American lower class
Encyclopedia
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
such as W. Lloyd Warner, Dennis Gilbert and James Henslin divide the lower classes into two. The contemporary division used by Gilbert divides the lower class into the working poor
Working poor
- Definition in the United States :There are several popular definitions of "working poor" in the United States. According to the US Department of Labor, the working poor "are persons who spent at least 27 weeks [in the past year] in the labor force , but whose incomes fell below the official...
and underclass
Underclass
The term underclass refers to a segment of the population that occupies the lowest possible position in a class hierarchy, below the core body of the working class. The general idea that a class system includes a population under the working class has a long tradition in the social sciences...
. Service and low-rung manual laborers are commonly identified as being among the working poor. Those who do not participate in the labor force and rely on public assistance as their main source of income
Income in the United States
Income in the United States is measured by the United States Department of Commerce either by household or individual. The differences between household and personal income is considerable since 42% of households, the majority of those in the top two quintiles with incomes exceeding $57,658, now...
are commonly identified as members of the underclass. Overall the term describes those in easily filled employment positions with little prestige
Occupational prestige
Occupational prestige refers to the consensual nature of rating a job based on the collective belief of its worthiness.-History:...
or economic compensation
Income in the United States
Income in the United States is measured by the United States Department of Commerce either by household or individual. The differences between household and personal income is considerable since 42% of households, the majority of those in the top two quintiles with incomes exceeding $57,658, now...
who often lack a high school education
Educational attainment
Educational attainment is a term commonly used by statisticians to refer to the highest degree of education an individual has completed.The US Census Bureau Glossary defines educational attainment as "the highest level of education completed in terms of the highest degree or the highest level of...
and are to some extent disenfranchised from mainstream society.
Estimates for how many households are members of this class vary with definition. According to Dennis Gilbert roughly one quarter, 25%, of US households were in the lower classes; 13% were members among the working poor while 12% were members of the underclass. While many in the lower working class are employed in low-skill service jobs, lack of participation in the labor force remains the main cause for the economic plight experienced by those in the lower classes. In 2005, the majority of households (56%) in the bottom income quintile had no income earner
Income earner
Income earner refers to an individual who through work, investments or a combination of both derives income, which has a fixed and very fixed value of his/her income...
s while 65% of householders did not work. This contrasts starkly to households in the top quintile, 76% of whom had two or more income earners.
Lacking educational attainment
Educational attainment in the United States
The educational attainment of the U.S. population is similar to that of many other industrialized countries with the vast majority of the population having completed secondary education and a rising number of college graduates that outnumber high school dropouts. As a whole, the population of the...
as well as disabilities are among the main causes for the infrequent employment. Many households rise above or fall below the poverty threshold
Poverty in the United States
Poverty is defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. According to the U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday September 13th, 2011, the nation's poverty rate rose to 15.1% in 2010, up from 14.3% in 2009 and to its highest level...
, depending on the employment status of household members. While only about 12% of households fall below the poverty threshold at one point in time, the percentage of those who fall below the poverty line at any one point throughout a year is much higher. Working class as well as working poor households may fall below the poverty line if an income earner becomes unemployed
Unemployment
Unemployment , as defined by the International Labour Organization, occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks...
. In any given year roughly one out of every five (20%) households falls below the poverty line at some point while up to 40% may fall into poverty within the course of a decade.
See also
- American middle classAmerican middle classThe American middle class is a social class in the United States. While the concept is typically ambiguous in popular opinion and common language use, contemporary social scientists have put forward several, more or less congruent, theories on the American middle class...
- Personal income in the United StatesPersonal income in the United StatesPersonal income is an individual’s total earnings from wages, investment interest, and other sources. In the United States the most widely cited personal income statistics are the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s personal income and the Census Bureau’s per capita money income...
- Household income in the United StatesHousehold income in the United StatesHousehold income is a measure commonly used by the United States government and private institutions, that counts the income of all residents over the age of 18 in each household, including not only all wages and salaries, but such items as unemployment insurance, disability payments, child support...
- Affluence in the United StatesAffluence in the United StatesAffluence in the United States refers to an individual's or household's state of being in an economically favorable position in contrast to a given reference group...
- Social stratificationSocial stratificationIn sociology the social stratification is a concept of class, involving the "classification of persons into groups based on shared socio-economic conditions ... a relational set of inequalities with economic, social, political and ideological dimensions."...
- Social class in American historySocial class in American historySocial class has been an important theme for historians of the United States for over 100 years.-Colonial period:Historians in recent decades have explored in microscopic detail the process of settling the new country and creating the social structure....
- Social ClassSocial classSocial classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
- Highest income places in the United States
- Poorest places in the United States
External links
- US Census Bureau's official online income statistics forum
- Income distribution and income by race, US Census Bureau 2005
- Household income by educational attainment, US Census Bureau
- Personal income in 2004, US Census Bureau
- Median Family Income by Family Size (in 2004 inflation-adjusted dollars) from Census.gov
- Median Family Income by Number of Earners in Family (in 2004 inflation-adjusted dollars) from Census.gov
- Working Definitions ClassMatters.com
- How Class Works, The New York Times