3.02 The Middle?

Here is the Google Form for this lesson.

From PEW, Are you in the American middle class?

Middle Class?

Putting the Dimensions of Class Together

All of the elements that we have been exploring combine to form a rough picture of social class.  There is not a universally accepted model for social class but income, wealth, education, location, prestige/power all can arguably play a part in determining class.

Using your knowledge of what the median American looks like, let's evaluate social class in America.  Think about these guiding questions as we go along today:

• What are the different classes in the US?
• Is there a middle class, and if so, what is it?

After our introductory lessons to social class, what does the median American look like?  Please list the following median: 

wealth

income

education

location

prestige

Knowing the median is the middle American (50th percentile), what is your opinion about how large should the middle class be?  That is, how much above the median and below the median should be considered the "middle class"?  (For example, should it be 80-20, 75-25, 60-40, or something else? And then what would you consider the other classes?  (There is no right answer here, just want to get you thinking.)

Gilbert's Model
Sociologists have used different models of social class to explain how social class disaggregates in the United States.  The table below is based on Hamilton College professor Dennis Gilbert's 1992 model of social class.  Look at the table and notice how Gilbert uses multiple measures (job, income, education)  to parse out the classes. 

1.  Which class do you think your family is, based on Gilbert's model?  Do all three components for your family fit his model?

2.  What do you think about Gilbert's model?  Any questions or criticisms?

Joan Williams' Model

Another model for the class structure is from Dr. Joan Williams who wrote the book White Working Class; Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America.

Dr. Williams' book came out of an article she wrote about the 2016 election posted here in Harvard Business Review.

Her article and her model of social class focus on these groups:

The "poor" class

• the bottom 30% 
• making less than 40K
• median income of $22K

The "working" class

• the middle 55%   
• approx. $41K - $131K
• median of $75K
• 
  

The "professional-managerial elite" or "PME"

• the top 14% on earners and at least one college degree in household
• earns more than $131K per year 
• median of $173,000

Dr. Williams explains that most Americans believe that they are middle class - whether they make $75K a year or $173K a year.  But these households have very different lifestyles and values, as she explains:

You can read her article here or watch her Ted Talk below.  The following TED Talk by Dr. Williams.  It is about 15min long, but it is insightful. 

Here is her Ted Talk:

 

3. After reading Williams' article posted here in Harvard Business Review or after watching the Ted Talk above, what do you think of her assessment of the contrast between the professional managerial elite class and the working class?  Do you understand why she is saying that this results in a political divide?

If you want to watch additional videos or a shorter one or see additional resources, check these out:

• Here is a 2 minute explanation by the author on Youtube.
• Here is a 4 minute interview with the author on Fox News.
• And Williams started a project to address the education divide called Diploma Divide.
• (Extra) For more about her work, see these:
• Review from Harvard Magazine here.
• Review from Financial Times.
• Review from Medium here.
• Powerpoint slides here.

Other sociologists that support Joan Williams' thesis:

Robert Wuthnow's The Left Behind; Decline and Rage in Rural America

Princeton University sociologist, Robert Wuthnow explains the dynamic that Joan Williams describes in his book The Left Behind; Decline and Rage in Rural America that location has strongly affected how rural Americans feel and how they vote.  

Here is a 2018 interview with Professor Wuthnow from Vox.

From Princeton U. Press:

What is fueling rural America’s outrage toward the federal government? Why did rural Americans vote overwhelmingly for Donald Trump? And, beyond economic and demographic decline, is there a more nuanced explanation for the growing rural-urban divide? Drawing on more than a decade of research and hundreds of interviews, Robert Wuthnow brings us into America’s small towns, farms, and rural communities to paint a rich portrait of the moral order — the interactions, loyalties, obligations, and identities—underpinning this critical segment of the nation. Wuthnow demonstrates that to truly understand rural Americans’ anger, their culture must be explored more fully. Wuthnow argues that rural America’s fury stems less from specific economic concerns than from the perception that Washington is distant from and yet threatening to the social fabric of small towns. Rural dwellers are especially troubled by Washington’s seeming lack of empathy for such small-town norms as personal responsibility, frugality, cooperation, and common sense. Wuthnow also shows that while these communities may not be as discriminatory as critics claim, racism and misogyny remain embedded in rural patterns of life.

Arlie Russell Hochschild's Strangers in their Own Land

In her 2016 book, Strangers In Their Own Land; Anger and Mourning on the American Right, renown sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild explains the deep story behind the Tea Party support and the rise of Trump which stems from growing social class inequality happening at the same time as civil rights equality which leaves many White Americans feeling like they are left behind by the government and that they are "strangers in their own land."

