Developing a Detailed Lesson PlanFlying the Friendlier SkiesPu

Developing a Detailed Lesson Plan
Flying the Friendlier Skies
Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice in
developing a lesson plan for the job of airline reservation agent
for a major airline.
Situation: The airline has just hired 30 new reservation agents,
and you must create a 3 day lesson plan for their training
program.
Objective: Airline reservation agents need numerous skills to
perform their jobs. JetBlue Airlines has asked you, as the
designated Training Manager, to quickly develop the outline of
a lesson plan for its new reservation agents. The main duties of
a Reservation Agent include the following:
Customers contact the airline reservation agents to obtain flight
schedules, prices and itineraries. The agent looks up the
requested information on the airline online flight schedule
systems, which is updated continuously. The agent must deal
courteously and expeditiously with the customer, and be able to
quickly find alternative flight arrangements in order to provide
the customer with the itinerary that fits their needs. Alternative
flights and prices must be found quickly, so that the customer is
not kept waiting, and so that the reservation operations group
maintains its efficiency standards. It is often necessary to look
under various routings, since there may be a dozen or more
alternative routes between destinations.
In addition, as the Training Manager, you must be sure to
include other aspects of organizational knowledge into the
lesson plan. As an example:
“JetBlue Airways is dedicated to bringing humanity back to air
travel. We strive to make every part of your experience as
simple and as pleasant as possible.”
To discover more about Jetblue go to its website
at www.jetblue.com (Links to an external site.).
NOTE: See Figure 5-2 in your textbook for a general lesson

plan template.
NOTE: See Figure 5-3 in your textbook for a sample completed
lesson plan.
Web links Ch 6
Web Links – Choose 1
1. org. A nonpartisan organization that provides information on
bills, pending legislation, legislators by state, and information
on how members of Congress have voted on particular
issues. www.themiddleclass.org/ (Links to an external site.)
2. New York Times. “How Class Works.” Informative
interactive site defining social class. Includes interesting
variable: generation, occupation, mobility, education, country
and
more. http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/2005051
5_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_03.html (Links to an external site.)
3. New York Times. “What Percent Are You?” Interactive map
allowing the user to enter a household income level to see
where they fall among a percentage of people with the same
income in different regions of the
S. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/15/business/one
-percent-map.html?ref=incomeinequality (Links to an external
site.)
Videos Ch 6 – Choose 1
Which Income Class Are You? (Links to an external site.)
What is UPPER MIDDLE CLASS? What does UPPER MIDDLE
CLASS mean? UPPER MIDDLE CLASS meaning (Links to an
external site.)
Why so many Americans in the middle class have no
savings (Links to an external site.)
How the upper middle class keeps everyone else (Links to an

external site.)
Discussion #2 Questions
1. From the list of Chapter Videos and Weblinks provided for
this week, choose one web link and 1 video you have visited
and discuss the following: 5-6 sentences for each question.
Please site all work.
· How is the information in the weblinks and the video best
illustrated in the chapters' information?
·
· What pages from the textbook best aligns with the
information? Please see the attached Ch. 6 reading to answer the
second question of DQ
· As a social scientist, what 2 theories from chapter 2 can you
use to explain what you have read/seen/heard in the videos and
websites? Explain why you chose the two theories? ? Please
see the following CH 2 textbook reading to help answer the
final DQ for list of theories.
Please see the attached Ch. 6 reading to answer the second
question of DQCHAPTER 6
The Badly Besieged Middle Class
When the Pew Research Center assessed the size of the middle
class nationally, the result was decisive and specific. Their
report asserted,
The American middle class is losing ground in metropolitan
areas across the country, affecting communities from Boston to
Seattle and from Dallas to Milwaukee. From 2000 to 2014 the

share of adults living in middle-income households fell in 203
of the 229 US metropolitan areas examined in a new Pew
Research Center analysis of government data. The decrease in
the middle-class share was often substantial, measuring 6
percentage points or more in 53 metropolitan areas, compared
with a 4-point drop nationally.
(2016)
Corroborating data from the 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances
focused on a segment of respondents, who generally had income
and wealth that was approximately average. In 2013 this
middle-class group representing 44 percent of families headed
by an individual 40 years old or more had income and wealth
that was 16 percent lower than in 1989 (Emmons and Noeth
2015). Such results, which produced a sharp increase in income
instability and the distinct inability to repeat previous economic
advances, tended to induce intense middle-class anxiety.
Bradford DeLong, an economist, visualized a two-part middle-
class disillusionment. He said, “People who thought they were
upwardly mobile are finding themselves with no higher real
incomes. And people who thought they were sociologically
stable are finding themselves poorer” (Cohen 2015).
Throughout its history the American middle class has been
intensely involved in seeking economic success. Middle-class
people have persistently pursued social mobility, seeking to
alleviate, even defy, the forces of social reproduction. To begin,
the history of the middle class emphatically demonstrates that
trend.THE EMERGENCE OF THE MIDDLE CLASS pg 177
During the early 1800s, middle-income individuals were neither
rich nor likely to become so. Besides farms they owned modest
businesses—“handicrafters and tradesmen of small but
independent means” (Mills 1956, 5). Then in the 1820s, the
production of goods changed with the industrial era and the
development of so-called “manufactories.” While working-class
employees did the physical work, others, who became middle
class, served as overseers or functioned in company offices
(Roth 2011). References to the concept “middle class,”

however, took well over a century to become widespread.
Eventually as a presidential nominee in 1908 William Howard
Taft referred to “middle class,” but no other nominee mentioned
the term until 1984. Before 1960 the New York Times seldom
mentioned either “middle class” or “working class” (Willis
2015).
The first half of the nineteenth century was a time of explosive
commercial growth, and it showed in middle-class
businessmen’s behavior. During this era Europeans complained
of “the drawn faces and frantic busyness of … Americans …
and the universal preoccupation with what Charles Dickens
mocked as the ‘almighty dollar’ ” (Rodgers 1978, 5). Invariably
Europeans commented on Americans’ disinterest in leisure and
pre-occupation with work. Francis Grund, a Viennese
immigrant, who had spent 10 years living in Boston, indicated
that “it is as if all America were but one gigantic workshop,
over the entrance of which there is the blazing inscription, ‘No
admission here except on business’ ” (Rodgers 1978, 6).
During this era middle-class men found themselves released
from an earlier personal standard featuring rootedness in the
community. Now the focus was on “self,” and ministers,
businessmen, lawyers, and other prominent spokesmen
emphasized that to be successful in this open, expanding
economy they should relentlessly seek self-improvement,
recognizing that hard work was more important than talent in
attaining wealth and prominence (Rotundo 1983, 25).
Employed outside the home and preoccupied with their own
development, middle-class men were less involved with the
family than their eighteenth-century counterparts, who were
usually home-centered patriarchal figures in control of most
domestic activities, even childrearing (Illick 2002, 57–58). As
the industrial age arrived, middle-class women became the
dominant figures in domestic life (Brady 1991, 85–86; Rotundo
1983, 30).Industry’s Impact on the Middle Class pg 178
The development of American industry profoundly affected
middle-class work and family life. C. Wright Mills estimated

that in the early 1800s just as mercantile capitalism was
underway, 80 percent of workers were self-employed
businessmen. By 1870 when industrial capitalism was well
established, the figure had dropped to 33 percent (Mills 1956,
63). At the dawn of the twentieth century, the growth of
American business promoted the expansion of various middle-
class jobs—for clerks, salespeople, managers, and even
professionals (Moskowitz 2001, 173).
Growing up in a self-employment tradition, however, men were
reluctant to join companies and work for others. The managerial
challenge was to convince recent college graduates entering the
business world that employment in a commercial bureaucracy
was not selling out a cultural ideal emphasizing economic
independence. Whether in Atlanta, Chicago, or Los Angeles,
company recruiters told their best prospects that modern
business represented a successful trade-off among desires for
security, autonomy, and financial success (Davis 2001, 203–04).
Recruiters asserted that working for a successful corporation,
ambitious young men had a chance to be gainfully employed for
life, obtaining promotion after promotion and riding ever
upward with the company’s advancement.
The company ladder was an important factor in workers’
recruitment. All employees, according to the prevailing claim,
had a chance to move up the rungs from lowly to high positions.
Most business leaders believed that effective promotion systems
were good for their companies, and they discussed them
extensively in executive circles. Managers made most
promotions from within the company, agreeing, as a 1919 study
indicated, that businesses “which do not adopt the policy of
making promotions from the inside cannot hope to maintain a
force of ambitious capable workers” (Davis 2001, 207). As a
1950s sociological analysis concluded, such a system
encouraged middle-class job holders’ unwavering loyalty to
their employers, committing themselves to become
“organization men.” The prevailing belief was that an employee
should stick with one company—that individuals looking for

improved opportunities elsewhere were not serving their current
businesses well (Whyte 1956).
Compared to office employees, small-business owners faced
more challenges. To stay independent and to protect their
enterprises, they recognized that the best strategy was to form
associations and agreements that regulated prices, wages, and
production and that their common interests encouraged them to
enforce those rules with fines, boycotts, and sometimes even
violence. Many occupational groups formed associations. At the
turn of the twentieth century in Chicago, for instance, the small -
business people with active associations included plumbers,
carpenters, cooks, drapers, jewelers, liquor dealers, masons,
tailors, retail druggists, and undertakers (Cohen 2001, 195–96).
While some of these businesses were successful, many were not.
Owners often found themselves either going bankrupt or forced
to do wage work to keep their enterprises afloat (Applegate
2001, 110; Beckery 2001, 288).
Over time the middle-class economic world changed
considerably, focused on preparing its members for their part in
the expanding industrial setting. While middlenineteenth-
century parents focused primarily on their children’s health,
religious, and moral well-being, the twentieth century featured a
shift to such developmental issues as personality growth, the
grasp of gender-related issues, and peer interaction
(Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and
Society 2018). Experts in both England and the United States
stressed the importance of the stay-at-home middle-class
mother, who was widely judged more virtuous than her mate.
Publishers issued a host of advice books, helping formerly rural
families make the transition to city life. In line with the
growing trend, the advice books emphasized that the mother,
not the father, had the more prominent family role (Brady 1991,
88–89; Illick 2002, 58–59).
The mother was the person best positioned to assume the
formidable responsibility of developing her children, who “were
now being described as born into the world with minds as blank

