Blog Entry 8- Inequalities Amongst Us!

The article I choose to read was "Cause of Death: Inequality" by Alejandro Reuss. This article basically underlines the idea of inequality being the top cause of death amongst poor people due to their lack of education about major diseases and cause of deaths. It is said that as status decreases mortality increase although women have a longer life expectancy than men by six years. Education and family income is a major factor as well as race. The more education you have and the better income the less likely you are to suffer from any type of cancers, diseases, accidental injury and homicide. Your physical health and how long you live are determine on where you are in the socioeconomic hierarchy. The article then goes on to provide evidence of how different  parts of the world's poor people, men and women alike, are more prone to infectious disease and disease of the circulatory system unlike those in the United States. The lack of access to health care also affects the inequalities Reuss is stating, which is also a major factor. Higher income adults and poor adults have difference of how effectively they are treated when it comes to health. Environmental and occupational hazards mainly affects and are dangers to the lower income people of this country than those with higher income. Education, income and race all conspire to how long people live in this country which ultimately results in inequality. The richer lives longer while the poor die faster.

The film "People like Us: Social Class in America," is about the different class systems in America and how each class measure who belongs where. These measures are described by the people we live amongst with similar background and are comfortable with. "Tribes" are spoke about in the film are basically the class systems which are defined by our occupation, income and what we aspire to be in life. We try to separate ourselves from those who do not fit in our social groups and belong to our class. The film stated that America is a country divided by class, social distinction and is defined by where we live, what we eat, how we look, and education. Social class defined the inequalities in the class system. The film states that the choices you make reveal your class. This means that whatever it is you decide on doing, buying, believing in defines the class you are in. Many people believe that class can be changed if you are not entirely content to the one you belong in. It is not all about money but also the practices and customs of the class and mastering it in order to feel part of it or learning how to be a part of it. Since appearance is something that ultimately rules our society it is important to look the part we are trying to play in order to believe we can up our changes of changing our class system. One particular speaker in the film believed that it is impossible to successful change social class without studying really hard to learn everything there is to know about that class. Many people seem to dislike people coming into their social class as people that no matter how they behave they can not escape not belonging to that class. There are unwritten rules to each social class in the hierarchy of class system.

Both the article and film connects with Chapter 9 on inequalities because this chapter is based on the inequalities amongst different class systems in our country. A person whose parents are well educated, married and were born into a wealthy family has better opportunities than a person who was born into a one parent family who lacked education. Although it is not always the case it does help to better your chances at education which ultimately leads to a better career and better income. This country wants us all to believe we all have the same equal opportunities but it is not the case. Without education we are not. As mention in the article uneducated people have higher chances of suffering from either a disease or illness. Uneducated people are often subject to many inequalities that is a detriment to them climber the social class hierarchy. Education is something I always believed in. As a young child my parents always enforced that my siblings and I concentrate more on better grades and further our education than anything else. Homework always came before anything. Before I was allowed to play on the Nintendo (yes I owned several different Nintendo as a child and which I still did!!!) I was required to do my homework plus read a few pages of a book a night. Now as I work towards completing my degree and further my education not only do I enjoy reading I rather read a good book than to watch a reality TV shows. I often read books who had been made into movies before watching the movies, in some case I reread the books and make comparison between the two…The Great Gatsby which I read in high school in next on my list !