Answer :

Consequences of Social Class :

• While sociologists debate exactly how social classes are divided, there is substantial evidence that socioeconomic status is tied to tangible advantages and outcomes.
• Social class in the United States is a controversial issue, with social scientists disagreeing over models, definitions, and even the basic question of whether or not distinct classes exist.
• Many Americans believe in a simple three-class model that includes the rich or upper class, the middle class, and the poor or working class.

Social class is a strong social determinant of health.

• Social class is correlated to environmental hazards that increase one’s risk of contracting a disease or sustaining an injury; low access to fresh produce, exercise facilities, and preventative health programs are all environmental hazards that negatively impact health outcomes.
• Health inequality refers to the unequal distribution of environmental hazards and access to health services between demographic groups, including social classes, as well as to the disparate health outcomes experienced by these groups.
• In addition to environmental hazards, lower socioeconomic classes have lower levels of health insurance than the upper class. Much of this disparity can be explained by the tendency for lower status occupations to not provide benefits to employees.

Different classes have different levels of access to treatment and encounter different mental health stressors.

• Mental health describes a person’s level of psychological well-being, or the presence/absence of mental disorder. Mental health can include one’s ability to enjoy life and demonstrate psychological resilience.
• Mental health is socially constructed and defined; it is determined by both scientific and cultural knowledge, and it is understood differently by various groups, institutions, and professions.
• The evaluation of which mental states can be considered healthy and which require medical intervention also varies by class.

Family life, including marriage, childbearing and household composition are strongly influenced by social class.

• In the United States, the probability of a first marriage ending is substantially higher for couples with low socioeconomic statuses than for those in the middle or upper class.
• Globally, the birth rate in countries with large impoverished populations is much higher than in wealthier countries.
• In nations with high levels of fertility, upper class individuals tend to have more children than their lower class peers, while in nations with low levels of fertility, upper class families exhibit even lower fertility than average.
• Social class has both a cause and an effect relationship with family composition, and lower social class is often correlated with one-parent households.

Educational attainment is tied to social class, with upper class individuals acquiring higher degrees from more prestigious schools.

• Those in high social classes are likely to have greater educational attainment than those in low social classes.
• Educational inequality is also perpetuated by legacy admission.
• Because members of high social classes tend to be better educated and have higher incomes, they are more able to provide educational advantages to their children as well.
• Educational inequality is one factor that perpetuates the class divide across generations.

Social class is associated with individuals’ religious affiliations and practices but not with religiosity itself.

• Social class is an indicator of religious affiliation, with upper class members concentrated in formal denominations and lower class members concentrated in informal denominations.
• Social class is not an indicator of religiosity; members of each social class practice their faiths with a range of intensities.
• Income, and therefore social class, is related to an individual’s denomination. Religion is also strongly linked to level of education.

The higher one’s social class, the higher their levels of political participation and political influence.

• Political office holders tend to be of high socioeconomic status, furthering the impact of class on American politics.
• Wealthy, well-educated Americans are more likely to vote and to donate money to politicians than lower class individuals are.
• Those who vote as members of a social class can be said to be participating in identity politics.

Criminal justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at deterring and mitigating crime.

• When a person is suspected of violating a law, they are processed through the criminal justice system.
• The criminal justice system includes law enforcement (such as police or sheriffs), the courts, and corrections authorities (such as prison wardens and social workers).
• Legislation can attempt to refocus and restructure the criminal justice system in the United States, as when the 1967 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice issued recommendations to improve the efficacy of criminal justice.
• These reforms reflected a change in the purpose of the criminal justice system. Historically it had been used as a way to deter crime and punish criminals, but now has the added goal of rehabilitating offenders.