Untitled #1

Untitled #1 by shannon-trimm featuring lacing boots

Miss Selfridge shirts top
missselfridge.com

Cropped leather jacket
etsy.com

River Island stretch denim legging
riverisland.com

Dr. Martens lacing boots
zappos.com

Charlotte Russe gold charm necklace
charlotterusse.com

Free People slouchy knit beanie
nordstrom.com

Final Summary/Reaction

Over the weekend, I handed out my survey to the rest of the adults I planned on. I am still waiting for a few of them to get back to me. The results I have received are pretty much what I expected. My cousin who works in a bank knows more of the statements about finance, as does his wife. Whereas, my cousin who is a teacher knows the finance questions, but not as many. My predictions, for the most part have been true. One thing that surprised me was that my one cousin, who is unemployed checked off the statement that he knows about personal security systems. The family has never been very wealthy so I asked him why he said that. It turns out that he works for his step father's catering company part-time. Doing this, he interacts with a lot of people who are considered upper class and has had to deal with things like personal security systems on a regular business. There were a few more unexpected answers, but for the most part most of my predictions were correct. 

Revised Plan/Summary/Update

I have given my survey to three adults as of now. I have given it to my mom, dad, and aunt. I haven't seen the other people I want to survey yet, but I will be seeing them and giving them the survey this weekend. So far I've seen pretty consistent results. My aunt and my parents are pretty close in terms of class, but my dad is a salesman, my mom is a teacher, and my aunt is a nurse, so they know different things about different topics in the survey. This weekend, I will give the survey to my cousins and neighbors and see how they answer the survey. 

Strategy Plan for Research

I have decided to definitely use the survey we did in class a couple of weeks ago. I have also decided on the adults in my life I will give this survey to. I realized that I don't know too many adults that are on very extreme sides of the spectrum. I don't anybody who is considered to be very low class, and I don't know very many people who are considered upper class. However I know that many of the adults in my life may answer the questions differently. I will give the survey to my parents, my neighbors, my aunt and uncle, and some of my cousins. My one cousin is a manager at a bank and another is a teacher in a public school. Though they are very close in terms of class, obviously, the bank manager may know more of the financial related questions. After I give this survey to adults in my life, I will ask them the same questions we were asked. Which section do you have the most check marks in? What do you think this survey was about? Which statements did you check and why/didn't you check and why? Which statements stood out to you? Do you agree with this assessment? It was interesting to see how a bunch of 17 year olds responded to this survey, so I think it will be good to see how adults respond. 

Applied Research

For the research portion of my blog, I will be giving out a survey about social class to the adults in my life. I will be using the survey we did in class, but seeing how my parents and other adults respond. After I give them the survey and look over their answers, I will ask them questions similar to the ones we went over. Why did you say you know about this topic? Why did you respond this way? What do you think this survey is about? I think it will be very to see how the adults that I know respond to this survey and see how it compares to our class' answers. 

I think that this picture does a great job of depicting social class. It shows a group of boys, two of whom are in a wealthy class and three of whom are obviously poorer, but not too poor. I think it really shows the difference between the classes, even though the boys are so young.

The wealthier boys are holding themselves better. They are standing up straight and wearing nice clothes. They look clean. Their hair is cut. Their clothes fit them. One thing I realized is that they're not looking at the other boys. It may have just been that the photograph was taken when the boys were looking the other way. However, I think it is very interesting that the one boy is facing the complete opposite direction and the other is staring off, not looking at the other boys, with a hand in his pocket and his other hand on a post supporting him. I also think it's interesting that the smaller boy has a cane. He could have a medical condition, but to me it doesn't look it. These two boys look like the wealthy class men we so often see pictures of from this time period. Suits, top hats, ties, and a cane.

The other boys look much different compared to the wealthy boys. Their hair is disheveled, their clothes are too big, and they look a little dirty. It is shocking to see how different these boys are from the wealthy boys, despite them being around the same age. Their body language is more reserved. They're not standing as straight and they all have both of their hands in their pockets. Also, each of them is looking at the wealthy boys. To me, it looks like they're intrigued by these boys.

I thought this picture was very interesting when I found it. It is a picture of a group of young boys from the early 1900s, but it really shows the difference between social classes at that time. Even though I don't think the poorer boys were the poorest there was, it still shows how different the classes can be, even if they're close to each other. 

Does social class discrimination contribute to poor health?

Can social class discrimination cause your health to decline? That doesn't really seem to make sense, at least to me. I can see that being poor can cause you to have lower health. You have less money, you can't afford medicine, you get sick. But, discrimination against a class? How does that cause you to have poor health?

This article says that stress is a big factor. Being in a lower class and having less money can lead to increased stress levels. We all know that stress can make us feel lousy, but it can also affect our actual health. Researchers at Cornell University studied a group of 17 year olds to see the affect of discrimination on class. 

First, they were asked questions based on their social class background and measured their perceptions of discriminations. Next, they did physical tests. They took their blood pressure and  took urine samples to measure the levels of stress-related hormones. These factors form an "allostatic load", which is a term that describes the negative health changed caused by exposure to frequent stress. 

Teens that grew up in poverty said they experienced more discrimination and it turned out that their allostatic loads were higher. 

The article then goes on to talk about how we can fix this. Americans are very big on no racial discrimination. But when it comes to social class discrimination? Americans tend to pretend that it doesn't exist, because America is supposed to be a "class-less" society. The article says that talking about social class and social class discrimination in schools, to children, is a start. But I don't think that's good enough. We need to talk about this to everyone, let everyone know this is a problem, and get everyone to work on a solution. Not just children.