slates” (Illick 2002, 58). The mother, in short, was supposed to
provide the foundational writing on that slate, determining
whether or not her children would be successful in life.
Parents, particularly mothers, supplied guidance. Gently but
forcefully, middleclass women would teach their children to
follow their commands, learning self-control in the process.
Children were required to develop a conscience so that their
own guilt would monitor them. Since boys spent more time
outside the home, the prevailing belief was that they
particularly needed the support of a conscience. In fact, middle-
class mothers were consistently concerned about preparing boys
for the challenges of the industrial work world. It was normally
expected that from the age of six on, boys would become active,
tough, and emotionally restrained, engaging in strenuous
physical activity, especially the sports of football and baseball.
The expectations for most daughters were that like their mothers
they would marry, have a family, and run the household. So
girls had the chance to learn from their mothers about thei r
future life—everything from domestic skills to the emotional
connections between women. Often daughters expressed regret
about parting from their mothers at marriage and requested their
presence when they gave birth (Brady 1991, 101; Illick 2002,
62–65).
A key requirement for the middle-class family was the home—
intended to be a well-protected, comfortable place to live. Early
in the twentieth century, middle-class residences were often
small, so-called “tiny houses,” small-scale, inexpensive
constructions displayed in catalogs from such companies as
Sears and Aladdin that gave families just entering the middle
class an opportunity for home ownership ( Jackson 2016). In the
Middle West, municipal leaders, usually local merchants,
formed vigilante committees to clean up their municipalities,
establishing law-abiding towns and cities, where a prosperous
middle class led an active, secure social life (Wills 2000, 599 –
600). A different strategy developed in large eastern cities. To
escape the filth, sickness, noise, and crime of urban life, many

middle-class families moved to the suburbs. This relocation was
expensive, with home buyers required to make an initial
payment of at least half the purchasing price. Few young people
could afford such an amount, and as a result the suburbs of the
time displayed a distinctly middle-aged character (Blumin 1989,
275–80).
Through the first three-fourths of the twentieth century, the
middle class was generally prosperous, except during the Great
Depression of the 1930s. In the decades following that
economic crisis, the government introduced a number of social
programs, including Social Security, unemployment insurance,
the GI Bill (providing college payments to returning war
veterans), and federal housing loans that offered significant
support to middle-class families (Mooney 2008, 1). In
particular, the Roosevelt administration created the Federal
Housing Administration, which produced mortgages featuring
30-year loans with both low down payments and monthly fees. “
‘Quite simply, it often became cheaper to buy than to rent,’
[historian Kenneth] Jackson wrote. ‘Together with … the GI
Bill, Roosevelt had launched the beginnings of the middle class’
” (Troutt 2013, 48).
These government supports were much more available for
selected people, particularly whites as opposed to blacks. In
1935, with backing from the federal government, the Home
Owners’ Loan Corporation examined real estate in 239 cities,
developing “residential security maps,” which indicated the
level of confidence investors should have in the quality of their
investments. The evaluators were particularly concerned about
African Americans, invariably giving black neighborhoods the
lowest ratings. This initiative helped establish the use
of redlining, which is the discriminatory practice of refusing to
provide mortgage loans or property insurance or only providing
them at accelerated rates for reasons not clearly associated with
any conventional assessment of risk. The term originated
because lenders and insurers actually circled in red the areas
they declared off-limits for their services (Doob 2005, 95;

Massey and Denton 1993, 51–52). In the 1930s, for instance, the
government-sponsored Home Owners’ Loan Corporation circled
Bedford-Stuyvesant (in Brooklyn) on a map, colored the area
red, and awarded it a “D” rating, the worst possible. In recent
years economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
have learned that the effects of redlining initiated in the 1930s
have persisted as displayed by levels of racial segr egation,
home values, and credit scores, factors likely to keep many
black home owners out of the middle class (Badger 2017).
Chapter 9 provides further information about the impact of
discriminatory treatment of blacks in the realm of housing.
In the course of the prosperous twentieth century, many middle-
class jobs expanded. Between 1910 and 2000, the number of
accountants and auditors increased 13 times, college presidents,
professors, and instructors multiplied 12 times, and engineers
grew nine times. Computer specialists, who only appeared in
substantial numbers in the late 1950s, mushroomed 95 times
between 1960 and 2000 (Wyatt and Hecker 2006, 42). A
projection indicated that from 2016 to 2026 the number of
computer specialists would continue to increase at an above-
average 11 percent (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018a). Figure
6.1 displays the current clear-cut relationship between amount
of education and earnings for fairly young full-time, often
middle-class workers.
FIGURE 6.1Median Annual Earnings by Full-time Workers
Aged 25–34 by Educational Level
The data in this graph emphasize that the more education
individuals receive, the higher their income is likely to be.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics (2018).
Until now I have examined the middle class as a single entity,
but it can be subdivided.THE TWO MIDDLE CLASSES
Both middle classes appear to share a common set of
aspirations, which include home ownership, a car for each adult,
a college education for children, health protection, retirement
security, and family vacations (U.S. Department of Commerce

2010). Nonetheless the upper-middle class and the middle class
are fairly different in their characteristics, with the economic
dimension serving as a reasonable starting point. According to a
Pew Research Center national survey, a much smaller portion of
Americans consider that they possess the advantages of being
upper-middle class as opposed to being middle class—
specifically, 13 percent to 44 percent (Pew Research Center
2014).Income and Jobs pg. 182
While income is a major factor determining whether jobs
qualify as middle-class, the nature of the work is also relevant.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics and other authoritative sources
generally consider all white-collar positions middle-class,
whether involving professional or semi-professional,
administrative, or sales functions.
White-collar job holders are well-educated or fairly well-
educated individuals who perform nonmanual duties in an office
setting. They include highly trained professionals such as
medical doctors and lawyers as well as such employees as
secretaries and clerks. On the other hand, blue-collar positions
are found in the working class. Blue-collar job holders have
obtained a high-school diploma or less schooling and do manual
work, normally receiving an hourly wage. Some white-collar
employees such as many secretaries or clerks receive salaries
under the middle-class minimum while individuals in the skilled
trades such as the majority of plumbers and welders enjoy a
solid middle-class income. Roughly speaking, middle-class
income, designated here as between two-thirds and double the
national median, varies considerably, ranging from about
$48,000 to $144,000 for a family of four (Pew Research Center
2016).
The most affluent members of the upper-middle class make
considerably more. These wealthy individuals, who are lawyers,
doctors, or high-level executives, belong to a subcategory which
sociologist Dennis Gilbert has called “the working rich,” and
they can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. They
might be specialty physicians such as radiologists or

oncologists, partners in elite law firms, or even professors at
prominent universities, who can make large sums writing or
consulting. They fall into the upper-middle and not the upper
class because their incomes derive from professional fees or
executive salaries and not from money-producing assets (Gilbert
2011, 244, 246; Perrucci and Wysong 2008, 26–27).
Occupationally the members of this class work as professionals,
high-level managers, and medium-sized business owners
(Gilbert 2011, 244, 246). Benefits of their jobs often include
autonomy, prestige, and pursuit of a variety of tasks, many or
all of which are interesting and even intellectually stimulating.
The upper-middle-class work life, however, can be demanding.
For physicians their professional development begins in medical
school, where the volume of information that must be quickly
learned often seems overwhelming. “It’s like trying to drink
from a fire hose,” one student said. “It’s impossible to learn
everything put before you” (Coombs 1998, 11–12). While in the
beginning many students feel overwhelmed, the survivors
eventually realize that they must compromise about how much
they learn in order to avoid breaking down from stress or
exhaustion (Coombs 1998, 13). To be accepted as doctors,
aspirants must demonstrate a working knowledge of the massive
field of medicine. Throughout their training, especially during
the (third) clinical year, students try to avoid public mistakes
and blunders—clinicians’ criticism can be quick and
embarrassing—and appear to be dignified, competent doctors
(Conrad 1988).
A study of 30 medical practices varied in size and specialty
across six states found that the greater physicians’ capacity to
produce high-quality care, the more satisfaction they felt.
Although physicians in the study tended to be fairly pleased
with their practices, they expressed concerns, particularly about
the large number of rules they had to follow. A surgeon
explained:
I think that the amount of work, the amount of complicated red
tape, et cetera, for the level of reimbursement, … and it really

is changing the face of what a physician is.… And it’s not just
from the government, it’s from malpractice; at every single
turn, you feel [an] attack or constraint or manipulation or
mandate.… There are times when you wonder: Do people really
care about physicians? Do they have anything good to feel or
say or do with them?
(FRIEDBERG, VAN BUSUM, CHEN, AUNON, PHAM,
CALOYERAS, MATTKE, PITCHFORTH, QUIGLEY, BROOK,
CROSSON, AND TUTTY 2013, 98)
Like physicians lawyers have distinct standards for what
qualifies as professional expertise. Research on lawyers
indicates that two principal factors determine how prestigious
they consider a colleague’s work; first, the nature of the
activities: whether it is simple and accessible such as the
preparation of standard-form wills or highly specialized and
intellectually stimulating like a complicated patent application
or a high-profile criminal trial; and, second, the clients: for
instance, whether they represent a large, prominent organization
or nonaffluent individuals or families (Sandefur 2001).
Disenchantment with law practice is widespread, with about
half the practitioners expressing dissatisfaction. One reason is
that many individuals choose to join the profession because they
can become wealthy. The reality, however, is that the big
earners belong to large firms with over 100 attorneys and that
these employees tend to work 60 to 80 hours a week, expressing
the least satisfaction in the profession. Furthermore while the
widespread belief exists that like TV representations legal
practice is glamorous, the daily activity tends to be somewhat
boring and tedious (Kane 2018).
Big business has also recognized the necessity for expertise
among high-level managers. In recent years as finance, taxation,
and governmental regulation have become increasingly
important challenges facing large corporations, management
prospects have increasingly sought advanced degrees in
economics, accounting, or the law (Dye 2002, 26). Specialty
training literally pays off. Fourteen of the 20 highest salaries

