Social Class Status

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1. Is class or social status more important in understanding the everyday conditions and choices of individuals in the US?
Understanding the role of social class and how it impacts society can help shed light on the struggles of the many people who are not viewed as individuals but as groups. The working class, single mothers, minority groups. This term focuses on mass population which deflects from the individual issues which attribute to the creation of these groups. “Social classes make up all class situations within which individual and generational mobility is easy and typical -Roth and Wittich t1968, p.302 (pg.217Social Inequality).
Status can be described an individual or groups ability to acquire resources through means of consumerism. “Status groups are ranked in terms of the consumption of goods as represented by special styles of life” (pg. 218 Social Inequality). For instance, the size of your home, where you live (Beverly hills or a homeless shelter) can all be classified as status symbols that in the eyes of society represent who you are which can allow or deny an individual of certain rights.
Both statuses are equally important. They offer a different view of life that explains why stigma, bias, and lack of opportunity exist. To understand why the powerful, remain in control and the poor and working class struggle. we must not lose focus on the key issue which is how there is an existing belief and understanding which implies these two groups are not in