I know the definition of working poor, but I wouldn't necessarily equate that with working class. The middle class works and struggles with paying college tuition bills too. Is the dividing line between the middle class and the working class a matter of salary or education? A blue-collar worker can make more money than a white collar worker, so blue-collar workers can be middle-class if middle-class is about making a certain amount of money. I am not sure if it's an educational boundary either - don't blue-collar jobs often require as much skill and education as white collar jobs if in different arenas?
Financially, some of the struggles you describe happen in a middle-class world as well. And some of the things you describe as middle-class, I would say are way upper-middle-class. Fewer than 5% of the population makes over 100K/year. So class is not financial alone, or at all. There is definitely a social element that defines class, and what is that element?
Just curious how the terms are defined in an anthropological sense.
no subject
Date: 2004-01-12 08:48 am (UTC)I know the definition of working poor, but I wouldn't necessarily equate that with working class. The middle class works and struggles with paying college tuition bills too. Is the dividing line between the middle class and the working class a matter of salary or education? A blue-collar worker can make more money than a white collar worker, so blue-collar workers can be middle-class if middle-class is about making a certain amount of money. I am not sure if it's an educational boundary either - don't blue-collar jobs often require as much skill and education as white collar jobs if in different arenas?
Financially, some of the struggles you describe happen in a middle-class world as well. And some of the things you describe as middle-class, I would say are way upper-middle-class. Fewer than 5% of the population makes over 100K/year. So class is not financial alone, or at all. There is definitely a social element that defines class, and what is that element?
Just curious how the terms are defined in an anthropological sense.