are found in medical specialties, with chief executives,
computer and information systems managers, and architectural
and engineering managers toward the bottom of that list (Bureau
of Labor Statistics 2018a).
While upper-middle-class work has always been demanding and
exacting, the job setting has steadily deteriorated for many
people in recent decades. Respondents in a study of 250
managers in eight large industrial plants spoke emotionally
about the transformation that had taken place in their
companies, where in the era of downsizing a “community of
purpose” has replaced the previous “community of loyalty.”
One manager explained, “Loyalty comes with trust and
believing, and this has been cast out across the whole company
as being not the way to run things” (Heckscher 1995, 8).
For managers change is often an ongoing reality. Unlike their
earlier counterparts, the twenty-first-century variety, sometimes
with international involvements, are likely to find themselves
forced to appreciate very different cultural contexts from the
one in which they matured—to engage in “code switching”
where the individuals in question adjust their behavior to
approximate the cultural norms in a given nation. This sounds
easy, but it can be stressful for managers. One important step
they often need to make involves compromise, perhaps reaching
the conclusion that the best course of action is a middle ground
between managers’ cultural orientation and the standards in the
local society (Molinsky, Davenport, Iver, and Davidson 2012).
Financially the upper-middle-class setting can also be
challenging. Coming out of college, these individuals often
begin working with a substantial, five-figure student loan debt.
On the job, employees can be vulnerable to layoffs, salary
freezes, long hours, and limited employer loyalty. Financial
constraint means that now, unlike several decades ago, these
people are increasingly likely to find it impossible to support
the combined costs of children, a house, medical coverage, and
saving for retirement that young upper-middle-class individuals
previously managed quite easily. In fact, many young

professionals cannot visualize retiring, believing they cannot
possibly save enough to cover both living and medical expenses
for old age (Mooney 2008, 16–17). Overall the public continues
to back the programs that address these needs. For instance,
social security receives widespread support, with 85 percent of
those interviewed in a national sample about the program’s
worthiness indicating that it is more important than ever as a
means of guaranteeing that retired citizens have a stable income
(National Academy of Social Insurance 2014).
Middle-class individuals, who are in lower-paying positions
than their uppermiddle-class counterparts, tend to face more
difficult prospects. They represent about 30 percent of the
population and average about $70,000 a year; their jobs include
low-level managers, semiprofessionals like the police, nurses,
and teachers, small-business owners, foremen, clerks and
secretaries, and nonretail salespeople like insurance or real -
estate agents (Gilbert 2011, 244, 246–47). Table 6.1 indicates
that some, generally less prestigious and lower paying middle-
class jobs are particularly vulnerable to elimination.
Table 6.114 Middle-Class Jobs That Are Projected to Become
Increasingly Scarce1
Bill and account collectors, down 5.6 percent Mechanical
drafters, down 6.8 percent
Surveying and mapping technicians, down 7.6 percent Tellers,
down 7 percent
Chemical equipment operators, down 8.3 percent Procurement
clerks, down 8.3 percent
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, down 8.4 percent
Travel agents, down 11.7 percent
Word processors and typists, down 15.7 percent
Office machine operators (except computers), down 16.6
percent
Non-postal service mail clerks and mail machine operators,
down 18.8 percent Computer operators, down 19 percent
Switchboard operators including answering services, down 32.9
percent

Postal service mail sorters, processors, and process machine
operators, down 33.7 percent
Note
1.The jobs in question are those projected to become
increasingly scarce between 2014 and 2024.
While the expectation is that the economy will grow about 7
percent between 2014 and 2024, outsourcing and new
technology will cause the middle-class jobs in this list to
decline appreciably.
Source: Stebbins and Sauter (2016).
As a rule the middle-class jobs are less prestigious than upper-
middle-class positions, and as a result the incumbents are less
authoritative, sometimes encountering difficult relations with
superiors or members of the public or facing troublesome
conditions at work. It is hardly surprising that these middle-
class employees tend to have extensive complaints about their
jobs.
Police officers are a case in point. A well-researched overview
of American police work found more than 30 stress factors on
the job, including incompetent or overly demanding
supervision, an absence or shortage of career development
opportunities, distorted and unfavorable press accounts,
extensive criticism from both minority and majority citizens,
and the biological and psychological stresses of frequent shi ft
changes (Miller and Braswell 2002, 125–29; Rodgers 2006,
242–45). A study of 87 patrol officers in an urban midwestern
department concluded that respondents who wanted a formal
mentoring program suffered more stress on the job and that the
presence of stress meant less job satisfaction (Hassell,
Archbold, and Stichman 2011).
In modern times stress has continued to be a frequent reality in
police work. A national sample of almost 8,000 police officers
indicated that the majority believe that the well-publicized fatal
encounters between black citizens and policemen have made
their work riskier and increased tensions between African
Americans and the police. Overall, however, they are more

inclined to downplay blacks’ killings in encounters with the
police; among police officers 67 percent indicated that
shootings of blacks were isolated incidents and just 31 percent
opted for signs of a broader problem while, in what was nearly a
full-fledged reversal, the public’s position on the two issues
were 39 percent and 60 percent, respectively. Among the police
officers, sharp differences in racial groups’ perceptions
appeared. While just 29 percent of black officers indicated that
enough changes had been made to assure equal rights for
African Americans, 92 percent of white officers, the vast
majority, believed sufficient changes were in place (Morin,
Parker, Stepler, and Mercer 2017).
A survey of 95,499 nurses indicated that their level of job
satisfaction largely depended on where they worked: Those
employed in hospitals and nursing homes providing bedside care
for patients badly needing assistance were the most frequent
members of their profession dissatisfied with their positions
and/or suffering emotional exhaustion. Among nurses working
in nonclinical settings where they were not providing intensive
patient care, job satisfaction was much higher and burnout more
remote (McHugh, Kutney-Lee, Cimiotti, Sloane, and Aiken.
2011). Several factors can make nurses’ work difficult. In a
survey of nearly 9,000 registered nurses, 85 percent indicated
that they were happy with their choice of profession, but only
63 percent were satisfied with their current jobs, with several
factors likely to detract. Low salaries, a burdensome workload,
conflicts with management, too many hours, and insufficient
staffing were prominent criticisms the respondents directed
against their employers (Wood 2015).
Among teachers there has been a sharp decline in job
satisfaction. According to a Metlife “Survey of the American
Teacher: Challenges for School Leadership” conducted with
1,000 public-school teachers in grades K through 12 each year,
only 39 percent of teachers in 2012 described themselves as
very satisfied with their jobs—a 23-point decline from four
years earlier (Resmovits 2013). Major reasons included working

in schools where budgets, support for professional development,
and time for colleague collaboration were all severely cut.
Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education
Association, said, “This news is disappointing but sadly there
are no surprises here. Teacher job satisfaction will continue to
free fall as long as budgets are slashed” (Richmond 2013).
In recent years public-school teachers in such traditionally
conservative states as West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and
Arizona have engaged in protests and strikes about their low
pay and depleted budgets. The actions proved fruitful, gaining
public support, and a number of state legislature approved tax
increases and funding boosts for education (Pearce 2018).
Across the states where the actions have occurred, red shirts and
blouses along with the rallying cry “Red for Ed” have signified
support for the teachers’ demands (Russakoff 2018, 56).
In the course of protests, many teachers have become better
informed about public schooling. In Arizona Tiffany Bunstein,
an active member of the teacher’s union, told her friend Kelly
Berg that she too had once been uninformed. “ ‘Then when you
start paying attention and you see what’s been happening,’
[Bunstein] said, ‘it’s like clearing your glasses. Damn this is
what’s been going on all along?’ ” With Bunstein’s support
Berg began to investigate, learning some alarming facts—that
Arizona ranked 49th in state spending and 44th in teachers’
salaries, with the second largest average class size in the
country. Engaging in protest was new and intimidating to Berg,
but she found this information deeply disturbing and although
her heart was pounding she drove to the capitol, planning to
join a protest against the legislature’s continuing failure to
address the financial crisis in education. Arriving on the scene,
Berg saw hundreds of other teachers dressed in red, and to her
surprise she suddenly felt very comfortable (Russakoff 2018,
56).
While teacher’s pay has received considerable attention during
these protests, the deterioration of schools is also critical.
Kristina Johnson, a middle-school teacher, described the kinds

of dire conditions in her locale that have mobilized the
participants.
We have nearly 2,000 emergency untrained teachers in
Oklahoma. I have 18-year-old textbooks, wasps living in my
ceiling, … broken desks, leaky ceilings … My students deserve
quality educational experience. I’d gladly give back my “raise”
if only our government would reinstate our core funding.
(SEDGWICK 2018, A14)
In middle-class work generally, people are likely to be
concerned about their income. The jobs in the two middle
classes vary substantively, but individuals in both of them have
tended to lose ground over time. Ominously the middle-class
share of income declined from 62 percent in 1970 to 43 percent
in 2014 (Pew Research Center 2015a).
Like social class other factors such as their gender can
powerfully affect people’s lives. Feminist researchers have been
particularly attuned to the fact that being a woman is a complex,
often distinctly disadvantaged reality. A concept which receives
extensive attention in Chapter 10 is intersectionality, the
recognition that a woman’s oppressions, limitations, and
opportunities result from the combined impact of two or more
influential statuses—in particular, her gender, race, class, age,
parent role, and sexual preference (Barvosa 2008, 76–77;
Grzanka, Santos, and Moradi 2017; Lengermann and Niebrugge
2008, 353; Moradi and Grzanka 2017). The concept of
intersectionality suggests that modern society tends to promote
both male advantage and also somewhat different outlooks on
the work world from men.
PHOTO 6.1 Like their colleagues in several other states,
Arizona teachers have vehemently protested low wages and
insufficient funds for public schools. Throughout this movement
teachers have marched to the rallying cry “Red for Ed.”
Source: Getty Images ID 951591000.
For instance, consider medical doctors. Research has indicated
that while physicians are well-paid overall, men earn more than

