Social Mobility Vs Living Standard

Jiahao Yin

Ling 3C/Section 8

16 May 2016

Argumentative Essay/Draft 1

Social mobility vs living standard

        The American economy stopped getting better for years, and people were worried and frustrated. So people come up with two possible solutions, one is increasing social mobility, and another one is raising living standard. High social mobility represents the American Dream. American Dream or social mobility gives people hope that they can go to upper classes if they work really hard. However, is the American Dream  accessible? It never was. It is achievable only if we raise the standard of living. Opponents say that Greece is horrible example of raising living standard, because Greece has a high living standard, and it bankrupts. In my opinion, Social mobility is ideal, but standard of living is radical, raising standard of living is a method to increase social mobility, and Greece bankrupted did not because of their high living standard.

 Social mobility gives people spiritual strength of hope, but that was the only thing they have, and it is too ideal.  Raising living standard is giving people basic requirement of living, and it is more radical and useful than increasing social mobility. It is nice for people having hope, but if they worked hard and still didn’t success, they would have nothing left, and their hope would erode. In this case, some people may gave up to get a better life. However, if we raise the living standard, at least, we have something more radical than just hope. Additionally,  the spiritual strength of hope could not help them from starving. Hope could not help them to find a job. Hope could cure them from disease. Additionally, hope could not help people to afford their basic requirement of living. On the contrast, if we raised the living standard instead of increasing social mobility, people can find jobs, they will not be starved, and they will be cured if they were sick. As Surowiecki in his article “The Mobility Myth” says, “What made the U.S. economy so remarkable for most of the twentieth century was the fact that, even if working people never moved into a different class, over time they saw their standard of living raise sharply.” (p347, American Now). Raising standard of living is like creating a cushion or a safety net for people. Even they could not find a job or lost their job, they would not fall to ground. In addition, they would still be able to afford their basic requirement of living.

        Raising living standard is a another way to increase social mobility. It’s reasonable that people could not give their one hundred percent of effort even did not have a chance to try because they were starving, sick, and people of color. Raising living standard can help people from starvation and illness, and reduce racism. In addition, raising living standard can help people to find some jobs that they would love to devoted themselves. As Whisnant in his article “Why the Nation Needs a Universal Basic Income” says, “making employers offer more worthwhile work, protecting working poor women, slashing poverty rates.” (p360, American Now), Universal Basic Income is a possible way to raise living standard. However, the social mobility is currently low, and the reasons are as follows. Women earn less salary than men, and it’s even less for women of color. A quite large number of people were forced to working at some positions that they did not like even they hate their current jobs. People could not give one hundred percent of effort if they are sick or starving for years. However, raising living standard can solve all of those problems and concerns that increasing only mobility could not deal with. If women could earn same salary as men did, if everyone could find a job that they love, if everyone did not need to worry about starvation and sickness, I believe the economy will get better and better by raising living standard.