Chapter 8

Social Class and Stratification: This chapter is very interesting to me for multiple reasons.  As in every population there are different social classes that seem to break us up into more valuable, rich, poor, or in the middle.  Many times people feel the pressures of being in certain classes which impact their lives in a big way.  I feel that being able to understand the difference in social classes can help anyone who works with the public in which there are many different reasons for peoples actions.

The following link discusses an interesting study on the effect of social class on college students and their involvement in extra curriculum.  This is a great article that shows how students approach and motivation are influenced by their social class and standing.  It goes into how many older students have different motivation and are part of a different social class.   They are motivated to get their studies done and be more successful.  Many of the younger students get wrapped up in activities that do not help with their schooling.  This article brings all these aspects together and analyzes them in a social class and cultural way.
http://ida.lib.uidaho.edu:3304/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e13c9bf8-a347-4f00-875a-d9bd02d40a8f%40sessionmgr4&vid=4&hid=17

This image shows the breakdown of social classes and different levels of careers and salaries.  To me this picture is very accurate putting the majority of people in the middle class and lower category.  

This link looks at the effects of social class on the obesity of children.  It looks into a couple of different aspects such as parents education and poverty.  Both can contribute, but this study looks into what has a greater influence.  I chose this article because in the future I plan on working in the health and fitness field.  Obesity has been and still is a huge problem in the United States and the easiest way to fix a problem is to understand it.  A big contributor to the obesity problem can stem the less education which is paired a lot of times with poverty.
http://ida.lib.uidaho.edu:2104/science/article/pii/S0277953611007167


The horror of class stratification, racism, and prejudice is that some people begin to believe that the security of their families and communities depends on the oppression of others, that for some to have good lives there must be others whose lives are truncated and brutal.

~ Dorothy Allison

There is a lot of questions toward the relevance of class analysis.  This paper looks into the validity of these claims and looks at ways in which this information is still useful today.
http://ida.lib.uidaho.edu:3304/ehost/detail?sid=44904cb5-54c6-4f47-b70e-e3b29a240269%40sessionmgr11&vid=4&hid=18&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=6677420

This video is an actual lecture that helps us to break down the social classes and see the differences in each.  Very educational, but is kind of lengthly.