Social Class affects individual life chances Free Essay Example, 1000 words

In the practical sense, this is an erroneous belief since individuals may stagnate in one social class even when their income changes. Also, those individuals may obtain power and prestige without necessarily having increased income and thereby shift from one social class to another. Moreover, social classes maybe complicated by the dual income problem that is associated with majority of American citizens who have more than one income sources. These citizens look down upon single income earners of a higher social class. Education has a causal-effect relationship with social class (Bruce, 2002). In this regard, higher education is a fundamental requirement associated with the upper and middle classes. In order for an individual to belong in the middle or upper class one must possess, among other qualification, a college degree. Higher education is hardly affordable and the costs vary from one institution to another. In most cases, the tuition is very expensive especially in the private universities compared with the public universities. With provision of scholarships and student loans, individuals from low social classes are given an opportunity to shift to the middle and upper social classes. We will write a custom essay sample on Social Class affects individual life chances or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now The students from middle and upper social classes easily access quality education in top colleges and university. In addition, they easily obtain employment opportunities in international firms. For students belonging in low social classes, they need to work hard and utilize their talents adequately in order to obtain financial aid for the constantly increasing cost of technical education. Most of individuals with bachelors, professional or doctorate degrees have incomes that are above the national median unlike the college and high school graduates. In this regard, educational qualification determines an individual’s income as well as occupation position. Social classes also have a causal-effect relation with culture that is spiral in nature. Different social classes generate different sub-cultures and therefore individuals who belong in a given social class will have unique ways of socializing its offspring and future generation (Bruce, 2002). In addition, an individual’s mobility from one social class to another will ultimately generate a series of changes of socializing offspring in order to acculturate to the newly acquired social class. According to sociologists, the sub cultures have a significant influence on members of the given social class. These subcultures affect parenting, appreciation of gender roles, social and marital relationships as well as political and economic affiliations.