Living in a Social World
Psy 324: Advanced Social Psychology
Spring, 1998

Personal Reflections on Issues Surrounding  Socioeconomic Status
Nathan Brown, Riki Evans, & William Kramer

1. The United States has great and ever increasing disparity between the rich and the poor. Tom Geoghegan (1998) reported here in a lecture at Miami University that the top 5% of the economy receives 90% of the money in the country. In order to provide yourself with a better understanding of the wide range of socioeconomic status click here  and follow the instructions on the page in order to compare different counties within the United States. Be sure to check out your own hometown and compare it to the surrounding areas. Which were highest and lowest in socioeconomic status? Consider this question by looking at the following factors for each county you research:

-percent unemployment

-percent high school and college graduate

-personal income

Consider the following web links:

Introduction to Welfare

Hot Topic: Welfare Reform

Welfare Media Myths

Welfare Reform

-Which most closely emphasizes your own opinion?

-How much of your success or failure do you contribute to situational versus individual factors?

-What effect do economic restraints have on your life?

-Do you think having more or less money would significantly alter your current living style?

-After having considered these questions, consider the thoughts collected here and then reflect on how they compare to your own.

Here are some previous comments:

(Dr. Evans- "Granted, financial success alone is not the prescription for happiness, however, not having enough money to buy medicine or food for your family can create an incredible impediment to happiness.")

(Dan Katafiasz-"I don’t think that situational factors are as large a predictor of income as internal factors. A lot of people suffer huge economic hardships and are still able to overcome.")

(Shane Newman-"Welfare is important not for the sake of those who don’t work, but for the children who have to live for the adults who refuse to work. For the children, poverty is entirely situational.")

(Amy Pannell-"I think that welfare is necessary because we don’t want to see other people suffer. I know I don’t want to say oh, well just because some one ended up loosing their job for something they didn’t do.")

(Amiee Forrestor-"I never really thought about economic constraints until recently. Up till graduation my parents have taken care of most of that stuff. Now that I’m graduating and have to pay for everything though, I certainly see were it might be difficult, especially if you don’t have an education, to pay the bills.")

(Jason Phillips-"I think that a lot of things can interfere with having a lot of money, but I also think that people have some control over what they do with the money they do have.")

(Angela Burden-"I think that having more money would be awesome, but I can get by on little. I think having kids that get sick or need different food could be a problem though.")

(Simon Alexander-"I think that most of my success is due to plain hard work. I paid for my college education by working. However, I think my grades are probably lower due to that, which I guess puts those who have to work at a disadvantage.")

(Jamie Sisson-"I would love to have more money, but I wouldn’t love to have less money. The more you have, the more you can spend, the less you have, the more you have to worry.")

(Lois Earie-"I think most of my success is due to hard work , perseverance, and a little bit of luck.")

3. After reflecting on item two, please consider the following scenario:

A mother walks in with four children, all bare foot. The family travels through the grocery store piling in sugar cereal, toys, and chocolate bars. They then approach the counter and pay with food stamps. What is your reaction? Why might this be due to internal character traits of the mother? Why might this be due to their situation? What does the scenario lead you to believe about the family?

Click here to consider your personal locus of control and attribution style.

Here are some previous thoughts:

Riki Evans-"Perhaps, the mother can not afford pleasure for her child of any other form and thus, provides these as a means to give them the only joy she can purchase. Perhaps, it is due to lack of health education."

Mathew John-"The mother should buy milk, not juice. Better health is a better way of insuring a good life than candy bars."

(Gregory Smith-"I understand that people my wish to buy their children fun things, but fun things can be made, some things that are needed such as milk can only be bought, thus, the money should be used only for that.")

(Kathryn Jacobs-"If you don’t have enough money to buy what you need, you shouldn’t waste it on junk.")

(Cindy Lewis-"I don’t think that the mother thinks she is wasting it. She wants to give her kids something to play with and that’s the only way she can get it. Why do those kids have to get less stuff just because their mother doesn’t have a lot of money?")

(Mike Bottoms-"By not using the money for nutritional things, she is putting them at more of a disadvantage.")

(Lucy Martin-"I think that the mother may not be educated enough to realize that she is only making the situation for her kids worse by giving them toys and junk food rather than food stuffs.")

(Erin Morrison-"I just hope I never have to rely on food stamps to provide entertainment for my children.")

 (Lucas Albeno-"My house burned down in a fire a long time ago. We didn’t have anything to replace it. The fire was not the fault of our family and there was no way to replace anything. We did not have insurance only because we could not pay for it. If I had had children at the time of the fire I would have used whatever means possible to give them something enjoyable, even if it meant using food stamps for chocolate bars."

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