Instructions for the original post
Taking into consideration the readings and viewings on culture, communication and social class, as well as your own experiences, discuss the following points:
- What stood out to you about this week’s materials?
- As you think about these issues within the context of culture, communication as well as the course materials, how do they relate to your own experiences with class and socio-economic status?
- If culture is based on symbols, what, in your opinion, are some of the cultural symbols associated with different social classes?
Instructions for response to classmates’ post
(for this assignment)
Back up your points, arguments and opinions by citing course materials and/or your personal experiences.
Please response to each classmates with around six to eight lines each.
Thank you! These assignment is to response to those classmates directly. So, please use friendly tone of sentences, please.
Classmate 1 (Caitlyn Kwan)
The main thing that stood out to me in this week’s material is the discussion about the American Dream in Kerry Ferris and Jill Stein’s “The Real World An Introduction To Sociology”. The American Dream is often the thought that as long as someone works hard and is determined, they can obtain things like owning a house, a family with kids, vacations, and nice things (Ferris & Stein 219). However, the reading also discusses how it is relatively difficult to move up the socioeconomic ladder. So really obtaining the American Dream is harder than it seems. This stood out to me because many people I know are still chasing that Dream. But, the authors point out that this is only because the United States is seen as a meritocracy when in reality in terms of class, “no matter how hard they work or seek a good education, most people will make little movement at all” (Ferris & Stein 221). I find myself chasing this American Dream as well as I want a job I enjoy while at the same time making enough money to live comfortably and own a home of my own. It is hard to keep your spirits up and find purpose when the reality is what it is.
I would place myself in the middle class. My family is able to support ourselves, but we do not have the means for those nice things or fancy vacations. In “The Meaning of Difference”, the authors state that middle-class individuals will go to many lengths to keep themselves on the middle-class path (Rosenblum & Travis 148). In this the authors were referring to people cutting ties with those who were not following the same path as them and who may hold them back from staying middle-class. This also included going to college and getting an education in order to find a professional career that would guarantee them a spot in the middle-class. I relate to this because I also find myself in this position. Growing up in the middle class, it really is what I am used to and what I want for myself in the future. I have always wanted to go to college and find a stable career and now I realize that a lot of this has to do with my socio-economic status.
When I think of social classes I think of clothing and attire. Upper class would be associated with expensive suits and ties, middle-class would be business casual attire, and the working class would be work-type clothing. I think this is because the upper class “consists of elites” (Ferris & Stern 197), the middle class consists of white collar workers, and the working poor and underclass tend to work the minimum wage jobs.
Classmate 2 (Beverly J)
I think the thing that stood out to me the most about this week’s material was the connection between class and consumerism. “As Hooks suggests, equality does not exist in contemporary society, but media audiences are encouraged to view themselves as having an “equal right” to purchase items that somehow will make them equal to people above them in the social class hierarchy(Kendall, 139)” I have seen people from the lower class buy clothes or cars they can’t afford simply to give the appearance that they have money. They see people on social media or tv with expensive flashy things and not wanting to feel left out, they go out and spend money that they shouldn’t or add to their credit card debt. “Studies have also found that extensive television viewing leads to higher rates of spending and to lower savings, presumably because television stimulates consumer desires (Kendall, 140).”
There was never a sudden realization growing up that my family was poor. It was just something that I always knew. Every culture has a different definition of the poor and what it entails. Depending on what school I attended at the time, there were usually other kids that were way worse, or way better, off than I was. My family’s socioeconomic status fluctuated quite frequently. Often it was things out of my mom and step dad’s control that would send us lower on the ladder such as unexpected surgeries, life-saving medications, and cancer expenses insurance wouldn’t cover.“‘Wealthy,’ ‘poor,’ and ‘middle class’ are statuses that, rather than existing in and of themselves, are continuously being negotiated in interaction (Ferris & Stein, 204).”
When determining the cultural symbols, I thought about housing and what popular knowledge suggests about each class. For the upper class, I would say a secluded lavish house that you wouldn’t typically see, perhaps custom-built or specially designed. For the middle class, perhaps a medium-size house in the suburbs with at least 2 bathrooms and a multicar garage. For the poor, a rented apartment on the sketchy side of town.