 

What I found most intriguing in her book was the concept of the "deep story", or a story that shapes the way people feel.  It doesn't matter if the story is real or true or not.  What matters is that the story is believed to be true so people shape their feelings and actions as if it were real.  Dr. Hochschild's idea is explained on NPR's Hidden Brain, 

In her new book, Strangers in Their Own Land, sociologist Arlie Hochschild tackles this paradox. She says that while people might vote against their economic needs, they're actually voting to serve their emotional needs. Hochschild says that both conservative and liberals have "deep stories" — about who they are, and what their values are. Deep stories don't need to be completely accurate, but they have to feel true. They're the stories we tell ourselves to capture our hopes, pride, disappointments, fears, and anxieties.

Kohn and Lareau

Family shapes people differently based on the social class of the family.   In her book Unequal Childhoods, Annette Lareau explains that parents from working-class households emphasize following rules and discipline while upper-middle-class parents teach their kids to take risks, negotiate, and think creatively.  Lareau explains how these different parenting methods shape children from different social classes:

• Upper middle-class families encourage negotiation and discussion and the questioning of authority and it can give the children a sense of entitlement.
• Working-class and lower-income families encourage the following and trusting of people in authority positions, and these parents do not structure their children's daily activities, but rather let the children play on their own. This method teaches the children to respect people in authority, and allows the children to become independent at a younger age.

Lareau explains these differences in her research.  Her book, Unequal Childhoods is explained in the Atlantic here.  And there is an excerpt available here.

Lareau identifies these two styles:

Concerted Cultivation: The parenting style, favored by middle-class families, in which parents encourage negotiation and discussion and the questioning of authority, and enroll their children in extensive organized activity participation. This style helps children in middle-class careers, teaches them to question people in authority, develops a large vocabulary, and makes them comfortable in discussions with people of authority. However, it gives the children a sense of entitlement.

Accomplishment of Natural Growth: The parenting style, favored by working-class and lower-class families, in which parents issue directives to their children rather than negotiations, encourage the following and trusting of people in authority positions, and do not structure their children's daily activities, but rather let the children play on their own. This method has benefits that prepare the children for a job in "working" class jobs, teaches the children to respect and take the advice of people in authority, and allows the children to become independent at a younger age.

Student discussion:

Why do you think each social class shapes kids these ways?  Brainstorm your own hypothesis here.

Analyze either your family or a family you know - which style do you think they are and why?  Can you give a specific example?

Conclusions or questions about the reciprocal connection between education and income?

Bonus Lesson - Happy Halloween!

Tour the Madonna Della Strada Crypt!

The Importance of Research and Data

Student discussion:  Why is it important to double-check your candy or have parents check little kids' candy?


Do you remember hearing, "Be careful of unwrapped candy and have parents check the candy before you eat it?" These ideas were popularized through the mass media as detailed in Barry Glasner's book Culture of Fear. But it took a sociologist, Joel Best, to research and publish that this was a myth propagated through the popular culture. See this post about the sociologist who discovered this urban legend.

NOTE: in 2022 there is a new type of fentamyl that the DOJ is warning about.  It looks like candy.  But it remains to be seen whether the fears of the last 40 years have finally come to fruition.


How is Halloween a Product of American Culture?

There are many ways to look at Halloween sociologically. One way is simply as an American holiday, and more specifically a moral holiday.  Moral holidays are special days or times when a culture takes a deviation from the norms.

What are some ways that Halloween is a moral holiday?

When I was in Japan in 1996-97 it was clear how different it was. As an American, I wanted to celebrate this holiday, but imagine being in a different culture dressed up as some creature or character - how strange that would look to people that had no idea it was a holiday.  And then to think of handing out candy and/or asking strangers for candy - how odd this would seem to a non-American.  So, a few other Americans and myself found an American restaurant where they were hosting a Halloween party and we limited our celebrating to within that establishment where it would not be violating Japanese norms.  Although traveling to and from there in costume was a little interesting.

Halloween and culture around the world

This PBS site explains how Halloween is celebrated in different cultures around the world 

Gender and Race in Costumes
Another way sociologists look at Halloween is through the costumes Americans wear and what they represent about our culture.  Using conflict perspective, examine this post.

• What do you notice about the costumes?
• What are the socialization messages that the costumes convey?
• How does this relate to power or inequality?

Notice all of the costumes that promote sexism and misogyny.  There are so many costumes that seem to be accepted just for the day but they are sexy _____ (fill in the blank).  The message is that if you are a female, it is okay to dress up like these things as long as you are sexy and you use your body as an object to be gawked at: sexy/slutty pilot, taxi cab driver, etc... And this is even happening for young kids.

Costumes can also promote racial stereotypes as in this post.

