S SOCI 1101 1stt Edition EExam 3 Stu udy Guide Topic 7 Sociall Class in the Unitted Statees pgs 18 81 197 Social Class C A category of o people w who share similar opporrtunities sim milar lifestyles similar economic a vocatio and onal behavio ors Class Syystem of Strratification A society th hat has several social claasses and permits sociaal mobility Agreem ment on the Five Social C Classes There T is littlle agreemen nt among so ociologists aabout how m many sociall classes exisst in the U and whaat their charracteristics m US might be 5 Social Classes Up pper upper middle middle middlee lower mid ddle lower Classes Characteristics of the 5 Social C Upper U Classs o Occu upation Corporate Ow wnership up pper echelon politics honorific h possitions in govtt and the artts o Educcation Liberal arts edu ucation at elite schools o Child dren s Educcation Colleege and Postt college Upper Midd U dle Class o Occu upation Pro ofessional and technicaal fields maanagers offiicials proprrietors o Educcation Colleege and graduate training o Child dren s Educcation Colleege and grad duate training Middle Mid M ddle Class o Occu upation Cleerical and saales position ns small business semiprofessionaals farm mers o Educcation High h School some College o Child dren s Educcation Optio on of Collegge Lower Midd L dle Class o Occu upation Skiilled and sem miskilled maanual labor craftspeop ple foremen n nonffarm workeers o Educcation Grad de school some or all o of high scho ool o Child dren s Educcation High School voccational school Lower L Classs o Occu upation Un nskilled labo or and servicce work private household work and a farm labo or o Educcation Grad de school o Child dren s Educcation Littlee interest in education high school dropouts Income Distribution n Total T wealth h is more un nequally disstributed than income These notes represent a d detailed interp pretation of th he professor s lecture Grad deBuddy is besst used as a supplement to your own notes n not as a substitute Would YYou Be Happier If You W Were Richerr Most M people believe th hey would be b happier iff they were richer but evidence do oes not s support thiss view Happiness H h has not chan nged that m much in the past 4 decades in spitee of large inccreases in r incomee per capita real People P do n not consciou usly think ab bout their circumstancees whetherr positive orr negative As A society ggrows richerr you grow richer yourr average raank does no ot change so o this e explains wh hy happinesss hasn t chaanged As A you get rricher your perceived h happiness m may be offseet by changees in your reeference g group the m more you make m the mo ore you starrt to believee you need more m to get along Happiness H is connected d to how peeople spend their time not their money Povertyy We W do not h have a uneq quivocal way of determ mining how m many poor people therre are in t US the Feminizzation of Povverty R to o the disproportionate concentratiion of poverrty among female head f ded Referring f families Never Married M Motthers vs Divvorced Mothers 70 7 of all o out of wedlo ock births occur when tthe mother is between 15 24 which is 10 y years less th han divorced mothers single mom ms typically d do not get aas high of an n e education w which leads to greater p poverty Povertyy Index The T povertyy index is baased solely o on money in ncome and does not reeflect the facct that m many low in ncome peop ple receive noncash benefits such as food stamps Mediccaid and p public housing Poverty P ratee is based o on 1965 stud dy by an eco onomist at tthe Social Seecurity A Administrat tion Mollie Orshansky in an attem mpt to defin ne poverty sshe took thee cost of a b basic low ccost nutritio onally adequate diet an nd then mulltiplied thatt by 3 in thaat time f food was 1 3 a family ss cost therre has been little changge to the forrmula since Criticism ms of Povertty Index Those T who think it overestimates dex in 1965 about one quarter o Wheen the federral govt devveloped the poverty ind of feederal welfaare benefits were in thee form of go oods and services todaay nonccash benefits account ffor about tw wo thirds off welfare asssistance is tthe nonccash benefits were cou unted as income the po overty rate w would decreease 3 o The poverty meeasure lookss only at inccome not att assets if the value of a home or other assets were includ ded the povverty rate would be low wer o Food d typically aaccounts forr a considerably smaller proportion n of family eexpenses todaay than it did previouslyy if we did it today we would havee to multiply the cost of fo ood by 5 insstead of 3 Those T who think it und derestimates o Poin nt out that m money used d to pay taxees alimony child suppo ort health ccare or work related exxpenses sho ould be excluded becau use these su ums cannot be used other necesssities to buy food or o o Therre is no geographic cost of living aadjustment o Man ny believe th hat the poveerty thresho old is unrealistically low w rather than use an abso olute numbeer poverty status shou uld be deterrmined by co omparing a person s finan ncial situation with thaat of the restt of society 5 Mythss About the Poor 1 People P are poor because they are too lazy to work a Halff of the poorr are not of working age b About 40 under 18 and 10 1 over 65 2 Most M poor p people are m minorities and a most minorities m are poor a Neitther statemeent is true b Mosst poor peop ple are whitte merely beecause man ny more whiites than minorities live in the US c The poverty ratte howeverr remains co onsiderablyy higher for A African Ameericans and Hispanics than whites 3 Most M of thee poor are siingle motheers with children a It is true that a disproportionate sharee of poor ho ouseholds are headed by b women overty rate for f female h headed families is extreemely high and that the po b The majority off people in p poverty live in other fam mily arrangeements 4 Most M people in povertyy live in inneer cities orically povverty has been more preevalent in rural areas than in urban areas a Histo b Mucch of rural poverty p is invisible becaause it occurrs in isolated pockets 5 Welfare W pro ograms for tthe poor aree straining the t federal budget b a Social assistance programss for low inccome peoplee cost the feederal govt only ut a third ass much as otther types o of social asssistance like Social Secu urity and abou Med dicare which h mainly go to middle cclass Americcans Governm ment …