Class And Socio-Economic Status

Many questions have risen in this day and age in which ones wealth can greatly effect almost every aspect of their lives. There has been much controversy as to whether the recognition of socioeconomic classes are for the benefit of society as a whole. Socioeconomic class is defined as some combination of occupation, education, and income level (Heimer 802). A good society consists of equality, support for the government, educated individuals, better living conditions, and low crime rates. As research will show, socioeconomic classes contribute to social inequality, lower support for the government, subpar education levels, income insecurity for some classes, lower living conditions, trouble transitioning into adulthood, and higher crime rates. Therefore, socioeconomic classes are a detriment to society and do more harm than good for the people.

Individuals within a society are grouped into certain rankings that is based on their wealth, income, race and education known as the social stratification. Sociologist use this to determine the social standings of individuals within a society. Social stratification can also appear in much smaller groups. These groups such as the work place, schools, and businesses can “take the form of a distribution of power and authority down the ranks”. (Cole, 2017) The Caste system is also another form of stratification that one does not get a choice in. They are born into it and regardless of their talents will hold positions that are given to them their whole life. Social mobility is the ability for individuals to move about their social standings.

Social class is a “tag” to define your status in a community. One of the main requirements you must have to be in the Upper class, is to have wealth and power. That is basically it, and obviously the absence of those characteristics could mean you are in a Middle or even in the Lower class. Sports are an activity that people do for pleasure that requires physical activity and sometimes has rules for the players to follow in order to play the game. It is most commonly played outdoors. It can improve your cardio, health, and physical condition. For example, it can prevent things like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer or even mental illnesses like depression.

Social class is a division of a society based on social and economic status which can include levels of wealth, success, power of authority, and influence. Status is can be defined or grouped having common economic, cultural, or political interests.

Socioeconomic Status is where a particular person or group of people stand in regards to social class. The main measurement that determines one's socioeconomic status is level of education, occupation and income. Although it may not be considered a factor in child development, socioeconomic status can actually play a huge role in determining what kind of adolescent a child develops into. It can influence a child’s morals, self-esteem, grades and many more aspects of a child's life. Socioeconomic status can play a role in determining where a person resides, the occupation they end up getting, their education and their income as well. So, although one’s socioeconomic status is technically made up of these aspects, one can be born into a low socioeconomic status which could result in them continuing to have one throughout their life. It is a cycle that one must break in order to change the outcome. Low socioeconomic status can result in child poverty. Child poverty over the years has risen and fallen but has remained consistently apparent in America. Child poverty can have detrimental effects on developing children and adolescents. It may influence the way they are raised, taught, cared for and many more aspects of the child's life which are important for successful development. Low socioeconomic status can determine how well children and adolescents develop and the type of person they develop into, including

Socioeconomic status influences health care quality and outcomes. Patients of lower socioeconomic status are more likely to have worse self-reported health, lower life expectancy, and suffer from more chronic conditions when compared with those of higher socioeconomic status. As a result, patients of lower socioeconomic status, in which we will encounter throughout our career’s, require more care and attention during their visits due to this lack of access. These individuals typically need the most care and unfortunately, we will not see them as often compared to other socioeconomic groups. An additional additive for this population may include providing them with take home exercises in which they are able to perform on their own. That is if they are invested enough to complete them without further supervision. While some hospitals are willing to revise their current policies, to basically “write off” the lower class, we as athletic trainers have to be advocates for these individuals who make up the majority of the population. The first step that we can take involves going a step above to the school board and asking for better nutritional options regarding school lunches. Most school lunch options fail to include fresh alternatives consisting of mostly processed food that can be easily distributed to a large number of students. Another way in which we can promote healthy eating habits is by utilizing social media to share coupons and local grocery store ads to the parents of

America is seen as the land of opportunity across the world, but many people wonder if it is true. The truth is America does have opportunities and with dedication anything is possible though the opportunities are limited. Usually limited for those who belong to a lower social class. The main reason opportunities are limited are because of America’s social inequality. The social class of America is separated into multiple groups that struggle with each other due to the inequality of power and wealth on the daily basis.

