My Junior Theme is about the decreasing size of the middle class in the United States. As I continue to write my paper, it's amazing how much the readings that I have done have helped me become an "expert." I say "expert" because while I've researched constantly for the past few weeks, there are real experts who have spent years studying the topic.
In class the other day when we were going over what to make sure you do in your paper, we talked about working definitions. I realized that after doing all of my research I have only a basic idea of what I consider to be "middle class." I want to make sure that I base my working definition not only off of my readings, but also off of general people's ideas so that whoever reads my paper will understand.
What do you consider to be "middle class"? It could be anything from type of car a person drives, to income, to race, etc. Let me know!
Carolyn,
ReplyDeleteI don't know what I would necessarily consider the "middle class". Something I find interesting though is that when asked, an insane amount of people consider themselves as a part of the middle class. I don't remember the exact statistic, but it was well over half, if not over 75% of people. It seems as if everyone wants to be identified as "average". Lower class wants to seem more well-off, and upper class wants to either blend in, or seem more humble. This obviously isn't everyone, but it was a vast majority.
I agree with Dani C above that most people think they are middle class even though they may be upper middle class or wealthy. You have to really be aware of various places besides just where you live and how others live or else you will not have an accurate picture of where you fit into the mix. In fact, a study just came out supporting this – the upper class think they are middle class.
ReplyDeleteBut middle class is about income in relation to the size of your family. For example, if you are a single person fresh out of college making $32,000 a year - that is middle class. But if you are a family of four with a household income level of $32,000 then that is hovering at poverty level (according to the US Dept of Health and Human Services a family of 4 poverty level threshold is $22,350) So start at the poverty level threshold and then go up from there.
http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/11poverty.shtm
Middle class is not based off of material possessions (such as the car one drives) because many people don't care about that stuff and it is not a reflection of income. Many people live beyond their means and many live below their means so that is never a good indication.
I would say middle class is a large income range of $40,000-$200,000 and is again even if within that range it will depend on family size to see if one falls in middle class, below middle class, or upper middle/wealthy.
But yes, the middle class, (those within a certain household income level in relation to their household or family size) is shirking. The upper and wealthy class is gaining more wealth and more middle class are falling off the grid of middle class into lower class or poverty level.
Here are the statistics to prove it:
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/the-u.s.-middle-class-is-being-wiped-out-here's-the-stats-to-prove-it-520657.html?tickers=%5EDJI,%5EGSPC,SPY,MCD,WMT,XRT,DIA
Wow, thank you both so much for your help! I will definitely be using that Yahoo! article and citing some numbers. Also, in my working definition for middle class I forgot to include that the income depends on the number of people in the family as well, so that makes it much stronger. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
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