Mission
Our Mission: to determine if a college degree is necessary for someone from a lower socioeconomic status to enter the middle class.
Does a college degree enable a middle class lifestyle?
What is the middle class?
The middle class is typically thought of as having the "white picket fence lifestyle" which includes a suburban house, children, and a stable job. Basically, the stereotypical thought of a middle class individual is someone who can afford basic necessities, and have enough additional savings for an emergency situation. For the sake of the website, middle class is defined as "households with incomes between two-thirds and twice the national median" (Pew Research Center). However, it is also important to consider the cultural attitudes surrounding these definitions. Just because a household generates a given amount of income does not guarantee stability, due to factors like the size of a family, medical issues, and the area in which they live. In general, it is simpler to refer to the middle class with the financial definition provided by Pew Research Center.
What is social mobility?
Social mobility is defined as the movement of individuals, families, or other social units between positions of varying advantage in the system of social stratification of a society (ScienceDirect). With this in mind, it is often viewed as a metric for equality in a society. We believe that it is important that everyone has the same chance to elevate their status in society, and so this is an important definition for our research.
In decades past, it was arguable that a college degree provided a pathway to better opportunities, but was not a requirement for a standard white collar job. In the present day, a bachelor's degree is often a minimum requirement. With this in mind, the focus of the research centers around the traditional 4-year degree obtained from a university. There are other viable options present including entering the workforce immediately, attending community college, or attending trade school, among others, but for the sake of the research we chose to focus on obtaining a college degree and the effect this has on social mobility.