Checkout these people being sociologically mindful by posting pictures that are against racially stereotyped costumes.

This explanation from The Society Pages.  Which includes this video explaining Halloween costume fails.

Checkout this poetry slam by four girls who are exposing this truth.

And this post about black face.


Cultural Values - How do costumes represent a changing economy?
Another way to look at it is through the American values, especially consumerism.  Over the last few decades America has transitioned from a producer country to a consumer country. Both industrially and locally, we were a country that produced things. When we needed something, we made it, whether it was a car in a factory or a tomato in our garden or a Halloween costume at home. Now we have become a culture of consumers as typified in Halloween. Kids pick out their costume and then parents buy it. So when the trick or treaters come by, sometimes you'll see 4 or 5 of the same costume whether it's batman or a princess. I remember growing up and my mom struggling to find a way to make a costume for me. Sometimes it involved sewing, makeup, or creative use of materials. But it was always unique, creative and authentic; it was productive. I think that contemporary thinking would be that if a costume is homemade, it doesn't look as good or as polished as a store-bought one. And the assumption might also be that a homemade one is cheap. And so the value becomes consume; buy one at the store. So, culturally we are becoming as bland as our industrially produced tomatoes; a whole lot of us buying things exactly the same rather than growing our own tomatoes or making our own costumes.


Here are some costumes from Halloweens past:

Sister Jean

Chgo Bear Brian Urlacher for Restore

Pharrell

Steve from Blue's Clues

Pitbull

Meditation: Quiet the noise inside of you

 “The quieter you become, the more you are able to hear”  Rumi 

As the bell goes from ringing to silent, silence the noise inside of you.  We are filled with noise from society around us:

You really should...

Don't forget to...

You have to worry about... 

We are bombarded by messages like those above from so many sources: Family, friends, teachers, media, social media.  Many of the imperatives are latent, or hidden from us.  And many of the imperatives have been socialized into our self so we have accepted these part of who we are without consciously realizing it, without claiming it for ourselves, without agreeing to it.

So, this meditation is to quiet all of that noise.  Quiet all that imperatives inside of us.  Quiet all of the messages that are distracting us from the present moment.  Quite all of the things pulling you out of appreciating this moment right now.

One strategy for this meditation is to focus on your breath.  The only real imperative at any moment in your life is that you breathe. Pause.  Slowly and steadily breathe in through your nose.  Feel the air coming in.  Follow that air as it flows through the back of your throat and down into your lungs.  Feel it filling up your lungs.  Notice your chest expanding to let the air in.  Feel the oxygen nourishing your heart and then radiating out to the rest of your body via your bloodstream.  Now, slowly and steadily breathe out through your mouth.  Notice the used air expelling from your mouth.  Feel the air rushing past your lips exiting your body.

Misogi Breathing

This form of breathing is used in the Japanese martial art called aikido, which is "the way of peaceful energy".  In Japanese, it is called misogi breathing.

Sensei Lindstrom explains it here.

Qualitative Assessment for Unit 2: Social Structure

 

• The essay is due by the start of class 1 week from today.
• Write your answers and save them in a separate app. 
• Choose TWO questions to answer - one from each #1 and  #2 below
• Each question has multiple parts, be sure to: answer all parts, use specific details from your own life experiences, and write with proper grammar and prose.
• When you are ready to submit your answers, use this Google Form.    

This unit we have learned about how people are influenced by their social groups.  This process is called socialization and it begins from birth.  The groups that nurture are most powerful within our culture are called agents of socialization.  The agents of socialization that we examined in class are: family, school, friends/peers, and social media.  This assessment will examine the extent to which you can explain:  

1) the sociological concepts/perspective toward these agents, 

2) what sociological research reveals about how these agents influence individuals in our society and 

3) how these concepts and research show up in your own life or in your own authentic examples.

You MUST ANSWER BOTH 1 and 2 below:

1. Choose EITHER Family, School, Peers or Culture,  and answer the questions for it below.  Note that you only have to choose one (either family or media) but there are multiple parts for whichever you choose.  

A. Explain the difference between nature and nurture and how they interact to create/socialize who you are.  Give examples of how you are influenced by nature and then  how you are influenced by nurture from whichever group you chose for #1.  

B. Explain some of the research we examined (readings or video) such as Social Time, Kohl's Values Americans Live By, Thrive and how that research might apply specifically to your own life. Explain both the research and how you have been influenced/socialized and use specific examples from your life to illustrate whether this is true for you or not.

2.  Choose a DIFFERENT group than what you chose for #1 above and

A. Explain some of the research that shows how people are shaped/socialized by that group.  Use specific details from your own experience as an authentic example.  