women—that according to a study of 36,000 licensed doctors,
male physicians earn about 20 percent more than their female
counterparts in the same specialty and that overall the women
on average earn about $91,000 less a year than the men
(Satyanarayana 2017; Vasel 2017). Male doctors’ economic
advantage is a clear instance where intersectional conditions
favor them in the job world. In particular, there is women’s
diminished earning power because of maternal leave and part-
time work, especially when children are young. Gender
expectations come into play here, with the widespread belief
that women, even if they are medical doctors, have the major
role in child care. Furthermore women doctors are more inclined
to emphasize patient care and running their services efficiently
than associating with peers, joining committees, and attending
professional meetings—activities that cannot only advance
careers but accelerate earnings (Rimmer 2014).
Table 6.2 offers an international comparison on countries’
portion of the citizenry obtaining middle-class income. Besides
income and jobs, families and schooling in the two classes
appear to be distinctly different.
Table 6.2Middle-Class1 Membership in Western European
Countries Compared to the United States
1991
2010
Denmark
80%
80%
Finland
82
75
France
72
74
Germany
78

72
Italy
69
67
Luxembourg
79
75
Netherlands
76
79
Norway
81
80
Spain
69
64
United Kingdom
61
67
United States
62
59
Note
1.In this table the citizens of a country qualify as middle-class
if they possess disposable income (income after taxes) that is
two thirds to double the national median disposable income.
In both 1991 and 2010 the United States had a lower percentage
of income-based middle-class membership than the 10 western
European nations listed here.
Source: Pew Research Center (2017).Families and Education
pg.188
When researchers mention middle-class studies on families,
they usually are referring to upper-middle-class respondents.
For instance, one review of investigations involving young
children in the 1990s indicated that the majority of the many
studies on the attachment between parents, particularly mothers

and their children, has involved uppermiddle-class families
(Demo and Cox 2000, 879). Why other middle-class subjects
receive little attention was not explained. It might be that,
whether conscious or not, researchers tend to merge what has
been designated here as the middle class with the working class.
For instance, in one study the researcher described his working-
class respondents as filling a number of “blue-collar/lower-
white-collar occupations” (Gorman 2000, 699). That appears to
be a clear blending of the two classes, with the middle-class
component essentially absorbed. In another study the
researchers indicated that their middle-class families contained
at least one member who was a manager or possessed some
highly credentialed skill (Horvat, Weininger, and Lareau 2003,
326). Once again the lower segment of the middle class
appeared to be shut out. While data involving families and
schooling in the two middle classes seem skewed toward the
upper-middle class, the research is informative.
In general, children growing up in middle-class families have
advantages in capital over their working-class peers: higher-
quality human capital as the upcoming discussion on education
indicates; more effective social capital involving family and
community connections; better cultural capital because parents’
education and middle-class experience lead to more effective
guidance; and superior financial resources to spend on
education, housing, and various other items. In many instances
communities’ assets vary distinctly depending on the income
groups in residence. A Pew Research survey found that about
half (52 percent) of respondents with income below $30,000 a
year indicated it was difficult to find high-quality afterschool
programs in their locale compared to a much more modest 29
percent for parents with income of $75,000 or more (Pew
Research Center 2015b).
Schooling can be advantageous. Upper-middle-class individuals
are usually college educated and often have advanced degrees.
In fact, as we noted earlier, some fields put a premium on
specialty training—for instance, medicine where radiologists

and oncologists earn twice as much as less specialized family
physicians (Wysong, Perrucci, and Wright 2014, 28) and
business where future managers recognize that advanced
degrees in finance, taxation, and government regulation will
help promote their advancement through the ranks (Dye 2002,
26). As a rule upper-middle-class individuals’ extensive
education tends to promote considerable occupational prestige,
high-level work quality, and extensive job security (Reeves
2015).
College graduation is a prerequisite of the upper-middle class.
A study of American children born between 1966 and 1970
found that when the respondents were divided into four income
categories, those in the most affluent quarter, a rough
approximation of upper-middle-class families, represented about
50 percent of all college graduates (Haveman and Smeeding
2006). These individuals have a distinct earning advantage. For
instance, in 1979 college graduates’ income was 31 percent
higher than the income of people who had not completed
college. By 1993 that difference had become 53 percent (Weir
2002, 192). Then in 2015 according to the Economic Policy
Institute, college graduates earned 56 percent more than
nongraduates, the greatest gap on record going back to 1973
(Vox Global 2017). Clearly college graduation along with
postgraduate education contribute significantly to earnings.
However, simply graduating from college does not assure that
individuals obtain good-paying jobs. A national survey of
college graduates indicated that the key to gaining such
positions has been functional literacy—the capacity to use basic
skills in reading, math, and the interpretation of documents in
work situations. College graduates who scored higher on a
functional literacy test were more likely to have jobs where a
college degree was the standard; those scoring lower on the test
ended up with positions requiring only a high-school diploma
(Pryor and Schaffer 1997).
Middle-class members are usually high-school graduates,
sometimes attend college, and in some instances graduate from

college (Gilbert 2011, 246–47). Getting the degree can be
difficult to accomplish. A national survey found that about 75
percent of students enrolled in community colleges expected to
transfer to a four-year institution. Within five years only 17
percent who had entered in the middle-1990s actually made the
switch. With college expensive and representing a financial
sacrifice, many hard-pressed adults find it difficult or
impossible to commit to higher education. In 1995 Andy
Blevins dropped out of college after his freshman year and
worked in a supermarket, eventually becoming a produce buyer.
It was interesting work, paid well, and provided health benefits
and a 401k retirement plan. Such positions usually go to
someone with a four-year college degree. In spite of possessing
the job, however, Blevins regretted dropping out of college. He
felt like he was “on thin ice.” Everything could slip away if he
lost his position. What kind of job could he expect to get—a
guy without a college degree (Leonhardt 2005, A14)?
On the other hand, certain individuals might find it
advantageous to leave college. While most middle-class
individuals are well advised to complete their degree, some can
question the decision. A bright, enterprising young individual
with original business aspirations said, “I feel like, in some
ways, it depends on where you want to go. If you want to be
front end user interface designer at a startup, I’m not sure it
makes much sense to pay” (thousands of dollars for an
undergraduate degree). The speaker added that in a more
sensibly organized world individuals would have the chance to
take a year off between high school and college, pursuing an
apprenticeship that would reveal the utility of plans they had in
mind and perhaps save wasted years and expense embarking on
a personally unproductive path (McGrath 2014).
Besides the advantages already described, upper-middle-class
individuals are favored in another area.The Ecology of Class pg.
190
The issue involves what I am calling the ecology of class—the
largely unrecognized or acknowledged impact that social-class

members’ residential or occupational location has on their
quality of life. Because of higher income as well as political
influence, uppermiddle-class individuals live and work in areas
that often have high-quality schools, lower crime, and effective
municipal services (such as garbage pick-up, road repair, library
services, and health care). The ecology of class is readily
apparent in the American public-education system, where
district property tax plays a major role in school funding,
creating financial inequalities between poor and affluent school
districts not found in most other postindustrial nations, which
distribute school funding at the federal level. In the 1960s
James Bryant Conant, the former president of Harvard,
described the American system as one fostering “inequality of
opportunity” and advocated that in the name of equal
opportunity the states and to a lesser extent the federal
government should assume the responsibility for public-school
funding (Conant 1967). Like many in his wake, Conant
recognized that the American method of public-school funding
has been a distinctly efficient mechanism for promoting social
reproduction. Middle-class, especially upper-middle-class
families, literally pay the price for highquality housing so that
their children can benefit from fine schooling.
In some situations the impact of the ecology of class can be
instantly life-altering. The quality of a hospital’s services
generally reflects the area in which it is located. Thus when
upper-middle-class architect Jean Miele had a heart attack after
lunch while working in midtown Manhattan, the emergency
medical technician in the ambulance gave him the choice of two
nearby hospitals, both of which were licensed to perform the
latest emergency cardiac care. He chose Tisch Hospital, and
within two hours an experienced cardiologist had performed
angioplasty, reopening a closed artery and implanting a stent to
keep it that way. Two days later he returned home; thanks to
quick, competent treatment, damage to his heart was minimal.
For Will Wilson, a transportation coordinator for an electricity
company living in a lower-middle-class area, treatment was less

effective. Wilson’s heart attack occurred four days before
Miele’s while he was in his apartment. Wilson also had a choice
of two nearby hospitals, but in his less affluent, lower -middle-
class area, neither was licensed to perform angioplasty. He
picked Brooklyn Hospital, where a doctor gave him a drug to
break up the clot blocking the artery. It was unsuccessful. The
next morning Wilson was sent to a hospital in Manhattan where
angioplasty was performed. The doctor admitted that Wilson
would have been better off if angioplasty had been done sooner.
After five days Wilson returned home.
A year later Jean Miele was effectively recovered. He was
exercising regularly, had lost weight, and critical measurements
for recovering heart-attack patients—blood pressure and
cholesterol—were low. In contrast, Will Wilson’s heart attack
was a setback. His heart function remained impaired, and his
blood pressure and cholesterol were a little high. While not as
serious as Miele about exercising, Wilson was primarily
disadvantaged in recovery because of less effective medical
treatment—in particular, the delay in receiving angioplasty
(Scott 2005).
Overall middle-income Americans effectively meet their health-
care needs. A nationally representative sample of 2,508 adults
18 or older indicated that only 18 percent of middle-income
people found it challenging to pay for medical bills for
themselves or family members—not many more than upper-
income individuals’ 11 percent but a much lower percentage
than lower-income citizens’ 45 percent (Parker 2012).
While differences between the two middle classes can be
significant, most socialscientific literature does not distinguish
between the two. Therefore throughout the rest of the chapter, I
seldom raise the distinction between the two classes, often
simply referring generally to the middle
class.ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MIDDLE-CLASS LIFE
“Middle class” is often a designation used loosely. A writer
indicated that it “is a term used by politicians or the media for
anyone not rich or poor, a slippery public euphemism”

