What are poor and lower class people like?

Will Barratt, Ph.D.

Work: service, retired, white collar, blue collar

Education: Some high school, high school graduate, some college,

Home:  Rent, own

Money and money management: low or below average assets

Shop: Express, The Limited, Lane Bryant, Wal-Mart, Home Shopping Network, Publisher’s Clearing House, Rite Aid, Avon, in home.

Read: Comic books, Vibe, Saturday Evening Post, Spin, Reader’s Digest, American Woodworker, OK! Magazine, American Legion Magazine, Motorcyclist, Good Housekeeping, Hunting, Essence, Jet, Town and Country, Women’s day, Parents,

Watch:  Maury, Jeopardy, Game show network, Dr. Phil, Sabado Gigante, Telemundo, The Price is Right, Jerry Springer, As the world turns, Soapnet, Primer Impacto, People’s Court, Judge Judy, The Young and the Restless

Drive: Kia Spectra, Rio, Suzuki Forenza, Chevrolet Monte Carlo, Dodge Charger, Hundai Tiburon, Mercury Sable, Chevrolet Aveo, GMC Canyon, Ford Ranger, Ford Crown Victoria, Suzuki Reno, Chrusler 300, Mercury Grand Marquis, Dodge Ram.

Vacation, play, and travel: Bingo, Whitewater rafting, Gamble in Atlantic City or Reno, own a motor home, needlepoint, domestic travel on Jet Blue, collect stamps,

Insurance and memberships were not listed in the PRIZM descriptions for these groups.

Method

I have aggregated information from the 15 PRIZM market segments classified as Downscale and Low Income to describe the poor and lower social class.  This collection of 15 market segments is described as low to downscale.  Using US Census data this would be incomes under $40,000, or place these individuals in the lowest 40% by household income.

Market segmenting makes assumptions about consumption and creates clusters of people based on their consumer characteristics, age, and on where they live.  The Nielsen Company has identified 66 PRIZM market segments, http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp 58 P$YCLE segments, and 53 ConneXions segments, and described them by demographics and lifestyle and media traits.

Commentary

These are not stereotypes, these are consumer behaviors based on research on what people report about themselves.  These data and descriptions are widely used by marketers in the US.  The underlying assumption here is that social class is reflected in consumer behaviors.  By looking closely it is clear that this group has little money.  This consumer assumption about social class does not reflect social class as culture or social class as identity.


Also:

What are upper-middle class people like?

What are upper-middle-middle class people like?

What are middle-middle class people like?

What are lower-middle-middle class people like?

What are lower-middle-middle class people like?

Will Barratt, Ph.D.

Work: Service, white collar, retired

Education:  some high school, high school graduate, some college, college degree

Home: Rent, own

Money and money management: low, lower-mid, moderate, above average

Shop: Banana Republic , Victoria’s Secret, True Value, Macy’s, QVC, Lowe’s, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Columbia House, oldnavy.com, Sears, CVS, Walgreens, The Gap

Read: Latina, Elle, fraternal magazines, New Yorker, Ladies Home Journal, Four Wheeler, Family Handyman, Guns and Ammo, science fiction, Car Craft, Fit Pregnancy, North American Hunter, Seventeen, Life & Style, Ser Padres, Ebony

Watch:  Tyra, VH1, Wheel of Fortune, The View, One Life to Live, Speed Channel, CBS Early Show, satellite dish, auto racing, WWE Wrestling, Nick at Night, Outdoor Channel, Premio Juventud, Noticiero Univision, El Gordo Y La Flaca, BET

Drive: VW GTI, Suzuki SX4, Ford Taurus, Chrysler PT Cruiser, Kia Borrego, Dodge Ram, GMC Sierra, Chevrolet Colorado, Nissan Titan, Ford F-Series, VW GLI, Suzuki, Toyota Yaris, Nissan Pathfinder

Vacation, play, and travel: play soccer, karate, domestic travel by rail, domestic travel by bus, collect coins, fishing, sewing, camping, movies

Memberships: fraternal order

Method

I have aggregated information from the 15 PRIZM market segments classified as Lower-Mid, by Nielsen to describe the upper-middle social class.  PRIZM classifies this group as Lower-Mid, but from a researcher perspective, it is the lowest of three groups in the middle.

