Macionis 1987: 56 said that discrimination is the result of class conflict in society. This conflict is the engine that drives social change. Sometimes societies change a slow,
evolutionary rate. But they may erupt in rapid, revolutionary change. In the struggle to change the social life and status, the discrimination is often happens.
As the result of class conflict, discrimination is nothing new. It has close relation to prejudice. The people usually think that these two are the hateful ideas or actions of specific
people. These two are also reinforced each other. Discrimination also has the relation with majority and minority as the patterns of people interaction.
In the history of United States Encyclopedia Americana, 1998: 545a, it is stated that black people have been particularly being the victim of racial discrimination, either
individually or institutionally. They are often in inequality and low status, and become the object of racial discrimination done by the white people. This racial discrimination toward the
black people happens in many times and places and it also has taken long time period. It is done by the white people or other people who are not included to the black people, originally
or culturally. Discrimination produce impacts in the social, political and economic domains.
Whether intended or not, the impacts are compounded by loss of self worth, a sense of alienation from the wilder society, political disempowerment and economic inequalities.
4.4.1 Poverty
Racial discrimination creates this inequality, which directly contributes to poverty. Change is indeed possible but only through discussion and understanding of the cultural
dominance preserved and afforded to whites.
Poverty can be caused by many different problems. One cause of poverty is that people who have a lower than average ability to earn income are more likely to be poor than those
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people who are high achievers in the workplace. This is due to the fact that, historically speaking, women generally earn less than men, and single women also have a difficult time
caring for their children while trying to remain the major bread-winner for their family. Other groups which quite often represent a great portion of people below the poverty line
are the disabled and dependents, who have trouble finding and keeping jobs, very large families, in which there are too many mouths to feed, and families in which the head is either
unemployed or works for a very low annual income. Although there have been recent progressive movements in minority groups many minorities are still disproportionately
represented below the poverty line. While urban poverty has been increasing rapidly in a majority of South American
countries, poverty is still appreciably more widespread in rural areas. In addition to suffering from income poverty, the rural population is severely discriminated against as regards access
to clean water and sanitation and social services such as health and education. For social factors, discrimination would be the variable that causes poverty.
The degree of minority population in an area is also correlated with poverty due to the disproportional amount of minorities living in impoverished urban areas. In addition, racism
towards minorities can lead to lower wages and fewer jobs, resulting in higher poverty rates. The impact of discrimination is happened on Yule May family. Yule May is a
college-educated woman. Hillys new maid, Yule Mae explains to her employer that her twin sons have graduated high school and that she and her husband have been saving for years to
send them to college. However, they are short 75 on one tuition, and are on the verge of having to choose which son can go. While vacuuming Hillys living room later, Yule Mae
finds a ring, which she pockets and later tries to pawn, hoping to get the tuition money. Hilly
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finds out and has Yule Mae arrested at the bus stop in front of the other maids, all of whom are deeply shaken by the event.
You probably don’t know that after I finished high school, I went on to college. I would’ve graduated except I decided to get married. It’s one of my few regrets in life, not getting my
college degree. I have twin boys that make it all worthwhile, though. For ten years, my husband and I have saved our money to send them to Tougaloo College, but as hard as we
worked, we still didn’t have enough for both. My boys are equally as smart, equally eager for an education. But we only had the money for one and I ask you, how do you choose
which of your twin sons should go to college and which should take a job spreading tar? How do you tell one that you love him just as much as the other, but you’ve decided he
won’t be the one to get a chance in life? You don’t. You find a way to make it happen. Any way at all.
I suppose you could look at this as a confession letter. I stole from that woman. An ugly ruby ring, hoping it would cover the rest of the tuition. Something she never wore and I felt
she owed me for everything I’d been through working for her. Of course now, neither of my boys will be going to college. The court fine is nearly as much as we had saved.
Stockett, 2009: 249.
This quotation proves that black people is more poor than white people. Yule Mae respectfully asks Hilly for a loan, saying that she will gladly work for free until the loan is
paid off. Hilly refuses, explaining that its the Christian thing to do because God does not give charity to those who are well and able. Because of their economic condition, the white
people feel as superior and the black feel as inferior.
4.4.2 Unemployment
