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Erika Romero
ngela Pack
HUM-101-ONR01
April 10, 2016

Relationship between Race and Social Class

In every race there seems to be a class system, which determine social inequality.
According to David Gardner and Gardner, the 1930's and 1940s envision the concept of class
and race as "caste and class". In the United Stated, the social status of an individual can severely
limit or hamper a person's ability to improve his or her quality of life within society. Social class
and race organize society as a whole and create a variety of context for family living through
their unequal distribution of social opportunities. Social class and race has been one of many
debates in todays society. Racism was not considered a big problem a few decades ago, where
people were openly racist against the others than were different to them. Social class was not
even identifying yet. Now the controversy about this topic continues, there are inseparable
factors that Social class and race share and people cannot stop talking about it.
First of all, the denial of peoples own race because of the difficulties it brings to scale
economically and socially in the community. .For instance, In "What is Poverty", Parker explains
how poverty affects life and make so difficult. Also, the author shows how the children were
living a hard life as a result of their poverty. Parker also describes her daily struggles to raise a
family. Parker is very descriptive in the text about her daily life. Parker describes herself as
dirty, smelly, and with no proper underwear on and with the stench of my rotting teeth. She
describes how she has no luxuries while being poor due to the high cost of simple things such as

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hot water, soap, medicine and clothing. This behavior is due to the discrimination of social class
andrace. This mean that those who belong to the race that possessed more wealth will rule the
others, those who obviously belong to other races, are positioned in a lower social class. In fact,
these people will have lower income and they will get slandered because they do not have the
economical means to purchase most common goods. Nowadays,people that are in pursuit of
social change and constantly bringing attention to issues of equal rights and privileges are often
the people that do not have them. Social class has also suffered from discrimination for no fitting
the criteria. According to the article class and race Marxistsaid "class and race cannot be
treated as separate dimensions of inequality that somehow intersect. Rather, they argue that race
and class are both part of the same system and need to be understood through an analysis of the
system as a whole" (handout). In short, wealth and poorness is strongly attach to race and it
represents a struggle for those that belong to the lower class, this factor make them to deny their
own race because of the difficulties that represents to be part of it.
The second factor is similar to the one mentioned before, race has been used as a social
classification tool. For many decades people have been using race as a way to classify humans
into different social categories. Lower, middle, and upper classes were created to divide humans
into appropriate categories using their individuals lifestyle such as financial income,
residence, and occupation. Others classify one another, simply by the color of their skin.
However, both factors are strictly attached to each other. As an example: After the Spanish
conquest in America, Indians (Mayan, Incas, and Pipils) were forced to work and produce food
under the sun. Meanwhile, conquerors and their families were well positioned socially talking
and were under roof most of the day. As a result, their skin tone became a symbol of wealth and
high social class. In fact, Koray Tanfers article "Working Class Division statesthat class

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division exist at work too. He said that, "it should be recognized that people of color were and
are exploited as appears to override class". According to the article,many people believed that
"all whites appeared to benefit from racism, and all whitesappeared to collude in maintaining
segregation, job discrimination, and the disenfranchisement of people of color" (handout).
The relationship between class and race remains hotly debated today. Wilson (1980,
1987) has argued"that class has super ceded race as a factor in the continuing disadvantage of
black inner- city communities" (handout). Wilson argued that economic forces, including the
exodus of major industries have more to do with the social problem in inner city than do race
based feelings and actions. On the other hand, Omi and Winant in the article "Middle Class"
(1986) claimed that the United States "is organized along racial lines from top to bottom and that
race is a more primary category than social class". This means that they believe racial
discrimination occurs more in todays society than social class. Therefore, conflicts based on
inequalities of social class are often intertwined with those of race because monitories usually
receive the least education, have the least political clout, and earn the least income.
In addition, de-facto caste system is so related to race and social class because the origin
of caste system in India is attributed to the functional division of labor. The population was
divided into classes on the basis of functions or occupations of particular families and groups.
However, in course of time, these divisions between various sections of the society became very
rigid. In modern society, there is no place for a rigid caste system that hinders adaptability or that
restricts a member of the civilized society to choose a particular profession. No one should be
forced to adopt or remain in a particular profession for any reason. Although caste in India is
something cannot change, social stratification in America is less rigid, and upward mobility is
possible through a variety of means such as work, financial success, marriage, and education

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(handout). However a de- factor class system can be said to exist in terms of health care, salaries,
housing, and opportunities for education that vary greatly for the rich and the poor,
In the essay "left to Tell", by Immacule Ilibagizas describedher experiences of being
one of the few members of the Tutsi tribe to avoid being massacred at the hands of the Hutu tribe
in 1994. Ilibagiza begins her account by discussing her childhood, explaining that she did not
know she was a Tutsi, or even what a Tutsi was, until she went to school, where she encountered
the governments ethnic roll calls and a teacher who would turn out to be one of the most
malignant haters of her tribe. Ilibagiza described the time she was hiding with five other
people, Tutsis ones, in a pastors tiny bathroom who was trying to save their lives. It was a battle
to survive a war. It was clear they should be silent, and keep hiding to try being alive and
surviving the genocide. They had to follow strict rules to stay unnoticed by the Hutus killers.
Thousands of Tutsis were killed because they are a different caste from Hutus (203).
Finally, the principles by which class is identified vary from culture to culture, from the
amount of money people earn and race is denitrified as their color of skin, language, and accent
people speak. Hence, racism does exist in our world. It exists in our country. Even though there
is no racism out in the open, but I know that many people still hold some racial thoughts against
people of various races that live in America. Although social class does exist, it is not as
transparent today as racism which is seem and read every day on or through the media.

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References
Stuart Hirschberg, Terry Hirschberg. "One World Many Cultures." Hirschberg, Stuart. One
World Many Cultures (9th Edition). Longman, 2014. 188 and 221.

Tanfer, Koray, Lisa A. Cubbins, and John O.G. Billy. "Gender, Race, Class and Self-Reported
Sexually Transmitted Disease Incidence." Readings on Men: From Family Planning
Perspectives, 1987-1995. New York: Guttmacher Institute, 1996. 320+. Opposing Viewpoints In
Context. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

BONACICH, EDNA. "Class and Race." Encyclopedia of Sociology. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York:
Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. 319-323. Gale Virtual Reference Library.
Web. 10 Apr. 201