Hughes (1984) stated that, ‘Weber regarded power as the primary relationship between unequal groups in society’. Power can be divided into three spheres of activity – class, status and party. (Marsh, 2013, p160) Class situation is determined by the shared life chances that people enjoy as a result of the value of their skills and possessions in the market place. Status defines how a community judges someone’s social status according to cultural standards such as education, occupation, speech and dress. Party is when people organise themselves into political parties that represent their economic interests. (Marsh, 2013)

Social class has developed over the centuries into an obstacle we cannot ignore. I believe that social class exists and proves itself in stereotypes as well as in our government. Our world divides social class into three sections: upper, middle, and lower class. However, many also think that there could be multiple classes. The problems that we face with social class display themselves in the lack of opportunities for lower class children, the abuse of power by ghettoizing, and the addiction of money instead of longing for Jesus. We need to awaken to the world around us that daily struggles with the uncompromising chaos of their circumstances.

“If I could go to work and teach music and only have to worry about teaching music to a classroom of students that are ready to learn, what a job that would be!” (Charles Moorer Jr.). Socioeconomic status determines a number of things that we consider quite valuable to our overall make up as human beings. These things are to include the type/quality of education one receives, overall income and occupation. All of these are common things that we deal with regularly. Therefore, how does this affect musical development as well as the teaching of music?

Based on income and occupation, socioeconomic status refers to family’s social and economic status compared to others in society. Many researchers have found out that students from different socioeconomic status would have the disparity of academic performance. And the gap in academic achievement caused by socioeconomic status exists in every state in the USA. In addition, over the past 40 years, the family income inequality has increased, together with the increasing gaps in academic achievement. (Duncan, 2014) Moreover, as socioeconomic status affects the educational outcome, students who drop out of school are more likely to cause social deviance like juvenile delinquency. By examining dropout rate and language processing speed, it becomes evident that lower SES students tend to have worse academic achievement than higher SES students.

Socioeconomic status is often determined as a combination of education, income and occupation. Depending on the social class an individual is in, it affects the power,privileges, and care they are receiving. When looking at lower class, it shows a greater percentage rate of problems that rise in that category. One seemingly growing issue that is seen more in the lower class than any other social class is how many individuals are affected by the HIV/AIDS virus due to unstable living conditions. Though there are many cases of people that have contracted the virus in the other following classes, there is a disproportionately higher rate in the lower class.

“ I got to figure.  We all got to figure.  There’s some way to stop this.  It’s not like lightening or earthquakes.  We’ve got a bad thing made by man, and by God that’s something we can change.” John Steinbeck. This excerpt from Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath is talking about the ‘bad things’ that we deal with in our society. Two bad things that are extremely pressing in society today are the growing gap in the social class system and gender inequality. Both social class problems and gender inequality affect the way members of our society live their daily lives but are commonly overlooked or underestimated.

one of the most serious problems in over the world is the economic inequality , and the social problems it produces . And it could be the most damaging impact in developed nation . Because social class influence the type of the opportunities available to person , as economic factors in general determine the choices available to people getting started in life in good or bad ways.

Where do you consider yourself to be in the class system? Are you a member of the upper class, middle class, or lower class? If you’re a part of the upper class your associated with being rich or born in to a rich family. Then there is the working middle class also know as the “ white collar workers.” Most people of our society would fit into this category of the class system. Lastly there is the lower class that consists of the homeless, those with low-paying jobs, and other who are struggling to survive. Most people don’t bother to think that these different classes could be leading toward social inequalities. Well, this is reality people are being treated differently because of where they stand on this class scale. Conflict pertaining to these differences occurs in our personal and professional aspects of our life. Many people believe that social class inequalities have been eliminated, however this issue continues to exist within the different classes due to a various number of reasons.