Rached Willis Social classes.

  1. Do you notice any similarities in the way social class is discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2? Do you notice any differences in the way these two readings DIFFERENTIATE between social classes?

One similarity that was discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2 is they are based on income, age, social class and race. Both also gives an idea of which area would be considered “rich”, “low”, “Working class” and “middle” class. The difference between the two is 4.1 only provide us an idea of the supposed incomes at each train stop but does not provide us with details as to who live at these stop, gender, race, etc. With 4.2 it provides a more deeper look into race, age, gender, etc of the class identification.

  1. Pick the station closest to where you live. Using the concepts from Reading 4.1, what social class tends to live in your neighborhood? Are you surprised (or not) by the answer? Do you feel it is an accurate representation of the people living in your neighborhood?

I live on Morris Park on the 5 train line but I am also walking distance from the 2 train line. I can say by looking at the train maps of both lines I am not surprised at what I see. For the 5 train the median is 70K which many people consider to be middle class. In this neighborhood it is very peaceful and provides a more suburban feel. There are more private houses over here than building. Whereas Pelham Parkway median is 39k which people consider to be working class. On Pelham Parkway there are more buildings and projects over in this area. Unfortunate to say when I receive citizen app notifications of crimes that has just occur it’s normally off of Pelham Parkway. Also up that way there are many homeless people that live around that area. I feel that people in both areas are hard working. Just with certain things such as landscaping. I believe a person have to have a solid, stable income in order to buy a house here in NYC. NYC property taxes are high let alone paying monthly payments on the house. I do believe it is an accurate representation of both areas.

  1. Based on Reading 4.2, do you notice a general pattern about social classes in NYC?

Based on the reading 4.2 it shows that that the “wealth” and “Upper middle” classes were in the lower parts of manhattan. Whereas the poor parts outside of Manhattan.

Social Class

  1. Do you notice any similarities in the way social class is discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2? Do you notice any differences in the way these two readings DIFFERENTIATE between social classes?
    1. What Determines How Americans Perceive Their Social Class and The NewYorkers Idea of The Week: Inequality And New York’s Subway has noticeable similarities. Those living in rural areas less likely to identify themselves as in the higher social class as opposed to those living in urban and city locations. The geographic location is essential in identifying where individuals places themselves in social class. In Reading 4.2 it gives data based on individual subway lines and those who live in Manhattan have an income that is higher compared to those living in more urban and suburban locations which show low income to middle class once subway lines start moving out of Manhattan.
    2. Reading 4.1 and Readings 4.2 are different in that Reading 4.1 describes self identification in social classes, how Americans place them selfs when it comes to their geographic location. In Reading 4.2 it pinpoints New York City’s inequality problem by geographic area. It is also is using data from the Census Bureau which gives a wider range of data of all states where as Reading 4.1 give less data.
  2. Pick the station closest to where you live. Using the concepts from Reading 4.1, what social class tends to live in your neighborhood? Are you surprised (or not) by the answer? Do you feel it is an accurate representation of the people living in your neighborhood?
    1. The closet station that I live by is the L subway line which goes from Manhattan 14 street and 8th ave to the last stop of Rockaway parkway which is considered Canarsie. I definitely was surprised because I would place families living in that location as upper middle class especially in certain areas where there is a lot of private houses and a lot of people are homeowners. As I look at the data and the year it was published, I do believe it is an accurate representation, I also believe that if that data was done today the income would be a somewhat different in that the median income would be less due to the pandemic.
  3. Based on Reading 4.2, do you notice a general pattern about social classes in NYC?
    1. The general pattern that was noticed in reading 4.2 is the subway lines that go through Manhattan where so many large cooperate companies are and where most people work have an income that is relatively higher, and when you start going through more urban communities the median income starts going down, then it starts going up again as the subway lines starts moving away from urban locations to more suburban locations. It goes up a little over the $50,000 median household income and doesn’t surpass the hundred thousand median income unless you live closer to Manhattan.

Karina Huerta

Question 1: Do you notice any similarities in the way social class is discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2? Do you notice any differences in the way these two readings DIFFERENTIATE between social classes? 

There were a few similarities as well as differences that I noticed in both readings 4.1 and 4.2. A similarity shown is that both of the readings show us a visual of where certain groups of people are ranked in the social class based on their wealth, power, income, etc. The difference between both readings is that the first reading gives us definitions and perspectives of people and what category in the social class they believe they belong while the second reading is more of a visual graph of all the train lines and helps us see who lives in which area based on their economic income.

