Here are three questions for discussion and reflection: 1. How would you define equal opportunity? Does the current American system provide it? 2. What factors limit or deny some groups opportunities for success and a good life according to the study? 3. Given the statistics on growing inequality, how can Americans work to close the gap between wealth and poverty?

1. Class in America
~ Gregory Mantsios

2.  The author, in the interest of exposing the truth
about class in America, is uncovering statistical
data and facts to show that the American class
system is alive, well, and lopsided.
 The social scientific approach was used to gather
all of the statistics and numbers involved in this
study.

3. A CLASSLESS SOCIETY?
 The distribution of wealth in America is significantly
imbalanced.
 Society generally doesn’t acknowledge the
unofficial class divides, but statistics show they are
there.
 The gaps between upper and lower classes is
larger than it has been in history – ever.

4. “…the truth is that opportunity for
success and life itself are highly
circumscribed by our race, our
gender, and the class we are born into.”
(P. 189)
This quote, in a sentence, explains what the entire study is about. If this quote
holds true, it exposes the reasons behind the lack of equality prevalent in America.

5. Do these children have an equal
opportunity for success?
Or do you expect one to graduate college while the other struggles
just to eat?

6. “People do not choose to be
poor or working class; instead
they are limited and confined by
the opportunities afforded or
denied them by a social and
economic system.” (P.188)
It’s contagious! Less than one fifth of men surpass the
economic status of their fathers.
I chose this quote, because it supports the original issue of the unbalanced
distribution of opportunity, power, success and wealth in America.

7. “1.4 million (American) children experience
homelessness in any given year.” (P.179)

8.  Nearly one in eight people live below the national
poverty line.
 There are outliers to the statistics that do make it
out of poverty; however, those numbers are unfairly
small.
References:
Mantsios, Gregory (2009). Class in America

9. • How do you define equal opportunity?
• In your definition of equal opportunity,
how would you say it compares to the
American system as it is?
• How can Americans close the ever-
increasing gap between wealth and
poverty?