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Definitions | Statistics on Class and Inequality | Organizations

These definitions of class and classism are adapted from Felice Yeskel, Ed.D.  The definition of privilege is adapted from Allan Johnson's Privilege, Power and Difference and from the Peace Development Fund's Dismantling Racism Workbook.

Privilege—something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to rather than because of anything they’ve done or failed to do.  Types of privilege includes access to resources, ability to influence others to get what you want done, and ability to define reality for yourself and others.

Class— position in society based on money, status and privilege.

Classism— practices and beliefs that justify an unfair economic system by assigning different values to people based on their class.

Ally—is a person who uses their privilege to help shift the system of inequality that gave them that privilege in the first place.

Statistics on Class and Inequality
Wages and Poverty | Cost of Living | Health Care | College Education | Travel | Wealth | Prison Industiral Complex

Wages and Poverty
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Americans are working increasingly more hours…

The average middle income family now works four months more in total hours than they did in 1979. (Bluestone and Rose, 1998)

By 2000, middle income minority families were working at least 500 hours (12 weeks) more per year than white families in the same income range. (State of Working America: 2002-2003)

While wages for workers have decreased…

Between 1973 and 1997, worker productivity increased by over 20%, while real wages (adjusted for inflation) declined by 22.6% (MacEwan, 1998)

And a significant amount of work is not being compensated.

Approximately 10.3 million workers did some off-the-clock work, with the average among these workers being about 7 hours per week. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2002)

There is a large racial income and employment gap.

Between 1995-2001, the median income of families of color has increased 12% - from $23,000 to $25,700 - compared to the increase in median income of white families from $38,200 to $45,200. (United for a Fair Economy from the Survey of Consumer Finances, 2001)

The typical Black family had 60% as much income as a white family in 1968, but only 58% as much in 2002. (United For a Fair Economy, 2004)

One in nine African Americans cannot find a job.  Black unemployment is more than twice the white rate – a wider gap than in 1972.  (United for a Fair Economy, 2004)

Wealthy people have seen increases in their incomes while poor people have seen a decline in their incomes…

Between 1973 and 2000, the income of the top 1 percent rose by 148 percent, the income of the top 0.1 percent rose by 343 percent and the income of the top 0.01 percent rose 599 percent. (Krugman, 2004)

Between 1973 and 2000 the average real income of the bottom 90 percent of American taxpayers actually fell by 7 percent. (Krugman, 2004)

In 1970, CEOs received an average of 1.3 million in 1970 or 40 times the average worker’s salary. By 1998, this increased to 37.5 million or 1000 times the average worker’s salary.  (Fortune Magazine and Business Week Survey)

The number of families in poverty has risen…

The number of American families living in poverty increased by 400,000 in 2002. (New America Foundation from US Census Bureau)

And most of the adults in poverty are women.

2/3 of adults in poverty are women, and 44% of single mothers remain below the poverty level. (Washington Post, 2000)

The minimum wage does not even meet Federal guidelines for a family to avoid poverty.

The poverty line for a family of 4 is $18,100. But in order for full time workers to stay above the poverty line, they would need to earn at least $8.70 an hour, far greater than the $5.15 minimum wage. The minimum wage only provides a full time worker with $10,712 at 40 hours a week. (Federal Register, 2002)

Many US families have not changed their income bracket in the past decade.

About 40% of families in the U.S. didn't change income brackets over the past decade, vs. 37% in the 1980s and 36% in the 1970s.  About 49% of families who started the 1970s in poverty remained there, while in the 1990s, the figure rose to 53%. (Bernstein, 2003)

Cost of Living
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Housing costs have risen.

Between 1983 and 1988, median housing prices increased 79% for married couples with children (New America Foundation from Federal Reserve Board)

Housing consumes 60-70% of low-income families’ income. (New York Times, 1998)

1 in 4 US adults inhabit substandard housing without adequate plumbing or heat (New York Times, 1998

Over 2 million affordable housing units have vanished in the last 20 years. (New York Times, 1998)

Child care costs are high.

Today's parents pay an average of $4,000-$6,000 a year for each child to attend full-day child care (New American Foundation from Children’s Defense Fund)

More than 10% of American households are food insecure.

In 2002 11.1 percent of all U.S. households were "food insecure" because of lack of resources. Of the 12.1 million households that were food insecure, 3.8 million suffered from food insecurity that was so severe that USDA's very conservative measure classified them as "hungry." (Food Research and Action Center from US Census Bureau, 2002)

Low-income households pay more to borrow money.

Sub prime loans are made disproportionately to low-income and minority households in communities that do not have mainstream lending.  Prime loans offer better credit, but often low-income people cannot qualify. (National Community Reinvestment Coalition, 2003)

Health Care
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Health care costs continue to increase in the United States…

Health spending in the United States is projected to reach $3.1 trillion in 2012, making it 17.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), up from the 2001 level of 14.1 percent. (Heffler at al., 2003)

Yet many Americans are not healthy.

The United States spends about $1.3 trillion on health care each year, more than any other industrialized nation, yet ranked 37th in the World Health Organization's measurement of the world's healthiest countries. (World Health Organization, 2000)

A large number of American workers do not receive health insurance…

19.9 million Americans worked full-time in 2002, but still lacked health insurance benefits (New America Foundation and US Census Bureau)

And, workers with low salaries have decreased access to health insurance.

