Looking at all the readings and descriptions of the classes ranging from high class, middle class, and lower class I’m most likely middle class. Starting off with my family both parents have had very successful careers which made it easy for me to live life a little more simple. Now as a young adult it is a little more complicating to feel at peace but, with all that stress I know working hard for a career I’m very excited for will be well worth every struggle. People would call me spoiled growing up and I know my parents tried their best to give us their kids everything we have always wanted and needed, that is what has made me very appreciative of everything and has motivated me to try doing things on my own without my parents holding my
The USA is a very big country with a lot of people and the social classes are very important. We can see that social class plays a big part of people’s life. Everyday people are working, studying, trying to be better. Even though right now it’s a time when everyone has many opportunities in his life, anyway there is a gap between classes and groups of people with the same features. Your background probably will build your future. The main idea is that Social Classes still exist. There are three reasons why line between groups still exist.
In America, our society is categorized by the poor, working, middle, upper middle, or upper class. Majority of America today seems to be under the working to middle class. It's hard to tell what
I consider my family and I to be in the middle class category and from being in the middle class, and the facts that are provided, the middle class is slowly declining as the time goes on. I believe that a lot of people go beyond the middle class to the upper middle class or people go below the middle class to the poor category. I’ve found a graph from Forbes that compares the rates of all classes from 1979 to 2014. From observing the graph my initial hypothesis was right. The middle class has declined by 6.8% between the years 1979-2014.
Education holds power over determining one’s class. Knowledge and refinement can set one individual apart from another who lacks the qualities of successful individuals. Finances and opportunities distinguish class meaning the lower class has difficulty in obtaining the same conditions of the upper class. Education ultimately dictates success and power in society. Education is taken for granted and should be recognized for the significance it possesses.
My family wasn't always an upper middle class family. Starting with my grandparents, my mom's mother named Bonnie Langdon. She lived in what is a now West Bloomfield in Oakland county Michigan. She was a sister to 9 siblings and she attended a One-room schoolhouse. Bonnie's mother Betty Worked in the post office for 30 year and her father Harry drove an oil truck for about the same amount of years. They were mostly lower class but they did manage to get themselves more towards the middle class. Over the years bonnie my grandmother graduated from high school and started to work for Pontiac motor, which moved Bonnie up tom middle class.
Class Separation lowers a person’s opportunity to achieve the American dream. As the separation between class increases, there is less possibility of achieving the American dream. Class separation has been around for a while. The higher class has higher prospect of achieving the American dream whereas the lower class does not. The separation between the class and its affect on achieving the American dream is demonstrated in the novel Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, a political cartoon, The Great GAPsby society, an article by David Cay Johnson, Richest Are Leaving even the Rich Far Behind and Shadowy Lines That Still Divide by Janny Scott. Even though some argue that the class separation does not affect the ability of achieving the American Dream, these articles clearly explain how it does.
I was raised by different parents than my older siblings. They weren’t different parents biologically, they were different parents economically. For years they struggled to get by with very little education. But once their children were all in school, they decided to make a change. A few years before I was born, my parents earned their college degrees. What this meant for me was a world of security, provision, and opportunity that far surpassed that of my brother and sisters. My story is very similar to that of Angela Whitiker, a former single mother who effectively pulled herself and her family out of poverty by achieving her nursing degree. Her movement from the projects to the middle class is a feat to be admired. But what gave her such upward mobility? And why is it that in our society so many seem to lack it?
What comes into my mind when thinking on how to categorize those people that belong in the middle class, I look at such things as education, race, family, income, gender and how many people are in your household. I look at it as those people who are making between $40,000 and about $85,000 to be in the middle class while the next step would be the upper middle class and then to the upper class. Maybe I am wrong here, but like I said before, everyone wants to have that “I am middle class” attitude. The most recent Census Bureau survey data shows that the share of households with incomes of $75,000 or more has doubled in the past 24 years. Other studies, however, discover that more people who depart the middle class move down than up, at least temporarily.
The next step up the ladder of normality is the lower class. Unlike the natives who don't look to fit into the normal set by American middle class, American lower class are constantly looking for ways to improve. PBS ran a very interesting special on classes within the United States. In the special, "People Like Us," was a section devoted to a woman named Tammy and her family. Tammy is a typical lower class citizen; she lives in a trailer in a small town, trash piled around, and no car to drive. After being on welfare for eighteen years, Tammy got a job at a Burger King restaurant 15 miles away. Tammy wants to become better; in fact she wants to go back to school. "I'm hoping to go to college and be a school teacher. That was my goal from the time I was five years old up until now." Even though Tammy wants to move up a class, she still realizes to which group she belongs.