(Leondar-Wright 2014, 223). In spite of some vagueness
associated with the term, however, the assessment of middle-
class people’s sources of capital frequently indicates distinct
approaches and priorities. Middle-class members’ conscientious
use of available capital sources is apparent in anal yzing three
topics affecting preparation for the adult world—childhood,
schooling, and networking.Childhood pg.192
A century ago middle-class individuals had distinctly different
opinions about family life. Should middle-class women be
permitted to go to college, to work, and to vote, or should they
continue to fulfill the traditional, stay-at-home role? Debates on
this and many other family-related issues appeared in public
speeches and writings (Brady 1991, 103).
Modern Americans continue to have different conceptions about
the family. For instance, they engage in varied styles of
childrearing. Sociological studies conducted through the 1980s
and 1990s concluded that authoritative parenting characterized
by a combination of parental warmth, support, and control
(some rules establishing limits) is generally more beneficial for
children, creating a greater sense of trust, security, and self-
confidence than either a permissive style, setting few if any
rules and restrictions, or an authoritarian approach, requiring
unquestioning obedience to parental directives (Demo and Cox
2000, 880).
“Helicopter parents,” who hover over their children during the
college years, are recent illustrations of authoritative parenting.
They keep in close touch by email and cell phones, helping
them make decisions and sometimes chiding them about such
issues as studying or grades. A team of writers noted, “To
faculty and staff, such parents are often viewed as a buzzing
annoyance. Yet a surprising number of first-year college
students are now reporting that they’re quite OK with their
parents’ academic doting” (Gordon and Kim 2008, B1).
However, controversy increases when parents want to be
involved in their children’s process of applying to graduate
school, sometimes arguing that they are the ones paying the

bills and that with accelerated costs their input can help assure
that the money is well spent. While many critics will say that at
this late date their decidedly adult children are being robbed of
self-sufficiency, some graduate programs see the situation
differently. At the University of Texas law school in Austin, so
many prospective students’ parents show up that the school has
quadrupled the number of days for applicants to visit, and an
administrator in another graduate program suggested “that
parents be looked on not as overzealous but as trusted partners
and ‘benefactors,’ and that wooing parents can be the pipeline
to more applicants” (Marano 2014).
Research on middle-class children’s socialization shows that
their parents provide a number of valuable sources of capital
that age peers from working-class and poor backgrounds
generally do not obtain. In a study of children belonging to
these three classes, sociologist Annette Lareau (2002; 2003;
2007) described the transmission of capital resources. What
follows is a combination of Lareau’s observations and updated
references:
•Human capital: With a sense of developing their children’s
skills and discipline, middle-class parents frequently signed up
boys and girls for various adult-run activities, sometimes as
many as three or four per week or even more. These activities
included athletic teams, music lessons, dance classes, and art
training. When needed, parents also helped with homework.
Middle-class parents excel in promoting their children’s
involvement in and understanding of such issues as the effective
completion of homework, the competent use of such educational
sources as books, newspapers, and computers, and the ability to
convey to their offspring the potential contributions of
schooling (Bæck 2017).
•Social capital: Middle-class parents either directly intervened
on their children’s behalf, or they could locate friends,
colleagues, other parents, or hired professionals to help solve
physical, psychological, or legal problems their children faced.
A study of kindergarten parents in a Philadelphia public school

indicated that middle- and upper-middle-class individuals were
more likely to participate in parent organizations than lower -
income counterparts, obtaining as a result connections to
network resources that could assist their children in a variety of
social and academic ways (Cappelletti 2017).
•Cultural capital: Middle-class parents spent a lot of time
helping their children learn to express themselves effectively.
Many also painstakingly explained the decisions and orders they
issued involving their children, encouraging them to appreciate
that living well requires a careful study of the complicated,
sometimes threatening modern world.
As a result of the investments in capital their parents provide,
middle-class children are likely to feel a sense of entitlement —
an outlook the parents are likely to encourage. For instance,
when nine-year-old Alex and his mother were on the way to the
doctor, she suggested that he should be thinking of questions to
ask the doctor. During the examination the doctor told Alex’s
mother that on height he was in the 95th percentile. Alex
interrupted, asking the doctor to explain the meaning of
percentile. She answered that he was tall compared with other
ten-year-olds. Alex, in turn, explained that he was not yet ten.
The doctor replied that the procedure involved rounding off the
patient’s age to the closest year. Alex understood (Lareau 2002,
767). It is apparent that Alex readily engaged in a conversation
with his doctor, even challenging her and offering an opinion;
children who felt less entitled might have been reluctant to do
so.
Other research complements Lareau’s findings, indicating
specific emphases that occur in middle-class socialization. A
1990s study of parental values based on a representative sample
of Americans 18 and over indicated that the more education
parents had, the more likely they were to value autonomy, the
capacity to make informed, uncontrolled decisions, and to w ant
such conditions for their children. In particular, women in
positions that were privileged and exhibited autonomy—for
instance, managers, professionals, and supervisors—were

especially likely to value autonomy and transmit this value to
their children (Xiao 2000).
Research has also revealed that middle-class mothers’ job
content can affect the socialization they provide their children.
A study of 500, primarily upper-middle-class families with
middle-school and high-school students indicated that women
employed in the sciences and mathematics offered daughters
and sons equitable supports and challenges while others, equally
well educated in such fields as business and the law, tended to
favor their sons. Since mothers tend to be more involved with
their children than fathers, the difference in approach shown by
these two occupational categories seems likely to produce
significant differences in the children’s development (Maier
2005).
On a number of issues middle-class parents have not achieved
positive outcomes for their children, but they still show
initiative, seeking to enlist powerful forces, such as government
agencies, to overcome negative conditions and effect desired
outcomes. At times, however, such intervention can be too late.
When Courtney Griffin used heroin, she lied and stole from her
parents to support a $400-a-day habit. Eventually Courtney
overdosed and died. “When I was a kid, junkies were the
worst,” her father recalled. Now he no longer uses the word
“junkie,” joining an influential host of predominantly middle-
class families who mobilize their social capital to convince the
government to stop considering drug abuse a crime but to
recognize it as a disease. “Because the demographic of people
affected are more white, more middle class, these are parents
who are empowered,” said Michael Botticelli, director of the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, better
known as the nation’s drug czar during the Obama presidency.
“They know how to call a legislator, they know how to get
angry with their insurance company, they know how to
advocate. They have been so instrumental in changing the
conversation” (Seelye 2015).
One of the important impacts of middle-class childrearing is its

preparation of children to be successful in school. One
researcher indicated that a major difference between middle-
and working-class individuals looking back on their youth was
that the middle-class members recalled knowing they were
going to go to college while the working-class respondents,
even if they hoped to go to college, seldom made such an
assumption (Gorman 2000, 714).Schooling pg. 194
Robert E. Slavin, an expert on public school funding, wrote,
“To my knowledge, the United States is the only nation to fund
elementary and secondary education based on local wealth”
(1994, 98). By “local wealth” Slavin meant that, as previously
noted, the primary source of American public school funding
has been local property tax. Throughout a state homes and
businesses are assessed at a standard rate, and inevitably
significant disparity in district tax payments results because the
value of the assessed property in different locales varies
considerably. The result is that the wealthier districts, which
make larger tax payments, have more money to spend on
schooling. Educator Jonathan Kozol asserted that the American
system of public school funding creates “savage inequalities”
(1991). Within many developed nations, disadvantaged children
receive extra funding. In the Netherlands, for example, schools
with large numbers of students whose parents are either
foreigners with limited schooling or gypsies and caravan
dwellers obtain additional subsidy, acting on the reasonable
assumption that children with less-educated parents are likely to
perform less well in school (Arts and Nabha 2018). In Canada,
which once had a public-education funding system that was
about as unequal as the American one, several provinces have
independently developed schemes that are distinctly more
equitable (Herman 2013).
As young couples, middle-class people often maintain a passive
relationship with their residential area, but in-depth interviews
done in Boston indicated that when their children reach school
age, the approach has been likely to change, emphasizing the
importance of quality education. Bridget, for instance, was a

parent who became active in the workings of the system. She
said,
And I’m like, “Oh no! This has got to change!” So first grade
we got really involved and helped them figure out how they
could raise money to hire an afterschool teacher. And then the
next year the afterschool teacher became a full-time teacher
through the funding of the parents.
(BILLINGHAM AND KIMELBERG 2013, 96)
Another challenge involves social-capital management to
advance their children’s educational interests. Middle-class
parents are likely to use two tactics:
•Some of them take initiative, seeking out other parents or
teachers in high-quality schools for information and advice—for
instance, guidance on what teacher would be most effective with
one’s child. A study found that middle-class parents frequently
pursued such issues while working-class and poor parents
seldom did (Horvat, Weininger, and Lareau 2003, 337–38;
ReviseSociology 2015). Some parents request support from the
teachers, lobbying to have their children in gifted or special-
needs programs or writing notes attempting to excuse their
children from certain homework requirements. In addition, some
of these parents try to coach their children to deal with school
challenges. For instance, Danny Rissolo, a first grader, was
bullied by a classmate. Ms. Rissolo explained,
The kid he was sitting next to was a bully, and was making fun
of him. Danny wanted me to fix it for him, but I said to him,
“You know what Danny, I’ll do that for you, but I want you to
do something first. I want you to go to Ms. Girard, and say
something like ‘Ms. Girard, can I talk to you for a minute?’ ” I
said, “Ask her what she thinks you should do.” At first [Danny]
was like: “You want me to do all that?” And I said: “You can do
it! You’re a smart guy. You’re very articulate. You can do this.
And if it’s still a problem, I’ll call her also, but you need to do
this first.”
(CALARCO 2014)
•A second tactic middle-class mothers and fathers often use is

