Socio Economic Equality: Understanding The American Society

• Introduction
• Understanding Socio Economic Status (SES)
• Effects of Socio Economic Status
• What Is Socio Economic Factors?

Introduction

The economic realities of the pandemic are ushering in greater debate on the socio-economic equality of American society. There is a growing gap between the have and the have not. Is the “American dream” for everyone or few privilege ones? What do we have in reality; socio economic equality or socio-economic inequality. Furthermore what then is socio economic equality.

Socio economic equality is a state of affairs in which all people within a given society have the same status or privileges irrespective of race or color. These are equal employment and wealth opportunities, education, property rights, and equal access to social goods and services. Others are health, social securities, freedom of speech and civil rights. This demands zero discriminations but equal opportunity for all. It requires the absence of legally enforced social class or caste boundaries. Ethnicity, gender, color, income, religion, convictions, opinions, health must not result in unequal treatment and should not reduce opportunities unjustifiably.

In this article, we would examine the factors that makes socio economic equality impossible. Because there is rising socio economic inequality in America today. About 10% of the America population possess majority of the wealth according to reports. Only but few are enjoying the abundance and taking advantage of the available opportunities.

Understanding Socio Economic Status (SES)

Socioeconomic status is the social and economic class of an individual or family. Socio economic status is commonly show economic differences in a given society. It is often a measure of the combination of education, income, employment and wealth. When analyzing a family’s SES, the household and combined income, education, and occupation are examined. Whereas for an individual’s socio economic status only their personal attributes are examined. Analyses of socioeconomic status often reveal control, privilege and power issues as well as injustice in access of resources. We break socio economic status into three levels or classes namely; high, middle and low. Families or individuals can be classified into any of these three levels based on these variables; income, education and employment.

Additionally, low SES households have access to poor income and education. These households suffer from a range of physical and mental health problems, including respiratory viruses, arthritis, coronary disease, and schizophrenia. These problems may result from environmental conditions in their workplace. While, in the case of disabilities or mental illnesses it may be the entire cause of that individual or family social predicament. Children and youths from low SES households are at risk for many health and social problems such as drug abuse, unwanted pregnancies, gangsterism and obesity. But the situation is different in higher socio economic families. In higher socio economic families, education is stressed and provided because the income is sufficient. Consequently, children from higher SES families have better chances of succeeding in life than others.

Effects of Socio Economic Status

Health

Socioeconomic status has long been connected to health, those from higher SES typically enjoy better health than others. Socioeconomic status is a critical source of health inequity, because there is a strong connection between socioeconomic status and health. This doesn’t suggest that it is only the poor who tend to be sick when everyone else is healthy. But parents with a low socioeconomic status may not afford many of the health care resources for their children. The reason their children may have a more advanced illness because of the lack of treatment or quality health care. This phenomenon according to the World Health Organization is called the “Social Gradient”. Certain health problems or sicknesses are more common among populations with lower socio economic status. These sicknesses include chronic stress, heart disease, ulcers, type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, certain types of cancer, and premature aging.

Home Environment

One of the leading factors of a child’s development and well-being is the home environment. Children from poor home with inadequate living conditions are more likely to be vulnerable to illness, injuries and molestation. The low SES children typically experience less dialogue from parents and minimal amounts of book reading when compared to high SES children. In contrast, children from high SES families experience more child-directed speech.

At 10 months, children of high socio economic status hear on average 400 more words than their low SES counterparts. This differences in experiences in the home environment between children of high and low SES affect reading outcomes. The main contributor to SES reading outcomes is the immediate home environment. Children of low SES status have fewer books and read less often at home than their high SES children. High SES parents are also more involved in their children’s schooling. This could be the reason children of low SES status have lower initial reading scores than others upon entering kindergarten.

Parental Involvement At Home

The home environment makes a very significant contribution to the prediction of initial kindergarten reading differences. Characteristics of the home environment include home literacy environment and parental involvement in children schooling. Home literacy environment includes the frequency with which parents engage in joint book reading with the child. Secondly, it is the frequency children read books outside of school. Thirdly, it is the frequency household members visit the library with children.

