Picture never getting to see your married parents. It is not because they are separated, it’s because they work a public job day after day. This is the way I grew up, this is considered the working class. We had new clothes, nice cars, and always had food on the table. My parents worked for every penny of it and we were identified as the middle class. There are three categories of middle class: the upper-middle class, the middle class, and the lower-middle class. There are a lot of misconceptions about middle class people that I would like to identify. Not being better off than your parents, assuming everyone is associated with the middle class, and more income in the middle class doesn’t make you happier are just a few myths I’m going to share with you.
Have you ever been told that you’re going to be just like your parents or heard someone talking about how they would never be as successful as their parents. That leads us into our first myth, Today’s middle-class Americans are worse off than their parents. According to the Panel Student of Income Dynamics, a long-running survey of United States households, and the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Economic Mobility Project found that as of 2000-2008, that 86% of Americans who grew up in middle-class household had a high income. My parents came from a different generation than my grandparents, they have a lot more bills in today’s times. We now have a cable bill, water bill, a cell phone bell, etc.
Growing up in Kentucky everyone always talking about how they came from the middle class. This is our second myth, almost all Americans think they’re middle class. I described early the typically life styles of a middle-class person, but just because you have some of those things doesn’t mean that’s your economic status. According to Rakesh Kochhar and Rich Morin, they conducted a survey and the resulted ended up stating that 44% of Americans are self-identified as being part of the middle class. Although most people may identify their selves as the middle class, this doesn’t mean that their incomes prove this statement. According Melissa Kearney, Benjamin Harris, Elisa Jácome, and Lucie Parker nearly half of families in the United States live below 250 percent of the federal poverty level.
How would you feel if you received a raise in salary, even if it was only an extra 5,000 dollars a year? My final myth is that people when people reach the middle class, more income doesn’t make you any happier. This is very untrue because from personal experiences, I have seen that when my dad took a pay raise that it was a lot easier for my mom and dad to pay the bills and still make do for my siblings and me. If someone offered you a job to mow their grass for fifty dollars and someone else with the same size yard offered you a hundred dollars, whose would you mow? You would choose the second lady’s yard and be extremely happy that you made fifty extra dollars. According to The Hamilton Project almost half of Americans bring home less than $60,000 a year, USA Today says that the essential subtotal in live in the United states is roughly around $58,491.
In conclusion, growing up being in the middle class has taught me the value of a dollar. Everyone is constantly wanting to prosper and grow and want better for their family than what they had. Although money is not the root of happiness, it lifts financial burdens and that can cause happiness and joy. And lastly, just because you refer to yourself as middle class does not always mean you are in that social class. Myths are a part of our everyday culture but recognizing and understanding them can help with our views on society.
Work Cited
Gold, Howard R. “Price tag for the American dream: $130K a year.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 4 July 2014, www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2014/07/04/american-dream/11122015/.
Kenworthy, Lane. “Five myths about the middle class.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 Aug. 2012, www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-the-middle-class/2012/08/03/gJQAxPi6UX_story.html?utm_term=.5c6a0bc69f96.
Kochhar, Rakesh, and Rich Morin. “Despite recovery, fewer Americans identify as middle class.” Pew Research Center, 27 Jan. 2014, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/27/despite-recovery-fewer-americans-identify-as-middle-class/.
https://www.thebalance.com/definition-of-middle-class-income-4126870 (picture)