Skip to main content icon/video/no-internet
icon backReturn to Entries

Socioeconomic Status

Socioeconomic status (SES) typically refers to a person's position and esteem in society based on economic and other resources. The most commonly cited indicators of SES are income, occupation, and education. In social science research, SES is often used interchangeably with the term social class. However, some would argue that these are different terms and that social class is determined both by the quantifiable amount of resources someone has and their relative standing in relation to others. For example, the terms

lower class, middle class, and upper class can be thought of as income demarcations and are often used as such in census data, but others look at these terms as descriptors of job prestige (e.g., both a college professor and a lawyer may fit into the “upper class” category though their incomes differ greatly). N. Krieger, D. R. Williams, and N. E. Moss, in their paper on measuring social class in public health research, stated that “socioeconomic position” consists of both actual resources and status (i.e., qualities related to prestige and rank). The confounding between the terms SES and social class reflects the lack of clarity of these concepts in society due to the “myth of the classless society,” which is the idea that ability and effort alone are responsible for one's class standing. Oppression by those with material and power and privilege also contributes to the confusion of these terms. This entry focuses on SES but integrates social class concepts as they are relevant to counseling psychology.

SES Indicators and Disparities

Income and Wealth

Income is defined as money received (e.g., from wages, interest, child support, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), whereas wealth consists of assets accumulated. Another way to define wealth is net worth, or assets (e.g., home ownership, stocks, cars, leftover income after expenses) minus debts. Typically, when talking about SES in the United States, the media focus on income. However, wealth statistics paint a more accurate picture of SES and inequality. In addition, income cutoffs for federal programs such as food stamps do not accurately portray the amount of money actually needed for U.S. families to meet basic needs.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median income of families in the United States in 2004 was $44,389. There are significant income disparities based on race. In 2004, the median household income was $48,977 for non-Hispanic Whites, $30,134 for Blacks, $57,518 for Asians, and $34,241 for Hispanics. These figures are estimates and often omit working undocumented immigrants and intergroup differences, such as the status of Southeast Asian refugees.

There are also disparities in income between men and women. The median income for men with earnings in 2004 was $40,798, and for women with earnings it was $31,223. According to this estimate, women are making almost 77 cents on the dollar compared with men. Other estimates claim that the pay gap is decreasing, and women are making about 80 cents for every dollar of men's earnings. However, part of this narrowing is due to the fall of wages for working-class men rather than increases in wages for women.

...

  • Loading...
locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles

Read next

More like this

Sage Recommends

We found other relevant content for you on other Sage platforms.

close

Have you created a personal profile? Login or create a profile so that you can save clips, playlists and searches

close
close
close Signed In to profile You are signed in as:
close
Logged in Institution Institution