Scaling the Socioeconomic Ladder: Low‐Income Women's Perceptions of Class Status and Opportunity

Abstract

This study examined how 69 low-income women enrolled in an educational training program perceived social class and upward mobility. Participants identified their social class during childhood, their current status, and their anticipated post graduate status. Beliefs about income inequality and attributions for wealth and poverty were also assessed. Respondents expected to achieve middle class status and perceived higher education as a route to upward mobility, although the accessibility of post-secondary programs was questioned. Consistent with previous research involving low-income groups (Bullock, 1999;Kluegel & Smith, 1986), structural attributions for poverty and wealth were favored over individualistic causes. Also, respondents perceived income inequality as unjust. The construction of class identity and implications for class-based mobilization are discussed.

Demographic Marginalization, Social Integration, and Adolescents’ Educational Success

“…Conceptualizations of SES markers are somewhat unique developmentally. Whereas adults identify social class primarily by financial resources and, to a lesser extent, housing, occupation, and education (Bullock and Limbert 2003), an exploratory study with a sample of working class and upper-middle class adolescents found that adolescents tend to identify family money and lifestyle as well as parental occupation and education as the most important markers for determining social class (Goodman et al 2000). Thus, when considering how adolescents perceive their own social class and their SES match (or mismatch) with their schoolmates, the markers identified by Goodman and colleagues are informative.…”

The Winding Path Back to School: Hidden Obstacles to Higher Education for Low-Income Single Mothers

“…The majority of interviewees had no close peers or family members who had attended four-year colleges. In fact, studies suggest that many low-income mothers would like to pursue a college degree but most doubt their ability to attain one (Bullock and Limbert 2003).…”

“…Many struggle fulfill work and family responsibilities while patching together childcare arrangements to cover classroom and working hours. (Mason 2002;Bullock and Limbert 2003;Deprez, Butler and Smith 2004;Christopher 2005). Even those students who qualify for subsidized childcare often have difficulty retaining childcare vouchers when they return to school.…”

Intersectional Analyses of Identity and Social Justice

“…These two authors are particularly well-suited to the task: They have been tireless advocates and activists on behalf of a psychological agenda that includes attention to social class; their own research documents the critical ways in which class inequality and attitudes about social classrelated issues are a fundamental part of-and fundamentally shape-our psychological experiences (see, e.g., Bullock 1999;Bullock and Limbert 2003;Bullock and Waugh 2005;Lott 2001Lott , 2002Lott and Bullock 2001); and they have taught hundreds of students about issues of social class (including how class intersects with gender and race). They worked very hard on and helped secure the eventual passage of the American Psychological Association's (APA) Resolution on Poverty and Socioeconomic Status, originally published in 2000 and reproduced in the "Appendix" of their book.…”