#Structuralmobility

[sociopplwatcher]

Social Stratification knowing how social class affects you.

When you hear the term social class you probably think of lower, middle and upper class. They have become the common indicators of where we fall within a society based on our wealth and income. Nowadays there are several models and categories to assign someone's social class position. I choose to utilize the Gilbert-Kahl Model since it shows the occupations that usually rank there, approximate wealth and roughly what percent of the population fits in each category. But, there’s much more to how sociologists evaluate the differences in social classes.

Defining the difference between wealth and income

Let’s define the difference between wealth and income since they help differentiate between inequalities amongst some of the social classes.Although they work aside each other they are different.Income doesn’t yield a return the way wealth does.You can have income and little to no wealth but in most cases, you can’t have wealth without a decent income to obtain it. It also is one way the wealthy are able to stay wealthy as investments yield return and can continue to grow.The wealthy tend to spend less and invest more while the income of other classes tends to be spent getting buy and surviving with little ability to move ahead.

Wealth is a person's net worth overall including all assets minus any of their liabilities and owed debts. Wealth is built up generally over a certain time frame, generally the course of one's lifetime. This includes savings, investment accounts, stocks, bonds, and property including your house, land, and vehicle.

Income, on the other hand, is more immediate. This is what’s earned for profit. It can come in the form of wages from a job, government assistance, or rental properties. It is more “free-flowing” and continually moving, it can, however, last for a short time rather than continual. Examples of this can be seen with job loss and more debt then income scenarios. 

Social Stratification exists in many societies and has all throughout history. The difference, however, was based on the social characteristics of that society and wealth was variable by different forms of hierarchy systems. The effects of these rankings today can be seen in a wide variety of ways. These system rankings placed on us by society sets us up for different life chances from the beginning.

The wealthy often have access to better schools, health care, tend to live longer and children tend to have higher wealth like the family they were raised in. Lower class and poverty-stricken families, however, don’t have access to great schools, may not have access to health care at all, don’t live as long and often are associated with higher crime rates. 

Social Mobility doesn’t mean we will be stuck forever! We do have some degree of mobility within the system. 

The good news however, is not all hope is lost. The bad news is for most of us we have little social mobility as far as going upward very much and some of us we will stay stuck as the wealth disparities continue to grow further apart between lower classes and the wealthy. Despite hard work and the American dream many will continue to struggle due to this balance of inequality. 

Most of our mobility will be done horizontally as a group or individually:

This would include things like an employee changing jobs, keeping the same title, but at a new location or a job change of equal skill set. The status is the same though. Converting to a new religion or moving to a new town, are also included in horizontal mobility.

Vertical mobility is the rise or fall between groups. This can be felt ascending or descending. This could be moving up in class due to a lottery win and good investing or going down in social class after losing your job and ending up homeless. 

Both sets of mobility can be affected by the economy. Structural Mobility will be felt most on the individual level. It effects everyone due to the changes in the economy. The depression, housing bust, and other large-scale economic issues come in to play. As debt keeps rising for the middle class so does the lack of upward mobility. The wealthy are able to stay wealthy because changes don't affect them as much due to their wealth that's available.

What affects social mobility and creates more inequality?

As the industrialization age began and technology continued to advance more disparities began to appear. 

Globalization formed enhancing the rise of trade and goods that could be produced and shipped globally. This required migrant labor and produced multinational businesses. This was the beginning of how wealth and inequality began forming social economically with varying degrees of difference.

 Since the United States is founded on the American dream we have to take into account inconsistencies. Education, Income, and occupational prestige have a huge part in social economic status. Those who have all three items tend to generally be better off financially. However, there are other factors to keep in mind when thinking sociologically like how racism, bigotry, and misogyny all play a part in fueling these differences as well as our choices and sacrifices towards our own personal progression.

Sources:

Conley, D. (2017). You may ask yourself: an introduction to thinking like a sociologist. New York: W.W. Norton.

Robert Kiyosaki- Philosophy of the Rich [Digital image]. (2015, March 19). Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://thefranklinsociety.com/how-to-become-rich/

Sills, S. J., Dr. (n.d.). G Robert Kiyosaki- Philosophy of the Rich [Digital image]. (2015, March 19). Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://thefranklinsociety.com/how-to-become-rich/ ilbert-Kahl Model of the Class Structure [Digital image]. Retrieved December 8, 2017, from https://uncgsoc101.wordpress.com/module-6-social-stratification/ 

 Solomon, M. R. (2015). Social Mobility [Digital image]. Retrieved December 8, 2017, from http://slideplayer.com/slide/4728773/15/images/18/Social Mobility Social Mobility: Horizontal Mobility:.jpg