Mejia 1!

Jillian Mejia

Prof. Jennifer Rodrick

English 115

23 October 2017

Project Space

When describing the population of the United States to a foreigner, words highly used

include hard-working, fortunate, and free. Most Americans positively exemplify these traits

through their strong dedication to the work force, though a word constantly forgotten in

describing these same people is discriminatory. As the country is excelling and progressively

industrializing even more that it already has, Americans are unknowingly dehumanizing

theirselves as they become more materialistic and caught in their countrys success, wealth, and

stellar reputation. As their continual prosperity is advancing, they begin to lose a sense of

humbleness where the upper and middle classes look down on the lower ones consisting of

numerous crowds such as immigrants, homeless individuals, and ethnic groups who are deemed

as minorities. Though Americans are gradually abandoning their compassionate attitudes and

developing crueler mentalities on their own, they should not take ownership of the full blame

because the space they live in contributes to their personality flaws too. The overly modernized

land Americans reside in contributes to the dehumanization of the United States where their

current society believes they reign superior over other the less fortunate, immigrants, and minor

ethnic populations.

As the United States excels and continues to industrialize through the construction of

modern stores, restaurants, and companies, the market begins to consume Americans as they start
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to forget that there is more to life than merely using wealth as a source of happiness. In Keng,

Jung, Jiuan, and Wirtzs article The Influence of Materialistic Inclination on Values, Life

Satisfaction, and Aspirations: An Empirical Analysis, the authors address consume psychology

and the concern that a strongly materialistic attitude could be considered to be harmful to an

individuals well-being (Keng, Jung, et. al 318). The authors amplify the idea that in modern

day society, contentment lies in the wealth an individual has. As the United States carries a high

income and is financially stable, Americans have developed a mentality that they are superior

opposed to lower income individuals. This attitude is dehumanizing Americans because they lose

compassion for the social classes below them, morally corrupting an individual as they believe

they hold a higher level of importance because they are successful. Americans have not only lost

compassion for the lower classes, but have lost it for numerous ethnic groups due to their

mindset of superiority.

The majorly white population that constantly engulfs Americans results in American

society not favoring minorities such as those from African or Latino descent. For generations, the

United States has identified African Americans and Latin Americans as lower-class outsiders

based on characteristics such as skin color, population, and annual salary. Americans are failing

to recognize that these ethnic groups are the main contributors to the industrialization of their

own country and should be the least verbally and physically targeted because they are the ones

who have shaped America into becoming what it is today. Americas lack of kindness toward

minority populations in the country results in people of the minor populations to feel inferior to

caucasians in the country because of their darker skin tones, lower income, and lesser

reputations. In Toms R. Jimenezs article Weighing the Costs and Benefits of Mexican
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Immigration: The Mexican-American Perspective, the author exemplifies Latino inferiority as

Mexican-immigrant union members struggle for control of economic and political resources

within the union [and] feel locked out of jobs and union leadership positions (Jimenez 602).

Though Americans are not naturally discriminatory, they are less likely to hire a Hispanic

individual to hold a government position over a caucasian one. Though it is an unfair decision on

Americas part, it is because the land each citizen has been raised on has grown to the

accustomed idea that an American man would remain more faithful to his American country

opposed to a Latino man remaining faithful to a country that isnt his.

It is not Americans alone who have contributed to the downfall of human moral and value

when it comes to determining another persons worth. As the United States has become overly

industrialized, Americans are unknowingly getting consumed by the materialistic norms of their

current generation and forget that people should be respected based on their proper character and

kindness opposed to being judged on their skin tone, cultural background, and income. Though if

individuals took a step back and recognized how inhumane their judgment has become and

looked past social class and ethnicity, our society would be more equal and accepting. The

choice, though, remains within the individual as they are the ones who take the larger attempt to

steer away from negative communal influences that may surround them. Within Americas space

lies the existential forms of matter and the organisms residing in it. Though these organisms may

encounter numerous influences that can deteriorate their humble and humane values, it is the

individuals choice to conform or attempt to abandon social norms.