Week 15

This week in sociology we learned about social class and levels of poverty in America. This week was very eye opening because it taught us that as much as we like to think America does not have a social class, we definitely do, but it just is not defined, like it is in some Indian and other cultures. We have a social class that is not noticeable unless suddenly in a city and you travel through each realm/section of the city and you see a stark contrast between the types of people and companies found in different areas of cities. The sad thing about poverty in America is that once you are born into poverty, it is a huge struggle to get out of poverty, especially since the upper class owns most of the money in America and they keep getting richer as the poor get poorer.

I am very lucky to have been born into a middle class family and town. I often take that for granted by carelessly spending money and not appreciating what I am given. The town my grandma lives in, however, has a lot of people that could be considered blue-collar working class and I can clearly sense that from the way they act and live. It is also interesting to see the cultural and value differences between classes, such as the working class valuing less materialistic things and non-tangible items, whereas the higher classes may value more materialistic things and value money over other things. Social class in America is actually a very noticeable thing if you become sociologically mindful and notice things around you.