B. Explain the difference between manifest lessons and latent lessons.  Then share an example of each from your own experiences with this group.  Be sure to include specific details/examples that authentically connect to your own life.

You will be assessed 8 points on each of the parts above (1A, 1B, 2A, 2B) if your answer was: fully explained, demonstrated a correct understanding, provided authentic examples.

• For any of the three areas above (explained, correct, authentic) that is not developed enough, students  will be assessed 1 point off of the total.
• For any of the three areas above (explained, correct, authentic) that is incorrect students will be assessed 2 points off the total.

Moving forward: If you found this unit interesting and/or want to learn more about how individuals develop a sense of self and are shaped by the social groups around them, consider taking SOCL230 Self & Society often taught by Dr. Everitt

3.0 Social Class Simulation; Heads I Win, Tails You Lose

As students enter, please get 3 pennies and wager with each other.

Rules:

• You must find someone to wager against and continue wagering with that person.
• Take turns flipping and wagering (one person picks the wager (how many coins) and one calls heads/tails).
• When I pause the action, be sure to count your coins and be counted!

3.01 Flipping Out over Social Class: Income, Wealth, Education, Location

Today we are gambling in class!  

Rules:

• Everyone will get 3 pennies.
• You must find someone to wager against and continue wagering.
• Take turns flipping and wagering (one person picks the wager and one calls heads/tails).
• When I pause the action, be sure to count your coins and be counted!

    Charting the distribution of coins

 

 round        1        2        3        4        5

#coins

    0

    1-3

    4-6

    7-9

    10-12

    13+

BEGIN WAGERING!

Today's lesson:

• How does the simulation resemble social class in the US?
• What is the median income in the US?
• How does your family's income or the average person in your hometown compare?
• What does the median/typical American look like in terms of wealth, education, location, power and prestige? 
• How does your family or the typical family from your hometown compare to the typical US household?
• How do all of these components affect each other?

Google Form

Debriefing


A Metaphor for Our System

The exercise was a metaphor for social class, also called Socioeconomic Status or SES.

Americans Believe that the Economic System is Fair and Equal

What are the chances of winning a coin flip?

If everyone starts with three coins, what do you think will happen as the contest goes on?

Like life in the U.S., the  exercise had the appearance of being fair and equal - everyone had a 50% chance of winning.  The U.S. is an open system - not a caste system or closed system like a monarchy or apartheid.  Because the American system technically allows anyone to move up, it gives the impression that everyone has an equal chance and that the system is fair.  The coin flip metaphor seems like everyone has a 50-50 chance to succeed.  This is true for U.S. society too.  From Jen Hochschild's book, Facing Up to the American Dream,  Americans believe in the "American dream;" success is attainable for anyone.  However, just like real life, the coin game takes a little luck.  If you are lucky enough to be born into wealth, it is an advantage just like being lucky to win early in the game.

The Difficulty of Defining Middle Class

At the end of the simulation, how would you define middle class?

Most Americans claim to be in the middle class.  People making $30K per year to people making $200K per year claim to be in the middle class.  Because Americans hate the idea of a class system, most Americans prefer to think of themselves as middle class.  This 2015 article from Smithsonian Magazine details a number of sources that show Americans like to believe that they are middle class.  However, rather than being a society of equality or a society of people in the middle, America has the highest rate of poverty among the 17 leading industrial nations.  Most wealth is at the top in the hands of very few people and most people are at the bottom with very littleHowever, defining the middle is difficult because there is so much money skewed to the top and there are so many people at the bottom.  Even though the game has the appearance of being an equal 50-50 chance, the rules favor a channeling of wealth to the top.  Every time we play this, the outcome is similar: most money at the top and most people at the bottom with very little money.  This is true in real life as well as the metaphor.  The wealth distribution in the U.S. resembles a Lorenze curve (here):

Compare this graph to a graph of the coin distribution at the end of the game.

Some of the specific similarities include:

• How difficult it is to define the middle class.
• The huge disparity between those at the top and those at the bottom.
• The large number of Americans who have no wealth/no coins.

 

Rather than being a society of equality or a society of people in the middle, the US has one of the highest rates of poverty and inequality out of the most developed countries in the world. 

The longer we play the game, the more skewed the outcome becomes

From the Economic Policy Institute,

Most Americans believe that a rising tide should lift all boats—that as the economy expands, everybody should reap the rewards. And for two-and-a-half decades beginning in the late 1940s, this was how our economy worked. Over this period, the pay (wages and benefits) of typical workers rose in tandem with productivity (how much workers produce per hour). In other words, as the economy became more efficient and expanded, everyday Americans benefited correspondingly through better pay. But in the 1970s, this started to change...Income trends have varied from state to state, and within states. But a pattern is apparent: the growth of top 1% incomes. 

