Asian History The homeless children Dower describes in Embracing Defeat experience a type of structural inequality both similar to and different from the types of inequality addressed in Consuming Kids. In both case, the children are systematically disenfranchised before they have an input into the course of their lives. The structural inequalities faced by the disenfranchised victims of World War Two in Japan included dire straits, homelessness, and poverty. These are certainly realities in the United States, too. In the United States, Japanese children had been portrayed with rank racism, in a systematic propaganda campaign. The same types of propaganda campaigns are used by marketing professionals, in their quest to lure young minds and change children's behaviors.

Structural inequity can be traced to manipulation. Manipulation is a key theme in both Embracing Defeat and Consuming Kids. In Japan and in the United States, political power is wielded from a variety of sources including the government but also including the media. Propaganda can be meted out by political parties or by private sector stakeholders. Interestingly, Japan went through a deep and meaningful shift in its social norms in the wake of World War Two, in which values that could be dubbed as "western" entered the public consciousness and became part of the mainstream. These values included equality and dignity. The fact that these values were perceived as "western"...

Yet people in positions of power recognized the need to revitalize Japanese culture, redeem it in the wake of defeat, and find points of reference with the west for economic, social, and political expediency. Using propaganda in this way, Japanese children were also exposed to successive waves of media propaganda dictating everything from gender norms and sexuality to ethics and aesthetics. The same phenomenon was taking place in America, in which media and its corporate sponsors manufactured lifestyles, gender norms, aesthetics, and ethical values. These values, norms, and lifestyles were embedded at every level of the media and not just in commercials. Television shows and movies likewise propagated these symbols of culture, and created generations of little consumers. Structural inequality can be traced to the powerlessness of the consumer, who lacks control over the content of the media and the contents of the culture.
2. Structural inequality manifests in multiple ways. One means by which structural inequality manifests is the higher rates of prevalence of underprivileged men and women serving in the military. Underprivileged men and women are not provided the pathways to upward social mobility. Lacking social and cultural capital, they have at their disposal fewer options to pursuing personal goals and dreams. The military…