Detroit, Michigan

Downtown Detroit

Hecker House in Detroit

Heading into Downtown Detroit

Grand Hotel

Homes of Detroit

• Can the people who live and work in the city of Detroit be seen as similar?

Three Components

• Sociologists can’t agree on how to define social classes

• Sociologists do measure the three components of social class

• Wealth• Power • Prestige

Wealth

• What is the difference between wealth and income?

• Wealth is property and income

• Income is money received from a job, business, or assets.

United States Wealth

• $1.4 Quadrillion

• National Debt of 16.5 trillion

• 68% of the total U.S. worth is owned by 10% of U.S. famiies

• 40% of U.S. assets are owned by 1% of Americans

U.S. Wealth

• Average Income per family is $30,000/year

• Families with more than one worker $51,000/year

• The problem is the difference between the rich and poor

• See Page 262

High Paid CEO’s

• According to the Wall Street Journal, of the top 350 US companies

• Median income $3,022,000• 85 times higher than the

average American worker• An average worker would have

to work 3,671 years to match the top CEO’s of the US