Parental involvement includes attending a parent–teacher conference, attending a parent–teacher association (PTA) meeting, attending an open house, volunteering, participating in fundraising, and attending a school event. The influence of home environment on initial reading level may be due to children experiencing little schooling before kindergarten. Because children mainly have their families to rely on for their reading growth. Students from high socio economic status families continue to grow in their ability to read after kindergarten. While students from low socio economic status families fall behind in their reading growth at a comparable amount. Additionally, Black Americans experience low reading scores because they are more likely than others to come from low SES families. Also, low SES families characteristically lack the essential resources to continue reading growth when school is not in session

Parental Interactions

In addition, socio economic status influences the parenting style a family chooses to practice. These different parenting styles dictate the tone and purpose of verbal interactions between parent and child. For instance, parents of high socio economic status tend more to authoritative or permissive parenting styles. These parents ask more open-ended questions to their children to encourage their speech growth. In contrast, parents of low SES tend more to authoritarian style of parenting. Their conversations with their children involve more imperatives and yes/no questions that inhibits child expression and speech development.

Effect of Socio Economic Status on Parental Communication

Parental disparity in communicating with children may be traced to the position of their respective groups within society. Parents of high socio economic status occupy high power positions that call for greater expressivity. High socioeconomic parents encourage their children to question the world around them. In addition to asking their children more questions, these parents push their children to create their own questions. In contrast with low SES parents, these parents often view the power disparity between parent and child as harmful to the family. Favoring instead to treat children as equals, high SES conversations are characterized by a give and take between parent and child. These conversations help prepare these children for jobs that require greater expressivity.

On the other hand, working class individuals often hold low power, subordinate positions in the occupational world. This position in the social hierarchy requires a personality and interaction style that is relational and capable of adjusting to circumstances. An authoritarian style of conversation prepares children for these types of roles, which require a more accommodating and compliant personality. Therefore, parents of low SES see the family as more hierarchical, with the parents at the top of the power structure. This ultimately shapes verbal interaction in the family. This power disparity mirrors the circumstances of the working-class world, where individuals are ranked and discouraged from questioning authority.

What Is Socio Economic Factors?

Social and Economic Factors

Socioeconomic refers to economic factors that are society related. Socio economic factors, such as income, education, employment, community safety, and social supports can affect how well and how long you live. These factors can affect our ability to make healthy choices, afford medical care and housing, manage stress, and more. Moreover, these factors interrelate and influence one another.

The socio-economic opportunities are fundamental to achieving long and healthy lives. and some of these opportunities are good education, stable employment, and strong social networks. For instance, good employment provides income that determines housing, education, child care, food, medical care, and more. In contrast, unemployment or underemployment limits these choices. Likewise, the ability to accumulate savings and assets that can help cushion in times of economic distress. Across America, there are meaningful differences in social and economic opportunities for residents in some communities. These communities are experiencing discrimination or have been cut off from investments opportunities. This disparity mostly affects people of color, especially children and youth.

Income

Income refers to paycheck, wages, salaries, profits, rents, and any flow of earnings like commissions. Also, it comes in the form of unemployment or worker’s compensation, social security, pensions, interests or dividends, royalties, trusts or alimony. Furthermore, from monetary winnings such as lotteries and other games or contests where there is monetary award. Income is a common factor of socio economic status because it is relatively easy to figure for most individuals.

The Gini coefficient is used to measure income inequality, where 0 means perfect equality and 1 means perfect inequality. Low-income families can not accumulate assets to pass on to future generations but focus on meeting immediate needs. Consequently, this increases inequality. High-income families or families with inexhaustible income can accumulate wealth. They have the capacity of meeting immediate needs while being able to consume and enjoy luxuries and quality life. Moreover, these high-income families are more socially and politically active. They end up as the very people making the laws that perpetuate their wealth. Low incomes makes it difficult mostly for Black Americans to pursue their educational dreams but scholarships can cushion this difficulty.

