Does Hard Work Always Lead to Economic Success?


Samantha Morrison

    For generations, immigrants have moved to America on the assumption that by working diligently, they would rise in social class.  Unfortunately, many people, immigrants or not, work hard but do not succeed economically, and as a result they are accused of being indolent and idle.  In 1992, the upper-class, or 0.5 to 1 percent of the population, owned approximately 45.6 percent of the wealth (Domhoff, 2001: 197).    Only a select group is part of the upper-class, and the process of gaining wealth does not solely depend on one’s determination.  Americans tend to have “individualistic understandings of the cause of poverty,” blaming the poor for struggling economically even though many other factors are responsible for social inequalities (Wilson, 1996: 160).  It is particularly challenging for racial minorities to rise in socioeconomic status because many people have stereotyped African Americans as lazy and uneducated.  Someone cannot control their ethnicity or parents’ income, but these factors continue to affect one’s ability of achieving high socioeconomic status.  
    The quality of someone’s education has a tremendous impact on their likelihood of becoming employed in the future, which is necessary to rise in social class.  Most people are unable to control the quality of their education before entering college, since it is largely based on their family’s yearly income.  Author G. William Domhoff writes, “This separate educational system is important evidence for distinctiveness of the mentality and life-style that exists within the upper class because schools play a large role in transmitting the class structure of their students” (Domhoff, 2001: 197).  Families that can afford to live in wealthy towns or to send their children to private schools give their children the opportunity to enter the upper-class.
    One woman writes, “My daughter ain’t going to school here [in Chicago], she was going to a nursery school where I paid and of course they took the time and spent it wither her, ‘cause they was getting the money.  But the public schools, no!  They are overcrowded and the teachers don’t care” (quoted in Wilson, 1996: 8).  Many children do not have access to prestigious schools simply because their families are poor.  As a woman from Chicago said, if “all you hear is negative [things]…that can kind of bring you down when you’re trying to make it” (quoted in Wilson, 1996: 8).  Attending a good school not only helps students become intellectual, but it also motivates people to work diligently if they are surrounded by others who stress the importance of hard work.  
    With the influx of new technology, factory workers are being replaced by machines.  Consequently, there are fewer blue-collar jobs available, and a college education is increasingly important to be a part of the work force (Wilson, 1996: 29).  Many companies are also moving from the city to the suburbs, so it is even more challenging for city residents to find work.  For instance, from 1980 to 2000, 60 percent of the new jobs in Chicago were in the North West Suburbs (Wilson, 1996: 37).  People are sometimes forced to refuse jobs because transportation to the suburbs is so expensive that their earnings are insignificantly small (Wilson, 1996: 40).  Uneducated people from cities are practically trapped in the lower-class if their families cannot afford to send them to prestigious schools.
    Due to stereotypes, it is particularly difficult for racial minorities to get hired.  One manager of a drugstore in the suburbs was reluctant to hire African Americans because, “You’d be afraid they’re going to steal from you…They grow up dishonest and I guess you’d feel like, geez, how are they going to be honest here?” (quoted in Wilson, 1996: 113).  According to research conducted in Los Angeles, “dark-skinned black men were 52 percent less likely to be working than light skinned black men” (Wilson, 1996: 136).  African Americans are discriminated against because members of the middle- to upper-class have made false accusations about blacks.  As a result, many largely black areas are redlined; for instance, some businesses only print their ads in certain newspapers to target white, middle- to upper-class citizens.  It is fairly difficult for African Americans to move up in social class, regardless of their efforts.
    Welfare is one option for people who are poor and unemployed.  Although most families on welfare need the extra money, people with jobs continue to look down on welfare recipients.  A common belief is that “many people on welfare could be working, that many people on welfare cheat, and that a lot of money spent on behalf of the poor has been wasted” (Wilson, 1996: 162).  Based on Mark Rank’s research, a common problem for welfare recipients is “the ‘heat-or-eat’ dilemma” (Rank, 2001: 212).  Welfare recipients are often forced to make sacrifices, but according to Rank, “it is seldom because they have budgeted their finances improperly.  Rather, they simply do not have enough money to begin with, often not enough to cover even the basic monthly expenses” (Rank, 2001: 212).  Most people on welfare do not have the option of spending money frivolously because they struggle to afford necessities, such as food or heat.  If unanticipated issues arise for welfare recipients, such as health or electrical problems, basic necessities must often be sacrificed to fix the problem (Rank, 2001: 211).  Some members of the middle- to upper-class ignorantly believe that welfare is an option for people who do not want to work.  However, jobs are not readily available to the uneducated, so some people are must resort to welfare.
    Many inner-city black workers are not even given the opportunity to prove their strengths.  Author William Julius Wilson notes that “inner-city black workers often contort racial harassment when they enter suburban communities” (Wilson, 1996: 41).  A father from North Lawndale in Chicago comments, “How can you get some experience if you never had a chance to get any experience?” (quoted in Wilson, 1996: 139).  If someone is constantly not hired due to a lack of experience or racial profiling, there is no opportunity for someone to gain the needed experience and to earn money.  James Kluegel and Eliot Smith write that “most Americans believe that opportunity for economic advancement is widely available, that economic outcomes are determined by individuals’ efforts and talents (or their lack) and that in general economic inequality is fair” (quoted in Wilson, 1996: 159).  However, there are limited opportunities available for members of the lower class who could not afford to earn a sufficient education.  The overwhelming amount of discrimination only makes the process of rising in social class more difficult and unfair.  People should acknowledge that everyone who works hard in America will not necessarily succeed economically and, consequently, people should be more helpful and sensitive towards members of the lower class. 

References

Domhoff, G. William. 2001. “Who Rules America?  The Corporate Community and the Upper Class.” Pages 195-200 in Patricia Adler and Peter Adler, editor, Sociological Odyssey: Contemporary Readings in Sociology.  Stamford, Connecticut: Wadsworth.

Rank, Mark.  2001. “Welfare Recipients Living on the Edge.” Pages 207-215 in Patricia Adler and Peter Adler, editor, Sociological Odyssey: Contemporary Readings in Sociology.  Stamford, Connecticut: Wadsworth.

Wilson, William Julius. 1996. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York: A Division of Random House, Inc.

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