Unit 5Social Class

Essential Questions:•What is social class?•Can you tell the difference between social classes?•Is the American Dream myth valid?•How does economic class affect life in America?

Social Class

• Social Class• a group of people who share the same economic

and cultural level•

Class Household Income % of pop.Capitalist Class: +$500,000 1%• Investors, heirs, and top executives• Private schools, prestigious universities• Many philanthropic (guilt or purpose for life)• Do not fear taxes or inflation•

Capitalist Class: +$500,000 1%

• old money: • Inherited wealth• Longer rich = more prestige

• new money: • fortunes made in business, stock

market, inventions, entertainment• Video Clip “All you need is cash:

People like us”• https://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf2dScTlvOQ

•

Upper Middle Class: $100,000+ 15%

• Professionals (Lawyers, physicians, architect) , small business owners or upper managers

• College, most post-graduate•

Lower-Middle class: $40,000+ 34%

• Teachers, nurses, most skilled contractors, lower managers, etc.

• Often college or technical training• Most have jobs that call for them to follow orders • Comfortable mainstream lifestyle• Threatened by taxes and inflation• Still feel they can climb the social ladder•

Working class: ~$30,000 30%

• Unskilled blue and white collar workers• Retail, secretaries, service

industry, factory workers

• High school graduates• Jobs are less secure, more

routine, more closely supervised

• Fear being downsized in a recession

•

Working Poor: ~$16,000 16%• Minimum wage jobs• Unskilled, low-paying,

temporary and seasonal jobs

• Most are high school dropouts

• Use gov’t assistance to stay afloat• Fear “ending up on the

streets”•

Underclass: under $10,000 4%• Sometimes do low-paying, menial, temp work• Little/irregular education• No chance of climbing anywhere• Concentrated in cities•

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Social Mobility: movement between social classes

• Vertical: up or down; secretary promoted to management

• Horizontal: change job within a class; doctor to a lawyer

• Intergenerational: changing within family; fireman dad, accountant son

•

Activity• Individually: write a short story of

someone who changed social classes over their lifetime• Describe which class they started

with (and describe it) and which they ended up with (and describe it)•Which type of mobility was it?•

Horatio Alger myth:Many of Alger's works have been described as rags to riches stories,

illustrating how down-and-out boys might be able to achieve the American Dream of wealth and success through hard work, courage, determination, and concern for others. This widely held view involves Alger's characters achieving extreme wealth and the subsequent remediation of their "old ghosts." Alger is noted as a significant figure in the history of American cultural and social ideals.

• Through hard work, most anyone can rise to the top of the social ladder.

• Based off of stories popular during the Second Industrial Revolution in America, the late 1800s when capitalism was going full steam and immigrants were thronging our cities

• What might be the purpose of this myth? Why does it remain?Question: Do you believe in the American Dream?

Can you rise through hard work and perseverance or is luck and starting economic condition hugely important in ultimate success?

3 components of social class• Wealth: • the total value of everything someone owns,

minus debts• Power: • the ability to carry out your will, even over the

resistance of others• Prestige: • Respect, influence

Prestigious people can get tables at restaurants, even if their nominal power and wealth are low. Not just respect - also looks, fame, and popularity

How can you tell a person’s class?

Class and Prestige relativity

• Plug in your income/wealth- see where you stand • http://www.globalrichlist.com/

• So What Class are you in?• http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/

national/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_01.html

•

List of prestigious jobs- Work in groups to rank 1-10What do they jobs at the top have in common?

Higher levels of educationHigher payingGreater autonomyGreater abstract thought

How do people exhibit their prestige? (Stereotypically how would you expect a doctor or Senator to be different from a garbageman?)

Material objectsTheir vocabularyCollege choiceLocation of homeThe way we respect them (saluting, standing, etc.)

If a janitor walked into the room, would we stand? What about the President?

Sources:• http://www.usmessageboard.com/general/107883-blue-collar-workers-are-screwe

d-3.html• http://fashionforrealwomen.com/blog/top-indicators-of-your-social-class/• http://blogs.ubuntu-nl.org/dennis/2006/03/17/bill-gates-hates-children/• http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/files/

2010/04/John-D.-Rockefeller.jpg&imgrefurl=http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/2010/04/23/rich-as-rockefeller/&usg=__MRK3Q0u56WHRLGEPy-21rzyKB_o=&h=350&w=281&sz=11&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=Dp8SfeqYkhVlbM:&tbnh=105&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drockefeller%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D534%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=212&vpy=70&dur=969&hovh=251&hovw=201&tx=111&ty=110&ei=2fH3TMXwFIXGlQf61NCLAg&oei=2fH3TMXwFIXGlQf61NCLAg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=23&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0

• http://dcgiftshop.com/items/Kennedy_USCG_Yacht__Art_Print.html• http://ffbsccn.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/nobody-who-works-hard-should-be-

poor-in-america-writes-david-shipler/