Analysis Of Steinberg's The Ethnic Myth

1) In the article, “How the Jews became White Folks,” written by Karen Brodkin, she argues that the Jewish populace was able to assimilate into the American culture, “with the passage of time and their assimilation into mainstream culture, people from these backgrounds "became white. " That is, they were accorded (assigned) membership in the ‘white race’,” (Brodkin, 2009, p.128). The idea of race and ethnicity is socially constructed, which allowed the Jewish Americans to make a contribution in the making of social identities in the United States. Brodkin claims that the Jewish success was based on the upward mobilizations through the aid of Federal programs, where the Jewish emergence into the whiteness construct allowed them to utilize the,

Unfortunately, this does not account for institutionalized racism, unequal access to education and services, and a system that perpetuates a growing divide between the rich and the poor. In McKinnon’s article he argues that our location of birth has an affect of how we are born: poor, rich, or middle class, “The reality is that where you’re born matters tremendously. where you start in life, unfortunately, has a huge impact on where you’ll end up. Think about it. A zip code is not just a number, it represents everything inside of that area – including the hospital in which you are born, the schools where you attend, the streets on which you will play, the stores and restaurants that will feed you, and the jobs to which your parents and eventually you might have access.”

The freedman and abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” Although Frederick Douglass lived before the time Richard Wright lived, Wright’s autobiography Black Boy is still reminiscent of enforced poverty, ignorance, and oppression. Richard Wright lived in extreme poverty, faced ignorant people, and encountered black opposition everywhere he went. Also, the PBS documentary “Slavery By Another Name” is a prime example as to how white people were able to criminalize black people into enforced poverty and slavery.

In the study “Racial and Class Divergence in Public Attitudes and Perception About Poverty in USA: An Empirical Study,” professor Francis O. Adeola analyzes existing data to determine if people themselves or a structural influence causes poverty (Adeola 56). Building upon the idea of structural poverty, Adeola contends “poverty rates tend to persist in the same neighborhood over many years” (61). For the other Wes Moore, this neighborhood was the Murphy Project Homes: one of the most dangerous places in Baltimore (Moore 18). Furthermore, he examines how “[t]he poor form a unique subculture,” reinforcing aspects of poverty (Adeola 61). The subculture that surrounded the other Wes Moore included the normalization of the presence of drugs and

The subculture of poverty thesis, criticizes the values of working and lower-class citizens, due to the belief that the poor do not give importance to education or hard work, a ludicrous idea as perceived in Crutchfield’s essay. In order to depict the irrational establishment of the affiliation between poverty and crime, Crutchfield reveals the principles for violence as delivered by Banfield, Wolfgang, and Ferracuti. All three authors contribute to the emergence of the subculture of poverty, as perceived when Crutchfield writes, “They give a slight tip of the intellectual hat to the social forces that lead to people living in these circumstances. There is especially for Banfield, an implication that these lower-class people, these black lower-class

Affirmative Action
 Reader pg. 244 “ those many in our society that are darker, poorer, more identifiably foreign will continue to suffer the poverty, marginalization, immersion and incarceration.” Statistics are staggering Racial Disparities in Incarceration African Americans constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population, they are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites, what’s shocking is that one in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001 and if the trends continues one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime. I am for affirmative action, as I believe that when the late President John F Kennedy signed the affirmative action on March 6th 1961,

1984 Synthesis Essay Poverty negatively influences how the minds of people work in the world. The fact that poverty exists itself, obstructs people from changing their circumstances in what is known as “the cycle of poverty.” The lower class is incredibly disadvantaged in that it lacks the necessary social and economic resources needed to increase chances of social mobility. In return, the absence of these resources may increase poverty. Therefore, the lower class is unable to change its situation because the majority believes that any efforts to climb the social ladder is highly inefficient.

