Final answer:
The wealthiest 20% of families in the United States own approximately 89% of the country's privately owned wealth, reflecting severe wealth inequality and the concentration of wealth among the elite. This disparity has created significant social stratification and affects economic policy and opportunities for the rest of the population.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the United States, the wealthiest 20 percent of families own a significant majority of the country's privately owned wealth. To be more precise, according to research by Domhoff in 2013, the top 1% of households, defined as the upper class, owned 35.4% of all privately held wealth. In addition to this, the next 19% of households—typically comprising the managerial, professional, and small business stratum—held 53.5%. This indicates that just 20% of the population owned a remarkable 89% of the wealth, which consequently leaves only 11% for the bottom 80%, primarily wage and salary workers.
It is evident that wealth in the United States is not distributed evenly. This disparity is also highlighted by the Federal Reserve, which in 2021 reported that the wealthiest one percent of the population holds a third of the nation's wealth, while the bottom 50 percent of Americans hold only 2 percent. This concentration of wealth leads to significant social stratification and reflects a growing income inequity issue.
The term 'second gilded age' has been used by scholars like Schultz and Lowery to describe the current economic climate, with the 400 wealthiest American families now owning more than the collective wealth of the 'lower' 150 million Americans. This is a reflection of the widening gap between the wealthy and the rest of the population, as the top 10% of earners took in more than half of the country's overall income in 2012—the highest proportion in a century of record-keeping.
Such concentration of wealth can have far-reaching implications beyond financial disparities, leading to influences in public policy and economic decision-making, further affecting opportunities for those in lower economic brackets. The discussion of inequality in wealth distribution continues to be a critical topic in understanding social dynamics and formulating policy.