Can social class affect the outcome of how a person will be in the future? In “Discontent” Michael McGerr focuses on the differences between the upper-ten, the middle class, and the working-class in order to see the differences between each. Wealth is the determinant of how a person is raised and how they will live the rest of their lives.
First, the wealthiest class was the upper ten. McGerr writes, “The ‘upper ten’ were no more than a tiny minority, a mere sliver of the nation. Wealthy capitalist, manufacturers, merchants, landowners, executives, professionals, and their families made up not ‘ten,’ but only 1 or 2 percent.” (McGerr 1) The wealth was not distributed evenly, most of the wealthy were less than 2 percent of a population of …show more content…
McGerr writes, “They tended to live with those parents longer, even into their twenties...As Italian children in Pittsburgh put it, ‘you never left your mother and father.’” For the reason of mutualism, the children of the working class would stay longer at home. They simply could not afford to live on their own, and their parents would not afford to lose their children’s income.
The working-class has no disposable income. McGerr writes, “There was also virtually no chance for American workers to mimic the outlook of the upper ten and celebrate a life of leisure.” (McGerr 5) The working class could barely support their lives, they definitely could not entertain the idea that they could take part in certain pleasures only the upper ten and the middle class could afford.
The working-class had a shorter life expectancy. Referring to the working-class McGerr writes “...faced the twin specters of injury and early death. Every working-class occupation had its difficulties and dangers, from the explosions, fires, cave-ins, debilitating ‘miner’s lung’...asthma, byssinosis, tuberculosis, and maiming...Working-class children born that year could expect to live to forty-eight; the children of Polish immigrants...to live only to forty-one.” (McGerr 4) The jobs the working-class were working were dangerous. Many of the risks could cause them immediate death. Some got sick because of the environment and slowly died. Most people in the working-class did not live to see fifty. The working-class faced many risks in their
First, the wealthiest class was the upper ten. McGerr writes, “The ‘upper ten’ were no more than a tiny minority, a mere sliver of the nation. Wealthy capitalist, manufacturers, merchants, landowners, executives, professionals, and their families made up not ‘ten,’ but only 1 or 2 percent.” (McGerr 1) The wealth was not distributed evenly, most of the wealthy were less than 2 percent of a population of …show more content…
McGerr writes, “They tended to live with those parents longer, even into their twenties...As Italian children in Pittsburgh put it, ‘you never left your mother and father.’” For the reason of mutualism, the children of the working class would stay longer at home. They simply could not afford to live on their own, and their parents would not afford to lose their children’s income.
The working-class has no disposable income. McGerr writes, “There was also virtually no chance for American workers to mimic the outlook of the upper ten and celebrate a life of leisure.” (McGerr 5) The working class could barely support their lives, they definitely could not entertain the idea that they could take part in certain pleasures only the upper ten and the middle class could afford.
The working-class had a shorter life expectancy. Referring to the working-class McGerr writes “...faced the twin specters of injury and early death. Every working-class occupation had its difficulties and dangers, from the explosions, fires, cave-ins, debilitating ‘miner’s lung’...asthma, byssinosis, tuberculosis, and maiming...Working-class children born that year could expect to live to forty-eight; the children of Polish immigrants...to live only to forty-one.” (McGerr 4) The jobs the working-class were working were dangerous. Many of the risks could cause them immediate death. Some got sick because of the environment and slowly died. Most people in the working-class did not live to see fifty. The working-class faced many risks in their