RCG Class matters

- Hard to see class through appearence these days- Rich are isolating themselves- Class means different things to different people- Max webber/karl marx= divided class into 2 cateogories both men made simple divisions in society- More likely to end up in the same class u were born in now

-Micheal Hout= socialogist @ uc berkly doesnt feel the era of class is over...

still here - "Mobility happens just not as rapidly as one thought" - If you are born rich in us good poor = good- Hard to see class through appearnece, and religion- Race and class have started not to correlate-Class plays a role where americans live-1973- highest paid 10th worked fewer hrs than bottom tenth today those at the top work more -Horatio Algers= rags to riches

-Singificance of class when it comes to wealth 3 diff ppl had same heart attacks- Jean G. Miele = 66 yrs old arachterict of upper middle class- Collegues called an ambulence in NYC- Chose Tish hospital - "Gold Standard" procedure- Problem fixed immedietlyHard worker- College graduate- Wife quit job to stay @ home

Will L. Willson- 53 yr old utlity worker middle classlocation= brooklyb- Choice of 2 hospitals serving poorest neighboorhoods- Initial improper treatment, sent to a second hospital- Five days sent home w expensive drugs- Couldnt afford college, children by 22 divorced, eats unhealthy food from his moms cooking

Ewa R Gora- 59 yr old housekeeper of working class - Resisted hubby because calling ambulence was too expensive- Taken to poorest hospitalLocation: Woodhull- Waited many hours - Sent to a dif hospital came down w a fever, left affter 2 weeks of infection

- Dan Croteu=working class care, quit school at age 16, joined navy, salesman married Cate wooler- wealthy upper-middle class,-Hard to bring up children with two diff classes - Kids have diff oppertunities and luxieries- Different classes can come together

- Della Mae= successful justice lawyer, Left her poor home to go to college + travel, when she returns home doesnt feel she belongs in her new middle class family or lower class family- At age 15 was in foster care- uncle and aunt took care of her- sent her to college for low income families- Late she took custody of her nieces and nephews who were in foster care

- Eva would preach to the elite- The evanlangical was gaining power- Rise in middle and upperclass members within the evangelic faith- Primarily done on ivy's religion w ivy's- Tim Havens Went to Brown against his mother's wishes (who wanted him to attend a purely christian school)-400 of the student body of 5,700 participate in evangelical student groups-the power and influence of evangelical christians has risen, but not the number of members-what has changed is the class status of the members- Leaders come out of this groupCarl F. Henry= founded seminary magazine and National Association of Evangelicals- Faith become compaitable w middle class

- Andy Belvins decided not to go to college and to continue working, when he lost his job he regrted it cuz he relized no one is going to hire someone w out a college degree- Eventually returned to community college- Dropout= 35k, 2 yr= 42 K, 4 yr - 65 k1 in 3 americans in mid 20's drop out of college (2005)- 1 in 5 americans in mid 20's drop out of college (1960).- Gap btween graduation rates between low and high income students has grown - there are so many upper class students at the elite colleges that, on average, the high-income students are receiving more financial aid than the low-income students USED TO be other way around- President John T. Casteen of UVA is trying to remove artificial barrier of students (If parents make less than a certain amount wont charge w fees)

- Jessie Martineli- got fired from his factory and relized w out a college degree he could not do anything- Mark MccLean saying factories care more about a degree than skills and time and effort and his position- Mark looks middle class but is not - Both fear about falling out of middle class

- Most expensive coffee shop in New York" and the people who make the food and coffee behind the scenes are illegal mexican immigrants, who have hit a dead end- Coffe shop = epitome of america have the owner- middle class immigrant, workers who are mexican immigrants, then everyone who eats there are wealthy ppl- John Zannikos, was an illiterate Greek immigrant with only 100$ started out with nothing- John Mellenkopf of CUNY, believes Mexicans will eventually do as well as European immigrants- of all US immigrants, mexicans are the poorest, least likely to speak english and least educated

- Social class has become harder to identify through appearence and items ppl have- High end designers are selling to places like target for cheaper prices lower class want to be up to higher class standards so makes nicer clothes more assesable- Desire to get new trends--- materialism in America

- Kathy Link= moved 3 times in 10 yrs for husbands career, her job is personal trainer, charities, and drives her children around- they are executive gypsies called Relos, economically homogenous making about 100k a year while living in nice towns with good schools- seperate themselves by economic status-mexicans or hispanics in general are not rich enough to afford to live in the neighborhood and instead are only able to maintain the appearance of the town by landscaping and cleaning houses.

hard to determine amount of relos whenever they move, they have to adjust to the culture of the localsneighborhood mostly white, (6% black, 12% asian)2% poor or unemployedthe vast majority of the town's city officials cannot afford to live in the town: only 3 members of the police force out of 76 live in town.key terms:

- Natucket= homogenous, place for the "hyper rich"- hyper rich are content with sticking with their kind, they only hang out with people and around people of their economic status- High prices on Natucket lower income ppl are forced to leave- Idea of old money vs new money--- old money= lily pultzer new $= juicy - New money: homes boats and memberships represent wealth, Old money: has to do with family and identity- Ppl like to flaunt money now (new $)- New ppl= new $ are putting up fences for the gates- Michael Kitrich started yankee candle went from rags- riches-

- the richest americans have even left the people making 100s of thousands of dollars behind because of their outrageous incomes- .1% of world have even made the rich look poor- Bush in 2004 made tax cuts to low/ middle class Americans- Very rich are making smaller tax cuts for low/ middle class- Rich are making it harder for poor to pay high taxes- Tim Kane= economist : lower taxes= more growth- Meritocracy---- to an aristocrocy - Mobility has decreased in the U.S.

- class has become something that is never mentioned, but remains incredibly real in american society- a lot of novels and movies these day suggest that the worst thing that could happen to a person is to fall off the top of the social ladder-- fall into lower/middle class- a lot of novels and movies these day suggest that the worst thing that could happen to a person is to fall off the top of the social ladder- class novels are often written about striving and trying to move up by learning upper class code (still written)- Ppl want what they don't have

- Angela pregnant by 15 living in the projects -BF who worked at the airport, helped her breath a bit w $- Lived in an apt where you would hear gunshots= lots of crime- Very poor today still... - worked at a fast food - - Married vincent allen who cared about her kids- Car caught on fire so beaten down- Vincent encouraged her to go into nursing- Very determined passed her nursing test!- High stress work-- dream is to be in middle class - Feels stuck where she wants to live cant afford but where she lives now not great-Success came too late to benefit them- One of kids got shot twice..

. Angela said he needs to deal w this on himself- Trying to be a good influence on kids-- 1 kid was first to graduate college!- Family is most important thing in life!-