to enlist the help of professionals when they feel their children
need such services. For instance, when one mother learned that
her son’s teacher felt he had a learning disability, the mother,
with a master’s in clinical psychology, brought in her own
psychologist, who contested the teacher’s evaluation,
concluding the boy had above-average intelligence and abilities.
School officials were forced to reevaluate the child’s situation
(Horvat, Weininger, and Lareau 2003, 335). Middle-class
parents’ involvement in their children’s schooling underlines
their recognition of its importance. Frequently they are able and
willing to invest in private schools, concluding that the
knowledge, skills, and heightened self-image their children
receive make the expense worthwhile. The conclusion is
debatable. Some middle-class observers, including many parents
and students feel that private schools are not only inordinately
expensive but that they create a confusing sense of entitlement.
Jessica Assaf, who attended a $29,800-a-year private school,
suggested that students tend to feel, “I deserve to be here, and
now everything’s just going to be handed to me.” It wasn’t.
Assaf failed to get into her chosen college. Several years later
she was convinced it was the best thing that could have
happened. She attended a less elite college in New York City
and thrived there because, according to Assaf, unlike her elite
private school “nothing happens for you … You have to earn
every opportunity” (Taylor 2013). On the other hand, informed
observers indicate that private schools have certain
advantages—for instance, more favorable student-to-counselor
ratios and, above all, the personnel and facilities to help
develop critical thinking, in short analysis that is clear, rational,
and evidence-based (Taylor 2013).
Public schools, too, can have well-organized objectives
regarding students’ optimal development. A study of two
California school districts—one was suburban upper-middle
class and the other urban working class and poor—indicated
sharp differences in educational philosophy and approach, with
important implications for teachers’ socialization and ultimately

children’s education. The suburban district’s officials recruited
widely for teachers, visiting various universities, particularly a
research university with a master’s in teaching program. The
intention was to find the best candidates sharing the program’s
philosophy. That philosophy emphasized professional autonomy
for teachers and optimal development of students’ skills and
knowledge. A principal in the district explained, “Teachers that
we hire are very creative and capable. We need to give teachers
opportunities to use their creativity to really think about their
teaching and kids” (Achinstein, Ogawa, and Speiglman 2004,
579). This district’s leadership, in short, had a clear plan to
produce a high-quality schooling experience for students and
the resources to implement it. One might wonder whether
students whose teachers used such an open-ended approach
would test well. They did, with 80 percent of the schools in the
suburban district averaging at least a passing score on state-
adopted achievement tests while only 8 percent of the schools in
the urban district, where a much more structured approach to
teaching prevailed, met that standard (Achinstein, Ogawa, and
Speiglman 2004, 583). Besides the decent test scores, it is
likely that the teaching style in the upper-middle-class district
was quite compatible with those students’ socialization.
Middle-class students often have another advantage over their
peers in lower classes. Based on a study of an urban public
elementary school, sociologist Jessica Calarco, who was cited
earlier, found that the teachers, generally middle-class in origin
and outlook, favored middle-class students. Calarco explained:
I found that teachers privileged middle-class students by setting
middle-class expectations, such as by expecting students to
voice their needs and proactively seek help … and by granting
middle-class students’ requests, even when they wanted to say
no.
(SCIENCE DAILY 2016)
As their children progress through the grades, middle-class
parents become increasingly concerned about college
acceptance, preferably the college of their choice. They

recognize the importance of a college degree as either
preparation for the job world or as the educational foundation
for postgraduate training. We have already encountered
information showing the economic impact of a college degree.
Another reality in middle-class parents’ lives is its expense.
Over time college costs have steadily risen. Adjusting for
inflation, investigators found that in the decade preceding the
2017–18 school year, tuition and fees for in-state students at
four-year state schools increased 3.2 percent per year and in
private colleges it was 2.4 percent per year. In 2017–18 the
overall cost of tuition and fees along with room and board was
$20,770 at a public four-year in-state facility, $36,420 at a
public out-of-state four-year school, and $46,950 at a private
institution. The total costs for all three types of colleges had
increased over 3 percent from the preceding year (College
Board 2018, 3, 9).
Besides facing the issue of expense, families dealing with the
challenge of college acceptance find themselves in a highly
competitive setting. To get their children into the most
prominent colleges and universities, privileged upper-class and
upper-middle-class parents have often been painstaking in their
preparation—in particular, enrolling their children in the most
successful elementary and secondary schools, developing
athletic, musical, or artistic skills that will impress admissions
committees, using expensive tutoring services to prepare them
for the Standard Aptitude Tests, and taking them on lengthy
college tours to find reputable schools that provide “the right
fit.”
Overall these actions produce the desired outcomes, and the gap
on prominent campuses between the high- and low-income
student groups continues to grow. While many top colleges do
make some effort to recruit individuals whose income is below
the national median, school leaders promoting greater economic
diversity need to take bolder steps to level the playing field—to
make their programs financially and psychologically more
accessible to different income groups. These officials might

find it particularly productive to use approaches that have
proved successful to assist less affluent candidates on other
campuses, and, in addition, they might be less solicitous of
wealthy students, eliminating legacies and other privileges the
schools have provided in the hope of receiving sizable
donations (Karabel 2005, 537–46; Levy and Tyre 2018).
It is not just low-income families that can lose out. A family
was overjoyed when they learned that their high-school senior
was accepted at Johns Hopkins. At that time, however, they
found out that the cost of attendance was $54,470 yearly, with
the complicated system based on income and other assets
determining that the young woman would receive merely $6,000
in financial aid. According to this reckoning, this middleclass
family was too affluent to receive more, but the assessment
system did not consider various critical family expenses,
leaving the necessity to pay about $48,000, just shy of the
median American income (Farrington 2014).
Many middle-class families face a similar challenge with
college costs. A study of the nation’s 200 most selective private
and public colleges found that between 2000 and 2016 rising
costs produced a declining middle-class attendance (Delisle and
Cooper 2018). One of the authors of the study said, “In terms of
middle-class students, it looks like that is the one group we can
pretty clearly say from our data is shrinking at these schools”
(Schmidt 2018).
Like human capital, social capital also plays an important role
in middle-class individuals’ successful
development.Networking: It’s Who You Know pg. 198
Middle-class people often have access to potentially helpful
family members, friends, and community individuals and groups
as well as various professionals or experts that members of the
less affluent and less prominent classes either cannot connect to
or cannot afford. Middle-class people are joiners—open to
information and influence from various members of their social
class.
The city of Cleveland provided a case in point. Prince Heights

or Upper Prince was a neighborhood that stood out from its
urban surroundings as the one locale “for miles where the yards
are manicured, the houses well kept, and the neighbors know
each other” (Maag 2008, A18). The driving force for local
improvement was Daniel Lewis, a supervisor for the Cleveland
Transit Authority. Every time a house went up for sale, Lewis
encouraged a family member to buy it. Lewis’s daughter
explained that her father taught his children that “middle-class
isn’t about economics … It’s a mindset. You work hard. You
take care of your house and your neighborhood and the people
around you” (Maag 2008, A18). Middle-class status, Lewis
seemed to suggest, was less about financial capital than about
other capital types.
Prince Heights has been a healthy, vibrant neighborhood in a
locale where drug trafficking and violent crime have always
been a nearby presence. In June 2008 Daniel Lewis was killed
in his yard, the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting. After
Lewis’s death some neighbors wanted to place teddy bears at
the crime scene, but his wife refused, suggesting instead that it
would be more faithful to her husband’s memory to mobilize the
social network he had promoted and develop a powerful
community group to protect their neighborhood.
In contrast, sometimes middle-class, more specifically upper-
middle-class individuals have mobilized their social capital to
restrict access to highly valued urban residential areas. Around
1970 such cities as New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco
began pursuing exclusionary zoning. An economist summed up
the changes when he wrote:
Starting in the 1960s, a property rights revolution occurred in
the U.S. Backed by environmentalist rhetoric in the suburbs and
preservationist priorities in the cities, American localities
increasingly restricted the rights of property owners to build.
We changed from a country in which landowners had relatively
unfettered freedom to add density to a country in which veto
rights over new projects are shared by a dizzying array of
abutters and stakeholders. Consequently, we now build far less

in the most successful, best educated parts of the country, and
housing prices in these areas are far higher than construction
costs or prices elsewhere.
(GLAESER 2017)
In the cities that pursued these measures, the “array of abutters
and stakeholders” was a sophisticated, well connected,
prominent set of people who, as one knowledgeable observer
concluded, engaged in “opportunity hoarding,” where upper-
middle-class urban residents mobilized to restrict valued access
for less affluent people to such prized items as superior
schooling and desirable jobs (Reeves 2017).
The use of social capital in upper-middle-class locales is very
different from that in urban communities like Prince Heights
with their family, friendship, and neighborhood connections. In
fact, can one even claim that the hi tech business world uses
social capital? Certainly employees use various forms of
telecommunications to exchange details about everyday job
activities (Bishop and Levine 1999; Hyde 2003, 158–59).
Debate exists about whether the social networks established in
such instances feature the use of social capital or not. Some
analysts conclude that social capital is not involved because of
participants’ fixation on work-related issues and no involvement
of family, friends, and community (Cohen and Fields 2000;
Hyde 2003). However, one should keep in mind that the
standard for qualification on this issue is not a sharp one—that
some groups representing social capital previously cited in this
chapter have been work associates or hired professionals,
decidedly not intimates for the people in question.
Since the 1990s email and the Internet have promoted social
networks that are not restricted by physical space; that all ow
many people, hundreds and even thousands or millions, to be
contacted at once; and that with attachments and websites
permit the transmission of text, documents, photos, and videos.
In addition, within these computergenerated systems,
bidirectional communication exists, allowing individuals
receiving information to provide feedback (Dellarocas 2003;