On top of this, he argues that the white middle class are unrelenting with their methods of depriving black advancement in American society. Knowledge of this incites many blacks to occupy dead-end jobs, or to settle for mediocrity in the face of adversity. A large number of black males in America find themselves forced to take jobs that offer no security, or socioeconomic growth. He also contends that many blacks are not very literate and therefore left behind in cultural revolutions like the information age. For twelve months between 1962 and 1963, Liebow and a group of researchers studied the behavior of a group of young black men who lived near and frequently hung around a street corner in a poor black neighborhood in downtown Washington, D.C. Liebow’s participant observation revealed the numerous obstacles facing black men on a day-to-day basis, including the structural and individual levels of racial discrimination propagated by whites in society.

In the pursuit of American Dream, every ethnic immigrant group was leaving their countries of origins and overcoming various obstacles to accomplish different outcomes, which were mystified into stories of ethnic heroes or villains. While prevailing views argued that Jewish culture shaped their success, Stephen Steinberg, the author of The Ethnic Myth, rejects that myth by pointing out the faulty assumptions and debunks that neither ethnic nor cultural proclivity toward hard work, middle class lifestyles conducive to Jews’ movements to the ladder of success. On the other hand, Steinberg states that Jewish premigratory economic experiences, their arrival circumstances, their social classes are far more important factors. Not only did the prevailing

However, with diversity comes inequalities that people of color face throughout their lives. A particular issue in the United States, specifically in education, is unequal opportunities and treatment in regard to race. Research shows that students from single-parent black families had a high chance of dropping out and participating in illicit behavior (Hallinan 54). While the issue of race is a complicated issue to breach for

In Brown’s book, he was able to recount the research done by Xin Ma and Douglas Willms. Their research “found that the percentage of low-income or middle-income students in a school strongly correlated with the disciplinary climate and academic achievement in that school.” This correlation, concludes that schools that are in low-income areas are more likely to experience increased “disciplinary actions” and have lower achievement levels. Whereas, schools that are in higher income areas, that are predominately white, have lower ‘disciplinary actions” on record and have higher achievement rates. Although this problem may seem micro, it has macro level possibilities that cause problems in the black community.

(Kivel 1995) some "examples of institutional racism over the history of this country: exclusions from unions, organizations, social clubs, seniority systems (last hired, first fired), income differentials, predatory lending practices, inferior municipal services, admissions based on test scores, differential education based on preconceived potential or ability, monoculture school curricula. In each of these situations, people of color experience disadvantages that flow from one generation to another in reference to income, decision making, health status, knowledge and skill development, and quality of life. The greater loss is to the country as a whole of the talents and perspectives of a significant proportion of the population". (NASW,

As these changes occur in mostly black communities, living conditions become unfavorable. As a result of increasing problems suffered by minorities in areas with concentrated poverty, education is harder to achieve and attainment is lower.(De Serf

His findings led him to conclude that these people had a certain way of living, complete with their own norms, values and behaviour, which, according to him, was a reaction to their position in a capitalistic society and their overall poverty (Cordasco, 1967). Though Lewis’ theory appears to be a global phenomenon, several improvements and specifications should be made to apply his theory to modern day issues concerning poverty. In this paper, I will evaluate Lewis’ theory by not simply focusing on its meaning and original intention but also by drawing on some of the critique it received. Finally, I will introduce some ideas, which could improve the applicability of the theory in modern society. Oscar Lewis first introduced the culture of poverty theory in 1959 in his book Five Families: Mexican Case Studies in the Culture of Poverty but truly elaborates on his theory in La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture of Poverty – San Juan and New York (1965).

After budget cuts and changes to social welfare programs, it’s not surprising that poverty appears to be increasing and the cycle of poverty continues to transfer from one generation to the next due to the decrease and lack of resources needed for their well-being, such as education, adequate housing and financial and social capital. There are American social values that determine how poverty is understood. Those living in poverty are deeply affected by the issue and over the years there has been various opinions on the cause of poverty and proposed solutions of how to end the war on poverty. However, today poverty is still live and active in large numbers. American social values such as individualism, equality, racism and group superiority,