Market segmenting makes assumptions about consumption and creates clusters of people based on their consumer characteristics, age, and on where they live.  The Nielsen Company has identified 66 PRIZM market segments, 58 P$YCLE segments, and 53 ConneXions segments, and described them by demographics and lifestyle and media traits.

Commentary

These are not stereotypes, these are consumer behaviors based on research on what people report about themselves.  These data are widely used by marketers in the US.  The underlying assumption here is that social class is reflected in consumer behaviors.  This consumer assumption about social class does not reflect social class as culture or social class as identity.


Also:

What are upper-middle class people like?

What are upper-middle-middle class people like?

What are middle-middle class people like?

What are poor and lower class people like?

New Post The students guide to becoming upper-middle class

What are middle-middle class people like?

Will Barratt, Ph.D.

Work: retired, service jobs, white collar

Education: some college, college graduate

Home:  rent, mostly homeowners

Money and money management: Low, below average, average, above average, to moderate assets

Shop: Ace Hardware, Orbitz.com, FedEx Kinkos, Marshalls, Kohl’s

Read: Audubon, Entrepreneur, Cycle World, Baby Talk, Smithsonian

Watch:  Masterpiece Theater, Family Guy, Scrubs, Univision, Live from Lincoln Center

Drive: Buick Lucerne, Subaru Outback, Mazda 6, Mitsubishi Lancer, Chevrolet Impala

Vacation, play, and travel:  NBA games, sing karaoke, cruise on Norwegian lines.

Memberships: Veteran’s club

Method

PRIZM classifies this group as Midscale, but from a researcher perspective, it is the middle of three groups in the middle. Classification into social class hierarchy depends on many things, but this group is in the middle of all Nielsen groups.  I have aggregated information from the 5 PRIZM market segments classified as Midscale by Nielsen.

Market segmenting makes assumptions about consumption and creates clusters of people based on their consumer characteristics, age, and on where they live.  The Nielsen Company has identified 66 PRIZM market segments, 58 P$YCLE segments, and 53 ConneXions segments, and described them by demographics and lifestyle and media traits.

Commentary

These are not stereotypes, these are consumer behaviors based on research on what people report about themselves.  These data are widely used by marketers in the US.  The underlying assumption here is that social class is reflected in consumer behaviors.  This consumer assumption about social class does not reflect social class as culture or social class as identity.


Also:

What are upper-middle class people like?

What are upper-middle-middle class people like?

What are lower-middle-middle class people like?

What are poor and lower class people like?

What are upper-middle-middle class people like?

Will Barratt, Ph.D.

Work: Service, white collar, management, professional, retired

Education: high school graduate, some college, college graduate, graduate plus

Home: rent, mostly owners

Money and money management: income and assets are, moderate, above average, to high

Shop: IKEA, Bloomingdale’s, Eddie Bauer, Express, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Disney Story, buy educational toys, BarnesandNobel.com, Lands’ End, Ethan Allen Galleries, Costco, Office Depot, Gevalia Kaffe, Old Navy, Best Buy, eBay.com, BMG Music, Sherwin Williams

Read: Wired, Tennis, Consumer Reports, Details, Scouting Magazine, Parenting, Macworld, Modern Bride, Harper’s Bazaar, VFW Magazine, AARP The Magazine, Black Enterprise, American Baby, Field and Stream, People en Espanol, Daytona 500,

Watch:  The Office, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, 24, Soccer, Gravity Games, The Sidney Channel, Discovery Health, Fox Sports Net, Maxim, MTV, BBC America, Inspiration Network, Antiques roadshow,  TeleFutura, Cartoon Network, X Games, Latin Grammy Awards, Bassmaster,

Drive: Acura TSX, Buick LaCrosse, Subaru Forester, VW Rabbit, Saturn Aura, VW Routan, VW Passat, Subaru Legacy, Nissan Xterra, Lexus LX, Mercury Grand Marquis, Chevrolet Impala, Lexus IS, Chevrolet Uplander, Chevrolet Silverado, Saturn Ion, GMC Sierra

Vacation, play, and travel:  Play racquetball, attend opera, own a timeshare, international videos, horseback riding, karate, listen to classical music, books on tape, travel by motor home, motivational tapes, attend high school sports, children’s videos, hunting,

Method

I have aggregated information from the 17 PRIZM market segments classified as Upper-Mid by Nielsen to describe the upper-middle-middle social class.  This is the upper of the three middle groups described by Nielsen.

