Society: Social Statification

The evidence of leaving among the employees (who could work on as proxies for the middle class) and the clients (who were representative of the working class) was plentiful. There were, foremost of all, differences in race - although these were non as clear-cut as I had first thought that they would be. While most of the employees were sportsmanlike and very few of the clients were, there was no absolute assumption line. The fact that I saw African-American social proles destiny white families is a reminder that poverty can be colorblind. The fact that most of the families that I saw among the clientele were filthy or Latino reminds us that poverty is most much not colorblind.

More striking than the division between relatively privileged whites and less(prenominal)-privileged minorities (and less expected to me) was the way in which the genders were represented. We hold in all heard discussions about the feminization of poverty, but I had never really thought about how completely this was genuine until I visited the eudaemonia office. Almost all of the clients were women. Of course, this in and of itself does not mean that most people who are poorer are women: Women whitethorn be and probably are more inclined to try out public assistant than are men because they feel less of a stigma in doing so.

They may well in addition be more likely to seek publi

Even more surprising to me than the fact that so many of the clients were female was the fact that nearly every worker was female. I asked one of the security guards about this (he was one of solo two male workers I saw) and his explanation was that the duty didn't give very well and didn't have very much prestige, which is wherefore women tended to be over-represented in its ranks. He said something that explained a spectacular deal of what I saw: "The same kinds of things that push women onto welfare are the same kinds of things that make women take whatever job they can get - which means that the only real difference here between the workers and those on welfare is just a very little bit of luck.

Schaefer, R. Sociology (8th ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002.

c assistance because they have children to care for and so believe that they have fewer choices than do men.

Haviland, William. Cultural Anthropology (10th ed.). Boston: Wadsworth, 2001.

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