Cultural Diversity

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Cultural Diversity
In the U.S, social stratification and power differences are more apparent now after the 2007-09 recession. The difference between the haves and have-nots has considerably widened with the wealthiest consisting of one percent of the population and controlling 40 percent of the nation’s economy. Pronunciation preferences of the English language also seem to be altering noticeably among different social classes. A study by the American sociolinguist, William Lebov, in New York is an example. The use of the variants (ing) and (in) in speech is seen between the upper middle class and the lower working class, where the former almost exclusively use the standard variant (ing) while the latter almost exclusive use (in) (Robinson 5).
Social stratification, power differences, and inequity in Kenya are some of the biggest problems resulting into an alarmingly wide margin between the rich and the poor. The bottom twenty percent of the lower class accounting for only five percent of the economy while the top twenty percent is moving half of the country’s income making it one of the unequal nations in the world. The main components of social stratification in Kenya are three: education level, property, and language (Robinson 6).
The education system filters out the poor after A-levels meaning the majority of the poor lack college education hence tertiary education becomes a major social stratifying factor. Consciously or unconsciously, language plays a noticeable part.

Even though the official and national languages of Kenya are English (U.K) and Swahili, and most people regardless of their education status can at least speak one of the two, English is preferred by the upper class and to some extent the middle class. The lower class, even with a decent knowledge of English, prefers Swahili and a code which stemmed from both languages.
Work Cited
Ava Robinson. “Variation in language”. Theodysseyonline.com March 8, 2016