The Have-Mores and Have-Lesses
Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele
Who Revoked the American Dream?
Bartlett and Steele argue that our country has eliminated millions of good-paying jobs, given away several million more jobs to other nations, and allowed those at the very top to grow ever richer while most others grow poorer. U.S. government policies consistently have failed to preserve the American dream in the face of growing international competition. Instead, they have favored the very forces that shift jobs, money, and influence abroad. Both government and big business are encouraging the shift--dividing America into two classes, the have-mores and the have-lesses. And our federal government--Washington--is responsible for this shift.
The United States has the widest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation. How bad is it? In the real U.S.A., the top 1 percent of households controls 30.4 percent of the nation's net worth. The bottom 90 percent account for 32.8 percent of the wealth.
Key Points
- Bartlett and Steele define the "losers" in America as working persons who fear:
- losing their jobs and benefits,
- the inability to pay for their children's education,
- what will happen to their aging parents,
- losing everything they have struggled to achieve.
- The "winners" say that you have only yourself to blame if you are not successful.
- Bartlett and Steele think that changes in the American economy that lead to a loss of jobs are the inevitable outcome of a global economy.
Discussion Questions
- From a symbolic-interactionist perspective, what is the potential problem of labeling the unsuccessful as "losers."
- From a structure-functional perspective, should American citizens as a whole be concerned about the increasing loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector?
- From a conflict perspective, what social forces influence gains in the number of "losers" in American society?
