Sociology in America

        With my family’s income, on the social class ladder we are “Lower Middle Class”. My mother is a registered nurse and works for the federal government, whereas my father is self employed (owns on installation business). Owning your own company has is ups and downs. Some weeks business is great, steady, and very busy. There is no such thing as “slow” business. Having contracts with different companies, at the end of each year when gathering the 1099s from all contracted works it averages to be about $45,000 yearly.

        By the time I am forty years old I should be above “lower middle class” but not quite “upper middle class”. This is more than my family’s social rank now. Aspiring to become a nurse practitioner my salary would be about $95,000 a year, if not more. It would depend on the company I work for and/or the shifts that I work. Whether or not I travel and work in trauma centers play a significant role in my salary also.

        With my mother’s occupation, most people looks at her as a “hero”, she helps saves lives with a fairly decent salary. Also, she is ranked pretty high on the occupational prestige chart. Most blue-collar officials would consider my father a “hard worker”. Not necessarily hard labor, but his work could be very strenuous and stressful. To others he might appear to be a manual laborer, to his family he is keeping us utilized with our needs and wants. His occupation makes good money but is ranked low on the occupational prestige chart.

        When I look at the way my parents work to provide for me and themselves, it motivates me to go to school to get a higher education so that I can have a better paying job. By the time I’m fifty years old I would love to be retired, seeing my children in college. I would want to work when I get ready. After a certain age I wouldn’t want to punch someone’s time clock.