Essay

Theme: Inequalities in American Culture

(I’m going focus on gender inequalities, race inequalities, and social-economic status and income inequality. Please be sure that they are all talking about inequalities in American culture and be careful to read the instructions I mentioned below. The file I attached is something that maybe useful for you to understand my theme. 

Format

All paper assignments should use 1-inch margins and 12-point Times New Roman or Calibri font. Assignments should be doubled-spaced. For instances where you need to cite, use APA formatting for your citations.

For APA formatting, please follow the guidelines from your APA Practice, your APA resource, and make sure to include the hanging indent!

Instructions

This assignment should be at least six- to eight pages in length.

 You should include:

an introduction

a literature review

a conclusion

a bibliography

Optionally, you can include an abstract. 

As with the final paper, the introduction should set up a history/background of the topic, which can include a discussion of the impact of the topic (who/what does it affect) and a broad discussion of social science methods. You should also introduce the three major themes that you will be discussing in the literature review. For your conclusion, recap your overall discussion and the major points of the literature review. What does this tell us about your topic overall? How does the information fit together to portray the state of American culture? Reestablish the impact of the topic. Also cover any future directions that research should move in. Are there unanswered questions? Unstudied populations?

Avoid using the first person. Do not say, “I want to discuss,” or similar things. Focus on the topic and the themes, not you or your experiences. 

• As an example, instead of saying, “I want to explore how gender, race, and sexuality influence inequality,” you could say something like, “Inequality is influenced by a wide range of factors, including gender, race, and sexuality.”

  This would be a thesis statement to set up the rest of the paper from your introduction

You should have at least eight to ten academic sources in your rough draft, though you can have more than ten.

What kind of sources can be used where: 

• Introduction: 

  Course readings
  Lecture
  Non-peer-reviewed materials  
  Peer-reviewed articles

• Literature Review

  Peer-reviewed, academic articles (here are some tips for double-checking: https://www.lib.uci.edu/find-articleLinks to an external site.)

  It is best if these are published since 2010, but you can use articles published since 2005.

  Lecture (I base lectured on peer-reviewed materials, so if you want to cite the lecture, that’s okay)

• Conclusion 

  Course readings
  Lecture
  Non-peer-reviewed materials  
  Peer-reviewed articles

1

Inequalities in American Culture

Inequalities in American Culture

The essence of American exceptionalism is that the United States provides an enabling environment for people from diverse backgrounds to enjoy freedom and pursue their goals. However, persistent inequalities in American culture undermine the quality of life of minorities and women. The social determinants of health, such as race, social-economic status, and geographical region, determine healthcare services access.

Singh, G. K., Daus, G. P., Allender, M., Ramey, C. T., Martin, E. K., Perry, C., Reyes, A., & Vedamuthu, I. P. (2017). Social determinants of health in the United States: addressing major health inequality trends for the nation, 1935-2016. International Journal of MCH and AIDS, 6(2), 139–164. https://doi.org/10.21106/ijma.236

The authors report a growing focus on healthcare inequalities in the United States and the underlying social determinants. This article’s key strength is apparent in its focus on the reports that have been prepared by reputable institutions and other studies that have focused on the subject. Besides highlighting key public health trends from 1935 and 2016, this article also provides a holistic framework to understand the influence of diverse social determinants. The life-tables, adjusted rates, risk ratios, and prevalence were tested for a statistical significance of 0.05. As a result, the data shared in these articles provide an effective indication of the health differential in these communities.

The authors reported that life expectancy rates are highest for Asian/ Pacific Islanders (87.7 years) and lowest among African Americans (75.7 years). Life expectancy is lower in rural areas as compared to urban areas. Similarly, infant and child mortality rates are higher in rural communities than in urban areas. Black infants were observed to be 2.3 times higher among African Americans than in white infants (Singh, 2017). Within rural communities, black infants and children in low-income areas registered three times higher mortality rates than their white counterparts in the affluent areas.

