There's Your Problem...

Chapter five of Massey's Categorically Unequal brings to light a very grand fact that I think many members of the American political spectrum fail to recognize--or, perhaps, to simply acknowledge--that our current system of economic stratification does. not. work.

Massey opens the chapter discussing New Deal era economics and how things worked so long as the south stayed Democratic--essentially as long as the civil rights movement didn't take place.  Without summing up a whole lot of unnecessary history, it didn't not happen; the south went Republican and since then the face of economic and labor stratification in this country has permanently changed. 

The section about deunionization was fairly straightforward.  I was quite shocked about the disparity between unionization in the U.S. v. other nations.  Conversely, I was completely unsurprised to discover one President Reagan had managed to work his name into the unionization issue with the Air Traffic Controller's Union strike.

The section about minimum wage was very interesting.  I didn't know that as recently as 2003 the minimum wage was that low.  I found that to be stark and rather depressing.

I am interested to know what sets the poverty threshold?  I know what the poverty threshold is, that is fairly self-explanatory.  I just would like to know how they determine it.

Additionally, I would like to know more about the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act--I have heard a lot about it before but I have never actually understood what exactly it is and the chapter didn't really clear the up for me.  Talking about the acts in class and their impact on the economy would be very helpful in my comprehension of the chapter.

If there is such a thing I would like to see some numbers on what people think total welfare enrollment is v. what the actual numbers are.

The section on debt was a very interesting look on a means of stratification I had never thought of before--credit cards.  It's incredible how something so common place can be so incredibly stratifying!

The income tax stuff always amazes me--I really have no questions left about it but I love talking about it!

Oh, and here comes Mr. Reagan sneaking his way in again, Geoffery (cough, cough).

I was also unsurprised but equally disgusted by the "one dollar one vote" line, which is completely true but very, very sad.


Can we please discuss the research cited on page 188, I didn't understand it at all.

What is a P* isolation index?

I applied the race city maps to the physical separation sections and it was interesting to look at the areas of Philadelphia Massey cited in comparison with the maps--turns out they're all minority areas!

What is "transient pair bonding" as used on page 204?

I really, really enjoyed this chapter.  Not because it is fun to discuss these things but the economy is one of my favorite things to learn about through the lens of stratification because it applies very easily to one of my majors, marketing, because you can really get a feel for the grand implications of very "minor" forms of stratification.

Thanks,
Joe