Final Inquiry

Nick Schultz
4-12-2015
Professor Thomas
UWRT 1102

Question: Is the economic/social class you are born into dictate

which economic/social class you will fall into as an adult? There have
been a number of scientists whom have researched this question. It
isnt a complicated question with many underlying questions that have
to be answered or facts that are required for certain answers or
explanations.
I chose this particular question because I was attending one of
my sociology classes this semester and the professor raised this
question and attempted to give us their own theories and ideas on the
subject. I however was not very convinced so I decided to pursue
answers if there were any. It was no easy feat there arent that many
scientists who actually conducted tests on large enough groups for

their research and findings to fit my whole question. I really want to

know if it only applies to one specific social class, if it differs by region,
and if there were other ways it could be affected.
The first resource I found was a book called The Deep South
which was written in the 1930s it analyzed, explained, and finalized
the findings of Allison Davis, Burleigh B. Gardner, and Mary R. Gardner.
The test was conducted in a large town in the deep south there were
four individuals who were conducting the experiment a white man and
woman as well as a black man and woman. They were attempting to
illustrate the well-known fact today that there was a large difference in
social classes and niches in the deep south. Their findings referring to
the social class differences between black and white families were to
be expected but they also found that depending on which way the two
parents where arranged could greatly impact on how a mixed child was
treated and accepted into the community. These findings where
exactly what I was looking for a person born into the lower class like
the blacks at the time if they were half white o their mothers side they
could be accepted into the white middle to upper class.
This experiment also found that because the south was so segregated
by race the blacks almost had their own social hierarchy within the
community. This was explained to be the main way that almost all

blacks in this particular area could stand together as one so they could
protect themselves and their community. I found this book answered
my question in a sense that many years ago in a racist biased region of
the country it was almost impossible to escape the social/economic
class you are born into unless you happen to have white relatives. This
was good news to me I was finally seeing solid research but I needed
something a little more modern than the Jim crow south to help me
truly explain and answer my question.
So I found this very interesting article named Social Class
Privilege and Adolescent Womens Perceived Career Options this
article attempts to explain and show reasoning for how and why the
social class of women greatly dictates what their socioeconomic class
will be in the future. The authors argue that a womans social
occupation is linked to their selected social class. The authors also
quote a couple of noteworthy scientists who said if one were
permitted only a single variable with which to predict an individuals
occupational status, it would surely be the socioeconomic status of the
individuals family (Schulenburg, Vondracek, and Crouter, 1984). This
article was not very long but it had all the information I needed
followed by a good argument which led me to conclude that regardless
of sex (in my opinion) the socioeconomic class you are born into will

almost certainly decide your future occupation(job) which then intern

selects what social class you will fall into.

I was relieved to have found these two very informative and

reliable sources of data and answers to some very big questions. The
Deep South was a very interesting book that I would recommend to
anyone who might want to know about the Souths history. It was a key
aspect and influence on my final reflection and opinion on this subject
because it illustrates what society in some places used to be like and
may still be like today in some small southern towns. I could relate to it
I too was from the deep south where my ancestors used to own slaves
that worked on their plantations. This was all fine and good but the
academic article listed above was what I really needed to begin my
research comparing old and new ideology in the article it never stated
anything about the race of a woman taking apart in her career choice
process. It goes to show you that the way in which we study certain
topics change throughout time. I was happy with this start to my
research but I still needed a few more papers/books to complete my
assessment of the question at hand.