Market segmenting makes assumptions about consumption and creates clusters of people based on their consumer characteristics, age, and on where they live.  The Nielsen Company has identified 66 PRIZM market segments, 58 P$YCLE segments, and 53 ConneXions segments, and described them by demographics and lifestyle and media traits.

Commentary

These are not stereotypes, these are consumer behaviors based on research on what people report about themselves.  These data are widely used by marketers in the US.  The underlying assumption here is that social class is reflected in consumer behaviors.  This consumer assumption about social class does not reflect social class as culture or social class as identity.


Also:

What are upper-middle class people like?

What are middle-middle class people like?

What are lower-middle-middle class people like?

What are poor and lower class people like?

New Post - The students guide to becoming upper-middle class

What are upper-middle class people like?

Will Barratt, Ph.D.

Work: Management, Executive, business owner, professional

Education: College, graduate, or professional degree

Home:  Mostly homeowners

Money and money management: Have after-tax money and retirement money to manage, real estate investments, stocks, municipal bonds, T-notes, annuities, 529s, mutual funds, a home equity line of credit, a 401k, an IRA and other types of investments.  Older UMCs will have a personal or phone relationship with a broker, financial, or wealth manager. Younger UMCs trade on line, by phone, in person, and have a personal broker, financial, or wealth manager, and an online trading account.

Shop: Expedia.com, Amazon.com, zappos.com, target.com, Saks Fifth Ave, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Bloomingdales, Lands’ End, L. L. Bean, Lord and Taylor, J. Crew, Thomasville, Neiman Marcus, Talbots, Crate and Barrel

Read: The Economist, Details, Harper’s Bazar, The New Yorker, Barron’s, Wall Street Journal, Traditional Home, Bon Appetit, Wine Spectator, Condé Nast Traveler, Architectural Digest, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, Coastal Living, Yachting, Skiing, American Hunter

Watch:  IFC, international videos, soccer, BBC America, PBS, The View, Masterpiece Theater, 60 Minutes, Saturday Night Live, Golf Channel, video on demand, pay-per-view, Ebert and Roeper, Washington Week, Bloomberg Television

Drive: Audi, VW, Lexus, Mercedes, Land Rover, Toyota Land Cruiser, Jaguar

Insurance: Have health insurance, retirement insurance, and travel insurance.

Vacation and travel: Europe, (Spain, Portugal, France), cruises, and frequent domestic travel for fun and business

Memberships: Country Club, Civic Club

Sports: Watch Horse racing, tennis, and golf, play tennis, go skiing, water skiing, and snorkeling

Method

Market segmenting makes assumptions about consumption and creates clusters of people based on their consumer characteristics, age, and on where they live.  The Nielsen Company has identified 66 PRIZM market segments, 58 P$YCLE segments, and 53 ConneXions segments, and described people in them by demographics and lifestyle and media traits.

I have aggregated information from the 14 PRIZM market segments classified as Wealthy and Upscale to describe the upper-middle social class.  This collection of 14 market segments reflects a median family income range from slightly above $100,000 a year down to $50,000.  The six wealthy market segments represent millions of US households so I  included them in the upper-middle class based on the assumption that the elite upper class are few in number.

Commentary

These are not stereotypes, these are consumer behaviors based on research on what people report about themselves.  These data are widely used by marketers in the US.  The underlying assumption here is that social class is reflected in consumer behaviors.  By looking closely it is clear that this group has money to invest and has accumulated retirement money.  This consumer assumption about social class does not reflect social class as culture or social class as identity.

Also:

What are upper-middle-middle class people like?

What are middle-middle class people like?

What are lower-middle-middle class people like?

What are poor and lower class people like?

New Post - The students guide to becoming upper middle class

Social class and cyborgs

Will Barratt, Ph.D.

