MEDIS STUDIES-COMM 2250

Review of News on Stratification in the USA

Stratification in the US relates to the historical background, political perspectives, and intersectionality. The history of the US is made up of the civil rights movement that continues to improve the differences between the rich and poor. The political perspectives contradict the approaches to solutions to social problems. An example is the increase of government control on economic issues. Intersectionality entails numerous social actors that contribute to the existence of stratification. The news articles describe stratification from a political perspective with either a left or right lean. They agree on the prevalence of stratification but disagree on it as a natural or social happening. The lesson is that the government, as a representation of the people, can moderate stratification through direct financial help to citizens and the provision of opportunities to the poor.

 Review of the Literature

The history of stratification in the US is based on liberties as put in the media. The institution of slavery of the blacks relates to the issue of racism as a cause of social strata. Similarly, the media links stratification with the economy. It shows the futility of the capitalistic system, which reduces the involvement of government controls. The two arguments create the need for political intervention in the determination of the level that the government should intervene in the economy (Ferris & Stein, 2018). Correspondingly, the US popular ideologies follow the conservative and democratic outlooks that have different views on solutions to the American problem of stratification.

American citizens access news that has right or left concerning conservative and progressive ideologies respectively. The right news items describe social stratification as inevitable and a natural occurrence. They endorse strata as per education, employment, and income. On the other hand, the progressive reports prioritize social mobility and create awareness of the risks to the economy (Ferris & Stein, 2018). Also, they describe social stratification as an issue that can be redesigned in favor of society, while upholding individual liberties.

Intersectionality explains the persistence of stratification in the US as a culmination of multiple social actors. They consist of gender, religion, origin, education, marital status, and family. Social stratification may not have a direct solution as put in the two-sided political views in the US. The culture of society needs time to correct a single issue (Ferris & Stein, 2018). Therefore, news articles that choose to be moderate on the issue may provide information that is informative as compared to extreme reports.

Data

The Daily Wire quotes the census statistics on the status of stratification in the US as of September 2022. It describes that income inequality in the US, which is a major cause of stratification, is dominant in the states under democratic leadership. Hence, the news article uses logos to lure the reader to join the Republican agenda in the mid-term elections (Rosiak, 2022). Thus, the article leans to the right on the political agenda.

In addition, the Newsmax article reports on US mayors making moves to end income inequality through the redistribution of wealth. They intend to use cryptocurrency to give cash to low-income earners. Nonetheless, the news item is not an occurrence but a political promise. It lacks the scientific backing of its success rate in the real world. The news article seems to imply the possibility of the government being able to address stratification (McCarthy, 2022). Thus, it leans right in support of the conservative approach to social stratification.

On the other hand, the guardian post describes the deterioration of the income differences between workers and business owners. It describes the involvement of the government in the propagation of social divisions through the awarding of contracts to the upper-class (Rushe, 2022). The final take is for President Biden to direct the treasury to limit the contracts made to the rich and review the tax bill.

More so, the CBS News article uses logos in the heading to show the intensity of stratification in society. It details that about 2750 people in the world are rich more than half of the total population. The stats compare the inequality in the US with other nations. For instance, 50% of the US poor are worse off than the same in China. The author uses the COVID period as a case study for inequality (Picchi, 2021). The argument is that government direct injections to citizens help reduce inequality.

Analysis

The Daily Wire and Newsmax focus on the conservative aspect of stratification in the US. The former argues that the states that support the Democratic Party have the worst statistics of inequality. The latter focuses on the government’s intention to help end stratification through reparations, rather than the generation of employment opportunities. The connotation of the two articles follows the theory of naturalism that focuses on historical events such as slavery (Rushe, 2022). Thus, stratification results from the historical and social imbalances in the US.

Political power in the US influences stratification. The four authors mention the involvement of the government in the creation, continuation, or moderation of inequality in the US. The Guardian describes the awarding of public contracts to the well-off in society, which is a causal factor of inequity. The Daily Wire supposes that the democratic states are worse off, which may implicate the aspects of the privatization of property (Rosiak, 2022). Additionally, CBS and Guardian acknowledge the essence of the government’s willingness to give funds directly to citizens as a means to moderate inequality.

In addition, the news articles focus on intersectionality as the explanation for stratification in the US. The Daily Wire shows inequality as inevitable since the call of Democrats to grant universal liberties is pointless as solutions to inequalities. Also, CBS points to social actors such as the Covid disease that deteriorated the social gap in the US, despite the government’s willingness to provide financial support to low-income earners (Picchi, 2021). News Max and the Guardian provide ways that can help moderate stratification courtesy of government policies toward social mobility (McCarthy, 2022). The former discusses the need for technology to provide funds to citizens and cut back on taxes. The latter deliberates on the importance of government consideration of the social status of people before awarding contracts. Thus, the government can enhance access to resources to reduce the inequality gap and enhance living standards in the US.

Conclusively, the issue of stratification in the US is a matter of historical events, political ideologies, and intersectionality. The historical issues such as slavery and the civil rights groups showed the stratification as a case of social injustices. The political ideologies focus on stratification as a natural outcome that is out of human reach. The case of intersectionality focuses on a broad spectrum of social actors that work together to cause the status quo in society. The American press is influenced by the political outlook that may relate to the midterm elections. The right lean news channels indicate stratification as inevitable, but fixable through technology and redistribution of wealth. The left-lean articles focus on ideas that may improve social mobility in the provision of opportunities to the least-income earners in the US. One of the ways is the creation of awareness of the seriousness of the problems and the risks to the standards of living in the US. The lesson from the articles is the national division between the approaches to the solutions to the social actors that include stratification. Correspondingly, the common solution is the dissemination of funds and the consideration of applicants from low-income earning families.

References

Ferris, K., & Stein, J. (2018). The real world: An introduction to sociology (Sixth edition). W.W. Norton.

McCarthy, C. (2022). US Mayors Seek to Address Income Inequality with Cryptocurrency. Newsmax. https://www.newsmax.com/us/mayors-crypto-currency-income-inequality/2022/01/24/id/1053678/

Picchi, A. (2021). The new Gilded Age: 2,750 people have more wealth than half the planet. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/wealth-inequality-billionaires-piketty-report/

Rosiak, L. (2022). Blue vs. Red: Income inequality far worse in dem-run states, new census data shows. The Daily Wire. https://www.dailywire.com/news/blue-states-have-worse-inequality-than-red-ones-new-census-data-shows Rushe, D. (2022, June 7). The wage gap between CEOs and US workers jumped to 670-to-1 last year, a study finds. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/07/us-wage-gap-ceos-workers-instit