Topic > Occupy Wall Street: Social and Economic Inequality

Income inequality in the United States has increased in recent years. Many people were concerned that some people's income is incredibly high, while others are so small that they can hardly pay for basic things. It has led to many protest movements against social and economic inequality. The United States is one of the richest countries in the world, but our society still has millions of people who struggle to afford basic necessities. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay After the 2008 crisis, many people felt that the government cared much more about protecting the rich and big corporations than it did about ordinary citizens. The protests began shortly after the crisis began. In 2010 the crisis spread to Greece, Spain, Portugal and other parts of the Eurozone. In each of these countries, the occupation of important public spaces was a central dimension of activism. Syntagma Square and Plaza del Sol quickly became household names globally; images of the demonstrations proliferated. Usually, the protesters were national citizens angry at the austerity imposed not only by their governments but also by global markets, the EU, and especially its most powerful member, Germany. They were united by a sense of indignation – both in the sense that they were angry with indignation, and in the sense that they were being treated with little dignity due to citizens. Craig Calhoun argues that the protest in Europe was linked to protests in the Arab world. He writes: “This linked protests in European cities to those in the Arab world. In the famous Tahrir Square in Cairo, but also in Tunisia, Libya, Algeria, Bahrain and elsewhere in Egypt people took to the streets and especially in public spaces to complain about the humiliations suffered in daily life and the lack of work and opportunities, elites who they seemed more concerned about international trading partners than the well-being of their compatriots, police brutality, and simple dictatorship. Since late 2010, images of Arabs gathered to demand the chance to participate fully and with dignity in their societies have spread globally, sparking protests as far away as China and mixing with European examples to influence the start of OWS.” The wave of protests has reached the United States. US citizens were also hit hard by the 2008 crisis. They were outraged by government policies that led to economic collapse, as well as subsequent government aid policies that were primarily aimed at helping big companies, not people. It leads to many protest movements against economic policy and fights inequality. One of the largest protests against economic policy was Occupy Wall Street. The Occupy Wall Street movement began in September 2011 and ended in February 2012. Supporters of the protest led many demonstrations and discussions about economic policy. But the question is: did they have a real effect on society? In “Occupy Wall Street in Perspective” Craig Calhoun writes: “The Occupy Wall Street mobilization may have been temporary but it was not without lasting effects. Its most important impact may lie in a culture, not in a movement organization. It may lie in the willingness to look seriously and critically at inequality and at the question of whether real democratic institutions actually work.” The Occupy Wall Street movement raised important questions and sought to solve problems that had existed for too long. Poverty is not just a problem for the poor,but a problem for everyone in the United States, and to address the problem of economic inequality, it is imperative for us to keep this issue high and continue to seek a solution.The Occupy Wall Street movement began in Zuccotti Park, New York City , in September 2011. The main reasons for Occupy Wall Street were people's resentment of how the government implements economic policy and the high level of economic inequality in American society. Menasce Juliana writes: “The share of American adults living in middle-income households declined from 61% in 1971 to 51% in 2019. This decline has proceeded slowly but surely since 1971, and each subsequent decade has typically ended with a smaller share. of adults living in middle-income households compared to the beginning of the decade.” The problem of economic inequality has existed for many decades; however, the government does not take sufficient measures to stop the process of social stratification. As a result, we can see how people with middle and low incomes gradually become poorer, while people with initially high incomes become richer. But the protesters' greatest dissatisfaction is aimed at the government's policy aimed at protecting the richest 1% of citizens at the expense of all other citizens. For this reason, Occupy Wall Street's main slogan was “We are 99%”. This slogan explained the position of the occupation supporters, underlining an undeniable class gap in American society. The top 1% of US citizens not only have the most money, but they also have the highest annual income growth rates of any class. Jobs advocates argue that raising interest rates on profits for the richest 1% of citizens is one of the simplest and most understandable ways to reduce economic inequality in society. They propose a rate increase of up to 80%. Critics of OWS argue that such a policy can be dangerous and lead to the fact that the rich will transfer money to countries with lower interest rates. Economic inequality is an extremely complex issue, and people have very different opinions on what exactly the poverty problem should look like. solved. The disunity of people and adherence to different approaches have always been big problems for the large protest movement. OWS managed to partially solve this problem by following a specific strategy. The protest movement refused to name any protest leaders. The protest, in fact, was animated by the participants through public meetings and endless discussions. This type of organization system is called “horizontal movement”. Usually, such a system is characterized by a loosely knit organizational network, a decentralized structure, and an anti-hierarchical attitude. It had some advantages over more traditional protest structures. For example, this type of system has helped social groups feel more diverse regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual introduction. This helped to listen to a wide variety of opinions that would otherwise not have been present and to find the best solutions that satisfied the greatest number of protesters. Protesters also actively use social networks such as Twitter and Facebook for disseminating information, promoting protest, communicating, planning and codifying actions. The protest movement's greatest activity was on social networks. People shared information with each other and discussed issues in society, supporting or criticizing OWS. Dean Jodi in “Occupy Wall Street: Forcing Division” argues that there is a lot of criticism of the protest.