Social Class in the Greed Poem by Philip Schultz

Social Class in the Greed Poem by Philip Schultz

Philip Schultz is one of the renowned poets who used his work to portray various issues that affect the stability of a given nation. In the poem Greed, he portrays how different individuals make decisions that contribute to the instability of the nation (Poetry Foundation, “Philip Schultz”). The poet refers to them as greedy people as they only support factors that will favor their wellbeing. It is everyone’s goal to live a good quality lifestyle and hence tend to do everything possible to achieve their objective. This paper highlights how various social issues have been portrayed in the poem Greed and their impacts on society.

One of the major social issues that have been outlined in the poem is social class. Social class is one of the aspects that matter within society because it portrays how people are ranked in society. Socioeconomic status is a major contributing factor that leads to social class stratification across the world (Zhu et al.). An individual may be in the upper class, middle class, and the lower class, one class depends on their ability to enjoy various financial privileges. In the poem, the Hispanics have been categorized in the lower class while the blacks are in the middle class and the white in the upper class.

The author portrays how social class issues have a great impact on different aspects of a nation’s economy. The job market is one of the most significant sectors of a country’s economy because of its great contributions to the Gross Domestic Product. However, social class issues have negatively affected the job market since individuals in the lower class are willing to work for lower wages which affects the job market for the middle and upper-class individuals (Zhu et al.). In lines 3 and 4, he portrays how more men stand by the railroad station hoping to be hired for work (Poetry Foundation, “Greed by Philip Schultz”). More black and white men have been left jobless in the United States of America because the Hispanics are willing to do the jobs at low wages, which is considered an act of greed.

Another significant factor that the poem highlights are the issue of job remuneration and the working environment. Good remuneration is one of the motivational factors in the job market. Organizations that pay their employee’s satisfactory salaries and awards have recorded high-quality output from their human resource (Clerke et al.). Many organizations have lost highly productive employees because of lack of remuneration, while other individuals are not willing to work for some entities because of the low wages they offer (Clerke et al.). In the poem, the black and native white American citizens have declined some job offers because of poor remuneration.

The workstations and environment are major factor that has been covered by the poem. The author highlights how individuals within the lower social class are willing to persevere in poor working environments and low wages. This is because most of the people in the lower class do not have the required qualifications to get hired for white-collar jobs and have to do everything possible to live a satisfactory life (Clerke et al.). In lines 15-16, the author highlights how his father was not an educated individual but had to work on any job to be rich and live a satisfactory lifestyle.

People of different social classes experience different problems due to the lifestyle they are living in society. People in the upper class within a given economy tend to spend many financial resources to sustain their lifestyle (Zhu et al.). However, many of them experience stressful situations when resource turnover decreases. When there is a decrease in income for individuals in the upper class, it becomes impossible to meet the financial obligations of their families’ lifestyles. In lines 23 and 24, the author portrays how empty corteges, which were owned by the rich individuals, are currently being owned by banks because some of the rich individuals failed to honor the payment of their mortgages (Poetry Foundation, 2021). People in the lower socioeconomic class experience different types of problems related to their class and quality of life in society.

The main problem faced by individuals living in the lower socioeconomic class is worrying about what the future holds for them. Mental distress is a major issue for low-class individuals because they have limited access to opportunities available in the job market. For example, people in the low class worry much about paying for various basic needs; however, they do not have the financial power to satisfy their needs. Individuals in the high socioeconomic class do not strain to meet their financial obligations compared to the low-class citizens (Zhu et al.). There is a great gap that exists between the two groups;