Class in America: Shadowy Lines That Still Divide -NYT Series

[Rose Siding]

ABOUT THIS SERIES
This is the first in a series of articles examining the role of social class in America today. A team of reporters spent more than a year exploring ways that class - defined as a combination of income, education, wealth and occupation - influences destiny in a society that likes to think of itself as a land of unbounded opportunity.

There was a time when Americans thought they understood class. The upper crust vacationed in Europe and worshiped an Episcopal God. The middle class drove Ford Fairlanes, settled the San Fernando Valley and enlisted as company men. The working class belonged to the A.F.L.-C.I.O., voted Democratic and did not take cruises to the Caribbean.
...
But class is still a powerful force in American life. Over the past three decades, it has come to play a greater, not lesser, role in important ways. At a time when education matters more than ever, success in school remains linked tightly to class. At a time when the country is increasingly integrated racially, the rich are isolating themselves more and more. At a time of extraordinary advances in medicine, class differences in health and lifespan are wide and appear to be widening.

And new research on mobility, the movement of families up and down the economic ladder, shows there is far less of it than economists once thought and less than most people believe. In fact, mobility, which once buoyed the working lives of Americans as it rose in the decades after World War II, has lately flattened out or possibly even declined, many researchers say.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/national/class/OVERVIEW-FINAL.html

Income mobility graphic
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_03.html

[Sugarbleus]

1. Excellent post...

I will look at the articles after I reply. It's interesting that the NYT is doing this piece; some were wondering why it's never mentioned in MSM.

I SURELY see it and LIVE it. I was just telling an elderly lady in a store the other day that I wished I'd lived post WWII...seemed like the ordinary person (the working class esp.) had a fairer chance at making a living to support their families and buy a piece of property. Not today though.

[Rose Siding]

3. That graphic blew me away

Don't miss the graphic. We hear about the shift of wealth, but that's just spooky.

[Sugarbleus]

4. I saved the article, got through first page..haven't seen the graphic

yet. I'll keep reading. I appreciate you posting it in the first place.

Thanks...

[bennywhale]

2. As a Brit

i heard a joke by someone along these lines.

A: "Do you know the most amazing thing about the American class system?"
B: "I thought America didn't have a class system"
A: "Thats the most amazing thing about it"

Admittedly far from funny, but its obviously suggesting class is denied in America. American dream and all that.

[Sugarbleus]

5. LOL...yeah, 'come to amereeca, streets are paved with gold'

and all that blather... spot on you are. :hi:

[Rose Siding]

6. 2nd in the series: Life at the Top in America Isn't Just Better, It's Long

Life at the Top in America Isn't Just Better, It's Longer

snip>
Architect, utility worker, maid: heart attack is the great leveler, and in those first fearful moments, three New Yorkers with little in common faced a single, common threat. But in the months that followed, their experiences diverged. Social class - that elusive combination of income, education, occupation and wealth - played a powerful role in Mr. Miele's, Mr. Wilson's and Ms. Gora's struggles to recover.

Class informed everything from the circumstances of their heart attacks to the emergency care each received, the households they returned to and the jobs they hoped to resume. It shaped their understanding of their illness, the support they got from their families, their relationships with their doctors. It helped define their ability to change their lives and shaped their odds of getting better.

Class is a potent force in health and longevity in the United States. The more education and income people have, the less likely they are to have and die of heart disease, strokes, diabetes and many types of cancer. Upper-middle-class Americans live longer and in better health than middle-class Americans, who live longer and better than those at the bottom. And the gaps are widening, say people who have researched social factors in health.

As advances in medicine and disease prevention have increased life expectancy in the United States, the benefits have disproportionately gone to people with education, money, good jobs and connections. They are almost invariably in the best position to learn new information early, modify their behavior, take advantage of the latest treatments and have the cost covered by insurance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/national/class/HEALTH-FINAL.html