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The book Rereading America provides a deep socio-psychological perspective of the American community. From the articles that make up the text to the illustrations depicting American people and their environment at different stages and statuses of life, the book directs the readers focus on the America that is not commonly seen from the outside perception of life. The articles bring about the deep realities that most Americans assume to be unrelated to their lives in the past and the future. One of the most vivid concepts from the articles is that of gender and social status being determinants of individual opportunity.
From the book, it is notable that individual opportunity is a myth that drives people to become overly engrossed in their social status and in groups where they can feel they belong, have the right form of education, clothing, and foods. This implies that all members of the social struggle to ensure that they at least fit into what the social class they identify with consider normal. However, there are major differences in these struggles depending on the individual gender and race. This paper explores this concept from the article by Barbara Ehrenreich whose focus is on living and working in a low-class society and the article by Gregory Mantsios who focuses on the issue of class in America. The paper will also relate the articles to the image of a white girl picking cotton found in the book under the images of individual opportunity in America (409).
From Barbara’s article, “Serving in Florida” a focus s developed on the experiences of a person working in s culture that comprises the majority of the people who are considered to be low-class citizens. The most important aspect of the article that relates to the concept of gender and class is the indication that the low-class citizens do not mind being mistreated, exploited and even overworked in poor inhumane conditions. Their main desire is to secure a job and at least earn something to keep their lives moving on (367).
Barbara describes her own experience and opinions regarding a society that does not mind itself. In very clear details, she describes that the women and the men in the low-income society, as the one she was working in Florida would rather work without food and the basic hygiene than to risk losing their jobs. Healthy working conditions do not bother them and this increases their chances of being exploited at their own expense. The basic claim in this article is therefore that people living in abject poverty cannot be expected to live healthy lives with only the current minimum wage. Their lack of opportunities, either based on their gender and social status means that they will become vulnerable to mistreatment and exploitation that further threaten their healthy living. Thus, they have no opportunity to live the “American Dream” (373).
The concepts explored in the book relate to the revelation that the American dream was never going to be realized, at least not by everybody. The collection of essays and articles brings together opinions, expressions and personal experiences of different people and experts whose analytical and critical exploration of the life of Americans is rational. Issues that have been widely regarded as of concern by with very little efforts to find a solution to them are explored in the book. Equal opportunity for all Americans is one of the concepts that has developed over time with a wide range of experts and scholars exploring the equity issue from different perspectives. Two of the oldest perspectives in this is the gender and social class issues.
For common America, the fact the people of a specific gender of a specific social class have a lesser individual opportunity for growth and empowerment is rather common. However, most of the articles in the book attempt to reduce the common feeling and help expose the deeper roots of the concern. This concern has therefore been selected due to the weight of the issue in the life today and the fact that most people tend to deny the existence of discriminations related to gender and social class. Whereas the existence of these vices is not debatable, the impact that they have on the life of the common American and the realization of the American dream is significant.
Mantsios, in his article, “Class in America” attempts to create a different perspective on the issue of social class and how it affects people’s life and opportunity. From his own description, there are refutable myths about a class that has been widely held by Americans, in order to deceive themselves that social class does not affect them as much (381). His basic claim is that the class that anyone belongs to either consciously or otherwise affects them in a significant way.
The author uses statistics to prove that being in a specific class in the society determines how one operate as an adult and also how the current and future generations in that line will survive. For instance, the article cites the example of a person born in poverty. For his or her, life is about struggling to obtain the basic needs. Opportunities such as good education and healthy eating will not be prioritized. Thus, the person is likely not to succeed in school and hence will not secure the lucrative and high-paying jobs. The cycle is therefore likely to repeat itself in the next generation. In a rather exaggerated exploration of the statistics, Mantsios uses data from a research conducted on students who had taken a board exam. From the statistics, there is a relationship between the social class that people belong to and their scores on a standardized test (385). His conclusion was therefore that the higher the social class of a student and his family, the higher the chances that the student will score high grades.
From the image, a white girl of school-going age is seen picking cotton (409). The image can be viewed from two perspectives. First, the fact that the human being in the picture is a female demonstrate that women have historically been considered to be a weaker gender who have been denied serious opportunities for empowerment. Working in the fields was common for the women especially in families where the economic status could not allow them to have slaves or paid workers to work on cotton farms. Secondly, when compared to the other historical pictures of slaves working in the cotton fields, the white girl now looks better off. She is better clothed, looks healthier and even cleaner. This implies that even with her lack of opportunities, there are still other people who are lower than her in the social rankings.
The common concern in the articles and the image is that gender and social status have been allowed in the American society to destroy the social fabric. Even with the vast availability of resources and opportunities to succeed in life, the access to these elements is dictated by the person’s gender or social status. The articles and the image complement one another and vividly demonstrate the details of this basic concern. Based on Mantsios’ article, the people who are born in families that have access to resources and are significantly able to have more opportunities for further growth than those born in low-class families. To the latter, life is a struggle to be sustained and they are thus ready to even risk their health and their lives in order to keep the little they already have.
This is well demonstrated by Barbara’s article that looks at the behavior and mentality of the workers in low-income areas. The image then gives an even deeper concept of the concern by first introducing the aspect of gender as a factor in the access to opportunity. The image also demonstrates that social classes do significantly affect everyone and even within one broad class, there are even smaller classes that take the exact same shape as in the general society.
Although Barbara’s view of the social class and the minimum wage is based on personal experience views and perceptions, it is significantly validated by the claims raised by Mantsios. Mantsios believes that people who do not consider the existence of the social classes a fact deceive themselves in an attempt to hide from the facts. However, he uses statistical evidence to demonstrate the importance of the concern and how it affects every part of human life in America. This is then depicted vividly in the image where the issues of class and gender as determinants of social and economic opportunities strongly arise.
In conclusion, therefore, the book Rereading America seeks to demonstrate through facts and expert opinions that the American dream ought to be rethought. The experts whose articles are in the book support a common claim that Americans need to reset their goals. In particular, the two articles hereby explored demonstrate resetting the goals for Americans must start by redefining themselves and their connections to one another. Barbara and Mantsios use their articles to describe the most common forms of denial of individual opportunities that are currently seen in the American society. The image contributes to the discourse by exploring the historical perspective of the concern and how it affects more people than we can see from the outside. After such concerns have been raised, therefore, there must be a strategic recognition and acknowledgment of the existence of social classes’ after which efforts must be made to ensure that social equity is realized. In addition, individual opportunities must be directly related to the individual efforts and capability and not on their gender or social status. Recognising that the existing frameworks inhibit social justice through the systems that deny individuals of their opportunities as Americans must be the first step towards solving the concern.