This week in class we learned about social stratification, which is the systematic way into which our society is divided according to social classes. India's caste system did not really surprise me considering that it was not a new topic for myself. Being familiar with India's class system, I was not surprised that you must remain in your class for your entire life. In India's system your social class determined by the family you are born into. It isn't really anything new when one delves deeper into the matter. In America, we are under the impression that our perseverence and hardwork determines the social class of which we are a part of. This is merely an impression. The hole ideal is upheld by the confirmation bias. We here of the success stories because they are what they are, and we neglect the stories that represent the other side even though they represent the vast majority. For every impoverished individual that makes a stride to the upper class, there is an innumerable amount of people that don't, or actually make the stride in the opposite direction. America's highly regarded jobs (ie. doctors, lawyers, business owners, nuerosurgeons,etc.) are typically not held by those born into extreme poverty. They are held primarily by those who were born into moderate and high income families. They are the children of parents that could afford to live in great school districts, good neighborhoods, and enroll their posterity in athletics and ACT Prep. Capitalism is set up to gradually make the rich richer and the poor poorer, regardless of how it may seem. India just isn't presenting the illusion of social justice and equality that America projects, because they aren't fooling their children into having internal loci of control.
          Another element of this week's class was the video Appalachia. The thing I really enjoyed about the program was that it didn't sugar coat anything. It didn't instill any ideas of social equality and justice. Even the football player who had a way out of his impoverished upbringing dropped out of college and rejoined his family. Nothing seemed to work out for the persons depicted in the video. Something I really enjoyed was definately the section on 'Mountain Dew Mouth'. These childrens teeth were absolutely hideous. One can't help but wonder if those children had ever seen a toothbrush in their lives. The most riveting part was when Pepsi released a statement declaring that their product was never meant to be consumed in such a manner. It almost sounded like Pepsi was digusted or concerned, but I sincerely doubt they cared about the condition of these childrens teeth.
          This week's article looked as though it was going to be a promising one, but after reading it I was mildly disappointed. Entitled "In Praise of Marx" it was simply an advocation of Marxist ideas. I felt as though it failed to offer any intelligent commentary, not that the article was poorly written or boring. The most interesting thing that I learned from the article that I had not known about Marx was that he was a realist. I guess The Communist Manifesto has become like some kind of political bible, free to be interpretted however one sees fit. I personally have read The Communist Manifesto and have always found it to be extremely idealistic, considering that it preaches of an anarchaeic society in which global equality reigns and the fuel for production is not capital, but the greater good and the survival of one's fellow man, but who knows, maybe I have been misinterpretting it. There might have been more to Marx than met my eye.
On a somewhat loosely related note, I wanted to present this article about global stratification in contrast to social stratification, because I feel that it still ties into the idea of hierarchyism, and even to Marx, so I hope you enjoy.

The Rise of the Rest