Lesson 8: Social Class and Inequality

Social inequality in America is very high. About 1% of the population owns almost 60% of the nations income. The disparity of wealth between the classes is even greater than this.

Peoples possessions and homes usually indicate what social class the people are. This picture of a living room looks like the living room of working class people. They make up about 30% of the population.

Social class can often be determined by things like the kind of car someone drives. The top picture car is most likely owned by someone from the working class or lower class. The bottom picture is most likely someone from the middle class or perhaps upper middle class.

Income is the amount of money that someone has coming in. The income disparity in America is very large.

Wealth is much different than income because it includes all the assets that someone has such as property and stocks. The wealth disparity between the upper and lower class is even higher than the differences in income.