Objectives

This assignment helps meet the following course objective(s):

• Analyze, explain and apply key sociological theories, concepts and terms to social issues.

Instructions

For this exercise, we'll look at the racial wealth gap. Please review the charts at the following links:

• Nine Charts about Wealth Inequality in America from the Urban Institute

https://apps.urban.org/features/wealth-inequality-charts/

• Student Loans, the Racial Wealth Divide, and Why We Need Full Student Debt Cancellation from Brookings

https://www.brookings.edu/research/student-loans-the-racial-wealth-divide-and-why-we-need-full-student-debt-cancellation/

• For this one, focus on the first two charts

1. Which chart do you find most striking or surprising? Why?
2. Which chart do you find least striking or surprising? Why?
3. What is missing from this story about the racial wealth gap? You might note gender, racial/ethnic groups not represented or rarely represented, other statistics (e.g. college graduation rates) that might help add to the story, or something else.
4. How does the racial wealth gap illustrate the idea that racism is not just interpersonal, but is also institutional?
5. According to Wikipedia, the American Dream is "a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals (democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality) in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers." How does the concept of wealth, and the racial wealth gap, support or complicate this idea?