Privilege Accumulation Among Upper Middle-Class Youth in Mexico

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Minor Mora-Salas ◽  
Orlandina de Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Mexican Families ◽  
Life Trajectories ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Upper Middle Class ◽  
Class Youth

This chapter demonstrates how upper middle-class Mexican families mobilize a vast array of social, cultural, and economic resources to expand their children’s opportunities in life and ensure the intergenerational transmission of their social position. The authors analyze salient characteristics of families’ socioeconomic and demographics in the life histories of a group of young Mexicans from an upper middle-class background. Many believe that micro-social processes, especially surrounding education, are key to understanding how upper-class families mobilize their various resources to shape their children’s life trajectories. These families accumulate social advantages over time that accrue to their progeny and benefit them upon their entrance to the labor market.

scholarly journals When Mothers and Fathers Are Seen as Disproportionately Valuing Achievements: Implications for Adjustment Among Upper Middle Class Youth

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 1057-1075 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Ciciolla ◽  
Alexandria S. Curlee ◽  
Jason Karageorge ◽  
Suniya S. Luthar
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Mothers And Fathers ◽  
Upper Middle Class ◽  
Class Youth

Privilege Lost

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessi Streib
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
White Youth ◽  
Downward Mobility ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
Time Periods ◽  
Class Reproduction ◽  
Upper Middle Class ◽  
Class Youth

One in two white youth born into the upper-middle class will fall from it. Drawing upon 10 years of longitudinal interviews with over 100 American youth, this book shows which upper-middle-class youth are most likely to fall, how they fall, and why they do not see it coming. The book shows that upper-middle-class youth inherit different amounts of academic knowledge, institutional insights, and money from their parents. Those raised with more of these resources enter class reproduction pathways, while those raised with fewer of these resources enter downwardly mobile paths. Of course, upper-middle-class youth whose families give them few resources could switch courses by acquiring these resources from their community. They rarely do. Instead, they internalize identities that reflect their resource weaknesses and encourage them to maintain them. Those who fall are then youth raised with resource weaknesses, and they fall by internalizing identities that discourage them from gaining more resources. They are often surprised by their downward mobility as they observed other time periods in which their resources and identities kept them or their parents in their social class.

Aesthetic labour, class and taste: Mobility aspirations of middle-class women working in luxury-retail

2019 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 706-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Boyle ◽  
Kobe De Keere
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
Service Workers ◽  
Fashion Products ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Consumption Practices ◽  
Work Drive ◽  
Process Work ◽  
Post Entry ◽  
Significant Class

Previous research has shown how the embodied performances expected from service workers make cultural class background important for entry into these forms of jobs. However, class judgement continues to impact the worker post-entry and on-the-job. We explore this through a qualitative study of 18 middle-class women working in luxury-retail stores in Amsterdam, asking how they acquire the taste of their store for aesthetic labour. This is a case we consider pertinent given the significant class difference between these workers and their economically rich clientele. We found that: (1) workers constructed the products they sold as distinct by devaluing ‘popular’ fashion products; (2) workers managed to acquire luxury knowledge through their work practices; (3) workers purchased luxury products via employee discount, the availability of which triggered allures to emulate their upper-class customers; (4) acquiring this taste was perceived as cultural-social mobility, a perception reinforced by feelings of recognition within private consumption practices; and (5) these endeavours were often marked by both avidity and anxiety, as work concerns conflated with class concerns. We conclude by arguing that systems of classification and the labour process work in alloy, as the necessities of work drive conformity to legitimate taste and, in turn, the legitimacy of taste assists in achieving worker motivation and the extraction of labour. This, we believe, reflects potential complementarity between domination and exploitation models of class analysis.

Adolescents from upper middle class communities: Substance misuse and addiction across early adulthood

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 315-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suniya S. Luthar ◽  
Phillip J. Small ◽  
Lucia Ciciolla
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
New England ◽  
Substance Misuse ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
School Communities ◽  
Stimulant Use ◽  
Alcohol And Drug Use ◽  
Document Frequency ◽  
Upper Middle Class ◽  
Class Youth

AbstractIn this prospective study of upper middle class youth, we document frequency of alcohol and drug use, as well as diagnoses of abuse and dependence, during early adulthood. Two cohorts were assessed as high school seniors and then annually across 4 college years (New England Study of Suburban Youth younger cohort [NESSY-Y]), and across ages 23–27 (NESSY older cohort [NESSY-O]; ns = 152 and 183 at final assessments, respectively). Across gender and annual assessments, results showed substantial elevations, relative to norms, for frequency of drunkenness and using marijuana, stimulants, and cocaine. Of more concern were psychiatric diagnoses of alcohol/drug dependence: among women and men, respectively, lifetime rates ranged between 19%–24% and 23%–40% among NESSY-Os at age 26; and 11%–16% and 19%–27% among NESSY-Ys at 22. Relative to norms, these rates among NESSY-O women and men were three and two times as high, respectively, and among NESSY-Y, close to one among women but twice as high among men. Findings also showed the protective power of parents’ containment (anticipated stringency of repercussions for substance use) at age 18; this was inversely associated with frequency of drunkenness and marijuana and stimulant use in adulthood. Results emphasize the need to take seriously the elevated rates of substance documented among adolescents in affluent American school communities.

Social Stratification at the Top Rung

2016 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Thiele ◽  
Brian Joseph Gillespie
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Social System ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Upper Class ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Elite University ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Selective Universities ◽  
Depth Interviews

Drawing on 44 in-depth interviews with undergraduates, this research explores whether and how class background matters for students’ social experiences at an elite university. The findings reveal that, compared with upper-class students, both lower- and middle-class students are disadvantaged in their social integration due to a lack of resources (time and money) and a mismatch of cultural styles. Middle-class students tend to reference upward to their upper-class peers, developing a critical view of the campus social system. In contrast, lower-class students reference their less advantaged peers or family members who do not have access to elite spaces. Our findings suggest that the stratified social system on campus reduces lower- and middle-class students’ potential for upward mobility within a high-stakes setting. Thus, scholars and policymakers should pay attention not only to the experiences of lower-class students but also to the challenges confronting middle-class students at highly selective universities.

Adolescents’ understanding of social class: a comparison of white upper middle class and working class youth

2000 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Goodman ◽  
Benjamin C Amick ◽  
Maureen O Rezendes ◽  
Sol Levine ◽  
Jerome Kagan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Class ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Class A ◽  
Upper Middle Class ◽  
Class Youth
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