Social Class and Social Stratification

This chapter introduces the social differentiation and social stratification along with the class structure of the nation. The most interesting idea in this chapter is that sociologist considers poverty “as caused by social structural conditions, including unemployment, gender inequality in the work place, and the absence of support for child care for working parents.” When it comes to the topic of economic inequality, this phrase will commonly be used “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”


The Problem of Poverty 

This article written by Cathy Young mentions one of the causes of poverty—“culture of poverty”. Yes, there are some historical reasons that offer African-Americans unequal working opportunities, but a variety self-defeating habits and behaviors cannot be dismissed (2005).

The "Cycly of Poverty" (2009) is an interesting video illustrating the cycle of poverty and provide the example of breaking the cycle.

Websites that provide useful information:

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/index.html

It is the great site with enormous poverty data gathered by several major household surveys and programs.

http://www.globalissues.org

This is a good website that discussed the social, political, economic and environmental issues all over the world. There are a lot of great information about causes of poverty not only in US but worldwide.

Mick Jagger (1987) writes about "Let's Work" to inspire to work：
No sitting down on your butt
the world don't owe you
No sitting down in a rut
I wanna show you
Don't waste your energy on making enemies
Just take a deep breath and work your way up.
Let's work
be proud
stand tall
touch the clouds
Man and woman
be free
let's work
kill poverty.
Let's work
be proud
stand tall
touch the clouds
Man and woman
be free
let's work
kill poverty.
You're sitting down on your butt
and you get greedy
Started to lose your nuts
don't you look seedy
Can generosity bring you humility? So take a deep breath.
Ain't gonna sweat for you
ain't gonna sigh for you
Ain't gonna cry for you
if you're lazy.
Ain't gonna slave for you
ain't gonna hurt For yau
It iust won't work for you
if you're lazy.
Let's work
 



Sources:

Jagger Mick. (1987). “Let’s Work.”

       Retrieved from http://www.lyricsdomain.com/13/mick_jagger/lets_work.html

What’s That? The Cycle of Poverty. (2009, August 26). Video.

       Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKh6nLCBj24

Young Cathy. 2005, October 18. The Problem of Poverty.

       Retrieved from http://reason.com/archives/2005/10/18/the-problem-of-poverty