After reading this essay and watching the video, I realized why many americans are confused about social class. The media tells us so many stories about poverty and wealth. On one side, media shows the poor as an annoyance. Drug addicts, gang members, theives, normally dipicted by latinos and blacks, are the usual faces of poverty.
Then, as we watch the news, or read the papers, we individualize ourselves away from that and think that because we do not live that lifestyle or do not commit those acts in the news, then we are suddenly better then them, or "classier". But, on the other side, the media tries to portray a sense of "togetherness" and equality. News papers, magazines, television, etc., all focus attention on the fewer problems of the high-middle and upper classes. For example, the stock market. Not very many people own stock, and yet it is always on the daily news. Magazines and TVs advertize thousand dollar dresses as if everyone watching can afford it.
The media presses everyone to think that the concerns and problems of the privileged are also the concerns of everyone else. Many people need to realize that there really is a separation of class, no matter how hard they or the media try to hide it. As the article states, the rich and the poor, even the middle class, do not have the same worries or customs.
The video "People like us" proves this. Every social class even has its own set of rules. Even If you have acquired wealth, that will not "buy you automatic entry into high society". The media blurs everything together, making it hard for many Americans to see the difference or even notice that everything really is separated into social class.
No comments:
Post a Comment