Background/Social Class ?

[Perseus]

What Background/Social Class do you come from ?

Andy from England

 

[Zealot]

I wasn't exactly sure, so I put middle class, but that may not be true. My parents are split up, but they still run a business together. They both have their own vehicle, and my dad lives in his own apartment, which I suppose, when you add it with my house, counts as a "bigger house".

 

[FacetiousPersona]

It depends on the theory and nationality of the individual. An example would be the difference be the upper-class of England and the United States. England's upper-class is accessible to few (they're Britain's royal family). It is very difficult to marry into Britain's royal family and successfully be accepted. However, upper-class is defined differently in the United States and classified based on income and position. The United States focuses less on social hierarchy (explained with the political system), yet there are political families (Clinton and Busy family) in the United States that have advantages with their status.

I must add that those born into the middle-class and above generally have higher opportunities and extra privileges, increasing their probability of succeeding academically. Plus, if you believe in intelligence heritage, this is another factor to explain their success. These are typical reasons for them becoming successful as their parents were and maintaining/increasing their socioeconomic status. This is the reason that many family lines are of a specific socioeconomic class, I think. You must also note the middle-class's parents' efforts to teach the child the importance of education and their future, encouraging them to perform well academically. The parents would have the experience to know a good education is required for success on their level. I would not be surprised if the average middle-class parents focused on nurturing their child academically higher than the average working-class parents. There will be circumstances when the working-class parents do not want their child to have a similar future to them (low pay) and support the child academically, yet they may not have the resources/time/experience to do this effectively. Plus, if intelligence and social class problems (drugs, violence, etc) are a problem, they might naturally have immense difficulty.

I am middle-class, yet I could be considered as upper middle class.

 

[Jordan~]

We have two crappy cars, but they might be better if my dad didn't despise motor vehicles.

 

[Seducer of the Homeless]

we have two decent cars, not dear though. old Citroen Picasso and a Mitsubishi Colt
(average big car, cheap small car) quite small house but it is a house.

the difference between upper middle and lower middle is the lower know they are middle class, the upper middle are deluded to thinking they are upper class.

 

[Perseus]

In England the Lower Middle Class are disadvantaged income-wise compared to the working class. The kids miss out on University whereas the working class do not usually think about it. INTPs of both types lack opportunities to demonstrate their skills and aptitudes and can get trapped in dead end jobs and crappy housing.

 

[Seducer of the Homeless]

yeah, but i have no intention going to university. "All those pi, priggish Malvolios going about the place with 'Do you mind, some of us have got exams tomorrow, actually' expressions on their pale, prefectorial little faces. Vomitworthy" Steven Fry, 'The Hippopotamus'.
And the price! jesus.
I hope not to get stuck in dead end jobs. i would imagine, whatever pay, a job in music would be a life worth living.

 

[Da Blob]

SES (socio-economic status) is becoming an increasingly important demographic, dependent variable.
There are concerned about children being raised in a impoverished environment.

However, in my life I was "impoverished" when I did not have access to a Library...

At my age I can claim to have spent significant portions of my life in all the SES classes,

There are patterns to each class, but individuality is not really factored in, in sociology, which, to my mind makes it a form of stereotyping, and a mechanism for prejudice...

 

[sagewolf]

I have no idea. Our situation has been steadily improving over the past few years, so we're comfortable but not rich. Almost anything I can think of that would indicate our class has a 'but' attached to it. So I put middle class, because based on your description, I wouldn't be able to think of college otherwise, but it's a dead cert in our case, assuming I get an offer.

 

[FacetiousPersona]

SES (socio-economic status) is becoming an increasingly important demographic, dependent variable.
There are concerned about children being raised in a impoverished environment.

However, in my life I was "impoverished" when I did not have access to a Library...

At my age I can claim to have spent significant portions of my life in all the SES classes,

There are patterns to each class, but individuality is not really factored in, in sociology, which, to my mind makes it a form of stereotyping, and a mechanism for prejudice...

Elements of sociology are based on statistics, observed patterns of people and general norms. It cannot consider each case individually and simplifies its approach with generalizations for at least a degree of understanding. Sociology might not be effective with individuals, but perhaps it would be an okay judge with a 'norm' of behaviour with a majority. Of course, the behaviour of each individual within the norm will not be the same (accounting details), but there are principles which remain the same. A doctor and lawyer have different positions (detail), but if you view them with the big picture, they have the same salary and will be on the scale for this reason. Simplifying a complex concept for us to understand it or gain valid conclusions, basically.

 

[FusionKnight]

My parents are both working-class, I suppose. My dad is a self-employed drywall contractor (construction) and my mom is a nurse. They absorbed a lot of debt in order to send my brother and I to college. We've both done well; I'm a mechanical engineer and he's a chemist. I suppose considering our age, we'd be upper-middle class, but my background is definitely working-class.

