019), blacks without even high school qualification have a 57% unemployment rate, while the Hispania’s have a 22%, with Mexicans having over 12%, and the white 9% unemployment rate. While unemployment is directly connected to the poverty levels within the state, the minority groups, tend to suffer the most. As a result, the increased level of unemployment rate in the American minorities continues to stretch further the concept of the wealth gap, as the poor minorities continue to languish in the bottom level of economic growth. Therefore, this calls for radical means of gaining financial aid, as most of the minorities venture into criminal behaviors, affecting the entire society.

The wealth gap in the US has been defined by the level of education and social status. While a hand full of self-made billionaires with little education in American society have sparked the headlines, the highest number depends on their academic qualifications and support from their families to make it to their empires.

Nearly 97% of the self-made millionaires in the US depends on the US working population to keep their businesses running and operating smoothly (Hamidi, & Joseph, 2019). While the demand for higher education is increasingly higher, able American citizens are pushed forth to seek theses services for a better payment. Therefore, those who cannot afford the funds to further their education are forced to languish in poverty, as little efforts have been implemented by the government to help get most of the Americans in the peak of the higher education institutions.

The unfair or unequal wealth distribution amongst the US society has widely affected the entire society both directly and indirectly. In contrast, fewer people may not have a direct impact on wealth distribution. Those in the lower-class are slowly making ends meet using unorthodox means. One of the common causes and consequences of unfair wealth distributions can be depicted on increased drug trafficking in the American streets.

The increased wealth gap has called for illegal means, especially for the minority groups, to venture into a more profitable business of drug trafficking. Nearly 22% of the unemployed blacks living in impoverished conditions have undertaken the selling of drugs as a concept of living. In comparison, 34% of Mexican, and 47% of the Hispanic communities in low-class engage in drug trafficking to make ends meet. Never the less, 56% of the blacks involved in drug trafficking have a limited academic qualification (Not past high school), while 72% of the Mexican and 79% of the Hispanic in the drug trafficking business, have no formal education (Farfán-Méndez, 2019).

At the same time, the higher qualification required by many employees within American society has pushed these groups out of the breadline. Most of them have crafted the concept of using crime (drug trafficking) as an ultimate concept to ensure that most of them meet the economic demands that have been pilling every day. Thus, the issue of drug trafficking has remained to be one of the most controversial debates, a concept that has sparked a cat and mouse game, between the federal and the locals, with the minority groups dominating in this game. Therefore, this has affected the prison population, with most of the arrested minority groups governing the prisons across the United States.

Amongst the most convicted drug traffickers, 76% of the blacks arrested are male, while 83% of Mexicans, are male, and 92% are Male Hispanics. 30% of the Arrested blacks are between 17 to 35 years, while 70% are between 36t to 56 years of age. 42% of the arrested Mexicans range between 17 to 35 years, while 58% range between 36 to 47 years. On the contrary, 80% of the arrested Hispanics in drug trafficking range between 17 to 35 years of age, while only a small percentage of aged Hispania’s are arrested for drug trafficking (Farfán-Méndez, 2019). Thus, the increased populations amongst these groups of minorities indicate that little concern has been paid towards incorporating and pulling the minorities in the workforce. Thus, this causes an increase in drug trafficking, as the members seek an alternative to making ends meet. Never the less, this has ushered in more American middle and lower class into American prisons.

The American prison system has been used as a harbor, and a correctional facility to help reduce the crime rate within American society. However, while the American prison system remains to be one of the most essential and fundamental facilities, the system has offered less to the inmates, especially considering the role of the prison system in ensuring that recidivism in the US remains at a lower level. Most of the inmates in the US have found themselves operating between the prison grounds and the outside, while the question to understand why the increase in recidivism continues to increase, the American’s wealth distribution has forced most of them to operate between our society and the prison correction facilities. The prison system has offered less when it comes to cutting the gap of wealth inequality in the United States.

The US accounts for over 25% of the global prison population, yet the nation has recorded the highest levels of recidivism rate (Recidivism rate law and legal definition, 2019). The increased return of the prisoners in the jails or prisons indicates that the American society has not fully understood or accepted the convicted Americans back to society, despite undergoing an intense prison life. Never the less the prison system seems to be more relaxed in proving to the American society that all the inmates are changed and have adopted a new habit and way of life.

While the increased numbers of inmates continue to flock the correctional facilities, little effort is conducted to ensure that once the prisoners are released are reaccepted by the society, helping to reduce the wealth gap in the nation. According to Kocaarslan et al. (2020), the research found that nearly 83% of the Americans in prison had served a sentence within five years, while 70% of freed inmates will be rearrested and given a new sentence. While these data may not depict the true nature of American society, it indicates that the correctional facilities are not fully joining the war on the wealth gap. Thus the rearrested inmates are forced to commit the crimes due to lack of proper training to acquire new jobs when they are released. Thus, this increases the chances of unemployment, increasing the degree of poverty in many minority groups in the US.

Sociology Concepts

While the wealth gap between the American comes into play, as the middle class and the lower class continue to be oppressed by the minor upper class, several sociological perspectives come in to play. One of the aspects is social control, where the upper class, which is a minority class, controls and governs the resources to continue controlling and dominating the middle and lower-class. All the societies contribute to the participation of social control, to ensure that law and order applies.

Thus, this calls for explicit norms, which has been redefined and equally accepted by the entire society. At the same time, these controlling norms redefine our interaction, practices, and behaviors. The American laws have been put in place to protect the citizens. Never the less, the laws have also been put in place to help protect property from being exploited or used accordingly. In this case, the sociological concept of control brings us to a new chapter of Maxis’ point of view in Capitalism.

Capitalism has been defined as a backbone of oppression and controlling society. While communism has contradicted the view of Capitalism, many tend to argue that the adoption of Capitalism has accelerated wealth gap distribution in American society. Marx’s point of view on Capitalism and privet property has drawn a marginal boundary between the poor and the rich in the US society. Surprisingly enough, the number of the wealthy continues to be smaller, while the number of those who are used to keep the fewer who are fortunate enough continues to increase.

According to Yongqing (2018) observations, Marx’s definition of Capitalism is regarded as a system that gives the privet individuals the capacity to invest, make money, and maintain or retain the profits. In this case, they privet individuals who own these investments create order and control, a concept that shows the interdependence of Capitalism and social control and social order. On the one hand, Marxist theory, the capitalist class, which happens to hold more power, is regarded as the Bourgeoisie, who happens to be a minority class.