Week 4 Response 1

Response 1

2

50 words 2 references

Casey

For my discussion, I picked the United Kingdom, which has a

social and economic system closely related to America. In his

article,

The

psychology

of

social

class:

How

socioeconomic

status

impacts

thought,

feelings,

and

behaviour,

Antony

Manstead says ‘One of the ironies of modern Western societies,

with their emphasis on meritocratic values that promote the

notion that people can achi

eve what they want if they have

enough talent and are prepared to work hard, is that the

divisions between social classes are becoming wider, not

narrower.’ (2018). The nation’s wealthiest people are increasing

their share of household wealth, while the na

tion’s poorest are

decreasing theirs. This wide disparity between economic classes

has formed a bigger gap between these groups socially, ‘but it is

patently true that the members of the different classes identified

by these researchers inhabit worlds that

rarely intersect, let

alone overlap.’ (Manstead, 2018). What’s interesting is that the

English society has been long known for very distinct social

classes based on economic status. I think of the books written

by Jane Austen, an English writer who publis

hed in the 18th

through 19th centuries. In Austen’s books, English society had a

very definite structure related to wealth passed down from one

generation to another. A person’s opportunity to move up was

very limited. Large estates were passed down to liv

ing relatives,

and marrying into the wealthy elite was not encouraged by the

Response 1

250 words 2 references

Casey

For my discussion, I picked the United Kingdom, which has a

social and economic system closely related to America. In his

article, The psychology of social class: How socioeconomic

status impacts thought, feelings, and behaviour, Antony

Manstead says ‘One of the ironies of modern Western societies,

with their emphasis on meritocratic values that promote the

notion that people can achieve what they want if they have

enough talent and are prepared to work hard, is that the

divisions between social classes are becoming wider, not

narrower.’ (2018). The nation’s wealthiest people are increasing

their share of household wealth, while the nation’s poorest are

decreasing theirs. This wide disparity between economic classes

has formed a bigger gap between these groups socially, ‘but it is

patently true that the members of the different classes identified

by these researchers inhabit worlds that rarely intersect, let

alone overlap.’ (Manstead, 2018). What’s interesting is that the

English society has been long known for very distinct social

classes based on economic status. I think of the books written

by Jane Austen, an English writer who published in the 18th

through 19th centuries. In Austen’s books, English society had a

very definite structure related to wealth passed down from one

generation to another. A person’s opportunity to move up was

very limited. Large estates were passed down to living relatives,

and marrying into the wealthy elite was not encouraged by the