If you are reading this you are already a cyborg, at least according to William Gibson.  You have augmented reality, peripherals, external memory, and arrays of information all at your fingertips, a mouse click or a voice command away.  Gibson outlined this idea of cyborg in his 2008 talk to the Vancouver Institute “Googling the Cyborg” (in Distrust that particular flavor).  I was taken by his idea that we don’t need to be hardwired to be a cybernetic organism.  We are not hardwired like the Borg or memory augmented like Johnny Mnemonic, but how we affect our peripherals and how they affect us is cybernetics. We can still unplug our broadband, tablet, laptop, cellphone, game console, and silicon based peripheral life.  Yet few of us unplug.

For me, the idea of the peripheral goes beyond silicon, and that is where social class comes in.  In the performance of our selves in everyday life (see Irving Goffman’s Performance of self in everyday life) we have all manner of personal identity peripherals.  People with more money will have more high quality, designer, high speed, maximum bandwidth silicon peripherals with obviously designer labeled cases.  You can get a Prada iPad case that costs more than an iPad mini.  A silicon peripheral can have a designer fashion peripheral, layering it all in complex ways.

According to Wikipedia, the most excellent source to use in this particular blog, “Cybernetics is a transdisciplinary approach for exploring regulatory systems, their structures, constraints, and possibilities.”  “A cyborg, short for "cybernetic organism", is a being with both biological and artificial (i.e. electronic, mechanical, or robotic) parts.”  Do peripherals not hard wired to you count as part of you?  Yes, according to Gibson.  You rely on sensory input (glowing screens) and physical output (typing) to use peripherals, the hard wiring is irrelevant.  If silicon-based input and output peripherals are part of our cybernetic organism selves, then our other peripherals are equally part of our cybernetic “regulatory systems, . . . structures, constraints, and possibilities”.

Our fashion and accessory peripherals help us in the performance of our gender, our ethnicity, our social class, and the myriad identities we have on public display.  Dan Ariely in The (honest) truth about dishonesty explores honesty and counterfeit fashion.  His, and others’, research tells us that knowingly wearing real high prestige designer sunglasses makes us slightly more honest and knowingly wearing counterfeit high prestige designer sunglasses makes us slightly more dishonest.  This makes knowledge about a fashion peripheral part of a person’s regulatory system, structure, constraints, and possibilities.  Sunglasses are a fashion peripheral and affect your perception of the world, as well as affect your honesty.

Cybernetic analyses is exploring regulatory systems, structures, constraints, and possibilities.  Thinking of cell phones as silicon technology peripherals makes us cybernetic organisms in a more traditional sense.  We are linked to technology is a systemic way which affects both the technology and us.   Thinking of fashion as a peripheral also makes us cyborgs, linked to our manufactured clothing and accessories which in turn affects our self-image and behaviors, which in turn affects those around us who in turn affect us. 

What is my social class?

Will Barratt, Ph.D.

People are curious about their social class.  Multiple web sites will assist you with a quiz or a checklist grounded in some idea of social class.  Most of these groundings, these ideas about social class, are not explicit and we need to read with critical analysis to understand what idea of class is being promoted or reflected.  I am curious as to why we want some quiz or checklist to tell us our social class?  What is it about us and what is it about social class that brings this question up?  There is a simple question here: “What social class am I?”  and there is a complex question here: “What is being (insert social class here) like?”.  I think both of these questions drive us to know more.

What is my social class?

The New York Times has an interactive graphic that will help you identify your social class based on occupation, education, and income.  The illusion of certainty is obtained through the use of objective measures without asking the question if occupation, education, and income are the right questions to ask, or if the rankings on the scale are accurate.  This is probably the most sophisticated measure available on line.

PBS provides an entertaining quiz and links to material covered as a supplement to their excellent People Like Us video.  This is an excellent and informative, research based, complex view of social class designed to stimulate conversation.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a quiz based on Paul Fussell’s “The Living Room Scale” that asks questions about what you have, or don’t have, in your living room.  For example, you get points for having an old oriental carpet and lose points for having a new one.  Even asking that question shows a clear bias toward making distinctions at the upper end of the social class scale.  On the third hand, what market share is the quiz directed at?  This is interesting and uses a questionable model of social class as their measure, but it is a fun and interesting checklist.

Quizfarm has a quiz developed by gonewiththegale based on questions about stuff, attitudes, and values that compares your answers to individuals in various social class groups, and of course my favorite social class group and my highest score; alternative.  This quiz reflects a complex view of class, and uses class stereotypes to create questions.

