Self Analysis: Socioeconomic Status

Socioeconomic status – the measure of someone’s work experience and their individual or families economic and social position in relation to other people’s.

While reading Cassi’s story and Meg’s story about realizing their socioeconomic status, I came across a familiar normative narrative that I could relate to in my story about that same topic. The three of us all come from homes in which we would be considered “middle class”.

In Meg’s story, she spoke about how her family always gets one expensive technology gift at Christmas. During this specific Christmas, they all got their own iPads. I could relate to this by thinking back to the Christmas that my brother and I got our own speakers. I do not recall what my two sisters got for their gifts but they probably got some other high-priced technological piece. In our connections, both of our parents had enough money that they could afford something that was non-essential and still have money for the essentials and more. This is considered the normative narrative in our lives. However, in her story, she realizes how privileged she is when going through Snapchat and seeing that others do not get as much as she does. This reminded me of a time that I had asked one of my best friends what she got for Christmas and when she said “not much”, she meant it, especially when in comparison to how much I had received.

In Cassi’s story, she specifically says that she “come[s] from a middle-class family, and when [her] friends came over to play, they were always amazed by how big [her] house was”. This relates to my story because my story is talking about that exact same situation with one of my best friends and I also come from a middle-class family. Having a bigger house than her friends is her normative as it is mine. However, she also acknowledges that she has friends who have more than she does which breaks that normative.

For the three of us, we will most likely inherit a fair amount from our parents and live lives that are middle class. In my own story, I realize that I do not really disrupt the normative. I seem quite oblivious to life in it and do not focus on fixing my view on the narrative, I simply take note of it and continue on.

A story that disrupts our normative of middle-class and being able to afford expensive things is Cheryl’s story. Based off of the popularity of the Cabbage Patch doll, this story takes place somewhere in the 1980’s. These were definitely different times as there were no iPads or any of that newer technology. However, someone at the time who could not afford a real Cabbage Patch kid, could probably not afford an iPad in the current times. Cheryl talks about how one of her classmates treats her poorly because her doll is not a real Cabbage Patch doll, even saying “And you wonder why no one wants to play at your house, your parents can’t even afford REAL toys”. This is classism that I have not experienced and I feel that the girls who wrote the other stories might not have either. However, that is just an assumption. Writing from a different socioeconomic class, Cheryl’s story gave an insight in to how it is to be treated when you are less fortunate than other people in society. This changed my views of what I considered a normative narrative for socioeconomic status because now I understand that some people, though having less than others, can still be grateful for what they have even when others have so much more than they do.

In the article “This Is Why Poor People’s Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense“, the author, Linda Tirado, discusses her life as someone who is poor and “will never not be poor, so what does it matter if [she doesn’t] pay a thing and a half this week instead of just one thing?” This statement alone has me feel a feeling I cannot really describe as I do not know what it is like to be in a situation where you think life will be the same forever and ever. However, I know that it is a situation I would not want to personally be in.

Between these two counter-stories, I can see how my view must be changed so I can acknowledge that every person comes from a different background in which there are different situations with their socioeconomic statuses.

This Is Why Poor People’s Bad Decisions Make Perfect Sense, Linda Tirado, 2013 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-poor-peoples-bad-decisions-make-perfect-sense_b_4326233