When
you think of the rich, what comes to mind? Often, people think of a rich person
as being very smart, suave, sometimes good looking, well cultured, and
hard-working (unless, of course, a child grew up in a rich home, in which case
some people think of those children as being spoiled and lazy). Also, the poor
are often thought of as not working hard enough or even as people that
squandered their opportunities. For adolescents, their perspectives on income
inequality, the rich, and the poor can differ from the perspectives held by
most adults. However, in some ways, adolescents can have very adult-like views
and understandings on income inequality and the causes of poverty. In this blog
post I will discuss what adolescents think about income inequality, the rich,
the poor, and I will argue that, because of negatives perspectives, the lower
class often finds it is difficult for them to rise up to the middle and upper
class. In addition to discussing income inequality and the lower class, I will
also compare and contrast adult and adolescent perspectives on income
inequality and poverty.
Income
inequality is something that has been given a lot more attention in recent
years than it has in the recent past. One could speculate that this is likely
due to the 2008 “Great Recession” and the observation that often it was the
middle and lower classes that were hit the hardest, not the upper class. Since
people can observe income inequality quite clearly in the United States, it is
compelling to wonder how this might affect adolescents who are being raised in
a time when the poverty rates in 2010 were highest the U.S. Census has ever
recorded at 15.1%(Flanagan, 2014, p. 1). The explanations as to why income
inequality exists vary depending on what social class the adolescent comes
from. For instance, “adolescents from lower class backgrounds are more aware
than their affluent peers of the limited life chances afforded by poverty, and
therefore are more likely to note these limited chances in evaluating
others”(Woods, 2005, p. 3). However, other research states that “adolescents
from upper middle-class families are less likely to believe in the promise of
equal opportunity in the abstract...”(Flanagan, 2014, p. 2). These two
resources seem to conflict each other. It appears that both claim that lower
and upper class adolescents understand better than the other that there is not
equal opportunity for all people. In other research studies data conflicts when
looking at how adolescents from other classes view the lower class. Middle
class adolescents, according to research, are more likely to blame income
inequality on the lower class wasting their money. In contrast, the lower class
adolescents, again according to research, are more likely to blame the lower
class for not working hard enough and spending money unwisely (Flanagan, 2014,
p. 2). Once again, there are conflicts in data that claim that the other is
more likely to hold a specific perspective. What is clear, however, is the way
adolescents explained why income inequality existed. For example, when
explaining poverty “adolescents in the least educated families tended to
endorse individual causes, whereas those in the middle- and highest-educated
families tended to endorse societal causes”. Now, although the research does
not say “lower class”, but rather “least educated”, it is often true that the
lower class receive the poorest education. For this reason, it is interesting
that the more educated (or middle to higher class families) tend to not
directly blame poor families for their condition, while lower class families
blame individual causes. Since the lower class is often viewed as being
incompetent, not hard working, and blame individual causes for their own
condition, I argue that due to income inequality lower class adolescents do not
have confidence in themselves and are faced with a barrier of negatives
perspectives that prevent them from rising out of the lower class. Also, it's
kind of ironic that the mere perspective of income inequality and poverty
causes the continuation and prevalence of income inequality and poverty in the
United States.
Indeed,
some people may disagree and claim that if lower class adolescents know its
their fault, then they are aware of their choices and should be able to adjust
and make better life choices to raise themselves out of the lower class. While
this may be true for some adolescents, it's clear that their view as to how one
can reach the middle to upper class is a bit skewed. For instance, adolescents
from lower income families claimed that music and athletics were one of the few
ways they could rise out of the lower class. In addition to this, they also
viewed their chances of reaching success through music and athletics as being
equal to the rich (Woods, 2005, p. 7). I personally do not believe that the
lower class adolescents have an equal opportunity to make it rich, nor do I
believe that music and athletics are a viable option for lower class
adolescents to rise up from the lower class to the middle and upper class. In
fact, I argue that because income inequality exists, the lower class
adolescents are led to believe that music and athletics, not education, are the
few options they have to rise out of the lower class because “European
Americans and high-income youth [favor] the poor”(Woods, 2005, p. 7) in regards
to achieving in success in music and athletics. Therefore, because income
inequality leads to different perspectives on the lower class, the upper class
adolescents feed the idea that music and athletics are some of the few options
lower class adolescents have to rise up to the middle to upper class. This
leads the lower class adolescents away from the more likely option of rising to
the middle to upper class through education. Also, we cannot forget that the
lower adolescents view themselves as being less competent than the middle to
upper class adolescents, which obviously would discourage the lower class
adolescents from getting a higher education. For this reason, I believe that
income inequality is continuing because of the views and perspectives that
adolescents hold on income inequality and their ability to rise out of the
lower class to achieve social mobility. If adolescents believe there are only a
few ways for them to be successful, then the large majority of them will remain
stagnant in their class and income inequality will increase, or at least remain
an issue in the United States.
