Class as Relational Peer Response

Class as Relational Peer Responses

Peer 1: Jack

Your assertion that the biggest variable when it comes to “income tier” would have to be education level for all individuals. Again, I agree that age also plays an important role. When you flip the ages around for each race and education level, there is a dramatic increase in middle and upper class income levels. It is also true that race is a massive variable in income tier differences. In summary, the income levels are completely incomparable based on the amount of money and distribution across the different races and ethnic groups: whites make more compared to Hispanic and Black people. You pose an interesting question on the steps that can be taken in the future to increase the chances to be in the middle and upper income tiers besides the focus on education. I think there is no way of avoiding the role of education in determining where one falls in the income tiers. Primarily, education levels mean the level of specialization, and therefore we can never eliminate it as a variable.

Peer 2: Angelica

I agree that the area one lives in plays a vital role in defining the income tier. I also agree with your position that education is an important variable because the higher the education the higher the chances of one becoming middle or upper income increased especially with White and Asian people. Additionally, age, race, and capitalism play a big role because the majority of people who have a strong chance of becoming upper-class are white and Asian, up to a certain age where income begins to fall. He patterns are further supported by the ability of white and Asian people to invest, through capitalism thus allowing them to remain wealthy over time. Your question on if the results would remain the same or different if the study was conducted elsewhere is interesting. I think the same would apply in all other capitalistic nations in the Western countries. However, the issue of races would not play such a huge role. The differences between black and white people would not be so pronounced.