Social Classes & Family Relationships

     What differences have you ever seen in families coming from different social classes? Has there been a common difference? My name is Kenneth Boss, and today we are going to be discussing if there are any common differences found in families of different social classes. To do this, we are going to look at 3 main topics: What defines a social class, what challenges are typical to each one, and which is most likely to create successful families. 

    First, what defines a social class? According to the Oxford Dictionary, "A division of society based on social and economic status." But we have to ask ourselves, what exactly do we think of when we think of what makes up a social class? Personally, I think of location of home, financial income, education, and personal achievement either in academics, sports, in business or all three. For an upper (or high-income) social class it is typical to picture very expensive homes and property, very high levels of education with academic and athletic achievements along the way. In addition to this, I'm sure one imagines they have very high paying jobs, are in charge of/employ many people, and are probably very successful in their businesses. In a middle class (or average income) family, one would typically picture a small home that they may or may not own, a decent income that pays their families expenses, and a fair amount of achievement in some regard. For a lower class (or low-income family), we typically think of life in a small apartment or high crime area. We would usually think of a low level of education, a low paying job or a job without much room for growth, and most achievement is in sports rather than business or academics.

Next, let us look at what struggles each class has been found likely to find in terms of family life. An upper-class family has been found to be more likely to rely on childcare services (such as nannies) to raise their children while they are off fulfilling their numerous duties of a high-income job. Due to this, the parents have been found less likely to have a strong relationship with the children. In addition to this, children of an upper-class family have been found to be more likely to indulge in drug use, alcoholism, and are likely to not get married until late in life, and thus not likely to have many children if any. In terms of the parents, marriages are much less likely to last and multiple marriages are common. In the middle-class, we find that (despite the overall trend of the country) divorces are less likely, more likely to have children, and more likely to remain both close to their children and remain married through their lives. Despite having lower incomes (and again, despite current trends), the middle class are also more likely to only have a single source of income in the household. The majority of the time, this is the father. However, due to recent trends there have been an encouragement by society to have both parents work, be loose with their relationship with their children, and have fewer kids. All of these have shown to create a less likely chance of successful children. The lower-class typically does not consist of a mother and father who are married, resulting in "baby mommas & baby daddies", high child support bills, very complicated family structures, and lots of hours that the parents spend working at a low paying job that does not adequately provide for the family. In addition to this, lower income families are more likely to not complete high school or attend any university. In addition to this we see that child from low-income families are also more likely to have children out of wedlock, turn to drugs and alcohol, and not find much success in either academics or in business. Due to these observations, it suggests that the social class most likely to produce a successful marriage and successful children is the middle class.