Social class inequality in the U.S. is growing and has been for decades.  This growth is profoundly shaping the United States even though few seem to recognize it.  Economic inequality is influenced by many factors, including the economy, public policy and social changes.  The last several decades, income inequality has been growing.  The highest earning Americans have continued to earn more and more over the last 50 years, while the lower earners have earned closer to about the same.

Social Class Components (aka "Rules") Create a Similar Skew of Social Class

The "rules" of our society help to create that dynamic. By "rules" I mean the opportunities and obstacles that are embedded into our system, especially wealth, income, education, location.  All of these components both exemplify social class inequality and they exacerbate it.  Please read about each element below.  Remember to think about what an average American looks like and how your family compares.  I want you to have a better understanding of where your family fits compared to the average American when the lesson is finished.

Income and Social Class:  

What is income and what are some different types of income?

The first component of social class that we will examine is income.  Income is usually what Americans think of first when they think of social class.  Income is how much money a person or household takes in each year.  Income can come from different sources:

• Hourly Wages - It can be hourly wages such as a secretary or construction worker that makes $25 per hour and they only get paid for the hours they work.  
• Salary - a set amount regardless of how much one works like a teacher or a manager who makes a salary of $75,000 per year, regardless of the number of hours they work.  
• Capital gains - profits made off of investments.  An example of capital gains might be a stock trader who buys Apple stock at $100 per share and then sells it 2 years later for $200 per share.

1.  What do you think the median household income in the United States is? 

(please guess if you are not sure.) Note - Median is the middle, whereas mean is the average.

The “typical” (median) American family income

2.  What is the typical American family income?  

You can find the median income for the US as a whole and the zip code where you are from specifically by using the Census Data finder here.

Here is 2021 Data from the US Census Bureau:

The median income for households in the US was $74,755 in 2023. 

 

3.  How does this compare to either your own household income, or the zip code you are from?

Income by percentile

Another way to examine income is through percentile.  This is best visualized through the data analysis from the website Don’t Quit Your Day Job.  Here is how Rogers Park falls on the data:

For more on income by percentile, Four Pillar Freedom gives an overview (2019). 

Less Money More Work 

Income inequality has been growing since 1980

Here is Income Inequality from inequality.org. One graph shows that income inequality has grown to levels of the gilded age:

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities published this report with this graph detailing the rising inequality.

This 2017 NY Times editorial explains the rising inequality in one chart, from David Leonhardt (shown below).

The grey line is how much that percentile group's income grew from 1945-1980.

The red line is how much that percentile group's income grew from 1979 - 2014.

Note that more recently, the highest income earners experienced the greatest gains in income.  But it used to be the opposite - the lowest earners were making the highest gains.

This post from Slate details how there was much income inequality during the beginning of the 20th century, then the inequality lessened known as the great compression (1940-1980) followed by a growth in income inequality known as the great divergence (1980 - present).

Another resource for income is from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED)  You can search for real income (adjusted for inflation) in multiple years for comparison.  Here is a graph showing the real income from 1984 to the most recent data.

The Rise of Dual Income Households

Despite the growing inequality in income, Americans are working more than ever.  The graph below from PEW shows the share of households who have two income earners from 1960 to 2012.   Families are busier and working more, but earning less and less of a share of the income in the U.S.

Lower Incomes Pay Higher Taxes

Another contributor to income inequality is government policy. Income has been becoming more unequal, but government policies can affect this inequality.  For example, some of the highest income earners actually pay a lower percentage in taxes than middle income earners!  From the Tax Policy Center, this chart (below) shows that higher income earners pay more of their taxes as capital gains taxes which are taxed at a lower rate than the majority of Americans who pay income taxes at a higher rate.

This chart (below) from the nonpartisan Concord Coalition  shows the rate that capital gains have been taxed compared to other taxes:

Note capital gains have always  been taxed at less than income tax.  And what this chart does not show is that if you can earn all of your money by capital gains and declare no income, then you can reduce your capital gains tax to zero! If you find the chart or all of the tax talk confusing, simply know this: Some of the highest income earners in the U.S. can pay the less income tax than the average American.  And, as tax rates have fallen since the 1950s, inequality has gone up.  The higher tax rates allowed the government to provide loans for college, small businesses and buying homes, and the taxes fueled projects that created jobs like building infrastructure such as highways, airports and the power grid, and even Red Rocks Amphitheater.

And this 2023 NPR story explains that many millionaires realize that the tax system is not fair and they would like to see that change.

Visualizing Economics also explains the changing tax rates.

