Class Mobility
A study from the NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) presents the amount of people that were moving up in class and class mobility from the 1850's to now. This is described by the probability of sons moving to occupations that were of a higher class than those of their fathers (unskilled jobs to skilled jobs for example). The study shows:
- Sons of farmers in the early 20th century (up until the 1930's) were nearly twice as likely to get white collar jobs than sons of farmers in the 19th century (31.9/16.6).
- That ratio grew nearly five-fold by the late 20th century, meaning that change was not as significant in the 1920s compared to years that followed.
- In other words, class mobility wasn’t as profound as people thought it was.
- People have a desire to move up in class and many people equate moving up in class with gaining independence. Since the 1850s, the early twentieth was the first time people started to realize that such a large amount of people were can see their lives get better and move up to an occupation of a higher class.
Gap Between the Rich and Poor
“This is the valley of ashes - a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of gray cars crawls along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creak, and comes to a rest, and immediately ash-gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up an impenetrable cloud…”
-The Great Gatsby
-The Great Gatsby
The differences in the lifestyles of the rich and poor in the 1920s had grown to such an extent that to the upper class, the lower classes seemed to be living in dead and dull places like the Valley of Ashes. There seemed to be two different societies that developed in America with no real bridge or connection in between. The upper class looked down upon the poor and were viewed as dirty, uncultured, boring and desolate people.
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