THE AMERICAN DREAM

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THE AMERICAN DREAM

• The Role of Social Class in the
• Pursuit of Happiness

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AMERICAN DREAM

• Land of Opportunity
• Rags to RichesAnyone can become rich, famous,
  powerful.
• Jobs and education available to all who want
  them.
• Meritocracy (rewards)skill effort.
• Through hard work, courage and determination one
  can achieve prosperity. Americans can live
  better than their parents did.

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We hold these truths to be self-evident, that
all men are created equal, that they are endowed
by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the
PURSUIT of Happiness
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Social Mobility

• The movement of families up and down the economic
  ladder
• 40 of incomes stayed at about the same level
  60 moved up or down.
• Only 37 of Americas 400 wealthiest inherited
  their money from their family.

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Social Classes

• The hierarchical distinctions between individuals
  or groups in societies.

Social Stratification
The study of systematic inequality between groups
of people
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What are the key features of social class?

• WEALTH
• Valued possessions cash, land, buildings,
  property
• Income money from employment, shares etc.
• Tends to be intergenerational
• POWER
• Ability to carry out ones will, even if opposed
  by others
• Who has power???
• PRESTIGE
• Respect given to people with valued positions or
  resources

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Upper Class Facts

• Q. What of Americans belong to the upper class?
  
• 0.5
• Extent of wealth?
• Top 1 owns more than one third of ALL net worth
  in the U.S.
• 50 U.S. stocks, 60 bonds corporations,
  property, inheritances income mostly from
  investments not employment
• Source of power?
• Ownership of resources - money makes money
• Economic power and political power intertwined
• Source of prestige?
• family name resources (old Rockefeller,
  Carnegie, Walton, Getty new Gates)

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Corporate Class Facts

• Q. What of Americans?
• 0.5
• Extent of wealth?
• A lot, but not as much as the upper class
• Usually not major owners of companies
• median CEO salary 10.8 million
• President of the U.S. 400,000 (why do it then??)
• Q. Source of power?
• Heads of companies, government
• Q. Source of prestige?
• Position of influence

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Middle Class

• The Cosby Show
• Americas first black middle class TV family

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Middle Class Facts

• Q. What of Americans?
• 43
• Q. Extent of wealth?
• Some
• Ownershipown home
• Incomemid to high income
• Engineer, 58,000
• Teacher, 34,000
• ALC Professor, ??
• Source of power?
• Limited within context of occupation
• Source of prestige?
• Some more than others, White collar job

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Working Class

• Photograph from a book

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Working Class Facts

• Q. What of Americans?
• 43
• Q. Extent of wealth?
• Little
• Ownershiplittle or no property
• Incomemid to low
• Factory worker, 24,000
• Machine operator, 23,000
• Q. Source of power?
• Limited, sometimes collective power through
  unions
• Q. Source of prestige?
• Very little, Blue collar jobs

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Lower Class

• Homeless man in New York - one of thousands

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Lower Class Facts

• Q. What of Americans?
• 13
• Q. Extent of wealth?
• Very little, usually none
• Ownership none
• Income low
• Poverty rate in 2001 9.9
• Only about 1/3 of poor get welfare
• Q. Source of power?
• Limited to none
• Q. Source of prestige?
• Limited to none

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Inequality Based on Class

• HealthHigher class live longer (79.2 years vs.
  74.7 years).
• Crimeimpoverished areas tend to have higher
  crime rates
• Educationdespite continued increases in
  financial aid, the proportion of higher class
  students at elite schools is increasing.
• Familieshigher class are more likely to have
  children while within marriage and at older ages.

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Distribution of Wealth
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Racial gaps in the labor market
Race Unemployment, 2000
Hispanic or Latino 9.3
White 4.3
Black 11.8
American Indian 12.4
Asian 5.1
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander 10.9
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Gender gaps in the labor market

• More men work full time than women, but comparing
  men and women who work
• Median Income
• Male 29,458
• Female 18,957
• For every dollar men make, women make 64 cents

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Why does the gender gap exist?

• Education?
• Women make up over 50 of students in college
• Men and Women with a BA (1999)
• Male 47,126
• Female 34,455
• Men work more hours?
• Women in full-time work earn less than men with
  the same educational qualification

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Poverty rates and Gender
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Revisiting the American Dream

• Land of Opportunity?
• rags to riches or the rich get rich?
• classes tend to reproduce themselves (e.g.
  occupational wealth inheritance, legacy admits)
• are all jobs open and equal for everyone?
• clearly not
• Social class is achieved or ascribed?
• between 40 to 60 of parental income advantage
  passed on to children
• A meritocracy?
• barriers to channels of upward mobility (e.g. a
  good education)

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American A Tale of Two Cities