- 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?
In both articles we explore the huge disparity in income int his country. Through reviewing statistics and trends we see that essentially the middle class is almost completely depleted and that the ruling class seems to have majority of this countries wealth. The first article titled What Determines How Americans Percieve Their Social Class? seems to not only critique the financial income disparity but also explore the social implications of this disparity. The speaker in the first article slightly involves psychological themes within the social construct by stating that people with the lowest financial income and educational background still don’t categorize themselves as the lowest class while those existing far above the median income in the US are more likely to associate themselves with the upper middle class as opposed to the upper class. I think this article is effective in making us evaluate the usage of these terms and critiquing their actual importance versus their implied importance. The second article works on a more basic level by pointing out the wealth disparity by identifying the range in financial income at such a close proximity. by utilizing the subway station stops to map out the city and categorize the huge fluctuation in capital over the span of just a couple miles.
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?
According to the concepts offered in reading 4.1 my neighborhood social class is identified as lower class. This answer doesn’t surprise me because although there are extremely wealthy people in NYC they make up a very small percentage of the population. Poverty is very prevalent in New York City for a plethora for reasons d the cost of living here as compared t anywhere else means that the term poverty cast a wider net.
3. Based on Reading 4.2, do you notice a general pattern about social classes in NYC?
Based on reading two I would say the general pattern is that wealth exist in very close quarters with poverty and lower income. It seems that in manhattan this disparity is even larger with other boroughs like Brooklyn and queens being more clearly associated with the lower class as far as income is concerned.