The Working Class Divided: New Middle-Class Mobility vs Underclass Decline

Abstract

The typical working-class family will experience the same set of problems and exhibit the same set of needs as the new middle-class family. This is because: the ‘wife’ will work — her salary will be necessary for family survival in the high-tech, high-priced economy; grandmothers may, or may not, be available for child care; teens will act out during their high-school years — and working-class teens are often more violent than middle-class teens, and the girls more likely to get pregnant; senior family members will live longer and require more medical and nursing-home care; nursery school and college will be necessary for the children, and so on.