Wealth and Social Class  

Wealth is tricky to understand.  It is everything that a household owns, such as the home, vacation home, cars, 401K, savings, stocks, jewelry, etc...But, you must subtract what the household owes.  So, if my house is $200,000 but I owe $160,000 then my wealth is only $40,000 on the house.  

Wealth Disparity in the US

One way to examine wealth is through quintiles (20% increments);  If you lined all the households up in the U.S. by their wealth, what percentage of the total wealth would the top 20% own? And then the next 20% and so on...

Another way to think about this is if you have 5 people who are sharing a pie, what percent of the pie does the first person get, and the second person and third, etc...

CBS explains wealth with a pie here.

Try the following exercise on your own:

First, hypothesize, how much of the wealth (the pie) in the U.S. do you think each quintile has:

Bottom 20%:______   2nd 20%_______  3rd 20%________  4th 20%_______ 5th 20%_______Top

(least)                                                                                                                                (most)

Second, write how much you think each quintile should have?
Bottom 20%:

Bottom 20%:______   2nd 20%_______  3rd 20%________  4th 20%_______ 5th 20%_______Top

(least)                                                                                                                                (most)

After you have finished answering the questions above, watch this video:


What is the reality?  How is the wealth actually divided?


4.  How does your guess about wealth compare to how it is actually distributed?   

Wealth in the US is more disparate than income!  The inequality is shocking:


Here is another representation:

Wealth is so skewed that there is a 2022 Socius article devoted to explaining how difficult it is to visualize the disparity here. This is a graph of the bottom 99% of Americans:

This video from the ST. Louis Fed also explains the disparity in wealth in the US (2019).

The overall conclusion about wealth is that the disparity of wealth is greater than that of income (see the pie graph below).  The top 1% of America owns 34% of everything.  The top 10% owns 70%.  And half of America owns 96% of everything.  In other words, the bottom half, 50% of America, owns almost nothing.  They have no money saved - for retirement or otherwise.  Once you deduct their debts, they have almost no equity - from their homes, or possessions, or bank accounts.  

Another way to see the disparity from inequality.org is that the three wealthiest Americans own more than the bottom fifty percent combined!

Wealth Disparity is Growing

Similar to income, the disparity on wealth has been growing:

Here is the wealth distribution in the US from 1990 to 2021 from Statista - note the blue line which has been growing since 1990:

The PEW shows trends in wealth and income 2020:

Inequality.org explains the rising wealth inequality, even during the pandemic.

The wealth of a "typical" American

The DQYDJ analysis of wealth in America calculates the median net wealth for Americans at $192,000 in 2023:

Another estimate of the wealth (2019) of Americans from the Aspen Institute provides a detailed analysis of the different assets of wealth that Americans hold based on their relative position:

It might be difficult to know how much wealth your family has, so here is a different way to think about it from Statista:   

• 90% own 1 car, 50% own 2 cars (actual average is 1.8 cars per household),   
• 50% have a 401K, 
• 66% own 1 home, (only 6% own a second home like a condo or lake house).

5.  How does your family's wealth compare to the average American?  Feel free to comment on any of the above stats, or a combination of them.

For a much more detailed analysis of wealth, see this post from business insider which explains the wealth by demographics like age, race, and two components of social class that we will examine next: education and location.

Education and Social Class

Without looking, what percentage of U.S. adults do you think have a college degree?

Here is a link to the Census data regarding education where you can search by municipality or zip code to see what the median educational level is.  Here is the median for all of the USA:

6.  Did you realize that so few people have a bachelor's degree or higher?  Does any of this surprise you?

7.  Where does your family fall in terms of educational level? The median American educational level is some college, but no degree.  Is the educational level in your family higher or lower and by how much?

Parent Education = Children's Future Education 

Parents' educational levels correlate with children's educational attainment.  The graph below shows that the less education that parents have, the less education their children obtain.  In other words, if parents don't have a college degree, the child is not likely to attain a college degree and visa-versa; parents with an advanced degree are more likely to have children who attain an advanced degree themselves.

Below is another way of showing the educational level of parents (on the left) influences the level of college education their children get (center) and what social class the children end up in (right) from Daniel Laurison on Twitter:

8.  What are some conclusions or questions you have about how parent educational level affects children's educational probability?

Education = Income

Not only is education level stratified, but the family's educational level determines, on average what the family's income will be (on average).   In other words, the higher your education is, the more money one is likely to earn.  Link to College Board 2016 research report here.  The graph below shows how median income goes up for each level of education, even if you factor in income taxes (which also go up):

Here is a 2011 post from sociological images that has a lot of info showing the connection between your degree and your income, especially that more than any other factor, educational level contributes to lifetime income earnings and the earnings gap gets wider over time.