Now
that some of adolescents' perspectives have been discussed, we'll contrast
adolescents' perspectives with adults. In summary, the research shows that
adults are more likely to understand that poverty and inequality are caused by
structural factors in society and individual causes. However, even though
low-income adults understand the structural barriers that are against them,
they still believe that hard work will provide them with social mobility and
the chance to achieve the American dream (Woods, 2005, p. 2). Recall that the
upper class adolescents blamed societal causes for income inequality and
poverty, not both structural and individual causes. Also, the research showed
that lower class adolescents tended to blame only individual causes for income
inequality and poverty, not structural causes. Overall, however, the students
that are better educated (and likely not in the lower class) “...have more
knowledge about the factors contributing to inequality because they have more
exposure to discussions of current events and politics”(Woods, 2005, p. 12).
So
far, we've only seen how adolescents' perspectives contrast with adults, but
now we'll see how they compare. For more educated families, adolescents tend to
have a better understanding of income inequality and are more like adults in
their views. However, in regards to low-income families, a direct comparison
with adolescents and adults is that low income adults and adolescents agree
that, “Consistent with the research on adults, adolescents from ethnic minority
and low-income backgrounds are even more likely than their ethnic majority or
privileged peers to believe that the poor can change their circumstances
through their own determination and hard work”(Woods, 2005, p. 2). In this
case, it appears that although the low income adults understand individual and structural
causes as being a cause for income inequality and poverty, while adolescents
believe it's only individual causes, they both agree that hard work is the
solution to social mobility and rising out of the lower class. What is
interesting is that, while this good work ethic perspective should help lower
class adolescents and adults to achieve social mobility, social mobility is not
often seen. I think that this stagnant state is caused because of structural
barriers and by the perspectives of others that cast the lower class in a poor
light and cause the lower class to have lower confidence and self esteem.
Clearly, because the lower class cannot achieve social mobility easily for
these reasons, income inequality will remain and continue.
In
conclusion, income inequality has created three main classes: upper class,
middle class, and lower class. In these classes, adolescents hold different
perspectives on one other. Typically, the upper class is seen as the reward for
being smart and hard-working, while the lower class is seen as being caused by
laziness and incompetency. While upper class and more education adolescents
tend to believe that the reason why income inequality exists due to structural
barriers and societal causes, lower income adolescents tend to believe it's due
to individual causes. Also, more educated students tend to have adult-like
perspectives on income inequality being caused by structural barriers, society,
and individual causes. However, while low-income adults and adolescents don't have
the same perspectives as to what causes income inequality and poverty, they do
agree that social mobility and the rise out of the lower class can be achieved
by hard work. What's clear, however, is that social mobility is not easily
achieved despite good work ethic. For this reason, I argue that the lower class
is less likely to achieve social mobility because of the perspectives that are
held by upper and middle class adults and adolescents, and also by lower class
adults and adolescents perspectives on themselves.
Bibliography
Flanagan, C. A., Kim, T., Pykett,
A., Finlay, A., Gallay, E. E., & Pancer, M. (2014). Adolescents’ theories
about economic inequality: Why are some people poor while others are rich?.
Developmental Psychology, 50(11), 2512-2525. doi:10.1037/a0037934
Woods, T. A., Kurtz-Costes, B.,
& Rowley, S. J. (2005). The Development of Stereotypes About the Rich and
Poor: Age, Race, and Family Income Differences in Beliefs. Journal Of Youth
& Adolescence, 34(5), 437-445. doi:10.1007/s10964-005-7261-0
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