The Characteristics Of A Social Class

The American middle class is supposed to be living the American dream life. They would be able to afford a home, 1-2 cars, take 1-2 vacations within a year, be able to send their children to college and live comfortable lives. Middle class Americans would shop stores such as Wal-Mart and Kmart and splurge on department

Contrary to the upper class, the middle class retains an opportunity for growth and therefore believes in the American Dream. However, their dreams shy away from the common view of the American Dream and instead revolve around their values and wants. Primarily, the middle class is defined as having an income between $46,960 and $140,900, although the economic boundaries that make up the middle class constantly varies (Luhby). Besides income, the middle class also can be identified by occupation, net worth, or education, but every middle class citizen, no matter how they are identified, experience similar circumstances (Elkins). The majority of the middle class yearn to have a nice home and secure job, along with extra money to enjoy their interests and hobbies. In addition, they strive to set aside savings for their children’s transition into the working world or future education. Although the middle class has more opportunities than lower class citizens, they still encounter their own struggles. For many middle class families, hard times come and go while they try to maintain a comfortable living situation. Money for them does not come as easily as it does for the upper class, who typically have enough to constantly feel stable. Nonetheless, the middle class obtains enough to live more

Despite the debates about social class, the United States is usually described as having four major social classes, the elite or upperclass, the middle class, the working class, and the lower class (Goldscmidt). Classes are generally differentiated by income, education, and occupation although other factors do have an effect. The upperclass consists of about 1% of the population making 750,000 dollars or more a year as investors, top executives, or heirs to large fortunes (Hughes and Jenkins). There tends to be no question about who is in the upperclass as they are pretty clearly isolated in their power and wealth. The middle class makes up about 40% of the population making anywhere from 40,000 to 749,999 dollars a year (Hughes and Jenkins). The large disparity in income and wealth have led to a further division of this class into upper-middle class and middle class in some circles. The middle class usually work white collar jobs as professionals and managers, however some highly skilled blue collar workers are included. Those in the middle class have usually obtained higher education degrees and place a high value on individual responsibility for one’s class (Goldschmidt). The working class is composed of about 50% of the population earning 13,000 to 39,000 dollars a year (Hughes and Jenkins). Some also divide this class into a working class and a

Many Middle-Class people were servants for the Upper-Class or had significant professions. Middle-Class families were often closer to their children, unlike Upper-Class families. Usually, in Middle-Class homes, there were few servants, so the Mother spent more time with the Children.

* The middle class lay in the middle and was the group of people in society that had bigger better houses on their own block of land and were quite well off when it came to money and resources.

The very poor class contains all citizens that have a very low economic status. Most have no economic security, are unemployed, and have no education after high school. American citizens in this class have just enough money to survive. The poor class includes any American citizen who does not have enough money to have basic necessities. The working class includes American citizens who have enough to provide basic needs for their family. They do not have some of the simple luxuries; if they do; they have to save up to buy it. In the middle class, most citizens go to college. People in the middle class do not necessarily live paycheck to paycheck, but have enough money to spend on leisure. The next social class in America is the upper middle class, whose citizens mainly attend private or charter schools. ( Hancock, 1998). They hold professions such as doctors and

Nowadays, the middle class is shrinking, while majority of people are either moving into the lower or upper classes. This is due to the major economic and policy changes that have occurred throughout the past thirty years. Based on the Basic Economy Security Tables, one in four full-time working-age adults are not earning enough income to meet economic needs for themselves or their families. This is a serious problem in America today, the fact that the median income today is six hundred dollars less than it was in 1989 is proof of this epidemic. It is much harder now, than ever, to work your way into the middle class, much less stay there. The percentage income growth since 1967 for the top 5 percent of earners is 88%, top 20 percent of earners grew 70%, and middle-income households only grew 20%. (Camp) In simpler terms, the upper classes income has increased tremendously, while middle-income households have seen very little growth in their income. Since the middle class is not receiving any income growth, it is declining and moving towards the lower class. It is not nearly as easy as it was thirty years ago to get a decent job and make