83% of those earning $75,000 or more have company health insurance vs. 26% for those earning $25000 or less (US Census Bureau, 2002)

Many American children are without health care…

Americans rely primarily on employees for health care insurance, yet of the 8.7 million children without health care, 67.7% have parents working full-time. (Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2002)

And, Medicaid is not covering the insurance gap for low-income families.

Medicaid is the single largest state-administered program for low-income families and individuals. Over the past three years:
50 states have reduced or frozen Medicaid provider payments
34 have reduced or restricted eligibility
35 have reduced benefits
32 have increased co-payments
(Triplett, 2003)

Children and adults who are in poverty have an increased chance of suffering from dental problems that go untreated and restrict their activity.

Children in poverty suffer twice as many tooth decays and cavities as their more affluent peers. Poor children also suffer nearly 12 times more "restricted-activity" days due to dental problems than children in high-income families.

More than one third (36.8 percent) of poor children aged 2 to 9 have one or more untreated decayed primary teeth, compared to 17.3 percent of non poor children.

Adults with incomes equal to or above twice the poverty level have a rate of tooth loss of 6.9 percent. This is less than half the rate for adults with incomes below twice the poverty level (14.3 percent). (Department of Health and Human Services, 2000)

College Education
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The price of public and private college education is increasing at high rates…

The average private school costs $26,854 (of which $19,710 is for tuition and fees). In-state students at public four-year institutions pay an average of $10,636 (including $4,694 for tuition and fees). Over the last decade, tuition increases at public, private and two-year institutions exceeded inflation by between 22 and 47 percent. (The CQ Researcher, 2003)

Average college tuition increased 14.1% at four-year public institutions and 6% at four-year private colleges, 2002-2003. (New America Foundation from The College Board.

Federal grants for low-income students are covering a lower percentage of their tuition…

Pell grants are the primary funding mechanism for low-income students, and at one time, covered as much as 84 percent of college costs. While Federal support for Pell grants has increased 8 percent since 1991, tuition and fees have increased by 38 percent.

The Pell's current maximum of $4,050 only covers 39 percent of the average cost of tuition and room and board. (Shea, 2003)

And students in general are leaving college with significant debt.

Student loans covered just 9% of total student costs in 1975 but now students rely on loans for up to 40% of education costs. (Carnahan, 2003)

There is a class divide in college admissions.

Only 3 percent of the first-year students at the 146 most selective colleges and universities come from families in the bottom quarter of Americans ranked by income.  (Savage, 2003)

The formal practice of giving preference to students whose parents are wealthy is sometimes called "development admits." "Duke [University] says it admits 100-125 students annually as a result of family wealth or connections, up from about a decade ago." (Golden, 2003)

Travel
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Americans vacation time is the shortest in the industrialized world.

U.S. vacations are the shortest in the industrialized world - 8.1 days after a year on the job, compared to 4 to 6 weeks for most Europeans. (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

People with high incomes travel more.

Of households who travel:
Their average annual household income is $68,200
55% of household heads have a college degree.
39% of household heads have a managerial or professional occupation
17% of household heads are retired.
(Domestic Travel Report, 2003)

Wealth
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Wealth is concentrated.

The top 10% of American households own:
98% of the tax-exempt state and local bonds
94% of business assets
95% of the value of all trusts
(Collins and Yeskel, 2000)

The richest 1% of households own 60% of all corporate stock and business assets. (Collins and Yeskel, 2000)

The top 1% of stock owners hold almost half of all stocks, while the bottom 80% own 4.1% of total stock holdings. (The State of Working America: 2000-2001)

35% of the gains from the stock market over the period between 1989-1998 went to the wealthiest 1% of households, and almost 38% went to the next 9% of households. (The State of Working America: 2002-2003)

Average household net worth of the top 1% of wage earners: $10,204,000

Average household net worth of the bottom 40% of wage earners: $1,900 (Wolff, 2000)

The racial wealth gap has widened.

From 1995 to 2001, typical families of color saw their net worth fall 7% to $17,100, while typical white families’ net worth grew 37% to $120,900. (United for a Fair Economy from Survey of Consumer Finances, 2001)

From 1998 to 2001, asset owners of color gained only $100 in financial assets during those three years, compared with a $5,800 for white asset owners. (United for a Fair Economy from Survey of Consumer Finances, 2001)

While white homeownership has jumped from 65% to 75% since 1970, Black homeownership has only risen from 42% to 48%.  At this rate, it would take 1,664 years to close the homeownership gap – about 55 generations. (United for a Fair Economy, 2004)

Home ownership has a relationship to children’s education and future earnings.

Among the children of parents who achieve homeownership:
High school graduation rates increase by 25%.
The likelihood of getting post-secondary education increases 24%
The likelihood of being a college graduate or more increases 117%

For those individuals whose parents’ achieved home ownership, the average annual earnings were higher by $7,497 or  $155,344 over a lifetime. (Boehm and Schlottmann, 1999)

Prison Industrial Complex
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Prisons are a major industry.

"Nationally the tab for building penitentiaries averaged about $7 billion a year over the last decade. One report has more than 523,000 full-time employees working in American corrections - more than in any Fortune 500 company except General Motors." (Parenti, 1999)

Men of color are sentenced to prison at high rates.

In the United States, at the end of 2002, there were:
3,437 sentenced Black male prisoners per 100,000 black males
1,176 Hispanic male inmates per 100,000 Hispanic males
450 White male inmates per 100,000 white males
(US Department of Justice)

Organizations
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