The Myth Of Equality In American Society Politics Essay

The Myth Of Equality In the Statesn Society Politics EssayThe American clubhouse is viewed by the global fellowship as the community of freedom, as the country in which in every(prenominal) person is able to consider the greatest degree of jibeity. Indeed, the unify States of America is undoubtedly the most divers(prenominal) nation in the solid ground with state representing disparate cultures and ethnicities. The Constitution of the United States guarantee equalize tribute of all citizens and prohibits contrast based on gender, age, physical exampleistics, or any different factors which make one person different to the separates. However, it should be recognize that the American society does non function as the nation of equals as favouritism, stereotyping, and prejudices atomic number 18 still widespread.The American children atomic number 18 taught at schools that the United States of America was founded with the idea that all raft are considered equal (J eynes and Martinez 195). The history books purport that the founding fathers did not apply this idea to the African American slaves in the South however, the ratification of the Constitution was the first step to bring the article of faith of compare into jurisprudence. Even though the American government grants equal rights and equal protections to all citizens, it would be wrong to state with confidence that the American society is the nation of equals.Jeynes and Martinez emphasize that as long as Darwinism evolution remain the sole teaching about mans origins that children are exposed to in the overt schools, racism will be highly institutionalize in the panache children are instructed (196). Even though this argument deals mostly with religious aspects of the homosexual evolution, Jeynes and Martinez describe the current situation in American society very(prenominal) clear. Even today, legion(predicate) people are strongly convinced that the Whites are superior to Afr ican Americans in their intellectual abilities while African Americans are superior to Whites in terms of physical development and athletic skills. It is potential to assume that African Americans, for example, are more skilful in sports referable to their physical characteristics however, this difference should not baffle the benchmark for dividing society in groups.Due to the social stratification and the segmentation of the nation into different groups, the thought of par is present on the study single. Every person has a number of groups he or she croaks to. For example, a teenager may belong to the African American group by his race, basketball team by his sports participation, Christian group by his religious beliefs, and high school companionship by his age. From one side, social identification is necessary for the development as well as normal functioning of any person. From the other side, the institutionalized social groups contribute to further division of societ y and diminishment of the concept of comparison.Sidlow and Henschen snuff it the attention of the American nation to the idea of civil rights which guarantee all citizens equal treatment under the law, as supported with the Fourteenth Amendment (99). From the stand of democracy, all people have equal rights as well. However, the idea of equality within American society is an ideal which has not been arrive atd yet. Numerous groups in American society struggle today to obtain equal treatment. For example, the aerial couples try to obtain legal equality in terms of hymeneals and adoption of children and millions of illegal immigrants contact to achieve legal status of citizens. Thus, the law does not allow discrimination against a particular group of people however, it does not imply that equality is created.In a sense, the emergence of the indie United States is based on the history of discrimination against minorities. Sidlow and Henschen emphasize that discrimination agains t women, African Americans, and Native Americans dates back to the early years of the nation, the time when farmers in the South refused to give equal rights to others (99). As more and more diverse people arrived to the United States, it was necessary to bring in the issue of equality into semipolitical framework. Nevertheless, it was not enough to regard equality on the paper it was necessary to integrate the concept of equality into social relations. Consequently, today millions of people belonging to diverse minority groups have no opportunity to experience equality in their daily lives.It is important to mention that despite of the widespread recognition of the importance of equality and tolerance towards differences among people, the scientific and academic community started to focus on the rights of minority people only a decennary or two ago. In particular, the idea of the inclusive classrooms emerged only some(prenominal) years ago, when the educators realized that thei r classrooms were composed of diverse students with different needs. It does not think about that classrooms became diverse only a decade ago. It take to bes that the issue of equality has not been properly addressed before. Initially, it was expected that the diverse people glide path to the United States would be assimilated into the mainstream culture. However, Vera and Feagin argue that today the mere idea of soaking up is no longer effective. Thus, clear distinctions are made between those who opine all people should be given a fair adventure to succeed and those who believe that if people dont have equal access to resources, measures should be take to equalize opportunity (299).Unfortunately, the equality in American nation exists mostly theoretically rather than practically. People are judged by their commercialise value, as Americans are taught to respect the wealthy and despise the poor. The human character has less value than social and physical attributes. Moreover , Vera and Feagin suggest that very fewer people are willing to support proactive measure to ensure equality because it would mean loss of the privileges for the dominant groups. At the same time, umpteen people believe that equality is the defining feature of the American society, as any person from any part of the world is able to endure successful in this country. However, this view is expressed in support of the frugal success rather than social equality.In addition to frugal measures of success, the American people attribute significant value to individualism as unlike to collectivism. In other words, Americans tend to emphasize the importance of individuals rather than teams, groups, or community. Naylor argues that because of this particular flavor of self-reliance, the American nation can not become equal (56). For many people, equality performer nothing more than equal participation in educational and educational systems, for example. Indeed, equality does not mean that all people have equal talents and are able to achieve outstanding success. Equality is not attainable in these aspects. Therefore, equality means equal access to systems and equal opportunities for all people.The global community believes that the American nation grants equal opportunities to all citizens. Nevertheless, until today no significant be on has been achieved to guarantee equal opportunities. Many initiatives have been introduced to tackle the problem of discrimination with the hope to integrate equality into American society. For example, the affirmative action at law was institutionalized to give minority students a better chance for admission. However, affirmative action initiative failed because of its ineffectiveness. The American society is not a nation of equals, and the remotion of the political barriers to equality did not result in the removal of economic and social barriers as well.Naylor suggests that the members of the mainstream culture tend to focus on freedom, the rights of the individual, equality, achievement, and mobility (57). The members of other groups strive to become part of mainstream culture as well. The reason to desire membership in dominant culture is rather obvious for many centuries, the dominating groups have been enjoying more rights and freedoms. Today, the situation is not much different to the time when African Americans were slaves, for example. Even though slavery has been prohibited, members of minority groups do not have equal access to political, economic, and social systems.The reason for the bereavement to bring equality into society is not related to the weakness of political system or privation of opportunities for all. The key issue behind lack of equality is related to cultural and economic factors. For example, a teenager natural to immigrant parents may not have equal opportunity to attend college compared to other students only because his parents are not able to afford education. Consequ ently, this teenager is not able to take advantage of equal opportunity to have well-paid rail line because lack of education is projected on career. In the long-run, this teenager is belike to become an adult who does not fit the mainstream group of successful, educated Whites not because of ethnic or racial differences but rather because of the social and economic barriers.In conclusion, the American nation prides itself for its principle of equality, freedoms and rights for all. Nevertheless, the reality is that equality cadaver nothing more than a concept addressed by the American Constitution. As the nation of immigrants, the American society includes diverse people who strive to take the fullest advantage of their individualism. To ensure equality, the government should remove not only legislative barriers to equal participation but also provide all people with an opportunity to participate in economic and social systems.