Jasmine Barragan

Professor Koning
English 113B
13 March 2014
Project Text Reflection 1
The social class interactive was different than I expected for my mother and I did not
know that the higher the percentile, the higher-class rank the person is placed into. My mom is
considered middle class in her occupation and her wealth. In her occupation, she slightly passed
to the middle class because she is an insurance clerk and she is in the 42
nd
percentile. My
mothers wealth is in the center of the middle class scale because she is in between 50,000 and
100,000. She is under the 55
th
percentile for wealth. For education and income, my mother is
considered upper middle. For education, my mom is 69
th
percentile because she has more than
two years of college education but does not have a degree. My mom makes a couple thousand
less than 50,000; which makes sets her into the 69
th
percentile for income. Overall, my mom is in
the 59
th
percentile and she is considered to be in the upper middle class. It was different than I
expected because I do not find this graph to be correct because it also does not base what area
my mom lives in and who she needs to support. I also saw my mom to be in the center of the
middle class because of the area we live in and the amount of people she supports.
Since I chose to be a lawyer in my occupation, I am in the top fifth social class and would
be in the 84
th
percentile. For the education level, since I want to get my masters degree, I am near
the top of the highest social class and I would be in the 97
th
percentile. Lawyers make around
130,000 dollars a year and would be in the 96
th
percentile for income. I would have around
100,000 to 500,000 for wealth and would be on the lower part of the scale for the top fifth of the
social class. I would be set on the 85
th
percentile for wealth. My average percentile overall is 90.
Lawyers make a large amount of money and would be set into the highest upper class because
the average lawyer makes around 113,000 dollars a year. I always knew lawyers were placed
into the highest social class because of their income and their education level.
I always thought social class functioned differently. I always knew that there were people
that had a lot more money then others but I never expected or guessed by how much. In the video
Justin showed us, they explain the mislead idea to how social class functions and the difference.
From the video, I noticed how Americans, including myself, are so naive about our social class
system. I never imaged that one percent of our whole society owns majority of the money and it
is money passed down from generation to generation. This video has taught me how Americans
are so nave and how we will never be close to becoming equal with one another.