Education

Education whether formal or informal is pivotal in skillsets for acquiring jobs. And likewise bestows qualities that differentiate people with higher socio economic status from lower socio economic status. Education is an important factor in determining income. Earnings or paychecks increase with each level of education. The highest degrees, doctoral degrees and professionals, make the highest weekly earnings while those without a high school diploma earn less. Higher levels of education are connected with better health, economic and psychological outcomes. Therefore, more income, more control, and greater social support and networking.

Influence of Parents

Higher SES parents take an active role in their children’s education and development by using controlled organized activities. Also, the fostering of a sense of entitlement is encouraged through discussion. But lower SES parents do not participate, limiting their children with a sense of constraint. Moreover, lower socio economic status parents are more likely to give orders to their children in their interactions. While parents of higher socio economic status are more likely to interact and play with their children.

A difference in education attainment is thus born out of these two differences in child-rearing. Lower households’ children have weaker language skills compared to children raised in higher socioeconomic status households. Consequently, these language skills affect their abilities to learn and thus aggravate the problem of education disparity. Middle-income and high-income children, have a greater sense of entitlement, argumentative and are better prepared for adult life. While low-income children may struggle to attain this level.

Influence of Educators

Research shows students from low-income families may have lower and slower academic achievement as compared with other students. Educators should not make judgments about students based on their socio economic status. Because when they do, they are taking the first step in preventing them from having an equal opportunity for academic achievement. In fact, educators should help them overcome the stigma of poverty.

This is easier when the teacher is not also a product of socio economic inequality or influenced by it. A low self-esteem and low socio economic status should not be reinforced by teachers. Teachers should view students as individuals and not as a member of an SES group. Because this will help them not be prejudiced towards students of certain socio economic status. Raising the level of instruction may help to create equality in student achievement. Achievement can improve via relating the content taught to students’ prior knowledge and to real-life experiences. Educators and educational system also must be open and discuss socio economic differences.

Employment

Employment or occupation is what you do for a living. Occupation could be a difficult factor to measure because many exist, and there are so many competing scales. Many scales rank occupations based on the level of skill involved or use a combined measure of education level needed and income involved. Educational attainment affects the kind and level of employment, which in turn affects income. This status reflects income levels that vary with different jobs and within ranks of occupations. Additionally, it demonstrates achievement in skills required for the job. Also, it measures social position by describing job characteristics, decision-making ability and control, and psychological demands on the job. Children from higher socio economic status access better occupation and employment opportunities.

The jobs with high ranking include physicians, surgeons, lawyers, chemical and biomedical engineers, university professors, politicians, IT and communications analysts. These jobs require more ability but provide more challenging work and greater control over working conditions. Whereas, jobs with lower rankings include, vehicle cleaners, janitors, food preparation workers, counter attendants, bartenders and helpers, maids and housekeepers. These less valued jobs often are more toilsome, risky and also offer significantly lower wages.

Wealth

Wealth is a set of economic reserves or assets that presents a source of security. It’s distribution in the United States is very imbalance, and this imbalance is on the increase. This growing imbalances between the rich and poor may contribute to increase crime in the society. The net wealth of America’s population in the lowest 20% is negative because of debt.
Wealth provides the means to live comfortably, a measure of a family’s ability to meet emergencies, and absorb economic shocks. Wealth reflects accumulation of income, savings and investments, as well as intergenerational transitions. Employment, education, income, age, marital status, family size, and religion are all predictors for wealth attainment.

The wealth gap, like income inequality, is very large in the America. Moreover, a racial wealth gap exists partly due to income disparities and differences in achievement as a result of institutional discrimination. In addition, differences in rate of income, savings, inheritance factors, and housing market discrimination lead to the racial wealth gap. Black Americans cannot save much, because they make significantly less than White Americans because savings increase with increasing income. Additionally, rates of inheritance dramatically differ between Black Americans and White Americans. The amount of inheritance can create a very different starting points between two different individuals. These different starting points also factor into education, income, housing, and employment discrimination. Another reason for the racial wealth gap is the various discriminations like redlining and higher mortgage Black Americans face. These types of discrimination in addition to other reasons like financial illiteracy affect asset accumulation and Black Wealth.