Social Class

Slide 1: Social Class Explorations and Expansions on Starbuck’s Text The American mythology: America is a classless society. America is a meritocracy. Reality: Both mobility & privilege occur

Slide 2: Defining Social Class  Weber: An ordering of all persons in society by degrees of economic resources, prestige, and privilege  Analytical definitions  Marx: relation to means of production  Weber: Marx + prestige  Empirical definitions  Based in data  Compare strata (layers)  Cultural Analysis  Differences in behaviors, attitudes, objects

Slide 3: Politicized version of social class as seen by Karl Marx. Marx and socialist theorists emphasized the process of exploitation, in which workers do not receive back in wages the full value they contribute. Wealth created by what upper classes extract from lower ones.

Slide 4: Starbuck’s Model: Four Social Classes  Ideal: Hypothetical model of most significant characteristics of social phenomenon in extreme form  Upper  Middle  Working  Lower

Slide 5: Gilbert-Kahl Model of Social Class in the United States Source: Dennis Gilbert, The American Class Structure (Wadsworth, fifth edition, 1998),

Slide 6: How Class Works: Empirical  Considers four dimensions  Occupation  Education  Income (money earned through work/investments)  Wealth (assets owned / money saved)  Interactive graphic – see how your family stacks up on dimensions of class  Up-to-date dollar amounts / prestige ratings  Link on WebCT under “Resources”  From New York Times 2005 How Class Works

Slide 7: Starbuck: Lower-Class Families  Tenuous connection to economy— reliability to provide decent life in question  “Working poor”—low-paying jobs  Frequently unemployed  Live in substandard housing  Semi-skilled and unskilled workers = low wage workers  Some on cash assistance from government  Others are homeless

Slide 8: ERMA GOULART SELF-DESCRIBED CLASS: LOWER Hartford, W.Va. Ms. Goulart, 67, a widowed retiree with a high school education, strung beads for a jewelry maker, worked for sewage and coal companies, and owned a restaurant. \"I worked hard for what I have,\" she said. She sees unfairness. \"The rich get more benefits and tax breaks and the poor people don’t,\" she said. \"Being raised poor, it was kind of hard,\" she recalled. She helped bring up her 11 siblings and now does the same for her disabled sister’s children. \"I think the American dream is to help people,\" Ms. Goulart said. From Class Matters Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Slide 9: Starbuck: Working-Class Families  Income provides reliably for minimum needs for modest lifestyle  Modest home or apartment  Car  Money for public college education  Men tend to hold manual jobs  Layoffs more common  Less likely to have fringe benefits

Slide 10: MAURICE MITCHELL SELF-DESCRIBED CLASS: WORKING Wilson, N.C. Mr. Mitchell, 37, manages his family's septic tank company, earning up to $75,000 a year. \"I hold the mortgage to my home,\" he said. \"I have the vehicle I want.\" A high school graduate, he never married but has two sons. \"I'm able to raise my children in a manner so they won’t be picked on or laughed at in school.\" He said he believed that \"a man can start with nothing and work hard and get somewhere.\" But the \"gap between rich and poor will never close,\" he said. \"It's hard to get wealthy if your family isn’t.\" From Class Matters Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Slide 11: Starbuck: Middle-Class Families  Secure, comfortable income; lives well  Can afford nice house, car, college education for children, etc.  Professionals and medium-sized business owners  Jobs include fringe benefits  Women professionals have occupations that require college educations  Women are generally underrepresented at this income level

Slide 12: STEVE SCHOENECK SELF-DESCRIBED CLASS: MIDDLE Fergus Falls, Minn. Mr. Schoeneck, 39, is an accounting manager for an electrical utility. He and his wife, a preschool teacher, both college graduates, earn $85,000 a year. They have two daughters in school and a son, a sophomore at M.I.T. \"You always have the opportunity to try and move forward financially,\" he said. \"For me, the American dream is to earn a reasonable living and to be able to spend quality time with my family and my friends in a community that cares. Over all, I've achieved the American dream. I'm happy.\" From Class Matters Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Slide 13: Starbuck: Upper-Class Families  Amassed wealth, privilege, and often prestige  Recognized as cultural and social elite  Owners or senior managers of large corporations, banks, and law firms  Many wives do not work—volunteering and social events take up time  Little research on this class

Slide 14: BARBARA FREEBORN SELF-DESCRIBED CLASS: UPPER Northville, Mo. Ms. Freeborn, 47, a marketing executive, and her husband, a business owner, earn more than $150,000 a year. To her, the rich get \"preferential treatment, where they don’t have to pay for things.\" But she sees many opportunities to make money now, \"in technology and health care and finance.\" Still, she said, America has changed since her parents' generation. \"I don’t think they really aspired to have more than the house with a porch and to come home and have dinner.\" Today, she said, \"everybody wants more.\" From Class Matters Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Slide 15: Income by Education  Considers three dimensions  Level of Education  Amount of Income  Occupational group  Interactive graphic – see how the distribution of income for particular occupation groups  Up-to-date dollar amounts  Link on WebCT under “Resources”  From New York Times 2005 Income by Education

Slide 17: Class Mobility: Moving Up From Class Matters Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Slide 18: International Social Mobility From Class Matters Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company

Slide 19: Social Reproduction of Class  Ideology = American society is very open.  2/3 to 3/4 of all children inherit socio-economic status (estimates vary).  1979 Carnegie study: son of lawyer 27 times more likely to get high paying job than son of custodian. Source: Scientific American http://www.sciam.com/1999/0699issue/0699numbers.html

Slide 21: Global Stratification & Inequality Ranking societies by power & rewards Which forms of power are important? • Economic power is dominant • Political power is secondary • Social honor not important Positions in global system defined by levels of development & productivity

Slide 22: Income & Poverty • Highly concentrated between societies • Absolute Poverty highest in Low Income set Education & Health Adult School Life Literacy Enrollment Expectancy High Income 99% 93% 78 years Middle Income 86% 74% 69 years Low Income 62% 51% 59 years

Slide 23: Next time…  How families of different classes differ  Kinship networks  Gender roles  Child rearing  Impact of consumer culture on American society (video clip if time)  THE END

Slide 24: One Story of Social Mobility Nickled and Dimed

Slide 25: Culture and Social Class  Class markers – how do we communicate class?  Clothes, cars, styles: purchased goods  Addresses, schools, neighborhoods  Trouble in Paradise  Maintaining Class Boundaries  Attitudes and behaviors  Ways that higher classes detect lower class people among them  More WASP Lessons  Groups within classes – some have been studied a lot  Yuppies, BoBos, etc.  What would your room say about you?  You Are Your Stuff