All the good that society has to offer, especially income, wealth, prestige, and power, is distributed unevenly. Stratification is the central system of inequality in the distribution of social goods and responsibilities. However, there are additional stratification systems – racial, ethnic, and gender. Any ethnic culture contains a set of ideas about other peoples and their representatives, which results in stereotypes among representatives of one community with another. This essay will analyze stratification, prejudice, and discrimination that exist in the author’s social environment.
Considering my social environment, I can say that my life, work, and recreation places have different levels of stratification. Recreation sites have more diverse representation and integrated space across ethnicity, race, income, gender, sexual orientation because various people are keen on the same hobbies and leisure activities that I have. Although disability and age variables might not be found as widely represented due to limits that exist for specific events. Looking at life and worksites, the situation is less optimistic since places have stratification and are separated based on income, race, and ethnicity when it comes to different areas nearby my house and work. I believe that separation occurs due to the unequal distribution of social goods across diverse communities. Stratification can also arise due to the existence of prejudice and biases towards people of different backgrounds that did not allow them to develop their careers and families at the same level as others could.
It can be stated that the situation is influenced by various factors, including federal funding distribution, educational exclusion, family socialization, personal choices, and class inequalities. Reporters note that despite different policies that authorities were implementing, the stratification is rising steadily in education opportunities, career achievements, and other areas (Weiss & Garcia, 2017). The wealthiest people are getting richer faster, the gap between upper-middle-class and lower-income families is rising, consequently influencing the rise of biases towards other community members (Horowitz, Igielnik & Kochhar, 2020).
The stratification for my community looks heterogeneous based on income, gender, and age. I believe that there is a lack of ethnic and racial representation across my community and neighboring work facilities. Public institutions and places, such as colleges, work, neighborhoods, have a higher tendency to bring various people together and are becoming more heterogeneous, in my view. There are times when I notice both implicit and explicit prejudice and discrimination when I am in contact with people of different backgrounds. For instance, I heard from some people that they think that females are not good at math, while males are, and men are thought to be better leaders for companies. I also noticed that some people were punished unfairly because people had implicit stereotypes towards the ethnicity and race of another person. These issues do not go away quickly, even if we are trying to be unbiased.
To address problems with stratification, prejudice, and discrimination in the workplace, I would suggest establishing and reinforcing a zero-tolerance workplace program that highlights the necessity to avoid bias that sometimes people have unconsciously. Cases of racism and discrimination should be minimized by explicitly stating what a “zero-tolerance workplace” means and the consequences for the expression of unjust behavior towards others (Mayhew, no date). I would also suggest educating employees on the principles of equality that exist in the US in the form of the Civil Rights Act that emphasizes that people must avoid prejudice and discrimination. These reinforcement policies might help employers to ensure that employees understand their actions and results.
To conclude, one can say that stratification, prejudice, and discrimination are serious issues that exist throughout ages and generations. However, the situation should change as the diversity, and broader representation of people of different races, ethnicity, age, disabilities might result in better collaboration across communities and better working results. Thus, public institutions and communities should find proper policies and programs that would help people understand the value of diversity and comprehensive socialization.
References
Garcia, E., & Weiss, E. “Education inequalities at the school starting gate.” Economic Policy Institute, 2017, Web.
Horowitz, J., Igielnik, R. & Kochhar, R. “Trends in income and wealth inequality.” Pew Research Center, 2020, Web.
Mayhew, R. “Workplace programs that reduce racism and discrimination.” Chron, 2020. Web.