This book is great for clients because it provides the fundamentals of the economic classes in America. Leondar-Wright starts off by defining who falls into which class and the unequal distribution in our country. She states, “two-thirds of Americans are working-class, low-income, or low-middle-class” which is an unsettling fact (Leondar-Wright, p. 2). Although most people believe that many Americans identify themselves as “middle-class,” Leondar-Wright reveals that this is false and that working-class is a more appropriate term. Working-class, as Leondar-Wright defines it, is someone who has little education, one non-luxury house, and has a job consisting of physical labor (p. 1). As you can see this applies to many more people than originally thought.

Since the beginning of time there has been separation of economic classes; the poor, middle class, working class, and upper class. Most people are considered or identifies as middle class or the working class.

Social class consist of three components, such as property, power, and prestige. Property comes in several forms such as buildings, land, animals, machinery, cars, and basically anything that has ownership to it. When adding up the value of someone’s property, and subtract the person’s debt you have something that is called wealth. Wealth and income are sometime confused with each other. Wealth is a prime example of someone 's net worth, and income is a prime example of the flow money. Income can come from about just anything around the world business, rent, interest, and royalties comes from the category of income. Some people have much wealth and little income. An example of this is a farmer that owns a lot of land, but when bad weather

Although most people in the United States of America do not live in an upper-class household, this term is often correlated with income, wealth, power, and prestige. In fact, “approximately one percent of the U.S. population is considered to fall in this stratum” (2017 p.260). Nevertheless, the middle class are the rulers of the United States of America. Per Conley, the middle class is “a term commonly used to describe those individuals with nonmanual jobs that pay significantly more than the poverty line – though this is a highly debated and expansive category, particularly in the United States of America, where broad swathes of the population consider themselves middle class” (2017 p.262). In particular, the middle class is often correlated with white-collar workers, such as accountants, teachers, and attorneys. An abundant number of families in the United States of America are considered to be “poor.” In accordance with Conley, “in 2015, the poverty line for a family of four was $24,250” (2017

Most people can determine what class a person is by just looking at the house that person lives in. If someone lives in a million-dollar home, then more than likely they are from the upper class. Middle class people usually own homes that are just big enough

Of this group, about 1/3rd belongs to the upper-middle class. The annual income of person belonging to this group is $70-$75,000. The jobs that the typical upper-middle class person holds would have a prestige rating of 65 or higher. 2/3rd?s of the middle-class population is the lower-middle class. White-collared individuals make up the majority of this class, earning anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000 a year. Lower-middle class Americans have a set standard of priorities. They take pride in the fact that they are financially stable, and promote hard work, and press on education. Without education, the members feel that they would not be where they are economically, and preach the importance to their children so that they, too, can live a lifestyle very similar to that of theirs (Norton).

The reason why I place myself as average lower middle class is family wealth. My father being the provider of the family makes between $35,000 altogether, which is not a lot of money compare to others, income. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics, the working class makes between $25,000 (as cited in Benokraitis, 2017, p.143). Benokraitis defines the working class as, “group consists of skilled and semiskilled laborers and assembly-line workers, trucks drivers, auto mechanics, carpenters, and electricians” (p.144). My father has only finished with a high school diploma he did not graduate with higher degrees such as bachelors, masters, or even a PhD or doctrines. the fact I would consider being the working class is because even though my

This essay will be discussing the extent to which social class and poverty affects health and illness. Firstly, what is social class? Each person’s perception of social class can be different; is social class defined by a person’s accent, the area they live in, or something as simple as their income? Project Britain describes social class as “The grouping of people by occupations and lifestyle”. (Cress, 2014). To find social class Sociologists group people according to common factors, they compare people and various criteria can be conveniently used to place people in social groups or classes. Next we ask the question what determines a person’s health, the NHS defines health as “Physical and mental, it is the absence of disease”. (NHS 2017).