Explanation of Significance

   To start off, my question in itself is important because it questions the power we put on social class in our society and on how it is seen as a determining factor of the quality of life of someone. But another big part of it is that it is the explanation of why so many people see people who are in poverty as lazy or as a result of their own shortcomings. For example this idea of the American dream " 'that we were all raised on is a simple but powerful one - if you work hard and play by the rules, you should be given a chance to go as far as your God- given ability will take you.' This American ideology that each individual is responsible for his or her life outcomes is the expressed belief of the vast majority of Americans, rich and poor"( Lareau 9). Through this we can see that despite the unequal distribution of privilege and advantages, people still see the individual as  responsible for failing to progress upward. It is almost unbelievable, how we can see evidence of how big of a factor what social class your born into can de the " differentiating factor of how many advantages or disadvantages you have", but we still seem to blame the individual for not overcoming them, even if it has been proven that the social class you have been born into is the one that you'll likely die in and that social mobility has nearly flatlined. The way we are socialized to believe in the American dream and develop individualistic mindsets, does not change the inequity the poor suffer but it could change how we think of the poor, as either victims to  a lack of effort or as victims of circumstance, it could also determine if we socially stratify them at all.