Hill 1

Grant Hill
Ms. Jones
English III Honors
19 May, 2014
Charles Murray: Class Divide is growing in America
As the title suggests, in this video Brian Williams interviews author Charles Murray, who
is best known for his highly controversial book called the bell curve, on the concepts of his new
book, Coming Apart: The State of White America. The interview starts off with Murray by
stating that he believes the gap between the rich and poor is greatly increasing, despite the
relatively new introduction of a steady middle class. He states that the American way of life is
disappearing, if not completely gone, part of which has to do with marriage. According to his
statistics, from 1960 to 2010, the percentage of upper middle class families that are married
dropped from 90%, to 48%. Instead of blaming this economic collapse on the shying away of
the upper middle class from traditional American values, Murray suggests that the working
classes progressive abandonment of the four founding virtues of the constitution. In terms of a
potential solution, Murray basically says that these different classes should stop separating
themselves from each other and find a way to somehow bond the classes. In all honesty, this
seems like a viable solution, but one that some just arent willing to commit to yet.