Parker Pratt Sociology Sociology Assignment #3

04/16/2014

We as humans in todays society, focus a lot on our social status. Our location on this range of high class, middle class, or low class, we let dictate our life. An example of this is that because a person is in a lower class they cannot receive a higher education due to their poverty. Currently America has the Largest African American middle and lower class in history. We must ask ourselves the question, why? What social perspectives explain how this difference in class exists? The first social perspective I wish to address is that of culture. Just because this statistic is about the race of African Americans doesnt mean that they are the same people. Its the same as stating all Caucasians are the same. While during the 60s and 70s black movement we saw that blacks wanted the same thing, freedom. Because the race was being segregated and the race banded together we assumed they are all the same. However this is truly not the case. Culture is based on family and your surroundings. It does have to do with your history but it does not have to do with your color. If a man comes from a hardworking family and sees his father working hard for his money, his culture is to be a hard worker. That is the image he will follow. What we see is that while there is a separation of race on the spectrum of Middle and lower class, there is also a separation of culture and identity. Another perspective is that of Functionalism. Functionalism is the idea that motivation promotes people to become better and move up in the social class. To be motivated people have to have rewards. This is crucial because more often than not we see that the lower class

blame the upper class for not helping. What we see is that humans want a scapegoat. They dont want to be the problem, others are the problem and they are the ones who need to change. This is simply not the case. People, who are internally motivated, make the decision that they will not stay down, are the ones who move up in society. The last sociological perspective that we have to look at is that of social location. During the black movement we find that social location has a lot to do with the persecution that blacks saw and had to deal with. For example a lot of blacks who lived in the south suffered more than the ones who lived in the north. Because there wasnt so much oppression blacks there had an easier time achieving their goals. There were several towns who labeled themselves as white towns. These were towns that only white men were allowed to work and blacks were allowed the dirty bottom of the food chain jobs. But in order to provide for their family, African American men took these jobs. They took these jobs so that their sons wouldnt h ave to. But that required the boys to leave that social location. If a person is to stay in the white town, then he will have to live with the social norms of that town. For those men who left those areas for places less segregated they found success and moved up in the spectrum of social class. So why is there a difference in the black middle and lower class? Because race and culture are different. Culture dictates what we do, while race dictates what we look like. The functionalist perspective says that we are motivated to do better by rewards, so those who are not rewarded, fall to the lower class. And finally by staying in a social location that dictates your class based on race you will forever stagnate and not progress. By African Americans moving to a more de-segregated area they moved up in society.