Can race or gender determine the chances of a person being wealthy or poor? Where a person is born and raised, their skin color and gender may determine their wealth or social status. According to Ferrante (2010) “ascribed status is a social position on the basis of attributes people possess, such as skin shade, sex, or hair color” (p. 221). These attributes are inherited by no fault of their own. A person’s income also determines their social class. How much income a person earns puts them into one of three classes; upper, middle, or lower class. The U. S. Census Bureau takes the data they receive to determine how households fall into theses groups. According to the 2010 Census “one in eight people - 35 million or 12.5 percent - of the population,
