How Does Socioeconomic Status Affect the Family?

What is socioeconomic status? This is the status or class of a family, a person, or sometimes even a culture, based on education level, income, lineage, mannerisms, speech, occupation, or where you live/where you are from. There are a lot of stereotypes that go along with status. Certain ideas people have on what is considered higher class or lower class. Some people think that someone who wears name brand clothes, or drives a nice car are in the higher class, or someone who lives in a small home and shops at thrift stores are considered lower class. But it all depends on the family or person or culture and how they portray themselves. For instance I would consider myself in the middle class, but I choose to spend my money that I make on name brand shoes, clothes, and a car, which appear that I am in the upper class. In reverse... I don't have much left for other items I need, like school supplies. I am choosing to portray my life differently than one of my roommates. She eats fairly healthy foods and likes to save her money and not spend it on clothes and shoes and other worldly items. So she is portraying her life as something different than mine.

On the other hand, there are some people who really struggle in the lower class. It is often single mothers, or single parents who are in the lower class. Does this mean that someone who is in the lower class can't ever move up into a higher class, or someone in the higher class drop down into the lower class? No. A person in the lower class, can attend college to get an education and end up with an upper class job. They might have to work harder to pay for college than someone in the upper class, but they can still achieve just as much greatness in their life.