Professor Orleans

Please prepare to respond to any three of the following:
 

1. Discuss some of the major economic, ideological, political and social trends that impact the poverty class.

2. Compare and contrast the social characteristics and foundations of the poverty class and the working class.

3.  Why has the working class not been a revolutionary class in American society?

4.  Compare and contrast the child rearing practices and value systems of families of the different strata in American society.

5.  Discuss the emotional characteristics typical of middle class people, focusing on their anxieties, fears, aspirations, and sense of well being as they are affected by current economic, ideological, political and social trends.

6.  Analyze the social and economic characteristics of the major strata constituting the modern American middle class.

7.  While the elites of our society generally derive from middle class origins, their status, power and affluence might qualify for upper class standing.  Using this premise, discuss the characteristics and qualities of contemporary elite groups and describe how the elites relate to other strata in our society.

8.  Discuss the distinctiveness of the aristocratic life style of old wealth and assess the significance of this pattern for those strata below.

9.  Discuss the equity, justice and appropriateness of the concentration of wealth, power and privilege in the hands of a small group on the top rung of society.  Assess the consequences for the society as a whole of this concentration.