Class and mobility in the United States
Americans often describe their society as open, but research shows class strongly shapes life chances.
Classes
Sociologists commonly describe an upper class with great inherited or business wealth, a middle class of professionals and managers, a working class in manual and service jobs, and a lower class facing poverty and insecure work. Income is what people earn each year; wealth is what they own, such as property and savings. Wealth is far more unequally distributed than income.
Social mobility
Social mobility is movement between class positions. Upward mobility is rising, downward mobility is falling. Intergenerational mobility compares children with their parents; intragenerational mobility tracks changes within one person's life. Structural mobility happens when changes in the economy, such as new industries, move many people at once.
Poverty
Absolute poverty means lacking resources for basic survival needs. Relative poverty means having far less than most people in one's society. The working poor are employed but still unable to escape poverty, often because of low wages and high costs of housing and healthcare.
Flashcard
The total value of what a person or family owns
Check your understanding
Many farm workers moved into factory jobs when industry expanded. This large-scale shift is: