Skip to main content
Social Sci LibreTexts

19.11: Putting It Together- Work and the Economy

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF
  • Page ID
    60320

    • \( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

    We talk a lot about the economy, how it’s doing, and the impact it has on our lives. Rightly so, because the economy has always been an important institution that details how we get the resources we need to live. Humans have transitioned through many structural shifts, moving along a continuum from hunter-gather societies to our contemporary post-industrial, globalized information economy. Currently, there are an array of economies and governments. While the United States frequently emphasizes the American Dream and the ideal that even Americans born into poverty can work their way up the economic ladder, recent studies show that economic mobility is not so easily accomplished. One way to assess if the American Dream is a reality is to examine mobility patterns. If mobility really is about hard work and merit, we would expect that individuals have an equal chance at moving up and down the class hierarchy.

    Watch It

    The following video from the PEW Economic Mobility Project helps us by providing visual animations that depict income mobility. It looks at how absolute mobility (when a person earns more money in inflation-adjusted dollars than their parents did at the same age) and relative mobility (a person’s rank within the income distribution as a whole) work—while also highlighting how both types of movement relate to American Individualism. It shows that the U.S. is doing well in absolute mobility, but not relative mobility. When explaining relative mobility, the video highlights “stickiness at the ends” by showing how there is a great deal of movement in the middle classes—but the poor and the wealthy at the top and bottom of the social hierarchy tend to experience little if any movement both within, and across generations. In other words, where you start can have decisive impact on where you end up.

    An interactive or media element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/its/?p=552

    CC licensed content, Original
    • Putting It Together: Work and the Economy. Authored by: Cathy Matresse and Lumen Learning. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
    • Modification, adaptation, and original content. Authored by: Rebecca Vonderhaar for Lumen Learning. Provided by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution
    All rights reserved content

    This page titled 19.11: Putting It Together- Work and the Economy is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Lumen Learning.

    1. Back to top
    • Was this article helpful?

    Recommended articles

    1. Article type
      Section or Page
      Author
      LumenLearning
      OER program or Publisher
      Lumen
    2. Tags
      This page has no tags.