Social Classes
Paper details:
THIS IS A JOURNAL NOT AN ESSAY PAPER.
A woman working full time at $7.25 an hour would make ________ per month. So that’s our
monthly income. Let’s subtract our expenses.
Subtract taxes and Social Security Deductions, which will probably be about $200/month. ______
Subtract housing costs, and let’s assume they live in the cheapest housing they could find in
Atlanta. _________
Subtract food costs (usually 1/6 of your income): _________
Subtract electricity and water (this person probably can’t afford cable): _______
If they are trying to go to school, they are going to need the Internet…or a car to get to and from
a library quickly. Taking the bus to and from work and school would be challenging if you want to
be everywhere on time. So subtract this cost (if you choose a car, consider gas, insurance, and
monthly payments): _______
What if this person have a child in daycare? That’s at least $120/week. Subtract those costs:
____________
What about a cell phone? If they ÕÉ≠†Њ†have a child, won’t the school need a way to reach
Machine generated alternative text: them? Subtract that cost: _________
At this point, you can already see that this person would have a deficit in their budget – they are
spending more than they earn. We have not included things like clothes, school supply lists,
entertainment, health insurance, and many others.
For this assignment you will write a minimum of three paragraphs reflecting on the numbers
above. Use your knowledge of social classes, and include what you think should be done to
solve this problem, if you think it needs to be solved at all.