Wellman 2001, 2031). While in 2000 about half of Americans
used the Internet, the figure skyrocketed in the next two decades
to about 90 percent, with younger people distinctly more likely
to use it than their elders (Pew Research Center 2018).
While computer-generated networks are growing, research
produces mixed results on the topic of whether these systems
build social capital. A study of 169 Pittsburgh-area families
who used computers with Internet connections over two years
found that high levels of Internet use corresponded with
declines in communication with both family members and
friends (Kraut, Patterson, Lundmark, Kiesler, Mukophadhyay,
and Scherlis 1998). Another, much larger investigation
featuring a representative sample of over 4,000 families
indicated that a quarter of respondents using the Internet five
hours a week or more felt that it reduced the time spent with
friends and family (Nie and Erbring 2000). In recent years
Americans appear to have mixed feelings about computers and
the Internet. A nationwide survey with over 1,000 adults 18 or
older indicated that while 28 percent felt that the impact has
been mostly positive; 62 percent, the distinct majority, opted
for mixed, namely a combination of positive and negative
results; and a modest 10 percent chose mostly negative
(Allstate/NationalJournal 2015).
A significant factor in the Digital Age is social-networking
sites, which are Internet organizations that are seeking to build
online communities of people sharing interests and activities. A
host of these sites has developed, with Facebook and YouTube
the most widely used. On its website Facebook’s publicity
statement indicated that anyone can join the site, using a school
or work email address to register and then presenting a detailed
profile of whatever one wants to convey about his or her past,
present, and future. Facebook contains many networks whose
members belong to schools, companies, or physical regions like
towns. The site started in early 2004, and within about four -
and-a-half years it had 100 million users around the world
(Facebook 2008).

Several hundred fairly popular social networking sites exist, and
a constant stream of new sites have been appearing, seeking to
appeal to users with specific needs (Nations 2018). Estimates
for the leaders’ number of monthly visits are:
•Facebook, 1.5 billion
•YouTube, 1.499 billion
•Twitter, 400 million
•Instagram, 250 million
•Reddit, 125 million (eBiz/Mba 2017).
Many social networking sites have extensive use by members of
different social classes. While middle-class individuals
participate widely, they show disproportionate interest in
selected sites. Twitter tends to have more educated users, with
29 percent of those possessing college degrees using Twitter
compared to 20 percent of those with high-school certificates or
less.
With LinkedIn, however, the educational discrepancy is much
more pronounced. It turns out that 50 percent of individual s
with a college degree use this networking site compared to a
mere 9 percent for people with a high-school diploma or less
(Greenwood, Perrin, and Duggan 2016). A significant
percentage of LinkedIn exchanges concern middle-class people
seeking jobs. An article in Forbes magazine provided extensive
detail indicating how middle-class candidates could find
LinkedIn valuable in supplying practical information that would
help to obtain a high-quality middle-class position.
The writer, for instance, emphasized the importance of leading
off with an appealing headshot accompanied by a strong,
impressive headline. Once the profile has been written, then
individuals in question need to contact anyone from their past
who could help secure the kind of position they have in mind.
As in writing the profile, the process of contacting people
should be painstaking, considering not only prospective
employers but also individuals, who, though not hiring, might
be able to provide information about job openings. As the job
candidacy progresses, the Forbes writer indicated that

individual candidates for a particular job would do well to
“snoop,” using LinkedIn to locate former employees of the
company who could provide useful information about it or
seeking out friends or acquaintances with similar information.
All in all, the article described the detailed assistance LinkedIn
could provide for locating and perhaps securing valuable
middle-class jobs (Shin 2014).
As the upcoming section indicates, once losing their jobs,
middle-class prospects often face a difficult, demanding job
candidacy.THE LEAN, MEAN MIDDLE-CLASS WORK
MACHINE
The business world is the heart of the American middle-class
economy. What traits do middle-class individuals entering this
setting need in order to be successful? Robert Jackall’s well-
known sociological study of management in two companies—
one with 11,000 staff members manufacturing a variety of
chemicals and the other with 20,000 employees producing
textiles—provided a set of prominent qualities (2010, 18–19).
Jackall’s study along with several updated sources examine
these factors, which include:
•Education: In Jackall’s study the more prestigious firm
recruited managers from such celebrated business schools as
Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton (2010, 44). A more recent
assessment of master’s in business administration (MBA)
programs using the evaluations of deans and directors of MBAs
continued to give all three schools prominence, listing the top
five in the following order: Harvard, Chicago, University of
Pennsylvania (Wharton), Stanford, and MIT (U.S. News and
World Report 2018).
For individuals who want to become a business leader, an MBA
is the most popular choice, but acceptance into and completion
of programs is difficult. In 2016, for instance, there were
801,504 applicants, with a total enrollment that year of
1,012,650 students, but only 156,250 managed to graduate from
their programs (Statistic Brain Research Institute 2016).
In 2018 MBA applicants indicated that consulting, finance, and

technology were the three industrial areas that displayed the
greatest appeal. Over half of the applicants expected that
leadership was the quality that job recruiters would find most
valuable, closely followed by problem solving and a firm grasp
of how to conduct business (Cottrell 2018).
It is questionable, however, that educational institutions are
providing these skills. A survey of 623 business leaders
indicated that only a third of the respondents agreed with a
statement declaring that “[h]igher education institutions in this
country are graduating students with the skills and
competencies that MY business needs” (Sidhu and Calderon
2014).
One of the principal concerns, even the principal one, involves
the development of leadership. Among business leaders there is
widespread support for two ideas about leadership that are only
cited here: that the capacity to succeed in this regard involves
not only knowledge and skill but, equally important, a clear
understanding of oneself in the role; and that becoming a leade r
is a social activity, requiring that the individual in question
becomes adept at relating to and understanding other people
(Academy of Management 2016). Several other assets are
necessary to succeed as a business leader.
•Hard work: Jackall indicated that individuals who want to
succeed in management not only need to work hard but must be
perceived as hard workers, constantly on the move and
improving their output. An executive vice-president at the
textile firm spoke about the unrelenting effort necessary.
Certain individuals, he asserted, stood out. “You can spot it the
first six months. They have suggestions at meetings. They come
into a business and the business picks up. They don’t go on
coffee breaks …” ( Jackall 2010, 48).
For recently hired management, working hard involves not only
exerting effort on the job but also relentlessly making such job-
enhancing commitments as “meeting deadlines, sticking to your
work, keeping your personal opinions under wraps, and doing
your best to represent your department and organization”

(Larssen 2018).
•Self-control: While working hard in what is often a pressure-
packed atmosphere is essential, the individual seeking to climb
the corporate ladder must demonstrate self-control. When
interviewed managers stressed the importance of hiding feelings
and intentions behind a relaxed, smiling, affable exterior.
Corporate life, they seemed to imply, was a game that demanded
a perfect poker face ( Jackall 2010, 51).
A study of 72 executives at both private and public compani es
with revenues ranging from $50 million to $5 billion found that
while leadership searches tend to pay little attention to self-
awareness, it was the factor most strongly associated with
overall success on the job (Lipman 2013a; 2013b). The
investigators wrote,
This is not altogether surprising as executives who are aware of
their weaknesses are often better able to hire subordinates who
perform well in categories in which the leader lacks acumen.
These leaders are also more able to entertain the idea that
someone on their team may have an idea that is even better than
their own.
(LIPMAN 2013A)
•Hitting the numbers: To be successful in business, a person
must contribute to the profit commitments that upper-level
management has established for his or her work unit. However,
making money in itself is insufficient to ensure an individual’s
advancement in management ( Jackall 2010, 66).
•Acting as a team player: Ambitious corporate managers soon
realize that they must master a role where they learn to get
along with others, fit in, recognize trouble and if possible stay
away from it, and always appear unthreatening and pleasant,
hiding ambition. The object is to make both one’s superiors and
peers feel comfortable ( Jackall 2010, 53–54).
The American Management Association indicated that in many
modern businesses, managers find themselves facing the
pressures of “[d]ownsizing, rightsizing, reorganizing … The
only way to cope with this need to do more with less is by …

[offering leadership that operates] cooperatively in an
environment of respect drawing on all the resources available to
get the job done” (American Management Association 2016).
•Obtaining a patron: Prominent corporate officials provide
protégés a chance to advance—giving them opportunities to
showcase their talents or introducing them to other high-level
executives who might also help their progress. The patron–
protégé relationship is a reciprocal one, with junior members
making certain that their superiors receive all critical
information to produce effective decisions and providing
unswerving loyalty to them in exchange for the benefits
previously mentioned. Over time as patrons invest heavily in
junior managers, they become committed to making certain that
those individuals do not fail since failure would diminish senior
executives’ reputation for picking winners ( Jackall 2010, 65–
66). As several of these observations suggest, choosing protégés
is not a selfless decision. Not surprisingly a study providing
data from 282 mentors indicated that they were more likely to
choose protégés based on their perception of perceived ability
than of junior executives’ perceived need for support (Allen,
Poteet, and Russell 2000).
Female executives have recognized that women’s most
promising prospects for patrons are likely to be members of
their own sex. “A lot of women recognize that they got a break
from women on the way up,” said Patricia O’Brien, dean of the
Simmons Graduate School of Management. “They want to return
the favor” (Aoki 2001, F1). Regardless of protégés’ gender,
CEOs are potentially the most helpful patrons. Upper-
management personnel who use flattery, opinion conformity,
and favor-rendering with their CEOs are more likely to receive
board appointments at either firms where their bosses already
serve or to obtain such positions at boards to which their CEOs
are connected through interlocking directorates (Westphal and
Stern 2006).
Even highly successful business leaders have patrons or
mentors. Initially Bill Gates resisted the idea of meeting Warren