Income = test scores

So, not only does more education mean more income, the more income means higher scores on standardized tests (which could mean a better education).  See the data below.  This link shows that on average, the higher a family's income, the higher the ACT score.

9.  What are some of the reasons that higher-income might lead to higher test scores?

Higher Income = More Elite College (from no college all the way to the Ivies)

People from different social classes are more likely to interact together at college.  From The Upshot of  NY Times, this interactive site allows you to see what percent of students from the top 1% and bottom 60% attend each school of higher education.  You can click on the link above to search your own schools and see more data, but below are two images from the link.

First, this image shows in general that the more income a family has (left side y-axis), the more elite the school that their kids attend:

And the list below shows how schools rank in terms of students from the top 1% of income compared to the number of students from the bottom 60%:

Not only is educational level shaped by parents' social class, but even the major that a student chooses is too.  This research from Natasha Quadlin shows that the major a student chooses at college is influenced by social class,

"...income gaps between fields are often larger than gaps between those with college degrees and those without them. Natasha Quadlin finds that this gap is in many ways due to differences in funding at the start of college that determine which majors students choose....She finds that students who pay for college with loans are more likely to major in applied non-STEM fields, such as business and nursing, and they are less likely to be undeclared. However, students whose funding comes primarily from grants or family members are more likely to choose academic majors like sociology or English and STEM majors like biology or computer science."

Matchmaking and Education

Besides the likelihood of meeting friends and potential spouses at college, there are specific apps and websites to help matchmake couples from Ivy League+ schools.  This 2019 Harvard Gazette article reviews three of them including:  

• BluesMatch, a company based in London that matches Oxford, Cambridge, and Ivy League graduates, said it makes sense that as people experience search fatigue from broad, impersonal online dating pools, they’re drawn to sites that narrow the field by matching users’ interests or backgrounds. “People get tired of using Tinder or Match because there are too many people,” said Law during a Skype chat from London. “And they often don’t have the level of conversation that someone from Oxford or the Ivy League gets excited by.”
• Elegant Introductions out of Miami, are matchmakers for a clientele based in Miami and Boston. Most of their clients, said Gold, are highly educated and professionally successful, are involved in their community, appreciate the arts, and have been screened to make sure they are who they say they are. Applicants have to show proof of an Ivy League degree.

Additionally, if you are interested:

Elite Colleges Constantly Tell Low-Income Students That They Do Not Belong from Clint Smith in the Atlantic.

How Admissions Really Work: If The College Admissions Scandal Shocked You, Read this from NPR.

There are lots of ways that wealthy families get a boost in the college admissions process. Most are quite legal.

Paul Tough's book, The Years That Matter Most is a deep-dive sociological look into college and social class.  From the NY Times book review, 

"... today, whether you graduate from college is largely determined by your parents’ income. In the United States, 77 percent of children born into the top income quartile will earn a degree by age 24, but for the bottom quartile that number is a mere 9 percent. The implications are clear: The education system isn’t transforming the lives of those who need it most; it is dispensing ever more opportunity to those who need it least."

Social Class Component 4: Location

The next component of social class is location.  

The Median Metro Area
Examining the largest 384 metro areas in the United States, Chicago is the 3rd most populous at 9 million people.  There are different ways to measure the median metro area, but regardless of how it’s done, it is substantially smaller than Chicago.   Examining the median individual American, they live in a  metro area closer in size to the 50th metro region such as Fresno, CA, Grand Rapids, MI, Rochester, NY or Tulsa, OK, just above 1 million people. However, the median metropolitan area is Yakima, WA or Baldwin County, AL.  Either way, the typical American lives in a small city - much smaller than the Chicago metropolitan region.  And this geographic disparity of location is connected to income and class.

10.  What is the size of the median metro area in the United States?

11.  How does our metro area compare to the median?

Location and where College Grads Move

WSJ data shows where college grads are likely to move after they graduate.  Here is one example of where LUC grads move:

This post explains more detail about the WSJ data above and how location and education are related.

 Open this post to see the rest of the data.

Try to make your own conclusions about the data:

12.  Where do college grads tend to move?

13.  How do you think where college grads move affects social class in the U.S.?

Educational Attainment in America Map

Another source of evidence regarding social class, education and location is The American Community Survey Map (pictured below).   

The map shows that there are clusters of people with the same levels of education living together.  Take a look at the clusters of green and blue near cities from this zoomed out perspective of America:

Here is northern Illinois  - note the clusters of different levels of education:

And Chicago's northside shows that educational segregation on a neighborhood level:

14.  Where do you see segregation by educational attainment? 

 This article by Business Insider highlights some conclusions about educational segregation based on the interactive version of the map above.

Home Price, Location and Social Class

The price of a home depends on a lot more than the physical structure of the home. 