Dack.com has the quick quiz Determine Your Social Class Based on What You Drink, with three class options that is also based on Paul Fussell’s work.  While amusing, this is based solely on class stereotypes and reflects no research.  A critical look at liquor advertising will reveal the flaws in both Fussell’s work and this quiz.

Tim Sheard posted a quiz for a University course in 2008 based on Ruby Payne’s work.  While the quiz is an excellent reflection of Payne’s work, reading the questions brings into clear question Payne’s assumptions about class groups.  For example, the lower class items involve weapons and crime and the upper class items reflect an imaginary group personified by Donald Trump.  This is an ideological and stereotyped view of social class that should be read very critically.

Along with Andrew Lurker, Angela Carlen, Meagan Cahill, Minnette Huck, and Stacy Ploskonka I produced a group experience quiz called the Social Class Cultural Capital Knowledge Quiz that used Bourdieu’s idea of cultural capital to look at two social class groups.  The assumption was that cultural capital – knowledge – was an effective way to make people aware of the distinctions between social classes.  This quiz was designed to stimulate conversation and self-exploration of social class stereotypes.

Reality check

In reality, most people identify as middle class according to the Pew study Inside the middle class: Bad times hit the good life.  So why do I ask “What class am I?” when I already know?  The middle class is a huge group — 91% of the respondents in the Pew study identified as lower-middle class, middle class, or upper-middle class — so the question becomes “What kind of middle class am I?” or “How am I middle class?”

How am I middle class?

I believe that this is the question that people want answered.  We want to know more about our performance of their class.  We also want to know what others in our social class do and we want to be entertained by what people in other social classes do.  You can, and probably should, take each of the quizzes and checklists listed above and then think about the model of social class that each one reflects.  You should also continue reading this to explore a totally different model and of social class and an assessment based on consumer habits.

The myth of the homogeneous social class is as ubiquitous as it is untrue.  The myth of class descriptions based on living rooms contents or on the ability to acquire handguns or bail money is untrue.  There are general trends, but social class is a complex social construct.  Social class identity and the performance of social class must be learned.  Messages of how people in each social class are supposed to behave are transmitted by the media in order to make money on the trappings of social class.  You are a social class market segment and the advertisements in your media outlets are a social class gold mine – literally.  Look at the advertisements in the magazines that you read and in the media that you watch.  Advertisers spend a lot of money trying to understand the buying habits of people who see their ads.  We are all a social class market segment, even if we are in an alternative social class according to an on-line quiz.

Social Class Self-Assessment

First, we need to understand that each of us applies a social class value to nearly everything from beverages (Is Miller brand beer lower class, middle class, or upper class?) to education (Which is a higher social class university; Michigan State University or Harvard University?).  Second, we need to understand that there are two social class values for everything; one assigned by you or me and one assigned by people in the prestige social class.

Use the two scales below in your quest to find your social class based on your consumer habits.

My assignment of social class

Low Prestige

Middle Prestige

High Prestige

1

2

3

4

5

Prestige social class assignment of social class

Low Prestige

Middle Prestige

High Prestige

1

2

3

4

5

For every full page advertisement you read or 1 minute TV ad you see make a mark on the scale based on how you would assign prestige value from within your social class.  Second, make a mark on the second scale based on how you think the prestige social class would rank the item in the advertisement.  

Example 1:  If there is an advertisement for a Daiwa Goldcast reel you may, because of your social class and cultural capital, rate it as a 4 or 5.  After all, they are really nice.  However, someone from the prestige social class would rank all fishing equipment as a 2.  People in the prestige social class don’t fish for Bass much.  Fly fishing is another story.

Example 2: You may rate an advertisement about vacations to Paris or safaris to Kenya as a 5, as would someone from the prestige social class.  In this case both ratings would be a 5.

Once you have 20-30 marks, you will know what marketers think of your social class based on your consumer habits.

The assumption about consumption

This is a consumer model of social class, and the assumption is that consumption reflects social class.  It is true that some upper-middle class people go Bass fishing, and some lower-middle class people fly fish.  Some working class people go to Paris.  In general, the marketers know a lot about our performance of social class through shopping.

New Post A students' guide to becoming upper-middle class