Social Class & Families ch 4

Technological changes, different types of jobs and skills
-workers replaced with machines
-Loss of skilled & semi-skilled jobs to developing countries

Importance of Education:
-Factory jobs used to be the norm
-today w/out college: low paying service & unskilled manual labor jobs (decline in demand)
-Bachelor's degree is the ticket to the better-paying sector
How much education makes a difference in earning power& family income
-college educated people were more likely to stay married & have a 2 parent household
-Growth of higher education was one of the major social developments of 20th century America

Trends in Povery

Defining Social Class

Gender and Family:
-using male only head of household as the norm to put families into a specific social class no longer works
-single parents
-dual earners
-types of jobs worked
-more appropriate to study family unit instead of individual
-65% of married couples w/ children under 18 both work

Social Classes and Status Groups

Three status groups
-1st group-college degree
-2nd grou-high school and some college
-3rd Group-did not graduate high school

Social Class Differences in Family Life
-Diverging Demographics
-age at marriage
-childbearing outside of marriage
-the marriage market
-divorce
-differences in early adulthood
Age at marriage:
-those with 4 yr college degree more likely to marry after 25
-by late 20's and 30's rate of marriage exceeds that of less educated
Assortative marriage: tendancy to marry someone similar to yourself
-in 1930's it was more important to marry someone for religion
-today people marry based off edu background
DIVORCE:
-risk for divorce for college educated women began dropping in 1980
-risk of divorce highest for women w/out high school diploma