This Is How I Became Aware of my Social Class Position in Society

There are many different ways to become aware of your social class position in society.  Socioeconomic status (SES) is a measure of social class that is based on income, education, and occupation.  I became aware of my social class position when I was very young.  I was in elementary school when I learned of my social class position in society.  My social class position back then could be measured by my parent’s occupations, my neighborhood and my parent’s income.  I lived in an apartment building across the street from my school.  My mother is a nurse so this is a prestige occupation, meaning that nurses gain respect and admiration in society.  My father was working in a hospital doing maintenance on the building.  I remember always worrying about what I was going to wear to school because I did not want to get made fun of.  According to Richard T. Schaefer I am considered to be lower-middle class.  I could also be considered to be working class or Proletariat because both of my parents worked very hard to earn the small amounts of cash they earned throughout their lives.    

I realized that I was not rich and I didn’t come from a wealthy family.  I can remember my parents always having problems paying the rent and we ended up moving a lot because of my parent’s money problems.  I remember there being times that we had to collect public assistance because of both of my parents being out of work.  I had become aware of my social class by the reactions and feedback I received from my peers and my teachers in school.  I noticed that my teachers seemed to favor children that came from higher class.   Therefore, my social class has changed throughout my life and I will hopefully experience life chances throughout the next course in my life.  Life chances are opportunities to provide ourselves with material goods, positive living conditions, and favorable life experiences.  Life chances are considered in measures such as housing, education and health.  My social class position in society now is that I am an individual striving for improvement within free societies that offer substantial mobility. 

I do not think I have ever been unaware of my true position in society.  I have experienced false consciousness.  False consciousness is an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect their objective position.  A worker with false consciousness may adopt an individualistic viewpoint toward capitalist exploitation.  At my old job I felt as if my boss was exploiting me.  Everyone working at the facility was being exploited but some got demoralized worse than others and some talked about the exploitation and some did not.  Those who spoke about the exploitation never actually did anything about it they just felt the need to talk about it I suppose.