Chapter 8: Poverty and Social Class

There is a poverty line to determine who is poor in the U.S. If you spend 1/3 of your income on food then you are considered poor. Race-Ethnicity, education, age, and geography are all factors connecting the poor. Most of the nations poor live in the suburbs, only 3 of 100 people that finish college are poor, and elderly are less likely to be poor. 12% of whites are poor compared to 27% of Native Americans. I took a picture of my bike to show that some people that are living in poverty must ride their bikes because they can't afford a car. Two very different methods of transportation based on wealth.

Chapter 8: Property

Property consists of land, housing, bank accounts, animals, businesses and many more things. This ties into wealth by adding someone's property and subtracting their debt. If your debt exceeds your property then you aren't considered very wealthy. Property is another factor of social class. I took a picture of furniture because it is also considered property. 

Chapter 8: Power

Power is the ability to get your way despite resistance. It is another component of social class. Sociologist C. Wright Mills created a term, power elite. Power elite refers to the people in the U.S. that make all of the biggest decisions. These wealthy people look at the world in the same way and view themselves as special. They participate in the same clubs and vacations as well. I took this picture out of a comic book of Thor because he is powerful and a god. Maybe not exactly the same type of power but he would be able to get his way regardless of any resistance. 

Chapter 8: Prestige

A component of social class is occupational prestige. Prestige means respect or regard. Certain careers have higher prestige based on pay, amount of education, the amount of autonomy, and abstract thinking. This is a picture with my grandma and a baby lamb that was just a couple days old. My uncles are farmers and based on looking at Table 8.2 Occupational Prestige chart, their job is not very prestigious. The most prestigious  careers are physicians and supreme court judges.