Classmate 3 (Karina A Zhuravel)
What stood out to me about this weeks materials is the amount of children living in poverty in America. I am not naive to think that these problems are not present in our country, I was however shocked when watching the documentary and they would give us statistics. It got me thinking about what other developed nations are doing to keep their kids fed. I have always believed that we are as strong as our youth, and by not supporting them nutritionally and scholastically, we are setting ourselves up for failure.
Being an immigrant I have always viewed America as the land of opportunity. My family did start out poor when we first came here, but then worked hard to move up in socio-economic status. I never remember thinking that my family doesn’t have money because we were always fed and had clothes that fit. In my experience the system helped my family start a new life in America until we were able to make it on our own. Now I would consider us upper middle class. I’ve talked with my parents at great lengths on what our life would look like if we stayed in Ukraine, and I am always met with the same “you wouldn’t have the same opportunities you have now.” So while I think our system needs work, it is better then living in a place where it would be impossible to grow. I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of assistance the kids in the documentary Poor Kids had access to, and how better programs would help them go from surviving to thriving.
The symbols that I associate with the different social classes is clothing. As Johnny Davis from Frontlines’ documentary Poor Kids said, “There’s a kid at the school who looks─ dresses worser than me. But he has his own house, though” (Davis). This is a perfect example of clothing used to define status. When we see someone in brands like Gucci, Hermes, Tom Ford, we assume that they are upper class. When we see someone in brand-less clothes, it is usually assumed that those are cheaper clothes and could signify lower class. Although, not always because I don’t like visible labels on my clothing. And anything in between no brand to the up scale brands, I would consider middle class. This is obviously a blanket generalization because not everyone in Gucci has money, and not everyone in brand-less clothes has no money. This was the best way that I could come up with in my mind to symbolize the different social classes.
Classmate 4 (Rachel Lake)
The content that stood out the most to me from this weeks reading material was the wealth gap between the middle class and the upper class. That the American dream is an idea of which if one works hard enough, they can climb up the social ladder. The data from “The Meaning of Difference” by Karen E. Rosenblum and Toni-Michelle C. Travis states that parental income is the greatest predictor if someone will be rich or poor. One half of income disparities will be reflected in following generations where in Scandinavian countries it is one fifth.
This material related to my own experience of class and socio-economic status very well. I grew up with a single mother, four children and no government assistance because she was filling for divorce when my father passed away. He had no money saved for us to inherit. My mother had just finished her masters in social work when he passed, but that career path is one with a slow ladder, she started with doing therapy in prisons, and every few years she would get a raise. We went from a one bedroom house and all our belongings being from donations and charities, to a 3 bedroom house and able to go to Costco sometimes! A few months before I started college my mother met and married a doctor who also had many other streams of passive income. I went from lower class to upper middle class in a few years (thanks to my mother, I didn’t do anything to make that happen). I am attending the nursing program now, and hope to become a NP someday. If life is gentle to me I hope to never return to the lower American class. Being lower class as a child is way different as an adult. There are services available to meet the needs of most children, but adults often have to go without.
So generational wealth has taken a turn for me, I went from having a future of lower middle class, to maybe having a future in upper middle class now that my parents are upper middle class.
Cultural symbols that I think are associated with the different social classes are:
Lower: Older clothes, either from donation stores or handy downs. Minimal healthcare and dental care. Tightness in family and community, suppression of emotions, achieved attributes would carry the heaviest weight.
Middle: average clothes that are minimal and have many uses. Average healthcare and dental care (meaning that they can have clean teeth, but would have to save for any cosmetic work that was not related to dental health) Some expression of emotions, and achieved attributes would carry the heaviest weight and some consideration may go towards generational attributes.
Upper: most of the wardrobe would be of high quality material and design. They would have access to high quality healthcare and dental both medically needed and voluntary procedure for cosmetic reasons. They would be expressive with emotions on multiple platforms. Achieved attributes would carry the heaviest weight (to them!) but generational wealth most likely would be a causing factor in their high socio-economic status.
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