Description
Please read and answer the discussion below.
We’re continuing our discussion on class, inequality, and access and how that shapes us culturally. Below is the new discussion question.
What does it mean to be Middle-Class:
There is a video embedded in the PPT on slide 8, please watch it if you haven’t already. It’s from 2012, but still holds true today, especially after the tax code changes of 2017.
On slide 9, there is data on income and what constitutes being “middle-class” in NYS and, more regionally where we all live, in New York City.
After watching the video and reviewing the slide, answer the following:
We are looking inwards here, in a very internal way. Exploring how income levels and inequality plays a large role in shaping our cultural options, choices and daily lives.
These variables include AND THIS IS FROM BIRTH onwards, the neighborhood you live, healthcare access, food access, general wellness, pollution you live amongst, education access from childhood to adulthood, where you shop, the clothes you wear, just to name a few. It also impacts your general social mobility.
So do you think? Is “the game is rigged”? We cannot choose our place or time of birth and to which family we are born into/live with.
Would you stay in your current location if it wasn’t for your and your family’s social-economic situation? Would you be a student in college, or would you go elsewhere? Do you think the “American Dream” is real? Can you move up? And even if you move up given what it takes to be middle-class in NYC, can you afford to live & thrive in the five boroughs?