Class and Inequality !!!

This chapter so far is one of the most interesting of all. It talks about class and the inequality that force it. For a better understanding of the chapter I read an article called Cause of Death: Inequality by Alejandro Reuss and watched the video People like Us. Both of them focus of the different social class and what defines them.

Reuss mainly focus on the lower class and claims that this inequality that lower class people have increases their risk of having health problems. He provided couple of examples in which we can see that poor people is the one that often suffers of various and dangerous health problems. He also denoted that poor people have a different definition depending in the country they are. In this I totally agree with this, since I experience it myself. I have to say that in Ecuador I consider myself a middle-upper class, based on my life style opportunities peers and others, but when I came to America status lowered. Now I’m not able to have the same lifestyle that I used to have and for this my status decreased.

Reuss also claimed that poor people tend to have more health problems because they can’t afford a healthy life style. Let’s just think about the difference of prices of organic food and MacDonald’s, also we all know which one will give us diabetes in a future. Last but not least Reus talks about the size of the gap when it comes to the unequal distribution of resources, basically clamming that in this society the rich become richer and the poor poorest.

As interesting the reading was the video as well. This one manly focus in the upper class and the aim of people of become one of them or just is able to scale status.

The videos main point was that society is just like a big high school in which everyone tries to fit in and become the most popular and powerful. When I started watching it I immediately felt identic with it .it showed how people act and what are their choices and how this reflect the class you belong to. The scene that impressed me the most was from the video How to Marry the Rich in which someone tried to fit it in a high social class group. I know that all of us have experience this is a way or another, maybe being the outcast trying to fit or the powerful determining who will fit.

 As I was watching the video I started to compare American social classes with Ecuadorian ones. I think that American socials classes are more define by money .as we saw in the video is all about what house you have in what neighborhood , I have to say class is also important but once you have money you can slowly but class. I think in Ecuador the most important thing is class (meaning your background and forefathers). Someone can have money but even with that if you don’t have a “classy” last name you will never become a member of the club. Let me share an example. A couple of years ago there was this kid that wanted to study in my high school of what I know his father was a multimillionaire , but he was a farmer guy without a proper last name .the school principal didn’t allow the kid study with us. Even though the school got suit the kid could not get in because high school had the best lawyers on town. I still remember and get really ashamed of my former institution but it’s a clear example of how social class works in Ecuador.