The article highlights the impact of differences in social determinants of health in determining these healthcare disparities. For example, racial/ethnic, geographical, and socioeconomic differences influence obesity, homicide, HIV/AIDS, smoking, access to preventive care, and hypertension. However, this article does not adequately propose solutions to these disparities and must complement other studies that discuss interventions that can be adopted to resolve this problem. Nonetheless, the article calls for a multi-sectoral approach in reducing health disparities across the United States.

Bloome, D. (2014). Racial Inequality Trends and the intergenerational persistence of income and family structure. American Sociological Review, 79(6), 1196–1225. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122414554947

The author discusses the trends in racial inequality regarding differences in income and family structures. The article notes that racial inequality has remained stable in the last four decades despite the social and political reforms that have been enacted across the United States. The author argues that the fact that social-economic status is transmitted from parents to children creates an opportunity to offset these differences gradually. The study relied on the cross-sectional and panel analysis of data collected from the Current Population Survey and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Besides Census and National Vital Statistics, data was also applicable in this analysis. The methodology ensures that this study can highlight both the implications of economic gains and demographic trends on the prevalence of racial inequalities in society.

The findings of this study demonstrate that African Americans are experiencing low upward mobility and discontinuity. As a result, racial inequality has continued to persist across the United States. Furthermore, intergenerational discontinuities are creating new forms of inequality in contemporary society. An important contribution of this article is that new forms of racial inequality are entrenching racial inequalities. Despite the equalizing potential of economic growth, demographic trends and shifting family structures perpetuate social-economic inequalities with the labor-market gains not reflected in household incomes.

The author does not sufficiently discuss the changing forms of inequality in contemporary society. As a result, it should be complemented by another study that defines and discusses the emerging forms of discontinuity. Nonetheless, the fact that the African American household income has remained unchanged from the 60 % of white households documented in 1960 demonstrated that social-economic disparities continue to disadvantage them.

Stamarski, C. S., & Son Hing, L. S. (2015). Gender inequalities in the workplace: the effects of organizational structures, processes, practices, and decision-makers’ sexism. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1400.

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01400

Stamarski and Son (2015) observed that gender inequality is a complex phenomenon that continues to be evident in organizational structures, processes, and practices. The article noted the role of Human Resource policies in entrenching gender inequalities in the United States. The observation is supported by the fact that HR policies affect the recruitment, training, compensation, and promotion of women. The article’s strength is that it demonstrates the reciprocal relationship between gender inequalities in the HR decision-making processes and the structure, processes, and practices of the organization.

The study relies on a model of the root causes of gender discrimination in the HR decision-making process and the enactment of policies. Subsequently, the study demonstrates that gender inequality is a systemic problem that requires both cultural and structural changes. The approach identifies the link between institutional discrimination and the encounters that individuals have with gender inequality. The study is important because gender inequalities in the workplace have a consequential effect on the psychological health and well-being of the affected women and single-mothers’ ability to achieve social-economic mobility.

The article demonstrates that decision-makers’ sexism has a consequential effect on their management of gender diversity in the organization. The article has documented the importance of culture, strategy, leadership, and strategy in perpetuating gender differences in an organization. The authors portray gender inequalities in an organization as a self-reinforcing system, highlighting the need for a multi-pronged intervention. They note that women are paid less than men are and have less access to mentoring opportunities.

Conclusion

The inequalities in the United States undermine its ability to achieve parity in access to care. The social-economic disparities across the United States have perpetuated healthcare disparities across the country. Besides, gender inequality and racial inequality continue to undermine women’s and minorities’ ability to achieve social-economic mobility.

References

Bloome D. (2014). Racial inequality trends and the intergenerational persistence of income and family structure. American Sociological Review, 79(6), 1196–1225. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122414554947

Singh, G. K., Daus, G. P., Allender, M., Ramey, C. T., Martin, E. K., Perry, C., Reyes, A., & Vedamuthu, I. P. (2017). Social determinants of health in the United States: Addressing major health inequality trends for the nation, 1935-2016. International Journal of MCH and AIDS, 6(2), 139–164. https://doi.org/10.21106/ijma.236

Stamarski, C. S., & Son Hing, L. S. (2015). Gender inequalities in the workplace: The effects of organizational structures, processes, practices, and decision-makers’ sexism. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1400. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01400