Introduction
For this assignment, you're going to explore income and wealth inequality in the United States. You'll start by reflecting on what you know about these inequalities and then you'll watch a couple of videos and respond to questions about them. Finally, you'll reflect on what you learned.
This assignment will address both class and racial inequality. The second video will help to establish connections to the previous modules, explaining how race and social class and closely linked.
Directions
Step One: Watch and Respond
Please watch the following videos and respond to the questions that are provided beneath each.
Your responses should be thorough; each should fully address the ideas as they are introduced in the videos.
In your responses, please also include specific details from the videos as evidence. You can quote the videos if you'd like to but that is not required. You can also describe the policies using the key terms and ideas from the video and by including specific facts and figures, like dates and statistics.
Video One: Robert Reich: How Wealth Inequality Spiraled Out of Control. Questions from the Robert Reich: How Wealth Inequality Spiraled Out of Control video
- What is the difference between income and wealth inequality? What are the two sources of wealth?
- What does the wealth gap in the United States look like? Why has it grown over time?
- What is concentrated/dynastic wealth? What problems does it create?
- What taxes were created to address the concentration of wealth? Please describe each one and explain how they work.
Video Two: Explained: Racial Wealth Gap
Questions from the Explained: Racial Wealth Gap video:
- What do the racial income/wealth gaps look like in the United States? Please describe it using at least three different statistics/figures described in the video.
- What is redlining? How does it affect people's ability to create wealth?
- What is a subprime loan? How were Black people disproportionally affected by the issuing of subprime loans?
Step Two: Personal Reflection
Finally, please reflect on what you learned from the video. You are not required to respond to each of them, but please consider the following questions when you write your reflection:- What new things did you learn?
- How did what you learned from the video challenge your previous understanding of class/racial inequality?
- How did learning about this make you feel? What sorts of emotions/feelings did it evoke?
Submission
Please submit the following:- Your responses to the seven questions from step one
- Your personal reflection for step two