From Business Insider, the average home price varies considerably from state to state. For example, Zillow’s Home Value Index (2023) puts the median home value in the US at $350,113. But West VA was the lowest with an average home value of $158K and Hawaii was the highest at $971K followed by California at $760K. The value for Illinois was $255K. Location matters.

Extra Data about Home Price:

From FRED, (Federal Reserve Economic Data) click here for the median home price.

Here is the median home price from Statista.

Location and home price:

City-data has census data by census track including the average home price (as well as income and other data).

15.  How do you think your home's value compares to the average home price?  (Remember from the wealth section above, the average American owns a home.)


Location and health

Research from  Melody Goodman, an assistant professor at Washington University in St. Louis presented at Harvard School of Public Health shows that zipcode is a better predictor for health than genetic code:

Residents to the north of Delmar are less likely to have a bachelor’s degree and more likely to have heart disease or cancer.

More recently, Damon Tweedy from Health Affairs summarizes new research from David Ansell, senior vice president and associate provost for community health equity and a professor of medicine at Chicago’s Rush University Medical Center,

Headlines portray Chicago, Illinois, as the epicenter of urban gun violence. But most premature deaths among Chicago’s black residents are caused by heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. In his new book... Ansell asserts that structural violence is the true cause of the dramatic...differences in death rates and life expectancy across Chicago neighborhoods. According to Ansell, this form of violence—rooted in past and present social, economic, and racial inequality—saps the lives of residents in poor neighborhoods and results in the death gap. Chicago, in this narrative, is a microcosm of America. 

In this new book, he takes a larger view, focusing on how factors outside of the health care system—neighborhood segregation, in particular—affect health. 

The death gaps are indeed striking: For example, in 2010 the life expectancy in the affluent Hyde Park section of Chicago was eighty-three, but less than a mile away, in Washington Park, it was sixty-nine. Ansell offers similar comparative data for other neighborhoods in the Chicago area as well as in many other metropolitan settings across America. “Those statistics reflect averages,” Ansell writes, “but every death from structural violence is a person.”

And Clint Smith, a Washington DC teacher explains in his slam poem the ways that location affects his students.  As you watch, make a list of the ways that location affects them:

Location is also related to mobility:

An online data tool called Opportunity Atlas finds a strong correlation between where people are raised and their chances of achieving the American dream.
Here is an NPR piece explaining it.
Here is the NY Times Upshot explaining it.
Opportunity Insights provides data about how neighborhoods shape residents' life chances.

Here are maps showing the wide variation of opportunity from the national to the local levels:

This report from NPR's Planet Money details how where you grow up can affect your income later in life.

And here is a video and stats from CNN Money that show how where you grow up limits or benefits you.

Prestige and Power and Social Class:

People view different occupations with different levels of prestige.  This prestige can translate to real power such as being appointed to boards or committees.  It can also simply give you credibility or respect in social situations.  

What is the median prestige job in this data?  

Where does your family's prestige rating fall compared to this?

Power, according to Max Weber, is the ability to impose one's will on others.  Weber focused on three ways that power shows up in everyday life:

• Traditional authority - power because of social or cultural tradition like royalty or religious leaders
• Rational-Legal authority - power from law and legitimacy of the state such as judges and police 
• Charismatic authority - power that comes from personal qualities that create influence over people such as Kim Kardashian or Michael Strehan

One example of power is how the world's most powerful leaders gather in secret meetings annually to discuss how they can shape policy, economics and laws among other things. One such meeting is the American Enterprise Institute is one example of an annual meeting which is a private, off-the-record meeting held every year.  Another meeting is the Bilderberg meeting.

Some examples of power are the abilities to keep yourself out of jail, influence politicians and enact laws that you favor:

Here is one example from The Daily Show comparing teachers and Wall Street Investors.  Can you guess who has the power?  Video is available at Youtube here.

Here is a link to a Washington Post article explaining that wealthy Americans use their power to create favorable government policies.

This 2019 ProPublica report found that the IRS is LESS likely to audit wealthier Americans because it is more costly and difficult.

And this article from the NY Times shows that an executive at United Airlines accused of corruption charges was forced to resign. Imagine if a teacher was accused of corruption and was forced to resign. That would be it - out of a job and no compensation. But,

United filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday indicating that Mr. Smisek would receive nearly $4.9 million in a separation payment, and 60,000 shares of stock, valued at over $3 million.

Some more local examples of a contrast in power among wealthy and powerful compared to low income and powerless:

Compare this story to the cheating scandal in the video above.

Check this post for an explanation of drug busts at different schools including here.

Choose one of the examples above.  Which did you choose and what is the power being exerted?