Taikiem Jennings- How People View Their Social Class
The similarities between readings 4.1 and 4.2 are that both readings give numbers and information about how people in social class are. What I mean by this is how different individuals across New York City are placed into a social class. The biggest difference between the two articles is that the first one gives history and a background about social classes. As with the second article we see based on the line and area you live within NY how your income compares and what class you would be considered to be a part of. The first article explains that the word “class” means to be appended after terms such as “working”, “ruleing”, “lower” and “upper” is a short way to describe these hierarchical steps. It even gives us a breakdown of how people choose to identify themselves in regards to social classes. 3% identify themselves as upper class, we then have 15% identify themselves as being in upper middle class. 43% identify themselves as middle class. 30% consider themselves to be in the working class and lastly 8% identify themselves as lower class. Also there are other factors that play into how one views their social class. These factors include race as well as rural areas of living.
Based on the A line between the 125st- 145st station I am not shocked by these results that are being shown. The reason why I say this is because one this is considered a rural area. This is an area that mainly minorities live in. There are many projects that are surrounding this area and for many it’s a struggle to be able to afford to live in NYC if your income is not salary based. I would say that the social class that tends to live in this area is considered to be low and working class but leaning more towards lower class. The reason why I said this is because a lot of individuals that currently live in the projects tend to be on some type of government assistance. If they’re not on government assistance they may have a job that is not paying enough that they are able to afford rent outside of the projects.
Based on 4.2 reading one pattern that is shocking is that no matter what part of Manhattan you live in it tends to seem that you are considered upper class. On the A line from train stations Chambers st to 59th street train station we see that many of these individuals consider themselves to be upper class. I would assume that the majority of the individuals that live in this area are white. Many minorities do not consider themselves to be a part of the upper class society. Also something else that stood out to me when you travel deeper into Manhattan and Brooklyn you notice that if the area is in a rural area that social class would be considered either working or lower class.
