Concept Identification Project

SES and Social Class Concepts

Classism: The institutional, cultural and individual set of practices and beliefs that assign differential value to people according to their socioeconomic class; and an economic system that creates excessive inequality and causes basic human needs to go unmet.

Internalized Classism: Acceptance and justification of classism by working-class and poor people, such as feelings of inferiority to higher-class people, hostility and blame toward other working-class or poor people, and beliefs that classist institutions/policies are fair are all examples of internalized subordination. Feelings of superiority to people lower on the class spectrum than oneself, a sense of entitlement, rationalizations of classist policies and institutions on the part of middle class and people on the upper end of the class spectrum are examples of internalized domination. Both internalized subordination and internalized dominance are manifestations of internalized classism.

Socioeconomic Status (SES) versus Social Class: They are closely related (often used interchangeably), but have a distinction…

Socioeconomic status (SES) Used to measure a person's work experience and of an individual's or family’s economic and social position relative to others, based on education, occupation, income (and accrued wealth or net worth)

Socioeconomic status is typically broken into five categories, high SES (upper, capitalist, “super rich”) upper? “middle SES, lower middle SES, and low SES to describe the three areas a family or an individual may fall into. When placing a family or individual into one of these categories, the following four variables are often used: Income, Education, Occupation, and Accrued Wealth/Assets (Net Worth)

Social Class- Is the more social sphere or “culture” of the classes. Class has direct consequences on lifestyle. Lifestyle includes tastes, preferences, values, and a general style of living. These lifestyles could quite possibly affect educational attainment, and therefore status attainment. Class lifestyle also affects how children are raised and perpetuates class for future generations.

Status: Social status can be understood as the degree of honor or prestige attached to one’s position in society.

Class Discussion:

What IS the “American Dream?”

What are our cultural “messages” regarding how to achieve the “American

Dream?” What are the impediments to doing that?

Myths about “Poor People”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OroExM49oxo

POVERTY (What is it? How is it measured?)

Poverty Threshold- An income level below that which is needed to support families. In certain ways, this measure reflects family need-that is that people living below the poverty level threshold do not have adequate income to meet their family’s basic needs (food, shelter, clothing and heath care.) The poverty threshold is used to determine eligibility for various government programs (food subsidies, low income housing, free lunches, medicaid, etc)

The formula for developing the poverty threshold was done in the 1960’s based on a 1955 survey of costs and a minimally adequate food costs. Although adjusted for inflation, the formula has not changed. The problem with this is that housing, transportation and health care cost have changed significantly more than food costs. In the 1950’s, food costs were estimated to be 1/3 of a family’s expenses, today it is about 1/7.

CURRENT POVERTY GUIDELINES FOR 2019 (48 contiguous states and District of Columbia) are as follow:

A Living Wage is defined as the minimum amount of income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs (food, shelter, clothing, and other “essential living requirements) without the need for government subsidies.

Living wage calculator:

http://www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu/

Persons in family/household	Poverty guideline
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $4,420 for each additional person.
1	$12,490
2	$16,910
3	$21,330
4	$25,750
5	$30,170
6	$34,590
7	$39,010
8	$43,430

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MINIMUM WAGE AND LIVING WAGE

Minimum Wage: Hourly wage set by law. Federal law sets an overall minimum wage (currently $7.25 per hour.) States may pass legislature to increase that amount in their state, for example, Michigan has set its rate at $9.87 per hour.

RISKS OF LIVING IN POVERTY:

Lifelong poor physical health

Poor cognitive development and academic achievement

Mental illness

Impulsivity, aggression and antisocial behavior

Hostile family interactions

While these are obviously bad for the individuals living in poverty, how does this negatively impact society?

Intersectionality

Some comparisons for differences in poverty within race and sex/gender.

Race:

White (10%) Black (26%) Native American (25%) Hispanic (24%)

28 percent of white children – 11 million - live in low-income families

61 percent of black children - 6.2 million - live in low-income families

59 percent of Hispanic children – 10.8 million - live in low-income families

8 percent of Asian children - 1.0 million - live in low-income families

60 percent of American Indian children - 0.3 million - live in low-income families

Concentrated Poverty: Racial minorities are more likely to grow up in “concentrated poverty” were a large percentage of the community is poor whereas poor Whites often live in poorer parts of communities that have some income diversity and hence at least some access to resources that those in concentrated poverty have much less of (e.g., quality schools, safe places to play, etc.)

Redlining: Systematic denial of various services to residents of specific, often racially associated neighborhoods or communities, either directly or through the systematic raising of prices.

Sex/gender:

Women (head of household, no spouse) 30%

Men (head of household, no spouse) 17%

Matrix of Privilege/Oppression:

This concept speaks to the complexity of prioritizing positions of privilege and oppression and also balancing out which have the most impact on a person’s life. For example, people can be part of a privileged group in one area of their life, but be part of another subordinate group in some other area. In fact, we are all have membership in several groups…and there is no single “magic” formula that predicts how much an individual person will suffer or be disadvantaged as part of an underprivileged group…or how being a part of other privileged groups will make up for it.