I'm not sure how best to measure this anyway. Our net worth is way negative due to school loans, but we carry no revolving debt of any kind (including credit cards, car loans, etc). My wife and I "own" a house, but since the market crashed we have negative equity there. So, I guess our earning potential is high, but our actual worth is lower than zero (but higher than the average)...

 

[Reverse Transcriptase]

The term "working class" is really interesting. I mean, what's the opposite? If you aren't working class do you not work?

And I guess that's how it used to be. The workers did work, the upper-class just managed, or lived in luxury without doing much, but while holding all the cards.

I read an article somewhere that looked at married couples and whether they both worked, neither worked, or just one worked. And got that data for multiple decades in America. In the early-mid 1900s it was common that the wealthy families had stay at home moms. But the trend has been reversing, and there are many couples now that have both spouses working.

My parents both work, although my mom is now retired (and after she had my brother and I she cut back to 3 days a week). Despite working 3 days a week, my mom still was on-call (she's a Doctor) the same amount as the other doctors.

There's two odd things about this thread:
#1: You can see what everyone answered in the poll.
#2: Perseus only included those 4 options, which even overlap a little! On can be in working class and lower class, right? Additionally there's no upper-middle or upper class. It's weird that he assumes that there are no upper classes people here. Or he just wants to watch us wriggle uncomfortable, since it takes awhile for anyone to admit they're upper class. We have a lot of guilt about class, so sometimes it's a hard thing to do. Or maybe Perseus is actually crazy, and only thought of those 4 options. Or maybe Perseus is upper class and feels guilty about it, so guilty that he made a poll without that option and then lied on it!
Perseus, you're a puzzle.

I grew up in a weird suburb. The kids make fun of the town a lot, we call it "the bubble". In my 9th grade history class my teacher asked us all to raise our hands if we thought we were in: Lower class (a couple hands went up), Middle class (almost all the hands went up), Upper class (a couple hands went up).
Then he said "You're all wrong, except those two. You're all upper class, with maybe a couple middle-class." He's using broad terms, just talking about quintiles. I'd agree that most of the kids in that classroom were in families that were in the top quintile.

Households with net worths of $1 million or more may be identified as members of the upper-most socio-economic demographics, depending on class model used. While most contemporary sociologists estimate that only 1% of households are members of the upper class, sociologist Leonard Beeghley states all households with a net worth of $1 million or more to be "rich." He divides "the rich" into two sub-groups: the rich and the super-rich. The simply rich constitute roughly 5% of U.S. households and their wealth is largely in the form of home equity. Other contemporary sociologists, such as Dennis Gilbert, argue that this group is largely part of the upper middle class, as its standard of living is largely derived from occupation-generated income and its affluence falls far short of that attained by the top percentile. Beeghley does acknowledge that most households with a net worth of $1 million, a group that includes many middle class professionals, would largely identify as "upper middle class." The super-rich, according to Beeghley, are those able to live off their wealth. This demographic constitutes roughly 0.9% of American households. Beeghley's definition of the super-rich is congruent with the definition of upper class employed by most other sociologists. The top .01 percent of the population, with an annual income of $9.5 million or more, received 5% of the income of the United States in 2007. These 15,000 families have been characterized as the "richest of the rich".[14]

This post has come full circle very nicely... those super-rich live off their own wealth, and those are the people not in the working class.

So... I'd define myself & my family being upper-middle (and working) class, on the basis that we cannot live off our own money and depend on occupation-generated income.

Here's an article about America's wealth spectrum:
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bu...ere-Do-You-Stand-on-America's-Wealth-Spectrum

 

[Kuu]

the difference between upper middle and lower middle is the lower know they are middle class, the upper middle are deluded to thinking they are upper class.

You hit the nail straight in the head.

I used to think I was upper class when I was little. But no, I'm not. (My older sister remains deluded...). So yeah.

It was strange for me to understand it considering the environment I grew up in. Lots of old money high class, and an endless amount of upper middles pretending to be high. Some taking it to absurd levels and ending up homeless, having to sleep in their luxury cars and dressed in their designer clothes... all in order to keep up with the Joneses... (A fact that I only realized much later).

 

[Perseus]

The term "working class" is really interesting. I mean, what's the opposite? If you aren't working class do you not work?

And I guess that's how it used to be. The workers did work, the upper-class just managed, or lived in luxury without doing much, but while holding all the cards.

This post has come full circle very nicely... those super-rich live off their own wealth, and those are the people not in the working class.

So... I'd define myself & my family being upper-middle (and working) class, on the basis that we cannot live off our own money and depend on occupation-generated income.

Here's an article about America's wealth spectrum:
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bu...ere-Do-You-Stand-on-America's-Wealth-Spectrum

When I did a talk for the Rotary Club, I found myself thinking I was part of the working class like a performer doing a job, albeit self-employed, rather than the professional self-employed Rotary Club members (England), but although my current income does not fall in their bracket of estate agents to landscape gardeners, I found myself espousing their principles from my lower working class background, even if they did not themselves. I have also been identified by a solicitor as upper class, but that was just an act.