Question 2: Pick the station closest to where you live. Using the concepts from Reading 4.1, what social class tends to live in your neighborhood? Are you surprised (or not) by the answer? Do you feel it is an accurate representation of the people living in your neighborhood? The station closest to where I live would be the N train and based on Reading 4.1 the social class that tends to live in my neighborhood is the working class. I am not very sure if I agree or disagree with this answer since there is many people with different backgrounds and incomes. I also noticed that many as the years go by more and more different people move into my area while the ones who used to live here leave and find a more affordable place. 

Question 3: Based on Reading 4.2, do you notice a general pattern about social classes in NYC? Yes, I noticed that in every single train line the Manhattan side or anything close to manhattan are the people who live there are the ones with the highest income. I’ve noticed Brooklyn and many parts of the Bronx with low income which means low social class.

Taikiem Jennings- How People View Their Social Class

  1. 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. 
  1. 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. 
  2. 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. 

Tristan Flinn 4.1

In the first reading 4.1 which has far more to say about actual social class and the roots and causes of it. Heritage, life style, living situation, attitude in life and toward your figure, who people see you as. While the other one if I am correct and clicked on the right link, brings us to a place where we can access income in subway neighborhoods, and basically it said if you’re from Manhattan you are well off and if you are from any other burrough you are poor and your income is not as high, so a somewhat simplified version. Lots of households do not make over 50 K a year, which is not even that much for yourself, yet alone if you have a family. 4.1 does dive deeper into how many people make a certain amount of money and how many people have billions of dollars

2.With the closet stop being 110th on the c train for me the average making is 57 thousand per year. I am surprised and sort of not surprised by this, my area is a mix of all the neighborhoods, and its a nice area at times. It has become a little more expensive because of some of these super fancy buildings that have been put in since my family moved in during 2002. I feel it is an accurate representation because The area is not super rich and high class but does have some nice beautiful things about it. 

3. I’ve noticed that everyone who doesn’t live directly in Manhattan has less income yearly. And it is probably because Manhattan is overpriced when it comes to everything. The graph also almost perfectly levels up as you get closer to Chambers street.

Destiny Balbi

Identification to social classes

  1.  Do you notice any similarities in the way social class is discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2? Do you notice any differences in the way these two readings DIFFERENTIATE between social classes?

Something that was similar with both readings is that both discussed numbers and information about social classes. It mentioned how we perceive ourselves when it comes to identifying with a social class.They discuss it based on income , age ,race, etc..But the difference between the two is both writers seem to differ on many ways when it came to ranking these classes. Such as the charts used, article one uses a date chart while using different categories, whereas the second graph uses a line graph.

  1. Pick the station closest to where you live. Using the concepts from Reading 4.1, what social class tends to live in your neighborhood? Are you surprised (or not) by the answer? Do you feel it is an accurate representation of the people living in your neighborhood?

I live on Kingsbridge Road so I live on the D line. And the median income was 18k. That would mean others in my neighborhood and I are in the lower class. To be honest, I am not surprised. The building I live in is a mess and hasn’t had a maintenance check in years. The block is always a mess. We also have a lot of cheap brand stores around us such as dollar trees and 99cent stores.I always knew we were lower class hence that money was always an issue. It’s just sad to see the reality. I do believe it’s an accurate representation of my neighborhood because everyone in my neighborhood kind of knows everybody, so income is something we all kind of talk about and we all made around the same money so this is pretty accurate. 

  1. Based on Reading 4.2, do you notice a general pattern about social classes in NYC?

Something I noticed about social classes is that the stigma that “ living in Manhattan means you’re rich” is true. While the people who live in Manhattan are neither wealthy nor rich, they are still stable enough to live comfortably in Manhattan. People in Manhattan tend to land in the upper class.

Discussion Board 4.1


Keep in mind our Online Discussion Guidelines:
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Instructions for completing this discussion board assignment:

a) Identify which discussion question you are answering in your comment by placing the relevant number at the start of your answer. For example:

2. Crime has often been used as a form of social control by…

4. Michelle Alexander’s argument about segregation…

b) Respond to one other student’s comments.

NOTE: As usual, follow the guidelines from previous discussion board assignments, in answering by creating a new post…

  1. Do you notice any similarities in the way social class is discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2? Do you notice any differences in the way these two readings DIFFERENTIATE between social classes?
  2. Pick the station closest to where you live. Using the concepts from Reading 4.1, what social class tends to live in your neighborhood? Are you surprised (or not) by the answer? Do you feel it is an accurate representation of the people living in your neighborhood?
  3. Based on Reading 4.2, do you notice a general pattern about social classes in NYC?