One way to think of a person’s position in society in the US is to imagine a hand of cards. Everyone is dealt four cards, one from each suit. They represent: education, income, occupation and wealth, the four commonly used criteria for gauging class. Face cards in a few categories may land a player in the upper middle class. At first, a person’s class is his/her parents’ class. Later, he/she may pick up a new hand of his/her own; it is likely to resemble that of his/her parents, but not always. Bill Clinton traded in a hand of low cards with the help of a college education and a Rhodes scholarship and emerged decades later with four face cards. Bill Gates, who started off squarely in the upper middle class (10’s and jacks), made a fortune without finishing college, drawing three aces.

What would you say were the cards you were dealt as a child, that is, your parent’s cards? What was your social class as a child?

What have you done or are you doing to change the hand you were dealt? How have social institutions or social service programs assisted or obstructed you in this? How has your social network (family, friends, etc.) assisted or obstructed you with this? What do you see as major obstacles to social class movement?