To what degree are our lives determined by our social classes?

Things that you do for yourself for free + money you save for helping yourself , from feeding ,bathing and clothing oneself to consoling yourself and others. First aid without having to go to the hospital, giving advice for free… + money you have saved to pay others to look after you.

There are generalizations we can make about social class, but it isn’t like everyone in that class is exactly the same. Being born into a particular social class means you have a higher likelihood of being in the same one as an adult, but it doesn’t work out that way a lot of the time. Many children climb up or fall down the social class latter.

There have been studies in America that say being rich does correlate to happiness. Social class is not just money, but also interwoven in there is education level and some other things. The way people spend there free time can vary depending on the class. Lower to middle class might be more likely to go fishing, while upper classes might be more likely to go out on their yacht, or take a weekend away on vacation. But, again there is all sorts of crossover.

Cars we drive, clothing we wear, where we live, school we attend, even how we look can be affected.

You might be interested in looking at statistics and information on psychograhics which look at buying habits, including how people spend time regarding social class and other demographics.

Money DOES bring happiness. Yes it does! From she who has had substantially and now has not. lol
One way it shows up for me is in the dating realm at 50 something now.

The men I am most attracted too are intelligent, intellectual professional types, but, I am often too bohemian and not “hot” enough for them on a physical level inspite of my winning personality. haha
The men that are attracted to me are not the types I am interested in, old geezer biker dudes that have the intellect of a Durango boot.. haha

There are way too many factors at play to even consider this. We’re talking about predicting outcomes of billions of individuals.

@Coloma I feel your pain, lol.

Mostly, if you have money, you have power. And people with money have both power & social position. If you don’t have money… you are on the outside looking in thru the windows.

As others have noted, it’s impossible to give specific details that will apply to everyone. In the case of poverty, however, there are several statistical trends that can be seen.

I think success has a lot to do with personal drive. I mean, people rise up from the ashes all the time… In the same way people do fall from glory. Wow, that was almost poetic. As long as a person doesn’t give up I’m sure there’s always a way to better one’s self.

The middle class is probably the most disadvantaged, in my opinion.

Anyone who earns more than $34,000 is the top 1% of the planet.

Meh, I’ve seen really rich people that had no common sense and people with a lot of common sense have no money. I think we determine our own fate.

I was a poor kid raised by a single mom in low-income housing and my lack of emotional and financial security made me into a slight over-achiever, but I know other people raised by wealthy parents who also are over-achievers to impress the family or to keep their wealth, so who knows.

If you want an interesting look at how this has played out in the lives of real people, I’d highly recommend the “Up” series by Michael Apted.

They began filming a group of 20 children beginning at 7 yrs old and continuing ever 7 yrs thereafter They were purposely chosen from all across the class spectrum in England.

The filmmakers began with the premise contained in the quote “Give me a child for the first seven years and I will show you the man.”

The latest installment “56 Up” is currently showing on PBS and available for viewing online till Nov. 13.

You’ll get a lot more out of it tho if you at least watch the first one at 7 yrs old and preferably as many of the rest as possible. Apparently they’re available on Netflix.

It’s a fascinating study of the basic premise of your question and has receiveduch acclaim over the years.

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http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-up-documentaries-1985

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http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_Series

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http://www.pbs.org/pov/fortynineup/