Buffett. Gates’s mother was giving a dinner party, and he felt
that Buffett was simply “this guy who picks stocks.” However,
as Gates wrote in LinkedIn, he soon realized that Buffett has
done much more than just pick stocks, also painstakingly
analyzing companies to determine how they gain advantage over
their competitors. Gates incorporated that idea in developing
Microsoft, appreciating that Buffett “thought about business in
a much more profound way than I’d given him credit for”
(Blackman 2015).
Clearly management positions are crucial for a modern society’s
economic growth, and even in a sluggish economy the Bureau of
Labor Statistics projects an increase—an 8 percent expansion
from 2016 to 2026, driven both by the formation of new
organizations and the enlargement of existing ones. In May
2017 the median annual wage for management jobs was
$102,590, the highest of all major occupational categories
(Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018b).
Since the Great Recession, however, middle-class citizens
overall have often not done well economically.Middle-Class
Workforce Changes Involving Downsizing, Outsourcing, and
Temp Work pg 203
In 2015, for the first time in over 40 years, the number of
Americans qualifying for the middle class was fewer, 120.8
million, than the 121.3 million total for the social classes above
and below them. The Pew Research Center, which did the study,
considered respondents middle class when their income ranged
from two-thirds to double the overall median household income
(Pew Research Center 2015a). Not surprisingly during the Great
Recession, the distinct majority of jobs lost were middle-class
positions, with largely low-wage replacements (Plumer 2014).
This was not the first time, however, that middle-class workers
suffered widespread job loss. In the late 1980s and early 1990s,
according to investigative reporter Barbara Ehrenreich,
corporate executives’ attitude toward middle-class employees
changed. “Blue-collar workers were always thought to be
disposable,” she asserted, “but now they started looking at

white-collar workers as just expenses to eliminate” (Doster
2006). These executives were engaging in downsizing—the
deliberate reduction of permanent employees in an effort to
provide an organization more efficient operation and/or cut
costs. The introduction of new technology, extensive corporate
restructuring, and outsourcing of jobs to foreign locations all
promote downsizing. Both large and small corporations pursue
the practice, with enormous firms like IBM, AT&T, and GM
reducing their heavily middle-class workforce by 10 to 20
percent (Perrucci and Wysong 2008, 3).
During the years preceding and following the Great Recession,
the number of layoffs was massive, with between 800,000 and
1.5 million workers downsized between 2000 and 2008 and
between 2010 and 2013. In 2009 when the recession was
peaking 2.1 million Americans lost their jobs. A Harvard
research team concluded that the resulting cost savings tended
to be “overshadowed by bad publicity, loss of knowledge,
weakened engagement, higher voluntary turnover, and lower
innovation, which hurt profits in the long run” (Sucher and
Gupta 2018). The researchers indicated that all too often such
actions involve “bad layoffs,” namely “layoffs that aren’t fair or
perceived as fair by employees and that have lasting negative
knock-on effects” (Sucher and Gupta 2018). In contrast,
companies can produce downsizing which their laid-off
employees consider successful when they assist them to find
reasonably good jobs. Faced with a major commercial downturn,
Boeing had to downsize 55,000 workers over a five-year period.
Management cooperated with organized labor, several levels of
government, and community colleges to produce a
reemployment program that helped their former employees
develop alternative job skills and attain new positions (Mueller,
Van Deusen, and Hornsby 2018).
Another issue coming into play following layoffs is the
workers’ response. Middleclass employees are often noted for
their detailed meticulous work preparation, and this issue can
become highly relevant as they prepare to seek another job. For

instance, one expert on job procurement indicated that after
being laid off, individuals are likely to feel anger and
bitterness, emotions that need to be expressed. He added:
Tell it as many times as you need in order to resolve any
“emotional baggage” and get it out of your system before you
get in front of a recruiter. They will sense your bitterness, and it
won’t reflect well on you.
(KNIGHT 2015)
Then when talking to recruiters, develop a layoff commentary
that is short and positive, avoiding any reference to oneself as a
victim. The specialist previously cited suggested something like
“My former company went through an extensive restructuring.
I’ve been given an opportunity to rethink my career, and what I
am looking for now is XYZ.” Such a statement should rapidly
shift recruiters’ perception of the candidate from the past to the
present and the future (Knight 2015).
Downsizing has received extensive attention and media
coverage as individuals lost their jobs and often struggled both
to find another job and to maintain their previous lifestyle.
Initially concern about outsourcing was muted. Outsourcing is
companies’ subcontracting of services to other companies
instead of continuing to provide those services themselves.
Outsourcing can occur with firms in the immediate area or
elsewhere in the United States, but a substantial amount of it
involves companies in foreign countries. Outsourcing started
slowly. In the early 1990s, Indian animators began to produce
Saturday morning cartoons. Soon afterwards Indians’ “hidden
hands” were starting to do Amazon.com book orders
(Sheshabalaya 2005, 3).
There are distinct advantages and disadvantages for companies
to engage in outsourcing. To begin, employers don’t need to
bring new individuals into the firm, thus saving money on
training, benefits, salary, and various other costs (Patel 2017).
A research team that examined outsourcing internationally
concluded, “The first and fundamental objective was and will be
the cost reductions in many organizations” (Iqbal and Dad 2013,

99). In addition, management can find that when hiring locally,
they are likely to discover that the talent pool is distinctly
limited while outsourcing can provide a much greater range of
choice.
On the other hand, problems can emerge. One is the prospect of
lack of control. When outsourcing, companies often end up
hiring contractors who act as intermediaries with the workers.
The lack of direct interaction as well as the physical separation
from these job holders can undermine control. A related point
involves work quality. In outsourcing settings, where the
American company is far removed from its international
workers the quality of performance can be questionable.
Finally, as the discussion on downsizing indicated, an
organization’s workforce can be affected—not just the
individuals laid off but also those who remain, readily feeling
vulnerable to the threatening ax.
PHOTO 6.2 The pain this young woman feels has been
experienced by millions of middleclass workers who like her
have been downsized in recent years.
Source: Stefano Lunardi/Shutterstock.
Looking beyond the companies engaged in outsourcing, it is
apparent that the process affects the economy overall. The
United States outsources about 300,000 jobs each year (Patel
2017), a distinct contributor to unemployment. In 2013 in the
four industries involving call centers, technology, human
resources, and manufacturing, American companies employed
about 14 million foreign workers, nearly double the 7.5 million
unemployed domestically (Amadeo 2018).
While outsourcing is a common practice, a less prominent trend
involving domestic positions entails importing individuals from
other countries as hi tech workers. Foreigners with specialty
occupations can become eligible for H-1B visas, which
individuals can possess for a maximum of six years. In 2017
nearly 70 percent of the jobs were computer related, and other
leading occupational areas involved architecture, engineering,

and surveying; administration; education; and medicine and
health. Over 75 percent of the total H-1B holders came from
India, with China at 9.4 percent the next in line. Over 88
percent of the individuals obtaining this visa were between 25
and 39 years old, and the median salary of H-1B workers was
$85,000 (U.S. Department of Homeland Security 2018).
The modern American economy provides good opportunities for
the selected foreign workers able to find jobs, but for many
citizens the employment options have deteriorated. Temporary
(temp) work involves a job where an individual remains in a
position for a limited amount of time. Many temp jobs provide
part-time employment as over time the percentage of part-timers
has expanded. In 1968 when the Labor Department first
collected statistics on part-time employment, just 13.5 percent
of the workforce engaged in it—a figure that peaked at 20.1 in
2010 and then fell slightly to 17.7 percent in 2018. As a rule
these workers would prefer full-time employment but must work
less because of employers reducing their hours or the inability
to locate full-time positions (Mislinski 2018). The 2010 peak
figure occurred soon after the completion of the Great
Recession; both high part-time employment and temp work
expanded during that economic downturn.
It’s not just hard times that expand temp work. In recent years
some middle-class jobs involving professional and clerical input
have become automated, releasing or downsizing the positions
for millions of white-collar employees working for the post
office or a wide variety of custom services (Rotman 2013).
As a rule middle-class temp workers are likely to be better off
than their workingclass counterparts. A five-year study of a
large organization that provided part-time work found that 44
percent of temp-to-hire assignments ended in an actual hire
while among industrial workers, only 22 percent were
permanently hired by the client (Houseman and Heinrich 2016).
Individuals holding longer-lasting temporary positions are
sometimes called “permatemps”—a curiously and perhaps
frustratingly contradictory phrase. Erin Hatton, a sociologist

who has studied and written about permatemps, indicated that
employers are unlikely to receive loyalty or high productivity.
She added:
But on the flip side, today you might, because there are growing
numbers of temporary workers—long-term temporary workers—
… who desperately hope to become permanent workers. And so
they give it all they’ve got.… They’re extra creative. They’re
extra productive in the hopes of being converted to permanent
status.
(NPR 2013)
Meanwhile, whether lengthy or brief, temp work has become
commonplace. “It seems to be the new norm in the working
world,” said Kelly Sibla, 54. This computer systems engineer
had been looking for a full-time job for four years, but she said
she has had to take whatever she can find (McGarvey 2014).
Overall the picture for temp workers is not promising.
Investigative reporters Barbara Ehrenreich and Ta Mara Draut
indicated that an increasing proportion of middle-class workers
experience “ ‘real’ jobs giv[ing] way to benefit-free contract
work. Far from being on an elite perch in the ‘knowledge
economy,’ the middle class hovers just inches above the
working poor” (Ehrenreich and Draut 2006). The upcoming
discussion addresses the issue of middle-class job
instability.The Middle-Class Struggle with Reemployment pg
207
As the data in Table 6.3 indicate, middle-class individuals who
suffer job loss tend to obtain new positions. Among sales and
office personnel, however, nearly 40 percent are not
reemployed, and overall for reemployed middle-class workers,
their salary is often smaller (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2018c;
Hira and Hira 2005, 129–30).
Table 6.3Data Involving Displaced Middle-Class Workers and
Their Reemployment
Management, professional, and related occupations 1.1 million
lost their positions; 71.7 percent reemployed
Sales and office personnel 796,000 suffered job loss; 61.5

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