The American dream is a slowly fading dream that seems to be escaping all the lower classes of American society. The American dream still exists if we examine correctly. The dilemma with American dream is that it has become so much harder to fulfill. Social inequality along with a lack of social mobility have negated the ability to accomplish this. As time has passed, the gap between the rich and poor has become larger and larger. Hence social equality has grown overtime. This would not be as consequential of a problem for the American dream if social mobility had stayed the same. Social mobility has decreased with time as well. Social mobility is the ability to move from one social class to another. Sociologically speaking, the American Dream
I grew up in a two income, working class household with one sibling. Neither of my parents had a secondary education and both worked an average of 45 to 50 hours a week to support the family. During the entire 4 years of high school I cannot recall my mother asking me about one homework assignment, attending one band concert or football game. She didn’t encourage me to be involved in community organizations or civic activities. She did allow me to participate in the activities I chose on my own and for the most part she just left me to figure things out on my own. We also always seemed to live near family that we would gather with and rely on with great regularity and I can’t recall ever looking at a calendar or schedule to determine my future plans. According to Kris Gutierrez, Carolina Izquierdo and Tamar Kremer-Sadlik, authors of the article "Middle Class Working Families' Beliefs and Eng...
Most people are born into a social class. You don’t get to pick your social class. You can’t move classes. When poor people are born into the lowest social class they can’t move. No high social class members wants a person that can’t afford a dress. These people don’t have enough money to do anything, but buy food. People Like Us comments on this topic, “I am from the middle class because that’s where I was born and that’s where I live.” (People Like Us: Social Class In America) This suggests that because you were born into a class that is where you will stay. If you are born in a low class you can’t work your way into a high class. The high class won’t accept you either because ...
We talked about how we probably would have taken more half steps if we knew that was an option. I did take a few half steps: one was for prep school (had an athletic scholarship so wasn’t completely sure), and one for owning another house (when we moved, we didn’t sell our old house immediately and instead rented it out to try to generate some extra revenue.) When we were asked about how we felt about being place in our group, we all agreed that we felt quite comfortable. We brainstormed a few ideas as to why, and we concluded that in general, being middle class is easy because they never really get blamed for anything. It is not uncommon to hear social and economic problems blamed on the rich or poor, while the middle class tends not to get any negative connotations associated with them. However, I think that can be dangerous this might cause the middle class to not think that socio-economic issues are their problem to solve. As mentioned in the Language and Silence excerpt, “the privileged characteristic comes to define the norm.” Before coming to IGP, I was under the impression that my economic status was very average. I wasn’t spoiled, but my family never had to truly struggle financially. This led me to falsely believing that most people don’t struggle that much economically, which I learned is actually a common myth from Class in America (myth
Now, my family does not really have to think about money that much, as my dad is a trauma surgeon and my mother is a nurse. My family’s view on wealth is complicated. My father is an extremely generous person, and he freely helps people in their time of need, and he does not shame people for having enough money or give people preference based on wealth. However, my family does have an expectation that I and my siblings will get good jobs and be wealthy. My father did not approve at first when I said I was going to major in English and Philosophy, but he came around to the idea as he realized that I was comfortable with the idea of not being
I was born into a lower class family. My father was working class until his diabetes became out of control and due to complications was unable to hold a job. He had no health insurance, didn’t qualify for public assistance because be owned two inoperable vehicles. I wasn’t aware we were lower class due to the tribe we socialized with. Our church was a huge part of our life. It was within walking distance and many people of similar class socialized together. It wasn’t until my older brother and I reached the legal age to hold a job and drive did our family rise out of the lower class. It was a family effort to move up in the ladder. Eventually my dad received health insurance and was able to manage his diabetes. He began his own business and was able to support us. I don’t think I realized my class station until I attended college for the first time. Moving out of the town I grew up in and then returning was when I realized how poor our area was. My hometown looked completely different, when in reality it was just a change in perspective. Having a new car for the first time, attending college, and working somewhere other than a local restaurant contributed in my awareness of social class. Upon getting married I immediately moved to upper working class, always on the border of being middle class, Our families desire is to provide for my daughter things that we weren’t afforded as children. This contributed mainly to my decision to return to college. I want to advance in my career field and be able to provide my daughter with an education that I wasn’t given. This one right as a woman has contributed to my family’s success of moving up the ladder and staying there.