1984 research paper

Social Class and Structure in America Name: Institution: Course: Date: Social Class and Structure in America For the land of opportunity America is surely changing into country that most of the people that would have considered where they will make their American dream come true, a lie. Ideally the social class and the structure in the society is constantly changing and this is not in the favor of the poor, rather it is a trend that is associated with the gap between the rich and the poor widening. The American dream is turning into a nightmare for many. Since the 1980s, the distribution of the personal income among the Americans has continually changed. This is slowly reversing the gains on the level of inequality among the Americans. While the income of the lower half stagnated and then decreased in the 80s and the 90s that of the upper half increased considerably (Wodtke, 2016). In the 2000s the income of the lower half stopped declining but did not then rebound. The top half ironically continued to rise (Wodtke, 2016). It is important to note that, the American social structure is today determined by the level of income and their level of education. However the level of income has the highest impact as it determines the social circles that one can join regardless of their level of education. The three main levels of the structure include the lower class, middle class and the upper class. This is to mean that those at the lower class are the ones that make the least amount of money, while those at the top make the most. At the middle are those that cannot be considered poor or rich, they can easily slip into either of the categories ("8.3 Social Class in the United States | Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World", 2018). To bring this into perspective, there are those that own the means of production. Then there is the group that do not own the means of production but they are able to control the activities of others. Finally there are those that do not have the means of production and they do not control the activities of others, these are the lower class in the line of production and in the society (Słomczyński, Janicka & Dubrow, 2018). These are referred to as the social classes and they have been known to have antagonistic interests along with engaging in conflicts with one another. ‘By social classes we mean groups which control social resources that are important for the functioning of the capital market, the labour market and the consumption market and they control them in various aspects and to a differing extent. The control over means of production and services through ownership, the control of labour processes through managerial and occupational qualifications, as well as the presence of financial resources which can be used to acquire the required goods are important criteria of class subdivisions.’ (Słomczyński, Janicka & Dubrow, 2018) With the shifts in the income levels comes an extension of gaps within the family structure, education, geograph...