Children absorb their surroundings in order to understand and interact with society; therefore, children emulate those who are close to them. Zack asserts, “Children of the poor are therefore likely to grow up with different values, different ideas of what is important in life, from the middle-class children.” For example, if a child has parents with less education, then that child will not have the same educational priorities or experiences as a child with highly educated parents. Going off of that...

Oni and Winant acknowledge that since 1965 and the civil rights legislation the black community has been stratified into a small privileged class and a massive black under-class, which is regulated to permanent marginality. Groups that have a history of a lower class often remain in lower classes because of their ‘life chances’ and the fact that it is difficult to pull oneself up by ones bootstraps. Instead, citizens are partially dependent on our governmental system for support. However, our governmental system and political figures are reliant on re-election. Polls show, educated older citizens are more likely to vote in elections; therefore, politicians support legislation like the continuation of an unsustainable social security system because it is important to their voter base. This becomes problematic when attempting to combat class hierarchy and racial issues because politicians are constantly worried about being re-elected, so they tend not to take risks or upset their voter base; therefore, the pertinent issues our nation faces concerning race and class are often set aside.